Marin was actually a little dissatisfied with this exercise. As for what he was dissatisfied with? It was mainly the group of archers.

In fact, the archers are very harmful. Even without arrows, the arrow body can hurt people within 50 meters. However, the cowardly archers under his command were frightened by the emperor's reputation. During the exercise, they kept their hands and did not dare to hurt the emperor's mercenaries of Zhengyin. Therefore, when killing within 50 meters, no one dared to pull the bowstrings to the end, so as not to injure the "temporary workers" such as these "formal workers". Otherwise, when 100 people on the other side rushed to 10 meters, there would definitely be no more than 40 people left, and it would be considered good luck to have 20 people at most.

In response, Marin decided to punish the archers collectively afterwards. But the emperor suddenly summoned him, so he had to deal with the emperor first.

"Congratulations, Knight Marin, your military can surprise me."

"Thank you for your praise!" Marin began to want to be modest, but suddenly he remembered that this is Europe, not China, and there is no need to be modest. So he changed his words...

"You are indeed very talented, Knight Marin, your two trenches are indeed difficult to break. What I want to ask is, what would you do if you command a complete phalanx, and the enemy would go around the flanks and pickets at the beginning?" Count Frederick asked seriously.

"Sir Earl, if I command a complete square formation, if my square formation is alone against the enemy, I will dig trenches in all four directions and no one can rush in. If my square formation is not alone against the enemy, my flank will definitely be protected by friendly forces, so don't worry about that."

"That's true. With such a defense, it is indeed difficult for the enemy to break through. However, what should we do if the enemy has artillery?"

"Everyone lay down..."

"Let's go down?" The emperor and the earl looked at each other.

"Yes, how can human body resist shells? If my army faces the enemy alone, when the enemy fires artillery, I will let everyone lie down and avoid shelling. When the enemy infantry comes up, they will rise up and continue to fight. Because, when the enemy artillery fires, the enemy infantry will not charge, so as not to accidentally hurt their own people."

"What if your phalanx is with your friendly forces?"

"Then you have to follow the command of the coach. After all, you have to look at the command of the coach on the battlefield." Marin looked at Count Frederick and knew that this guy was afraid that he would not obey the command, so he simply gave an answer that he loved to listen to.

Sure enough, Count Frederick nodded with satisfaction after hearing this...

"But, Knight Marin, your phalanx seems to have only defense functions, no offensive functions?" asked Emperor Maximilian I.

Maximilian I was very familiar with military affairs. He saw that digging a trench not only blocked the enemy but also trapped himself. If he gave up the trench and attacked, his defensive ability would be greatly reduced.

"Yes, Your Majesty, for now, this square formation does not have any sharp attack methods. I am thinking about the specific methods..." Marin said honestly.

"You are honest!" the emperor smiled.

"How can I lie in front of His Holiness?" Marin said pretending to be serious, which made the emperor feel secretly happy.

The emperors and kings in the West are different from the East. The Eastern Etiquette and Law are strict. The lowest aristocrats like Marin have no qualifications to stand up in the East, and they cannot even look directly at the emperor. Because the Eastern Emperor is in power and is in charge of the life and death of the people in the world. In the West, the emperors and kings are just the greatest lords. Even because of the imperfect tax laws, once the war comes, the emperors and kings even ask the lower aristocrats to raise money and pay taxes to help overcome difficulties. Therefore, in Europe, the emperors are not so arrogant in front of the lower aristocrats. Of course, in front of serfs and civilians, the emperors and kings must be superior. The existence of the aristocratic parliament makes the emperors and kings in Europe not offend the aristocratic class. Otherwise, if you want to increase taxes to deal with the war? Everyone votes against you to stop you...

Moreover, in the Middle Ages, most ordinary people were illiterate. If the emperor wanted to appoint officials, he had to rely on the aristocratic class with the highest literacy rate. In the East, although the literacy rate was not high, the emperor could choose to select talents from the common people who studied. Therefore, the emperor in the East could suppress the nobles as he pleased, and if he resisted, he would lead the Meridian Gate to behead him. However, the Western emperor had to rely on the aristocratic class, otherwise the country would not be able to rectify it.

The Holy Roman Emperor was actually a miserable emperor. It sounded like the emperor's name was quite cool and was above the king. But in fact, the Holy Roman Emperor, like the Zhou emperor of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, had no real power at all. But better than the Zhou emperor, the Holy Roman Emperor at least owned a relatively large direct territory like Austria. And Maximilian I even controlled the Burgundy Duchy, which was no less than that of Austria through marriage. Therefore, the difference between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Zhou emperor is that the emperor himself is also a powerful prince who can participate in the battle for hegemony.

To count it, the authority of the Holy Roman Emperor is far worse than that of the French king. After all, France started with regular taxes, which made the French king's wallet much stronger than that of the Emperor Shenluo. Moreover, after the efforts of several generations of kings, the French king took back many privileges of the princes and strengthened centralization. If it weren't for the strong enemies like Britain in the north of France and the strong power like Spain in the southwest, France might have the conditions to erode the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. Later, in the 17th century, France did erode the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, that is - Alsace and Lorraine.

After the "Thirty Years' War", the French took advantage of the weakness of the Shenluo Empire to cut off the wealthy Alsace and Lorraine, the largest iron ore in Europe. It is precisely because of this that the grudges and hatred between Germany and France for hundreds of years thereafter.

Of course, no matter how poor Maximilian was, he was also the only emperor in Europe in this era. In terms of reputation, the emperor was obviously higher than the French king.

France is also trying to die. It would be fine if there is a traditional rival in the north. It is still playing tricks around Shenluo and Spain. Before they can finish their trouble, they go to Italy. Therefore, although France has a good financial situation, it is difficult to achieve any great ambitions by being beaten up in groups.

...

Maximilian I found that he admired this little knight who was very "loyal" to him, but he was a little confused. Why? This has to be mentioned some habits of the Europeans in this era.

In medieval Europe, even in the 18th century, officers in the army were generally nobles, and there was basically no possibility of civilians as officers. Of course, the exception was the "civilians" who came from noble families. Those noble children who came from noble families but were unable to inherit titles had a very special title in Germany - Junker. Strictly speaking, Marin was a Junker.

According to convention, the highest commander of the imperial army is generally either a duke or an earl. The commanders of the lower legions and phalanxes are generally barons (the empire does not have the level of viscount, only the title of deputy earl in the Netherlands and Lombardy regions, which can be regarded as viscount).

Maximilian I believed that Marin was capable of commanding a square formation. However, Marin's status was too low, and she was a young man who had just been promoted to a formal knight.

The knights usually serve as the company (usually about 250 people) and the team (usually about 25 people) in the Imperial Army. What's more, Marin is not an old knight, but just a new knight.

Moreover, Marin's team did perform well in the exercises, but the emperor could not guarantee that Marin's mercenary group could be so sharp in real wars. After all, real wars must face the test of death. Those who performed well in training and exercises might actually perform in a mess after the war started.

It was not impossible for Maximilian I to elevate Marin to the baron, but he also had to consider the feelings of other nobles. Appointing a knight as the leader of the square was indeed a bit of a breaking tradition.

But the emperor thought about it over and over again and decided to give it a try. Because it was already contrary to tradition to implement the mercenary system in the empire. Therefore, he didn't mind violating it again, and of course, he couldn't do it too much.

In the end, the emperor appointed Marin as the acting phalanx leader, responsible for an infantry phalanx of more than 1,000 people. As for the source of troops, they were directly selected from the recruiting site.
Chapter completed!