King of German Mercenaries

In the blink of an eye, it had been more than twenty days since Marin came to Texel Island. And in 1495, Christmas came...

Before leaving Hoffman Manor, Marin had promised his cheap parents that he would go home for Christmas and New Years. So, on the morning of December 23, Marin had to prepare to set off for home.

Of course, the affairs of Texel Island also matter. Therefore, Marin left Schwartz to manage the group of leather monkeys, and asked Kohler to allocate funds to buy a few beef cattle on the mainland, kill the cattle to make beef, and feed the group of rice buckets. After all, this group of guys can't be with their families for Christmas and New Years, and they have to be appeased. As for sending someone to pick up their families, that will have to wait until after the New Year.

Then, Marin took Kahn, Kohler, Sauer, and Garland four people, each with three horses, and stepped up to the Hoffman Manor.

One person and three horses are not built. They are all high-quality horses made in France, and their endurance is very good. Five people, including Marin and Kahn, each rode a war horse and two draught horses. To save weight, Marin and his entourage wore only two-thirds of their breastplates, with iron helmets. Also, equipped with a cavalry light sword. This way, the horses can bear much less weight. Only Kahn, a second-hand, disliked the cavalry light sword and brought his beloved mace...

The five of them hurriedly rushed back to Hoffman Manor on the morning of the 25th. Unfortunately, when I came back, I was scolded:

"You brat, you came back so late, why didn't you come back yesterday? You missed the Christmas Eve Mass!" Old Hoffman reprimanded in dissatisfaction.

"Oh, aren't you busy, I have to worry about a lot of things on the island. The castle, the dust is a few inches thick inside, and the furniture inside is almost rotten. I was busy, and even sent people to Amsterdam to buy furniture, It's exhausting to spend money and effort." Marin was not happy to be disciplined, so he changed the subject.

"Brother, is your castle beautiful?" Annie stuck her head out and asked.

"Well, it's alright. Now I've cleaned it thoroughly and brushed it with lime. It looks pretty fresh."

"Stone or brick?" Old Hoffman asked, distracted.

"It is a pure stone structure. After all, it used to be the earl's palace. Although it is not big, it is very strong."

"That's right, if it were made of bricks, it would probably collapse after a hundred years."

"Okay, the child must be tired when he comes back on horseback. Let's take a hot bath first, and then rest for a long time." Mrs. Mary came out to relieve the siege.

Now, the members of the Hoffman family are all in love with bathing. Even the serfs in the manor fell in love with taking hot baths. However, they couldn't afford large oak barrels and built dedicated bathrooms. After thinking about it, Mrs. Mary simply built 6 special small single bathrooms, each with a large oak barrel, open to everyone. In addition, they also built a fire-boiled water room to supply a large amount of hot water. As for the fuel for heating hot water, it is naturally the excess coal produced by the Hoffman estate. This thing is completely worthless at Hoffman Manor.

Moreover, persuaded by Marin, the whole family no longer drinks raw water, but only boiled well water, and their health is guaranteed.

After taking a bath, Marin went back to his room and fell asleep for a long time. As for Kahn and Kohler, they were arranged by Adler after taking a shower.

Marin woke up hungry in the afternoon, and it was three o'clock in the afternoon, so Marin hurried to find something to eat. So, he walked into the kitchen, opened the cabinet, found a piece of higher-grade brown bread, and gnawed it. However, eating bread alone will make you thirsty. So, he called on the servants to help warm a jug of milk.

Medieval people were very unhygienic, even drinking cold milk, they were not afraid of stomach upsets. Marin is a modern person and dare not be irresponsible for his own health. Therefore, he decisively chose to drink hot milk.

After eating and drinking, Marin ran to the living room and talked with the Hoffmans. Adler, on the other hand, began to humbly ask Marin for the knowledge of leading troops to fight.

Marin glanced at Adler:

"Brother,

What do you learn to lead troops to fight? Wouldn't it be nice to be your coal boss with peace of mind? Have something to eat and drink, feel free! "

"Isn't this thinking of making achievements..." Adler said embarrassedly.

"Don't, war is not fun, it will kill people. Your brother and I are forced to do nothing. After all, I am going to be kicked out at the age of 18, so I gambled my life to fight the war. You have the right to inherit, and you have enough food to support you. to go to war?"

"But didn't you also earn the title of a baron?" Adler said unconvinced.

"Please, boss, I was lucky. I met the French who were eager to withdraw to the country. They didn't want to fight at all. If they wanted to fight hard, my life might be handed over to Italy. Do you think the war is so beautiful?" Marlin said angrily.

Of course, what he said was not accurate. He knew that the French were unwilling to fight and were busy running away, so he had the courage to ambush the French.

In fact, Marin is also afraid of death. Therefore, he chose to ambush the French on the hillside instead of blocking the French under the hill. If he were to fight against the French at the foot of the mountain, Marin had a 50% certainty that he could support the arrival of the Italian coalition. Then, Charles VIII couldn't run away either.

However, if he did that, Marin could not guarantee that he would die in battle. After all, in order to survive, the French will also attack the defense line desperately. Even in the final victory, Marin himself may be killed. Even if he didn't die in battle, the 1,100 people in his hand, I don't know how many will survive. Moreover, at that time, he could not guarantee whether this group of recruits who had never seen blood would have the courage to fight with the French army to the end. Therefore, he chose the safest way to ambush on the hillside.

Even Marin did not expect that 4,000 French people would surrender. Originally, he only intended to capture a few hundred stragglers. Even the capture of several hundred French knights would be considered a great achievement. Because, the Italian coalition army of 20,000 people killed only 1,000 French infantry. In the end, he had no idea that he had captured so many Frenchmen. Also, a large number of war horses. There are so many spoils, even Marin himself is afraid. Therefore, he ran away decisively, fearing that he would be hacked by the Italian coalition forces.

Looking back, Marin was also a little scared. The French sent people to forcibly climb the mountain and use their lives to drive a bloody road, still in his mind. If he chose to block head-on at that time, he might have been killed by the desperate French.

After Marin finished speaking, the atmosphere in the living room suddenly became a little dull. Because war is indeed not an easy topic. Fortunately, the two little brothers and sister Anne came out to create the atmosphere:

"Brother Marin, brother Marin, I want a present, a Christmas present! You didn't come back yesterday and you didn't put a Christmas present in my socks in the morning. We are very unhappy!"

"Yes, very unhappy!" San Xiao nodded desperately, amusing everyone.

"Oops, Christmas present..." Marin was a little embarrassed. He just thought about coming back for the holidays, but he didn't think about preparing presents for his younger siblings...

Kohler helped him bring back a bag of gold coins, but if you have money, you can't buy anything on Christmas day. Because, at Christmas, those shops are closed, everyone is over for the holidays, who does business?

"Ahem, Simon, Albert, Annie, do you like gold coins?" The local tyrant Malin had no choice, and decided to throw gold to play...

"Gold coins? Which is worth the Finney silver coins that mom gave?" Annie sucked her finger and asked with her head tilted.

"Khan... Of course, gold coins are valuable. One gold coin is worth 60 Finneys!"

"Wow, a lot of money, brother, I want gold coins! I want gold coins!"

"Yes, a lot!" Simon and Albert also assisted.

"Okay, this is what my brother gave you." Marin took out a handful of gold coins from his arms and distributed it to his younger brothers and sisters. Even Adler was envious of the local tyrant.

You know, although Adler is the heir to the manor. However, the heir is still waiting for the inheritance, and he is still unmarried. Now, Adler still receives "pocket money" from Mrs. Mary, 4 pfennigs a day, just enough to buy wine.

However, of course, Marin will not give Adler gold coins. Only the younger brother asks the elder brother for a gift, how can the younger brother give it to the elder brother?

In the evening, in the dining room of Hoffman's house, Mrs. Mary herself cooked a "big meal". However, this "big meal" made Marin frown.

why? It turns out that Mrs. Mary boiled the apples, but used the cabbage to eat it raw... This... This is a typical medieval European practice... However, in the winter, it is estimated that the apples and cabbage can be obtained at a high cost...

"Mom, didn't I teach you how to cook Chinese food? Why do you still cook such unpalatable food?" Malin said dissatisfiedly, and his younger brothers and sisters also nodded to assist.

"Today is Christmas, a traditional European festival. Of course, traditional methods must be used for traditional festivals!" Mrs. Mary said solemnly.

"Okay… okay…" Marlin lowered his head with a fork and put some cooked apples into his mouth. Looking at the table, only the roast suckling pig is a normal order. However, the roast suckling pig was occupied by the younger brothers and sisters. Marin was too embarrassed to fight with the child, so he could only eat boiled apples and raw cabbage in a depressing way, and he didn't touch it...

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