Chapter 962: Profitable "Fisherman"

In fact, it is not that simple for Spain to explode troops. After all, in Spain today, the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon add up to about 8.5 million. Without the implementation of the national mobilization system, a maximum of 30,000 to 50,000 troops can be built.

Moreover, in order to control the Kingdom of Naples with a population of 2 million, Spain has dispatched 20,000 troops to station in Naples. In the end, it was to guard against the French counterattack. Second, it was to suppress the Naples uprising.

As a result, Spain can dispatch troops to attack Morocco, up to 30,000 people, including 10,000 people in Aragon. However, according to Marin's statement, to attack Morocco, you need 50,000 troops. After all, it was a battle of annihilation. You know, at the end of the Warring States period, the Qin dynasty wiped out Chu, but Wang Jian brought the entire 600,000 army of Qin. Morocco does not have Chu State soldiers and horses, but it also has tens of thousands of scimitar cavalry, and its combat effectiveness is no worse than Chu state in the late Warring States period. Therefore, Spain can at least reach 50,000 troops.

Moreover, apart from the 50,000-strong army, the number of people in the army is about 40,000 to 50,000. In this way, Spain's demise of Morocco is estimated to require the dispatch of 100,000 young men.

Qingzhuang is actually very easy to find. However, men with experience in warfare are hard to find. If it's a common border conflict, it doesn't matter if you bring in more recruits. An important battle like the annihilation war must not be recruited. Otherwise, once the army is defeated by the recruits and destroyed, it is not the opponent but himself.

The first problem is that there are more than 50,000 men in Spain who have received military training or know how to fight. In the case of 20,000 people must be stationed in Naples, Juan III can use the most people, only more than 30,000 people. Moreover, these more than 30,000 people cannot be taken away. Because there is also an army stationed on the border.

Fortunately, because of the blocking of the Pyrenees, the kingdom of Aragon was much easier to defend against France. As for Portugal, there should be no guts to provoke Spain. But after all, Juan III still lacked 20,000 main battle troops ...

"Or, let's hire German mercenaries?" At this time, the wife of Juan III, Queen Margaret of Austria, the daughter of Maximilian I, gave a very good suggestion.

As a German, Margaret of Austria, Queen of Castile, naturally knew the fighting power of German mercenaries. According to the current European mercenary rankings, Marin ’s North Sea army ranks first; Swiss mercenaries are close in power and rank second; while ordinary German mercenaries rank third; the next is French hires. Soldiers; the second is Italian mercenaries.

However, the French mercenaries cannot fight for Spain, and the Italian mercenaries Juan III and his wife did not look down on them. Well, the rest are Marin ’s North Sea mercenaries, Swiss mercenaries, and ordinary German mercenaries.

But Juan III, who had just finished his visit to the North Sea, learned that two of Marin ’s legions were hired by England. They did not know that Marin had 50,000 troops. They thought that more than half of Marin ’s troops were hired by England. . Therefore, it is difficult for them to hire 20,000 troops from Marin.

As for Swiss mercenaries, they have been kidnapped by Austria and nearly 18,000 people have been taken away. The remaining Swiss mercenaries are waging a sovereignty battle with the Habsburg family on the Swiss soil.

Therefore, only the ordinary German mercenaries can meet the requirements.

To this end, Juan III sent representatives to Germany, intending to hire 20,000 German mercenaries to fill the shortage of troops.

According to the calculation of the daily commission of 3 German Finns per German mercenary, the daily commission of 20,000 German Mercenaries is only 60,000 Finni, which is 1,000 gold coins. Even if hired for one year, it is only 365,000 gold coins. Of course, taking into account the higher salaries of military officers, as well as food consumption issues, it is estimated that the daily cost is between 80,000 and 100,000 Finney. Over the course of a year, the cost is estimated to be around 500,000 gold coins.

If you switch to a normal country, you will certainly not be able to afford such a high military expenditure. However, through two monopolistic trades in Indian spices, the Spanish royal family has made huge profits of up to two or three million gold coins. Even though Spain spent a lot of money on the Kingdom of Naples and elsewhere, the financial balance was still one or two million gold coins. Therefore, Spain today has the financial resources to fight a national annihilation battle.

Moreover, the actual combat time does not necessarily need one year. If things go well, maybe the months are over. In short, the sooner the war ends, the lower the cost. This is why Juan III asked Ferdinand II for Gonzalo de Cordoba. Because the famous generals command the battle, the higher the win rate, the sooner the war ends.

But no matter what famous generals are used, it will always be used half a year before the end of the war. This is still the best situation. If the situation is bad, it will be more than half a year. Therefore, the consumption of this war will be an astronomical figure, enough to consume Spain's finances.

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In fact, Marin's suggestion that Spain annex Morocco is a conspiracy in itself. Because, the Spanish finance is now too strong. The financial gain of two or three million gold coins is proud of the whole of Europe.

In this era of mercenary dominance, having money means having strong military power. Therefore, Marin was also frightened by Spain's richness through the spice trade.

Why? The Spaniards are so rich that it is easy to use the money to build ships and explode the navy. Once Spain regenerates its interest in the Americas, Marin is expected to regret his death.

Therefore, the money is best spent. In this way, Spain will have no money to expand the navy, and Marin will be able to calm down.

Moreover, even if Spain occupied Morocco, it would be absolutely difficult to stabilize. Because, the Arabs and Berbers in Morocco are mostly nomads. What are the characteristics of nomads? Naturally everyone is a soldier. As long as he is a strong man, riding a horseback, wielding a scimitar, he is a light cavalry, very difficult. Moreover, the biggest feature of nomads is that you ca n’t catch up with him ...

Even if Spain can capture Morocco, it must have controlled several important cities in Morocco in the early days. As for the vast countryside, it must be the world of Arab herders and Berber herders. At that time, the money used to suppress the herdsmen who are good at mobile will be a bottomless hole, draining the Spanish finances ...

Of course, if the Spaniards support it. In just a few decades, Morocco can become Spain ’s second homeland forever. After that, Spain's domestic area will nearly double.

However, the premise is that they want to drive away the Arabs ...

The local Berbers actually do n’t care what they believe in. Anyway, they were originally conquered nations. In the past, they also submitted to the Byzantine Empire and were no strangers to Christianity.

Unlike the Arabs, they are the most determined Allahs. Unless they are killed or driven away, it is difficult to force them to convert from God to Catholicism.

Therefore, residents of Spain and Morocco who believe in Catholicism in the future will surely set off one after another because of religious issues. After all, the Spanish Inquisition is not a decoration. In the face of pagans, the Inquisition is a cannibal **** ...

Out of friendship, Marin has pointed out the direction for Juan III to drive away the Arabs, and then slowly guide the Berbers to convert ...

If Spain can patiently expel the **** Arabs, and then slowly let the Berbers convert, it wouldn't be a problem. However, the existence of a radical institution such as the Inquisition will inevitably bring endless trouble to Spain. Anyway, Spain will definitely not have the energy to manage anything else in the future. The civil strife in Morocco alone is enough to drain Spain ’s finances and energy ...

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Of course, those are all future things. For now, what is important to Marin is that Spain ’s large-scale military dispatch will definitely require a lot of military food ...

It is a pity that although the country of Spain is large, it is mostly mountainous and hilly, and its agriculture is underdeveloped. Therefore, Spain has always been short of food, and food prices are also very high. Barcelona, ​​the largest seaport in the Kingdom of Aragon, is the place with the highest food prices in Europe. Marin has always liked to sell food to Spain, a country with high food prices.

Therefore, Marin's suggestion that Spain annihilate Morocco is really a scourge. Because once Spain invades Morocco, it will not only fall into the quagmire of religious disputes in the future, but for now, the supply of military food is a huge problem in the first place ...

50,000 troops! Add 50,000 people and 100,000 young people to eat horse chews every day. How much food do they consume? This does not include the small children and old and weak groups, but all of them are 100,000 young people who eat a lot!

Even if the bread is mixed with a lot of other things, such as wood chips and mud, according to the low standard of one pound of food per person per day, 100,000 young people will consume 100,000 pounds of food every day. But 100,000 young people must consume more than 100,000 pounds per day, plus the consumption of horses, this army should consume at least 150,000 pounds per day. As a result, the monthly food consumption of the army is estimated to reach 4.5 million pounds, which is 27 million pounds in half a year!

Of course, the Spaniards are not short of money now, but they must be short of food!

And Marlin? The most important thing is food. So, once Spain started to conquer Morocco, Marin's opportunity to make a fortune came!

At the normal price, the price of Spanish food is 2 fenny per pound of rye, and it is more expensive to sell. The wheat is directly up to 10 fenny per pound.

Therefore, due to cost considerations, the Spanish army's military food must choose rye, because the cost is the lowest. In this way, if 4.5 million pounds are consumed each month, the consumption of grain and grass alone is estimated to reach 9 million fenny in a month, which is 150,000 gold coins ...

But this war will last at least half a year, or even a year or two. Even if it only takes half a year, the consumption of grain will reach 27 million pounds, with a total price of up to 900,000 gold coins.

Marin is not black, as long as he wins half the order, it is also worth 450,000 gold coins.

Moreover, Marin decided to sell grain at a low price. Your Spanish grain price is 2 fenny per pound of rye, right? I only sell 1.8 Finney ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ 10% off for you! In this way, who does the Spanish military purchase food for?

Even if he sold it to the Spanish army at 1.8 fenny per pound, Marin made a profit. Because, in Germany, the retail price of rye is only 1 fenny per pound. At a price of 1.8 fenny per pound sold to the Spanish army, Marin has already doubled. After all, in Germany, the wholesale price of rye is only 0.7 fenny to 0.8 fenny, not even half of 1.8 fenny ...

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Therefore, after learning that Spain had really begun to gather intelligence from the army, the spies of the North Sea country in Spain immediately passed the post system and sent people back to China non-stop to report the news to Marin ...

"Haha, the big order is coming!" Marin, who received the information, laughed. Then he ordered an emissary to be sent immediately to Toledo, the capital of the Kingdom of Castile, to meet Juan III and talk about the supply of military food. As long as we talk about this big list, Marin is taking a large amount of income into the account, and by the way, processing a backlog of grain to the grain silo in Beihai ...

Anyway, Marin looks forward to the longer the Spanish war to conquer Morocco, the better. In this way, his grain sales will be greater, and the more money he sells ...

All in all, Spain ’s invasion of Morocco has great benefits for Marin, both politically and economically. If Spain and Morocco are snipes fighting against each other, then Marin is the profitable fisherman ...

Of course, in the long run, the Spanish snipe can eventually eat the meat of this mussel. However, in the long process of eating mussel meat, Marin, the "fisherman", had to cut off a large piece of meat from the snipe. Even if he could not put the snipe in a pot, he could eat it ... …