Chapter 1394： Military merit

Previously, in the war with the coalition forces of the eight kingdoms, Marin captured a total of 70,000 prisoners of war, including 30,000 civilians. In addition, there are more than 20,000 conscripts.

But in addition to these more than 50,000 people, there are about 16,000 mercenary prisoners of war. Originally, the coalition forces of the eight princes recruited more than 21,000 mercenaries. Later, 5,000 people were lost in the war, and the remaining 16,000 sound prisoners of war became Marin's prisoners of war.

Right now, it is already late February 1513. Seeing that, it will enter March, then April. Once in April, spring tillage will begin in full swing. At that time, all the captured civilians and conscripts will be put back to participate in spring cultivation. After all, the eight princely states are now Marin ’s site, and there is no reason not to engage in spring cultivation.

However, the remaining 16,000 mercenary prisoners of war are different. They are all professional soldiers, and they have long been out of production without arable land. In other words, these people are surplus labor.

It stands to reason that after the defeat, these mercenaries should be redeemed by the defeated employer. Or, simply surrender to the captive party and fight for Marin.

However, now that all eight princely states are extinguished, naturally no one will pay them a ransom. And Marin ’s North Sea State is not uncommon with these low-quality German mercenaries and will not be willing to hire them. Therefore, Marin did not think about how to place them before.

Now, when Marin was planning the city of Bremen, he suddenly thought of digging a small canal connecting the Weser River and the Ames River, naturally thinking of these 16,000 mercenary prisoners of war.

So, Marin made a decision to send troops to **** the 16,000 mercenary prisoners of war and help him to dig a canal connecting the Leda and Hangt rivers.

After all, it's just a small canal less than 10 kilometers away, and it doesn't require much depth and width. Even if the 16,000 laborers dug only 100 meters a day, it was decided that 100 days would be enough to dig the canal. Once this canal is opened, Marin is equivalent to connecting the three major rivers of the Rhine, Ames and Weser, which is very conducive to inland navigation.

In fact, because of the construction of this small canal, people with a clear eye can see the great economic development of the North Sea in the future. Heidel even suggested-to move to either Bremen or Oldenburg. Because once the canal was built, Bremen and Oldenburg on the side of the canal would become busy shipping centers.

But Marin firmly rejected this proposal ...

Why? Because as a military leader, Marin instinctively refused to build the capital on the riverside. After all, in ancient China's history, there were too many examples of large cities that were flooded by rivers.

For example, during the Battle of Jinyang among the three divisions of Jin, the Zhi's Jin Army and Han Zhaowei's three coalition forces used flooded Jinyang and the Flooded Zhi's Camp respectively, laying the foundation for the three divisions of Jin.

Later, when Qin wiped out the six kingdoms, Wang Ben besieged Wei Liang, the capital city of Wei (Kaifeng), and also used the method of digging the Yellow River to flood the Liang city and annexed Wei.

With these examples first, where did Marin dare to put the capital on the side of the big river? Although Europeans are relatively backward now, they still don't understand flooding. However, Marin felt that they would know sooner or later. Moreover, I might use this trick in the future. In this way, what should others do if they learn to deal with their capital?

Therefore, Marin insisted that the capital should be located in Orich, which has no big rivers around, instead of Emden, the port, which is afraid of flooding his capital. My wife and children are all placed in the capital. If you are drowned by water, your struggle will be meaningless ...

...

After arranging for the excavation of the canal, Marin returned to Aurich. At this time, Kohler and others had already calculated the military merits of this war. When Marin went back, it was natural to give meritorious soldiers a military medal.

The military medal is also Marin's "invention". Although there are medals in Europe in this era, only those who have been knighted are eligible to be awarded. The lowest medals have to be the knight medals of the Guardian Knights and the Golden Wool Knights.

The knight is obviously noble, so in this era, only nobles are eligible to wear medals.

But Marin cannot only honor the soldiers who have won the title, because this is not conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm of the generals. Therefore, Marin "invented" military medals to reward all brave soldiers.

Among them, the lowest-level military medal is made of oak and is called the "Warrior Medal". All brave soldiers fighting on the battlefield, even the lowest-level soldiers, may get it. Of course, the conditions for soldiers to obtain the "Warrior's Medal" are relatively harsh. For example, the first to enter the enemy camp, the first to climb to the top of the enemy city, to qualify for such a medal.

This oak medallion is painted on the surface to ensure corrosion resistance. A male teacher was carved on the wooden sign, representing bravery.

As for the soldiers who have won the Warrior Medal, the status of the whole family will immediately become different. For example, in the manor, the family status of ordinary soldiers is a little higher than that of ordinary serfs and enjoys a little priority. But if you get the medal of the warrior, then the treatment of this family member is equivalent to the management of the manor.

As for officers, Marin also set up military medals, but they are more advanced. The military medals of the officers are made of metal, and the eagle is engraved on it. But according to different materials, it can be divided into copper, silver and gold. Among them, the bronze eagle medal is mainly awarded to lower-level officers; the silver medal is mainly awarded to middle-level officers; the gold eagle medal is naturally awarded to senior generals.

The Warrior Medal made of oak is rougher and larger, and the way of hanging is also rough-hanging directly on the neck like a work card. The officer's eagle medal is much finer and smaller, so that it can be hung on the chest. As long as there are more copper buttons on the chest, it can be hung.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to withdraw from the military medal, Marin also took the opportunity to launch a military rank system. Among them, the soldiers are divided into three grades-pawns, second-class soldiers and first-class soldiers.

Among them, the recruits are all pawns. Those who have served for more than one year are all second-class soldiers. Then, recruits or second-class soldiers who have won the Warrior Medal are promoted to first-class soldiers.

If the first-class soldiers get the Warrior Medal, they will be promoted to non-commissioned officers. Sergeants are divided into four levels-corporal, sergeant, sergeant and sergeant.

However, non-commissioned officers belong to civilian officers, and can only be a team leader (25 team). The sergeant goes up, and naturally it is a lieutenant, that is a noble class officer.

Needless to say, the lieutenant is divided into three ranks: second lieutenant, lieutenant, and captain, and no captain. In the above, it is the school official, which is divided into four levels: major, lieutenant colonel, colonel and university.

Among them, the second lieutenant and the lieutenant correspond to the deputy company captain (250-man company), and the captain corresponds to the company captain. Majors and Lieutenant Colonels correspond to the deputy leader and the colonel to the leader.

However, although the university is also in the category of school officials, Marin does not intend to use it to award frontline officers, but intends to use it to award future staff and civilian officers. Now, Marin ’s army is an illiteracy concentration camp. As for staff and civilian officers, there is no such thing.

Then, in the upward direction is the general. Brigadier generals and major generals are awarded to the deputy army commander, and the lieutenant general is naturally the rank of army commander. As for the general, Marin generally does not grant. Because the largest organization in the Beihai Kingdom is the Army of Ten Thousand People, which is only equivalent to a division of future generations. Only when there is a similar establishment of the later generations, that is, a scale of 30,000 to 50,000, will the general be awarded the title.

As for now, Marin only granted himself a rank of general. Schwartz and several others were all lieutenants. As for the more advanced generals and marshals ... Marin rules-only the emperor or the crown prince is eligible to become a marshal; only the king is eligible to become a general ... and Marin is now the grand duke Awarded the rank of general ...

...

While working out military ranks and military medals, Marin also promoted the title of Schwarz, Stade and others-Earl ...

Of course, Marin increased the rank of the count-the count was also divided into three grades, the lowest was the count, then the vice count, and finally the count. The Schwarz, Stade, Kohler and Kahn, etc., are naturally confined from the earliest earl title. Otherwise, you will not be able to upgrade in the future ...

As for the new heads of legions, such as Wagner and Heinkes, they were awarded the title of Viscount. After all, they have a low starting point. Like Heinkes, he is currently only a subordinate to the third-grade Viscount. Steindorff was upgraded to a first-class Viscount, and the next time he was promoted, he would be able to join the Earl ...

At the same time, Marin also created a marquis, which is also divided into three levels for future rewards. But he did not list the Duke, because he is a Grand Duke himself and is not eligible to be a Duke. After all, the Grand Duke is only a half-level higher than the Duke, and is still a Duke. Only when he is promoted to the position of the king can he open his rank with the Duke, and be qualified for the title of Duke ...