Scotland's two hundred plate knights lost very unjustly, and usually, in the face of light cavalry, the plate knights armed to the teeth were easily defeated by the opponent. No matter how bad it is, you have to scare your opponent away.

However, unexpectedly, this time, they kicked the iron plate - the clockwork lighter carbine, which is specially used to fight the plate knight......

The scouts on Arabian horses, first on horseback, retreated for a long distance under the pursuit of the Scottish plate knights. Then, the Scottish knight's horses ran out of strength......

Originally, the Scottish knights were fully armed and fled on war horses, which consumed a lot of physical strength of the war horses. Now, I turned around and chased for a while, but I couldn't run directly. If you don't take a break for a minute or two, you can't run again.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Mackensen commanded 500 scouts to slowly come up and raise their clockwork carbines to aim at the Scottish knights......

With a jumble of gunfire, the Scottish knights were knocked off their horses. Although very few were directly killed, most of them were injured and could not get up for a while......

Not at ease, Mackenson asked his men to load all the clockwork muskets, and then held the guns and cautiously leaned in......

There were indeed resistancers, some of the Scottish knights who were not injured in the fall, brandishing their swords, trying to see what the scout cavalry, but they were directly knocked to the ground by the platoon of guns, and countless bones were broken......

Then, 200 Scottish knights, who were highly skilled in martial arts, were captured in such a humiliated manner. With the exception of a few who were killed, most of the Scottish knights were wounded and captured......

Afterwards, Mackensen thought of the "suspected big fish" that ran away, and hurriedly led most of the people to continue the pursuit north, leaving some people to escort the injured Scottish knights back to camp.

Halfway through, however, Mackensen was surprised to find that Marić was heading south with a group of thieves and a dozen men in plate armor tied up with flowers. Those people seem to be the "big fish" who escaped under the cover of those Scottish knights.

And what makes Mackensen extremely jealous is that this "big fish" is actually the king of Scotland!

You must know that even if Marin, who is the lord, his greatest merit is nothing more than an ambush to defeat Charles VIII's knightly legion, but he still let Charles VIII run away. The capture of a king alive like Marić's is nothing short of a miracle.

"You bastard, this time it's developed. Capture the Scottish king alive, at least you can change a baron! Mackenson said with red eyes. For a moment, Mackensen even wanted to destroy Marić's people and swallow the credit himself. In the end, he still suppressed this greed. Anyway, he defeated 200 Scottish knights, and the credit was enough to be promoted to hereditary knights. Previously, Mackensen was only a knight of the common knighthood. He is a close confidant of Sauer, and after Sauer was promoted, he became a minister, so naturally he didn't have to personally lead the team to reconnoitre. So, Mackenson, who was relatively capable, was promoted to take over his command of the Scout Cavalry Regiment.

When Mackensen's men escorted a group of Scottish knights back to the Scottish camp, the battle in the Scottish camp was not over. Because the Scots were on guard, some of them wore clothes and weapons before going to bed at night. They each formed a small formation and resisted for a long time, inflicting more than a thousand casualties on Marin's army. This was a record-breaking battle in Marin's night raid.

But fortunately, Marin's men had a high rate of armor. Even ordinary soldiers wore wooden chips with iron pieces to pierce their armor, and their protection was very good. So, even if there are more than a thousand casualties, most of them are injured. With the treatment of alcohol, gold sore medicine and gauze, most people can still be saved. No more than 100 people actually died.

Looking at the 200 Scottish knights who were carried back, Marin's heart suddenly changed. So, he beckoned and called the military doctor. These military doctors were all disciples of Mozhigen and Battle, who were familiar with Mongolian medicine and were best at bone grafting and bruises. Therefore, it is not wrong to hand over these Scottish knights with broken bones to them. After all, these knights are all people with a certain amount of wealth, and the ransom can reach hundreds of gold coins each...... As expensive "meat tickets", Marin is obliged to guarantee that they do not die......

When Marić returned with King James IV of Scotland, Marin grew his mouth in surprise - Nima, this time he caught a king, it was a big deal......

……

Although the Scottish soldiers were prepared, they resisted stubbornly. However, in the face of twice as strong an enemy, and being divided and surrounded early, no matter how brave they were, they could not avoid the fate of defeat.

Shortly after James IV was returned, the entire Scottish camp fell......

Marin and Edward, with James IV, who was tied up with five flowers, entered the Chinese army tent that originally belonged to James IV......

At this time, James IV also knew the identities of Edward and Marin. So, after entering the tent, he roared:

"Edward, what do you mean? You let the great enemy Henry VII not attack, why did you come to fight me? We're on the same side! If you stab your allies like this, you will be despised by all the nobles! "James IV decided to take the lead and refute Edward in general terms, and it was better to let the other side let him go.

Edward, on the other hand, was prepared, and he replied calmly:

"Your Majesty, I recall, you and your army were not invited into England, did you? Your march is an invasion of England. As King of England, I have an obligation to stop your invasion! ”

"I'm here to help you, how can you deal with me?" In order to get out, James IV began to quibble.

"Help me? Oh, didn't you see the white rose flag at the head of Newcastle? That's the hallmark of my York family. The White Rose flag is hoisted at the head of Newcastle City, indicating that this is my territory. Are you still attacking an ally? Edward replied with a sneer.

Suddenly, James IV ran out of words. Yes, Newcastle's Captain of the Guard, Sivarg, made himself clear at the outset - we are His Majesty Edward's men. As a result, the Scottish army ignored the reason, and continuing to attack was indeed not the duty of the allies.

After settling James IV in his place, Edward began to negotiate with Marin on what to do with James IV. Edward was also feeling tricky now, and if James IV died on the battlefield, it would be easy to say. Now, the other party has been captured alive, and he can't do anything to him. And the method of murder in the shipwreck, as Marin said, "is indispensable". The nephews who murdered him, everyone criticized at most. The murder of the king of a country is to be isolated and hostile to all of Europe. Even if you want to kill, you have to be clean, and you have to get rid of yourself.

"Archduke Marin, you say, what should I do with this James IV?"

"Change money! O king, it's worth a lot of ransom! Marin's eyes were filled with gold coins.

"Money?" Edward's head was suddenly full of black lines - Lao Tzu wanted Scottish territory, not money! So, he suppressed his anger and said:

"I want Scotland, not money!"

Marin shook his head directly and said:

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, it is not appropriate to annex the Kingdom of Scotland until England has stabilized. Otherwise, you'll have even more headaches! ”

Edward nodded, he also knew that it was not advisable to annex Scotland until England was stabilized, otherwise it would be easy to die. However, he was not reconciled:

"If we miss this opportunity, it will be difficult for us to catch James IV next time......"

Indeed, it is easy to catch a wild king in the wild, but it seems too difficult to break through the royal capital of other people and catch the king of other people......

In fact, before this, the HRE Emperor was able to capture the king of England, and it was also because Richard I was in a hurry to return home to quell the rebellion, and passed through Vienna disguised as a merchant, and there were not too many troops around him, so he was easily caught.

Marin suddenly turned his head and said with a slight smile:

"Why did you let him go?"

Edward was stunned for a moment, and said:

"You mean to imprison him like that?"

Marin shook his head and said:

"What a waste, we could imprison him and demand a huge ransom from Scotland. You know, a king is worth 1 million gold coins......"

"1,000,000 gold coins...... Edward was a little dizzy, he had never seen so much money. At the current exchange rate, one pound is equal to four gold coins, which is equivalent to 250,000 pounds.

Of course, this pound is impure. Because of the reduced purity of the currency, one pound is now only equivalent to 170 grams of sterling silver, which is equivalent to four gold coins, and is not as valuable as in the early years.

"Of course, when Richard I was captured by Emperor Henry VI, didn't he also ask for 150,000 marks (equivalent to 100,000 pounds) of sterling silver?"

At that time, the silver was not adulterated, and the purity was still guaranteed. Of course, a pound of silver does not refer to 453.59 grams of silver, but to 373.242 grams (equivalent to 12 ounces) using the troy pound system. And because silver coins were not pure silver (sterling silver was too soft to be minted, and silver dollars were mixed with copper to ensure hardness), one pound at that time was equivalent to 350 grams of sterling silver (much better than the current 170 grams of one pound).

Marin offered 1 million gold coins, equivalent to 250,000 pounds, more than 20% more than the ransom paid by Richard I that year. But given the price increases over the centuries, it is no more expensive than the ransom of Richard I.

"But can Scotland afford to pay the ransom of 1 million gold coins? What's more, there are thousands of prisoners of war in Houda...... "Although the number of prisoners of war has not been counted, Edward estimates that it can be exchanged for a ransom of hundreds of thousands of gold coins."

Scotland has a population of only 500,000 people due to the country's rugged terrain and underdeveloped agriculture. In order to repay the ransom of 150,000 marks in England, Richard I was reduced to the extent that he led his army to rob and died. Therefore, Edward seriously doubted that the Kingdom of Scotland would be able to get 1 million gold coins...... With those prisoners of war, Scotland certainly can't afford to pay the ransom......

"It's just that they can't afford it, so that you can hold James IV for a long time. If the ransom is not paid, he will not be let back. I guess it's going to take years. And after all these years, you must have a firm grip on England. When the time comes, wouldn't it be better to send troops to annex Scotland in the name that Scotland is unwilling to pay the ransom? ”

"What a brilliant idea!" Edward's eyes lit up.

Indeed, he could not kill James IV casually. However, he could demand a huge ransom that the Scottish kingdom could not afford, so that Scotland could not afford to pay it back. In this way, Edward had a reason to detain James IV for a long time. As a result, the Kingdom of Scotland has been leaderless for a long time. James IV originally had two younger brothers, but both died, and neither of them left any descendants. In this way, Scotland will be leaderless for a long time. Even, James IV has no descendants. In this way, as long as the time is ripe, England can indeed easily annex Scotland......

"But I can't kill James IV, he's alive, and he's still a threat to my annexation of Scotland......"

"Then tear up the ticket...... We first used James IV as a hostage to blackmail the Kingdom of Scotland, draining the Scottish Kingdom's finances so that they could no longer afford to feed their armies against England. In the end, they swallowed Scotland on the pretext that they didn't want to pay all the ransoms. As for how to settle James IV...... Your Majesty, you can send killers to lurk in the territory of Scotland. After you put James IV back in the country, send a killer to intercept him halfway. In this way, what does not happen in England, you can pass the blame, and the opposition who puts the blame on James IV is ......"

"Assassination of James IV on the territory of Scotland? What a great idea! Edward's eyes lit up. James IV had no heirs, no brothers or nephews. As soon as he died, there would be no legal heirs in Scotland. When the time comes, it will be easier for England to send troops to annex Scotland......

But Edward thought for a moment and said:

"No, I remember that King James II of Scotland had a youngest son named Alexander, Duke of Albany in the Kingdom of Scotland. He has an heir named John, the current Duke of Albany. Didn't we kill James IV just in time to give John, Duke of Albany, a chance to inherit the throne? If this is there, my annexation of Scotland will still have an impact. ”

Marin thought for a moment and said:

"This is simple, the killer you sent to assassinate James IV deliberately left the Mark of the Duke of Albany on the scene. In this way, when you march into Scotland, according to this clue, you will directly conclude that it was John, Duke of Albany, who sent someone to assassinate James IV in order to seize the throne. You, 'out of justice,' have come to avenge James IV and execute John, Duke of Albany. Incidentally...... Took over the entire Kingdom of Scotland......"

"High, really high!" Edward gave a thumbs up in admiration......

Then, Edward and Marin, the two embarrassed guys, had a detailed consultation on the shameless plan of "blackmailing first, then tearing the ticket" against the Scottish king. After the discussion, both of them let out a lewd and weird laugh of "hehe...... In the camp, a cloudy wind blew......