The Rise of the European Emperor

It is easy to find little flickering missionaries sent to the eight vassal states, because Bishop Taylor has cultivated disciples in the seminary of Aurich University every year, and there is no shortage of talents. After all, the 8 vassal states are all German states, and it is enough to speak German.

Only in Ukraine, because ordinary people speak Ukrainian, it is more difficult to do. Therefore, Marin needs to send people to the Kyiv area and hire a few Ukrainian-speaking missionaries to help train the little fudge missionaries sent to Ukraine in the future. However, it is estimated that it will take at least two or three years for the little flickering missionaries to learn Ukrainian language. This is because some people with the highest language talent need to be selected. If the aptitude is average, it is estimated that it will take several years to learn Ukrainian. Therefore, things in Ukraine can't be rushed, so we can only wait.

But for one thing, Marin couldn't wait...

Soon Johnny, the envoy sent to Lübeck and Hamburg, came back. As soon as he came back, Johnny came to report to Marin.

"How? What did Lubeck and Hamburg say?" Marin asked eagerly.

Johnny nodded and said:

"Lübeck and Hamburg both agreed, but they have conditions..."

"What conditions?" Marin was not surprised, but he would be surprised if there were no conditions.

"They asked the Archduke that you should not use force against Bremen, but instead blockade and persecute. Then, they will send people to recruit wealthy businessmen from Bremen to leave Bremen and settle in Lübeck and Hamburg. Of course, promise to immigrate to Lübeck. The rich Bremen merchants of Baker and Hamburg, you must not stop them, and you must not snatch their property..." Johnny said the result of the mission.

Yes, after the war, Marin sent Johnny to Lübeck and Hamburg, the deputy leaders of the Hanseatic League, to discuss the issue of dealing with Bremen.

Marin is a master of vengeance. Previously, Bremen sided with the alliance of the princes of the eight countries when the princes of the eight countries invaded the North Sea Kingdom, and tried to hinder the third army from crossing the Weser River, which angered Marin.

Obviously, the Hanseatic city of Bremen chose to stand on the side of Beihai Kingdom's mortal enemy and hope to see Beihai Kingdom's demise at the time of Beihai Kingdom's life and death... How can this make Marin not angry?

So, after the war, Marin began to think about liquidating Bremen.

In addition to this feud, Bremen's location is also important. The city of Bremen is located in the southeast of the County of Oldenburg and the southwest of the province of Bremen. Originally, it was not within the territory of Beihai Kingdom.

But after Marin annexed the Duchy of Lüneburg, Bremen became the "China" of the North Sea. Moreover, it is located in the core position.

No one would like to have an uncontrolled area in their confidant, let alone a Hanseatic commercial city with developed trade.

How far did Bremen develop? In the Hanseatic League, in addition to Lübeck and Hamburg, the "one king and one queen" of the Hanseatic League, Bremen is next, and big cities such as Cologne are slightly inferior.

It's just that the city of Bremen has a fatal flaw - its status is unknown...

What is unknown status? It means that the city of Bremen has no independent political status. Although Bremen is a veteran city of the Hanseatic League, in terms of political status, Bremen is really average.

Unlike Lübeck and Hamburg, which have their own seats in the House of Lords, the city of Bremen has not yet had an independent legal status.

It should be pointed out that the Hanseatic city and the imperial free city are two concepts. Hanseatic Free City only means that the city has joined the Hanseatic League, a commercial alliance, and has no special political rights. The Imperial Free City is a city that can send representatives to vote in the Imperial Parliament. In other words, the Hanseatic Free City only represents the economic status of the city. The Imperial Free City, on the other hand, represents political status.

Among them, the status of the Hanseatic Free City is decided by the Hanseatic League city representatives to vote whether to agree to join. Of course, the city must be an important trade port city along the coast or along the river.

The imperial free city is a free city authorized by the emperor. Of course, the premise is that these cities themselves are independent from their lords and are already "free cities". The emperor then authorized it to be an "imperial city" and had a seat in the imperial parliament.

The so-called "free cities" refer to those cities that have gained autonomy from their original lords. Generally speaking, the autonomy of these free cities is purchased by the merchants and citizens of the city from the original lords, and they no longer accept the jurisdiction of the original lords.

The "free city" is the basis for the Hanseatic Free City and the Imperial Free City. Generally speaking, such "free cities" are mostly church vassal states. Because most of the church princes were greedy for money, they were more likely to be bought off, and allowed the city to govern itself.

This is the case, for example, in the city of Bremen. Originally, the capital of the Archdiocese of Bremen was in the city of Bremen. However, the commercial city of Bremen spent a lot of money to buy back the autonomy of Bremen from the Archbishop of Bremen. The Archbishop of Bremen also moved the capital of the Archdiocese of Bremen from the city of Bremen to Bremer Vorde.

The same is true for the Archbishopric of Cologne. After receiving the money from the city of Cologne, the Archbishop of Cologne also moved his seat from Cologne to Bonn.

But this is not enough. This kind of free city can only be recognized by the relevant vassal states, and has no independent status in politics. The so-called "imperial free city" also requires the authorization of the emperor. Once the emperor authorizes a free city to be an imperial free city, the city immediately becomes an independent entity politically, with a status equal to that of a vassal state, and has its own seat in the imperial vassal court. And this is probably one of the few privileges of the Holy Roman Emperor.

However, the emperor generally did not easily grant the status of "imperial city" to a free city. Because, giving a free city the title of "Imperial City" means that the city's sovereignty has been lost from the original vassal state. For those princes, this is a very shameful thing, especially offending people.

Although it is said that those free cities have redeemed the right to self-government from their respective lords. However, its sovereignty still belongs to the original lord. Sovereignty cannot be easily given up. Granting the title of an imperial city to a certain city is equivalent to depriving the city's sovereignty from the hands of the original lord, which is a special slap in the face.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, unless the emperor has a bad relationship with the lord, he will not easily grant the title of "imperial city" to a free city within the lord's jurisdiction.

Under normal circumstances, the emergence of an imperial free city is generally the product of a power struggle between the emperor and the lord to which the free city belongs. For hundreds of years, the emperors and princes of the Holy Roman Empire scrambled for power and strife, and then a group of imperial cities appeared.

But the grant of Imperial City is not free. In order to obtain the title of an imperial city, the city generally has to give money to the emperor. The steps are like this - a free city lent a lot of money to the emperor, and the emperor couldn't pay it back. In addition, the emperor has a bad relationship with the princes to which the free city belongs... Then, wanting to repay the debt and at the same time attacking the princes to which the free city belongs, he gave the free city the title of "Imperial City"...

For example, Lübeck and Hamburg, for example, have previously obtained the status of "imperial free cities" by means of money redemption. However, Hamburg originally belonged to the Principality of Holstein under the control of Denmark. Although Hamburg has long been authorized by the emperor, Denmark has always denied Hamburg's "imperial city" status, believing that Hamburg is a city under the Duchy of Holstein. . Originally, it was not until 1768 that Denmark relentlessly recognized the status of Hamburg as an "imperial free city".

But in this time and space, because Marin has long since taken the Principality of Holstein from Denmark through war. As a result, Hamburg's imperial free city gained widespread recognition long after Denmark's defeat.

...

However, the city of Bremen, which is also a big-shot city of the Hanseatic League, has never been awarded the title of "Imperial City". Because the Archbishopric of Bremen, to which the city of Bremen belonged at the time, was one of the two "Archbishoprics" in Germany (the other being the Archbishopric of Magdeburg).

From the inside of the church, the status of the Archbishop of Bremen and the Archbishop of Margothenburg is higher than that of the Archbishop of Mainz, the Archbishop of Cologne, and the Archbishop of Trier. But the last three archbishops have the title of "Elector", and the secular power is much larger than that of the Archbishop of Bremen and the Archbishop of Margothenburg.

But in any case, the Archbishop of Bremen and the Archbishop of Margothenburg are the top leaders in the church. Therefore, even the emperor would not dare to offend easily. Therefore, even though the cities of Bremen and Magdeburg have long been the leaders of Hanseatic commercial cities, they have never been granted the status of "imperial cities" by the emperor.

Originally, the city of Bremen was awarded the status of an "imperial city", and it was not until the "Thirty Years War" period in the 17th century that the then emperor Ferdinand III issued the "Linz Proof" confirming Bremen. The status of the imperial city of May.

But at that time, the Archbishopric of Bremen was already a Lutheran Protestant vassal state. And Ferdinand III was a staunch Catholic emperor, and naturally he was not afraid of offending the Archbishop of Bremen. Because at that time the Archbishop of Bremen was already a Protestant prince and a mortal enemy of the Catholic camp. Recognizing the status of Bremen as an "imperial city" is to attack the then Archbishop of Bremen.

Of course, that's what happened in the original history. In this time and space, after Marin exchanged territory with Stendal County, which was ceded from the Electoral State of Brandenburg, and the Archbishopric of Bremen, the sovereignty of the city of Bremen is actually still in the province of Bremen, the North Sea country. hand.

That is, although the city of Bremen is the bigwig among the Hanseatic cities. But the sovereignty of the city of Bremen is actually still in the province of Bremen. To put it more directly - the sovereignty of Bremen City is actually in the hands of the North Sea State. And Marin can be regarded as the sovereign owner of Bremen...

Before, Marin didn't care about it, but the people of Bremen did...

The reason why the city of Bremen stood on the side of the princes of the eight countries this time is because the princes of the eight countries promised to allow the city of Bremen to gain sovereignty after the war. At that time, Bremen can pay the emperor to buy the status of "Imperial City", and the princes of the eight countries who have won the North Sea State will publicly express their support...

In addition, the princes of the eight countries also promised that most of the future commercial orders will be handed over to the Hanseatic merchants in Bremen...

As a result, the business oligarchs in Bremen were suddenly tempted. You know, Marin did not mean to give sovereignty to the city of Bremen (in fact, Marin did not notice this). At the same time, Marin's orders were basically given to Hamburg and Lübeck, rather than to the closer Bremen, which has long aroused the dissatisfaction of Bremen businessmen. Therefore, this led to the city of Bremen finally standing on the side of the princes of the eight countries...

Of course, under the circumstances at that time, Beihai Kingdom had no chance of winning. After all, the people of Bremen did not expect this to be a trap set by Marin, and thought that Beihai Kingdom would lose. So, they're on the wrong side...

Standing on the wrong team, but it will be liquidated afterwards. No, Marin intends to settle with them...

But Bremen is the top big city in the Hanseatic League. To liquidate Bremen, Marin cannot bypass the Hanseatic League. Otherwise, Marin will lose the support of dozens of imperial cities headed by Lübeck at the future imperial conference.

So, Marin sent Johnny to Lübeck and Hamburg to secretly discuss the annexation of Bremen with the two cities. Of course, it is not called annexation. Because the sovereignty of Bremen City is already in the hands of Marin. At best, it can only be considered that Marin has regained the autonomy of the city of Bremen that was originally granted to the city of Bremen by the Archdiocese of Bremen.

As for the two leaders of the Hanseatic League, Hamburg and Lübeck, their attitudes were different. Hamburg is all hands and feet in favor of Marine swallowing Bremen, while Lübeck is hesitant.

Why? Because Hamburg and Bremen are two major Hanseatic cities, both in the northwest region of Germany. Although the two cities belonged to the Hanseatic League, they secretly competed with each other for commercial dominance in the northwestern region of Germany (mainly the North Sea coast). Although Hamburg has a greater geographical advantage, Bremen is not weak.

So, Hamburg would like Marin to help them remove Bremen as a competitor. They naturally agree very much that Marin wants to touch Bremen.

The city of Lübeck is different. Lübeck is a commercial city in the Baltic Sea region, and the commercial competition along the North Sea coast has nothing to do with them. Therefore, the Lübeck people have an ambiguous attitude towards Mariten and Leimen.

In the end, the Hamburg side came up with a killer move-to join forces with Lübeck to recruit Hanseatic businessmen from Bremen...

You know, for a Hanseatic city, its core group is those Hanseatic merchants. Without those Hanseatic merchants, Bremen would be no different from an ordinary German city. Therefore, Hanseatic merchants are the core of Hanseatic cities. Because, Hanseatic merchants mastered the main wealth of Hanseatic cities, as well as - commercial channels. These two are the most important in the Hanseatic city.

In order to eliminate the rival of Bremen, Hamburg put forward two proposals to poach the main Hanseatic businessmen of Bremen together, which finally moved Lübeck. So, they asked Marin to poach the Hanseatic merchants from Bremen.

Although Marin was also very jealous of the wealth of those Hanseatic merchants in Bremen, he also knew that if he robbed those Hanseatic merchants in Bremen, he might offend the entire Hanseatic League. So, he finally agreed to the demands of Lübeck and Hamburg to poach the Bremen Hanseatic businessman. Anyway, for him, the future Bremen should be the site of the Beihai Chamber of Commerce under his name. The original Hanseatic merchants in Bremen were poached, and it was considered to make room for the North Sea Chamber of Commerce in Marin...

In this way, Marin privately, Lübeck and Hamburg, without the knowledge of Bremen, reached an agreement to divide up Bremen.

According to the agreement, Lübeck and Hamburg will poach the main Hanseatic businessman in Bremen. However, the merchant ships and sailors that originally belonged to the city of Bremen were left to Marin. Of course, those merchant ships, Marin will pay to buy them. The merchant ships and sailors that originally belonged to the city of Bremen were the strategic resources Marin valued the most...