Chapter 38: League

According to Marin's known history, coalition forces will spend a long time gathering troops. It was not until the French went north that they initially gathered more than 30,000 troops.
Originally, the coach of this coalition should be the highest status Emperor Maximilian I (the pope is not a secular monarch, and it is impossible to personally lead the army). However, the tragic Maximilian I was trapped in Worms (an imperial city, one of the places where the imperial parliament was held), and they quarreled with the gang of imperial parliament. The emperor was still quarreling in Worms after the French's northward retreat arrived. Even because the emperor did not arrive, the thousands of troops of Shenra did not specifically participate in the battle of Fornovo that blocked the French army from going north. At the same time, the Spanish army led by Gonzalo de Cordova, while in Sicily, peered at the borders of Naples, but did not dare to land in Naples, and clashed with the French. So, in fact, the battle of Fornovo was actually fought by the Italian coalition. The nominal coach of his campaign was Marquis Gonzaga, Marquis of Mandowa. However, the Marquis of Gonzaga had insufficient prestige and mediocre ability to successfully command the coalition forces.
That is why the coalition forces hurriedly intercepted the French army under weak command. The French army is small, unwilling to die with coalition forces, and it can not afford to logistically. As a result, the French left a lot of loot looted in Italy and hurriedly retreated into France.
In this way, the two sides even played a good match. King Charles VIII withdrew successfully, and afterwards, both sides declared victory. However, no one has enough evidence to explain it.
In fact, the truth is that the French broke through the coalition's defense line and fled back to the country, but lost all their weight and plundered property. The coalition interception failed, but it seized a large amount of material. In particular, when Charles VIII deliberately scattered his treasure on the road, the coalition cavalry was busy dismounting and robbing the property, and they would not go after the French ...
Moreover, Marin once heard a saying that syphilis that had run through Europe for hundreds of years seems to have erupted in Naples during this war.
However, a large part of the reason why Charles VIII fled back to China is to avoid this rampant syphilis. At the same time, the Neapolitans also launched a guerrilla war against the French under the leadership of King Naples Fertino, consuming the French forces.
多重 Under multiple blows, coupled with the threat of the Holy Alliance to cut off the alliance of the French army, Charles VIII only withdrew the main force to the north under panic. Moreover, the main force of the northward withdrawal was mainly 8,000 French knights.
The reason for the Cavaliers to land is because the loading of war horses is not easy. For example, infantry can return on a French ship. However, cavalry is more difficult. First of all, a horse boat has to occupy several people's positions. Moreover, horses need a lot of food. Plus the horses are going to pull a or whatever ...
So loading 8,000 horses is very difficult. Because, at this time in Europe, no ship has been designed to carry a large number of horses (there are many ships with separate compartments, Zheng He went to the west to have horses).
Horses cannot be put together for a long time. When the horse owner is present, the war horses tend to be more obedient. But as soon as the owner left, it was hard to say. The character of war horses is often much more fierce than pulling horses. Two war horses are put together, and it is easy to fight each other without the owner. For example, biting each other with your mouth and kicking your hoof with each other can easily cause horse injuries. And if a stallion (uncastrated) and a mare lean together, they will waste their energy doing that shameful thing.
Therefore, it is best not to put the war horses together to avoid two beasts getting into trouble. Because of this, those stables usually have only one horse in each stall.
And if you want to ship horses, the ship must first be modified to make barriers similar to the stables to avoid contact between war horses. If you put a group of horses on the deck and leave them overnight, some horses will definitely be injured in the beatings.
If it was a few hundred horses, Charles VIII might have shipped it home by ship. But 8,000 horses are not easy to place. Therefore, he simply took the 8,000 heavy cavalry back to China by land.
In fact, 8000 heavy cavalry is not only 8,000 war horses. In addition, they usually have another horse to help them. On the other hand, war horses generally ride on the charge before the war, and are not used to catch the road armor, to prevent the horses from losing their strength during the war.
In this way, the cavalry of Charles VIII had at least 16,000 horses. Therefore, he had to return home by land. Otherwise, not so many ships are shipped.
At the same time, the powerful Venetian navy has bypassed the Apennine Peninsula and appeared on the route from Naples to France, beginning to block the route. If it were taken by sea, it was possible that Charles VIII's ship would be sunk by the Venetian navy. Therefore, in terms of security, it is better to go by land.
Uh ...
底 At the end of April, the 11,000 troops of the Holy Roman Empire, under the leadership of the emperor, came to Venice to hold an alliance with Venice. Of course, the emperor also meant to let Venice help buy some orders.
In addition, Venice also gathered 10,000 mercenaries; the nobles of the Italian states also brought 4,000 heavy infantry; and the Principality of Milan and Mandova sent 6,000 light cavalry (not Charged regular cavalry) coordinated operations.
With the cooperation of several parties, the number of coalition forces has exceeded 30,000. In addition, the Spanish army also arrived in Sicily, opposite the sea of ​​Naples, with thousands of people. This group of people is enough to deter the French army in Naples, so that the French must allocate a large number of troops to guard the Spaniards.
As for the Papal State, although it also recruited a group of mercenaries, the Papal State bordered Naples. Therefore, the army recruited by the Papal States had to stay in Rome and other big cities to prevent them from being looted by the French.
I must know that the French killed them all the way and did not know how many towns they had looted. Previously, Charles VIII did not sack Rome because he needed the Pope to appoint him as King of Naples. Now the Papal State has publicly stood on the opposite side of France. If you are not careful, the French army will break through Rome and ransack or something. And the Pope and the Bishop of Rome are mostly rich tyrants. If they were robbed by the French guy, would n’t they still cry? Therefore, the army of the Papal States could not participate in the Alliance, and they were directly used to defend Rome.
大 The big brothers who participated in the alliance, the highest status, naturally, was Emperor Maximilian I. As the highest standing and professional military professionals, everyone unanimously elected Maximilian I as the commander of the coalition, responsible for intercepting and even destroying the French army.
In addition to the emperor serving as coach, Marquess Gonzaga of Mardos and Venetian commander Nicolo Piti Liuno also served as the deputy of the emperor.
In fact, this appointment has disadvantages. It is precisely because of the word "common" that in the battle of Fornovo, the coordination of the two people was difficult and the fighters were delayed to a certain extent.
His Majesty the Emperor, after the success of the alliance and the position of coalition commander, ran back to the country and quarreled with the princes of the Imperial Parliament in the country for money.
Until now ~ EbookFREE.me ~ The princes of the empire are still arguing about whether to participate in the Italian war. The emperor wanted no tax.
If the imperial parliament approved the tax increase early, the emperor would probably gather 20,000 troops to go to Italy to fight against France in one go. However, it is almost impossible for the people of the Imperial Parliament to unite until the moment of the peril of their homeland. Usually, for a little bit of trivial matter, can also quarrel for a few days. At the same time, they were afraid that Maximilian I would take this opportunity to strengthen themselves. Although Maximilian I was capable, he was limited by the power of the emperor, and he could not take those dukes and counts in his territory.
As for Marin and the 11,000 imperial army, they were thrown into Venice and temporarily led by the emperor's deputy, Count Alfred, a member of the Habsburg family from Styria, Austria.
But Marin, who had been mingling in the empire for more than a month, heard that the Count Alfred was mediocre and timid. However, because he came from the Habsburg family in Styria, Austria, and was more loyal to the emperor, he was entrusted with commanding power in the army.
As for Frederick II, Earl of Hohenzollern, which the emperor relied on most, he must stay in the country and command the army to guard against the Hungarians. After all, the Habsburg family's old nest was taken away by the Hungarians, which was a scar in the heart of the Habsburg family. Even when sending troops to Italy, Maximilian I did not dare to give up the vigilance of the Hungarians.
In the days that followed, Count Alfred and his imperial armies spent time in Venice, waiting for the return of the emperor. As for Marin, he took his square matrix, practiced his basic skills, and was ready to fight ~ EbookFREE.me ~ Welcome the book readers to read, the latest, fastest, and most popular serial works are at ~ www.mtlnovel. com ~ mobile users, please read.