Chapter 1277: The regular meeting of the Imperial Parliament begins
The guess of John I, the Count of Ritterberg, is very accurate. Indeed, John II, Duke of Cliff, is mobilizing soldiers and horses, intending to enter the Ruhr area and **** the site.
It is a pity that the princely coalition forces and the seven-nation coalition forces recruited mercenaries, which made it difficult for the underprivileged Principality of Cliff to hire troops. It was not possible to recruit enough mercenaries at a time, which delayed the operation time.
In this era, because of financial difficulties, most princes would not raise too many troops in order to save military expenses. Only in wartime will a group of mercenaries be temporarily hired to fight for themselves.
Therefore, there were few princely states with more than 10,000 German standing troops in this era. It is not that they cannot afford it, but that they do not want to raise so many soldiers. Under normal circumstances, a Principality will only prepare three or four thousand standing troops, stationed in key areas such as the capital. A group of German mercenaries were temporarily hired to participate in the war until the war started.
Because of the late shot of the Principality of Cliff, there are no large mercenaries in the market that can be hired immediately. Therefore, he had to openly recruit the scattered soldiers, but the speed was relatively slow, so he lost his first move.
The site that John II focused on was the land on the east bank of the Rhine that was previously returned to Marin, as well as the Macbeth ...
"Father, are we very kind?" Questioned the little John (John III) who had become the Duke of Lich-Berg through marriage.
You know, the North Sea State and the Principality of Cliff were allies before. Now it seems that it is very unethical to deal with allies ...
"Devious! For the sake of the land, what kind of fame does it count?" John II, Duke of Cliff, reprimanded.
"Looking at Marin's inability to return, the Beihai Kingdom is estimated to be finished this time. Even if it is not destroyed, it will not retain the territory outside East Friesland. Instead of letting the land on the east bank of the Rhine be taken by others, it is cheaper to pull us The Mark family! "
Little John nodded thoughtfully. But suddenly he asked again:
"What if Marin is back? Father, you know, maybe he was in a storm at sea, and the ship broke down, where he stopped. The man can fight fiercely, and if he comes back, it may be time to reckon!"
John II was stunned, not sure:
"It shouldn't be back. The Beihai Kingdom doesn't expect it ... but you are right, maybe Marin will come back alive ... then ..."
After thinking for a long time, John II said:
"If he comes back alive, we will return the occupied land. The reason is that we will help the trustee first so as not to be taken away by the enemy ..."
"If you can't come back ... the land is ours ..."
"Father sees you!" Little John flattered.
...
However, it was not long before the father and son were happy, and they learned that the Eight-Power Allied Forces had crossed the Lipper River and headed south. Moreover, the Eight-Power Allied Forces went straight to the land east of the Rhine and fortified along the river to guard against the armies of the Principality of Cliff.
"Oh, we are late!" John II was extremely regretful.
If he started early, although he had only 10,000 or 20,000 people in his hand, as long as he defended along the Lipper River and other large rivers, he could still stop the advance of the Eight-Power Allied Forces.
However, now the large number of Eight-Power Allied Forces have taken the lead, so they do not need to send troops ...
There are so many people in the other party, and they still occupy the geographical position. This battle cannot be fought ...
...
Just as the eight-nation coalition marched into the west of the Ruhr area, the annual regular meeting of the Holy Roman Empire Empire Council was held in the small city of Worms in the archbishop of Mainz ...
At this time, Emperor Maximilian I had gathered many nobles of the Swabian League and gathered in Worms. The alliance of princes did not show any weakness, and many princes headed by Frederick III, the elector of Saxony, had long been waiting in Worms.
When the two sides entered the venue, the two leading brothers, Maximilian I and Frederick III, glared at each other with sparks in their eyes ...
In fact, Maximilian I and Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, are still relatives. Frederick III's grandmother Margaret was the younger sister of Frederick III (the emperor), the father of Maximilian I, and was the emperor's aunt. So, strictly speaking, Maximilian I was the cousin of Frederick III. The father of Ernst, Frederick III ’s deceased, was the cousin of emperor Maximilian I ...
However, these two real relatives have become dead enemies because of their different political positions ...
...
This is also a very helpless thing. Maximilian I's dream when he was young was to deprive the Holy Roman Empire's princes of their autonomy and make the Holy Roman Empire a centralized empire like France.
But this violates the rights of the princes. After all, no prince is willing to be a mascot noble with no real power. Let's take a look at France. Those dukes and counts, because they have no real power, have to please the king to obtain rights. Unlike the German princes, because they have autonomy, they have every right to be born. Compared to the two, a fool would be happy to be a duke and an earl like France.
Therefore, even for real relatives, for his own benefit, Frederick III had to stand on the opposite side of his uncle and become the leader of the prince ...
...
At the same time, Johnny, a miserable-looking envoy who had been specially trained by Marin Mart, finally trained in place and was sent by Marin to Worms to attend the regular meeting of the Imperial Conference. His task is mainly to sell miserable ...
However, when going south to Worms, because of the war along the way, Johnny had to circumvent the war zone to avoid a disaster. Therefore, when the meeting opened on the first day, Johnny did not arrive in time.
Then, the theme of the first day was naturally a Swiss issue ...
...
"Election of Frederick, why did your army invade my territory, Franche Comté, for no reason? As far as I know, your army burned and looted in my Franche Comté, without any evil. But the question is, I have n’t offended you? Why attack my territory for no reason? ”Maximilian I aggressively preempted.
"Your Majesty, we are not to blame for this matter. You have to ask your subordinate General Baron Franzberg. You know, our army only went south to Christopher I, the Earl of Baden who invaded the Principality of Lorraine. But, Your general did not know what happened, and suddenly sent troops to ambush our army in the Costar Valley, causing heavy losses to our army, and more than half of the 60,000 horses were lost. Moreover, most of the food was also discarded ... " Frederick III continued angrily:
"What's even more terrible is that the lack of virtue, Franzberg, after capturing our 40,000 civilians, was afraid that the food consumption would be too large, and actually returned 40,000 civilians!"
"Forty thousand people! That is forty thousand strong men who can eat! Most of our food has been snatched away by the dirty Frensberg attack, what can we do? Is it that more than 60,000 people are waiting to starve to death? Therefore, we can only go to the nearby Beizangsong to 'collect food'! "
"Here, I want to complain to the Imperial Parliament of the Austrian general Frensberg, who innocently attacked our army and caused our army to lose more than half! This is a serious provocation. Your majesty, are you declaring war against the German princes? "Frederick III talked a lot and pushed the responsibility back ...
"How do I remember that your army first besieged my city of Basel and attacked the defenders under Frensberg? It should be said that you first launched the attack? As for Frensberg ambushed you , Is it a counterattack against you besieging Basel? Speaking of it, you attacked our army first and belonged to the provocative side. The responsibility for this conflict lies with you, not us! "Maximilian I naturally refused Showing weakness, starting to put facts and reason.
Frederick III had expected it, and asked in a hurry:
"Your Majesty, is Basel the territory of the Habsburg family?"
"Of course!" Maximilian I started to feel bad ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ Oh? How can I not remember that the Imperial Parliament has any instruments or resolutions that recognize Basel as the territory of the Habsburg family? I remember that Basel City belongs to the Basel Autonomous Region. Therefore, our army is only besieging the city of an autonomous prefecture. How can we attack the Habsburg family territory? "
"In addition, we were passing Basel when we chased Christopher I, Earl of Baden, and we had to attack Basel when we saw Christopher hiding in Basel. So, it ’s not a blame for us, who called Basel City Our enemy, Earl Christopher? "
"And, we don't know that the defenders in the city are your majesty ..." Frederick III said innocently, and his eyes were full of cunning ...
"You ..." Maximilian I almost vomited blood, pretending to be uncomfortable, and requested a temporary recess, and then went down to think about the countermeasures ...
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