The Rise of the European Emperor

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() A papal decree smashed the plans of Frederick III. Seeing that the anti-Marin coalition could not be formed, Frederick III had to start other considerations.

Seeing that the coalition could not be formed, Frederick III realized that this time, the electorate of Saxony would have to accept the fate of defeat, and may be extorted by Marin for ransom or even forced to cede land.

Therefore, after the idea of ​​turning defeat into victory was shattered, a very real problem was placed in front of Frederick III - how to stop losses to the greatest extent...

The same is the ceding of land and indemnity, ceding a village is ceding, and ceding a country is also ceding. Therefore, what Frederick III has to consider now is how to reduce the ceded land area and the amount of indemnity.

But Frederick III understood that because he had tried to form a coalition to eliminate Marin, he had already provoked the anger of the other party. It is said that Marin has already marched south and surrounded Wittenberg. In addition, the other party has the public support of the Pope, so Marin will definitely not let himself go easily during the negotiation.

And the only way to prevent Marin from extorting himself too hard is to turn to the princes for help. Coincidentally, most of the German princes remained in Worms because of the convocation of the Archbishop of Inz. Therefore, Frederick III made a decision-pulled his face and begged those princes to speak for him, so as to avoid being blackmailed too hard by Marin.

As for the reason for letting the princes speak for themselves? This is easy to find, as long as it is to avoid the emergence of overly powerful new princes in Germany, this is enough.

All princes are vested interests. As a class with vested interests, what they disliked the most was the sudden emergence of a new powerful person who would be on an equal footing with them. Therefore, even if those princes were unwilling to be used by themselves to form a coalition to attack Marin, they must be full of jealousy for the rise and power of the newcomer Marin. At the same time, it is also full of worries.

Therefore, Frederick III, a wise politician, decided to take advantage of the jealousy and worries of the princes and use their power to put pressure on Marin to reduce his own losses.

Among them, the most important is to reduce the area of ​​land ceded. If the money is gone, you can earn it again, but if the land is gone, you can’t earn it back. The electorate of Saxony is not bad for money,

What's worse is the land. After all, Saxony is divided, and the land of the two Saxon princes is not too much.

To sum up, the current land area of ​​the Electorate of Saxony is similar to that of the Bishopric of Münster, about 10,000 square kilometers. However, unlike the Bishopric of Münster, there are many cities in the Electorate of Saxony, and there are about two dozen commercial cities with developed trade. Therefore, although the land area is much smaller than that of the electorate of Brandenburg, the economy of Saxony is far more developed than that of the electorate of Brandenburg.

Therefore, Frederick III was not afraid of reparations, but he was afraid of ceding territories. In particular, if the land is cut off, it is likely that a large number of cities will be cut off. This is the most intolerable of Frederick III.

...

Three days later, under the auspices of the Archbishop of Inz, the princes of Worms held a regular meeting. During the regular meeting, Frederick III suddenly stood up and said that he had something to say...

At first, the princes thought that Frederick III wanted to repeat the old words, and wanted to continue to fool everyone to form a coalition with him. As a result, many people crossed their arms, intending to see the joke of Frederick III.

But I didn't expect that as soon as Frederick III came up, he gave everyone a deep bow, a deep bow of 90 degrees...

All the princes were stunned...

You know, Frederick III is one of the seven Electors of the Holy Roman Empire, and he is also an elector with unique strength. Usually, Frederick III hardly looked directly at those little princes. Even when the little princes saluted him, Frederick III just nodded slightly and snorted to say hello. Today, the deep bow of Frederick III, which is as deep as 90 degrees, has shocked many princes.

However, Archbishop Inz and other religious princes disagreed. They thought - even if you bow a few more times, we will not send troops to help you...

However, they were wrong. Frederick III did not ask everyone to send troops, but came to apologize:

"My colleagues, I'm really sorry for everyone. Earlier, the plan I proposed to form a coalition to attack Marin caused everyone trouble! So, I'm going to give up this unrealistic plan now!"

The words of Frederick III aroused the exclamations of the princes. You must know that giving up asking everyone for help is equivalent to giving up hope... And seeing Frederick III's face as death, many nobles couldn't bear it...

Archbishop Jacob of Inz asked reluctantly:

"Lord Frederick, what are you going to do next?"

Frederick III sighed helplessly and said:

"What else can I do? Just wait until it's over... That guy Marin has the support of the Pope, and he has a good relationship with His Majesty the Emperor. Most importantly, he still has a strong army of 40,000... I think, in Germany, already No one can stop him... So, I can only wait to be destroyed by him..."

Frederick III's disheartened words surprised the princes present - yes, that guy Marin, did he have such a powerful strength when everyone was not paying attention? The most amazing thing is that this guy actually has the dual support of the Pope and the Emperor. Although Marin made a statement before and drew a clear line with the emperor, everyone knew that it was forced.

Seeing everyone's shocked expressions, Frederick III felt proud and felt that he still had a chance. However, he quickly put away that smug look, showing a sad expression, and continued:

"Everyone, before, I didn't deceive everyone, but I made a mistake in my judgment. I thought that the 20,000 troops that later invaded our army camp were reinforcements sent by His Majesty the Emperor. Therefore, Marin was made. Misjudgment of joining forces with His Majesty the Emperor to unify Germany."

"But now, it seems that I was wrong. The army of 40,000 people was actually owned by the little Earl of Marin. When I learned the truth, I was almost shocked. Ladies and gentlemen, may I ask which of you can gather four of them? Wan Dajun? Not including those civilians, they are all soldiers..."

The princes present shook their heads one after another, stop joking, not to mention 40,000 soldiers, even if you count the people, they can't make up 40,000 troops. The main thing is - I can't afford the food consumption of the 40,000 army and the salaries of the soldiers...

"That's right, you know? Joachim and I, as electors, each family can send only 15,000 soldiers. In order to defeat Marin, we hired 20,000 powerful soldiers. Swiss mercenaries. I don't think anyone in Germany can make up a lineup of 50,000 powerful soldiers, right?"

Everyone nodded, agreeing with Frederick III's words. Just kidding, that's 50,000 powerful soldiers, including 20,000 Swiss mercenaries. This lineup, even France can't come up with it. When France was fighting for hegemony in Italy and Spain, among its 40,000 troops, more than 20,000 were Italian mercenaries who were looked down upon by the Germans. It can be seen how difficult it is to make up 50,000 powerful soldiers.

"However, with such a strong lineup, we actually lost to Marin. Do you know? Marin has an army of 40,000! 40,000..."

"Furthermore, it's not a 40,000-strong army, but a 40,000-strong army with strong combat effectiveness!" Frederick III said excitedly.

At this time, the princes present here realized with hindsight that Marin is really powerful... And this is exactly what Frederick III wanted the princes to realize...

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