King of German Mercenaries

Chapter 11 A Trip That Comes and Goes

Marin lay on his Vienna hotel bed all night thinking about what to do in the next few months. Vienna's expensive, clean hotel, lodging for three people including the cost of parking the animals, costs 40 pfennig a day. And the three of Marin, plus the meal money of War Makar, are also as high as 40 pfennig a day. Even if two cows eat grass, there is a charge. After all, this is Vienna, not a rural town, and there is no grass to eat anywhere. You have to ask someone to get the forage, and you have to pay for it.

The consumption of more than 80 pfennigs a day made Marin feel a little overwhelmed. So Marin decided to temporarily leave Vienna and go to a place where consumption is low. If you can hunt by the way and make some money, it will be more perfect...

After making up his mind, the next morning, Marin asked Kahn and Kohler to start packing. After packing, Marin went to the innkeeper to settle the bill. Then, he took two attendants and came to a walk away. travel……

As for where to go, Marin also thought about it - they also returned to the Black Forest...

There are many animal resources in the Black Forest, and Marin's archery skills are very good. With the cooperation of Kahn, they can make a fortune by hunting. Moreover, it seems that the lords near the Black Forest are not strict with the issue of poaching, which is very suitable for Marin to "commit crimes".

Marin's plan was to raise a large sum of money first by hunting. With the money, you can change the equipment later, and equip yourself, Kahn and Kohler. Also, when the Italian war is over, I can buy myself a small manor and become a manor owner.

As for the status, it still has to be exchanged by fighting with the emperor. He knew the result of the war. In the first Italian war, the Shinra Empire was considered a victorious country, and there was a lot of military merit to be gained. As long as he saves his life on the battlefield, and uses his foresight to gain some military exploits, he can at least exchange his status with the emperor for a low-level noble like a formal knight. If you're lucky, you might end up being a baron or something. If he took advantage of the chaos and caught the fleeing Charles VIII, then the credit would be huge...

Also, Marin needs to recruit 3 more knights. Ordinary poor knights also have 5 or more knight attendants. There are only two of them, which makes them look extremely shabby.

But raising 5 knight attendants is not a small expense. Some knights are of poor character, and they stop and rob when they have no money. But Marin is a man of integrity and would not do such an immoral thing. Therefore, he decided to accumulate enough money by hunting first. After saving enough money, he not only had to recruit all 5 attendants, but also bought a pack horse for each attendant, equipped with leather armor and spears and other weapons and equipment.

He thought about it, Kahn can be regarded as a good fighting force, but Kohler is a little thin and can only play the role of quartermaster and dog-head military division. Then, if you recruit three more people, it is naturally best to recruit those who can fight and who are loyal.

The squire is the most trusted partner and subordinate of the knight. So, in addition to ability, reliability is the most important. The reason why Marin chose Kahn and Kohler was that he saw Kahn's honesty and honesty. As for Kohler, it's actually a piggyback. Moreover, Marin knew where the Kahn family was. If they dared to betray, he could go to their house to settle accounts.

Today, the economy of the German region is very bad, and there are many refugees. But these refugees, Marin did not dare to recruit attendants casually. Because most of the refugees have unknown origins, they are not so reassuring. It is okay to recruit them as ordinary soldiers, but it is not suitable to recruit them as attendants. You must know that knights basically leave their backs to their attendants, and they cannot be sloppy.

After thinking about it, Marin decided to go back to Hoffman Manor and recruit attendants from the serf families in Hoffman Manor. There are more than 20 serfs in Hoffman Manor, and Marin "remembers" that there are still some good guys in it. His "eldest brother" Adler Hoffman had already selected five knight attendants. In the manor, there are actually many good guys. After all, these serf families did not each have only one child. Some families have several children. Due to the lack of output from the estate,

Some families with many children even had to send their children to the city as coolies. Otherwise, Hoffman Manor would not be able to support so many people. After all, the Hoffman estate has only 1,200 acres of thin land.

Of course, before going home, Marin thought it would be right to hunt to save more money. In fact, old Hoffman is also worried about the future armor and horses of the third and fourth sons. After all, as a father, when his son is old, even if he is driven out of the house, he should prepare a war horse, armor and lance for him. In addition, there is a large toll.

Marin's plan is to subsidize the Hoffmans a little after returning home, so that the economic situation of the manor will be better. By the way, he also wanted to give some pointers on the agricultural technology at home, so that the manor land could produce more.

The economic situation of the manor is good, and his cheap brothers Simon and Albert can also be equipped with horses, armor and weapons when they are driven out of the family. So as not to be like myself, when I leave the house without even plate pants, let alone with a squire. Moreover, with sufficient funds, it will be easier for his cheap sister Annie to get married. After all, the more dowry, the easier it is to marry a good family.

In order to bring enough money home, Marin took Kahn and Kohler, plunged into the black forest again, and started a crazy hunt...

The Black Forest is huge, much larger than the Black Forest of later generations. After all, later Germany was highly developed. In the Middle Ages, because of the limited population and many undeveloped places, the Black Forest still maintained a very large area.

In order not to get lost, Marin bought a compass to avoid getting lost in the lush black forest. And spring is also a season for the recovery of all things, and animals in the forest are very active. There are also many adult animals, in the middle of the day, doing the shameful thing of "passing on the lineage" in the forest. In such a situation, the wretched Marin would not bless them, but "swish" the two arrows. Then, a pair of hard-working "mandarin ducks" became Marin's trophies, and then they were exchanged for a lot of money...

The medieval Black Forest was too big, and there were too many prey in it. This also led to the trouble for the three of Marin to transport their prey back to the forestside town. As a last resort, Marin unfastened the big black cow "Li Chen", put a saddle on it, and let it also enter the forest to carry its prey. Because the four-wheeled bullock cart cannot enter the depths of the forest where there are no roads.

In some places, because the Marin three hunted too much prey, it even caused the price of meat to drop. At the most, Marin killed 6 red deer from the forest in one day, causing the local venison price to drop from 5 pfennigs a pound (retail price) to 4 pfennis a pound in a short period of time. Also dropped from 4 pfennig to 3 pfennig. Of course, some time after the three of Marin left, the price of venison here returned to normal.

For this reason, some local lords also sent people to drive Malin and his party. Because, in the eyes of those lords, the prey that Marlin hunts is their private property. However, the lords who were entrusted to the edge of the Black Forest were generally small lords. The territories of powerful lords are mostly in those areas with developed farming. Only the less powerful little lords will be entrusted to the Black Forest area. And these little lords generally did not dare to offend the wandering knight easily. Even if Marlin was hunting wildly, they just sent people to drive them away. And Marin is also very self-conscious. Basically, after staying in a certain area for a day or two, he sells his prey and immediately avoids people, so as not to give others a chance to catch it on the spot. Communication in the Middle Ages was backward. When the local lord learned that Marin and his party had hunted a large number of prey and sent people to "enforce the law", the three of Marin had long gone.

On average, the three of Marin can reach two to three red deer every day, as well as varying numbers of hares and foxes. It was the wild boars in the forest, but Marin didn't dare to provoke them. Because he wasn't sure he could shoot through the bristles and thick hides of wild boars with a 60-pound bow. As for Kahn's ability to single out the wild boar, Marin felt that it was also accidental. Because, the last time the wild boar went not for Kahn, but for the warhorse, Kahn killed the wild boar while the wild boar was unprepared. Unless Kahn can wear a full set of plate armor, he can confidently challenge the wild boar head-on. But letting a follower wear a full set of plate armor is too extravagant. And Marin's plate armor, Kahn can't wear it. Because, Kahn is much taller than Marin.

Along the way, the three of them enjoyed hunting and earning money while enjoying the beauty of the Black Forest, and they were at ease. When he entered the territory of the country of Mark, Marin was surprised to find that his personal assets had reached more than 500 marks. This data is almost close to the annual income of Hoffman Manor...

"Hunting is very promising!" Marin sighed infinitely.

However, Marin is also very clear that the reason why he was able to successfully get back the assets of more than 500 marks was because others saw him as an untitled knight. Otherwise, if it is an ordinary hunter, when entering and leaving the city, he will be extorted by the soldiers defending the city, and most of the profits will be confiscated by the lord. Even if they were able to hunt down 500 marks worth of prey, at least 400 marks or more were extorted by lords, tax collectors and defenders.

Moreover, it is impossible for ordinary hunters to have horses. As a result, the walking hunters cannot go too deep into the interior of the Black Forest. And staying overnight in the Black Forest will basically be eaten by the wolves as a late-night snack. Not only that, but they also don't have the shooting skills of Marin and the cooperation of the best partner like Kahn.

Therefore, the success of Marin is difficult for ordinary Orion to copy. And people who really have the status of knights generally don't practice archery. They are generally used to hand-to-hand combat, and few can shoot arrows... Besides, who has a position, who would put down their stature and become a hunter?

Even Marin himself sees hunting as a stopgap measure. If a traveler earns a living by hunting, it is simply the greatest shame of a traveler...

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