Chapter 380 Imperial Parliament
The news that Vlad became the Elector of Brandenburg shocked the Holy Roman Empire. An Orthodox Christian ruled a Catholic country. What would other people in the empire think? And this person was backed by a powerful Roman Empire.
Rudolf III, the Elector of Saxony, was worried that Brandenburg would add pressure to his territory. The Duchy of Pomerania also felt that Brandenburg had ill intentions towards him, because this was the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. Brandenburg could gain access to the sea by seizing this place.
Sigismund felt that the Luxemburg family was really hopeless. Why give it to a pagan? It should be given to someone who was loyal to God. Although Brandenburg was not strong, it was one of the seven electors after all, and its status was second only to the German king. Sigismund was really unwilling to give it to others.
The Solon family was also unwilling. Sigismund had promised to hand over Brandenburg to them when he became the German king. Now that it has been transferred, how can they be willing?
Seeing that the German King Jobst was becoming more and more lawless, these princes asked him to convene the Imperial Parliament and force him to withdraw the appointment order. But Jobst was able to be elected because of his strength. Brandenburg and Bohemia supported him, and the Elector of Trier surrendered under some interest offensives. The Catholic Party, led by the Elector of Mainz, the Prime Minister of the Empire, felt incredible about this order and decided to follow the previous example and abolish Jobst's status as the German King.
Moreover, the Golden Bull stipulates that there are seven electors, but the law can be changed. The electors can continue to maintain seven, but Brandenburg can be kicked out, Habsburg's Austria can be obtained, or there can be the Danish King of Holstein. In short, it must not be Brandenburg, at least the Orthodox Brandenburg.
After Vlad became the Elector, he implemented a series of policies to make the landlords feel that the Elector was disobedient and planned to knock him down. But the Ascanian family, which belonged to the landlord aristocracy, suddenly stopped interacting with them.
The news that Vlad was going to move the capital reached Bernhard. Hearing that a new place was going to be built here, Bernhard wondered if Vlad was trying to make friends with him. The two ruling families could unite to expand and deal with those enemies together.
Moreover, a large number of goods from the East were sent to Vlad. Vlad sent some to Bernhard, including tea, porcelain, and silk.
As a noble family with a long history, the Ascanian family was famous, but because of the fiefdom, the income was average, the towns here developed slowly, and there were large swamps. Luxury goods and imported goods needed to be obtained through the Hanseatic League, and the prices were very expensive. Now that there were so many things suddenly, there would be a lot of money if they were sold. Bernhard had figured it out. Following this person, there would be more money.
Moreover, even if the Imperial Parliament was to be convened, it would take a long time from preparation to convening. The participants included a German king, seven electors, 16 alliances, 80 large and small political systems, 110 bishops and monasteries, and 170 imperial cities. These members will definitely argue when they gather together, and this period of time is enough for Vlad to contact Constantinople and find a solution.
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The fleets of Eastern countries have entered Constantinople for some time, and some people have been immersed in the life there. Although it is not as good as Eastern cities such as Nanjing and Ningbo, the exotic customs are also unique.
Zheng He could not take a large amount of coins back to make an account, so he bought a large amount of rare goods from the East here. So these coins returned to the hands of Constantinople merchants.
Mason went to meet his sister-in-law Margaret with his eldest brother. As a basic quality, Margaret expressed basic etiquette to this second brother who had never met. But when she saw a carload of luxury goods coming in, she felt that there were many opportunities in this person.
"Andrew, what do you think the East is like?"
Charlie asked his second brother, he was already very curious about this place.
"The East, it's a rich land, even if all the countries in Europe are combined. The population of a local city is equivalent to that of Milan."
The population of a city is equivalent to the national population of the Duchy of Milan, so how big must the city be. And this city is not the capital, so how big should the capital be?
"Florence is so miserable. It finally had a chance to make a fortune, but it was gone."
Charlie said sourly, which made Mason feel that the possibility of destroying Florence could be increased a little. Or let the family rule here by inheritance.
"My lord, the order of His Highness is that you go to the palace immediately."
Mason could only end this brief brother reunion and go to the palace. On the way, he felt that he had to leave a piece of land for himself and his family. His Highness asked him to explore it. If he found the land, it would belong to him.
The reason why Peter summoned Mason was because the emperor wanted to formally form a delegation to follow Zheng He to the East. He hoped to take this opportunity to expand the exchanges between the two countries and reproduce the prosperity of the Silk Road thousands of years ago.
Peter knew that as long as he could endure for more than ten years, when the emperor was gone, his descendants would definitely stop this waste of money. At that time, it would be their time to monopolize the benefits.
The delegation was initially determined to be 700 people, but more than 1,000 people would follow the delegation to the East. One third of them are members of the Andrew's Order and clergy such as bishops and priests. If they want to spread the gospel, let them go.
The rest are mercenaries, merchants, officials and other members, who will reinforce this weak trade line. Especially the two trades in East Asia, which need to be localized locally to maintain the hard-won opportunities.
The export of goods also made the wealthy merchant families in Italy move with the wind. They took out their own funds and went to Constantinople to buy goods. Those who had no money had to borrow money from banks to obtain funds. At this time, there were about 500 million coins circulating in Italy. Under such commodity trade, more than two-fifths of the currency entered Rome. Some gold and silver mines also increased their mining, and then Central Europe fell into a wave of deflation. The circulation of currency in the market decreased, and some cities began to trade with barter.
Even in Constantinople, those who had no money directly traded with ready-made goods. Amber from the north, exquisite textiles from Flanders, silk produced locally in Naples, etc., but most of them were daily necessities. Those nobles also took out their heirlooms for trading. After all, this was a once-in-a-century opportunity. They only had a few things left anyway, so they might as well sell them in exchange for these goods and resell them. Maybe the family would be revived.