King of German Mercenaries

Denier rushed to the outside of Leeuwarden in the middle of the night. Arriving near Leeuwarden, Denier was careful, abandoning his horses and walking instead.

In fact, it was Denier's prudence that saved his life. Otherwise, if he rides near the castle of Leeuwarden, before he can get close to the Swiss camp, he will be discovered by the secret post sent by Sauer, and then he will do it.

After careful observation, Denier found the camp set up by the Swiss in the east of the city. Here, mainly the Swiss under the command of Zig, and the men and horses of Marin, are basically in the west of the city.

After arriving at the gate of the camp, and showing the identity certificate to the Swiss guards, Denier was invited into the big tent...

Speaking of which, Denier is no stranger to the Swiss. As a diplomat of the King of France, he has been sent by the King of France to Switzerland many times to recruit mercenaries to fight for the King of France. Therefore, among the Swiss mercenaries, many people recognize him. Including Zig, many Swiss mercenary generals are old acquaintances of Denier.

"Welcome, welcome! Baron Denier, what wind brought you here? This is a battlefield, and it is very dangerous!" Seeing Denier, Ziger was also very enthusiastic. He had been in contact with Denier before. , and France is the biggest customer of the Swiss, so naturally they have to smile.

"Mr. Ziger, can you explain to me why you are helping that fellow Marin Hoffman?" Denier had a dark face, holding back the anger in his heart.

Marin is the enemy of the French, while the Swiss are allies of the French, and the allies help the enemy, which makes Denier feel betrayed.

"Lord Denier, you know, we are just mercenaries, not the French royal army. I see that it is unlikely that His Majesty will hire us this year, so I will take up other work. You know, we are Mercenaries, rely on this business to make a living..." Zig said indifferently. In the eyes of the Swiss, fighting is a job that earns money to support a family, nothing more.

"But, you can't work for this guy Marin Hoffman! You know, he is the enemy of my king. Moreover, he is also the lackey of the Habsburg family. You are not the enemy of the Habsburg family. Why? Why help this bastard?"

"We are not French, and we have a good partnership with France. Although Baron Marin is a member of the Habsburg family, he has nothing against the Swiss. Moreover, he is willing to pay double the high price to hire us, many Everyone is tempted. Do you know? This contract is worth 36,000 gold coins for 2 months!" Zig was not afraid that the secret would be known to the French. He wished the French would know the price, which would make it easier for them to raise the price with the French in the future and ask for more commissions.

"36,000 gold coins? This guy is crazy? Where did he get so much money to pay?" Under the heavy reward, there must be a brave man, and Denier suddenly understood why the Swiss were moved.

"I don't know if he had enough money to support him before, but I do know that we have won this battle. Even if Baron Marin can't pay the balance, the Frisians can help pay."

Things are already clear, Leeuwarden has been besieged, and the city is only a matter of time. As long as the city is broken, there are many benefits, and Marin has promised that the Swiss can rob Leeuwarden. Moreover, Ziger is not worried that the other party has reinforcements. Because even if the other party has money, they cannot hire the same brave Swiss mercenaries. This is so because Swiss mercenaries have a tradition of "Swiss don't beat Swiss". And the French, even if they wanted to rescue Friesland, would not tear their faces and attack them directly. If the French dared to hurt Ziger and the others, they would never want to hire the Swiss to fight for them in the future. And now the French are very dependent on Swiss mercenaries, so Ziger seems very confident. He wasn't sure if the French would attack the Texel army west of the city, but he was sure the French wouldn't attack them...

"You are betting on both sides of the speculative behavior!" Baron Denier was a little exasperated.

"Whatever you want, baron, we Swiss are poor and can't run when we see gold coins. It just so happens that Baron Marin is willing to pay a lot, so we are willing to come. Now, His Majesty the King will not pay us, we have no money to make. , I had to come here to get some extra money..."

"You guys are really a bunch of people who see money..." Suddenly, Denier thought of something and began to think...

Denier knew that if Marin occupied the Friesland noble republic, with the rogue characteristics of this little thief, he might not be able to leave in the future. The Friesian aristocratic republic is very special. Except for the secret ally of France, they have almost no allies. Because, although they are within the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, they are not subject to the empire and are not governed. They were captured, and no one was willing to stand up for them.

If Marin really occupied Friesland and made it his own, King Charles VIII of France would be mad. At that time, when the king is furious, as the person in charge of this incident, he will have bad luck and even die.

The Zig in front of him was determined to recognize money but not people. Otherwise, he would not be willing to fight for Marin, the lackey of the Habsburgs. So, if you want the Swiss to retreat, you have to start with interests...

Thinking of what his boss, Earl Matthews, said before, "The Marlin thief must be killed at any cost", Denier made a bold decision...

"Mr. Zig, I know that the little thief Marin gave you a lot of rewards, so I moved you. Then, I'll pay you more now, are you willing to retreat?"

"More remuneration? This...not so good...if it spreads out, it will ruin the credit of the Swiss..."

"What's the matter, you are mercenaries, not the subordinates of the little thief Marin. If you are willing to help the Frisians to attack Texel's army, France is willing to pay double the price of the little thief!" Seeing that Ziger loves money, Niel decides to impress him with his interests, and even seeks to make the Swiss fight back.

"That's not possible. If we attack our previous employer for money this time, then the reputation of the entire Swiss mercenary will be ruined. In the future, no one will hire Swiss. In this case, when I go back to Switzerland, I will He was stabbed with thousands of swords by his colleagues..."

The Swiss not only have the tradition of "the Swiss do not hit the Swiss", but also have the custom of "not stabbed at the employer". This is not Swiss behavior. It's because, as long as the Swiss betray their employer once, no one will dare to hire them in the future. Therefore, even if the employer cannot pay the commission, they will leave at best and will not turn around and attack the employer.

Of course, this is not absolute, not to betray the employer because the price is not enough for them to throw away their reputation. For example, around 1512, the second phase of the Italian War. Seeing that the Venetians could not resist the attack of the Swiss, they threw 800,000 gold coins and stunned the Swiss. So, tens of thousands of Swiss mercenaries disregarded their honor, turned to the Venetians, turned around to fight France, and drove the French away...

Join the French as local tyrants like the Venetians. As long as 200,000 gold coins are smashed, Ziger estimates that he can immediately kneel, and then shamelessly go back to attack Marin's army. However, the French are now tight because they paid too much ransom. If you can promise to pay double the price, you have already paid for it. But at this price, it is difficult to impress the Swiss to betray their morality and turn their guns.

Denier is worthy of being a master negotiator. He rolled his eyes and said suddenly:

"Mr. Zieg, I know you're worried about dating back and affecting your reputation. But, have you ever thought about who the Swiss mercenaries mainly rely on? We are France! This time Marin Hoffmann hired you at a high price only because of the emergency. Once, you will not necessarily cooperate with you again in the future. But we are different from France. We will hire you many times in the future. If you are not willing to give up this operation, once you anger my king, you may not be willing to hire you to fight for France in the future. …”

"This..." Zig hesitated immediately. Marin's business is indeed sudden and not long-term. But fighting for the French was a lot. Ziger is only in his 30s, and he can't just fight this one battle. As Denier said, Marin was only his occasional partner, while France was the real, long-term customer. Offending the big customer is not a good thing...

Seeing Zig hesitate, Denier immediately strikes while the iron is hot:

"I know your concern, Mr. Ziger, about your reputation. So let's forge a document and say that you have signed a document with France that gives priority to France. Then we announce to the public that I Hiring you on behalf of France to do other things. In this way, you are limited by the previous treaty and have to break the contract. By the way, did Marin and you sign the liquidated damages clause?"

"This...isn't really..."

It was also Marin's negligence that he was in a hurry to invite the Swiss to fight, and he didn't bring anyone who knew the law with him. As a result, only the employment agreement was signed, but there was no mention of the issue of compensation if the Swiss broke the contract.

"That's great. You broke the contract and didn't need to compensate, and you didn't let you turn against your employer. What are you waiting for? Besides, you only need to withdraw the army, and you don't need to fight back, and you can get double the pay!"

"Can you really give me double pay?" After thinking for a while, Ziger was also tempted.

"No problem, I had 450 fine French warhorses worth 54,000 gp originally promised to Friesland and 180 sets of well-made French plates. If you are willing to withdraw and sign an agreement with me, I can I'll give it to you immediately. Then, the remaining 18,000 gold coins will also be paid to you!"

Denier has already fought, though, this self-assertion could put him at risk of being executed. But if Marin occupied Friesland and became a great lord, he would also die. So, since that's the case, he might as well give it a shot, maybe there's a turning point. As long as these Swiss people are coaxed away, he does not believe that the Frisians rely on the city wall and cannot stop the 1,000 men of Marin.

In the middle of the next day, Denier brought 450 French warhorses and 180 French plates that were intended to be delivered to the Frisians. After receiving the benefit, Ziger signed a secret contract with Denier, and quietly retreated with the Swiss.

Although Marin received the news of the withdrawal of the Swiss from the horses sent by Sauer, and guessed that it was probably the French, but there was nothing to stop him, so he could not help but sigh. He regretted the fact that the employment contract did not specify several times the compensation. Had it not been for the absence of restrictions in the contract, the Swiss would not have simply withdrawn. You know, with the rise of mercantilism, Europeans valued contracts, and there were very few breaches.

However, Marin did not intend to retreat. Because the remaining Frisian army in the city, if they were fighting in the field, really couldn't beat the 1,000 men and horses under his command. Moreover, those prisoners are also under their control.

Therefore, even if Leeuwarden cannot be won, Marin can negotiate with Frisian with the thousands of prisoners in his hand and ask for huge benefits.

Moreover, Marin did not encircle Leeuwarden on all sides because of the lack of troops. However, he was still stationed in the west of the city, and Friesland of Leeuwarden joined the army and did not dare to go out of the city to attack Marin's army.

The next step is to wait for the other party to ask for peace...

Marin could figure out that the food in the city must be limited, and the opponent could not survive to the end. As long as you consume it yourself, the first person who can't hold it must be the other party. At the same time, he was also afraid that the French would send troops to intervene. So, as long as the Frisians send someone to ask for peace, he will go downhill, negotiate, and solve the problem as soon as possible. Of course, if the French wanted to send troops to intervene, they would have to wait at least two or three months, and the food in Leeuwarden could not last that long. So, Marin has time to wait for negotiations...

"I'm still reliable, I hired someone from somewhere else and ran away..." Marin sighed.

"Master, let's recruit more troops when we go back?" Schwartz agreed.

"Yeah! This time, we must hit Friesland hard! We will use the money they compensated to expand our army. When our own army is trained, we will swallow the entire Friesland in one go!" Marin clenched his fists... …

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