As the training continued, Marin suddenly discovered that there were many problems in the army. The biggest problem is the quality of officers.
You must know that in the entire army, except for Marin, Schwartz, and Frundsberg, who were educated from knight families, everyone else was illiterate.
Of course, among these illiterate soldiers, there are also many clever ones, who are more suitable to be team leaders. However, at the level of company captain, these illiterates are not suitable.
To give the simplest example, a company with 250 people may be sent to perform separate tasks. And some tasks are more complicated, and oral messages cannot be fully expressed (the orderly is also illiterate and cannot remember too much), and written orders are required.
However, if the company leader is illiterate, then he will stop cooking. Orders that are too long are also difficult for the orderly to dictate. In the end, the company captain could only be dumbfounded. Therefore, it is also very important to find a company captain who can understand orders.
And all of Marin's current troops have a total of 5,000 people (the 1,000 Frisian prisoners of war are not counted), and a total of 20 companies. It can be said that Marin is in urgent need of such talents as company captains.
Of course, Marin can also organize literacy classes so that his subordinates can learn to read and write cleverly. However, this is too late. Because, within this year, he will definitely send troops.
Not only Marin is worried, Schwartz and Frundsberg are both worried. The acting company captains in their phalanx are all illiterate, and they are only suitable for being a megaphone, not a company captain.
In this regard, both Schwartz and Frundsberg came to Marin to discuss how to solve this problem...
In fact, the most suitable company captains are those wandering knights. These people are educated, have high martial arts skills, and can subdue those big soldiers. Moreover, wandering knights have learned simple military command methods when they were basically at home, so they can be regarded as professional counterparts.
However, Marin had also recruited those wandering knights who came to visit him on Texel Island, but none of them were recruited. However, those who are literate among civilians may not be able to become military officers. Because, in addition to being literate, officers must also have courage and force, otherwise they will not be able to subdue those big soldiers. Moreover, in the era of cold weapons, the bravery of grassroots officers is very important. If the officers take the lead in escaping, the army will undoubtedly collapse...
Therefore, the best way is to recruit those wandering knights...
However, Marin can't send people to openly recruit wandering knights in the inland areas of Germany. Because, once he openly recruited wandering knights, he would reveal military secrets. For example, the information that he recruited 5,000 soldiers is easy to be known.
Once this news is leaked, it will attract the vigilance of the countries surrounding the Wadden Islands. The most immediate consequence is that East Frisia may increase its vigilance. If East Frisia stepped up its guard, the difficulty of attacking Emden would increase exponentially, which was definitely not what Marin wanted to see.
"How can we recruit enough wandering knights without attracting attention..." Marin fell into deep thought...
"Master, how about we go to the young master for help?" Schwartz came up with an idea.
"No, absolutely not. Adler hasn't given birth to a son yet, and father won't allow him to go to the battlefield."
"Then let's go to the Teutonic Knights to borrow some people?"
"Borrower?" Marin was a little confused.
"Didn't you say that there are many wandering knights in the Teutonic Knights? There are so many wandering knights, why can't you borrow some of them first. When East Frisia is conquered and you become an earl, someone will join you..."
Marin thought for a while, and his eyes suddenly lit up:
"Good idea! Let's borrow someone!"
"But, my lord, the borrower will have to return it after all..." Frundsberg hesitated.
"It's okay, I thought of a good way. We can find those wandering knights who have just debuted, and then fool them every day. If you don't believe them, they won't stay."
"Then we send people to the Teutonic Kingdom to borrow people now?"
"No, I'll go to Cleaver City myself..."
"what do you mean?"
"Before, Grandmaster Philip asked John II to organize wandering knights from the Duchy of Cliff and Earl of Mark to join him. Can I borrow 20 people from John II from the organization..."
"Will King John II borrow it?"
"We are allies. If it's not possible, I can give him some salt quota every year, so that he can make a small fortune." The non-bitter refined salt that Marin made is very popular. Give some John II, and let John II exclusively distribute it in the Principality of Cliff and the Duke of Mark, there is no problem. Who made him the boss of these two countries
"How does Manager Wright explain?"
"It's okay, the amount I give Wright every year is actually not enough to sell at all. Moreover, now Wright has expanded the market to the upper Rhine region, and is no longer limited to the vicinity of Cologne. It's just that the Principality of Cliff and the Earl of Mark are missing. It will not affect him to sell out the salt."
The next day, Marin took dozens of thugs, one man and two horses, and rushed to Cliff City...
John II warmly received Marin, but when Marin proposed to borrow someone, John II was a little embarrassed. Because these people should be sent to the Teutonic country to help his brother.
Although Marin is an ally, he cannot be compared with his brothers after all. Therefore, John II hoped to give these people to his brothers, so as to help Prince Philip quickly control the Teutonic Kingdom.
"Hehe, I don't know if the Duke has heard of the high-grade non-bitter refined salt from the Wiggins Chamber of Commerce?" Marin knew it was not easy, so he had to amplify his tricks...
"Of course I've heard that that kind of refined salt is white and crystal clear, and tastes not bitter. It is indeed the best salt. Now, my court has switched to using this kind of salt instead of the bitter Lüneburg mine salt. "
"What if I have a way to get a large quantity of this salt and let you sell it as an agent?"
"What?"
Therefore, Marin explained to John II the concept of regional agency sales popular in later generations. To put it bluntly, it is to allow John II to monopolize the sales of non-bitter refined salt in the Principality of Cliff and Earl Mark...
At present, the price of non-bitter refined salt in the Principality of Cleaver is at least 6 shillings per quarter, which is still a wholesale price. The price Marin gave Wright was only 3 shillings and 9 finnies. The profit is still huge.
Moreover, Marin also instilled the shameless means of "salt monopoly" into John II, and instigated John II to monopolize the national salt trade...
John II's eyes became brighter the more he listened, and when Marin finished speaking, his eyes had turned into searchlights...
"What a great idea... Uh... Baron Marin, do you really have a way to find so much non-bitter refined salt for me? And it's a stable and large supply?"
"Of course, we can produce non-bitter refined salt on our island?"
"What? Then you also provided the non-bitter refined salt of the Wiggins Chamber of Commerce?" John II stood up in shock. He finally understood why Marin was able to spend 100,000 gold coins to support his younger brother as the head of the Teutonic regiment. The business of not bitter refined salt is not a loss, and it is a big profit...
"Ahem... That's not true. I'm just one of the partners of the Wiggins Chamber of Commerce. The main partner of the Wiggins Chamber of Commerce is actually in the UK. On my side, because I found a bay with high-quality seawater, That's why we can produce a lot of non-bitter refined salt. Well... you know, the quality of salt is related to sea water..." Marin began to fool John II. Anyway, John II didn't understand science...
"Oh... that's how it is..." Although he didn't understand, John II was a big man who wanted to face, and he wouldn't say that he didn't understand. So, he simply pretended to understand and kept nodding his head... Just like those big leaders who inspected the high-tech development zone, they obviously didn't understand high technology, but they kept nodding, as if they understood everything...
Next, Marin and John II agreed that Marin would provide John II with 50,000 quarts of non-bitter refined salt at a wholesale price of 4 shillings per quarter per year. In fact, this amount is not large, but the population of the Principality of Cliff and the Duke of Mark is not large. Moreover, among ordinary people, some poor people simply cannot afford non-bitter refined salt. Therefore, it is not bad that these experiences can cover half of the residents of the two countries. The other half of the poor also need to import some bitter Lüneburg mineral salt. However, whether it is refined salt or bitter salt, John II intends to monopolize the operation according to Marin's instructions...
After the cooperation agreement was reached, John II was happy. As a result, the second batch of 60 wandering knights who were going to be sent to the Teutonic Knights was sent to Marin by John II directly, and the 28 wandering knights from the country of Earl Mark were given to Marin, and promised to help keep it secret...
Marin also happily took these 28 people back, and he made up his mind - although he said he borrowed it, he planned to learn from "Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou". These people have borrowed but never repaid...