Although he agreed to discuss the matter of Henry, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Marlinton's intention to not be a Duchy of Lüneburg will not waver.

Frederick III proposed that most of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg could be ceded, but the capital city of Lüneburg should be retained, as the last self-controlled fief of the Welf family, and also a fig leaf. Again, a fig leaf for Frederick III's own face.

But Marin rejected the offer outright, why? Because the most valuable thing in the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg is the salt mines of Lüneburg. If you don't get Lüneburg, the salt-producing capital, you will lose half of it.

Marin proposed another city to be used as a place for the Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Henry. Marin can recognize its autonomy, but the territory cannot be too large so as not to threaten Marin.

After that, the two sides engaged in a heated argument over where to be placed. Frederick III proposed that the family of Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, be placed in the city of Brunswick, the "land of dragons" of the Welf family, which can be regarded as returning to the ancestral land.

Originally, the Welf family started in Brunswick. Later, two powerful branches were formed: the Duchy of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

It's just that the salt mines in Lüneburg are too profitable, so others don't feel at ease. As a result, a duke later moved the capital to the city of Lüneburg, which produced "white gold" salt. In this way, the rich salt mines were controlled by the duke himself, so that his subordinates would not be greedy for ink.

Then, the original ancestral land of the Welf family was abandoned. However, the two branches of the Welf family both began with Braunschweig as a knighthood, indicating their origin.

Therefore, the city of Braunschweig is very important to the Welf family. This is like Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown Fengyang, although the Ming Dynasty never used Fengyang as the capital, but Fengyang is the spiritual capital of the Ming Empire, and its status is very special. When Zhang Xianzhong broke through Fengyang and dug up the ancestral grave of the Zhu family, Emperor Chongzhen almost cried to death. And the Ming Dynasty is also considered to be "exhausted......

Because of this, Marin did not want to give up Braunschweig, the spiritual capital of the Welf family, to Henry, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, for fear that the Welff family would still want to start over.

Moreover, according to the engineers of the Chamber of Commerce, there are potash mines near the city of Brunswick. That thing is the lifeblood of agriculture, and it is very important to the North Sea Country, how can it be handed over to the Welf family?

Then, Marin began to think about the city of Hanover. Hanover was very famous in later generations, because it was the "land of dragons" of the Hannover Dynasty that once dominated the world. Hanover is now unremarkable, but when the Welf family moved to Hanover in the 17th century and became the Electors, Hanover became the Welf family surname. Later, George of Hanover inherited the British throne after the death of Queen Anne, and then the United Kingdom and the Electors of Hanover maintained a confederation of co-lordship for more than 100 years until Queen Victoria ascended the throne. Because the Germans refused to make women kings, the two countries officially "broke up"......

However, after looking at the map, Marin did not want to give Hanover to Duke Henry, because Hanover was located at the confluence of the North German plain and the Sino-German mountains. To the south of Hannover is the Harz Mountains.

If Hanover is given to Duke Henry, it will never be just one city, but hundreds of square kilometers of land. As a result, the Harz Mountains will inevitably be enclosed in many places. If you want to take away some important mineral deposits......

Marin thought about it and rejected the plan......

But where to place Duke Henry? Marin flipped through the map and suddenly turned his gaze to the west of the map......

"Yes, I know where to put Duke Henry!" Marin said happily.

"Oh, where?" Frederick III also came up curiously to look at the picture together.

Marin pointed to the west of the map and said:

"Oh, this is it!"

"The kingdom of Gelldon ......," Frederick III frowned.

"Very good! After all, Geldon was once the capital of the Duchy of God, and it was a small city. Moreover, there are also six or seven hundred square kilometers in the area of Upper Guedes around the kingdom of Gelldon......" Marin suddenly remembered, and it seemed that Frederick III did not understand the concept of "square kilometers". So, he changed his tune and said:

"After all, the Upper Guedes region was once the core area of the Principality of Gedesi, and the agriculture was very developed and there was enough food. And, because the city of Gaardon is on the banks of the Maas River, the shipping industry is well developed......"

Frederick III looked at the map with a frown, and wondered:

"It's a nice place, but the Geldon region is a country after all. Do you want Henry to be demoted to an earl? Not only did the man under my cover lose the whole country, but he was also demoted from duke to earl...... It's a big blow to my prestige......"

Hearing Frederick III say this, Marin laughed:

"You don't have to worry about that, the duel book makes it clear - even if they lose, the original title of nobility is still retained, but they lose control of their fiefdoms, like the French dukes. Later, Lord Henry was the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. It's just that it is no longer an independent duke, but a duke of the Grand Duchy of the North Sea. ”

Therefore, in the future, the Duke of Henry could not only govern the entire country of Gerdun, but also retain the title of Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg. Of course, he had no jurisdiction over the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and could only remain in the royal palace in the city of Lüneburg as a private residence. When he is fine, he can also go to the royal palace in Lüneburg......"

Frederick III nodded after hearing this:

"That's fine, having an actual fief of the Earl and retaining the title of the original duke...... Well, I'm worthy of my sister in this way...... It's just that if you only protect the interests of your brother-in-law and don't care about the other seven princes, you will be easily criticized...... "He is the leader of the princes, and he can't just take care of his own family." Otherwise, they will be accused of being unfair......

Marin looked at him speechlessly, but he also had to admit that Frederick III was right. He came to negotiate with himself alone, and only reserved a certain amount of autonomous territory for his brother-in-law, which would indeed be criticized as unfair......

After thinking about it, Marin proposed:

"Well, my plan to annex the eight vassal states remains unchanged. Then, you openly stated that you would buy your sister and brother-in-law for 300,000 gold coins......"

"I don't have any money......" Frederick III waved his hand. A few years ago, he was extorted millions of gold coins by Marin, and was sacked by Marin's army. And this time he sent troops against the Habsburgs, he also invested a lot of money, the treasury was already empty, where could he get 300,000 gold coins?

Marin smiled:

"I'm just saying that, I don't really want you to come up with 300,000 gold coins. You advertise it to the outside world, but you don't have to pay for it. That way, the outside world won't question your fairness. After all, you paid for the kingdom of Gerdon to give it to your sister and brother-in-law, and no one else can ask you to spend money to buy land for the other 7 princes, right? ”

Frederick III thought for a moment and said:

"Pretending to spend money to buy territory for my sister and brother-in-law is a way to make it impossible to accuse me of being unfair. However, if I don't help the other seven princes, I can't show the righteousness of my leader......"

Marlin is like squirting him - where did you get all this? But when he thought of asking him to help contain the emperor, he had to calm down and help find a way......

"In this way, when you bargain collectively, you pretend to argue on your own merits. Then I agreed to give the seven captured princes a large sum of money each year for their daily expenses......"

In fact, this money was intended to be given by Marin for a long time. After all, he could not afford to be infamous for mistreating the great nobles. But Frederick III wanted to keep his prestige, and Marin simply did a personal favor, pretending to be harsh first, and letting Frederick III fight for it before giving it. In this way, Frederick III can also save some face. With face, he can continue to lead everyone to trouble the Habsburgs as a "leading big brother" in the future......

In this way, the two sides finally negotiated the conditions. However, there is still one last step left, and a play needs to be performed......