Marin and Prince Philip learned that at the end of December, before Christmas, all the official Teutonic knights would gather in Königsberg to hold a Teutonic knight congress and elect a new Teutonic grandmaster on the spot. Then, on New Year's Day 1498, the new Grand Master was officially sworn in.
And now, it's early December. Although Marin has thrown a lot of money, he has already settled many people. However, many people are still full of uncertainty.
Because, in the election of the head of the group, people will certainly be short of money if they take your money. However, as a Teutonic knight, they still hope to have a capable leader to lead the Teutonic Knights.
Because, the current situation in the Teutonic Knights is not very good. To the south of them was mighty Poland and to the east was mighty Lithuania. And to the north is the Livonian Knights who disobeyed orders.
Therefore, even if the interests are relevant, they are not willing to choose an incompetent person to be their chief. Because, if they choose an idiot and defeat the Teutonic Kingdom, everything they own will be lost.
Therefore, many neutral factions also value the ability of the Grand Leader. At the very least, the new grand master must have the ability and determination to protect the interests of the Teutonic state.
On December 23, all candidates will give a speech to all official Teutonic knights on the square of the Königsberg Cathedral, explaining their justice, courage, and governance platform. Among them, the policy agenda is the most important.
Because, the policy program represents the direction of the Teutonic Knights in the few years after the new grand master takes office. Therefore, even if many knights are not good at reading, they will take it very seriously.
Moreover, not all Teutonic knights were bad at reading. After all, all knights have read books. Among the more than 800 knights, there are many knights who are good at reading and have flexible minds.
And a good governance program will also impress those thoughtful Teutonic knights. These clever Teutonic knights, despite their own political factions and positions. But when deciding the future of the Teutonic Knights, the future of the country must be considered very carefully.
If a candidate's political platform is so good that it far surpasses other competitors, those smart knights, even if they are from the opposite camp, are likely to vote for it. Because, a strong candidate is good for all Teutonic knights, even if the grand master comes from a hostile camp.
After all, the so-called hostile camps are actually just seeing each other differently. At most, they want to fight when they meet, rather than fight when they meet. But once the Teutonic Knights state declines, the Teutonic Knights may be killed by the Polish and Lithuanian coalition forces.
Therefore, the campaign platform used to speak at the election convention is very important. This election platform will directly reflect the future plans and directions of the candidates, and it will allow those smarter Teutonic knights to see clearly the level and ability of the candidates, which will affect the final number of votes.
Therefore, even if they secretly canvassed votes, Marin and Philip also attached great importance to this campaign platform.
Prince Philip's ability is not very outstanding, but he has one advantage, that is, he can listen to other people's suggestions. It would be as difficult as heaven for a prince who had been a monk since he was a child and had never studied the strategy of governing the country to come up with a platform for himself.
In fact, among the previous Teutonic Grand Masters, very few were particularly wise. Otherwise, the Teutonic Knights would not have been bullied so badly by Poland and Lithuania.
Because, the previous Grand Regiment Leaders were generally born in aristocratic families, but they were trained as monks since they were young. These people are very religious and brave in battle. However, when it comes to strategy and vision, they are basically ordinary. Because, they were raised as monks since they were young, and they seldom learned the strategy of governing the country. However, they were also knights since they were young, and their military literacy is good once. At least, there won't be any big troubles in commanding thousands of troops.
Prince Philip, for example, is both a monk and a knight. Since childhood, although he did not learn the strategy of governing the country like his two elder brothers did, he has learned a complete set of basic military command knowledge. Of course, their military command knowledge is very low-end in Marin's view. Basically, people who have learned these things basically understand what to do on the battlefield, but they don't know why they do it and how to do it better...
The Teutonic Knights are in crisis now, and the Teutonic Knights also very much hope that there will be a powerful grand master who can do something. Therefore, the elaboration of the campaign platform during the campaign speech is very important. If it is too bad, it may be abandoned by the original allies. Because, even if you take your benefits, those knights would prefer someone who can do something to lead them.
Marin and Prince Philip spent a lot of time studying the campaign platform and speech...
Marin believes that because the object of the prince's speech is a group of muscular and relatively simple-minded knights. Therefore, gorgeous rhetoric and quotations are not necessary. Instead, the words are plain and simple, but must express exactly what is intended to be said. The words are too mysterious, and those big knights can't understand...
Also, there must be two core issues to impress those knights...
Of these two core issues, the first one is of course interests. In fact, from the 14th century onwards, the Knights began to pay more and more attention to business. In addition, several cities in the Knights Kingdom joined the Hanseatic League, which brought huge profits to the Knights Kingdom. Many knights were keen to participate in commercial trade and earn profits. As for the tradition of knightly bravery and belligerence, it was gradually discarded.
This is also one of the important reasons why the Knights lost to Poland in the Battle of Tannenberg. Because the knights have gradually degenerated into businessmen, and they are all busy making money. Who has the mind to fight
Like the Battle of Tannenberg, the Teutonic Knights hired a large number of mercenaries, and even hired some English longbowmen. At that time, the combat effectiveness of the knights had dropped significantly.
It can be said that many Teutonic knights have degenerated into the existence of half merchant and half knight. When it comes to combat effectiveness, it is far inferior to the knights of Germany and France.
That's why they absorbed a large number of wandering knights from the German region to ensure that the Knights still have combat effectiveness. Generally speaking, an official Teutonic knight will often have a group of trainee knights under his command. Those with a higher status will also bring a few formal knights (not Teutonic knights). For example, Kisling and Jules under Amsau are both officially titled knights, but not Teutonic knights with voting rights. Up to now, they are only formal knights, reserve Teutonic knights.
However, these Teutonic knights who have degenerated into half merchants value their interests very much. Therefore, Marin will definitely help Prince Philip buy many people by throwing a lot of money.
However, this is only one of them. Spending cash is attractive, but your policy agenda must also make their business better and make more money. In this way, they are more willing to vote for you.
For this reason, Marin's opinion is to vigorously support the commercial development of the Teutonic Knights and give those Teutonic knights a green light to do business in order to please them and get votes.
The second core issue is national security. Under the joint attack of Poland and Lithuania, the Teutonic Knights lost a large area of territory, and the country was in danger.
Therefore, the Teutonic Knights also hope to have a grand commander who can strengthen the military power and ensure national security. Therefore, militarily, candidates must also come up with a solution that satisfies the Teutonic Knights.
Marin had thought about this a long time ago. Marin believes that the combat effectiveness of the Teutonic Knights itself has been greatly reduced, and it is not an opponent of the Polish and Lithuanian Commonwealth at all.
Therefore, for national security, we should win over the Livonian Knights, who are no longer obedient, to keep warm and help each other. Also, find allies against Poland and Lithuania or one of them, to take the pressure off the Order itself.
Finally, on the basis of vigorously developing business, obtain more funds and hire a group of Swiss mercenaries to help the Teutonic Knights against external pressure.
The current Swiss mercenaries are the hottest mercenaries in Europe, with powerful combat effectiveness. Moreover, the Swiss are very good at dealing with knights and cavalry. As it happens, the Polish and Lithuanian armies are mainly heavy cavalry. Hiring Swiss mercenaries can just suppress the heavy cavalry of the two countries.
Even the Polish hussars, who claim to be good at attacking infantry phalanxes, are only good at attacking infantry phalanxes with spears and rifles with bayonets. If you were a Swiss spearman with a spear several meters long, would you let them try? Whose Arms Are Longer? Who poked whom first? at a glance...
The combat opinion given by Marin is to let the Swiss mercenaries confront the Polish and Lithuanian cavalry head-on. The knights of the Teutonic Knights attacked the battle formations of the Poles and Lithuanians from the flanks or behind. Of course, this was the arrangement after the war broke out. But in the campaign, it must be clarified, tell the Teutonic knights that you know how to defeat the Poles and Lithuanians who may invade...
Although Prince Philip couldn't think of these things himself, he was convinced of Marin's views and decided to copy them all. Because, Marin proved his vision and ability with facts-Texel Island has a developed economy (otherwise Marin would not be able to spend so many gold coins), and its military strength is also good. Moreover, Marin also used three or four thousand ordinary infantry to defeat France's most elite 8,000 knights...
Therefore, Prince Philip, who believed in Marin, decided to copy Marin's ideas completely, and then wait until the day of the election to read directly from the manuscript prepared by Marin. Marin's above ideas are all reflected in Prince Philip's election platform...