The Rise of the European Emperor

Facing the bravado of the North Sea army, dozens of German princes in Basel were terrified. However, Marin did not launch an attack on Basel. Instead, after the military parade, he invited the princes in the city to personally or send people to Worms to attend the interim meeting of the Imperial Conference, and then recognized Marin's occupation of the eight princes. .

"No, absolutely not! We can't just agree to this kid's wanton expansion!" At the internal meeting of the princes, Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, shouted righteously.

But no one knew that the leader of the princes, who appeared to be desperately protecting the interests of the princes, had already reached an agreement with Marin in private. Of course, his private compromise with Marin was also from a long-term perspective, not for himself.

However, as the leader of the princes, Frederick III could not show the tendency to sell the interests of the princes. Otherwise, his prestige among the German princes would be greatly damaged, and he would even lose his leadership position.

Therefore, despite having reached a cooperation agreement with Marin in private, Frederick III is still "desperately safeguarding" the interests of the eight hapless princes on the surface. In particular, one of the eight unlucky princes has his own brother-in-law, and he can't defend it without expressing his position.

"However, it is really difficult for us to beat each other now. What if we are wiped out?" Joachim I, Elector of Brandenburg, said worriedly. At the beginning, he and Frederick III joined forces to deal with Marin, but unfortunately they were defeated. Therefore, he has a shadow of Marin in his heart.

In fact, not only Joachim I was afraid, but other princes were also a little scared. You must know that among the dozens of princes, only a dozen or so such as the Elector of Saxony, the Elector of Brandenburg, the Elector of Palatine, and the Principality of Lorraine are stronger. Most of the other dozens of princes are vassals of these powerful princes. It would be strange if they were not afraid.

Frederick III pretended to be thinking, and after waiting for a while, he proposed:

"How about we negotiate with him?"

"Negotiation? How?" Palatine Elector Louis V asked curiously. Louis V is the same age as Marin, also born in 1478, and is 34 years old this year.

"We collectively held a negotiation with Marin to discuss the issue of the next 8 princes. I thought about it, these 8 princes took advantage of Marin's absence to attack Beihai, and they did. Therefore, it must not be possible without paying the price. So, I plan to let each of the eight princes cede half of the land as compensation, but the status of princes must be retained, what do you think?"

"However, they signed the duel letter. According to the rules, Marin has the right to annex them..." Joachim I remembered the duel letter signed by all the princes.

"Ahem..." Many princes coughed, and they looked at Joachim I speechlessly—are you Biao? At that time, we were willing to sign, didn't we think that the eight princes would win?

Joachim I also reacted and touched his nose in embarrassment. Then he said:

"I know it's a stopgap measure, but if Marin clings to this, we'll be in the wrong! At that time, if he attacks us, what should we do?"

Anthony, Duke of Lorraine thought for a while and said:

"How about this, let's defend Basel first. Even if the opponent is strong, it will definitely be difficult to conquer Basel in a while. At the same time, we will send someone to France for emergency help..."

"That's a good idea!" Many princes agreed.

But Frederick III shook his head:

"I'm afraid it's too late!"

Then, he explained carefully:

"I have been to Strasbourg and found that the 40,000 troops he brought were all elites. Even if we asked for help from France, the French would gather 20,000 to 30,000 troops at most in a hurry. However, the soldiers gathered in a hurry Ma, definitely not the opponent of Marin's 40,000 elite soldiers..."

"We also have an army of 37,000!" Duke Anthony said unconvinced.

Frederick III was speechless, and it took a while before he said:

"This is not a simple addition and subtraction problem. Let me ask you, if the French sent an army of 20,000 to 30,000,

Do you have the confidence to lead troops out of the city to break through the defense line of Marin's army? As long as part of his army holds us back, the main body can defeat the reinforcements sent by France. And, everyone, don't forget, there are 20,000 Habsburg troops in the south of our city..."

When it comes to the army of the Habsburg family, the princes are silent...

After a while, Palatine Elector Louis V said:

"How about we ask the princes of the church for help and ask them to help put pressure on Marin?"

Frederick III shook his head again and again:

"Everyone, have you forgotten the close relationship between Marin and the Pope? If it weren't for the fact that Marin was born, I would have suspected that he was the illegitimate son of the Pope. With the Holy See under pressure, those church princes couldn't tear themselves apart with Marin. It can be said that it is much more likely to turn against the church princes and His Majesty the Emperor than to turn against Marin!"

"So, how about we come together? We send people to ask for help from France, and at the same time ask for help from the church princes. Maybe they will agree to help us? Also, we can indeed negotiate with Marin. On the one hand, try to keep that 8 princes. On the other hand, it can be regarded as delaying time, waiting for reinforcements..." Anthony, Duke of Lorraine, suddenly proposed a compromise plan.

Frederick III gave the young Duke Antony an appreciative glance, and agreed...

Frankly speaking, although he reached an agreement with Marin in private, it was a choice in desperation. If he can find a way to save the 8 princes, he will definitely be more happy.

Moreover, he did not come up with this idea. Even if Marin accused him afterwards, he could push it to Anthony, Duke of Lorraine. Anyway, someone was responsible, and he was happy to stay out of it.

Then, dozens of princes in the city jointly issued an invitation to negotiate, inviting Marin to enter the city to negotiate.

But Marin is a coward, afraid that these princes will hold him hostage. Therefore, Marin rejected the request of the princes, and replied:

"I, Marin, have a bad reputation among the princes. When I go to the city to negotiate, I am afraid that someone will harm me... So, it is better to negotiate outside the city..."

"Nimma—" the princes were so angry that they wanted to vomit blood. We are veteran aristocrats, would we act like that?

Moreover, it would be inconvenient to let these princes go out of the city to negotiate. Because the gate openings of the four city gates of Basel City were all blocked by debris, and if they wanted to leave the city, they could only go out in a hanging basket. However, how inconvenient is it for dozens of princes to sit in hanging baskets? And if Marin enters the city to negotiate, as long as he comes up in a hanging basket alone...

But Marin didn't care whether it was convenient or not, and he directly refused again—if he wanted to negotiate, he would come out and talk, or else, just start fighting!

How can the princes have the confidence to fight? Then, I had to send 10 big princes, including Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, Joachim I, Elector of Brandenburg, Louis V, Elector of Palatine, Anthony, Duke of Lorraine, etc., to go out of the city in a hanging basket , came to the front to negotiate with Marin...

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