The Rise of the European Emperor

Sigismund I saw the quarrel in the Great Sem, and his brain hurts. Because of his long-term residence in Poland, Sigismund I's influence in Lithuania was far less than that of his late brother Alexander. Therefore, he could not quell the quarrel among the noble councilors.

However, in order to be on the safe side, he decided to mobilize some troops from Poland. Because he lived in Poland all the year round, Sigismund I had more influence on Bilan than in Lithuania. Moreover, the two countries have an alliance relationship, and it is appropriate to send troops to support them.

Historically, the Poles sent 14,000 Polish cavalry and 2,500 German mercenaries (from Bohemia and Silesia under the rule of Sigismund I's brother Vladislas II) in the Battle of Orsha, and 3000 Polish and Tatar mercenary infantry. The 5,500 infantry were mainly musketeers, gunners, and spearmen covering the first two types of arms.

This time, Sigismund was probably more influenced by Marin, and the composition of the soldiers and horses he planned to send was not the same. This time, Sigismund I intends to send more infantry!

Because of the reputation of the Marin phalanx, Sigismund I not only had 5,000 hussars, but also two standard phalanxes with a total of 2,500 people, exclusively using the Marin phalanx, which is the Spanish phalanx.

But these 2,500 people are a standing army, and when they actually fight, they will not be organized into two square formations. Sigismund I planned to expand into six phalanxes based on the veterans of these two phalanxes, with a total of 7,500 people. Among them, one-third of the veterans are in front of the phalanx, and two-thirds of the recruits are temporarily recruited behind. They are not considered recruits, but normal servants of the territory. During the slack season, these servants also have to receive military training, but they are not as skilled and elite as the 2,500 standing army.

As for the cavalry, Sigismund I planned to send 3,000 wing cavalry. In addition, let the Polish nobles send out 7,000 Shilachita cavalry. In this way, the assistance provided by the Poles was about 10,000 cavalry and 7,500 infantry.

On the Lithuanian side, it is mainly the Shilachita cavalry. The main force is the heavy cavalry composed of the fief Shilachita, supplemented by the light cavalry composed of poor Shilachita.

However, in terms of the specific number of troops sent, Da Sem was so noisy...

Specifically, the wealthy nobles hope that the number of troops sent and money, food and supplies allocated to themselves will be less. Especially money, food and supplies, everyone is unwilling to pay more. If you have money, you will naturally cherish your life. You are not willing to work hard, and you are not very willing to pay more money...

Poor Shilachita, who has no fiefdom, actively joins the army, wants to gain military merits, and hopes to get some money through the war. However, they are unwilling to pay, and have no money to pay. They hope that the big nobles will give more money and food to maintain the war.

But how can the rich aristocrats be willing to pay these poor Shilachita? They all hope to spend less troops and money and food.

Therefore, the internal situation in Da Sem is that the rich nobles and the poor nobles are arguing over the issue of money and food. And among the wealthy nobles, they also quarreled endlessly over the issue of the share of each family.

Moreover, the core of the quarrel seems to be about money and food...

How should I put it, the more nobles send troops, the more money and food they need to spend. Because, the principle of this lord system is - the lord sends troops and brings his own food and grass. Only those poor Shilachita who have no fiefdom and are not lords do not need to bring their own food and grass, as long as they bring swords, armor and horses, they can participate in the war.

In other words, the more troops sent, the more money and food needed. In addition, the lords also need to pay for the food and grass of the poor Shilachita light cavalry...

But the problem is, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is a poor country. Although the country is large, it can be managed very rough. Before, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was still in a state of semi-barbarism. That is, after converting to Catholicism, Lithuania began to learn from Western Europe, engaged in the feudal manor system, and established a large-scale planting industry.

However, Lithuania officially converted to Catholicism in 1387, only a hundred years ago. And the primitive polytheism also fought tenaciously for a long time before finally failing. Therefore, if Lithuania really wants to talk about development, it will take decades. Even agricultural technology, Western European agricultural technology is already considered poor in Marin's eyes, and Lithuania is even worse. On the contrary, Poland, which is in a similar situation, is probably closer to Germany, which is convenient for communication, and its agricultural development is much better.

In fact, Lithuania's feudal lordship is more like imitating the Teutonic Knights. After all, they are neighbors, and they were suppressed and beaten by the Teutonic Knights in the early stage. Therefore, Lithuania developed the feudal lordship system. Moreover, the absolute main force of the Lithuanian army is now the same plate knights as Western Europe. However, the existence of Qiongshilachita also added a large number of light cavalry to the army. In other words, the light cavalry of Qiongshila Chita is Lithuania's traditional tribal cavalry.

Lithuania is still arguing endlessly, but Poland quickly passed a resolution to support Lithuania. Originally, Poland's Great Sejm was ready to support Lithuania's 14,000 Shilachita cavalry. But Sigismund I only asked them to send out 7,000 Shilachita cavalry, which they couldn't wish for, and quickly passed the plan.

As for the infantry, the Polish aristocratic MPs had no objections either. why? Because the expenses of the 7,500 infantry were all paid by Lithuania. After all, there is no reason for Poland to pay for fighting for Lithuania.

In other words, Lithuania, as a participant in the war, has not yet reached a result, but Poland, an ally, has quickly passed a resolution agreeing to dispatch 7,000 Shilachita cavalry and 7,500 infantry.

Of course, Polish reinforcements will take time to assemble. Within two or three months, it was impossible to go to the battlefield.

In addition, as the eldest brother, Vladislas II also dispatched 2,000 infantry from Bohemia and Silesia to Lithuania for support. These 2,000 infantry are all veteran mercenaries, and the equipment rate of matchlock guns has reached one-third, similar to the ratio of the Marin phalanx.

In fact, Vladislas II intends to support more troops. But the problem is, the Lithuanian Great Sem refused...

why? There are too many people to support...

What the hell, Poland has taken 10,000 cavalry and 7,500 infantry. If Bohemia sends a few thousand more, how can they afford so much money and food? Therefore, it was the Great Sejm of Lithuania who took the initiative to ask Vladislas II to send only two thousand infantry. As for the infantry, the food consumption is much lower than that of the cavalry, and the salary is also much lower. If there were more cavalry, it would be really unaffordable.

Especially the heavy cavalry, all riding tall horses. The food these heavy horses eat every day is equivalent to the rations of 5 or more people. Lithuania's fiscal revenue is bad, so it can't afford too many cavalry.

...

Seeing that the Poles have established the number of reinforcements, even Bohemia has sent reinforcements. The great nobles of the Great Sejm finally felt that they could not delay any longer. So, they finally determined the number of troops to send-17,000 Shilachita cavalry.

This is the number reached after a long quarrel between the Grand Sejm MPs. They believe that 27,000 cavalry is the limit of Lithuania's financial support. No matter how much, they will not be able to pay for food...

Then, there is the distribution of the number of people among each family. In the end, the 17,000 Shilachita cavalry stipulated that the number of plate armor knights was 3,500, accounting for more than one-fifth of the total number. The rest are traditional light cavalry.

These light cavalry cannot be said to be traditional. Because most of them imitated the Hungarian hussars, but they did not learn from the Hungarian hussars.

Because the Hungarian hussars often used one-handed warhammers at this time to deal with plate armor knights. But the cavalry of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the mortal enemy of the Lithuanians, is Mongolian cavalry, light cavalry using scimitars and even bows and arrows.

Therefore, most of the light cavalry in Lithuania and Poland use sabers and spears. They are used to quick assaults, approaching the Mongolian cavalry of the Grand Duchy of Moscow at the fastest speed, and did not give the Moscow cavalry a chance to mount and shoot. But their spears seem to be expendable. Once the spear penetrates the enemy's body, they will often give up the spear because it is difficult to pull it back. Then, draw out the saber and continue fighting.

This was also an important tactic of the Polish Lancers later, and it still shined during the war. And Marin improved this tactic, improving the ordinary spear into a spring lance with a spring buffer. Even, there are still complexes on both sides of the gun head, which is convenient for the gun tip to be pulled out immediately after being pierced, and used for the second charge and stab.

The 5,000 hussars under Sigismund I now use the spring lance provided by Marin. However, because the spring lance is more expensive, and Marin does not provide stainless steel springs very wretchedly, resulting in frequent spring replacement. And the springs are so expensive... Therefore, ordinary Shilachita light cavalry can only use ordinary spears. No other, cheap...

However, Marin has been selling high-carbon steel sabers produced in the North Sea country to Poland and Lithuania in recent years, that is, modern cavalry swords with gloves. Because the quality is good, the price is not too expensive. As long as economic conditions permit, many Shilachita cavalrymen in Poland and Lithuania have bought a cavalry knife produced in the North Sea country as their melee weapons. Even those plate armored knights like to buy a Beihai cavalry sword and hang it around their waists as a spare. After all, spears and lances are consumables in the horse station. The cavalry sword, or cavalry sword, is the last resort of self-defense for knights...