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Chapter 1198 Italian Marshal

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I found it in front of the battlefield. Inside was a fat bearded man who looked a bit like Grand Secretary Silva. He seemed to have fallen to death. There was no blood inside. But his elbow was broken and he couldn't turn."

Hong Tao did not pay attention to the pursuit of the army and the Warrior Battalion. He sat quietly beside the dining car, holding his rifle in a daze. Winning the battle was only the first step. How to turn victory into benefits was something that he, the emperor, had to consider clearly in advance.

But not everyone had the same problems in their heads as the emperor. Two Cuju players carried a half-body armor and a helmet with a mask over with laughter, and excitedly told the story of cleaning the battlefield. In their eyes, victory is victory, and victory means laughing, and the enemy means death, which is just and natural.

"Wow, this is a wonderful thing, so beautiful. The owner must be a wealthy noble, and it might have been passed down from ancestors. Keep it well, it will be meaningful to take it back as a souvenir. If you need money someday, ask someone to put it on Chessboard Street, and you may be able to exchange it for a four-wheeled carriage."

Hong Tao temporarily put away his thoughts and took a closer look at the armor. It must be said that European craftsmen have unique skills in metal processing. The black armor is inlaid with silver wire patterns and polished to a shiny finish.

I really can't tell whether it was produced in Milan or Greenwich. It's a pity that it's just a half-body armor. It would be perfect if I could get a full-body armor.

"We servants are not short of money, we just want to ask Your Majesty if we can put this set of armor outside the Meridian Gate so that the envoys from various countries who come to the audience can see it and kill their arrogance."

However, the two Cuju players who killed the most enemies and were eligible to choose the spoils did not want to take them for themselves, but wanted to take them back to the capital as exhibits. Their purpose was quite pure, not for appreciation, but for ridicule.

"Oh, that's interesting. Let me think about it... How about this? We can choose a route that envoys must take to enter the palace, and display the spoils of war from various countries on both sides, and introduce them with nameplates.

Wang Chengen, I leave this matter to you. It would be best if you could cover the spoils with glass to protect them from wind and rain. Give them 10 gold coins each and a month's vacation. They can get off the ship and play wherever they want on the way back."

Hong Tao was a little tempted by the two young eunuchs' words. After fighting for so many years and destroying so many regimes, why didn't they think of collecting some representative trophies and then holding an exhibition?

With these exhibits, every visiting envoy can be reminded without words of the strength of the Ming Empire. It can be considered a show of force, but it is almost like one.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace... I will take it down and clean it, then look for better ones. Bring them back and ask the carpenter to nail them into boxes!"

Although the reward was not much, the vacation was too precious. The two young eunuchs were surprised, but they felt that their contribution was not great enough, so they ran to the battlefield that was like hell on earth.

The Cuju players were not short of money, or they had money but had no place to spend it. Ordinary holidays were not very useful, they could just stroll around the capital, or at most go to Tongzhou Prefecture, but even then they had to report in advance and wait for approval.

This time was different, as I was allowed to leave Beijing and land at any port on my way back. For such a precious opportunity, I had to carefully consider where to disembark and where to go.

It must be said that Europeans were much richer than the Ottomans. Hong Tao returned to the tent, washed up, changed his clothes, and just sat down and put a cigar in his mouth when the Cuju team members came back with their hands full.

There were four or five sets of half-body armor of various styles, all with exquisite patterns and engravings; a large number of long swords, short swords, and curved swords, all inlaid with gold, silver, and jewels. In addition, there were several exquisitely crafted muskets and sets of gunpowder cans and ammunition bags, and then there were hats, jewelry, decorations, etc. Since they were all brought back, Hong Tao didn't want to discourage their enthusiasm. He pretended to be very interested and asked these overly energetic young people to sort them out by category and then write a brief introduction.

"Your Majesty, two pursuit troops have returned first and captured several prisoners. They seem to be high-ranking officials of the Holy Roman Empire, dukes of something or other."

"Duke? Bring him to the war room and I will interrogate him personally!"

Just when he was worrying about how to evaluate this pile of spoils, Lei Lao Hu showed up at the right time and brought a good excuse to get away. Hong Tao quickly took advantage of the situation and quickly got away from the pile of junk.

Matthias Gallas, Austrian Field Marshal, Duke of Lucera, in his forties, not tall, slightly plump, with black curly hair, a mustache on his lips and chin, and dark brown pupils.

Because the coalition army was defeated too quickly, they were not familiar with the terrain, and the guide got lost, the commander of the Venetian mercenaries, his adjutant, guards, grooms and 15 other people got lost in the swamp. As a result, they encountered the army that was following them and surrendered without saying a word.

He surrendered, but he still maintained the demeanor of a duke. He only reported his title and position, and said nothing else. He would not communicate until he met a general of equal standing.

The army captain knew that the title of Duke was not small, and thought it would be more appropriate to take the Duke back and hand him over to his superiors for handling, so he terminated the pursuit mission and brought back the Duke and more than a dozen followers.

"Oh, born in Italy, no wonder."

When Galas learned that the man sitting opposite the table was the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he immediately lowered his slightly raised chin. Without asking, he introduced himself in very standard Latin, and then Hong Tao was relieved.

Italians have made great contributions to Europe, especially in business and culture, but don't mention their military strength and wars. Except for the Roman Empire back then, there is really no military talent in their blood.

"I know Tilly and Wallenstein, but why don't you go fight the Swedes, Danes, Lowlanders, and French, instead of coming here to meddle in the war between Ming and the Ottoman Empire?"

Perhaps because the emperor's contemptuous expression was too obvious, Gallas felt despised and put forward two more names, claiming that they had served under the emperor and participated in many major battles.

This time, Hong Tao finally had some impression. These two were famous generals in the early stage of the Thirty Years' War. The former defeated the Protestant army commanded by the Danish king himself, and the latter killed the Swedish lion Gustav in the Battle of Lützen. It cannot be said that they changed history, but they did deviate the wheel of history a lot.

If Gustav II had not died young, large tracts of German land would have become Swedish territory, and it would even be hard to say whether Germany would still exist in the future.

But these two famous generals have been dead for several years. Even if they were still alive, it would be difficult for Hong Tao to be afraid of them. So it is useless to just mention them. Let's talk about why Ferdinand III ignored Protestantism and Spain and sent troops to the east.

(End of this chapter)