The Rise of the European Emperor

Of course, Marin did not completely passively accept the pressure of the other side. In fact, most of the people who went to Worms to participate in the imperial meeting this time were princes from the anti-emperor faction. Naturally, these people did not like Marin, who had a deep relationship with the emperor.

It would definitely be a one-sided pressure to negotiate under the witness of these people. Therefore, Marin intends to pull some princes who are close to him and go together to make a name for himself.

For example, the small princes of the imperial city, and John II, Duke of Clifford, as well as the nobles of the emperor's faction and the nobles of the Swabian League...

However, this time, because Marin has publicly distanced himself from the emperor, it may arouse the dissatisfaction of the emperor's aristocracy. Also, the emperor could not tell them publicly that Marin sold Switzerland to himself...

Therefore, the nobles of the emperor's faction are most likely to have differences, some will support themselves, and some will oppose them. But the emperor himself must know the inside story, so he will definitely support him. After all, if the emperor did not support him, Marin would not necessarily have sold the 180,000 Swiss prisoners of war to the emperor. If these 180,000 people are taken away by the French and other anti-emperor forces and used to deal with the soldiers and horses who exchanged land, then the harm will be too great.

And those dozens of imperial cities, although they are all small, but because of the existence of the Hanseatic League, although they have less land, they have a lot of wealth. Therefore, they also have a certain right to speak. Of the sixty or seventy imperial cities, except for a few cities on the Saxony side, most of them must be on the side of Lübeck and Hamburg, that is, on the side of Marin. After all, if Marin is unlucky, Lübeck and Hamburg will also follow.

Moreover, for this temporary imperial meeting, the Archbishop of Mainz did not invite those dozens of imperial cities, nor did he invite the princes of the emperor's faction. So, strictly speaking, it was an informal meeting. When all the forces have arrived, it will be considered a formal meeting.

That's what Marin's strategy was for - you're going to negotiate in the presence of the princes, aren't you? Okay, I called everyone, it can't be all of you...

In addition, Marin also wrote to the Pope's father-in-law, asking him to send a weighty messenger to witness the negotiation together. In this way, when putting pressure on Marin, those religious princes would not dare to be presumptuous. After all, they want to give the Pope face.

As for those secular princes, they were not all on the side of Frederick III. Marin brought over representatives of the Emperor's faction and the imperial city, as well as the Duke of Clifford and several neutral faction princes, just to compete with them. Besides, Marin wouldn't be afraid of the secular princes alone. These foolish secular princes seem to have huge military strength, but their combat effectiveness is not easy to say, and they may not be their opponents.

The princes of their own faction helped to speak, and the Holy See sent people to "watch on" to suppress those religious princes, and the strength of the other party was weakened by at least half. At that time, the negotiation will not suffer too much.

To this end, Marin sent a messenger to ask the emperor for help, asking the emperor to lead a group of princes to Worms to support him. At the same time, Marin also wrote letters to Lübeck and Hamburg, asking them to use their abilities and calling on those imperial cities to come to Worms to help quarrel together. After all, now Lübeck and Hamburg are in the same boat. Moreover, Lübeck and Hamburg are actually representatives of the negotiating party. It's just that the people in the Imperial Council ignored these two cities. Because, in this war, the army of this side is basically under the command of Marin. Therefore, those princes all recognized Malin as speaking.

Bringing the local tyrants of the Hanseatic League, there is also an unexpected benefit, that is - it can influence the poor nobles who owe the Hanseatic League, and take the opportunity to ask them to change their positions. If nothing else, it is very feasible to relieve some debts and tempt the poor nobles to change their positions.

...

While the German region was disturbed by this massive war, Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Alexander, was also having an important dialogue with his younger brother, Prince Sigismund.

Archduke Alexander looked at his younger brother Prince Sigismund and asked earnestly:

"Sigismund, have you really decided to marry the Hoffman family?"

Prince Sigismund nodded and said:

"Yes, brother, I have decided!"

"However, I heard that although the Marin guy has defeated the Saxons and Brandenburgers on the battlefield, he is very passive in diplomacy! I heard that Frederick III is planning to call Most of the German princes are united to crusade against Marin. Is it too risky for you to decide to marry the Hoffmann family at this time?" Archduke Alexander said worriedly.

You must know that Archduke Alexander himself was not in good health, and his wife was from an enemy country, and she had already returned to her parents' home. Therefore, Archduke Alexander knew that it would be difficult for him to have offspring. Therefore, it is very likely that the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the Polish throne will pass to this younger brother.

In this way, the younger brother gets a wife, who is likely to be the future Queen of Poland and the Grand Duchess of Lithuania. But if Marin Hoffmann was beaten by most of the German princes, and if he lost his territory and title, the Hoffmann family would become a commoner family. Even if she retains the knighthood before her fortune, Anne of the Hoffman family is not worthy of her younger brother.

The problem is that divorce in Europe is not easy these days. If the king wants to divorce, the Pope must approve it in person. His older brother, King Vladislas II of Bohemia, met Pope Alexander VI of the Borgia family who negotiated when he divorced before. As long as he gave money, the divorce would be judged.

And the current Pope Julius II seems to be much more upright than Alexander VI. At that time, the younger brother just wanted to divorce Anne, and the Pope might not be willing to sentence him... If he can't divorce, then he will lose his hand...

As for the Anne of the Hoffman family that my brother said is very beautiful? so what? In ancient Europe, the choice of a wife was never based on looks, but rather the marriage of the right household. Bloodline is the most important thing, beauty is not so important...

Prince Sigismund certainly understood the concerns of Archduke Alexander. However, he confidently replied:

"Brother, please don't worry. Although Marin seems to be in a dangerous situation, in fact, those German religious princes are unlikely to agree to send troops together. And the German religious princes account for almost half of the princes, as long as they do not send troops, Frederick The coalition army that the third generation wants to engage in, first abolish half of it!"

"How do you know that those religious princes will not participate in sending troops?" Archduke Alexander asked suspiciously.

"I learned about it during my visit to East Frisian, do you know? When His Majesty the Pope returned to Rome, he was accompanied by the seven thousand elite soldiers sent by Marin. If it hadn't been for this army to capture the city of Rome Now, His Majesty the Pope may not even be able to enter the city of Rome..."

"Anything else?" Archduke Alexander asked curiously.

"Yes, the current Pope and the previous Pope are mortal enemies. After His Majesty the previous Pope died, the current Pope would naturally be rejected if he wanted to return to Rome. Therefore, the current Pope simply brought 7,000 elite soldiers and invaded the city of Rome, forcing the Those cardinals fell to him..." Part of this information was revealed to him by Marin. Some of them are guessed by oneself.

"You mean... the current Pope came to power through a military coup?" Archduke Alexander said in shock.

"Probably so. However, the current Pope is originally a high-ranking and important archbishop in the Holy See. He has very old qualifications, and he does have the qualifications to become the Pope."

"That means, the Pope will support Marin today?"

"Almost so!" Prince Sigismund nodded.

"However, even if half of the princes don't participate, the remaining half can gather an army of 100,000? Can Marin stop it?"

"Religious princes did not participate, and those secular princes did not all support Frederick III! There are many princes who are actually watching the situation. Moreover, even if they gather an army of 100,000, they may not be able to fight. Marlin..."

"Can't beat 100,000 people? How powerful is Marin?" Archduke Alexander was a little disbelieving.

"Brother, what do you think, the alliance between Brandenburg and Saxony before was 50,000 elite soldiers! In addition to the 30,000 main veterans of Brandenburg and Saxony, the remaining 20,000 are the world-famous Switzerland. The mercenaries, however, have not been defeated yet? Do you think the coalition formed by those secular German princes can beat the 40,000 elite army of Marin? The combat power is actually just a few elites, with a total of up to 20,000 to 30,000 people. The rest are basically just here to mix. Such an army can beat the 40,000 strong elites in Marin? Take a step back Speaking of which, if Marin's 40,000 people are hiding in the city's defense, then 100,000 people want to conquer the city.

"It's hard to fail? What if they were under siege for a long time? The food consumption of 40,000 people is an astronomical figure!" Archduke Alexander was somewhat disbelieving.

However, Prince Sigismund knew that Marin had advanced fertilizer technology. Therefore, every city in East Frisian is full of grain, and it is impossible to eat it all. So, he laughed and said:

"I've been to East Frisian, and the cities of Aurich and Emden over there are full of grain. Next to Aurich, a small city was built specially for the purpose of storing grain..."

Archduke Alexander opened his mouth in surprise and said:

"Doesn't he need to sell food for money?"

Prince Sigismund thought for a while, but did not intend to tell his brother the secret of the fertilizer, but said:

"Brother, have you forgotten? Marin is a big salt merchant. He makes huge profits selling salt. He doesn't need to sell grain to make money!"

Archduke Alexander nodded in understanding. After all, their brother and Marin, and the big trade list of hundreds of thousands of gold coins and salt every year, Marin is indeed not short of money.

"So, Marin won't fail?"

"Yes, at least undefeated! With so much food and such a strong army, even if you defend the city, you will still be undefeated. Even, if those princes gather a hundred thousand troops to besiege the city, and if they consume it, it may be the first for the combined army of the princes. Exhausted!" Prince Sigismund said firmly.

Archduke Alexander thought about it, then stood up and said:

"That's good! Well, I will now send the foreign minister in my name to go to Germany with great fanfare, find Marin directly, publicly support him, and propose to Anne for you!"

"Don't wait and see?"

"No wait, since according to what you said, it's hard for Marin to fail. Then, let's take advantage of it now! It's not as good as the icing on the cake (there is no such idiom in Europe, but that's what it means)! We are now publicly supporting him. , is equivalent to helping him a lot, and he wants to accept our great favor. After all, Poland and Lithuania are both European powers, and our support is more deterrent. "

"And if you wait for the result to support it, that's the icing on the cake, it's optional!"

"Brother is wise!" Prince Sigismund flattered.

The next day, at the behest of Grand Duke Alexander, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Bereschi, under the escort of three thousand plate knights and more knight attendants, set off for Germany with great fanfare.

In fact, escorting a foreign minister does not require three thousand plate armor knights, and such a scale can conquer a vassal state. But Grand Duke Alexander's intention was to show the powerful force of Lithuania and Poland, so he did not hesitate to send so many knights to show his muscles in front of those German princes. Anyway, Lithuania and Poland are both great knights, and there is no shortage of these three or two thousand knights. And this is also a very strong support for Marin...

Besides, he was just showing off his muscles, and he didn't say anything about declaring war with the German princes. Archduke Alexander was only timid, but as the monarch of two great kingdoms, he was not without wisdom. This public show of muscles shows his certain political wisdom. Anyway, I sent someone to propose a marriage, and did not declare war. At that time, even if Marin is really finished, it's a big deal to regret the marriage. After all, they are not married yet, just to make an appointment.

But to outsiders, this is very different - Nima, Marin actually has such a strong ally, and just sends thousands of knights to parade... Plus Poland and Lithuania are indeed European powers, and the deterrent effect is indeed not small. , which was also of great help to Marin. The most important thing is that Poland and Lithuania have not stated that they want to participate in the war... The big deal, in the end, if the situation is not right, I will go back. Anyway, it is easy to advance and retreat...

What? You mean king's dignity? That thing, Archduke Alexander has long been beaten by the hair of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Along with it, there was also the courage of Archduke Alexander. Therefore, although Archduke Alexander showed off his muscles this time, it was purely for the sake of showing off his muscles. It seemed a bit difficult to get him to actually send troops. However, such support is sufficient. After all, those German princes didn't know that Grand Duke Alexander was actually unwilling to fight... js3v3