King of Mercenaries

Chapter 291: Spice diplomacy

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In this negotiation, Marin was actually aggrieved. Obviously, he had already occupied West Frisia, but under the interference of several major powers, he had to spit it out.

However, Marin would not spit it out in vain. Groningen has already been looted by him, and Leeuwarden has no time to take it for the time being. However, Marin still sent someone to the beach.

Originally, Marin sent people to the beach just to manage those West Frisian fishermen in advance and recruit some young men from them to enrich his sailing team.

However, after the negotiation results came out, Marin immediately changed his approach and directly sent someone to notify his subordinates who were going to the seaside to force them to relocate those fishermen to East Frisia.

This time, Marin plans to migrate 10,000 to 20,000 West Frisian fishermen to East Frisia. Anyway, West Frisia has a total population of more than 200,000, and it doesn't matter if it is less than 10,000 to 20,000.

Moreover, before the Duke of Saxony paid the ransom and population, Marin decided to stay in Groningen and only return Leeuwarden first.

In fact, in the southwestern part of West Frisia, after the news of the Duke of Saxony's defeat spread, the original nine nobles of West Frisia had already led an army to attack.

Now, West Frisia is in a period of military vacuum. Before the Duke of Saxony redeemed the army, no one had time to suppress the original army of the nine nobles of West Frisia. Even those nobles naively found Marin and wanted to take over the whole of Friesland.

Of course, Marin couldn't be happy, and he could get a ransom if he returned it to the Duke of Saxony. He will get nothing if he gives it to these 9 poor ghosts. However, he hinted at those 9 idiots that the western half of Friesland is now in a military vacuum. Only the Saxon garrison in the city of Leeuwarden, other areas are basically blank...

So, these 9 idiot nobles, Pai Siwag, led more than a thousand people, and started the great cause of "restoring the country". But Marin is not optimistic about them, because their army's combat effectiveness is just like that. Although, the hundreds of people Marin put back had good combat effectiveness. However, the group of Frisian soldiers who had been trained under Marin were all close combat arms.

Such an army has nothing to do with the Saxon infantry. However, if the Saxons use plate knights to charge, they cannot resist. After all, Sivager only learned strict military discipline and training methods, but did not learn the Spanish phalanx that professionally fights against knights. Of course, even if Sivager learned it, he couldn't afford it. The Spanish phalanx consumed too much gunpowder. Now that the nine nobles have no source of funds, how can they afford guns

However, letting them do something in western Friesland now will also make the Duke of Saxony anxious. Without an army, the Saxons could not drive off the troublesome original Frisian army. Therefore, in desperation, the Saxons must be eager to redeem their elite army. That way, Marin can also get the ransom earlier...

This time the peace talks taught Marin a very profound lesson—that is, in Europe, allies are very important...

There are many countries in Europe, and no country is too big or too strong. Even if it is as strong as France, it is just a fighter in a small country. Therefore, to hang out in the circle of European aristocrats, one must have enough and strong allies.

To give two very simple examples, France during the Napoleon period was extremely domineering in Europe, its national strength far surpassed other countries, and it was able to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops.

However, the ambition to take the dwarf was too great, and he was too confident—he chose to single out the whole of Europe...

The final result is that the invincible Napoleon was finally wiped out by the powers of all Europe and formed a group as the ultimate boss.

Similarly, Germany in the 19th century, under the leadership of Bismarck, the master of diplomacy, had good relations with Tsarist Russia and Austria. After solving its worries, it concentrated on beating France, achieved brilliant results, and established the German Empire.

On the contrary, the later William II and Hitler were too arrogant and chose to go to war with many European powers. Then, everyone knows the result—both were beaten to death by gangs...

After thinking about it, Marin finally understood his shortcoming—that is, too few allies...

Although, Marin now has two allies of the Teutonic Knights and the Principality of Cliff, as well as the temporary ally of the Principality of Geddes. However, the Principality of Geddes is unreliable, and Duke Charles is very ambitious. And the Teutonic Knights were too far away to be of much help. As for the Principality of Cliff, the relationship with Marin is not bad, but it is not that close. It can only be said that the Principality of Cliff can only be regarded as Marin's trade partner, not the level of an ally.

In addition, Marin is naturally regarded as the emperor's man. Therefore, it is also very important to have a good relationship with the emperor's faction. As for the surrounding countries, Friesland in Saxony must be the enemy of Marin. As for Oldenburg in the east, because of the murder of Jever, it must not deal with Marin. Therefore, only two countries, the Bishop of Münster in the south and the Archbishop of Utrecht in the southwest, are worthy of friendship with Marin.

Moreover, under the current situation, the Bishop of Münster and the Archbishop of Utrecht will certainly not refuse to make friends with Marin after seeing Marin's strong military strength.

But how to conduct diplomacy? Marin did not graduate from time to time with a major in international relations, and he didn't even study international trade. So, he can only think of the answer by himself...

Suddenly, Marin remembered the famous "ping-pong diplomacy" of the later Taizu during the "ice-breaking" period... Then, Marin thought of a good idea...

It just so happened that after Columbus's 300,000 pounds of spices were shipped back to Emden, they were still in the warehouse, and there was no time to deal with them. Because, some time ago, Marin was preparing for a war with Saxony.

Now, when there is time, Marin has time to deal with the mountain of spices...

"Taizu can play 'ping-pong diplomacy', why can't I play 'spice diplomacy' once?" Marin thought...

Moreover, unlike "ping-pong diplomacy", "spice diplomacy" directly involves great interests, and is more attractive than "ping-pong diplomacy"...

After thinking about it, Marin sent envoys to visit Ghent, Criver City, Münster City, Utrecht and Königsberg respectively to strengthen relations or establish friendly diplomatic relations with these countries.

Of course, Marin also brought a large number of spice contracts to these five countries, allowing them to share some of the spice profits...

Originally, Marin planned to share the benefits of some spices with the emperor. However, Austria, where the emperor is located, is far inland in the south, and communication is inconvenient. Therefore, Marin finally chose to take out 80,000 pounds of spices and hand them over to the emperor's heir, the handsome king Philip, for distribution. Although it is not directly handed over to the emperor, it is almost the same. Because the emperor has only such a son... Moreover, it is very convenient to transport the spices to the Netherlands...

Then, Marin provided the Principality of Cliver and the Teutonic Knights each with a wholesale volume of 50,000 pounds, so that the Duke of Cliver and the Grand Leader Philip could also make a lot of money.

After that, Marin provided 25,000 pounds of spices to the Bishop of Münster and the Archbishop of Utrecht respectively, so that the two bishops can also make a fortune from it.

In the end, Marin remembered Charlie, Duke of Geddes, an ally he didn't trust much... After thinking about it, Marin still gave him a share of 10,000 pounds of spices, allowing him to make a small profit...

In fact, Marin did so, although he gave up some benefits, but it also accelerated the sales of spices. After all, relying on Marin himself, there is no way to sell all 300,000 pounds of spices. But these few big nobles are different. Their families or forces are all deeply rooted, and they have their own strong relationship and business networks. In addition, spices are also in short supply in Europe, so it is not difficult for them to sell out.

As for Marin himself, he only left 60,000 pounds of spices and stayed in Emden for direct sales. After all, the sales of spices can also attract many merchants and ships to Emden for business activities. In this way, it is conducive to improving Emden's commercial reputation and prosperity.

For example, the reason why Antwerp in the Netherlands developed into the top European commercial port in history is because Portuguese merchants chose to establish a spice wholesale market in Antwerp in 1500, attracting merchants from Northwest Europe to gather in Antwerp to do business... Then, Antwerp became one of the most prosperous commercial ports at that time...

Marin also plans to follow this route in the future, striving to develop Emden into an important trading port in Northwest Germany. In this way, Marin can also collect a little more business tax and customs duties...

After sprinkling a lot of spices, Marin really won the favor and recognition of several countries. East Frisia and these countries have carried out cordial and friendly high-level mutual visits and signed various friendly agreements... Then, these countries have publicly issued official statements recognizing the legal status of the Earl of Marin East Frisia... and even , after the emperor learned that his son had obtained great benefits, he also issued a statement for the second time, announcing the public recognition of Marin's legal status...

This is just the beginning. Marin believes that, except for those countries that are really unable to reconcile, as long as they make good use of commercial means, there will definitely be more and more countries that have good relations with East Frisia. At that time, if any country wants to make an idea of East Frisia, it must carefully consider the "little partners" of the Count of East Frisia...