Just as Marin was huddling in Rome to avoid Maximilian I, Duke of Saxony George finally gathered all the troops and prepared enough food supplies to fight to the death with the Duchy of Gedes, which had controlled West Friesland.
Duke George led the 18,000 coalition forces collected by the Saxony system to set off from Dresden and headed for West Friesland. The 4,000 elite troops whom Maximilian I agreed to be drawn from the Flanders army were transported to the Emden Port in Marin by ship, and then by the Emmes River, waiting to meet with George's main force.
At this time, East Friesland was also nervously on guard. Although George's coalition was only transiting, God knew whether they would take the opportunity to seize East Friesland. Schwartz, who was in charge of military affairs, remembered a saying that Marin often said - "For any army that transits, we must be on guard, even friendly forces!"
It goes without saying that we should be wary of the army of unfriendly forces. When the relationship is not good, we must beware of the other party's sneak attack.
Being wary of friendly forces is mainly to prevent friendly forces from causing trouble and robbery. You should know that in ancient times, whether in the East or the West, most armies were no different from living bandits. Wherever the army passed, if there was no strong force constraint, it was easy for soldiers to oppress the people. In the era of mercenaries in Europe, this problem was the most serious. Because one of the major characteristics of mercenaries was that they liked robbery.
Although Marin's troops were also mercenaries hired from the mountains in southern Germany. However, because these mercenaries had not been used as mercenaries before, they were trained from a blank piece of paper to a regular modern army. Therefore, the East Friesian army was well disciplined. Without orders, they would never rob. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the East Friesian army is the best disciplined army in this era.
But the armies of other countries, especially those of European countries in this era, robbery is the basic skill of their army. Therefore, when facing the transit of a large army, the East Friesian army must be on guard and monitor the whole process to avoid robbery incidents.
As the army of Prince Philip, the only son of Marin's boss, Maximilian I, Schwartz was quite proud of his face. Not only did he help the 4,000 troops of the Flanders build the camp, but he also provided a large amount of food, making the Dutch very proud.
As for the Saxon coalition led by George, they were not treated as such. When George Duke of Saxon brought 18,000 Saxon coalitions and 10,000 Minzhuang into East Friesland, he was monitored by seven thousand elite soldiers throughout the journey to prevent their soldiers from robbing.
Schwartz's concerns really make sense. Some soldiers from the Saxon Army borrowed by George were indeed not honest and wanted to loot some manors. However, they were soon stopped by the East Friesian army. Faced with the seven thousand most elite East Friesian army, the troops of the Saxon Army did not dare to act rashly.
But Duke George looked at the seven thousand troops and salied:
"How great it would be if these seven thousand people helped me attack Westfriesland! In that case, it would be safe to defeat the other side."
Unfortunately, George also knew very well that the possibility was very low. The main reason was that he had led a large army to invade East Friesland and had a grudge with others. Now, East Friesland seems that George's emperor cousin did not stab the Saxony army in the back, which was considered very face-saving. Don't think that others would send troops to help him.
According to the emperor's cousin, the emperor's cousin originally wanted Marin to send troops to help the war, but unfortunately, the people refused to do so and went to Rome to hide. For this reason, George had no choice. Moreover, Marin was indeed summoned by the Pope, but after finishing the matter, he stayed in Rome and refused to come back...
On the banks of the Ames River, the 22,000 coalition forces organized by George finally gathered together. Seeing so many troops, Duke George was also full of enthusiasm and his confidence was greatly improved.
In fact, Charles II, the Duke of Guedes, was even more confident than him...
Why? The Principality of Gedes received secret support from King Louis XII of France. The French were already close to the Swiss. This time, King Louis XII of France paid for his own money and helped him hire 5,000 Swiss mercenaries and sent them to the Principality of Gedes to help the Principality of Gedes defeat the German coalition forces of George Duke Saxony.
Under normal circumstances, Louis XII might not have been willing to make such great efforts to help. However, after hearing that there were 4,000 elite troops of the Habsburg Flanders in the coalition, Louis XII became concerned and spent a lot of effort to hire 5,000 people to help Guedes fight and defeat the coalition. By the way, it would sluggish the spirit of the Germans and the Habsburg family.
Louis XII was very clear that the reason why France lost the Principality of Milan was inseparable from Maximilian I's support for Ludovico Sforza. Therefore, the Habsburg family was considered their enemies. It was definitely something that Louis XII loved to see that their enemies were unlucky. Therefore, he hired 5,000 Swiss mercenaries to help Charles II to defeat the Saxon coalition.
In this way, Charles II, Duke of Gedes, sent a total of 19,000 troops in West Friesland (excluding the 3,000 wasteful West Friesland Resistance Army).
The most terrifying thing is that among these 19,000 troops, 12,000 people are simply Swiss mercenaries. Therefore, this is a powerful army that can be ranked in all Europe. The 22,000 troops of George Duke of Saxony are a pieced together army. They seem to be powerful, but their combat effectiveness is actually average.
Among them, the most combat-capable of this coalition is the thousands of Saxon heavy cavalry and the 4,000 elite Flanders. However, the Swiss mercenaries are specially used to restrain the German knights. Therefore, the thousands of Saxon heavy cavalry cannot be used at all. The 4,000 elite Flanders are not as combat-capable as the Swiss mercenaries. Therefore, no matter how you calculate it, the Duchy of Gedes has a greater chance of winning.
Therefore, Charles II, Duke of Guedes, had much greater confidence than George Duke of Saxon. In terms of combat effectiveness, it was indeed that Guedes' army surpassed the Saxon coalition.
However, what surprised Charles II, Duke of Geders, was that before the French supported him 5,000 Swiss mercenaries, he actually sent people to Switzerland to recruit mercenaries.
However, it was not recruited. When asked about the reason, it was said that it was a mysterious employer who had taken away a 20,000 army. So, for a moment, there was a shortage of mercenaries in Switzerland. Most of the remaining Swiss mercenaries were hired by the French. Therefore, the Duchy of Gedes went to seek help from France. When King Louis XII of France heard that Maximilian I had sent troops to the war, he borrowed 5,000 Swiss mercenaries to him without hesitation.
Chapter completed!