The Rise of the European Emperor

The Spaniards were busy dividing up the gold they had not yet got, and they were not afraid of the seemingly harmless French army. However, the actions of the French frightened Emperor Maximilian I.

Maximilian I was more suspicious. He didn't believe that the French were just fighting for the Duchy of Milan. In particular, Maximilian I became more nervous when the French used Lyon as a rallying point for their army.

Originally, Frundsberg's 35,000 troops and the Swiss Resistance Army's 25,000 people (the French withdrew a large number of elite French troops for use in the Italian war after the return of 10,000 Swiss mercenaries) could barely stand offensive. But after the French army assembled in Lyon, the suspicious emperor immediately ordered Frundsberg to shrink strategically, withdrawing all 35,000 troops to fortresses such as Lucerne and Basel.

The reason why Maximilian I did this was because he was afraid that the 30,000 French army would "drop in" into Switzerland to help the Swiss Resistance Army on the way to Italy. At that time, the Franco-Swiss coalition forces with absolute superiority in strength will easily defeat Frundsberg's army. If fighting in the wild, this possibility is even greater. Therefore, Maximilian I asked Frundsberg's army fighters to retreat to several strong cities. In this way, even if there are many enemies, there will be nothing to do for a while.

But His Majesty the Emperor obviously worried too much. Louis XII naturally didn't mind doing this in normal times. Because it is also very easy for the French army to march from Lyon to Switzerland. If he could take the opportunity to eliminate the main force of the Habsburg family's army, Louis XII would definitely be willing to do so.

However, His Majesty the Emperor guessed wrong this time. Because, Louis XII was busy going to Naples to fight for the volcanic ash this time, and he didn't have time to pay attention to the army of the Habsburg family.

Under Marin's instruction, John Rafi has made it clear what is at stake - if the Spaniards are allowed to react and prepare enough ammunition, the city of Naples guarded by the musketeers will be difficult to conquer.

Only by taking advantage of the Spaniard's ignorance and going south quickly to surround Naples, will it be enough for me to conquer this fortified city.

The city of Naples is the strongest city in the Kingdom of Naples, and the city gates are all made of iron, which is very difficult to conquer. If the Spaniards are fully prepared, it will be really difficult to attack.

However, according to the information provided by the spies, due to the huge consumption of gunpowder on the Moroccan battlefield, the gunpowder reserves in Naples were seriously insufficient.

If the French moved quickly and surrounded Naples earlier, it would take at most a month with the gunpowder reserves of the defenders of Naples. A month later, the musket became a firestick. Then, it was time for the Frenchman to play. In terms of martial arts, who is the French knight master afraid of?

As long as there is no musket, which restrains the knight master's martial arts, the French can also take the city of Naples by relying on the traditional siege method. As long as the city of Naples is conquered and the Spanish main force defending the city is eliminated, it will be very smooth.

Even if the Spaniards reacted and gathered a large army to fight, who were the French afraid of?

Regarding the advantage of the Spanish fire wall, the French have also figured out a way to restrain it-use cannon fodder to attack the enemy's musket formation, and at the same time use artillery to bombard the enemy's musketeer formation. The plate armored knight charged from the flank without muskets...

Even in the Marlin phalanx (Spanish phalanx), which is good at using muskets, the proportion of musketeers is only a quarter. The remaining three-quarters are mainly infantry. For those infantry, the French knights armed to the teeth are not afraid.

What? You said the opponent's spearman would kill the French knight's horse? This is not a problem!

During the Hundred Years' War between England and France,

The French encountered the problem of English longbowmen shooting French knights and horses. Later, the French came up with a way-the knight dismounted and fought on foot...

The knight's war horse is indeed a weak point. If the spearman slams the war horse, it can indeed interfere with the knight. However, if a knight in plate armor dismounts and fights on foot, is your spear still useful?

A knight wearing a full set of plate armor is not afraid of being stabbed by the enemy's spear, but only afraid of the musket. As long as the French knight dismounts and uses two-handed swords to attack the enemy's formation before attacking the enemy's spear formation, there is still a good chance of winning.

Although the two-handed sword is not as long as the spear, the French knights wear plate armor, so they are not afraid of being stabbed by the enemy's spear. As long as the enemy can't kill him, his two-handed sword can open and close to kill the enemy. Even, it can cut off the shaft of the enemy's spear. With the martial arts of French knights, as long as you don't encounter guns and artillery, it is still very easy to kill a few spearmen...

In addition, on the frontal battlefield, the French also brought hundreds of artillery this time. Although they are all light guns such as one-pounders and two-pounders, the largest ones are three-pounders. However, artillery has a much longer range than muskets. If you shoot against the musketeer, the artillery will definitely win.

Because the musketeer's bullets exceeded 70 yards, and they basically flew randomly. As for the shells of the artillery, even if it is a rear-mounted Francois cannon, its ballistic trajectory is relatively stable within one or two hundred meters. In this way, there is no need to talk about the results of the mutual shooting... In addition, the French also prepared cannon fodder to attract the attention of the opponent's musketeers, which is even more no problem...

...

In fact, the reason why the French army suffered in the Battle of Capitanata was also because Gonzalo de Cordoba hid the musketeers behind fortifications and trenches, blocking the impact of the French cavalry and Attack of the French shells.

This is the same as the musketeer hiding on the city wall and shooting the enemy. With the cover of the musketeer, the power is greatly increased. If they stood on the plains without cover, the French would try their best to lose some of the knight lords, and a general charge could also defeat the enemy's musketeers.

In short, the muskets of this era cannot crush the knights yet. Only after having a cover can the musketeers not be afraid of the charge of the plate knights. The same musketeer, in the hands of different people, has different results. Moreover, to Louis XII's delight, Spain's first general, Gonzalo de Cordova, was still suppressing the local resistance in Morocco at this time. The commander of the army in Naples seems to be an idiot nobleman from the Kingdom of Aragon...

...

After massing at Lyon, the French began to move eastward and to cross the Alps in large scale. After seeing the size of the French army, the spies sent by the Habsburg family were so frightened that they almost lost control of their urine—how could this be an army of 30,000, there were clearly more than 50,000!

Then, the spies of the Habsburg family hurriedly sent pigeons to report to the emperor. This news also scared Emperor Maximilian I almost to pee - 50,000 troops, plus the 25,000 people in Switzerland, can destroy Austria...

His Majesty the Emperor has already started thinking about escaping, but the news that finally came out was that the French really went to Italy instead of Switzerland...

...

When 60,000 troops and 80,000 civilians appeared on the Piedmont Plain, Charles III, Duke of Savoy, who was a traditional ally of France, was almost scared to pee.

If it was 30,000 horses, Charles III, Duke of Savoy, would naturally not think too much about it. Because this is the normal configuration used to attack the Duchy of Milan. After all, it is said that the Principality of Milan has also recruited 30,000 Italian mercenaries, intending to strictly guard against it.

Although the Italian mercenaries have average combat effectiveness and can be used to defend the city, they can still withstand 30,000 French troops. However, the number of French troops that appeared on the Piedmont Plain obviously exceeded 30,000, and it is estimated that there are 50,000 to 60,000 regular troops...

This scale is enough to sweep the whole of Italy. Can Charles III not be afraid?

Fortunately, the French seem to have little interest in annexing the Principality of Savoy, but continue to move east to the Lombardy region. The Duchy of Milan is located in the Milan Plain in the middle of the Lombardy region...

...

Then, the next person who was scared to pee was the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza...

"What did you say? The French army is not only 30,000, but 50,000 to 60,000?" Ludovico Sforza was so frightened that his hands shook and he dropped a porcelain teacup...

"Yes, Lord Duke! We sent many brothers to count the number. The result is that the French dispatched about 20,000 knights and 30,000 to 40,000 infantry. In addition, there are 70,000 to 80,000 civilians..."

"20,000 knights? This is almost the limit that France can mobilize..." Ludovico Sforza gasped.

Even in the first two wars, the French used at most 10,000 knights. But this time, actually using 20,000 knights is tantamount to betting on the fate of the country...

In this battle, the French seem to be desperate...

Facing the desperate France, Ludovico Sforza lost all courage at this time. In terms of national strength and heritage, the Duchy of Milan is far behind France...

After an extremely intense ideological struggle in his heart, Ludovico Sforza ordered helplessly:

"Take all valuable assets, and most of the food, and retreat towards Graubünden!"

Ten years ago, when France and Spain fought in the Kingdom of Naples, Ludovico Sforza, on the suggestion of Marin, withdrew to the border between the Graubünden area and Italy with thousands of troops and a lot of money The Mistel Valley in the middle of the country has retained its vitality. Later, when the French army went to Naples for a decisive battle with Spain, the old boy led thousands of troops back to the city of Milan and easily regained the Duchy of Milan.

This time, it was obvious that Ludovico Sforza wanted to repeat the old trick. Moreover, this time the French army is still on the Piedmont Plain. Withdrawing the troops at this time has the opportunity to take away most of the money and food in Milan City, including most of the army in Milan City...

...

However, Ludovico Sforza did not expect that the French did not want to attack the Duchy of Milan this time...

When the news that Ludovico Sforza abandoned the city of Milan and fled with his army to the Mistel Valley in the Graubünden region reached the French army, Louis XII was stunned:

"I never thought about really attacking Milan... this... what should I do now?"...

Set a small goal first, such as 1 second to remember: Shukeju mobile version reading URL: