The Rise of the European Emperor

The latest website: Scheber left with his men. Before leaving, Schebel "accidentally" angered a senior general of the North Sea State (Stade performed passionately). Then, he and his mercenary group were expelled from Beihai State. Before leaving, he was beaten up by Stade's men, and many people in the whole group were killed.

In order to act realistically, Shi Beier didn't tell his subordinates the truth, and the subordinates really thought they had been wronged. But in fact, Shi Beier has a check for 50,000 gold coins in his arms, which can be cashed at the bank of the Fugger family. The Fugger family has many banking institutions in southern Germany, and it is very convenient to cash out.

However, Marin asked Shi Beier to pretend to be very depressed. After all, it is most reasonable for a mercenary group that has not found a job to live in poverty without money. If you go back in a good mood, you will be suspicious.

Shi Beier is also a ruthless person. In order to act realistically, he made himself sloppy on purpose. However, although the members of the mercenary group were down and out, they were not hungry. Every time the mountains and rivers run out, there will always be "good-hearted people" who will provide them with some food. Therefore, even though they had no money, the whole group returned home smoothly. Halfway, more than 300 people only ran for more than 40 people. When I returned to my hometown, there were still 270 people in the mercenary group. These people are good brothers who Shi Beier can trust and are willing to share troubles with him.

After returning to his hometown, Scheber did not recruit soldiers immediately, but bought the valley where their home was located from Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg, with a sum of money he did not know where to borrow. They cultivate wasteland.

The valley where Shibeier is located has very inconvenient traffic and is isolated from the outside world. Therefore, Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg also confiscated much money, and gave Scheibel a thousand gold coins. Of course, there are no titles, only land titles. Equivalently, Scheber became the landlord of the small valley called Harstam.

The Harstam Valley is about 30 square kilometers, but the flat land only accounts for one-third. Moreover, there is only one small river passing through the valley.

With the farming technology of this era, of the 10 square kilometers of flat land, only about 3 square kilometers of the area near the small river is suitable for farming. Therefore, Duke Ulrich happily gave this valley to Scheber. But the officials under Ulrich have something to say beforehand—if any minerals are found in the Harstam Valley, they still belong to the Duke, not to Shiber...

Shi Beier didn't care, and he didn't even plan to develop the valley properly. His purpose was to find something for the brothers to do first, lest their hearts flutter and break up. Next, just wait...

...

In addition to Shi Beier's side, Marin also released many spies. But this time, Marin's approach changed. It turned out that Marin directly sent spies to recruit soldiers. But the spies are always outsiders. At first the princes didn’t understand, but later, the princes realized that those “outsider” spies might be related to the North Sea State (deduced by Saxony Elector Frederick III),

Then, the princes did not allow foreigners to recruit soldiers. Of course, the mercenary captains who are guaranteed by the princes and serve the princes are qualified.

Therefore, the method of Marin's change this time is to win over the local mercenary regiment leaders and support the local mercenaries to form their own mercenary regiments. In addition, he also secretly cooperates with those mercenary captains who have been certified by the princes.

This time, the spies of the North Sea State no longer showed up, but hid in secret to provide money and food. The matter of coming forward to recruit people is all done by the local mercenary leader or the mercenary leader certified by the princes.

Of course, in order to avoid leaking secrets, the spies did not reveal the background of the North Sea country, but found another excuse. For example, support Lithuania or something. Right now, defending Catholicism and supporting Lithuania is a righteous name, and no one can say what the problem is.

In addition, some mercenaries were recruited in the name of England and Spain. Although the relationship between these two countries is not good with the German princes, the princes are also unwilling to offend. After all, they are all bosses. If he got angry, he might completely side with the Habsburg family. Although both countries are allies of the Habsburg family, the purpose of the alliance between the two countries and the Habsburg family is to fight against France, not to support the Habsburg family to unify Germany.

But if the princes don't give face, maybe the two countries will support the Habsburg family to deal with the princes in a fit of anger. England is okay, but Spain is a big dog. If the big dogs fully support the Habsburg family who are in desperate need of money, the princes will not be able to bear it. This is proved by Charles V in the original history.

Today's Spain, although it has lost the Americas, its chassis is not that big. However, in terms of wealth, it is far stronger than the same period in the original history. Because the Spaniards not only shared the huge profits of Indian trade equally, but also plundered a lot of gold and copper mines from Zimbabwe.

On the surface, the Spaniard's financial resources are stronger than Marin's. Because most of the food in Marin's hands was stored and not released. Therefore, everyone cannot see Marin's real financial resources. However, Spain has gained huge profits from Indian trade, but everyone can see clearly. No way, the spices sold by the Spaniards from India are bought in many European countries. Therefore, everyone can see that Spain has made a lot of money.

Therefore, although the German princes don't like big money owners like Spain, they will not provoke them. In case, the Spaniards are angered and Spain lends money to the emperor, it will be a big deal.

...

In fact, His Majesty the Emperor also went to Spain to borrow money. However, not much was borrowed. why? Because His Majesty's repayment ability is too poor.

The Spaniards are not Marin, they have their own considerations, and their way of thinking is closer to that of a businessman. A person like Maximilian I who owed a lot of debt, although his status was noble, was the worst debtor to creditors. Because, with such a noble person, you can't violently collect debts. If the poor cannot pay off their debts, you can still take over their houses. If it is worse, they can even rob their wives and daughters. But the emperor owes debts, how do you violently collect debts?

Therefore, a debtor with a noble status but poor repayment ability is the worst debtor. The Spaniards are not stupid, how could they be willing to "beat the dog with meat buns" and lend money to His Majesty the Emperor who has poor repayment ability?

Therefore, the Spaniards only borrowed tens of thousands of gold coins symbolically in the previous behavior of the emperor borrowing money, and did not expect to recover the debt.

...

However, the princes did not know that recently, the Spaniards really lent money to the emperor. Moreover, one loan is 500,000 gold coins!

why? Because His Majesty the Emperor said—this time, we will confront the French!

In the past, His Majesty the Emperor was always making troubles, mostly dealing with the princes of Germany. Or, for the Italian side. For Spain, this is of no benefit to itself, but it may make the Habsburg family bigger. Therefore, they are naturally reluctant to borrow money.

However, this time is different. The Habsburg family is determined to annex western Switzerland, which is tantamount to facing France head-on!

The western part of Switzerland borders France, and many areas are French-speaking areas, which have close ties with France. The French must not be happy that the Habsburgs have annexed western Switzerland. Therefore, the two sides will definitely face off.

Although the Spaniards questioned the emperor's ability to repay, sometimes it was not a matter of money. For Spain, France is also their biggest threat.

According to reports from Spanish spies in Paris, the French seem to still be envious of the Kingdom of Naples and plan to send troops to Italy again. And the Kingdom of Naples is now the territory of the Spaniards, and France and Spain will naturally have to face each other.

But if the Habsburg family hit western Switzerland, the French would be forced to confront the Habsburg family, and would have no time to pay attention to matters in Italy, let alone send troops to Italy.

Therefore, seeing that the situation is very beneficial to themselves, the Spaniards, who have always been calculating, made an exception this time and provided His Majesty the Emperor with a loan of 500,000 gold coins to fund his attack on the western part of Switzerland, and just confronted the French...

However, for this loan, the Spaniard asked for secrecy. why? Because the Spaniards are afraid that the princes of Germany will know...

What? Why is Spain afraid of the German princes knowing? Isn't it impossible for the two sides to fight together? Not so.

Spain has obtained half of India's spice share, and it also needs to find a market. However, France, Europe's largest market, naturally rejected the enemy of Spain and chose to open to Portugal. In Italy, the second largest market, Venetian has a great influence. Although the Venetians have been robbed of their shares, they still have a certain source of goods on land. Although few, but also have a certain influence. In addition, the areas affected by the Venetians would rather give the market to Portugal than to Spain. why? Because the Portuguese have little influence on the Mediterranean, and Spain is Venice's direct competitor in the Mediterranean.

As a result, Spain's spice sales are more dependent on the German region. Although the German region is relatively poor, there are many princes and nobles. Even if the nobles were poor, they would grit their teeth and borrow money to maintain their ostentation. Spices were indispensable. So, this is a sizeable market that could overtake England and become the third largest market in Western Europe.

Therefore, Spain's refusal to lend to the emperor before was not only due to economic considerations, but also due to the fear of offending German aristocratic consumers.

But this time is different. The Habsburg family wants to confront France head-on, which is very beneficial to Spain. Therefore, the Spaniards couldn't help but pay. Of course, in order not to offend the noble customers of Germany, Spain asked His Majesty the Emperor to keep it secret.

His Majesty the Emperor is not stupid, he has already offended the princes of Germany, and is also a deadly enemy with France. If you offend the Spaniards, it will not be worth the candle. Therefore, he will not talk nonsense. Anyway, he has already got the benefits. Next, he just needs to be ready to send troops...