It is easy to find a small fool missionary sent to the eight vassal states, because Bishop Taylor has been training disciples at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Aurich every year, and there is no shortage of talents. After all, all 8 vassal states are German states, and it is enough to speak German.

Only in the Ukrainian region, because ordinary people speak Ukrainian, it is more difficult. Therefore, Marin needs to send people to the Kyiv region and hire a few Ukrainian-speaking missionaries to help train the little fool missionaries to be sent to Ukraine in the future. However, it is estimated that it will take at least two or three years for the missionaries to learn Ukrainian. This is due to the fact that some of the people with the highest linguistic talent need to be selected, and if the qualifications are average, it is estimated that it will take several years to learn Ukrainian. Therefore, things on the Ukrainian side are in a hurry, so we can only wait.

But there's one thing Marin can't wait......

Soon, the envoy Johnny, who had been sent to Lübeck and Hamburg, rushed back. As soon as he returned, Johnny came to report to Marin.

"How? What did Lübeck and Hamburg say? Marin asked eagerly.

Johnny nodded and said:

"Lübeck and Hamburg agreed, but they could ......"

"On what terms?" Marin is not strange, he is not strange if he is unconditional.

"They demanded that the Grand Duke refrain from using force against the city of Bremen, but instead blockade and persecution. They would then send people to recruit the wealthy merchants of Bremen to leave Bremen and settle in Lübeck and Hamburg. Of course, the wealthy merchants of Bremen who have promised to emigrate to Lübeck and Hamburg, you must not hinder them, nor rob them of their property......" Johnny said of the results of his mission.

Yes, after the war, Marin sent Johnny to Lübeck and Hamburg, the Hanseatic League's chief and deputy allies, to discuss the issue of dealing with Bremen.

Marin was a vengeful lord, and before, when the princes of the Eight countries invaded the North Sea Kingdom, Bremen sided with the alliance of the princes of the eight countries, and tried to prevent the Third Army from crossing the Weser River, which angered Marin.

It is clear that the Hanseatic city of Bremen chose to side with the sworn enemy of the North Sea Kingdom when it was in its life and death, and hoped to see the North Sea Kingdom perish...... How does this make Marin not angry?

So, after the end of the war, Marin began to think about liquidating Bremen.

In addition to this feud, Bremen's location is also important. Bremen City is located in the southeast of the Count of Oldenburg and southwest of the province of Bremen. Originally, it was not in the territory of the North Sea Kingdom.

However, after Marin annexed the Duchy of Lüneburg, the city of Bremen became the "state of China" of the North Sea State. Moreover, it is located in the core.

No one would be happy to have an ungoverned area in their own henchmen's place, let alone a Hanseatic commercial city with a strong trade.

What is Bremen hair? In the Hanseatic League, in addition to Lübeck and Hamburg, the "one king and one queen" of the Hanseatic League, Bremen is next, and Cologne and other big cities are slightly inferior.

However, the city of Bremen has a fatal flaw - its status is unknown......

What does it mean to have an unknown status? It means that the city of Bremen does not have an independent political status. Don't look at Bremen as a veteran city of the Hanseatic League, but in terms of political status, Bremen is really average.

Unlike Lübeck and Hamburg, which had their own seats in the Imperial Court of Princes, the city of Bremen still has no independent legal status.

It is important to point out that the Hanseatic city and the Imperial Free City are two different concepts. The Free City of Hanseatic simply means that the city has joined the Hanseatic League, a commercial alliance, and has no special political rights. The Free Cities of the Empire are the cities that can send representatives to vote in the Imperial Diet. In other words, the Free City of Hanseatic only represents the economic status of the city. The free cities of the Empire, on the other hand, represent political status.

Among them, the status of the Free City of Hanseatic is voted on by the representatives of the cities of the Hanseatic League. Of course, the city must be an important trading port along the coast or along the river.

The Imperial Free City, on the other hand, is a free city authorized by the Emperor. The premise, of course, is that the cities themselves are independent from their lords and are already "free cities". The Emperor then authorized it to be an "Imperial City" and had a seat in the Imperial Diet.

The so-called "free cities" are those that have been separated from their former lords and have gained autonomy. Generally speaking, the autonomy of these free cities was purchased by the merchants and citizens of the city from the former lord by spending money, and was no longer subject to the jurisdiction of the original lord.

The "Free City", on the other hand, was the basis for becoming a Free Hanseatic City and a Free City of the Empire. Generally speaking, such "free cities" are mostly ecclesiastical vassal states. Because, most of the church princes were greedy for money, easier to be bought, and allowed the city to govern itself.

This is the case, for example, in the city of Bremen. Originally, the capital of the Archbishopric of Bremen was in the city of Bremen. However, the commercial city of Bremen later spent a lot of money to buy back the autonomy of the city from the Archbishop of Bremen. The Archbishop of Bremen also moved the capital of the Archbishopric of Bremen from the city of Bremen to Bremer Vorde.

The same was true of the Archdiocese of Cologne, who, after receiving money from Cologne, moved his seat from Cologne to Bonn.

But this is not enough, such a free city, but only recognized by the relevant vassal states, has no independent status in politics. And the so-called "imperial free city" also needs the authorization of the emperor. Once the Emperor authorized a free city to be a free city of the Empire, the city immediately became an independent entity politically, with the same status as a vassal state, and had its own seat in the Imperial Princes' Council. And this is probably one of the few privileges of the Holy Roman Emperor.

However, the emperor generally did not easily grant the status of "imperial city" to a free city. Because, granting a free city the title of "Imperial City" means that the sovereignty of the city is lost from the hands of the former vassal states. This is a very slap in the face for those princes, and it is especially offensive.

Although, the free cities redeemed their autonomy from their respective lieges. However, its sovereignty still belongs to the original lord. And sovereignty cannot be easily relinquished, and awarding the title of imperial city to a certain city is tantamount to depriving the sovereignty of this city from the hands of the original lord, which is a special slap in the face.

Therefore, in general, unless the emperor has a bad relationship with the lord, he will not easily grant the title of "imperial city" to a free city within the lord's jurisdiction.

Under normal circumstances, the emergence of a free city in the empire is usually the product of a power struggle between the emperor and the lord to whom the free city belongs. For hundreds of years, the emperors and princes of the Holy Roman Empire competed for power and fought each other, and then a number of imperial cities appeared.

But the grant of imperial cities is not free, either. In order to obtain the title of Imperial City, the city usually has to give the Emperor money. The steps were as follows - a free city borrowed a lot of money from the emperor, and the emperor could not afford to pay it back. In addition, the emperor did not have a good relationship with the princes to which the free city belonged...... Then, in order to repay the debts and at the same time to attack the princes to whom the free city belonged, the free city was given the title of "Imperial City......

For example, Lübeck, such as Hamburg, had previously obtained the status of "Imperial Free City" by spending money to redeem them. However, Hamburg originally belonged to the Duchy of Holstein under Danish control, and although Hamburg had long been authorized by the emperor, the Danish side has always denied Hamburg's status as an "imperial city", believing that Hamburg was a city under the rule of the Duchy of Holstein. Originally, it was not until 1768 that Denmark relentlessly recognized Hamburg's status as an "imperial free city".

But in this plane, because Marin had already taken the Duchy of Holstein from Denmark through war. As a result, Hamburg's imperial free city had long since gained widespread recognition after the defeat of Denmark.

……

However, Bremen, which is also a bigwig city in the Hanseatic League, has never received the title of "Imperial City". This is because, the Archbishopric of Bremen, to which the city of Bremen belonged, was one of the two "archbishopric states" in Germany (the other being the Archbishopric of Magdeburg).

Internally, the Archbishops of Bremen and Margodeburg are in a higher position than the Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne and Trier. But the last three archbishops have the title of "Electors" and have much more secular power than the Archbishops of Bremen and the Archbishops of Margodeburg.

But in any case, the Archbishop of Bremen and the Archbishop of Margodeburg are the top leaders in the church. Therefore, even the emperor did not dare to offend easily. As a result, even though the cities of Bremen and Magdeburg had long been the leading commercial cities of the Hanseatic Sea, they were never granted the status of "imperial cities" by the emperor.

Originally, the city of Bremen was granted the status of an "imperial city", but it was not until the "Thirty Years' War" in the 17th century that the then Emperor Ferdinand III issued the "Linz Certificate", which confirmed the status of the imperial city of Bremen.

But at that time, the Archdiocese of Bremen was already a Lutheran Protestant vassal state. And Ferdinand III was a staunch Catholic emperor, so naturally he was not afraid of offending any Archbishop of Bremen. Because, at that time, the Archbishop of Bremen was already a Protestant prince, a sworn enemy of the Catholic camp. To recognize the status of Bremen as an "imperial city" was to strike at the then Archbishop of Bremen.

Of course, that's history. In this time and space, after Marin exchanged the territory of the county of Stendal ceded from the Electoral State of Brandenburg and the Archbishopric of Bremen, the sovereignty of the city of Bremen was actually still in the hands of the province of Bremen, a North Sea country.

That is, although the city of Bremen is the big guy in the Hanseatic city. But the sovereignty of the city of Bremen is still in the province of Bremen. To put it more bluntly - the sovereignty of the city of Bremen is now actually in the hands of the North Sea State. And Marin can be regarded as the sovereign owner of the city of Bremen......

Before, Marin didn't care about it, but the people in Bremen did......

The reason why the city of Bremen sided with the princes of the eight countries this time was because the princes of the eight countries promised to allow the city of Bremen to gain sovereignty after the war. When the time comes, Bremen will be able to pay the emperor for the status of an "imperial city", and the princes of the eight kingdoms of the North Sea Kingdom will openly express their support......

In addition to this, the princes of the eight countries also promised that most of the future commercial orders would be handed over to the Hanseatic merchants of Bremen......

In this way, the business oligarchs of Bremen were immediately tempted. You know, Marin didn't mean to give sovereignty to the city of Bremen (in fact, Marin didn't notice this). At the same time, Marin's orders, which were basically given to Hamburg and Lübeck, rather than to the closer Bremen, had long caused dissatisfaction among Bremen merchants. Therefore, this led to the city of Bremen finally siding with the princes of the eight countries......

Of course, at that time, on the surface, the Beihai Kingdom had no chance of winning. After all, the people of Bremen didn't expect this to be a trap set by Marin, and they thought that the North Sea Kingdom would lose. So, they're on the wrong side......

is on the wrong side, but it will be liquidated afterwards. No, Marin is going to settle accounts with them......

But the city of Bremen is the top large city in the Hanseatic League, and to liquidate Bremen, Marin cannot bypass the Hanseatic League. Otherwise, at the later Imperial Conference, Marin would lose the support of dozens of Imperial cities led by Lübeck.

Therefore, Marin sent Johnny to Lübeck and Hamburg to secretly negotiate with the two cities about the annexation of the city of Bremen. Of course, it's not called annexation. Because, the sovereignty of the city of Bremen is in the hands of Marin. At best, Marin would have taken back the autonomy granted to the city of Bremen by the former Archbishopric of Bremen.

As for the two Hanseatic League leaders and vice-leaders of the Hanseatic League, Hamburg and Lübeck, their attitudes were not quite the same. Hamburg raised his hands and feet in favor of the city of Malinton and Bremen, while Lübeck was hesitant.

Why? Because Hamburg and Bremen are two Hanseatic cities, both in the northwest of Germany. Although the two cities belonged to the Hanseatic League, they secretly competed with each other for commercial dominance in northwestern Germany, mainly along the North Sea coast. Although Hamburg has a greater geographical advantage, the city of Bremen is not weak.

So, Hamburg wanted Marin to help them get rid of Bremen's rival. As for Marin's desire to move the city of Bremen, they naturally agreed very much.

The city of Lübeck is different, Lübeck belongs to the commercial cities of the Baltic region, and the commercial hegemony on the North Sea coast has nothing to do with them. Therefore, the Lübeck people are not ambiguous about Marlinton and Lymen.

In the end, Hamburg came up with a killer trick - to unite with Lübeck to recruit Hanseatic merchants from the city of Bremen......

You know, for a Hanseatic city, the core of its population is the Hanseatic merchants. Without the Hanseatic merchants, Bremen would be no different from a normal German city. Therefore, the Hanseatic merchants are the heart of the Hanseatic city. Because, the Hanseatic merchants mastered the main wealth of the Hanseatic city, as well as - the commercial channels. These two are the most important of the Hanseatic city.

Hamburg, in order to eliminate Bremen as a rival, made a proposal for two families to poach the city's leading Hanseatic merchants, which eventually impressed Lübeck. So, they asked Marin to poach the Hanseatic merchants of Bremen.

Although Marin also coveted the wealth of the Hanseatic merchants in Bremen, he also knew that if he robbed the Hanseatic merchants of Bremen, he might offend the entire Hanseatic League. So, he finally agreed to Lübeck and Hamburg's request to poach the Bremen Hanseatic merchants. Anyway, for him, the future Bremen should be the territory of the Beihai Chamber of Commerce under his name. The Hanseatic merchants of the former city of Bremen were poached to make room for the North Sea Chamber of Commerce in Marin......

In this way, Marin privately reached an agreement with Lübeck and Hamburg to divide Bremen without the knowledge of the Bremen people.

According to the agreement, Lübeck and Hamburg were to poach the main Hanseatic merchants of the city of Bremen. However, the merchant ships and sailors that originally belonged to the city of Bremen were to be left to Marin. Of course, those merchant ships, Marin will pay for them. And the merchant ships and sailors who originally belonged to the city of Bremen were the most important strategic resources for Marin......