After recruiting his attendants, Marin began training them.
After all, he was preparing for battle, and his attendants couldn’t go into it without knowledge.
Marin personally spent money to buy leather armor and a spear for each of his six attendants.
He also had a blacksmith forge an iron helmet for each of them, modeled after the famous German M35 steel helmet.
Of course, these weren’t actual steel helmets but rather iron ones, which couldn’t compare in quality.
Still, for the time, they were sufficient.
Old Hoffman, Marin’s father, wasn’t stingy either.
Knowing his son was going to war and that the family was now more financially stable due to Marin’s improved farming techniques, he provided five draft horses for the attendants.
Thus, five of the stronger attendants each received a horse.
The weaker Kohler continued driving the four-wheeled ox cart, pulled by the large black ox named “Li Chen.” The young calf, Dallas, was left behind at the Hoffman estate to join the farming workforce once it grew.
Next, Marin focused on training the five attendants in horsemanship.
In fact, only Kahn had some experience, having ridden an ox for a long time.
The other four, including Schwarz, had little to no experience riding horses.
Every morning, Marin trained the attendants in riding, while in the afternoons, they practiced spear combat on horseback and foot combat.
Kahn excelled at horsemanship, while Schwarz dominated in combat, often overwhelming Marin in foot battles.
Though Marin’s skills were on par with Schwarz’s, his physique couldn’t compare.
At 16, Marin stood around 1.73 meters tall, slender with average strength, while the 20-year-old Schwarz stood at 1.83 meters, with a muscular build.
When they were evenly matched in skill, Schwarz’s physical advantage always prevailed.
Only when on horseback could Marin use his superior riding skills to defeat Schwarz.
However, this was mainly because Schwarz’s riding skills were lacking.
Once Schwarz improved, Marin expected to be overpowered again.
Frustrated, Marin began drinking bone broth daily, hoping to grow taller and stronger.
As for Kahn, Marin realized that his spear skills were lacking, but his strength made him a natural with a heavy club.
So, Marin had a blacksmith forge a mace for Kahn, encouraging him to swing it powerfully.
Soon, during their foot battles, Kahn, wielding the mace, began to hold his own against Schwarz, unlike when using a spear.
Even in mounted combat, Kahn’s power with the mace became more evident.
Marin, the best rider among them, avoided direct confrontations with Kahn when he was swinging the weapon.
But Marin soon devised a strategy, teaching Kahn to use the mace to deflect the opponent’s lance and then quickly strike back at the knight.
(This technique was effective against plate-armored knights, as they usually held the lance with one hand, making it easier to knock the lance off course with a two-handed mace. Moreover, plate-armored knights had limited mobility, making it hard for them to dodge.)
The result was that Marin became his own victim—Kahn managed to knock him off his horse during one of their mounted practice battles.
Fortunately, the training grounds were covered with thick grass, and both were wearing chest armor, so the fall wasn’t too harmful.
However, falling from such a height was still painful.
Even with chest armor, Marin sustained minor injuries when hit in the chest by the mace.
Luckily, they were only lightly trotting during the mock charge.
In a real, high-speed charge, being knocked off a horse could lead to severe injury or death.
Aside from combat training, Marin drilled his attendants in formation tactics, especially teaching them to follow commands like turning left or right.
Even the simplest commands, like turning left or right, frustrated Marin.
Only Schwarz, who was educated, followed directions well.
The other four, despite months of training and numerous beatings, struggled to grasp these basic maneuvers.
When it came to moving in formation, they could manage a steady march after a month of training.
But once they initiated a charge, the formation quickly fell apart, with some surging ahead and others lagging behind.
Eventually, Marin gave up on the idea of a formation charge, understanding that it was too much to expect from his not-so-bright men.
He realized that even historical infantry phalanxes only advanced slowly in formation, and charging in battle formation was reserved for chasing down fleeing enemies.
Once he lowered his expectations, his men were barely competent at moving forward and backward in a neat formation.
By mid-October, Marin estimated that Emperor Maximilian I was beginning to collect war taxes in his territories.
It was time to head to Vienna.
By the time he arrived, the first round of taxes would likely be collected, giving him a chance to join the Emperor’s army.
After all, with 60,000 French soldiers to contend with, the Emperor would need more troops.
His current 16,000 soldiers were also tasked with defending the homeland, especially against Hungary, which was in conflict with the Habsburg family.
A few years earlier, Hungarian King Matthias I had occupied most of Austria and even Vienna, the Habsburg family’s heartland.
If Matthias hadn’t died suddenly, Maximilian I might never have regained Austria.
Now, Hungary’s Jagiellonian dynasty controlled both Hungary and Bohemia, making them a formidable force.
Thus, the Emperor needed new troops for the Italian War.
Around this time, the family’s coal mine began turning a profit, much earlier than expected.
Marin had already solved the biggest issue—sales.
The Hoffman family simply transported the coal to the docks, where merchants from the Wiggins Company (Leiter’s company) picked it up.
They paid generously, in cash.
Before leaving, Old Hoffman gave Marin an additional 300 marks, bringing his total funds to 800 marks.
Following his father’s advice, Marin deposited 600 marks in a Hanseatic League bank.
Thanks to the Hanseatic League’s reputation, Marin could withdraw money in any major city within the Holy Roman Empire using his deposit slip.
He kept 200 marks in cash with Kohler.
As for Marin himself, he wore an M35 helmet, a partial chest armor, and carried a saber as he rode.
His attendants had similar chest armor, but they only wore it during battle, usually storing it on the ox cart.
The journey to Vienna also served as additional riding practice for his attendants.
Normally, they wore helmets, a leather armor, and carried spears (except Kahn, who wielded the mace), resembling Poland’s lancers from a later era.
To further test their courage, Marin led his men into the forest to hunt wild boars.
Wild boars were notoriously dangerous, and hunting them with bows or early firearms was difficult and risky.
However, Marin had five capable attendants, especially the formidable Kahn and Schwarz.
During their first boar hunt, there was a mishap—Shaw’s horse was spooked, throwing him to the ground and causing him some injuries.
After that, Marin had Kohler hold the horses while he and the others hunted on foot.
Kahn and Schwarz proved their strength, especially Kahn, who used his mace to kill a boar with one heavy swing, splitting its skull.
Schwarz often used Kahn as a distraction, then attacked from the side.
Meanwhile, Marin stood back, giving orders:
“Surround it! Shaw, Tara, Garland, keep your spears level… Kahn, shout louder! Schwarz, get ready to strike… yes, aim for its rear!”
In one instance, Schwarz speared a boar in the rear, causing it to let out a pitiful cry as it bled to death.
Along the way, Marin’s team killed more than a dozen wild boars and a few thugs.
Not only did this build their confidence and teamwork, but they also made enough money from selling the boars to cover their food expenses for the journey.
After all, feeding three big men and five horses wasn’t cheap.