Warlock Royal Family

Although Ladislaus' promise allowed the army to re-settle smoothly, it made Machiavelli, his main assistant, rather unhappy.

Machiavelli firmly opposed any mercenaries, and he always believed that the militia was the basis of stable rule.

Although he did not directly object, Ladislaus decided to offer an explanation to him as a sign of trust.

"Mr. Machiavelli, in your "The Prince", you repeatedly emphasized the unreliability of hired force, saying that using commercial contracts to protect political power is like holding a sharp sword upside down. This is indeed a wise saying."

"Thank you for your appreciation, so why did you decide to hire that mercenary group today?" Machiavelli understood that it is rare for the lord to take the initiative to explain, so he expressed his doubts as gently as possible .

"You wisely stated that if the mercenary leader loses, the employer will suffer, and even if the mercenary is victorious, the mercenary may threaten the employer. I think this reasoning is indeed completely true for those small cities. But I am a Habsburg, the emperor. His Majesty's army is almost entirely composed of militiamen, and the acting Grand Duke's armed forces are mostly militiamen. With their endorsement for me, most mercenary leaders will not try to replace me unless they are absolutely sure." Ladis The characters standing behind Rouse will make any ambitious person think twice.

"This is indeed your capital, but how to organize military force is not only a strategic issue, it will also affect your administrative work. Having a military force that is directly loyal to you can make you feel much smoother on administrative issues."

"Yes, this is also my pursuit, but now that the war is approaching, not only the Republic of Siena, I need to gather all the forces I can gather as much as possible, and invest in the decisive battle with France that is about to take place. To win this decisive battle, Then naturally there will be time to reorganize the force and expand the grand plan." Ladislaus, like the acting Grand Duke, is very clear that only by winning the battle against France will there be a future. It collapses all of a sudden, but it is bound to be strategically contracted and comprehensively defended. At that time, it will be difficult everywhere.

Ladislaus' very earnest attitude and the small scale of "hand and half sword" made Machiavelli accept the current situation. He is the most resourceful, flexible and flexible character.

He understood all the reasons given by Ladislaus.

The reason why he was slightly dissatisfied was because he placed great expectations on Ladislaus.

Compared to Machiavelli's pickiness, Captain Witin is very humble. Although it is not difficult for mercenaries to find a job nowadays, if they accept the employment of a powerful monarch, they will be easily consumed once they enter the decisive battlefield. However, it is difficult for a small country to afford the cost of long-term employment. It takes a lot of effort to hire a leader to ensure that he can get the payment he deserves.

Although it was the first time Machiavelli pointed out the threat of mercenaries to employers systematically, but after seeing so many stories about mercenary leaders driving out employers and gaining power, any politician with a little experience would be better at guarding against mercenaries .

This kind of mutual distrust makes the mercenary leader, a superficially glamorous profession, actually be full of dangers. If you are not careful, your career will be in vain.

Of course, there is another reason that the emperor Charles V behind Ladislaus is qualified to intervene in the succession issue within the Vitin family. The dream of the head of Witin to obtain a small state within the Holy Roman Empire seems to have dawned.

When setting up camp in the afternoon, Captain Witin did not have the arrogance he had just had when negotiating with Old Colonna, and regardless of whether the contract with Old Colonna had not yet ended, he took the initiative to show his subordinate attitude and personally led people to help Ladislauszha Tents, this group of mercenaries has very rich experience in camping, and the tents they set up made Ladislaus very satisfied.

After some service, Kessell-Viting put on an extremely obsequious smile and asked Ladislaus about the Siena city's tithe tax.

"Your Excellency, the Archbishop of Habsburg, I am really flattered to be favored by you. The more than 300 brothers in our half-handed and half-sword mercenary regiment are grateful for your kindness." I can bend, but I still showed my strength as soon as I came up.

"Captain Witin, your subordinates are indeed elite soldiers, but although Siena can be considered a big city, the eleventh tax will not exceed 300 thalers now. After the war, all businesses will wither. I estimate that in the first year It would be pretty good to be able to charge [-] to [-] thalers, but I’m afraid I can’t support as many as [-] people.” Ladislaus unceremoniously came to the bottom of the pot, directly showing that no matter how powerful you are, we will Can't afford it. "Siena's hidden sun guards don't need such a large scale."

Although Captain Weiting understood that the figures were not nonsense, but if he didn't want to fight for it, why would he be so eager to serve him.

"Your Excellency, Archbishop, just [-] talers, not to mention [-] cavalry, even [-] professional soldiers are hard to maintain. Everyone in my subordinates has the rank of warrior, and there are more than [-] warriors of the second rank. The super fighters are all veterans who have been with me for at least two or three years." Commander Vitin seemed eager, but he knew Ladislaus' negotiating tactics very well in his heart, "What's more, the Kingdom of France is now aggressively invading the Holy Roman Empire. His Excellency Archbishop, it is time for you to serve His Majesty the Emperor."

"Your Majesty the Emperor has treated me with such kindness as the ocean, so I naturally want to do my best to repay it, but the tax revenue in Siena City is indeed insufficient, and there is nothing I can do about it." In addition to his power, Ladislaus must also be able to control some commercial shops in the city. If this war is won, some land owned by local families will also be divided up.

If the "Hand and Half Sword" company is supplied in full, the financial constraints will indeed be tight, but this force can still be supplied.

But Ladislaus is not willing to just provide a cavalry company for the decisive battle that concerns the fate of the family. He must reduce the expenditure on the "half-handed" mercenaries as much as possible in order to organize more troops. , which is also the origin of this negotiation.

"Your Excellency the archbishop, in any case, when the war is approaching, recruiting troops is the right way to reduce manpower. It's not good. Why don't you contract me the taxes you deserve in Siena, no matter how much, I rely on this income to support my subordinates. How about your service?"

Ladislaus immediately shook his head when he heard the words. The tax contractor system is very harmful to the local economy and his reputation. He did not cancel the power of the tax contractors of several monasteries under his name, mainly because there was not enough time. .

Never want to engage in such a backward system that will weaken the cohesion of the group and aggravate the dulixing of subordinates.

Moreover, mercenaries without longevity are bound to bully the weak, and use various means to fish in the marsh, and all kinds of things with no lower limit can be done.

Moreover, this kind of mercenary group will fight against other forces in the city with all their strength, just to get a vote, which is also very detrimental to the relationship between Ladislaus, the Colonna family and the Orsini family.

In the end, if these mercenaries were to be punished, they would have to change employers after making enough money, leaving the rest of the mess to Ladislaus to clean up.

So Ladislaus rejected the offer very firmly.

"Then please help me a little more anyway, fifteen hundred talers is really difficult to maintain." Captain Kessell-Viting saw Ladislaus's firm attitude, so he had to give in one more step, just asking for help. Barely keep the existing team.

"I really can't conjure up such a good thing as silver thaler. But this time the nobles of the Republic of Siena gathered to rebel, some of them are bound to be severely punished, and of course the land they own will also be confiscated. If I can get a part of it, I can let your subordinates farm for free. The emperor's army is still gathering in Spain, and it may be delayed until next year." This is the real plan of Ladislaus, turning mercenaries into farmland Army, Ladislaus has also seen the horses of this mercenary regiment. They are basically not good horses, and they are almost at the age that they should be working horses.

Judging from the strength of their battle formation just now, Ladislaus judged that this "hand and half sword" mercenary was called cavalry, but in fact it should be dragoons, that is, troops that maneuvered immediately and dismounted to fight, and their horses could not afford it. A violent charge.

Moreover, the cavalry is very mobile and can leave at any time. Without the horses, they will not be able to come and go so freely.

Kessell-Viting also understood Ladislaus' intentions so far, and he couldn't make a decision on this issue immediately.

"Your proposal is of great importance. Please allow me to discuss it with my subordinates before replying to you. However, it is not enough to just farm for free. In any case, we must share some land with us, so that I can speak to my brothers." Forming such a cavalry infantry is not only the talent of Kessell-Witting. The Saxony Elector Witting family is the real boss of this army, because the overall situation of Württemberg has been determined, and the acting Grand Duke has not been able to prevent the annexation of Württemberg. The Kessell-Witting of China has now lost his status within the family. In order not to be withdrawn from the military, he left his hometown and stayed away from the sphere of influence of the family in Central Germany.

Being able to persevere for many years under the attack of the Deputy Grand Duke, not only survived but also got a group of elite soldiers, is also because Kessell-Weiting never caused major troubles for the Deputy Grand Duke.

This elite army is his personal capital for power and profit.

But after coming to Italy, he will definitely not be able to get supplementary military horses eliminated by the Saxon army. Transformation is also necessary. It is impossible for any employer to replenish military horses for a du lixing army.

"Of course it's not impossible to allocate a part of the land to the officers, but it depends on how much land I can get. We will discuss the details after the war. Now the enemy still occupies the land. It's impossible to talk about it, but you can first Ask your subordinates for their opinions, isn’t it better to have a piece of land to live in stability, if we can eliminate more of these original nobles, we will be able to do things much more comfortably.”

Ladislaus also understands that it is impossible to ask others to be tenants, at least they must be given the status of self-cultivation farmers, but this status must be won by themselves, and the local nobles should be attacked once with the knives of these mercenaries. The big purge, this request is not Ladislaus's, but the old Colonna's means to allow his family to exist in the Siena area for a long time.