In Dresden, the capital of the Principality of Saxony, Duke Albrecht suddenly stood up excitedly:
"What did you say? The Frisian Republic was crippled?"
"Yes, Your Excellency, this is the news from the Saxon Hanseatic merchant in Groningen!"
Saxony is a huge group in Germany, and the Saxons are also a large group. Even the "Saxons" in the Anglo-Saxons, the main body of the British, are actually Saxons.
In the Hanseatic League, the Saxons are also very powerful. In the Hanseatic League, the Saxon business district is the second most powerful business district among the four major business districts in the alliance (Wende business district, Saxony business district, Prussia and Livonia business district, and the Rhine business district), second only to The Wende commercial district on the coast of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. This is because the Wende business district took advantage of shipping, otherwise, the Saxony business district would not be worse than it.
Therefore, the financial and military strength of the Saxony Department is very strong. Although, the Electorate of Saxony was divided up by the two brothers Ernst and Albrecht in 1464. However, the relationship between the brothers has always been very good. Ernst received more than half of the territory and the title of Elector, while Albrecht also received a large piece of the territory and the title of Duke of Saxony.
Because the Hanseatic League of Saxony is very strong and supports the two great nobles of Saxony, the two giants of Saxony are never short of money. Even if there is a shortage of money, there are plenty of Hanseatic merchants who are willing to lend them money.
Duke Albrecht is very ambitious and wants to expand his territory. Of course, his older brother was on good terms with him. Therefore, he is also embarrassed to compete for territory with his brother. Therefore, he could only look elsewhere.
At first, after the death of Charles the Bold, the Duchy of Burgundy was in chaos. With the support of France, Friesland, which had been annexed by Charles the Bold, became independent again. That's all, Friesland is not an economically developed area. But then a serious rebellion broke out in Flanders with the covert support of France.
At that time, Austria under the control of the unlucky Habsburg family was also occupied by Matthias I of Hungary, and even WYN was lost.
After the desperate Maximilian I took over the position of King of Germany, he was unable to fight on both sides, and he was unwilling to give up the most developed and tax-heavy Flanders region in the Low Countries. Therefore, at that time, Maximilian I asked his cousin, Duke Albrecht, for help.
In 1491, Albrecht happily led an army of tens of thousands to Flanders. After several months of fighting, the rebellion in Flanders was quelled, and the taxes in this area were re-controlled by Maximilian. In the hands of I.
However, Duke Albrecht was no fool. At the beginning, Duke Albrecht had taken a fancy to the independent Friesian Republic and asked for this piece of land as a reward for countering the rebellion. And Maximilian I verbally agreed to this clause because of the urgent situation. Of course, this is not free. After all, Friesland is a big place. Not only is the Principality of Saxony coveted, but other big powers, such as the Principality of Geddes, which is close to the Republic of Frisia, are also eyeing this place.
Although the emperor verbally agreed to give the land to the Duke of Albrecht, he also hinted at the time that the Duke of Saxony needed to guarantee the emperor and asked the emperor to borrow hundreds of thousands of gold coins from the Hanseatic merchants to spend...
This is not a small amount. Although it is said to be a loan, the borrower must also be prepared to spend the money in vain. After all, the repayment ability of the emperor back then...was not much different from that of Lao Lai...
No, the Duke of Saxony took a long time to get many Saxon Hanse merchants to agree to jointly lend the emperor 300,000 gold coins.
However, the birth of Marin made the emperor suddenly get a windfall of more than 1 million gold coins. Even if 400,000 gold coins were "borrowed" by relatives and Swabian nobles, and the old account of more than a hundred thousand gold coins was settled, the emperor still had a balance of more than 400,000 gold coins. Therefore, the emperor is not short of money now. Regarding the Duke of Saxony's request for a loan of 300,000 gold coins in exchange for the legal rule of the Friesian Republic, the emperor deliberately pretended not to see...
After all, with such a large piece of land, the emperor was really reluctant to just give it to the Duke of Saxony. Even the emperor wanted to get it himself. When Marin came to report, the emperor also began to prepare secretly, preparing to seize Friesland...
However, although the emperor was stronger than the Duke of Saxony, he was not as convenient as the Duke of Saxony to gather troops. Because, the Duke of Saxony originally had five or six thousand standing troops. And Ernst, the elder brother of the Duke of Saxony, also has several thousand standing troops. Although the emperor has more soldiers and horses than the Duke of Saxony, he needs to guard against the Hungarians. It is much more troublesome to free up soldiers and horses, and generally they have to be recruited separately.
Moreover, in order to take back Flanders, the emperor did promise to give Friesland to Duke Albrecht. And the emperor also needs the vote support of the powerful Saxon nobles in the imperial parliament.
When the Duke of Saxony left Innsbruck in Marin, he also rushed to Innsbruck, and the emperor asked for Friesland...
"Cousin Albrecht, you said you want Friesland?" The emperor was taken aback. Just as he planned to annex Friesland, the Duke of Saxony came to ask for it.
In fact, in addition to preparing money, the Duke of Saxony also calculated that the army of the Friesian Republic is now disabled and it is easier to attack. At this time, as long as you rush into Friesland with superior troops, there is no reason not to win. What's more, he still has a trump card in his hand...
"Yes, Your Majesty, you promised me back then that you would give me Friesland, so you can't just keep your word."
"Yes... yes, but..."
"I know, there is still a loan. You see, this is an IOU. I contacted many Hanseatic businessmen, and they agreed to provide you with a loan of 300,000 gold coins at very low interest..."
"300,000 gold coins... But I'm not short of money now..." Maximilian I was a bit happy at first, but thinking of his own financial strength now, he refused.
"Hehe, if His Majesty agrees, the 100,000 gold coins may not be returned..."
"What's the meaning?"
"I am willing to exchange 100,000 gold coins plus an interest-free loan of 200,000 in exchange for Friesland. Moreover, you promised to give Friesland to my minister..." The Duke of Saxony wanted a territory as large as Friesland, and for the man Groningen Sacheng, it's a bloody waste...
The emperor struggled for a long time, finally gritted his teeth and nodded:
"All right… "
For such a large piece of land in Friesland, although the emperor was reluctant. But the emperor also knew that if he rejected the Duke of Saxony, his situation in the Imperial Parliament would be even more difficult in the future. After all, in the imperial parliament, apart from the nobles of the Swabian line and the Habsburg family, only the nobles of the Saxon line were willing to vote for him. Moreover, the number of nobles in the Saxon family is quite large, and their influence is quite large...
In addition, he had also verbally agreed to this matter before, so the emperor had to reluctantly give Friesland to the Duke of Saxony. However, the emperor made a special statement that the two islands that Friesland had paid to Marin before had been given to Marin. In this regard, Duke Albrecht could not deny it. Because those small broken islands were not conspicuous in the Middle Ages, even in the later period.
In this way, the emperor quietly gave the territory of Friesland to Duke Albrecht without anyone knowing. In order to be silent when attacking the Frisians, Duke Albrecht decided not to disclose the news for the time being. Wait until the army marches to the city of Groningen before announcing the news...
At this time, Marin, who was still recruiting excitedly in Württemberg, didn't know that Friesland, which he planned to annex, had been cut off...
Marin worked hard to disable Friesland, and now he is preparing to train more mercenaries, so that he can take Friesland directly next time. Unexpectedly, the Duke of Saxony would jump out to pick peaches...
After receiving the emperor's documents, Albrecht, Duke of Saxony, immediately went back to prepare troops. And Marin is still assessing and selecting excellent mercenaries in Württemberg...