Dresden, the capital of the Principal of Saxony, Duke Albresit suddenly stood up excitedly:

"What did you say? The Friesian Republic was crippled?"

"Yes, Lord Duke, this is the news that the Saxony Hanseatic merchants from Groningen have been sent back!"

Saxon is a huge group in Germany, and the Saxons are also a large group. Even the "Saxons" among the Anglo-Saxons, the main body of the British, are actually Saxons.

In the Hanseatic Alliance, the Saxonians are also very powerful. In the Hanseatic Alliance, the Saxon business district is the second most powerful business district among the four major business districts of the alliance (Wende Business District, Saxon business district, Prussia and Livonia business district, and the Rhine business district), second only to the Wende business district along the North Sea-Baltic Sea coast. This is because the Wende business district takes advantage of shipping, otherwise, the Saxon business district is no worse than it.

Therefore, the Saxony system's financial and military strength were very strong. Although the Saxony Electorate was divided by the two brothers Ernst and Albresit in 1464. However, the relationship between the two brothers has always been very good. Ernst won more than half of the territory and the title of Elector, and Albresit also won a large area of ​​territory and the title of Duke of Saxony.

Because the Hanseatic League of Saxony is very strong and supports the two great nobles of Saxony, the two giants of Saxony have never been short of money. Even if they lack money, some Hanseatic merchants are willing to lend them.

Duke Albresit was a very ambitious man who wanted to expand his territory. Of course, his brother had a good relationship with him. Therefore, he was embarrassed to compete with his brother for territory. Therefore, he could only turn his attention elsewhere.

At the beginning, after the death of the bold Charles war, the Duchy of Burgundy was in chaos. With the support of France, Friesland, which was boldly annexed by Charles, became independent again. That's fine, the Friesland region was not an economically developed region. But then, with the secret support of France, a serious rebellion occurred in the Flanders region.

At that time, Austria, controlled by the unlucky Habsburg family, was occupied by Magash I of Hungary, and even WYN was lost.

After taking over as the King of Germany, Maximilian I was unable to start a war on both sides, and was unwilling to give up the most developed low-level countries and the most taxable Flanders. Therefore, at that time, Maximilian I asked for help from his cousin Duke Albresitt.

In 1491, Albresit happily led tens of thousands of troops to the Flanders. After several months of fighting, the rebellion in the Flanders region was quelled, and the taxes in this region were regained in the hands of Maximilian I.

However, Duke Albresit is not a fool. At the beginning, Duke Albresit fell in love with the independent Friesian Republic and demanded that the land be obtained as a reward for counter-rebellion. Maximilian I verbally agreed to this clause because of the urgency of the situation. Of course, this was not for nothing. After all, the place in Fries is very large. Not only is the Duchy of Saxony coveted, but other major forces, such as the Principality of Gedes, which is close to the Friesian Republic, were also eyeing this place.

Although the emperor verbally agreed to give this place to Duke Albresit, he also hinted at the time that the Duke of Saxony needed to guarantee the emperor that he would borrow hundreds of thousands of gold coins from the Hanseatic merchants...

This is not a small amount. Although it is a borrower, the borrower must also be prepared to waste money. After all, the emperor's repayment ability at the time... was not much different from the deadbeat...

It took the Duke of Saxony a long time to get many Saxony-based Hanseatic merchants to agree to jointly lend the emperor 300,000 gold coins.

However, Marin's sudden appearance made the emperor suddenly gain more than 1 million gold coins. Even though his relatives and the nobles of Swabian were "borrowed" by 400,000 gold coins, and the old accounts of more than 100,000 gold coins were settled, the emperor still had more than 400,000 gold coins. Therefore, the emperor is not short of money now. Regarding the Duke of Saxony's request to use a loan of 300,000 gold coins in exchange for the legal dominance of the Friesian Republic, the emperor deliberately pretended not to see it...

After all, the emperor was so reluctant to give it to the Duke of Saxony in such a large area. Even the emperor wanted to get it himself. When Marin came to report, the emperor also began to prepare secretly, preparing to seize Friesland...

However, although the emperor was stronger than the Duke of Saxony, it was not as convenient as the Duke of Saxony to gather troops. Because the Duke of Saxony originally had five or six thousand standing troops. Ernst, the Duke of Saxony's brother, also had thousands of standing troops. Although the emperor had more troops than the Duke of Saxony, he needed to be guarded against the Hungarians. It was much more troublesome to free up troops and generally had to recruit separately.

Moreover, in order to take back Flanders, the emperor did promise to give Friesland to the Duke of Albresit. In the Imperial Parliament, the emperor also needed the votes of the powerful Saxonian nobles.

When the Duke of Saxony left Innsbruck in Marin, he also arrived in Innsbruck and asked for Friesland...

"Cousin Albresit, do you say you want Friesland?" The emperor was shocked. He had just planned to annex Friesland, and the Duke of Saxony came to ask for it.

In fact, in addition to preparing the money, the Duke of Saxony also calculated that the Friesian Republic's army is now crippled and easier to attack. At this time, as long as he rushes into Friesland with his superior troops, there is no reason not to win. What's more, he has a killer weapon in his hand...

"Yes, your Majesty, you promised me that you would give me Friesland, and you cannot speak without trust."

“Yes…yes, but…”

"I know, there is also a loan. You see, this is an IOU. I have contacted many Hanseatic merchants, and they agreed to provide your Majesty with a very low interest rate of 300,000 gold coins to you..."

"300,000 gold coins...but I'm not short of money now..." Maximilian I was happy for a moment, but thought that he was rich in finance now, so he refused.

"Haha, if Your Majesty agrees, you can't return 100,000 gold coins..."

"What's the meaning?"

"I am willing to exchange 100,000 gold coins and 200,000 interest-free loans for Friesland. Moreover, you promised to give Friesland to me back then..." The Duke of Saxony spent a lot of money for the size of Friesland and the Hanseatic city of Groningen...

The emperor had been struggling for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and nodded:

"All right……"

Although the emperor was reluctant to leave such a large territory in Friesland, the emperor also knew that if he refused the Duke of Saxony, his situation in the Imperial Parliament might be even more difficult in the future. After all, in the Imperial Parliament, in addition to the Swabian nobles and the Habsburg family, only the Saxony nobles were willing to vote for him. Moreover, the Saxony nobles were quite large and their power was quite large...

In addition, he had verbally agreed to this before, so the emperor had to bear the pain of giving Friesland to the Duke of Saxony. However, the two islands that Friesland had compensated Marin before, the emperor specifically stated that he had given Marin. The Duke of Albresit could not deny this. Because those small broken islands were not conspicuous in the Middle Ages, even in the later period.

In this way, the emperor secretly gave the territory of Friesland to Duke Albresit without anyone knowing it. In order to be silent when attacking the Frieslanders, Duke Albresit decided not to make the news public for the time being. When the army marched to the city of Groningen, the news was announced...

At this time, Marin, who was still recruiting troops in Württemberg, didn't know that Friesland, whom he planned to annex, had been intercepted...

Marin worked hard to crippled Friesland. He was preparing to train more mercenaries, but fortunately he would take Friesland directly next time. Unexpectedly, the Duke of Saxony would jump out to pick peaches...
Chapter completed!