Chapter 2161: The response of the princes
The Austrians expanded their army very quickly, completing the expansion in a month. Of course, it's not that the Habsburgs are strong in execution, but they are already prepared.
Earlier, when Marin told the Emperor that he could provide a leather bag for inserting steel sheets, Maximilian I began to recruit soldiers. However, because the money was not in place, it was delayed. However, before Maximilian I had long sent effective men to communicate with each other, especially the children of the knight family. Therefore, the children of the knights who were recruited were actually ready to apply. The emperor sent three emigrations. After receiving the money, the knights' children immediately received notice and rushed to gather in the Graubunden region in southeastern Switzerland.
It is also very easy for Frenzberg to recruit 10,000 infantry, because these people are actually old mercenaries. In the last Swiss war, they actually accepted the emperor's employment. Everyone is very familiar, only about two thousand people are complete recruits. But it doesn't matter. New recruits, when they line up, they should be at the back, and just follow them to pick up the cheap ones. If you lose... well, there is nothing to say, just follow along and finish playing...
The 8,000 old mercenaries mainly came from some pro-Habsburg princes. In the last war, they were hired by the Habsburg family and led by Frenzberg. The set of command and training is already familiar. If the Habsburg family were not too poor, they might not disband and go home. Therefore, the combination of infantry is actually much simpler than cavalry and heavy infantry.
What needs to be pointed out is that although heavy armored infantry is infantry, it is a special existence. Because they are all from the children of the nobles, or the children of the nobles, and they are different from ordinary infantry.
These people, Wu Yi Gao Qiang didn't say that, but it's no wonder. After all, he was born noble, and he was not so lucky for Frenzberg, who was born as a low-level knight. Therefore, His Majesty the Emperor specially arranged a group of aristocratic officers with relatively high titles and good backgrounds to command this heavy armored infantry. Of course, those officers also followed Frenzberg's command.
In fact, if time is abundant, Frenzberg also has time to subdue these noble children. But His Majesty felt that time was pressing, and there was no time for Frenzberg to slowly regain those unruly noble children. Therefore, it is the quickest and most trouble-free way to find a noble officer of high birth to suppress those noble children.
In order to prevent France and the princes from reacting, His Majesty only gave Frenzberg a month of training and running-in time. A month later, regardless of the situation, the Habsburgs must send troops to western Switzerland.
As for the tactics, after exchanging views with Marin, the Emperor decided to adopt the tactic of "encircling the spot to fight aid". Of course, we must first go straight to Bern, the nest of the Western Swiss Resistance Army. This city is the headquarters of the Swiss Resistance Army. Once the city is surrounded, both the Resistance Army in other parts of western Switzerland or the French will have to rescue Berne. Because once Bern is lost, the Swiss Resistance Army will lose the confidence to resist. After all, Bern is the leading brother of the anti-Habsburg canton of Western Switzerland and the spiritual pillar of the Resistance.
Of course, this mainly refers to the German-speaking area. In the French-speaking areas such as Geneva in the west, even if Berne falls, it will certainly continue to resist with the support of the French. Speaking of which, the most difficult to accept Habsburg rule is probably the French-speaking Swiss. After all, the German-speaking area and Austria have the same roots, and they were once the land under the control of the Habsburg family. It is the French-speaking area in the west that has not been ruled by the Habsburg family, and it is too much influenced by the French culture, and it is very cold to the Habsburg family.
But in this era, the French-speaking area of Switzerland was very small, and only a small number of French-speaking people were distributed in the lake Geneva area in the southwest and the border area near France in the west. Moreover, the proportion of the French-speaking population is much lower than the 20% of later generations, about less than 10%, which is more than half less than that of later generations.
This is also a normal thing. Switzerland was deeply influenced by France, but now, Switzerland has not separated from the German cultural circle, and its sense of identity with France is not strong yet.
In addition, the increase in the French-speaking population of Switzerland is related to the environment during the First and Second World Wars. At that time, wars were raging in France, and Switzerland was a neutral country. Many French people near the Swiss border fled into Switzerland in order to avoid the war, increasing the proportion of the French-speaking population in Switzerland. But now, the French will come to Switzerland when they are crazy. Because Switzerland is now a poor mountainous area, and only the brutality of the mountain people remains. The watch industry of later generations was only promoted by Calvin decades later when he carried out the religious reform in Switzerland.
In other words, the current local economy in Switzerland does not have a watch industry or precision instruments at all, let alone a banking industry. The biggest source of income in the local area turned out to be earned by the mountain people who left their hometown and worked as mercenaries. This is similar to the Gurkhas of Nepal in later generations, so they hope to exchange their lives for money...
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Because of the early preparations, the expansion of the Austrian army was very smooth and very fast. When the hostile forces of His Majesty the Emperor learned of the news, they were all taken aback. In particular, the opposition princes who followed the Habsburg family's every move were extremely shocked by the efficient recruitment of the Habsburg family this time. Then, a group of princes hurried to Wittenberg, the residence of the elector of Saxony, to discuss countermeasures together.
"What should I do? The Habsburg family's recruitment action was too fast for people to react. How should we respond? Everyone, if the emperor swallows the whole of Switzerland, his strength will be greatly increased. In the future, everyone will not That's good. Maybe, His Majesty the Emperor will want to annex the whole of Germany!" Duke Anthony of Lorraine said uneasy.
As a supporter of the German anti-bones and the French, the Principality of Lorraine is the one who most hopes the Habsburg family will not be strong. Because, as an anti-bone boy, the Habsburg family will be strong by then, and the first one to be cleaned up is his own. Therefore, he did not want the Habsburg family to be stronger than other princes.
Frederick III, the elector of Saxony, bowed his head for a long time in deep thought, then suddenly raised his head and laughed:
"Everyone, don't panic. Look at the map. If His Majesty the Emperor takes the western part of Switzerland, what will he face?" Then, Frederick III stood up and pointed to the map hung on the wall.
Duke Anthony looked at the map and suddenly realized:
"You mean, France?"
Frederick III nodded and said:
"Yes, France! We don't want the Habsburg family to be strong, and the French don't want it. Moreover, when His Majesty the Emperor takes the western part of Switzerland, he will face the French. By then, the most uncomfortable thing is not us, but the Kingdom of France. . So, I guess at this moment, the French are also worried."
"You mean, we are going to form an alliance with the French this time to deal with Maximilian I together?" Duke Anthony of Lorraine said cheerfully.
Frederick III shook his head and said:
"This time we don’t have an excuse to send troops. Last time, we were forced to find the fault of the Baden State. If we do this again, our reputation will be stinky. After all, the emperor is the emperor of the Germans. If we make it public. Aligning with the French against him is tantamount to rebellion, and his reputation will be stinking."
"Then what should we do? Seeing that the Habsburg family is strong?" Duke Anthony said irritably. UU reading www. uukanshu.com
The Principality of Lorraine is just north of Switzerland. After His Majesty has cleaned up the western part of Switzerland, the next target for cleaning is likely to be his Principality of Lorraine.
"No, no, we can't send troops in the open, but we can secretly!" Frederick III said.
"How?" The other princes were very concerned.
"Mercenaries...you guys, it's hard to say anything else in Germany. There are definitely a lot of mercenaries. We can't send troops publicly, but we can always pay for a group of mercenaries and go to Switzerland to accept the Swiss resistance, right?" Frederick The third generation smiled.
"It's okay, but where does the Swiss pay to hire?" a little prince asked.
"We go out in private, and the French will be big..." Frederick III sighed. He knew that this time, they were going to bleed again.
The emperor's men and horses seem to be strong, and to stop them, a large number of troops must be sent to support them. But it costs a lot of money to hire an army. Although the French will be big, they will definitely not give less. Hundreds of thousands of gold coins can't escape...
