The diplomatic situation has gotten really voliatile as the emperor is sick. The empire will not be able to do anything in a short time due to the conflicts between the princes. Many nobles in the empire are dissatisfied as they were forced into submission instead of voluntarily submitting. The east is even more intresting. There are conflicts in the nation of Naples as the Medicis were exiled and an republican government has risen. The three apostles of the church of moon are moving against the church of sun. There have been reports of a new continent in the south after you cross the southern storm. The king of Mazovia has died in the crusade against Rum and there is an interegnum as nobles are deciding who to keep on the throne.

"My lord, a diplomatic mission from the Lombardians is here and wants to speak to you."

"Bring her in to the throne room and let's talk with her."

"My lord, I am the reprsentative of the grand duke of Lomabardy and am here to negotiate terms with you."

"We will talk tommorow, rest for today as you have come from a long journey." said Felix

She nodded and left. One thing I found differnent from my old world is that women had a lot more rights than men. They did not usually fight but they did participate in politics and there were queens. Anyway I called Franz to speak to him about what the Lombardians might want.

"My lord, there have been rumors that the Lombardians will attack Florence. This might be somenthing to do with that."

"What do you think our stance should be on this, Franz."

"My lord, the Lombardians are strong and they might be a good ally in the east and they also don't have conflict of intrest with us. But we have to be careful on not letting them get too agressive as if they do that, like in the past they might become a target of coalition among the east."

The Lombardians were extremely agressive in the past and due to that a huge coatlition formed against them. The Lombardians lost but after that the coalition fell into infighting which resulted in the east becoming extremely weak. The east has become strong again and they might attack towards the west. If the Lombardians expand again, there will be another coalition and like the past coalitions, they will fight among each other and become weak again. This will give me enough time to unite the Gretans and create a superpower. At the same time, I will create a few pits for the Lombardians to fall into so that they can become weak.The empire might be a problem but I will deal with them when the time comes.

"We will assure the Lombardians that we will not oppose them fighting against the Florentians and give them verbal support but don't form an alliance against them."