The Rise of the European Emperor

In the original history, in order to fight against Venice's offensive against the Papal State, Pope Julius II formed the "Cambrai League", which united most of the countries in Western Europe to jointly deal with the arrogant and powerful Venice.

In exchange for Maximilian I to send troops to attack Venice from the north, Julius II not only crowned Maximilian I, but also after the concession, the Holy Roman Emperor did not have to come to Rome to be crowned, but to be crowned at home. But since then, the Holy See's ability to interfere with Germany has been greatly reduced. And Germany, which has since separated from its close relationship with Italy, began to concentrate on internal fighting behind closed doors...

Of course, at that time in history, Venice took the lead in attacking the Papal State. The Papal State could not stop Venice's offensive and was forced to ask for help from other countries. Therefore, Julius II also paid a huge price. Among them, allowing Emperor Shinra to be crowned on his own in the future will lead to the loss of the Holy See's right to directly intervene in imperial politics and still have influence on the bishopric.

However, in this time and space, because of the appearance of Marin, Venice is now going all out to dig the Suez Canal, and has not done anything in Italy at all. Therefore, Julius II will not be forced to ask for help from various countries. Therefore, the emperor can only beg him. In this way, Julius II can ask for a price. And Maximilian I was not a fool, and he didn't want to be slaughtered too hard, so he hired Marin as a middleman, hoping to reduce his pay and get the emperor's coronation.

However, Maximilian I never imagined that Marin was actually the son-in-law of Julius II. In terms of closeness, he is actually closer to Julius II. Therefore, after being entrusted by the emperor, Marin did not sincerely help the emperor, but thought about how to help the Pope's father-in-law kill the emperor...

To this end, Marin also found Sconey, the emissary of Julius II, to discuss how to kill Maximilian I with a knife...

But Steward Sconey said unceremoniously:

"With all due respect, the little master Sconey knows that Angela and Felice are both Marin's women, and naturally they are also called Marin's little master. All Europe knows that His Majesty Maximilian I is a poor emperor. Then , little master, even if we want to knock him, that poor ghost can't get it out..."

Malin's face was full of embarrassment, and he almost forgot the impoverished attributes of Maximilian I.

Originally, when Marin made his fortune, he sent Maximilian I a French knight prisoner of war worth millions of gold coins and a large number of war horses and weapons and armor, filling all the financial deficits of the Habsburg family, and a large amount of surplus. .

But still Marlin. In order not to make the Habsburg family too powerful, they encouraged the emperor to enter Switzerland, first occupying the Graubünden area, and then occupying most of Switzerland.

The army has not moved, and the food and grass go first. He said, "When the cannon is fired, the gold will cost 10,000 taels"... Because the French supported the Swiss resistance forces and the Habsburg family's army in a tug-of-war in Switzerland, His Majesty the Emperor consumed a lot of food and military salaries...

Then, the Habsburg family, which had not had a good life for a few days, began to pile up debts again...

Although what Sconey said is direct, it is also a truth. Maximilian I has returned to the true nature of poverty. It is really difficult to knock out the oil and water from the poor body...

What did the Habsburgs have? Well, they have noble blood, and a vast territory of Austria, Tyrol, the Netherlands, Franche-Comté, and now the eastern half of Switzerland...

It stands to reason that with so much territory, the Habsburgs should be rich...

However, it is precisely because the Habsburg family has developed for hundreds of years that the family scale is very large, with various branches all over the place. There are more than a dozen of the Habsburg families, including dukes, earls and other big nobles. As for the branches in the branches of barons and knights, there are too many to count.

Therefore, although the Habsburg family has a lot of territory, there are too many families to eat. Then,

In the end, there were not many that fell into the hands of Maximilian I. What's more, most of this money needs to be used to maintain the huge army of the Habsburg family...

Therefore, the Habsburg family seems to be powerful, but their head, the emperor Maximilian I, is quite poor and has a constant financial deficit. In order to maintain the operation of the territory, Maximilian I had to often borrow money from top chaebols such as the Fugger family to survive. In order to obtain a loan, Maximilian I mortgaged the large copper mines in Tyrol to the Fugger family, making the Fugger family a copper tycoon. However, Marin's development of the Fajron copper mine in Sweden affected the income of the Fugger family. However, in general, the Fugger family won the copper mine without losing money. Also, they acquired many silver mines in Austria at the same time.

It stands to reason that with so many copper and silver mines in control, the Fugger family should prosper. However, the Spanish colonial empire of Charles V of Temeo mined a huge amount of silver in the Americas, which greatly reduced the value of silver. As for copper, it is because of the development of the Swedish copper mine and the influx of cheap copper from the East... The precious metal empire of the Fugger family has finally gone bankrupt...

Of course, there is another reason for the decline of the Fugger family.

After the death of Charles V, his son Philip II became king of Spain. Because of the high debt, Philip II, the shameless, declared the Spanish Empire bankrupt...

What is bankruptcy? Bankruptcy means not being able to pay debts...

Ordinary people go bankrupt, and the only assets they have are collected and sold for repayment. However, the shameless king declared bankruptcy, how dare you take his palace to auction for money? Do you dare to take away the king's royal land for auction? cannot! Therefore, when the royal family declared bankruptcy, it was actually a default... After being used by the Spanish Empire for bankruptcy several times, the Fugger Banking Empire was finally unable to support it...

How should I put it, personal bankruptcy is the sky falling, so don't think about turning over. And the bankruptcy of the country is actually an act of reneging on debts that does not want Bilian. So personal bankruptcy is like the sky is falling. And the bankruptcy of the country is just a trick to the creditors. Even if they go bankrupt, the officials are still all kinds of chic, what can you do to them?

...

Marin retracted his far-flung thinking, and began to think about what a poor man is worth more than an emperor...

Suddenly, Marin remembered that he was very short of troops to enter Siena. So he said to Sconey:

"How about we take this opportunity and let His Majesty the Emperor send troops together?"

"Let the emperor send troops together? What, little master, you don't have enough troops?" Sconey wondered.

"It's not that it's not enough, but I can't move all the troops out of the country to attack Siena. What if someone sneaks up on my hometown? Angela and Caesar's safety is also very important!"

Sconey nodded in agreement and said:

"That's right, the safety of the young lady and the little master is very important!"

Then, Sconey asked again:

"Then, how many troops do you plan to send His Majesty Maximilian I? You know, by occupying Siena this time, the old master can take the opportunity to give you the east coast of the wild continent. If the Habsburg family sent a lot of troops , took most of the credit, your importance is reduced, and the old master is not too partial!"

Marin nodded and said:

"Well, that's true... Well, I sent 15,000 troops, and counting the 7,000 I sent to the Papal State, the total is 22,000. We can ask His Majesty the Emperor to send 20,000 troops. In this way, we will have more than 22,000 troops. There are 40,000 troops, and you can quickly take Siena!"

Sconey thought about it and said:

"Little master, I have no doubt that you sent 22,000 troops. However, that poor ghost can really afford the cost of 20,000 troops? No salary, but food and grass consumption, that poor ghost can afford it?"

Marlin was stunned...

It is true that there is no shortage of capable soldiers in the Habsburg family's territory, but the cost of maintaining the army... the food is so expensive that Maximilian I definitely can't afford it...

That's not a problem for Marin, though...

So he believed to himself:

"You can tell His Majesty the Emperor that the food is provided by the Pope. In fact, I will provide it!"

"This... little master, will you be at a loss?" Sconey said hesitantly.

"This wave is not a loss, I have a lot of grain in my granary! For me, time and credit are the most important things. If I finish the fight early, I can return to the country to stabilize the situation. Moreover, military rations can also be written into the credit book, father-in-law. There is even more reason for your lord to grant me the east coast of the Wilderness Continent, isn't it?"

Sconey nodded helplessly:

"As long as you are happy! However, in what name do you want His Majesty's army to help the Pope in attacking Siena? It can't be said to be a bargain, right?"

Marin thought for a while and said:

"This is simple, ask His Majesty Maximilian I to follow the old tradition and lead an army of 20,000 troops to march into Rome to seek coronation. Then, the Pope took the opportunity to invite him to attack Siena together. So, no one has any objection..."

"Hey, marching into Rome, this is a good reason, and others can't say anything!"

In fact, the previous emperors of Shinra basically had the experience of "entering Rome", otherwise they would not be able to be crowned emperors. However, "March into Rome" was more about the emperor showing off his force to the pope, coercing him to crown himself. But this time is different. The Pope invited the Emperor to help him work... Moreover, starting from the 15th century, the Emperor gradually lost his prestige and no longer had the ability to intimidate the Pope. For example, Emperor Frederick III, the father of Maximilian I, was crowned by bribing the Pope...

In addition, the Pope now has Marin's 7,000 soldiers and horses, plus it has recruited tens of thousands of Italian mercenaries, which is not a soft persimmon. If others want to pinch, it is difficult to pinch...

Therefore, it is a very reasonable suggestion to invite Maximilian I to join forces to besiege Siena. Sconey intends to return to Rome as soon as possible to consult Julius II. After all, Julius II has the final say...