The Rise of the European Emperor

What Madam Mary meant was that these educated wandering knights had the ability to serve as Adler's quartermasters, so their future life would definitely be worry-free. Although it is definitely not as good as those fief knights who have obtained fiefdoms, the Earl of Wicklow will definitely be a decent family of officials in the future.

And these wandering knights who can write and count, even if they are not good at martial arts, they must have received systematic knight martial arts training and know how to raise their children. They themselves may not be qualified for the duties of knights because of their physical fitness. However, their children may not.

Just like the four sons of old Hoffman, if according to the requirements of the knights, only Adler and Simon can be qualified for the traditional duties of the knights. And Marin and Albert, strictly speaking, are not too qualified knights. Because Marin's martial arts is also very common among knights. If Marin and Albert encountered this kind of knight tournament, they would be eliminated in the first round, but they would definitely not make it to the end.

In fact, Marin was able to be favored by Emperor Maximilian I not because he passed the selection of knights, but because he pulled up a mercenary team himself. It just so happened that Maximilian I needed mercenaries to go south to Italy to fight for him, so he took a fancy to Marin, a thin and wandering knight who could train soldiers.

Those educated wandering knights may not be strong enough themselves. However, it is also possible for them to have a strong son, as long as they marry a strong wife...

What's more, no matter how weak they are, they still know martial arts. Even if they haven't beaten the elite veterans of the Beihai Kingdom, they are still better than ordinary soldiers. In addition, they can write and count, not only can serve as quartermasters, but also infantry commanders. For example, you can serve as the captain of an infantry company or something...

In the German mercenary world, many mercenary officers actually came from wandering knights. Many wandering knights will first look for opportunities to become official fief knights. After all, fief knights are considered real nobles.

But if they run into obstacles everywhere and feel that there is no hope of becoming an official knight, many wandering knights will choose to become infantry officers of the mercenary regiment. Because, after all, these knights have received a certain degree of education in military command ability and know how to command a team of troops.

Also, the most important thing is that these wandering knights have a certain level of education, can understand military orders, and their ability to execute orders is much better than those civilian mercenaries who don't know a single word.

Therefore, Madam Mary suggested that these wandering knights with a barely educated level be taken to Wicklow County, Ireland, either as a quartermaster or as an infantry commander. Even, it can be used as a civil servant.

...

After the exam, Adler personally invited the dozen or so wandering knights who were relatively educated, and invited them to serve as quartermasters or infantry officers in his earldom. Even when there is no war, you can serve as a civil servant.

After thinking about it, the dozen or so wandering knights agreed to Adler's invitation. Because they also know that their martial arts are too poor, even if they go to other places to find opportunities, they may not be able to become formal knights. In this case, it would be better to follow Adler to become a quartermaster or an infantry officer. In any case, that is also a way out, and it is better than doing nothing now. And some of them, already struggling financially, just need a job to support themselves, including their horses and attendants...

...

After the first round of selection was over, the next round was the official competition.

But before the competition, Marin asked the referees to test the basic skills of the remaining 1,200 wandering knights, and then scored and graded them.

Why do you want to do this? The main reason is that Marin wants to get to the bottom of it, and has a general understanding of the strength of each wandering knight, so that it is convenient to group.

Marin intends to divide these wandering knights into four grades in accordance with the habits of the UEFA Champions League group stage in later generations. Then, draw lots again, and divide the groups into groups with 4 people in each group and one person in each of the four grades.

Then, according to the method of the UEFA Champions League group stage in later generations, the four people in each group will fight each other in a foot fight and a horse fight. Among them, horse battles have higher points than foot battles.

In this way, after the group stage, the top two will qualify, and then they will play against the top two in another corresponding group to enter the knockout stage.

However, because there are more than 1,200 people participating, if there are 4 people in each group, there will be more than 300 groups, which is very spectacular. Then, the more than 600 people who qualified for the qualifying round will fight against each other again, and choose one of the two to eliminate the competition.

...

As for how to divide the four gears, the gearing method given by Marin is also very simple and rude-in the process of fighting against the ordinary elite veterans of the Beihai Kingdom, while defeating the opponent, the person who ends the battle faster will have higher points. There are also bonus points for injuries.

Then, in the horse battle basic test, they will ride on the horses and plate armor prepared by Beihai Kingdom, charge with lances, stab the heads of 5 straw men along the way, and get certain points.

Finally, the total points were obtained based on the sum of the foot battle points and the horse battle basic test points, and the grades were divided according to the number of points, and the wandering knights were divided into four grades. Then, draw lots and compete for group points, and the top two qualify.

...

In formal knightly contests, the scores for horse battles and foot battles are different. The points for horse battles are twice as much as for foot battles. After all, this is a tourney for picking knights, not infantry. Therefore, the horse battle points should account for two-thirds of the total points.

In this way, in fact, the side that wins the horse battle is equivalent to winning.

But the horse battle may not be able to tell the winner, because the horse battle is a knight's hedging battle. But in order to ensure the safety of the knights, hollow lances are used. Moreover, Marin forbids attacking the heads of horses and knights. Moreover, the Cavaliers only have 5 chances to hedge. After each hedge, the lance will be changed, no matter whether the lance is broken or not. After 5 dashes, if someone falls off the horse before 5 dashes are completed, the winner will be determined. If after 5 rushes, both sides are evenly matched, it depends on the results of the infantry battle.

...

The reason why Marin forbids stabbing the opponent's head in the contest is because he is afraid of casualties. In the original history, King Henry II of France stabbed his own Scottish bodyguard in the head in a knightly tournament in 1559, resulting in his death.

In fact, the lance that stabbed Henry II's head was also a wooden lance, and it was a hollow lance made of weak wood. But the problem is that the eye of Henry II's helmet is open, and after the wooden spear head of his Scottish bodyguard hit Henry II's helmet and broke, a piece of wood happened to pass through the eye of Henry II's helmet Through the gap in the chest, it pierced Henry II's eyeball and reached deep into the brain. Because of the backward medical conditions at that time, the wound was seriously infected, and Henry II not only broke an eyeball, but also suffered from sepsis, and eventually died.

Therefore, even if Marin's Beihai state-owned alcohol and other disinfection methods are useless in the face of such harm. Even in the 21st century, brain injuries are difficult to treat.

Therefore, for the sake of safety, Marin forbids the knight to stab the opponent's head in the battle, even if it is protected by a helmet. Moreover, even if neither side was knocked down in the riding battle, wouldn't there still be results in the foot battle...

...

In this way, after dividing into groups and explaining the rules of the competition in detail, the second round of the group competition of the Knights Tournament officially kicked off...