King of Mercenaries

Chapter 38: Problems are showing

According to the history Marin knows, the coalition forces will spend a long time gathering the army. It was not until the French went north that the initial gathering of more than 30,000 troops. Originally, the leader of this coalition should be the highest-ranking Emperor Maximilian I (the Pope is not a secular monarch, and it is impossible to lead the troops personally). However, the sad reminder of Maximilian I was trapped in Vienna (the imperial city, one of the points of the Imperial Parliament), and quarreled with the guys in the Imperial Parliament. When the French team left north, the emperor was still quarreling in Vienna. Even because the emperor did not arrive, the tens of thousands of troops of the Empire did not specifically participate in the Battle of Fornovovo, which was intercepted by the French army. At the same time, the Spanish army led by Gonzalo de Crdoba, in Sicily, peeked at the Neapolitan border, but did not dare to land in Naples, and the French were hard. So, in fact, the Battle of Fornovovo was actually played by the Italian coalition forces. The name of the commander of the battle is the Marquis of Mandova, Gonzaga. However, the Marquis of Gonzaga had insufficient prestige and was mediocre and could not command the coalition forces smoothly. Therefore, the coalition forces rushed to intercept the French army in the absence of direct command. There are few French soldiers, and they are not willing to die against the coalition forces, and they can't afford to join in. As a result, the French lost a lot of spoils robbed in Italy and rushed to the French territory.

In this way, the two sides actually played a similar match. King Charles VIII successfully withdrawn. Afterwards, both sides declared that they had won. However, no one has enough evidence to explain. In fact, the real situation is that the French broke through the defense line of the coalition and fled back to the country, but lost all the heavy infanty and looted property. The coalition interception failed, but it seized a lot of supplies. In particular, when Charles VIII deliberately sprinkled their plundered treasure on the road, the coalition cavalry were busy rushing to grab property, and they would not chase the Frenchman at all. Moreover, Marin once heard of a saying that syphilis seems to have erupted in Naples during this war. The reason why Charles VIII fled back to France, in fact, a large part of the reason is to avoid this rampant syphilis. At the same time, the Neapolitans also lead guerrilla warfare against the French army under the leadership of the King of Fernando of Naples, consuming the power of the French army. Under multiple strikes, and the sacred alliance threatened to cut off the alliance of the French returning troops, Charles VIII ordered to return to the north with the main force in panic. Moreover, the main force of the withdrawal was mainly 8000 French Knights.

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The reason why the Chavaliers were on the road is because the horses are not very good at sea. For example, infantry can return by French boat. However, cavalry is more difficult. First of all, a boat is going to occupy the position of several people. Moreover, horses need a lot of grain. Plus the horses have sea sickness. Therefore, loading 8,000 horses is very difficult and difficult. Because, at this time in Europe, there has not been designed a ship that specializes in the shipment of horses (there are many separate compartments of the ship, and Zheng He has a special boat for the horses in the Western Seas).

Horses can't be put together for a long time. When the horse owner is present, the horses are often obedient. But if the owner leaves, it is hard to say. The character of the war horse is often much more intense than the work horse. If the two horses are put together, if the master is not there, they will easily fight each other. For example, biting each other with their mouth and kicking the hooves together can easily cause horse injuries. And if the stallion (not castrated) and the mare come together, it will waste physical strength to do that shameful thing. Therefore, between the war horses, it is best not to put them together to avoid the two animals. Because of this, those who are squatting are usually only one horse in each compartment. If you want to ship the horses, the ship must first be modified to make a barrier like in the stable to avoid contact between the horses. If a group of horses are put on the deck, and overnight, there will be some horses injured in the mutual shackles.

If it is a few hundred horses, Charles VIII may ship to the country on a partial shipment. But 8,000 horses are not well placed. Therefore, he simply returned to France with 8,000 heavy cavalry. In fact, the 8000 heavy cavalry does not only have 8,000 horses. In addition, they usually have another horse to ride the road. The war horses usually ride on the charge before the war, and will not be used to hurry the armor, avoiding the horses in the war without physical strength. In this way, Charles VIII's cavalry had at least 16,000 horses. Therefore, he had to return home by land. Otherwise, there are not as many ships to ship.

At the same time, the powerful Venetian Navy, which has bypassed the Apennine peninsula, appeared on the route from Naples to France and began to block the route. If you are taking the sea, it is impossible for Charles VIII to be sank by the Venetian Navy. Therefore, from a safety point of view, it is better to take the land.

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At the end of April, the 11,000-strong army of the Holy Roman Empire, under the personal leadership of the Emperor, came to Venice and met with Venice representative. Of course, the emperor also has the meaning of letting Venice help buy a part of the upkeep. In addition, Venice also gathered 10,000 mercenaries; the nobles of the Italian states also brought 4,000 heavy armored infantry; while the Duchy of Milan sent a total of 6,000 light cavalry (not The regular cavalry of the rushing array) cooperates. Under the joint efforts of several parties, the number of coalition forces has exceeded 30,000. In addition, the Spanish army also arrived in Sicily on the sea to Naples, with thousands of people. This group of people is enough to deter the French army of Naples, so that the French must split a large number of forces to guard the Spaniards. As for the Papal State, although a number of mercenaries were recruited, the Papal State bordered Naples. Therefore, the army recruited by the Papal State had to defend several large cities such as Rome to prevent the French from breaking in and looting.

You know, the French people killed along the way, do not know how many towns have been looted, it is simply scraping three feet. Before, Charles VIII did not rob Rome, it is because he needs the Pope to appoint him as the king of Naples. Now, the Papal State has publicly stood on the opposite side of France. If you are not careful, the French army will break through Rome and come to do a robbery. The Pope of Rome and the bishops, are mostly a very rich local tyrant. If they were robbed by France, then you can just cry? Therefore, the army of the Papal State could not participate in the League, they were directly used to defend Rome.

From all of the nation who participated in the League of Nations, the highest status, naturally is Maximilian I who is the emperor. As the highest-ranking and military-minded professionals, everyone unanimously elected Maximilian I as the commander of the coalition, responsible for intercepting and even destroying the French army. In addition to the emperor as the help of: the Marquis of Mandova, Gonzaga and the commander of Venice, Nikolo Pitti, served as the deputy of the emperor. In fact, this appointment is a bad thing. It is precisely because of this "common" word that the two people coordinated difficulties in the Battle of Fornov, and delayed the fighters to some extent.

The Emperor, after the success of the League, and got the position of the commander of the coalition, he even ran back to the country, and quarreled with the princes of the domestic imperial parliament to ask for money. Until now, the princes of the empire are still quarreling over whether or not to participate in the Italian war. The emperor wanted to raise taxes, and the door did not. If the Imperial Parliament approves the tax increase early, the emperor may have gathered 20,000 troops to go to Italy to fight for a one-time disability. However, it is almost impossible for the empire parliament to unite when they are not at home. Usually, for a little bit of trivial things, you can also argue for a few days. At the same time, they are also afraid that Maximilian I will take this opportunity to grow himself a stong army. Although Maximilian I was capable, but he is limited by the power of the emperor, he also had no way to order or impose his will to the dukes and counts in the territory.

As for Marin and the 11,000-strong imperial army, it was thrown into Venice, and was temporarily led by the emperor's deputy, Earl Alfred, a member of the Habsburg family from Styria, Austria. However, Marin, who has been mixed in the imperial system for more than a month, heard that the Earl of Alfred was mediocre tactian and courageous man. However, because he was born in the Habsburg family in the Styrian region of Austria, he was more loyal to the emperor, so he was entrusted to the army to command power.

As for the emperor's most reliant Earl Hohenzollen, Frederick II, he would stay in the country, command the army, and guard against Hungarians. After all, when the Habsburg family's nest was taken over by the Hungarians, it was the scar in the heart of the Habsburgs. Even if he sent troops to Italy, Maximilian I did not dare to give up the vigilance against the Hungarians. In the days that followed, Count Alfred took the Empire army in Venice and waited for the return of the emperor. As for Marin, he took his square and practiced basic skills and was ready to fight.