The mercenaries that Sauer recruited in Württemberg rushed to Aurich one after another. These soldiers were all selected according to Marin's requirements. They are all simple mountain people, and there are no gangsters in the city. The key is to be in good health and be obedient.
In addition, Schwartz also sent people to the Alsace region and recruited a group of rural youths. Although Alsace is not as mountainous as Württemberg, the folk customs here are more simple and obedient.
In Marin's view, 5000 mercenaries are relatively easy to recruit. Because, in this era, the German population grew rapidly, and many manors had population surpluses. Serving as a soldier and eating food may not be a way of life for poor German youths.
All in all, the recruitment of mercenaries was basically smooth. But on the contrary, the recruitment of mercenary officers was not smooth.
Marin stipulates that the squad leader can be selected from the army. For example, the squad leader of 5,000 recruits can be selected from among the veterans.
However, starting from the captain of the company, Marin requested that he must be a knight who has read and read, and it is best to be a wandering knight who has just left home.
Because, Marin's company has as many as 250 people. With so many soldiers under his control, he can actually perform some tasks independently. However, when assigning tasks, if the company leader is illiterate, it becomes a joke. Although it is also possible to let the orderly dictate orders, but word of mouth, it is easy to cause errors. Once the wrong order is delivered, it may affect the battle situation. Therefore, Marin insisted that officers at the company captain level must be literate. Even though Steindorf, the commander of the black-shirted knights, was born as a commoner, his ancestors were richer, so he could still read and write. Although it was not a lot, he could barely understand military orders. Moreover, at the request of Marin, Steindorf is now supplementing cultural knowledge at night.
Originally, after Marin became the new Earl of East Frisia, there were indeed many young wandering knights who planned to defect to Marin. However, the Duke of Saxony quickly said that he did not recognize Marin's status, and might send troops to "seek justice" for the dead Sexner family. At this moment, those young wandering knights who had planned to defect to Marin suddenly became hesitant. In the end, everyone chose to wait and see. If Marin can survive, someone will naturally join him. If you can't make it through, then there's nothing to talk about.
Although these young people from the knight family are immature, none of them are fools. Of course they want to build a career, but the premise is that the object they want to rely on can hold. Therefore, when Marin's future is unclear, young people choose to wait and see.
After all, the Duke of Saxony is famous far and wide, and the Saxon line is even more famous in Germany. And Marin is just a young man who has just emerged. When the two sides fight against each other, most people must be on the side of the Duke of Saxony. At this time, if anyone dares to open the market, everyone must unanimously bet on the Duke of Saxony to win.
Unfortunately, in everyone's opinion, no fool would open such a disk. Because, it's a simple fact...
Only Marin himself, and his subordinates, were amazed at the miracles created by Marin. They and even the combat effectiveness of the East Frisian army are much higher than other armies of this era. Therefore, Marin's generals are very confident. In particular, Marin told them that the army would be expanded by 5,000.
At the same time, the emperor had more confidence in Marin. Confidence comes from Marin's cunning mind. This time Marin gave the emperor an idea, allowing the emperor to control the huge Graubünden area before the Swiss reacted without any effort. He was very happy. If it was a frontal battle, the emperor would not have the confidence to occupy Graubünden with the intervention of the Swiss.
Of course, whether it is the emperor or the knights under Marin, their ideas are still relatively conservative. They all believed that it was perfectly fine for Marin to hold East Frisian. But it is unlikely to defeat the Saxon army head-on.
It's no wonder that Marin's Spanish phalanx has not really exerted its power after training. In the only battle against the Frisian army, the phalanx's platoon guns lost their power because of the rain that extinguished the match.
Therefore, even the most optimistic East Frisian generals do not think that the Spanish phalanx can defeat the Saxon army head-on, and they still win more with less.
Only Marin, who knows the direction of history, knows how amazing the defense of the Spanish phalanx is.
Unlike the movie "Legend of Mercenaries" that described the Spanish phalanx in later generations, the real Spanish phalanx must have dug trenches before the formation. On this basis, Marin made great use of it, strengthening one ditch to two ditches, and also used the inclined wooden pickets used by the English army to deal with French knights. Under the three insurances, if the cavalry can break through the Spanish phalanx, there will be ghosts. The two ditches and a row of slanted wooden pickets will definitely make the cavalry rushing over turn their backs.
The most powerful aspect of the Saxon army lies in its strong financial resources, equipped with thousands of plate armor knights. Thousands of plate armor knights rushed up like a torrent of steel.
However, war horses are animals, not cold steel machines like tanks. If the war horse fell into the pit, the horse would also overturn, and it would also be injured if it poked on the inclined wooden stake. Therefore, no matter how many war horses there are, they will be powerless in front of two trenches and a row of inclined wooden pickets. What's more, in addition to this, Marin also lined up with matchlock guns to shoot, professionally attacking knights in plate armor. Even if the opponent's plate armor knight chooses to dismount and fight on foot, and wants to climb the pit and cross the line of defense, he still has to ask the musketeers if they agree.
It's just that, for various reasons, no one has seen the scene of the Spanish phalanx brutalizing knights. Therefore, except for Marin, everyone else is not optimistic about the thousands of cavalry on the front of the Spanish phalanx...
Even the insiders think so, let alone those wandering knights who haven't come to seek refuge
Therefore, Marin sent people to various places to recruit wandering knights, but they were all turned down. Although everyone is not optimistic about Marin, no one knows whether Marin will make a comeback after this failure. Therefore, although the wandering knights all rejected Marin's solicitation, they didn't say anything. Only a small number of people think that Marin is doomed, and it is very embarrassing when he refuses.
This made Marin very distressed, 5,000 recruits, you can't help but arrange literate officers, right? It is not very reliable to temporarily promote the subordinates as company captains.
In the end, Marin thought for a long time, and decided to let the existing officers, each of them put a little more burden on them...
Specifically, to double the number of troops commanded by each officer under his command. For example, Schwartz originally commanded a phalanx, but Marin suddenly asked him to command two phalanxes. When fighting, the veterans are placed in front of the front, and the recruits are placed in the back as a reserve team. At the same time, recruits are more likely to undertake the task of digging trenches. For this reason, Marin ordered the blacksmiths under his rule to build many engineering shovels.
Similarly, Frundsberg and others also commanded two phalanxes. Moreover, those company captains also commanded the troops of the two companies.
Although it is said that commanding twice as many people is a test for them. But these young people actually have a hardworking heart. On the battlefield, being able to command more people is definitely a great personal affirmation.
Therefore, although it will be very tiring in the future, these young people are very excited, even if they have to put in more effort, they don't care.
Moreover, Marin also said that if he can successfully defeat the Saxons this time, the reward will be greatly rewarded. There can be an increase in the title, and there can be an increase in the fiefdom...
In order to stimulate this group of men, Marin promised that this time he would take out 10,000 Ugrams of land to reward all outstanding officers and soldiers. Moreover, these lands are considered fiefdoms, and they will not be required to pay taxes in the future. Therefore, although the soldiers under Marin were short of personnel, their morale was quite high.