Even more interesting is still to come, because the Teutonic Knights sent an envoy to secretly arrive in Aurich to purchase weapons and armor from the North Sea State.

Obviously, the Teutonic Knights have made up their minds this time to annex back to the Livonian Order. After all, the Livonian Order was also a trading power, with huge profits. If it can be annexed, it will greatly increase the strength of the Teutonic state.

In fact, until 1435, the Livonian Knights were under the control of the Teutonic states and were required to pay certain taxes to the Teutonic states. However, due to the crushing defeat of the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Greenwald in 1410, the Grand Master and a large number of generals were killed in battle, which greatly weakened the strength of the Teutonic Knights and reduced their control over the vassal Livonian Knights.

Not to mention, the control of the vassal of the Livonian Knights, the control of the Teutonic Knights over the nobles and merchants in the Teutonic Knights is seriously insufficient. In the face of such internal and external troubles, sworn enemies Poland and Lithuania secretly supported the local powers of the Teutonic and Livonian Knights. In addition, in order to make up for the war losses, the Teutonic state and the Livonian knight state raised taxes significantly, which finally caused a backlash from the local forces of the two countries.

In 1435, a number of wealthy Hanseatic merchant cities such as Riga in the Livonian Order, as well as the nobles and churches of Livonia itself, as well as merchants and peasants, formed an alliance to launch an uprising against the Teutonic and Livonian Knights in the name of resisting taxes.

The Teutonic Knights were pinned down by two powerful enemies, Poland and Lithuania, and there was also a rebellion secretly supported by Poland and Lithuania at home, so they were unable to go north to reinforce the Livonian Order. Then, at the Battle of Pabaiskas, the Livonian Knights were defeated by a coalition of native forces in the Livonian Order.

From then on, the Livonian Order was forced to become a member of the Livonian Parliament and lost control of the Livonian Order. After all, they are only a minority in parliament. At the same time, the Livonian Knights changed their name to the Livonian Commonwealth, officially breaking away from the control of the Teutonic State. It's just that the outside world still calls them the Livonian Knights. After all, the Holy See only recognizes the Knights, not the Federation.

Since then, the Teutonic states have repeatedly tried to regain control of the Livonian region. However, there was also instability within the Teutonic state, and the Prussian nobles, with the covert support of Poland and Lithuania, constantly challenged the dominance of the Teutonic Knights, leaving the Knights unable to deal with Livonia. In addition, when they revealed that they wanted to annex Livonia, Poland and Lithuania reacted strongly and threatened with force. As a result, the Teutonic states never found a chance to regain control of Livonia.

And this time, the Grand Duchy of Moscow wants to beat the Grand Duchy of Lithuania hard, which is definitely a good opportunity for the Teutonic state. At that time, Poland and Lithuania would certainly be held back by the army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, unable to intervene in the war of the Teutonic states against the Livonian Federation. As long as the trade booming region of Livonia was annexed, the power of the Teutonic state would surely increase.

Moreover, in this war, the Livonian Knights of the Livonian Commonwealth will also be on the side of the Teutonic Knights and act as a leading party.

Why? After the Battle of Pabaiskas in 1435, the defeated Livonian Knights lost control of the Livonian region. Especially in terms of trade, much of the Livonian Order's profits were stolen by the commercial representatives of the victorious Hanseatic cities, the native nobility and even the Church. Prior to this, most of the trade interests of the Livonian Knights were under the control of the Livonian Order. At present, the Livonian Knights have tragically mixed into the second-rate forces of the Livonian Commonwealth. If it weren't for the Holy See's support for their legitimacy, the Order might have been banned.

As for the same Order, the members of the Teutonic Order had a much better life than the members of the Livonian Order. Because, most of the trade interests of the Teutonic countries were in the hands of the more than 800 Teutonic knights of the Teutonic Knights.

Moreover, since Grand Master Philip took office, he has devoted himself to suppressing the strongest opposition force in the country, the Prussian aristocracy, all these years.

Because of Marin's support, the Teutonic Knights monopolized the salt trade in the Teutonic kingdom and supplied Marin with coarse wool, timber, and pine resin...... and other goods. Because of its control of trade ports such as Königsberg, as well as the trade channels with the North Sea States, the Teutonic Knights have been squeezing out many opposition Prussian nobles in the country through commercial means over the years. And this run on purely commercial behavior is not suppressed by force, and Poland and Lithuania do not even have an excuse to intervene by force. They can't say - you have left the Prussian nobles with no money, I will beat you...... In addition, Marin mediated and the two sides signed a peace agreement, so the Teutonic Knights gradually took control of the overall situation of the Teutonic kingdom and had the energy to deal with the Livonian problem.

But because of the presence of Poland and Lithuania, the Teutonic states did not dare to act lightly. After all, the combined strength of the two countries was stronger than the Teutonic state.

But this time the Grand Duchy of Moscow was going to attack Lithuania, which made the Teutonic Knights overjoyed. This means that in wartime, both Poland and Lithuania will be held back by the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and they will not be able to intervene in the Teutonic Commonwealth of Livonia. As long as you act fast enough to take the Livonian Federation before the war between the Grand Duchy of Moscow and Lithuania ends, you can avoid a Polish and Lithuanian backlash. By the time Poland and Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow were finished, they would have taken control of Livonia and made it a given fact.

……

Why did the Teutonic Knights insist on taking Livonia? This is because this is the salt trade route of the Grand Duchy of Moscow......

If you look at the map, you will find that at this time the Grand Duchy of Moscow was separated from Central Europe by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the west, and the Crimean Khanate to the south...... Both were powerful countries, and the Grand Duchy of Moscow wanted to get salt, but they were stopped by these two countries.

Therefore, the source of salt in the Grand Duchy of Moscow is mainly in the north-west......

To the northwest, the Livonian Knights are located on the shores of the Baltic Sea and are an important importer of salt. Then, to the east of the Livonian Order, there was the Pskov Noble Republic, and to the east of Pskov, there was the Grand Duchy of Moscow......

In other words, the main route of salt importation in the Grand Duchy of Moscow was Livonia-Pskov Republic-Grand Duchy of Moscow......

A pound of salt is only sold for two or three fennigs in the North Sea Country. But when it reaches the Baltic coast, it can be sold for two or three shillings in an instant......

One shilling is equal to 12 pfennigs, and two or three shillings are twelve times the number of two or three phennighs......

And after passing through the two countries of Livonia and Pskov, salt was transported to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which was more expensive, and a pound of salt could be exchanged for one or two sheep......

The population of the Grand Duchy of Moscow is in the tens of millions, and the consumption of salt is staggering. Therefore, by handing over salt, the two commercial states of the Livonian Order and the Pskov Republic also made a profit.

It was for this reason that Vasily III was obsessed with taking the wealthy Pskov Republic. After all, this is the salt gateway of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

As for the Livonian Knights, the Muscovites did not dare to annex it lightly. Why? Because it was once the territory of the Teutonic Knights. Moscow's annexation of Pskov may have met with strong opposition from Lithuania, but the Teutonic Knights certainly acquiesced. Even, will give a certain amount of cooperation. But if you want to annex Livonia, an area that originally belonged to the Teutonic Knights, not only Lithuania will make a move, but the Teutonic Knights will also turn around and join forces with Lithuania to fight the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Neither of these countries is weak, as long as they are not fools, the Muscovites will not provoke both at the same time, but can only choose to pull one and fight the other.

Thus, the end result was that the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Teutonic Knights privately agreed that Moscow would annex the Pskov Republic and the Teutonic State would annex the Livonian Federation...... The two sides took what they needed, and in the future, they also worked closely together on the salt trade to make a fortune together......

……

But there was a very big problem in attacking the Livonian Federation, and that was the problem of attacking the fortifications......

Hanseatic commercial cities such as Riga are all tall and sturdy cities. If you attack by ordinary means, I am afraid that it will take several months of siege to defeat it.

However, the most lacking thing for the Teutonic Knights was time, and if the war between Moscow and Lithuania was over and they could not capture Riga and other major cities, Poland and Lithuania would definitely intervene. When the time comes, it's all in vain.

Therefore, the representative of the Teutonic state meant that he hoped to purchase a batch of heavy artillery and iron ball shells from the North Sea State to blast open the gates of fortified cities such as Riga.

It should be pointed out that because it has not been a war for a long time. Eastern European cities such as Riga did not replace ordinary oak gates with iron gates to prevent shelling. After all, Eastern Europe was backward in metallurgy, and metals were still very dependent on Western European merchants for supplies. The cost of getting a few pure iron gates is too high.

In this case, if there is a batch of heavy artillery, it can blast open the oak gate and achieve the goal of conquering the fortified city.

Moreover, because Hanseatic commercial cities such as Riga were either by the sea or by large rivers, it was convenient for Hanseatic merchant ships to arrive. Therefore, the transportation of heavy artillery was not a problem in the slightest. Directly transported to the shore by warship, it can be towed ashore and fired.

Therefore, the Teutonic envoy directly asked for the largest caliber naval guns. Moreover, it is a powerful heavy cannon with a long barrel......

After all, only if the body is long, the range is long enough, and the power is strong enough. The short-barreled large-caliber Cullen naval gun is certainly not weak. However, compared with long-barreled heavy guns of the same caliber, the power is still checked. In the case that it can be shipped, it is naturally better to choose a heavy gun with a long barrel and a large caliber......

……

Marin, however, was not very happy to sell the heavy naval guns. Not for anything else, just to keep people from knowing the news that the Beihai Kingdom used steel to cast heavy artillery.

Because, in order to keep it secret and mislead other countries to spend a lot of expensive copper to cast cannons, Marin deliberately painted a layer of copper paint on the outside of the naval guns, which made people mistakenly think that they were cast in copper. Even the artillery sold to the Hanseatic allies was deliberately cast in copper.

In this way, even if other countries know that Beihai has a lot of cannons, if they want to learn from Beihai to cast cannons, they will first have to spend a lot of expensive copper. And to play with copper cannons, it is necessary to have extremely strong capital. I am afraid that only a few rich countries such as Venice, Spain, and Portugal dare to play this way.

Therefore, Marin decided to repeat the old trick - casting heavy cannons in copper and supplying them to the Teutonic Knights.

The casting of the bronze cannon in Beihai is much simpler than that of other countries, and the casting of cannons in other countries still uses the mud mold method, and it takes more than two or three months for the mud mold to be air-dried. Moreover, the clay mold is also a one-time consumable product.

But Beihai is different, using Gong Zhenlin's iron mold casting method, the iron mold can be reused, and the cooling is fast, and the casting speed is extremely fast. The iron mold is also easy to manufacture, and it can be quickly made by turning the sand casting method. If it weren't for the high price and cost of copper in Europe at present, Marin could have cast many, many copper cannons at any time.

As a result, the North Sea States and the Teutonic States secretly signed contracts for the sale of weapons. The contract provided for the provision of 10 24-pounder cannons and 10 32-pounder cannons to the Teutonic State by the end of the year for siege operations in the Livonian region. In addition, Marin needed to provide 20 experienced gunners to be responsible for the wartime aiming of these 20 heavy guns. After all, the Teutonic state itself lacked skilled gunners to handle heavy artillery. And the war will probably start next spring, and the Teutonic countries will not have time to train skilled gunners, so they can only borrow experienced gunners from the North Sea countries first......