After talking about the artillery business, the Teutonic envoy Lev suddenly asked for another 50,000 sets of swords and armor, which surprised Marin.

"50,000 sets?" Marin was puzzled. Because, as far as he knew, since the defeat in the "Thirteen Years' War", the strength of the Teutonic Knights has been greatly reduced. Even if the strength of the North Sea was restored through trade, according to his cousin Peter, the Teutonic State was currently able to assemble a maximum of 7,200 heavy cavalry regiments composed of knights and knights' children, with a total of 60 cavalry banners (120 people per banner).

In addition, because of the abundance of trade over the years, the Teutonic nation could also hire 20,000 mercenaries. These mercenaries are mainly from Germany, including 8,000 people from Switzerland, which is still part of Germany, in addition to French and British mercenaries, and the combat effectiveness is very strong.

However, these people together numbered only 28,000, and even if the peasants were temporarily conscripted to serve as militia in wartime, at most more than 10,000 horses would be conscripted to guard the cities in the rear. Therefore, less than 50,000 sets of weapons and armor were used. Besides, the original Teutonian army was not unarmed. 50,000 new sets of swords and armor meant that the Teutonic kingdom would have to expand its army by 50,000......

But that's impossible!

Because, there are not so many strong men in the Teutonic country to recruit at all! At present, there are only 300,000 or 400,000 people in the Teutonic country, and the number of strong men is at most 60,000 or 70,00 However, even if there are 60,000 or 70,000 strong men, it is impossible to capture all of them to serve as soldiers. Because, if all the strong men are pulled into the army, the economy of the whole country will come to a standstill, and even the food supply chain will collapse. Therefore, even if the Teutonic country fights a national war, it is not bad to recruit half of the strong men, that is, thirty or forty thousand people.

In addition, because of the provocation of Poland and Lithuania, the nobles and citizens of Teutoni did not really support the rule of the Teutonic Knights, but faintly had antagonistic feelings with the Order. In the years since Grand Master Philip succeeded to the throne, he was busy rectifying the country and suppressing the aristocracy and burghers. Although the revolt of the nobles and burghers in the country is now basically controlled, it is impossible to expect them to help them fight and die for themselves......

In other words, this batch of weapons and armor is probably not just for the Teutonic army. Because, Peter's cousin came to Aurich three months ago, saying that the current weapons and equipment of the Teutonic country have been updated, and a large number of old weapons and armor have been eliminated......

And considering the recent various intelligence in Eastern Europe, Marin suddenly realized:

"Mr. Lev, are you the weapons and armor that you procured for the Muscovites?"

Lev's face froze suddenly, and then he smiled again and said:

"Your Majesty's eyes are really like a torch, that's right, we are buying for the Muscovites. I heard that the Muscovites were going to send troops to attack the Kazan Khanate, so they entrusted us with the help of purchasing 50,000 sets of swords and armor to conquer the Tatar infidels who did not believe in God......"

Worthy of a diplomat, Lev's lies come as soon as he opens his mouth. And, with the serious expression on his face, he said it as if it were true. If Marin hadn't heard about the Muscovites' plans, he might have believed it. For the Muscovites did have the idea of taking action against the other three khanates of the Kazan Khanate, the Astrakhan Khanate, and the Siberian Khanate, in addition to the powerful Crimean Khanate, which had Turkey as its backer.

Moreover, because Lithuania and Crimea were allied, the cost of westward expansion was too great, and the annexation of the three small khanates to the east was more feasible. So, Lev's lies seem to be true.

Because he was an ally, Marin didn't bother to expose it, so he said bluntly:

"It is impossible to supply weapons and armor to the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Because, I need to take into account the feelings of Lithuanians. Uncle Hule was my uncle, but Anne, the Lithuanian Grand Duchess, was also my sister. ”

"So, I can supply weapons and armor to the Teutons, but it is impossible to supply weapons and armor to the Muscovites. After all, they have no relatives with me, and I will let them die! ”

Lev's face flushed, but quickly recovered. He smiled and said:

"Your Majesty, don't worry, the sale of weapons and armor to the Muscovites is the business of our Teutons, and after we change hands, it will not be counted as the ones you sold to the Muscovites."

Marin still shook his head:

"No, the weapons and armor produced by the Beihai Kingdom are all made of stainless steel, and the quality is very different from that of other countries. If it falls into the hands of Muscovites, it will certainly be used against Lithuania and Poland. When the time comes, I won't be able to explain to my sister and brother-in-law. ”

"So, I don't care if you buy weapons and armor from others and sell them to Muscovites, but I can't sell them to you. Of course, as a neutral, I don't think I've heard about you helping the Muscovites buy weapons and armor......"

……

Actually, Marin is hinting at this - I will not meddle in your assistance to the Muscovites.

So, after Lev understood what Marin meant, he turned south and went to Nuremberg to purchase weapons and armor. Even, there were arquebuses and artillery.

Nuremberg was an important center of handicrafts in southern Germany at this time, and the manufacturing industry was very developed. Marin had previously taken the craftsmen who made the world's first rifled gun from here. There are many craftsmen here and there are many products. And because of the endless wars in this era, as a center of handicrafts, Nuremberg's weapons and armor manufacturing industry is also very developed. And the envoys of the Teutonic kingdom will definitely be able to buy the weapons and armor they need.

Although Nuremberg's weapons and armor were basically made of iron, they could not catch up with the steel products of the North Sea Kingdom. However, for the backward level of forging in Eastern Europe, it is definitely an incomparably sophisticated weapon armor. With these weapons and armor, the combat effectiveness of the army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow will definitely be able to rise to a higher level, and then, complete the crushing of the equipment of the Lithuanian army...... Because, the technical level of equipment of the Lithuanian army is lower than that of the German region.

In this era, excluding the Beihai country, the most developed European handicraft technology was probably Venice and Milan in northern Italy. Secondly, there is the southern part of Germany, which is located next to northern Italy. Even France, the largest knight country in Europe, often sent people to Nuremberg and other places in southern Germany to purchase Gothic plate armor and other sophisticated equipment.

Therefore, with 50,000 new sets of weapons and armor produced in southern Germany, the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which already had an advantage in military strength, would definitely be able to press the Lithuanians to the ground and rub them.

And that's exactly what the Teutons were happy to see. Because, if Lithuania is defeated by the Muscovites, Poland and Lithuania, the two friends, will not have time to take care of the affairs of the Teutonic state. When they attacked Livonia, the Poles and Lithuanians must have been busy resisting the Muscovites......

Perhaps, if Poland and Lithuania were defeated by the Muscovites, the Teutons would be able to regain large swathes of territory that had previously been ceded by Poland and Lithuania......

Therefore, the purchase of weapons and armor by the Muscovites this time was actually paid for with the help of the Teutons, who had saved a lot of money through trade. They even asked the envoy Lev to personally help the Muscovites purchase weapons, so as to achieve the goal of supporting the Muscovites to suppress the old enemies of the Lithuanias......