The mercenaries recruited by Sauer in Württemberg arrived in Orich one after another. These soldiers were selected according to Marin's requirements. They were all simple mountain people, not as gangsters in the city. The key was that they were in good health and were very obedient.

In addition, Schwartz also sent people to the Alsace area and recruited a group of rural youth. Although Alsace is not as mountainous as Württemberg, the folk customs here are relatively simple and obedient.

In Marin's opinion, 5,000 mercenaries were relatively easy to recruit. Because in this era, the population of Germany grew rapidly, and many manors had a surplus population. Joining the army to eat food may not be a way out for poor German youths.

In short, the recruitment of mercenaries was basically smooth. But on the contrary, the recruitment of mercenary officers was very difficult.

Marin stipulates that squad leader can be selected from the army. For example, squad leader of 5,000 recruits can be selected from veterans to perform outstanding positions.

However, starting from the company captain, Marin demanded that he had read books, recognized words, and preferably the Wandering Knight who had just left the house.

Because Marin's company has as many as 250 people. He can actually perform some tasks independently by controlling so many soldiers. However, when assigning tasks, if the company captain is illiterate, it will become a joke. Although the commander can also be allowed to dictate orders, word of mouth can easily cause errors. Once the wrong order is conveyed, it may affect the situation of the war. Therefore, Marin insisted that officers at the level of the company captain must be literate. Even though the black-shirted knight commander Steindorf was a civilian, his ancestors were rich, so he still recognized words. Although it was not many, he could barely understand the military orders. Moreover, under Marin's request, Steindorf was now a frugal supplement to cultural knowledge at night.

Originally, after Marin became the new Earl of East Friesland, there were indeed many young wandering knights who planned to defect to Marin. However, the Duke of Saxon quickly spoke out, not acknowledging Marin's status, and might send troops to "retrieve justice" for the deathly Saxner family. Now, the young wandering knights who originally planned to seek refuge in Marin suddenly became hesitant. In the end, everyone chose to wait and see. If Marin could hold on, there would naturally be someone to defect to him. If he couldn't hold on, there would be nothing to talk about.

Although these young people who came from the Knights' family were immature, none of them were fools. Although they wanted to make achievements, the premise was that the person they wanted to defect to could hold. Therefore, when Marin's future was unclear, the young people chose to wait and see.

After all, the Duke of Saxony is well-known, and the Saxony system is well-known in Germany. Marin is just a young man who has just emerged. When both sides fight, most of them will definitely stand on the Duke of Saxony. At this time, if anyone dares to open the market, everyone will definitely bet the Duke of Saxony to win.

Unfortunately, in everyone's opinion, no fool can open such a plate. Because this is the simplest fact...

Only Marin himself and his subordinates were amazed at the miracles created by Marin. Their combat effectiveness of the East Friesian army was much higher than that of other armies in this era. Therefore, Marin's generals were very confident. In particular, Marin told them that they would expand their troops by 5,000.

At the same time, the emperor was also more confident in Marin. Confidence came from Marin's cunning mind. This time, Marin gave the emperor an idea, so that the emperor could control the huge area of ​​Graubinden before the Swiss reacted, and was very happy. If it were a frontal battle, the emperor would not have the confidence to occupy Graubinden with the intervention of the Swiss.

Of course, both the emperor and the knights under Marin were relatively conservative. They all believed that it was absolutely fine for Marin to defend East Friesland. However, it was unlikely that he would defeat the Saxon army head-on.

It is no wonder that after Marin's Spanish phalanx was trained, he had not really exerted his power. The only time he fought against the Friesian army, the fire rope was extinguished because of the rain, which made the volleyball of the phalanx lose its power.

Therefore, even the most optimistic generals of the East Friesians did not feel that the Spanish phalanx could defeat the Saxony army head-on, and they would still win the more with less.

Only Marin, a person who knows the direction of history, knows how amazing the defense of the Spanish phalanx is.

Unlike the later movie "The Legend of Mercenary", which describes the Spanish phalanx, the real Spanish phalanx must have been dug in front of the formation. Marin made great efforts on this basis, strengthening one ditch to two ditches, and using the diagonal wooden pickets of the English army to deal with the French knights. With three security forces, if the cavalry can destroy the Spanish phalanx, there will be ghosts. The two ditches and a row of diagonal wooden pickets will definitely make the rushing cavalry over, and the people will be overturned by the horses.

The most powerful thing about the Saxony army is its strong financial resources and is equipped with thousands of plate-armored knights. When thousands of plate-armored knights rushed forward, they were definitely like a torrent of steel.

However, war horses are animals, not cold steel machines like tanks. When war horses fall into the pit, the horses will overturn and poke on oblique wooden pickets, and will be injured. Therefore, even more war horses will be weak in front of two trenches and a row of oblique wooden pickets. What's more, in addition, Marin also has a line of convex guns to kill them, and professionally attack knights in plate armor. Even if the opponent's plate armor knight chooses to dismount and fight footing and wants to climb the pit and cross the defense line, he has to ask the musketeers whether they agree or not.

However, for various reasons, no one has seen the scene of the Spanish phalanx savages the knights. Therefore, except for Marin, no one else is optimistic that there are just a few thousand cavalrymen in the front of the Spanish phalanx...

Even insiders think so, let alone those wandering knights who have not come to join?

Therefore, Marin sent people to recruit Wandering Knights everywhere, but they were all politely rejected. Although everyone was not optimistic about Marin, no one knew whether Marin would make a comeback after this failure. Therefore, although the Wandering Knights all refused Marin's recruitment, they did not say anything. Only a small number of people believed that Marin would be doomed and were very disrespectful when they refused.

This made Marin very distressed. 5,000 recruits, we must arrange literate officers, right? It is not reliable to temporarily promote the subordinates to be the company captain.

In the end, Marin thought for a long time and decided to let the existing officers bear a little more burden...

Specifically, let the troops commanded by each officer under his command doubled. For example, Schwartz originally commanded a square formation, but Marin asked him to command two square formations at once. When fighting, the veterans were placed in front and the new recruits were placed in the back as a reserve. At the same time, the new recruits were more responsible for digging trenches. For this reason, Marin ordered the blacksmiths under his command to build many engineer shovels.

Similarly, Frenzberg and others also commanded the two phalanxes. Moreover, the company captains also commanded the two companies' men.

Although it is a test for those who command twice as much, these young people actually have a heart of striving for progress. On the battlefield, being able to command more people is definitely a great affirmation of their personal personalities.

So, although they will be very tired in the future, these young people are very excited and don’t care even if they have to put in more effort.

Moreover, Marin also said that if we can successfully defeat the Saxons this time, we will have great rewards. We can have titles and fiefs.
Chapter completed!