The Rise of the European Emperor

Marin still has many places to ask for Lübeck and Hamburg, so naturally, he took the two great speakers Tagfacht and Heisenberg to the emperor's carriage and visited the emperor Maximilian who came over. Leon I.

It is hard to say, as the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Maximilian I is not as authoritative as the emperor of the East. At the time of the Imperial Council, Maximilian I was merely the head of the Austrian side. Presiding over the meeting was the Electoral Marquis of Mainz. Of course, the emperor is also on the podium as a mascot.

However, even if he was not an emperor with real power, Maximilian I was still very powerful. Not to mention that Austria itself and its allies, the Swabian League, had dozens of votes combined. In addition, Prince Philip, the son of Maximilian I, held a lot of votes alone.

Because Prince Philip is not only the Duke of Burgundy, but also the Earl of the Netherlands, the Earl of Flanders, the Duke of Brabant, the Duke of Luxembourg, the Earl of Roussillon, etc. One person has several votes, which can be called a ticket machine.

Anyway, when voting at the Imperial Conference, everyone else held a vote to vote, and Prince Philip held a handful of votes to vote...

Fortunately, although Prince Philip is not filial and ruthless, he is still a smart man and knows that he is politically consistent with his father, Maximilian I. It is precisely because of this that the Habsburg family, led by Maximilian I, has become the family with the strongest ticket brushing ability. Of course, in front of the coalition formed by the seven emperors, the number of votes was nothing.

You know, Maximilian I counted a group of nobles in Austria, his own sons, and the Swabian League, but he could only get about 65 votes. The seven major princes, but the three major religious princes, led 120 religious votes. That's not even counting the secular electors and their gang of little brothers.

Therefore, in the imperial parliament, Maximilian I was unable to fight for the vote-sweeping group composed of the seven emperors and princes.

Of course, the reason why Maximilian I was always blocked by the princes was also because when he was young, he expressed his desire to learn from France, abolish the autonomy of the princes, and want to centralize power.

This idea is undoubtedly very harmful to the interests of the princes. Therefore, in order to curb Maximilian I's idea of ​​centralization, the seven emperors who were not united began to oppose him everywhere.

Even Marin, a former thug of Maximilian I, was shunned and hostile by most of the princes from the very beginning because of his boss's ambition to centralize power. Change to other emperors, such as Maximilian I's father Frederick III, who was not crowded out like Maximilian I. Because, Frederick III never regarded himself as an emperor at all, but buried himself in expanding the territory of the Habsburg family and regarded himself as a big prince. so,

The princes did not reject him either.

However, when Maximilian I was young, he was very envious of the centralized system in France, and once expressed his desire to suppress the princes and establish a centralized prince in Germany.

After the news came out, Maximilian I suddenly became the enemy of all German princes. Even though he was old and no longer young, the princes never gave up their vigilance against him. At the beginning of the first Italian war, Maximilian I asked the imperial parliament for a war tax to prevent the French from becoming bigger in Italy. Although the princes knew that Maximilian I was right. However, in their hearts, preventing Maximilian I from becoming bigger is the most important thing. Therefore, the princes would rather watch the French expand in Italy than see the victory of the anti-French alliance army of Maximilian I as the leader.

Because, if the Allies led by Maximilian I defeated the French army, Maximilian I's reputation would greatly increase, which would help him expand his influence in Germany, and may cause Maximilian I to engage in his The great cause of "centralization". And this is what the princes never want to see.

So, even though Maximilian I went to the Worms Imperial Council to ask for help, the princes just ignored him, causing Shinra's army to move slowly, not moving with the Italian army, and losing the defeat of Charles VIII. world opportunity.

Of course, this result changed after Marin crossed. Marin took advantage of the weakness of the French army that could not be seen clearly in the middle of the night, organized a night attack, defeated the French army and scared off Charles VIII.

And because Marin was a general of Maximilian I, Marin's victory brought fame to Maximilian I, and also brought a lot of money to Maximilian I because of the ransom of the captives. money. This is helpful for the great cause of "centralization" of Maximilian I.

Therefore, as the emperor's "lacking dog", Marin was naturally hostile to the princes before.

However, as time went by, everyone discovered that although Marin was still on the emperor's side, he no longer led the Emperor Pound to fight in person, but only sent Frenzberg to bring two phalanxes to serve the emperor.

Therefore, everyone's attitude towards Malin was eased later. After all, Marin is more and more like a prince rather than an emperor's eagle.

After coming to the emperor's house with the two grand presidents, Maximilian I warmly received the two grand presidents Tagfacht and Heisenberg.

In fact, not only Lübeck and Hamburg needed political allies, the emperor needed allies more than they did. The capabilities of the Hanseatic League, Maximilian I knew very well. If nothing else, the Hanseatic League led by Lübeck and Hamburg has absolutely enough influence over the 75 commercial-oriented imperial cities, at least more than half of them. Winning Lübeck and Hamburg is equivalent to winning most of the 75 imperial city votes.

The 65 votes of the Habsburgs and allies, plus 75 for the imperial cities (ideally), have reached 140 votes. It's still just 25 votes short of half the 330 votes at 165. As long as there are more than 165 votes, the emperor will be able to achieve some of his wishes. At that time, as long as you are willing to pay the price, you can get 25 votes.

Therefore, Maximilian I treated the two great speakers of Tagfacht and Heisenberg as absolute guests. Looking at the posture, it was a perfect hit.

After busying himself with his allies, Marin naturally needs to be busy with his own. This time, if he wants to successfully become the Duke of Schleswig, and let the Duchy of Schleswig join the Holy Roman Empire, it is definitely a big thing.

This kind of thing is bigger than ordinary things. So, it needs to reach three-quarters of the votes to be determined.

This is because once the Holy Roman Empire publicly accepts the Duchy of Schleswig, it means that the Duchy of Schleswig will be under the protection of the Holy Roman Empire. If Denmark wants to take back the Duchy of Schleswig, it will not face the Marin family, but the entire empire.

This kind of thing requires a lot of risk. Therefore, voting will also be more discreet, requiring three-quarters of the votes to pass.

So, Marin needs to make sure the total number of votes reaches 248 to pass. At present, what Marin can contrive is mainly 120 votes from the religious circles, and 75 votes from the imperial city that Lübeck helped to get. And 65 votes for the Habsburgs.

It seems that Marin's passage is stable. However, not all of the 120 votes cast by the religious community will go to Marin. Not even the electors of the three major religions can do it. Because everyone has likes and dislikes. Even the three great emperors cannot guarantee that the members of the parliament in the religious circles will support Marin.

According to the three electors, they could only guarantee 100 votes to Marin. In addition, the 75 imperial cities will not actually vote for Marin, even if Lübeck helps. Because, of these 75 imperial cities, 20 are cities in the Saxony business district and the Electoral State of Brandenburg.

These 20 imperial cities may give face to the chief and deputy chiefs in other respects. But in the case of Marin, there may be pressure from the Electors of Saxony and Electors of Brandenburg not to vote for Marin.

The reason is very simple, these cities are in the territory of the Electoral State of Saxony or the Electoral State of Brandenburg, or the vassal states of the two countries. If they don't listen to the greetings of the two electoral princes, as long as the two electoral princes order cards to block commercial activities in these 20 cities, it is enough to make them submit.

Therefore, Marin can now guarantee only 100 votes from the religious world, 55 votes from the imperial cities, and 65 votes from the emperor's side. All in all, there are only 220. From the required 248 sheets, it is as much as 28 sheets short.

So, Marin needs a gift. Mainly win over those principalities and counties that form their own faction, as well as some dominions. These votes add up to absolutely more than 28.

So, after helping lead the line, Marin took his entourage and paid attention to visiting those princes who formed their own faction...

"Lord Albert, please help me in this election." Marin said to Duke Albert IV of Bavaria with a smile on his face. Of course, empty words are useless. Marin beckoned, and a small box full of gold coins was brought up, with 3,000 gold coins in it. Albert nodded in agreement when he saw that Marin was in this way, and was willing to help convince his younger brother to vote together.

Then, Marin went to visit the other princes of the neutral faction. However, this process made Marin a little confused...

"Duke John, I need you to worry about my affairs. A small gift is no respect!" After that, a box of gold coins was presented.

"Earl John, please help me with my business. A small gift is no respect!" The earl asked for less, a bag of gold coins.

"Duke William, please help. A small gift is not a tribute!" A small box of gold coins was offered.

"Earl William, my business..."

"Lord William, my business..."

"Earl William, my business..."

"Duke Charles, please help me..."

"Count Charles, my business..."

"Lord Charlie, my..."

...

After a few days, Marin visited dozens of princes and fainted.

What made him even more dizzy was that most of the princes he visited were named John, William, and Charlie, which made him very broken...

European aristocrats are too creative in naming names, and they use so many names upside down. Just like France, from Louis I to Louis XVIII. If it weren't for the kingdom, it would probably be dozens of Louis...

More than 300 princes in the German region, named John, Wilhelm and Charles, seem to be more frequent than other names. Some countries are more than John X. As for William VIII and Charles IX, it is not surprising.

As far as Marin knew, among the 330 princes, there were at least one hundred and dozens of them named John, William and Charlie, which made Marin a little dizzy.

So, in order to distinguish these people, Malint brought a small notebook and recorded it - this is John II of a certain country, that is John XI of XX country, that is William IV of XX country, that is XX Charles VIII of the Kingdom of...

If he didn't need to write it down in a small notebook, Marin estimated that calling someone else would confuse himself...