The Rise of the European Emperor

With the money in place, Marin also sent a special envoy to Bonn (the seat of the Archbishopric of Cologne) to bribe the Archbishop of Cologne and several bishops with real power.

However, unexpectedly, Marin's subordinates said that they wanted the Bishopric of Munster, but they amused the Archbishop of Cologne and several real bishops, thinking that Marin was joking. One of the bishops simply beat Marin's men out as madmen...

Malin suddenly became depressed. What a shame, I kindly gave you money, but you treat me as a snake spirit...

It seems that these guys will believe it after opening a few letters of introduction from Rome...

Therefore, Marin first set the target on the side of Rome, and let the side of Rome unify their opinions. According to the old husband, for such a major matter concerning territorial sovereignty, it is best to let the Roman cardinals support you willingly, and no one will regret it afterwards. Otherwise, if someone goes back and points out that it was Julius II who forced them to accept this plan, there may be waves when Julius II succeeds the next pope. even cause war.

Therefore, the best option is for Marin to bribe all the cardinals and make the entire cardinal group willingly support Marin to obtain the Bishopric of Munster. In this way, even if Julius II died and changed the pope, nothing would happen. After all, those cardinals, despite their greed, kept their word. Taking people's money, of course, will eliminate disasters for others...

This is also a very common thing. If a person takes other people's money, but does not do things for others, his reputation will definitely be bad in the future. That way, no one will send you money.

Therefore, those greedy cardinals are basically very "conductive". Even the greedy and vicious father and son of Alexander VI, who received money from others, would definitely find someone a bishop. Only the most stupid and short-sighted corrupt officials would hack people's money but not do things. As long as there is one time, no one will dare to give him money next time...

Marin felt that what the father-in-law said was quite reasonable, so he sent Kohler personally to go to Rome with 500,000 gold coins and goods worth 800,000 gold coins. The 500,000 gold coins were used for bribes, and the goods worth 800,000 ducats were intended to be sold in Italy. After all, business in Italy is very developed...

Among the goods worth 800,000 ducats, some of them are merino wool, which is a specialty of Spain, which is higher than the British wool. This kind of wool has always been a very popular commodity in Florence, where the wool spinning industry is very developed, and there is no need to worry about selling it.

The wool textile industry in Europe is divided into north and south. The center of the northern wool textile industry, originally located in Ghent, Flanders, mainly relies on British wool to weave medium and high-end woolen cloth and clothing. But Flanders has begun to decline as Britain restricts wool exports more and more strictly. In order to increase taxes, the handsome King Philip, Duke of Burgundy, has begun to form a caravan, intending to grab business with the Hanseatic League. Of course, now Philip still dare not openly grab business with the Hanseatic League.

Moreover, the Dutch merchants under his rule were only just starting out and had not yet reached the point where they attracted the attention of the Hanseatic League. It will take a few decades for the Dutch merchants to really rise up before they can overwhelm the Hanseatic League and become the hegemon of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

In southern Europe, Florence is the center of the wool textile industry. The wool spinning industry here is polarized, ranging from low-end wool spinning using ordinary coarse wool to high-end wool spinning using the highest quality Spanish merino wool. Although the two levels are divided, the wool textile industry in Florence is still very prosperous. Not only the wool spinning industry, but also other handicraft industries, as well as the minting industry are also very developed. Before the Venice Ducat became popular in Europe, the most popular currency in Europe was actually the gold florin in Florence. In fact, the Ducat gold coin is also imitated from the Florin gold coin. The German Gulden gold coin is actually imitated from the Florin gold coin. Therefore, ducats, florins (gold coins, and a silver coin also called florins) and gulden are basically equivalent.

It is precisely because Florence is so economically developed that the Papal States coveted this wealthy neighbor. You know, if the Papal States were not supported by tithes all over Europe, the economy would not be comparable to that of the Republic of Florence. The fabric of the Holy See's robes and holy clothes also comes from the city of Florence...

The high-grade wool of Merino sheep, which was obtained by selling grain in Spain to offset the price of grain, was naturally the most suitable for sale in Florence.

In addition, what makes Marin laugh and cry is that when some Spanish merchants buy rye, they simply use the spices obtained from the Spanish double kings to offset...

However, under the leadership of Marin, the counties of East Friesland did not really catch a cold with spices. The aristocrats of East Friesland did not use a lot of spices when entertaining guests. The way of eating barbecued meat with pepper and other spices is very unpopular in East Friesland. At most, when making braised pork, some cinnamon or something will be used to enhance the flavor.

This is mainly because most of the aristocrats in the counties of East Frisian are newly promoted nobles with military exploits, and they do not have the old aristocratic habit of eating spices. Moreover, the Chinese food promoted by Marin tastes much better than the old-fashioned way of eating, and it does not use much spices.

Of course, there are still a small number of old-fashioned nobles in East Frisian, and they also have a certain demand for spices. In addition, Oldenburg and the Duchy of Schleswig, newly occupied by Marin, have more old-fashioned nobles. So, Marin divided some of the spices worth 400,000 gold coins and sold them to those old-fashioned nobles. The rest were taken to Rome.

After all, Marin learned last time that Rome consumes a lot of spices, so if you send the spices to Rome, it will be easier to sell them. Even if it is given as a gift, those cardinals are willing to accept it. As for the 800,000 gp worth of goods that Marin needed, such as lead and tin ingots, they were kept in East Friesland. This time Kohler brought Italian goods, mainly merino wool and spices. Marin doesn't need these things, but Italy needs them very much.

After arriving in Rome, under the leadership of Julius II's men, Kohler visited many cardinals with gold coins. In the face of Julius II and the gold coins, those cardinals happily accepted Kohler's bribe.

After bribing Archbishop Piccolomini (that is, Pope Pius III, who died after only one month as a pope in history, it is strange to say that this guy did not become Pope, but he lived longer. Some people speculate in history. , was he poisoned by someone sent by Julius II...), Archbishop Piccolomini probably guessed something, and chose to show his favor to Marin. Archbishop Piccolomini told Kohler - "Why don't you be bolder and take down the Bishopric of Osnabruck?". Moreover, Archbishop Piccolomini expressed that he is willing to help and persuade the cardinals who are friendly with him to support Marin in winning the Bishopric of Münster and the Bishopric of Osnabrück.

Kohler fed this information back to Julius II, who thought about it for a long time and felt that this was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Also, the bishopric of Osnabruck is in a strange place. It is basically surrounded by the Bishopric of Münster. The Bishopric of Osnabrück, along with the Earldom of Ringen and the Earl of Ravensberg, which were also surrounded by the Bishopric of Munster, divided the Bishopric of Münster into two parts, north and south.

(Urgent modification: I encountered an error when I consulted Wiki English before. Of course, this error was made along with the introduction of the Bishopric of Münster in the Dutch version. According to the erroneous introduction of the Dutch version, the Bishopric of Münster was The total area of ​​​​is 5,900 square kilometers. But after comparing the map, I always feel that something is wrong. Today, I carefully compared the German version of the introduction of the Bishopric of Münster, only to find that this Oolong comes from the German version.)

(The German version is introduced like this - Oberstift: 5.900 km2, Niederstift: 4.300 km2. The editor of the Dutch version intercepted the data of "Oberstift: 5.900 km2" and set the area of ​​the Bishopric of Münster at 5,900 square meters km. But in fact, "Oberstift" only means the area of ​​the southern half of the bishopric of Münster cut off by the bishopric of Osnabrück; while "Niederstift: 4.300 km2" means that The area of ​​the truncated northern half of the Bishopric of Brück, that is, the area that borders the counties of East Friesland.)

(So, the total area of ​​the Bishopric of Münster is actually 5,900+4,300=10,200 square kilometers, not the misestimated figure of more than 6,000 I wrote earlier. Here, I indicate that the previous data is Wrong, the total area of ​​the Bishopric of Munster is as high as 10,200 square kilometers, please pay attention.)

...

If the land of more than 2,000 square kilometers (the specific figure is 2,297 square kilometers) of the Bishopric of Osnabruck is also included, then the north and south parts of the Bishopric of Münster will be more smoothly managed and managed. It's even more convenient.

After that, Kohler intensified the gift giving, and changed the original gift of 5,000 gold coins per person to 5,000 gold coins + spices worth 5,000 gold coins with the support of Julius II. In this way, the value of the gift is equivalent to doubled.

Under the heavy ceremony, with the secret support of Julius II and the help and persuasion of the highly respected Archbishop Piccolomini, the cardinals of the Roman Cardinals gradually accepted.

Anyway, the Bishopric of Münster is the land on the German side, and it is not under their jurisdiction. Who is it to give? Even if it is given to Marin, the tithing will still be collected...

Moreover, the Bishopric of Münster with an area of ​​10,200 square kilometers has been sent out, so do you still care about the Bishopric of Osnabruck with an area of ​​only more than 2,000 square kilometers?

In this way, the Roman Cardinals passed the resolution to reward the Bishopric of Münster and the Bishopric of Osnabrück together as a reward for Marin's army for helping to lay down the Republic of Florence, and it was unanimously passed...

Julius II solemnly announced that the Holy See will not treat anyone who helps the Holy See. If someone can help take down the holy city of Jerusalem and keep it under control for a long time, the Holy See is willing to add a crown, canonize this person as the king of the holy city, and confer the title of "Catholic Guardian King", legally in charge of West Asia... At the same time, the The king will be enshrined in the headquarters of the Holy See and be regarded as a "saint" like "Saint George", the patron saint of England...

This promise, in fact, was a bad check, and it was completely a cover for rewarding Marin. Rewarding Marin alone would probably attract the envy of all of Europe. However, the Holy See threw out a crown and the title of "Catholic Guardian King", which completely distracted everyone's attention. After all, a crown is more attractive than a fief...

Moreover, being named a "saint" is too tempting for those devout nobles. If nothing else, the pious old lady of Isabella I of Castile, Spain, must be fooled...

A crown, a title of a saint, can definitely drive most of the nobility in Europe crazy. At that time, who will care about the news that Marin has obtained the secular governance of the Bishopric of Münster and the Bishopric of Osnabrück?

However, occupying Jerusalem for a long time is so difficult. Not to mention, the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt, which currently controls Jerusalem, can mobilize tens of thousands of Mamluk cavalry casually. How many nobles in Europe can beat them? Even the French can only make 40,000 troops when they attack Italy, and most of them are infantry. If you want to control Jerusalem for a long time, the difficulty level is definitely six stars... In short, this is almost equivalent to a blank check... With a blank check, it helped Marin to distract himself, Julius II is really scheming... …

And, even if someone did that, they really took Jerusalem. It is not bad news for the Holy See, on the contrary, it is a major positive news for all Catholics. In short, the Holy See is sure to make a profit without losing any money. The big deal is to pay for a throne and an honorary title, which are all empty things...