At the end of January, the Archbishop of Mainz suddenly issued a convening order for the convening of the Worms Imperial Council. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info Marin just needed to advance some goals at the Worms Imperial Conference, so he headed south with a group of cavalry.

The actual mountain, this meeting, was supposed to be held in the fall. However, as the initiator of the Imperial Council of Worms, the Grand Speaker of the Reichstag, Archbishop Mainz, was in poor health from last autumn to winter. It didn't recover until years later. Therefore, the meeting, which was supposed to be held in the fall, was simply postponed until the year after the year.

The Imperial Council was not held every year, nor did it have a fixed time. However, when it comes to big events, everyone does have to come across.

Last spring, Marin joined forces with the leaders and vice-leaders of the Hanseatic League, defeated the Danish Kalmar League, which had been an equal to the Holy Roman Empire, and seized the Duchy of Schleswig and Holstein.

This is definitely a big event that will change the pattern of Europe, so the Archbishop of Mainz issued a convening order as early as last summer to discuss the matter, and he intends to mediate the contradictions between the parties. However, before the Imperial Council could be convened, the Archbishop of Mainz suddenly fell ill and did not recover for a long time. In desperation, the Archbishop of Mainz had no choice but to cancel the convocation order. It wasn't until a year later, when the body recovered, that another summoning order was issued.

Marin, as an important protagonist in this meeting, of course, had to go in person. Moreover, on the day that Marin received the summoning order, he went south with a large group of men and a lot of gold coins.

As for why go so early? Do you need to ask, of course, bribing the members of the Imperial Council......

Marin had already bribed some of the major princes, such as 5 of the Seven Electors (not counting the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony).

However, the Imperial Diet was very large. How much? According to Marin's statistics, there are currently 7 electors, 4 archbishops, 46 diocesan bishops (bishops of episcopal states), 21 German-speaking dukes, 2 non-German-speaking dukes (Savoy and Milan), 56 seated high priests (grand abbess), 11 abbesses, 75 imperial cities, and 110 counties or dominions.

All told, the Reichstag has a whopping 330 seats, or 330 votes.

Of course, this is not to say that Marin needs to bribe all 330 voters. In that case, Marlin would have gone bankrupt. As is customary, the bishops and high priests of the episcopal states, as well as the abbesses, are basically headed by the electors of the three religions.

In other words, as long as you get the Archbishop of Mainz, the Archbishop of Trier and the Archbishop of Cologne, basically most religious members will be willing to vote for you. There are 120 ballots for members of all religions. The secular ballot was 210.

Among the 210 secular vote holders, 75 imperial cities were self-contained, and among the 21 dukes, the Duchies of Bavaria, Baden, Huilich, Cleaver, Braunschweig, Lorraine, Geddes, Anhalt, and Hernenberg were also self-contained.

The other principalities had their own factions. For example, the Duchy of Burgundy naturally belonged to the Austrian faction; The Duchy of Saxony belongs to the Elector faction of Saxony; Württemberg, on the other hand, belonged to the Swabian Confederation and also belonged to the Austrian faction; Mecklenburg and Pomerania belonged to the Brandenburg faction (in fact, they were oppressed by Brandenburg)......

The states and dominions were basically dependent on the five secular electors......

In short, the thirty or so votes attached to the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony were not to be thought of by Marin. He can only start with other things.

The king of Bohemia, because of the relationship with the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Alexander, changed his attitude and would support Marin with his younger brother. And the Elector of the Palatinate was also bought by Marin.

In this way, what Marin still needs to buy is probably the 9 principalities that are self-contained. Among them, the Principality of Cripple is its own ally, and there is no need to buy it. Although the Duchy of Gedes is unreliable, it is also an ally for the time being. So, Marin needs to be bought. In fact, it is the remaining 7 principalities.

In addition, for those 75 imperial cities, Marin does not have to worry. If it had been the same as before, Marin might have been worried. However, since hugging Lübeck's lap, these imperial cities have become easy to communicate. Because, these 75 imperial cities, all of them started by commerce. Since it is necessary to engage in business, it must be inseparable from the support of the Hanseatic League. Therefore, for the alliance lord Lübeck, these imperial cities have to give face. Even if there are those who don't open their eyes, there won't be many, and most of them have to give Lübeck face.

Not only that, but even those lords owed money to the Hanseatic League. Lübeck's views were not easily refuted as long as they did not infringe on their own interests.

Therefore, Marin's choice to ally with Lübeck was indeed a very wise decision. At least, in the Imperial Council, those imperial cities will not embarrass him.

However, one thing that surprised Marin was that Hamburg, the vice-leader of the Hanseatic League, was not an imperial city......

But after thinking about it, Marin understood. Why? No matter how powerful Lübeck was, it was mainly aimed at the imperial cities and some of the nobles who owed money to the Hanseatic League. However, the total number of Imperial Cities was only 75. The Imperial Diet had 330 seats.

In other words, in the Imperial Council, Imperial Cities are in the minority, and they cannot influence the overall situation. Only the seven electors, forming an alliance, can occupy an overwhelming advantage.

Therefore, it is not easy for the city of Hamburg to join the Imperial Diet.

After arriving in Worms, Marin met with Speaker Tagfacht of Lübeck and Heisenberg, Speaker of Hamburg. This time, Lübeck and Hamburg came to the Imperial Council with two main objectives - first, to get everyone to recognize the de facto occupation of the Duchy of Holstein by Lübeck and Hamburg; The second is to make Hamburg join the Reichstag and become an Imperial city with voting rights.

Marin wanted to ask Lübeck for help in convincing the Imperial cities, but Lübeck in turn begged Marin. What did Lübeck ask of Marin? It turned out that Lübeck wanted Marin to act as an intermediary to introduce them to Emperor Maximilian I.

For a long time, relying on economic means, Lübeck controlled the imperial cities and some of the nobles who wanted to borrow money in the imperial parliament. However, the number of votes obtained can never be more than half. Therefore, Lübeck believes that it is necessary to find an alliance, the kind with more votes.

Originally, Lübeck wanted to make contact with the Seven Electors. Because, the alliance formed by these seven electors has more than half of the votes. If he could form an alliance with them, Lübeck's voice in the Imperial Conference would be very large.

However, the Seven Electors believed that the Hanseatic League, led by Lübeck, was already economically strong. If he gains the right to speak politically, he will become a super force no less powerful than the elector. Therefore, the seven electors agreed that they would never agree to cooperate with Lübeck and maintain political repression of the Hanseatic League.

In desperation, Lübeck thought of Austria, which was also at odds with the Seven Electors. Under Maximilian I, however, he had a lot of votes. Not to mention the votes of Austria and the Burgundian lords, the votes of the Swabian League were also very large.

This is also the reason why Lübeck and Hamburg were willing to form an alliance with Marin when the war was waged against Denmark in the first place.

If Marin had no use, Lübeck and Denmark would have ignored Marin. No, after arriving in Worms, Lübeck and the two Grand Speakers of Hamburg asked Marin to help introduce them to Maximilian I in order to form a political alliance with Austria.

Unlike the electors, Maximilian I was inherently opposed to the princes as emperors. The emergence of 75 imperial cities in the Holy Roman Empire independent of the vassals was due to the support of successive emperors. And these cities were originally cash cows for the princes. However, with the support of the emperor, they broke away from the control of the various princes and were also hostile to the princes.

Therefore, Maximilian I and the imperial cities were on the opposite side of the princes. Previously, the Hanseatic League was too busy with business to care about political appeals.

However, this time, Lübeck needed to legally occupy the eastern half of the Duchy of Holstein. Hamburg demanded to become an imperial city, but it also needed to legally occupy the western half of the Duchy of Holstein. In this way, they must gain allies. And Emperor Maximilian I, who had a large number of votes and was willing to look for a partner, became the first choice of the Hanseatic League.

In addition, Marin's allies, the Duchy of Cripple and the Duchy of Gedes, are also the targets of Lübeck and Hamburg. John, Duke of Clifford, in particular, was not only Duke Clifford, but also Earl Mark, with two parliamentary votes. Moreover, Marin himself is a member of the Imperial Diet and has a ticket. Therefore, the alliance between Marin and the Hanseatic League is actually a mutually beneficial alliance of interests......