The Rise of the European Emperor

Chapter 576 Advice to the King of Denmark

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Marin's original intention to dissolve the Quartet was to encourage Denmark and Sweden to tear each other apart. Because, if he maintains a military alliance with Sweden, King Hans of Denmark, who has been completely beaten, may not dare to send troops.

However, Marin was also afraid that King Hans was too stupid to understand his original intention. Therefore, after sending a letter announcing his withdrawal from the Quartet Alliance, Marin also privately wrote a secret letter to the King of Denmark, clearly telling the other party - I am not covering Sweden, and then you can decide...

But this is only the opinion of the Marin family. Whether Lübeck and Hamburg will privately reach a military alliance with Sweden is beyond Marin's control. He only has the ability to advise and cannot influence the final decision of Lübeck and Hamburg.

The problem now is that Denmark has no navy, and it is difficult to transport troops to Sweden's land. Lübeck and Hamburg are unlikely to allow Denmark to have warships again.

Therefore, if Denmark wants to tear up with Sweden, it must first obtain the support of Lübeck and Hamburg, or at least make them neutral. Otherwise, the Danish army could not even cross the Øresund Strait.

In line with the principle of being a good person to the end and sending Buddha to the West, Marin privately made a proposal to King Hans - to sell the interests of Sweden in exchange for the support of Lübeck and Hamburg...

How to sell the interests of Sweden? Marin knew that Sweden was very excited after acquiring a port on the southern coast, and was actively preparing for shipbuilding, and planned to participate in the lucrative maritime trade.

As a Baltic country, how can Sweden not be aware of the huge profits of maritime trade in the Baltic region? In particular, the salt trade is simply hugely profitable. Others, such as timber trade, fur trade, etc., are not too profitable.

Moreover, Sweden is a country with a high forest coverage rate, and most of the country is covered with forests. Although there are many coniferous forests, there are also many broad-leaved forests in the southern region, which are rich in shipbuilding wood oak. Pine or something, it is everywhere.

Therefore, the visionary old Sten Stuley, after acquiring the southern coastal areas, especially the southwestern coastal areas, started shipbuilding and maritime trade plans.

Although the two important towns and ports in the north and south of the Oresund - Helsingborg and Malmö had to be "temporarily lent" to Hamburg and Lubeck for stationing and control, resulting in the Oresund Strait being controlled by two external forces, Lubeck and Hamburg , but old Sten Stuley has a vision. He built a port city called Gothenburg at the mouth of the Gota River on the southwestern coast of Sweden...

In fact, Gothenburg was originally built by Gustav II in 1619. But old Sten Stulay's vision was no worse than that of Gustav II. So, more than a hundred years earlier, old Sten Stuley was also at the mouth of the Yota River on the southwest coast.

The port city of Gothenburg was built.

Gothenburg is located on the southwest coast of Sweden, but north of the narrow Øresund Strait. This allows Sweden to get rid of Lübeck and Hamburg's blockade of the Øresund Strait and the collection of toll taxes, allowing Sweden to face the Atlantic Ocean and directly face the big market in Western Europe.

However, the old Sten Stuley's practice of going it alone caused Lübeck and Hamburg to be unhappy. You must know that after defeating Denmark, Lübeck and Hamburg basically regarded the Baltic Sea as their sphere of influence, and they could not tolerate others. In addition to the merchant ships of Marin, the merchant ships of other countries are now subject to heavy taxes by the two cities when they pass through the Oresund.

Therefore, the self-improvement behavior of old Sten Stuley made Lübeck and Hamburg feel that their cheese was touched...

However, Sweden is their military ally, and the two sides have been members of the Quartet before. Therefore, even if they were dissatisfied with the behavior of old Sten Stuure who wanted to intervene in the Baltic trade, Lübeck and Hamburg had nothing to say.

Before, when Marin led the army through Hamburg, when he was drinking and chatting with Heisenberg, the Chancellor of Hamburg, Heisenberg had complained about the behavior of the Swedes who wanted to grab the cake, and Marin remembered it in his heart. ...

This time, Marin's idea for Denmark was to use Lübeck and Hamburg's dissatisfaction with Sweden's construction of the port of Gothenburg, so as to alienate the relationship between Lübeck and Hamburg and Sweden. Then, head to head with Sweden...

The specific method is to ask King Hans to completely confess to Lübeck and Hamburg, and promise that all Danish maritime transportation will be contracted to Lübeck and Hamburg in the future. In addition, Helsingborg and Malmö were officially ceded to Hamburg and Lübeck. At the same time, they were also given the right to collect road tax in the Oresund...

This practice is quite ruthless, equivalent to self-defeating martial arts. Of course, it is martial arts at sea. But Denmark does not need to abolish itself now, and has already been abolished by Lübeck and Hamburg for its martial arts at sea. Therefore, this condition is actually a public recognition of the vested interests of Lübeck and Hamburg.

But he has a very key point, that is - if Denmark gains the southern coastal areas of Sweden, then the maritime trade and transportation of these coastal areas will be contracted to Lübeck and Hamburg. But if it is in the hands of the Swedes, the Swedes may use the new port of Gothenburg to compete with Lübeck and Hamburg in maritime trade...

In contrast, Lübeck and Hamburg, as long as they are not fools, will understand that letting the Danes control the southern coast of Sweden is obviously more beneficial to them than the Swedes control the southern coast of Sweden.

Because the Danes have completely abandoned their maritime interests and contracted all maritime transport to Lübeck and Hamburg. The Swedes, on the other hand, had to compete independently in trade with Lübeck and Hamburg. Moreover, the Danes also ceded Malmö and Helsingborg, which controlled the north and south of the Øresund Strait, to Lübeck and Hamburg, which was equivalent to allowing the two Hanseatic cities to legally control the Øresund Strait. Where can I find such a good thing?

You must know that according to the internal agreement of the previous Quartet Alliance, although Sweden is willing to give up Malmö and Helsingborg to the fleets of Lübeck and Hamburg respectively, it requires that within ten to twenty years, the fleets of Lübeck and Hamburg must be stationed. evacuate. Clearly, the Swedes did not want to cede the interests of the Oresund to others.

As long as the Danes are willing to give up this benefit, the merchants in the two Hanseatic commercial cities of Lübeck and Hamburg will most likely agree. At that time, maybe Lübeck and Hamburg will support Denmark in private against Sweden. After all, for Lübeck and Hamburg, Denmark, which has completely lost its navy, is much more controllable than Sweden.

The only question now is, with the IQ of King Hans, can he figure this out?

Because he was afraid that King Hans would not understand, Marin directly pointed out in the letter that the ceding of Helsingborg and Malmö was temporary, as long as the southern part of Sweden could be recaptured, Denmark still had a chance. Otherwise, given the status quo that Denmark has lost Jutland and its maritime rights, decline will be inevitable. After all, after the loss of Jutland, there are only a few islands left in Denmark, adding up to an area of ​​more than 10,000 square kilometers, which is equivalent to a larger principality.

If the fertile areas in southern Sweden are recaptured, not only will the territorial area be doubled, but it will also be able to re-enter the Baltic Sea.

In his letter, Marin hinted semi-publicly that Hans—even if the loss of the navy, would be temporary. Because no one knows what drastic changes will happen to the European landscape in the future. If the right opportunity is found, maybe Denmark will rise again...

Of course, this is Marin fooling Denmark. With so many powers around, how did Denmark rise? At most, Denmark is bullying Sweden. But if Second Master Gu was alive, who would bully whom?

In fact, Denmark is now no better than Sweden in terms of economy and population. Economically, because of the reparations for two defeats and the loss of maritime trade rights, the Danish economy is still on the verge of collapse, even worse than the new Sweden. Population-wise, Sweden now dominates Finland, with the two together reaching 850,000 people. In Denmark, there are only more than 400,000 people left, and with 240,000 in Norway, there are only more than 600,000 people. In a heads-up match, Denmark may not be able to beat Sweden.

However, Denmark has an advantage that Sweden currently does not have. That is - Denmark has many "friends"...

For example, the electorate of Saxony and the electorate of Brandenburg are Denmark's in-law allies. In addition, the Grand Duchy of Moscow and Denmark have good relations. If Denmark asks for foreign aid, it can completely suppress Sweden and reoccupy the southern coast of Sweden...

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