The Rise of the European Emperor

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() On the surface, in the presence of King Hans and Joachim I, Marin asked Schwartz to stay at Wittenberg with an army of 30,000. However, at this time, there was no force to resist in the Electoral State of Saxony. Even if there were, 10,000 troops would be enough.

So, in fact, before Marin left, he only let Schwartz stay at Wittenberg with 20,000 troops. And secretly, he also sent Woolf Esbrand, leading an army of 10,000, to attack Berlin, the capital of the Electorate of Brandenburg.

As for why the attack on Berlin? Because Berlin is the capital of the Electorate of Brandenburg. As long as you occupy Berlin, you will naturally take the initiative in negotiations.

Berlin is not as rich as Wittenberg. Although it is the capital of the electorate, it is an ordinary city, which is larger and more prosperous than some county towns. Even in the later period of the Kingdom of Prussia, the Brandenburg region was still a traditional agricultural area and the economy was not developed.

The Kingdom of Prussia really took off because after the war it took over the Westphalia region, including the Ruhr region, which is rich in coal. At that time, it coincided with the era of great development of steam engines. With coal, the Westphalia region with the Ruhr area as the core developed naturally. Then, the widened Kingdom of Prussia became the German Empire through war...

In other words, Brandenburg was an agricultural country with an underdeveloped economy until it acquired the economically developed Westphalia region.

Even if Berlin is captured, Marin probably won't make much money. However, controlling all members of the Brandenburg branch, a member of the Hohenzollern family, is significant.

Joachim I's son, Joachim II, was born in January this year and is only a few months old. And Joachim I's only younger brother, Albert, later the Archbishop of Magdeburg and the Archbishop of Inz, is only 15 years old and underage.

Moreover, among the uncles of Joachim I, only Frederick, who became the count of Ansbach, is still alive. It is a pity that Ansbach is far away in Bavaria and belongs to the southern region of Germany.

Therefore, after Joachim I was captured, Berlin is now leaderless, and there is no big man who can convince the crowd to turn the tide.

In contrast,

The Electoral State of Saxony, John, who co-rules Saxony with his brother Frederick III, exists. Even if Frederick III is absent, Saxony is not in chaos, and he has resisted Marin's army for a long time.

But Berlin is now in chaos. Most importantly - there are no regular troops stationed in Berlin!

And this is the main reason why Marin plans to send troops to attack Berlin...

When Joachim I led a large army on an expedition, he took almost all the regular army of the Electorate of Brandenburg with him. As for Berlin, three thousand levies were temporarily guarded.

Because, Joachim I felt at that time that his side would win, and the army would not be out for a long time before returning home after victory. Therefore, there was no regular army left to guard the capital Berlin.

Moreover, the Electorate of Brandenburg is poor. Want more regular army, no ah. Mainly, there is no money to support so many regular troops. It was the limit of the Electorate of Brandenburg to be able to make up 15,000 regular troops before.

In addition, from Wittenberg to Berlin, there is only a distance of more than 100 kilometers. At this distance, it is of course difficult for the infantry to travel. However, Marin captured many horses in the electorate of Saxony. Although most of them are drawn horses, but they are used for rushing, there is no problem.

After all, the electorate of Saxony is a developed country with a lot of horses. Even after taking only Wittenberg, and the surrounding countryside, Marin still captured tens of thousands of draught horses. Marin was taken aback by this amount, but he quickly understood. After all, Wittenberg is the capital of the economically developed Electorate of Saxony, where the nobility and wealthy are concentrated. Is it a problem to have more horses in the families of nobles and rich people? Just like in future generations, there are a row of luxury cars parked in those rich garages. Is there any problem? no...

Now, even though Marin went to Worms and took 20,000 horses, Marin still left more than 10,000 horses. Although most of them were draught horses, they were enough.

According to the negotiation between Marin and Woolf Esbrand, mobilize 10,000 veterans and ride 10,000 draught horses. Getting to Berlin in one day, without sacrificing horsepower, is no problem at all. It is just over 100 kilometers. It takes a day and a night to drive the horses. The horses will not be too tired, and there will be no dead horses. At most, the horses need to rest for a few days and feed them some good food.

After the 15,000 regular troops that Joachim brought to Lübeck were wiped out, there are now no regular troops in the Electorate of Brandenburg. Even if someone saw the 10,000-strong army led by Woolf Esbrand, they were powerless to stop them. And the levies in those villages dared not stop them even more. Because, when those militiamen met the 10,000 veterans led by Woolf Esbrand, they were definitely giving away...

Arriving in Berlin is easy when no one is in your way. As for siege? That's not difficult either. Because, Marin also allocated Nicolas Cage and his special forces to Woolf Esbrand. With the help of Cage's flying claw special forces, plus a sneak attack, it is certainly not a big problem to win Berlin.

And after winning Berlin, Marin's negotiation in Worms is even more favorable...

...

Another point that needs to be explained is that before, after receiving the negotiation notice from the Worms Imperial Parliament, Marin not only deliberately let the Saxons in Wittenberg know, but also disclosed the news to the Brandenburgers .

Some Brandenburg merchants who came to Saxony to do business probably brought back the news of the negotiations. After all, the Electoral State of Brandenburg and the Electoral State of Saxony bordered each other, and the two sides communicated frequently, and businessmen also exchanged information. So, the news must have come back to Berlin.

At this time, the Brandenburgers who heard that they were going to start negotiations must have relaxed, and they would not have thought that Marin would send a large army to attack Berlin. At this time, sending troops to attack Berlin was definitely a surprise.

Moreover, with the three thousand levies in Berlin, even a head-on confrontation would not be able to stop the attack of ten thousand East Frisian veterans...

In addition, Woolf Essbrand is also good at using tricks and sneak attacks. It is difficult to make any mistakes in this military operation against Berlin.

Just the day after Marin went to Worms with 10,000 troops, Woolf Esbrand also took 10,000 veteran infantry veterans with 10,000 combat experience and rode on the 10,000 stolen from the electorate of Saxony. Pulling horses, they marched non-stop in the direction of Berlin, intending to win Berlin in one fell swoop and increase the bargaining chip of Worms. Along with Woolf Esbrand, there is also Nicolas Cage, who is closely related to him, and more than 200 special forces led by Cage who are good at using flying claws to climb the city wall...