King of German Mercenaries

Back to Marin in Den Burg, in addition to arranging for Kohler to go to Venice to get money to buy things, he also bought a batch of second-hand Kirk sailboats. Mainly, Marin can't wait for the new build.

Because, Marin decided to launch an attack on East Friesland after the autumn harvest...

Kohler had already taken two warships to Venice, so Marin suddenly lost two large ships. Therefore, Marin had no choice but to send people to England and Denmark to buy several second-hand ships of more than 100 tons.

These ships are mainly used to load war horses. Unlike pretending to be a human, it is fine for a human to take a normal boat. But horses are different, horses are huge and heavy. Ordinary boats cannot carry horses. Some small boats, on which the war horses move a little, can easily cause the boat to capsize.

And this time to attack Texel Island, Marin prepared to bring 400 horses to land. Although, attacking Emden does not require horses. However, in order to prevent the information from being leaked, Marin decided to bring 400 cavalry to land, mainly to intercept the messenger and delay the time for the information to be leaked.

Although, among these 400 horses, only a few dozen are serious war horses, and the other horses are drawn horses. But those draught horses, which are the best horses of the French breed after war horses, can barely be used as war horses, and they are not used to charge into battle anyway. And the horses that ordinary messengers ride are no better than these horses. Therefore, it is enough to use these horses to intercept the messenger.

You know, in this world, there is no shortage of people who fish in troubled waters. For example, the last time Marin crippled the Friesland noble republic, the Duke of Saxony got news, and then the Friesland region was picked peaches.

This time, Marin never wanted to be picked peaches. Therefore, he intends to send troops quickly after capturing Emden to control the border of East Frisian and prevent people from taking the opportunity to take the land. Especially in the west, it is the territory of the Duke of Saxony. If this old man sees Marin's action, he may send troops to grab food.

Of course, it is said that the nine Frisian nobles have already begun to plan to cause trouble for the Duke of Saxony. To this end, Marin thought about it and sent a letter to the nine people, suggesting that they send troops and horses to snatch grain during the autumn harvest.

In the agricultural era, food was an extremely important material and wealth. Even food is the foundation of a country. Whoever robs other countries of food is tantamount to shaking the national capital of other countries.

When the autumn harvest comes together, these nine cargoes will take people to the south of Friesland to grab food, which will inevitably attract the attention of the local Saxon garrison. Usually the harassment, those garrisoned troops may not pay attention to it.

However, when they came to grab grain during the autumn harvest, the Saxon garrison had to come out to stop it. Otherwise, if there is not enough food, it will affect social stability.

When the main force of the Saxon garrison left Groningen, which is very close to East Friesland,

Marin can rest assured to attack East Friesland.

As for whether the nine idiots would follow his plan, Marin was certain. Because the nine Frisian nobles have no money in their hands now. And they have to support hundreds of soldiers and horses, and even plan to expand the army. Therefore, it is the best choice to go to southern Friesland to grab grain during the autumn harvest.

At this time, the grain was still in the field and was not sent to the solid city, so it was very easy to snatch. With food, those nine goods will be able to feed the army under them and have the opportunity to expand the army. The autumn harvest season is the best opportunity for them to grab grain.

...

Marin's side also began to arrange the autumn harvest in full swing...

In this era, European food varieties seem to be ineffective. Whether it is wheat, rye or barley, it seems that the growth cycle is very long.

For example, wheat is generally planted in November of the first year, and then harvested in July and August of the following year (this is true, not the author's fabrication). Growth cycle, up to ** months.

Marin knows that the winter wheat growth cycle does take a little longer, because winter wheat grows extremely slowly. But he remembered that the wheat in his previous life was usually harvested in May, which was more than two months earlier than the wheat in medieval Europe.

Rye and spring wheat are the same. In Marin's hometown in the previous life, spring wheat was planted in March and April and harvested in July. However, the rye varieties in Europe in this era were also sown in March and April, but they were not harvested until October...

With such a long growth cycle, there is basically no possibility of two crops a year for European crops in this era. Even in southern Europe, which is most suitable for two crops a year, due to crop varieties, only one crop a year can be achieved.

However, Marin knew that potash and phosphate fertilizers, when applied, could promote crop growth and flowering. So crops in the Wadden Islands, where potash and phosphate fertilizers have been applied, may be harvested a little earlier than in other regions.

Sure enough, after mid-September, the rye and oats in the Wadden Islands began to mature. In other parts of Europe during the same period, the rye was still green...

Marin intends to attack East Friesland after the autumn harvest, but if the autumn harvest ends early on his side and the East Friesland harvest ends later, then he will have a great advantage.

Because, during the autumn harvest season, the young and strong of the general country will scatter to their respective farmlands to harvest wheat, and will not gather in the cities.

Therefore, even if the Count of East Frisland was attacked and successfully sent a message during the autumn harvest, it would be difficult to gather enough reinforcements in a short period of time. Because the strong men are scattered in the countryside, how can they gather so quickly? When the strong men gathered, the day lily was already cold...

Therefore, Marin decided to grab the rye and oats from the Wadden Islands as quickly as possible. Then, while the East Frisian was still busy in the fields, he quickly dispatched troops and hit him by surprise...

In order to grab the grain from the fields as soon as possible, Marin ordered 6,000 soldiers to go down to the field to help harvest the wheat...

These soldiers, except for the apprentice knights who came from a master family, all of them were from peasant families. Because, in this era, the urban population is very small. The soldiers recruited by Marin are basically children of peasant families. Therefore, harvesting wheat is really familiar to these soldiers...

With the help of 6,000 soldiers, the harvesting speed of the wheat fields on the island has been greatly accelerated. Then, in the beginning of October, when the autumn harvest was just beginning in other regions, the wheat fields on the Wadden Islands were all harvested. Also, all the rye and oats were dried and put into the granary.

In the end, a statistical result stunned everyone...

It turned out that after using enough potash and phosphate fertilizers, plus the nitrogen-containing manure, this time, the average yield of rye in the Wadden Islands reached 450 pounds per mu. This is also because many grain fields on the Wadden Islands are newly reclaimed and the land is not fertile enough.

You know, the cultivated land on Texel Island has even reached 600 pounds per mu. For those newly cultivated fields, the yield per mu is only about 400 pounds. But even so, 400 pounds per mu is enough to be proud of this era...

(The term raw land and mature land here is an informal term in the countryside. Generally, the land that has been planted for many years has a lot of decomposed material, and it is easy to cultivate high yields. However, the soil that has just been cultivated is not necessarily fertile, and even if it is fertilized, it is not as good as mature land. High yield. It does not mean that high yield can be achieved by reclamation. Some soils that are too poor may need to be improved for several years or even ten years before they become fertile soil suitable for cultivation. Generally speaking, the more decomposed material, the more fertile the land is. , when the fertility reaches a certain level, it becomes black soil...)

But Marin knew that this was because of the poor varieties of food in this era. If the variety is good, plus enough fertilizer, it can yield thousands of pounds per mu.

Of course, Marin didn't study agriculture and didn't know how to cultivate high-quality varieties. Moreover, for the times, the yield of 400 pounds per mu is very scary, and there is no need for it to be higher.

In order not to scare others, Marin ordered the data on grain production on the Wadden Islands to be kept strictly confidential and prohibited from being leaked. And the 27 new apprentice knights (Bookman went to Cork), Marin didn't let them participate in the autumn harvest, but paid them to go out for a lap. Therefore, they do not know the food production on the island.

Because these people haven't returned to their hearts and are not their own, how could Marin tell them the secret? Among the 6,000 soldiers, although many may leave in the future, these soldiers were not present when the statistics were collected. Therefore, the soldiers could only feel that the Wadden Islands had a great harvest this time. However, these illiterate people obviously have no intuitive understanding of how much they have received... You know, even if the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are within 100, these illiterate warriors have to scrape their fingers for a long time to let them estimate the yield per mu. It's hard for them...

Moreover, as soon as the autumn harvest was over, Marin immediately ordered the army to assemble for the final exercise—the nighttime beach landing.

The soldiers are already very skilled at landing on the beach, but the last night landing on the beach, everyone is not quite used to it. After all, most people are not used to it at night. Besides, Marin also forbids them from using torches...

However, probably because they ate a lot of fish, none of Marin's 6,000 men had night blindness, so it was very convenient for night battles. Marin thought about it, probably because the poor people in ancient China ate rice and wheat and lacked vitamin A. Europeans eat more meat and fish, and drink milk, so naturally they don't have these problems.

Marin recalled the 27 apprentice knights who had gone to Amsterdam for a final training session with everyone. Before long, the attack on Emden will be ready. Even Sauer and the reconnaissance troop he led had already been dispatched to East Frisland in advance. Their task was to monitor the East Frisian Count's family and prevent them from leaving, causing Marin's army to be empty. In addition, he has to monitor the garrison in Groningen. Once they leave Groningen and go south to hunt down the rebels of the Frisian nobles, the opportunity for Marin will come...