The Rise of the European Emperor

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The Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg is called the Duchy, but it actually only covers an area of ​​more than 1,200 square kilometers, which is only equivalent to the size of a county in later generations. Compared with those grand duchies with thousands of square kilometers or even tens of thousands of square kilometers, the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg is really weak. Therefore, in the House of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, the Principality of Saxony-Lauenburg also had no right to speak, which was similar to that of ordinary counties.

However, even if it wants to expand, it is not so easy. Because, to the north of the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg is the Duchy of Holstein, to the northwest is Hamburg, and on the other side of the river is the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg... No matter which one, it is not an existence that it can provoke . Even if the land area of ​​the Hanseatic Free City of Hamburg is not as large as that of the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg, they have stronger financial resources. In this era of rampant mercenaries, their strength is much stronger than that of the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg.

Coincidentally, the turmoil in the North Sea State this time gave the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg across the river an opportunity to expand. The southeastern part of Bremen Province is only separated from the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg by the Elbe River. As long as the coalition forces can defeat the North Sea State, they will have a chance to acquire part of Bremen Province...

But it is a pity that the coalition forces were finally defeated, and the expansion dream of the Principality of Saxony-Lauenburg was also terminated, and Marin also led troops to attack the door...

In fact, Brunswick-Lüneburg, the capital of the Principality of Lüneburg, is not far from Lauenburg, the capital of the Principality of Saxony-Lauenburg. It is only separated by the Elbe River, and then it is more than ten kilometers southwest.

However, Marin chose to go to the east bank of the Elbe River first to solve the capital of the Saxony-Lauenburg Duchy on the Elbe River, Lauenburg.

Why? Because Marin was worried that if he attacked Lüneburg first, the people of the Principality of Saxony-Lauenburg, especially the members of the royal family, would be so frightened that they would abandon the city and flee into exile in other countries. In this way, it will be very troublesome.

Therefore, Marin chose to besiege Lauenburg first, and arrest the family of Duke Magnus I of Saxony-Lauenburg first, lest they go into exile.

As for the Principality of Brunswick-Lüneburg, will it abandon the city and flee after learning that his army is going south? Marin wasn't worried. Because the city of Lüneburg is much taller and stronger than the city of Lauenburg, and it has been replaced with thick iron gates, so it is not afraid of blasting with gunpowder barrels. Therefore, the Welf family will definitely not give up the city of Lüneburg easily and run away.

Moreover, Lüneburg is a famous salt-producing land in Germany, and it is the salt city of Germany. At first, the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg on the other side of the river built the Stecknitz Canal from Lauenburg to Lübeck to facilitate the smooth transportation of Lüneburg's mineral salt to Lübeck in the Baltic region. It is then sold to places such as Poland and Lithuania where salt prices are high.

It can be said,

Sitting in the salt mines of Lüneburg, the Welf family has no worries about food and drink. If it is not a last resort, they will never give up Lüneburg, a city of salt mines that produces "white gold"-salt.

Therefore, Marin simply sent people to besiege the small town of Lauenburg on the east bank of the Elbe River first, so as not to run away from Magnus I's family.

...

When Marin led an army of 30,000 to surround the small Lauenburg, the soldiers and civilians of the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg in the city were scared to pee...

Magnus I himself brought more than 3,000 soldiers and horses to the expedition, and those who stayed in the city of Lauenburg were only seven or eight hundred old, weak, sick and disabled, plus two to three thousand strong people. There is no resistance to Marin's 30,000 army.

Moreover, because of mediocre financial resources, none of the city gates of Lauenburg were replaced with large iron gates, and they were still the most common oak gates.

What should we do in the face of the Oak City Gate? Gasoline of course...

Marin directly asked someone to carry a pass of blended gasoline, pour it on the pile of firewood piled up under the city gate in advance, and then ignite it...

After the fire was extinguished, the west gate of Lauenburg was burnt and collapsed. Marin sent another blaster thousands of times, and directly blasted the pile of debris behind the door...

Seeing that the city gate fell, and Marin's tens of thousands of troops were about to swarm in, Mrs. Catherine, the wife of Magnus I, who knew she was powerless to resist, was holding her 2-year-old son, Prince Francis, and leading a group of left-behind ministers crying. came out and surrendered...

It should be pointed out that Lady Catherine, wife of Magnus I, was the daughter of Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Otherwise, the Principality of Saxony-Lauenburg would not easily respond to the call of Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, to deal with the North Sea State together. Even if he had territorial ambitions for the North Sea state, Magnus I had no confidence and had been hesitant. It can be said that he was cheated by the old man this time...

...

After capturing the wife and children of Magnus I, Marin's goal was basically achieved. As for Magnus I's two brothers Eric and John, they were not in Lauenburg. Because both of them are church clergymen, and they are bishops in other places. Marin didn't want to arrest them either. After all, they were all monks and would not have the right of inheritance, which would basically not affect Marin's rule of the Principality of Saxony-Lauenburg.

Besides, Marin didn't intend to kill Magnus I and his son, but would just keep them under residential surveillance, similar to the encirclement (demarcation of the scope of activities) of the Ming Dynasty clan after the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. As long as their father and son survived, his brothers would not be able to inherit the title of Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg and fight against Marin.

After occupying Lauenburg and capturing the people he wanted to capture, Marin left only a few hundred garrisons, and then led his troops across the river directly to Brunswick, the Principality of Luneburg, on the other side of the river. As for the rest of the Principality of Saxony-Lauenburg outside Lauenburg, Marin was not in a hurry to occupy it. For him, capturing members of the country's ruling family is much more important than occupying territory...

After crossing the river, Marin's 30,000-strong army marched for more than ten kilometers, and then surrounded Brunswick, the capital of the Duchy of Lüneburg, the city of Lüneburg.

However, Prince Otto, son of Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the city, was not too worried. His mother, Margaret of Saxony, had sent someone to Switzerland to find his uncle, Elector Frederick III of Saxony, and asked him for help.

The 17-year-old Prince Otto believed that as long as his uncle Frederick III, the leader of the German princes, came forward, Marin would have to give face no matter what. Of course, the premise is that he can persist until his uncle rushes over from Switzerland.

However, Prince Otto is not worried about this. Because there are still 4,000 regular troops in the city of Lüneburg. In addition, more than 7,000 people with certain training experience were recruited to help defend the city.

The European city walls are much stronger than the ancient Chinese city walls. Because most of them use castles made of stone. Unlike ancient China, many cities were built with bricks, and the degree of firmness of the two is different.

In addition, the four heavy iron city gates also gave Prince Otto enough confidence. As long as the Beihai army does not easily attack the city wall, he is confident that he will be able to persist until his uncle Frederick III comes to rescue him...

...

However, what Prince Otto thought was too simple...

"Go to the aqua regia!" Seeing the solid and thick iron gate, Marin felt no pressure.

Then, a cart filled with aqua regia was carefully pushed over...

Aqua regia is a super strong potion that can corrode gold and silver, so it can only be stored in glass bottles. But the glass bottle is fragile, so those who transport the aqua regia have to be careful to avoid accidents...

After the aqua regia was in place, the soldiers responsible for using it put on gas masks, carried several bottles of aqua regia, got into a tin cart, and rushed to the city gate...

This kind of iron car was actually refitted from Yu Dayou's chariot. That is to add an iron shed roof on the wheelbarrow to guard against the blows of bows and arrows and stones on the top of the city. Of course, this kind of iron shed roof is much stronger than ordinary iron sheds, and can withstand stones, so as not to hurt soldiers using aqua regia...

Under the protection of the unicycle chariot with the iron roof, the soldiers who used aqua regia arrived at the city gate smoothly, and then began to corrode the city gate with aqua regia...

...

Because of the intelligence in advance, the relevant soldiers directly poured aqua regia on the iron gate at a predetermined height. Under his careful control, it only took a few hours for the aqua regia to corrode the latch of the large iron gate at the east gate of Lüneburg City.

What surprised the soldiers responsible for corroding the iron gate was that after corroding the bolt of the large iron gate of Lüneburg's east gate, the city gate was pushed open just like that...

It turned out that Prince Otto didn't pile up logs, bricks and other debris in the gate hole behind the gate because he was confident that the big iron gate could withstand shelling and impact. After corroding the latch, the soldiers using aqua regia easily pushed open the east gate of Lüneburg without hindrance...\u003c/content\u003e

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