The Rise of the European Emperor

The princes were discussing how to blackmail Marin, but no one noticed that the eyes of a priest sitting at the far end of the chamber flashed.

This priest, of course, is our excellent spy from the North Sea, James Bond, who is the newly promoted professor of theology "Calvin" at the University of Wittenberg. As a distinguished guest and friend of Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, Bond was not eligible to attend the meeting, but he and Martin Luther sat in the corner of the meeting room and watched the whole process of the meeting.

Martin Luther, an idealist, was stunned by the last wave of discussions among the princes—is this still an aristocrat? Why do you keep your mouth open and keep your mouth shut? Like a bottomless businessman...

Martin Luther was a little unresponsive until he left the meeting room. Because the scene in front of him had too much impact on him, and it subverted his three views a bit. After all, he is only 34 years old and has been working as a teacher in an ivory tower-like university. Although he has seen a lot of injustice at the bottom of society, there is still less filth among the nobles.

On the other hand, Bond, as a spy, is more well-informed, and he is very clear about many secrets, so he is not surprised by this. Seeing Martin Luther's lost look, Bond patted him on the shoulder:

"Martin, don't mind, this is life. You know, nobles also eat and drink, and like to talk about ostentation and spend more money. That's why they care so much about money."

Martin Luther came back to his senses, smiled reluctantly, but asked seriously:

"Calvin, you said, is it meaningful that we are determined to promote the reform of the church? You have also seen that these nobles are not as noble as they advertise, but are very philistine. I am worried that even if the reform is successful, it will only be cheap. This group of people can’t help ordinary people who really need help.”

Martin Luther was a relatively noble person, he liked to help the weak. Originally, he thought that the nobles he would cooperate with would be as noble and benevolent as those advertised in knight novels. As a result, only after seeing them did I realize that those princes were just a bunch of fat-headed and big-eared profiteers who always talked about their interests.

Bond is very open, and Marin has raised this issue with him. So, he thought about what Marin said at the time, and comforted Martin Luther:

"You are right. Many of these nobles are not good people. But you have to know that if they don't help us, we will be alone, and we will soon be suppressed by the Holy See and unable to fulfill our wishes. Although cooperating with them is not the best It's a good choice, but we have no choice. Moreover, although most of the benefits after the reform will be taken away by these nobles, the common people will still get some benefits. As long as there is progress, we will have a clear conscience!"

Martin Luther listened to Bond's words, thought about it, and then thought about it over and over again. It wasn't until a few days later that Martin Luther figured it out. Many difficulties cannot be solved overnight. Cooperating with the nobles is mainly based on their strength. Solve the problem first, and then solve the problem of noble greed. Of course, he may not have time to solve the following problems. Because, to solve the trouble of the Holy See,

Martin Luther was not confident that he could do it in this life. But as Professor "Calvin" said, even if only part of the benefits can be obtained, it will be of great benefit to ordinary people. After all, the common people's requirements are extremely low, they just want to live.

...

On Bond's side, after separating from Martin Luther, he immediately sent the details of this private meeting to Marin in a coded form through the pigeons.

After seeing the information, Marin was also very speechless-a group of princes, just so promising. Fortunately, these people are not stupid enough to directly blackmail themselves. If you want to do business, even if you give up some benefits, it's nothing.

In fact, Marin has always wanted to do business with various vassal states. But the princes have great opinions on him and have been unwilling to cooperate. Even if he is willing to give up the profits, most of the princes will suspect him of "conspiring against the law". Therefore, Marin built many "small" chambers of commerce in a roundabout way before, hiding the background of the North Sea country before establishing trade relations with some vassal states.

But the problem is that there is no official way, these low-key small chambers of commerce often encounter all kinds of difficulties and blackmails. So, in the end, you won’t actually make much money.

This is also very normal. You must know that even in the 21st century, when Chinese go to Maozi to do business, they are often blackmailed by Maozi's "catch-ups" under various names. Even in Huaxia, there are legends that the investment is not enough. In this era when there is no legal system, not only the purchase cost and transportation cost must be considered when doing business, but also the extortion along the way is also a factor that must be considered.

There are so many states in the German region that merchants often have to "enter and exit" and then pay toll taxes and customs duties. These costs made the small chamber of commerce under Marin miserable. Often for products that are obviously very profitable, if there are a few more checkpoints on the road, the profit will be knocked down to a little bit. But Marin can't come forward to speak for these small chambers of commerce, otherwise, these chambers of commerce will be even more unlucky and targeted.

And if the goods are handed over to these princes to "agent", the situation will be very different immediately. Among other things, in the country where the princes are located, no one dares to collect tolls. After all, that state is the base of this prince, who dares to blackmail the local emperor?

Then, the costs that were extorted along the way can be lost directly. At least, it doesn't need to be undertaken by the chamber of commerce under Marin's command. At the end of the day, although it seems to be a profit, it is actually more profitable.

Moreover, the so-called "purchase price" itself included the tolls that were extorted, even if there was a 20% discount, it would far exceed the cost price. The shipping price of the place of origin is actually less than half of the "purchase price". Calculated in this way, even if the "purchase price" is discounted by 20%, Marin still earns more than 30% more.

In addition, those businesses personally represented by the vassals will not only be unimpeded in their own countries and will not be extorted, but also pay much less tolls when transiting in other vassal countries. Because the princes give each other face and will facilitate each other.

Once the family flags of the princes are planted and the family badges are hung, when passing through the customs, not to mention tax exemption, even if tolls are levied, it must be charged according to the minimum standard for the sake of the family flags and family badges. In addition, the officials and soldiers at the checkpoint did not dare to blackmail the caravan in private. Because, this will offend the nobles behind the caravan.

Therefore, there are too many benefits to handing over the goods to these princes as agents. It can save a lot of tolls, and it will not be blackmailed by cats and dogs.

However, because of the extremely tense relationship between the two parties in the past, Marin has been unable to let those princes act as agents for their own products.

Now, the relationship between the two sides is still tense. However, this time, some princes want to force Marin to give up commercial profits. Although it is very embarrassing, in fact, it is in the arms of Marin...

Afterwards, Marin kept thinking, should I just lie flat and not resist, or pretend to resist to make the other party more proud, and then cooperate...