The Rise of the European Emperor

To sort out the accounts, Marin, as the eldest brother, naturally does not need to go out in person. After all, the dozens of civil servants he brought were not vegetarians, and it was their job to "eat the king's salary and bear the king's worries".

Marin, on the other hand, was in charge of sitting on the side and drinking his "homemade" "Earl Grey Milk Tea", and then bragging with a group of generals...

After all, the current affairs don't need military commanders anymore, they are purely civil affairs. Except for some middle and low-level officers and senior generals who went to take over the city defense and patrol the countryside, there is actually nothing to do as a guest now. They can only accompany Marin to silently watch Marin's bragging, and then give a timely praise and applause...

Although the price of black tea bricks obtained from Lithuania is not cheap, since you are bragging with a bunch of subordinates, you can't drink milk tea by yourself, but your subordinates don't have to drink it, right?

Then, the generals present drank the warm "Earl Grey Milk Tea".

However, a general is a general. When drinking tea, it is completely cow drink, not as elegant as when Marin drinks tea...

However, speaking of which, Marin drank tea elegantly because he was used to drinking 4 yuan a bottle of milk tea in his previous life, and had tasted many flavors. Therefore, when faced with delicious milk tea, he seemed so calm. When drinking tea, he still had to learn to act as elegant as those who pretended to be smugglers on TV in his previous life, and made a tea ceremony god horse who was so powerful...

However, most of the gangsters under Marin's men were of commoner origin, and they didn't understand the elegance of the nobles at all, and they couldn't pretend to be. Moreover, the first time I drank the fragrant and sweet milk tea, I was greedy and drank it in a big gulp.

Fortunately, tea is not a one-time consumable and can be boiled several times. As long as you continue to add milk and sucrose to the pot, you can cook it several times, and it can satisfy the rammed goods of this group of cows. Otherwise, the consumption of tea bricks alone is enough to make Marin feel distressed...

Moreover, after drinking the delicious "Earl Grey Milk Tea", these rough people with no ink in their stomachs don't know how to praise the deliciousness of milk tea, they only know to say-"Well, delicious!" "Well, not bad. !"...Or, simply say-"one more bowl"...

Marin was already disappointed with this group of rough guys. If Jeffrey's fat man was present, he would be able to make the flattery look artistic. Unlike this group of rough guys, only when they tell adult jokes, this group of guys is easy to understand, and then arouses a strong resonance...

Of course, Marin is not purely bragging with this group of ramblings. When the group of civilian staff found any problems from the archives or found any interesting situations, they also came to report the situation.

For example, he found that the southern border of the Bishopric of Münster did indeed reach the north bank of the Lippe River. The territorial division of the Ruhr area south of the Lippe River is very complicated.

Between the south of the Lippe and the Emschel between the Lippe and the Ruhr,

Not counting the territory of the Principality of Clifford on the banks of the Rhine, there are about a few hundred square kilometers of land called Vest Recklinghausen (Vest Recklinghausen, available). The ownership of this land is very complicated. Originally, the land belonged to the Archbishopric of Cologne. However, in 1446, the Archbishop of Cologne at that time, probably due to lack of money, mortgaged the land to the lord of Gemen (specially, I don't know how to translate the name of this area). In 1492, the land fell into the hands of the Earl of Schoenberg. To be precise, it fell into the hands of Count Schoenberg and Holstein-Pinneberg.

In other words, Recklinghausen and the nearby hundreds of square kilometers of land are now not in the hands of the Archbishopric of Cologne. However, the Archbishop of Cologne took advantage of the Cologne War and took this land back in 1576...

If the land is in the hands of the Archbishopric of Cologne, Marin really doesn't dare to make a fool of himself. After all, they are also one of the great emperors. However, in the hands of an earl of Schoenberg, Malin suddenly came to his senses.

You must know that the Earl of Schoenburg is just a small country, with an estimated land area of ​​less than 1,000 square kilometers. Of course, the ancestors of the family were also rich. For example, the Duchy of Holstein originally belonged to the Schoenberg family. It was hundreds of years ago, when the still very powerful Duchy of Saxony gave the Duchy of Holstein to the Schoenberg family. However, later, the tyrannical King of Denmark took the Duchy of Holstein from the Schoenberg family, leaving only Holstein-Itzehoe, Holstein-Kiehl And Holstein-Pinneberg and other 6 small territories under the Principality of Holstein. However, up to now, only Holstein-Pinneberg remains in the hands of the Schoenberg family. The other 5 territories were either extinct or were deprived by successive Dukes of Holstein. In fact, the people of the Schoenberg family were the dukes of the Duchy of Schleswig. However, it was later abolished by the Danes...

But in any case, the country owned by this family is only a small country. There is still a great chance to get Wester-Recklinghausen from them. After all, that is the coal-producing area of ​​the Ruhr area!

And West - Essen, south of Recklinghausen, is still nominally affiliated with the Archbishopric of Cologne. However, the people of Essen have acquired autonomy through redemption. Moreover, it was awarded the title of Imperial City by Emperor Charles IV, with autonomy. In other words, Essen and the surrounding hundreds of square kilometers of land are actually an autonomous imperial city, similar to Dortmund.

Then, in the coal-producing area of ​​the Ruhr area, the rest mainly belongs to the Counties of Mark and the Principality of Clifford by the Rhine. However, these two countries belong to the Duke of John.

...

After 10 days, Marin's clerk team completed the tally of the books and rosters. It is also difficult for them, dozens of people, it is really difficult to figure out the situation of a large vassal state of more than 10,000 square kilometers. Those account books and rosters took up almost half the room.

However, their report made Marin extremely depressed...

Why? In the report of the clerks, the Bishopric of Münster is a large country with a population of 10,200 square kilometers and a population of 500,000. Of course, that's not the point. The focus is on arable land—a country with 350,000 Eugrams (700,000 acres, or 4.2 million acres). However, there are 250,000 Eugrams in the cultivated land of 350,000 Eugrams, which are in the hands of the Church...

Malin was immediately shocked—Nima, does the church want to go to heaven? It actually occupies five-sevenths of the country's land...

However, thinking of the meaning of the word "bishop" in the Bishopric of Munster, Marin understood again...

After all, this is a country ruled by the church. In this agricultural society, can the greedy church not hold the land in its hands? Marin would be surprised if he didn't do this...

But the problem is that, as a farming earl, Marin most hopes to concentrate the domestic land into his own hands or his own hands. In this way, you can get the maximum benefit.

If the land was in the hands of the original nobles, Marin could still use coercion and inducement to forcefully buy farmland, or force "trusteeship", as he did in Oldenburg and Schleswig.

However, if these lands were in the hands of the church, it would be different. After all, the church represents the Holy See, and no matter how good Marin is, he cannot deprive the church of its land. Even the king would not dare to do such a thing. It was not until after the rise of Protestantism that King Henry VIII of England, who was greedy for the church's land, came down to deprive the church of its property and land.

However, Protestantism has not yet emerged, and the power of the church is still strong. This annoyed Marin. In the face of a powerful church, it seems that you can't grab land from the church...

"Only, in this way, I tried my best to get the Bishopric of Munster, and why? Is it just for the nominal right to rule?" Malin was extremely depressed.

It's not all bad news, though, there's good news too. The good news is that the land controlled by the church is basically in the South Munster area. After all, the core area of ​​the Bishopric of Münster is in the south, and the city of Münster is also here.

In fact, North Münster is still in a semi-developed state, and a lot of land has not yet been developed. Also, towns are scarce. The power of the church here is also relatively weak, and the arable land it occupies is relatively small.

That is to say, on the land of about 4,300 square kilometers in North Münster, Marin still has a lot to do, and he can rely on secular governance to occupy a large area of ​​undeveloped land here.

However, Marin was jealous of the large amount of fertile land occupied by the church in the south. However, there was nothing he could do. You can't, go grab the church's land, right?

"How about, in the upcoming Protestant reform, I secretly support the Protestant revolutionaries, wash Nanminster's blood again, and clean up the church's influence?" Suddenly, such a vicious thought came into Malin's heart...

It seems that Martin Luther has not initiated the religious reform for many years. He was in his prime at that time, but he could use the Protestantism to purge the church forces entrenched in South Munster. When those priests have been killed by the Protestant revolutionaries, he can completely burn the land ownership files and take most of the fertile land in South Münster for himself...