"His Majesty the King, please forgive us for denying your request to hire us to attack Scotland." Zheng Zhibao rejected Charles I's request.

"I am willing to spend more than £100,000 to hire you to fight, no, even if I give all the compensation to the Scottish Vow Army to you, I am not willing to give them. If you can expel the Vow Army from the territory of England and conquer Edinburgh, I can even give you additional trade privileges in Scotland on all the compensation originally given to the Scots. Or can you not defeat the Vow Army in Scotland?" Charles I was surprised to see the officers of the Fourth Fleet rejecting his request.

The Fourth Fleet had naval forces that could pose a threat to Edinburgh from the ocean in the North Sea, and also a Far West Expeditionary Army that could fight on land. If a few thousand militia were added to excavate fortifications, Charles I believed that the mercenaries from the East should be able to defeat the Oath Army.

As a mercenary, he received a commission of more than 100,000 pounds and trade privileges in Scotland. Charles I originally thought that Zheng Zhibao and other soldiers from the East would never refuse! After all, they launched an attack on the Ottoman Empire in order to plunder wealth when they were in the Mediterranean!

Unexpectedly, Zheng Zhibao shook his head: "We love peace and are unwilling to participate in the internal struggle between England and Scotland. The terms of common advance and retreat in our alliance treaty are only applicable to dealing with foreign enemies, and the war between England and Scotland does not belong to the unanimous foreign policy."

"Okay, I will only sign a loan treaty with Western companies." Although Charles I would not believe Zheng Zhibao's statement of livability, the other party was a standing army of the upright Eastern Empire, with its own source of income. It is different from some mercenaries who need to rely on commissions to live. The money may not be good for them.

Charles I signed and stamped a secret treaty with Western companies, and Huang Xiushan also signed the treaty on behalf of Western companies.

"We need some time to prepare £200,000 as the first loan to you by His Majesty the King." Huang Xiushan put away the secret treaty.

From then on, they could use this treaty to open Chinese schools, newspapers and mining farms in Britain. The newspapers seemed to be unable to make much profit in this era when printing technology was relatively backward, but Western companies could ship printing presses from their local areas to produce tens of thousands of newspapers.

"Thanks to you, I avoided convening parliament, otherwise it would be unbearable to face a group of people who opposed me." After Charles I signed the treaty, he felt relieved.

In his opinion, Eastern merchants' loans without interest are undoubtedly timely help.

"We will always be your most loyal and reliable friend. If there is anything else, please discuss it with us." Huang Xiushan said enthusiastically to Charles I before leaving.

"I'll take you out." Charles I was in a good mood and personally led everyone out of the palace.

"His Majesty the King, what do you plan to deal with the matters in the parliament?" Zheng Zhibao, as one of the representative officers of the Jiuzhou Army, also maintained a high degree of attention to Charles I's subsequent thoughts.

"With a generous aid, there is no need for a parliament to be reconvened. I need a prime minister who has an iron fist like the archbishop of France, Richelieu, to establish a centralized country like France in England. As for parliament, when it is dissolved long enough, people will forget this tradition." Charles I said.

Directors of Western companies, including Huang Xiushan, were puzzled by Zheng Zhibao's refusal to hire Charlie. After leaving the palace, they couldn't help asking Zheng Zhibao: "The king is willing to pay commissions and can also obtain trade privileges in Scotland. In this way, we expect our rewards to be at least 300,000 pounds. Such a return is probably higher than the return of attacking Algiers. From this point of view, we should not refuse King Charlie's request. The Fourth Fleet and the Far West Expeditionary Force should be able to defeat the Scots more easily."

Zheng Zhibao shook his head repeatedly: "Our Fourth Fleet also has to act based on the interests of our Fourth Fleet. Indeed, if our Fourth Fleet and the Far West sending troops join the war, they may be rewarded and obtained trade privileges in Scotland for your Western companies. But you should also see that the English and the Scots do not want to fight to the death at all, and there were only minor frictions between the two sides. If we act as the king's thug, it means that we have to stand against the opposite of the English and the Scots. Without the mass base, even if we obtain trade privileges, once the king is overthrown, they will definitely liquidate these privileges as soon as possible... Now you should know what our military department thinks. At the critical moment, it would rather sacrifice the king than stand against the ordinary people."

Huang Xiushan and other directors of Western companies nodded. Indeed, many things cannot be viewed from a purely commercial perspective, otherwise many things will be ignored.

For example, in this conflict between England and Scotland, because the Chinese army maintained a neutral position, did not stand against the king, nor did they stand against the opposition, so the Chinese merchants' industry in London was not affected. Even many opposition members discussed matters in teahouses opened by Chinese merchants, which believed that the Chinese merchants maintained a neutral attitude in this incident.

If ordinary London citizens anger, the teahouse may be burned by angry citizens.

Try not to offend ordinary people in England, this is the common concept of the officers of the Kyushu Army and Leslie, the Scottish Vowed Army.

After receiving the promise from the Western company, King Charles' confidence increased, rejecting the idea of ​​some ministers and nobles about reconvening the parliament and never mentioning it.

After he had money, Charles I was no longer worried about the resumption of parliament. He appointed his favorite Earl Straffor as the Chancellor of the Finance Department and continued to collect ship taxes across the country to establish the Royal Navy and collect national protection taxes to accumulate the expenses of the Royal Army. He hoped that Count Straffor could turn England into a highly centralized kingdom like the Archbishop of France. Although the establishment of the Royal Army was shattered by the defeat of the Battle of Newcastle, Charles I still did not give up on establishing an army loyal to him. He temporarily set the organization to the size of a Royal Guards regiment.

As for the final armistice agreement that should have been negotiated by the English Parliament and the Scottish Committee, Charles I also intends to go into the battle personally to negotiate with the Scots and completely grasp diplomatic power.
Chapter completed!