Chapter 158： Dust settled

On December 23, 1497, two days before Christmas, in the square of the Cathedral of Konigsberg, a total of 820 Teutonic knights of the Teutonic Order gathered together to vote and elect a new head of the group. .

After several former senior deacon announced the election rules, a total of three candidates have started to speak ...

He first came to power, Prince Frederick. After Prince Frederick came to power, he talked about the strength of the Principality of Saxony, and said that the powerful Principality of Saxony would form an alliance with the Teutonic Knights to help against Poland. Moreover, he kept suggesting that an alliance with the prosperous Saxony would bring great trade benefits.

Marin pouted his lips below, and to be honest, Prince Frederick's speech was pretty good, very flickering. However, it's just very flickering. It sounds good, but it's not really the case at all.

Because, Marin knew that the Principality of Saxony would fall into the quagmire of the Frisian people's resistance in the future. How could he support the Teutonic Order?

As for trade benefits? In the Hanseatic League, the Saxony business district is stronger than the Prussian-Livonia business district. Not to mention, the Teutonic Knights currently only have 4 Hanseatic cities. The combination of the two makes it clear who is dominant. It can be said that once the Saxony business district and the four Hansa cities of Teutonic are combined, the Saxony Hansa merchants will benefit. The Teutonic Hansa merchants were good at drinking soup.

I thought about it, Marin wrote these ideas on paper, and handed them to Prince Philip ...

"What are you doing?"

"Poke his leather to expose the truth when he will speak."

"Will ... offend the Saxons?" Prince Philip hesitated. Because, the Principality of Rivers and the State of Mark are combined, far less than the Principality of Saxony.

"Afraid, the Saxons are about to fall into the quagmire of Frisian resistance. Moreover, the powerful Principality of Gerdes is also jealous of Frisian. As long as the Duke of Saxon is not mentally crippled, he will not offend your family. So, be assured and bold, Tell everyone that the Saxon army will be trapped in Friesland and will be eyeed by the Duchy of Gerdes. Therefore, they cannot be able to help the Teutonic Order ... "

好 "Okay!" Prince Philip nodded ...

Uh ...

Here, Prince Frederick's speech really touched a lot of people, especially some neutrals. The Teutonic Knights of the Saxony department applauded hard to cheer their young master.

The second candidate is from Switzerland, but this person even abstained. Although I signed up before, I didn't attend. Because, this person sees that even if he comes to power, few people will vote for him ...

Then, the third person didn't come ...

The fourth person is William of Austria. This is the one bought by Marin. Surprisingly, this guy is quite capable of speaking. After the goods came on stage, the Habsburg family crest was first illuminated and the scene was calmed down ...

The Habsburgs, although boycotted by nobles everywhere. However, the Swabian region and the Saxony region really do not resist, because these two regions and the Habsburg family are allies. In addition, some of the nobles of the Frankenian region made good relations with the Habsburgs. Of course, even if the knights of the Saxony region do not oppose the Habsburgs, it is impossible to vote for others with their own prince.

But the knights in Swabian region are a little tangled ...

Because, they first agreed to vote for Prince Frederick of Saxony. But then William went out and whispered that he moved some people to vote for him.

Of course, even if he loses money, William's speech must be convincing to prove that he is competent for the work of the chief commander, otherwise, the Swabian knights who have made an appointment may regret it.

William is a little bit clever. He first revealed his identity as a member of the Habsburg family. Although it would lose the support of most of the knights of the anti-Habsburg vassals, the knights in the emperor's ally region began to hesitate.

Most of the knights of the Teutonic Order are from the German region. Therefore, the development of the Teutonic knighthood to this day can already be called the German Knights.

Anyway, William is a member of the Habsburg family, although the emperor may not know his sideline members. However, some of the knights of the empire's allies had to think about it.

Because, their family members have to join the vassal state. Therefore, they must be careful not to confront the vassals of their hometown.

Moreover, with the help of Marin, the master of counterfeiting, William also showed some people a letter of introduction from the emperor. With the "Emperor's recommendation", the Teutonic knights in Swabian and part of Frankenia will have to weigh ...

What confuses these people is that Prince Saxony also told the Swabian Teutonic knights that the emperor supported him. As a result, some Swabian knights became confused.

In fact, the emperor did support Prince Frederick. Because Saxony is now an important ally of the emperor. However, the Emperor did not issue an "introduction letter" to Prince Frederick. Instead, William brought a fake emperor's letter of introduction. Therefore, some Swabian knights were really convinced. Plus, William also paid for the benefits ...

William's talk about economic construction is not brilliant, but he also clearly expressed his intention to support business development and encourage everyone to make money.

In the military, William preached the strength of the Habsburgs. And, the key point is that William told everyone that the Habsburg family was chosen, then the emperor can warn Poland in the name of Germany as a family member, let them converge, and do not bully the Teutonic Order ...

Speaking of which, Marin couldn't help applauding William. Speaking of which, Maximilian I was also the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The emperor came forward to negotiate with Poland, and Poland really needed to weigh. Moreover, as an emperor, he could indeed give the Teutonic Knights legal support.

Of course, these promises seem good, but they are all false. Moreover, William is not a representative of the Habsburgs ...

But others don't know. Especially the Teutonic knights of Swabian, plunged into incomparable struggles ...

After William went down, he turned in two more candidates—he abstained from voting. Finally, Prince Philip came to power.

After Prince Philip came to power, he opened a speech prepared by Marin. As soon as he came to power, Philip fired at Prince Frederick:

"I have just heard the speeches of the previous two, and I am deeply touched. Of course, I also have some different views on the statements of the first two ..."

"For example, Prince Frederick said that the Principality of Saxony can provide military support to the Teutonic Knights, and I don't agree ..."

"As far as I know, after the Principality of Saxony laid down the Republic of Friesland some time ago, instead of catching the nine Frisian MPs, they let them run away. In this way, in the future, these nine originally The Frisian aristocracy may be unable to incite the local people to rebel. Therefore, I conclude that it is difficult for Saxony to deploy its troops to support the Teutonic country ... "

Now that Prince Frederick was unhappy, he stood up and retorted:

"The Frisian resistance is not worth mentioning. They are vulnerable in the presence of thousands of troops in Saxony!"

王子 Prince Philip glanced at the competitor and said without hesitation:

"Of course the 9 local aristocrats, Saxony, are certainly not afraid, but I heard that the Principality of Gerdes, south of Friesland, has long regarded the Frisian region. If these 9 people went to the Principality of Gerdes, With the support of the Duke of Gerdes? I think it is very likely that this will happen. So, in the future, Friesland would like to have a stable day. And the Principality of Saxony has to put a lot of energy there. It is impossible to have the energy to help the Teutonic Order! "

王子 Prince Philip was very firm. Suddenly, some of the centrists who had supported Prince Frederick became hesitant.

Then Prince Philip continued to spray:

"Further speaking about this economic policy, Prince Frederick said that he would cooperate with Hansa merchants in Saxony. However, everyone is not sure about the current situation."

眼 "At the moment, there are only 4 Hanseatic cities left in the Teutonic Order, and business has shrunk dramatically. Compared with Hanseatic merchants in the Saxony business district, our merchants are completely unable to fight against them."

"If the two sides communicate on an equal footing, that would be great. But I'm afraid that the Hanseatic merchants in Saxony, while we are weak, have swallowed up our market and eroded the interests of the Teutonic merchants ... After all, they are now too powerful But we are a little weak ... "After that, Prince Philip glanced at Prince Frederick in a bad mood based on the" script "provided by Marin.

"Boom-" The Teutonic Knights underneath discussed. Before, they only thought of the benefits brought by the trade with the Saxon merchants, but never thought that the Saxon merchants might swallow them up and eat away their interests. Now thinking, it's pretty scary ...

王子 Prince Frederick was so angry that he could not wait to step forward and chop Prince Philip. For Prince Philip to blacken these two points, he really moved those Teutonic knights. However, the Teutonic Knights were moved, and Prince Frederick would be greatly affected.

Then, Prince Philip took the time to read his speech and elaborate his campaign plan ...

王子 Prince Philip's economic measures are not very impressive. However, Prince Philip repeatedly emphasized that in order to be economically independent, priority must be given to the "own family" in all good things. This point is in line with the taste of Teutonic Knights in many businesses.

As for military initiatives, the plan to hire Swiss mercenaries is also more acceptable. By contrast, this move is much better than Prince Frederick's approach.

Because it is better to count on an ally like Saxony than to strengthen yourself. Because your allies may save you when you are out of luck, or they may not save you. Moreover, the Teutonic state was difficult, and Saxony was far away. When Saxony gathers to come to the rescue, the Teutonic state may be finished ...

王子 Prince Philip is also improvised, illustrating this. Prince Philip believes that only the strength of his army is the most practical. The forces of the allies cannot be relocated or affected by the Teutonic state, which is far less reliable than their own forces.

Moreover, Marin also pointed out in his speech to Prince Philip that Swiss mercenaries are very good at dealing with heavy cavalry. In Poland and Lithuania, the main combat power is heavy cavalry. Therefore, the use of Swiss mercenaries can completely suppress the opponent. In order to strengthen the persuasion, Philip also gave the example of the battle of Nancy, who had dared to kill Charlie, to tell the Teutonic Knights.

Although, telling the cavaliers about the defeat of the knights to the infantry made the Teutonic knights sound harsh. But they also know that this is true.

Uh ...

In the end, Prince Philip's speech was a great success. The former centrists who had received money but were worried that Prince Philip was too unsuccessful in his speech and were too poor, also made up his mind to support Prince Philip.

Finally, voting begins ...

No doubt, the Saxony Cavaliers must have voted for Prince Frederick. The Cavaliers of the Westphalia-Rhineland League also voted for Prince Philip.

As for the centrist knights, a different situation arose. Most of them were bought by Marin, and Prince Philip gave a wonderful speech. So these people voted for Prince Philip.

Only, a small number of them, mainly 10 Austrian knights, voted for William because of his status as a member of the Habsburg family ...

William is also aggressive --- I ’m here to make soy sauce? Why do you vote for me? I have never looked at you before ...

This is also the negligence of Marin and William. The other areas are fine, the Austrian area, but that is the nest of the Habsburg family! These Teutonic knights from Austria, dare not vote for the people introduced by the emperor? Fortunately, most of the Austrian knights were digested by the Habsburgs, and not many came to the Teutonic Knights to discuss their lives. Otherwise, there will be more William tickets ...

The most surprising thing is the Franconia-Swabian League. Among them, the Frankenian Cavaliers of course voted most of the votes for Prince Frederick ~ www.novelhall.com ~ Dan Swabian In the Cavaliers, there were differences.

Due to the emperor's face and the gold coins Marin gave William, some Swabian knights voted for William ...

Moreover, there are quite a few Swabian knights who voted for William, with a total of about 30 people. Although this ratio is not high among the hundreds of Teutonic Knights in Swabian, it has divided a lot of votes for Prince Frederick ...

Finally, Prince Philip got exactly 390 votes. And Prince Frederick turned out to be 388 votes, with a slight difference of 2 votes, he lost to Prince Philip in a dangerous way. As for the remaining 42 votes, they were all taken away by William ...

Seeing the end result, both Philip and Marin breathed a sigh of relief. Unexpectedly, William took the horse not only to get a batch of votes from Swabian side, but also to distribute some votes from the neutral faction, and Prince Philip almost failed.

最终 But in the end, Prince Philip still won the election and was successfully elected as the new head of the group. He will be officially sworn in after the new year ...

Squinting to see the dust settle, Marin's tense nerves can finally be slowed down. Next, what Marin wants to plan is how to recover the cost ...

This election, Marin helped Prince Philip to smash more than 80,000 gold coins, which is a huge investment. You have to know that many counts in Bosnia and Herzegovina do not necessarily have so much fiscal revenue each year. This time, Marin really had a hard time.

So, next, Marin needs to discuss with Prince Philip, how to make him more convenient, and earn back these investments himself ~ www.novelhall.com ~ Welcome the book readers, the latest, fastest and hottest The serial works are all at ~ www.novelhall.com ~ Please read for mobile users.