Frederick III didn't expect Marin to be so faceless in public, and what he said was so reasonable, so he was stunned for a while.

However, as an old fritter in the political arena, Frederick III quickly adjusted his mentality and said loudly:

"Well, I'll assume that you don't help His Majesty the Emperor unify Germany, but where did your 40,000 troops come from? What do you do with so many troops? Do you want to unify Germany by yourself? You must know that even His Majesty the Emperor, the combined army of Austria and the Netherlands is no more than 20,000 people. It can be said that all of Germany does not have as many troops as you have. ”

"What's even more disturbing is that your 40,000 troops are all strong fighting forces, and there are almost no weak soldiers. With the most powerful army in all of Germany, Marin Hoffmann, what do you really want to do? Do you want to leave the emperor alone and become the overlord alone? ”

Suddenly, the scene was in an uproar. Although they knew this result, Frederick III said it on the spot again, and everyone still felt shocked in their hearts. You must know that many of the princes present have hundreds of troops under their command. Those who have thousands of soldiers and horses under their command are considered powerful princes. Marin's army of 40,000, and it is a strong army of 40,000, is indeed terrifying.

And this is the main reason why many princes agreed to side with Frederick III and join forces to suppress Marin's upward momentum. Everyone's military strength is very weak, you are so strong alone, what do you want to do?

Even those religious princes, with the suppression of the Holy See, they also want to suppress Marin in their hearts. After all, his military strength is too strong. And Vladislas II, King of Bohemia, was actually not very happy to see Marin so powerful. However, he doesn't ask too much about these things, and has been busy giving birth to a son all these years. Otherwise, as the head of the secular electors, the only king among the princes, he would not have allowed the electors of Saxony to take away the leadership of the secular princes. In addition, Marin and the Jagiellonian dynasty have always had a good relationship, so Vladislas II is full of ambivalence on Marin's side. At least, he won't suppress Marin. But in fact, he was also worried about Marin's strength.

Frederick III pointed out the fact that Marin was militarily strong, and not only the faces of the secular princes were not good-looking, but also the religious princes were full of sorrow.

At this time, the wars of religion had not yet broken out, and the authority of the Holy See was still very heavy. Therefore, these religious princes did not dare not give face to the Holy See. However, from a heart point of view, they also hope to suppress Marin's momentum. After all, most of these religious princes also came from secular princely families. No one wants their family to be wiped out by Marin's strong expansion.

Seeing that everyone's faces had changed, Frederick III was very proud. However, he knew that this was not enough. After all, all the religious princes were on the sidelines, including King Vladislas II of Bohemia, who was slightly higher in law than him, and none of them were against Marin.

So, having thought about it, Frederick III continued:

"Not only do you have great and terrifying military might, but you are also ambitious. I heard that this time, you intend for Denmark to cede Jutland and the Kingdom of Norway...... How? Marin, you've only been an earl for a few years, and you want to be king? ”

"O King of Norway! That is an existence that can be equal to His Majesty the Emperor, the monarch of an independent sovereign kingdom, half a level higher than His Majesty Vladislas. Why, little knight Marlin, do you want all our German nobles to salute you before they see you? You've only been a nobleman for a few years? Actually want to climb on the heads of all the German nobles? ”

Now the aristocratic crowd is even more agitated, for these noble princes, noble origin is their proud capital. And, as vested interests, they are the staunchest proponents of the doctrine of descent.

But now that a knight's son is about to climb on top of them, how can they not be jealous and dissatisfied? If they were on an equal footing, they might be able to reluctantly accept it. However, it would be quite difficult to accept Marin to be one level above them and become the king of an independent kingdom. You know, even though he was guarding against the unification of Germany by His Majesty Emperor Maximilian I, it can be seen that Maximilian I, the monarch, must also be honest and salute first. Even against Maximilian I, they were secretly stumbling up. On the surface, they must respect a monarch who is higher than them.

Who is Marin? Eleven years ago, Marin was just a wandering knight who had been kicked out of his home, not even a nobleman, and had no inheritance rights. How long has it been? Not only did he become an earl, but later he became a duke. Now I want to be the king...... Is this a desire to go to heaven?

Aristocrats are all animals who want to save face, to put it nicely, it is called paying attention to glory. To put it bluntly, it is to die to save face. Many aristocrats, with bad finances, are already too poor to open the pot. However, for the sake of face, they still pay attention to pomp. If there is no money, they will directly borrow usury to continue to maintain the pomp and circumstance of the aristocracy. If they can't afford to pay it back, they sell their privileges directly to the merchants who borrowed them money.

In fact, many imperial and Hanseatic merchant cities, where they were able to gain autonomy, were bought from emperors and lords for money.

Sometimes, they care more about Marin, who was a homeless wandering knight 11 years ago, and climbs on their heads and forces them to salute him first. In the eyes of them, who consider themselves to be of noble blood, this is a disgrace, and a great disgrace......

Seeing that the emotions of the nobles were aroused, Frederick III was triumphant, while Marin secretly screamed badly. Because, Marin saw that the faces of many religious princes also changed......

If the religious princes were led by this public opinion to turn against them, the situation would be unfavorable to them. So, Marin decisively decided to change the topic -

"Guys, don't listen to his nonsense, how can I have an army of 40,000? To be exact, I have only 30,000 main troops. Another 10,000 troops were borrowed from the British, and all the soldiers were English! If you don't believe it, after the negotiations, you can go to our army to verify! ”

"Borrowed? Can you borrow 10,000 strong soldiers? Is there such a good thing? Please bring me 30,000 troops, and I will borrow them too!" Frederick III said mockingly.

Marin shook his head and said:

"I'm not right, technically I hired it. The price of employment is to give them a large part of the compensation they receive after defeating Saxony! ”

"Who believes it?" Frederick III squinted his eyes and said mischievously.

"I swear to God, 10,000 men in my army were hired from England!" Marin is playing a trick here. Those 10,000 men were indeed mercenaries he had hired from England, and he was right. It's just that he concealed that the owner of this army was himself. To outsiders, they thought he was 10,000 English mercenaries hired from the leader of the English mercenaries. Even if everyone finds out that something is wrong in hindsight, there is nothing wrong with Marin's oath.

Seeing that Marin had sworn in the name of God, everyone believed it. After all, no one dares to blaspheme God in these days. Theocracy, before the wars of religion, was higher than secular power.

But Frederick III remained unrelenting:

"I remember, your Third Legion is still stationed on the mainland, right? In this way, you still have an army of 40,000! ”

Marin immediately replied:

"That's the fake Third Legion, the real Third Legion, always by my side. The Third Army stationed on the mainland was a temporary militia! ”

"Aren't you afraid of the fall of the homeland and homelessness?" Frederick III said in surprise.

"What am I afraid of? I have a main army of 30,000 and 10,000 hired from England. With 40,000 troops in hand, who would dare to attack my homeland? Besides, even a conscripted militia, relying on a strong city wall, can hold it up for a long time. Moreover, who would dare to sneak into my rear? Not afraid of my 40,000-strong army of retaliation? ”

"The decisive battle with your army of 50,000 will directly determine my life and death. If I lose, with your old shamelessness, you will definitely rob me of my territory and make me lose everything. Therefore, the battle with you is the most important thing. If you win, you can save everything, and you can get a lot of compensation. If you lose, you will lose everything and become an unlucky egg like a stray dog. So, I brought in all the local elites. In the end, I won the bet! ”

"I have no intention of depriving you of everything if I win, at least, you are still the Earl of East Friesland!" Frederick III hastened to deny it. But in fact, he really had plans to rob Marin's territory...... Well, only leave a Texel Island for Marin, which was originally Marin's fiefdom. Besides, a small island, Frederick III did not pay attention to it. However, on this occasion, he would never admit it.

"Still don't admit it? I bought the information at a great deal of money, saying that you once said that you were going to rob the East Friesian Lamber! Marin said angrily. In fact, he was also pretending, just to deceive Frederick III.

Unexpectedly, Frederick III really said such things, and more than once. Therefore, Frederick III actually blushed...... Although it quickly disappeared, many people still saw it. Frederick III denied it again, but no matter how he looked at it, he was not confident.

Seeing this, Marin immediately followed closely and said:

"Look at him, look at his face! How vicious is our Lord Frederick? I, Marin, fought a war, just for others to cede part of the territory. And he's good, he directly wants to deprive the other party of all the territory! Such a greedy and wicked man, do you still believe him? ”

The princes were a little stunned, not knowing what to say.

And Marin struck while the iron was hot and said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever thought about it, although I, Marin, have gained a lot of benefits because of the victory. But which war did I provoke first? I'm all forced to fight back, okay? So, I've always been on the side of justice......"