Chapter 11: Interest diplomacy
In Germany, where princes are lined up, no country should try to single out other forces of the entire empire on its own. Therefore, the little princes have to hold a group, or find the big princes as backers. The great princes also need to find a group of younger brothers as allies to enhance their strength.
Therefore, the German region looks at more than 200 princes of different sizes, but in fact, there are only a few forces. Mainly, the emperor faction headed by the Habsburg family, and various local power factions headed by the seven electors. Of course, there are also some affluent and powerful countries that do not need to depend on others and become one by themselves. For example, the Principality of Geddes, which provoked the conflict in the Friesland region, because it is located in the fertile region of the Lower Rhine, has good finances, and with the convenience of freight transportation, it can be a system.
In addition, John II, Duke of Cliff, can also form his own system. Because, in his name, not only the Principality of Cliff, but also the Kingdom of Mark. The two countries are not small, and together they can be counted as number one forces. What's more, Engelbert, the second brother of John II, is also the earl of Nephew, and is also one of this force. What's more, Philip, the third brother of John II, also became the head of the Teutonic Knights.
Another thing is that some quasi-powerful countries will also join forces to form a force. The representative is the Swabian League. This is a group of nobles in Swabia who are not strong or weak, and they have formed a force of self-protection. However, this force relied on the Habsburg family of Maximilian I.
The reason why Marin wants to enter the Imperial Parliament is not only to obtain the same diplomatic status as other princes, but also to hope to gain allies by participating in the Imperial Parliament and avoid becoming a loner.
Just like the Prussia who later agreed to the little Germany, in addition to its military strength, diplomatic efforts are also very important. Even the importance of diplomacy is not inferior to military efforts.
Who is the Prime Minister of the Second German Empire Bismarck? He is a diplomat. It was with his efforts that during the conflict between Germany and France, neither Britain nor Russia pulled Germany ’s hind legs and even secretly supported it. Therefore, Prussia defeated the then powerful European power France and achieved a new status as a great power. This is inseparable from Bismarck's superb diplomatic means.
Throughout Bismarck's life, he stressed the importance of maintaining good relations with Russia. Because Bismarck knows well that the land area of Tsarist Russia is huge, its mobilization ability is extremely strong, and it is also very resilient. Therefore, during Bismarck's reign, he always chose to win over Russia. In this way, not only does it avoid a strong opponent who is struggling to fight, but also guarantees the stability of the eastern frontier, so that Prussia has enough energy to single out with France.
But in the period of William II, this idiot not only offended the west of England and France, and Russia also tore his face, resulting in Germany being hit by things. Even if the Germans were strong, they couldn't help but join forces between the two fronts and the three empires. The ally it chooses is also two funny countries in Austria and Italy.
Therefore, the success or failure of diplomacy is directly related to the smoothness of the expansion process.
It should be pointed out that the reason why Prussia can rise in the 19th century is not only a great deal of militarism, but also the Prussian-led "German Customs Union" which was launched in 1834. Through this customs union, Prussia formed most of the princes in the north of Germany (except for several states such as Bavaria in the south) into a close trade and interest union, and successfully excluded Austria from the small German region.
Through this customs union, Prussia circulated the Taylor silver coin engraved with the head of the Prussian king, allowing him to circulate in the German states. The subjects of the states that are used to using Prussian Taylor have no repulsion of the leadership subject to Germany. After all, they use silver coins engraved with the head of the Prussian king every day ...
Marin actually wanted to establish an organization similar to the "German Customs Union" to unify the markets in the northern German region. But this is a dream ...
Because the productivity of this era is completely different from that of the 19th century. In the 19th century, the world has entered an era of industrialization, with very rich commodities and natural circulation. At that time, tariffs almost became a very important part of national revenue. Some small states have lived on the division of the Customs Union. Prussia was able to become the leader of the customs union. It also relied on placing the Ruhr area into its sphere of influence after the war, vigorously developing industry, and becoming the strongest industrial country in the customs union.
If you change to another country, if the industry is not developed, even the leader of the customs union cannot be the leader of the customs union.
In this era, let alone industry, even agriculture, was too lagging behind, and the circulation of commodities was extremely underdeveloped. Even the commercial channels in the German region are mostly in the hands of the Hanseatic League. The princes basically lived on rent. Because of poverty, we often need to borrow usury from big merchants or the Hanseatic League. If you can't afford it, you can use the privilege to pay off the debt, or use the mine to pay off the debt.
The first financial family in this era, the Fugger family, was the main lender of the Habsburg family. Charles V was able to be elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire because the Fugger family provided 850,000 Gulden gold for bribe election funds. In return, Charles V mortgaged many copper mines in Austria and Bohemia to the Fogel family.
However, the rulers of the Fugger family never thought that there is a super large copper mine in Falun, Sweden. It didn't take long for the Fugger family to hold many copper mines in hand, and Fa Yilun's super-large copper mine began to be developed on a large scale ... Then, the copper price plummeted, and the investment of the Fugger family shrank a lot.
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Around July, the new Imperial Parliament will be held. The emperor informed Marin that he planned to recommend Marin to the Imperial Parliament at this imperial meeting. The nobles within the influence of the Habsburg family on the emperor's side, the emperor greeted them, including the Swabian League, and they all supported Marin into the Imperial Parliament.
Before, under the guidance of the emperor, Marin also bribed five other electors except the elector of Saxony and the king of Bohemia (the emperor's enemy). The bribery effect is good. Marin can rest assured that these five elected emperors will call on their younger brothers to help Marin vote.
It's just that Marin had neglected a class before, that is-Empire Free City ...
Imperial free cities are a very special group. They are generally authorized by the emperor and separated from some bishopric states or aristocratic territories in the 13th and 14th centuries. They have independent judicial power. Apart from paying taxes to the emperor during the war (requiring a resolution from the Imperial Parliament), they usually do not need to bear any obligations to their lord.
The most wonderful thing is the city of Cologne. Although it is said that the city of Cologne is the legal capital of the Archdiocese of Cologne. But in fact, the city of Cologne is an imperial free city and is not under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Cologne. The actual residence of the Archbishop of Cologne was in Bonn, south of Cologne, the first city after Marin had just crossed. Of course, after World War II, Bonn was also a long-term government residence of West Germany.
In addition to Bonn, there are also Worms (the place where the Imperial Parliament is held), Augsburg, Strasbourg, Basel and Mainz (although it is an imperial free city, the main bishop of Mainz is also in the city), etc. ...
Empire free cities are different from ordinary free cities. Ordinary free cities are not eligible to participate in the Imperial Parliament. The Empire Free City was able to send representatives to participate in the Empire Parliament.
Before, Marin forgot to please these imperial free cities with votes, and the emperor also forgot this. Now, the emperor specially sent people to inform Marin not to forget to bribe representatives of these imperial free cities.
After receiving the notice from the emperor, Marin immediately sent men and women to bribe the representatives of the imperial free cities. Bribery of representatives of imperial free cities is different from bribery of those big nobles. Bribery of big nobles can be done semi-openly. Because these big nobles, in their own territories, speak a lot. The representatives of the Imperial Free City are the spokespersons elected by the local council of the Imperial Free City, and they cannot speak for themselves in their respective cities. However, whether or not to choose Marin to become a member of the Imperial Parliament, their voice is still very heavy.
In fact, it does not matter whether Marin is elected to the Imperial Parliament or not. Therefore, the local parliament will not vote to let the representatives of the Imperial Parliament make choices. What's more, the emperor's proposal was not disclosed, and most people in the Imperial Free City did not know it.
Under such circumstances, Marin only needs to get the representatives of the Imperial Free City to participate in the Imperial Parliament. However, because these people are just elected representatives, bribing them must be done in secret. Otherwise, if they are known by the parliament of the Imperial Free City where they are located, they may be removed.
Therefore, Marin used some secret forces controlled by Kohler, quietly contacted these people, and sent gold coins ... Then, this matter was done ... After all, European nobles and officials in this era did not A few not greedy ...
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Because the emperor made a deal with George, the new Duke of Saxony, George would choose to support Marin into the Imperial Parliament ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ Then, in this way, the nobles of the Saxony family might not block themselves.
It is just that George is no longer the leader of the Saxon aristocracy. Therefore, George's opinion can only represent the opinion of the Principality of Saxony, and no longer has the ability to affect the dozen other nobles of the Saxon aristocracy.
Therefore, Marin also needs to send people to bribe these people. Therefore, Marin once again sent out men and bribes these Saxon nobles, asking them to go to the Imperial Parliament without asking for trouble. Now, the Principality of Saxony, which has the most hatred against them, no longer embarrasses themselves, and they have no reason to live with themselves anymore. Of course, if they don't give them any benefits, they may not choose to support their election like George did. After all, George was because of the exchange of interests. Other Saxony nobles have little conflict with their own interests, but if they give them "interests" (bribery), they will no longer have to die with themselves.
However, Marin knew that once George resolved the West Frisian War, he no longer needed to look at his face, then George would immediately turn his face and no longer support himself. Therefore, this opportunity is also rare. It is also good to be able to use a handful of Saxon nobles.
Moreover, Marin did not feel that George could soon get the Principality of Geddes. Because the Principality of Gedesi is clearly a hidden BOSS, powerful, but low-key. George didn't know the importance, he regarded it as a soft persimmon, and later he would suffer ...
But Marin didn't care about George's end. What he had to do now was to gather all possible allies and help him qualify as a member of the Imperial Parliament. With this qualification, he has equal status with other nobles and forces. Only then can we slowly choose our allies and engage in "jointness and verticality" ... Marlin needs allies on the road to hegemony ...
