King of German Mercenaries

On Texel Island, after retreating from the Frisians, the mayor of Denburg, Heidel Lermann, had already started organizing people to get all the horses that were in the city out of the city. At the same time, the horse dung left by the more than 1,000 horses was sent out of the city by handcarts, and began to be piled up in the pits, generating nitrate and composting.

After Schwartz returned all the farm tools stolen by the Frisians, the spring ploughing on the island officially began. Although it's a bit late, it's still too late to catch up. The winter wheat at 500 Ugrams in Malin was completely destroyed, so it was re-ploughed to plant rye.

After the armistice agreement was signed, Marin sent troops to escort the 1,000 battles back to Texel Island to supervise their rough and heavy work in spring plowing, so as to speed up the progress.

Because in the armistice agreement, Friesland allowed Marin to openly recruit Frisian fishermen, so Marin sent people to the coast of Friesland to recruit fishermen.

However, the recruitment was not very smooth, and not everyone was willing to leave the old fishing village they were used to. In a fit of rage, Marin stopped sending lobbyists to recruit, but instead sent the army...

In this way, Marin used the method of semi-kidnapping very rogue, and kidnapped many fishermen from fishing villages on the seaside of Friesland. At the time of the final statistics, Marin "recruited" more than 3,000 fishermen in more than a dozen fishing villages...

For Marin's rogue behavior, the Frisian Aristocratic Republic endured. Anyway, in a few months, when the French army arrives, Marin will be able to spit it out...

Thinking that the two large islands of Terschelling and Freeland in the West Frisian Archipelago were not in his hands, Marin decided to buy these two islands from the emperor. At the same time, it also established the actual occupation of the entire West Frisian Islands as a legal fact.

You know, because the entire Frisian aristocratic republic is not recognized by the Empire. It stands to reason that the agreement between him and the Friesian noble republic is not necessarily recognized by the empire. If one day someone else makes a fuss about this and grabs territory with themselves, it will be bad. Therefore, while Marin planned to buy the island with the emperor, he simply bought the legal right to rule the rest of the islands.

To this end, Marin sent people to inspect the two islands of Terschelling and Vlieland under the control of the emperor. It was found that these two islands are underdeveloped.

Needless to say, the island of Freeland lacks freshwater resources, and only the northeastern part of the island has sufficient freshwater resources. Therefore, in later generations, there was only one village in East Freeland on the island of Freeland. Now, on the island of Freeland, there is only a small seaside fishing village in East Freeland, and no one has cultivated farmland on the island.

The natural conditions of Terschelling Island are much better. With an area of ​​88.1 square kilometers, it can be regarded as a large town in the plain area of ​​later generations. The freshwater resources on the island are still sufficient, and several villages can be reclaimed.

However, in this day and age, the island of Terschelling was very inconvenient. Because it is far away from land, everything on the island (except salted fish) is much more expensive than on land. Therefore, the life of the islanders is very difficult. There are only more than 100 fishermen and dozens of farmers living hard on the island. The officials of the Counties of Holland were also very unconcerned about these two small islands. Because these two islands are too poor, there is no oil and water. Therefore, except for sending people to the island to collect dried salted fish after the fish flood season every year, there are no officials willing to go to that kind of backcountry at other times.

In this era, the population of the Netherlands was only one million, unlike the tens of millions in later generations. The land on the land of the Netherlands has not yet been developed, and there is no need to develop islands at all. Therefore, like the West Frisian Islands, the attractiveness of people is very low.

The later West Frisian Islands were developed because the Netherlands had too many people and could only make use of every inch of land. And now, the West Frisian Islands, except for Texel Island, other islands are completely dispensable and poor areas. Moreover, people of this era feel that these islands are tasteless, tasteless, and it is a pity to abandon them.

Only small lords like Marin, because of their weak strength, dare not make land-based ideas, so they can only turn their attention to these islands with relatively large development potential.

After learning about the situation, Marin went to Innsbruck, a small Austrian city where the emperor was resident, with a team of men and gold and silver to buy the island.

Half a month later, Marin appeared in Innsbruck and met Maximilian I. At this time, Maximilian I was working with Konra Zosenhof, a plate armor craftsman under his command, to develop the famous armor of later generations-Maximilian armor...

"Good day, Your Majesty, Texel Baron Marin Hoffman salutes you, hi, Holy Rome!" Marin immediately stood up when he saw Maximilian I, and an ancient Roman military salute raised his hand.

"Baron Marin, sit down, this time you are in Austria, do you have anything to do with me?" Maximilian I was busy designing new plate armor these days, so he didn't have the time to chat with Marin, and went straight to the point.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I just fought a battle with the Frisian Noble Republic on the other side..."

"What? You fought a battle? Are you here to ask for help?" Friesland was on the side of the high road in Austria, and Maximilian I hadn't received any information from there.

"Uh... Your Majesty, I didn't come to ask for help, I won..."

"Ah? That's a big country. You, a small Baron Texel, can beat them?" Maximilian I became interested.

"Chen...I hired other soldiers and horses to help defeat them, and even robbed them of a few small islands..." Marin hesitated. Because the Habsburgs and the Swiss were enemies. Marin hired the Swiss, and I don't know if it would displease Maximilian I.

"What? You defeated the Frisians? Where did you hire soldiers? So powerful? I'm even interested..."

"It's Swiss..." Marin whispered. This kind of thing, the emperor will soon receive the news, there is no need to lie.

"Swiss? Those people are reliable?" Maximilian I frowned.

"It's just unreliable, Your Majesty! I have already brought the islanders and the Swiss to besiege the Frisians in Leeuwarden. It's only a matter of time before the city is destroyed. As long as Leeuwarden is broken, I can completely occupy Friesland. As a result, as soon as the French came and said a few words, the Swiss broke the contract and ran away... I was so angry..."

"It turns out that... the Swiss are really not a good thing..." Maximilian I nodded in agreement.

"Later, the French came to mediate, but in desperation, the minister could only ask to cut off a few small islands controlled by the Frisians..."

"Then why did you come all the way to find me?"

"Your Majesty, please look..." Marin took out the parchment map he had prepared and pointed it to Maximilian I.

"Ameland Island and Schiemonnik Island, which the Frisians ceded to their ministers, let's not mention the other islands. They are too small and have no development value."

"Um...then what?"

"Between the island of Texel and the island of Ameland, there are two large islands - Freeland Island and Terschelling Island, both of which are under His Majesty's control..."

"Do you want these two islands with me?" Maximilian I's mind turned faster.

"Well, without these two islands, Texel Island, Ameland Island and Schiemonic Island cannot be connected in series, and development is inconvenient..."

"Then what are you going to pay? You know, these two islands are not small in size. Together, they are not much smaller than your Texel Island..."

"I am willing to pay 5,000 gold coins..." Marin began to bid, but the bid was not high.

"A little less, Baron Marin, those two islands, I can use them to confer another baron..."

"Your Majesty, this minister is also poor..."

"You are poor and you can still hire Swiss mercenaries? Their commissions are very expensive..."

"That's because the minister and the Wiggins Chamber of Commerce of the Hanseatic League borrowed a large amount of money as a deposit, so they invited them..."

"What about the balance? How do you pay it?"

"As long as the Frisians are defeated, the final payment can be repaid to them... Anyway, the Swiss will definitely be able to defeat the Frisians... Also, because the Swiss mercenaries breached the contract, I don't even have to pay the final payment."

"Haha... You're a good planner, but you want to win those two big islands for 5,000 gold coins. It's a bit beautiful..."

"Your Majesty, the two islands are nothing. Fleetland is short of fresh water, and there is only a small fishing village in East Vlieland. On Terschelling, there is only a small fishing village and a small farm. 5,000 gold coins is not too much..."

"Really?" Maximilian I really didn't know the local situation.

"I swear in the name of God that everything I say is true!"

"Well, even so, 5,000 gold coins is a little lower. If you are willing to pay 10,000 gold coins, I can sign the instrument to authorize you the legal right to rule the entire West Frisian Islands!"

"Kechen has already occupied the other islands except those two islands..."

"Without my authorization, it is illegal for you to occupy it, and it is not protected by the laws of the Empire. If others attack other islands except Texel, it is not illegal..."

Maximilian I was right, but it was also in Marin's calculations. This time I came to Maximilian I for this.

"10,000 gold coins... This time I beat my life to death, and I only got 10,000 gold coins as compensation from the Frisians..."

"That's right!" Maximilian I was very happy. For his financial situation, he attached great importance to money. Although he still has a lot of money in his hand, the more the better...

"Okay..." Marin looked frustrated, but he was actually very happy.

As a result, Marin used only 10,000 gold coins to obtain a legal document issued by the emperor and obtained the legal right to rule the entire West Frisian Islands...

Because the entire West Frisian Islands surrounded the entire Wadden Sea, the title of Baron Texel of Marin was simply replaced by the Emperor of Baron Wadden. The West Frisian Islands were also renamed the Wadden Islands according to the Dutch custom...

Although the name was changed to Baron Wadden, the status of the barony remained unchanged. It was still a tax-exempt imperial barony, and was only responsible to the emperor himself...