Chapter 10： The emperor has not yet recruited

But after coming out of the Black Forest, Marin found that the prey began to decrease sharply ...

why? Because, Marin entered the agricultural area of ​​southern Germany. Southern Germany is relatively warmer and agriculture is more developed than in the north. Here the population is denser and the development is higher. High development means less natural forests. Then there were fewer wild animals.

Halfway to Vienna, the three Marin wanted to repeat the trick. Unfortunately, in densely populated areas, there are already few wild animals, and the hunting of nearby hunters has caused Marin to no longer be able to hit prey every day.

Sometimes, it takes two or three days for Marin to hit a prey. Even, this prey may be just a hare, not enough for Kahn to plug his teeth ...

In order to subsidize food expenses, Marin started to find roads near the forest. After all, the southern part of Germany is more mountainous, and there are more wild animals near the forest.

But this also has the disadvantage that the Marin three were robbed by a robber. But this group of robbers really couldn't get on the stage. When Marin was brave, and charged with a rifle to charge the robbers, the robbers were frightened and fled.

Marin, aware of the problem, no longer put all the weapon armor on the wheelbarrow when he was on the road, but instead kept wearing the breastplate. But Marin felt that the regular Gothic plate armor was too restrictive on the waist, and it was inconvenient to lie down or turn around to avoid the spear or the rifle. Because of this, battles between knights often stand on their own guns and collide with each other like robots. They are very mechanical.

As a result, he found a blacksmith who was good at making armor, and the blacksmith used cold forging to create a two-thirds breastplate similar to that worn by French cavalry soldiers during the Nazi period.

胸 This breastplate only protects the vitals and does not protect the waist. But at the same time, it also allowed the Cavaliers to free their waists and be able to flex and bend around immediately. Moreover, its structure is very simple. In fact, it is two cold forged iron plates on the front and back, which are strung with ropes and hung on the shoulders. Then, use the rope to tie the perforated area below.

Then, Marin asked the blacksmith to help create a cavalry knife with a guard similar to that later used by the European cavalry. The cavalry knives were created to cope with emergencies.

Because, Marin's plate armor and rifle are usually on unicycles. When encountering a walking robber, Marin had time to put on his armor and pick up his rifle. If he encounters the rapid impact of a riding gangster, he may not even have this reaction time. Therefore, pulling out the cavalry knife at the waist became the best choice.

The cavalry knives, which use the standard cavalry knives of later generations, are straight and can be assassinated or chopped, which is more convenient and practical. Also, this knife looks beautiful.

As for Kahn and Kohler, Marin bought them two spears. At the critical moment, let them poke at the enemy with a spear.

It was so unexpected for Marin that after Kahn got the spear, he didn't sting the robber, but strangled a wild boar ...

One day, when the three of them were on their way, Marin suddenly encountered a wild boar who didn't know what to do. The wild boar rushed to Marin's mount quickly, scaring Marin a little overwhelmed. Draw a sword, the boar has a short chassis and it is difficult to cut. It was too late to get a rifle in the car.

At a critical moment, Kahn stood up, raised his spear, and slammed **** the boar. Once he failed to tie (because the boar skin was too thick), Kahn tried again. Finally, before the Boar smashed into War Makar, he was attacked by Kahn and began to roll and mourn on the ground.

Marin reacted and hurried off the horse, pulled out the cavalry knife to make up the wild boar ... Then, the wild boar was sold for a good price.

In view of Kahn's loyal caretaker, Marin gritted his teeth, took out 1800 shillings from a private vault, bought a strong **** bull, and then bought a carriage and a fixture of a small four-wheeled carriage.

In this way, Kahn gloriously promoted to become a bullock driver ...

Similarly, this strong bull has a good temper. Marin repeated his tricks, tame the strong cow with spirits and copper nose rings. Later, this **** cow named "Li Chen" by Marin became a bull-drawn cow.

Sadly, Kahn doesn't seem to be very good at driving ox carts. It was a thin Kohler, who soon started driving a bullock cart. Then Kahn went to ride the Mavericks. And Kohler began to catch ox carts. The calf, who was very good-looking, Marin named the **** cow with a vicious name Dallas ...

Looking at the "majestic posture" of Kahn riding a bull with a spear, Marin suddenly had a bad taste and planned to train Kahn into a "bull cavalry". He then started to teach Kahn how to ride a "horse" using lances and spears.

是 So, ignorant Kahn began to learn how to be a "cow knight" according to Marin's flicker ...

By the time the three arrived in Vienna in early May, Kahn had learned to poke people on the back of a cow with a spear. Even, the Dallas Mavericks he rode can cooperate with Kahn to launch a trotting charge in a short time ...

In the scornful eyes of the guards of the Vienna city gate, Kahn rode on a cow, holding a spear, followed Malin into the city with a proud look. That kick, as if Kahn had become a real knight ...

As for Kohler, Fan Ye possessed his body and whips the **** bull "Li Chen" with a low-key whip. He drives the ox cart and follows the two ...

After entering Vienna and finding a hotel to settle in, Marin was in a hurry to inquire about the emperor's recruitment.

But Marin was disappointed that the emperor had no recent plans to recruit mercenaries ...

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

However, there is a problem. In this era, almost all the emperors, kings, and dukes in Europe have a poor financial situation.

Even if he was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Maximilian I could only rely on Austria controlled by the Habsburgs and the newly controlled Burgundy to tax large families and larger mercenaries.

The 15,000 infantry and the 1,500 knights have already made the financial constraints of Maximilian I. In the absence of a battle for the time being, Maximilian I will not expand the army.

Moreover, the taxes collected in Austria and Burgundy under the control of the Habsburgs did not all support the army. A large part of the tax revenue will also be used to support the huge official groups of the two places and the nobility of all classes. Just the Habsburgs themselves, there are a bunch of sideline aristocratic members to support. Otherwise, the emperor's finances would not be so tight.

In addition, for the Hansa commercial cities and other imperial cities in the Holy Roman Empire, the emperor could also temporarily impose war tax during the war according to the agreement between the two parties.

Because the independent status of these commercial cities was specially granted by the emperor. Therefore, in return, when the emperor launched a war, they were obliged to provide the emperor with a certain amount of military expenses.

Alas, this money is not so easy to get. If the emperor fought a war against foreign invasion (such as the Ottoman Turkish invasion), these cities would not hesitate to provide certain taxes. But if the emperor fought internal hegemony wars, these cities may not be willing to pay taxes. Or, even if the tax is paid, it will be discounted, or the tax will be crippled. At the same time, during the war, the emperor could also temporarily increase taxes in Austria and Burgundy under the control of the Habsburgs for war.

But the daily taxation of Austria and Burgundy makes it difficult to feed this mercenary. Before the war, the emperor had no financial resources to expand his army.

This is the drawback of the European system of collecting money-taxes are not returned to the central government, but to lords everywhere. This led to financial difficulties for the central dynasty and no money to support too many troops. Unlike the Chinese feudal dynasty, from the Qin Dynasty, all finances belonged to the court, so that the Chinese dynasty had 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, in the 18th century, the European War was no longer a small scale of tens of thousands, but went on a large scale of 100,000 or hundreds of thousands ...

Marin recalled the history learned in the previous life and found that although Charles VIII, the French king, 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 into Italy at the end of August this year. At present, the messenger of Charles VIII is estimated to be recruiting mercenaries in Switzerland.

消息 The news of Charles VIII's military preparations should also reach Vienna, but it is estimated that it will take a long time for Vienna to make a decision to fight. You know, the Holy Roman Empire is a country similar to the aristocratic parliamentary system. Whether UU reads to fight the French, it is estimated that the Imperial Parliament will quarrel for a long time. The main core is that if the emperor wants to fight, he needs to expand his army. Expansion of the army requires a war tax, and commercial cities impose a temporary war tax. Even the Duke and Earl of each place are also obliged to contribute some money to the emperor during the war. But just for this money, it is estimated that it will not be noisy for a few months, and there is no result.

Of course, those aristocrats are not distressed by the money. They were just afraid that the emperor would become stronger through the expansion, and then cleaned them up. You know, there is a history of this. The King of France had done this kind of thing. Since Philip IV, the King of France has begun suppressing the princes and even confiscating church property. The Philip IV mercenary even sent people to abduct the Pope directly to Avignon, France, because of a conflict with the Pope due to the collection of "tithing". It was also because of this rammed goods that the Pope was abducted and the Renaissance began in Italy for a century without the Pope's restraint ... Of course, this is a long way off. In short, if those aristocrats truly support the emperor, they will inevitably burn themselves in the end and they will lose the privilege of autonomy. After all, the emperors are ruthless ...

According to memory, the "Holy 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 cannot expand in the near future. Even if the army expands, at least it will be passively expanded after the French army officially enters Italy in August.

Now it is only in early May. It is estimated that he will not be able to join the emperor's army for at least three months ...

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