Recently, Italian mercenaries seem to have good luck. Because they frequently receive employment contracts, their lives have been settled. Although the more than 20,000 people hired by the French are unlucky and are regarded as cannon fodder. However, as mercenaries who exchange their lives for money, this is really normal.
And now, another group of Italian mercenaries have received employment contracts...
The contract was provided this time, and the risk of this contract seemed to be small - it was just guarding several important cities in Morocco.
If you defend a city on Europe, it may be difficult. After all, European countries have artillery and siege are very dangerous. But if you defend a city in Morocco, it is easier. The Moroccans do not even have enough normal siege equipment. For example, the Moroccans cannot build a ladder with a secondary ladder, and can only create a ladder with only one main ladder. Such ladders can easily deal with wood and stone.
Therefore, for so many years, the Vatas Dynasty has been unable to break through European castles such as Ceuta and Melilla on the beach. As a well-informed mercenary, I must have heard of this. Therefore, the Italian mercenaries were very happy to take this order.
For example, Pargani, who had just returned from the Beihai Kingdom a few months ago, received a big order - he would lead 4,000 Italian mercenaries to guard the Moroccan capital of Fes for more than half a year...
Pargani was also a lucky person. Originally, he was not very famous. However, this time he was deceived by Marin to be the leader of Oldenburg. As a result, under the stimulation of supplies in Oldenburg, he burst out with powerful energy. He withstood tens of thousands of enemy troops for a long time before he failed. Then, he was given the title of "good at defending the city". This time the Spaniards wanted to transfer the Moroccan garrison and change the Italians, and he thought of him.
Pargani was very happy. Although he had failed to defend Oldenburg City before and only received some salary. However, there was no danger in defending Fes this time. The Vatas Dynasty had long been defeated by the army of Gonzalo de Cordoba, leaving only some remnants of forces. If he was fighting in the field, Pargani might be a little afraid of the opponent's cavalry. However, when defending the city, the group of scimitar cavalry on the opposite side were weak...
This is the weakness of nomadic people - they are good at fighting in the wilderness and are not good at siegeing cities. Therefore, general nomadic people can only harass the farming people and cannot completely conquer them. Only the Mongols who obtained the Central Plains technology and the Hui artillery from the Arabs could sweep the world. There was also the Qing Dynasty, and after obtaining the Red Cannon Technology, they had the ability to conquer cities.
The remnants of the Vatas dynasty in Morocco obviously did not have these technologies. Therefore, they had no choice but to face the fortresses of the coastal Spaniards and Portuguese.
Therefore, for these Italian mercenaries, this trip was relatively easy and there was no danger. After the Spanish handed over the employment contract, about 15,000 Italian mercenaries signed the contract and began to board the ship to Morocco to replace the 20,000 Spanish troops originally stationed there.
Another person rushed from land to conceal his identity and came to the German region through southern France. Then he went to various parts of Germany to hire old German mercenaries who just ended the contracts of the princes.
However, after hearing that they had to face 60,000 French troops and more than 20,000 Italian mercenaries, many German mercenaries were hesitant. But in the end, nearly 20,000 people signed contracts and were willing to help the Spanish. Among them, the Austrians helped a lot of work. Although the Habsburg family had no money or troops to help, they could still use their only prestige to help.
In addition, the Spaniards also sent a group of men to Orich to come north to see Marin, hoping to hire the North Sea army to fight against the French army.
How could Marin agree? He was the one who fooled the French into Italy. He did this just to let Spain and France consume each other. How could he get involved by himself? Then he would not be able to consume both countries at the same time...
So, Marin refused to send troops to help Spain on the name of "it was too close to France on land, so he was afraid of being retaliated by France."
However, in order not to become too stale with Spain, Marin agreed to use the "country price" per pound of 1 Finney to provide Spain with a large amount of rye.
The so-called FOB price includes the price of freight. The freight is relatively expensive this year, so the cost of 1 Finney per pound of Deutsche rye is transported to Spain where the grain price is very high. Generally, the starting wholesale price is 1.3 to 1.5 Finney. Marin gives this FOB price, which is definitely very friendly. Moreover, the quantity is large...
Due to the war, the autumn harvest of Beihai Kingdom was actually greatly affected last year. For example, the wheat fields in Oldenburg Province were burned out.
Fortunately, Beihai Country has accumulated a lot of old grain in recent years. Therefore, Malin also has the conditions to use a batch of old grain as a favor. Anyway, Beihai Country is not short of grain...
After receiving Marin's reply, although Ferdinand II and Juan III were a little disappointed that Marin did not send troops, they could understand it. Because, as a continental country, there were indeed not many countries that dared to offend France.
In his reply, Marin explained that he had a bad relationship with the German princes and was worried about being jointly attacked by the princes. If he offended France again, he would easily be targeted by the joint forces and might destroy the country...
This explanation is reasonable, and Ferdinand II and Juan III have nothing to say. After all, Marin is willing to provide a large amount of affordable military rations.
Spain now needs to mobilize tens of thousands of troops and strengthen the food of Italian mercenaries stationed in Morocco. It is indeed very stressful. However, Spain has many mountains on the Iberian Peninsula and does not produce food in abundance. Therefore, Spain was indeed short of food at this time.
In addition, the Kingdom of Naples is an important grain-producing area in Spain. Now, it is occupied by the French, and Spain is also caught off guard. The most important thing is that the granary of Naples is in the city of Naples. Now it is surrounded by the French, and it is impossible to rescue the food...
Today, Spain has two main grain-producing areas - one is the "Golden Basin" of Sicily, which mainly produces the Turan wheat, which is the most valuable territory. The other is the Kingdom of Naples. However, the Kingdom of Naples mainly produces barley, and there are also Duran wheat, but not the main variety. However, in terms of yield, the barley produced in the Kingdom of Naples is still more produced. Unfortunately, the largest granary in the city of Naples was surrounded by tens of thousands of French troops...
So, Spain is now listening to food shortages, with tens of thousands of troops and tens of thousands of people. The food costs one ship after another. Fortunately, Marin gave a friendly price of 1 Finny per pound, which made Spain feel much better.
Chapter completed!