King of Mercenaries

Chapter 51: The Shocked Emperor

Marin is not a stingy person. He heard that everyone only got more than 80 gold coins per person (the officer got more), and he felt sorry for everyone. As a result, he once again took out 30,000 gold coins and distributed them, so that everyone could get 100 gold coins. The reason why this money goes down is also to appease the army. After all, the fact that this group of people followed them and captured 4,000 people is clear to everyone. Although, Marin could make up lies to fool them. However, if you give benefit to everyone is satisfied, maybe someone will think more. Once someone is unhappy and walks with news that is not good for Marin, it's over. Therefore, take out some of the money, they will be immersed in joy and have no energy to think wildly. After all, this group of mercenaries, most of whom came from serf families, rarely saw gold coins before.

But Marin was also worried that this group of guys would get away if they got the money. So he had to do ideological work for everyone and tell them not to run around. Because it is dangerous for a person to carry 100 gold coins on the road, and it is easy to be robbed.

At the same time, Marin promised to return to the country after the war and agree to leave with those who wanted to leave. The group of soldiers were not sure where the missing captives and horses went, nor how much they sold. And the educated military officers who can roughly estimate the value were "bought". Therefore, no one is in trouble.

This is also because they have no culture and do not know how to calculate. Otherwise, if we know that Marin received a huge sum of 1.25 million gold coins, this group of people may be "paid". As for how the money came, Marin had already thought about it and said that it was a trophy that was obtained by the way when the French were captured. Even Marin insisted that the Venetian cooperate with them to complete the ambush against the French. Although, it seems that everyone did not see the presence of the Venetian army. But Marin said so, and the other four company captains also said so, so the soldiers believed with confusion. In their opinion, the Venetian was out of their sight and cooperated with everyone to complete the ambush.

In the days that followed, Marin used these two lies to brainwash everyone. The lie was told 100 times, and everyone believed it, let alone Marin said dozens of times every day. Even Marin himself almost believed the lies he had made up and was brainwashed by himself.

However, something unpleasant happened in the middle. For example, the knights sent by the emperors and the count did not seem to like profit of 30,000 gold coins. They found Marin privately and asked for more benefits.

Marin was also worried that they said they had missed it, but Marin had a mind when dealing with the Venetian before. For example, when communicating with these three guys in private, Marin lied that the captives and weapon armor were sold at low prices. In this regard, the three have no doubt. Because stolen goods are usually sold at very low prices. However, they did not know, because the "goods" were so significant that the Venetians were desperate to obtain them, and they did not lower the price too much. Therefore, the three people's valuation of "goods" only looked like three or four hundred thousand gold coins. Because, this is also the tradition of selling looted goods. Moreover, they are only a little cultural martial arts. They can't understand the strategic value of this batch of goods.

In order to appease the three, Marin "gritted his teeth" and added 10,000 gold to each person. So all three were satisfied. After all, the three of them won a total of 120,000 gold coins. Combining their own estimates of the "total value" of 300,000 to 400,000 gold coins, they also think that Marin is more generous. Because Marin has taken out 130,000 gold coins evenly. Counting the 120,000 gold coins they received, Marin himself, they estimate that they can only get tens of thousands of gold coins, up to no more than 100,000. But Marin was the highest officer in the operation, and they could not ask for more if they were assigned "this point". As a result, the hidden dangers in the army were eliminated after the "second division of the loot".

After sharing the stolen goods, Marin intends to rush back to the station of the Imperial Army.

He took a huge team of 6,000 people and slowly moved towards the Count Alfred. At the same time, after hearing about the outbreak of war in Italy, Emperor Maximilian I hurriedly rushed to Italy.

Maximilian I was a visionary. He knew very well that if France were to become strong, then the Holy Roman Empire, as a neighbor, would surely become the next target of the French. Especially the Principality of Burgundy under his control will inevitably become the target of the French.

Therefore, his idea is to unite the Italians and completely defeat the French army, and it is best to seize Charles VIII. In this way, the arrogance of the French can be eliminated, and the French can be weakened. For example, Charles VIII can be exchanged for a large amount of ransom. It can even be exchanged for the Principality of Burgundy taken by the French.

In addition, the kingdom of Naples had better be taken from the French. If you get it, it's perfect ... Maximilian I hurried on the road, while Marin arrived. In short, the strategic goal of Maximilian I was to drive the French out of Italy and weaken France as much as possible.

Soon after he arrived at the count Alfred camp, Marin's army also returned to the camp.

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"Halt!" The guard in charge of the army saw five or six thousand people coming to the imperial army camp, and was shocked. He hurriedly shouted and warned the inside of the camp. And Maximilian I thought that the French came to attack, probably knowing that he was here.

But as the team approached, everyone was relieved. Because Marin's people are too distinctive; they all wear black cross white vests.

"No, there are more than 1,000 people in the Black Cross Square. Why are there three or four thousand people wearing black cross vests in this group?" Count Alfred standing on the tower and observing was a little confused.

"Then be on guard first, and ask questions when you are near."

When the team arrived at the camp, Marin stepped forward and spoke to Count Alfred on the high wall:

"Sire, I'm back! Is his Majesty the Emperor there? This vassal salute His Majesty the Emperor!" Marin quickly dismounted, took off his helmet, and bowed to Maximilian I.

"Sire Marin, what is going on? Why are there so many people behind you?" Count Alfred asked cautiously.

"This is very simple. I temporarily hired 1,000 mercenaries in Italy, and then took them with about 2,000 Venetian soldiers to ambush the French king's army and captured 2,000 French captives ..."

"What? Didn't it mean that the coalition had a draw with the French army in the battle of Fornovo?" Emperor Maximilian I asked in confusion. He was informed that the French were repelled at the battle of Fornovo. But the emperor knew better, the Italians had 2,000 killed or injured, and 1,000 French were killed or injured. Obviously, the Italians are bragging. They are at best a draw with the French.

"Oh, that's true, but after we merged a Venetian army, south of Piacenza, we ambushed the retreating French army, seized 2000 French knight captives, but unfortunately let Charles VIII run." Marin's tone was full of pity.

But that tone made Maximilian I take a breath. Charles VIII was accompanied by 8,000 French knights. He knew that this was quite a difficult battle, at least the emperor asked himself that he couldn't do it.

However, the knight in front of him was so talkative. However, the captives they held, the thousands of war horses, and the plate armor on a row of carts showed that this was true. Because Marin's origin is very clear. This poor knight cannot have so many warhorses and armors. Even in the case of looting by Italian civilian soldiers, they can only grab money, not war horses and armors.

The emperor then ordered Marin in. As for the others, the emperor was cautious and asked them to camp temporarily outside the camp.

"Hurry up and talk about what's going on?"

So Marin talked about that ambush. The other plots are fine, but Marin added something. For example, he encountered Venice's 2000 troops on his way south. Their commander Pasiano (a real person who also came to the Empire camp with the team) seemed to admire Marin, went on the road with him, and cooperated with Marin to complete that beautiful ambush-- This is the Governor of Venice, in order to respect Marin's merit, specifically acknowledged that Marin was headed ...

"What? 4,000 French knights were captured, but what about the other 2,000?" The emperor stood up in excitement. This is absolutely a big thing. Captives of 4,000 French knights can only be achieved by tens of thousands of troops. In Marin's mouth, they only used a few thousand people.

"Take it away by the Venetian, we said before the war, the trophies were evenly divided ..." Marin said innocently.

"Why are there so many of you?"

"Oh, that was a temporary call. In addition, 1,000 people were lent to me by the Venetians, who were under the command of the Pasiano Regiment. After the captives returned, the Pasiano Regiment had to take them How about returning to Venice ... "Marin and Agostino Barbarigo discussed it. Pasiano will represent Venice and bring back the 1,000 Italian farmers trained in the queue. Let them pretend to be heroes and avoid That the lies were broken down.

"How about the combat effectiveness of these Italian soldiers?" The emperor was also a little tempted, thinking that those Italians were very powerful, otherwise how to defeat the French.

"Your Majesty, the fighting power of the Italians cannot keep up with the Germans."

"Did you not defeat the 8000 Cavaliers of the French?"

"Your Majesty, it was an ambush! It was a night attack! The French were anxious to escape. We ambushed halfway and smashed them down with stones, killing a lot of French people. Otherwise, if it was on flat ground, maybe I would have been killed ... "

"Is this ... OK?"

"Yes, this is the Eastern tactics taught by my teacher!" Einstein came out again.

"Orient? That great empire?"

"Yes, the ancient military tactics of that mighty Eastern Empire."

"So powerful?" Maximilian I was very tempted.

"Your Majesty, in fact, it is not too powerful. The main reason is that the timing is too coincidental. The French ran away in the middle of the night and happened to hit the ambush circle. After all, it's hard to detect an ambush. "

"This is also." Maximilian I was not someone who did not understand the military. He knew that the French army who ran away in the middle of the night before being caught by the little knight in front of him and hitting a beautiful ambush. On another occasion, the French will never be so unlucky.

"But how did you know that the French would run away from you?" Maximilian I was not a fool and felt the problem.

"Uh ... Actually ... I'm not sure. I just felt that the French would not fight. So we just laid an ambush. I thought the French would retreat the next day. I didn't expect to come at midnight. But the French were more hasty, and were obviously frightened by the ambush of our army, so they were defeated. "In order to describe reasonably, Marin specifically pointed out that this was a coincidence. Otherwise, he couldn't explain how he knew the French would run away in the middle of the night.

"This ... Marin Knight ... your luck ... good ..." Maximilian I opened his mouth wide, trying to say something, but didn't know what to say. As for Marin's early prediction that the French had fled in the middle of the night, Maximilian I did not believe it. Because Marin happened to be ambushed to the French, which made it more reasonable.

"His Majesty, the harvest of this minister has grown up. Among the 2,000 captives, there are one Earl of France, six Barons, and 200 chevaliers. The others are territory-less knights, but they are also French royal knights ..." Marin didn't want the emperor to struggle with this question that he couldn't answer, so he started to shift the topic.

"Count ... did you catch the count?" The emperor was stunned directly.