"Second-hand weapons and armor?" Maximilian I didn't react at once.
"Of course, this time I defeated the Bossa coalition and stripped seven thousand sets of plate armor and horse armor from the two armies. In addition, the three thousand sets of plate armor worn by the first three rows of soldiers of the 20,000 Swiss mercenaries were also in my hands. As for those spears and swords, it goes without saying..."
Maximilian I's eyes lit up...
But soon, His Majesty the Emperor said with some dismay:
"It's true that you have so many armors, but I don't have so many wandering knights in my hands..."
According to Maximilian I's fixed thinking, the plate armor is for the knights. There are not enough wandering knights to play for him, no one will wear the plate armor...
But Marin quickly gave a new idea:
"Your Majesty, plate armor may not be worn for knights, infantry can do it too..."
"Can infantry wear plate armor? Can it be eaten?" After all, plate armor is a thing weighing dozens of pounds, and it is really good. An ordinary man wears plate armor for a short time. But it is really embarrassing to charge and fight in plate armor weighing dozens of pounds...
"Don't the veterans in the first three rows of the Swiss wear breastplates and helmets?" Marin retorted.
"That's true...you mean, let the soldiers of my newly formed army wear half-body armor to fight?"
"No need for everyone, the first three rows are generally enough. But considering the strong combat power of the Swiss, it is better to wear more people on plate armor. In this way, you will not be afraid of the Swiss spears being poked."
After a pause, Marin continued:
"And, you can choose people who are strong and let them wear a full set of plate armor to take the lead in charge. The Swiss spears face people who have a full set of plate armor, but they have no idea what to do... Facing the plate armor knights, they can poke war horses with their spears, and facing the plate armor infantry, where do they poke?"
Maximilian I thought about it and it was true. The plate armor in the late Middle Ages in Europe was still very perverted, almost covering everyone. Even the crotch was protruding to protect the little brother. Even if you want to poke someone’s balls, you have to face high protection...
If you wear half-body armor like a Swiss mercenary veteran, your opponent can poke your thighs with a spear. But if you wear full body armor, there will be no place to poke.
The warrior wearing a full set of plate armor could bravely face the Swiss spear formation, hit it hard, and then lifted his sword and fell...
Of course, you can't be too reckless. After all, among the Swiss mercenaries, there are also some special troops who use hammers to deal with plate armor. However, those people are only a few. As long as you are on guard against them, there is still no big problem.
"But, wearing a full set of moving house is too exhausting..." Maximilian I was more worried about this.
"Your Majesty, you can let a small number of people with very good endurance wear a full set of plate armor in front. The ones behind can only wear breast plate armor, or even not..."
"It makes sense!" Maximilian I nodded, but he was still worried that the infantry in plate armor would not have enough endurance.
"Your Majesty, if you occupy Switzerland, who are you worried about? Are you still a Swiss?" Marin persuaded him when he saw Maximilian I was so entangled.
"Of course, the Swiss are anxious. We all occupy almost two states!"
"That's right. As long as the Swiss are anxious, you can take the brigade of soldiers wearing plate armor to stand there and line up, waiting for the Swiss mercenaries to rush up! Anyway, they are anxious. And if they stand there in plate armor and wait for the enemy to rush, they can save a lot of physical strength..." This is probably what is called waiting for work...
Maximilian I thought about it carefully and found that Marin was right. Now the Austrian army occupied the Swiss's hometown, and the Swiss should be anxious about it. At this time, the Austrian soldiers just stood there and lined up and waited for the Swiss to attack.
The Swiss are not good at using muskets, and spears and bows and arrows have no lethality on plate armor. The only thing to be wary of is probably the other party's warhammer. However, the soldiers of the Habsburg family are not fools. When they see those who hold hammers, they will be poked to death first...
Finally, after repeated deduction and calculations, Maximilian I decided to purchase 2,000 sets of plate armor and 3,000 sets of half-body plate armor for fighting against the Swiss.
Among them, he would select 2,000 particularly strong men from the army, wearing a full set of plate armor, standing at the front of the battle formation to resist the attack of the Swiss. Then, behind him were 3,000 relatively strong soldiers wearing half-body plate armor, like the elite Swiss infantry, supporting 2,000 soldiers in the front of him at any time.
Anyway, what they have to do is just to block the counterattack of Swiss mercenaries, not to attack those Swiss mercenaries. After all, they are the ones who occupy the land now. The initiative is in the hands of the Habsburg family. If the Swiss want to take back their hometown, they must launch a charge. Unless they are willing to give up their hometown on their own initiative... but that is impossible...
...
In the end, in addition to 2,000 sets of full-body plate armor and 3,000 sets of half-body plate armor (weared by the Swiss), Maximilian I also bought tens of thousands of second-hand spears from Marin, all of which were used by Swiss mercenaries.
In this way, after hard promotion, Marin sold 2,000 sets of full-body plate armor, 3,000 sets of half-body plate armor worn by elite Swiss veterans and 10,000 second-hand Swiss spears to Maximilian I at a discounted price of half-price. The total price reached 250,000 gold coins.
Although he gave the emperor a great discount and made a lot of money, Marin did not regret it. Because he knew that the emperor needed such support, otherwise it would be difficult to beat the counterattacking Swiss.
In Marin's view, the Habsburg family basically controls Switzerland and then is subject to fierce resistance from the French-supported Swiss people, which is what Marin wants to see most.
If the emperor is not supported now, perhaps the Habsburg family will not even be able to control Switzerland, let alone suppress the Swiss resistance?
The result that Marin most wanted to see was to trap the Habsburg family and the Swiss mountain people on the battlefield in Switzerland. For this reason, Marin sold a large amount of weapons and armor to the emperor at half price to cheer for the emperor and win the battle.
Besides, these weapons and armor were forcibly stripped from the captured Saxony, Brandenburg, and Swiss soldiers, and they didn't ask Marin to pay for it at all. Being able to sell for 250,000 gold coins is already a big profit.
As for the remaining plate armor and weapons, as long as the price is preferential, it is not impossible to sell...
At this time, Marin suddenly remembered that since the Sieg mercenary group and other thousands of Swiss mercenaries who had helped the Duchy of Gedes conquered West Friesland were going to return to China to participate in the war, the combat effectiveness of the Duchy of Gedes, which originally had a large number of Swiss mercenaries, would be greatly reduced. The local warriors of Gedes could not stop Marin's army at all, and there was no chance at all...
So, at this time, Marin took the army back and asked the Duchy of Geders for the words of West Friesland. The other party dared not refuse to give it, unless the other party was unable to think about it and wanted to die...
Chapter completed!