The Rise of the European Emperor

"The Rise of the European Emperor ()"!

Probably because of the habit of keeping secrets, Marin made an export model of the "Jiangnan Tannery" armor in order to keep it secret. Specifically, only steel sheets are inserted into the leather bag, and no paper, silk or sisal cloth is inserted.

Moreover, the inserted steel sheets are not high manganese steel sheets, but high carbon steel sheets. Of course, this kind of leather-bound armor with steel sheets is no problem to defend against the stabbing of bows and arrows and spears, and it looks similar to plate armor. The only thing better than plate armor is that it is more suitable for bending and turning. Unlike plate armor, later generations can only stand straight after wearing it.

Because the manufacture of high-carbon steel sheets is much simpler than that of plate armor, the manufacture of this kind of leather-bound armor with inserts is very simple. Its cost is also very low. Ordinary plate armor, because it takes a long time to be crafted by highly skilled craftsmen, a pair of plate armor often requires dozens of gold coins.

But it's just a piece of steel inserted into the small leather bag, which can be done by blacksmith apprentices, and it takes very little time. Therefore, the cost of this kind of armor is only 10 gold coins or even lower, which is much cheaper than those complicated plate armor. Even a larger horse armor would cost about 15 gold coins.

Of course, other countries do not have high-carbon steel, so they can only use pig iron iron sheets. Although the performance is not as good as the high-carbon steel sheets in Beihai, it is still sufficient. Because pig iron can also withstand bows and arrows, swords and spears. In the face of bullets, high-carbon steel sheets, like pig iron sheets, can't stop it...

In order to achieve the purpose of actively "leaking" the secret, Malin specially presented 500 sets of high-carbon steel sheet leather armor to Prince Philip. Then, he deliberately revealed the secret of this armor. Tell those foreign spies lurking in Ghent - it's just leather-wrapped iron armor.

Prince Philip didn't care about this unsightly armor, but when the news reached Emperor Maximilian I, it attracted great attention!

why? Just because Marin said that this thing is cheap to make!

Marin still said it higher, saying that the cost was 10 gold coins. In fact, with the production level of the North Sea country, the cost is less than 5 gold coins. Because, in the factories in Beihai, the main production force is workers who are only responsible for one production link, not craftsmen who are responsible for several production links. The wages of craftsmen are high, but the daily salary of workers is only 3 pfennigs, which is much lower than the 1 shilling for craftsmen. Then, the high-carbon steel sheet is also hammered repeatedly with a hydraulic forging hammer, not artificially. The cost, of course, cannot be high.

As for ordinary plate armor, the cost needs to be more than 20 to 30 gold coins, and the selling price is even more than 50 gold coins. This high cost may still be affordable for those knights with fiefdoms. However, for wandering knights without land inheritance rights, it is too expensive.

For example, Marin, when he left home, he didn't even have a plate armor, only a chest plate armor and a helmet, and no pants. This is not the poorest,

Those who are poor simply give an old horse and a one-handed sword, and they come out to roam around. They can't even afford to ride a gun, so they can only get a wooden stick to pretend to ride a gun.

Of course, these poor wandering knights are not bad at martial arts. After all, when they were at home, they could still use their father and brother's horses, armor and lances for training. But when you leave home, if you don't have spare weapons, armor and war horses at home, you can only wander in desperation.

...

In addition, it should be pointed out that the heavy cavalry of various countries is actually divided into two parts-knights and cavalry!

A knight refers to a knight who has a title and a fief, and generally serves as an officer. As for the cavalry, although they also come from the knight family, they have no inheritance rights. It would be nice if they could bring their own horses and armor. Those who couldn't afford the horses and armor could not even be selected as heavy cavalry, and were even forced to switch to low-level cavalry such as light cavalry.

That's right, you read that right, it's the lower cavalry! In this era, knights have not yet been eliminated, and they still maintain a sense of superiority, thinking that they are superior. Even those heavy cavalry who wear armor feel that they are superior and look down on those light cavalry without armor.

Generally speaking, in Europe at this time, the light cavalry did not serve as the main attack, but served as the auxiliary of the heavy cavalry, responsible for covering the flanks of the heavy cavalry when they charged. At the same time, it also shoulders miscellaneous tasks such as chasing down soldiers and reconnaissance. Therefore, their status and salary are far inferior to heavy cavalry.

In many cases, the light cavalry, as the knight's attendant, is responsible for helping the knight masters put on the plate armor and helping them mount the horse before the battle. When charging, they also serve as light cavalry to cover the flanks of the knights.

According to the custom of this era, a knight goes out to battle with at least 5 attendants. Among them, one is responsible for logistics, the other four, one person is responsible for reconnaissance, and the other three or two (see the knight's financial resources) are responsible for following the battle on horseback and covering the flank of the knight. The knights went back to change their lances, and they were responsible for breaking the rear.

Those heavy cavalry without titles and fiefdoms are generally assisted by two light cavalry officially. Specifically, before the battle, help him put on the plate armor and help him mount the horse, after the fight starts, he is responsible for covering the flanks, and after the gun is broken...

...

The above is a traditional plate armor knight, and the leather armor with steel sheets given by Marin is not only half the cost, but also the knight wearing this armor does not need someone to help him mount the horse, he can do it himself.

As for marching, it is not necessary for every heavy cavalry to be equipped with two servants. Only one carriage is needed to load armor and lances for 5 master knights. In other words, 5 heavy cavalry can be equipped with one attendant. In this way, you can greatly save money! And funds are what the poor emperor lacks the most!

Usually, these knights only need to put on a very ordinary leather armor breastplate and wear a helmet. Once the battle started, he ran to the carriage to get his armor and lance, mounted his horse, and charged directly.

According to Marin, this kind of armor that is not chic enough has the same result when facing cold weapons and hot weapons (one can block it, but neither can block it). The cost is low and attendants are saved, which is really a bargain!

It should be pointed out that the focus of saving attendants is not the cost of the attendants, but the cost of the horses the attendants ride! Even the most common riding horse consumes several times as much food as a human. Therefore, reducing one horse is saving the rations of four or five people!

After testing, it was found that this kind of armor was indeed as effective as plate armor in the face of cold weapons, and the poor emperor Maximilian I looked up to the sky and laughed...

"Hahaha, the revival of my Habsburg family is expected!"

Why is the emperor so happy? Because he can explode! Moreover, explode the heavy cavalry! Austria and the Netherlands do not lack noble children, but lack money, food and armor. At the same time, there is no shortage of noble children willing to serve the emperor in southern Germany!

Although the princes have been slandering the Habsburg family, Maximilian I is the emperor after all, and his righteous name is there. Therefore, many knight children and even baron children who have no inheritance rights and no connections are actually very happy to serve the emperor.

In particular, Marin, a son of a knight family who served the emperor, set an example for those noble children who aspired to success.

The result is that the princes are slandering the emperor, but the aristocratic children who have no inheritance rights and no connections under their rule want to learn from Marin, serve the emperor, and then obtain fiefdoms and titles...

And this is also an important reason why the princes hate Marin. After all, he set a very bad (in the eyes of the princes) role model.

What about the emperor? It is true that there is no money, but there is no shortage of horses. After all, in this era, horses were everywhere, and Austria under the emperor's rule had a lot of horses. The emperor can't afford horses, can't he borrow horses?

If he wanted to fight, the emperor opened his mouth and borrowed some war horses (mainly docile mares) from the nobles under his rule, and it was still possible to pay some rent. Moreover, the Habsburg family itself has a horse farm, which can provide many horses.

In addition, the emperor has the right to expropriate the horses of civilians during wartime!

Since there is no shortage of horses and weapons are not expensive. Riding guns and the like are just consumables, and the cost is not high. Then, the only problem is the armor!

It is impossible for ordinary people to have this thing, even if the emperor wants to force it in a war. And Marin gave this kind of armor with a very low cost, which gave the emperor a solution. After all, Innsbruck has an arsenal where the emperor himself opened classes. This arsenal produces high-quality plate armor. It should not be too easy to produce this kind of leather-bound armor with steel sheets.

The emperor decided to expand the number of heavy cavalry by 20,000!

The Habsburg family itself has 12,000 plate armored heavy cavalry, and if the expansion of 20,000 heavy cavalry is added, it will be 32,000 heavy cavalry. At this scale, even France can be reckless. Because France usually goes to war, and it also dispatches more than 20,000 plate armor knights. Only when the whole country is mobilized in a life-and-death battle will tens of thousands of plate armored heavy cavalry be dispatched.

Maximilian I decided to put all his eggs in one basket, and this time he dealt a severe blow to France. Because the resistance army in western Switzerland is mainly supported by France.

If the army of the Habsburg family defeated the Swiss Resistance Army, the French would definitely end up in person. At that time, in the face of 20,000 to 30,000 French heavy cavalry, the heavy cavalry of the Habsburg family, which is not bad in number, and the infantry of Frundsberg, will definitely be able to severely damage the French heavy cavalry!

However, after the enthusiasm subsided, Maximilian I had to face a very embarrassing problem——it was still about money...

A set of steel-leather bound armor, plus the same type of horse armor, is much cheaper than traditional ones, but it costs 25 gold coins. 20,000 heavy cavalry is 500,000 gold coins...

The emperor's brain hurts, and he wants to borrow money again...

In addition to the 500,000 gold coins equipped, the army also needs a lot of food and grass to fight. Even if it is saved, two hundred thousand gold coins are still needed to fight a war, and it is not even enough. Unless, it can be resolved quickly.

Therefore, the emperor's funding gap is as high as 700,000 to 800,000!

"Hey, I can only go to the Marin and Fugger families to borrow money!"

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