King of German Mercenaries

When Marin came to Vienna again, it was already the end of November. In fact, if Marin wanted to arrive earlier, it only took ten days. After all, none of their ranks were on foot, they were all on horses and cars.

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

After entering the city, Marin began to look for a place to live. But what surprised him was that the hotels in Vienna were almost full at this time...

After inquiring carefully, I realized that it was Emperor Maximilian I who had indeed started recruiting mercenaries. Therefore, soldiers from all over the country who wanted to serve the emperor came one after another. This caused the Vienna hotel to be full of business.

Vienna in this era, but a city of more than 20,000 people. In the Ming Dynasty of the same period, this population was equivalent to a state city and a prefecture city. But in medieval Europe, it was already a big city.

How many hotels can there be in a small town with a population of more than 20,000? So, when thousands of young men who volunteered to be mercenaries poured into Vienna, the hotels were not enough. Many people who could not live in hotels even bought tents and set up tents in the city.

Marin and his party of seven, along with 6 horses and a cow, naturally couldn't just find land. To this end, Malin specially 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 settling in, Marin continued to go to the tavern in the city to inquire about the news...

The situation was not much different from Marin's estimate, and even worse. Originally, Marin believed that although it was difficult for His Majesty the Emperor to get money from the Imperial Parliament, he could still collect war taxes smoothly in Austria and Burgundy, where he belonged.

But the reality is that Austrian taxation is fine. After all, the Habsburgs have ruled here for a long time, and the control is not bad.

But the Duchy of Burgundy was inherited by Maximilian I through the marriage of the daughter of the Duke of Burgundy "Charles the Bold". Strictly speaking, Maximilian I is currently only the regent of the Duchy of Burgundy. The real owner of the Principality of Burgundy is the son of Maximilian I - Philip the "Beautiful Man". Of course, this was Philip's later nickname, and now Philip is still an underage boy about the same age as Marin.

In the Duchy of Burgundy, there is its own council of nobles. And this council holds the power of local taxation. Even if the duke levied taxes, the consent of this council had to be obtained.

Unfortunately, the Burgundian Parliament, and Maximilian I were very incompatible. At one time, Maximilian I was under house arrest in the Burgundian palace by the Burgundian parliament, and 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. It was as difficult for Maximilian I to impose a war tax in the Duchy of Burgundy as it was for him to obtain a mandate to impose a war tax in the Imperial Parliament.

Therefore, at present, Maximilian I has only collected a batch of war taxes in Austria. They are limited in number and the number of troops they can support is also limited. If he wants to expand his army on a large scale, at least until the Imperial and Burgundian parliaments agree with him to impose a war tax.

At present, the emperor with limited funds can only recruit part of the army first. However, when they learned that the emperor was recruiting troops, the enthusiasm of the people in the whole country was high. You must know that fighting for the emperor and getting a salary are secondary, and being able to become a noble is the most tempting.

What is an emperor? The emperor is the greatest canonizer of nobility in the Holy Roman Empire. As long as the emperor is willing, he can promote the earl to the duke, the duke can be crowned as the king, and the ordinary people can be canonized as nobles. As long as you can give a title of nobility,

Even if there is no salary, there will be a lot of people going forward.

Therefore, as soon as I heard that the emperor was recruiting troops, all kinds of people from all over the country flocked to Vienna. Among them, there are sons of noble families who have no right of inheritance, such as wandering knights, bankrupt farmers and handicraftsmen, and even gangsters and beggars. They all had the same dream of wealth and wealth and gathered in Vienna.

Among them, the most favored by the emperor are the wandering knights. The wandering knights are all born in knight families, all of them are armed with martial arts, and their fighting power is far beyond ordinary people. Moreover, wandering knights usually bring their own horses, armor and weapons. As long as the wandering knights are organized into teams, and with a little training, they can enter the war as a powerful force.

At the same time, Maximilian I was actually a plate armourer, especially fond of Gothic plate armour. Otherwise, he would not have designed the famous Maximilian armor himself in a few years.

However, for Maximilian I, there was a big problem - it cost a lot to feed the knights. Generally speaking, to recruit an infantry, you only need to pay 3 Finneys a day. In addition, during the war, the soldiers are provided with free meals, which is the kind of black bread that can be used as a brick to smash people.

A knight can be recruited, but a knight can be recruited and paid up to 2 shillings (24 pfennig) a day. In addition, although the cost of the five attendants of the knights is borne by the knights, the food of the knights and their attendants, as well as their livestock, must be borne by the emperor. Therefore, the cost of recruiting knights is high.

Moreover, after the Battle of Nancy, the position of the knights declined after the Swiss pikemen restrained the plate knights. And Maximilian I, imitating the Swiss mercenaries, began to recruit civilians in Germany to serve as pikemen, learning the tactics of the Swiss.

Of course, the role of the knight is also great. Not to mention Maximilian I's love for plate knights, on the battlefield, once the enemy's pikemen battle formation is torn open, it is also necessary for the knights to launch an assault to expand the victory. Moreover, the enemy's artillery positions also need to be removed by knights. Because the artillery was too much of a threat to the front of the pikemen. In the Anglo-French War, the French were abused by the British longbowmen and could not find the north at first, but after the massive use of artillery in the second half of the period, the war situation was gradually reversed, and the British were finally driven from France. go out. The artillery bombarded the spearmen in a dense formation, absolutely sweeping away a large area. The incomparable Napoleon of later generations, relying on a large number of artillery in a line, smashed the opponent's infantry line. However, at that time the French army used cannonballs with a huge killing area, and now the artillery uses solid bullets or even stone bullets.

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

Hearing that the emperor only recruited 500 knights, Marin felt bad. You must know that there are many small countries in the German region, and knight leaders are everywhere. Therefore, there are wandering knights everywhere in Germany. Today, the emperor recruits troops, and the number of wandering knights who come to apply is estimated to be in the thousands. However, the emperor only has 500 people, which is too pitiful. This difficulty is much more difficult than the college entrance examination for undergraduates, the difficulty of properly taking the famous university...

In fact, the emperor recruited these 500 knights as officers. In Europe, officers were generally held by nobles. For example, the commander-in-chief of the emperor's army is currently the Count of Hohenzollern of the Swabian family. However, in an army, in addition to senior officers, there are also junior officers. It is impossible for a civilian to serve as an officer, not even a low-level officer. At most, a civilian can only be a non-commissioned officer. Therefore, the general grass-roots officers are composed of knights, and the worst, they have to be wandering knights from a knight family. Because, in this era, civilians basically have no military education. Only noble families will teach military skills and tactics. Therefore, these 500 knights are actually the grass-roots officers prepared by the emperor for the future army.

As it turns out, Marin was right. When the news was received, the population of Vienna increased a lot in an instant. In order to prevent some mercenaries who were not afraid of death from making trouble in the city, Maximilian I arranged the recruitment of infantry outside Vienna, and as for the city, he was only responsible for recruiting knights.

But what surprised Marin was that three or four thousand wandering knights had already gathered in the city at this time. Moreover, there are still wandering knights coming from all over the place...

Finally, at the end of December, Maximilian I announced the start of the Tournament Conference to select knights by competition.

The competition is based on the elimination system. Those who are eliminated in the first round will not have another chance. And for those who can pass the first round, there is still a chance to challenge.

The official game is divided into three games. After the opponent was drawn by lot, the first match was not a competition, but the organization staff verified the knights, horses, armor and weapons. Especially war horses, you must never pass a draught horse as a war horse. To this end, there will be professional Soma professionals to review the horses of the knights. After all, the emperor recruited ready-to-use mercenaries, and the recruits needed to bring their own horses, weapons and armor. If the emperor was to prepare war horses, the cost would be too high. Therefore, only the knights who have completed the test of the horses and weapons and armor can enter the second round - the foot battle. After the foot war is over, it is a horse war.

Marin was not very lucky, and he drew a very strong knight in the first round. Looking at his face, it is estimated that he is around twenty-seven or eight years old, which is the peak period of a knight. And Marin is only 16 years old, not fully developed yet.

The first round of verification of war horses and weapons and armor is naturally no problem. Marin's missing plate legs and boots had also been restocked when he was at Hoffman Manor.

In the second round of foot-battles, Marin and the knight fought with wooden two-handed swords. For foot combat, although Marin is not very strong, both the previous Marin and the traverser Marin have rich combat skills. Moreover, Marin, the transmigrator, also understands the Tai Chi principle of "four liang of a thousand jins".

Therefore, even though his strength was much smaller than his opponent's in foot combat, Marin often used the method of "four or two to move a thousand pounds", always swinging away the wooden sword that the opponent had slashed over, making the opponent's fierce attack to no avail.

European knights do not move left and right in their martial arts like Eastern martial arts, and they pay attention to footwork. Because even if the knights fight on foot, they wear full-body plate armor with limited mobility. It is inconvenient to move around.

Therefore, knights fought on foot, generally using two-handed swords or battle axes, and slashed or smashed each other violently. Because the armor of both sides is very thick, no violence can't break the other's plate armor at all.

Marin is not afraid of violent confrontation. Although, his strength is much smaller than his opponent. However, he knew a little about Tai Chi sword. Even with a two-handed sword, he can swing away the opponent's slashes. However, the Tai Chi Sword Master is not good at attacking. He can swing away the opponent's wooden sword, but he can't bring down the opponent. Because the knight who was fighting against him had a very stable bottom, and even if the wooden sword was swayed, he would not lose his center of gravity.

So, duel on foot, Marin and the knight fought for a long time. Unlike other knights' foot-battle competitions, after one or two outbreaks, one person is defeated.

In the end, the referee became impatient and announced that the two were level with each other...

Then, the two entered the horse battle. Immediately the competition is carried out on a long field. In the middle of the field, there is a wooden fence. The knights on both sides were on one side of the fence, and the fence was to the right of the direction they were heading.

After the contest began, the knights on both sides drove their respective warhorses, began to accelerate, straightened their lances with their right hands, and collided violently above the wooden fence. Moreover, the requirements of the competition are only to stab the opponent's chest, and it is forbidden to stab the head and horses, which is to reduce casualties as much as possible.

It is precisely because of these many restrictions that Marin cannot let go. Fighting head-to-head with his opponent, Marin was obviously not an opponent in terms of strength. However, when he was wearing a full set of plate armor, it was more difficult for him to dodge on horseback.

Sure enough, after the first collision, Marin deeply felt the advantage of his opponent's strength. Although Marin avoided the stab of the opponent's lance, he also used his own lance to parry the opponent's lance. However, this round of collision made his arm go numb, and he almost let go of the spear.

After barely resisting two rounds, Marin felt that his arm was almost not his own. Finally, in the third round of hedging, the knight on the opposite side seemed to have adapted to Marin's blocking style, feinted a shot, avoided Marin's lance's block, and then quickly stabbed Marin's breastplate, knocking Marin's back. down the horse...

The horse speed of this knight competition is much higher than when he played against two rookies Kahn and Schwartz at home. Moreover, the ground is not specially paved with grass, but normal grass. Therefore, after falling off the horse, Marin couldn't get up for a long time. In the end, it was only with the help of the servants that he was carried back to the bullock cart driven by Kohler.

However, according to the principle of a one-round elimination system, this time, Marin was considered to have been defeated in the selection of knights, and he was not qualified to challenge. So, lying on the bullock cart, Marin was hurt. Not only is the body hurt, but the heart is also very sad...

"As a traveler, am I not the protagonist? Why, I couldn't even pass the first round of this knight trial? If I can't be the emperor's knight, how can I stand out as an officer? Do I want to be a cannon fodder like a pikeman?" In bed, Marlin thought sadly...

In fact, the most important reason why Marin wanted to recruit the knights recruited by the emperor was because of Marintu's identity. The current Marin, regardless of his equipment, is no different from other knights, but in fact, he is not a real knight at all. At least, he is not officially recognized as an official knight.

Those who have the resources and abilities of knights like Marin, but have not been officially recognized, have a special name - apprentice knights.

Apprentice knights can only be regarded as prepared knights, not formal knights. You know, those with officially recognized knighthood are nobles. And apprentice knights, before being sealed, can only be considered commoners. At most, they are the sons of nobles. Or, there is another name - Junker.

There are three kinds of knights, the first is the most powerful knight, called the fief knight. This kind of knight is usually made a knight by a high-ranking lord or king after he has made great military exploits, and rewards the fief (fiefdom). Knight fiefs can be hereditary, but the premise is that each generation of this knight family must provide a fully-armed knight for the canonizer to fight for the canonizer. If there is no one in the family who can serve as a knight for the Conqueror, the fief may be taken back. There are also some that will not be taken back, it depends on the mood of the lord to whom this knight family is loyal.

Like the Hoffman family, it is the fief knight family of the Earl of Mark. The eldest son of each generation of the Hoffman family must put on plate armor, mount a war horse, and fight for the earl when he is called by the earl of Mark.

Below the fief knights are the inner knights. Such knights are generally born in non-eldest sons of noble families, including knight families, and they are born without the right of inheritance. Like the non-eldest son of a knight family, even the nobility has been lost. In order to become a "superior person" like the nobles, they practiced martial arts and cavalry since childhood.

Because there are no fiefs, the non-eldest sons of these noble families (usually low-level nobles) have to apply for jobs from the great nobles and become the inner knights of the great nobles or kings. Safety of the noble family and castle property.

In return, the king or the great nobles will bestow these knights with official titles of knights. Since then, these people have become nobles and enjoy many privileges.

As for apprentice knights, before they were officially appointed, they were just ordinary people, not aristocrats. Although, their combat power is not necessarily inferior to the official knights.

The reason why Marin sharpened his head to apply for the imperial knighthood was to obtain an official knighthood title and the lowest noble status. With the skin of aristocratic status, Marin will not be treated as a mustard by those big men, and he will be pinched to death casually.

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

However, Marin did not want to be a heavy cavalry. Because, even if you become a heavy cavalry, it is impossible to get the title of knight. Without a title, one cannot become a noble. Moreover, when fighting, those formal knights are naturally officers, and those without knight titles are naturally big-headed soldiers, at most higher than the infantry...

In medieval Europe, aristocratic status, like the scholar status in the Ming Dynasty, was an all-purpose pass. In the Ming Dynasty, scholars could travel the world without restriction. Ordinary people, if they leave their hometown for a hundred miles, must go to the government to lead the way, otherwise they will travel illegally...

The same is true in Europe. Nobles can run amok in the world, and even exempt from paying the city tax. For civilians, they must pay an entry tax when entering the city, and they must also pay various taxes when they pass the checkpoint. Moreover, sometimes when you encounter an arrogant tax officer, increase your taxes and blackmail you, you can't do anything about it. But for nobles, they have no right to do so. Even if the nobles beat people to death, they will not be sentenced to death, and at most lose some money. Unless, he killed the same nobles. In short, nobles walked sideways in medieval Europe, as long as they did not encounter nobles who were more powerful than themselves. This is also the reason why Marin wants to become a nobleman. At least, after becoming a nobleman, he will not be killed and there will be no redress. If he travels to the Ming Dynasty in the East at the same time, Marin will properly take the imperial examination, and first get a name like a talisman...

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