The Rise of the European Emperor

The luck of Italian mercenaries seems to be good these days. Because they frequently receive employment contracts, their lives are settled. Although it is said that the more than 20,000 people who were hired by the French were unlucky, they were regarded as cannon fodder. However, as a mercenary who trades his life for money, this is really normal.

And now, another group of Italian mercenaries has received employment contracts...

This time it was Spain who provided the contract, and the danger of this contract seemed to be small - it was just guarding several important cities in Morocco.

If you are defending the city on the European side, it may be more difficult. After all, European countries all have artillery, and siege is very dangerous. In Morocco defending the city, it is easier. Not to mention artillery, Moroccans lack even normal siege equipment. For example, a ladder, Moroccans cannot build a ladder with a secondary ladder, but can only build a ladder with only one main ladder. This kind of ladder can be easily dealt with by rolling wood and stone.

Therefore, the Wattas Dynasty has been unable to break through the European castles such as Ceuta and Melilla by the sea for so many years. As a well-informed mercenary, he must have heard of this. Therefore, the Italian mercenaries are very happy to take this order.

For example, Pargani, who had just returned from the North Sea Kingdom a few months ago, received a big order - he will lead 4,000 Italian mercenaries to guard the ancient capital of Morocco Fez for more than half a year...

Pargani is also a lucky man, originally, he is not very famous. However, this time, he was tricked by Marin to lead Oldenburg. As a result, under the stimulation of the materials in Oldenburg, a powerful energy broke out, and it resisted tens of thousands of enemy troops for a long time before failing helplessly. Then, he fell into the name of "good at defending the city". This time the Spaniards wanted to transfer the Moroccan garrison and replace the Italians, so they thought of him.

Pargani was very happy, although he had previously failed to defend Oldenburg and only received part of his salary. However, there is not much danger in guarding the city of Fes this time. The Vatas Dynasty was already defeated by the army of Gonzalo de Cordoba, and only some remnants remained. If fighting in the field, Pargani may be a little afraid of the opponent's cavalry. However, in the battle of defending the city, the group of machete cavalry on the opposite side are weak chickens...

This is the weakness of nomads - they are good at fighting in the wild, but not good at sieging cities. Therefore, the general nomadic people can only harass the farming people, but cannot completely conquer them. Only the Mongolians who have obtained the technology from the Central Plains and the return cannons from the Arabs can sweep the world. There is also the Manchu Qing Dynasty, who had the ability to conquer cities after obtaining the Hongyi cannon technology.

The remnants of the Wattas dynasty in Morocco obviously do not have these technologies. So, faced with the fortresses of the Spanish and Portuguese on the coast, they had nothing to do.

Therefore, for these Italian mercenaries, this trip was relatively easy and not dangerous. After the Spaniards handed over the employment contract, about 15,000 Italian mercenaries signed the contract,

Begin boarding for Morocco to take over the 20,000 Spanish troops originally stationed there.

On the other hand, another passerby rushed from the land, concealed his identity, passed through the south of France, and came to the German region. Then, split up and go all over Germany and hire old German mercenaries who just ended the contracts of the princes.

However, after hearing that they would face 60,000 French troops and more than 20,000 Italian mercenaries, many German mercenaries were hesitant. But in the end, nearly 20,000 people signed contracts and were willing to fight for the Spaniards. Among them, the Austrians helped to do a lot of work in it. Although the Habsburgs had no money or troops to help, they could still use their prestige to help.

In addition, the Spaniards also sent a group of people to go north to Aurich, seeking to see Marin, hoping to hire the North Sea Guards team to fight against the French army.

How could Marin agree? He was the one who fooled the French into Italy. He did this to make Spain and France consume each other. How could he be involved? That would defeat the purpose of consuming both countries at the same time...

Therefore, Marin refused to send troops to help Spain in the name of "too close to France on land, for fear of retaliation by France".

However, in order not to cause too much tension with Spain, Marin agreed to provide Spain with a large amount of rye at a "cif price" of 1 pfennig per pound.

The so-called CIF price is the price that includes the freight. This year, the freight is more expensive, so the cost of 1 penny per pound of German rye is shipped to Spain, where the grain price is very high, and the starting wholesale price is generally 1.3~1.5 pfennig. Marin gave this CIF price, which is definitely very friendly. And, in large quantities...

Because of the war, the autumn harvest of Beihai Kingdom was actually greatly affected last year. For example, the cornfields in the province of Oldenburg were burnt.

Fortunately, Beihai Kingdom has accumulated a lot of old grain in recent years. Therefore, Marin also has the conditions to use a batch of Chen Liang as a personal favor. Anyway, Beihai Kingdom is not short of food...

After getting Marin's reply, Ferdinand II and Juan III were a little disappointed that Marin didn't send troops, but they understood it. Because, as a continental country, there are not many countries that dare to offend France.

Marin explained in his reply that he had a bad relationship with the German princes and was worried that he would be jointly attacked by the princes. If you offend France again, it will be easy to be jointly targeted, and the country may be subjugated...

This explanation is reasonable and reasonable, and Ferdinand II and Juan III have nothing to say. Anyway, Marin is also willing to provide a lot of cheap military rations.

Spain now has to use tens of thousands of troops, and it has to strengthen the food of the Italian mercenaries stationed in Morocco. It is indeed under great pressure. However, Spain's Iberian Peninsula has many mountains and is not rich in food. Therefore, at this time, Spain was indeed in short supply of food.

In addition, the Kingdom of Naples is an important grain-producing area in Spain. Now, occupied by the French, Spain is also a little caught off guard. Most importantly - the granary of Naples is in the city of Naples. Now surrounded by the French, there is no way to rescue the food...

In today's Spain, there are two main grain-producing areas - one is the "Golden Basin" in Sicily, which mainly produces durum wheat for pasta, which is the most valuable area. The other is the Kingdom of Naples. However, the main production of the Kingdom of Naples is barley, and Duran wheat is also produced, but not the main variety. However, in terms of yield, the kingdom of Naples produced more barley. Unfortunately, the largest granary in Naples was surrounded by tens of thousands of French troops...

Therefore, now Spain is also short of food, with tens of thousands of troops and tens of thousands of people, but the food needs to be consumed by ship by ship. Fortunately, Marin gave a friendly price of 1 pfennig per pound, which made Spain feel a lot better.

But they didn't know that Marin was only clearing some of the old grain. Not only can you cash out a lot of money, but you can also sell personal favors to Spaniards...