The Rise of the European Emperor

The German princes in Basel knew very well that if there was a wall blocking them, they still had hope of fighting Marin. After all, they had 37,000 people in their hands. Although they couldn't beat the Beihai army in the wild, they could survive with the city wall.

However, once the city is broken, the function of the city wall is gone. At that time, it will depend on the actual combat power. This point, the coalition forces of the princes knew it well, and knew that the coalition forces were definitely not opponents. What's more, there are 20,000 Habsburg troops in the south of the city.

In desperation, Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, had to take all the princes out of the city through the blasted north gate, and came to Marin again to ask for peace talks. Of course, talking about peace talks is actually asking for peace.

Looking at the dozens of princes present, Marin had the urge to tie these people up as meat tickets. However, he still suppressed this idea.

If he really did that, those church princes would have no choice but to turn their faces. In addition, the French will definitely stop the Italian plan and solve him first.

At this time, Marin was incapable of fighting against the alliance of French and German princes. Even if Marin survived the enemy's crazy counterattack, he might not be able to eat those vassal states. At that time, it may be cheaper for the Habsburg family. After all, Maximilian I occupies the title of emperor and righteousness, and has an advantage over Marin. Also, Frundsberg also learned the North Sea country's military training method. Once there is enough money and food to expand the army, the Habsburg family can become Marin's strong enemy...

Therefore, Marin suppressed the ambition in his heart, and greeted the princes politely...

"Hey, what a peerless genius! It's a pity that he's not one of us..." Seeing Marin with a warm smile on his face, Frederick III was filled with emotion.

After the two parties sat down, Joachim I, Elector of Brandenburg suddenly asked:

"Grand Duke Marin, I would like to know how you destroyed the north city gate. We covered the gate with tinplate, and it is difficult to deal with shelling. Also, how could the gate be burned so easily?"

The Hohenzollern family had always favored martial arts, and King Joachim I was puzzled by the fact that the North Gate was destroyed so quickly, so he asked directly before the negotiations began.

Marin rolled his eyes when he heard this—you bastard, I will tell you this kind of secret?

So, Marin gave a fake answer...

"Well... probably the tinplate covering the north gate is too thin. I sent people to the city gate under the cover of a car with a tin roof, and used mine picks to cut open the iron sheet on the city gate. Then, with flammable weeds, oil, and..."

"Sulphur, right? We've all smelled it!" Joachim I said firmly. After all, sulfur smells bad when it burns. Standing on the top of the city, you can smell it from afar.

Marin nodded, but his heart was full of joy-this "assist" is good, I just want you to pay attention to sulfur and ignore the variety of "oil". Of course, I won't tell the truth... As for the nonsense of "cutting open the iron sheet with a mining pick", Marin is not worried about being exposed. Because, after the city gate was destroyed by the fire, the tinplate sheets had long been deformed under high temperature burning, and it is impossible to see how they were destroyed before. Even if the princes wanted to verify it, it would be difficult to do so...

Later, in order to further fool the princes, Marin looked lucky and said:

"Maybe it's luck. You know, it's winter and it's relatively dry. After the iron sheet on the gate was cut open, the gate was burned down because of the fire. Actually, I didn't expect It can burn down the city gate. Maybe the wood quality of this city gate is not good... Originally, I planned to use cannons to bombard the city gate after a while. think……"

The noses of the dozens of vassals present were suddenly crooked - paralyzed, our luck is really bad...

Then, they thought again—it seems that the iron sheet of the city gate must be thicker in the future, otherwise, it will be bad if it is easily cut open... They don't know, no matter how thick the iron sheet is, it is useless.

Pure iron doors are useless. In front of Wang Shui, all metals are clouds...

...

Next, negotiations are much easier. Because they were afraid of being wiped out by Marin, the princes did not dare to pretend this time. Regarding Marin's desire to annex the 8 vassal states, they only protested symbolically, and then there was no more. After all, "Dead friends never die poor people" is also common in Europe.

Of course, Marin promised that he would not abolish the titles of the eight princes and retain their status as great nobles. It's just that their feudal kingdom has nothing to do with them in the future.

Then, it's time to get paid. According to the agreement, Marin was only willing to give a small amount of money to support the big nobles at first. That amount of money is probably not enough for the average baron family to spend.

At this time, Frederick III, the leader of the princes, "stepped forward" and argued with Marin. In the end, Marin was overwhelmed by Frederick III's "magnificence and righteousness" and agreed to increase the treatment tenfold, so that the eight princes who had lost their rights could continue to spend their days and nights in the future. Of course, their scope of activities will definitely be restricted to prevent them from doing things in the future.

Only one person is an exception - that is Frederick III's brother-in-law Brunswick - Henry, Duke of Lüneburg.

After discussing the treatment of the eight princes, Frederick III suddenly proposed that he would buy the land of the former Earl of Gelden with 200,000 gold coins to accommodate his brother-in-law who lost the Principality of Brunswick-Lüneburg Duke Henry's family. Moreover, it is the Earl of Gelden, which is not controlled by Marin's North Sea State...

Marin pretended to be unhappy at first, but under the persuasion of Frederick III's "hard-heartedness", he finally agreed to hand over the control of the County of Gelden to Duke Henry for 300,000 gold coins.

Some other princes originally wanted to intercede with the other seven captured princes. After all, the nobles married each other, and the other seven princes also had many princes by marriage. But when they saw so much money, they all flinched. You must know that the reason why Frederick III became the leader of the princes was that apart from his status as an elector, the electorate of Saxony had developed business and was relatively rich, which was also an important reason. They don't have that much money to buy fiefs for their relatives, so they can only secretly bless their unlucky relatives... Of course, they don't know that Marin will never accept money from Frederick III in private...

...

After the two sides negotiated, Marin left the army, led a group of nobles, and under the protection of 1,000 Lancers, rode northward to Worms to participate in the imperial conference temporarily convened by Archbishop Uriel of Mainz to discuss the North Sea State's 8 The annexation of a vassal state. Of course, because Frederick III helped his brother-in-law buy the Earl of Gelden, now it is the matter of Marin's annexation of the seven countries...

Because everything was discussed, the meeting naturally had no disturbances. Even the secular princes who opposed Marin compromised, what else can the neutral church princes say? As for the Federation of Free Cities of the Empire (the most important being the Hanseatic League) belonging to a third-party force, its chief and deputy leaders are all allies of the North Sea State, so how could they object? Even if there are a few Hanseatic cities such as Bremen who oppose it, most of the imperial cities support Marin...

Then, at this interim meeting of the empire held in the winter of 1512, the princes of each family approved Marin's closure of the other 7 princes except the Earl of Gelden with more than two-thirds of the votes in favor (7 8 vassals, 8 feudal states. Because Count Antonios owns both the Counties of Schaumburg and the Counties of Ravensburg). Moreover, Duke Henry, who obtained the Earl of Gelden, was also paid 300,000 gold coins by Elector Frederick III of Saxony...

After getting the approval of the Imperial Parliament, Marin truly completed the annexation of the 8 feudal states of the 7 princes. In the future, if someone asks for trouble again, Marin can speak with a written document recognized by the Imperial Parliament.

After the goal was achieved, Marin didn't talk nonsense, and began to withdraw his troops after returning to Basel. Next, Marin's first task is to complete the digestion and absorption of the eight vassal states, making them an inseparable part of the North Sea state.

At the same time as the army of the North Sea State retreated, there were 20,000 people from the Habsburg family in the south of Basel. Without the army of the North Sea State, these people would not be able to beat the 37,000 people of the coalition forces of the princes anyway. They might as well return to Aarau ...

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