Over time, the rumor that Marin fabricated the "Golden X-May" version of "John Stewart and Queen Margaret conspired to kill James IV" also spread from France to Europe with the efforts of the North Sea Chamber of Commerce spies.
Upon hearing this rumor, John Stewart and Queen Margaret were furious and arrested several drunkards who spread the rumors in Scottish taverns and hanged them in public, trying to calm the spread of the rumors.
However, their approach can only calm the spread of rumors in Scotland, and they can do nothing to spread rumors in other countries. Of course, as an ally, French King Louis XII also ordered the ban on spreading rumors in France. However, because it is not the French, France's ban on rumors is not enough. After all, local French officials cannot persecute their own people in order to a foreign monarch. Therefore, in France, rumors only change from open to private spread, but cannot be banned. Not to mention other countries that are not friendly to Scotland.
In England, Edward had long been secretly reminded by Marlin, and he pretended to be unaware of it at first. Then, rumors of Scotland unilaterally accusing England of murdering James IV and "the murder of James IV by dogs and men and women" were spread to England one after another.
At this time, Edward jumped out and strongly condemned the "coup" and "regretto" behavior in Scotland. Edward publicly pointed out that His Majesty James IV was killed near Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was far away from England and there were too many mountains in the middle, so the English could not cross mountains and ridges at all. Even if they could cross mountains and ridges, they would send at most a small number of infantry, which was not the opponent of the powerful Scottish Knights. James IV had 50 highly skilled and fully armed Scottish Knights guarded them all the way. If they wanted to kill them, they must be more powerful knights. The English Knights could not cross mountains and ridges to ambush James IV, and even if the infantry passed, they could not defeat the Scottish Knights... Therefore, the Scots were lying that the one who killed James IV was the rebellious knights in Scotland. Because only the knights could kill the knights...
After Edward's view was announced, it was recognized by most people. Indeed, the Gobridge Valley was too close to Edinburgh, and it was difficult for the English Knights to cross mountains and rivers to get there. Only the infantry from mountain people were born to cross mountains and rivers. But could infantry beat the knights? In the eyes of people at that time, this was obviously impossible. Because, according to the survivors, there were only 50 people who raided the team of James IV. A fair single fight, only the knights could defeat the knights. This is common sense among Europeans...
However, everyone doesn't know that Marin, a pervert, selected a group of powerful people from the German mountain people and formed the most elite melee army - the Wolf Tooth Commando. Because the Wolf Tooth Commando is usually low-key, although it shines brightly in the Battle of Lübeck, they all use maces and are highly recognizable. However, this team did not use maces. Therefore, no one guessed that it would be the Wolf Tooth Commando of Marin.
...
According to Marin's suggestion, Edward made great efforts to strongly condemn the ruthless acts of murdering the king in Scotland, and called on all countries to severely punish Scotland and execute the regicides.
Moreover, although he had the agreement to "success the throne" signed with James IV, Edward would never mention it at this time. Because if he mentioned this matter at this time, it would be easy to be suspected of being the murderer. Therefore, he just kept clamoring to execute the murderer who killed the throne of the king rather than mentioning the inheritance of the Scottish throne.
At the same time, England also began to act at this time. After all, the spring plowing has ended, and England can free up troops to attack Scotland.
Moreover, the gathering of troops in England this time was carried out publicly and the momentum was very strong. Edward's intention was to let all countries know that I only started gathering troops after I learned of the murder of James IV, rather than being prepared for it...
The difference between gathering troops before hearing the news and gathering troops after hearing the news is very big. If England gathered troops early, other countries could see at a glance that James IV's death was related to England. Otherwise, how could they prepare troops in advance?
If the troops gathered after learning the news, it means that Edward is not aware of this. At this time, the gathering of troops means that Edward wants to take advantage of the situation, rather than having premeditated it.
In fact, Edward had already discussed the specific combat plan with Marin - England dispatched a large army to attack the northern border with great fanfare, attacking the southern part of Scotland, and attracting the attention of the Scots.
Then, Marin would use his fleet to carry a legion of troops and arrive at the pier near Edinburgh from the sea. Then, he would attack Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland...
The English army will definitely attract most of Scotland's troops on the border. At this time, Scotland will recruit at most tens of thousands of troops. Moreover, facing the main force of the British army, they will definitely send most of the troops to the southern border to block the British army.
Generally speaking, southern Scotland is mountainous, and even if there are only a few thousand troops, it is very likely to block the British army. After all, terrain advantage is not for nothing. If it weren't for the terrain advantage, Scotland would have been destroyed by England.
But in this way, the rear of Scotland will definitely be empty. At this time, a legion of Marin suddenly landed near Edinburgh, which will definitely shock the other party and catch the enemy off guard.
As long as Edinburgh is captured, Scotland's resistance on the southern front will lose any meaning. After all, the kings and couples of Scotland and most of the politicians live in the city of Edinburgh. As long as Edinburgh is broken, it means that the heart of the Kingdom of Scotland will be destroyed. At that time, the "life" of the Kingdom of Scotland will die...
As long as news of the fall of Edinburgh comes, the front-line Scottish army will inevitably collapse. Because their resistance has lost its meaning.
This is much more serious than the capture of James IV at the time, because even if James IV was captured, it could still be redeemed according to European customs. Moreover, the administrative agencies of the Kingdom of Scotland were not destroyed and could still operate normally. Even if the king was killed, at worst, you could choose a new one.
However, if Edinburgh is broken, then the Scottish administrative organs will be completely destroyed. After that, no one will transport supplies to the Scottish Resistance Army on the front line, and no one will give orders to the army. At that time, the Scottish border defenders will inevitably collapse and surrender.
Then, the British army could capture the Scottish border troops and march straight into Edinburgh and officially destroy Scotland.
Moreover, it doesn't matter if the Scottish defenders on the border continue to resist. At worst, the British army took a boat from Newcastle Harbor to Edinburgh first. Then, it spread from the heart of Edinburgh, the Scottish heart, to Scotland.
Chapter completed!