The Rise of the European Emperor

In the Royal Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark, King Hans of Denmark is entertaining Frederick III, Elector of Saxony and Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg. Presumably there was something to talk about, and Hans threw everyone away.

After three rounds of drinking, King Hans put down the glass and said with a lonely face:

"Oh, I never thought that I, the dignified king of Denmark, the co-owner of the Kalmar Union, would end up in such a situation!"

Joachim I didn't speak, he was a junior, and some words were not easy to say. Frederick III comforted:

"Brother-in-law, don't worry. You still have two big countries, Denmark and Norway, and your strength can still be restored."

"Recovery?" King Hans smiled bitterly and said:

"Under normal circumstances, it's certainly not difficult to recover. But, Frederick, you know what? Lübeck and Hamburg, two bastards, control the Øresund. As soon as a Danish merchant ship is found, it is immediately confiscated. They do it. , I am afraid that I will rise again!"

"Now, I want to do some business, and I need to recruit some British sailors, disguised as British merchant ships, to transport the goods to the Baltic Sea. When crossing the Oresund, I will be taxed by Lübeck and Hamburg..."

"So much?" Frederick III and Joachim I were both surprised.

The trick of Lübeck and Hamburg is too poisonous. Like the Hanseatic League, Denmark's economy mainly relies on trade, and it is maritime trade. Before, the trade volume of Denmark's Kalmar League in the Baltic region was no less than that of the Hanseatic League. Moreover, because of occupying the Ores Strait, it has an advantage over the Hanseatic League.

But now, Lübeck and Hamburg are so overbearing that they do not allow Danish merchant ships to pass through the Øresund Strait, which is literally killing Denmark! Can Denmark recover without maritime trade? Frederick III and Joachim I were both silent.

"Yes, Lübeck and Hamburg, this is driving Denmark to a dead end! If this situation continues, within 20 years, Denmark will be reduced from a first-class power to a second- and third-class country."

"Now, do you know what I'm doing? I'm organizing all the nationals to reclaim the land! There is no way to make money from maritime trade. I can only take the nationals to reclaim the land and transform Denmark into an agricultural country!" King Hans He shook his head miserably, his face full of despair.

In the past, the Danes did not bother to engage in agriculture because of the huge profits from maritime trade. If there is a shortage of food, just take the money to buy it.

However, now that Denmark has no merchant ships, Denmark's economy can only rely on agriculture and fishing. Moreover, because of fear of being detained by the Hanseatic League, the fishing boats did not dare to go through the Øresund waterway, but switched to the waterway between the islands to the west of Zealand. But this waterway is not easy to go. Because there are many islands, there are many reefs. Going this way, it is easy to hit the rocks and sink the ship.

Fortunately, the relationship between King Hans and the United Kingdom was not bad. Henry VII took pity on him and specially sold him 20 merchant ships and provided British sailors. In this way, King Hans can continue to rely on these 20 British ships to obtain a certain profit and maintain expenses. Otherwise, the Danish court could be paralyzed by insufficient funds.

"So, Hans, how can we help you?" said the young Joachim I impatiently. (Europeans often address their father-in-law directly by name)

Frederick III did not speak, but fell into contemplation. He felt that it was extremely difficult.

After Hans suffocated a glass of wine, he breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"For the past six months, I have been thinking about it,

Think about why I failed. Finally, I figured it out..."

"Oh, why?" Frederick III was also intrigued.

"Because we, Denmark, do not have a strong army!"

Frederick III and Joachim I are a little confused - is this the reason?

"Yes, that's why!" said King Hans of Denmark solemnly.

"Three months ago, a Danish businessman who had been to Portugal told me such an interesting story—"

"Spain and Portugal are neighbors on the Iberian Peninsula, and they are both powerful. However, Portugal is strong at sea. [] They have a huge maritime fleet that is no weaker than Denmark at the beginning, and they are the hegemons in the Atlantic Ocean."

"And Spain, although the sea power is also good. However, the sea power is much weaker than Portugal, and the main sea power is in the Mediterranean."

"Originally, Spain and Portugal agreed to divide the eastern and western halves of the earth, with Spain getting the western half and Portugal getting the eastern half."

"However, a few years ago, the Spaniards got a chart and sent Columbus to India, before the Portuguese, and brought back a lot of spices. Then the Spaniards made a fortune!"

"After that, the Portuguese were very angry, thinking that the Spaniards had violated the original agreement and harmed Portugal's interests. So the Portuguese threatened to wipe out the Spanish sea power!"

"However, the Spaniards don't care. The Spanish royal couple warned the Portuguese that if they dared to move the Spanish fleet, then Spain would gather a large army from the land, surround Lisbon, and break through the city to capture all the Portuguese nobles, including Their king..."

...

"I see..." Frederick III's eyes lit up.

"The Spaniards used their strengths to attack Portugal's weaknesses, forcing Portugal to compromise!" Frederick III said excitedly.

"Yes, that's what I thought too. Before, Denmark was a naval power, and while the navy existed, no one could threaten Copenhagen."

"However, once the fleet is wiped out, Denmark is like a lamb to be slaughtered by the four enemies. Because the Danish army is too weak and too few!"

"So, brother-in-law, what are you going to do?" Frederick III asked Hans with interest.

"It's very simple, Denmark's navy is now eliminated and its development is restricted. Then, I can only develop the army. Because they did not restrict Denmark's development of the army."

"And then?" Joachim I asked.

"After I develop an extremely large army, I plan to rely on the decisive victory on land to retaliate against my enemies! Of course, I also need your cooperation. I hope you can organize as many troops as possible to help me. Fight against my enemies!"

"How to do it specifically?" Frederick III frowned. He wanted to hear Hans' strategy to see if it was feasible, and then decide whether to send troops to help.

"Specifically, I have already thought about it. You all know that Lübeck and Hamburg are both maritime countries, and the army is worse than Denmark."

Frederick III and Joachim I nodded, agreeing with Hans' statement.

"I plan to form a strong army, from Jutland, quickly go south, with the cooperation of your army, first break the city of Lübeck and seize Lübeck's property and ships."

"Then, send troops to surround Hamburg and wait for the arrival of Marlin's bastard army! Finally, under Hamburg, fight a decisive battle to eliminate Marlin's bastard army."

"Then, take the opportunity to attack East Frisian, its old nest, to break through Aurich, and force the Marlin bastard to sign a surrender treaty!"

...

"Well, it's a good plan. However, brother-in-law, how do you ensure that your Danish army can defeat Marin's army. As far as I know, his army is very strong!" Frederick III asked seriously.

"I have already thought about this. The Danish army is indeed relatively weak. Therefore, I plan to introduce Swiss mercenaries!"

"Swiss mercenary? It is indeed a good choice!" Frederick thought for a while and nodded. Joachim I also endorsed Hans' idea.

So far, the Swiss mercenaries and Marin's army have not faced off head-to-head. When the Spaniards and the French fought, the Swiss were not the main force. Instead, the main force was Italian mercenaries. Many people think that the Swiss mercenaries were actually implicated by the Italian mercenaries who fought against the five scumbags in the showdown with the Spaniards. After the war, in order to keep their reputation, the Swiss kept claiming that it was the Italians who had defeated the Swiss mercenaries and disrupted the formation of the Swiss mercenaries.

For the Swiss explanation, most Europeans believe it. After all, the Swiss and the great fame and glory are there.

So, until now, no one thought that Marin's army was stronger than the Swiss. At most, it is closer to the combat power of the Swiss...

King Hans intends to hire 20,000 Swiss mercenaries to fight Marin to the death. At the same time, Hans plans to recruit 20,000 Danish youths from this year, and invite Swiss instructors to train them day and night during the slack season.

After the spring ploughing is over next year, King Hans will dispatch 20,000 Swiss mercenaries and 20,000 Swiss-trained local troops to join forces from the Electoral State of Saxony and the Electoral State of Brandenburg to launch an attack together. To destroy Lübeck and Hamburg, and the kingdom of Marin.

Frederick III and Joachim I agreed with Hans's plan very much. For this reason, the two decided to send 15,000 veterans each to make up 30,000, and join the Danish army of 40,000, a total of 70,000 horses, to jointly destroy Lu Lu. The armies of Baker, Burger, and Marin. The main thing is to eliminate Marin's army. Because, according to the information, Marin now has 30,000 main troops, which is very difficult to mess with. As for Sweden, it can be eliminated in the end, and Sweden is not a climate anyway...

However, no matter how strong Marin's army was, King Hans, Frederick III and Joachim I did not think that Marin could win in front of the 70,000 coalition forces of the three families. In particular, there were 20,000 Swiss mercenaries whose combat power surpassed that of the Marin army as the main battle force.

As long as he wins, King Hans promises - he only takes back the Duchy of Schleswig and the Duchy of Holstein, and rescues his cousin's family under house arrest, and liberates the Earl of Oldenburg. As for the lands of Marin, such as the counties of East Friesland and the bishopric of Münster, as well as the bishopric of Osnabrück, were divided between Frederick III and Joachim I.

And Marin, King Hans, intends to imprison him and keep him in the basement of the Copenhagen palace for a lifetime. When he is fine, he will whip him a few times....

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