The Rise of the European Emperor

Vladislas II was stunned for a moment, then suddenly said:

"Well, that's what it should be. Let me do the math... If you send 10,000 infantry, the salary is three pfennigs a day, and 10,000 people are 30,000 pfennigs a day, which is equivalent to 500 gulden gold coins... The price of cavalry is light The cavalry costs 9 pfennigs per day, and the plate armored cavalry costs 1 shilling and 6 pfennigs per day... You have 5,000 light cavalry, and your daily salary is 450,000 pfennigs, which is equivalent to 750 gulden gold coins... Calculated in this way, the daily salary The expenses are 1,250 Gulden gold coins, 37,500 gold coins for one month, and 75,000 gold coins for two months..." Vladislas II calculated seriously.

Marin couldn't help interrupting:

"Wait, Your Majesty, I'm a veteran of hundreds of battles, so I can't count on the minimum of 3 pfennigs per day!"

Vladislas II, who was calculating, raised his head, smiled at Marin, and said:

"We are all real relatives, you have the nerve to ask me for a high price? Just calculate according to the ordinary market..."

Marin froze for a moment, then muttered:

"You are not short of money, Bohemia Silver Mine is a big silver mine!"

Hearing Marin's words, Vladislas II put down his pen, sighed and said:

"What you said was in the past. In the past few years, the Kutna Hora silver mine in Bohemia is about to dry up. I am also worried now. Without the Kutna Hora silver mine, in the future Where does the income come from. You know, the royal family has a lot of ostentation and costs a lot, which is really a headache!"

Marin suddenly remembered that it seemed that in the 16th century historical materials read by later generations, the Tirol silver mine was mentioned, the Saxon silver mine was also mentioned, and the Rammelsberg silver mine in Goslar was also mentioned. Mine, but no mention of the Bohemian silver mines. And the famous Bohemian silver bars in Germany seem to be a thing of the Middle Ages...

That said, there really wasn't much of a Bohemian silver mine in the 16th century. Otherwise, the Habsburg family who obtained the Kingdom of Bohemia through marriage would not continue to be poor. Had it not been for Charles V, who had originally unified Spain in history, overdrawn the finances of the Spanish Empire, which owns the golden mountains and silver seas of America, the Habsburg family probably would not have been able to fight.

Therefore, what Vladislas II said should be true, not crying poor.

Of course, Marin didn't care whether Vladislas II had money. He pretended to be very concerned and said:

"Your Majesty, since you are in financial difficulties, how about I change the payment plan?"

Vladislas II said curiously:

"Another plan? How to pay? Do you want to postpone the payment and let me pay the interest?"

Marin shook his head:

"No, I mean, we don't have to use money to pay the bill..."

But Vladislas II tensed up:

"What do you mean? Do you want land? Then I'll pay for it! Although Bohemia's finances are not very good, they still have the money to pay their salaries!"

Marin suddenly couldn't laugh or cry:

"No, I don't want your land either. What I mean is, when we defeat these 70,000 to 80,000 rebels, there will always be tens of thousands of prisoners of war, right? At that time, just give me all the prisoners of war!"

"Prisoners of war? Why do you want tens of thousands of prisoners of war? Do you want to expand the army?" Vladislas II became alert. If Marin expands his army by tens of thousands, even if he has a good relationship with Marin, he will feel uneasy. After all, he is also a great prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and he does not want to see too strong princes appear.

Marin, of course, denies:

"No, you should know that last year I took the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and the Rammelsberg silver mines in Goslar. Now I am short of money and hope to expand the silver mines. What about the mine output. If we can get tens of thousands of miners, I think we will be able to produce a lot of silver!"

Vladislas II nodded, agreeing with Marin's statement. Indeed, these days, if you want high yields of gold and silver mines, you need to put tens of thousands of people in the mines. Otherwise, if there are fewer people, the output will not increase.

However, the population in the northern part of Germany is sparsely populated, allowing farmers who are already lacking to mine,

It's really not worth it. Generally speaking, mines in the north have to recruit miners from places with a large population in the south. But mining is too dangerous, no one is willing to go to the mine to mine. In particular, mining in deep wells is very dangerous. Like the Kutna Hora silver mine in Bohemia, it is now mined deep underground. Moreover, the amount and grade of ore has also decreased sharply.

Therefore, Vladislas II believed in the statement that Marin wanted tens of thousands of Hungarian prisoners of war to mine silver mines. Because, it sounds very reasonable and there are no loopholes.

However, as an old fox in the political arena, Vladislas II did not want to make Marin too cheap. So, he asked for a price:

"It's okay to ask prisoners of war to pay off, but prisoners of war are also valuable. How about you count 20 Gulden gold coins each? This price is quite reasonable..."

Of course Marin knows that the price is reasonable, but the question is, if it is really based on 20 gold coins each, wouldn't it be necessary to pay millions of gold coins for the 50,000 prisoners of war? However, his 150,000 mercenaries fought for Vladislas II, only 75,000 gold coins in two months.

So he called Qu and said:

"Your Majesty, isn't this outrageous? If I don't want those prisoners of war, most of them will be executed by you, and you won't get any money. Now, use it to offset my commission for sending troops, and you will make a lot of money." !"

Vladislas II smiled and said:

"That's true, but it's not thousands of people, nor tens of thousands of people, but maybe tens of thousands of prisoners of war! It would be too expensive if they were all given to you to cover employment fees. And, it's not If your family sends troops, I can also send some of the other prisoners of war to my brother Siegmund to offset the commission of the hussars..."

Marin shook his head again and again:

"Impossible, and only I need so many people because I am in a hurry to develop silver mines. Others, should they need more money?"

...

Afterwards, the two sides came and went, constantly bargaining. After dark, the two sides reached an agreement with great difficulty-no money for prisoners of war up to 10,000. More than 10,000 people, each counted as 10 gold coins. Of course, if those prisoners of war originally belonged to a Hungarian nobleman, if they want to go back, they cannot be sold to Marin.

After the negotiation, Marin said with a depressed face:

"If there are 50,000 prisoners of war, except for the 10,000 who don't need money to cover the cost of dispatching troops, wouldn't I have to pay you 400,000 gold coins in reverse for the 40,000 prisoners of war? My God, you hired my army to fight, and the result , but I owe you hundreds of thousands of gold coins! I am really at a loss!"

In fact, Marin was not depressed at all. Because, if he went to buy Mao Gonggong, including the money to the Crimeans, as well as the shipping fee and the toll for crossing the Turkish Strait, it would cost more than 20 gold coins. Marin can earn money by spending 10 gold coins to buy a young and strong Hungarian farmer. The only unhappy thing is that he failed to catch Vladislas II. After all, he is also an old fox in the political arena, so he is not so easy to fool!

But in any case, getting tens of thousands of Hungarian prisoners of war is also a big profit for Marin. In particular, Marin may select more than 10,000 candidates suitable for hussars from these tens of thousands of prisoners of war. Once a light cavalry team of tens of thousands of people can be pulled up, it will definitely be of great benefit to the strengthening of Beihai military forces...