If the AI has too much gold (he tops the charts on Gildar Production), the screen shows he has a negative value, which if you then request his Gildar, it causes a glitch which allows you to finally be able to negotiate a peace treaty!!!!

Good bug

Edit: Needless to say...I robbed him blind the second trade.

So when I took his negative gold...I was able to buy whatever I wanted from shops, could outfit everyone with every single item...but...I could no longer recruit anyone.