King of German Mercenaries

In Naples, Italy, King Charles VIII of France was very distressed and even a little desperate. why? Since the French army entered Italy, it has been very smooth, the so-called invincible attack, invincible.

Basically, the Italian troops who resisted the French army fled when they saw the French army. Therefore, the French army hit Naples from Lombardy with almost nothing to lose. It was only after entering Naples that many people were lost in several battles to siege the city. In other battles, the Italians basically fled themselves.

However, after entering Naples, the French army contracted a strange and terrible disease - syphilis...

This extremely powerful infectious disease is mainly spread through promiscuity. According to a later study by scientists in 2011, syphilis was brought back from the Americas by Columbus two years ago. At that time, Columbus brought back a group of Indian female slaves from the Caribbean islands in Central America, and some of these female slaves were infected with syphilis.

Later, some Spaniards contracted syphilis through sex with these female slaves. Sicily, on the edge of the Kingdom of Naples, is also a territory of Spain. As a result, some Spanish clients brought syphilis to Sicily, and then, through prostitutes in Sicily, it was transmitted to the neighboring Neapolitans, and then into the Kingdom of Naples...

After the French army occupied the kingdom of Naples, tens of thousands of young men, there must be such a group of coquettish guys, went to the brothels in Naples to mess around. Then, they got infected.

In this era, mercenaries especially like to drink and go to prostitutes. Then, using these Neapolitan prostitutes as a medium, a lot of French people contracted this serious disease.

As a result, many French soldiers and Savoy soldiers were recruited one after another, and began to grow plum-shaped pustules all over their bodies, and their skin began to fester... Then, they died...

Because of the tragic death of patients with this disease, there was a serious panic in the French army. What is even more tragic is that the French have absolutely no idea how this disease came about...

Because of the rampant syphilis, the morale of the French army dropped to the lowest point. At the same time, Charles VIII learned that Venice, the Papal States, the Duchy of Milan, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and some small Italian states had formed an anti-French alliance.

Not only that, the powerful Venetian navy also dispatched a fleet to bypass the southern tip of the Apennine Peninsula and begin to block the sea route from Naples to Marseille, France.

This made Charles VIII realize that if he continued to stay in Naples, he might be trapped here. It's okay for other people to be trapped here, but he can't. He is the king of France. If he is not in the country for a long time, it will easily lead to domestic changes. Also, the British are said to have begun harassing the Brittany region in northwestern France.

Therefore, Charles VIII decided to return to the country to stabilize the situation. To this end, he selected soldiers who were not infected with syphilis in the army and returned to China with him in a bucket.

Luckily for Charles VIII to arrive, in his army of tens of thousands, the heavy cavalry from the French knight family probably lived relatively modestly (not a good person), and most of them were not infected with syphilis.

Most of the soldiers infected with syphilis were those bohemian mercenaries, especially the mercenaries from Savoy Piedmont in Italy. These bastards are the most lecherous and thirsty, so the chance of getting hit is very high.

By May, the 23,000-strong army of the Principality of Savoy had basically collapsed, leaving only a few thousand people who were panicking, but they had completely lost their fighting spirit. Many people, out of fear, quietly fled the army and returned to their hometowns.

As for the French army, it was better. Charles VIII selected 8,000 French knights who were still healthy, and 4,000 Swiss mercenaries, and began to head north, intending to kill them before the anti-French alliance reacted. First, to maintain domestic stability, and second, to escape the terrifying syphilis...

at the same time,

In order to control the already occupied kingdom of Naples, Charles VIII left the hapless Gilbert de Montpensier as the governor of Naples, leading the remaining army to continue to occupy Naples. This gentleman was more unlucky later, and it seemed that he died at the hands of syphilis. Then the French army in Naples collapsed and the French were driven out of Italy.

Charles VIII's withdrawal to the north was a kind of escape behavior similar to running away. As a result, the morale of the French army was relatively low. Because of the severe shortage of supplies, and the fact that 8,000 heavy cavalry carried as many as 16,000 horses (each heavy cavalry carried a war horse and a pack horse), there was a great demand for food and grass. And because the sea transport route was cut off by the Venetian navy, the French were undersupplied. Therefore, Charles VIII had to order and send troops to grab food along the way, otherwise, the French army would be unsustainable at all.

In fact, not all of the 12,000 French soldiers selected by Charles VIII were healthy. Some people contracted syphilis, but the virus was still in the incubation period in Naples. So, I didn't see it at the time. But on the way north, these guys raped local women while robbing food. Then, syphilis spread along the French line of advance...

At this time, people from all over Italy were very indignant at the brutality of the French army and organized strong resistance. Therefore, when the French army went all the way north, they encountered a lot of resistance. In order to obtain enough supplies, the French army often needed to besiege those small cities. However, they resisted fiercely, and although they failed in the end, it greatly delayed the French army's northward march, making the French army's advance very slow.

When passing through the Papal State, the Pope was cunning and cunning, knowing that the French would loot, and had already transferred all the main supplies to several well-defended cities such as Rome, forcing the French army to find those remote small towns in the Papal State. Go loot to get enough food and supplies. Otherwise, Charles VIII would not be able to support so many people and horses.

While the French were dawdling northward, the anti-French coalition was also dawdling and arguing. Of course, the quarrel among the Italians is not like the Shinra Council. The quarrel in the Shinra Empire Council is a fierce competition for the distribution of power, and it is the joint restriction of the major princes on the emperor. The Italians' quarrels are often over trivial things, which are ridiculous.

On the way to the south, Marin also saw the teasing of Italian mercenaries...

Often, when they saw a beautiful girl on the march, many Italian mercenaries left the team without authorization and went to pick up girls to chat with them, ignoring military discipline at all.

When encountering some wineries, these bandit-like Italian mercenaries will also break into the door and snatch the wine from the host. Then, you will see Italian mercenaries with many wine bottles strapped to their bodies on the march...

So, speaking of it, the anti-French coalition forces at this time were no faster than the French at all. The French slowed down because of lack of food, while the Italians slowed down their march because of joking.

Moreover, because the nominal commander of the coalition army, Maximilian I, was not there, the Marquis of Mandoba and the Venetian general Niccolò Pitiliuno seemed to be competing for the command of the coalition army, causing the army to be smoky.

Count Alfred also seemed to be very dissatisfied with the teasing of the Italians, so Shinra's army did not go with Italy after that, but went the other way. However, in order to wait for the return of the emperor, the Shinra army also deliberately slowed down, and was even far behind the Italian army.

Marin seemed to understand why the Battle of Fornovo was fought by the Italian allied forces, and there was nothing to do with the Shinra Empire. Because the two armies are not together at all...

The troops of the two sides were divided into two groups. The Italian Amusement Corps headed by the Italian states such as Venice, Mandova and Milan, with a total of about 20,000 people, was one of them.

The other way was temporarily led by Count Alfred, including 11,000 people from Shinra and the armies of several small Italian states that were close to Shinra, a total of 15,000 people.

Therefore, the history books also say that the Holy Alliance army has a total of 35,000 people. But in fact, the 15,000-strong army of Shinra did not participate in the Battle of Fornovo at all. That battle was completely fought by the Italian allied forces, so it is not surprising that such a situation occurred.

Marin did not interfere with the marching route of the imperial army. At this time, it was only the beginning of June. It will be about a month before the Italians are forced to face the French. If he intervenes, the Italians and the French may not meet. At that time, his foresight will be useless...

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