King of German Mercenaries

Marin rested for a few days, and after enough rest, he began to think about taking East Friesland.

East Frisian usually has a small number of troops. Only the most elite 1,000 heavy armored swordsmen are stationed in the capital Emden, and several hundred others are stationed in Aurich and other places.

If it is a sneak attack, even if the country of East Friesland can mobilize 8,000 people, it will only be useful until the capital is overrun. If the capital is breached and the Earl's family is captured, even if the troops in other places are mobilized, it will be meaningless.

Just like the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin only brought a small number of troops to ambushed at Xuanwu Gate, but after killing Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, when Li Jiancheng's men led 2,000 superior troops to besiege Xuanwu Gate, Yuchigong proposed the heads of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji. Li Jiancheng's troops quickly disintegrated immediately.

Therefore, as long as the current Count Edsard I of East Frisland is captured, or even killed, then the East Frisian army that was originally loyal to him will be without a leader. If you fight to the death, it will be meaningless.

Even if Marin moved quickly, it might be too late to gather troops in all parts of East Friesland, and no one would be willing to gather troops.

Because, according to the usual practice, the main generals of the counties of East Frisian must be in the capital Emden, and the counts and generals have all been taken care of. Who will call up the troops from all over the country?

Therefore, as long as the fastest sneak attack is used to take Emden and capture Edsard I and his heir, then there is no need for people in other areas to resist. Even if they want to resist, someone has to call on them.

However, to besiege Emden, many people are needed. Although Marin now has 2,500 fighters, training is about the same. But this is not enough. Because, the guards of Emden are the most elite 1000 heavy armored swordsmen in the country of East Frisian.

Heavy armored swordsmen, who are strong enough on the battlefield, and then rely on their tall and strong city walls, who can deal with them?

The Spanish phalanx of Marin's army can indeed restrain the heavy armored swordsmen wearing chest plate armor, but that is in the field. Bare in the field, no bunkers, even in heavy armor, it is no match for the Spanish musket.

However, the heavy armored swordsman wearing chest plate armor on the city wall can rely on the city wall to avoid the musket bullet, then the advantage of the musket no longer exists. Moreover, the musketeers could not forcibly climb the city to fight. Therefore, the heavy armored swordsmen defending the city are very difficult to deal with. This is also one of the important reasons why the Duke of Saxony and 24 princes attacked East Friesland together and failed.

Therefore, a mere 2,500 soldiers to besiege Emden with 1,000 heavy armored swordsmen is far from enough. Generally speaking, besieging a fortified city requires several times the strength of the defenders.

Moreover, even if Emden is captured, there are many other problems.

The biggest problem is the Duke of Saxony who occupies the Friesland Republic. Although the Duke of Saxony returned the 5,000 troops he had borrowed from his nephew after capturing the entire land of the Friesland Republic, he still left more than 5,000 troops in the Friesland region.

Moreover, the Duke of Saxony is good at picking up bargains. If he knew that Marin had captured Emden, he might have fished in troubled waters and took the opportunity to send troops to East Frisian. You know, Groningen, the capital of the Friesland Republic, is not far from East Friesland.

Therefore, if Marin wanted to occupy East Frisland, in addition to capturing Emden, he had to guard against the army of the Duke of Saxony stationed in Groningen taking the opportunity to fish in troubled waters and pick Marin's peaches.

Marin has already suffered a loss once, and it would be a fool to pick peaches like this for the second time. Therefore, while attacking East Friesland, Marin must also be prepared to prevent the Duke of Saxony from taking advantage of it.

Therefore, it is also very important to have enough troops to scare the Duke of Saxony and let him stop robbing the fruits of victory.

Fortunately, East Friesland and the Republic of Friesland are separated by the Ems River. After quickly capturing Emden, it is also possible to send troops to deploy on the east bank of the Ems River to prevent the army of the Duke of Saxony from crossing the river and grabbing territory.

Marin thought about it, and felt that the army should not be less than 5,000 people. Because, the Duke of Saxony has more than 5,000 people in East Frisland.

And Marin's army, after capturing Emden, could not retreat completely, and there would always be some casualties. But no matter what, there are still more than 4,000 people. With so many people guarding the east bank of the Ems River, the troops are not superior, and the Saxons who have to take the risk to cross the river should not continue their brainless efforts.

Only by defending against the Saxon army could Marin be free to continue the attack on the rest of East Friesland. Anyway, it's not too difficult to deal with these headless people.

But feeding so many troops is not so easy. You know, a veteran mercenary needs 3 pfennig a day (2 pfennig a day for a novice), and 18.25 gold coins a year. Recruiting 5,000 people will cost 91,250 gold coins a year. And that's just salary expenses. In addition, on the weapon armor, Marin must also reimburse the maintenance cost. In addition, the biggest expense is the training of the musketeers. Just practicing marksmanship every day costs a lot of gunpowder.

However, considering the money he got back from Venice and Yancheng's annual profits, Marin has confidence again. As soon as he gritted his teeth, Marin decided to expand the army to 4,500 people and expand the army to 7,000 people.

An army of 7,000 is enough to take East Friesland, and it can also deter the army of the Duke of Saxony in the Friesland region, preventing them from fishing in troubled waters.

So, Marin issued an order, ordering Schwartz to take people out to recruit 4,500 mercenaries...

Moreover, Marin is not very willing to hire old mercenaries. Although such mercenaries can fight, many bad habits of the old army are difficult to change and difficult to train. Moreover, these veterans are hard to fool. Only those newcomers who are newly engaged in the mercenary industry are easier to fool, and they are not easy to betray. As long as Marin usually pays attention to loyalty education when he brainwashes them.

But recruiting 4,500 people will take a long time. Because Marin has his own criteria for selecting soldiers, and not every bad person wants to.

Moreover, when all the people are recruited, they will have to train for a long time, at least three or four months, before they can enter the battle. Therefore, Marin is not in a hurry now, and it is useless to be anxious...

So, after the order was given, Marin waited for the new recruits to be hired, trained as veterans with decent military skills, and then go into battle to take East Friesland. This process will take several months...

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