The Rise of the European Emperor

After all, this era is the era of the nobility, and when the nobility are united, even if the Duke of Württemberg Ulrich is the monarch, it is difficult to resist.

Coincidentally, at this time, Marin came to Württemberg with a large team and a large amount of food, ready to receive the population...

In the previous turmoil, the Principality of Württemberg captured a total of 27,000 intact peasants, plus more than 3,000 wounded. Later, thousands of middle and high-level rebels were hanged in public. Also, Chapman and other four people took another 500 people away. In addition, only half of the more than 3,000 wounded survived, but only a little more than 1,000 were still in good health... That is to say, there are only 26,500 healthy peasant army prisoners of war in the hands of Duke Ulrich.

In fact, if the 5,000 Beihai Kingdom soldiers were not included in the suppressed army, most of the 3,000 wounded would have to die. After all, there were no military doctors and no first aid in the army in this era. It took 5,000 Beihai soldiers and three medical teams that accompanied the army to help save half of the wounded in the peasant army. However, nearly 500 of them suffered serious injuries that were difficult to recover, and could only save their lives and could not recover. Among them, the most classic damage is the gunshot wound caused by the lead bullet. This kind of damage has a large range, and it also contains lead poison, which is very difficult to treat. Many unlucky people who were shot in their limbs had no choice but to choose amputation. And these lead bullets are basically caused by the 1,500 musketeers in the 5,000 Mali of Beihai Kingdom... Therefore, of the 1,500 wounded who have recovered, only the early 1,000 can fully recover, and many of those who cannot fully recover are missing arms and legs. now...

Although Duke Ulrich was quarreling with domestic noble groups and competing for the inheritance of the dead nobles, the disposal of those prisoners of war did not stop. Because Duke Ulrich arranged all these matters to those low-ranking officers who were not nobles. Although these people are also children of nobles or descendants of nobles, they no longer have noble status. The interests of the upper echelons have nothing to do with them. So, they can go about their business with peace of mind. Anyway, they also have leftovers after the fact...

Marin's fleet first arrived at Karlsruhe, an important inland pier on the Rhine River in the north of Baden County, west of the Principality of Württemberg, and then landed there. Marin left part of the army to guard the food and supplies on the ship, and he took part of the cavalry from Karlsruhe to Stuttgart, the capital of Württemberg. At this time, Karlsruhe was not yet the capital of Baden, and the capital of the county of Baden at this time was Baden-Baden. Also, Karlsruhe didn't even build a city. The city was built in the 18th century. Later, because of the superior transportation conditions, it replaced Baden-Baden as the capital of Baden.

But as a traveler, Marin naturally knew the importance of Karlsruhe. This is the edge of the famous Black Forest in the southern region of Germany, and from this point eastward through a Black Forest, you can reach the Duchy of Württemberg.

Therefore, although the Baden people have not yet discovered the superior conditions here, Marin still chose to let the fleet dock here, and built a number of temporary long bridge piers here to facilitate transportation.

The county of Baden originally had objections, but Marin sent someone to send a bag of gold coins to Christopher I, who was short of money at this time.

Then, the Baden side ignored Marin. Anyway, Karlsruhe at this time was just a backcountry, and Marin built infrastructure there in order to receive the population of the Principality of Württemberg, and they were not at a loss. Not only can you receive benefits, but you can also use it as a trade point in the future.

However, unlike the later Karlsruhe, which is closer to the Black Forest, Karlsruhe in Marin Lane is completely a pier on the Rhine, which is convenient for transportation.

Then, with some cavalry, Marin entered the Black Forest from Karlsruhe, passed through the forest, and headed to Stuttgart.

Marin was filled with emotion as he walked through the Black Forest. Because the Black Forest was where he secretly hunted and made a fortune. At that time, he took Kahn and Kohler and poached in the Black Forest all the way, shooting for a different place, making it difficult for the lords who wanted to drive him away and confiscate the prey to catch up with him. It was the poaching experience in the Black Forest that allowed Marin, who had nothing, to obtain a start-up capital of several hundred marks. Later, with this money, he recruited a group of mercenaries and opened the road to the king of mercenaries. Without the experience of poaching in the Black Forest, it would be difficult for Marin to quickly emerge as a general. Maybe, which lord is still listening to at this moment, and if he dies, he will be a middle-level officer...

In the blink of an eye, 20 years have passed. At that time, Marin was only 16 years old. Now, 36 years old...

Halfway along the way, Marin, "the old man is talking about the teenage madness", bought a bow from the hunter's house at a high price, intending to review the fun of hunting in the past. And the head of the bodyguard who accompanied him, Kahn, also like a fool, dismounted and walked to drive the prey to the place where Marin was ambush...

But the final result made Marin very depressed - a large group of red deer, Marin only shot two...

This is also a very helpless thing. Marin has not touched a bow and arrow for almost 20 years. Since he became the head of the mercenary, he has never hunted with a bow and arrow, and his archery skills have dropped several grades. Moreover, the hunting bows used by hunters are of poor quality, and Marin is not used to them...

But anyway, this imperfect hunt made both Marin and Kahn very happy...

...

By the time of Stuttgart, Duke Ulrich had been forced to frown by the alliance of nobles. Originally, he wanted to swallow most of it, leaving only some soup for the nobles. But as a result, now that the nobles are united and powerful, they plan to leave only a small part for him...

Seeing Marin, Duke Ulrich almost cried:

"Grand Duke Marin, they all say that you have many tricks... Abu, you are resourceful, please help me find a way!"

Marlin's head was full of black lines all of a sudden - you are so scheming, your whole family is scheming...

But he still suppressed his anger and helped Duke Ulrich think of a way...

After thinking for a while, Marin suggested:

"Well, tell me first of the hundreds of noble families who were killed, how many were barons, how many were other titles, and how many were knights..."

After listening to Duke Ulrich's explanation, Marin was shocked and said:

"Lord Ulrich, among the hundreds of noble families, only 13 are barons?"

Seeing Duke Ulrich nodding, Marin was speechless;

"Since that's the case, what's the point? You don't have hereditary knights in your country, right? Let's take those 87 knight manors back to the duchy first. Knights are not hereditary titles. You don't need to say hello when you take back those manors!"

Duke Ulrich hesitated:

"However, under normal circumstances, if the next generation of fief knights can pass the knight examination, they can also inherit the knight's fief!" This is the rule of the European continent. As long as the next generation of knights can appear knights who pass the knight examination, the general manor can inherit. However, this is not protected by law. Because, in general, the title of knighthood in Europe is not automatically hereditary and needs to be confirmed by the monarch.

Marin rolled his eyes and said:

"That's just a convention, but now that the children of those knights are dead, they still inherit an egg? You directly tell those nobles - there is no legal saying that the title of knight can be inherited by relatives other than sons. So, that 87 A knight's manor, you can take it back first!"

Duke Ulrich suddenly patted his head, he had been confused by the nobles before. The title of baron is protected by the law of succession, but the title of knight has no basis for the law of succession. He has the final say! It's a shame that he was arguing about those knight estates and nobles, he was really stupid...

Later, Marin helped him analyze the baron's succession. Marin found a problem, that is - the 13 barons who were killed actually had more than 130 manors under their names, and each baron's manor had more than 10 manors on average... and the knight's manor was basically every manor. home one.

In other words, the real bulk of the more than 200 aristocratic manors is the manor of the baron family.

At present, the most popular aristocrats are actually more than 30 barons in existence. As for the other hundreds of knights, they are basically their supporters.

Marin thought about it for a while, and directly asked Duke Ulrich to send all the hundreds of knights out to perform tasks in the name of suppressing bandits. Those knights were nominally thugs of the duchy, and it was only natural that the insurgent army led by Chapman had revived and sent them to pursue and suppress them. If they dared to disobey, Duke Ulrich could directly depose their knighthood. Only those thirty or so barons are a little more difficult to deal with. Because, barons cannot be easily deposed unless most of the nobles agree...