Continental Warriors Yoo Ma

Unfortunately, in the chamber, there are very few nobles like Andre who are willing to consider these issues.

It's not that they were too stupid to be fooled into believing it by Claudio.But out of self-interest considerations and the fear of undead pirates, these short-sighted nobles chose to escape, preferring to deceive themselves.

Andre thought of his experience of escaping death and the disaster of Ajaccio. Although his disappointment was palpable, he decided to try his best to persuade the nobles present.

"Everyone, the enemy we are facing is too powerful. It is the right choice to gather all our strength to deal with it from the very beginning. It is meaningless in front of absolute strength. If you listen to Visconte's absurd suggestion, The situation we are facing will be completely uncontrollable. We are likely to sit back and watch the enemy grow to the point of being invincible, and by then, it will be too late!"

It's a pity that Andre didn't grasp the mentality of the nobles.The more he emphasizes the power of the undead pirates, the more selfish and short-sighted nobles want to escape.

Claudio saw that Andre spoke dryly, but the nobles present were indifferent, and taunted triumphantly: "Stop exaggerating the strength of the enemy, Genoese. The fall of Ajaccio was not because of the undead How terrible pirates are, just because there are too many cowards like you who dare not fight but only dare to flee. Heh, the Genoese are just a group of peddlers who are good at calculating. If the army of the Principality of Milan encounters those undead pirates, You will know what is the nemesis of the undead, the sharp sword of the Seven Saints!"

The Duchy of Milan, which once conquered half of Italy, is indeed full of martial arts, and has the capital to mock Genoa.But at this time Claudio said such words, obviously not at ease.

"Okay, both of you. Don't let the serious meeting hall become a country fair. I'm afraid we won't be able to discuss any substantive results today, so this meeting will come to an end." Mayoufu said suddenly, stopping the conversation between the two of them. Arguing, and then looking at René I, "What do you think, Your Excellency the Duke?"

The attention was not in the meeting room at all, and Rene I, who was still dreaming about the wonderful time with Endi, came back to his senses and suddenly said: "Ah... that's fine. The meeting is over here, and we can discuss it tomorrow .”

Andre looked at the two top decision makers on the stage with a look of disappointment.

Not to mention the immature Duke of Anjou, the Marquis of La Manche, who had such a great reputation, was so easy to compromise and gave up his proposal so easily, which made Andre very helpless.

Let's discuss it tomorrow?Totally impossible!Andre, who has experienced bureaucratic procrastination and prevarication, knows that this delay may not have a deadline. The plan by the Duke of Anjou to convene the countries along the Mediterranean Sea to fight against the undead pirates may be completely bankrupt.

Chapter 360 Where Does the Fleet Come From?

After leaving the chamber, several survivors of the Sword of Nassau got together to discuss what to do next.

"Captain, what should we do?" a crew member asked.

"The Duke of Anjou has promised that we can continue to live in this castle. Being able to stay away from the war and enjoy peace and tranquility for a while may not be an option," another crew member said.

"You coward, are you really frightened by those undead pirates? Ajaccio has fallen, and the entire island of Corsica is facing the threat of undead. The Republic is at stake, we must stand up!"

Andre looked at the subordinates who were arguing endlessly, his heart was in a mess, and he couldn't make up his mind.He looked at the silent Slavic man beside him: "Boris, what do you think?"

"Captain, my conscience and honor tell me that I should return to Genoa, join the Republic Navy, and fight against undead pirates. But my reason tells me that this is not a good idea." Boris said in a low voice, "We are so far the city of Ajaccio. The only survivor. This is not an honor, but it will be used by others to attack you."

Andre nodded.

He can actually imagine what he will face when he returns to Genoa.

When the city of Ajaccio suffered a catastrophe and suffered countless casualties, he, a survivor, would only be regarded as a "lucky coward" when he returned to Genoa, and he would suffer countless criticisms.Not to mention, because of the surname "Doria", he will also become the best excuse for political enemies to attack the family.

In order to run for the next governor, Andre is not sure whether the Doria family will use their offshoot as a scapegoat to appease public anger.

Returning to Genoa is not a good idea.But staying in Provence, eating and waiting to die all day, he is not reconciled.

In the anxiety of this dilemma, Andre sighed: "Originally, I pinned all my hopes on the Marquis of La Manche. I thought that the Sirisian who made great contributions to France's victory over England could be here He played an important role in the war against the undead from the alien world. But who knows, he seems helpless in the face of those selfish nobles and Milanese with malicious intentions. Even the Anjou Principality cannot be unified internally. opinions, how can we unite other states?"

"Hmph, that Sirisian didn't have a good reputation in Italy before, but he just spent his days at banquets and slipped into women's skirts..." the mate, who was always merciless, cursed.But before he finished speaking, his expression suddenly changed, and he obediently closed his mouth.

"Master Marquis, good morning." Andre immediately noticed the "uninvited guest" who suddenly came to the guest room, stood up and saluted, and apologized, "Please forgive my subordinate, he is just a man who doesn't know etiquette and believes in rumors idiot."

Ma Youfu waved his hand, ignored the first mate who turned pale with fright, and said straight to the point: "Mr. Andre Doria, I am very aware of your current predicament. I have a proposal, you can consider it."

"I am all ears, Mr. Marquis."

"I have a position here as Admiral of the French Crusade. The monthly salary is [-] livres. If the performance is good, there are stock dividends and titles. Are you interested?"

Andre was completely confused by Ma Youfu's words.

As a mercenary captain who was only slightly famous, he suddenly got the opportunity to take charge of all the sea power of a country.

The annual salary is thousands of livres, and there are other rewards. This salary is one of the best in the whole of Europe.

But the biggest question is, where does France get its navy?

In the past, the French navy also had glorious days, and was even able to plunder the coast of England.However, after the "Treaty of Troyes", France, which lost a large section of its coastline, completely lost the ability and willingness to maintain a navy.

France, which invested all its war resources on land, has now won the Hundred Years' War and turned its attention to the sea again.But to build a navy from scratch, the time and money it takes are incalculable.Andre felt that even if he became the admiral of the French Navy, it would be difficult for him to make a difference in the war against the undead pirates.

When France has assembled enough fleets, I am afraid that Genoa will no longer exist-either destroyed by undead pirates or annexed by the Principality of Milan.

After careful consideration, Andre decided to reject Ma Youfu's invitation.

"Master Marquis, if it is in peacetime, I will definitely agree to your invitation and do my best to build a powerful naval fleet for you. But now the situation is urgent, I can't just sit back and watch with a generous reward in France The Republic is overrun by undead pirates."

"I understand what you mean." Ma Youfu nodded, and then said, "But, who said I need you to help me build a navy? I need you to lead the fleet to fight against the enemy in the raging waves, not to do auxiliary work in the rear .”

Andre was even more confused: "My lord, do you have a boat?"

"Of course there is. My fleet will arrive in Marseille in a month at the earliest, or two months at the latest. What I lack now is a good enough admiral to command this fleet throughout Europe, They are all powerful fleets.”

Seeing Ma Youfu's confident look, he didn't seem to be lying to himself, and Andre couldn't help thinking about where the fleet he was talking about came from.

It can be called a powerful fleet in the whole of Europe, at least in terms of size and combat effectiveness, it is no less than the navies of Venice and Genoa.France itself certainly cannot conjure up such a fleet out of thin air in just a few months.Then Ma Youfu is likely to seek assistance from other countries.

There are only a few naval powers in Europe, and the answer can be obtained quickly by the method of elimination.

First of all, France's sworn enemy England must be the first one to be ruled out.Then, England's close ally, and Portugal, which has commercial competition with Ma Youfu, is also unlikely to help France build a navy.

Castile has a good relationship with France, but its king has no ambitions and cannot subdue the domestic princes and integrate resources, so it is difficult to provide substantive help.And Aragon will not make friends with France because of René I.

Burgundy has a close relationship with Mayouf, but the main source of profit for the lowland sea merchants, the Baltic Sea, faces fierce competition from the Hanseatic League and the Kalmar League.If they reduce the size of their fleet and use the extra ships to support Ma Youfu, they may face the situation of being expelled from the Baltic Sea by two competitors due to their lack of strength.

Andre really couldn't think of where Ma Youfu could create a powerful fleet out of thin air.Moreover, in addition to ships, people are also very important for a strong navy.

In addition to the sailors who control the ships, each warship must carry a sufficient number of soldiers to be able to form combat effectiveness.

"Master Marquis, I hope you can answer the doubts in my heart. Where do you get the manpower and ships needed to form the fleet?"

"Manpower? We don't need too many manpower. As long as there are enough sailors to operate the ships and gunners to operate the artillery, that's enough. In the chamber before, the nobles of the Principality were bewitched by Claudio, and they were unwilling to defeat the undead. The pirates contribute. I don't care about this situation, and it's for this reason—I don't need a large number of soldiers to carry out a boarding battle!" Ma Youfu raised his eyebrows slightly, and his tone was full of confidence, "Only by the strength of my fleet , is enough to defeat the undead pirates. Moreover, instead of passive defense, it is an active attack!"

"Master Marquis, are you going to use artillery to win the naval battle?" Andre was moved by Ma Youfu's confidence, and at the same time grasped the key information in the other party's words.

"Yes. Artillery is the key to victory in future naval battles!" Ma Youfu said firmly.

Nowadays, although artillery, a new type of weapon, has been widely installed on warships, the mainstream method of naval warfare is still side-to-side warfare.

Historically, it was not until after the Lepanto naval battle more than 100 years later that the artillery line firing method would replace the boarding battle and become the mainstream of naval warfare.

The development of military tactics often lags behind the development of military technology. Therefore, in the Civil War, when the accuracy and rate of fire of rifles were greatly improved, the tactics of queuing and shooting were still used.So decades after the birth of the aircraft carrier, the battleship is still considered the absolute protagonist of naval warfare.

As a time traveler, Ma Youfu naturally would not make similar mistakes.

With the technological level of this era, it is not difficult to build a warship with artillery as the main means of combat.And because naval artillery does not need to have the same strict requirements on mobility as army artillery, the cost will not be too high.

A carrack galleon equipped with [-] cannons will cost no more than a galley with [-] cannons, [-] oarsmen, and [-] soldiers, but its combat effectiveness is much stronger. .

Andre Doria deserves to be a man destined to become a famous naval admiral. Through the conversation with Ma Youfu, he quickly realized how much the new idea of ​​artillery will bring about changes in naval warfare tactics.

However, even though he was full of longing for the future, Andre still didn't get a definite answer from Ma Youfu: How can the Marquis of La Manche get enough warships in a short time?

Ma Youfu seems to have seen through the minds of the Genoese.He patted Andre on the shoulder, and looked north through the gorgeous windows of Tarascon Castle: "Be patient, friend, you can temporarily stay in Provence. After the fleet from Rouen arrives at the Cote d'Azur , it will not be too late for you to agree to my invitation."

Andre pondered for a while, and finally nodded and agreed to Ma Youfu's invitation.

Now that I have expectations in my heart, staying in this gorgeous castle is not like waiting to die.Anyway, Genoa can't go back for the time being, why not just see what kind of miracle this Lord Marquis can bring.

Chapter 360 Changes in the Countryside

Going north from Provence, across the entire French territory, is Rouen.The city that Ma Youfu placed high hopes on today did not focus on the busy production and construction, but was busy organizing a banquet at the Earl's Palace to welcome Her Royal Highness Princess Burgundy who came from afar.

As the first regent after Ma Youfu left, the newly appointed Minister of Civil Affairs and Health, Zhu Wennier, came to the gate of the city in person to welcome the arrival of Her Highness the Princess.

In addition to him, the entire leadership team of the Earl of Rouen - the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Navigation, the Ministry of Military Industry, the Ministry of Justice, the Minister of Culture, and several key generals also gathered at the gate of the city.

They are relatively well-informed and know that Her Royal Highness Princess of Burgundy is likely to become a Marquis in the future, so naturally they have to show a respectful attitude.

However, half an hour has passed since the appointed time, and Her Royal Highness's team has not yet appeared in sight.

Minister of Military Industry Vera was a little unhappy.

Recently, because of Ma Youfu's instructions from Provence, she began to mobilize resources to develop cast iron guns for ships, and she was too busy to touch the ground.

As a result, because of the arrival of the little Burgundy princess, he had to put down his official business to attend this meaningless welcome ceremony.

Obviously, she is also a noble woman from a famous family. In terms of beauty and talent, she thinks she is no worse than that little Burgundy princess.However, because he is not the main branch of the family, and because of his sister's affairs many years ago, he could only be "exiled" to France with his father, away from the center of power in Florence.

It's not that Vera has any objections to Ma Youfu, but when she thinks that she can only be by his side as a lover, she has some regrets in her heart.

Vera's father, Francesco, has now handed over the banking business in North France to others, and is only worried about being the Minister of Commerce of the Earl of Rouen.At this time in the welcoming team, he also noticed that his daughter's mood was not right, so he quietly walked to her side and whispered: "My beautiful daughter, please relax. Even if you can't be the Marquis, you don't need to be jealous of Burgundy Princess Di. I can feel that Ma Youfu has great ambitions and ideals. As long as our Medici team closely follows him, we will surely achieve an incomparable career. Maybe you and him children, can get a wider sky than Florence."

After listening to her father's persuasion, Vera nodded noncommittally, and her expression finally eased a lot.

The officials who opened the guard of honor waited for another ten minutes, and the flag of the Duke of Burgundy finally appeared outside the city of Rouen.

But when this huge convoy arrived at the city, everyone discovered that Princess Mary was not among them.

"Mr. Knight, where is Her Highness the Princess?" Juvenil asked.

The Burgundy knight who was the captain of the princess guard apologized with a embarrassed face: "I'm sorry, gentlemen and ladies, this morning His Highness left a letter saying that he would go to the countryside of Rouen for some fun and left alone. But Please rest assured that the princess will be there on time for the welcome banquet tonight."

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, shook their heads helplessly, and had to disperse separately.

And the little princess Mary, who released everyone's pigeons, is wandering in a small village in the countryside of Rouen with her maid Catherine.

The climate is not too cold this winter, and there has been no snow for half a month.So taking advantage of the slack season, several villagers are building new houses.

Princess Mary watched the craftsmen driving piles and building walls with great interest.Catherine, the maid on the side, was leading two white horses, looking bored.

She didn't know what was so interesting about the scenes of these peasants repairing their houses. It would be better to arrive in Rouen earlier and read the latest works of the Marquis by the warm fireplace of the Earl's Palace.

At this time, a hunchbacked old man came to the two of them and asked respectfully: "You two distinguished ladies, do you come to this rural place to find the village chief?"

"No, we're just out and about, looking around."

"Miss, in a small village like ours, the roads are wet and rotten, so it's easy to get your beautiful skirt dirty." The old man said.

As a peasant at the bottom of the society, the old man was naturally wary of the aristocrats, for fear of getting involved with them and causing trouble.So he hoped that the two noble ladies would leave as soon as possible.

"It's okay, I'm not afraid of getting dirty." Mary smiled slightly.

It was only then that the old man realized that the long skirt and beautiful boots of this pretty angelic girl in front of her was not stained by a speck of mud.

"Damn it!" The old man's heart shuddered, knowing that this noble lady might not be an ordinary person, he stopped talking immediately.

But Mary came to chat and asked, "Sir, I see that many households in your village have built new houses. It must have been a good harvest last year, right?"

The old man replied truthfully: "Last year Normandy experienced a great war, which affected the autumn harvest. The grain we harvested was just enough to make ends meet. If it weren't for the kindness of the Marquis who exempted the tax, this winter would have been difficult."

"Then you still have money left to build a new house?"

"Miss Noble, thanks to the grace of Lord Marquis, if it weren't for his promulgation of the 'New Rural Housing Act', where would we have a new house to live in?"

The housing conditions of European farmers in this era were quite poor. The whole family lived in a thatched hut, where humans and animals lived together, with no room separation and no privacy at all.

After the civil servant examination was over and the administrative system of the Earl of Rouen was established, Ma Youfu's first order was to renovate the rural housing within the entire Earl of Rouen.