King of German Mercenaries

In Dresden, the capital of the Duchy of Saxony, Duke Albrecht suddenly stood up excitedly:

"What did you say? The Frisian Republic was crippled?"

"Yes, my lord, this is the news from the Saxe Hanseatic merchant in Groningen!"

Saxony is a large group in Germany, and the Saxons are also a large group. Even the "Saxons" among the Anglo-Saxons, the main body of the British, are actually Saxons.

In the Hanseatic League, the Saxons were also very powerful. In the Hanseatic League, the Saxony business district is the second most powerful business district among the four major business districts of the alliance (Wende business district, Saxony business district, Prussian and Livonian business district, and Rhine business district). Wende business district on the North Sea-Baltic coast. This is also because the Wende business district takes advantage of shipping, otherwise, the Saxony business district is no worse than it.

Therefore, the financial and military power of the Saxons are very strong. Although, the Electoral State of Saxony was divided among the brothers Ernst and Albrecht in 1464. However, the brothers have always had a good relationship. Ernst received more than half of the territory and the title of Elector, while Albrecht also received a large tract of territory and the title of Duke of Saxony.

Because the Hanseatic League of Saxony is very strong and supports the two great nobles of Saxony, the two giants of Saxony have never been short of money. Even if they were short of money, some Hanseatic merchants were willing to lend to them.

The Duke of Albrecht was an ambitious man, bent on expanding his turf. Of course, his older brother has a good relationship with him. Therefore, he was embarrassed to compete with his brother for territory. Therefore, he can only look elsewhere.

At first, after the death of Charles the Bold, the Duchy of Burgundy was in chaos. With the support of France, Friesland, which had been annexed by Charles the Bold, became independent again. That's all, the Friesland region is not an economically developed region. But then there was a serious rebellion in Flanders with the covert support of France.

At that time, Austria under the control of the hapless Habsburg family was also occupied by Matthias I of Hungary, and even WYN was lost.

After taking over the position of King of Germany, Maximilian I, who was desperate, was unable to fight on both sides, and was unwilling to give up the most developed and taxed Flanders in the Low Countries. Therefore, at that time, Maximilian I asked his cousin, the Duke of Albrecht for help.

Albrecht happily took tens of thousands of troops to Flanders in 1491. After several months of fighting, he quelled the rebellion in Flanders, making the taxation in this area again under the control of Maximilian. I hand.

However, Duke Albrecht is not a fool. At the beginning, Duke Albrecht took a fancy to the independent Friesland Republic and demanded this land as a reward for countering the rebellion. And Maximilian I had verbally agreed to this clause because of the urgency of the situation. Of course, this is not for nothing. After all, Friesland is a big place. Not only is the Duchy of Saxony coveted, some other big powers, such as the Duchy of Geddes near the Republic of Friesland, are also eyeing this place.

Although the emperor verbally promised to give this place to the Duke of Albrecht, he also hinted at the time that the Duke of Saxony needed to guarantee the emperor and let the emperor borrow hundreds of thousands of gold coins from the Hanseatic merchants...

This is not a small amount, and although it is borrowing, the borrower must also be prepared to lose money. After all, the repayment ability of the emperor at the beginning... is not much different from Lao Lai...

No, the Duke of Saxony took a long time to get many Hanseatic merchants from Saxony to agree to jointly lend the emperor 300,000 gold coins.

However, the birth of Marin made the emperor suddenly get a windfall of more than 1 million gold coins. Even though 400,000 gold coins were "borrowed" by relatives and Swabian nobles, and the old accounts of more than a hundred thousand gold coins were settled, the emperor still had a balance of more than 400,000 gold coins.

Therefore, the emperor is not short of money now. Regarding the request of the Duke of Saxony to use a loan of 300,000 gold coins in exchange for the legal rule of the Frisian Republic, the emperor deliberately pretended not to see...

After all, the emperor was really reluctant to give it to the Duke of Saxony for such a large area. Even the emperor wanted to get it by himself. When Marin came to report, the emperor also began to secretly prepare to take Friesland...

However, although the emperor is stronger than the Duke of Saxony, he is not as convenient as the Duke of Saxony to gather troops. Because the Duke of Saxony originally had a standing army of five or six thousand. And Ernst, the brother of the Duke of Saxony, also had a standing army of several thousand. Although the emperor had more troops than the dukes of Saxony, he needed to guard against the Hungarians. It is much more troublesome to free up troops, and it is generally necessary to recruit them separately.

Moreover, in order to take Flanders back, the emperor did promise to give Friesland to the Duke of Albrecht. In addition, the emperor also needs the votes of powerful Saxon nobles in the imperial parliament.

When the Duke of Saxony left Innsbruck at Marin, he also arrived at Innsbruck, and the Emperor asked for Friesland...

"Cousin Albrecht, you said you wanted Friesland?" The emperor was shocked. Just as he planned to annex Friesland, the Duke of Saxony came to ask for it.

In fact, in addition to preparing the money, the Duke of Saxony also calculated that the army of the Friesland Republic is now crippled and easier to attack. At this time, as long as you rush into Friesland with your superior troops and horses, there is no reason not to win. What's more, he has a killer in his hand...

"Yes, Your Majesty, you promised me back then that you would give Friesland to me, but you can't keep your word."

"Yes... yes, but..."

"I know, there is a loan. You see, this is an IOU. I contacted many big Hansa merchants, and they agreed to provide you with a loan of 300,000 gold coins at a very low interest rate..."

"300,000 gold coins... But I'm not short of money now..." Maximilian I was originally happy, but thinking that he was now rich, he refused.

"Hehe, if Your Majesty agrees, the 100,000 gold coins can not be returned..."

"What's the meaning?"

"The minister is willing to exchange 100,000 gold coins and an interest-free loan of 200,000 in exchange for Friesland, and you promised to give Friesland to the minister at that time..." The Duke of Saxony is for the size of Friesland, for the sake of Groningen. Hanseatic city, it is a bloody capital...

The emperor struggled for a long time, and finally nodded his head:

"All right……"

For such a large area of ​​Friesland, the emperor was reluctant. But the emperor also knew that if he rejected the Duke of Saxony, his situation in the Imperial Parliament would be even more difficult in the future. After all, in the imperial parliament, apart from the nobles of the Swabian family and the Habsburg family, only the nobles of the Saxon family were willing to vote for him. Moreover, the number of nobles of the Saxon family is quite large, and the power is quite large...

In addition, he had also verbally promised to do this before, and the emperor had to reluctantly give Friesland to the Duke of Saxony. However, the two islands that Friesland had paid to Marin before, the emperor made a special statement, saying that they had been given to Marin. In this regard, the Duke of Albrecht could not deny. Because those small broken islands were inconspicuous even in the later period of the Middle Ages.

In this way, the emperor quietly gave the land of Friesland to the Duke of Albrecht without everyone knowing. And in order to be quiet when attacking the Frisians, Duke Albrecht decided to keep the news private for the time being. Wait until the army marches under the city of Groningen, and then announce the news...

At this time, Marin, who was still actively recruiting troops in Württemberg, did not know that the Friesland he planned to annex had already been cut off...

Marin worked hard to beat Friesland, and now he is preparing to train more mercenaries, so that he can take Friesland directly next time. Unexpectedly, the Duke of Saxony would jump out to pick peaches...

After receiving the emperor's documents, Albrecht, Duke of Saxony, immediately went back to prepare his troops. And Marin is still assessing and selecting outstanding mercenaries in Württemberg...

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