King of German Mercenaries

At the end of autumn, the musket craftsmen and armor craftsmen that Marin expected were also recruited from Spain and southern Germany respectively.

In order to recruit these craftsmen, Marin has gone to great lengths. Because, Marin's men are extremely lack of talent. Also, none of his staff knew Spanish.

To this end, in desperation, Marin could only turn to Jewish merchants who traveled all over Europe for help. But sadly, Jewish merchants can get along well in other countries, but it is very tragic in Spain. Because, as early as 1492, Spain (including the Kingdom of Aragon and the Kingdom of Castile) under the auspices of the two husband and wife kings, carried out the persecution of the Jews. Most of the Jews in Spain, except for a small number of converts to Catholicism, were expelled from the country, and their properties were confiscated and robbed.

Therefore, the Jewish merchants with great powers could not go to the anti-Jewish Spain to help Marin hire the craftsmen who made the Mushkert muskets. But fortunately, a Jewish businessman came up with a solution - he came forward and invited a familiar Italian businessman to go to Spain and hire musket craftsmen on his behalf.

In this way, after paying double commissions, Marin struggled to acquire 20 Spanish craftsmen who were good at making Musquete muskets.

The recruitment of armor craftsmen is much smoother, because armor craftsmen are basically from southern Germany. Marin casually hired a few articulate businessmen, and let them hire 30 armor craftsmen from Augsburg, Nuremberg and other regions.

In fact, Marin did not lack armor. In his hand, he still had 1,000 sets of plate armor seized from France. However, the full body plate armor is too bulky and is only suitable for heavy armor knights.

However, what Marin wanted to do was the Spanish phalanx, with infantry as the main force. Therefore, even if the breastplate of the full body plate armor is removed and worn, it is a little bulky. Furthermore, it is still light and bulky. Mainly, the waist of the full body armor is restricted by the plate armor itself, and it is inconvenient to turn around and move around.

The reason why Marin recruited these armor craftsmen was to create steel helmets and breastplates. In addition to this, create a chainmail belt.

As an infantry, the breastplate worn is naturally three-quarters of the two iron plates at the front and rear. However, this breastplate has no defense against the waist. If the enemy spearman jabbed at the waist, it would be miserable. Therefore, after thinking about it, Marin decided to equip the soldiers with chain armor belts that do not affect the movement, which has a certain degree of protection and does not affect the movement.

After the craftsmen arrived, Marin hurriedly imported a large number of iron ingots and chains (used to make chain armor belts) from the UK, and made them a Mushkert musket and a three-piece infantry suit—steel helmet, three-quarters Breastplate and Chain Belt. Of course, the construction of spears and sapper shovels has not fallen.

After a long period of overtime, by the end of November, the craftsmen had built 200 Mushkert muskets and a large number of infantry three-piece suits.

With the equipment, the matter of recruiting phalanx infantry was immediately put on the agenda...

Marin remembers that the earliest German mercenaries seemed to come from Alsace, Württemberg, Baden, and Tyrol, Austria. The peasants of Alsace, and the mountain people of Württemberg, were the main force of the early German mercenaries (Landsknechts).

Alsace is located on the border between Shinra and France, where the land is fertile. However, there are too many people. Therefore, there is a large surplus of labor here. For example, the redundant serfs who were driven out by the manor...

As for the Württemberg area, it goes without saying that most of the whole territory is mountainous, and there are many mountain people, and they are relatively fierce. This is somewhat similar to the Swiss region. Swiss mercenaries are basically composed of Swiss mountain people.

The mountain people who live in the mountains have good physical fitness because they often walk on the mountain roads. In addition, the backers eat the mountains, they often go hunting in the mountains, and maybe they have to fight with beasts. And, because the mountains are barren, they often have to go hungry, so they have good willpower. Therefore, their ability to survive and fight often exceeds that of farmers in the plains. For example, the brave Danyang soldiers of the Three Kingdoms period came from the mountainous Danyang County (now Xuancheng, Anhui, not the Danyang that sells glasses in modern times).

And Kahn and Kohler are from the edge of the Black Forest in the Duchy of Württemberg.

Marin took into account that the Tyrol region of Austria is the home of the Habsburg family, and the people here are often more loyal to the Habsburg family. Therefore, Marin first ruled out recruiting troops in the Tyrol region.

Then, Marin's choice is left with the Alsace region and the Baden-Württemberg region. After thinking twice, Marin decided to recruit half of the people in each of the two areas mentioned above.

Among them, the recruiter to the Baden-Württemberg area was naturally Kohler. Kahn accompanied a team of soldiers to protect Kohler and was responsible for bringing the recruits back to Texel Island.

It was Schwartz who went to Alsace to recruit soldiers. He will be responsible for recruiting bankrupt peasants and serfs in the Alsace region. The peasants in the Alsace region may not be as powerful as the brave Württemberg mountain people, but they are more obedient and disciplined.

However, these serf-born soldiers were obedient, but lacked courage. Therefore, Marin needs ordinary brave Wurttemberg mountain people to drive these Alsatian farmers. The courage of the mountain people will stimulate the Alsatian peasants to become more courageous. And the discipline of the Alsatian peasants will infect those who are too free. It can be said that the two can influence each other. What Marin has to do is mix the two together, let them influence each other, and control them for the better.

As for the "father of German mercenaries" Frenzberg, Marin did not arrange for him to go out and participate in the recruitment. Recruitment was an important ability in Germany. If a person can recruit a large number of mercenaries in a short period of time, then this person will definitely be noticed. Because this is an era when mercenaries are popular. Whoever has more mercenaries has more status.

Obviously, Schwartz and the Kahn brothers are Marin's cronies. The cultivation of recruiting ability naturally prioritizes them. And Frenzberg was the thug that Marin planned to give to the emperor, not Marin's confidant. Therefore, the ability to recruit soldiers, an important ability in the era of mercenaries, Marin does not want to cultivate at present.

Moreover, because Marin dug a large number of Frisian corners and recruited many Frisian fishermen, Marin was also worried that the Frisian Aristocratic Republic would come to trouble him. Therefore, Marin also needed Frenzberg, with 300 men who stayed behind, stationed in Den Burg to guard against a possible attack on the Frisian aristocratic republic.

At the same time, Marin promised Franzberg that the first phalanx on Texel would be headed by Franzberg. This made the young Franzberg excited and grateful to Marin. As for the "little thing" that didn't let him recruit troops, Franzberg immediately let go.

Before Schwartz and the Kahn brothers set out to recruit troops, Malin specifically warned that they must not recruit the homeless in those cities. Because, many of the unemployed vagabonds in these cities are from gangsters, and they are stern, bullying the soft and afraid of the hard. It's okay to let them fight against the wind, but it's easy to take the lead in running away in a tough fight.

And those serfs and mountain people, although they have little knowledge, they are relatively simple and obedient. They are simple in heart, and Xiao Jiujiu, who has no city people in their hearts, is the easiest to fool. These people, as long as they are trained and fooled, are definitely a powerful military force...