The Rise of the European Emperor

From Augsburg to the northeast, after arriving in Regensburg, Marin had no horses to transfer. Because, his hotel station system is only set up here. Going further to Bohemia is not a popular route, and the hotel system has not yet been established. Therefore, Marin and his cavalry could only rely on two horses to transfer to Prague.

Speaking of which, Prague was the second largest city in the Holy Roman Empire after Milan. Marin's Beihai Chamber of Commerce actually has a hotel here. It's just that this route extends from the Saxon region in the north of Bohemia to Prague, not southwest. Therefore, there is no place to change horses along the route Marin took.

Because of this, it took Marin several days to arrive in Prague from Regensburg and meet Vladislas II, King of Bohemia and King of Hungary.

Speaking of which, the Marin and Jagiellonian dynasties are still allies. Among other things, Marin's sister Anne married Sigismund I, the younger brother of Vladislas II.

Vladislas II was the eldest of the brothers of the Jagiellonian royal family. At the beginning, the reason why he gave up the throne of Poland and the position of Grand Duke of Hungary was that the monarch of the Kingdom of Bohemia had real power. Unlike the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who had to negotiate with their respective parliaments to resolve issues. Therefore, Vladislas II would rather come to the small kingdom of Bohemia to be a monarch who keeps his word than to be a false monarch in aristocratic parliamentary countries such as Poland and Lithuania. As for the throne of Poland and the grand duchy of Lithuania, he directly lost it to his younger brothers.

And because his younger brother married Marin's sister, Vladislas II treated Marin very well. Seeing Marin coming, he specially stood at the entrance of the palace hall to greet him, and it was a little bit of face for Marin. After all, he is the king and has a higher status than Marin, so it is impossible to welcome guests at the gate of the palace. Being able to walk out of the entrance of the hall is already a great deal of face.

"Welcome, welcome, Grand Duke Marin! Welcome to Prague as a guest!"

"It is also my honor to come to Prague, the second largest city in the empire, Your Majesty!"

Then, the two sides carried out the usual business exchange. Marin praised the dignity of the Jagiellonian royal family and the prosperity of Prague, and Vladislas II also praised Marin for being young and promising, and he was invincible all over Germany...

Moreover, when it was said that Marin was very good at playing, Marin always felt that Vladislas II seemed to have something to say...

After drinking a cup of milk tea, Marin suddenly realized—yes, I am the king of mercenaries, and the other party happened to encounter a rebellion, so he was expecting to borrow soldiers from me!

So, Marin made a decision-not to offer to buy someone, so as not to fall into a disadvantage. As for the special trip to Prague, he also opened his eyes and told nonsense, saying that he was going to Ukraine to visit his brother Simon and passing by here...

Vladislas II didn't know that Marin was going to buy someone, he really thought that Marin was passing by here. After all, visiting my brother in Kyiv, Ukraine, sounded like a reasonable thing to do.

Therefore, after some business bragging, Vladislas II talked about the mob riots in Hungary. Marin also expressed his indignation at the right time, cursing Dorao George and his peasant rebel army together with Vladislas II...

Obviously, Marin understood Vladislas II's intention to borrow troops, but he just pretended to be confused and made Vladislas II very anxious.

So, Vladislas II was impatient, and simply said:

"Grand Duke Marin, I heard that your Beihai army is invincible..."

Marin deliberately pretended not to understand, and said shyly;

"Your Majesty is absurd, how can it be so powerful..."

Vladislas II was a little depressed—why is this guy so dishonest?

In desperation, he had no choice but to say clearly:

"We are allies, right? Look, your sister married my brother. Although we didn't sign a covenant, are our Jagiellonian and Hoffman family blood relatives allied?"

Marin nodded;

"That's the reason!"

"I heard that you previously lent troops to the Principality of Cliff to eliminate the Principality of Geddes,

We are also allies, you see, did you also lend me troops to suppress those mobs? "

It's all about this, and Marin can't pretend to be stupid anymore. So, he pretended to be thinking, and after a while he frowned and said:

"Your Majesty, it's not that I don't want to help. In fact, the scale of the Hungarian rebellion is too large. I heard that the total number of rebels has reached 70,000 to 80,000. I only have 30,000 people in my own country. I am sure to defeat them. However, you also know that I have a bad reputation among the German princes, if I come out with all my strength, the mainland will be easily attacked!"

"30,000 people? Isn't it 40,000 people?" Vladislas II was a little surprised. He didn't know that Marin had sent the Sixth Army to Ireland.

Marin had no choice but to explain to him:

"I sent the Scottish Legion to Ireland to help His Majesty Edward attack those separatist forces..."

"I see..." Vladislas II frowned, this is too unfortunate. Then, after thinking about it, he asked:

"So, how many soldiers and horses can you send at most?"

Marin thought for a while and said:

"I can send up to 15,000 people, which is the limit. After all, my homeland is so big now, and I need soldiers and horses to protect it!"

The 150,000 people Marin said actually included the 5,000 Cossack cavalry. The 5,000 people Marin did not announce to the public. In the past, he only said that they were cavalry from the Third Army. Others thought that there were only 30,000 people in Beihai, but it was actually 350,000.

However, he sent thousands of people to the Principality of Württemberg to help suppress the peasant uprising, so now the total number of domestic troops is less than 30,000.

Of course, that refers to the regular army. Counting the police, there are still 8,000 second-line troops. It's just that these policemen also have to maintain local law and order at ordinary times, and cannot be transferred casually. Only at the critical moment of life and death can these people be called to join the battle.

But Marin thought about it, and it seems that maintaining law and order usually requires less than 8,000 people. In fact, 10 people from each of these 320 police stations can maintain law and order in the town. In this way, 4,800 police officers can be freed up to protect important towns. If you make up a whole number, you can temporarily transfer 5,000 people out.

In this way, even if 150,000 people are allocated to help Vladislas II suppress the Hungarian peasant uprising, 20,000 troops can be retained in the country.

"15,000 people... It's a bit small... After all, there are 70,000 to 80,000 rebels..." Vladislas II seemed a little dissatisfied with this number.

Marin immediately pointed to the east and said:

"Your brother can also send out some soldiers and horses. Anyway, there is no war in Poland now! Moreover, his Polish hussars just need to be trained in war. It is best to fight the peasant army with little combat experience. It’s a good way to improve combat experience!”

Vladislas II's eyes suddenly lit up—yes, he almost forgot about the Polish hussars...

The Polish hussars were established by Sigismund I under the guidance of Marin. So far, this new type of force has only participated in the battle against the Principality of Mazovia, and it still has too little experience. Moreover, with the help of Marin, Poland now has eased relations with the Teutonic Knights and reconciled with the Crimean Khanate in the south. To the east is the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which is co-owner of Poland, and to the west are the princes of Germany, who have no strength to challenge Poland...

In this good international atmosphere, Poland really has no battle to fight, and it can free up manpower to support Vladislas II. Moreover, it is said that the size of the Polish hussars of Sigismund I has expanded to 5,000, and there is a tendency to continue to increase. However, many novice wing cavalry have never participated in battles, and lack actual combat experience. It couldn't be better to play against the Hungarian peasant uprising army, which also has little actual combat experience.

In addition, the 5,000 Cossack cavalry that Marin chopped off belonged to the light cavalry, and they were not very suitable for attacking the main force of the Hungarian peasant uprising army. If the Polish hussars belonging to the heavy cavalry charged in front, the power of the 5000 Cossacks would be even greater.

Vladislas II obviously understood this too, so he immediately started writing to his younger brother Sigismund I and sent envoys to Krakow, the Polish capital.

After Vladislas II arranged for the delivery of the letter, Marin said seriously:

"Your Majesty, next, let's talk about the compensation of the 150,000 troops..."

...