The Rise of the European Emperor

Although because Frederick III wanted to form a coalition to fight, Marin had the opportunity to draw a line with the emperor and stand on his own, but Marin was not grateful to Frederick III and did not intend to let him go.

After all, if Marin had no money or enough military strength, he might have been killed by Frederick III this time. Therefore, in this war, Marin intends to let the Electoral State of Saxony bleed well.

It is certain that the Electorate of Brandenburg will have a big bloodshed. After all, the Electors of Brandenburg have all fallen into their own hands, and the army of Brandenburg has basically been captured. Therefore, it is difficult for Brandenburg not to be caught by Marin this time.

As for the Electorate of Saxony, because Frederick III ran away, Marin did not have much bargaining chips in his hands and could not get too many benefits from Saxony.

But this is not a problem, because Marin intends to march into Wittenberg and arrest the heir of the Elector of Saxony, Frederick III's younger brother John, and John's children. The effect of capturing the opponent's heir is the same as capturing Frederick III himself. Because Frederick III had no descendants. To seize John and John's children is to seize the next Elector of Saxony. At that time, when negotiating, the bargaining chips will be enough.

This time, Marin intends to cut a big piece of meat on the Electorate of Saxony anyway. Mainly, Frederick III threatened himself too much and had to teach him an unforgettable lesson.

Moreover, Marin, who is familiar with history, knows that negotiation, just relying on lip service is useless. Ultimately, at the negotiating table, it is up to strength to speak. The representative of a powerful country, even if he is not eloquent, can still gain the upper hand with enough confidence given by the powerful country behind him. The representative of a weak country, no matter how eloquent it is, can't change the fact that the motherland is weak. The ability of negotiators can only be exerted when the strengths of the two sides are not too different. Of course, the strength of allies is also a part of strength.

In addition, Marin had read the history of China and knew that during the civil war, both sides had not stopped military operations on the eve of the signing of the Double Tenth Agreement. Because whoever has the upper hand on the battlefield will have more confidence in negotiations.

Therefore, after solving the diplomatic problem, Marin's next thing to do is to dispatch a large army, break Wittenberg, and capture John and his children in order to gain the initiative at the negotiating table.

To this end, Marin has long sent spies to Wittenberg to monitor the members of the Wetting family and prevent them from fleeing. If John and the others escaped from Wittenberg, then Marin would also change the target of the battle, taking the arrest of John and the others as the primary goal. After all, the importance of John and other important members of the Wetting family is a little higher than that of Wittenberg.

Of course, Wittenberg is also to be captured. Because, as the capital of the wealthy Electorate of Saxony, Wittenberg's wealth is relatively objective. To defeat Wittenberg, Marin does not need to loot the whole city, but only needs to loot Saxony's treasury and the residences of the great nobles and merchants.

It will be enough to cover the cost, and there will be a lot of surplus.

After all, the Saxony region is the second largest business district in the Hanseatic League, and there are still a lot of taxes generated. The Saxony business district is different from the Wende business district. The Hanseatic city in the Wende business district has strong autonomy, and the taxation is basically controlled by the Hanseatic city itself. The Hanseatic city in the Saxony business circle, although nominally autonomous, was actually secretly controlled by the Saxon princes, and did not provide a lot of taxes to the Saxony princes. Therefore, Saxony has always been one of the most powerful princes in Germany. As long as Wittenberg, the capital of the electorate of Saxony, is broken, a large amount of gold and silver will be obtained. Although it can't compare with the richest Hanseatic cities like Lübeck and Hamburg, it is definitely much richer than ordinary cities.

...

Wittenberg was later called "Luderstadt-Wittenberg", which means city in German. Luderstadt means "the city of Luther", and some translators directly translate Luderstadt as the city of Luther.

The reason why the "City of Luther" was added in front of Wittenberg was because Martin Luther initiated the Reformation in Wittenberg with the support of Frederick III.

The influence of Lutheranism on Germany is extremely huge. The Electoral State of Brandenburg, which is the predecessor of the later Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire, is the hardcore Lutheran country. Therefore, in the case of the unification of Germany by Lutheran Prussia, Martin Luther became a saint in Germany, and in a vote on German TV 2 in 2008, he was second only to Adenauer, the first chancellor of West Germany, as the first chancellor of West Germany. "The Greatest German" came in second, higher than Ma Bearded.

Then, because he was so great, the original Wittenberg was directly changed by the Germans to "Luther City - Wittenberg", which became the Holy Land of Lutheran.

Of course, now that Martin Luther has not emerged, Wittenberg is still called Wittenberg. This is a city situated on the banks of the Elbe, in the middle reaches of the Elbe. The Elbe River is very wide, even in the middle reaches of the river near Wittenberg, it is still possible to sail. Of course, only medium-sized ships of one or two hundred tons can travel here. Mainly because, sailboats often need to do a "Z" movement forward, requiring a wider water surface. Only machine-driven boats, or rowboats, can travel in a straight line. Therefore, thousands of ton cargo ships can run near Wittenberg in later generations, while in this era, only small and medium-sized sailboats of one or two hundred tons can run...

"Running the boat..." Marin's eyes suddenly lit up while thinking...

Before, Marin originally planned to let the army go overland. However, it is too troublesome to travel by land. Food needs to be transported by carts, requiring a large number of people to follow the army, which is very inconvenient and consumes a lot of food.

However, if you go by water, it is different. Because there is no need for many people to transport food and luggage, Marin can bring less people.

If Wan Dajun went overland, at least he would have to bring nearly 20,000 people with him to transport food and baggage. If you take the waterway of the Elbe River, there is no need to bring a lot of people, thousands of people can. Even, because there are sailors on board, you can guest-star as a civilian husband.

Thinking of this, Marin immediately decided to take the Elbe waterway and rush to Wittenberg, the capital of the electorate of Saxony. Then, land near Wittenberg, then surround Wittenberg, then break through the city and capture John and other core members of the Wetting family...

It's just that Marin doesn't have that many river boats. So, he can only repeat the old trick - help Hamburg...

The Elbe River is the basic plate of Hamburg. The Hanseatic merchants in Hamburg have a great say in this river, and they also have many inland water transport ships. So, wanting to march with ease, Marin had to turn to Hamburg to get them out of the boat and help transport the army to Wittenberg.

Marin immediately wrote a letter to Heisenberg, the Grand Chancellor of Hamburg, asking them to send enough ships and sailors to help transport the 10,000-strong army, as well as a large amount of grain and baggage, as well as artillery and ammunition.

Marin is not worried that the Hamburgers will refuse, because the Hamburgers also want Marin to win. Moreover, after breaking the wealthy Wittenberg, Marin agreed to distribute the wealth to Lübeck and Hamburg. This makes it less likely that the burger will be rejected...  

Then, Marin made various preparations, and pulled the army and food cargo to the port on the west coast, ready to board the ship. As soon as the Hamburg fleet arrives, it can be directly pulled on board and headed in the direction of Wittenberg...