The Rise of the European Emperor

Not long after Marin set off from Emden Harbor, Schwartz, who was originally in charge of staying behind, also began to gather troops and horses secretly, preparing to go south to the Principality of Clifford. After all, it was agreed before that Schwartz would lead an army of 20,000 troops south to fight for John II, Duke of Clifford, in the name of mercenaries.

At this time, spring ploughing had just begun, and all of Europe was busy with spring ploughing. Even the Principality of Gedes, which wants to send troops, is busy plowing in the spring. When the spring ploughing is over, it is still early for the autumn harvest in October, which is just right for a war...

And Schwartz and Marin had a plan before—to take advantage of everyone’s busy spring ploughing period to complete the unwitting plan of deploying troops…

And to send 20,000 troops to the south quietly, without attracting attention, is it easier said than done? In the end, the solution that Marin and Schwartz negotiated was to go by water...

Just at this time, the small canal connecting the Ems River and the Rhine River in the South Münster area was completed, and Marin decided to mobilize a large number of inland transport ships to quietly transport troops...

Each riverboat was covered with a tarp so that the soldiers could hide in their cabins and not be seen by others. Then, the ships walked away quietly, quietly heading south...

Along the way, it was all Marin's territory. As long as you said hello in advance, naturally there was no one who dared to stop the boat for inspection. Even in the territory of South Munster... Marin wrote a secret letter to Bishop Conrad, asking him to leave the ship's affairs...

There are dozens of people hidden in the cabin of each small boat, so get more boats... It's really not good, you can also let the extra people go overland separately, and travel by day and night. In short, don't let people see it.

In fact, as long as you don't take the bustling business road, the chances of being seen by outsiders are very small. After all, this was an era when serfs could not leave the manor at will, and there were few outsiders on the road. Ordinary foreign spies have to disguise themselves as businessmen and follow normal business routes. Therefore, as long as you avoid the many roads that the merchants pass through, take the trails, and spread out, and the number of people per share is not large, you can still avoid people's eyes.

After Schwartz made arrangements, he brought 20,000 troops, who boarded the ship, and those who took the land route, and began to go south in batches. As for the local guard work, it was naturally handed over to Old Hoffman.

Although Old Hoffman had no talent, the work of guarding was much less difficult than leading troops to expedition. After several experiences, old Hoffman is also familiar with it.

In fact, the old Hoffman is not old at all. He is only in his early 50s, which is a very strong age. Although the ability is limited, it is still capable of guarding several major cities with a group of soldiers.

As for internal affairs, old Hoffman is not good at it, but Mrs. Mary understands...

certainly,

The usual internal affairs of Mrs. Mary do not need to be dealt with. After all, there is Prime Minister Geoffrey running the government. Mrs. Mary's job was to keep an eye on Prime Minister Jeffrey, lest he make small moves while Marin wasn't there. After all, Jeffrey's integrity is not very good.

In this way, Old Hoffman is in charge of the military, and Mrs. Mary supervises government affairs. Even if Marin is not there, there will be no trouble in the country.

However, with the ability of the old Hoffman, at most some important areas and towns such as East Friesland and Groningen can only be defended. No matter how many areas, it is beyond his ability. But Marin doesn't expect him to hold the entire North Sea Grand Duchy. As long as he can hold the core area of ​​East Frisian, even if other places are lost, Marin can still get it back.

Moreover, Marin actually hopes that Old Hoffman and Mrs. Mary can be more familiar with the process of staying in the country. In this way, Marin can go abroad with confidence.

You don't have to go to other places, but the Ming Dynasty must go there. It's not that Marin wants to worship the emperor and kneel and lick Daming, but Marin really has a strong curiosity about the ancient Ming Dynasty people. What does Emperor Zhengde look like? Marin wanted to know. There is also the great eunuch Liu Jin, who is also very famous. I wonder if there will be "Sunflower Collection"...

In short, Marin will definitely go to Daming waves in his life. Moreover, he also plans to bring a group of oil painting masters to Daming, and use oil paintings to record the appearance of famous people such as Emperor Zhengde and Liu Jin as a historical archive. Hundreds of years later, when making movies, those directors also have a reference, so they won't just find actors and make up numbers...

Of course, Marin can't do anything about second-hand directors who just like to look for sissy little fresh meat as the starring role. Just like the "Founding of an Army" that hit the streets later, the director did his best to find a group of people who didn't look like the prototype... Obviously these protagonists have photos and there are corresponding special actors, so you have to look for them Playing the role of Xiao Xianrou who doesn't look like... Paralyzed that the audience is ignorant? So, it's weird that this movie doesn't flutter...

If you change it to a costume movie, you can find any tall, short, fat, or thin person to play it. Because those people don't have pictures in the world, you can play whoever you want. But it's obvious that people from decades ago have photos in the world. If you don't look like them on purpose, it's just insulting people's IQ... Those martyrs of the uprisings have their faces as white as flour? To put it bluntly, in ancient times, it was not that there were no gays, and that he had grown into such a small white face. He had long been regarded as a rabbit and had anal fissure, and he still had the ability to go to revolution?

The god of anti-Japanese drama is that the men are all washing, cutting and blowing their little white faces. The women are not only white and beautiful, but also dress boldly and boldly... The most bizarre thing is that they are so good-looking that the devils still turn a blind eye... They really are devils They're all gay, don't you like flower girls? Therefore, Marin has always believed that the reason why "Bright Sword" is regarded as a classic among the classics of anti-Japanese dramas is that in addition to the well-written plot, well-chosen actors are also the key points. Just like Li Youbin's rough image of the old man, that is the true image of the revolutionaries of that era, rough and agile. If you find a little fresh meat to play Li Yunlong, it is estimated that the play will be played in minutes... Nima, when you grow up like this, the whole group probably wants to fall in love with you, can you still be the leader? You know, the anger of the soldiers is strong, and the sows look like Diaochan...

...

farther away...

As the commander of the army, Schwartz is also going south. However, he was the general who was in charge of staying behind before Marin. If he disappeared, it would definitely lead to speculation. In particular, the Gede Company has sent some people to lurk in Aurich to observe the situation. Of course, their actions were monitored by the spies under Kohler.

The spies of the Gerd company obviously couldn't find out that Schwartz was gone before they got started. Once this happens, the suspicious Charles II, Duke of Guedes, will inevitably have suspicions. Therefore, Schwartz is going, but it cannot be known that he is gone.

So, before he set off, Marin negotiated with Schwartz—selecting a soldier who was very similar to Schwartz from the army. Then, let it play Schwartz every day, and go to the palace every day for business.

As for not looking alike? This one is easy - wear plate armor to work...

The helmet of the Gothic plate armor has a face shield, as long as the mask is pulled down, no one can see the face. That stuntman, as long as he pulls down his mask while posing as Schwartz, there will be no problem.

Then, Schwartz's mount and several personal guards will also stay, escorting the stuntman from Schwartz's mansion to the front yard of the palace every day to work. Escort him back to Schwartz's mansion at night...

In this way, no one will know that Schwartz himself is no longer in Aurich. And the real Schwartz has secretly led his troops south...

In fact, this move was also plagiarized from the United Kingdom of later generations. During World War II, the British and American forces wanted to conduct the Normandy landings, but they were afraid that the Germans would see their true intentions. So, I found a lieutenant James who resembled Montgomery, the British commander, and wandered around, successfully attracting the attention of Nazi German spies. The Germans made a mistake in their judgment, and then the Allied raid landed successfully...

Of course, Marin couldn't find a soldier with a face exactly like Schwartz in a hurry. Fortunately, the helmet of this era has a face shield. As long as he puts down the mask, he rides Schwartz's horse and is surrounded by Schwartz's personal soldiers. It is still possible to deceive the few spies with low business level in the company of Gede...

In this way, when the whole of Europe was busy with spring ploughing, Schwartz took 20,000 troops and went south in batches, either by boat or by land, to the territory of the Principality of Clifford. In Aurich, a substitute, wearing Schwartz's plate armor, riding Schwartz's war horse, and escorted by several Schwartz's personal guards, pretends to commute to get off work every day to confuse outsiders...