Chapter 1384： Liquidation of Bremen

The missionaries of Xiaohuyou sent to the eight princely states are very easy to find, because Bishop Taylor has been training disciples at the Theological College of Aurich University these years, but there is no shortage of talent. After all, the eight princely states are all German states, and speaking German is sufficient.

Only in the Ukrainian region, because ordinary people speak Ukrainian, it is more difficult to do. Therefore, Marin needs to send people to the Kiev region and hire a few Ukrainian-speaking missionaries to help train future missionaries to Ukrainian. However, it is estimated that at least two or three years will elapse before the Foolish Missionary learns Ukrainian. This still requires the selection of the most talented people. If the qualifications are average, it is estimated that it will take several years to learn Ukrainian. Therefore, things in Ukraine are in a hurry, so we have to wait.

But one thing, Marin couldn't wait ...

Soon, Johnny, the envoy sent to Lübeck and Hamburg, came back. As soon as he came back, Johnny came to Marin to report to work.

"How? What do Lubeck and Hamburg say?" Marin asked eagerly.

Johnny nodded and said:

"Lübeck and Hamburg both agreed, but they have the conditions ..."

"What conditions?" Marin is not strange, he would be strange to be unconditional.

"They asked the Grand Duke not to use force against Bremen, but to blockade and persecute instead. Then they would send people to recruit rich merchants in Bremen to leave Bremen and settle in Lübeck and Hamburg. Of course, they promised to immigrate to Lu Baker and the rich merchants of Bremen in Hamburg, Grand Duke, you must not stop or **** their property ... "Johnny said the result of the envoy.

Yes, after the war, Marin sent Johnny to send Lubeck and Hamburg, the main and deputy leaders of the Hanseatic League, to discuss the issue of dealing with Bremen.

Marin was a master of vengeance. Before, Bremen stood on the side of the alliance of eight princes when the princes of the Eight Kingdoms invaded the North Sea. They also tried to prevent the Third Army from crossing the Weser River, which angered Marin.

Obviously, the Hanseatic city of Bremen chose to stand on the side of the dead enemy of the North Sea country when it was alive and dead, and hoped to see the North Sea country perish ... How could Marin not be angry?

Therefore, after the war, Marin began to consider liquidating Bremen.

In addition to this bitterness, Bremen ’s geographical location is also very important. The city of Bremen is located southeast of Oldenburg, southwest of the province of Bremen. Originally, it was not in the territory of Beihai.

However, after Marin annexed the Principality of Lüneburg, the city of Bremen became the "national China" of the North Sea. Moreover, it is located at the core.

No one is happy to have an unadministered area in their own heart, not to mention, it is still a Hansa commercial city with developed trade.

What is the level of Bremen? In the Hanseatic League, in addition to Lübeck and Hamburg, the "one king and one queen" of the Hanseatic League, Bremen is next. Cologne and other big cities are slightly inferior.

It's just that Bremen has a fatal flaw-unknown status ...

What is unknown status? It means that the city of Bremen has no independent political status. Do n’t look at the city of Bremen as a veteran city of the Hanseatic League, but in terms of political status, the city of Bremen is really average.

Unlike Lübeck and Hamburg, which have their own seats in the Imperial Courts, the city of Bremen has not yet had an independent legal status.

It should be pointed out that Hanseatic City and Imperial Free City are two concepts. The Hanseatic Free City only means that the city has joined the Hanseatic League, a commercial alliance, and has no special political rights. The Empire Free City is a city that can send representatives to vote in the Empire Parliament. In other words, Hanseatic Free City only represents the economic status of the city. The Empire Free City represents its political status.

Among them, the status of the Hanseatic Free City is decided by representatives of the Hanseatic League cities whether they agree to join. Of course, this city must be an important trading port city along the coast or along the river.

The Empire Free City is a free city authorized by the emperor. Of course, the premise is that these cities themselves are independent from their lords and are already "free cities". Then, the emperor authorized him to be an "imperial city" and had a seat in the imperial council.

The so-called "free cities" refer to those cities that have gained their autonomy from the original lord. Generally speaking, the autonomy of these free cities is that the merchants and citizens of the city purchase autonomy from the original lord by spending money, and no longer accept the jurisdiction of the original lord.

The "free city" is the foundation of the Hanseatic Free City and the Empire Free City. Generally speaking, this kind of "free city" is mostly dominated by church princes. Because most of the church princes are greedy for money, they are more likely to be bought up and allow the city to self-govern.

This is the case, for example, in Bremen. Originally, the capital of the Archbishop of Bremen was in Bremen. However, the later-developed city of Bremen spent a lot of money and bought the autonomy of Bremen from the hands of the Archbishop of Bremen. Instead of the Archbishop of Bremen, the capital of the Archbishop of Bremen was moved from Bremen to BremerVorde.

The same is true of the Archbishop of Cologne. After receiving the money from Cologne, the Archbishop of Cologne moved the institution from Cologne to Bonn.

But this is not enough. This kind of free city can only be recognized by the relevant princes and has no independent status in politics. The so-called "Imperial Free City" also requires the authorization of the emperor. Once the emperor authorized a free city as an imperial free city, the city immediately became an independent individual politically, with a status equivalent to that of a princely state, and had its own seat in the imperial court. This is probably one of the few privileges of the Holy Roman Emperor.

However, the emperor generally does not easily grant the status of a free city as "empire city". This is because granting a free city the title of "Imperial City" means that the city's sovereignty is lost from the original vassal state. For those princes, this is a very humiliating thing, especially offending people.

That said, those free cities redeemed their right to self-government from their respective lords. However, its sovereignty still belongs to the original lord. Sovereignty cannot be easily given up. The title of a city imperial city is equal to the deprivation of the city's sovereignty from the original lord, especially the face.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, unless the emperor has a bad relationship with this lord, it will not be easily given the title of "Imperial City" to the free city within the lord's jurisdiction.

Under normal circumstances, the emergence of an imperial free city is generally the product of a power struggle between the emperor and the lord to which the free city belongs. For hundreds of years, the emperors and princes of the Holy Roman Empire competed for power and profited each other, and then a number of imperial cities appeared.

However, the granting of imperial cities is not free. If you want to get the title of imperial city, generally the city has to give the emperor money. The steps are as follows-a free city lent a lot of money to the emperor, and the emperor could not afford it. In addition, the emperor did not have a good relationship with the princes to which the free city belongs ... Then, wanting to pay the bills and at the same time wanting to crack down on the princes to which the free city belongs, so the free city was awarded the title of "empire city"

For example, Lübeck, such as Hamburg, had previously obtained the status of "Empire Free City" by spending money on redemption. However, Hamburg originally belonged to the Principality of Holstein under the control of Denmark. Although Hamburg has long been authorized by the emperor, Denmark has always denied the status of Hamburg as an "imperial city" and believes that Hamburg is a city under the Principality of Holstein. . In the original history, it was not until 1768 that Denmark recognized the identity of Hamburg as an "empire free city".

But in this time and space, because Marin had already taken the Principality of Holstein from Denmark by war. Therefore, Hamburg ’s imperial free city has been widely recognized after the defeat of Denmark.

...

However, Bremen City, also a gangster-class city of the Hanseatic League, has never won the title of "Imperial City". This is because the Archbishop of Bremen, which belonged to the city of Bremen, was one of the two "Archbishops" in Germany (the other is Archbishop of Magdeburg).

From the inside of the church, the status of the Archbishops of Bremen and Archbishops of Magdeburg is even higher than that of the Archbishops of Mainz, Archbishops of Cologne and Archbishop Trier. But the last three archbishops have the title of "elect of the emperor", and the secular power is much greater than that of the Archbishops of Bremen and Archbishop of Marktenburg.

But in any case, the Archbishop of Bremen and Archbishop of Marktenburg are the top princes in the church. Therefore, even the emperor did not dare to offend easily. Therefore, even if the cities of Bremen and Magdeburg have long been leaders in Hanseatic commercial cities, they have never been granted the status of "empire city" by the emperor.

Originally, the city of Bremen was granted the status of "Imperial City", and it was not until the "Thirty Years War" period in the 17th century that the then Emperor Ferdinand III issued the "Linz Certificate" to confirm Bremen. The status of May Empire City.

But at that time, the Archbishop of Bremen was already a Protestant prince of Lutheranism. Ferdinand III was a staunch Catholic emperor, and he was naturally not afraid of offending the Archbishop of Bremen. Because the Archbishop of Bremen at that time was already a Protestant prince and belonged to the enemy of the Catholic camp. Recognizing Bremen ’s status as an “imperial city” was against the then Archbishop of Bremen.

Of course, that was the original thing in history. In this time and space, after Marin exchanged territory with the Stendal County ceded from the electorate of Brandenburg and the Archbishop of Bremen, the sovereignty of the city of Bremen is actually still in the province of Bremen in the North Sea. In hand.

In other words, although the city of Bremen is a big man in the Hanseatic city. But the sovereignty of the city of Bremen is actually still in the province of Bremen. To put it more directly-the sovereignty of the city of Bremen is now in the hands of the North Sea State. And Marin can be regarded as the sovereign owner of the city of Bremen ...

Before, Marin didn't care about it, but the people of Bremen did ...

The reason why the city of Bremen stood on the side of the princes of the eight countries this time was because the princes of the eight countries promised to allow Bremen to gain sovereignty after the war. At that time, Bremen could pay for the status of the "empire city" for the emperor, and it was publicly supported by the 8-nation princes of the Beihai Kingdom ...

In addition, the princes of the eight countries also promised that most of the future commercial orders will be handed over to the Hansa merchants in Bremen ...

As a result, the business oligarchs in Bremen were immediately tempted. You know, Marin did not give Bremen the sovereignty of the city (in fact, Marin did not notice this). At the same time, Marin's orders were basically given to Hamburg and Lübeck, rather than to the more recent Bremen, which had long aroused the resentment of Bremen merchants. Therefore, this led to the city of Bremen finally standing on the side of the princes of the 8 countries ...

Of course, the situation at the time did not seem to have any chance of winning. After all, the people of Bremen did not expect this to be a trap set by Marin, and thought that the North Sea must lose. So, they stood in the wrong team ...

The wrong team was standing, but it was to be liquidated afterwards. No, Marin intends to liquidate with them ...

But Bremen is the top big city in the Hanseatic League. To liquidate Bremen, Marin cannot bypass the Hanseatic League. Otherwise, in the future imperial conference, Marin will lose the support of dozens of imperial cities led by Lübeck.

Therefore, Marin sent Johnny to Lubeck and Hamburg to secretly discuss the matter of swallowing Bremen with the two cities. Of course, it is not called annexation. Because the sovereignty of the city of Bremen is already in the hands of Marin. At best, it can only be counted as Marlin taking back the autonomy granted to the city of Bremen by the original Archbishop of Bremen.

As for the two main leaders of the Hanseatic League, Hamburg and Lübeck, the attitudes are different. Hamburg agreed with both hands and feet that Malinton was not in Bremen, and Lübeck was hesitant.

why? Because the two Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Bremen are in the northwestern part of Germany. Although the two cities belong to the Hanseatic League, they secretly compete with each other for commercial dominance in northwestern Germany (mainly the North Sea coast). Although Hamburg has a greater regional advantage, the city of Bremen is not weak.

Therefore, Hamburg would like Marlin to help them remove Bremen. They naturally agree with Marin's desire to move the city of Bremen.

The city of Lübeck is different. Lübeck is a commercial city in the Baltic Sea region. The commercial hegemony along the North Sea coast has nothing to do with them. Therefore, the Lübeck people have an ambiguous attitude towards Malinton.

In the end, Hamburg came up with a killing trick-uniting Lübeck to recruit Hanseatic merchants in Bremen ...

It should be known that for a Hanseatic city, the core people are Hanseatic merchants. Without those Hansa merchants, Bremen is no different from ordinary German cities ~ www.novelhall.com ~ Therefore, Hansa merchants are the core of Hanseatic cities. Because, Hansa merchants have mastered the main wealth of Hanseatic cities, and-commercial channels. These two are the most important cities in Hanseatic.

In order to eliminate Bremen's rival, Hamburg made two proposals to dig up the main Hansa merchants in Bremen, and finally moved Lübeck. Therefore, they made a request to Marin to dig Hanse merchants from Bremen.

Although Marin was also very impressed with the wealth of the big Hansa merchants in Bremen, he also knew that if he robbed those Bremen Hansa merchants, he might offend the entire Hanseatic League. Therefore, he finally agreed to Lübeck and Hamburg's request to rob the Bremen Hansa businessman. Anyway, for him, Bremen in the future should be the site of the Beihai Chamber of Commerce under his name. Those Hansa merchants from the original city of Bremen were dug away, and it made room for the Beihai Chamber of Commerce in Marin ...

In this way, Marin and Lubeck and Hamburg privately reached an agreement to divide Bremen without the knowledge of the Bremen.

According to the agreement, Lübeck and Hamburg will poach the main Hanseatic merchants of Bremen. However, the merchant ships and sailors who originally belonged to Bremen must be left to Marin. Of course, for those merchant ships, Marin will pay for it. And the merchant ships and sailors who originally belonged to Bremen are the most important strategic resources of Marin ...