The Rise of the European Emperor

Although the fleet of the counties of East Friesland returned to the naval port near Emden in a low-key manner, the Hamburg side was not low-key. Although ten ships were lost in the naval battle, in a blink of an eye, the Hamburgers gained more than 80 warships that Denmark surrendered, which was a huge profit.

When the Hamburg Fleet returned to Cuxhaven, Hamburg's outer port, with a large number of captured warships and Danish sailors, it caused a huge stir. This expedition to Denmark is known to many people in Hamburg. After all, Hamburg launched a general mobilization all over the country, recruiting a large number of merchant ships and sailors into service, and it is impossible to keep it secret.

However, the Hamburgers are not optimistic about this battle. After all, everyone knows Denmark's strength at sea. If you join forces with Lübeck early, there may be hope of victory, just like the sea battle in the 14th century. However, the Danes are obviously not fools, and it is impossible to allow the Hamburg fleet to merge with the Lübeck fleet. Therefore, most Hamburgers are pessimistic.

Unexpectedly, within 10 days of the fleet's departure, they met the main force of the Danish fleet. Moreover, the Danish fleet was completely defeated, and a large number of warships and sailors were captured, which had to make the Hamburgers excited.

As a result, the sales of beer in the pubs in the main city of Hamburg and the outer port of Cuxhaven have increased significantly. At this time, the sailors who participated in this naval battle were highly praised by all the people of Hamburg.

In the tavern, as long as they indicated that they had participated in this sea battle, the Hamburg sailors would have a lot of people invite them to drink beer. Of course, not for nothing. While drinking, tell the curious citizens about the exciting experience of the naval battle.

And it is precisely the sailors at the bottom who like to brag about their sailing and combat experience the most. Even if there is no wonderful past, there will be a wonderful experience. Not to mention, this naval battle is really exciting...

As a result, the taverns in Hamburg and Cuxhaven became a special event for the Hamburg sailors to brag about on this expedition. They were always invited to drink, and they boasted about the wonderful process of the naval battle over and over again.

Most of the sailors are bragging rights, obviously only responsible for containing the Danish fleet, but they boasted as "kill the Quartet, the Danes are scared to pee"...

But not every sailor likes to brag, and some sailors are more honest and honestly point out the task of the Hamburg Fleet this time - to hold the Danish fleet, and then let the East Frisian fleet raid from behind...

And the spectacular scene of the East Frisian Fleet's "tens of thousands of guns firing in unison" has gradually spread from the hamburger tavern...

You must know that Hamburg, as the second largest Hanseatic city in Germany, is full of businessmen and people from all over the world. Soon, the news spread.

According to the description of the sailors, East Frisian used about two or three hundred heavy artillery this time. This is not the most important, the important thing is that those heavy guns are made of expensive copper. Each gun is said to weigh more than 2,000 pounds, and 300 heavy guns are worth 40,000 pounds of silver, equivalent to 400,000 gold coins...

Then, the rumors turned sour...

People began to go crazy, saying that Marin, the count of East Frisland, had discovered a huge treasure of Viking pirates, and the treasure was filled with countless gold and filled houses.

Therefore, Marin has the money to hire tens of thousands of troops and equip the warships with expensive copper heavy artillery...

Rumors soon spread to Glückstadt, the capital of the Duchy of Holstein not far from Hamburg. At this time, Marin had just captured the palace in Glückstadt with his army. It was still a familiar formula. Donny Tserui, who was misunderstood by Marin as Dong Cunrui, used the method of burying a powder keg to blow up the gate of Glückstadt Palace. Then, the Great Shields swarmed in with a large number of East Frisian warriors, quickly defeated the recalcitrant Holstein garrison, and captured a large number of local nobles who were besieging the palace.

After taking down the recalcitrant Holstein Principality defenders and capturing a large number of local nobles, Marin was in a good mood.

But when I heard this rumor, I was in a bad mood...

This rumor is like putting Marin on the fire...

If there are rumors that Marin has a good way to make money and makes a lot of money, maybe no one will be jealous, that is Marin's ability. However, if it is rumored that Marin started his life because he found a treasure, that would be bad...

Windfall wealth always makes people envious, jealous, and hateful, just like in later generations, no one will be jealous of Jack Ma's money, because people rely on wisdom and hard work to obtain huge wealth. But there are definitely people who are jealous of those lucky winners who have won 5 million or even tens of millions, because these people make windfalls...

Therefore, many winners have to use stockings to cover their faces, just for fear of being targeted by someone with a heart and being robbed...

In the same way, if Marin makes a lot of money through his own efforts, although some people are jealous, it will not be much. But if it is believed that he has made a fortune because of some treasure, he will be hated. Maybe there will be someone secretly coveting their wealth...

Marin can't wait to kill the person who made up this news, because this is obviously hurting him...

In fact, the people who spread the news are really trolling Marin. And this businessman named Widester is a spy from the Duchy of Saxony. Hamburg, as a trading capital, naturally has people everywhere. In the Principality of Saxony, many businessmen will naturally come to Hamburg to do business. Moreover, many Saxon businessmen not only do business here, but also help the Duke of Saxony to inquire about news.

After hearing the rumors of the naval battle in the tavern, the clever Widster decided to use the rumors to trick Marin. After all, East Frisian counties are the bitter masters of the principality of Saxony.

Then, the rumor that Marin found a huge treasure of Viking pirates spread like this...

Because Marin pays attention to blocking news, only the nobles in the country know about his wealth, and not many people in the outside world know about him. Moreover, in East Friesland, there is only one open port in Emden. In other areas, very few foreigners set foot in. Therefore, the intelligence of the counties of East Friesland is not easily obtained by other countries. Even those sailors with big mouths, because they were selected directly from the youth of Frisian fishermen and trained strictly by Marin, generally do not talk nonsense. Because, in sailor school training, "keep your mouth shut" is an important rule...

But Hamburg is different, it is a free trade capital, and there are all kinds of people here. Sailors were also more accustomed to going to the pub for a beer and bragging after each voyage. Here, rumors always spread fast...

Marin knew very well that if he didn't refute the rumor, he might be targeted. Then, when the enemy's spies discover their salt-boiled centers on Baltrum Island and Texel Island, their weaknesses will be exposed to the public...

Because it is near the sea, the salt boiling center is vulnerable to attack by pirates or enemy ships. Therefore, Marin is unwilling to have his purse discovered anyway.

Therefore, Marin decided to immediately refute the rumor...

So, Marin recruited Sauer, the leader of the scout with the army, and asked him to send hundreds of scouts to the taverns in several prosperous Hanseatic cities such as Hamburg and Bremen to spread the news that East Frisian The "copper" used in casting guns was purchased from India.

In order to clear his suspicion of "discovering the treasure", Marin decided to expose the secret of the low price of copper in India...

As a result, people learned that the price of copper in India is only a fraction of that in Europe. Very cheap. The reason why the country of East Frisian is equipped with so many copper cannons is because they bought a few ships of copper back...

As for why Marin's merchant ships did not purchase spices in large quantities in India, the reason is very simple - Spain does not allow...

After the news spread, many people suddenly realized. In particular, many big businessmen who have been to Spain to purchase spices know that this is indeed the case. Those spice merchants who have been to Spain are indeed on the Spanish side, and have heard that the Spanish twin kings have monopolized the Indian spice trade. And Marin Hoffman, as a barbarian count in Spain, was not allowed to buy spice in large quantities, so he had to buy a lot of copper back. Unexpectedly, these coppers were "cast into artillery"...

But what Marin didn't expect was that because of this rumor, Marin sent Columbus to lead the Spanish fleet and take them to India. The news was also made public. Then, Marin was hated by another maritime power, Portugal...

Portugal has always believed that Columbus was assigned by the Spanish royal family to discover the Indian route. However, through this rumor-refuting incident, they discovered that Columbus was assigned by Marin, Count of East Frisian, to discover India. Then, he also sent Columbus to the Spanish fleet to act as a leading party to grab business with the Portuguese...

As a result, Marin was completely hated by the Portuguese. Now, if Marin dares to pass through the Portuguese waters by boat and is known to the Portuguese, he will definitely be out of the warships, come to destroy him, or even be caught and slashed with thousands of pieces...