If you are willing to spend money, the Mona Lisa will be easy to handle. Marin is not sure, in his changed timeline, will Da Vinci paint another "Mona Lisa" and become the world's number one oil painting.
However, he knew that this girl was completely messing with him now. At that time, this girl will have plenty of time to act as a model for Ada. Big deal, let this girl be a professional model for Ada, and draw a hundred or ten pictures of him, there will always be one that will become a classic. After all, Ada's painting skills are there, and they are world-class.
Moreover, Marin found that although the Mona Lisa in front of her was similar to the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, she looked younger. The more Marin thought about it, the more she felt that this Mona Lisa was very similar to the more beautiful girl in the "Mona Lisa" in London, England.
It is rumored that the "Mona Lisa" in the Louvre in France is actually a woman named La Gioconda. It is said that Da Vinci painted an oil painting for Mona Lisa before, and this painting stayed in the home of "Mona Lisa". Later, another nobleman asked him to paint for his lover. Coincidentally, the nobleman's lover, La Joconda, looks very similar to Mona Lisa, only 19 years older. So Da Vinci was lazy, and directly applied the style of the "Mona Lisa" painting, and repainted a new one, only with minor adjustments to the face. However, the nobleman later abandoned his lover, La Gioconda, and did not pay for the painting. So Da Vinci kept the painting himself, brought it to France, and then stayed in the Louvre.
After thinking about it, Marin thought it was right. In this era, painters generally did not leave drafts when they painted. Because, the portrait of a woman cannot be left to others at will. After all, this is the conservative Middle Ages. Marin felt that the story of La Joconda made sense. Da Vinci could keep the painting only if the owner didn't pay for it.
Lisa Giocondo's face is younger than the Louvre version of "Mona Lisa", and she is fairer and more beautiful. It looks more like the woman in the famous "Isleworth Mona Lisa" version. The Louvre version of "Mona Lisa" looks darker and haggard, more like a middle-aged woman, not beautiful. However, the smile of the Louvre version of "Mona Lisa" is indeed very vivid. What is truly famous is the smiling version of the Mona Lisa. Marin thought about it, and decided that when Lisa Giocondo was a model, she would smile more, and he could even guide her to laugh out the charm of the Louvre version...
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At Lisa Giocondo's house, Marin's proposal was a headache. His father thought that it might be that Marin fell in love with Lisa Giocondo's beauty and wanted to take him as his lover. Therefore, he was very resistant to relying on Marin.
However, everyone in the family knows that because of Mr. Giocondo's illness, the family has become financially difficult. If there is not enough money to buy medicines to maintain, Mr. Giocondo may not be saved.
And choosing to marry Lisa Giocondo to the Florentine businessman who is one year older than Mr. Giocondo may not be better than being Marin's lover. After all, the Florentine businessman, not to mention his age, was still very fat, and he had to be supported by his hands when he walked. Maybe one day he will die. At that time, the daughter will be widowed at a young age.
In the end, after a night of heated discussions, everyone still tended to let Lisa Giacondo be Marin's lover. Because being the lover of an earl can not only easily afford Mr. Giocondo's medical expenses, but also be very beneficial to the future of Lisa's younger brothers and sisters. After all, Marin is an earl, and taking care of Lisa's younger siblings casually can make them live comfortably and have a prosperous life for the rest of their lives.
In the end, Jiao Kongduo's family, with a willingness to fight, agreed to follow Marin to the north...
And Marin didn't know that this beautiful version of "Mona Lisa" was ready to be his lover...
In fact, Marin just wanted to get a world-famous painting as a collection, and didn't think much about it. He already had Angela, and Lisa was even more beautiful than Lisa, so there was no need to find a lover. It's just that Jiao Kongduo's family has misunderstood.
After finishing the business in Italy, Marin felt that it was time to go back. Because, he still has to prepare for the battle, ready to face the Duke of Saxony.
To this end, he divided the team into three groups-he left 50 cavalry to help escort the clockwork craftsmen and screw press craftsmen and their families dug up by the digging team in Milan to the north. "Mona Lisa" - Lisa Giocondo's family also went north with this team. Because of the family and the family, this team must not go fast. And Marin and the others are cavalry teams with one man and two horses, and they are not willing to walk with such a team.
In addition, Marin also sent 50 people to mountainous areas such as Württemberg to recruit the mountain people there and join Marin's mercenaries.
Today, the number of Marin's regular army is only over 5,000. It is not enough for this person to collide with the Saxon army. Moreover, this time, Marin did not intend to rely on the city to deal with the Saxon army, but decided to head-on and defeat the Saxon army head-on.
Because most of Marin's previous battles used tricks, making others think that Marin had to use tricks to win because of his lack of strength.
Therefore, although Marin is famous, everyone thinks that Marin is not strong enough. Because of this, the Saxons feel that Marin is a soft persimmon, as long as they take precautions, they should be able to win...
This time, Marin wanted to defeat the Saxon army in an upright manner and tell everyone that the Count of East Frisia is very strong. You can defeat the mighty Principality of Saxony without tricks!
As long as they win this time, in the future, some small countries around them will no longer covet East Frisia. Because, in the German region, there are really few, very few vassal states that are stronger than Saxony. Sachs has been defeated, how dare others make a mistake
Therefore, this battle is not only to defend the security of the Counties of East Frisia, but also a battle of prestige. In this battle, not only must the Saxon army be defeated, but the prestige and momentum must also be displayed, so that the surrounding neighboring countries are frightened and dare not easily stroke the beard of East Frisia.
For this reason, Marin decided to add 5,000 troops to expand the regular army to more than 10,000 people!
This is a very important decision, because the 10,000 army is a standing army, not a temporary army. The expense of feeding a standing army is very large.
Generally speaking, the salary of a standing army soldier is 3 pfennigs per day. For a 10,000-strong army, the daily salary expenses alone cost 30,000 Finneys, equivalent to 500 gold coins. After one year, the salary alone will cost 182,500 gold coins, which is a huge expense.
In fact, the cost of salary is more than 182,500 gold coins. Because the salaries of officers, cavalry, and artillery are more than 3 pfennigs per day. Therefore, the annual salary expenditure of an army of 10,000 may be close to 200,000 gold coins.
This expenditure, even for the local tyrant Marin, is very difficult. Because, although his annual income is more than 200,000 gold coins, there are many places where money is needed. Roads need to be repaired, and farmland needs to be reclaimed. Industry and commerce need to be developed, ships need to be built, and artillery needs to be cast... In short, money is needed everywhere.
Moreover, Marin's army actually spent far more than 200,000 gold coins. Because Marin made his army use a lot of guns and artillery, and the daily expenditure of gunpowder is also an astronomical figure.
In addition, building barracks requires money, feeding war horses and draft horses requires money, and various military supplies also require a lot of expenses... In short, to feed a standing army of 10,000, the annual expenditure will be at least two hundred thousand gold coins, or even 300,000 gold.
Therefore, among the German states, there are few standing armies that can reach 10,000 people. Even the mighty Emperor Maximilian I had only a few thousand standing troops. Among other vassal states, only a few powerful vassal states such as Saxony can support tens of thousands of standing troops. Even if it is as strong as France, it usually maintains a standing army of more than 20,000 people. Of course, their ability to mobilize during wartime is very strong, and they can recruit another 20,000 to 30,000 people at any time.
The Counties of East Frisia don't need 10,000 standing troops, but Marin hopes to stand up and become famous this time. Therefore, he decided to spend a lot of money and recruit 10,000 standing troops.
As long as the training is done, according to the modern army training method, and make full use of guns and artillery, even if there are only 10,000 people, it is no problem to defeat 20,000 people in Saxony head-on.
As for the conscripts in East Frisia, Marin didn't want to trust them, but these people usually need to farm. If they are consumed on the battlefield, it is easy to cause the farmland to be abandoned. And Marin is now the largest serf owner in East Frisia, so naturally he doesn't want the farmland to be abandoned. At that time, farmers will have to be recruited from other places, and there will be many orphans and widows in the country. Therefore, Maringan used mercenaries recruited from other places. In this way, even if the soldier dies in battle, as long as Marin pays the pension, the rest is none of his business.
Moreover, the soldiers of the standing army have been training all the time, and when they go to war, they can also have enough professionalism to fight. Unlike those conscripts, because they usually have to farm the land and lack training, even if they are a little brave, their overall combat effectiveness is not strong because their discipline is not as good as that of a modern army.
Therefore, Marin plans to recruit 5,000 mountain people in Württemberg and other places to join his army and fight for himself. At that time, Marin will take the 10,000 regular army and the Saxon army to fight head-on. As for the job of defending the city, Marin intends to hand it over to the conscripts. Of course, the generals who conscripted soldiers had to be loyal to Marin, and even the cronies that Marin had drawn from the army. In this way, the conscripts will not cause trouble.
Marin arranged for 50 cavalry, led by Sauer himself, to recruit mercenaries in Württemberg and other places. And he himself, taking the remaining 200 black shirt knights, went all the way north and returned to East Frisia. After all, East Frisia is now waiting to be done, and it has to prepare for war. There are a lot of things. Therefore, he has to rush back to deal with various affairs...