King of German Mercenaries

The 1,000 Frisian prisoners of war, seemingly resigned, no longer resisted the strict discipline the officers imposed on them. However, as the highest commander of these prisoners of war before, Sivag seemed to see that Marin wanted to let these 1,000 people train as cannon fodder.

So, the former Frisian general Siwager, who was stranded on Texel Island as an important prisoner, took the initiative to find Marin...

"Lord Baron, do you want to make a big move?"

Marlin was stunned for a moment:

"How can you see it?"

"Isn't this obvious? The small Wadden Islands need 5,000 soldiers to protect? Also, my 1,000 men have also been trained. It seems that they are still trained as cannon fodder!"

"Hehe, that's really smart." Marin said without worrying about Sivag. Because the Wadden Islands are isolated from the world, and Texel Island is only open to trade with the outside world, and other areas are prohibited from entering. Therefore, even if Sivag wanted to spread the news, he had to go to the island.

"My lord, do you still want to take Friesland? I don't think you have the ability to defeat the Duke of Saxony..." According to Siwager's understanding, it was probably that Marin was not dead to Friesland. However, what Sivag said was right, Marin couldn't compete with the Saxon system in terms of heritage.

"I didn't say I wanted to take Friesland..." Marin spread his hands.

"It's not Friesland, could it be... East Friesland?" Siwager thought quickly.

Because, in the surrounding areas, Marin is not very easy to do, except for East Frisian.

Not to mention, the Netherlands area is the family domain of Marin's master, Maximilian I. Marin must not move around, and he has no confidence to compete with the Habsburg family. As for the Friesland region, it was already occupied by the Dukes of Saxony. The strength of the Duke of Saxony, including the entire Saxony system, is no weaker than that of the Emperor.

As for the Principality of Gede Company, it is also a strong country, and it is not easy to mess with. And the Archbishopric of Utrecht, which is a subordinate of the Holy See. In the absence of religious reform today, whoever dares to annex the archbishopric indiscriminately is absolutely tired of living.

Then, after much deliberation, there are only the counties of East Friesland and Oldenburg in the east. However, Oldenburg County is not easy to mess with. Although this country is of average strength, its relatives are powerful.

For example, the mighty King Hans of Denmark belonged to the Oldenburg family and was of the same clan as the Earl of Oldenburg. If Marin dared to annex the Earl of Oldenburg, the possibility of Denmark sending troops to intervene was extremely high.

Today's Denmark is not Denmark, which is a small country with only tens of thousands of square kilometers, but the only powerful country in Northern Europe. Norway and Sweden, all under the control of Denmark, formed the Kalmar League.

Therefore, Marin could not have the idea of ​​one-on-one against Denmark, nor would he attack the too powerful county of Oldenburg. Then, the only possibility is that East Frisian country, which is regarded as a barbarian by the Germans.

Frisians are a different kind of Germans. They are independent, tough, and they like big sailing. People in other parts of Germany are quite different.

Moreover, although the counties of East Frisland swore allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor and officially became a vassal state, the empire did not regard East Frisland as its own. Even in the parliament of the imperial nobles, there is no seat for the counties of East Frisland.

You know, in the territory of the empire, it is good to say that the baron cannot enter the imperial parliament, but as a territorial earl, he cannot participate in the imperial parliament, that is, Chi Guoguo is discriminated against...

Even Emperor Maximilian I did not really regard East Frisian counties as a vassal state, but as a barbarian chieftain. Therefore, in 1516, Maximilian I forcibly asked Edsard I, Count of East Frisland, to hand over the succession of the county to the Duke of Saxony. Of course, that military operation, the combined forces of the Emperor and the Duke of Saxony, failed. But it is undeniable that the Empire really didn't take East Friesland seriously...

At first,

If it weren't for the fact that the counties of Oldenburg and the Friesian Aristocratic Republic around East Friesland were not strong enough, and the Bishopric of Münster would not be absolutely sure to be able to eat them, East Friesland would have long been coveted. Sure enough, when the Duke of Saxony swallowed West Friesland, he set his sights on East Friesland...

At present, East Friesland is difficult to deal with, but Siwager believes that it may not be particularly difficult to win East Friesland with Marin's "cunning and treacherous" and command and combat ability.

However, as the former top military commander of East Frisian neighbor West Frisian, Siwager is well aware of East Frisian's war potential. He knew that East Friesland could mobilize thousands of horses, and that the standing army of East Friesland was mainly composed of 1,000 epee swordsmen, that is, swordsmen with straw hats.

"Lord Baron, attacking East Frisian is a bit difficult..."

"I know, so I prepared 6,000 people..." Malin said nonchalantly. Sivag is one of the prisoners, and he has no personal freedom, so he is not worried about his nonsense.

"The 1,000 people I accepted are abandoned children?"

"It's not an abandoned son, but your 200 heavy armored swordsmen are definitely going to take the lead. In my army, there is a lack of such powerful troops as heavy armored swordsmen."

"What about the other 800 people?"

"Follow those 200 people to rush, and you can take cover or something."

"My lord, can I ask you something."

"Tell me..."

"I know that these 1,000 people must be the ones charging at the forefront, and casualties are inevitable. However, can you equip the other 800 people with some armor?"

"Armor? Shivag, it's not that I don't want to equip them. However, heavy armored swordsmen are all strong soldiers. Otherwise, ordinary soldiers can't run when they wear iron armor..."

"What about chain armor and chain armor? They risked their lives to rush to the front. Can't they have no protection?"

"This...is a problem..." Marin began to think...

"Hey...there is!" Marin suddenly slapped his thigh and thought of a suitable armor...

Just now, Marin remembered how the Spaniards removed all the armor behind him in order to reduce the weight of the armor, leaving only the armor in front of him.

This method can not only greatly reduce the weight of the armor, but also tell the soldiers a message - you have no armor behind you, if you turn around and run away, you are more likely to die...

Of course, Marin didn't want to directly adopt the front half-body armor popularized by the Spaniards in the 16th century, but, he wanted to make another discount - directly use the front three-quarter breastplate...

That is, the two iron plates of the three-quarter breastplate worn by the cuirassiers are compressed into only one iron plate, only the front chest has armor, and the back does not...

A complete three-quarter breastplate weighing 8 kg. And only keep the three-quarters of the chest armor, it only weighs 4 kilograms. Such a weight, even an average soldier can bear.

As for how to equip the iron plate on the chest, Marin naturally has a way - directly ask the tailor to sew a vest with leather or linen, and in front of the vest, there is a huge pocket for the iron plate.

And this vest can also be a black cross vest on a white background. Usually, when there is no war, the iron plate in the big pocket of the waistcoat can be taken out and stored. In the event of war, iron plates are carried by vehicles while marching. Before the battle, everyone lined up to receive iron plates, which were poured into their chest pockets for defense...

Of course, this was not Marlin's invention. Once, Marin saw on TV that the bulletproof vests worn by many SWAT officers consisted of leather jackets filled with steel plates. Of course, the SWAT is filled with modern ultra-high-strength alloy steel plates. And the new simplified version of the armor Marin designed for his subordinates was filled with iron plates...

However, because the long-range weapons of this era are far less destructive than the thermal weapons of later generations, even if they are filled with iron plates, they can resist many attacks and even save lives.

Moreover, the original iron helmet that imitated the steel helmet of later generations, Marin also decided to install a mask to strengthen the frontal protection ability. Moreover, this mask is movable and can usually be pulled up to reveal the face. Only in wartime does it need to be pulled down.

However, such a mask can also block ordinary bows and arrows, and it is definitely useless in the face of muskets. However, this can at least give them a lot of confidence in wartime and strengthen their courage...

As a result, the iron helmet with a movable face mask and the black cross vest on a white background filled with iron plates on the chest became Marin's new simplified version of the armor. Of course, this is what ordinary soldiers wear. And the elite soldiers, the kind used for assault, still have to wear the full version of the three-quarter breastplate on the front and back. The simplified version of the armor is actually aimed at soldiers who are not strong enough to save their physical strength. It is not that Marin deliberately cut corners...

Marin assured Siwager on the spot that he would equip his subordinates with this simplified version of the armor, which finally satisfied Siwager.

倒不是说马林爱护那群战俘，而是，那群战俘兵若是更耐揍，那么，对马林手下火枪手的掩护就更到位了。 At that time, your odds of winning will be even greater...

Moreover, this simplified version of the armor, because the breastplate has only one iron plate, is very simple to forge, resulting in low cost and easy to install on a large scale. Even if the active mask is installed on the iron helmet, it is a little more troublesome, but the cost is not very high. For military equipment to be equipped on a large scale, the lower the cost, the better. Of course, the quality can't be too bad. Otherwise, it will affect the battle...

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