King of German Mercenaries

In fact, the Jever problem seems to be huge. However, compared with the various troubles at the beginning of the founding of the country, it can only be regarded as a small problem.

The first one is the diplomatic issue...

Marin seized the counties of East Friesland because of the change of dynasties, not natural succession. Therefore, Marin needs the diplomatic recognition of various countries to recognize Marin's legal status.

Without legal status, the Earl of Marin will not be regarded as an Earl. The current regime in East Frisian, then, is an illegitimate regime. In this way, the other vassals have reason to declare war and forcibly seize East Friesland without being blamed.

And if Marin's status is recognized by many countries, especially the emperor, then he will truly become an earl, a prince.

Therefore, Marin took the lead in sending Geoffrey to Vienna as a representative, bringing a lot of gifts, to meet the emperor, and request the canonization. Once negotiated, Marin would travel to Vienna in person to receive the canonization and swear allegiance to the emperor.

In addition, Marin also wanted to send representatives to several surrounding princes, hoping to be recognized by the surrounding neighbors. Because, in countries that do not border East Friesland, Marin doesn't need to care about their attitudes. However, some neighbors in East Friesland need to negotiate. Otherwise, there will be hidden dangers of war. If nothing else, the new East Frisian country must first exchange maps with neighboring countries to confirm the boundaries. Otherwise, the borders will be unclear, which could easily lead to border conflicts.

However, among the four neighboring countries - Saxony in West Frisland, the Earl of Oldenburg in the east, the Bishopric of Münster in the south, and the Archbishopric of Utrecht in the southwest, only the Archbishop of Utrecht has a better attitude. it is good. However, the Archbishop of Utrecht, Frederick IV from Baden, did not directly recognize the legitimacy of Marin, but waited for the emperor to recognize the legal status of Marin.

As for the other three, it's hard to say. Bishop Münster accepted Marin's credentials and gifts, but said nothing, neither acknowledged nor opposed it.

The requirements of the Earl of Oldenburg were very harsh. Adolf, Count of Oldenburg, proposed that if Marin allowed Yevre to become independent, he would recognize the new Earl of Oldenburg.

For this very rude condition, the messenger naturally dared not agree. Even if Marin has a fire in his heart, he doesn't dare to mess around. Because, rioting will involve the great powers of Denmark. So, regarding the negotiation with Oldenburg Country, Marin simply pretended that it never happened.

When Marin sent someone to see Prince George in West Friesland, he was ridiculed by the red fruit - Prince George said that he had never heard of the Brock family, only the East Friesland recognized by the Empire The ruling family of the county is the Serksner family...

That's why he didn't want to talk about it at all, and from George's words, Marin could hear the Duchy of Saxony's coveted East Frisian country. If it hadn't frightened this grandson with the army last time, the Saxon army might have begun to attack East Friesland.

Marin wasn't worried about the 5,000 men under George's grandson, but the Saxons were able to gather an army of 10,000 or 20,000. And, that's not the bottom line. If it is ruthless, it is possible for the Saxons to violently attack 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers.

Therefore, even if Marin is angry, it is not easy to attack.

However, in order to demonstrate, Marin publicly announced that he sent people to Württemberg and Alsace to recruit 3,000 mercenaries back...

Counting the previous 6,000 mercenaries, the number of Marin's regular army reached a terrifying 9,000. It is also fortunate that Marin has a huge trade income in Yancheng. The first batch of merchant ships to the Teutonic Kingdom also brought back tens of thousands of gold coins. With the 200,000 gold coins he got back from Venice, Marin could afford to support a 9,000-strong army, and he could also mobilize and recruit some local soldiers.

As an ordinary poor count with only tens of thousands of people, he really can't afford to support so many people...

Marin sent people to recruit new recruits, which made a lot of noise.

Mainly for the Saxons of West Frisian and Oldenburgers. Its purpose is naturally to warn the other party not to think nonsense. Moreover, some people in the country who were rebellious were also deterred.

In addition, this time, Marin finally made up his mind to return Sivag and the remaining 500 Friesian prisoners of war.

The attack on Emden was led by 700 Friesland prisoners of war. Therefore, they also suffered the most casualties, leaving only 500 of the 700. However, these 500 people have grown into real elites after Marin's rigorous training and combat. And Sivag is also more familiar with his own training methods. Of course, it was the cold-weapon training method for those Frisian prisoners of war. As for the training method of the Spanish phalanx, Marin did not let Siwager see it. Moreover, using the Spanish phalanx, the gunpowder consumption is large, and it is not affordable for those who are not local tyrants.

These 500 people went back to the 9 Frisian nobles, and the strength of those Frisian nobles would skyrocket immediately. In addition to the 300 warriors who returned before, and the 120 knights around the original nobles, then there are 920 elite warriors in the hands of the nine Frisian nobles. Such strength, plus some levies, can cause huge losses to opponents even if they can't beat George's 5,000 Saxon regular army...

After serving Siwager and his men with good wine and good food, Marin sent a ship to transport the 500 people to the seaside of the Principality of Gedes, and notified nine nobles in advance to send someone to respond.

Before leaving, Marin pulled Sivag and said a lot. Of course, not talking nonsense, but teaching him how to fight guerrillas...

Marin handed over some of the essence of Taizu's guerrilla warfare to Siwager, and asked him to lead his army to fast forward and fast retreat, and use it to harass the Frisian region in a windy way.

In addition, in response to the stupid behavior of the nine nobles who robbed the common people before, Marin also gave Siwager a trick and came up with a very unethical idea.

The idea was to let the Frisian army put on the clothes of the Saxon army when looting, pretending to be the Saxon "official army", and communicate in Saxon German, so that the robbed people were convinced that the Saxons robbed them. Of course, during the robbery, wear makeup, preferably smudge your face, or block it so that people don't recognize it.

Then, after the "Saxon Army" left, another group of Frisian troops pretended to be good people and took out some food to help the local people and win over the hearts of the people...

In fact, the food used to provide relief was stolen by those who pretended to be the Saxon army before, and only a part of it...

But the common people don't know, they think they are good people. In this way, when they need to mobilize the masses and recruit new soldiers, the common people will "enthusiastically join the army". Moreover, when fighting the Saxon army, you can also increase your combat effectiveness because of hatred...

This trick, in fact, was not invented by Marin. It was Marin's aunt who told him. Before liberation, some people who used to be bandits, but later joined the guerrillas, were trapped in the mountains and reed areas. They were really hungry, and there was no ocean in their hands.

In order not to starve to death, they changed their minds, put on their former bandit clothes, smeared their faces with ashes, and spoke with their voices squeezed so that the common people would not recognize them. Then, in the middle of the night, I went to the people's homes to grab food...

But during the day, when they came to the village again, they helped people to carry water and clean up, winning the hearts of the people...

(PS: This is a story that the author has personally heard from the old man. It is by no means a slander. The author dares to take his life to guarantee the authenticity! Of course, this is a very rare case. Objectively speaking, many bandits were recruited into the army back then. , the inferiority of a few people is hard to change, and it is inevitable.)

With this bad move, the Saxons will definitely lose the hearts of the people. Then, people from all over the world will become the source of soldiers for the Frisian nobles...

Marin doesn't believe that after such a clever trick, Prince George can still settle down in Friesland. Coupled with the secret support of the Duke of Geddes, if the Saxons still have the energy to attack East Frisian, there will be ghosts...