The Rise of the European Emperor

In addition to several senior generals such as Saqqara and Sivage, many middle and lower level officials also need rewards. The members of the King's main army led by Sivager were naturally rewarded by Edward himself. However, something interesting happened to the rewards of the middle and lower-level officers under Marin.

First of all, there are two kinds of rewards this time, one is property rewards, which is a routine; the other is the most important fief rewards.

All property rewards are borne by Edward, which is fine. After all, the battle was fought for him. Fortunately, Edward killed all the great nobles in England before, and ransacked the house to reap a lot of benefits, but it is a bit of a family fortune to deal with.

As for the fief rewards, especially the fief rewards of Marin's Fourth and Fifth Legion, there are some special situations...

The fief rewards of the meritorious soldiers of Saqqara's Fourth Army are all handed over to Marin to arrange, which is no problem. The problem is that for the officers of the Fifth Legion stationed in London, the rewards of the fiefs are different-Edward actually bypassed Marin and rewarded a dozen of them with very good fiefs, all near London ...

Marin's eyes narrowed suddenly - this is to poach my corner...

In fact, Edward wanted to poach Marin's corner, which Marin had known for a long time. During the period when Sivager led the Fifth Army to be stationed in London, Edward was desperately trying to win over the officers of the Fifth Army, seeking them to serve him. And on this point, Sivager reported the situation a long time ago.

Sivager himself was not tempted (in fact, he was worried that he was not an Englishman and could not really be reused), but the composition of his Fifth Army officers was relatively complicated.

At the beginning, when the Fifth Army was formed, only a dozen cronies brought by Sivager and a group of Frisian officers supported by Marin were sent by Marin. Other officers, especially those of the middle and lower ranks, were mainly natives of England.

However, a 10,000-man army is divided into 8 phalanxes, and each phalanx has a principal and a deputy phalanx leader, so there are 16 principal and deputy phalanx leaders. Then, every 250 people is a company, so there are 40 companies, with a total of 80 chief and deputy company leaders. As for the 400 teams of 25 people, there is no need to talk about it, 800 principal and deputy team leaders...

Of course, Edward would not condescend enough to win over those principal and deputy captains. The ones he recruited were basically 16 principal and deputy phalanx leaders and 80 principal and deputy company captains of the Fifth Army. In addition, Sivager and his deputies were also recruited...

However, Sivager and his deputies, including the Frisian officers sent by Marin, basically did not agree to Edward's solicitation. However, there are English officers in the Fifth Army. These native English officers had a stronger sense of belonging to Edward than to Marin. Therefore, in the end, more than a dozen phalanx leaders and company captains accepted Edward's solicitation and secretly took refuge in Edward.

Of course, it is now coming to the surface.

These dozens of officers of the Fifth Army were not chief officers, but some deputy phalanx leaders and deputy company captains. Mainly, the middle and high-level positions of the Fifth Army were all occupied by the Frisians. Then, those natives of England, even if they are excellent, can only serve as deputy. And this is also one of the important reasons why those English officers fell to Edward. Because Marin trusts the Frisians more.

...

After the reward was over, Edward found Marin again and asked Sivager to station half of the Fifth Army soldiers in Edinburgh.

This request is both normal and abnormal. Normally, after taking Scotland, England always has to station enough troops in Scotland to ensure that it maintains its rule in Scotland. The Fifth Army has a good fighting capacity and was sent to station in Edinburgh, and it seems to have no problem.

What's abnormal is—why is it half...

You know, the Fifth Legion has 10,000 people. Although its combat effectiveness is the bottom among Marin's five legions, it is stronger than the British King's Legion formed by Edward himself. If you really value the combat effectiveness of the Fifth Army, all of them should be stationed in Edinburgh.

But in the next personnel arrangement, Marin saw Edward's thoughts - he wanted to swallow the other half of the Fifth Army...

According to Edward's arrangement, Sivager stationed in Edinburgh with 5,000 soldiers of the Fifth Army. But at the same time, Edward also selected 5,000 recruits from among the recruits, added them to Sivager's command, and stationed in Edinburgh together.

Because there are 5,000 recruits, Edward then asked-whether to arrange experienced officers to train them? Then, the officers of the other half of the Fifth Army, who belonged to Sivager's cronies, were all on the list. And the dozen or so deputy phalanx captains and deputy company captains who were recruited by Edward all stayed on...

Obviously, Edward wanted to swallow half of the Fifth Army through a series of means. And the 5,000 recruits are considered compensation for Marin...

...

Marin was very upset, and his face was a little downcast. Seeing this, Edward only wanted to comfort him personally. The reason given by Edward is also very simple-he is the king of England, a European power, and he cannot do without a trusted army with excellent combat effectiveness.

Then, Edward also confessed his next plan - he planned to use the 5,000 soldiers of the Fifth Army as the theme, and then draw the most elite 5,000 people from the existing British King's Army to form a new team with them. The new King's Legion. As for the other half of the soldiers of the original King's Legion who were eliminated, they were downgraded to local troops, responsible for stationing in various important cities in England.

In fact, the foundation of the King's Legion formed by Edward was not bad. Especially the quality of the soldiers is better than that of the Fifth Army. But the problem was mostly with the officers.

Strictly speaking, the King's Legion was trained with the help of officers of the Fifth Legion, such as Sivager, and everyone trained in the same way. However, the officers of the two legions are different...

The officers of the Fifth Army were either the cronies brought by Sivager, or the most talented low-level officers drawn by Marin from the original army. Some phalanx leaders were originally soldiers under Marin's command, but because of their good talents, they were discovered and promoted by Marin and his generals, and became middle-level officers and awarded the title of knight.

The original King's Legion was different. The officers of that King's Legion were all selected by Edward from the middle and lower noble families in England who had taken refuge in him.

But the problem is that Henry VII was a relatively promising monarch at the beginning. Previously, the more capable nobles among the English nobility basically joined Henry VII's army. Then, because of defeat, he was either killed or abandoned.

As a result, after Edward seized the throne, the range of options to choose from was very small—either incompetent or incompetent...mainly those that Henry VII didn't like before...

In this way, even if Edward completely copied the training methods of the Fifth Army, it would still be useless. One general is incompetent, and the three armies are exhausted. What's more, Edward's King's Legion is incapable of all generals?

Moreover, Edward had just succeeded in seizing the throne, and he did not dare to offend all the English nobles. He could only hold his nose and promote those noble children who had taken refuge in his family to become officers.

But later, Edward also woke up-officers are really important...

However, even so, Edward still did not dare to promote talented civilians easily. Because, this will cause the nobles to be alienated from him.

In the end, he could only put his mind on Marin's Fifth Army...

Although it is said that many officers of the Fifth Army are actually refugees recruited by Marin to Sivager in England. But the problem is that after Marin's promotion, they are no longer civilians, but officers who have proved their strength. In particular, as time went by, they also made military exploits. If these capable officers were introduced from the Fifth Legion, the nobles would have nothing to say. This is like a certain proverb in China - foreign monks are good at chanting scriptures...

If you promote civilians in England, those English nobles will definitely blow their hair - are you abandoning the aristocracy?

However, digging people from the army of Marin, the North Sea country with brilliant results, even the former English civilians, those English nobles can't say anything.

why? Because these civilians are not the original English civilians, they have been gilded in the North Sea Army in Marin. This is equivalent to a child from a farmer's family in later generations who went abroad to Harvard, Oxford and other universities for advanced studies, and it will be different when he comes back...

Moreover, being able to poach people from Marin, those nobles not only could not object, but would also applaud-this is to take advantage of foreigners... Then, those capable officers of the Fifth Army were once a problem for the civilians in England, but were instead faded...

...

Edward rambled on for a long time, but he summed it up in one sentence - he didn't dare to offend the English nobles by rashly promoting civilians to officers. Therefore, I can only find another way to dig people from Marin...

Marin rolled his eyes when he heard this—Nimma, did you come to harm me because you didn't have the guts? Although what you said makes sense, I just don't like it. Because, my interests have been damaged...

So, Marin expressed his dissatisfaction—that's not an ordinary veteran, that's five thousand veterans who have seen blood after several wars! Hmm, ahem... that... the compensation is a bit small...

...

Marin was very annoyed at first, but then he thought about it—you made the wedding dress for my son Caesar anyway, so it’s okay to take advantage of it, anyway, it will be cheaper for my son in the end...

However, it would not do to let Edward take advantage of it. Therefore, compensation must be...

Then, the two sides began to discuss how to compensate...

...

Giving fiefdoms is not acceptable, because generally fiefdoms can only be rewarded for military exploits. However, if you give money, Edward can't afford it...

How to do it? Marin thought about it, he had to get enough benefits...

Finally, he finally thought of a condition:

"Your Majesty, give me all the coal mines in England and Scotland!"

"Coal mine?" Edward was a little confused...

In Europe, land belonged to kings, nobles, and churches. However, the mines belong to the king. If ordinary people want to mine, they must buy mining rights from the king.

The most abundant minerals in England are probably coal mines. The Newcastle coal mine that Marin has now obtained is actually only an important producer of British coal, not all of it.

The main reason is that the Newcastle coal mine is close to the sea, and the sea transportation is convenient. It used to be the main source of coal for London. Therefore, it is very famous. Other areas, such as around Birmingham, the steel heartland, are rich in coal.

Marin asked Edward for coal mines all over England and even Scotland, and he wanted to be the number one coal boss in Great Britain...

At this time, the industrial revolution had not yet emerged, and coal resources were not paid much attention in Britain. Although coal cooking salt is an important industry in Britain, it is not in the hands of the king, but in the hands of local nobles. Therefore, Edward's understanding of coal is insufficient. So, he nodded and agreed to Marin's request:

"Well, I agree to give you all the coal mines in England and Scotland. Of course, the coal mines that were sold before cannot be given to you. After all, they are all on record, and I can't let the royal family lose their trust."

Marin, the newly promoted No. 1 coal boss in the UK, waved his hands with a smile, saying that there was no problem. Of course, he had already made plans—although those coal mines were sold, I can take them back at a high price...

Before the rise of the Industrial Revolution, coal mines were not of high value and were not valued very much. Marin intends to take advantage of the current bargain hunting and take all the coal mines in England under his banner, becoming an energy monopoly similar to PetroChina and Sinopec in the future. When I start to promote steam engines, I can lie on the coal mine and count money to play...

After getting the authorization letter, Marin laughed loudly:

"Ahaha, I'm now the boss of Britain's No. 1 Coal. In future generations, I'm equivalent to an oil tycoon! From now on, I want to live a luxurious life with money to light cigarettes... No, there is no paper money now... Well, Then light a cigarette with a bank check..."