As Marin guessed, when Cost and Marich returned to the thieves' territorial camp and talked about going north to fight against the Scottish army, the thieves were excited.
Most of them have deep hatred with Scotland. Although the Scottish army did not directly massacre the residents of several northern counties in England, they robbed all the food, which was equivalent to killing many people in disguise. These thieves are basically relatives of the victims. In order to survive, they had to join the thieves. Who would like to have a way out?
At that time, the Scots robbed all the food of the residents of the northern counties, killed all the animals, made them into bacon and took them away. As a result, the people of the northern counties suddenly became refugees, and so they flocked south to look for food.
However, in order to prevent refugees from messing up the most prosperous southeastern region of England, Henry VII sent troops to set up defense lines in the south of several central counties to prevent refugees from moving south. In desperation, these people had to become robbers in order to survive, coupled with the deception of Cost and Marich. Although they survived, they did not forget their hatred for the Scots.
Now that Cost and Marichi mentioned it, their unbearable memories suddenly popped up in their minds. Thinking of their starving parents, wives and children at home, many thieves couldn't help crying. But soon, they hid their sadness and their faces became extremely ferocious:
"The Scots must be paid for their blood debts!"
"Yes, kill them!"
"We want to take revenge!"
...
Such a fanatical atmosphere suddenly filled the camp...
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Cost and Marichi announced the formation of the Volunteer Army, selecting 3,000 people to enter Newcastle to assist in the defense, and resist the Scots head-on.
As Marin expected, many thieves whose family members starved to death signed up enthusiastically. According to Marin, such people are eager to take revenge and are most suitable for fighting the Scottish army on the top of the city. Because of hatred, they will not take a step back.
Those who are not very active in signing up either have no family members or have no courage to fight desperately. Such people may be bad if they get on the city wall. However, because they are not so fanatic, they are quite suitable for harassment wars. Because these people will not fight desperately with the Scottish army like those fanatical people. The important thing in harassment wars is to retreat with one blow. If you are eager to take revenge, you will be in love with the war, which will eventually lead to a head-on confrontation. And these thieves, confronting the Scottish regular army head-on in the wild, is tantamount to death...
Therefore, as a liberal arts student who has studied psychology, Marin has a very accurate judgment on this point.
In the end, Coster and Marichi selected 3,300 revenge thieves, led by Coster's confidant Lescott, and went to Newcastle to assist in the defense.
The remaining 4,200 people, Coster left 300 people to protect the thousands of families who accompanied the army. The remaining 4,000 people were divided into two parts - the 900 horse thieves, led by Coster himself to attack the food routes of the Scottish army. Marich, with the remaining 3,000 people, was responsible for harassing the Scottish camp in batches in the middle of the night, so that the Scottish people could not sleep well...
After the division of the work, three teams of people heading north together, preparing to deal with the Scots. Especially the thieves who were eager to take revenge for 3,300 lives, were full of murderous auras, and they wanted to fly to Newcastle immediately and fight to the death with the enemy...
...
At the same time, Marin also sent people north to inform Sivag to prepare for these friendly forces and to transport supplies to the thieves through the Tyne River.
In the era of cold weapons, there was no need for ammunition supply. The main supply was food and grass, and the replacement of broken swords. Of course, the supply of bows and arrows was also a big head.
Marin had long regarded Newcastle as his base in England, so he invested a lot of money to operate it. At this time, in Newcastle, there was a pile of food and it was impossible to eat. After all, this was prepared for tens of thousands of troops to consume.
However, this also creates a problem, that is, Newcastle cannot be lost... If the Scots get the mountains of food in Newcastle, they may have the courage to continue moving south...
You should know that although the Kingdom of Scotland is large, most of its areas are highlands. In later generations, the Scottish Highlands were very famous. The so-called Scottish Highland infantry in the British army were actually the mountain people of Scotland. Because there were many highlands and only a little south to the plains, the Scotland could not have had too many people because the arable land was not enough to feed too many people. Therefore, the Scots always had the idea of ​​going south to invade England.
But unfortunately, because of the few people, Scotland's national strength has always been weaker than England in the era of cold weapons. If you want to invade England, you can never beat it. Only when England changes drastically can Scotland go south to gain benefits.
Now, I heard that Edward gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and Henry VII to fight, but James IV felt that the opportunity had come, so he immediately led the army south.
However, the food and grass for the army southwards became the weakness of the Scottish army. Why? As I said before, Scotland has more mountains and less plains, and there is not much arable land, so naturally there is not enough food. Often, the army goes south and needs to prepare the food and grass for the army long or even two or three years in advance.
Of course, this is not necessarily the case. The Scots can also plunder the English, replenish their supplies on the spot, and obtain enough food and grass. As for the life or death of the English who were robbed of the food, what does it have to do with them?
But the problem is that the Scottish army just plundered several counties in northern England the previous year, completely destroying agricultural production in northern England. Until now, agriculture in several counties in northern England has not recovered. Therefore, when we go south at this time, we cannot try to grab the food needed by the army, and we can only rely on domestic transportation.
But if Newcastle, which was the Marin reserved grain, would be another matter...
Newcastle's grain reserves are about 50 million pounds, which is enough for 100,000 people to eat for 16 months according to the ordinary standard of eating one pound per person per day.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! The most important consumption of the army these days is food. If the Scottish army grabs so much food, then there will be no worries about supply. Then, the Scottish army will do whatever it takes to do in northern England, because they can afford to do it...
Fortunately, Marin asked Sivag to lead his army north to escort the refugees. If the Scots accidentally seized the 50 million pounds of food reserved in Newcastle due to their empty troops, Marin would definitely faint from the toilet.
Because, this not only helped the Scottish army, but also cut off Marin's food route. You know, he had tens of thousands of people in his hand, and all of them were counting on Newcastle to transport food by ship. Otherwise, why did Marin choose the route of entry by the sea? It's nothing more, it's convenient for food transportation...
However, now Newcastle is in war, and it is difficult to transport grain safely to the south. Fortunately, the Humber River Basin is now under Marin's control. So, for the safety of the food route, Marin personally wrote a letter to order Newcastle's ships to go south and arrive at the port town of Grimsby on the south bank of the Humber River.
Moreover, Marin planned to mobilize a thousand troops from the local area to guard the small port of Grimsby. After that, this place will become the rear of the supply of food and grass for Marin's army.
Newcastle's food and grass must not be transported because of the war. However, as long as this small port is guarded, Marin can send a ship back to Emden to transport food. In this way, the supply of food and grass from the army will be solved...
You ask why you don't move the grain transport port south? There are English ships cruising in the south! Marin used Danish pirates to restrain the power of England's seas in the waters of Suffolk and Norfolk, making British ships temporarily unable to cruise north. Otherwise, this small port north of Lincolnshire would not be suitable as a food logistics base.
However, Marin did not dare to guarantee whether the English ships would go crazy. They went north to reach the mouth of the Humber River despite the pirates. Therefore, for safety, Marin decided to send 10 500-ton main warships to protect the safety of Grimsby Port. At the same time, let the 250-class armed merchant ships take on the task of transporting grain. The 250-class armed merchant ships also have the ability to shell, and are not afraid of being intercepted by the Kirk ship of the English Navy... In this way, the supply of food and grass for the army will be completely safe...
Chapter completed!