The Rise of the European Emperor

Once you know what the problem is, it's easy to do. People in this era may not have many solutions, but Malin, who has experienced the economic wave of China in later generations, has many solutions.

"It's simple, give more benefits to local churches and even secular princes, and sales will go up immediately!"

But Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici hesitated:

"I'm afraid it's difficult for me to explain to Rome about distributing the money that originally belonged to the church to the place..."

Marlin suddenly laughed and gave Giovanni Di Lorenzo de' Medici an account:

"Brother Giovanni, I'll give you an account! Look, the annual sales of 'indulgences' in Germany is now 30,000 gold coins, right? According to the ratio of 80%, the Holy See can get 24,000 gold coins, right? "

Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici nodded again and again, and Marin continued:

"If you give the place half the share..."

"This is impossible, the Cardinals will kill me!" Giovanni Di Lorenzo De' Medici shook his head after hearing this.

Marin smiled and said in his heart - what's impossible? Originally, in 1514, Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, who had become Pope Leo X in 1514, had secretly reached a secret agreement with the then Archbishop of Mainz - Archbishop of Mainz Albert of Brandenburg was responsible for underwriting "indulgences" worth 500,000 gulden. Half of the sale proceeds to Pope Leo X and the other half to Albert III...

At that time, Albert III was not only the Archbishop of Mainz, but also the Archbishop of Magdeburg, and also the Bishop of the Bishopric of Halberstadt.

Logically, this behavior was illegal (at that time, one person in the church usually held two positions). But he was willing to spend money, obtained the approval of the Holy See, and also got the position of the Archbishop of Mainz, becoming one of the seven emperors of Germany and the most honorable church leader (The Archbishop of Mainz is the German Archbishop of the Holy Roman Empire. speaker). But in order to get the post of Archbishop of Mainz, Albert III owed a lot of debt.

In order to repay the debt, he hit it off with Leo X, who was promoting the "indulgence" at the time. The two were embarrassed and made a private agreement-Albert III was responsible for the sale of "indulgences" in the Archbishopric of Mainz, Magdeburg and Halberstadt under his rule, with a total of For 500,000 Gulden Gold Coins, the two share the proceeds equally...

Just in these three bishoprics, Leo X earned 250,000 gold coins, not to mention all of Germany? At that time, Leo X was willing to share half of the benefits,

It also completely ignited the enthusiasm of Archbishop Albert III. Subsequently, Albert III sent a Dominican friar named John Tezer as a representative to sell indulgences, and the sales of "indulgences" were fully rolled out in the three bishoprics under his rule.

According to historical records, at that time, John 'Tezel was very pompous. Every time he goes to a city, he has to make a big show——

Whenever Tezel's "Indulgence" sales team was fast into town, the first thing that came forward was a large velvet encyclical of the Pope selling indulgences, and all the priests, city officials, and school principals led the students and the city. Men and women, greeted with flags and candles, followed behind the envoy and sang hymns, and church bells all over the city rang. After the welcoming ceremony, Tezel and his envoys would come to the main church in the city, hang the banner with the Pope's encyclical in front of the church, and then spread out the stalls to sell "indulgences"...

Johann Tetzel is a smart guy who knows how to build momentum and show off. So, his sales have achieved great results. And of course, notorious in history as a great background villain for Martin Luther against "Indulgence"...

Because things were too big, Martin Luther, the great god, was finally brought out, and a vigorous religious reform was set off...

...

Malin silently calculated that the three vassal states of Mainz, Magdeburg and Halberstadt would be able to sell "indulgences" of 500,000 gold coins... Although it was only a few years ago Sales, but it is not a problem for each vassal to sell tens of thousands of gold coins a year...

And Germany has more than 300 vassal states, and there are hundreds of vassal states on the scale. Then, it seems that it is not difficult to sell more than one million gold coins of "indulgences" every year... If you use a little more force, it is possible to sell 2 million gold coins a year...

Then, Marin told this data to Giovanni Di Lorenzo de' Medici. Old Joe opened his mouth wide in surprise:

"The annual sales volume exceeds one million? You have to have 500,000 gold coins for half of it!" Obviously, Lao Qiao was stunned by this number.

You must know that the annual fiscal revenue of the Papal State is only 200,000 to 300,000 gold coins. The main income of the church is still through the

The party's very unstable "tithe" is handed over. But because of the serious corruption of the church, many cardinals divided the tithes that should have been sent to the Holy See to the local bishops. This leads to the fact that the church does not receive much money each year, but in theory, the church should have an income of one or two million gold coins every year...

If Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici could sell millions of gold coins of "indulgences" in Germany every year and return to Rome with more than 500,000 gold coins, it is estimated that the entire Holy See will Impressed by him... And then, the pope's choice made me a lot...

"Tell me, what exactly are you doing?" Giovanni Di Lorenzo de' Medici's eyes were already very red...

...

"It's very simple, the benefits are shared! As long as you are willing to give up half of the benefits, it is estimated that those archbishops will be very happy to cooperate with you. The more the Holy See earns, the more they earn. Because everyone earns about the same... …”

Giovanni Di Lorenzo de Medici thought for a long time, nodded and agreed with Marin. However, he asked again:

"This move of yours is naturally no problem in the vassal states of the church. However, more than half of the vassal states in Germany are secular states. The teachings there are suppressed by the princes, even if the local church wants to vigorously promote the 'indulgence'. Sales, those princes will not agree!"

"It's also simple. Isn't it because the princes have no benefit, so they will object? Just share the benefits with them! For example, the Holy See takes half of the proceeds from the sale of the 'indulgences', the church in the secular princely country takes 40%, and keeps 10%. Give it to the local princes. If you have money to take it, why don't they cooperate?"

In fact, Marin originally wanted to tell a quarter of it to the secular princes. However, Marin worried that the secular princes had become powerful after taking too much money. So, this ratio is compressed. Because only if the church eats more than the princes will cause the dissatisfaction of the secular princes. Then, laying the groundwork for the later Reformation...

The reason why Marin instigated Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici to sell "indulgences" is to create a contradiction and let Germany carry out religious reform in advance. If the secular princes are fed, and the secular princes and the church are united, then reform a P?

To put it bluntly, the religious reform in history was caused by the uneven distribution of the spoils between the church and the nobility. The nobles take too little, the church takes all, and it is strange that the nobles do not turn their backs.

Therefore, although Marin asked the Holy See to share the benefits, but only 10%, although the secular princes will cooperate with the sales of "indulgences" in the early stage, but after a long time, because of the uneven distribution of spoils, those secular princes will definitely accumulate dissatisfaction of. When dissatisfaction accumulates to a certain level, it will be a revolution...

As for the church will not give up a lot of benefits to appease the nobles? nonexistent! The church of this era is the embodiment of greed, and it will never give benefits to the nobles. Therefore, contradictions will definitely accumulate, and will eventually break out. Marin, on the other hand, did his best to secretly promote the outbreak of this contradiction. Then, taking advantage of the religious war, the territory was massively expanded...

In order to promote the sales of "indulgences", Marin also recommended John Tezer, a future "indulgence salesman" to Giovanni Di Lorenzo de' Medici, and asked him to assist him Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici spread indulgences throughout Germany in advance to stimulate the full arrival of religious wars...