The Rise of the European Emperor

When they came, Marin's army took the sea route. Mainly because Marin didn't want people to know that he sent troops. After all, in the vast sea, as long as you stay away from the coastline and main routes, it is difficult to be discovered.

But it was different when I went back. At this time, the Siena War was over, and Marin didn't have to hide anymore. Therefore, the Mountain Infantry Corps simply chose to return to China by land this time. Marin, however, left three thousand soldiers as guards and debt collectors for the Bank of Siena. The remaining 11,000 people (thousands were lost in the war) followed Marin by land.

It was Saqqara's Fourth Army, because they wanted to go back to England, they had to take a boat anyway, so they simply went back to Newcastle by boat. In addition, Marin sent a fleet to deliver the treasure.

The capture of the Republic of Siena this time, although the million gold coins stolen from the Bank of Siena were sent back, but because of the hundreds of years of hidden treasures of more than a dozen financial families in Siena, they also won a lot of money. The harvest actually benefited more than 1.5 million gold coins (including more than 100,000 distributed to the soldiers). In addition, in several important towns such as Grosseto and Radicofani, the important cities of the Republic of Siena, relying on the method taught by Marin to find the secret room, Marin's army scoured another half a million gold coins. Silver and all kinds of valuables. There is no way, the Republic of Siena has not fought for hundreds of years, and it is a famous commercial country. It is completely normal to accumulate so much wealth. If Marin captures the Republic of Venice now, it is estimated that more than ten million gold coins can be grabbed. After all, the annual financial revenue of the Republic of Venice has one hundred million gold coins, which is stronger than that of France.

The reason why they chose to ship gold and silver property back to China, in addition to convenience, was mainly because they would be too conspicuous. You know, the wealth of two million gold coins is absolutely enviable in Europe. Even the richest Republic of Venice has a yearly fiscal revenue a little worse than this.

Think about it, the financial revenue of Huaxia in the future is more than ten trillion a year... If you escort so much money to the market, wouldn't people be so jealous or even mad? Not to mention escorting more than ten trillion yuan across the market, even carrying a sack of money, it will make people extremely jealous...

Therefore, after thinking about it, Marin decided to let him go back to the country quickly and mobilize a trustworthy fleet to transport money, instead of letting the mountain infantry regiment carry boxes of gold and silver treasures to swagger across the land.

...

To be honest, when he sent troops south to help the Papal State attack Siena, Marin never thought of making a profit. But unexpectedly, Siena, which has not fought for hundreds of years, actually hides so much wealth. The training to find the secret room was originally done on a whim, but it actually achieved such great results. If he hadn't flipped through the secret rooms that had been hidden for hundreds of years, Marin would have found more than 300,000 gold coins at most, which was about the same as his estimate before dispatching troops. Then there are all kinds of large-scale property and works of art worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins.

But Marin donated all the artwork he grabbed in order to gain goodwill in the Holy See, leaving only the non-art property.

Mainly, art objects, which are very popular and sought after in Italy, are not valued at all in Germany. Because Germans prefer things that are simple and practical.

I don't know why, Italians have been obsessed with luxury life and works of art since about the late Roman Empire. Then, the once brave and powerful Roman Empire began to degenerate, and its combat power began to become rubbish. In later generations, although they are descendants of Roman warriors, Italians have degenerated into amusing lovers of art and greed for enjoyment. The poor and simple Germans became the representatives of European combat power.

Speaking of which, the Ming Dynasty is similar. When the whole country was good at writing, the Ming Dynasty, which overthrew the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasty Empire, became synonymous with weak chickens. It seems that literary youth are not suitable for war. Because in the bones of literary and artistic youth, they lack the bravery (or barbarism) that soldiers have.

Therefore, Marin likes to go to the mountains of southern Germany to select simple and tough mountain people to serve as soldiers. Because these mountain people do not know how to play tricks, it is easier to obey orders and fight. Coupled with the long-term walking on the mountain road, he can bear hardships and stand hard work, and he is definitely an elite soldier. The Swiss are also a group of mountain people, fierce and powerful.

But what Marin can't understand is that Italy is also full of mountains, and there are mountain people everywhere, so why can't they become elite soldiers? Could it be that the mountain people who are too literary can't do it? Marin doesn't understand...

...

When heading north from the Principality of Milan and passing through the Graubünden area in southeastern Switzerland, Maximilian I suddenly wanted to ask Marin for help and lead troops to raid the resistance army in western Switzerland, but Marin refused.

Just kidding, what is the Swiss Resistance Army in the western part of Switzerland, it is clearly a coalition of Swiss and French. Even, the number of French troops is still dominant.

Marin is not afraid of offending the Swiss, but he is afraid of offending the French. If you destroy this resistance army, you will offend France to death. Therefore, Marin refused the invitation of Maximilian I, hurried through the Swiss region, and continued north...

The helpless Maximilian I had to save his own strength. Anyway, he now has 30,000 gold coins to sell Luxembourg iron ore and 300,000 gold coins to borrow from the Bank of Siena, which is enough to consume with France.

...

Just as Marin was busy taking the army north to return home, the Spanish also made significant progress in the war in Morocco. Gonzalo's army finally broke through the capital of Morocco, Fes, and achieved a major victory in stages.

Fez and Marrakech are the two most famous capitals of Morocco. As for the later capital Rabat, it is still a small place in the countryside.

However, during this siege, the Sultan of the Wattas Dynasty of Morocco, Abu Abdullah Burtukalli Ibn Mohammed rushed out of the north gate with 8,000 elite cavalry at night, and then fled south to the old capital Go to Marrakech. It will take time for Spain to eliminate Morocco.

...

After the autumn harvest in Spain, Gonzalo took 30,000 Spanish troops and 40,000 to 50,000 people across the sea, and joined the 20,000 German mercenaries who had crossed the sea.

But Gonzalo did not rush forward, but surrounded Tetouan, a major town in northern Morocco, without fighting. The reason for this is because Gonzalo wants to surround the point to help.

The tactic of "surrounding the points and fighting for support" was mentioned once by Marin when he taught Gonzalo the "Marin phalanx" (Spanish phalanx). Gonzalo was very interested in it. It happened that Gonzalo was worried about how to deal with the Moroccan scimitar cavalry with strong mobility, so he simply surrounded the city of Tetouan, waiting for the army of the Moroccan Wattas Dynasty to come to the rescue, and then , take the opportunity to fight with it...

The origin of the city of Tetouan, in fact, has a lot to do with the Spaniards. In 1492, the twin kings of Spain (Ferdinand II and Isabella I) jointly destroyed the Allahian country on the Iberian Peninsula - Granada.

After the country was destroyed, Allah taught the Moors on the Iberian Peninsula and fled across the sea to Morocco. These people are called the Andalusian Moors. After they came to northern Morocco, they gathered near Tetouan and rebuilt the once-destroyed city into a fortress city. The Andalusian Moors who fled to Morocco from southern Spain back then mostly gathered near Tetouan.

After Gonzalo surrounded the city with an army of 50,000 troops, the Wattas dynasty of Fes quickly gathered troops and horses from all over the country, gathered 60,000 machete cavalry, and attacked aggressively.

But Gonzalo had long been prepared. He asked 30,000 Spanish soldiers to form multiple "Marin phalanxes" (Spanish phalanxes) to withstand the impact of the Moroccan scimitar cavalry.

At the same time, 20,000 German mercenaries were placed on the flanks. After the Central Army's 30,000 Spanish troops withstood several rounds of Moroccan Scimitar cavalry charges, Gonzalo suddenly commanded 20,000 German mercenaries on both flanks, as well as several thousand Spanish cavalry from both sides, rushing into the Moroccan battle formation... …

Morocco's morale plummeted after several unsuccessful attempts. Suddenly attacked by fierce German mercenaries and Spanish cavalry, the formation was in chaos, and they were defeated and fled.

But unfortunately, the main body of the Moroccan army is cavalry, and even if it is defeated, the loss is not great. There were more than 60,000 scimitar cavalry soldiers, and the number of those who fled back reached 50,000. It can be said that the losses were relatively small. Moreover, knowing that the Spanish army outside Tetouan was not easy to mess with, the Wattas dynasty in Fes simply did not send troops to rescue.

In desperation, after Gonzalo got up and took Tetouan seriously, he again marched south and surrounded Fez, the capital of the Wattas dynasty. This time, the Wattas Dynasty has no way to retreat, and can only fight recklessly with Spain.

Relying on the tall and strong city walls, the Wattas Dynasty resisted for several months. However, the Moroccan city walls are not strong enough, mainly because the technology of building city walls is not home. After months of storming, the Spaniards finally broke the city of Fes.

Originally, Gonzalo had a chance to settle the world in a battle. However, because the cooperation between the Spanish army and the hired German mercenaries was not tacit enough. As a result, the Sultan of the Wattas Dynasty found a weakness, and he rushed out of the north gate with tens of thousands of the most elite royal cavalry overnight, and went straight to the junction of the Spanish army and the German mercenaries, and really made a bloody road.

Although 2,000 elite cavalry were lost, Abu Abdullah Burtukalli Ibn Muhammad finally escaped with 8,000 elite machete cavalry and fled south to Marrakech, the old capital, where he planned to Resistance continued there. If Gonzalo wants to destroy the Moroccan Wattas Dynasty, he must continue to go south and break through Marrakech. Moreover, he must capture or kill the sultan of the Wattas dynasty, Abu Abdullah Burtukalli Ibn Mohammed, otherwise, the resistance of the Moroccans will not stop while the sultan is still there...