Chapter 2084： Emperor's grand plan

"The rise of the emperor (!

Probably the habit of secrecy has been committed again. In order to keep it secret, Marin came up with an export model of "Jiangnan Tannery" armor. Specifically, only steel sheets were inserted into the leather bag, not paper, silk or sisal cloth.

Moreover, the inserted steel sheets are not high-manganese steel sheets, but high-carbon steel sheets. Of course, this kind of leather bandage armor with steel sheets is okay to defend against the stabs of bows and arrows and spears, just like plate armor. The only thing better than plate armor is probably more suitable for bending over and turning around. Unlike plate armor, posterity can only stand upright after wearing it.

Because the production of high-carbon steel sheet is much simpler than that of making plate armor, the manufacture of this kind of insert leather dressing armor is very simple. Its cost is also very low. General plate armor requires a long time to build by skilled craftsmen, so a pair of plate armor often requires dozens of gold coins.

And just the steel sheet inserted into the small leather bag, this thing blacksmith apprentice can be competent, and it takes very little time. Therefore, the cost of this armor is only 10 gold coins or even lower, which is much cheaper than those complicated plate armor. Even a larger horse armor costs about 15 gold coins.

Of course, other countries do not have high-carbon steel, and can only use iron flakes of pig iron. Although the performance is not as good as the high-carbon steel sheet of Beihai Country, it is enough. Because pig iron can also withstand bows and arrows, swords and spears. In the face of bullets, high-carbon steel sheets, like pig iron sheets, cannot stop...

In order to achieve the purpose of actively "leaking" secrets, Malin specially gifted 500 sets of high-carbon steel leather bandages to Prince Philip. Then, he deliberately revealed the secret of this armor. Tell those other spies lurking in Ghent—this is just a leather-wrapped iron armor.

Prince Philip did not care about this unsightly armor, but when the news reached Emperor Maximilian I, it attracted great attention!

Why? Just because Marin said, this thing is cheap!

Marin went further, saying that the cost was 10 gold coins. In fact, with the production level of the North Sea country, the cost is less than 5 gold coins. Because, in the factories of Beihai Country, the main production force is the workers who are responsible for only one production link, rather than the craftsmen who are responsible for several production links. Craftsmen’s wages are high, but workers’ daily wages are only 3 pfennigs, which is much lower than a craftsman’s daily salary of 1 shilling. Then, the high-carbon steel sheet was beaten repeatedly with a hydraulic forging hammer, not manually. The cost is naturally not high.

The general plate armor costs more than 20 or 30 gold coins, and the price is more than 50 gold coins. This high cost may be affordable for those knights with fiefdoms. However, it is too expensive for a wandering knight who does not have the right to inherit the land.

For example, when Marin left home, he didn't even get all the plate armor, only the breast plate and helmet, but no pants. This is not the poorest. Those who are poor simply give an old horse and a one-handed sword, and they go out and wander around. They can't even afford to ride a gun, so they can only get a stick and pretend to ride a gun.

Of course, the martial arts of these poor wandering knights are not bad. After all, when at home, they can still use their father and brother's horses, armor, and lances for training. But when you leave home, if you don't have spare weapons, armors and war horses, you can only wander in despair.

…

In addition, it needs to be pointed out that the heavy cavalry of various countries is actually divided into two parts-knights and cavalry!

A knight refers to a knight and a fief, and generally serves as an officer. As for the cavalry, although they are also from the knight family, they have no inheritance rights. It would be nice to be able to bring their own horses and armor. Those war horses and armors could not be prepared, and could not even be selected as heavy cavalry, and even forced to switch jobs to become inferior cavalry such as light cavalry.

Yes, you read that right, they are inferior cavalry! In this era, the Cavaliers have not been eliminated, and they still maintain a sense of superiority, thinking that they are superior. Even the heavy cavalry who wear armor feels high above themselves and look down on the light cavalry without armor.

Generally speaking, at this time in Europe, the light cavalry did not serve as the main attack, but as an auxiliary to the heavy cavalry, responsible for covering the flanks when the heavy cavalry charged. At the same time, it is also responsible for the chasing of rout troops and reconnaissance and other miscellaneous tasks. Therefore, their status and salary are far inferior to the heavy cavalry.

Very often, the light cavalry served as a knight's attendant, responsible for helping the knight master to put on plate armor before the battle and helping them mount their horses. When charging, he also serves as a light cavalry to cover the knight's flanks.

According to the custom of this era, a knight should take at least 5 attendants to fight. Among them, one is responsible for logistics, the other four, one is responsible for reconnaissance, and the other three or two (depending on the knight's financial resources) are responsible for following the battle on horseback and covering the knight's flanks. The knights go back and change their lances, they are responsible for breaking the back.

And those heavy cavalry who don't have titles and fiefdoms are generally assisted by two light cavalry officially equipped. Specifically, before the war, he helped him put on the plate armor to support his horse, after the fight, he was responsible for covering the flanks, and the gun was broken when changing...

…

The above is a traditional plate-armored knight, and the leather bandage armor provided by Malin is not only half cheaper, but also a knight wearing this armor does not need to be supported on the horse by himself.

As for marching, there is no need for each heavy cavalry to be equipped with two waiters. Only need a carriage, you can help 5 knight masters load armor and ride guns. In other words, 5 heavy cavalry can be equipped with one attendant. In this way, money can be greatly saved! And funding is what the poor ghost emperor is most short of!

Usually, these knights only need to wear a very ordinary leather breastplate on their body and wear a helmet. Once the battle started, he ran to the carriage to pick up his armor and lance, mounted himself on the horse, and launched a direct charge.

According to Marin, this kind of armor that is not cool enough to face cold weapons and hot weapons, the result is the same (one can be blocked, neither can be blocked). The cost is low, and it saves attendants, which is really a bargain!

What needs to be pointed out is that the key to saving the servants is not the cost of the servants, but the cost of the horses the servants ride! Even the most common riding horse consumes several times more food than humans. Therefore, reducing one horse means saving four or five people's rations!

After testing, it was found that this type of armor did indeed have the same effect as plate armor when facing cold weapons, and the poor emperor Maximilian I laughed up to the sky...

"Hahaha, the revival of my Habsburg family is hopeful!"

Why is the emperor so happy? Because he can explode! Moreover, burst heavy cavalry! Austria and the Netherlands do not lack noble children, but lack money, food and armor. At the same time, there is no shortage of noble children willing to serve the emperor in southern Germany!

Although the princes have been slandering the Habsburg family, Maximilian I is the emperor after all, and his righteousness lies there. Therefore, many children of knights and even barons who have no inheritance rights or access are actually willing to serve the emperor.

In particular, Marin, a child of the knight family who served the emperor, set an example for those noble children who aspire to succeed.

The result is that the princes are slandering the emperor, but under their rule, the children of the nobles who have no inheritance rights and no way out, they want to learn from Marin, serve for the emperor, and then obtain fiefdoms and knighthoods...

And this is also an important reason why the princes hate Marin. After all, he played a very bad (bad in the eyes of the princes) role model.

Where is the emperor? There is no money, but there is no shortage of horses. After all, horses are everywhere in this era, and there are many horses in Austria under the emperor. The emperor can't afford a horse, can't he still borrow a horse?

To fight war, the emperor opened his mouth and borrowed some war horses (mainly docile mares) from the nobles under his rule, and it was still possible to give some rent. Moreover, the Habsburg family has a horse farm, which can provide a lot of horses.

In addition, the emperor had the right to requisition the horses of civilians during the war!

Since there is no shortage of horses, and weapons are not expensive. Riding a gun is just a consumable, and the cost is not high. Then, the only problem is the armor!

It is impossible for civilians to have this thing, and the emperor would not be able to conquer it in battle. And Marin gave this kind of low-cost armor, and gave the emperor a solution. After all, Innsbruck has an arsenal opened by the emperor himself. This arsenal produces high-quality plate armor. Don’t make it too easy to produce this kind of leather bandage armor with steel sheets.

The emperor decided to expand 20,000 heavy cavalry!

The Habsburg family itself has 12,000 plate armored heavy cavalry, plus the expansion of 20,000 heavy cavalry, that is 32,000 heavy cavalry. At this scale, it can be reckless to meet France. Because France generally plays in battle, it also dispatched more than 20,000 plate-armored knights. Only in the battle of life and death and national mobilization will tens of thousands of plate armor heavy knights be dispatched.

Maximilian I decided to make a desperate move, and this time he severely damaged France once. Because the resistance in western Switzerland was mainly supported by France.

If the army of the Habsburgs defeated the Swiss Resistance, the French would definitely end up personally. At that time, facing twenty to thirty thousand French heavy cavalry, the Habsburg family's heavy cavalry with a not bad number, coupled with Frenzberg's infantry, will definitely be able to severely damage the French plate armor heavy cavalry!

However, after the enthusiasm of UU reading faded, Maximilian I had to face a very embarrassing problem-or money...

A set of steel leather bandage armor, plus the same type of horse armor, although much cheaper than the traditional one, but it costs 25 gold coins. 20,000 heavy cavalry is 500,000 gold coins...

The emperor’s brain hurts so much, he has to borrow money again...

In addition to the 500,000 gold coins equipped, the army also needs a lot of food and grass to fight. Even if it saves money and fights a war, two hundred thousand gold coins are still needed, or even not enough. Unless, you can make a quick decision.

Therefore, the emperor’s funding gap is as high as 700,000 to 800,000!

"Hey, I can only borrow money from the Marin and Fugger families!"

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