As for what to do in the next few months, Marin lay on the bed in the Vienna hotel and thought about it all night. The consumption in Vienna is very high, a clean hotel, the accommodation fee for three people including the cost of parking animals, costs 40 pfennigs a day. And the three of Marin, plus the meal money of the war horse Karl, are as high as 40 pfennigs a day. Even if two cows graze, there is a fee. After all, this is Vienna, not a small country town, where there is no grass to eat anywhere, and you have to ask a guy to get the fodder, and you have to pay for it.
The consumption of more than 80 Finneys a day made Marin feel a little overwhelmed. Therefore, Marin decided to leave Vienna temporarily and go to a place with low consumption. It would be even more perfect if I could go hunting and earn some money...
After making up his mind, the next morning, Marin asked Kahn and Kohler to start packing their luggage. After packing, Marin went to the innkeeper to pay the bill. Afterwards, he took two attendants and had a walk-and-go travel…
As for where to go, Marin also thought about it—they went back to the Black Forest...
There are many animal resources in the Black Forest, and Marin's archery skills are very good. With Kahn's cooperation, they can make a fortune from hunting. Moreover, it seems that the lords near the Black Forest are not strict about poaching, which is very suitable for Marin to "commit crimes".
Marin's plan was to raise a large sum of money first by hunting. With the money, you can change the equipment later, and equip yourself, Kahn and Kohler. What's more, after the Italian war is over, he can buy himself a small manor and become a manor owner.
As for the status, it still has to be exchanged by fighting with the emperor. He knew the outcome of the war. In the first Italian war, the Shenluo Empire was considered the victor, and there was a lot of military merit to be gained. As long as he can save his life on the battlefield, and use his foresight to earn some military exploits, he can at least exchange his status with the emperor for the lowest rank of nobility like an official knight. If you're lucky, you might get a baron or something. If the escaped Charles VIII was caught while taking advantage of the chaos, that would be a great contribution...
What's more, Marin needs to recruit 3 more knight followers. Generally, poor knights also have 5 or more knight attendants. There are only two of them, and they look very shabby.
But raising 5 knight attendants is not a small expense. Some knights are of poor character, and when they have no money, they go to block the road and rob. But Marin is a man of integrity and would not do such a wicked thing. Therefore, he decided to save enough money by hunting first. After saving enough money, he not only has to recruit five attendants, but also buys a draft horse for each attendant, and equips them with leather armor, spears and other weapons and equipment.
He thought for a while, Kahn could be regarded as a good fighting force, but Kohler was a little thin, and could only play the roles of quartermaster and dog-headed army division. Then, if you recruit three more people, it is naturally best to recruit those who can fight, and they must be loyal.
Attendants are knights' most trusted companions and subordinates. Therefore, besides ability, reliability is the most important thing. The reason why Marin chose Kahn and Kohler was that he liked Kahn's honesty and honesty. As for Kohler, it was actually piggybacking. Moreover, Marin knew where the Kahn family was, and if they dared to betray, he could go to their house to settle accounts.
Nowadays, the economy in the German region is very bad, and there are many refugees. But for these refugees, Marin did not dare to recruit attendants from them casually. Because most of the refugees have unknown origins, which is not so reassuring. It is okay to recruit them as ordinary soldiers, but it is not appropriate to recruit them as servants. You know, knights basically leave their backs to their attendants, and they can't be sloppy.
After thinking about it, Marin decided to go back to Hoffman Manor and recruit servants from the serf families in Hoffman Manor. There are more than 20 serf households in Hoffman Manor, and Marin "remembers", there are still some great guys here. My "big brother" Adler Hoffmann had already selected five knight attendants. But in the manor, there are actually quite a few good guys. After all, not all of these serf families had only one child. Some families have several children. Because of the insufficient output of the manor, some families with many children even had to send their children to the city to work as coolies. Otherwise, Hoffman Estate would not be able to support so many people. After all, Hoffman Estate has only 1,200 acres of thin land.
Of course, before going home, Marin felt that it was right to save more money by hunting. In fact, old Hoffman is also worried about the future armor and horses of the third and fourth sons. After all, as a father, when the son grows up, even if he is driven out of the house, he must prepare horses, armor and lances for him. In addition, there will be a large amount of travel expenses.
Marin's plan is to subsidize the Hoffmans with a little money after returning home, so that the economic situation in the manor will be better. By the way, he also wanted to give some advice on the family's agricultural technology so that the manor's land could produce more.
The economic situation of the manor is good, and his cheap brothers Simon and Albert can also be equipped with horses, armor and weapons when they are driven out of the family. Lest you leave home without plate armor trousers, let alone an attendant, like yourself. Moreover, with sufficient funds, it would be easier for his cheap younger sister, Annie, to marry. After all, the more dowry, the easier it is to marry a good family.
In order to bring enough money home, Marin took Kahn and Kohler, plunged into the black forest again, and started a crazy hunt...
The Black Forest is very large, much larger than the Black Forest of later generations. After all, later generations of Germany were highly developed. In the Middle Ages, due to the limited population and many undeveloped places, the Black Forest still maintained a very large area.
In order not to get lost, Marin specially bought a compass so as not to get lost in the lush black forest. And spring is also a season of recovery of all things, and the animals in the forest are very active. There are also many adult animals, in broad daylight, doing the shameful thing of "passing on the family line" in the forest. In such a situation, the wretched Marin would not bless them, but "swish" two arrows. Then, a pair of hard-fated "mandarin ducks" became Marin's trophies, and then they were exchanged for a lot of money...
The medieval black forest was too big, and there were too many prey in it. This also led to some trouble for the three of Marin to transport their prey back to the town by the forest. As a last resort, Marin untied the big black bull "Li Chen", saddled it, and let it also enter the forest to carry prey. Because the four-wheeled ox cart cannot enter the depths of the forest where there are no roads.
In some places, because the three of Marin hunted too many prey, it even caused the price of meat to drop. At the most one day, Marin hunted 6 red deer from the forest in one day, causing the price of local venison to drop from 5 fenney a pound (retail price) to 4 fenney a pound in a short period of time. Also dropped from 4 pfennigs to 3 pfennigs. Of course, some time after the three of Marin left, the price of venison here returned to normal.
For this reason, some local lords even sent people to drive away Marin and his party. Because, in the eyes of those lords, the prey hunted by Marin belonged to their private property. However, the lords entrusted to the edge of the Black Forest are generally small lords. The territories of powerful lords are mostly in areas with developed farming. Only small lords who are not strong will be entrusted to the Black Forest area. And these little lords generally dare not easily offend the wandering knights. Even if Marin hunted wildly, they just sent people to drive them away. And Marin is also very conscious. Basically, after staying in a certain area for a day or two, he sells his prey and immediately flees, without giving others a chance to catch him on the spot. Communication was backward in the Middle Ages. When the local lord learned that Marin and his party had hunted a large number of prey and sent people to "enforce the law", the three of Marin had already left.
On average, the three of Marin can reach two to three red deer every day, as well as varying numbers of hares and foxes. It was the wild boar in the forest, and Marin didn't dare to provoke it. Because, he was not sure to shoot through the bristles and thick hide of wild boar with a 60-pound bow. As for Kahn's ability to single out the wild boar, Marin felt that it was also accidental. Because last time the wild boar did not go towards Kahn, but the war horse. Kahn killed the wild boar while the wild boar was not prepared. Unless Kahn can wear a full set of plate armor, he can more confidently challenge the wild boar head-on. But it is too extravagant for a follower to wear a full set of plate armor. And Marin's plate armor, Kahn couldn't wear it. Because Kahn is much taller than Marin.
The three of them hunted and made money leisurely along the way, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the Black Forest by the way, but they were also carefree. When he entered the territory of Mark County, Marin was surprised to find that his personal assets had reached more than 500 marks. This data is almost close to the annual income of Hoffman Estate...
"Hunting is so promising!" Marin said with emotion.
However, Marin also knew very well that the reason why he was able to successfully get back the assets of more than 500 marks was because others saw him as an untitled knight. Otherwise, ordinary hunters would be blackmailed by the defenders when entering and leaving the city, and most of the profits would be confiscated by the lord. Even if prey worth 500 marks could be hunted, at least 400 marks or more were extorted away by lords, tax collectors, and city guards.
Moreover, it is impossible for ordinary hunters to have horses. As a result, the walking hunters could not go too deep into the Black Forest. And if you stay overnight in the Black Forest, you will basically be eaten by the wolves as supper. Not only that, they don't have the shooting skills like Marin, and the cooperation of the best partner like Kahn.
Therefore, Marin's success is difficult for ordinary hunters to replicate. And people who really have the status of knights generally don't practice archery. They are usually used to hand-to-hand combat, and few of them know how to shoot... Besides, who would put down their status to become a hunter
Even Marin himself thinks that hunting is just a stopgap measure. If a traverser earns his living by hunting, that is simply the biggest shame of a traverser...