The Rise of the European Emperor

In fact, if Marin knew Frundsberg's arrangement, he would definitely have guessed the result. why? Because there are too many princes and soldiers!

If thousands of enemy troops are ambushed, it may still be possible to wipe them out. It is possible to ambush 60,000 enemy troops on the narrow mountain road... unless the door is closed and the dog is beaten, it will definitely not be wiped out. Because there are too many people. It would take several days to kill 60,000 pigs, let alone 60,000 soldiers.

Moreover, the mountain roads are narrow, and if you want to chase them down, there is no wide enough road to chase them down. Frederick III sacrificed 30,000 to 40,000 people and blocked the mountain road all at once. Frundsberg had no way to go after him...

However, the coalition forces of the princes gave up the 40,000 people and made Frundsberg full. It's not that these people are useful, but that these peasants brought a lot of food, luggage and looted gold and silver treasures.

Frederick III fled for his life with the coalition forces, so he naturally didn't have time to take away the food, supplies and treasures, after all, his life was the most important thing. Therefore, on the main road to Basel, there are abandoned grain carts, carriages and carts full of baggage and gold and silver treasures.

Therefore, after deterring the remaining 30,000 coalition troops, Frundsberg will naturally be able to enjoy the food, luggage and gold and silver treasures discarded on the road.

Frundsberg happily arranged for his men to take over the food, supplies and gold and silver treasures, especially the military rations, which were supposed to feed 60,000 troops and 40,000 people, so they were innumerable. With this batch of military rations, Frundsberg's army can eat until next year. As for other luggage and gold and silver treasures, they are not so important.

Marin once emphasized that in times of war, food is king! Without food, the army will collapse and the people will starve to death. Therefore, in times of war, food is always more important than gold and silver treasures.

In fact, in troubled times, the population of the common people decreased sharply, not because the common people were directly killed by the rebels, but because the common people's food was robbed by the army. Then, a large number of people starved to death. Those who really died under the butcher's knife were actually a minority. Of course, although those rebellious soldiers did not directly kill people, those common people also starved to death because of the rebellious soldiers robbing food. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with accusing them of blood debt.

Because he kept in mind Marin's teachings back then, Frundsberg directly asked his subordinates to escort the people brought by the coalition forces of the princes, and transported the grain trucks into the town of Costal. Then, wait for transfer to Lucerne. After the food was shipped, gold, silver, treasures and other luggage began to be shipped.

...

At this time, the adjutant Karl, who was in charge of counting the number of prisoners and casualties, came over with a bitter face. Seeing Frundsberg, Karl said depressedly:

"My lord, our casualties are not small this time, close to three thousand!"

"Three thousand? Not much.

"Frundsberg is a little strange, three thousand is exchanged for tens of thousands, which is a profit.

Carl shook his head and continued:

"Having said that, but our casualties this time, there are 2,000 elites, and they are concentrated in the stormtroopers..."

"This..." Frundsberg also came to his senses. He led 3,000 stormtroopers to forcefully charge the enemy's most elite cavalry troops, and indeed suffered a lot of casualties. If the guards hadn't tried their best to protect him, he might have died too. After all, the knights on the opposite side are all masters of martial arts since childhood. Fighting against such a strong opponent, it is difficult to avoid heavy casualties. It's just that he didn't expect to lose two-thirds of the Stormtroopers. You know, the stormtroopers are the most elite fighters under his command, and he lost most of them, which really hurt him very much.

...

Just when Frundsberg was feeling sad, Karl continued:

"This is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that there are only 12,000 regular troops left in our army. The coalition forces of the princes escaped with about 25,000 troops. Now they have no problem running for their lives in a hurry, but when they recover, run away Go join the French, our 12,000 people can't stop it!"

Frenzberg was horrified—even if the coalition forces of the princes were poor in combat effectiveness, the 25,000 army combined with the 20,000 elite French army and the elite Swiss mountain people...I now only have 12,000 regular troops, plus more than 4,000 militiamen...It is indeed a disaster. what……

Before, he only cared about the joy of victory, but until now, Frundsberg discovered to his horror—the crisis is still not resolved...

"What to do? What to do?" Frundsberg paced back and forth anxiously...

What Karl said next made Frundsberg even more nervous:

"Legion Commander, I think that Frederick III, who has withdrawn to Basel at this moment, must have calmed down, and he will also guess that all our troops will come here to ambush them. Although due to the collapse of morale, the coalition forces of the princes will not be able to counterattack for a short time. We. However, my subordinates are worried that he will send envoys to the French camp on the west side of Lucerne to tell the French that our army is not in Lucerne. At that time, the French will definitely not give up the great opportunity to capture Lucerne.”

"Then I will immediately order 10,000 people to rush back to Lucerne to help defend, and the rest will stay in Costal to take care of the captured supplies and prisoners!" Frundsberg said.

"That's not right, Legion Commander, we have captured 65,000 prisoners! Only 2,000 soldiers are left, we can't control it!"

"65,000 captives? So many? The coalition of princes has less than 40,000 civilians...Could it be..." Frundsberg was a little surprised.

"Yes, most of the 30,000 soldiers in the front of the coalition of princes surrendered. We also caught up with many of the infantry in the rear. The real casualties of the coalition soldiers were only about 7,000. Moreover, most of them were killed. They were trampled to death due to chaos, and many were stoned to death and injured. Not many were actually killed in battle..." Speaking of which, Carl had a strange expression.

In fact, the ancient army was like this, defeated like a mountain. Once you fail, no matter how many or how few you are, as long as you lose, the soldiers will run around. Then, the deaths and injuries caused by the stampede of people and horses were much more than those caused by real fighting. This is especially true for armies with a large number of people, once defeated.

"That is to say, we now have 25,000 soldiers and prisoners?"

"No, to be exact, 27,000 soldiers were captured!" Karl corrected.

Frundsberg was stunned for a moment, then suddenly asked:

"What kind of arms are these prisoners of war?"

Carl thought for a while and said:

"They are all infantry. There are about 18,000 mercenaries and 9,000 levies with low combat power."

"18,000 mercenaries?" Frundsberg's eyes lit up immediately. Because, he remembered a story Marin once told...

It was a story of 30,000 poor ghosts crossing the Yellow River to fight the invading army...

It is said that when the 30,000 poor ghost soldiers crossed the Yellow River, they were dressed in rags, their weapons were poor, and their ammunition was insufficient. However, relying on absorbing heroes from all sides, this army has grown stronger and stronger like a snowball. After a few years, it has reached more than one million people. Then, some capital began to compete for the world...

In the story told by Marin, this originally poor army, every time it defeats the enemy, especially a troop called "pseudo army" that likes to send equipment, will mobilize some puppet soldiers to join them. Those who don't want to join will also be put back, and then captured again next time, so that they can continue to send equipment...

In addition, this army also absorbed guerrillas and even bandits from all walks of life. As long as the goals are the same and the background is not too dark, basically anyone will be rejected. So, in a few years, they added millions of troops...

Of course, when they absorb those troops with a less than innocent background, they are particular about it. That is - break up the reorganization, and never let the original black soldiers maintain their original organizational system. Moreover, for bandits and surrendered soldiers, the bandit leaders and generals in the surrendered troops should basically be cleaned before accepting those minions. Of course, I have to plan to reschedule...

...

Thinking of this, Frundsberg's heart became hot - can I also learn this trick and annex those mercenaries?

Frundsberg obviously didn't like those conscripts. They were just a group of farmers with weapons, and they were the "cannon fodder" that Marin once said.

And those mercenaries are different, most of them are veterans who have experienced battles and have certain combat qualities. Moreover, they are only fighting for money, and have no intention of taking refuge in a certain prince. Whoever gives the money will work for him.

Of course, compared with the well-trained Habsburg "Swiss Legion" fighters under Frundsberg, these German mercenaries are not enough. On the frontal battlefield, Frundsberg can guarantee that the fighters under his command can completely abuse them.

However, Frundsberg now does not need an elite army to face the enemy head-on, but a group of soldiers to help defend the city.

And these mercenaries with certain combat experience are the best defenders...cannon fodder...

Although these mercenaries are not as good as his elite, they can't beat the elite French soldiers. However, if they were brought to Lucerne to defend the city, there would be no problem. After all, relying on the city wall, these mercenaries with slightly weaker combat effectiveness can also play a very good role...

...

Of course, as Marin said before, these mercenaries with insufficient loyalty cannot be allowed to maintain their original organizational system. Because, with a leader, these people will have their own little ninety-nine, and it will become difficult to control.

Therefore, Frundsberg decided to learn from the snowballing and growing army in Marin's story-don't use mercenary generals, break up and reorganize those mercenary soldiers...

...

After thinking it over, Frundsberg told his adjutant Karl:

"Let's go and see those mercenaries who surrendered, I want to recruit them!"

...

"Recruit those surrendered soldiers? They are not reliable. For money, they will do anything..." Adjutant Karl worried.

"What's the matter? Didn't we seize a lot of gold and silver this time? Give it to them! What I want is soldiers and horses. As long as I add more than 10,000 troops, I will be fully sure that I can hold the current line of defense and never let them The French take a step forward. Even if the remaining coalition forces of the princes and the French army are together, they can stop it!"

...