In Copenhagen, Denmark, King Hans of Denmark was hosting a banquet for the Elector of Saxony Frederick III and Elector of Brandenburg Jockim I. Perhaps something was going to be discussed, Hans sent everyone away.
After three rounds of wine, King Hans put down his wine glass and said with a lonely face:
"Oh, I really didn't expect that my decent Danish king and the co-lord of the Kalmar League would fall into such a situation!"
Jokiem I didn't say anything. He was a junior and was not easy to say something. Frederick III comforted him:
"Brother-in-law, please be content. You still have two major powers, Denmark and Norway, and your strength can still be restored."
"Recover?" King Hans smiled bitterly and said:
"If it is normal, it is certainly not difficult to recover. But Frederick, do you know? The two bastards, Lubeck and Hamburg, controlled the Ore Strait. As long as they found the Danish merchant ships, they would be confiscated immediately. They did this because they were afraid that I would rise again!"
"Now, if I want to do some business, I also need to recruit some British sailors and disguise themselves as British merchant ships to transport the goods to the Baltic region. When I cross the Earl Strait, I will be taxed by Lubeck and Hamburg..."
"So excessive?" Frederick III and Jockim I were both surprised.
Lübeck and Hamburg are too poisonous. Denmark, like the Hanseatic League, has its economy mainly relies on trade, and maritime trade. Previously, the Denmark's Kalmar League had no less trade in the Baltic region than the Hanseatic League. Moreover, because of its occupation of the Ore Strait, it had a little advantage over the Hanseatic League.
But now, Lubeck and Hamburg are domineeringly not allowing Denmark merchant ships to pass through the Ore Strait, which is simply destiny! Can Denmark recover without maritime trade? Frederick III and Jockim I were both silent.
"Yes, Lübeck and Hamburg, this is going to force Denmark into a dead end! If this situation continues, within 20 years, Denmark will become a second- and third-rate country."
"Now, do you know what I am doing? I am organizing all the people to reclaim land and farm! I can't make money from maritime trade. I can only take the people to reclaim land and transform Denmark into an agricultural country!" King Hans shook his head in depression, his face full of despair.
In the past, Danes were disdainful of agriculture because of huge profits from maritime trade. If they were short of food, they would just buy it with money.
However, now Denmark has no merchant ships, and Denmark's economy can only rely on agriculture and fishery. Moreover, fishing boats are afraid of being detained by the Hanseatic League, so they dare not take the waterway of the Ore Strait, but instead take the waterway between the islands west of the Island of Zeland. However, this waterway is not easy to walk. Because there are many islands and many reefs, it is easy to catch up and sink ships when walking here.
Fortunately, King Hans' relationship with Britain was pretty good. Henry VII saw that he was pitiful and specially sold 20 merchant ships to him and provided British sailors. In this way, King Hans could continue to rely on these 20 British ships to obtain certain profits and maintain expenses. Otherwise, the Danish court might be paralyzed due to insufficient funds.
"So, Hans, how can we help you?" said the young Jokiem I impatiently. (Europeans often call their father-in-law directly)
Frederick III did not speak, but fell into deep thought. He felt that this was extremely difficult.
Hans took a breath of wine and said:
"For more than half a year, I have been thinking about why I failed. In the end, I figured it out..."
"Oh, why?" Frederick III was also attracted by interest.
"Because, we in Denmark do not have a powerful army!"
Frederick III and Jockim I were both a little confused - is this the reason?
"Yes, that's why!" King Hans of Denmark said solemnly.
"Three months ago, a Danish businessman who had been to Portugal told me this interesting thing-"
"Spain and Portugal are neighbors on the Iberian Peninsula and are also very powerful. However, Portugal is powerful at sea. They have a huge sea fleet that is no weaker than Denmark at the time, and are the overlords of the Atlantic Ocean."
"While Spain, although its maritime power is good, it is much weaker than Portugal, and its main maritime power is in the Mediterranean."
"Originally, Spain and Portugal agreed to divide the east and west halves of the earth, Spain gets the west half and Portugal gets the east half."
"But, a few years ago, the Spaniards got a chart, so they sent Columbus to India before the Portuguese and brought back a lot of spices. Then the Spaniards became rich!"
"After that, the Portuguese were very angry, believing that the Spaniards violated the original agreement and harmed the interests of Portugal. Therefore, the Portuguese threatened to wipe out the Spaniard's maritime power!"
"But the Spanish didn't care. The Spanish couple warned the Portuguese that if they dared to move the Spanish fleet, then Spain would gather troops from the land, surround Lisbon, and break the city and capture all the Portuguese nobles, including their kings..."
...
"I understand..." Frederick III's eyes lit up.
"The Spaniards used their strengths to fight against Portugal's shortcomings and forced Portugal to compromise!" Frederick III said excitedly.
"Yes, I think so too. In the past, Denmark was a naval power. When the navy existed, no one could threaten Copenhagen."
"But once the fleet is destroyed, Denmark will be like a lamb to be slaughtered, allowing the four enemies to slaughter. Because the Danish army is too weak and too few!"
"So, brother-in-law, what are you going to do?" Frederick III stared at Hans with interest.
"It's very simple. Denmark's navy is now being eliminated and restricted from developing. Then, I can only develop the army. Because, they have not restricted Denmark's development of the army."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "What then?" asked Jokim I.
"After I develop an extremely large army, I plan to rely on the decisive victory on land to retaliate against my enemies! Of course, I also need your cooperation. I hope you can organize as many troops as possible to help me solve my enemies in one battle!"
"How to do it specifically?" Frederick III frowned. He wanted to hear Hans' strategy to see if it was feasible, and then decide whether to send troops to help.
"I've already figured it out. You all know that Lübeck and Hamburg are both maritime countries, and the army is worse than Denmark."
Frederick III and Jockim I nodded, agreeing with Hans' statement.
"I plan to form a powerful army and move south quickly from the Jutland Peninsula. With the cooperation of your army, we will first conquer the city of Lubeck and seize the property and ships of Lubeck."
"Then, send troops to surround Hamburg City and wait for the arrival of the army of Marin's bastard! Finally, under Hamburg City, fight a decisive battle and destroy the army of Marin's bastard."
"Then, take the opportunity to attack East Friesland, attack Orich, and force the bastard Marin to sign a surrender treaty!"
...
"Well, it's a good plan. But brother-in-law, how do you ensure that your Danish army can defeat Marin's army? As far as I know, his army is very powerful!" Frederick III asked seriously.
"I've thought about this. The Danish army is indeed weak. Therefore, I plan to introduce Swiss mercenaries!"
"Swiss mercenary? It's indeed a good choice!" Frederick thought for a while and nodded. Jockim I also agreed with Hans's idea.
Until now, the Swiss mercenaries and Marin's army have not faced a head-on battle. The time the Spanish fought against the French, the Swiss were not the main force. On the contrary, the main force was Italian mercenaries. Many people believe that the Swiss mercenaries were actually implicated by Italian mercenaries who fought against the Spanish. After the war, in order to maintain their reputation, the Swiss kept claiming that it was Italian defeated soldiers, which attacked the battle formation of Swiss mercenaries and disrupted the formation of Swiss mercenaries, which led to failure.
Most Europeans believed this explanation from the Swiss. After all, the Swiss, and their great reputation and glorious achievements are there.
So, until now, no one thinks that Marin's army is stronger than the Swiss. At most, it is closer to the combat effectiveness of the Swiss...
King Hans plans to hire 20,000 Swiss mercenaries to fight to the death with Marin. At the same time, Hans plans to recruit 20,000 Danish youths from this year and invite Swiss instructors to train them day and night during the slack season.
After the spring plowing is over next year, King Hans will dispatch 20,000 Swiss mercenaries and local troops trained by 20,000 Swiss people to join forces from the Saxony Electoral State and Brandenburg Electoral State to launch an attack together, vowing to destroy Lübeck, Hamburg, and Marin's kingdom.
Frederick III and Jokim I strongly agreed with Hans' plan. For this reason, the two families decided to each send 15,000 veterans, gather 30,000 people, and gather 40,000 Denmark's 40,000 troops, a total of 70,000 troops to jointly eliminate the troops of Lübeck, Hamburg and Marin. The most important thing is to eliminate the troops of Marin. Because, according to intelligence, Marin now has 30,000 main troops, which is very difficult to mess with. As for Sweden, it can be eliminated until the end, Sweden will not be a climate anyway...
However, no matter how strong Marin's army was, King Hans, Frederick III and Jokim I did not think that Marin could win in front of the 70,000 coalition of the three families. In particular, 20,000 of them were Swiss mercenaries with combat effectiveness that exceeded Marin's army as the main combat force.
As long as he wins, King Hans promises that he will only take back the Principality of Schleswig and Holstein, and rescue his cousin under house arrest and liberate the Belgium of Oldenburg. As for Marin's land, such as the Belgium of East Friesland and the Bishop of Münster, and the Bishop of Osnabrück, they are all divided by Frederick III and Jochime I.
Chapter completed!