After taking over the land of Millheim, the only remaining target is the land of the Principality of Cliff.
However, this land is very difficult to obtain. Why? Because this land is the core area of ​​the Principality of Cliff...
The Principality of Cliff is not large, about 2,200 square kilometers, which is much smaller than the Eastern Frieslander. However, its territory is located on both sides of the Rhine River and is a wealthy agricultural area. Moreover, there are no swamp areas and the land utilization rate is high.
The areas east of the Rhine, south of the Liper River and north of the Ruhr River that Marin sought were about four or five hundred square kilometers, which almost occupied one-quarter of the territory of the Principal of Cliff. In terms of territory, there were also many feudal vassals, which was very troublesome to deal with.
Before, although Marin exchanged the Markbourg region for the Markbourg State, the situation was special. Why? Because the land and wealth of the Markbourg State were far less than that of the Cudes region. Of course, this refers to agriculture. However, there was no industry in this era, so agriculture was naturally king.
In the Lower Gedes area, when Charles, the Duke of Burgundy boldly destroyed the Duchy of Gedes decades ago, most of the local feudal aristocracy were slaughtered. Therefore, even if Charles II restored the country in 1492, there were not many feudal aristocracy left in the country.
What would happen if there were no feudal aristocrats? Naturally, most of the arable land and manors in the Xiagedes area were owned by Charles II, Duke of Gedes.
What are the consequences of the large royal territory? Of course, Charles II was very rich. After all, there was no popular taxation in this era. The standard for measuring whether the princes were rich was, in addition to the number of cities in the fiefdom, it was the amount of land under their name.
The more land he had under his name, the greater the income. Charles II took advantage of the opportunity of being reshuffled by the bold destruction of Charles and took most of the land in his hands. In this way, Charles II naturally became a very wealthy prince. Otherwise, he would not have so much money to support a large number of troops and compete with the Duchy of Saxony for Sifriesland.
It should be noted here that although the princes are nominally the owners of the land owned by the vassal states, in fact, many of the land was enfeoffed. After all, there were many barons and knights under the command of those dukes and counts. The longer the vassal states were inherited, the less land they had under the name of the princes. Because each generation of princes would enfeoff some land. It is difficult to reclaim the land, unless the vassals under their rule had their heirs, they could take the opportunity to reclaim the land...
Therefore, the longer the vassal states passed down, the less land the princes themselves had. And the princes who conquered the world like Malin had the most land under their name. Because he was the first generation of vassals and did not enfeoff much land. As for the original vassals who captured the land, most of them were cleared or driven away by him. Therefore, he only had so much land.
The reason why John II was willing to exchange Mark Berber for the Lower Gedes region was because the Duke of Gedes directly under the Lower Gedes region had a lot of arable land, which was much more than John II and Mark Berber's name.
If Marin exchanged for the Kingdom of Markber, it would be a loss if the coal value was not calculated. Because this was the exchange of territory, not the destruction of the country. Therefore, Marin could not move the original small feudal aristocracy at will. Therefore, except for the manor Marin left by the feudal aristocracy who were willing to follow John II to the Xiagedes area, Marin could not move the small feudal aristocracy who was willing to leave. Of course, those small feudal aristocracys must also be loyal to Marin.
Therefore, from an agricultural perspective, it was a great disadvantage to use the land ownership to concentrate in the Xiagedes area of ​​the princes themselves to exchange the relatively scattered land ownership of the Markber State.
But Marin's goal was not to cultivate land, but coal. So, he actually didn't feel that he was at a loss. When the industrial age came, Marin would make a big profit. Because the mineral resources in the territory were owned by the princes.
(Note: In the feudal era, the minerals of European countries belonged to the royal family. Of course, in the split Germany, the mineral resources of the vassal states belonged to the princes. All mining workers must obtain licenses and pay heavy taxes. For example, Spain developed gold and silver mines in the Americas, and stipulated that 1/5 of the income of gold and silver mines belonged to the Spanish royal family. What we are talking about here is income, not profit.)
...
Unlike Markbour, John II was permanently stationed in the Principality of Clifford. Earl Mark was just a title he held, and Duke Clifford was his main title. The foundation of the Lamarck family was also in the Principality of Clifford.
Therefore, the territorial changes in the Principal of Cliff have a great impact on the Lamarck family. Therefore, for Marin, it is more difficult to exchange the land east of the Rhine River than to exchange the Markber state. Moreover, Marin now does not have high-quality plots of land ownership concentrated in the hands of the princes like the Xiagedes region that can be exchanged.
At present, what Marin can exchange for is mainly the area south of the Ruhr River in Markbourg, and the western part of the South Münster region.
However, the land is not as fertile as the land east of the Rhine River in the Principal of Clifford, and the convenience of transportation is far less than that of the land east of the Rhine River in the Principal of Clifford.
Not only that, the ownership of the land on the two plots is also relatively complicated. The area south of the Ruhr River in Markbourg was originally a fief under the name of John II. How could John II not know about the situation there? Anyway, it cannot catch up with the land on the east bank of the Rhine River in the Principal of Cliffrey. Moreover, there is no border with the Principal of Cliffrey, so management is more troublesome.
As for the land in the west of the South Münster region, it borders the Principality of Cliff. However, not only is the land there not as fertile as the land on the east bank of the Rhine, land ownership is also very troublesome. Because the land ownership in the South Münster region is mainly in the hands of the church...
Even if John II, Duke of Cliffer, was willing to exchange land, he would not dare to ask the church for land...
Nowadays, Protestantism has not yet come out to rebel, and Catholicism is stronger in Europe than in later generations of the United States. Even if Marin exchanges the land for John II, John II will not dare to steal the land in the local church...
Therefore, it is very difficult to change to the land on the east bank of the Rhine...
But no matter what, Marin was unwilling to give up that land. Because that land not only had abundant coal resources, but also had the advantage of unparalleled water transportation.
So, Marin decided to give it a try. If you haven’t tried it, how can you know whether it will succeed or not? Just as a sentence from later generations said - ideals always need to be there, what if they are realized...
Chapter completed!