The Rise of the European Emperor

Leaving the palace of the Elector of Saxony in Worms, Marin sighed. In fact, he didn't want to leave any written evidence as a handle. However, Frederick III, the elector of Saxony, could become the leader of the princes, and it was very difficult to fool him. In desperation, he could only leave a written note so that he could trust himself.

Fortunately, Frederick III didn't know that he was going to use the war between Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow to expand his army by tens of thousands, and he didn't let himself promise not to expand the army in writing, otherwise, it would really be impossible to end.

This can't be blamed for Frederick III's negligence. How did he know that Marin was so ambitious that he still wanted to kill France. Therefore, it's not that Frederick III couldn't think of it, but that Marin dared to think too much.

It's too late for the German princes to unite against it and join forces with France to send troops when the North Sea has a 100,000 army on its own. Because, an army of 100,000 is enough for Marin to defeat the combination of the princes and the French.

Moreover, the real trump card in Marin's hand is the slug and the slug. In fact, most of the 100,000 troops are auxiliary. But it would be impossible without these people. After all, to defend the mainland of Beihai, one must also suppress the opponent's resistance. If you really want to confront them head-on, in fact, the army of the North Sea State can defeat the army of France and the alliance of princes now. But after defeating, you can't get any benefits, and you can't kill your opponent. Instead, you can only watch your opponent go back to recover. If the opponent learns the secret of slugs and slugs, it will be over.

Therefore, Marin would rather leave written evidence as a handle, and temporarily stabilize the princes. When the tens of thousands of troops are brought back, everything is settled, and then another attitude will be changed.

...

After leaving the Saxon palace in Worms, Marin went to the Habsburg family palace in Worms again, and had a drink with the emperor's palace minister, Count Ettel Frederick III of Hohenzollern. This drink is more like a bitter drink. Marin complained to Ethel Frederick III about the arrogance and domineering of the princes, and Marin also expressed serious helplessness about the "serious profit concession" commercial terms that he was "forced" to sign with the princes.

However, although Marin "has gone through all difficulties", he still unswervingly supported His Majesty the Emperor to take back the entire Switzerland. In order to express his sincerity, Marin intends to provide an additional batch of about 2,000 clockwork and sparkling carbines for the cavalry of the Habsburg family.

The Swiss mercenaries are mainly spearmen, plus a small number of crossbowmen, as well as tomahawks and hammermen, specially used to deal with the plate armor knights of the Habsburg family. But they lack musketeers, mainly because muskets consume a lot of gunpowder and lead bullets, and the cost is quite high. The Swiss mercenaries are all poor mountain people. They are not willing to use expensive and expensive muskets, but prefer crossbows.

Of course, they also have enough ability to deal with the army of the Habsburg family, which is dominated by plate armor knights. The army of the Habsburg family is dominated by plate armored knights. To deal with plate armored knights, the spearman inserts the bottom of the spear into the soil, facing forward obliquely,

Enough to withstand the impact of the plate armor knight. As for the plate armor knights who fell from horses, it is difficult for spearmen to hurt them, but the heavy infantry who use battle axes and war hammers are specially designed to deal with plate armor knights who have fallen from horses. The crossbowmen in the Swiss mercenaries are actually mainly targeting the infantry of the Habsburg family. After all, infantry don't wear plate armor all over their bodies, so they can't withstand the shooting of crossbows.

And Marin equipped the plate armored heavy cavalry of the Habsburg family with a clockwork sparkling carbine, which was actually prepared specifically for the lack of muskets in Swiss mercenaries.

The knights of the Habsburg family wearing plate armor or armor with leather bags inserted in the steel plate are not afraid of the Swiss crossbow, and can shoot at the phalanx approaching the Swiss. Then, fire with a clockwork pistol, causing casualties. Then, flatter the horse and leave. The Swiss are all infantry, and they can't catch up...

Although the hit rate of the musket is very low, the Austrian knights can fire after getting close, and then shoot at a distance of twenty or thirty meters. At this distance, the hit rate of the musket is already very high. Moreover, he is not afraid of the Swiss spearmen catching up. After all, how can infantry catch up with cavalry? If the opponent dared to chase out chaotically without maintaining the formation locally, the Austrian heavy cavalry would very likely take advantage of the opponent's scattered formation to launch a charge and crush the opponent in one fell swoop.

Therefore, in the face of Swiss mercenaries who lacked muskets, cavalry used carbines to approach and shoot, and ran away after shooting. It was actually very wretched, but very effective.

In fact, this tactic is not only effective against the Swiss spear formation, but also particularly effective against plate armor knights. For example, the French plate knights...

If you encounter a French plate armor knight, this unit will change the game - remove the horse armor, and only keep the armor on the shooter. Then, use the "flying a kite" style of play to tease the French knights.

With the horse armor removed, the action will be more convenient, and the French knights in human harness cannot catch up. However, the clockwork sparkling carbine can cause damage to French knights and even knock them off their horses.

Therefore, this "black shirt knight" is a very good mobile force.

In the original history, Charles V also hired a large number of black shirt knights to deal with French plate armor knights. Because the wind-up gun is not afraid of wind and rain, it is especially suitable for attacking on rainy days. Even, it can crush the opponent's arquebus shooter in rainy days.

In fact, at the beginning, because the clockwork flintlock was very expensive, it was only a spare weapon used by noble knights for self-defense. But later in the battle, everyone found that the concentrated use of clockwork flintlocks worked very well. Then, the established "Knights in Black Shirts" appeared.

Also because of the black-shirted knights, France, which has always had the advantage of heavy cavalry in plate armor, was beaten to shame by Charles V's army. Fortunately, the cost of wind-up guns is very high, and most people cannot afford them. Therefore, the French heavy cavalry was not completely defeated.

...

The same is true for the Habsburg family, because the cost of clockwork guns is high, and the clockwork is expensive. Therefore, even though Marin supplied at a "preferential price" before, Austria still only had 2,000 "black shirt knights". The sad thing is that each of the "black shirt knights" in the North Sea has 5 spring-up and sparkling carbines. But in poor Austria, each knight in black shirt has only one clockwork musket...

Now, Marin has sent another 2,000 in private, and finally the Austrian black shirt knights can each be equipped with two clockwork sparkling carbines.

Speaking of which, the status of the "black shirt knights" in Austria is very special. None of them were formal knights. However, they all come from the family of knights...

How should I put it, the Austrian knights feel that the tactics of the black shirt knight are too insignificant and not manly enough. Therefore, the knights refused to become black shirt knights. However, the emperor's face had to be given. Because the black shirt knight does not have high requirements for horse fighting, only good riding skills, and good at using muskets on horseback.

So, in the end, those knight disciples recommended their grooms one after another...

What needs to be explained is that when every knight boy goes out, except for those who have no money, many of them will bring three to five followers. Among the three to five followers, there must be a professional groom who raises and takes care of the horses for the knights. This kind of person is very familiar with horses and often has good riding skills. However, they were not children of nobles, but ordinary serfs with a very low status.

Therefore, the "black-shirted knights" are "not honorable" arms, and the knights' children have recommended their own grooms to apply. Then, the instructors secretly sent by the Beihai Kingdom selected 2,000 people who could calmly use firearms on horseback among those grooms to form the Habsburg family's "Black Shirt Knight" troops.

This army has two sets of tactics, one is armor with leather bags and steel sheets on horseback, and it attacks the Swiss infantry phalanx with crossbowmen. Horses and horses are armored, and they are not afraid of bows and arrows. They can guarantee their own safety to the greatest extent, and at the same time cause blows to the enemy.

The second set of tactics is aimed at the French knights. When encountering French knights, Austrian black-shirted knights will throw away the armored horse armor with leather bags and steel sheets on their horses to reduce weight. Then, play kite tactics with French plate knights.

Of course, there will be armored knights in armor to protect them from the side to prevent this cavalry unit from being chased and killed by the opponent's light cavalry. After all, this group of people is composed of grooms and retinues, and their riding and fighting skills are very poor, or even almost non-existent. Therefore, when encountering the opponent's light cavalry chasing and killing them, they had to be protected by those armored knights who were born as knights.

What needs to be explained here is that although they are both heavy armored cavalry, they can wear armor with leather bags and steel sheets, and their load is almost half lighter than that of French knights with plate armor. Therefore, the mobility is also stronger.

Although the protection power may not be as good as that of plate armored knights, these armored heavy cavalry are not reckless with French knights. Against the French plate armor knights, there are black shirt knights. Those armored knights are just to protect the black shirt knights from being hurt by the opponent's light cavalry. And the French light cavalry, facing the armored knights, was helpless. After all, the protection levels of the two sides are not at the same level. Moreover, light cavalry are often not the children of knights, and their martial arts are not as good as those armored knights who were born as knights...

After sending out 2,000 clockwork sparkling carbines, Marin immediately gained the trust of His Majesty the Emperor and his palace minister. Then, neither the Habsburg family nor most of the princes who had benefited were no longer hostile to Marin. At least, less hostile. Only pro-French factions such as Anthony, Duke of Lorraine, are still hostile to Marin because of their interests and positions.

However, they only accounted for a small number of princes. Even if they jump up and down, as long as leaders such as Elector Frederick III of Saxony do not nod, all their opinions can only be opinions and cannot be put into practice.

Moreover, the focus of discussion among the princes right now is not how to deal with Marin, but how to add obstacles to the emperor's military campaign to conquer Switzerland...