In fact, if Marin had known about the Frentzberg arrangement, he would have guessed this outcome. Why? Because there are too many princes and soldiers!

If you ambush a few thousand enemy troops, you may be able to completely annihilate them. 60,000 enemy troops can be ambushed on narrow mountain roads...... Unless the door is closed and the dog is beaten, it will definitely not be completely wiped out. Because, there are too many people. Even 60,000 pigs will have to be killed for several days, let alone 60,000 soldiers.

Moreover, the mountain road is narrow, and if you want to chase and kill, there is no wide enough road to chase. Frederick III sacrificed 30,000 or 40,000 people, and blocked the mountain road at once, and Frenzberg had no way to chase after him......

However, the alliance of the princes gave up the 40,000 people, and Frentzberg was also fed. It is not that these people are useful, but that these men have brought with them a lot of grain, baggage, and looted gold and silver treasures.

Frederick III fled with the coalition army, so naturally he didn't have time to take away those grain baggage and treasures, after all, his life mattered. So, on the road to Basel, there were abandoned grain carts and wagons and carts carrying baggage and gold and silver treasures.

Therefore, after deterring the remaining 30,000 or thousands of allied troops, Frenzberg was naturally able to enjoy the food and gold and silver treasures discarded on the road.

Frenzberg happily arranged for his men to take over the grain and gold and silver treasures, especially the military rations, which were supposed to feed 60,000 troops and 40,000 people, so there were too many to count. With this batch of rations, Frenzberg's corps could eat until next year. As for other burdens and treasures of gold and silver, they are not so important.

Marin once emphasized that in times of war, food is king! Without food, armies will collapse and people will starve. Therefore, in times of war, food is always more important than gold and silver treasures.

In fact, in troubled times, the reason why the population of the common people decreased sharply was not because the common people were directly killed by the rebels, but because the people's food was robbed by the army. Then, a large number of people starved to death. Those who really died under the butcher's knife were a few. Of course, although those rebels did not directly kill people, those people also starved to death because of the rebels stealing food. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with counting the blood debt on their heads.

Because he remembered Marin's teachings back then, Frenzberg directly asked his subordinates to escort the people brought by the alliance of princes and transported all the grain trucks into the town of Kostar. Then, wait for the transshipment of Lucerne. When the grain was finished, the gold, silver, treasure, and other baggage began to be transported.

……

At this time, Karl, the adjutant in charge of counting the prisoners of war and casualties, came over with a bitter face. When he saw Frentzberg, Karl said depressedly:

"My lord, our casualties this time are not small, close to three thousand!"

"Three thousand? Not much. "Frentzberg is a little strange, three thousand for tens of thousands of the other party, it's earned.

Karl shook his head and continued:

"Having said that, but our casualties this time, 2,000 of them are elite, and they are concentrated in the stormtroopers......"

"This ......" Frenzberg also reacted, and he led three thousand stormtroopers to charge the most elite knight troops of the enemy army, and indeed suffered a lot of casualties. If it weren't for the desperate protection of the guards, he might have hung up. After all, the knights on the opposite side are all masters of martial arts since childhood. Against such a strong opponent, it is difficult to avoid heavy casualties. It's just that he didn't expect to lose two-thirds of the stormtrooper warriors. You know, the stormtroopers are the most elite fighters under his command, and the loss of most of them really hurts him very much.

……

Just when Frenzberg was feeling sad, Karl continued:

"And that's not the most important thing, the most important thing is that our army now has only 12,000 regular troops left. And the alliance of the princes fled about 25,000 troops, and now they have no problem fleeing for their lives, but when they come to their senses and run to join the French, our 12,000 people can't stop it at all! ”

Frenzberg was shocked - even if the coalition of princes was poorly combat, the 25,000 army could cooperate with 20,000 elite French troops and Swiss mountain people...... He now has only 12,000 regular troops, plus more than 4,000 militiamen...... Indeed, there is a lot of bad luck......

Before, he only cared about the joy of victory, and only now did Frenzberg realize to his horror that the crisis was still not resolved......

"What to do? What to do? Frenzberg paced back and forth in a hurry......

And Karl's next words made Frenzberg even more nervous:

"Commander, I think Frederick III, who has withdrawn to Basel at this time, will be relieved, and will guess that our army has come here to ambush them. Although due to the problem of demoralization, the alliance of princes was unable to counterattack us for a short time. However, his subordinates feared that he would send messengers to the French camp west of Lucerne by another route to inform the French of the fact that our troops were not in Lucerne. When the time comes, the French will certainly not give up a great opportunity to capture Lucerne. ”

"Then I immediately ordered to send 10,000 men back to Lucerne to assist in the defense, and as for the rest, stay in Kostal to take care of the captured supplies and prisoners!" Frenzberg Road.

"No, Commander, we've taken 65,000 prisoners! Only 2,000 soldiers remained, and they couldn't be controlled! ”

"65,000 captives? So much? The people of the alliance of the princes are less than 40,000...... Could it be ......" Frenzberg was a little surprised.

"Yes, most of the 30,000 men in the former army of the princes' coalition army have surrendered. The infantry behind us also caught up a lot. The real dead and wounded coalition soldiers were actually only about 7,000. Moreover, most of them were trampled to death because of chaos, and many were stoned to death. There are not many ...... who are really killed in battle" Speaking of this, Carl's expression was a little strange.

In fact, the ancient army was like this, and the defeat was like a mountain. Once you lose, it doesn't matter if you have more or fewer people, as long as you lose, the soldiers will run blindly. Then, the stampede of men and horses caused many more casualties than in real battles. In particular, a large number of armies are most prone to this situation once defeated.

"So we now have 25,000 prisoners of war?"

"No, 27,000 prisoners of war to be exact!" Carl corrected.

Frenzberg was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly asked:

"What kind of troops are these prisoners of war?"

Karl thought for a moment and said:

"It's all infantry, about 18,000 mercenaries, and 9,000 low-powered conscripts."

"18,000 mercenaries?" Frenzberg's eyes lit up. Because, he remembered a story that Marin once told......

It was the story of 30,000 poor ghosts who crossed the Yellow River to fight the invading army......

It is said that when the 30,000 poor ghost warriors crossed the Yellow River, they were dressed in tatters, their weapons were poor, and their ammunition was insufficient. However, by absorbing heroes from all sides, this army has snowballed in strength, and a few years later, it has reached more than a million people. Then, there is capital to start competing for the world......

In the story told by Ma Lin, this originally very poor army, every time it defeats the enemy, especially a unit called the "puppet army" that loves to send equipment, it will mobilize some puppet army soldiers to join him. If you don't want to join, put it back, and then take it prisoner next time, so that they can continue to send equipment......

In addition to this, this army also absorbed guerrillas and even bandits. As long as the goal is the same, the foundation is not too dark, and basically those who come do not refuse. So, in a few years, they added a million troops......

Of course, they are particular about absorbing those troops whose foundations are not very innocent. That is, to break up and reorganize, and never let the original black troops maintain the original structure. Moreover, for bandits and surrendered troops, it is basically necessary to purge the bandit leaders and generals in the surrendered troops before accepting those minions. Of course, I also have to plan to rearrange it......

……

Thinking of this, Frentzberg's heart became hot - can I also learn this trick and swallow up those mercenaries?

Those conscripts, Frenzberg obviously did not look down on, they were just a group of farmers with weapons, that is, "cannon fodder" as Marin once said.

And those mercenaries are different, most of them are veterans of battle, and they have a certain combat quality. Moreover, they only fought for money, and did not intend to take refuge in a certain prince, whoever gave money would die for whomever he wanted.

Of course, these German mercenaries were not enough compared to the well-trained fighters of the Habsburg "Swiss Legion" under Frenzberg. On the frontal battlefield, Frentzberg could guarantee that his soldiers would be able to torture them completely.

However, Frenzberg now did not need an elite army directly facing the enemy, but a group of soldiers to help defend the city.

And these mercenaries, who have some combat experience, are the best ones to defend the city...... Cannon fodder......

Don't look at these mercenaries as inferior to the elite of his subordinates, and they can't beat the elite French soldiers. However, if they were to be brought to Lucerne to defend the city, there would be no problem. After all, relying on the city wall, these mercenaries with slightly inferior combat effectiveness can also play a very good role......

……

Of course, as Marin said before, these mercenaries who are not loyal enough cannot keep them in their original form. Because, with a leader, these people will have their own little ninety-nine in their hearts, and it will become difficult to control.

Therefore, Frentzberg decided to learn from the snowballing army in Marin's story - not mercenary generals, and break up and reorganize those mercenary soldiers......

……

After thinking it through, Frenzberg instructed the adjutant Karl:

"Let's go see the mercenaries who have surrendered, I'm going to take them in!"

……

"Recruit those surrendered troops? They're not reliable, and they'll do anything for the sake of money......" Adjutant Karl worried.

"What's that? Didn't we seize a lot of gold and silver this time? Give it to them! I want more than 10,000 troops, and I am fully sure that I will be able to hold the line of defense and not let the French advance a single step. Even if the remaining princes' coalition forces and the French army are together, they can stop it! ”

……