The Rise of the European Emperor

The British dispatch of troops is not something that can be done in a few days. After all, Britain in this era does not have a standing army. Therefore, if you want to send troops, you must first gather all the troops.

Although there are thousands of troops in London, it is impossible for Henry VII to use this force. After all, London is the heart of England. If the entire army is sent out and the French raid London, then Henry VII is over.

Therefore, this time, Henry VII used the soldiers and horses of the nobles from all over the country, and the 7,000 longbowmen. The longbowmen in England are a very special class. They are not nobles, but they enjoy certain privileges and belong to the warrior class between the nobles and the commoners.

At the moment, the musket is just emerging, and apart from the Marin army, the Spanish army and the Teutonic army, as well as the supported Swedish army and the West Frisian resistance army (mostly killed when Leeuwarden broke down), other countries' The military has no history of using muskets on a large scale.

Therefore, in this era, the English longbowmen were still the largest and most powerful arm of long-range firepower in Europe. Of course, because of the strengthening of plate armor technology, the lethality of English longbowmen to knights is declining. However, it is extremely terrifying to use against infantry with little armor.

Even the famous Swiss phalanx will kneel if it encounters the English Longbow Legion. Even Marin's Marin phalanx would not be able to please the English longbowmen.

After all, whether it is Swiss mercenaries or Marin's Spanish phalanx, only the veterans in the first three rows will wear chest plates and helmets. The soldiers in the back row basically have no armor. As long as the English longbowmen projectile, killing a large number of infantry in the back row, it is simply a piece of cake.

The only advantage of the Musketeers is that they are cheap to train. For example, the spearmen and musketeers under Marin's command can be drawn to the battlefield after a few months of training. Even if you are defeated, go to recruit and train again.

But the English longbowmen are different. They all started to practice archery since childhood, and they practiced for more than ten years. The spines of many English longbowmen are deformed because they often draw their bows during their developmental juveniles.

Kill a musketeer, then recruit or capture a farmer for weeks to train. But if a longbow soldier dies, the loss will be huge. Because, longbowmen need more than ten years of training before they can be trained. This is very similar to the knight. The training of knights also takes more than ten years. Therefore, if you fight for consumption, the loss of the longbowmen cannot be made up for.

And this is also an important reason why England finally decided to abolish the longbowmen class. The longbowmen system was abolished in England around 1596, that is, after Elizabeth I. At that time, with the war of religion and the great Spanish phalanx, the musket has gradually become the mainstream of the European army. The bow and arrow slowly withdrew from the stage of history.

In addition to the high training cost and unaffordable loss,

The plate armor is getting better and better, making it difficult for the longbowmen to shoot through, which is also one of the important reasons for the elimination of the longbowmen.

Although it is said that at a very close distance, the longbow can still shoot through the plate armor with a burst. However, how can there be a chance on the battlefield for the longbowmen to leisurely aim at the plate knight at a very close distance? When the plate knights get close to the longbowmen, that means the longbowmen will be slaughtered. Therefore, longbowmen generally can only hit plate knights from a distance through projectiles. However, with the advancement of plate armor technology, long-range strikes are ineffective.

However, guns are different. Even if the distance is hundreds of meters, as long as the lead bullet hits, the huge impact can still hurt the plate armor knight. Under such circumstances, countries naturally prefer the muskets restrained by the plate armor, rather than the longbow restrained by the plate armor. Moreover, training longbowmen is too costly and time-consuming.

...

Of course, because of the high cost of plate armor, and most of the nobles in this era were very poor. So, it's hard to find an army with a lot of plate armor.

Speaking of which, the largest number of plate knights is probably France. Actually speaking, France got so many plate armor knights, in fact, they were also afraid of being shot by the British. Later, the French plate armor became stronger and stronger, and could withstand the longbow. With the use of artillery, it gradually won the Hundred Years War between Britain and France. Unlike at the beginning, it was basically shot into a dog by the British.

...

Henry VII ordered a nationwide conscription, and the movement was naturally very big, and it was impossible to hide it if you wanted to. And the news of the seven thousand longbowmen being recruited was naturally heard by the intelligence personnel of the London branch of the North Sea Chamber of Commerce. Then, this information was quickly sent to Munster City...

After receiving the information from the Beihai Chamber of Commerce's spies, Marin deduced it in his mind and found that the existence of those longbowmen was really powerful.

Because, those longbowmen can use intensive firepower to suppress the defenders at the head of the city by projecting. Except for those soldiers in plate armor, other ordinary soldiers may be crushed by the arrows of the English longbowmen and unable to lift their heads. Whoever dares to show his head will be easily injured by the rain of arrows.

Although it is said that Marin supported 2000 arquebuses of Earl Edward, which could be used to shoot against longbowmen. However, the British army had 7,000 longbowmen, and Earl Edward could only come out with 2,000 musketeers. If they were to shoot at each other, the result would definitely be that the small number of Earl Edward's musketeers would be finished first.

After all, the English longbowmen were not only numerous. Moreover, the speed of archery is faster than that of muskets. A musket is loaded and fired, and an archer may shoot more than three arrows.

Therefore, the only way is to let the musketeers wear plate armor, and the helmets must also wear masks, plus the cover of the city wall, so that they can shoot each other with the longbowmen. Otherwise, the 2000 musketeers without armor would definitely serve the English longbowmen.

However, the musketeers of Earl Edward, because of the protection of the city wall, definitely do not need armor for the lower body. Because there are battlements blocking it. However, the upper body and head definitely need strict armor to ensure that they are not injured by bows and arrows.

Therefore, Marin intends to support 2000 pairs of Earl Edward half-body plate armor and equip musketeers, so that those musketeers have the ability to shoot against the English longbowmen, and can protect themselves from being hurt by the English longbowmen.

However, in a short period of time, Marin couldn't come up with 2,000 half-body plates. Moreover, it should be noted that in order to hide his identity, Marin could not take out simple armor in the style of the East Frisian army and give it to Count Edward. Otherwise, it will be exposed...

Suddenly, Marin remembered the plate armor that was captured by the army of the former King Charles VIII of France...

That year, Marin ambushed the army of Charles VIII and seized 7,000 sets of plate armor and 5,000 sets of horse armor. But in the end, Marin greedily bought 1,000 sets of plate armor and 1,000 sets of horse armor.

However, these plate armor and horse armor are all French. Now, Maximilian I has developed a more powerful Maximilian armor, and Marin also plans to replace all the plate armors in the army with more advanced Maximilian armor, eliminating the 1,000 sets of French plate armor. .

Therefore, Marin decided to give the upper body plate armor of these 1000 sets of French plate armor to Earl Edward. As for the 1000 sets that were still missing, Marin decided to buy a batch of second-hand plate armor, which was cheap enough to withstand bows and arrows...

In this way, Marin arranged for Kohler, in the name of the North Sea Chamber of Commerce, to buy second-hand plate armor in the Netherlands and France. At the same time, Marin also collected the 1,000 sets of plate armor that the army had originally issued. Of course, those officers and heavy cavalry who hand in French plate armor can get a set of the latest Maximilian armor as compensation. Also, they can keep the French plate trousers.

These people are naturally eager to exchange half of the old French plate armor for the advanced Maximilian armor. The reputation of Maximilian's armor has spread to East Friesland. Because of the new convex structure, the protection of the Maximilian armor is further improved, especially for bows and bullets.

In order to hurry, Kohler instructed the North Sea Chamber of Commerce to buy old plate armor from the homes of those Dutch and French knights at the price of new plate armor. Such a good opportunity, many knight families will naturally not miss it.

In this way, Marin quickly collected 2,000 sets of half-body plate armor, and most of them were French and Dutch-style plate armor. Even if the British saw it, they would not doubt themselves...

While the British army was still gathering troops, horses and provisions, Marin quickly dispatched the North Sea Chamber of Commerce to quietly deliver the 2,000 sets of half-body plate armor to Dublin on a clipper and handed it over to Earl Edward...