The Rise of the European Emperor

Why should Lübeck and Hamburg (mainly Hamburg) covet the Hanseatic merchants in Bremen? At first, Marin thought that he was mainly interested in the wealth of the Hanseatic merchants in Bremen. After all, business activities in this era had to pay taxes. But after understanding it in detail, Marin realized that the reason why Hamburg coveted the Hanseatic merchants in Bremen and desperately wanted to attract them was not for wealth and taxes.

Of course, wealth and taxes are partly to blame. The real reason is - the business channel of the Bremen people...

The two cities are both important Hanseatic cities on the northwestern coast of Germany, and both are big brothers, and the two sides are full of competition. However, the advantages of the two are different. The basic market of Hamburg is mainly in the German region, including the inland Elbe River Basin. For example, in the Saxony region of the Elbe River Basin (including the Electorate of Saxony and the Principality of Saxony) and the Archbishop of Magdeburg, the import and export of goods must go to Hamburg. Therefore, the coast of northwestern Germany and the Elbe River Basin belong to the basic market of Hamburg.

Bremen is different. Their basic base includes England and the Netherlands in addition to the Weser River Basin and parts of the northwestern coast of Germany. Even, the interests of overseas markets in England and the Netherlands are no less than local interests.

The Hanseatic League's trading posts in London and Antwerp, the main force is the Hanseatic merchants in Bremen. Although Hamburg also has its own influence in London and Antwerp, it is far inferior to Bremen. The main reason is that Bremen took overseas as the main development direction at the beginning. Therefore, in the overseas market in London and Antwerp, Bremen is the most respected.

As a result, the three big players of the Hanseatic League-Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen, Lübeck's basic market is the Baltic Sea region; Bremen's basic market is mainly England and the Netherlands, whose interests exceed local interests; And Hamburg, although the deputy leader of the Hanseatic League, also has influence in the Baltic Sea, England, and the Netherlands, but they all rank second... It is only Hamburg's strong local strength, relying on the trade rights of the Elbe River Basin, that barely suppresses it. Live in Bremen and become the second strongest in the Hanseatic League.

This time, Marin wants to move Bremen, and the most excited one is Hamburg. Because the Hamburgers really want Bremen's interests in England and the Netherlands...

In other words, whoever annexed those Bremen Hanseatic merchants would belong to the original Bremen city's commercial channels in England and Antwerp, the Netherlands.

If Hamburg poachs the Hanseatic merchants in Bremen who control the business channels in England and the Netherlands, it can be said that Hamburg's strength in the North Sea region will increase greatly. Maybe, relying on these channels, they will overtake Lübeck.

The people of Lübeck obviously knew this too, so they didn't agree at first. However, in order to achieve their goals, Hamburg did not hesitate to share these benefits with Lübeck equally, so Lübeck finally agreed to annex Bremen together. In addition, Lübeck was unwilling to offend Marin for Bremen. After all, Bremen committed suicide and took the initiative to be hostile to the North Sea country.

But Marlin knows,

The proposal of the Hamburgers is actually a trap-although Hamburg proposes to divide the Bremen Hanseatic merchants equally, but the Bremen Hanseatic merchants are not goods, they will have their own choices...

After all, the core interests of the Bremen Hanseatic merchants were in the North Sea, while Lübeck's core interests were in the Baltic Sea. If Lübeck and Hamburg recruit Bremen merchants at the same time, then Bremen merchants must give priority to Hamburg out of interest considerations. After all, Hamburg is also the port of the North Sea. And if it goes to Lübeck, where will the ship berth? Baltic Sea? In that case, it would be inconvenient to go to England and the Netherlands...

But Lübeck is not bad. After all, as long as there are businessmen willing to go, they will definitely bring a lot of capital. How important is capital? It can be understood by looking at the various overtures made by local officials of Huaxia to investors in later generations. Among other things, the tax revenue generated by commercial activities every year is free.

These days, there is no agricultural tax in Europe, only commercial tax and import and export duties. For rich Hanseatic merchants, import and export trade was the basic activity. Fooling a Hanseatic businessman to live and do business in Lübeck, the annual tax revenue will definitely increase a lot.

In order to get Lübeck to support the annexation of Bremen by the North Sea country, Hamburg also proposed a condition that Lübeck could not refuse-no matter what the intention of the Bremen businessmen, as long as Hamburg recruits half of the Bremen businessmen, they will immediately accept them. hand. Then, encourage the remaining Bremen Hanseatic merchants to go to Lübeck...

In view of the wealth and taxes brought by half of the Lübeck merchants, Lübeck finally agreed...

...

In fact, Marin was also quite envious of the commercial channels in England and the Netherlands controlled by Bremen merchants, and thought about keeping those Hanseatic merchants.

However, after thinking about it again and again, Marin still gave up recruiting those people. why? Because these Hanseatic merchants have too much political influence on the city of Bremen.

In Bremen, these Hanseatic merchants were not only local tycoons, but also political leaders. They climbed up and shouted, and there were many responders in Bremen.

If Marin wants to keep these people, then, in the future Bremen City, whoever has the final say is not necessarily the case. Even if these people dare not understand and oppose Marin, it is very easy to secretly encourage the citizens of Bremen to fight against Marin.

Don't underestimate the bourgeoisie of this era. The early revolutions were all created by the bourgeoisie. King Louis XVI of France was also guillotined by the citizens.

Of course the bourgeoisie are stupid, they are often bewitched and paced. However, if those Bremen Hanseatic merchants who are capable of bewitching them and rhythm are driven away, these citizens will also be leaderless. After all, although the bourgeoisie is the main force of the revolution, it is by no means the head of the revolution.

Therefore, for the long-term stability of Bremen City in the future, Marin had to reluctantly give up the business channels of those Bremen merchants and let them be recruited by Hamburg and Lübeck.

...

In fact, it was also difficult for Marin itself to attract those Bremen businessmen. Because, the two sides have long forged enmity...

At the beginning, after Marin established the Beihai Chamber of Commerce, he began to mainly deal in grain and salt, but he lived in peace with the Bremen merchants. However, with the expansion of the territory of the North Sea State, the conflict between Marin and the Bremen businessmen intensified.

This is mainly because, in order to keep domestic agricultural technology secret, Marin prohibits foreign businessmen from entering and exiting Beihai country casually. However, the original vassal states of the Beihai Kingdom were originally the commercial sphere of influence of the Hanseatic merchants in Bremen. Marin forbids foreign businessmen to come and go at will, which is tantamount to cutting off the wealth of many Bremen businessmen. It is strange that those Bremen businessmen can get along peacefully with Marin to cut off people's wealth, such as killing their parents.

The Beihai State is not a small vassal state, with an area of ​​tens of thousands of square kilometers, it ranks among the top in Germany. Previously, most of these territories were the commercial sphere of influence of the Hanseatic merchants in Bremen.

After Marin took control of these areas, he not only expelled all the Bremen merchants who belonged to "foreign merchants", but also established the North Sea Chamber of Commerce to compete with the Bremen people. It's fine for the North Sea Chamber of Commerce to monopolize the North Sea country's trade, but it has also extended its tentacles to London and established a branch that is no less than the Hanseatic League's trading post, which has driven the Bremen merchants crazy. If it weren't for the fact that they couldn't beat it, the Bremen businessman would have already laid hands on Marin. Therefore, it is not surprising that they turned to the princes of the Eight Kingdoms after seeing the opportunity.

...

After Marin blocked the Weser River, although the commercial activities of Bremen were hit hard. However, out of hostility and hatred towards Marin, the Bremen people did not give in. Marin sent people to contact those Bremen businessmen many times, but they all refused. Many Bremen businessmen even became ruthless-even if they did not do business, they would never give up Bremen.

As for the inability of merchant ships to enter and exit the Weser River? The merchants of Bremen decided—the big deal is that the merchant ships will not return to the Weser River...

As for the merchant ships trapped in the Weser, they preferred to abandon them. Then, another ship is purchased from the outside world to run the sea route. After all, a ship is very expensive for ordinary people, but for those Bremen luxury businessmen, it is not a big problem.

Therefore, even if the Weser River was blocked, Marin's early contact with the Bremen merchants was not successful. In addition, Hamburg's contact with the Hanseatic merchants in Bremen was not smooth.

Even some radical Hanseatic merchants in Bremen played the banner of "I would rather not do business than give up the city of Bremen".

Marin was furious when he saw this banner. So, he decided to resort to a more advanced method - cutting off food...

...

Indeed, although merchant ships cannot go to sea to do business, the people of Bremen can change ships to avoid Marin's blockade. The bases of Bremen merchants are mainly in England and Antwerp in the Netherlands. As long as they don't return to the home port of Bremen, Marin can't do anything about them.

However, in a big city like Bremen, people in the city always have to eat, right?

The city of Bremen has a population of nearly 20,000, and the daily consumption of food and vegetables is an astronomical figure. However, Bremen is a purely commercial city with no farmland at all. Therefore, the food in Bremen needs to be brought in from other places. And the largest food supplier is naturally Beihai State.

Even if the North Sea State does not provide food, food transported from other places into Bremen must pass through the North Sea State.

Therefore, Marin decided to cut off the traffic route of Bremen City...

The method is also very simple - to block the waterway from Bremen to the outside of the city...

...

For this reason, Marin suddenly announced that he would "strengthen the infrastructure construction near Bremen". Therefore, he ordered the blockade of the waterway upstream of Bremen City for centralized dredging. At the same time, the land routes around the city of Bremen were also completely blocked by the North Sea Army. The reason is to build roads...

This time, the city of Bremen was immediately unlucky...

In the past, relying on the Weser River, even if the North Sea country did not sell grain to Bremen, Bremen could still import grain from other countries through the Weser River.

Even if Marin blocked the mouth of the Weser River, the people of Bremen could pass through the Weser River and transport food from places such as Hesse and Thuringia in the upper reaches of the Weser River.

However, once Marin blocked the upper reaches of the Weser River, the city of Bremen panicked. Because, this means that Bremen has no channels for food to be shipped in...

"Starve to death or negotiate, you choose!" Marin gave an ultimatum...