King of German Mercenaries

After returning to Aurich, Malin first received a report from Steindorf, requesting Malin to buy a war horse.

This time Marin went south, and did not bring the black knight to lead Steindorf, because this guy went back to his hometown to pick up his family. He is an Alsatian, and he used to only dine in the Marin army. But after being promoted to the commander of the black knights this time, he felt that he should settle down in East Friesland. So, when Marin led the team south, he returned to his hometown and brought all his family to Aurich.

In fact, this is what Marin encouraged. The families of important officers under his command, Marin built a mansion for them in the city of Orich for free. First, it is to facilitate the reunion of officers and their families. Second, there is also the hidden purpose of holding the families of the officers as hostages. Such means were common in ancient China. When the general goes on an expedition, his family must stay in the capital. If you dare to rebel, the whole family will be killed...

Steindorf is also more dedicated. He found that the newly formed "Black Knights" lacked good horses. Although the black knights belonged to light cavalry, they did not wear full body armor, nor did they have horse armor. However, the black knight still wore a breastplate and helmet, and the weight of five carbines was no lighter than plate armor. In real terms, the black-shirted knights are only lighter than the plate-armored knights in terms of horse armor and lances. Therefore, the requirements for horses are still quite high.

And now these 200 black knights, there are only 100 war horses. The other 100 are still excellent French draught horses. Although the French draw horse is second only to war horses in quality, it is not yet a war horse.

In addition, the horse farm that Marin built when he was on Texel Island has only added 500 ponies after three years. Then, these horses are too small, although there are many good seedlings, but because they are too immature, they cannot be directly pulled into the battlefield.

You know, no matter how good the blood is, the horses generally have to be saddled after 2 years of age to start training. Now, the new horse farm just outside the town of Aurich on the peninsula has just started training the first ponies to be born, and these horses, the best ones, will not be put into use for a year.

It is very difficult for a horse to become a war horse. Usually from the age of 2, you will start training on the saddle. Then, the horses began a brutal elimination process. Horses with poor explosiveness are eliminated first. Because, the horse needs to sprint, without explosive power, obviously not. Then, those with poor endurance are also eliminated. After that, it's a test of courage.

Generally speaking, the demands of war horses are not to be surprised. At this stage, the trainer will arrange for someone to frighten the ponies and observe their reactions. If the horse is too easy to be surprised, it will be eliminated decisively.

Like the horse of a black knight, it has higher requirements for the courage of the horse. Because, the knights in black shirts are going to fire platoons. The sound of the huge platoon of guns requires more courage from the horses.

For example, when Marin went south this time, when training black knights, some horses were frightened and almost injured people. For this reason, this time I came back just in time for Steindorf's request to buy a war horse. Therefore, Marin seriously considered this issue.

Since Steindorf was so concerned about this, Marin simply handed over the messenger who bought the horses to him. Let him go to the horse farms of the various southern vassal states to select suitable war horses.

In fact, Steindorf found that, among the war horses, the least surprising is the gelding, the neutered stallion. This kind of horse has no desires and no desires, and the temperament is the most weak. Unlike stallions that are not castrated, they are too aggressive and difficult to handle. The mare is very obedient, but timid. In the face of loud gunshots, mares are less resistant than stallions. Of course, this is only in general. There are actually quite a few brave mares. Being able to be selected from the group of horses as a warhorse is not too timid. However, if the courage is enough and the control is relatively easy, the best is the gelding.

So Steindorf begged to buy more geldings. Moreover, in this era, the price of gelding horses is not high, similar to that of mares, only about 100 gold coins.

On the other hand, the price of a stallion without castration is high, and it can be sold for about 120 gold coins.

The reason for this is not to say how good the stallion is, but because the knights need face. For example, if a knight rides a mare, he will be ridiculed as "very bitch". If riding a gelding horse, it is easy to be ridiculed for that incompetence.

In the early and middle Middle Ages, this phenomenon was very serious. As a result, the prices of stallions, mares and geldings were very different at that time. But in the Renaissance, people paid more attention to practicality, so the application of gelding and mare increased. However, due to traditional beliefs, many knights still prefer to ride a stallion, even if the stallion is more difficult to control.

However, saving face is also a matter for the knights. For poor knights and heavy cavalry, there is no such idea. For them, if there is a good horse to ride, even if it is not bad, where else can they choose?

Just like the French war horses captured by Marin last time, there are many mares and geldings. The reason is that the French are increasingly focusing on practicality. Moreover, among those 8,000 knights, only a small half are official knights. The other half were apprentice knights. The economic conditions of apprentice knights are poor, how can they be picky?

And mercenaries from civilians, like Steindorf, paid even less attention to their face. Let them all ride gelding, and no one thinks there is anything wrong with it. They are not knights.

After thinking about it, Marin approved Steindorf's request to buy gelding horses. However, he also requested that half of the horses, the request is a mare. Because the mare and war horse can also be used to breed excellent ponies. Although gelding is good, it is impossible to train new horses, only one generation.

Marin has a plan to cultivate new excellent horse breeds in his heart. He plans to use local excellent mares, and then introduce excellent Arabian stallions to cultivate new war horses. To this end, Marin planned to arrange for Kohler to contact those Jewish merchants and let them find a way to introduce excellent Arabian stallions from the Middle East. As long as they were given enough money, these Jewish merchants would do anything. Moreover, Jews in the Middle East are not as hostile to Arabs as Christians. Even when the Spanish kings began to expel the Jews in 1492, the Turks sent ships to Spain to pick up the Jews. The purchase of Arabian horses must be left to the Jews. Of course, be careful not to be fooled by them. After all, shoddy things are often done by Jewish profiteers.

Before leaving, Marin thought for a while and told Steindorf, not to mention the selection of horses for East Frisian. It is also helpless to say, because Saxony, as one of the seven major German princes, has a great influence in the German region.

This time, the Duke of Saxony said that he wanted to engage Marin, and many nobles deliberately kept their distance from Marin. When Marin returned from Italy, he found that he had received a cold reception.

Although, the emperor has publicly acknowledged his earl status. However, in those countries along the way, except for the ally the Principality of Clifford, none of the princes of other countries had warmly entertained him.

In fact, this is also a simple line-up problem. Marin had just taken control of East Friesland, and it seemed to everyone that the foundations were not stable.

At this time, Marin encountered a super-powerful hostile force like the Duke of Saxony. In the eyes of most princes, Marin's failure was almost a certainty.

Therefore, many princes kept their distance from Marin. If Steindorf went to buy war horses under the banner of East Friesland, some princes would probably choose not to sell war horses to East Friesland in order to please the Duke of Saxony.

Although it is said that many war horse sellers are not official of the vassal state. However, most people who are engaged in the war horse trade have an official background. As long as the vassal states officially speak, they may choose to refuse to sell war horses.

Therefore, in desperation, Marin had to let Steindorf go out to buy war horses, not in the name of the counties of East Friesland, but in a different name, so as not to be harassed.

This is also something that can't be helped. Whoever called Marin has a bad reputation now and is looked down upon by most people. Therefore, Marin made up his mind that this time he would defeat the Saxon army in an upright manner and make a name for himself, so as not to continue to be isolated in the future. After all, whether it is this era or the future generations, the strong countries are full of high-ranking friends, and the weak countries are ignored...