King of Mercenaries

But after leaving the Black Forest, Marin found that the prey began to decrease dramatically. Why? Because Marin entered the agricultural area in southern Germany. The southern part of Germany is relatively warm and agriculture is more developed than in the north. The population is denser and the development is higher. The high degree of development means that there are fewer natural forests. Then there are fewer wild animals. On the way to Vienna, the three boys wanted to repeat themselves. Unfortunately, in densely populated areas, there are few wild animals, and the hunting of nearby hunters has caused Marin to stop hunting every day. Sometimes, after two or three days, Marlin can get a prey. Even, this prey may be just a hare, not enough for the barrel of food for Kahn's stomach.

In order to subsidize the food expenses, Marin began to walk specifically on the road near the forest. After all, the southern part of Germany is a place with more mountains, and there are more wild animals near the mountains. But there is also a downside, that is, Marlin three people were robbed by robbers. But these robbers couldn't get on the wheelbarrow. Then Marin was brave and rushed to the head of the bandit with a lance, the bandits were frightened and fled.

Marlin, who realized the problem, stopped putting all the armor on the wheelbarrow when he was on the road, but put the breastplate on him. However, Marin felt that with the formal Gothic plate armor, he had too much heat, you can get tired more quickly than normal and he helmet is too much confined .

So he found a blacksmith who was good at building armor and asked the blacksmith to use cold forging to create a two-thirds breastplate that he wore like a French cavalry.

This breastplate only protects the vitals and the arms and does not protect below the waist. But at the same time, it also allowed the knight to be more free and facilitate the cooling, and they were able to bend and turn around immediately. Moreover, its structure is also very simple, in fact, two pieces of cold forged and sturdy iron plates protect the torso back and front, which are stringed together and hung on the shoulders and the waist the rest is the armor for the arms which are stringed to the shoulders.

Then, Marin asked the blacksmith to create a cavalry knive (Artimer's note: imagine a messer but shorter) with a hand guard for the European Cavalry. The reason for creating a cavalry knive is to cope with an emergency.

Because, Marin's plate armor and lance are generally on the wheelbarrow. In the face of the robbers walking, Marin had time to put on the armor and pick up the lance. If he encounters the rapid impact of riding a gangster, he may not have even a reaction time. Therefore, pulling out the cavalry knives at the waist became the best choice. The cavalry knives of the later generation standard cavalry knives are straight, and can cut, which is more convenient and practical. Moreover, this knife looks very beautiful too. As for Kahn and Kohler, Marin bought them two spears. At the crucial moment, let them take a spear and pierce the enemy and what Marin didn't think was that after Kahn got the spear, he didn't killed a robber, but he killed a wild boar.

One day, when Marlin was on the road, he suddenly met a wild boar who didn't know what to do. The wild boar quickly rushed to Marin's mount, scaring Marin to be overwhelmed. Draw a horse knife, the wild boar skin is thick, it is difficult to cut. At the crucial moment, Kahn stood up, raised his spear and slammed it into the wild boar. Once he didn't succeed (because the wild boar skin was too thick), Kahn struck again for the second time. Finally, before the wild boar collided with the horse, he was killed by Kahn and began to fall on the ground. The responding Marin quickly dismounted and pulled out the cavalry knives to fill the boar. Then the wild boar was sold for a good price. In view of Kahn's loyalty to him, Marin bit his teeth, took out 1800 shillings from the private vault, bought a strong black cow, and then bought a small four-wheeled carriage.

In this way, Kahn from the pusher of the unicycle, gloriously promoted as a ox driver. In the same way, this strong bull is not a restless one anymore. Marin's technique was re-applied, and the strong cow was tamed with spirits and copper nose rings. After that, the big black cow named "Li Chen" by Marin became the pulling cow of the cart. The sad reminder is that Kahn doesn't seem to be good at driving the oxcart. It was a small and thin Kohler, and soon started to drive the oxcart. Then, Kahn went to ride the calf. Kohler started to drive the oxcart. Marlin also named the Big Black Bull and named it Dallas.

Looking at Kahn's "mighty posture" with a spear riding a cow, Marin suddenly had a bad interest and planned to train Kahn as a "cattleman". Then he began to teach how Kahn used to ride a lance and a spear on the back of the horse. So, the ignorant Kahn began to learn how to be a "cow knight" based on Marin's flicker.

When the three men arrived in Vienna in early May, Kahn had learned to ride on the back of the cow and use a spear to poke people. Even Dallas, the calf he rode, can also launch a trot charge with Kahn in a short time.

In the contemptuous eyes of the guards of the city of Vienna, Kahn rode a cow, armed with a spear, and gladly followed Marin into the city of Vienna. As for Kohler, he used a whip to beat the big black cow "Li Chen" in a low-key manner. He drove the ox cart and followed the two...

After entering Vienna and looking for a hotel to settle down, Marin rushed to the area to inquire about the Emperor's recruitment. But what disappointed Marin was that the emperor had no plans to recruit mercenaries recently.

As early as 1487, Maximilian I had recruited a German mercenary army of 15,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry. The leader was the Count of Frederick II. von Hohenzollern of the Hohenzollern family.

However, this has a problem, that is, in this era, almost all Emperors, Kings and Dukes in Europe have a very bad financial situation. Even if it was the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I could only rely on the Habsburg family-controlled Austria income and the newly-controlled Burgundy Principality to tax a large family and larger mercenary group. These 15,000 infantry and 1500 knights have already made Maximilian I's finances tighter. In the absence of a temporary attack, Maximilian I will not expand the army.

Moreover, Austria and Burgundy under the control of the Habsburg family did not all provide for the military. A large part of the tax is also used to support the large group of officials in the two places, and the nobility of all classes. Just the Habsburgs themselves, there are a bunch of collateral members to support. Otherwise, the emperor's finances will not be so tight.

In addition, for the Hanseatic commercial city and other imperial cities in the Holy Roman Empire, during the war, according to the agreement between the two sides, it is also possible to temporarily levy a war tax. Because the independent status of these commercial cities is specially given by the emperor. Therefore, in return, when the emperor launched the war, they were obliged to provide the emperor with a certain military expenditure.

However, this money is not so good. If the emperor is fighting a war against foreign invasion (such as the Ottoman Turkish invasion), these cities will not hesitate to provide certain taxes. But if the emperor himself fights external wars, these cities may not be willing to pay taxes. Or, even if you pay taxes, you will get a big discount, or you will be obedient when paying taxes. At the same time, during the war, the emperor could also temporarily add taxes to the Austrian and Burgundian under the control of the Habsburg family for war.

But the daily taxes of Austria and Burgundy, it is very difficult to feed the mercenary army. So before the war, the emperor had no financial resources to expand the army. This is the drawback of the European economic system - the tax is not returned to the central government, but to the lords of various places. This led to the financial difficulties of the central dynasty and the lack of money to support too many troops. Unlike the feudal dynasty of China, from the Qin Dynasty, all the finances were returned to the court, which made the Chinese dynasty have enough financial resources to support hundreds of thousands of troops. It seems that Europe did not begin to establish a stable, unified modern tax system until the end of the 17th century. Then, by the 18th century, the European national war was no longer a small tens of thousands of people, but a large-scale tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people went.

Marin recalled the history he had learned in the previous life and found that although King Charles VIII announced his sovereignty over the Kingdom of Naples at the beginning of the year, he had not assembled enough troops to invade Naples. It seems that Charles VIII only assembled 37,000 troops to enter Italy at the end of August this year. At present, the messenger of Charles VIII is estimated to recruit mercenaries in Switzerland. The news that Charles VIII is preparing for the entire army should also be transmitted to Vienna, but Vienna is can not make the decision to fight, and it is estimated that it will take a long time. You know, the Holy Roman Empire is a country like the aristocratic parliamentary system. Whether it is fighting with the French, it is estimated that the Imperial Parliament will have to argue for a long time. The main core is that the emperor needs to expand the army if he wants to play. The expansion of the army requires the imposition of a war tax. Commercial cities must temporarily impose a war tax. Even the dukes and counts are obliged to contribute money to the emperor during the war. But for this money, it is estimated that it will be noisy for a few months, and there will be no result.

Of course, those nobles are not distressed by the money. They just feared that the emperor would be strengthen by expanding the army and then use it against them. You know, this is a criminal record. The French king had done this kind of thing. From the beginning of Philip IV, the French king began to suppress the princes and even confiscated the church property. The men of Philip IV were even sent to the Avignon of France because of the conflict between the Philip IV and the pope. It is precisely because his men kidnapped the Pope, that Italy did not have the constraints of the Pope in a hundred years before it began the Renaissance... Of course, this is far away. In short, if the nobles really support the emperor, they will inevitably get burned in the end, and they will lose the privilege of self-government. After all, the emperors are ruthless.

According to memory, the "sacred alliance" against France's invasion of Italy seems to have been established in March 1495. At that time, the Holy Roman Empire really joined the war.

Therefore, Marin can be sure that the Holy Roman Empire is unlikely to expand. Even if the army is expanded, at least it will be passively expanded after the French army officially entered Italy in August. It is only in early May that it is estimated that he will not be able to participate in the emperor's army for at least three months.