The Rise of the European Emperor

You know, the salary expenditure of an army is definitely a huge expense. For example, the soldiers of the North Sea State had a daily salary of 3 pfennigs and an annual salary of 1095 pfennigs, which was equivalent to 18.25 gold coins. For a 10,000-strong army, not counting the high salary of officers, the annual salary expenditure of 10,000 soldiers exceeds 182,500 gold coins.

If 10,000 troops are stationed overseas, it is estimated that the annual salary alone will cost more than 200,000 gold coins. But it would be different if a large number of servants composed of black slaves were used.

Black slaves are no one to be cared for, and it is a favor to feed them, but they still want wages? What are you kidding? The cost of raising 10,000 mercenaries is very different from raising 10,000 black slaves. You can save a lot of money on the annual salary alone.

As for food... Marin felt that the black slave soldiers stationed in the Americas could just eat the potatoes produced by the local Indians, and they didn't need to transport food from the mainland. That thing has a high yield, is also very hungry, and has enough nutrition. It is a very good military ration. Don't you see, the early soldiers of the Kingdom of Prussia used to eat potatoes to fight, and they were even more fierce.

At that time, as long as the black servants drive the local Indians to plant a large number of potatoes near the barracks, they will be able to meet the army's food needs.

In this way, Marin can maintain an army of tens of thousands of people at a small cost and control Mexico and Peru. Moreover, there is no need to worry about these black servants standing with the native Indians. After all, they are of different races and do not speak the same language, so it is difficult to collude together. Then, Marin's rule over America became more stable...

As for the poor fighting ability of black people, it is not a problem. Just like King Chaka strengthened the combat effectiveness of the Zulu army after he reformed the tactics, as long as the weapons and tactics of the black slave soldiers are improved, the combat effectiveness can be greatly improved. Not to mention being able to confront the European army, at least there is no problem in suppressing the native Indians.

Due to cost considerations, Marin did not plan to equip the black servants with iron swords, but planned to learn from Chaka Zulu and equip the black servants with short spears with metal spears. Then, equip a shield.

The shields used by Shaka's Zulu army are very lightweight Zulu cowhide shields. This kind of shield can withstand the throwing of earthen javelins with stone spearheads of black Africans at that time. However, the bow and arrow protection against metal arrows is relatively weak, and it cannot stop the bullets of the British army.

But Marin felt that the cost of using cowhide as a shield seemed a bit high. Moreover, cattle are precious animal power and cannot be slaughtered at will. Therefore, he plans to equip the black servant army with wicker shields...

The so-called wicker shield is actually made of wicker woven into the shape of a shield, which is just a flat wicker basket. Because wicker is cheap, the cost of weaving shields is also low, at least lower than that of cowhide shields.

As for the question of whether there are willows in the Americas, it doesn't matter, the big deal is to introduce weeping willows to the Americas.

Willows have tenacious vitality, and willows are planted unintentionally, making them very easy to plant. At that time, Marin sent people to plant willows all over America, and the source of materials for wicker shields would be sufficient and very cheap.

Although the wicker shield cannot stop muskets, it can withstand swords and ordinary bows and arrows (except for heavy crossbows), which is completely enough to suppress the resistance of native Indians. Moreover, it is not as heavy as a wooden shield, so it is easy to carry. When it's okay, it can be carried on the back like a willow basket, and it's not heavy.

Using short spears with very little metal and low-cost wicker shields, this equipment is considered very shabby. However, it is enough for the more shabby Indian natives who also do not have good weapons. And the short spear with the blood groove on the spear head is also very easy to stab and kill the rebels. And if you want to suppress the people, you can also choose not to use the spearhead, but use the spear body as a stick to beat the disobedient people... If it is upgraded to an armed rebellion, you will no longer use the spear body to whip, but use the spearhead instead...

Marin's plan is to station 1,000 German soldiers and 5,000 servants in the Aztec Empire in Mexico, as well as the former home of the Inca Empire in Peru. In this way, he needs to station a total of 2,000 German mercenaries and 10,000 black servants.

Usually, those German mercenaries only need to be stationed in key places like the capital or the Potosi silver mine. The black servant army, under the command of the white officer, scattered all over the place to maintain law and order. At the same time, supervise the labor production of native Indians. For example, supervising their mining or something.

Although Marin would not let 8 million Indians die in the Potosi silver mine like the Spanish in the original history, but he would not let such a large silver mine not be developed. Therefore, the expropriation of native Indians for mining is inevitable.

However, Marin will try to improve the living standards of the miners. In addition, masks and dust-proof glasses will be distributed to miners to protect their health as much as possible. At the same time, he will set up a mine hospital to treat sick miners. Instead of throwing away sick miners to freeze to death and starve to death like the Spanish colonists did.

Marin estimated that the Potosi Silver Mine would need hundreds of thousands of miners by then. At that time, there may be tens of thousands of black servants and supervisors alone. Otherwise, you can't control the situation.

In other words, at that time, in addition to the 2,000 local soldiers and 10,000 black servants needed to control the local area, the Potosi silver mine and some other silver mines alone will need about 10,000 black servants. Counting, Marin needs more than 20,000 black slaves.

If you buy it from the Portuguese, based on 40 gold coins per black slave, you will spend as much as 800,000 Gulden gold coins, which is simply sky-high!

But if you buy slaves directly from the Songhai Empire, it will be cheap as hell! In Timbuktu of the Songhai Empire, the price of local black slaves is more expensive than that of Senegal, but it is also very cheap.

In a "borderland" like Senegal, a pound of sugar or 2 pounds of salt can be exchanged for a black slave. In Timbuktu, one sack (about 112 pounds) of salt was exchanged for 10 strong prisoner-of-war black slaves, that is, 11 pounds of salt was exchanged for one black slave. The price is more than 5 times more expensive than in Senegal, but it is also very cheap.

You know, 11 pounds of salt in the North Sea is worth 22 pfennigs, which is equivalent to 0.367 gold coins. Compared with the Portuguese price of 40 gold coins for a black slave, it is more than 100 times cheaper...

The black slaves in Senegal are cheaper, but Senegal is only a "border land" in West Africa at this time, with a small population. Although black slaves are cheaper, there are too few of them. With that low price, Eschwein only bought a few hundred black slaves from the local area. There is no way, when the population is so small. Moreover, prisoners of war appeared only after tribal conflicts. Moreover, many rebellious and rebellious prisoners of war were killed, leaving only the honest and obedient part. In this way, Eschwein can exchange hundreds of black slaves, which is already considered good. Only the trading center of the Songhai Empire like Timbuktu can exchange thousands of black slaves at one time. If you want to exchange for 20,000 black slaves to train as a servant army, you can only go to Timbuktu. Moreover, the total cost of 20,000 black slaves is only more than 7,000 gold coins, which is very cheap...