In addition to a few high-ranking generals such as Saqqara and Sivag, many middle- and lower-level officials also need to be rewarded. The people of the main army of the British king led by Sivag were naturally rewarded by Edward himself. But the reward for the middle and lower rank officers under Marin has a very interesting situation.

First of all, there are two kinds of rewards this time, one is a financial reward, which is a common practice; The other is the most important fief reward.

There is nothing wrong with Edward's financial rewards. After all, the battle was fought for him. Fortunately, Edward killed all the nobles of England before, and he reaped a lot of benefits from raiding his family, but he had a little money to deal with.

As for the fief rewards, especially those of the Fourth and Fifth Legions under Marin, there were some peculiar circumstances......

The fiefdom rewards for the meritorious soldiers of the Fourth Legion of Saqqara were all arranged by Marin, and this was no problem. The problem was that the officers of the Fifth Legion, who were stationed in London, had a different situation in the reward of fiefs - Edward actually bypassed Marlin and rewarded a dozen of them with very good fiefs, all near London......

Marin's eyes narrowed suddenly—this is to dig into my corner......

In fact, Edward wanted to dig into Marlin's corner, and Marlin already knew about it. While Sivarg was stationed in London with the Fifth Legion, Edward was secretly trying to win over the officers of the Fifth Legion, seeking them to serve him. And this, Sivag reported a long time ago.

Sivag himself was not impressed (in fact, he was worried that he was not an English and could not be really used), but the composition of the officers of his Fifth Army was more complicated.

At the beginning, when the Fifth Army was formed, only a dozen or so of his cronies brought by Sivag and a group of Frisian officers supported by Marin were sent by Marin. The other officers, especially those in the middle and lower ranks, were mainly native to England.

However, a 10,000-strong army is divided into 8 phalanxes, and each phalanx has a chief and deputy phalanx leader, which makes it 16 main and deputy phalanx leaders. Then, every 250 people are a company, so that there are 40 companies, a total of 80 company captains and deputy company leaders. As for the 400 25-person squads, there is no need to talk about it, 800 main and deputy squad leaders......

Of course, Edward wouldn't deign to woo those captains and vice-captains. The people he wooed were basically the 16 chief and deputy phalanx commanders and 80 chief and deputy company commanders of the Fifth Army Corps. In addition, Sivarg and his deputies were also co-opted......

However, Sivarg and his lieutenants, including the Frisian officers sent by Marin, basically did not agree to Edward's wooing. However, there were English officers in the Fifth Legion. These native English officers had a distinctly stronger sense of belonging to Edward than to Marin. Therefore, in the end, more than a dozen phalanx commanders and company commanders accepted Edward's woo and secretly took refuge in Edward. Now, of course, it's coming to light.

These dozen or so officers of the Fifth Army Corps were not commanders, but some deputy phalanx commanders and deputy company commanders and the like. Mainly, the middle and high-ranking positions of the Fifth Army were occupied by the Frisians. Well, those native Englanders, even if they are excellent, can only serve as deputies. And this is one of the important reasons why those English officers fell to Edward. Because, Marin trusted the Frisians even more.

……

After the reward, Edward approached Marin again and asked Sivarg to be stationed in Edinburgh with half of the officers of the Fifth Legion.

This requirement is both normal and abnormal. Normally, after taking Scotland, England always had to station enough troops in Scotland to ensure that it could maintain its rule in Scotland. The Fifth Regiment was in good combat and was sent to be stationed in Edinburgh, and it seemed that there was no problem.

The abnormality is that why half of it......

You must know that the Fifth Legion has 10,000 men, and although its combat effectiveness is at the bottom of Marin's five legions, it is stronger than the British King's Legion formed by Edward himself. If you really value the combat effectiveness of the Fifth Army, you should send it all to Edinburgh.

But in the next personnel arrangement, Marin saw Edward's idea - he wanted to swallow the other half of the Fifth Legion......

According to Edward's arrangement, Sivag was stationed in Edinburgh with 5,000 officers of the Fifth Army. At the same time, however, Edward also selected 5,000 men from the recruits and added them to Sivarg's command and stationed them in Edinburgh.

Because there were 5,000 recruits, Edward asked whether to arrange for experienced officers to train them. Then, the officers of the other half of the Fifth Army who belonged to Sivarg's cronies were impressively listed. The dozen or so deputy phalanx commanders and deputy company captains who were co-opted by Edward were all retained......

Obviously, Edward wanted to swallow half of the Fifth Army through a series of means. And the 5,000 recruits can be regarded as compensation for Marin......

……

Marin was very unhappy, and his face was a little broken. When Edward saw this, he only had to appease him personally. The reason given by Edward is also very simple - he is the king of England, a European power, and he cannot do without a strong army of cronies under his command.

Then, Edward also confessed his next plan - he planned to use the 5,000 soldiers of the Fifth Legion to use it as a theme, and then draw the most elite 5,000 men from the existing British Legion and reorganize them into a new British Legion. The other half of the former British Legion that was eliminated was relegated to local armies, stationed in various important cities in England.

In fact, the foundation of the British Legion that Edward had formed was not bad. In particular, the quality of the troops is better than that of the Fifth Army. But the problem lies primarily with the officers.

Strictly speaking, the British Legion was trained with the help of officers of the Fifth Legion, such as Sivarg, and the training methods were very similar. However, the officers of the two legions are different......

The officers of the Fifth Legion were either Sivarg's cronies, or Marin had drawn the most gifted low-level officers from his original army. Some phalanx commanders were originally just small soldiers under Marin, but because of their good talent, they were discovered and promoted by Marin and his generals, became middle-level officers, and were also awarded the title of knight.

The original British Legion was different, and the officers of that British Legion were all selected by Edward from among the middle and lower noble families of England who had taken refuge with him.

But the problem is that Henry VII was a relatively promising monarch at the beginning. Previously, the more capable nobles of the English aristocracy basically joined the army of Henry VII. Then, because of the defeat, he was either killed or abandoned.

As a result, when Edward took the throne, the range of choices that could be made was very small - either incompetent or incompetent...... Mainly because Henry VII didn't look down on it before......

In this way, even if Edward copied the training methods of the Fifth Legion, it would still be useless. One general is incompetent, and the three armies are exhausted. What's more, Edward's British legion is incompetent among all generals?

Moreover, Edward had just succeeded in seizing the throne, and he did not dare to offend all the nobles of England, so he could only pinch his nose and promote the children of the nobles who had defected to his family to become officers.

But then, Edward also woke up to the fact that officers really matter......

However, even so, Edward did not dare to promote gifted civilians easily. Because, this will cause the nobles to alienate him.

In the end, he had no choice but to turn his mind on Marin's Fifth Legion......

Although many of the officers of the Fifth Army were actually homeless people recruited by Marin and Sivarg in England. But the problem is that after Marin's promotion, they are no longer civilians, but officers who have proven their strength. In particular, over time, they have also made great achievements. If these capable officers were brought in from the Fifth Legion, the nobles would not be able to say anything. This is like a Chinese proverb - foreign monks are good at chanting......

If you were to promote commoners in England, the English nobility would be furious—are you going to abandon the aristocracy?

However, poaching people from the army of Marin, the North Sea Kingdom, which had achieved brilliant results, even if it was a former English commoner, those English nobles could not say anything.

Why? Because these civilians were not the original English civilians, they had been gilded in the North Sea army in Marin. This is equivalent to the fact that in the future, the children of a peasant family went abroad to study at Harvard, Oxford and other universities, and it will be different when they come back......

Moreover, if you can poach people from Marin, those nobles will not only not be able to object, but will applaud - this is taking advantage of foreigners...... Then the question of those capable officers of the Fifth Army who had been civilians in England was downplayed instead......

……

Edward rambled for a long time, and summed it up in one sentence - he did not dare to offend the English nobles, and rashly promoted commoners to officers. Therefore, I had to find another way to poach people from Marin's men......

Marin rolled his eyes when he heard this—Nima, don't you have the guts to come and harm me?" Although what you say makes a lot of sense, I'm just not happy. Because, my interests have been damaged......

So, Marin expressed his dissatisfaction - that was not an ordinary veteran, it was five thousand veterans who had experienced several major battles and had seen blood! Hmm, ahem...... That one...... The compensation is a bit small......

……

Marin was originally very annoyed, but then he thought about it - anyway, you made my son Caesar's wedding dress, and you didn't have anything to take advantage of, anyway, in the end, it was cheaper for my son......

However, it is not okay to let Edward take advantage of him like this. So, it has to be compensated......

Then, the two sides began to discuss how to compensate......

……

It is not possible to give another fief, because in general, fiefs can only be rewarded for military exploits. However, Edward could not afford to give money......

What to do? Marin thought that he had to reap the benefits......

In the end, he finally thought of a condition:

"Your Majesty, give me ownership of all the coal mines in England and Scotland!"

"Coal mines?" Edward was a little confused......

In Europe, the land was divided between the king, the nobility, and the church. However, the mines are all king's. In order to open a mine, ordinary people had to buy mining rights from the king.

And the richest mineral in England is probably coal mine. The Newcastle coal mine that Marin now has is actually only an important source of coal in the UK, and not all of it.

Mainly, the Newcastle Coal Mine was a major source of coal in London due to its proximity to the sea and easy access to the sea. Therefore, it is particularly famous. Other regions, such as the steel hub of Birmingham, are rich in coal.

Marin asked Edward for coal mines in England and even Scotland, and he wanted to be the first coal boss in Great Britain......

At this time, the Industrial Revolution had not yet emerged, and coal resources were not taken seriously in the UK. Although coal and salt were an important industry in England, it was not in the hands of the king, but in the hands of the local nobility. So, Edward's knowledge of coal is insufficient. So, he nodded and agreed to Marin's request:

"Well, I agree to give you all the coal mines in England and Scotland. Of course, the coal mines that were sold before can't be given to you. After all, it's all on file, and I can't let the royal family lose its trust. ”

Marin, the new British No. 1 coal boss, smiled and waved his hand, indicating that there was no problem. Of course, he had already planned for a long time - although those coal mines were sold, I could also recoup them at a high price......

Before the rise of the Industrial Revolution, coal mines were not very valuable and were not taken seriously. Marin plans to take advantage of the current bottom, take all the coal mines in England under his control, and become an energy monopolist similar to PetroChina and Sinopec in the future. When you start to promote the steam engine yourself, you can lie down on the coal mine and count the money and play......

After getting the power of attorney, Marin laughed:

"Ahaha, I'm the No. 1 coal boss in the UK now. Left in the afterlife, it is equivalent to an oil tycoon! In the future, I want to live a luxurious life with money to light cigarettes...... No, there is no banknote right now...... Well, let's light a cigarette with a bank check......"