King of German Mercenaries

In the back of his mind, Marin thought of the famous Earl of Tilly during the Thirty Years' War. This guy relied on the Spanish phalanx he learned in Spain, and played all over Europe, "one trick to eat all over the sky". In the end, it was just this trick to get the title of Earl of the Empire.

If he hadn't met Gustav II, the more powerful "ancestor of the modern army" in the end, and was killed, this guy might have become a duke.

Tilly was not a knight, and, in the seventeenth century, knighthood was completely lost. Relying on the infantry tactics of the Spanish phalanx, this guy has grown from a small mercenary leader to a famous European leader.

In fact, Marin has long been imitating the idea of ​​Earl Tilly. However, before, he considered that even the smallest Spanish phalanx had more than a thousand people.

In the emperor's army, there are more than 1,000 people who are qualified to command - even if it is an infantry, the minimum requirement is to be a noble. But Marin is currently only a trainee knight, not a knight or a nobleman. Therefore, he never thought about starting a team by himself before, but planned to become a noble first.

Because the German mercenaries are just emerging, all officers must be nobles. In the army, civilians are at most non-commissioned officers, that is, positions between officers and soldiers.

And the mercenaries before the emperor, in fact, rely on some local nobles to gather for him. To be more precise, the emperor's biggest military support at present is the Swabian Alliance (the large and small princes in the Swabian region, including the Earl of Württemberg, etc.).

That is to say, the current generals in the emperor's army are also mainly large and small nobles of the Swabian family. As for the officers of noble origin in other regions, only a minority.

This is also something that can't be done. At the beginning, the former emperor Frederick was very pustulous and fought with Hungary. As a result, he lost most of his old nest, Austria, and also lost Vienna. Therefore, not many people were willing to support the incompetent Habsburg family at that time. As for Maximilian I, who took over as emperor, at the beginning of his ascension, few great nobles supported him. Even many electors and their supporters want to restore the electoral system and break the Habsburg family's monopoly on the throne.

The Swabian League stood firmly on the side of Maximilian I at the most difficult time of Emperor Maximilian I. Even Maximilian I formed German mercenaries for the first time, and it was the nobles of the Swabian family who strongly supported and took the lead in responding.

For example, Frederick II, Earl of Hohenzollern of the Swabian League, was the most active responder to Maximilian I. Even later, this guy became the emperor's best friend, and Maximilian I trusted him very much, and handed over all the power to him. Now, this count is the supreme commander of the army controlled by the Habsburg family.

Because of this, the emperor's early army consisted mostly of Swabian generals. The mercenaries in other places have not yet developed. It was not until after the 16th century that mercenaries in the rest of Germany developed.

But in any case, in Germany, mercenaries are still a new group, and it has not yet formed a fixed habit. That said, at this moment, Marin can totally lead the trend, not follow it. Because the trend has not yet formed.

Although it is said that according to the unspoken rules of ancient Europe, officers should be nobles. However, although Marin is not a nobleman, he is also a descendant of a nobleman. Therefore, it is barely considered a nobleman's "own person". Pull up a team by yourself, and it is the lowest level infantry team, and no one will embarrass yourself. If you were born as a serf and wanted to lead the team yourself, you would definitely not be recognized by the aristocratic class. This was ancient Europe.

After negotiating with his two smarter men, Kohler and Schwartz, Marin decided to recruit those young people who were unsuccessful under the guise of official knights. Of course, recruiting the best among them.

The reason why you lied about being an official knight,

It's to win people's trust. In ancient Europe, the prestige of the nobility was high, although there were many scum among them. The nobles recruited the army, and everyone must think that they are doing business, it should be to protect the family and the country.

If any civilian goes to pull up the team, it may be regarded by the official as forming a team of robbers, and then directly send troops to suppress it...

To this end, Marin played the family emblem of the Hoffman family - on a shield, there was a knight carrying a black cross flag...

In medieval Europe, there was no national flag, but each noble family had its own emblem. Only aristocratic families will have emblems representing family identity. A family emblem like the Hoffman family implies that this is a knightly family. For those royal families, the family emblem is often stamped with a crown.

In fact, as a wandering knight who was kicked out of the family, Marin should not be allowed to play the family emblem of the original family. Because, from the moment he was kicked out of the house, he should start anew and no longer belong to the Hoffmann estate on the Ruhr.

But now, in order to show convincing, it's okay to borrow the family crest. Moreover, he is indeed from this family. Even if old Hoffman and Adler knew, they wouldn't say anything. Besides, he only intends to deceive the commoners from the bottom of the society, not to deceive the nobles, and he does not need to bear any legal responsibility.

...

Next, Marin played the name of the Hoffman family fief knight, and began to fool the unlucky people who were out of luck but were actually very good.

To this end, Marin personally selected in the competition arena. Because as long as number 100, Marin can choose by himself.

Marin's selection criteria are different from ordinary people. First of all, he naturally wants stronger people. However, being strong is not the only criterion. For example, for those losers, Marin's requirements for martial arts are actually not the most important.

What Marin values ​​most is the mental performance of the losers in the competition. For example, an indomitable fighting spirit...

Marin knows that on the battlefield, it is not just your martial arts. Mental endurance and courage are also very important. Those with poor mental quality can easily collapse when they encounter a disadvantage.

But it is difficult to judge whether the psychological quality is good or bad. Generally speaking, for a winner, you can't see the quality of his psychological quality. It depends on the quality of a person's psychological quality, mainly when the person fails.

Only when people encounter failure can they show their vulnerable and unbearable side. Those who are not reconciled to failure and those who face failure calmly are qualified psychologically.

For the army, the most rare quality is to have the will to not admit defeat when it fails. If you look at it with colored eyes, you can also think that such a person is brave and ruthless.

Of course, while being brave and fierce, but also maintaining obedience to discipline, this is the best soldier. Otherwise, those who disobey discipline and fight bravely are not soldiers, but robbers.

...

For several days, Marin selected more than 200 young people who were very unwilling after their failures. Moreover, these people have a kind of indomitable spirit in the duel, not afraid of injury.

Then, Marin asked Kohler and a few, one by one, to invite them to the small courtyard he rented to talk...

Marin told these people that after the emperor's second batch of funds was in place, he would definitely expand his army again. After all, the French have an army of 60,000. If the emperor wanted to fight against the French, he would have to recruit at least tens of thousands of people.

It would be a pity for these failed applicants to go home now. On the other hand, Marin, in the name of the Hoffman family, planned to form a mercenary group on his own, first staying near Vienna to concentrate on training and improvement. After the second batch of emperors began to recruit troops, they would apply for the job in the name of a whole to increase the chance of being selected.

"Mr. Hoffman, why should we listen to you?" a rebellious young man questioned.

Marin was not angry, but said with a smile:

"Because I came from a noble family and learned the method of commanding the army!"

"This..." No one said a word immediately.

You must know that those who came to apply for the spearmen are basically from poor families, and basically have no culture, let alone know how to command and fight. In front of this group of rough people, Marin can show off his cultural level to the fullest, and the other party is powerless to refute...

"And what about this salary?"

"I'm not the emperor, how can I have so much money..."

"Then you still recruit us? Do you want to command us without giving money?"

"I don't have the money to pay my salary, but before the emperor recruits troops for the second time, I can provide you with meals for free. Presumably everyone is from a commoner family and has no money. If you stay in Vienna for a long time, meals are also a lot of expenses. I can Pay for the meal..."

...

"Okay, just do as you said. You train us with the army command method that only nobles understand, but you have to worry about ********..."

In the end, 80 people gave in. The other one hundred and dozens of people were either rebellious and did not obey orders, or they did not look down on the small temple of Marin and refused to give in.

As a result, Marin finally recruited 80 good young people and formally formed the "Hoffman Mercenary Corps" that would later be Megatron Europa...

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