In September, Schwartz and Woolf. Esbrand led the large army stationed in Wittenberg and Berlin to Hamburg and Marin respectively. Then, Marin returned to the DPRK with the army.

Before leaving, Marin sent off Joakim I, the Elector of Brandenburg, who had been a long-time hostage with him, and released some of the officers of the Electorate of Brandenburg as part of Joakim I's retinue. In order to make the officers of the Electorate of Brandenburg who were released look good, Marin returned some of his weapons and equipment free of charge. Otherwise, if Marin didn't send some weapons and equipment, Joakim I would have to return home empty-handed with a group of people in a tragic way.

Moreover, Marin also gave Joakim I and his party horses to ride. Of course, it's all about pulling horses. The price of the war horse is high, so Marin will not return it.

In this way, Joakim I and his hundreds of officers, riding horses, hurried all the way back to the Electorate of Brandenburg. As for most of the soldiers captured in the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, according to the treaty, they could not be released until the other side had paid the reparations. The same was true of prisoners of war in the Electorate of Saxony, although the indemnity payments from the Electorate of Saxony were passed on to the Duchy of Saxony. However, Marin still insisted on keeping the captured Saxon soldiers and digging canals for him for a year before sending them back. Of course, the officer or something, he must have been sent back first.

Because, these officers are all from aristocratic backgrounds, let them dig canals to work coolies, they may not be able to do it. Perhaps, these people will be unhelpful. In addition, it is indeed a bit of a bad rule to let the nobles dig the canal as coolies, which is easy to cause dissatisfaction among other nobles. Of course, those ordinary knights, Marin still stayed to dig the canal. Only the barons and the heirs of the baron's family are eligible for early release. Moreover, those who were born in knight families have good physical strength and strength, and they are good at digging canals......

Except for these captured regular army officers and soldiers, and those captured people, Marin had no intention of returning them at all. They even asked the two countries to send the families of those strong men. And this is also the condition for Marin to reduce the ransom of hundreds of thousands of gold coins to the two countries. Otherwise, if it is not reduced, each family will need to pay a ransom of 1 hundred thousand gold coins......

On the Danish side, Marin mainly released the nobles and the original tens of thousands of veterans, so that they would have the capital to resist the annexation of Sweden. As for the nearly 20,000 captured new troops, all of them, except for the noble officers, were dragged to the south of the Münster region to dig canals. With so many strong men helping to dig the canal, Marin is confident that the canal will be dug soon. At that time, East Friesland will be able to connect with the Ruhr region, where its hometown of Bochum is located, by water. Then, Marin took over the Ruhr area, and basically, the core territory was established. As for the rest of the world, we had to wait for the start of the Protestant Wars before plotting.

As far as the German region is concerned, Marin believes that the most essential region is the Ruhr area. With the Ruhr area, the industrial revolution can take place. Although the time is relatively long, at least take the resources into your own hands first.

In addition, potash deposits are also very important. After all, potash is an extremely important fertilizer that guarantees a good harvest. Therefore, potash ore resources are the second strategic resource that Marin must grasp.

Although the German region is small, it is very rich in potash resources. In later generations, Germany, which is only 350,000 square kilometers, ranked second to China in potash resources, but higher than the United States.

Among them, one of the most important potash producers in Germany is the Duchy of Lüneburg. The Harz Mountains to the south, as well as the Hannover region, are important sources of potash. In fact, a lot of the mineral salt in Lüneburg is potash. If it is KCL, it tastes similar to normal table salt, and it is impossible to distinguish at all. And those bitter salts, mainly sulfate salts, may be sodium sulfate (miscanthus nitrate) or potassium sulfate. It is difficult for ordinary people to tell the difference, but Marlin knows that using blue cobalt glass imported from Venice, it is possible to tell whether there is potassium in the mineral salt by a simple flame reaction.

By doing so, Marin had already given Kohler the opportunity to take over several potash mines in the Harz Mountains under the name of an unknown chamber of commerce. In addition, there are large potash mines on the territory of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg.

However, the potash mines of the Harz Mountains and Hanover belong to the Duchy of Lüneburg. And the Archbishopric of Magdeburg is not something that Marin can move.

However, Marin knew that these two vassal states were the first vassal states to turn to Protestantism after Martin Luther set off the Reformation. At that time, as long as Marin held high the banner of upholding Catholicism, he could seize the Duchy of Lüneburg and the Archbishopric of Magdeburg in a bright and bright manner. Anyway, the Duchy of Lüneburg is now a neighbor of Marin, and it is convenient to send troops to occupy it. And the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, which is also close to the Duchy of Lüneburg, is also very convenient to capture......

……

On his return, Marin's army passed through the Oldenburg region (now it is no longer called the Earl, because the Oldenburgers are already the rulers of the Icelandic Earlland). In the city of Oldenburg, Marin met his eldest brother Adler, who was sticking to the area.

After several years of experience, Adler is no longer the ignorant young man. Seeing his younger brother Marin, Adler was also a lot more restrained, and actually saluted Marin first......

Sister-in-law Liv is also there, and Liv is specially sent by the old Hoffmans to accompany the eldest child. Because, Adler still has only one daughter, Margaret, and no male heir. Therefore, the sister-in-law Liv was ordered to cooperate with Adler to make a villain......

Marlin hadn't paid attention before, but this time he could see it clearly - Liv's belly actually bulged...... Obviously, this is the success of making a villain......

Sister-in-law Liv is still so spicy, if she wasn't pregnant, she might have put on plate armor and compete with her eldest brother. Seeing that Marin had changed into a set of outfits that only a grand duke could wear, she was envious of her straightforwardness:

"Oh, Marin, you're the Grand Duke, you're several levels higher than Adler!"

The speaker has no intention, but the listener has the intention......

Marin reacted at once - it was time to mention the title to the boss......

Before, Marin himself was only an East Friesian earl, and he wanted to reward his subordinates, and the viscount was already at the top, so he couldn't reward an earl as well. Moreover, the title of viscount was not popular in Germany, it was very rare, and only appeared in the Netherlands and the Lombardy region of northern Italy, and the scope of power generally did not exceed a castle and its surroundings.

Of course, that was because there were no formal viscounts and viscounts in the Imperial title system. However, in Marin's Grand Duchy of the North Sea, Marin could set up a formal viscount.

The reason for the establishment of the viscount is also in accordance with the convention, imitating the three-level system of the baron, raising the three ranks of viscount, deputy viscount and subordinate viscount, in order to facilitate the reward of meritorious soldiers. Otherwise, if his subordinates have already reached the baron, they can't jump to the earl, right? So, it's best to get a viscount to make the transition......

For example, after the end of this war, Schwartz, who was the highest official baron of the third rank, should be mentioned according to his merits. If you don't realize this title, do you want to mention the earl? That's a bit of a big span...... Therefore, it is more appropriate to be promoted to a viscount......

And his eldest brother Adler is very different. As the eldest son and the original first in line to the throne, according to traditional European practice, even if the Hoffman family inherited the earldom of the Bullock family, Adler should have priority. Although Marin succeeded in getting Adler to willingly give up his inheritance, he could not afford to treat the other party badly. Otherwise, you will be blamed.

Just like Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, after abolishing the position of the eldest son Liu Jiang as the crown prince without fault, he also gave special preferential treatment and allowed him to be the prince and king, but used the emperor's honor guard - because this should have belonged to him......

Adler didn't contribute much to Marin's becoming an earl, but his line of command was there. As long as Marin claims to have inherited East Friesland from his mother, he can't avoid Adler, who is the eldest son.

Therefore, Marin must give Adler preferential treatment. For example, this time, a hero like Schwartz must be given up first, and Adler must be let first. Moreover, Marin can't be stingy yet. Schwartz would be made a subordinate viscount, and Adler would be made an official viscount all at once - this is the power of bloodline......