King of Mercenaries

Chapter 56: Glory to my hometown

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Marin originally wanted to leave Vienna early and go home. However, for the sake of publicity, the emperor kept Marin to cooperate with the emperor in "activities" and act as a "model".

Whenever foreign envoys and representatives of the principalities and counties came to Vienna, the emperor would bring Marin to meet them. Then, the emperor will "kindly" introduce Marin, the "young hero of the empire" to the guests. And Marin had to stand up and bow to pay tribute at this time, with a fake smile on his face, and by the way, put on a few cool poses for the guests to watch...

Then, everyone will watch Marin like a monkey, and make comments from time to time. Many people also questioned Marin's military exploits, because Marin's body was too thin. In the eyes of some nobles who advocated force, Marin, who defeated 8,000 French knights, must be at least a muscular man with a height of 2 meters. Who knows, after seeing Marin himself, he realized that the other party was just a boy with a height of 1.75 meters (he had grown taller) and a slightly thin figure...

Then, the emperor would tell the guests what Marin had done to fool him. Marin, on the other hand, stood aside and posed to match the emperor's speech...

After working as an unpaid "model" for the emperor for a month, Marin was allowed to leave Vienna with his men. Marin came to the residence of his subordinates in the west of the city with a look of grief and anger, and ordered everyone to leave.

"Boss, what's the matter?" Schwartz ran over and asked strangely. The title "Boss" is because Marin watched too many Hong Kong movies in his previous life, and felt that being the boss is very powerful. Moreover, he didn't like the title "Master" very much, so he simply asked Schwartz and others to call him the boss in private. As for the attendants such as Kahn and Kohler, they continued to be called young masters.

"It's nothing, your boss and I are exhausted these days, posing with the emperor every day, like a puppet..." Marin said angrily.

"Boss, don't be dissatisfied. To be by the emperor's side, how many people in the entire empire envy you..." Schwartz rolled his eyes. If the emperor is willing to take him out to show off, he can't wait. It's really pissing people off. However, who is the boss of Marin? As for why they were able to ambush the French in the first place, he still can't figure it out.

Of course, if he wants to understand, there will be ghosts. Who knew that Marin was a time traveler

Kohler, Marin's number one dog-leg, quickly came to report the situation—all the extra horses in his hands were sold in Austria. The Austrian region is the wealthiest region in the German region. Although there are far fewer rich people than in Venice, they are definitely stronger than those noble territories in the north. Because Austria is also a rich area with developed agriculture. In areas with developed agriculture, there is also a great demand for horses. Therefore, Kohler lowered the price in Austria, and it was easy to sell all the extra 1,000 draft horses.

Then, Kohler still had 200 stallions, 800 mares, and the 30 war horses that Marin had recovered from the emperor, making a total of 1,030 horses.

And when Marin accompanied the emperor to "walk the show", Schwartz and others also taught the 400 people under him how to ride a horse. When rushing back to Austria from Italy before, everyone had to walk with them because they had to act with a large force. Now, Marin has led everyone out of the main force, so he can naturally ride on the road. Moreover, 400 people own 1030 horses, and everyone can ride two horses alternately, and speed up the journey.

"Brothers, let's go! When I get to my territory, I will give each of you some land and let your family become self-cultivated farmers. And, if you don't have a wife, I will also find a way for you!"

"Thank you boss, thank you boss!" Everyone cheered.

Those who came out to be mercenaries did not have very good family conditions. A lot of people are simply certain manors. The serf owners thought the population was too large and drove them out. Many people were born in serf families and had no land of their own at all. When they went back, they had nothing to rely on, so they might as well hang out with Marin. At least, Marin is now a baron and can afford them. Those who left the team before were mostly self-cultivating peasant families, and their status was relatively free. Unlike the many people left behind, many of them are still children of serfs. If they go back, the serf owners will continue to enslave them as soon as they are happy. Maybe, the 100 gold coins will also be taken away.

But following Marin, Marin obviously wants to promote them and make them free citizens, can they be unhappy? The free folk in Europe are pretty cool. Don't you see, the many revolutions in France were all initiated by those free citizens in Paris? Who ever heard of the serf revolution? Although there is, it is not a climate at all. Because serfs are used to being slaves and lack the desire and self-confidence to fight. And the free people are very confident in themselves, as long as there are many people, they dare to confront the monarch...

Then, Marin asked someone to write for them (this group of people are basically illiterate), help them write family letters, and tell their families to prepare for immigration. If there is no problem, after Marin settles down on Texel, someone will be sent to pick them up. If there is a problem, such as the original serf owner not letting go, Marin will use official channels and even pay a little compensation to get the families of the soldiers over.

The reason why Marin didn't let these soldiers go home to pick them up was because, on the one hand, he was afraid that they would never return; on the other hand, Kohler still had more than 300,000 gold coins to escort. If the people run away and the army comes to grab the money, he can't resist it.

Besides, Marin still doesn't know what's going on on Texel Island. It would be bad if you rushed to pick people up without a place to settle down.

Of course, when Marin publicized, he naturally used the last reason. And, the reason is also very reasonable...

After unifying everyone's thinking, Marin led everyone, one person with two horses or three horses, and rushed towards the Hoffman Manor on the Ruhr River...

…

On the way, Marin and a member of the Italian Chamber of Commerce entrusted in Venice met outside Cologne. During Marin's trip to Italy, a total of 7,000 sets of plate armor were captured (Charles VIII finally let the last 2,000 knights who followed him take off the plate armor for the convenience of escape) and 5,000 sets of horse armor (not counting the captured 2,000 horses. body). In the end, he only handed over 6,000 sets of plate armor (including those for the Venetians) and 4,000 sets of horse armor. For the remaining 1,000 sets of plate armor and 1,000 sets of horse armor, he entrusted a reputable Italian chamber of commerce to send them to Cologne.

As for why this is so, it is because the plate armor and horse armor are huge, and these were embezzled by Marin and could not be seen by the emperor. As for gold coins, because of their small size, an ox cart is enough to hold them, but they are not so conspicuous and can be carried with them. Besides, he didn't worry about entrusting the armor to others for escort, and he didn't worry about entrusting hundreds of thousands of gold coins to others for escort. What if the escorts secretly steal those gold coins

After paying a large amount of final payment, Marin led the group and set off for Bochum with several large carts of plate armor and horse armor...

The transmission of news in the Middle Ages was relatively lagging. Marin's heroic deeds are currently only widely circulated in Austria, Swabia and Burgundy. In other regions, the nobles did not help to spread the news, so the news spread slower than in the above three regions.

When Marin was in Austria, he would meet some fans on the march. But outside of Austria, except for those guarding soldiers who came over nervously to question, the others simply ignored Marin and his group.

When it comes to the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, most people don't know Marin's deeds at all, and they only think of him as a passerby. This makes Marin, who has received so much attention in Austria, feel a little lost. Of course, this is not without benefits. At least, he was no longer worried about people watching while he was marching. When they were in Austria, many people saw the black cross and white vests worn by their team, and knew that they were the "Black Cross Army" that defeated the French king, and then there would be onlookers, which would affect everyone's journey...

As a result, when Marin arrived, he simply asked everyone to take off the black cross vest, so as not to be surrounded by people to watch monkeys...

But in northern Germany, his fame has not yet spread. So, they put on the black cross and white vest again...

When they arrived in Bochum, the old Hoffman and Adler, who received the letter from home in advance, had already brought 10 attendants and waited at the main intersection...

Marin went home this time, which was completely different from the last time he went home. Last time, Marin failed to apply for the job and went home, and the old Hoffman could still handle him.

However, when he came back this time, Marin had become the baron of the empire, and he was still a baron with a dominion. His status was very different from that of the trainee knight. Even the old Hoffman had to treat Marin with caution.

Unlike the East at the same time, Europe emphasized filial piety. In medieval Europe, titles were everything. Even as Marin's father, the old Hoffman must respect Marin who has been promoted to baron. Because Marin's title is higher than him...

Of course, as a father, old Hoffman does not need to salute Marin, but he can no longer beat and scold Marin who is a baron at will...

When Marin appeared near the intersection with 400 people and thousands of horses, Marin's cheap brother Adler showed strong envy in his eyes...