King of German Mercenaries

马 When Marin came to Vienna again, it was already the end of November. In fact, if Marin wants to come early, it only takes more than ten days. After all, there are no walking in their team, they are riding and driving.

However, because Marin often led the team to kill wild boars in the forest, a lot of time was wasted. Therefore, Marin and his team of 7 arrived in Vienna at the end of November. In other words, it took them more than a month from departure to arrival.

After marching into the city, Marin began to find a place to live. But to his surprise, the hotels in Vienna were almost full at this time ...

I inquired carefully and realized that Emperor Maximilian I had begun to recruit mercenaries. Therefore, fighters from all over the country want to serve the emperor. This led to the full business of the Vienna Hotel.

Vienna in this era is just a city with more than 20,000 people. This population was equivalent to that of a prefecture city and a capital city during the Ming Dynasty. But in medieval Europe, this was already considered a big city.

几 How many hotels can there be in a small town with a population of over 20,000? So, when thousands of young people who volunteered as mercenaries poured into Vienna, the hotel was not enough. Many people who couldn't stay in hotels even bought tents and set up tents directly in the city.

Bama Marin and his team of seven people, as well as 6 horses and a cow, naturally couldn't find land casually. To this end, Marinte dealt with the residents of the city, rented a small yard, and temporarily hired the owner of the yard to help buy fodder for cattle and horses.

After resettled, Marin went to the tavern in the city to check the news ...

The situation is not much different from Marin's estimate, and even worse. Originally, Marin thought that although it was difficult for Her Majesty to obtain money from the Imperial Parliament, war taxes could be levied smoothly in Austria and Burgundy where he belonged.

But the reality is that taxes are fine in Austria. After all, the Habsburgs have ruled here for a long time, and they have good control.

The duchy of Burgundy was inherited by Maximilian I through the marriage of the daughter of the daring Charlie of the Duke of Burgundy. Strictly speaking, Maximilian I is currently only the regent of the Duchy of Burgundy. The true owner of the Principality of Burgundy is Philip, the "beautiful man", the son of Maximilian I. Of course, this is Philip's later nickname, and now Philip is still a minor boy about the same size as Marin.

In the Principality of Burgundy, it has its own aristocratic parliament. And this parliament holds the local tax power. Even if the Duke levies taxes, the consent of this parliament must be obtained.

Unfortunately, the Burgundian parliament and Maximilian I did not deal very much. Once, Maximilian I was placed under house arrest in the Burgundy Palace by the Burgundian Parliament. Finally, Maximilian I's father, Frederick III, sent troops to rescue him.

Therefore, Maximilian I's control in the Duchy of Burgundy was not as strong as Marin thought. Maximilian I raised the war tax in the Principality of Burgundy as hard as obtaining the war tax authorization in the Imperial Parliament.

As a result, Maximilian I currently only collected a batch of war taxes in Austria. Its number is limited and the number of troops it can support is also limited. If you want to expand your army on a large scale, you must wait until the Imperial Parliament and the Burgundy Parliament agree to increase his war tax.

At the moment, the emperor with limited funds can only recruit some troops first. However, when the emperor recruited soldiers, the enthusiasm of the people throughout the country was high. You have to know that fighting for the emperor is of secondary importance. It is the most tempting to be promoted to be a noble.

What is Puppet Emperor? The emperor was the largest noble sequesterer of the Holy Roman Empire. As long as the emperor would, he could promote the count to the duke, seal the duke as king, or enclose ordinary people as nobles. As long as you can give a noble title, even if you don't get a salary, there will be a lot of people going forward.

So when I heard that the emperor recruited troops, all kinds of people from all over the country flocked to Vienna. Among them, there are sons of noble families who have no inheritance rights, such as homeless knights, bankrupt farmers and craftsmen, and even mixed and beggars. They were all dreaming the same riches and gathered in Vienna.

Among them, the most favored by the emperor are the wandering knights. The wandering knights, all from the knight family, have martial arts and are far more capable than ordinary people. Moreover, wandering knights usually come with warhorses, armor and weapons. As long as the Wandering Knights are organized into a team, with a little training, you can enter the war as a powerful force.

At the same time, Maximilian I was actually a plate armor, especially in Gothic plate armor. Otherwise, he will not personally design the famous Maximilian armor in a few years.

But for Maximilian I, the big problem is that it costs a lot to feed the knights. Generally speaking, recruiting an infantry is as simple as paying 3 Finneys a day. In addition, during the war, soldiers are provided with free food, which is the kind of black bread that can be used as a brick.

It is not the same to recruit a knight. Recruiting a knight pays up to 2 shillings (24 Finneys) per day. In addition, although the cost of the five knights' attendants was borne by the knights themselves, the knights and their followers, as well as the food of their cattle, had to be borne by the emperor. Therefore, the cost of recruiting the Cavaliers is high.

Moreover, after the battle of Nancy, the Swiss pikemen restrained the plate knights, and their status declined. And Maximilian I, imitating Swiss mercenaries, began to recruit civilians to serve as pikemen in German territory, learning Swiss tactics.

Of course, the role of the Cavaliers is also great. Not to mention Maximilian I's love for the plate knights. On the battlefield, once the enemy's pikemen battle line is torn open, the knights need to launch an assault to expand the results. And the enemy's artillery positions also need to be taken away by the knights. Because artillery threatens the Pikemen Front too much. In the British-French war, the French were initially tortured by the British longbowmen, but after the heavy use of artillery in the second half of the period, they gradually reversed the situation and eventually drove the British from France. Go out. The artillery bombarded the pikemen in a dense formation, absolutely sweeping a large area. Napoleon, who was so immensely ridiculous in the future, relied on a large number of artillery in a line to defeat the opponent's infantry line. However, at that time the French army used shotguns with a large killing area, and now the artillery uses solid or even stone bombs.

This time, the news that Marin heard was that the emperor decided to use Austrian taxes to recruit 500 knights and 5,000 pikemen.

I heard that the Emperor only recruited 500 knights, and Marin felt bad. You know, there are many small countries in the German region, and knight collars are everywhere. So there are nomadic knights everywhere in Germany. Nowadays, the emperor recruits soldiers and rushes to recruit stray knights, estimated to be tens of thousands. However, the Emperor only needs 500 people, which is too pit. This difficulty is much more difficult than the college entrance examination for undergraduates. It is difficult to properly pass a famous university ...

In fact, the emperor recruited these 500 knights for military officers. In Europe, officers are usually nobles. For example, the emperor's army commander is currently headed by Earl Hohenzollern of the Swabian Department. However, in addition to senior officers, an army also has grass-roots officers. It is impossible for civilians to serve as military officers. Even grass-roots officers do not work. At most, civilians can only mix non-commissioned officers. Therefore, general grass-roots officers are all made up of knights. At worst, they must be homeless knights from the knight family. Because, in this era, civilians have basically no military education. Only noble families will teach military skills and tactical warfare. Therefore, these 500 knights are actually grass-roots officers prepared by the emperor for the future army.

It turns out that Marin feels right. Upon receiving the news, the population of Vienna increased instantly. In order to prevent some mercenaries who are not afraid of death from disrupting the city, Maximilian I arranged for the recruitment of infantry outside Vienna. As for the city, it was only responsible for recruiting knights.

But to Marin's surprise, there were already three or four thousand wandering knights in the city. Moreover, there are a steady stream of wandering knights ...

I finally waited until the end of December, when Maximilian I announced the start of a contest to select knights.

The competition competition system is based on the elimination system. Those eliminated in the first round will no longer have the opportunity. Those who can make it through the first round have another chance to challenge.

正式 And the official game is divided into three games. After the opponents were drawn by lottery, the first game was not a competition, but the organizers verified the knights, armor and weapons. In particular, war horses must not be pretended to be war horses. To this end, there will be professional Soma professionals to review the Cavaliers' horses. After all, the emperor recruited ready-to-use mercenaries, and the recruits needed to bring their own horses and weapon armor. If the emperor prepared the war horse, the cost would be too high. Therefore, only after the war horses and knights with weapons and armors have passed the inspection, can they enter the second round-foot battle. After the foot battle, it was a horse battle.

Marlin was not very lucky, and he got a very strong knight in the first round. Judging by his face, it is estimated that it was about the peak of the Cavaliers around the age of 27 or 8. Marin is only 16 years old and hasn't fully developed yet.

The first round of verification of war horses and weapon armors is naturally no problem. Marin's original lack of plate armor and boots had been refitted at the Huffman estate.

In the second round of marching, Marin and the knight fought with wooden two-handed swords. Although Marin is not strong enough for foot battles, both the previous Marin and the marlin Marin have rich fighting skills. Moreover, Marlin, the traverser, also understands the Taiji principle of "four or two pounds".

So, in the foot battle, although the strength is much smaller than the opponent, Marin often uses the "four or two pounds" method, always swinging open the opponent's wooden sword, which makes the opponent's fierce attack unsuccessful.

European knights, martial arts do not move around like oriental martial arts, pay attention to footwork. Because, even if the knight is fighting, he is wearing a full-body plate with reduced mobility. It is not convenient to move around.

Therefore, knights usually use two-handed swords or tomahawks to chop or smash each other with violence. Because the armor on both sides is very thick, the point of non-violence can't break the other's plate armor.

林 Marin is not afraid of violent attacks. Although, his strength is much less than his opponent. However, he knew a little Tai Chi sword. Even with a two-handed sword, he can swing the opponent's chops. However, Taiji Sword is the main defense and is not good at attacking. He can swing the opponent's wooden sword, but he cannot bring down the opponent. Because, the knight who fought against him has a stable bottom plate. Even if the wooden sword is swung open, he will not lose his focus.

Alas, Marin fought for a long time with the knight. Unlike other knights, one of them often loses after one or two outbreaks.

In the end, the referee was impatient, and announced that the two had a draw ...

After a while, the two entered the horse fight. The contest immediately took place on a long strip of ground. In the middle of the field, there is a wooden fence. The knights on each side were on one side of the fence, and the fence was to the right of their direction of advance.

After the start of the competition, the two knights took control of their respective horses and began to accelerate. They **** their lances with their right hands and violently collided above the wooden fence. Moreover, the requirements of the competition are to only stab the opponent's chest, and to stab the head and the horse are prohibited. This is to minimize injuries.

It is because of these restrictions that Marin can't let go. Head-to-head with his opponent, Marin is clearly not an opponent. However, when wearing a full set of plate armor, he tried to dodge on horseback, which was more difficult.

Sure enough, after the first collision, Marin deeply felt the advantage of the opponent's strength. Although Marin avoided the stabbing of his opponent's rifle, he also used his own lance to open the opponent's rifle. However, this round of collision made his arm numb, and the riding rifle almost released his hand.

After Xu barely resisted for two rounds, Marin felt that his arm was almost out of his own. Finally, in the third round of hedging, the knight on the opposite side seemed to adapt to the style of Marin's block. Lay the horse ...

骑士 The speed of this knight competition is much higher than when he was at home against Kahn and Schwartz. Moreover, the ground was not intentionally covered with grass but normal grass. Therefore, after falling off the horse, Marin could not get up for a long time. In the end, it was with the help of the attendants that he was carried back to Kohler's ox cart.

However, in accordance with the principle of a round of elimination system, this time the Cavaliers selection, Marin has been considered a failure, and no qualifications to challenge. So, lying on the ox cart, Marin was injured. Not only was my body hurt, but my heart was sad ...

"As a traverser, am I not the protagonist? Why, this knight trial, I ca n’t even get through the first round? How can I stand out as an emperor knight? Can I be a cannon fodder like a pikeman?" In bed, Marin thought sadly ...

In fact, the most important reason why Marin wanted to recruit the knights recruited by the emperor was Marintu's identity. Now Marin, don't look at a piece of equipment that is no different from other knights, but in fact, he is not a real knight at all. At least, the official does not recognize him as an official knight.

拥有 Like Marin, who has the resources and abilities of a knight, but has not been officially recognized, there is a special name-trainee knight.

Apprentice knight, can only be regarded as a prepared knight, not a formal knight. You know, those who have officially recognized knighthood are nobles. And trainee knights, before being sealed, can only be counted as civilians. At most, they are considered children of the aristocracy. Or, it's called Junker.

There are three types of knights. The first is the best knight, called Caiyi knight. This kind of knight is generally made a knight by a high-level lord or king after making great achievements, and rewards Caiyi (Fengdi). A knight can be hereditary, but only if each generation of this knight family must provide a fully armed knight for the bookkeeper to fight for the bookkeeper. If there is no one in the family who can serve as a knight for the bookkeeper, this Caiyi may be taken back. There are also those that are not taken back, depending on the mood of the lords to which the knight family is loyal.

Like the Huffman family, it is the Caiyi knight family of Mark Bo country. The eldest son of each generation of the Huffman family must put on plate armor, step on the war horse, and fight for the count when called by Earl Mark.

Below the cavalry knights, there are the knights in the house. This kind of knight is usually born from the non-eldest son of the noble family, including the knight family, they were born without inheritance. Like the non-eldest son of the knight family, noble status was lost. In order to become "superior" like nobles, they practiced martial arts and riding battles from an early age.

Because there is no land, the non-eldest sons of these noble families (usually low-level nobles) have to apply to the big nobles and become the inner knights of the big nobles or kings. They are stationed in the castles of the big nobles for a long time like mercenaries to defend them Noble family and castle property security.

In return, the king or nobleman will give these knights the official knight title. Since then, these people have become nobles and enjoy many privileges.

As for the trainee knights, before they were officially sealed, they were just ordinary people, not aristocracy. Although, their combat effectiveness is not necessarily worse than that of a formal knight.

Marin sharpened his head to apply for the Imperial Knights, in order to obtain a formal knight title and obtain the lowest noble status. With the skin of aristocracy, Marin will not be regarded as a mustard by those big men, UU reading www.uukanshu.com casually pinch to death.

In fact, in addition to the Cavaliers, the Emperor also recruited heavy cavalry. The cavalry is almost the same as a knight, wearing plate armor, holding a lance, and charging with the knight. Moreover, these heavy cavalry are basically from the Cavaliers family.

However, Marin didn't want to be a heavy cavalry. Because, even if it becomes a heavy cavalry, it is impossible to get the knight title. Without a title, you cannot become a noble. Moreover, when fighting, those formal knights are naturally officers, and those without a knight title are naturally big soldiers, which at most have a higher status than infantry ...

In medieval Europe, noble status was the same as that of a scholar in the Ming Dynasty. It was a universal pass. In the Ming Dynasty, scholars could walk around the world without restriction. Ordinary people who have left their hometown for hundreds of miles must go to the government to open the road, otherwise they will travel illegally ...

The same is true in Europe. Aristocracy can run the world, even exempt from city tax. For civilians, entering the city must pay the tax for entering the city, and various taxes must be paid for passing the checkpoint. Moreover, sometimes when you encounter a rude tax officer, you can increase taxes and blackmail you, and you can't help it. But for the nobility, they have no right to do so. Even the aristocracy would not have been sentenced to death if he had already killed someone, and he would have to pay a little at most. Unless, he killed the same nobleman. In short, the nobles walked sideways in medieval Europe, as long as they did not encounter more powerful nobles than themselves. This is why Marin mixed his noble status. At least, after being a noble, he would not be killed and there would be no justice. If he crosses to the Eastern Ming Dynasty, Marin will go to the imperial examinations properly.

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