King of German Mercenaries

Although Mayer is only a businessman, he has a heart that wants to become a nobleman. Although he is very rich, his status has always been low and he is discriminated against by the nobles. So, he wanted to spend money to buy a title of nobility.

However, although there were also noble titles sold in this era in Europe, the gold content was very low. Mayer spent money, indeed, bought a knighthood. However, this Jazz only has a bare title and has little practical interest. At most, the city tax can be exempted from entering the city. Even, because the title is bare, combined with his businessman's identity, others will know that the title is bought.

Ordinary nobles are "from a certain family or a certain place", which is to indicate the source. From a certain family, this family must be an aristocratic family. Coming from so-and-so, this place must be where the fief is. The title of jazz that Mayer bought, but only the bare title of "Sir Mayer" can't be used from XXX...

According to the practice of this era, generally only nobles with fiefs, or knights from a certain noble family, are considered real nobles by people. Of course, those apprentice knights, because of their high force, were also considered to be the reserve echelons of the nobles in Germany, which advocated force. Moreover, those apprentice knights can also use the prefix "from a certain knight's family" to indicate their origin. As for those knights and squires, those from a certain noble family are recognized because they can use "from such and such family". As for the money to buy, although it can be regarded as a low-level aristocrat, people do not approve it very much.

This is like the Ming Dynasty of the same era, people who passed the exams were regarded as "right way" by people. And those diplomas paid for. For example, the identity of a prison student obtained by "donating money to prison" is very despised. Although, a student can also be an official. However, under normal circumstances, Jinshi and Juren who were born on the journey can be officials in prosperous and prosperous areas. The prison students who want to be officials can only go to the impoverished and dangerous areas of the Great Northwest, Great Southwest, and Liaodong. Because, there are no scholars from the right way who are willing to go to these places, so that they can afford to buy a diploma cheaply.

Mayer has a strong heart to become a real nobleman, and the difference between the real nobleman and the jazz title he bought is actually a source. As long as the Duke of Saxony is willing to give him a fief, he will have a source.

However, in this era, although nobles sold jazz titles, fiefs were not sold casually. This is a well-established unspoken rule. The title of jazz is not hereditary. It doesn't matter if you sell it. But if you sell fiefs, that's a big deal. Fiefs can be hereditary, and nobles with fiefs can also be considered real nobles. Anyone who dares to sell indiscriminately will break the rules and will be rejected by other nobles.

The old nobles are very repelling the new nobles. Even people like Marin who came from a low-level noble family were rejected by the old nobles after becoming the baron lord, let alone making a businessman the same as them. Therefore, although the nobles are willing to exchange some money from wealthy merchants with jazz that are of little use, they are not willing to let the merchants become real nobles.

Of course, if this businessman had military exploits, then he was named a formal noble, but no one objected. Just like Marin, because of his outstanding military exploits. Even if the old nobles rejected him, they would not despise him or deny him. Because, Marin won the title by relying on real military exploits. In martial Germany, military exploits are the most respected. The reason why everyone rejected Marin was just because Marin belonged to the emperor's camp and was naturally hostile to the princes. However, no one objected to Marin's aristocratic status.

After Mayer learned that the Duke of Saxony had surrounded Groningen, he was in the city and his mind immediately became active...

Mayer is a weapons dealer. Before, after learning of Friesland's defeat, he brought several carts of weapons and armor to Friesland to sell.

However, the Frisian nobles knew that the French would support their arms and armor,

Nor did it agree to buy Mayer's goods. This point, Mayer did not know, so he stayed in the city and wanted to continue selling. Along with him, there are dozens of mercenary guards.

After the Saxon army began to surround Groningen and launched an attack, Mayer's mind began to live...

He felt that his chance to make military exploits came...

If he can cooperate with the Duke of Saxony to take down Groningen, then the Duke will definitely reward him. Maybe it will increase the title, maybe it will give a fief...

However, in the fierce siege battle, the 60 mercenaries in Mayer's hands were too few to be useful. Because, after the siege began, the Frisians had blocked the city gates with large tree stumps, stones, bricks, etc. To capture the city gate, it is possible for 60 warriors to defeat the soldiers near the city gate. However, it is not easy to remove those stones and stumps.

So, in order to obtain this exploit, Mayer began to secretly contact other Hanseatic merchants from Saxony and ask them to borrow guards...

In the days that followed, Mayer borrowed a number of guards from various Saxon merchants. Although these merchants are not many guards, you have ten, he has eight, and they have gathered a lot. More than a dozen Saxony and Hanseatic merchants have gathered 260 people...

It just so happened that Mayer still had a lot of weapons and plate armor in his hands...

As a result, 260 mercenaries, under the command of Mayer, were equipped with two-handed swords and plate armor, ready to seize the city gate...

On the morning of the seventh day, when the Saxon army once again launched a storm, Mayer rushed to the east gate with 260 merchant guards in plate armor...

At this time, the main force of the Frisian army was attracted to the city wall. I didn't pay enough attention to the city gate that had been blocked long ago, and only took dozens of recruited soldiers to guard it.

In the face of 260 heavily armed merchant guards, dozens of people guarding the city gate were unable to resist and were quickly chopped down. And Mayer is also a smart man. After he took control of the city gate, he immediately sent people to start removing the bricks and stumps. Moreover, the bricks and tree stumps were blocked from the stairs leading to the ground above the city wall, so as to prevent the people on the city wall from being killed.

Afterwards, excess masonry and tree stumps were piled up behind the city gates, forming a fortification style. As for Mayer's guards, half of them were selected and guarded behind the fortifications to prevent the Frisians from fighting back.

In order to stimulate the guards to fight to the death, Mayer signed a document on the spot and gave each mercenary guard a reward of 10 gold coins. And promised that even if they died, Mayer would send the money back to their hometown...

Under this stimulation, the guards' morale was really boosted. Although the Frisians sent a few hundred men to launch a counterattack, they were all beaten back by the drugged guards with their fortifications and sophisticated equipment.

An hour later, when the Frisians began to mobilize the main force and were about to come over to retake the city gate, Mayer's guards finally cleaned up the bricks and wooden stakes behind the city gate, and opened the city gate...

"Squeak--" After a sour sound, the east gate of Groningen was opened by Mayer's men...

The Saxon army that was sieging the city was a little stunned, not knowing what happened...

But Mayer did not hesitate, he jumped out and shouted in the dialect of the Saxony region:

"What are you still doing? Rush in!"

The Saxon warriors woke up from their dreams, rushed in without hesitation, and started a fierce street battle with the Frisians...

After all, the Frisians lost their elites in the war with Marin, and many two-handed swordsmen are still being held by Marin to do hard labor on the Wadden Islands, and they have not been released.

Therefore, the most effective combatants in the city are actually only those 120 knights...

As for the others, they were actually recruited cannon fodder soldiers with average combat effectiveness. Let them defend the city, and they can fight against the enemy with their huge terrain advantages. But once they lost the advantage of the city wall, they immediately persuaded...

The professional army of Saxony has beaten the Frisians into retreat. Seeing that Groningen must not be able to stand it anymore, Fyskefrijheid, the governor of the Frisian Aristocratic Republic, and eight other noble councilors, decisively brought a batch of easy-to-carry gold, and that 120 knights, as well as a group of soldiers with fairly good combat effectiveness, opened the west gate and rushed out...

Coincidentally, after learning that the east gate was opened, the Duke of Saxony immediately transferred more than half of the troops from the other three directions to attack the fortress from the east gate.

When Governor Fyskefrijheid and others rushed out of the west gate with the elites, there were not many Saxon troops outside the west gate, and they were not particularly elite, but all infantry. The Frisian army that escaped was on horseback. After breaking through the defenses of the unprepared Saxon infantry, the group marched away...

After all, the Saxons came to attack. The Saxon infantry outside the west gate were busy attacking one moment, but the next moment they became the attacked party. Therefore, they were inevitably caught off guard. When the Friesland elite troops attacked, many of them were still climbing the city wall... So, before they could set up a defensive formation, they were rushed out by Friesland's breakout troops, and they couldn't catch up...

However, the Duke of Albrecht didn't really care about those Friesian nobles who escaped. Because, as long as Groningen is occupied, the finances of the Friesian noble republic will collapse, and it will not be able to bounce back.

Of course, he didn't ignore the enemy's escape either. To this end, he deployed 800 cavalry, with Mavis taking the lead, chasing the nobles of Frisian. The Frisians escaped this time with a total of 120 knights and 300 mounted infantry. When they rushed out of the city gate, they lost 50 people. Now, there are only about 370 of them. If they were overtaken by 800 cavalry, they would definitely not be able to escape.

However, the Frisian aristocracy is clearly aware of this. So, when fleeing, instead of taking the big road from the south to the west, they took the small road to the north instead...

Mavis didn't catch the Frisian nobles, but he wasn't stupid either. Failing to catch up with the Frisian nobles, he simply went all the way west and came directly to the city of Leeuwarden, blocking the way into the city.

In Friesland, the two cities of Groningen and Leeuwarden are relatively strong and suitable for long-term persistence. In other cities, the defense is not worth mentioning. As long as the two cities cannot resist for a long time, the Saxon army can occupy the whole territory without any difficulty.

Although Mavis was unable to capture Leeuwarden, he could prevent the Friesian nobles from entering Leeuwarden to resist...

Thus, the Frisian nobles were caught in a dilemma...

In the next few days, after occupying Groningen, the Duke of Saxony left 2,000 men to garrison Groningen, and the rest of the army continued to advance westward and took the cities...

The Frisian nobles were forced to hide in the swamp area north of Leeuwarden, and they were in a dilemma...

Friesland's change of ownership is already a certainty. Although the city of Leeuwarden is strong, there are only 1,000 defenders in it. Facing the tens of thousands of Saxon troops, it will be a matter of time before they fall. Therefore, several Frisian nobles, in addition to surrendering, went into exile or died in battle. They were clearly unwilling to surrender, nor to die in battle. Therefore, they can only choose to go into exile. But as to where to go into exile, they can't make up their minds...

At the same time, the Frisian messenger for help rushed to Lübeck, the capital of the Hanseatic League, and asked the league to help Groningen.

However, Lubeck was silent...

There is no other reason, because the Saxons are also the second largest force in the Hanseatic League. If the alliance is determined to fight the Duke of Saxony to the death, the alliance will inevitably split. Moreover, after the civil war, the alliance will also lose its strength, and no longer have the strength to fight against Denmark's Kalmar alliance.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Lübeck chose silence and let the Duke of Saxony occupy Groningen to ensure stability within the alliance...

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