When Marin came to Vienna again, it was already the end of November. In fact, if Marin wants to come here earlier, it only takes more than ten days. After all, there are no walkers in their team, all ride horses and drive cars.
However, because on the way, Marin often led the team to kill wild boars in the forest, wasting a lot of time. Therefore, when Marin and his party of 7 arrived in Vienna, it was already the end of November. In other words, it took them more than a month from departure to arrival at the destination.
After entering the city, Marin began to look for a place to live. But what surprised him was that the hotels in Vienna were almost full at this time...
After inquiring carefully, I realized that Emperor Maximilian I really started recruiting mercenaries. Therefore, soldiers from all over the country who wanted to serve the emperor came in droves. This led to the full business of the Vienna hotel.
In this era, Vienna is just a city of more than 20,000 people. Putting it into the Ming Dynasty at the same time, this population is equivalent to the appearance of a state city and a prefectural city. But in medieval Europe, this was already considered a big city.
How many hotels can there be in a small town with a population of more than 20,000? So when thousands of young volunteers poured into Vienna, there were not enough hotels. Many who couldn't live in hotels even bought tents and set up tents in the city directly.
Marin and his party consisted of seven people, as well as six horses and a cow, so naturally they couldn't find land casually. For this reason, Malinte dealt with the residents of the city, rented a small yard, and temporarily hired the owner of the yard to help buy fodder for cattle and horses.
After being settled, Marin continued to go to the tavern in the city to inquire about the news...
The situation is not much different from what Marin estimated, or even worse. Originally, Marin believed that although it was difficult for His Majesty the Emperor to get money from the Imperial Parliament, he could still collect war taxes in Austria and Burgundy, where he belonged.
But the reality is that taxes in Austria are fine. After all, the Habsburg family has ruled here for a long time, and their control is not bad.
But the Duchy of Burgundy was inherited by Maximilian I through marriage with the daughter of the Duke of Burgundy "Charles the Bold". Strictly speaking, Maximilian I is currently only the regent of the Duchy of Burgundy. The real owner of the Duchy of Burgundy is the son of Maximilian I - Philip "Beautiful". Of course, this was Philip's later nickname, and now Philip is an underage boy who is about the same age as Marin.
In the Duchy of Burgundy, there is its own noble council. And this council holds the local taxation power. Even if the Duke collects taxes, he must obtain the consent of this parliament.
Unfortunately, the Burgundian Parliament was very at odds with Maximilian I. Once, Maximilian I was under house arrest by the Burgundian Parliament in the Burgundian Palace, and finally Maximilian I's father, Frederick III, sent troops to rescue him.
Therefore, Maximilian I's control over the Principality of Burgundy was not as strong as Marin thought. It was as difficult for Maximilian I to impose war taxes in the Duchy of Burgundy as it was for him to obtain authorization to impose war taxes in the Imperial Parliament.
Therefore, at present, Maximilian I has only collected a batch of war taxes in Austria. Its number is limited, and the number of troops it can support is also limited. If you want to expand the army on a large scale, at least you have to wait until the Imperial Parliament and the Burgundian Parliament agree to increase the war tax.
Right now, the emperor, who has limited funds, can only recruit part of the army first. However, when they learned that the emperor was recruiting troops, the enthusiasm of the people across the country was high. You know, fighting for the emperor, getting a salary is secondary, being able to become a nobleman is the most tempting.
What is an emperor? The emperor is the largest aristocratic canonizer in the Holy Roman Empire. As long as the emperor is willing, he can promote the earl to the duke, the duke to the king, and the common people to the nobility. As long as you can give a noble title, even if you don't get a salary, there will be a lot of people going forward.
Therefore, upon hearing that the emperor was recruiting troops, all kinds of people from all over the country flocked to Vienna. Among them, there are sons of noble families who have no inheritance rights, such as wandering knights, bankrupt farmers and handicraftsmen, and even gangsters and beggars. They all had the same dream of wealth and wealth and gathered in Vienna.
Among them, the most favored by the emperor is the wandering knight. The wandering knights are all from knight families, all of them possess martial arts, and their fighting power is far beyond ordinary people. Moreover, wandering knights generally bring their own horses, armor and weapons. As long as the wandering knights are organized into a team and trained a little, they can be used as a powerful force in battle.
At the same time, Maximilian I was actually a plate armor controler, especially fond of Gothic plate armor. Otherwise, he would not have personally designed the famous Maximilian armor in a few years.
However, for Maximilian I, there was a big problem-it was very expensive to feed the knights. Generally speaking, to recruit an infantryman, you only need to pay a salary of 3 Finneys a day. In addition, soldiers are provided with free food during wartime, that is, the kind of black bread that can be used as a brick to hit people.
It is different to recruit a knight. To recruit a knight, the daily salary is as high as 2 shillings (24 Finneys). In addition, although the knight's five attendants were borne by the knight himself, the food for the knight, his attendants, and their animals had to be borne by the emperor. Therefore, the cost of recruiting knights is high.
Moreover, after the Battle of Nancy, the status of the knights declined after the Swiss pikemen restrained the plate armored knights. And Maximilian I also imitated Swiss mercenaries and began to recruit civilians in Germany to serve as pikemen and learn Swiss tactics.
Of course, the role of the knight is also great. Not to mention Maximilian I's love for plate armored knights, on the battlefield, once the enemy's pikemen battle formation is torn apart, knights are also needed to launch an assault to expand the results of the battle. And the enemy's artillery positions also need to be taken away by knights. Because the artillery poses too great a threat to the pikemen's front. In the Anglo-French War, the French were mistreated by the British longbowmen at the beginning, but after the heavy use of artillery in the second half period, the battle situation was gradually reversed, and finally the British were driven out of France. go out. The artillery bombarded the pikemen in a dense formation, absolutely sweeping away a large area. Napoleon, who was so awesome in later generations, smashed the opponent's infantry line by relying on a large number of artillery lined up. However, at that time, the French army used shotgun shells with a huge killing area, but now the artillery uses solid bullets or even stone bullets.
This time, what Marin heard was that the emperor decided to use Austrian taxes first to recruit 500 knights and 5,000 pikemen.
Hearing that the emperor only recruited 500 knights, Marin felt bad. You know, there are many small countries in Germany, and knight collars are everywhere. Therefore, there are wandering knights everywhere in Germany. Today, the emperor is recruiting troops, and there are estimated to be tens of thousands of wandering knights who have come to apply. However, the emperor only needs 500 people, which is too bad. This difficulty is much more difficult than the college entrance examination for undergraduates. It is the difficulty of properly entering a prestigious university...
In fact, the emperor recruited these 500 knights as officers. In Europe, military officers are generally held by nobles. For example, the commander-in-chief of the emperor's army is currently held by Count Hohenzollern of the Swabian line. However, in an army, in addition to senior officers, there are also junior officers. It is impossible for civilians to serve as military officers, even grassroots officers. At most, civilians can only be non-commissioned officers. Therefore, general grassroots officers are composed of knights, and at worst, they must be wandering knights from knight families. Because, in this era, civilians basically did not receive military education. Only aristocratic families would impart military skills and tactics. Therefore, these 500 knights are actually grass-roots officers prepared by the emperor for the future army.
It turns out that Marin's feeling was right. After receiving the news, the population of Vienna increased a lot in an instant. In order to prevent some mercenaries who were not afraid of death from making trouble in the city, Maximilian I arranged the recruitment of infantry outside Vienna. As for the city, he was only responsible for recruiting knights.
But what surprised Marin was that three or four thousand wandering knights had gathered in the city at this time. Moreover, there are wandering knights coming from all over the place...
Finally, at the end of December, Maximilian I announced the start of a tournament to select knights by competition.
The martial arts competition adopts an elimination system, and those who are eliminated in the first round will not have another chance. And those who can pass the first round will have another chance to challenge.
The official game is divided into three games. After the opponent is drawn by lottery, the first match is not a contest, but the organizers verify the knight's horse, armor and weapon. Especially for war horses, you must never use a draft horse as a war horse. For this reason, there will be professional horse professionals to review the knight's war horse. After all, the emperor recruited ready-to-use mercenaries, and the recruits were required to prepare their own horses, weapons and armor. If the emperor were to prepare war horses, the cost would be too high. Therefore, only knights who have inspected their horses and weapons and armor can enter the second round - foot combat. After the infantry battle, it was the horse battle.
Marin was not very lucky, and a very strong knight was drawn in the first round. Judging from his face, he is estimated to be around twenty-seven or eight years old, which is the peak period of a knight. And Marin is only 16 years old, not yet fully developed.
There is no problem in the first round of verification of horses and weapons and armor. The plate armor legs and boots that Marin originally lacked were re-arranged when they were in Hoffman Manor.
In the second round of foot combat, Marin and the knight fought with wooden two-handed swords. For foot combat, although Marin is not strong, both the previous Marin and the traverser Marin have rich fighting skills. Moreover, Marin, the traverser, also knows the Tai Chi principle of "four or two strokes of a thousand catties".
Therefore, in foot combat, although his strength is much smaller than that of his opponent, Marin often uses the method of "four or two strokes of a thousand catties" to always swing away the wooden sword that the opponent slashes fiercely, making the opponent's fierce attack useless.
European knights do not move left and right like Eastern martial arts, and pay attention to footwork. Because, even if a knight fights on foot, he still wears a full-body plate armor that is inconvenient to move. It is inconvenient to move around.
Therefore, when knights fight on foot, they usually use two-handed swords or battle axes to chop or smash each other violently. Because the armor of both sides is very thick, and it is impossible to break the opponent's plate armor without violence.
Marin is not afraid of violent attacks. Although, his strength is much smaller than that of his opponent. However, he knows a little bit of Tai Chi sword. Even with a two-handed sword, he can swing away the opponent's slash. However, Tai Chi Sword is mainly defensive, not good at attacking. He could swing away the opponent's wooden sword, but he couldn't bring the opponent down. Because the knight he was fighting against had a very stable base, even if the wooden sword was swung away, he himself would not lose his center of gravity.
So, in a duel on foot, Marin fought the knight for a long time. Unlike other knights' foot combat contests, one or two of them would lose after one or two outbreaks.
In the end, the referee got impatient and declared a draw between the two...
Then, the two entered the horse battle session. Immediate martial arts competition is carried out on a long strip field. In the middle of the field, there is a wooden fence. The knights on both sides were on each side of the fence, and the fence was on the right side of their advancing direction.
After the contest started, the knights of both sides steered their horses, began to accelerate, jerked their lances with their right hands, and collided violently above the wooden fence. Moreover, according to the requirements of the martial arts contest, stabbing the opponent's chest is only allowed, and stabbing the head and horses is prohibited. This is to reduce casualties as much as possible.
It is precisely because of these many restrictions that Marin can't let go. Head-to-head with the opponent, Marin is obviously not an opponent in terms of strength. However, when he was wearing a full set of plate armor, it was more difficult for him to dodge on horseback.
Sure enough, after the first collision, Marin deeply felt the advantage of the opponent's strength. Although Marin avoided the stabbing of the opponent's lance, he also blocked the opponent's lance with his own. However, this round of collision made his arm numb, and he almost dropped the spear.
After barely resisting two rounds, Marin felt that his arm was no longer his own. Finally, in the third round of hedging, the knight on the opposite side seemed to have adapted to Marin's blocking style, feinted a shot, avoided the blocking of Marin's lance, and then quickly stabbed Marin's breastplate, knocking Marin to the ground. hit the horse...
The speed of the horse in this knight competition was much higher than when he was playing against the two rookies Kahn and Schwartz at home. Moreover, there is no grass on the ground, but normal grass. Therefore, after falling off the horse, Marin couldn't get up for a long time. In the end, with the help of the attendants, he was carried back to the ox cart driven by Kohler.
However, according to the principle of a one-round elimination system, Marin has already lost the selection of the knights this time, and he is not qualified to challenge. So, lying on the bullock cart, Marin was very hurt. Not only was my body hurt, but my heart was also sad...
"As a time traveler, am I not the protagonist? Why, I can't even pass the first round of the knight trials? If I can't be the emperor's knight, how can I stand out and become an officer? Do I want to be a cannon fodder like a pikeman?" On the bed, Marin thought sadly...
In fact, the most important reason why Marin wanted to be a knight recruited by the emperor was Marintu's identity. The current Marin, regardless of his equipment, is no different from other knights, but in fact, he is not a real knight at all. At least, officially, he is not recognized as an official knight.
Those who have the resources and abilities of knights like Marin, but have not been officially recognized, have a special name-apprentice knights.
Apprentice knights can only be regarded as preliminary knights, not formal knights yet. You know, those who have the officially recognized status of knights are all nobles. And trainee knights can only be regarded as commoners before they are awarded the title. At most, they are children of nobles. Or, there is another name - Junker.
There are three types of knights. The first is the most powerful knight, called fief knight. This kind of knight is usually conferred as a knight by a high-ranking lord or king after he has made great achievements in battle, and rewards the fief (fief). The knight fief can be hereditary, but the premise is that each generation of the knight family must provide the canonizer with a fully armed knight to fight for the canonizer. If there is no one in the family who can serve as a knight for the canonizer, the fief may be taken back. There are also those that will not be taken back, it depends on the mood of the lord that the knight family is loyal to.
Like the Hoffman family, it is the fief knight family of Uncle Mark. The eldest son of each generation of the Hoffman family must wear plate armor and mount a horse to fight for the earl when Earl Mark calls.
Below the fief knights are the inner palace knights. Such knights are generally born as non-eldest sons of noble families including knight families, and they have no right of inheritance when they are born. Like the non-eldest son of a knight family, he even lost his noble status. In order to become "superior men" like nobles, they have practiced martial arts and horse riding since childhood.
Because there is no fiefdom, the non-eldest sons of these noble families (usually low-level nobles) have to apply for employment with the great nobles and become the knights of the nobles or the king. Safety of noble family and castle property.
In return, the king or the great nobles would bestow the formal titles of knights on these inner palace knights. Since then, these people have become nobles and enjoy many privileges.
As for the apprentice knights, before they were formally appointed, they were just ordinary people, not nobles. Although, their combat effectiveness may not be worse than formal knights.
The reason why Marin sharpened his head to apply for the imperial knight was to obtain an official knight title and obtain the lowest noble status. With the skin of aristocratic status, Marin will not be treated as a mustard by those big shots, and will be crushed to death casually.
In fact, in addition to recruiting knights, the emperor also recruited heavy cavalry. The heavy cavalry is almost the same as the knight, wearing plate armor, holding a lance, and charging with the knight. Moreover, these heavy cavalry basically come from knight families.
However, Marin didn't want to be a heavy cavalry. Because, even if you become a heavy cavalry, it is impossible to get the title of knight. Without a title, one cannot become an aristocrat. Moreover, when fighting, those formal knights are naturally officers, while those without the title of knights are naturally chief soldiers, at most higher than infantry...
In medieval Europe, aristocratic status, like the status of a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, was a universal passport. In the Ming Dynasty, scholars could travel around the world without restriction. Ordinary people, if they leave their hometown for a hundred miles, they must go to the government to open a way, otherwise they will travel illegally...
The same is true in Europe. Aristocrats can run rampant in the world, and even exempt from paying city taxes. As for civilians, entering the city must pay the city entry tax, and passing through the checkpoints must also pay various taxes. Moreover, sometimes when you meet an overbearing tax official who will increase your tax and blackmail you, there is nothing you can do. But for nobles, they have no right to do so. Even if the nobles beat someone to death, they will not be sentenced to death, and at most they will lose some money. Unless, what he killed was also a nobleman. In short, the nobles walked sideways in medieval Europe, as long as they did not meet nobles who were more powerful than themselves. This is also the reason why Marin wants to be a nobleman. At least, after becoming a nobleman, he will not be killed and have nowhere to redress his grievances. If he traveled to the Ming Dynasty in the East at the same time, Ma Lin would take the imperial examination properly, and first get a reputation like a talisman...