King of Mercenaries

Time has advanced to the end of Autumn, the gunsmiths and armorsmiths who Marin was looking forward to, had been recruited from Spain and Southern Deutschland, respectively. In order to recruit these smiths, Marin had gone through a lot of trouble. Because Marin was extremely lacking in talented people under his command. Also, none of his underlings understood Spanish.

As such, without any choice, Marin could only request assitance from the Jewish merchants who had traveled across Europe. The sad thing was, the Jewish merchants were doing okay in the other countries, but it was a tragedy for them in Spain. Because, in 1492, Spain (including the Kingdom of Aragon and Kingdom of Castile) under the reign of the King and Queen, started their oppression towards the Jewish people. Jews within the borders of Spain, excluding the small minority which changed their faith to Catholicism, the remaining majority were all exiled from the borders, their wealth were all confiscated and robbed frm them.

That’s why, even the resourceful Jewish merchants were unable to travel to anti-semitic Spain, in order to help Marin hire smiths who knew how to build muskets and other firearms. However, luckily, a Jewish merchant had an idea — he would personally request an acquainted Italian merchant to go on business to Spain, and hire the gunsmiths in their stead.

Like that, after paying double the salary, Marin had finally obtained 20 Spanish smiths who were proficient in crafting arquebuses lik muskets.

While the recruitment of the armorsmiths were much easier, because the armorsmiths all hailed from Southern Deutschland region. Marin simply hired several eloquent merchants, and had them hire 30 armorsmiths from regions like Augsburg and Nuremberg.

In truth, Marin did not lack any armor, there was still 1000 sets of plate armor looted from the French in his possession. However, full-plate armor was truly too heavy, and was only suitable for heavy cavalry.

But what Marin wanted to do, was form the Tercio, which prioritized the infantry. That’s why, even if they removed and wore just the breastplate of the full-plate armor, it would still be too bulky. Aside from that, the bulkiness was the least problematic. The main thing was, the waist of the full-plate armor was basically restricted by the armor itself, and doesn’t help in turning or mobility.

The reason why Marin recruited these armorsmiths was to have them make steel helmets and breastplates. Aside from that, they also needed to make linked chain belts.

As the breastplate worn by infantrymen, naturally it would be a three-quarter brastplate with two plates at the front and back. However, a breastplate like that doesn’t defend the waist. If the enemy’s spearmen start stabbing at their waists, then that would be too bad. That’s why Marin thought about it, and decided to outfit the soldiers with linked chain belts which do not affect their mobility, but still providing some defense.

After the smiths have arrived, Marin quickly imported large amounts of iron ingots, iron chains (for use in linked chain belts), which were used to smith muskets and the three types of infantry armor — steel helmets, three-quarter breastplates and linked chain belts. Of course, the production of spears and sapper shovels did not lag behind.

After putting in long periods of work, by the end of November, the smiths have produced 200 muskets and a large quantity of infantry armor.

With equipment ready, recruiting soldiers for the Tercio was immediately raised to the top of schedule…

Marin remembered that the earliest batch of German mercenaries seemed to have hailed from Alsace, Württemberg, Baden and Austria’s Tyrol region. The farmers of Alsace, the mountainfolk of Württemberg, were the main force of the Landsknechts in its early days.

Alsace was located at the border region of the Holy Roman Empire and France, the land there was fertile. However, there was too many people and too few land. That’s why, there was a rich excess of labor force. For example, the serfs who were chased away by their manor owners.

As for the Württemberg region, the majority of the land was mountainland, there were lots of mountainfolk, which made them swift and fierce folk. That was quite similar with the Swedish region. Swedish mercenaries were basically made up of Swedish mountainfolk.

The mountainfolk who lived in the mountains had great stamina because they frequent the mountain paths. And since they lived off the mountain, they would frequently go hunting in the mountains, so there might be times when they would have to battle with beasts. Also, because the mountain region was quite poor, they would sometimes have to endure hunger, so their willpowers were quite strong. That’s why, their survival skills and fighting skills would usually surpass the farmers living on the plains regions. For example, the brave Danyang soldiers in the Three Kingdoms era, all hailed from Danyang province which was nothing but mountainranges.

As for Kahn and Kohler, they both hailed from the borders of the Black Forest in the Kingdom of Württemberg.

Marin has taken into account that the Austria’s Tyrol region was the private domain of the House of Habsburg, and the people living there would usually be loyal to the House of Habsburg. That’s why, Marin first and foremost removed the Tyrol region from his recruitment list.

As such, Marin’s choices were only left with the Alsace region and Baden—Württemberg region. After careful consideration, Marin had decided — to recruit half of the men he needed from each region.

Amongst that, the one who would be going to the Baden—Württemberg region for recruiting, naturally would be Kohler. Kahn would lead a troop of soldiers as escort, to protect Kohler as well as leading the new recruits back to Texel.

As for the one going to Alsace, it would be Schwartz. He would be in charge of recruiting bankrupt farmers and serfs in the Alsace region, The farmers of Alsace may not be comparable in fighting power to the brave mountainfolk of Württemberg, but they were good at listening to orders.

However, these soldiers who came from a serf background might listen to orders, but they still lacked courage. That’s why, Marin needed the commonly brave mountainfolk of Württemberg, to lead these Alsace farmers. The bravery of the mountainfolk might spur the Alsace farmers on to become more courageous. While the discipline of the Alsace farmers would infect the overly free mountainfolk. It could also be said that the two parties would affect each other. What Marin wanted to achieve, was to mix the two populations together, so that they would affect each other, and direct them to develop in a good way.

As for the “Father of Germanic Mercenaries”, Frundsberg, Marin did not arrange for him to participate in the recruitment. In Deutschland, recruiting soldiers was an important skill. If someone was able to recruit large amounts of mercenaries in a short amount of time, then this person would definitely be eyecatching. Because in this era where mercenaries ran rampant. Whoever possesses more mercenaries, whoever would possess higher status.

Obviously, Schwartz and the Kahn brothers were the trusted aides of Marin. So naturally they would be prioritized to train their recruitment ability. As for Frundsberg, he was a hired bruiser which Marin had decided to gift to the Emperor, and not Marin’s trusted aide. As such, an important skill such as recruiting soldiers in the era of mercenaries wasn’t something Marin wished to train him in.

Also, because Marin was poaching many Frisians, and recruited plenty of Frisian fishermen, Marin was worried that the Lordship of Frisia would come looking for trouble. As such, Marin also needed Frundsberg to lead 300 defenders, to stay and guard Denburg, in precaution against the possible attack from the Lordship of Frisia.

At the same time, Marin had promised Frundsberg, that the commander for the first Phalanx of Texel, shall be held by Frundsberg. This made the young Frundsberg extremely excited, and he was extremely grateful towards Marin. And the ‘small matter’ of not allowing him to recruit soldiers, Frundsberg immediately put that down.

Before Schwartz and the Kahn brothers departed, Marin had specifically urged them to not recruit the unemployed people in the city, no matter what. Because the unemployed in the cities were commonly thugs, stern folk who feared the strong and preyed on the weak.

It would be fine if they fought in a winning battle, but if the battle was tough, they would easily flee the battle.

As for the serfs and mountainfolk, though they might not have seen much, they were more sincere and obedient. These were simple folk, and were not as sly as cityfolk, making them easier to be swayed. And for these people, if they were trained and swayed properly, they would definitely become a strong military force…