Bad day

Remember that you can give me ideas and if it is possible to apply them in the story I will do it.

Remember that I leave it up to you to choose which day I upload the extra chapter.

---------------------------------------------------

Friedrich Wilhelm POV

ah Randyll Tarly, he is like most soldiers he follows his orders to the letter and hates having to deal with politicians, only unlike what most would expect from people like him, he is very intelligent, he was able to foresee my ideas to crush the southern resistance, a great pity, as it would have been very easy to destroy the rest of the lords of the reach, but he was the voice of reason or so the spy I have watching the hightower put it in his report

apparently he has little patience for the courtesies between nobles because he did not even want to finish eating to take me to negotiate, he is anxious, but I succeeded in my task to make him take the first step in the negotiation and put me in a better position to negotiate.

After requesting my assistants to leave my hall, I put on my poker face for this negotiation.

''Well, Lord Tarly, I suppose you know why you are here, don't you?'' I said with a serious tone.

I have an idea why I'm here, I'm not sure what you want it for,'' he said, returning my tone.

Shit he knows, he knows I want the phosphate from his lands, but I doubt he knows what it's used for, I don't think I can scam him now

''oh that's interesting lord Tarly, well, avoiding a long talk without taking us anywhere, I wish I could make a new deal, about the rock mining'' I said looking him in the eye

''I know it is not rock you are looking for, you are looking for another type of mineral that is plentiful in my lands, but has no use, but it has value to you, since you have a sizable mining operation near my lands, so tell me what it is you want me to sell you'' I said with an inquisitive tone.

Well, I lost my superiority in the negotiation, I need the damn phosphate for the intensive farming operations, the other thing I would have to find a way to produce ammonium in large quantities with the haber-Bosch system

''it's phosphate, I'd like to buy it at the same price I buy the rock from you Lord Tarly.''I said with a serious tone

''what is this phosphate for, Lord Hohenzollern, since I don't understand why you are looking for it so intensely'' he said looking me in the eye.

''You need to know what I'll use it for?, I've already offered you a good deal.''I said showing him my hands

''If I don't get that answer I will simply end this meeting and no one will gain anything'' said lord tarly.

''phosphate is an element of the fertilizers, it helps the recovery of nutrients from the soil, which allows us to apply a more intensive farming system, leaving behind the seven kingdoms system of leaving a year of rest to the soil to a system of intensive use without rest'' I said with a serious tone

''I can see how important it is for a lord of the reach that we depend on the grain trade, well I want 10 golden dragons per ton of ore'' he said as he put his fist to his cheek

''that's too much Tarly it's almost 3 times what I pay you for the ton of rock'' I said between my teeth

''what else can you offer me king in Prussia'' he said with his serious tone

''well, tell me what you want for the right to extract the phosphate in perpetuity from your lands'' I said with a neutral tone.

Apparently my proposal surprised lord Tarly, as he opened his eyes wide in surprise, lord Tarly remained thoughtful for a long time.

''I want to have permission to buy weapons and armor, three million of golden dragons, you will train my soldiers in the Prussian way and help in the construction of a similar fortress at horn hill'' he said looking me in the eye.

Quickly, I stood up and walked over to one of my shelves where I keep my accounting books, and quickly began to do the math, this deal would benefit me a lot in the future, since phosphate is one of the best fertilizers one can find, when the harvests start to be 4 per year I will have profits of almost ten million golden dragons a year, since I will not have to share the harvest with the peasants, much of the raw material will go to make clothes or alcohol with the grains which will increase my profits, building another fortress at horn hill does not have much strategic value, it would only make if I wanted to get rid of lord Tarly at some point it would be very difficult to get rid of him.

''I can accept everything but the fortress lord Tarly, my engineers are incredibly busy working on infrastructure projects throughout the reach''I said looking away from my books.

''oh a real pity, but I find it an acceptable deal'' he said while nodding

damn it all came out backwards, I was the one who came out wrong in this negotiation, but well, in the future I will get it all back with interest

finally, we signed a contract to have the right to extract the phosphate from the land of lord Tarly in perpetuity.

Then we continued to eat until we finally got to talk about strategy, and he asked me about the types of walls of my bastion.

''Tell me, my lord, why are the walls of your castle leaning? Wouldn't that make them easier to climb?'' Lord Tarly said with interest.

''It might seem, but the star shape in which it was built makes any area where a ladder could be placed, become a killing zone where crossbow bolts can be received from both sides of the fortress, the sloping shape gives much more resistance, to receive the blows of the trebuchets, since the impact is better distributed'' I said showing him the plans of the fortress.

''I see, how long do you think your walls can withstand the siege against the trebuchets'', lord Tarly continued asking

''It depends on the quantity, but it could easily withstand 6 moons without collapsing from incessant use of trebuchets'' I said, showing him a scaled version of the walls.

''and the port my lord would not be the weak point of your fortress since it allows you to enter the commercial zone through the first line of defense''.

''look why we extended part of the walls to the sea, in those towers there is a chain that would prevent any unauthorized ship to enter the city, making that if they want to enter by sea they must destroy the towers or take the first wall to lower the chain''.I said as I pointed to the plans

''Wow, you have thought of everything'' said Lord Tarly in surprise.

Of course, I have, I'm not going to keep repeating the mistakes of the Tyrells and their predecessors in letting the Iron born loot whatever they want in the Mander River because the shield islands didn't do the job'' I said with a serious tone.

Lord Tarly nodded and finally, when this meeting was over he went to rest in my guest room, leaving me alone in my hall.

Charles entered shortly after Lord Tarly left me.

''My king, how did the negotiation go?'' he asked in a serene tone.

''I would say well, I am fleeced, but in the future I will get the gold back, but tell me why you are here now,'' I said rubbing my nose.

''an envoy from the free city of Myr has arrived and is demanding an audience with you, my king'' said Charles, grimacing with his mouth.

''Demanding? Does he have the formula to turn lead into gold or what?'' I said with an angry tone.

''We don't know, according to what I was told they arrived recently, and they are quite insistent on having a meeting with you as soon as possible,'' said Charles lifting his shoulders.

I wasn't certain why envoys from the free cities wanted to be here to talk to me, as far as I know, we barely trade with each other, there shouldn't be a trade conflict at the moment, so it must be for another reason, but which one?

Let them in, maybe it will be good news and take the bad taste out of my mouth from the negotiations with Lord Tarly''. I said as I sat back down to wait for the new guests.

Charles withdrew, and in the next 10 minutes a group of men dressed in silk entered the room.

''Greetings messengers, to what do I owe the visit from a land as far away as the free city of Myr'' I said in a friendly tone.

''Greetings, Lord Hohenzollern, our journey is due to a great trouble that has arisen in our lands over some of your products'' said the envoy in extremely broken Latin.

Why the hell did you speak to me in Latin, if I spoke to you in the common tongue, it's not like you brought a translator either

''I told you that this idiot doesn't know how to speak Valyrian, it was just a rumor'' said the envoy to one of his companions while laughing.

''excuse me, but Valyrian is my second language, I was just surprised that you used it, when I spoke to you in another tongue'' I said with a cold tone.

The envoy was surprised, but apparently he didn't even care about offending me because he just continued as if nothing had happened.

''well, the reason why we have been sent here is because of a request from the glassblowers guild to the magysters conclave, your glass production is affecting one of the most important guilds in our illustrious city, causing all the former buyers to seek your merchandise instead of ours'' he said this time in common tonge.

mhhh and that, who cares is just competition, it's not my fault that your product is inferior

''oh understood, but how does that affect me, the problem seems to be that your guild does not have the capacity to improve their product'' I said without much interest.

''of course it affects you because apparently you haven't understood what you've gotten yourself into, the glass trade is exclusive to our city and always will be, but the conclave is magnanimous and is willing to forgive you for your offense'' he said arrogantly.

''What is this magnanimous offer from the conclave'' I said sarcastically.

''You must deliver 70% of the profits obtained from the glass trade, you must limit your production of your products, you can only sell it in the markets authorized by the conclave and deliver the formula of the crystal with your masters specialized in the work of this material, those are the conditions of the conclave, you only have to give it to us, since we came prepared to take your tribute to Myr immediately.

What a shitty negotiation I just witnessed, I looked around, and it seemed that my knights were just waiting for my order to kill these idiots.

'hahahahahahahaha, what a good joke, I didn't know myr's envoys are such good jokers''I said as I laughed.

''THIS IS NO JOKE IT IS THE ORDERS OF THE CONCLAVE, NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE A PARAMOUNT LORD YOU WILL BE ABLE TO STEP OVER OUR CITY, IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT OUR CONDITIONS WE WILL TAKE ALL THE MEASURES THAT ARE NECESSARY TO GUARANTEE, THAT YOU WOULD REGRET THE DAY YOU REJECTED SUCH A MAGNANIMOUS OFFER FROM OUR CONCLAVE'' he said with a face full of anger.

These envoys seem to have sent them with the intention that I kill them,mhhhh if I kill them myr could take this to the king and force me to negotiate, but I doubt Robert will listen to them, so I do not understand the reason for these actions, perhaps they are so confident of their success,Myr like all free cities depends on mercenaries, they do not have the strength to impose their conditions on me.

''I am afraid I will have to decline such a kind offer, I do not see it feasible to continue my trading operations if I accept it, so I will wait for the conclave to send better terms'' I said as I showed them the door.

''This will not be the last you will hear from the conclave, Hohenzollern, our city has connections and we will use it to block your trade'' he said as he was forced out by my knights.

''of course they will be satisfied with an inferior product because you tell them to'' I said as I looked him in the eye before being kicked out.

Finally, there was peace in the hall

''My king, why did you spare the lives of those bastards, why did you let them leave alive after insulting you'' said Charles very angry.

''What good would it do, they are envoys, their death could lead to an escalation of the conflict, there are better ways to return the humiliation and by god I am going to do it'' I said looking at my map.

''What action will my king take?'' said charles in a questioning tone.

''Call Lothar, the time has come for him to earn my pardon'' I said as I planned how to end the conflict with Myr.