Under the auspices of Archbishop Jacob, the German Grand Speaker, the representatives of the German princes present confirmed the identity of the Grand Duke of Marin Beihai. Moreover, the territory of the Grand Duchy of Beihai has expanded to 60,000 square kilometers.

At the same time, they also acquiesced to the order issued by Emperor Maximilian I that if anyone found evidence of collusion with France by Charles II, Duke of Guedes, any prince had the right to send troops to seize the fertile territory of the Duchy of Guedes.

In fact, the princes were inwardly reluctant to agree to the emperor's orders. But, morally, the emperor's order could not find fault with anything - was it wrong to severely punish traitors who ate inside and out? Therefore, everyone can only acquiesce to the emperor's orders.

In fact, Marin was very excited about it. Why? Because he had already thought about it - if he found evidence of collusion with France, he would immediately follow this order of the emperor, march into the Duchy of God, and then, exchange the more than 3,000 square kilometers of the Duchy of God's territory in the Netherlands with the Duchy of Cleaver......

As for where to exchange? Of course, it's Mark Earl under the name of Duke Cliffor......

Where is Macbeth? Oh in the Ruhr area! As long as he can get the Ruhr area, which Marin covets the most, Marin will dare to openly develop the steam engine industry. Otherwise, if the steam engine is developed too early, and the strategic value of coal is recognized, it will be difficult for Marin to be transferred from Duke Cleaver to the kingdom of Mack.

But now, before the steam engine was revealed, Europeans were not very aware of the true value of coal. After all, this is the age of agriculture, and people value arable land more. Many coal mining areas in the Ruhr area are considered inferior because they are not suitable for farming.

Just like the previous Hoffman Manor, because of the coal mine buried underground, the land is relatively poor, and the harvest is not good. Moreover, now Europeans do not know the technology of briquettes and the technology of making honeycomb coal, and coal is not a conventional fuel. After all, fireplaces commonly used by Europeans burn wood. Therefore, coal is now very unimportant, and only the metallurgical industry uses it in large quantities. But now that European steel production is so low, a country's iron production can only be measured in tons, not thousands of tons or 10,000 tons. So, you can imagine the amount of coal used.

Don't think that marlin is a simple matter of boiling salt with coal, in fact, in ancient times, powdered coal, because the pulverized coal was isolated from the air, easy to burn out. Therefore, in ancient times, lump coal was king, and pulverized coal was scraps and discarded at will.

The reason why the ancient Chinese people used coal extensively was because they invented a great thing - briquettes......

The briquettes mentioned here are not honeycomb coals as some dialects say. In fact, honeycomb coal is honeycomb coal, and briquettes are briquettes, which are really balls made of pulverized coal and mud......

Honeycomb coal is certainly superior to briquettes, but that was only invented in the 20th century. The briquette, which was invented in the Sui and Tang dynasties, became popular in ancient China after the Song Dynasty.

Don't underestimate this earthy briquette ball, it's an epoch-making invention. After shaking pulverized coal, mud and water into briquettes, the space between the briquettes is large, which holds a lot of air, and is naturally not easy to extinguish when burning. Its effect is better than that of lump coal.

Europeans currently don't know how to shake briquettes, and the utilization rate of natural coal is not high, so they can only sell lump coal. Marin's coal mine can make use of nearly half of the coal dust dug out and shake it into briquettes to make it an excellent fuel, which is definitely an epoch-making change in the history of coal. Of course, this is limited to Europe, which has long been popular in China.

If the technology of shaking briquettes spread, there would be no need to promote the steam engine, and the sales of coal in the Ruhr area would have increased. Therefore, in order to be able to easily change to the country of Macbeth, Marin was stunned to block the technology of shaking briquettes. Later, the "skilled workers" who could shake briquettes were moved to the Sydney coal mine on Cape Breton Island.

Before the spread of technologies that make full use of coal, such as steam engines, briquettes, and honeycomb coal, Marin seized the Netherlands, an agricultural principality of Gedes, and offered it in exchange for John the Duke of Cleaver, and the other party must have agreed.

This is because the Dutch region of the Duchy of Gedes is no smaller than that of the Duchy of Göddes (3,000 square kilometres) and is located on an alluvial plain near the mouth of the Rhine, with a strong agriculture and a large population. According to the thinking of the agricultural era, if it were to be exchanged, it would seem that John, Duke of Cleaver, took advantage.

Moreover, judging from the map, the Netherlands region of the Duchy of Gedes (there is a map related to the 'Rise of the Emperor' on the Duniang Tieba) and the Duchy of Cleaver. Unlike Mark Earl, who is not with Duke Cliffor. So, it was even more appealing to John, Duke of Clifford.

As for Marin's reason for asking for a change of territory, and it seems to be a bit of a loss, it's also very simple - Mark Bo Country is Marin's hometown......

Marin was born in the Bochum region of the country of Mackber, and it is understandable that he wants to change to his hometown. After all, although Europeans do not have the same strong homeland complex as China, they do have it.

Therefore, this order issued by His Majesty the Emperor seems to be tailor-made for Marin.

Of course, it would be very difficult to find evidence of collusion between the Duke of Guedes and the French. After all, Charles II, Duke of Geddes, was also an old fox and not a fool. Even if it colludes with France, it will be secretive and not easy to be discovered. It seems very difficult to catch Charles II, Duke of Guedes......

But Marin is not afraid......

Why? Because Charles II, Duke of Guedes, was in contact with the French, there would have been a correspondence. It would be very difficult to obtain these letters from Charles II, Duke of Geddes. However, it was much easier to obtain correspondence with the Duchy of Guedes from the French......

Why? This is because this is determined by the different status of the two countries......

The Duchy of Guedes, a small vassal state, regarded France as its backer, and certainly attached great importance to correspondence with the French. Not to mention that it will be burned after watching, at least it will be hidden in the secret room by Charles II, Duke of Geddes, and it will be difficult to get it.

But on the French side, it's different......

As far as France is concerned, the tiny Duchy of Guedes is just a small pawn of the great France. It's best to cause trouble to Shinra, and it doesn't matter if you can't.

Therefore, the relationship between the two is extremely unequal, and France will not attach as much importance to the Principality of Guedes as it does to France. Even a secret letter from Charles II, Duke of Godes, would not be kept as a top secret, and might just be left on a desk in the palace and eaten there......

Perhaps it would be more difficult for someone to find the letters in the French royal palace than it was to get them from the Duke of Guedes. But Marin is different, because he has already arranged for the fat brother to go to the French palace as a royal chef......

That is, Marin was someone in the French royal palace......

Of course, Marin wouldn't be stupid enough to let the fat brother steal the letters himself. Because, if the fat brother is exposed because of this, it will really outweigh the loss.

However, the fat brother can find out where the letters are, and who is responsible for keeping them......

Then, Marin, who got the news, sent another person to bribe the French official in charge of keeping the letters, and took out tens of thousands of gold coins to smash him in the face, so that he could not buy these letters...... Anyway, it's not a particularly secret thing for France...... Moreover, tens of thousands of gold coins were enough for the official who kept the letters to flee to a foreign country to become a rich man. It's really not good, Marin can also reward him with a knighthood and some fiefs, and it's not a loss. After all, if you get the Netherlands region of the Duchy of Gedes and change it to the Ruhr region of the Makor Kingdom, Marin will make a lot of money......

As long as the relevant letters are obtained and the evidence is available, Marin can immediately send troops to directly capture the Netherlands part of the Duchy of Godes, and then successfully and legally occupy it according to the emperor's order today. Then, it was changed to the Ruhr area......

With the Ruhr area, Marin can openly work on steam engines......

Think of your sailboat sailing across the Rhine, Ruhr, and Lippe...... Even in the scenes around the world, Marin was not only excited, but actually openly giggled at the Imperial Conference......