The Rise of the European Emperor

Sure enough, as Marin expected, when Maximilian I offered the baron and baronial territory, Guddendorff accepted Maximilian I's solicitation.

However, in order not to fall into the notoriety of "breaching the contract and pitting the employer", Guttendorf did not directly and openly fall to Maximilian I, but planned to use the method of "work without effort" to deal with the current employer Louis XII.

The specific method is that Guttendorf led the troops to fight a false battle with Ludovico Sforza's thousands of troops in the Mistel Valley.

Gudendorff made an appointment with Maximilian I—after the fight started, the musketeers on both sides would only load gunpowder and not lead bullets when reloading. Then, everyone pretended to shoot at each other, fooling the war supervisors sent by the French.

If it doesn’t work, just arrest a few peasants in the Principality of Milan, dress them up as soldiers, let the Milanese army guarding the Mistel Valley kill a batch, and let the French representatives see the "tragic" battle.

As for this, Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, has no opinion. Anyway, the monarchs these days don't take the lives of the common people seriously.

Of course, Maximilian I was not a good man either. The fief he gave to Guttendorf's son Denton is located in the small town of Myron on the shore of Lake Zurich in eastern Switzerland. The agricultural conditions here are good, after all, it is located on the edge of Lake Zurich.

However, if you want to keep this good fiefdom, you must ensure the control of the Habsburg family over Switzerland. Otherwise, if it is taken away by the Swiss Union, the baronie will be gone. Therefore, in the future, Gudendorf's army will inevitably become the thugs of the Habsburg family...

After figuring all this out, Maximilian I was overjoyed, feeling that he had discovered a brand new world. Then, on a whim, he sent someone to secretly win over Zieg, the commander of the Swiss Resistance Army, and promised to make him the Baron of Bern and make Bern his fief. The request is that Zieg leads the Swiss Resistance Army to join him...

However, Maximilian I underestimated the hatred of the people in western Switzerland towards the Habsburg family...

The eastern part of Switzerland belongs to the German-speaking area and is naturally more Germanized. For example, in the Zurich area, although there is resistance to the Habsburg family, it is not so strong.

The western part of Switzerland belongs to the French-dominated area, and even the western part mainly speaks French. Unlike the eastern region, most of them are of German descent and speak German. The Swiss in the French-speaking area are very hostile to the Habsburg family. They have been educated since childhood to hate and despise the Habsburg family. Ziggy, who happened to be born in the French-speaking area, was naturally not interested in the Habsburg family. Therefore, Maximilian I's wooing ended in failure.

However, Maximilian I didn't care so much. Because, as long as the French don't send the main force to end in person, Frundsberg's army will not be afraid of the Swiss Resistance Army.

And Gudendorff fooling the French will also give the French the illusion of "the chance of winning". Otherwise, if Gudendorff openly rebelled against the water, the French might be ashamed and send the main elite back to the country to join the war.

And now the situation is the best. The French thought that Guddendorff's army would invade Switzerland and threaten Frundsberg's retreat. In this case, they will not intervene in the Swiss war for the time being.

As for the further future...Marin hinted in the letter to Maximilian I-the Spaniards will not let it go, and will make a comeback! Once the Spaniards make a comeback, the French have no energy to pay attention to the war on the Swiss side...

...

In fact, Marin guessed right, the Spaniards are indeed preparing for a counterattack. However, Gonzalo de Cordova, who has regained control of the military, suggested doing it after the autumn harvest. Because, by then, the food for the army will be sufficient.

Moreover, the past few months have just been used by the Spaniards to train troops to enhance their combat effectiveness.

In addition, Gonzalo de Cordoba, who had suffered a lot from suspicion, was also much smarter this time. This time, Gonzalo de Cordoba decided not to monopolize power, but intends to decentralize the Spanish army.

Of course, Gonzalo de Cordoba's so-called separation of powers does not refer to the sharing of command power, but the sharing of control of the army with others...

In order to dispel the Spanish King Ferdinand II's suspicion of himself, Gonzalo de Cordoba made a special proposal-dividing the Spanish army into several parts. Except for the First Legion, which was controlled by Gonzalo de Cordoba himself, the heads of the other legions were all appointed by the two Spanish kings. The task of these legion commanders is to control their respective armies.

However, when the time comes for these legionaries to go to war, they must obey the command of Gonzalo de Cordoba. Unless, Gonzalo de Cordoba ordered the rebellion. Otherwise, they cannot refuse the order.

At the same time, Gonzalo de Cordoba did not give the middle and lower-level officers of those legions the right to directly issue orders, and they had to be conveyed through their legion commanders to take effect. Moreover, in normal times, Gonzalo de Cordoba has no right to manage other legions other than the First Legion. At most, he can only supervise the training effects of the next few legions, and cannot directly interfere with the affairs of the rest of the legions.

In this way, as long as several legion commanders are the king's confidantes, there is no need to worry about Gonzalo de Cordoba's excessive power, or even rebellion.

This plan was immediately welcomed by Ferdinand II and Juan III. Because the dispersion of military power gave them a lot of peace of mind. After all, the whole country's soldiers and horses are in the hands of one person, and even a monarch can't feel at ease. And Marin of the North Sea Kingdom personally served as the coach in every war, so naturally he didn't worry about losing military power.

In fact, this suggestion was also provided by Marin to Gonzalo de Cordoba through spies in Spain.

In other words, this is a variant of the general staff system in later generations. In later generations of Germany, the General Staff is a very special existence. This department is not in charge of the army in peacetime, but once a war breaks out, the army of the whole country will be provided with tactical guidance and decision-making by the officer corps of the General Staff.

In other words, the General Staff is in charge of commanding and ordering, but not in charge of the troops. The generals who command the troops have no decision-making power. In this way, the danger of a certain commander having too much military power is avoided.

The plan Marin provided to Gonzalo de Cordoba through spies is actually a variant version of the general staff system.

In this mutated version, Gonzalo de Cordoba, the famous general, became the general staff by himself, and was no longer in charge of controlling all the soldiers and horses. Usually, other legions except the First Legion are managed by other legion chiefs.

Only after the war started, the coach Gonzalo de Cordoba had the power to command the various legions. But if a rebellion order is issued, each legion commander has the right to refuse or even take action...

...

In fact, Marin has long planned to implement the general staff model in Beihai State. But the problem is that there are very few military staff officers in Beihai, let alone a staff department. Therefore, this system can only be promoted and implemented after the current group of children grow up.

Fortunately, I am not old yet, so I can personally command the army. But when he was old and Caesar came to power, Beihai should have enough qualified staff. At that time, the establishment of the general staff system came naturally.

With the existence of the general staff system, Beihai will not make low-level mistakes in military decision-making in the future. At the same time, the separation of decision-making power and control power can also prevent generals from rebelling.

In the future, the Beihai Kingdom will maintain the size of multiple legions. However, each legion does not belong to each other, and the general staff does not have the right to command each legion at ordinary times. Even, the rank of the general staff is no higher than the head of each legion. However, the commanders of each legion did not have the right to deploy troops, and the commanders of each legion obeyed the command of the general staff during the war. In peacetime, obey the command of the king (excluding the right to start war). In this way, it is possible to fully avoid the emergence of a certain military strongman and command the army to rebel...