The Rise of the European Emperor

Shi Beier's thinking is not completely wrong. If Marin's plan is fully disclosed, and then do this, the difficulty must be hell. At that time, the princes must stop Scheiber from recruiting troops at all costs. But the premise is that those princes know Marin's plan.

If no one knows, it's really not that difficult. After all, Marin went around for a long time, making it difficult for people to see Marin's purpose clearly. Even, Marin didn't intend to let Shi Beier know the real purpose of his military expansion. In other words, what he said to Shi Beier was half true and half false.

"Don't be nervous, Shiber, that's it. You know that a war broke out in Lithuania, right?" Marin asked casually.

In fact, this is nonsense. Because, Shi Beier is the leader of the mercenary group that lost Bohemia to reinforce Lithuania, how can he not know. It's just that Marin's following words need to be drawn out.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I know."

Marin nodded and said:

"Well, how should I put it. I'm not very optimistic that Lithuania will win this time. They will probably lose this time!"

Marin decided to discuss the matter, this time only Lithuania.

"No way? Lithuania and Poland are so strong..." Shi Beier looked disbelieving. He knew that Lithuania and Poland dispatched 20,000 to 30,000 cavalry, plus nearly 10,000 infantry, it would be very difficult to lose. Such a huge army can run amok in the German region... No, it can't be compared with the abnormal existence of the North Sea...

Marin smiled and explained:

"You are right. These two countries are indeed very powerful. However, the Grand Duchy of Moscow is also very strong. Did you know that in 1480 in the Christian calendar, when a war broke out between the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Golden Horde, 200,000 troops were dispatched !"

Marin avoided the important and ignored the minor. He didn't make it clear that most of the 200,000 troops were cannon fodder serfs who were forcibly conscripted. But this number really frightened Shi Beier.

"20...200,000?" He almost suspected that he had heard it wrong. You know, most of the German princes may not have a total population of 200,000!

But Schieber suddenly remembered that he had heard in Bohemia that the Grand Duchy of Moscow sent 50,000 troops. With the strong strength of the Lithuanian and Polish coalition forces, mainly cavalry, even though there are fewer people, they should not be defeated. So, he offered his opinion.

Marin shook his head repeatedly and said:

"You are right, but the Grand Duchy of Moscow didn't say no to increasing its troops! Therefore, once they increase their troops, Lithuania is very likely to fail. Therefore, we are likely to send troops to help repel the heresy of the Grand Duchy of Moscow .”

Schieber thought it was true,

There is no provision that the Grand Duchy of Moscow is not allowed to increase its troops. Once the war is tight, it is reasonable for people to increase their troops. So, there is a high probability that this will happen by then.

"But...if the Muscovites win, what else can we do?"

"I want you to return to the mountains of southern Germany now, and immediately start recruiting, training and preparation. At that time, once the news of Lithuania's defeat comes, you will lead the troops eastward to aid Lithuania!"

Schieber was a little unhappy:

"But, Your Majesty, by that time, the morale of the Muscovites will be high. Even if I recruit tens of thousands of people, even with tens of thousands of recruits, I can't defeat the opponent's army of 100,000 or 200,000 people!"

His worries were not unreasonable. If the Grand Duchy of Moscow's army won, not only would their morale be high, but the recruits would also grow into veterans during the battle. The mountain people recruited by Schieber in southern Germany were complete recruits. With tens of thousands of new recruits colliding with more than 100,000 main forces of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, it is basically a thousand miles away...

Marin waved his hand and said:

"I didn't let you go to die. At that time, there will be 20,000 elite veterans in Beihai. You try your best to bring mercenaries over there, and train as you go. When you arrive at the battlefield, you will basically train well. At that time, the main force Can't fight, why can't you give support to 20,000 Beihai elites? My people are responsible for resisting the enemy from the front, and even breaking through the enemy's formation. You bring tens of thousands of recruits, and the main task is to follow my troops to fight. In addition to being powerful, it can also help take care of many places on the battlefield that cannot be taken care of."

In fact, this is also the normal state of ancient wars. Generally speaking, for an army of 100,000, at most 20,000 to 30,000 are the main elite, responsible for fighting tough battles. Most of the rest of the people are actually mainly responsible for calling 666 and following along to pick up bargains.

If the elite in front win the battle, they will follow along to cover a larger area and gain military exploits. If you lose the previous fight, then run away desperately.

So, don't look at the hundreds of thousands of troops in ancient times. The elite who can really fight can get one or two achievements. Therefore, there is a saying that more than 10% of the casualties are easy to collapse. There is no way, the most capable veterans only account for 10 to 20 percent. Moreover, it is often at the top (the habit of European mercenaries). If the veterans in the front row are almost dead, this battle will be impossible to fight.

This problem is particularly prominent in the European battlefield of this era. Because, the characteristic of the battle formation of Europeans in this era is that the first three rows are veterans, and the rear are all recruits. If the veterans in the front row are wiped out, expecting the recruits in the back row to fight tenaciously is more unreliable than expecting a sow to climb a tree.

However, you can't say that the recruits in the back row are useless. Because, these recruits have another function - to fight with the wind!

The recruits can't do it alone, but most of the recruits can do it by following the fierce veterans to take advantage of it. Moreover, self-taught. In other words, this is human instinct. This approach is also called holding the thigh to pick up cheap.

But don't underestimate the recruits' ability to fight smoothly. Once they fight smoothly, these recruits can not only quickly grow into veterans. Moreover, the effect on the enemy's blow is also multiplied.

Facing the enemy running away and showing their backs, there is not much difference between veterans and recruits, they are all taking advantage of it. And if the number of veterans is insufficient, even if the enemy is repelled, it is impossible to kill the enemy through hunting. Without him, there are too many enemies and not enough hunters. If most of the enemies escaped and regrouped, it would be another protracted confrontation.

Therefore, the ability of recruits to fight smoothly is also very necessary for war. Not only can it solve the problem of insufficient troops, but it can also cause great damage to the enemy.

In addition, after the battle, the winning side also needs a large number of manpower to be stationed in the occupied area to consolidate the fruits of victory. At this time, it is obviously wasteful to use veterans. It is obviously the most suitable to use recruits who have accumulated a little combat experience.

In addition to the above two points, the larger the number of people, the more self-confidence can be brought to the comrades. In the era of cold weapons, even the era of hot weapons, confidence is very important.

Of course, this is Marin's reason for making Shiber "understand". In fact, what he wanted was 50,000 elites. If Shi Beier can bring more than 50,000 mountain recruits, as long as they follow the main force led by Marin to fight smoothly, it will be easy to accumulate combat experience and grow into veterans. At that time, they will be able to play their best role.

...

"However, let me go alone to recruit soldiers. I don't have enough money and food. Moreover, I can't openly accept the money and food support from Beihai. Otherwise, I will be blocked by the princes..." After hearing Marin's arrangement, Scheber demurred.

According to Marin's arrangement, he and his men returned to the mountains of southern Germany to recruit people. However, after people are recruited, they need to be raised. It’s okay if there are hundreds or thousands of people, but if it’s tens of thousands...you have to prepare a lot of money and food to support them...

And as a mercenary captain who "rushed to the street", in theory, Shi Beier couldn't afford the money and food for recruiting soldiers... If he suddenly had money and food that could support tens of thousands of troops, it would be strange not to be suspected...

Therefore, Marin had to "fabricate" a third-party "funder". This "funder" must be able to provide enough money and food to feed tens of thousands of mountain recruits. Moreover, it doesn't make people suspect that it is on the head of Beihai...