Continental Warriors Yoo Ma

"Alphonse, are you crazy?" the Duke of Bourbon cried out.

It stands to reason that the Duke of Bailey, who was used by Charles VII as a tool man, should be dissatisfied and firmly oppose the king.

"I'm not crazy, Duke of Bourbon. Do you know the Count of Troyes? For a while, I traveled to Reims, and with him I took care of a lot of business for the girls in the "Valley of Elysium". I was amazed. After careful inquiry, I found out what was going on.

The Earl of Troyes once used the land outside Troyes as a stake in the Northern French Trading Company.After several expansions of the company, his stake has been diluted to 3%.After the company was converted into a joint-stock system, the Count of Troyes received three hundred shares for a total price of 1000 livres!In just over a year, the land worth more than [-] livres has turned into [-] livres of stock, and this is not counting the dividends received as a shareholder!

I believe in the Marquis of La Manche's ability to obtain wealth. You say that he is the mortal spokesperson of Hermosa, the god of commerce, and I believe it.Now, he puts in front of us the opportunity to make a fortune bestowed by God, which may not be encountered once in a lifetime. Are you really willing to give up? "

"Marquis of La Manche, Brittany is adjacent to Normandy, and we have many opportunities to cooperate with each other to promote trade and commerce." The Duke of Brittany said suddenly, "I support your opinion on Rodrigo's disposal. Well, We can talk about the purchase of stocks in detail later.”

Seeing the two dukes bounce back one after another, the Duke of Bourbon knew that his alliance had fallen apart.

Chapter 310 Nine Ways to Advance Together

After Ma Youfu released his big move, Charles VII pretended to listen to the opinions of the ministers for a while, then announced the end of the imperial meeting, and did not make an immediate decision.

As an excellent ruler, he chose to continue to wait and see to see if the method Ma Youfu proposed could really divide and disintegrate the Duke of Bourbon's alliance, and then express his attitude.

This time is not long.

On the second day, Ma Youfu's temporary residence on Avenue Saint-Germain became full of people, and all kinds of luxurious carriages almost blocked half of the street.More than [-] nobles from earls and above went to visit Ma Youfu, expressed their support for his plan to deal with the wool soldiers, and strongly hoped to buy the shares of the Southern France Trading Company to create a great cause together.

When Charles VII heard the news, he quickly promulgated a decree in the Louvre, announcing that from now on, no French nobles would be allowed to hire free mercenary groups privately, nor could they have economic ties with them.

The wool soldiers will have two months to surrender to the royal commissioners stationed in various places.The priest sent by the church will use divine magic to measure the amount of his sins, and then deal with them according to the method drawn up by Ma Youfu.

Two months later, any free mercenary in France who did not pledge allegiance to the king would be convicted of treason. If they could not escape in time, what awaited them would be a sword or a gallows.

At the same time, Rodrigo, the "robber emperor" who was imprisoned in the Bastille, was also sentenced to hang.The execution time is set for December [-].

The corpses of the mercenaries who were exterminated by Ma Youfu in "Miss Fox" were hung on the gates of Paris as a warning.

This move immediately angered the wool soldiers, and the number of attacks by wool soldiers in various parts of France rose rapidly.But after only two days, the situation was reversed.

A small mercenary group of about 300 people named "Gascon Forest Hunters" came to Paris first to surrender to His Royal Highness.

After the "detect evil" divine spell, there were no members of this mercenary group who had committed violent felonies.Afterwards, the head of the mercenary group made a "swear of honesty" in front of the statue of the Seven Saints of Notre Dame, and explained his criminal experience clearly.

After evaluation by professionals, the mercenary group caused property losses of more than [-] livres to several villages and towns in the southwest through looting and extortion.

These mercenaries who are drunk today will certainly not be able to come up with such a large amount of atonement money now.But their leader was already prepared.

Before the "Gascogne Forest Hunter" came to Paris, he had already attacked several mercenary squads, ranging from a few to dozens of people, who had committed murder and arson.

After the crime was confirmed, the wool soldiers were quickly executed.There were dozens more corpses hanging on the gates of Paris, and the "Gascony Forest Hunters" mercenary group was pardoned by Charles VII as they wished, and then received [-] original shares of the South France Trading Company.

Although these stocks are still scraps of paper, it does not prevent the mercenaries from feeling that they have made a fortune and have become rich with tens of thousands of livres in their hands.

These mercenaries who were incorporated into the armed forces directly under the Southern French Trading Company honestly lived in the barracks outside Paris - this was built by Ma Youfu for the long-term siege of Paris. After Charles VII entered Paris, there was no It was dismantled in time, and now it is being reused.

In order to make a contribution in next year's Crusade and make the stock soar, the mercenaries did not wander around and make trouble all day, but followed Ma Youfu's suggestion and started training for the battle.

Of course, it is also possible that Lahaier, who was sent to manage them, had too hard a fist, and the mercenaries did not dare to resist.

With the precedent set by the "Gascon Forest Hunter", the wool soldiers quickly split within.Coupled with the absence of Rodrigo, a leader who can respond to everything, the situation is even more chaotic.

In the French countryside where the weather is getting colder and colder, mercenaries started a disorderly and cruel killing among mercenaries, and fewer and fewer villages and towns were disturbed.Sometimes, some fleece soldiers who are ready to surrender will take the initiative to protect civilians in exchange for supplies, and continue to fight with those former comrades who have blood on their hands and are determined to resist to the end.

Even later, the French civilians who had suffered from the wool soldiers before spontaneously took up crude weapons and participated in the hunt to encircle and suppress the illegal wool soldiers.It's a bit like the Japanese Warring States Period, when villagers held bamboo spears to surround and kill single samurai.

"Could it be that Muromachi is orthodox in Faji?" Ma Youfu couldn't help but joked after learning about the development of the situation.

Although the civil war among the wool soldiers is getting more and more tragic, Ma Youfu doesn't take it seriously.More and more casualties, coupled with the approaching winter, will bring the chaos to an end soon.

Anyway, he only set aside 5000 shares for the defectors, that is, the shares of [-] people. If there are too many people left in the end, it will be difficult to handle.

If the current trend continues, the [-] company mercenaries gathered in Paris in the coming year will definitely be the strong ones who won the final victory in this life-and-death infighting, and their combat effectiveness is worth looking forward to.

The problem of wool soldiers has been completely solved.The preparations for the Crusaders also went smoothly.

Not to mention France.In Burgundy, with the banner of Joan of Arc, the new deputy head of the Knights of the Golden Fleece, there was an endless stream of people signing up for the Crusade.Military nobles yearned for wealth and glory through war.The merchants in the lowlands have a close relationship with the North France Trading Company, and they don’t want to be robbed of the limelight. They are also frantically snapping up the shares of the South France Trading Company, so that they can actively participate in the Crusades next year and suppress or even control this new company in the future. get ready.

Of course Ma Youfu would not allow this to happen.The two companies hold more than 30% of each other's shares, which is his long-established goal.Therefore, Ma Youfu immediately promulgated temporary regulations. Any shareholder of the North France Trading Company who wants to buy the shares of the South France Trading Company must sell the same amount of shares of the North France Trading Company.

The businessmen immediately understood Ma Youfu's spirit of "the two companies should cooperate sincerely, complement each other's advantages, unite as one, expand outward, and not involve inward".

A smart person like Vera's father immediately adjusted the shareholding ratio on hand to half to north and half to south.

With Philip III, a monarch who loves ancient Greek mythology and has a romantic and adventurous spirit in his bones, Burgundy followed suit and set off a frenzy for the Southern Expedition.

It is estimated that after next summer, when the Crusades are launched, Burgundy may be able to mobilize an army of more than 2 people.And France, which is larger than Burgundy next door, will only send crusaders of about 5000 people, including mercenaries.

When Philip III summoned his generals to familiarize themselves with the geographical environment of the Maghreb in advance in the desert near the Palace of the Duke of Dijon due to the confluence of the celestial spheres, Emperor Sigismund also released information about the preparations for the Crusade information.

Because of the heresy of the Bohemian Hussites, Sigismund could only summon [-] to [-] German Crusades.And his favorite descendant, Albrecht of Austria, would be in charge of fighting the Hussites after the emperor left Germany.

Sigismund's crusaders will go all the way south, pass through the whole of Italy, enter Sicily, station in Messina, and after gathering the crusaders from the Italian states, they will cross the sea and attack Tunisia together.

His majesty the emperor had a good plan.In the name of the Crusaders, no one can tell whether the purpose of swaggering into Italy is to take the opportunity to annex several city-states and expand the influence of the empire here.

Emperor Shenluo has long coveted the fertile land of Italy. The crusaders along the way are composed of Italians and Germans who are full of contradictions. There will definitely be excitement to watch.

The four countries in the west of Iberia are another situation.

The current king of Castile is fatuous and incompetent, Juan II who is obsessed with fencing and ignores government affairs. He is not even interested in recovering Granada at the door of his house. How could he cross the sea to fight heretics?Therefore, the largest kingdom of Iberia, like the smallest principality of Navarra, is a passerby in this crusade.

On the contrary, Portugal is the most active.

Firstly, the current ruler of Portugal is Mingjun, who has a strong pioneering and enterprising spirit. Naturally, he does not want to miss such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the Crusades.Second, they were very worried that France had gained too much benefit from the Crusades, which would cause them to lose their monopoly position in African trade.

Since this crusade cannot be stopped, then join in and try to snatch a few more pieces of meat from that greedy Serisian.Portugal knew that with its own strength, it could not compare with the great powers such as Shinra, France, Burgundy, and Aragon, so it decided to abandon Tunisia and attack Morocco instead.

Aragon's position is more nuanced.Its king, Alfonso V, self-proclaimed himself a devout disciple of the Seven Saints (as almost every European monarch did), and showed great enthusiasm for the Crusades.

However, due to the close relationship between France and Provence, Aragon actually acted quite cautiously, and was also quite wary of France, who was also a partner of the Crusades.

In case the other party came to make a false attack and occupied Sardinia, Sicily, and even Barialis and other islands in the name of the Crusaders, Alfonso V would definitely feel extremely uncomfortable as a forward base for attacking pagans.

Although we are all brothers who believe in the Seven Sages, it is not possible to directly annex the land of the same clan without any excuse, and it will be returned in the end.But if the dispute over the succession of the Kingdom of Naples suddenly broke out at this time, Alfonso V would be at a great disadvantage beyond his reach.

In addition to the four main regions of Iberia, France, Germany, and Italy, the Kalmar Alliance, led by Denmark, was also invited to participate in the Crusades, but because of the long distance, it is estimated that these Nordics arrived in the hot Mediterranean. At the South Bank, the three-way meal has already been eaten.

Chapter 320 The Beauty and the Bell Ringer

For better or for worse, preparations for the crusade across Western Europe were slowly underway.However, due to the low organizational efficiency, it takes at least half a year for the regular crusade formed by the king or the grand dukes to complete the assembly and preparations.

On the contrary, some fanatics of the Seven Saints in France have gathered in the southern coastal cities one after another, gearing up, preparing to take advantage of the cool winter weather to cross the sea to attack Tunisia and capture the "Holy Mountain" of the pagans.

In this regard, Ma Youfu objected.

These poorly equipped civilian crusaders had no chance of success at all, and could only lose their lives.For France, which has just recovered from the ravages of the Black Death and the Hundred Years' War, population is the most precious resource.It is really sad and deplorable that fanatics squander their lives like this.

On November 29, Ma Youfu went to Notre Dame Cathedral at the invitation of the Archbishop of Reims.

Archbishop Lance hopes to discuss with Ma Youfu how to distribute the interests of the church after the Crusaders occupy the Maghreb in the future.Especially the question of missions and establishment of dioceses.

And Ma Youfu also hoped to use this to persuade the archbishop to come forward to stop those civilian crusaders organized without authorization, and not to cross the sea and go south rashly.

Ma Youfu and the Archbishop of Reims sat down at random in the main hall of Notre Dame, accompanied by the Bishop of Paris.

After listening to Ma Youfu's suggestion, Archbishop Lance shook his head with a smile and said: "Unfortunately, Marquis, the church can't do it. Those fanatics will never listen to our persuasion. If I send a priest there, maybe I will be spit out." Spit and curse. Although they believe in the Seven Saints, they are heresies in the eyes of the Holy See..."

The Black Death that swept across Europe dealt a severe blow to the authority of the church, and now its extravagant and depraved lifestyle has caused widespread dissatisfaction in society.The heretics of the Seven Saints, headed by the Hussites, are considered moderate if they don’t take up arms to fight against the Roman Church. How can they obediently obey orders?

After hard work and filial piety, the French Church has long since broken away from the command of the Holy See and obeyed the royal power, and Charles VII obviously has no intention of caring about these self-righteous heresies.Maybe he is also happy to see the fanatics go to explore the way first, and use his own life to weigh the fighting power of the Maghreb heretics.

More than 300 years ago, under the instigation of the Seven Holy Church with unparalleled authority and appeal, the civilian crusaders who had nothing but fanatical beliefs went to the East to die.

But now, the prestige and appeal of the Church of the Seven Saints are not as good as before, and they can't stop the fanatical civilian crusaders from going to the south to die.

It's ironic, I have to say.

Ma Youfu sighed helplessly, and talked with the Archbishop of Lance about the power of the church in the newly conquered land in the future.

Ma Youfu has no opinion on the missionary issue.He is going to implement a policy of religious tolerance in the Maghreb, and the spokespersons of various gods can argue whatever they want, as long as the literary fight does not turn into a violent fight.

However, the Archbishop of Lance asked him to follow the old practice and set up a diocese in the Maghreb that was completely managed by the church, but Ma Youfu flatly refused.

"I can use part of the tax revenue to fund the church every year. After all, the church plays an irreplaceable and important role in education, medical care, culture and other fields. But in that new land, all power should belong to the company's board of directors."

"Your idea is really...novel..." Archbishop Lance considered carefully, so he didn't describe Ma Youfu's idea as "deviant".

He is a smart man, knowing what kind of system the newly conquered land will adopt at that time, it still needs to be determined after considering the actual situation and after a game between all parties, so after being rejected now, he did not argue with Ma Youfu.

Although there were major differences between the two, the conversation was generally pleasant.

"By the way, some wool soldiers who surrendered yesterday handed over a batch of gold and silver utensils, including candlesticks and tableware, which are said to be church property. After identification, I will send someone to send them here." The last thing After the explanation, Ma Youfu got up and said goodbye.

"Thank you for your contribution to safeguarding the rights and interests of the church. May the Seven Saints bless you." The Archbishop of Reims and the Bishop of Paris got up to see him off.

Walking out of the gate of Notre Dame, Ma Youfu tightened his collar in the cold wind, and saw a man with a red face approaching.

Seeing the scene surrounded by more than a dozen guards, the other party immediately stepped aside, took off his hat and bowed respectfully.

Ma Youfu didn't care at first, but after a casual glance, he found that this extremely ugly man was still a half-acquaintance.

"Quasimodo?" he asked, going up.

The man was so excited that his hands trembled, and he said, "My noble Marquis, you still remember me! Back then..."

The bell ringer of Notre Dame de Paris, because he discovered the situation in time during the chaos caused by Le Camus, and used the bell to warn everyone in the Saint-Pol Palace, he made a great contribution.

Afterwards, Ma Youfu personally summoned Quasimodo, rewarded him with a large sum of money, and praised him, "You are really the bell ringer with the sharpest eyes in all of France."

With this sentence, Quasimodo can be said to be lucky.Although he has no great skills, he can still only do a job of ringing the bell in Notre Dame, but now, from the abbot to the servants, no one in the whole Notre Dame dares to bully him.After using reward money to buy a second-floor apartment for rent, Quasimodo is now a rentier whose annual income has entered the middle class.

His current living conditions are about the same as those of the aunts in later generations who have ten apartments in their families and still come out to work as cleaners.

"You look good. Has anything good happened recently?" Ma Youfu asked casually.

"My lord, I met a girl..." Quasimodo said shyly, "Her name is Esmeralda, she has long brown hair, big black eyes that seem to be able to speak, and a pair of cute little feet that always Wearing embroidered shoes, light and nimble..."

Hearing the name Quasimodo said, Ma Youfu couldn't help laughing, and looked him up and down: "Although it's ugly, it doesn't have a hunchback, nor is it disabled... It should be a coincidence, the vice-bishop of Notre Dame is not called Ke Lord."

"grown ups?"

"Ah, nothing. I can see that you like that Esmeralda. Good luck, Mr. Quasimodo."

"With your blessing, I will definitely win Esmeralda's heart!"

Ma Youfu waved his hand, bid farewell and left.

Quasimodo watched his nobleman get into the carriage, and then walked into the Notre-Dame Cathedral proudly with his chest and stomach folded.

Tonight when no one was around, he asked Esmeralda to come to Notre Dame for a tryst.With his special status, he can take the girl he likes to some forbidden places that ordinary tourists are not allowed to visit.

Esmeralda must be very moved by such a painstaking effort to please her, and then she will make a promise with her body to achieve good things with herself, right?