King of Mercenaries

Chapter 103: Go to Switzerland and hire someone

Views:

Marin's troubles didn't last long, Simon the troublemaker helped him solve the problem...

"Brother Marin, what are you thinking? Frowning..."

"I'm thinking about soldiers and horses..." Marin said casually.

"Aren't you the boss of the mercenaries? Go hire more people to help you fight!" Simon said naively. In Simon's eyes, as long as money is spent, someone will come to help fight the war. He has tried the feeling of a local tyrant holding gold coins in his hand. With gold coins in his hand, the businessmen in the town immediately nodded and bowed to him.

"Hire people... Yes, I almost forgot, I am also a mercenary general. I don't have soldiers, I hire myself... But, where can I hire them?" Marin was distressed again.

It is not difficult to hire soldiers. The economy in Germany is generally not good, and some poor ghosts want to be soldiers. However, it is difficult to hire soldiers with rich combat experience...

Simon heard Marin talking to himself, and interrupted unintentionally:

"I heard that Swiss mercenaries are invincible. Brother Marin, why don't you hire some Swiss mercenaries to help you fight?"

"Hire Swiss?" Marin froze for a moment...

In Marin's subconscious, Swiss mercenaries have always been regarded as enemies. The reason why Marin engaged in the Spanish phalanx was also to fight against the thriving Swiss mercenaries and gain illustrious military exploits.

However, Marin seems to have forgotten that so far, Marin's troops have not collided head-on with Swiss mercenaries, nor have they killed a Swiss mercenary...

In other words, the relationship between Marin and the Swiss is completely a passer-by...

As for the enmity between Marin and King Charles VIII of France, what has it to do with the Swiss? Anyway, Marin pit is an authentic French knight, not a Swiss.

Moreover, the Swiss are not French, and they don't feel ashamed of the King of France. Speaking of which, the last time Charles VIII left the Swiss mercenaries to escape privately, the Swiss were very angry. Many Swiss mercenaries were even a little dark about Marin's assassination of Charles VIII.

Marin suddenly realized, and realized—I haven't made enemies with the Swiss yet, but I automatically marked the Swiss as hostile. It's too 2...

In fact, the Swiss are not completely free from personal grievances with Marin. For example, the Swiss and the Habsburg family are deadly enemies.

At the beginning, when the Luxembourg dynasty ruled Shinra, they desperately suppressed the rival Habsburg family. In order to suppress the Habsburg family rivals for the throne, the last emperor of the Luxembourg family, the "old rascal" Sigismund, was generous to others, and gave the Habsburg family the "ancestral land" in Switzerland - Aargau, and Other Swiss fiefdoms that originally belonged to the Habsburg family were all sold to the local Swiss lords and parliaments with money.

Since then, the "old hooligan" Sigismund deliberately provoked conflicts between the Swiss and the Habsburgs many times, making the Habsburgs and the Swiss enemies.

As a famous young thug under Maximilian I, Marin naturally made the Swiss unhappy...

Sure enough, when Marin rushed to Switzerland with 70 men and 10,000 gold coins borrowed from Hoffman Manor, he was met with cold reception.

However, the Swiss are mercenaries who fight for money after all, and there will be no real business. Because King Charles VIII of France was burdened with huge debts, coupled with the severe damage caused by the defeat, he could not continue to pay commissions for the war in the short term. Therefore, the Swiss will be unemployed for a long time.

Although Marin was a pawn of the Habsburg family, the Swiss finally decided to accept Marin's employment. However, in view of the unfriendly identities of the two parties and Marin's eagerness to hire a capable army, the Swiss raised the price on the ground and doubled the commission price...

You know, the price of Swiss mercenaries is already high. Regular mercenaries are currently paid 3 pfennigs per day, while Swiss mercenaries are paid 6 pfennigs per day. Now, they are offering double the salary, which is actually asking Marin to pay the sky-high salary of 12 Finneys per day...

12 What is the concept of Finney? That's a shilling! You must know that during the North American War of Independence, the price paid by the British to German Hessian mercenaries was only 1 shilling per day. That was the end of the 18th century, 200 years later, the end of the 18th century after the "price revolution" of soaring prices...

Nowadays, Europe is still short of gold and silver, and the currency value is still very high. The Swiss ask for 1 shilling a day, which is simply a lion's mouth...

However, in order to quickly obtain mercenaries capable of fighting, Marin had to endure this and agreed to the Swiss's outrageous offer of 1 shilling per day.

In fact, German mercenaries at this time are much cheaper. Generally, 3 pfennigs per day, and 2 pfennigs per day, there are also a lot of people willing to do it. However, German mercenaries have just emerged, and there are no mercenary regiments that have been battle-hardened. A group of German mercenaries were recruited, and they had to train for several months before they could fight. But what Marin lacks most now is time. As a last resort, he can only hire battle-tested Swiss mercenaries at a high price to solve the problem as quickly as possible.

Afterwards, at this price, Marin selected 3,000 veteran Swiss mercenaries with good equipment and strong combat effectiveness, and signed an employment contract.

According to the contract, Marin hired these 3,000 Swiss mercenaries for 2 months, and the total contract price was 36,000 gold coins. Among them, Marin paid a deposit of 8,000 gold coins in advance, and was responsible for the food expenses of 3,000 troops...

In this way, 3,000 Swiss veterans, who are good at fighting, followed Marin and quickly drove to the direction of the Netherlands, striving to quickly support Texel...

Because Marin's salary is high enough, there are still many Swiss veterans willing to play for Marin. And these veterans, having fought many wars, naturally filled their wallets. Therefore, they are also better equipped. For example, among the 3,000 Swiss mercenaries, 1,000 were equipped with helmets and breastplates. In order to help them transport helmets and breastplates, Marin had to hire several carriages...

At the same time, not all of these Swiss mercenaries used spears. There are also quite a few mercenaries who use halberds (used to hook horse legs) similar to hooks and sickles to deal with cavalry. In addition, many people still carry the "can opener" against the armored soldiers - the mace...

Marin was also very happy to see this group of Swiss veterans with such complete tools. Although his own Spanish phalanx can also deal with plate armor, it relies heavily on muskets. Once encountering rainy weather, muskets fail, and it is difficult for spearmen to hurt enemies wearing plate armor.

In cold weapon battles, the Swiss halberds and maces are very good tools for attacking plate armor soldiers. The Swiss have a good way of dealing with Friesland's heavy armored knights and heavy armored swordsmen. It's just that these Swiss guys are too dark-hearted, and they even demanded four times the super high salary of ordinary mercenaries, which made Marin's heart bleed...