When Marin came to Vienna again, it was already the end of November. In fact, if Marin wanted to come early, it would only take more than ten days to do it. After all, there were no walking people in their team, they were riding horses and driving cars.

However, because on the way, Marin often led a team to the forest to siege and kill wild boars, which wasted a lot of time. Therefore, when Marin and his group of seven arrived in Vienna, it was already the end of November. In other words, it took them more than a month from departure to arrival at their destination.

After entering the city, Marin began to look for a place to live. But what surprised him was that at this time, the hotels in Vienna were basically full...

After careful investigation, I found out that it was Emperor Maximilian I who had indeed started recruiting mercenaries. Therefore, warriors who wanted to serve the emperor came in all over the country. This led to the full business of Vienna hotels.

In this era, Vienna was just a city with more than 20,000 people. By the Ming Dynasty of the same period, this population was equivalent to a state city or a palace city. But in medieval Europe, it was already considered a big city.

How many hotels can a small town with a population of more than 20,000? So, when thousands of young people who volunteered as mercenaries flocked to Vienna, there were not enough hotels. Many people who could not stay in hotels even bought tents and set up tents in the city to settle down.

Marin and his group of seven people, 6 horses and a cow, naturally they could not find any land. For this reason, Marin dealt with the residents of the city, rented a small yard, and temporarily hired the owner of the yard to help buy the cattle and horse forage.

After the resettlement was completed, Marin continued to go to the tavern in the city to find out the news...

The situation is not much different from Marin, and it is even worse. Originally, Marin believed that although it is difficult for His Majesty to get money from the Imperial Parliament, he could still successfully impose a war tax in Austria and Burgundy where he belongs.

But the reality is that Austria's tax revenue is fine. After all, the Habsburg family has ruled here for a long time and has good control.

But the Principality of Burgundy was inherited by Maximilian I through marriage with the daughter of "Bold Charlie" of Burgundy. Strictly speaking, Maximilian I is currently just the regent of the Principality of Burgundy. The real master of the Principality of Burgundy was the son of Maximilian I, the "beautiful man" Philip. Of course, this was Philip's later nickname. Now Philip is still a minor boy who is about the same age as Marin.

In the Principality of Burgundy, there is its own noble parliament. This parliament holds the local tax rights. Even if the duke levies tax, the consent of this parliament must be obtained.

Unfortunately, the Burgundy Parliament was very inconsistent with Maximilian I. Once, Maximilian I was placed under house arrest by the Burgundy Parliament in the Burgundy Palace, and in the end it was Maximilian I's father, Frederick III, who sent troops to rescue him.

Therefore, Maximilian I's control in the Principality of Burgundy was not as strong as Marin thought. It was no less difficult for Maximilian I to impose war taxes in the Principality of Burgundy than for his authorization for war taxes in the Imperial Parliament.

Therefore, Maximilian I has only collected a batch of war taxes in Austria. The number is limited and the number of troops that can be supported is limited. If you want to expand your army on a large scale, you must at least wait until the Imperial Parliament and the Burgundian Parliament agree to him to impose war taxes.

At present, the emperor with limited funds can only recruit some troops first. However, when he learned that the emperor recruited soldiers, the enthusiasm of the people across the country was high. You should know that fighting for the emperor was secondary and getting a salary was secondary. Being able to become a noble is the most tempting person.

What is the emperor? The emperor is the largest noble canonizer in the Holy Roman Empire. As long as the emperor wants, he can promote the earl to the duke, add the duke to the king, or enthrone ordinary people as nobles. As long as he can give a title of aristocratic, even if he has no salary, there will be a lot of people who will continue to do so.

Therefore, when I heard that the emperor recruited soldiers, all kinds of people from all over the country flocked to Vienna. Among them, there were sons who had no inheritance from the noble family, such as wandering knights, bankrupt farmers and handicraftsmen, and even gangsters and beggars. They all had the same dream of wealth and gathered in Vienna.

Among them, the most popular among the emperors are the Wandering Knights. Wandering Knights are all from the knight family, and they all have martial arts and have combat power far exceeding ordinary people. Moreover, Wandering Knights usually have their own war horses, armor and weapons. As long as the Wandering Knights are teamed up and trained a little, they can be used as powerful forces to fight.

At the same time, Maximilian I was actually a plate armor controller and was particularly fond of Gothic plate armor. Otherwise, he would not have designed the famous Maximilian armor in a few years.

However, for Maximilian I, there is a big problem: it costs a lot to support the knights. Generally speaking, recruiting an infantryman will only pay three Finneys a day, and in addition, providing soldiers with free food during wartime, that is, the kind of black bread that can be used as bricks to smash people.

It is different to recruit a knight. Recruiting a knight will pay a salary of up to 2 shillings (24 Finneys). In addition, although the cost of the five attendants of the knights is borne by the knights themselves, the emperor will bear the food for the knights and their entourages, as well as their livestock. Therefore, the cost of recruiting knights is high.

Moreover, after the Battle of Nancy, after the situation of Swiss spearmen restraining the Plate Armored Knights, the status of the knight decreased. Maximilian I also imitated Swiss mercenaries and began to recruit civilians in Germany as spearmen and learn the tactics of the Swiss.

Of course, the knights also have a great role. Not to mention Maximilian I's favorite for the plate-armored knights, on the battlefield, once the enemy's spearmen battle formation is torn open, the knights also need to launch an assault to expand the results. Moreover, the enemy's artillery positions also need to be removed by the knights. Because artillery poses too great a threat to the spearmen front. In the British-French War, the French were tortured by the British longbow soldiers at the beginning, but from the back half

After a large number of artillery was used in a period of time, the war gradually reversed the situation and eventually drove the British out of France. The artillery bombarded the spearmen who were arranged in dense formations, and absolutely swept a large area. Napoleon, who was extremely awesome in later generations, relied on a large number of artillery arranged in lines to bombard the opponent's infantry line formations. However, at that time, the French army used shotguns with huge killing areas, but now the artillery was still solid bombs or even stone bombs.

This time, what Marin learned was that the emperor decided to recruit 500 knights and 5,000 spearmen using Austrian taxes first.

When I heard that the emperor only recruited 500 knights, Marin felt bad. You should know that there were many small countries in Germany and knight leaders everywhere. Therefore, there were wandering knights everywhere in Germany. Now, the emperor recruited soldiers and there were probably thousands of wandering knights who came to the enlistment. However, the emperor only had 500 people, which was too tricky. This difficulty was much more difficult than taking the undergraduate entrance examination in the college entrance examination, and it was definitely difficult to get into a prestigious university...

In fact, the emperor recruited these 500 knights for officers. In Europe, officers were generally held by nobles. For example, the emperor's army commander was currently held by Count Hohenzollen of the Swabian clan. However, in addition to senior officers, there are also grassroots officers. Civilians cannot serve as military officers, even grassroots officers are not allowed. At most, civilians can only become non-commissioned officers. Therefore, generally grassroots officers are composed of knights, and at least they must be wandering knights from the knight family. Because in this era, civilians basically had no military education. Only aristocratic families could teach military skills and tactics. Therefore, these 500 knights were actually grassroots officers prepared by the emperor for the future army.

As it turned out, Marin's feeling was right. When the news was received, the population of Vienna increased a lot in an instant. In order to prevent some mercenaries who were not afraid of death from making trouble in the city, Maximilian I arranged the recruitment of infantry outside Vienna, and as for the city, he was only responsible for recruiting knights.

But what surprised Marin was that at this time three or four thousand wandering knights had gathered in the city. Moreover, there were also wandering knights coming from all over the place...

Finally, at the end of December, Maximilian I announced the start of the martial arts competition to select the knights through martial arts competition.

The martial arts competition implements an elimination system. Those who are eliminated in the first round will not have another chance. Those who can pass the first round will have another chance to challenge.

For the official competition, there are three games. After the opponent is drawn, the first game is not a competition, but a group of personnel to verify the knight's war horses, armor and weapons. Especially for war horses, you must not use horse-drawn horses to pretend to be war horses. For this reason, there will be professional horse-drawn professionals to review the knight's war horses. After all, the emperor recruits ready-to-use mercenaries, and the recruits need to prepare their own war horses and weapons and armor. If the emperor is asked to prepare war horses, the cost is too high. Therefore, only knights who have tested the war horses and weapons and armor can enter the second round - infantry battle. After the infantry battle, it is horse battle.

Marin was not very lucky, so he drew a very strong knight in the first round. Judging from his face, he was probably around 27 or 28 years old, which was the peak period of a knight. Marin was only 16 years old and had not yet developed.

In the first round of verification of war horses and weapons and armor, there was naturally no problem. Marin's originally lacked plate legs and boots were also re-equipped at the Hoffman Manor.

In the second round of infantry battle, Marin and the knight fought with wooden two-handed swords. Although Marin was not very strong in infantry battles, both Marin and Marin had rich fighting skills. Moreover, Marin, the Marin, also understood the Tai Chi principle of "a little effort to achieve a great deal".

Therefore, in infantry battles, although his strength is much smaller than his opponent, Malin often uses the method of "four and four ounces to make a big move" and always swings away the wooden sword that his opponent slashes hard, making the opponent's fierce attacks come in no way.

European knights do not move left and right like oriental martial arts, and pay attention to footwork. Because even if knights fight in the field, they are wearing full-body armor with limited mobility. It is inconvenient to move left and right.

Therefore, when knights fight in the field, they usually use two-handed swords or battle axes to violently chop or smash each other. Because both sides have thick armor, and the non-violent point cannot break the other's plate armor at all.

Marin is not afraid of violent attacks. Although his strength is much smaller than his opponent. However, he knows a little about Tai Chi sword. Even if he uses a two-handed sword, he can swing the opponent's slash. However, Tai Chi sword master is not good at attacking. He can swing the opponent's wooden sword, but cannot bring down the opponent. Because the knights who fought against him are very stable in the lower plate, even if the wooden sword is swept open, he will not lose his center of gravity.

So, in the duel of the infantry battle, Marin fought with the knight for a long time. Unlike other knights, one person was defeated after one or two outbreaks.

In the end, the referee became impatient and announced that the two men had tied...

Then, the two entered the horse battle stage. The competition was held immediately, and it was held on a long field. In the middle of the field, there was a wooden fence. The knights on both sides were on one side of the fence, and the fences were on the right side of their direction of progress.

After the competition begins, the knights on both sides control their respective war horses and start to accelerate, lift their right hand and ride a rifle to collide violently above the wooden fence. Moreover, the competition requires that only stabbing the opponent's chest, and stabbing the head and war horses is prohibited, in order to minimize casualties.

It is precisely because of these many restrictions that Malin can't let go. When he fights head-on with his opponent, Malin is obviously not an opponent in terms of strength. However, when he is wearing a full set of plate armor, it is difficult for him to dodge on the horse's back.

Sure enough, after the first collision, Marin deeply felt the strength of his opponent. Although Marin avoided the opponent's spear, he also used his spear grid to drive the opponent's spear. However, this round of collision made his arms numb and his spear almost lost his hand.

After barely resisting two rounds, Marin felt that his arm was almost no longer his. Finally, in the third round hedging, the cavalry opposite seemed to adapt to the style of Marin's blocking, and flicked a shot to avoid Marin's blocking of the gun, and then quickly stabbed Marin's breastplate and knocked Marin off the horse...

The horse speed of this knight competition was much higher than when he fought against Kahn and Schwartz at home. Moreover, there was no grass on the ground, but a normal grass. Therefore, after falling off the horse, Marin couldn't get up for a long time. In the end, he was carried back to the ox cart that Kohler drove with him with his servants.

However, according to the principle of a one-round elimination system, Marin has lost the selection of the Knights and has no qualifications to challenge. Therefore, when lying on the ox cart, Marin was very injured. Not only was he physically injured, but he was also very sad...

"As a time traveler, am I not the protagonist? Why, I can't even pass the first round of this knight selection? How can I stand out and become an officer if I can't be an emperor's knight? Could I be a cannon fodder soldier like a pike?" Lying on the bed, Marin thought sadly...

In fact, the most important reason why Marin wanted to recruit the knights recruited by the emperor was Marintu's identity. Nowadays, although Marin is not different from other knights, in fact, he is not a real knight at all. At least, the official does not recognize him as a formal knight.

Like Marin, who has the resources and abilities of a knight, but has not been officially recognized, has a special name - the Apprentice Knight.

The apprentice knight can only be regarded as a reserved knight, not a formal knight. You should know that those who have officially recognized knight status are all nobles. Before they are granted the title, they can only be considered civilians. At most, they are children of nobles. Or, there is another name - Junker.

There are three types of knights. The first type is the most powerful knight, called the fief knight. This kind of knight is usually enthroned as a knight by a senior lord or king after making great achievements in military affairs, and rewarded with fief (fiscation). The knight fief can be hereditary, but the premise is that each generation of this knight family must provide a fully armed knight for the canonizer to fight for the canonizer. If there is no one in the family who can serve as a knight for the canonizer, the fief may be reclaimed. There are also those that will not be reclaimed. It depends on the mood of the lord loyal to the knight family.

Like the Hoffman family, it is the fief knight family of Markber. The eldest son of each generation of the Hoffman family must wear plate armor and step on a war horse, and fight for the earl when the Earl Mark summons.

Below the fief knights are the inner-domestic knights. These knights are generally born from non-first sons of noble families, including the knight family, and they have no right to inherit. For example, non-first sons of the knight family have even lost their status as a noble. In order to become a "people" like a noble, they have practiced martial arts and cavalry since childhood.

Because there is no fiefdom, the non-first sons of these noble families (usually low-level nobles) have to apply for jobs from the great nobles and become the inner knights of the great nobles or kings. They are stationed in the great nobles' castles for a long time like mercenaries to defend the safety of the great nobles' family and castle property.

In return, the king or the great nobles would give these inner-domestic knights the title of official knights. From then on, these people became nobles and enjoyed many privileges.

As for the apprentice knights, they were just ordinary people before they were officially granted titles and were not considered nobles. Although, their combat effectiveness may not be worse than that of the official knights.

The reason why Marin was so sharp that he wanted to apply for the Imperial Knight was to obtain a formal knight title and obtain the lowest aristocratic status. With the appearance of aristocratic status, Marin would not be treated as a mustard by those big men and killed by randomly.

In fact, in addition to recruiting knights, the emperor also recruited heavy cavalry. Heavy cavalry was almost the same as knights, wearing plate armor, holding cavalry rifles, and charging with the knights. Moreover, these heavy cavalry basically came from the knight family.

However, Marin did not want to be a heavy cavalry. Because even if he became a heavy cavalry, he would not be able to obtain a knight title. Without a title, he could not become a noble. Moreover, during the battle, those formal knights were naturally officers, while those without a knight title were naturally big-headed soldiers, and at most they had higher status than infantry...

In the medieval Europe, the status of aristocratic people, was a universal pass, just like the status of scholars in the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, scholars could travel the world without being restricted. Ordinary people, if they leave their hometown for a hundred miles, must go to the government to open a way, otherwise they would travel illegally...
Chapter completed!