Chapter 2183： Here Comes the Italian Mercenaries and the "French Sawdust Cake"

There is an old saying in Huaxia, "From frugality to luxury is easy, from luxury to frugality is difficult". Marin asked his subordinates to instruct the agents to entertain the young and strong mountain people every three or five places, which was also a consideration.

Young people, it's hard not to be tempted by the life of "drinking in big bowls and eating meat in big chunks". Before that, although these mountain people could often eat meat, because of lack of salt, they ate unpalatable unsalted barbecued or unsalted boiled meat. Even, for the sake of salt, many mountain people will go to collect rock salt to extract the salty taste. But rock salt has many impurities, most of which are poisonous. So, don't eat too much.

Moreover, these poor mountain youths, I am afraid that they have never sang the sweetness of sucrose in their lives. After all, in this day and age, sucrose is scarce all over Europe. Although Europe also produces honey, it belongs to the lords, and ordinary people cannot enjoy it. In the Middle Ages, sometimes for a few boxes of bees, the two lords even brought people together to fight for honey resources.

However, if you join the Beihai Army, sucrose is a common armament. Even toffee, which combines sucrose and milk powder, will become a common military material in the future. What's more, there is a big killer in the North Navy - the braised pork in the basin.

As long as these young people enter the army of Beihai Kingdom, have eaten braised pork and all kinds of stir-fried vegetables, and then eat a few pieces of white rabbit toffee every now and then... This kind of good life, most of the poor young people are used to it, I am afraid it is the soles of their feet Rooted, reluctant to go. Those who are willing to leave are also those who are afraid of death, and Beihai Kingdom does not need them. Maybe some are not greedy, but relatively few.

People who have not experienced the era of expensive and scarce materials will never understand people's love for oil, water and sweets. For example, in Marin's previous life, in the countryside in the early 1990s, people's thirst for meat, oil, water and sugar was very strong. How strong is it? So strong that one child eats candy and the other children drool. Children who are loyal will give everyone a piece of candy to lick...that's unsanitary...but the children are very happy. And adults are also virtuous. At that time, when the rural banquets were held, braised pork, big meatballs and big elbows and other hard dishes with oily water, as long as they were served on the table, after the elders took the lead, they would soon be swept away. As long as your hands are slow, you won't be able to eat...

It was not until the late 1990s, when the economy improved, that everyone became more reserved and stopped robbing the meat at the banquet. In the 1970s and 1980s and the early 1990s, when people were generally short of oil and water, meat and sugar were very popular. At that time, the sugar, tobacco and alcohol company was a super hot unit. The positions in sugar, tobacco and alcohol companies responsible for sucrose sales are the most popular. It wasn't until the 21st century, when there was more diabetes, that the post in charge of sugar was neglected. Then, the tobacco and alcohol department got up.

But in Europe in this era, it was even worse than the 1970s and 1980s. Because the common people in China in the 1970s and 1980s, even if they were not full and lacked oil and water, they could still get some sugar and pork during the festivals, but the amount was very small.

In this era, Europeans, especially ordinary people, simply have no sugar to eat. Most people may never eat a mouthful of sucrose in their lifetime.

Therefore, Marin is very confident that the soldiers of Beihai Kingdom can eat braised pork, stir-fried vegetables and sugar. This kind of treatment is definitely very attractive to ordinary people. In particular, mountain people whose life is difficult.

According to many North Sea soldiers from the mountains of southern Germany, they used to hunt for meat in the mountains of southern Germany, but in addition to lack of salt, the success rate of hunting was also a big problem. After all, the mountains of southern Germany are densely populated and there are many hunters in the mountains. It is also very difficult to catch prey every day. If you don't catch prey one day, I'm afraid you will have to graze. Or, drink it in a soup of wild boar skin, deer skin, etc. left over from previous hunting, and taste the meat.

It is also now that most of the German princes are hostile to Marin and prevent the mountain people under his rule from going to Beihai to serve as soldiers. Otherwise, it shouldn't be too easy for Marin to recruit tens of thousands of people. There is no need to pay high wages. As long as the soldiers are willing to eat and drink enough every day, they can recruit a large number of mountain people to serve as soldiers.

Moreover, Kohler's spies also conducted questionnaires among the agents in the southern mountains. Investigate what? It is to let them eat the powder of the fried fish nuggets withdrawn from the North Sea Kingdom and bake it with rye flour, and add sucrose and salt to the military ration biscuits, and then ask them if they can accept this kind of biscuits often. The results showed that all the agents were satisfied with the tasty cookies.

In fact, it was Marin who was wrong. He was always substituting in the thinking of modern people. Modern people get tired of eating one kind of food every day, because modern materials are too rich, and people have many choices. For the European poor of this era, it is not bad to have enough to eat. The black baguette that is hard enough to be a brick and mixed with a lot of dirt and stones can't be eaten by many people, let alone this delicious and nutritious biscuit.

After receiving the feedback, Marin was both happy and depressed. He was happy that the military rations he produced were low-cost, but very popular. What was frustrating was that most of the princes were very disrespectful and actually prevented him from recruiting troops.

But he didn't think about it. He was so good at fighting, and let him recruit tens of thousands of troops. This is the rhythm of unifying Germany... Even princes who have a good relationship with Marin must consider the seriousness brought about by letting Marin recruit troops. as a result of. Although these princes are limited by the times and their vision is not wide enough, they are not fools. Even Emperor Maximilian I, who had a good relationship with Marin, would worry that Marin was too powerful.

…

Just when His Majesty the Emperor was complacent and led the army step by step and marched steadily towards Bern, a group of Italian mercenaries were passing through the Piedmont region in the Alps, preparing to cross the St. Bernard Pass and enter the Swiss region to help defend Bern. . Obviously, this is the arrival of Italian mercenaries hired by the German princes...

"Italian mercenaries? Can they beat Austrian knights?" King Francois I of France, who received the news, said in amazement.

At this time, Charles, the Count of Nantes, was very bright and said:

"It's really a good way, this can solve the urgent need!"

François I did not quite understand:

"Aiqing, what's so good about this? Everyone knows that Italian mercenaries are average in combat. They can't beat my French warriors, nor can they beat German mercenaries..."

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Earl Charlie nodded, but said excitedly:

"Your Majesty is right, but that is the field battle. The Italian mercenaries are indeed not as good as the French warriors or the German mercenaries in the field. However, there is no problem with defending the city!"

"Even if the combat strength is weaker, and there is a tall city wall as a support, this difference in combat strength will be offset! I remember it, it seems that Frederick the Great Elector had informed us before that he would hire Italians to help. Defend Switzerland. At the time, we didn't think so. But now it looks like a good move!"

"The German mercenaries could not be stopped. Although the French warriors could fight, they did not wear plate armor, and their combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced. After all, flesh and blood cannot resist swords and firearms. The Italian mercenaries are different, as long as the number is enough. More, it can also resist the siege of the Austrians!"

When François I and other French ministers heard it, they suddenly realized...

It is true that the French monarchs and ministers instinctively looked down on the Italian mercenaries before, but they forgot that in this battle, the Italians did not need to face the Austrian knights. No matter how fierce your knight is, you can't ride a horse and fly up the city wall. Without a horse, a knight's combat effectiveness would be reduced by more than half. And wearing plate armor to climb the city wall, that difficult...

On the contrary, the Italian mercenaries waited on the city walls and just had to push the Austrians down the walls...

"So, these Italian mercenaries are still very useful!" Francois I said happily.

You can use Italian mercenaries as cannon fodder to fight the Austrians to the death, and you can also send fewer French warriors to fight the Austrians to the death. If the city were broken, the French knights would be in danger. Because they were fake Swiss guards, those French knights could not identify the French knights and let the French kingdom redeem them. Once caught, the odds are worse. As for Italian mercenaries, life and death are not within the consideration of French monarchs and ministers.

"However, Bernie doesn't seem to have enough food to feed so many troops, right?" John Raffi questioned.

"It doesn't matter, I will send people to deliver food to Bern, including a batch of weapons and armor. The longer the Swiss hold on, the more financially strained the Austrians will be. Over time, Austria's finances will collapse on their own. Let's take action." François I said arrogantly.

"However, the food for tens of thousands of people...how much does it cost? The food is so expensive..." John Lafite knew Marin's plan, and he still planned to make trouble for the Swiss.

And Charles Count of Nantes laughed and said:

"John, don't worry, we won't be foolish to send them pure grain. We can mix the flour with sawdust, which can save a lot of grain. Besides, I heard that 30% of the Kohler bread in North Sea is milled with rye straw. We can also learn this trick and mix enough sawdust, grass chaff, and wild vegetables into the flour. In this way, we can save a lot of food.”

"Good idea!" French monarchs and ministers praised...

In this way, while the Italian mercenaries were still on their way, a kind of bread mixed with a lot of grass chaff, sawdust and wild vegetables imitating Kohler bread was made and bagged in France, and then shipped to Bern, Switzerland.

Since it was for Italian mercenaries, the French didn't care about the quality either. Although the bread is not mixed with soil and stones, the flour content is still the same as the baguette, and the flour content is only a small amount. Fortunately, because the soil and stones are replaced with grass bran, the bread is not so hard, and the taste is much better.

However, after all, it is bread with a large proportion of straw chaff and wood chips. This bread tastes choked up and tastes just as bad as the classic whole-grain cob noodles mixed with corn cobs. So, the Italian mercenary who ate this kind of bread for a long time hated to call this kind of bread - "French grass and sawdust cake"...Click to download the APP of this site, massive novels, Read it for free!