A papal edict crushed Frederick III's schemes,.。 Seeing that the anti-Marin coalition could not be formed, Frederick III had to start thinking about other things.

Seeing that the coalition could not be formed, Frederick III realized that this time the Electorate of Saxony would have to accept the fate of defeat, and might be extorted for ransom by Marin or even forced to cede land.

So, after the idea of turning defeat into victory was shattered, a very real problem was placed in front of Frederick III - how to maximize the loss of loss......

It is also a land reparation, and the cession of a village is a cession, and the cession of a country is also a cession. Therefore, Frederick III now had to consider how to reduce the area of land ceded and the amount of indemnity.

But Frederick III understood that he had provoked the wrath of his opponents by trying to form a coalition to destroy Marin. It is said that Marin has already moved south to besiege Wittenberg. In addition, the other party has the public support of the Pope, so in the negotiation, Marin will definitely not let go of himself easily.

And the only way to keep Marin from blackmailing himself too hard is to turn to the princes for help. It just so happened that most of the German princes remained in Worms because of the summoning of the Archbishop of Mainz. Therefore, Frederick III made a decision - to pull down his face and beg the princes to speak for him, so as not to be blackmailed too hard by Marin.

As for the reason for letting the princes speak for themselves? This is easy to find, and it is enough to avoid the emergence of excessively powerful new princes in Germany.

All the princes are vested interests. And as a class of vested interests, what they dislike the most is that a new powerful person suddenly emerges and is on an equal footing with them. So, even if those princes were unwilling to be used by themselves to form an alliance to attack Marin, they must have been full of jealousy of the rise and strength of Marin, a newcomer. At the same time, there is also a lot of worry.

Therefore, Frederick III, a clever politician, decided to take advantage of the jealousy and anxiety of the princes, and use their power to put pressure on Marin to reduce his own losses.

Among them, the most important is to reduce the area of land ceded. If the money is gone, you can earn it again, but if the land is gone, you can't earn it back. The Electorate of Saxony is not bad for money, but bad for land. After all, Saxony was divided, and neither of the two Saxon princes had much land.

Calculated in total, the current land area of the Electoral State of Saxony is about the same as that of the Bishopric of Münster, about 10,000 square kilometers. However, unlike the Bishopric of Münster, the Electorate of Saxony had many cities, about two dozen commercial cities, and trade was well developed. Therefore, although the land area is much smaller than that of the Electorate of Brandenburg, the economy of Saxony is far more developed than that of the Electorate of Brandenburg.

Therefore, Frederick III was not afraid of reparations, but of ceding land. In particular, if the land is cut, it is likely that a large number of cities will be cut away. This was the most unbearable for Frederick III.

……

Three days later, under the auspices of the Archbishop of Mainz, a regular meeting of the princes in Worms was held. At the regular meeting, Frederick III suddenly stood up and said that he had something to say......

At first, the princes thought that Frederick III was going to repeat the old story and wanted to continue to trick everyone into forming a coalition with him. So, many people crossed their arms, intending to see Frederick III's jokes.

But unexpectedly, as soon as Frederick III came up, he bowed deeply to everyone, a deep bow of 90 degrees......

All the princes were stunned......

You must know that Frederick III is one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire, and he is also a powerful elector. In normal times, Frederick III hardly looked at the petty princes. Even when the petty princes saluted him, Frederick III only nodded slightly, and hummed in his nose to say hello. Now, Frederick III's 90-degree bow has shocked many princes.

However, religious princes such as the Archbishop of Mainz did not think so. They thought - even if you bow a few more times, we won't send troops to help you......

However, they were wrong, and Frederick III did not ask everyone to send troops, but came to apologize:

"Colleagues, I'm really sorry for you. Earlier, the plan I proposed to form a coalition to crusade against Marin has caused trouble for everyone! So, I'm going to abandon this unrealistic plan now! ”

Frederick III's words caused the princes to exclaim, you know, to give up asking for help is to give up hope...... And seeing Frederick III's face as if he was dead, many nobles couldn't bear it......

Archbishop Jacob of Mainz couldn't bear to ask:

"Lord Frederick, what are you going to do next?"

Frederick III sighed helplessly and said:

"What else can I do? Sit back and wait...... That guy Marin has the support of the Pope, and he has a good relationship with His Majesty the Emperor. On top of that, he still has an army of 40,000 men...... I don't think anyone in Germany can stop him...... So, I can only wait to be eliminated by him......"

Frederick III's discouraged words made the princes present suddenly startled - yes, that guy Marin, when everyone is not paying attention, already has such a strong strength? The most amazing thing is that this guy actually has the dual support of the Pope and the Emperor. Although, before Marin issued a statement to draw a line with the emperor, everyone knows that it was forced.

Looking at everyone's shocked expressions, Frederick III felt proud and felt that he still had a chance. However, he quickly put away his smugness, showed a sad expression, and continued:

"Ladies and gentlemen, before, I didn't lie to you, but I made a mistake in judgment. I thought that the 20,000 troops who attacked our camp were reinforcements sent by His Majesty the Emperor. Therefore, the erroneous judgment that Marin and His Majesty the Kaiser wanted to unite Germany was made. ”

"But, now it seems, I was wrong. These 40,000 troops turned out to be all Marin's little earl's. When I learned the truth, I was almost stupefied. Ladies and gentlemen, which of you can muster an army of 40,000? Not counting those people, they are all soldiers......"

The princes present shook their heads one after another, don't be kidding, let alone 40,000 soldiers, even if you count the people, they can't make up 40,000 troops. The main thing is that they can't afford the food consumption of the 40,000-strong army and the salaries of the soldiers......

"That's right, you know? As Electors, Joakim and I were only 15,000 soldiers that each family could send. In order to defeat Marin, we hired 20,000 Swiss mercenaries with strong fighting power. I think the lineup of 50,000 strong soldiers in the whole of Germany can not be made up, right? ”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement with Frederick III's words. Just kidding, that's 50,000 strong soldiers, including 20,000 Swiss mercenaries. This lineup, even France can't come up. When France was fighting for hegemony in Italy and Spain, more than 20,000 of the 40,000 troops were Italian mercenaries who were despised by the Germans. It can be seen how difficult it is to gather 50,000 strong soldiers.

"However, with such a strong lineup, we actually lost, lost to Marin. Did you know? Marin has an army of 40,000! 40,000 ah......"

"Moreover, that's not a 40,000-strong army, it's a 40,000-strong army with strong combat effectiveness!" Frederick III said excitedly.

At this time, the princes present realized that Marin was really powerful...... And this is exactly what Frederick III wanted the princes to realize......