The Rise of the European Emperor

Why did those manors belonging to the Duke of Württemberg and his loyal subordinates survive the attack of the peasant army? This is mainly due to Marin's previous proper arrangements.

First of all, Marin sent thousands of mercenaries to sneak into the Principality of Württemberg secretly, and divided them into several groups, scattered and lurking in the territory of Duke Ulrich, or the territory of the nobles of the Duke's faction.

After entering these areas, the first thing these mercenaries did was to build tall walls for those manors, and also instructed local farmers to dig moats around the city walls, which greatly improved the manor's defense capabilities.

Of course, if the Peasant Army has engineering ladders or artillery, these arrangements are useless. However, the "Poor Conrad" peasant uprising army had neither siege ladders nor artillery. Then, facing the wide moat and the tall city walls, he was naturally helpless.

Moreover, the scattered North Sea mercenaries are not fixed. They had already sent scouts to follow the peasant army and conduct reconnaissance. Once the direction of the Peasant Army is detected (actually, undercover agents such as Wolfe will also leave information to tell these scouts the next move of the Peasant Army), they will separate their hands, notify the nearby mercenaries, and rush The territory of Duke Ulrich passing by the peasant army or the territory of Duke Ulrich's confidants. In this way, the manors of the duke and his confidants along the way always maintained a guard of one or two thousand people, and they were all elite mercenaries from the North Sea State.

With tall city walls and moats, plus at least one or two thousand elite Beihai mercenaries, even if the peasant army numbered over ten thousand, there was nothing they could do about these manors. What's more, they don't have ladders and artillery professionally used in engineering. After hitting a wall a few times, Caspar had no choice but to follow the route pointed out by the undercover Charlie to loot those noble manors.

And the noble manors that Charlie pointed out, because the knights and auxiliary soldiers in the manor were taken away, the guards were indeed empty, and they were easily conquered.

These aristocratic manors are rich in oil and water and easy to conquer, which naturally makes the peasant army very happy. As for why Charlie could accurately find these weakly guarded noble manors? The explanation given by Charlie is - I used to be in charge of inquiring about news and scouting spots in the bandits, and I know all about these news...

A wise leader might doubt it. However, there were no educated people in the "Poor Conrad" peasant uprising army at all. The truly educated Wolfe and others are still undercover agents. How does this make Kasbal play? You know, the leader Kasbal was once just a blacksmith who made knives, he only knew a few words, and he didn't have the ability to think about complex issues at all.

As a result, this growing army of peasant rebels, like a snowball, got bigger and bigger, and harmed many noble manors.

And because they adopted the rogue tactics used by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong to destroy the Ming Empire, the "Poor Conrad" peasant army lived very well. The food they grabbed along the way could satisfy the members of the rebel army, and they could often eat a lot of meat and fine wine that the nobles had prepared for themselves.

Gradually, this peasant uprising army became stronger and stronger. Its total number has successfully exceeded 20,000. And there are as many as 3,000 "elites" who have armor and standard weapons. These armors and standard weapons were all found in the arsenal of the captured noble manor, and now they all belong to the peasant army. Then, they were assigned to 3,000 strong warriors selected by Casbal...

Even, Kaspar now has 300 plate armored cavalry and 1,000 light cavalry in his hands. It's just that the 300 plate armored cavalry were selected from the army with good riding skills and strong bodies, and they were not real knights. They have not received professional knight training, and riding and fighting are just appearances. Including the 1,000 light cavalry, it was just a selection of farmers who were good at riding horses. The main reason is that these farmers were originally raising horses for noble gentlemen...

However, even if the 300 armored cavalry and 1,000 light cavalry are all appearances,

Some people were still terrified. After all, the 1300 cavalry can already be regarded as a very powerful force in the struggle for hegemony among the small German princes.

There were even incidents where neutral nobles were frightened by the peasant army with 1,300 cavalry and surrendered directly.

In Stuttgart, Duke Ulrich's close vassal, Baron Mistor, asked Duke Ulrich anxiously:

"My lord, the opponent has so many cavalry, will there be any accidents when the net is collected?" He is Duke Ulrich's confidant and one of the insiders. Therefore, I am very disturbed about this cavalry that exceeded the plan.

Duke Ulrich was also very nervous, so he sent out a carrier pigeon to ask Marin for advice. After reading the appeal letter, Marin thought for a long time, and finally gave a reply:

"Use croton powder!"

When his fleet returned from Daming, they brought back a batch of crotons, which were used as seeds of traditional Chinese medicine, and they were kept and cultivated in glass greenhouses. Today, he can still produce a batch of crotons. If it is ground into powder and mixed with the feed of the Peasant Army's war horses...the cavalry of the Peasant Army will be abolished the next day...

Coincidentally, because he was good at riding and "became a small bandit leader", the undercover Wolfe was appointed as the captain of the 300 plate armored cavalry of the Peasant Army. As for the 1,000 light cavalry, Charlie also took the post of deputy captain.

As long as Marin handed the croton powder to Wolfe and Charlie the day before the final collection of the net, let them mix it with the horse feed the next morning, and keep all the cavalry of the Peasant Army abolished...

Once there are no cavalry, those peasant army infantry, just wait to be slaughtered... No, if Marin wants to live, he must capture prisoners...

What's more, these 1300 war horses can still be rescued after eating croton powder feed, as long as the dosage is not too harsh. At that time, these 1,300 war horses will also be good spoils.

Duke Ulrich was also very happy after receiving Marin's reply. So, he couldn't wait to hope that Marin would send the croton powder. It's just that croton powder is a commodity, and it can't be delivered by pigeons flying hundreds of miles a day like Messenger, so it can only wait for the people on the ground to deliver it over a long distance. But fortunately, there is still a long time before the final closing of the net, so there is no need to be in such a hurry...

In addition, Marin also promised to provide Duke Ulrich with 5,000 Cossack cavalry as the main force when the net was finally closed. With these 5,000 Cossack cavalry, I am not afraid that someone from the enemy will escape. In the face of the charge launched by the Cossack cavalry, even if the peasant army reached tens of thousands, it would be easily defeated. After all, this is a gang of mobs, and there are no soldiers who have received formal military training at all. Even the elite among them are nothing more than stronger and taller muscular farmers in the rebel army, and they are completely different from professional soldiers. Anyway, the core of Li Zicheng's elite troops is mainly the frontier soldiers who participated in the uprising in the important towns on the three sides. Even Li Ziben himself was a laid-off postman and half a soldier. It's not like the "Poor Conrad" rebel army. Except for a few undercover agents, the rest are farmers or craftsmen without any military foundation. Even the elite do not have enough military literacy. Such an army is easily finished when it encounters a regular army.

No wonder peasant uprisings in Europe were always easily suppressed. The key is that there is a lack of leaders with military talents in the peasant army. This is mainly because in ancient Europe, only the children of nobles had knowledge of military command, and ordinary people basically did not. In ancient China, there were too many scholars who had read military books. As long as the leader of the peasant uprising army finds a few half-baked scholars who have read military books, their level can be improved by a large margin immediately. In other words, compared with the Chinese peasant uprising army, the European peasant uprising army probably lacks a few dog-headed army divisions. After all, it was Liangshan heroes who revolted, and there was a military adviser Wu Yong...

The literacy rate in Europe is much lower than that in ancient China. Only nobles and priests, as well as a small number of children of wealthy merchants, can read. But making them less likely to participate in peasant uprisings made it difficult for European peasant uprisings to arise. In ancient China at the same time, there should not be too many down-and-out scholars who know a little about military affairs. For example, Li Zicheng found counselors such as Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Li Yan to assist him. And Kasbal obviously didn't have such luck, so his defeat was inevitable.

In ancient China, there were many ambitious scholars who knew military affairs. For example, Xiao He and Cao Can who helped Liu Bang rebel; Zhu Sheng and Liu Bowen who helped Zhu Yuanzhang rebel; The army leaders made suggestions in order to be like Xiao He and others in the future, and be able to be kings for generations... And these people are professionals in rebellion. Therefore, the rebellion in ancient China was easy to get bigger.

On the contrary, peasant uprisings in Europe generally lack professional rebel advisers, so it is naturally difficult to rise up, so they are easily suppressed. And Münzer, the most famous leader of the German peasant uprising, was not a peasant, but a low-level priest, the kind with culture and brains. Therefore, he made a big deal and was recorded in the annals of history. And the leader of the Turtle Rebel Army like Kaspar was doomed from the very beginning...