King of German Mercenaries

In the days that followed, Marin, who was unsuccessful, was depressed and frowning all day long. And the few servants didn't know how to comfort him. For example, Kahn, when comforting Marin, is basically equivalent to rubbing salt on Marin's wound:

"Young master, it's alright, isn't it because you are short and weak? Eat more food, the strength will increase, and you can grow taller..."

Hearing this, Marin really wanted to strangle this second-hand, really, which pot can't be opened and lifted...

But as soon as he turned his head, Marin had to drink milk and pork ribs soup with every meal...

Moreover, since he had lost the election, Marin felt that there was no need to stay in Vienna. After all, consumption in Vienna is high. Especially after thousands of knights and their attendants flooded into Vienna, many merchants raised their prices on the ground, which made the price of food soar. Marin is not alone. He has 6 subordinates and 7 animals and consumes a lot of food.

So, Marin took his 6 men and drove on horseback. After paying off the rent, he left the lively city of Vienna.

After leaving Vienna, in a small town west of the city, Marin saw a recruiting point where the emperor recruited pike infantry. Out of the instinctive habit of Chinese people who like to watch the fun, Marin also stopped in the small town, and brought a few subordinates to watch the infantry recruitment scene...

The mercenaries of the Holy Roman Empire were actually a new army established by Maximilian I after the Battle of Nancy imitating the Swiss mercenaries. Therefore, spearmen have become the most important part of the infantry.

The Swiss Confederation also belongs to the de jure territory of the Holy Roman Empire. However, since Switzerland began to produce mercenaries, the Swiss began to rely on force and no longer obey the orders of the Habsburg royal family. Moreover, it also encroached on the traditional territory of the Habsburg family in Switzerland.

At the Battle of Nancy, Charles the Bold, the father-in-law of Maximilian I, was tragically killed by Swiss mercenaries. Since then, Maximilian I also began to imitate the Swiss mercenaries, and began to recruit a large number of civilians willing to serve as soldiers in the country to form a spear army.

Because the Germans have always been accustomed to using knights, they are not familiar with spear infantry. Therefore, the 15,000 spearmen and 1,500 knights under the command of Maximilian I, although the head coach is the Earl of Hohenzollern (belonging to the Hohenzollern family Swabian, non-Brandenburg Franconian) Philip Trey II (Eitel FriedrichII, CountofHohenzollern), but many instructors in the infantry are from Switzerland.

After all, Switzerland is also the territory of the Holy Roman Empire anyway, and although many local lords and councils are opposed to the empire, there are still many mercenaries willing to serve the emperor. Because, the emperor can bestow on them the common aristocratic status in Europe. As a result, Maximilian I recruited some mercenary officers from Switzerland, trained the nascent German mercenaries, and used the Swiss lances that the Swiss learned from the Macedonian phalanx.

The Swiss phalanx is basically learned from the Macedonian phalanx, but unlike the Macedonian phalanx, the infantry of the Swiss phalanx is not equipped with a small shield for defense in the left hand like the Macedonian phalanx infantry, but holds spears in both hands.

When selecting mercenaries, among the officers responsible for recruiting, there was a Swiss. In general, whether to admit or not, the Swiss "expert" must nod his approval.

According to the requirements of the Swiss, qualified mercenaries must first be strong, which is the basic requirement of soldiers. The second is to "go lightly".

What's the "lightweight" thing? In fact, it means not to drag home. For example, many of the mercenaries and quasi-mercenaries who came to Vienna to apply for recruitment even brought their families with them. With such a drag, can we still fight? Can you still march?

Some newlyweds are unwilling to separate, so men bring women to apply. This is all good, and some even brought their elderly parents...

Can you still march with the old man? so,

The Swiss officer's treatment of this is - anyone with a family member, don't, no matter how good you are. Otherwise, with family members, it is impossible to march at all. This is also a feature of the early days. After the flood of mercenaries in the 16th century, it seemed to be the practice to bring family members on the march...

Because of the large number of applicants, the Swiss officers also asked the applicants to fight with long sticks. Whoever stabs the opponent with the head of the stick first will win, the winner will be admitted, and the loser will be eliminated. Because of the tight schedule, the officer in charge of recruiting didn't even give him the chance to revive the challenge, and those who were eliminated in one round would just get out. After all, for the Empire, the choice of infantry is huge, and there is no need to be so sophisticated.

The infantry has to select 5,000 people, and each person has to undergo a condition review (such as whether to bring family members, etc.), plus various registrations, and then grouping and competition, so the duration is quite long. And Marin, also saw enough fun.

One day, Kahn suddenly said:

"Master, why don't we apply for the spearmen?"

"Fuck off!" Marin said angrily. He is a knight (although he has no official title, just a trainee), if he goes to be an infantryman, he will probably be laughed at to death.

Moreover, the spearman is a standard cannon fodder. He is a traveler, can he be a cannon fodder? It's a shame for people who travel through the world, and it's estimated that they can be thrown to Mars...

Not to mention the cannon fodder arms such as pike infantry, even the irregular cavalry in the cavalry (such as scout cavalry, messenger, patrol cavalry, etc.), Marin is not willing to do it. Of course, there are reasons why Marin isn't good at that. After all, irregular cavalry mainly used sabers, and Marin was not proficient in saber swordsmanship, only lance.

"Why don't you, young master, recruit a squadron of spearmen yourself, and become an officer yourself? I saw that the young master trained 5 of them before, which is quite well-organized. Besides, young master, didn't you say that the emperor will continue to recruit troops in the future? ?" Kohler interjected.

"Recruit troops and buy horses yourself?" Marin was stunned. Before, because of the strong knight plot, he was quite a majestic knight, and at the same time he was unwilling to be a cannon fodder pikeman, so he didn't think about that.

In fact, he also thought about forming a mercenary group on his own. However, the cost of forming a mercenary group is astronomical, even if it is an infantry mercenary group. So, he didn't think about it for a while.

"Yes, young master, you also have several hundred marks in your hand. You can temporarily recruit hundreds of people and train them temporarily. When the training is fruitful, it is estimated that the emperor will carry out the second round of recruitment. At that time, you will bring the A hundred well-trained infantrymen go, how can they be an officer. At that time, young master, you have to appoint me as a quartermaster!" Kohler said flatteringly.

"Hundreds of people... OK?" Marin hesitated. Originally, he planned to wait for the money to recruit thousands of people to form a large mercenary group. At the very least, it is necessary to form a few large squares or something. However, he now has only 750 marks in his hand, and he cannot afford to raise too many soldiers.

But think about it carefully, according to Kohler, first recruit hundreds of mercenaries, train them, and raise them for a period of time. I am not raising them for a long time, as long as they are raised until the emperor's second round of recruitment. It is estimated that the emperor will have a second batch of money arriving early next year. By that time, his own soldiers and horses were almost trained. Going with hundreds of well-trained soldiers, you have to be a company commander or something...

"Ahahahaha..." Marin in YY couldn't help laughing wildly, causing several attendants to wonder...

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