In the face of the bravado of the army of the North Sea Kingdom, dozens of German princes in Basel were frightened. However, Marin did not attack Basel, but after the parade, invited the princes of the city to attend the extraordinary meeting of the Imperial Council in person or sent someone to Worms, and then recognized Marin's occupation of the eight vassal states.

"No, absolutely not! We can't just agree to this kid's wanton expansion! At the internal meeting of the princes, Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, shouted with a righteous face.

But no one knew that this prince leader, who was desperately trying to protect the interests of the princes on the surface, had already reached an agreement with Marin in private. Of course, he compromised with Marin in private, also from a long-term perspective, not for himself.

However, as the leader of the princes, Frederick III could not show a tendency to betray the interests of the princes. Otherwise, his prestige among the German princes would be greatly damaged, and he would even lose his leadership position.

Therefore, despite the fact that he had privately reached a cooperation agreement with Marin, Frederick III was ostensibly still "desperately defending" the interests of the eight unlucky princes. In particular, among the 8 unlucky princes, there are his own brothers-in-law, and he can't defend it without expressing his position.

"However, it is really difficult for us to beat each other now. What if we are destroyed? Elector Joakim I of Brandenburg said worriedly. At the beginning, he and Frederick III joined forces against Marin, but unfortunately they were defeated. So, he has a shadow on Marin in his heart.

In fact, it was not only Joakim I who was afraid, but also some fear in the hearts of the other princes. You must know that among these dozens of princes, only a dozen or so such as the Elector of Saxony, the Elector of Brandenburg, the Elector of Palatine, and the Duchy of Lorraine are stronger. The other dozens of princes, most of whom were vassals of these powerful princes, would be strange if they weren't afraid.

Frederick III pretended to think, and after waiting for a while, proposed:

"Why don't we negotiate with him?"

"Negotiations? How to talk about it? Louis V, Elector of Palatine, asked curiously. Louis V was the same age as Marin, also born in 1478, and is 34 years old this year.

"We collectively held a negotiation with Marin to discuss the issue of the next eight vassal states. I thought about it for a while, these 8 princes took advantage of Marin's absence to attack the Beihai Kingdom, and they did tell the truth. Therefore, it is certainly not possible to pay the price. So, I'm going to let each of the eight princes cede half of their land as compensation, but they must retain their status, what do you think? ”

"However, they signed a duel, and according to the rules, Marin has the right to annex them......" Joakim I remembered the duel that all the princes had signed.

"Ahem...... Many princes coughed, and they looked at Joakim I speechlessly - are you Biao? At that time, we were willing to sign, didn't we think that the eight princes would win?

Joakim I also reacted and touched his nose in embarrassment. Then he said:

"I know it's a stopgap measure, but if Marin sticks to it, we're at a loss! When the time comes, if he attacks us, what will we do? ”

Anthony, Duke of Lorraine, thought for a moment and said:

"Well, let's defend Basel first. Even if the other party is strong, it will definitely be difficult to conquer Basel for a while. At the same time, we sent people to France for urgent help......"

"That's a good idea!" Many princes agreed.

But Frederick III shook his head:

"I'm afraid it's too late!"

Then, he carefully explained:

"I went to Strasbourg and found that the 40,000 troops he led were all elite. Even if we ask the French for help, in a hurry, the French will gather a maximum of 20,000 or 30,000 troops. However, the soldiers and horses that were put together in a hurry were definitely not the opponents of the 40,000 elite soldiers under the command of Ma Lin......"

"We have an army of 37,000 too!" Duke Anthony was not convinced.

Frederick III was speechless, and after a long time said:

"This is not a simple matter of addition and subtraction, I ask you, if the French send twenty or thirty thousand troops, do you have the confidence to lead your troops out of the city to break through the line of Marin's army? As long as part of his army held us back, the main force could defeat the reinforcements sent by France. And don't forget, we still have 20,000 Habsburg troops south of the city......"

At the mention of the Habsburg army, the princes were silent......

After a long time, Louis V, Elector of Palatine, said:

"Why don't we ask the Church Princes for help in putting pressure on Marin?"

Frederick III shook his head repeatedly:

"Ladies and gentlemen, have you forgotten Marin's intimacy with the Pope? If it weren't for Marin's conclusive life, I would have suspected that he was the illegitimate son of the Pope. With the Holy See pressing, those church princes couldn't tear their faces with Marin at all. It can be said that it is much more likely to let those church princes and His Majesty the Emperor turn their faces than to let them turn their faces against Marin! ”

"So, what about we come together? We sent people for help from France, and from the princes of the Church. Perhaps, they will agree to help us? Also, we can indeed negotiate with Marin. On the one hand, try to keep the 8 princes. On the other hand, it can be regarded as delaying time, waiting for reinforcements......" Anthony, Duke of Lorraine, suddenly proposed a compromise.

Frederick III glanced appreciatively at the young Duke Antony, and then agreed......

Frankly speaking, although he made an agreement with Marin privately, it was a choice out of desperation. If he could find a way to keep the 8 princes, he would definitely be more happy.

Moreover, the idea was not his, even if Marin accused him afterwards, he could push it to Anthony, Duke of Lorraine. Anyway, someone is behind him, and he is happy to stay out of it.

Then, dozens of princes in the city jointly issued an invitation to negotiate and invited Marin to enter the city for negotiations.

But Marin is a coward, and he is afraid that these princes will hold him hostage. Marin then refused the princes' request and replied:

"My Marin has a bad reputation among the princes, and when I go to the city to negotiate, I am afraid that someone will harm me...... So, it's better to negotiate outside the city......"

"Nima—" The princes were so angry that they wanted to vomit blood. We're old aristocrats, so what would we do?

Moreover, it would be inconvenient to let these princes go out of the city to negotiate. Because, the gates of the four gates of Basel City are blocked by debris, and if you want to get out of the city, you can only go out in a hanging basket. However, dozens of princes are sitting in hanging baskets, how inconvenient is it? And if Marin enters the city to negotiate, as long as he comes up alone in a hanging basket......

But Marin didn't care if it was convenient or inconvenient, and directly refused again - if he wanted to negotiate, he would come out to talk, otherwise, he would start fighting directly!

How can the princes have the confidence to fight? Then, he had to send 10 bigwigs and princes, including Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, Joakim I, Elector of Brandenburg, Louis V, Elector of Palatine, and Antony, Duke of Lorraine, as representatives, to go out of the city in hanging baskets and come to the front of the battle to negotiate with Marin......