King of German Mercenaries

After Amerigo returned, Marin began to prepare for colonization. After all, the route has been discovered, and there are no hostile Indian tribes in the target area, so colonization is still very easy.

The only problem is the boat. Because, to establish a colony, not only have to transport a lot of materials, but also transport a lot of people. However, the number of people a ship can carry is limited. So, Marin needs enough ships.

Take the Galen ship "Mayflower" in the previous life as an example. This ship has a displacement of 180 tons and can carry 104 people, which is already the limit. Even the most practical 250 in Marin's hands will not carry more than 150 people.

It is estimated that it will take more than two months to three months to go from East Friesland to the North American Twin Islands, and it will take more than a month to come back. So, after all, a 250-level armed merchant ship can only transport 150 immigrants in half a year, and 300 people in a year.

To immigrate 10,000 people, it would take 34 ships to make two trips... Poor Marin now only has a few 250-class merchant ships, which is not enough...

Therefore, Marin feels that the research and development of 500-ton merchant ships needs to be put on the agenda as soon as possible. Because the 500-ton warship has been successfully developed, it is enough to reduce the rib of the ship. After all, merchant ships are not warships, and there is no need to consider the shelling resistance of the ship's side. However, if you want to mass-produce, you still have to go to the Americas for logging. After all, North American wood is cheap. Unlike in Europe, when manufacturing a 500-ton ship, it is difficult to find and expensive just for the main keel.

After thinking about it, Marin finally decided to buy 10 boats and make do with it. When their own shipbuilding starts, God knows it will be the year of the monkey and the month of the horse. Moreover, because the price revolution has not yet been experienced, the prices are not high. A 200-ton ready-made merchant ship costs only 3,000 gold coins. 10 ships, only 30,000 gold coins. And Marin's profit from cooking salt now reaches 400,000 gold coins a year, which is completely affordable. Although it had cost too much money to feed 10,000 troops, build new cities and reclaim wasteland, the Duchy of Saxony sent a war reparation of 1 million gold coins in an instant, which made Marin's bottom-out finances fill up again.

"What a good man the Duke of Saxony is!" thought Marin silently.

What Marin didn't know was that just two days before Christmas, Albrecht, Duke of Saxony, died of an illness. Before his death, the Duke of Saxony was still cursing Marin, the "hateful little brat". It's just that Dresden is far in the southeast of Germany, while East Friesland is in the northwest of Germany, and the news has not yet come.

Because the emperor asked for help, Marin had to send 2,500 people to Switzerland to help the emperor fight. But in this way, the regular army under Marin's command was reduced from 10,000 to 7,500. This scale is definitely enough for the princes who are content with the status quo, but it is too much. Who is Komarin? Ambitioner! With 7,500 people, Marin always felt that it was not enough.

Therefore, Marin these days, in addition to arranging to buy 10 merchant ships to transport colonists and supplies to the American colonies, most of the time he is thinking about the issue of expanding his army.

However, what troubles Marin is that it is not so easy to expand the army. It's not that Marin doesn't have the money to expand his army. After all, to support a 10,000-strong army, his annual salary is only 200,000 gold coins, regardless of the cost of gunpowder. Marin now holds 1 million gold coins paid by the Duke of Saxony, and there are hundreds of millions of pounds of grain in the granary, so there is no financial problem in expanding the army.

But diplomatically, this is not realistic...

The German region is a very peculiar region. Here, if the vassal states want to survive, in addition to their own strength, diplomacy is also very important. Even, if the diplomacy is done well, a weak country can still be prosperous.

Because, the German region, and even the entire European region, there are many countries.

Moreover, the German region basically does not completely crush the superpower of other countries. If such a force existed, I am afraid that the reunification of the German region would have been completed long ago.

It is precisely because there is no such a dominant superpower that the German region has maintained a divided state. Moreover, the princes are also very smart. Once any force has the signs of rising into a superpower, the other forces will form a group and fight against it together. Even before this superpower grows up, it will be suppressed together.

The reason why Maximilian I was hostile to most of the German princes was because Maximilian I revealed his ambition to unify Germany. Moreover, after winning the Duchy of Burgundy through marriage, the strength of the Habsburg family has indeed been greatly improved. If the Habsburg family had only one piece of territory in Austria, their strength would be similar to that of other electors. But because of the possession of Burgundy, especially the financially sound Netherlands region (mainly the Flanders with developed textile industry), the Habsburg family already has more strength than other electors. So, this led to the situation where the princes targeted the Habsburgs at the Imperial Council. When Maximilian I sent troops to Italy, at the imperial parliament, the princes tried their best to slow down the emperor, but they did not approve the levy of taxes, which made the emperor lack military spending. When the Italian allied forces were fighting the French in Fornovo, the emperor was still quarreling with the princes at the Imperial Council of Worms for money, which made the emperor's army miss the battle.

...

Therefore, if Marin wanted to expand his army, he had to ask the surrounding princes whether they would agree or not. If it provokes a backlash from the princes, Marin is very likely to be beaten by the princes in a group.

Therefore, the blatant expansion of the army is very risky. You know, the neighbors around Marin are not good people. For example, the Earl of Oldenburg, although it is a war scum, it has the Nordic overlord Denmark as its backing; the same is true of the Bishopric of Münster, whose backing is the Archbishopric of Cologne, one of the seven major imperial states, and it is also very powerful; As for Saxony in the west, needless to say, Saxony is... only the Archbishopric of Utrecht in the southwest, which has no background, but it is also a power of the Holy See, and cannot be easily offended...

That is to say, if Marin wants to forcibly expand the army, it may attract the backlash of the Nordic hegemon Denmark, the two great emperors and their affiliated forces, and the Archbishopric of Utrecht, which is not too weak.

Although it is a Quartet force, each force is a group, not just a country. If they offend them, the four major forces can at least call on twenty or thirty vassal states to fight together in East Frisian.

Therefore, Marin did not dare to directly and blatantly expand the army...

However, Marin now urgently needs to expand the army. why? Because, Marin's father-in-law, Archbishop Rovere, needs...

Although, according to history, the Archbishop of Rovere became Pope after the death of Alexander VI. But Marin's existence has changed history.

For example, the Spanish prince Juan, who should have died of illness, survived because of Marin's shot, and gave birth to a little prince with Princess Margaret. What made Marin speechless was that Prince Juan's son was named Marin. As for why this is so, it is said that Prince Juan is grateful for Marin's life-saving grace. If Marin hadn't rescued him, the little prince would never have been born. In this way, the king's grandson of Spain also took the name of Marin...

Similarly, Princess Isabel, the eldest sister of Prince Juan, who is also the Queen of Portugal, did not die due to the "flap" of Marin's "butterfly wings", but gave birth to the little prince smoothly...

Marin's greater influence was that, with the help of the Holy See, the spread of syphilis was curbed. In Europe, syphilis has been brought under control because of the papal ban. Although not completely eliminated, it is rare.

Marin can't guarantee that his father-in-law will safely ascend to the position of pope in the future. You must know that Caesar, the illegitimate son of the current Pope Alexander VI, is a ruthless man who dares to kill his own brother. He will never show mercy to his political opponent, Archbishop Rovere.

Moreover, now Caesar is the supreme military commander of the Papal State. Originally, Caesar and Alexander VI were poisoned by the "Cantrera" together, which caused him to lose his ability to move for a long time and could only lie in a hospital bed, thus failing to prevent the rise of the Archbishop of Rovere. .

Now the situation has changed. If Caesar was still alive and kicking when Alexander VI died, he would definitely use the Papal State army to intercept the political enemy Archbishop Rovere.

Therefore, Marin needed to prepare a large army to escort the Archbishop of Rovere to Rome after the death of Alexander VI to avoid accidents.

As for the size of the army, Marin believes that at least 5,000 people are needed, and 10,000 people are the best. In this way, with the protection of this army, Archbishop Rovere will not be afraid of any threats and changes.

However, it is also difficult for Marin now, and he cannot blatantly expand his army. Moreover, he did not dare to send all the troops to Rome with the Archbishop of Rovere. Because the country of East Friesland itself also needs a defense force. The surrounding area is full of wolves and hungry tigers. If the army leaves, Marin may be taken to his lair...

Marin thought of the Blackwater Company, and then thought of those big companies in later generations...

"Company... Company... Branch... Oops!" Marin suddenly patted his head, thinking of a good idea...

In his previous life, Marin worked in a large company, and of course, he worked in a branch. Marin thinks of this paragraph, just think of Blackwater Company. So, an idea formed in his mind...

"Since I can't expand the army in East Frisian, why can't I expand the army overseas in the name of the branch of the Blackwater Company?" Marin thought excitedly.

At present, if Marin wanted to add 10,000 troops to the territory of East Frisian Country, it would terrify the surrounding countries. But getting the army far away from East Frisian counties makes the surrounding neighbours less sensitive.

So, where to open the "branch"? Marlin starts to think...

In the beginning, Marin wanted to get people to North America. However, to transport 10,000 troops to North America, Marin obviously does not have the transportation capacity. Moreover, in that case, the logistical pressure is also enormous. After all, the North American colonies were undeveloped and did not have the ability to produce food. If the food was shipped from Europe, the cost would be too high.

Then, Marin thought of Cork, on the island of Ireland. Now, there is also secretly controlled by Marin. However, putting 10,000 troops there would also frighten the princes on the island of Ireland. After all, the island of Ireland is now torn apart, and there are not many troops. Generally, the small princes only have one or two thousand troops. You put 10,000 troops in the past, and those little Irish princes are not scared to pee?

They were scared to pee, and Marin wasn't worried. However, I'm afraid they will report the matter to Henry VII...

When Henry VII heard that there was an army of 10,000 people emerging from the island of Ireland, was he still nervous? Perhaps, Henry VII will strike first. Marin is not afraid of Henry VII, but he is also the king of England, so he can still use an army of ten or twenty thousand. Even if the 10,000 people under Marin did not fail, they would still suffer huge losses. At that time, for no reason, Edward will take advantage of it. Therefore, it is unrealistic to put 10,000 troops on the island of Ireland.

In the end, then, only the Teutonic state was the most suitable...Marin thought...

The Teutonic State is not a small country, with an area of ​​about 30,000 to 40,000 square kilometers, which is more than ten times the size of East Frisian. Moreover, now that the Teutonic state is the boss of Marin's ally Philip, Marin still has the opportunity to secretly put an army there.

In fact, Marin also heard that Prince Philip is now integrating the Teutonic forces. The original army, Philip did not trust. Because the Teutonic army is still a feudal army. The knights usually run their own industries, and only bring private soldiers to concentrate when they go to war. However, such an army, Prince Philip does not have much control. Therefore, Prince Philip sent 20 trustworthy young knights to learn the experience of "Marin Phalanx" from Marin.

In other words, Prince Philip intends to build an army of his own in order to complete the control of the Teutonic state. At this time, Marin could completely place the 10,000 troops in the Teutonic territory through Philip.

As for the price to be paid, it is very simple. Marin intends to directly send Schwartz and other officers, as well as a large number of grass-roots officers, to train these 10,000 people. At the same time, he also helped Philip train the new army. With the help of skilled hands such as Schwartz, Philip's new army is also easier to train.

As for the name of these 10,000 people? Marin made a plan to open a new company directly, called "Baishui Company", and on the surface, his uncle Yule was the legal representative.

Jules himself was a high-ranking official of the Teutonic State. He made an army, and people thought it was Philip's forces, so no one would lose face. After all, Jules is now the most popular man under Philippe.

Moreover, the Teutonic state is a special case, it is now facing the combined oppression of Poles and Lithuanians. Being able to have one more army, even those knight lords, would not be too objectionable. Because the Teutonic state could be at war with Poland and Lithuania at any time.

Even Marin thought about it. Not only did he want to train mercenaries in the Teutonic State, but he also planned to have the Swedish ruling old Sten Sture send a group of officers over to train with the new army and learn the "Marin Phalanx" together. By the time the old Sten Stuley launched his independence uprising, these officers would also be able to command the army to use the advanced Spanish phalanx against the Danish repression.

In this way, opening a branch of the mercenary company in the Teutonic Kingdom is not only beneficial to Marin himself, but also beneficial to the Teutonic Kingdom and Sweden. It can be said that it is a win-win situation for all parties, and everyone is happy...