The Rise of the European Emperor

Marin's plan drawings were quickly delivered to Hamburg and Lubeck, but they were rejected by Lubeck. Although it is said that Kiel is now also a subordinate city of Lübeck, the core of Lübeck must still be Lübeck City. Therefore, in the eyes of Lübeck MPs, it is better for the canal to go straight to Lübeck.

On the other side of Hamburg, the same idea. Although it was easier to dig a canal between Rendsburg and Kiel, they were not very happy because of the lack of access to Hamburg. When the news from Lübeck came, the Hamburg parliament also rejected Marin's proposal. However, Weizmann's proposal to exchange Dietmarschen for Rendsburg was passed by the Hamburg Parliament.

Why does this result? Mainly because there is no agricultural tax in this era in Europe, only commercial tax...

No matter how vast the countryside is, there is no tax, and the benefits are taken away by the estate owners and nobles. For the Hamburg Parliament, no matter how vast the countryside is, it is not as important as a Hanseatic city that can collect commercial taxes.

Therefore, the Hamburg parliament finally decided - to trade Dietmarschen County for the Hanseatic commercial city of Rendsburg.

Marin was a little stunned—for a county of more than 1,000 square kilometers, in exchange for a small town with only a few square kilometers in the suburbs, did the janitors teach mathematics to the Hamburg parliamentarians?

But who cares about him, the one who benefits in the end is himself. Although there may be no tax in the short term, Marin believes that the one who will benefit more in the end must be himself. After all, a Dietmarschen County is basically one-third the size of East Friesland. As for the local resistance force, it was never in Marin's eyes. As long as you prevent the opponent from repeating the same old tricks and come to "flood the Seven Armies", your side will definitely outperform the opponent. You know, Ditmarschen resisted Denmark last time, but only used 1,000 main militiamen and 3,000 people. In front of Marin's army of 20,000 people, this person is absolutely unstoppable.

As for Woolf Esbrand, who used the flood to drown thousands of Danish elites, Marin was very interested to meet him. After all, in Europe, which is accustomed to head-to-head encounters, it is rare to come up with a tactic to drown the enemy by breaking the embankment.

...

In this way, Marin handed over the Hanseatic commercial city of Rendsburg, which had just been captured, to Hamburg. Then, he continued to take the large army and began to march to the rest of the Principality of Schleswig.

The Duchy of Schleswig is not only about 5,200 square kilometers of land north of the Eide River in the later Schleswig-Holstein state, but also includes about 3,900 square kilometers north of the border between Germany and Denmark. Many square kilometers of land. That land was later called South Jutland. If you count South Jutland, Denmark, the area of ​​the Principality of Schleswig reaches a total of 9,200 square kilometers.

Of course, the Principality of Schleswig was actually a vassal state of Denmark for a long time. In 1460, Christian I of the Oldenburg family, after inheriting the Duchy of Holstein and the Duchy of Schleswig at the same time, declared that the two duchies were united and inseparable. Although two palace ministers were set up, stationed in Glückstadt and Schleswig respectively, according to the Treaty of Ribe signed by Christian I in 1460, the two principalities were "never separated".

But neither Marin nor Lübeck and Hamburg take the Ribe Treaty very seriously. After all, it was a treaty signed by man, not God's will, and there was nothing that could not be changed. The big deal is to force the current king of Denmark, Hans, to sign another treaty...

In fact, the situation in the Principality of Schleswig is very complicated. In the later generations of South Jutland, the people living in the region are all Danes. In the area south of South Jutland, all Germans live. Therefore, when Germany and Denmark signed an agreement in the 19th century, the southern half of Schleswig was assigned to Germany, and the northern half was all Danish.

Assigned to Denmark. That is to say, the Schleswig area, with all Germans in the south and Danes in the north, are two completely different places.

But Marin wasn't too worried. Because, in this era, nationalism has not yet arisen, and people do not care much about the differences between Germans and Danes. As long as they are nice to the common people and let them live a good life, they don't care who rules them. The rise of real nationalism is still a matter of the 19th century. Right now, there is nothing wrong with the unification of the Catholic region in Europe. As long as it is not united with the Orthodox Church or the Green Church, there will be no major problems. Of course, rulers can't oppress the people too much.

As for the question of whether the King of Denmark agrees or not, Marin is not worried. First, he took the army and occupied Schleswig and Jutland. If King Hans of Denmark refuses to cede the Duchy of Schleswig and Holstein, then the entire Jutland will not be returned to Denmark...

The Principality of Schleswig is mainly composed of several cities such as Schleswig, Husum, Eckenförde, Flensburg, Ribe, and Auburn. Of course, these cities are not big, only Schleswig and Flensburg are on the table. The others are small cities with underdeveloped commerce.

Among them, Husum is the capital of North Frisian county. In North Frisian County, which covers an area of ​​more than 2,000 square kilometers, most people are Frisian and speak Frisian. This is one of the important reasons why Marin is willing to ask for the Duchy of Schleswig. After all, the Frisian fishermen were an important source of sailors for him to dominate the ocean.

The city of Schleswig is not far north of Rendsburg. After setting off from Rendsburg, Marin took 28,000 troops and surrounded the city of Schleswig. Then, naturally, the artillery bombarded the door. But what Marin didn't expect was that after learning that Marin's artillery bombarded the South Gate with all his strength, Murter, the palace minister of the Principality of Schleswig, directly dispatched the masons throughout the whole process, using a large number of bricks to smash the inner side of the South Gate. A wall was completely built, and it was a very thick wall...

When Marin's artillery blasted open the oak gate of Schleswig, Doni Tserai rushed to the gate but was a little dumbfounded. Because, there is no place to plug the powder keg... After all, behind the oak door is a thick wall, and there is no space for the powder keg...

So, Donny Tserui had no choice but to return to the formation angrily and report the situation to Marin...

"What? The other party built the inside of the city gate into a wall? This is too ridiculous..." Marin was also a little stunned.

Before, the cities that Marin attacked had chosen to face bricks, stones and wood behind the city gates. Although it was tightly blocked, there were still gaps. As long as Donny Tszreh plucked a few more times, he could always find a space to place the powder keg. However, the other party built the gate holes behind the city gate to death, and built a dead wall, so it would be difficult to set the gunpowder keg. Even with a powder keg, it was difficult to blast the thick wall. Because, loosely stacked masonry and wood, and completely built walls, are two completely different concepts.

In desperation, Marin had to order the transfer of the artillery positions and divide the 16 heavy artillery into two, one to bombard the west gate with all his strength, and the other to bombard the north gate with all his strength...

The next day, both doors were blasted with holes. Marin dispatched a blasting team to check, and found that the back of the west gate was also built into a dead wall by masons. But behind the north gate, only a part of it has been built, and it has not been finished yet. The yellow mud between the bricks is still wet and not strong enough. Therefore, Marin decisively ordered Donitzere, with three members of the demolition team, three powder kegs and iron picks, abruptly cut a large hole in the new wall that had just been built a small part, and put the three Put the powder keg in and bury it, then light it...

Three powder kegs blew up the wall of the north gate hole, which was only half built. Then, Marin put the large shield soldiers in the front and the two-handed swordsmen in the back, and rushed into the city of Schleswig bravely, and brought Murt and other local nobles to a pot...

After a few small towns, it would be better to fight. The city gate of Husum City is very thin, far less solid than that of Schleswig. Marin ordered shelling for an hour, and the gates of Husum were blasted. There was no need for Marin to send a demolition team, and the local defenders immediately chose to surrender.

As the second largest city in the Principality of Schleswig, Flensburg has a strong city gate, but it can't stop the savage city-breaking mode of heavy artillery + gunpowder barrel blasting. After the city was destroyed, the local defenders and nobles chose to surrender.

On the contrary, in the area north of Flensburg, Marin encountered more resistance. Because, north of Flensburg, from the German inhabited area, into the Danish inhabited area.

Although, Marin's army was well disciplined and did not rob the people. However, in accordance with the old saying - "the hearts of those who are not my race must be different", the little Danes have a very low sense of identification with the coalition, and their resistance is also very strong.

Basically, after entering the Danish area, no town or manor is willing to surrender. As a last resort, Marin had to divide his troops and uproot these recalcitrant towns and manors one by one, killing blood in a river.

When they reached the city of Auburn Luo, although the city gate was opened and the army rushed in, none of the local nobles were willing to surrender. As a result, all the 48 local nobles in Auburn Rowe died in battle, and none of them surrendered. And before they died, they also brought casualties to Marin's army that no other city had ever seen - a full 300 people...

In a fit of rage, regardless of his entire clan, Marin arrested the family members of the 48 local nobles who fought to the death. When the army marched under the city of Ribe, Marin killed all the families of 48 recalcitrant nobles of Auburnrow in front of all the defenders of Ribe City, a total of 230 people.

For a while, before the battle started, there was already a river of blood outside Libo City, and the air was filled with the screams of women and children...

The defending nobles of Libo City were all stunned. They didn't expect that they would encounter a person like Marin who completely ignored the honor of the nobles, but slaughtered the innocent family members of the nobles in public.

Killing women and children in public, and they are all noble families, is completely shameless. Faced with such a shameless Marin, these nobles of Libe City were also terrified. In order to avoid the death of the whole family after the city was destroyed, Libo City chose to surrender without going through a fierce battle...

So far, the Principality of Schleswig has been completely captured by the coalition forces, leaving only some remote rural areas that have not yet been occupied...

And time, just a month and a few days have passed. The day Marin took Ribe City was only March 15th, which was a good time for spring ploughing...