Not all Hanseatic traders are willing to leave Bremen, because some of them depend on the city for their business. Without Bremen, they completely lost their original business channels. Even, it is a living road.

After all, there were no well-developed transportation channels in those years. The cost of relocating a family is very high. The cost of the road alone is more scary. If the family background is a little thinner, once relocated, the Hanseatic small merchant will become an ordinary citizen family. Rather than this, it is better to stay and be an ordinary rich man.

As a result, dozens of small Hanseatic merchants with very weak financial resources chose to stay in Bremen City. Of course, they are not fighting against Marin, but intend to take refuge in Marin.

"What, you want to take refuge in me?" Marin looked at the representative of the Hanseatic merchant in front of him, also named Simon, and his face was full of surprise.

Simon, a small Hanseatic merchant, said with a bitter face:

"Yes, Grand Duke. We were the lowest Hanseatic merchants in Bremen, no better than the grocers. Moreover, our previous business channels were all local, and if we left Bremen, we didn't know how to survive. Therefore, we intend to be loyal to you, the Grand Duke, and we can count on a way to live......"

Marin nodded knowingly, but changed his words and said:

"It's not that I can't keep you, but I want to tell you with regret - I'm afraid Bremen City can't let you stay any longer......"

"Why?" Simon, a businessman, didn't understand.

Marin patiently explained......

It turned out that Marin coveted not only the boatmen and sailors who were skilled in inland waterway shipping in Bremen, but also the city of Bremen itself. After all, Emden is not enough to be a major trading center. If you want to develop the economy of Beihai country, you must have at least a number of important economic towns in order to boost the economy of Beihai country. The city of Bremen is obviously a very good economic center.

According to the geographical location of Bremen, it can not only radiate the two provinces of Oldenburg and Bremen, but also affect the Duchy of Lüneburg, which has just been acquired in the south.

And, along the Weser River, you can go up to Hesse and Thuringia. If it is well managed, it will definitely play a leading role and drive the economic development of the entire Weser River Basin.

In fact, in ancient times, rivers were an important route of transportation. After all, in ancient times, land transportation was mainly carried out by horse-drawn carriages, and the cost was simply too high. Switching to shipping can save a lot of costs.

Even in later generations, the Yangtze River basin and the Yellow River basin were the two most important areas of Chinese settlement. In particular, the Yangtze River was the main artery of the Chinese economy in later generations. If it weren't for the huge location advantage of being at the mouth of the Yangtze River, Da Shang Hai would have become the leader of China's economy? Similarly, Guangzhou is also the leading region in the Pearl River Basin.

Obviously, if a river is compared to a dragon, Hamburg is the "dragon" of the Elbe. Emden, on the other hand, is the "dragon" of the Ames River. As for Bremen, it is the "dragon" of the Weser River......

Bremen itself has developed very well and has played an important role in the economic development of the Weser River basin. Although most of the Hanseatic merchants in Bremen had left, Marin would not abandon Bremen. Because he needs the city of Bremen as the "leader" to drive the economic development of the entire Weser River Basin.

Therefore, even if the Hanseatic merchants of Bremen City were withdrawn, Marin would ask the North Sea Chamber of Commerce to send a large number of men and carry a large amount of capital to re-operate the business of Bremen City.

It just so happens that he also needs some skilled veterans to be the vanguard of opening up the situation. Therefore, Marin agreed to the surrender of these dozens of weak Hanseatic merchants, intending to merge them into the North Sea Chamber of Commerce as a pioneer in his own development of Bremen.

Of course, the necessary review is a must. For those who have great prestige in the city of Bremen, Marin will never keep them. Because, in the city of Bremen, such a person can easily incite the ordinary townspeople, boatmen, and sailors. But those people were mainly Hanseatic merchants, and they were basically gone. Therefore, there is no problem for Marin to absorb a small number of down-and-out Hanseatic merchants.

Moreover, after joining the Beihai Chamber of Commerce, it is up to them to do what they want to do in the future. If they find out that they are in Bremen City, they will be transferred out of Bremen City. The Beihai country is so big, it is easy to arrange a few merchants.

……

In fact, what Marin wants to do most now is to excavate the famous "Sino-German Canal" in later generations. Once the "Sino-German Canal" is opened, its role is no less than that of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

The Sino-German Canal is an east-west canal, which connects the Rhine, Ames, Weser and Elbe, and is a very important transportation channel for bulk materials such as coal and iron in Germany in later generations, which can walk more than 1,000 tons of large cargo ships, and the transportation capacity is considerable.

In the era when automobiles were not yet popular, once the Sino-German Canal was dug up, it would immediately revitalize the transportation in northern Germany and give a huge boost and stimulation to economic development.

But Marin also knows that it is almost impossible to dig the Sino-German Canal now. The main thing is that the Sino-German canal is too long......

The 321-kilometre-long Sino-German Canal spans almost half of northern Germany. Its length is about 130 kilometers longer than the Suez Canal.

It took 12 years and 120,000 Egyptians to dig the Suez Canal. The Sino-German Canal is much larger, and God knows how much it will cost.

Historically, the Sino-German Canal was built from 1905 to 1930 and took 25 years to complete. Moreover, it was already the 20th century, and it had already entered the era of internal combustion engines, and a large number of construction machinery was used. With the mechanical level at that time, it had been repaired for 25 years, and Marin did not feel that he had the strength to build the Sino-German Canal now. Perhaps, when the Sino-German Canal is completed, he will almost burp......

Therefore, Marin had to abandon the grand plan to build the Sino-German Canal.

……

However, although the full version of the Sino-German Canal cannot be repaired, the castrated version of the canal can be repaired. For example, the Münster Canal, built by Marin, is a castrated version of an important inland waterway connecting the Emes and the Rhine.

Although in terms of width and depth, the Münster Canal is completely incomparable to the canals of later generations. But at least it can sail. Although it is not up to the level of ships that sail thousands of tons in later generations, it can barely walk small and medium-sized cargo ships of less than 100 tons.

According to the estimates of professionals, this Münster canal, running a galley with a displacement of 50 tons is the most economical. Galleys with a displacement of 50 tons, half of which carry more than 30 tons. Such a cargo capacity is already equivalent to the level of three or four Yellow River heavy trucks.

It's not as fast as a truck, but it's a lot of cargo. Moreover, inland river transportation does not require burning oil, as long as a few oarsmen are hired. If you really can't do it, you can learn from the Turks and buy a few strong Mao Gonggong as paddling slaves. In this way, inland waterway transportation was carried out.

……

The so-called "castrated version of the Sino-German Canal" in the Marin Plan is actually the role of the Münster Canal instead of the Sino-German Canal connecting the Rhine and the Ems River.

In addition, Marin will dig a small canal to connect the Weser and Emes rivers. And the location of this canal, Marin has long thought about it......

In the previous war with the coalition of the princes of the Eight Kingdoms, Marin's army passed through two rivers in the province of Oldenburg, the Leda River and the Hunt River.

Of these, the Leda River is a branch of the Emes River. It originates in the northern border of the North Münster region on the southern border of the province of Oldenburg and further south. It flows from south to north into the province of Oldenburg, then suddenly turns northwest and flows into the Ames River. It should be pointed out that the confluence of the Leda and Emes rivers is the county seat of Leire County, which has the most developed agriculture in the southern part of the East Friesland region. Marin's victory over the old Duke of Saxony, Albrecht, was on the banks of the Leda River, just outside the city of Leil......

The Hunter River is located southeast of the province of Oldenburg, and its source is in the territory of the Patriarchate of Minden, south of the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg. The river then flows northward, passing through the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg and flowing into the territory of the province of Oldenburg. Near the city of Oldenburg, the river suddenly turns north-east and flows into the Weser River. The city of Oldenburg is located on the north bank of the Bend of the Hunter River.

Marin's plan was to dig the Leda River and the Hunter River, and connect the two great rivers through the two tributaries of the Ems River and the Weser River, so as to achieve the purpose of inland river navigation.

Although the Leda and Hunter rivers are not big rivers, it is not a big canal that Marin has to dig either. The castrated version of the small canal, which connects the tributaries of the Ems and Weser rivers, can be used for small-scale inland navigation.

Once the Weser and Emes rivers are connected, including the Münster Canal, Marin is equivalent to connecting the three golden waterways of the Weser, Ames and Rhine. In this way, the promotion effect on the economic development of the Beihai country is absolutely a bargain.

And, most importantly, if you dig west from the bend of the Hunter River south of Oldenburg, you can dig less than 10 kilometers to connect the two tributaries of the Hunter and Leda rivers. The amount of work is much smaller than that of the Münster Canal.

As for the labor force that digs the river? What are the prisoners of war of the allied forces of the princes of the eight countries used for? Marin never wasted the labor of prisoners of war......