As far as Marin knew, there was actually only one main road from Newcastle to Edinburgh, which resembled the Roman Road. At the beginning, the Scottish army also went south along this road.

Under normal circumstances, James IV must have followed this path when he returned north. However, if James IV had become suspicious and feared that Edward would have intercepted him, he might have changed course. After all, there's more to the north than that. If the army is marching, it can only take this avenue. But James IV only brought 50 knights, and he could choose other paths.

Therefore, in order to force James IV to take the main road, Marin decided to let the Robin Hood thieves send horse thieves to frequently commit crimes on several other small roads, except for the main road. In this way, after England sent James IV to the border, James IV just wanted to take the path, and the generals of the Scottish border garrison would definitely discourage him.

Today, the Scottish army was overstretched, with only a small number of troops stationed near the main road. As for those paths, there are no troops to garrison them. Therefore, it makes sense that the Robin Hood thieves chose to commit crimes along the path. If this news reached the ears of James IV, he would surely know what to choose.

However, Marin was also worried that James IV would have a brain twitch and would not give in. So, he ordered that the Robin Hood thieves should not only rob on the paths, but also destroy roads and bridges as much as possible. In this way, the roads and bridges were destroyed, and James IV had to take the big road.

And if he took the big road, Marin estimated that not far from the border area, James IV and his party must be on high alert to prevent being intercepted.

On the other hand, in the second half of the journey, when you get closer to Edinburgh, you will relax......

This is also human nature, when approaching the enemy's territory, you must be nervous and vigilant. But if it's close to home, it's easy to relax.

In the ancient history of China, there were many people who used this general psychology to ambush them. But in Europe, strategy has not yet emerged, and everyone is still very tenacious. Such a means of exploiting the enemy's psychology is still very rare.

Therefore, Marin planned to send Karn and his men to find a suitable roadside forest suitable for concealment in the second half of the road from the Scottish border to Edinburgh, and fight an ambush against James IV......

Scotland is mostly mountainous, with Edinburgh surrounding the southern Scottish lowlands. A little further south, however, is mountainous terrain. Marin planned to fight an ambush in the mountainous area that did not enter the plains around Edinburgh, after all, the mountainous area was suitable for hiding soldiers. After killing someone, it's easy to run away. To this end, Marin will also specially prepare a batch of highland horses suitable for walking mountain roads, which will be used for Karn and others to run away afterwards.

……

In addition, in order to prevent enemy knights from escaping in the chaos, Marlin also specially asked the forge forge a batch of new plate armor. These plate armor are all made of French plate armor, but the difference is that the outside of the plate armor has been carburized and double-quenched with oil and salt, which makes the performance of the plate armor have been greatly improved.

Furthermore, the plate armor of the French specifications is very popular in Europe. It was the Scottish army, which was very common in the French style of plate armor. Why? Because a lot of the plate armor of the Scottish army was simply supported by the French.

France has always considered the Kingdom of Scotland an ally. Because, the Scots put pressure on England in the north, so that England could not let go of its hands and feet to deal with France. Therefore, the French are also very willing to invest in Scotland and support some plate armor, which is really nothing. Even, in the original history, James IV personally led his troops south to attack England in order to alleviate the invasion of England on France, and then died on the battlefield......

Therefore, it is easy to confuse the public by having Kahn and the others wear French-style plate armor. It may even be perceived as an internal rebellion.

Marin was happy to make people think so, so he began to train Kahn in Scottish......

"Phew! I opened this mountain, and I planted this tree. If you want to live here, leave the money to buy the road (in Scottish). Marin recruited a Scottish spy for the North Sea Chamber of Commerce to teach Karn the Scottish version of the robber's slang.

However, out of bad taste, Ma Lin made these black words into the opening words of a robber with Chinese characteristics.

Then, with a hard look on his face, Karn followed along with the Scottish version of the Chinese vernacular......

Marin's request to Karn and the wolf-tooth commandos was to speak only Scottish and not to use German, so as not to show their feet.

Moreover, the main purpose of this interception was to kill James IV. As long as James IV is killed, as for the other knights, even one or two will be spared. Anyway, Karn and the others wore a full set of French-style plate armor and used Scottish language. Paralyzing, in the case that the grandfather of Sherlock Holmes was not yet born, I don't believe those Scots can deduce it.

You know, Marin sent out the Wolf Tooth Commando in order to keep it secret. If it's not for secrecy, just use the musket. In the face of muskets, plate armor is of little use, and it is more convenient to intercept and kill. But with a musket, it is easy to be suspicious. And without muskets, who can guess?

After all, European plate armor covers the face. Don't show your face, still wearing French plate armor......

"That's not right! The mace is a special weapon for the Wolf Tooth Commandos, and it is a loophole! ”

Marin quickly spotted the loophole and made adjustments - the selected wolffang commandos began to use the warhammers and tomahawks, which were more popular in Europe to deal with plate armor. In this way, the concealment is higher......

It just so happens that there are still a few months left until the start of the process. Taking advantage of this time, these people can also get used to using war hammers and battle axes, so as not to reduce their combat power during battle......

……

While Marin was busy with how to kill James IV, Garland on Cape Breton Island sent a messenger back and asked Marlin to send a group of men over to collect maple sugar for the beginning of next spring.

Ever since he had seen the maple syrup collection in the spring, Garand's mind had come alive.

At the beginning, due to lack of preparation, and because of the late harvest period, Garand only collected more than 100 barrels of maple syrup, and most of it was snatched by Marin. Seeing that the second half of the year was approaching, Garland decided that he must collect enough maple sugar next year......

There are so many sugar maple trees in Canada that they are everywhere. Before modern development, the Canadian bush was a few steps away from a sugar maple tree. If you want to collect maple sugar, as long as you have enough manpower and tools......

So, at the beginning of next spring, Garland plans to collect more than 10,000 barrels of maple syrup...... It is purified maple syrup, not unpurified maple syrup......

In general, a vat of maple syrup weighs about 200 pounds. And the maple syrup from an old sugar maple tree can hold about a bucket. But a bucket of maple syrup can only extract about three pounds of maple syrup. To make a bucket of maple syrup, you need to collect maple juice from more than 30 sugar maple trees...... And to obtain 10,000 barrels of maple syrup, it is equivalent to collecting maple syrup from more than 300,000 sugar maple trees......

Of course, the number of sugar maple trees is not a problem. After all, the last thing that Canada lacks is the sugar maple. But the problem is, Garland is short of manpower and tools......

Collecting the sap from more than 300,000 sugar maple trees, plus refining maple syrup, requires a lot of hands. Moreover, to collect the sap, a lot of barrels and pipes are required.

Pipes are fine, and Garland's carpenters can make woodpipes. But the barrel, then it's very difficult. There is so much timber for barreling in the Americas that it is everywhere. Iron or copper hoops for hoop barrels, as well as the dry oil needed to make wooden barrels (tung oil is not available in Europe, only flax oil can be used) is very scarce.

Therefore, this time, Garland not only asked Marin to support his group of collectors, but also a large number of iron or copper hoops for hoop barrels. and N barrels of flax oil for barrel making. There is also an iron cone for drilling tree holes......

……

In fact, Garland had already negotiated with Marlin to have the Indians help them collect maple syrup. Then, it is refined into maple syrup by the people of Garand. Then, Garand only needs to exchange those salt, cloth, glass beads, and other goods with them.

For this reason, Garand also sent a number of envoys who knew Indian language to the American continent this year to contact those Indian indigenous tribes.

Lured by the abundance of European goods, most of the Indian tribes agreed to cooperate with Garand. But there was a problem - the Indians did not know how to collect maple syrup and did not have the right tools......

So, for next year's maple juice harvesting, Garand needs a group of workers to demonstrate to the Indian tribes. At the same time, they were to be provided with a large number of barrels and pipes, as well as iron cones and other tools for drilling tree holes.

By the beginning of the following year, those Indians who had mastered the technology and had the tools did not need to be demonstrated. When the time comes, Garand will directly send someone to buy maple syrup, and then transport it back to Cape Breton Island for refining. Finally, the finished maple syrup is shipped back to Europe in barrels......