Chapter 41: Seek to act alone

The influence of the Venetian in Italy is really strong. Every day, new information is uploaded from the Italian Apennine Peninsula. A lot of information was sent by businessmen from all over Italy.
意大利 In Italy, Venice is the largest merchant country. Even in other city-states, many merchants have to get goods from Venetian merchants. So, in addition to being close to Venetian rival Genoa (which is also harmonious?), Most Italian businessmen have contacts with Venice and are happy to provide information for Venice.
Every morning, Marin, as a chief of the battlefield, is barely qualified to go to the coach's account to listen to the information. Information from the French comes daily.
As Marin remembers, the French did not advance fast. It is strange that June has entered the early summer. According to the characteristics of the Mediterranean climate on the Italian side, the summer should be dry and hot. However, these days, it is raining in Italy, and it seems to be entering the rainy season.
After a rain, the road became muddy. Therefore, whether it is the French army or the anti-French coalition, the marching speed has been affected.
The total length of the Pena Peninsula is only 1,000 kilometers, and the city of Naples is not at the southernmost point of the peninsula. It is only six or seven hundred kilometers from the northernmost point of the peninsula.
If you follow the march's "Black Cross Square" at a rapid march speed of 50 kilometers per day, the French army can complete this distance in a maximum of ten days.
However, the French army withdrew all the way north, while taking care of robbing the Italian farms along the way, by the way finding the Italian peasant women ...
Therefore, the French march was not fast. It can be expected that they would indeed arrive near Palma in early July, as in history.
Seeing that the French did not rush to march north because of their crossing, Marin was relieved. Then he attached more importance to participating in the interception of the French army.
Although, even if the French army is eliminated this time, it will not have much impact on France's national strength. However, if the battle defeated the French army, it would greatly damage the morale of the French.
You must know that morale is very important in warfare, especially in the era when cold weapons dominate. An army with high morale can completely hold down more people than itself, but an army with low morale can fight. Conversely, morale is low and no one is dangerous.
Originally, although Charles VIII did not take much advantage in the battle of Fornovo, this battle proved that even if the French army was on the way half way north, it was still possible for Italians to take care of themselves The casualty ratio of the French and Italian coalitions during the war was 1: 2). Therefore, the French are naturally extremely confident, and have since repeatedly invaded Italy.
Of course, all of the above is false. What Marin really wanted was to make a name for himself by damaging the French army. Then, he relied on the martial arts to exchange a higher title with the emperor.
After all, the knighthood is too low and cannot be hereditary, and every generation needs to be re-registered by the lord. The baron above the knight, however, is hereditary.
However, what made Marin depressed was that the 11,000 people sent by the Shinra Empire and the 4,000 Italian small army that depended on the Shinra, led by the unconceived and motivated Count Alfred, were even behind Italy to be amused. There are many coalition forces. According to Count Alfred, he was waiting for the emperor to come and lead the group.
But Marin knew for a long time that the emperor would not return at all within a short time. You know, the emperor's situation is very bad. In the Holy Roman Empire, only the Swabian Alliance nobles and the Saxons and other minorities supported him, while other powerful princes and their younger brothers desperately combined to stop the Habsburgs and prevent the Habsburgs. Families are too strong, which weakens and deprives them of their right to autonomy.
At present, the dukes and counts of the Shen Luo empire are basically equivalent to the emperor in their own territory. But if the Habsburgs are strong, they will certainly be unwilling to take back some of their rights at that time. You know, this is a precedent. It was similar to Shen Luo before, and it was a decentralized system with scattered power. However, after the efforts of previous generations of French kings, France has gradually embarked on the road of centralization. And Maximilian I was very envious of the authority of the French king and had his intentions in this regard. This made the vassals of the Shen Luo Empire very worried that they would not be willing to be deprived of their authority. So, they tried hard to trip Maximilian I and prevent the Habsburgs from becoming too strong.
Maximilian I was prepared to oppose the French invasion of Italy long ago, but the dukes in Shen Luo ignored the French invasion of Italy. After all, it was not the Shinra Empire that was invaded. Although, some states in Italy used to belong to the Shinra Empire. But later, Shen Luo focused on regional affairs in Germany, and reached an agreement with the pope, but he has no longer asked about regional affairs in Italy. For the French threat, the Duke and Count were more worried about the threat from the Habsburgs. Therefore, it was too difficult and difficult for Maximilian I to ask them for help.
The Emperor was not coming, and Count Alfred seemed reluctant to move. After all, the count also knew in his mind that he couldn't do with talent. But on loyalty, Count Alfred had nothing to say. Therefore, the earl honestly took the army behind the main force of the coalition, waiting for the emperor to lead them.
But the count can wait, Marin can't wait. He also hopes that this battle will be mixed. If you ca n’t even take part in the battle, then this trip to Italy is worthless. Therefore, he must find a way to participate in that battle ...
However, it was not realistic to persuade Count Alfred to lead the army to Parma to join the coalition. The count himself did not like Italians and wanted to wait loyally for the return of the emperor. No matter how the Marquis of Mandova and others urged him, he would not continue to go south.
In fact, both the Marquis of Mandova and the Venetians hoped that the army of Shen Luo could go and attack the French army together. Because the Italians themselves know that the German army is more combative than the Italian army. Therefore, they repeatedly invited the count to lead their troops south.
However, the Italian is not the head coach of the coalition, and Count Alfred actually despised the Italian. Therefore, the Shen Luo army is still far away from the Italian coalition.
Marin thought to himself and decided to take the initiative to "assistance" the Italian coalition forces. But how to tell the count is a big question.
After much inquiry, Marin learned that Count Alfred had no ambition and was not very feminine. However, there are some preferences for money.
In desperation, Marin decided to temporarily put aside his principles and do a few votes of robbery to collect enough money to bribe the earl. According to the servant of the earl who was bought, to buy the earl, it is estimated that it will need more than 1000 Ducat (Venetian gold coins).
In order to make up for the money, Marin selected a group of men in the army who obeyed his words. About 100 people, led by Sauer, were all covered in black cloth. At night, they did a few votes at the stationed Venice border Robbery. Soon, Marin received 1,000 gold and 5,000 silver coins.
Marin gave 1000 Ducat gold coins to Count Alfred, and asked to go south to support the Italian coalition. Count Alfred was already greedy for money, and was annoyed by the "request" of the Italians. The Earl therefore agreed to Marin's request and issued a document demanding that Marin lead the "Black Cross" to the south to reinforce the Italians and accept the marquis of Mandova.
At this time, it was already June 20, and the time since the battle of Fornovo was very short. When Marin got the transfer order, he immediately went south.
Alas, Marin did not intend to go to the Italian coalition, but wanted to act alone. Therefore, his march was also concealed, instead of taking the Roman road, he took a more remote road. And these roads, Sauer had explored before.
Marin believes that if he rushed to the Italian coalition with documents, there would be no good fruit. Because the group of Italians, who are greedy for fear of death, will probably arrange themselves as a cannon fodder and go to the front line to fight with the French.
Moreover, once you accept the leadership of the Marquis of Mandova, then ~ EbookFREE.me ~ can not help it. Because once under the command of the Marquis of Mandova, it is impossible to act without authorization. Otherwise, it would violate the military regulations and send troops without authorization. In serious cases, they will be executed, and if they are light, they will be beaten and maimed.
However, before he was "commanded to help" the Italians, he was free before his Phalanx reached the Italian camp. Because he is the commander of this square. The only trouble was the three "sands" mixed by the emperor and Earl Hohenzollern in the square. They may be dissatisfied with their disobedience and even confess their secrets afterwards.
But Marin didn't care about their whistleblower, because even if the three people whistleblower, they would have to wait until after the war. In the army, they can be dissatisfied, but not afraid to disobey. Otherwise, Marin has full authority to do them. Even if they cannot be killed, they can be temporarily imprisoned. Moreover, the three did not have a good grasp of their company. Because, Marin also mixed his own "sand" in their company.
3 knights sent to be company captains, all with their own followers. Five of the ten squads under their command are naturally their own servants. The remaining five were assigned by Marin. The knight's servants naturally follow the knight, but those captains assigned by Marin will also follow Marin. Usually, when nothing is wrong, Marin openly invites the captains who have been mixed into the company of the remaining three Cavaliers to drink and eat meat. In this regard, the three knights could not help. Because Marin used the name of "invite old brothers to get together". Can you stop it? Moreover, Marin is willing to let them take control of half of his fighters, which has already been given to the emperor and the count ~ EbookFREE.me ~ Welcome the book readers to read, the latest, fastest and most popular serial works are in ~ www .EbookFREE.me ~ Please read for mobile users.