Deep in his mind, Marin recalled Count Tilly from the Thirty Years’ War.
This guy relied on the Spanish square formation he learned in Spain to dominate Europe with just that one tactic, rising to prominence.
In the end, he earned the title of Imperial Count just using that one move.
If not for his encounter with the more formidable “Father of Modern Armies,” Gustavus Adolphus, who ultimately killed him, Tilly might have become a duke.
Tilly was never a knight, and by the 17th century, knights had completely declined.
This guy solely depended on the infantry tactics of the Spanish square formation and climbed from a lowly mercenary leader to a figure renowned across Europe.
In fact, Marin had long considered emulating Count Tilly.
However, he realized that even the smallest Spanish square required over a thousand men.
In the emperor’s army, commanding more than a thousand men—even if they were infantry—required at least noble status.
But Marin was only an apprentice knight, not yet an officially titled knight, so he wasn’t considered nobility.
That’s why he hadn’t considered forming his own unit before, aiming instead to secure noble status first.
At present, German mercenaries were just emerging, and all officers had to be of noble birth.
Commoners in the army could at most become sergeants, a position between officers and ordinary soldiers.
The emperor’s previous mercenaries were actually gathered by some local nobles for him.
More precisely, the emperor’s main military support came from the Swabian League (which included various lords from the Swabian region, like the County of Württemberg).
This meant that most of the officers in the emperor’s army were from the Swabian nobility, with few officers from other regions.
This situation arose because the previous emperor, Frederick, was quite incompetent.
After losing wars with Hungary, he even lost most of his homeland, Austria, including Vienna.
As a result, not many people were willing to support the Habsburg family, which was seen as ineffective.
When Maximilian I ascended to the throne, he initially had little support from the major nobles.
Some electors and their supporters even wanted to restore the system of electing emperors, breaking the Habsburg family’s monopoly on the throne.
The Swabian League stood firmly by Maximilian I during his most difficult times.
It was Swabian nobles who supported and first responded when Maximilian I organized the first German mercenaries.
For instance, Count Friedrich II of Hohenzollern, a key figure in the Swabian League, was an enthusiastic supporter of Maximilian I.
He later became one of the emperor’s closest confidants, with Maximilian I trusting him to the extent of handing over the reins of government.
Currently, this count serves as the supreme commander of the Habsburg-controlled army.
Because of this, most of the early commanders in the emperor’s army were Swabian nobles.
Mercenaries from other regions of Germany hadn’t yet developed.
It wasn’t until the 16th century that mercenaries from other parts of Germany began to rise.
But no matter how you look at it, mercenaries were still a new group in Germany, and their practices hadn’t solidified yet.
This meant that Marin had the opportunity to lead trends rather than follow them, as no established norms had yet formed.
Although the ancient European tradition dictated that officers should be nobles, Marin, though not technically a noble, was still descended from nobility.
If he raised a low-level infantry unit, no one would give him too much trouble.
If he were a serf trying to raise an army, however, the noble class would never recognize him, and his efforts would be crushed.
After discussing with his two smarter subordinates, Kohler and Schwartz, Marin decided to pretend to be a full-fledged knight and recruit some of the rejected young men.
Of course, he would focus on recruiting the best of them.
The reason for pretending to be an official knight was to gain credibility.
In medieval Europe, nobles had a lot of prestige, despite there being some bad apples among them.
When nobles recruited armies, people believed it was for a righteous cause, like defending the country.
If a commoner tried to form a force, the authorities might think it was a gang of robbers and send troops to suppress them.
To reinforce his claims, Marin displayed the Hoffmann family crest—a knight carrying a black cross flag on a shield.
In medieval Europe, there were no national flags, but every noble family had its own crest.
Only noble families had a family emblem to represent their identity.
The Hoffmann family crest symbolized a knightly family, while royal families often added a crown to their coat of arms.
As a wandering knight who had been expelled from his family, Marin technically wasn’t allowed to use the family crest anymore.
Once expelled, he should have established his own, separate identity, no longer associated with the Hoffmann estate on the Ruhr River.
But now, to be convincing, borrowing the family crest wasn’t a big deal.
After all, he was indeed from that family.
Even if Old Hoffmann and Adler knew, they wouldn’t say anything.
Besides, he was just using it to trick some lower-class commoners, not other nobles, so there would be no legal repercussions.
…
Marin then adopted the title of an enfeoffed knight of the Hoffmann family, setting out to persuade those unlucky but capable young men who had been rejected.
To do this, Marin personally selected recruits from the combat grounds.
Since he only needed about a hundred men, he could handle the selection himself.
Marin’s standards differed from most people’s.
Naturally, he looked for strong individuals, but strength wasn’t his only criterion.
For example, he wasn’t solely focused on martial skills.
What Marin valued most was the mental fortitude of the rejected candidates during their matches, such as an unyielding fighting spirit.
Marin understood that success on the battlefield required more than just skill.
Mental resilience and courage were equally important.
Those with weak mental strength could easily crumble in the face of adversity.
Generally, you couldn’t assess a victor’s psychological resilience.
To truly gauge it, you had to observe a person during failure.
Only when someone faces defeat do they reveal their vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
Those who refuse to accept failure and those who calmly face it possess the psychological strength that Marin sought.
For an army, having soldiers who remain defiant in the face of defeat is a rare and valuable trait.
In less favorable terms, you could say such people are reckless and aggressive.
Of course, being aggressive and obeying orders at the same time is what makes the best soldiers.
Otherwise, those who are unruly and aggressive are not soldiers—they are bandits.
…
For several days, Marin selected more than 200 young men who were dissatisfied with their failures.
These men had all demonstrated a fearless spirit in their duels, showing no fear of injury.
Then Marin had Kohler and the others invite these recruits to a small courtyard he had rented for further discussions.
Marin explained to them that once the emperor’s second round of funding arrived, he would definitely expand the army again.
After all, the French had a 60,000-strong force, so the emperor would need to recruit tens of thousands more men to compete.
For these rejected candidates to go home now would be a waste.
So, Marin, in the name of the Hoffmann family, planned to form a mercenary group, remain near Vienna, and conduct training to improve their skills.
When the emperor’s second round of recruitment began, they would apply as an organized unit, which would increase their chances of being selected.
“Mr. Hoffmann, why should we listen to you?” one of the defiant young men asked.
Marin didn’t get angry but instead smiled and replied, “Because I come from a noble family and have learned how to command an army!”
That response left the young man speechless.
These aspiring pikemen were mostly from poor families, with little education and even less knowledge of military strategy.
Marin could easily flaunt his education in front of this group of rough men, and they had no way to refute him.
“What about pay?” another asked.
“I’m not the emperor; I don’t have that much money…”
“Then why recruit us? You want to command us without paying us?”
“I don’t have money to pay salaries, but until the emperor’s next recruitment, I can provide food for you. I assume most of you come from poor families, with little money, and staying in Vienna for a long time would be a big expense. I can cover your food costs…”
…
“Alright, we’ll do as you say. You train us with the military methods only nobles know, but you have to feed us.”
In the end, 80 men agreed.
The remaining hundred or so either refused to follow orders or didn’t want to settle for what they saw as a small opportunity.
Thus, Marin ultimately recruited 80 promising young men, officially forming what would later become the legendary “Hoffmann Mercenary Group” that would shake Europe.