The Rise of the European Emperor

Since the old man was going south to compete for the Pope, Marin immediately called Kohler and asked him to send all the information about Italy for his own reference.

Marin has always been very concerned about the situation in Italy, not that he has ideas about Italy. However, the Italian battlefield, where two major powers, Spain and France, are wrestling their arms, which is very worthy of attention.

Between the two countries, it is a battle between dragons and tigers. The victory or defeat of either side has an important impact on the situation in Europe. However, Marin is convinced that Spain will achieve the ultimate victory. Because, there is a famous general named Gonzalo de Cordoba in the Spanish army. What's more, this famous general has also learned from himself the relatively complete "Marin phalanx", which is very restrained by the French plate knights.

The French troops are actually very monotonous, mainly plate knights and Swiss spearmen. In addition, supplemented by a certain number of artillery.

Under Gonzalo de Cordoba, there were not only large-scale musketeers and spearmen, but also artillery and Spanish light cavalry as auxiliary. As for the heavy cavalry, Gonzalo de Córdoba was too embarrassed to take it out. why? There were too few Spanish heavy cavalry, and he had only a few hundred in his hands. In front of the French tens of thousands of heavily armored knights, it is simply shameful, it is better not to take it out...

Italy is a pit, where two European hegemons, France and Spain, are trapped. If the French don't get stuck in Italy...well, it seems that the Germans are not very good at fighting...

Unless the French voluntarily give up their land hegemony and turn to major voyages, there will be a way out. Otherwise, whether it is Italy or Germany, it is not an existence to be messed with.

Italy is a big fat meat in the eyes of the great powers, while Germany is a hard bone. Because the combat effectiveness of Italian soldiers is very scum, and in Germany, people are generally armed. If the French dare to expand in the direction of Germany, the originally scattered German princes will surely unite. At that time, the French will not be able to eat and walk around.

In short, it is really difficult for the French to compete for hegemony. The southeast is the "giant pit" Italy, and the southwest is the "little bully" Spain. As for the east, there are a group of aggressive and aggressive German lords... they are not easy to mess with...

So did the Spaniards. To be honest, the Kingdom of Castile was pitted by the Kingdom of Aragon. Because, King Ferdinand II of Aragon Kingdom is also coveted and obsessed with Italy.

Therefore, the confrontation between Spain and France in Italy is actually the hegemony of the Kingdom of Aragon and the French in Italy. As for the Kingdom of Castile, it was actually dragged into the water by the Kingdom of Aragon.

If according to the original historical development, Spain would be even worse later, dragged into the "super sinkhole" by the Habsburg family - the hegemony with the native chickens...

The Kingdom of Castile originally had the huge profits of the American colonies. If it weren't for the marriage of the crazy woman Juana, it could have made a fortune in silence. However, because of the appearance of Charles V, the huge profits obtained by the Spaniards were all used by Charles V in the German War of Religion and the war with the turkey. Of course, the frontal competition with France also cost a lot of money.

In short, because of the possession of the Habsburg family, the gold and silver that the Spaniards worked so hard to earn from the Americas was squandered into the German theater... In the end, the colonial empire of Spain was dragged into bankruptcy by the hegemony of the European continent...

Of course, this is the original historical development route. But since Marin rescued Prince Juan, Spain's history has been changed. However, at the same time, there is also the focus of Spain.

America was described as a terrifying place where the dreaded syphilis was everywhere, provoked by the sleazy fellow Marin. Moreover, Marin also made a serious effort to send the real Indian route to Spain, so that Spain's attention was completely shifted to India. The Americas were then abandoned by Spain, leaving only a colony on Hispaniola (Haiti) for the cultivation of sugar cane.

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The Spaniards are not at a loss either. Because, in the early America, there was really no oil and water. Large quantities of gold and silver would not be obtained until Spain conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico and the Inca Empire in Peru. Before this, the Spanish colonization of the Americas was actually not profitable. Marin's dedication of the Indian route to Spain, although diverting their attention, also brought immediate and massive profits to Spain.

Therefore, Spain at this time has more confidence in the process of competing with France for Italy. Because, the last time the fleet returned, the spices brought back from India made the royal family earn one million and hundreds of thousands of gold coins, enough for the Spaniards to spend money and the French to shake things up.

Because of the money, the Spanish kings were also a lot more generous when they let Gonzalo de Córdoba lead the army to confront the French. In the original history, Gonzalo de Cordoba only led 10,000 Spanish troops to confront the French, and the troops were very shabby. You know, the French army as an opponent has a total number of 40,000 people.

This time, because the two kings had money, the army under Gonzalo de Córdoba was not 10,000, but doubled to 20,000.

In this way, when the French army of 40,000 men was aggressively heading south, Gonzalo de Córdoba did not evade its edge as in the original history, but chose to go straight to the front...

So, also in April, the armies of Spain and France, in the disputed area - the Capitanata Valley, broke out in a great war...

The famous battle of the original Spanish phalanx "Battle of Charinola" is gone, replaced by the Battle of Capitanata...

Of course, this square is no longer called the Spanish square, but the "Marin square"...

Using the knowledge of the "Marin phalanx" learned from Marin, Gonzalo de Córdoba ordered his men to use sappers, imitated from the East Frisian army, in Spain in the Capitanata Valley. On the side of the control area, two deep trenches were dug to prevent the charge of the French knights.

Moreover, unlike the original "Marin Square", because the trenches were dug deep, a lot of soil was dug out. In the original version of the "Marin Square", the trenches were dug shallow, and there was not much soil dug out, and they were randomly stacked on both sides of the tunnel.

The trench dug by the Spanish army commanded by Gonzalo de Cordoba was deeper and more soil was dug out. For this reason, Gonzalo de Córdoba had an idea and simply piled up the dirt he had dug out on the side close to his army, and built an earth wall as a shelter for the musketeers. In this way, when the Spanish musketeers were shooting, they could use these earth walls as bunkers to resist the opponent's bow and arrow shooting and artillery fire.

When the French army of 40,000 arrived in the Capitanata Valley, they encountered the "Marin phalanx" discharged by the Spanish army with super defense...

Relying on the strength of their troops, the French launched a charge without even trying... Then, naturally, a large group of French knights fell into the pit...

In desperation, the French stopped the knight charge and switched to artillery shelling and archer shooting. However, the Spanish troops were hiding behind a high and thick wall of earth and suffered little damage.

When the French army let the Swiss spearmen come forward, the Spanish musketeers came forward and beat the Swiss spearmen to the ground with genuine Musquette muskets (the ones from Marin were knockoffs)...even if they rushed up , can't climb two deep pits...

At the same time, the wise Gonzalo de Córdoba remembered Marin's original "teaching" and sent a large number of Spanish light cavalry to the rear of the French army to attack the French army's supply line. The French sent heavy cavalry to pursue them, but how could they outrun the light cavalry of the Spaniards?

In this way, while the two sides were engaged in positional warfare, the supply line of the French army was also seriously threatened by the Spanish light cavalry...

After a week of playing, the French lost thousands of people, but still couldn't do anything with the Spaniards. Moreover, their supply lines are also severely threatened, and there is a danger of running out of food. In desperation, the remaining 30,000 troops of the French army had to withdraw to the north and gave up the confrontation with the Spanish army...

After the victory of the Battle of Capitanata, Gonzalo de Córdoba became famous and became a European general. However, Gonzalo de Córdoba was too modest to put the credit on Marin. Said that his "Marin Phalanx" was taught to him by the Earl of Marin. Moreover, the tactics of attacking the French supply lines were also taught by Marin...

After Marin read this piece of information, he was so depressed that he almost vomited blood - Nimad, you old boy, Gonzalo, are you making a name for me or helping me to provoke the hatred of the French... It's just a slap in the face... …

Marin was once sanctioned by the French for defeating Charles VIII. Later, after Charles VIII died, the French relaxed the sanctions against him. Now, the old boy Gonzalo de Cordoba has defeated the French army, and everyone says that Marin taught him his skills. Isn't this a trick to Marin?

Marin can already predict that after Charles VIII, another French king (Louis XII) will put Marin on the "blacklist"...