The Rise of the European Emperor

The Germans are still black, and the Black Forest, Black Cross and Black Military Uniform are all standard equipment for the Germans. Therefore, the 500 guard cavalry newly selected by Marin, the rhinoceros leather armor they wore were all painted black.

In fact, black lacquer is not only admired by Germans, but also cheap. Unlike red paint and blue paint, although it is bright and beautiful, but in this year, it is really expensive!

Originally, Marin wanted his cavalry to wear red uniforms like lobster soldiers because they were more handsome. However, red paint is too expensive. Moreover, the equipment ratio is too high-profile, and it is easy to be focused on the battlefield... Marin expects this group of guard cavalry to protect his own life. If they are killed by the concentrated fire first, he will lose his life. . Therefore, wearing black armor looks thicker and more stable. At the same time, it is also low-key and restrained, so that it will not be prioritized by others...

Even Marin himself wore black armor in order to avoid being sniped by the enemy's marksman when he was marching. Only at important ceremonies, would they wear gold-painted armor to show their identity.

Of course, Marin would not be so stupid as to really wear heavy metal armor. Although the metal armor is shiny, it is really heavy! Marin doesn't know what he can gain by wearing a set of real golden armor, but he knows that doing so will definitely make him tired...

After all, the density of gold is more than 24 times that of steel. If you really want to wear a set of gold armor and don't need the enemy to beat you, you will have to die of exhaustion first.

Therefore, since he had rhinoceros leather resources, Marin no longer wore steel armor, but asked someone to help him create a luxurious version of rhinoceros leather armor. His rhinoceros leather armor is different from ordinary rhinoceros leather armor, not only is it more beautiful and generous, but also has many small "pockets" attached.

Of course, this is not a small pocket, but a place for inserting steel plates. After all, the ability of rhinoceros leather armor to resist bullets is insufficient, and it can only be lower than that of cold weapons. Therefore, when charging, the rhinoceros leather armor is best to learn from later generations of plate body armor, insert some steel plates or something.

For example, the "small pocket" on the outside of the Marin leather armor is filled with high manganese steel sheets. Each steel sheet is not big, but there are many "pockets" on the Marlin armor, and a lot of high-manganese steel sheets can be inserted to protect the vitals. With the level of muskets of this era, it is still difficult to hit the rhinoceros leather armor interspersed with high manganese steel sheets.

However, in order to keep it secret, Marin did not announce that it was a rhinoceros leather armor, but lied that it was "finely processed super high-quality multi-layer cowhide armor". Because no major war broke out recently, the superiority of the rhinoceros leather armor in the North Sea has not been revealed. Therefore, everyone did not pay much attention. Otherwise, how could the Portuguese allow Marin to be more beautiful than before?

You know, Africa, the origin of rhinos, is in the hands of the Portuguese. They want rhinoceros hide, which is much more convenient than Marin. Moreover, it is also convenient to cut off the supply of rhinoceros hides in Marin Africa. After all, Senegal is also the legal "sphere of influence" of the Portuguese.

But Senegal is too small after all,

Hunting teams have already traversed the West African prairie in Senegal, but after a few years, the supply of rhinoceros hides is only enough to make 13,000 sets of rhinoceros leather armor. But Beihai has tens of thousands of troops, which is not enough!

Moreover, rhinoceros leather armor is also wearable. Like body armor, rhinoceros leather armor that has been attacked is actually scrapped. Although tinkering can also be used, but the rhinoceros leather armor after repairing not only reduces the protection, but also becomes very ugly. Therefore, rhino leather armor is a consumable item. If a war breaks out, it is estimated that at least two to three thousand sets of rhinoceros leather armor will be scrapped after a major battle. Not to mention, it's completely useless, but it will definitely not work until after major repairs. Also, the effect will be reduced.

Unless, Marin has a stable supply of rhinoceros leather, which allows armor craftsmen to easily replace the rhinoceros leather armor on the armor. In this way, you will not be afraid of loss during combat.

However, Senegal is such a small place, there are really no rhinos!

At the beginning, the 100 musketeers in Royce's hunting team had a great harvest. They hunted two to three thousand rhinos in one year and could make more than seven thousand pairs of armor. However, it will be difficult for them to meet rhinos next...

After all, rhinos are solitary animals with a large territory, and each rhino has a territory of about 10 square kilometers. Hunting two or three thousand rhinos is equivalent to sweeping away rhinos within twenty or thirty thousand square kilometers. But how big is the Senegal region?

Moreover, the territories of rhinos are not connected together, but scattered, far apart from each other. Therefore, killing two or three thousand rhinos involves tens of thousands of square kilometers.

In addition, there are a large number of humans in Senegal. Although the local area is also a "remote area" in the declining Mali Empire, there are still many human beings living there, and they also have strong strength. In human settlements and nearby areas, there are generally no rhinos.

Therefore, after several years, Royce only got enough rhinoceros hides to make more than 13,000 sets of armor, that is, killed two to three thousand rhinos.

And for the more than 13,000 sets of rhinoceros leather armor, Marin did not distribute all of them, but only 10,000 sets, and only to officers and the most elite veterans. To some extent, in the Beihai National Army, the rhinoceros leather armor became a status symbol.

But Marin obviously didn't want to only have such a little rhinoceros leather armor! You know, if a war really starts, the rhinoceros leather armor will definitely consume a lot. If there were more battles, the rhinoceros leather armor of those officers would be scrapped, and he wouldn't be able to replace them.

Therefore, Marin hopes to obtain more rhinoceros hides to make more rhinoceros leather armors.

However, how to get better rhinoceros hide under the premise of keeping the Portuguese away?

At present, it seems that it is best to send a reliable hunting team to hunt rhinos on the African savannah. As long as you carry a powerful matchlock gun and use steel ball bullets produced in Beihai, you can easily kill a rhino and get rhino hide. Among other things, the power of the Mushikt gun alone is enough to hunt and kill rhinos.

But the problem is that Marin tried his best, and only relied on the power of Duke Jorge de Rencastre of Coimbra to obtain a license to hunt rhinos in Senegal.

But Jorge de Rencastre himself failed to compete with Manuel I for the throne. Although he is a duke, he is in a very bad situation in Portuguese politics.

As a loser in the fight for great power, in ancient China, the iron nails would have been wiped out. Even if the situation in Europe is much better, it will inevitably be targeted and suppressed by the victor Manuel I.

Therefore, even if he is the son of the previous Portuguese king, even if he is the Duke of Portugal, Jorge de Rencastre has limited ability, and it is already rare to help Marin get the right to manage this small place in Senegal.

Moreover, as a great nobleman and a former contender for the throne, the other party is obviously not a fool. If it weren't for Marin to hand over all the rhino horns he hunted to the other party, so that he could make a lot of money, he might not be willing to cooperate with Marin.

However, who can Marin cooperate with if he does not cooperate with Jorge de Rencastre? You know, Africa is the territory assigned to Portugal by the Holy See. Of course, I can use strong means to force Portugal to submit, or simply send people to do it without informing Portugal. But the consequences of breaking the rules are very serious. Once he takes the lead in violating the Holy See's regulations, he will not only lose the support of the Holy See, but also make people find an excuse to covet his most valued American colonies...

But the battle is imminent, and Marin really wants more rhinoceros hides! If the soldiers have more rhinoceros leather armor equipment and replacements, their combat effectiveness will also increase a lot. Not to mention whether the armor has been improved, but in terms of weight, the soldiers can maintain a high level of protection while saving a lot of physical strength, which can be used for combat. It's not like wearing plate armor, let's not talk about anything else. , that load is extremely exhausting...

How to get more rhino hides? For this point, Magellan, who has not been under Marin for a long time, gave a very good suggestion-cooperate with the old minister of Joao II...

The so-called old ministers of João II refer to the Portuguese nobles of the faction of the previous Portuguese king João II. They used to be loyal to Joao II, and later supported Joao II's own son, Jorge de Rencastre, Duke of Coimbra, to inherit the Portuguese throne.

But Jorge de Rencastre failed in the end, and finally Manuel I inherited the throne...

Originally, this group of Portuguese nobles who failed and lost power should continue to unite with Jorge de Rencastre, the son of Joao II. However, Jorge de Rencastre himself was suppressed by Manuel I, and he could only protect himself and could not support so many people. Therefore, except for some people who took refuge in Manuel I when they saw the opportunity, most of the former ministers of João II lost power after Manuel I ascended the throne and lost their original official positions. They became almost nothing but bless a title of nobility...