King of German Mercenaries

It was not the first time that Marin from Milan came here. The last time he came, he was specially here to knock Da Vinci unconscious and take him away. Therefore, the last time he came was very low-key, and it was regarded as "he came and went in a hurry". But this time, with the documents signed by the emperor, Marin swaggered into the city, and swaggered into the palace in Milan.

Ludovico Sforza is a dark-faced middle-aged man who is called "Moor" because of his dark appearance. Although dark and earthy, Ludovico Sforza was one of the most capable lords of the entire era. Under his rule, the city of Milan prospered, and of course, Louis XII coveted it.

"Welcome, Count Marin!" Ludovico Sforza had already received the official document that Marin was recognized by the emperor as an official count.

"Thank you, Your Excellency, I am here this time, entrusted by His Majesty the Emperor, to warn you!"

"Warning? What warning?" Ludovico Sforza was not a fool, he seemed to have guessed something.

"It's like this, the French going south, there is a great possibility that it is not to prevent the emperor from going to Rome to be crowned, but to seize the Duchy of Milan..."

"Why?" Ludovico Sforza frowned, and he also vaguely felt that what Marin said might be right. At the beginning, when Charles VIII marched into Italy, Louis XII, who was still the Duke of Orleans, wanted to raid Milan with more than 5,000 people, but was scared back by Ludovico Sforza's army of 30,000. Today, Louis XII has become the king of France, leading the army to the south, not necessarily without the intention of coveting the Principality of Milan.

"By the way, Your Majesty the Duke, His Majesty the Emperor was assassinated in Graubünden, he may not be able to enter Italy... Louis XII attacked Milan before, and now he is heading south with a large army, naturally he will not be empty-handed. Facing such a piece of the Duchy of Milan Fat, I think it's very likely that he can't help but start..."

"Then what do you think I should do?"

"Try to recruit as many soldiers as possible, and try to scare Louis XII. When he comes to Italy this time, in addition to the Principality of Milan, he will definitely go south to fight for the Kingdom of Naples."

"How about I hire the most powerful Swiss mercenary?" Ludovico Sforza suddenly remembered that he could hire Swiss mercenaries. But Marin immediately denied:

"Better not, Your Excellency, if you're fighting with others, it's fine to hire Swiss mercenaries. But when you're fighting the French, you'd better not hire Swiss..." Marin remembered, Ludovico Sforza After the first failed escape, he hired 10,000 Swiss mercenaries to return to Milan to clean up the traitors. But when the French army came with a large number of Swiss mercenaries, the 10,000 Swiss mercenaries who had been employed by Ludovico Sforza even refused to fight against their compatriots in the French army. This forced Ludovico Sforza to make up to escape, and was captured by the French...

"Why?" Ludovico Sforza was puzzled.

"The Swiss have a tradition that the Swiss do not fight the Swiss. There are so many Swiss in the French army. What if the Swiss mercenaries you hired refused to fight the French army?"

"This..." Ludovico Sforza hesitated immediately.

"Lord Duke, you should recruit Italian mercenaries nearby. You should choose someone with better character. It is said that your generals, Trivulchio and Count Caiazzo, are somewhat dissatisfied with you. Please beware of them leading their troops to surrender to France. Ah..." The first failure of Ludovico Sforza was because the two surrendered to France, which led to the collapse of the Milan defense line. Moreover, the surrender of Count Caiazzo was even more deadly. Because Trivulchio is not in charge of the army, and the harm is not great. Count Caazzo was an important general under Ludovico Sforza and was the commander-in-chief of the Milan army when Charles VIII marched into Milan. If such a person rebels, he is definitely not alone.

But with a group of people, it is extremely dangerous.

"Count Caiazzo? Are you kidding me? It's an open fact that Trivulchio opposes me. But how could Count Caiazzo object to me? Well... We have just had some differences recently..." Lu Doveco Sforza thought for a while, and it's true that he and Count Caiazzo have not been on good terms in the past two years.

"Anyway, send someone to check to see if Count Caiazzo is on your side. Don't let him lead the army against the French, lest the whole army fall to France."

"I will consider what you said..." But in fact, Ludovico Sforza disagreed with Marin's words. And Marin, and the Duke of Milan, did have some "deep conversations".

"By the way, Count Marin, I wonder if Your Majesty can send troops to support me?" Ludovico Sforza suddenly thought that there were more than 10,000 people under Maximilian I, could he be able to use them? Woolen cloth……

"Difficult! Your Majesty, Your Majesty's army, has occupied Graubünden in anger because of His Majesty's assassination. You know, Graubünden is so big, and there must be a lot of resistance. Moreover, Graubünden is so big. The Deng people have been allied with the Swiss Alliance. His Majesty's general, Count Firstenberg, needs to guard against the Swiss attacking Graubünden. Therefore, he can't find any people to help you... Moreover, according to the latest information, the French are not only 20,000, Louis XII stayed in Lyon, intending to hire another 10,000 Swiss mercenaries..."

"Then... In this case, it will be difficult for Milan to resist the French attack..." Hearing that the French had added another 10,000 troops and were still the most powerful Swiss mercenary, Ludovico Sforza began to feel unconfident. .

Marin looked at Ludovico Sforza's embarrassed face and decided to remind him:

"Lord Duke, you should be prepared to fail and retreat..."

Although Marin's words are ugly, they are very true. With the military strength of the Principality of Milan, it is difficult to compete with France, which has the support of Swiss mercenaries.

"How should I prepare..." Ludovico Sforza was a little lost. Hearing that the French wanted to gather 20,000 Swiss mercenaries, he was already very unconfident.

"You know the Mistyr Valley, don't you?"

"Um?"

"South of the Mistyr Valley is connected to the Telina Valley, which belongs to the Duchy of Milan..."

"what do you mean?"

"The Duke may wish to leave some loyal troops behind and retreat to the Talina Valley, and go dormant first. After all, even if the French have conquered the Principality of Milan, they will continue to attack Naples south. When the main force of the French is withdrawn, you will wait again, Lord Duke. Take your loyal men and kill them back to Milan..."

"Do you mean to let me preserve my strength?" Ludovico Sforza was also somewhat helpless now, so he involuntarily consulted Marin.

"It's still going to be a fight, and it will eventually consume a little of the French's strength. In addition to leaving some troops and horses to retreat to the Telina Valley, the main force still has to fight the French. However, you need to be prepared to retreat. It can be regarded as a way back. Moreover, the terrain of the Terina Valley is steep. As long as a defense line is built, the French will not be able to break through. What’s more, behind the Terina Valley, there is Graubünden, which is controlled by His Majesty the Emperor. There are soldiers of the Emperor. As the backing of horses, the French have no determination to attack the Telina Valley. Otherwise, they will have a head-on conflict with His Majesty the Emperor..."

"It makes sense... However, if I send troops and horses to retreat to the Telina Valley first, it may cause instability in the military..."

"You can send a trusted subordinate to take thousands of people in the name of building the passage of the Telina Valley, which is not eye-catching at all..." Marin's problem of being a dog-headed military division has been committed again, and he has been sent to the Duke of Milan one after another. come up with an idea. Although the Duke of Milan might not listen to Marin's opinion, he still listened carefully, but whether to implement it or not is another matter. After all, the Duke of Milan was not the emperor and did not trust Marin that much.

"This idea is okay..." The Duke of Milan has no confidence in the war with the French, and it is indeed necessary to leave a way out. The Tellina Valley is connected to Graubünden, Switzerland. Now Graubünden is under the control of Emperor Maximilian I. Even if the Duke of Milan can't stand the Tellina Valley, it is very convenient to escape to Austria.

"In addition, the Duke must bring enough money and food to the Talina Valley. Because if you withdraw there, you will need to spend money to hire troops to fight back in the future..."

Ludovico Sforza nodded, agreeing with Marin's point of view. These days, some mercenaries in Europe recognize money but not people. Many mercenaries don't care who the employer is as long as they are paid. If you don't have money, ghosts are willing to fight for you.

Marin's meaning is also very simple, that is, if Ludovico Sforza retreats in a hurry, it may be too late to take away enough money. If there is not enough food and money, even if he flees with troops and horses, he cannot afford it. In the future, they will not be able to hire more mercenaries. Therefore, he gave Ludovico Sforza a wake-up call and told him not to forget to prepare money and food before running away...

After all, Ludovico Sforza said that he and Marin belonged to the same line, both on the emperor's side. It would be nice if you could help a little bit.

Although Ludovico Sforza was the Duke of Milan, he used to rely heavily on his resourceful wife for advice. Strictly speaking, many of his previous good behaviors were made under the guidance of his wife. But his resourceful wife died in 1497. Therefore, this year, Doludovico Sforza was a little uncertain about the direction, and even his subordinates also used some idiots, such as his most trusted general, San Severino, who was just a martial artist and lacked brains. . After the death of his wife, Ludovico Sforza even promoted a idiot like San Severino, who only had muscles and no brains, to be the main general of the Milan army. Also offended Count Caiazzo. If his wife was still around, he would definitely not let him play like this.

And this time Marin came over to give him advice. Although he was a little friendly, Ludovico Sforza seemed to remember the scene when his wife gave him advice at the beginning, so he actually listened to a lot of suggestions. Marin's painstaking efforts were not completely wasted.

After this meeting, Marin's relationship with Ludovico Sforza has gotten a lot closer. When Marin said that he wanted to hire a few craftsmen, Ludovico Sforza was not at all dissatisfied, and even brought someone to lead Marin to help Marin hire craftsmen. The reason for this is that there are too many craftsmen in Milan, and there must be 10,000 or 20,000 people. Marin wanted to hire a group, but Ludovico Sforza didn't care. At the same time, Ludovico Sforza sent someone to follow Marin, not only to help Marin hire craftsmen, but also to monitor, to prevent Marin from hiring some of the master craftsmen he valued most. For example, the architect Bramante, Ludovico Sforza would never let him be hired by Marin. If Da Vinci was still there, Ludovico Sforza would not allow Marin to poach people. However, Marin had already made his move and took Da Vinci away in a brutal way of kidnapping...