Marin rested for several days, and after enough rest, he began to consider the issue of winning East Frisia.
East Friesland usually has a small number of troops. Only the most elite 1,000 heavy armored swordsmen are stationed in the capital Emden, and hundreds of people are stationed in Aurich and other places.
If it is a sneak attack, even if the Counties of East Frisia can mobilize 8,000 people, it will be useful to arrive before the capital is breached. If the capital is breached and the earl's family is captured, even if troops from other places are mobilized, it will be meaningless.
Just like the Xuanwumen Incident, Li Shimin only brought a small number of troops to ambush Xuanwumen, but after killing Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, when Li Jiancheng's subordinates led 2,000 superior troops to besiege Xuanwumen, Yu Chigong proposed the heads of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, The troops under Li Jiancheng's command immediately collapsed.
Therefore, as long as the current Earl Edsard I of East Frisia is captured, or even killed, the troops in East Frisia that were originally loyal to him will be leaderless. If you fight desperately, it will lose its meaning.
Even, if Marin moves quickly, it may be too late for all parts of East Frisia to gather troops, and no one will be willing to gather troops.
Because, according to the usual practice, the main generals of the Counties of East Frisia must all be in the capital Emden, and the earl and generals have all been taken over in one pot. Who will call the troops from all over the country
Therefore, as long as Emden is captured in a sneak attack as quickly as possible, and Edsard I and his heirs are captured, then people in other regions have no need to resist. Even if they want to resist, someone has to come forward to call them on.
However, many people are needed to besiege Emden. Although Marin now has 2,500 fighters, the training is almost done. But this is not enough. Because, guarding Emden are the most elite 1,000 heavy armored swordsmen in the Counties of East Frisia.
Heavy-armored swordsmen are already strong enough on the battlefield, but if they are supported by a tall and solid city wall, who can deal with them
The Spanish phalanx of Marin's army can indeed restrain heavy armored swordsmen wearing breastplate armor, but that is in the wild. The field is bare, there is no bunker, even if you are wearing heavy armor, you are not an opponent of the Spanish musket.
However, a heavily armored swordsman wearing breastplate armor can rely on the city wall to avoid musket bullets, so the advantage of muskets will no longer exist. Moreover, musketeers cannot forcibly ascend the city to fight. Therefore, the heavy armored swordsman defending the city is very difficult to deal with. This is also one of the important reasons why the Duke of Saxony and 24 princes later attacked East Frisia and failed.
Therefore, it is far from enough to besiege Emden, which has 1,000 heavy armored swordsmen, with only 2,500 fighters. Generally speaking, besieging a strong city requires several times the strength of the defenders.
Moreover, even if Emden is captured, there are many other problems.
The biggest problem is the Duke of Saxony who occupies the Friesian Republic. Although, after capturing the entire territory of the Friesian Republic, the Duke of Saxony returned the 5,000 soldiers and horses borrowed from his nephew, but still left more than 5,000 troops in the Friesland area.
Moreover, the Duke of Saxony is good at picking up bargains. If he knew that Marin had captured Emden, he might fish in troubled waters and take the opportunity to send troops to East Frisia. You know, Groningen, the capital of the Republic of Frisia, is not far from East Frisia.
Therefore, Marin wanted to occupy East Friesland. In addition to capturing Emden, he also had to guard against the Duke of Saxony's army stationed in Groningen taking the opportunity to fish in troubled waters and pick Marin's peaches.
Marin had already suffered a loss once, and if he was picked like this for the second time, he would be really stupid. Therefore, while attacking East Frisia, Marin must also be prepared to guard against the Duke of Saxony taking advantage.
Therefore, it is also very important to have enough troops to scare the Duke of Saxony and stop him from snatching the fruits of victory.
Fortunately, East Frisia and the Republic of Frisia are separated by the Ems River. It is also possible to wait until Emden is quickly captured, and then send troops to deploy defenses on the east bank of the Ems River to prevent the Duke of Saxony's army from crossing the river to seize the territory.
Marin thought about it and felt that the army could not be less than 5,000 people. Because the Duke of Saxony has more than 5,000 people in East Frisia.
And Marin's army, after capturing Emden, cannot retreat completely, and there will always be some casualties. But in any case, there will still be more than 4,000 people. With so many people guarding the east bank of the Ems River, the force is not superior at all, and the Saxons who have to take the risk of crossing the river should not continue in a daze.
Only by guarding against the Saxon army can Marin be free to continue to attack other areas of East Frisia. Anyway, it is not too difficult to deal with these leaderless people.
But feeding so many troops is not so easy. You know, a veteran mercenary needs 3 pfennigs per day in salary (2 pfennigs per day for novices), and 18.25 gold coins a year. To recruit 5,000 people, the annual salary cost will be 91,250 gold coins. And that's just salaries. In addition, for weapons and armor, Marin must also be reimbursed for maintenance costs. In addition, the biggest expense is the training of the Musketeers. Just practicing marksmanship every day will cost a lot of gunpowder.
However, considering the money he got back from Venice and Yancheng's annual profits, Marin regained his confidence. Gritting his teeth, Marin decided to expand the army to 4,500 people and expand the army to 7,000 people.
The 7,000 army is enough to take East Frisia, and it can also deter the army of the Duke of Saxony in Frisia and prevent them from fishing in troubled waters.
So, Marin issued an order, ordering Schwartz to take people out to recruit 4,500 mercenaries...
Moreover, Marin is not very willing to hire old mercenaries. Although such mercenaries are able to fight, many bad habits of the old army are difficult to change and difficult to train. Moreover, these veterans are hard to fool. Only those newcomers who are new to the mercenary industry are easier to fool, and it is not easy to betray. As long as Marin usually pays attention to the education of loyalty when brainwashing them.
But it will take a long time to recruit 4,500 people. Because Marin has his own standards for selecting soldiers, not all bad people are willing to ask for it.
Moreover, when all the recruits are recruited, they will have to train for a long time, at least three or four months, before they can go into battle. Therefore, Marin is not in a hurry now, and it is useless to be anxious...
Therefore, after the order was issued, Marin waited for those newcomers to be hired, and then trained as veterans with good military skills, and then went into battle to take East Frisia. This process will take several months...