In this process, the Lancelot royal family can be said to have had both ends.
Regent Princess Sophia Liya made a lot of money by following the leader of the Eternal Night Army. Not only did they receive a large amount of money from selling a large amount of food, they also had a share of all the properties owned by the Eternal Night Army on the royal territory of Lancelot.
They just sit back and wait to be paid.
In addition, the taxes paid by the Eternal Night Army for trade here are paid as usual, and part of the official taxes of the Lancelot royal family are recorded in the account. The part earned by the citizens can enrich the people and relieve social pressure.
In the past few years since the establishment of trade with the Yongye military leader, Sophilia and Lancelot's royal family's finances have never been better. Especially in the past two years, Sophilia's personal income has equaled that of the entire Lancelot.
The indication of the annual tax income of the Slot royal family is also the total income of the royal family during the period of tax growth.
The real wealth losers here should be the lords and nobles, but since they have gained enjoyment, it is not considered a loss.
Even if Sophia Liya saw through the strategy of the Yong Ye Army Leader at the beginning, she would take the initiative to invite them to join the game.
She is now enjoying the taste. She heard that the leader of the Yongye Army has new plans for the future, so she naturally wants to keep up with it and wants to get a share of the pie. She completely forgot that these plans were probably made after she became the leader of the Yongye Army.
This is only possible after the hostess.
Sean directly revealed part of the future strategic plan of the Yongye Army: "The first direction is naturally the sea. The vastness of the sea and the resources contained in it are far beyond ordinary people's imagination. The continent is limited, while the sea is
It is unlimited. The battleships captured from the Commons family, coupled with our existing shipbuilding technology, equal to the best foundation. We only need to wait for our sailors to complete training, which is when our large-scale ships will go to sea.
The second direction is the Odin Steppe. Don’t look at me like this. I know that the Odin Orcs are the common enemy of the Byron Alliance. It does not mean that they cannot become trade partners, especially the Eastern Odin Empire. In your hands
There is a commodity they cannot refuse, salt. Do you know how much a fist-sized piece of salt is worth in the Eastern Odin Empire? A two-year-old sheep! Is there any business more profitable than this in the world? You just need to be at the border.
If you go to the front-line mutual market, the money will definitely come in faster than if you go deep into the prairie to plunder, it's still the kind of people who take the initiative to give you money."
Like most hostile races, the Byron Alliance adopts a strict defensive strategy against the Odin Orcs. Trading with them is regarded as treason and betrayal of the entire Byron Alliance.
This has resulted in the scarcity of many materials on the Odin Prairie and very high prices.
Of course, wherever there is profit, there is no shortage of crazy people who are desperate for money. Smuggling is not uncommon along the long border.
The most rampant smuggling trade with the Odin orcs should be the Commons family. Over the years, trade with the Odin Empire has been their mainstay industry.
However, Sean should be the first person to tell this matter in front of Archduke Cedric.
Unexpectedly, Archduke Cedric's reaction was not as extreme as expected.
Because the Strachey family themselves are not necessarily very clean. After all, over the years, the materials supported by the seven major families have been shrinking. They must find other ways to maintain their huge military expenditures.
It is a great irony to earn military expenses through smuggling trade with the Odin Orcs, and then fight against the invasion of the Odin Orcs.
Archduke Cedric did not show any emotion, but shook his head and said: "Young man, you only considered the huge benefits brought by opening up border trade, but you did not consider the corrosiveness of large amounts of commerce to the army. When the army becomes no longer
If you are pure, it will be difficult to entrust you with important responsibilities.”
"I agree with His Excellency the Grand Duke's statement, but I do not agree with His Excellency the Grand Duke's approach. The purity of the army has no direct relationship with the opening of border trade. I did not say that the army should be part-time businessmen. You only need to provide places and opportunities, and it will naturally happen.
Countless businessmen have arrived after hearing the news, and you can just collect taxes from them. In my opinion, the most important thing if you want to maintain the purity of the army is to have money in your hands.
Only when they have money, can they have enough food and clothing, no worries, and be freed from many worldly things, can they truly achieve purity. If it is an army, they cannot even feed themselves and their families.
Don't you think it's ridiculous to ask them to contribute their loyalty, fulfill their duties, and even sacrifice their lives?
Soldiers are human beings too, and they are not tools without ideas. If you cannot protect the most basic things, and you want to demand loyalty from them and make them sweat, bleed and cry for you, there is nothing more shameless in the world than this.
? I admire those who can do this very much, but I definitely don’t agree with it.”
Sean turned a blind eye to Archduke Cedric's increasingly ugly face, and his last sentence clearly meant something.
Sean has done extensive research on Byron's League armies.
There are all kinds of soldiers in this world, such as village guards, city security forces, mercenaries, noble private soldiers, local knights, and central legions. They are as numerous as a cow's hair. They are all as messy as the military expenses that support them.
For local police specialties such as village guards and urban security teams, unless they are security teams in big cities like Valesta, most of the financial allocation comes from the villages, towns and cities where they are located, and their jurisdiction naturally belongs to these villages, towns and cities.
Top management personnel.
Mercenaries, private soldiers of nobles, and local knights are even more chaotic. Anyway, they will follow whoever has money and fight for whomever. Many who have lost their support have directly turned into bandit groups wandering around. After all, they
They are also human beings and need to live. Force is the only means of making a living that they are good at.
At certain times, they are the existence of maintaining law and order, and at certain times, they become the greatest source of trouble.
Even the Broken Blood Riders, who are known as professional soldiers, are not very pure. They can only be said to be semi-professional, because many times they have to worry about their huge military expenses and have to transform into bandits and rush into the Odin Prairie.
In the middle, war feeds war.
Although they are attacking the Odin Orcs, when their starting point is no longer purely strategic, they are easily targeted by the enemy.
The reason for such a chaotic situation is ultimately due to the political system. When the central government's voice is not loud enough and its fist is not strong enough, that is when local governments fall into chaos.
Just look at the current situation of the Yong Ye Army Leader. They are highly centralized. No matter how small the village or town is, the finances of their security personnel are all allocated to the territory. When the salary and benefits are attractive enough, they will naturally pay attention to the military leader.
Obey orders and maintain the rule of the territory.
Not to mention, the army under the Yongye Army has separated military and political affairs from the very beginning and tried its best to reduce the influence of politics on the army. This did not have much effect before the development of the Yongye Army.
However, as it develops and grows, there are more and more internal administrative personnel and various interest demands, and the advantages of this dual-power divestiture are reflected.
Those administrative staff have no military power in their hands, so even if they want to cause trouble, they can't make much trouble, because no matter how powerful they are, it is only given by the territory. When the territory decides to take it back, they are unable to resist.
Unlike the Lancelot royal family, if you want to abolish a military prince family, you have to consider all the influences, lest the lords and nobles below unite to fight against them. Even if these factors are blocked, a fight is inevitable, because the other party
If you have military power in your hands, you will not just surrender.
Similarly, if there is a problem with the top military leaders of the Yongye Army, without financial cooperation, they will have limited supplies and the threat can be suppressed within a limited range.
What if the problem occurs with both at the same time?
It can only be said that there is something wrong with the supreme ruler himself. He has caused people to betray him and alienate him. It is only natural that he will be replaced.
Therefore, putting aside the combat effectiveness, if we talk about the purity of the army, the army led by Yongye Army is actually better than the Broken Blood Cavalry and is the best in the world.
Archduke Cedric obviously won't get a good result from discussing this with Sean.
Originally, Archduke Cedric wanted to give Sean a blow, but it failed. Instead, he was tripped by the opponent and almost fell down.
Archduke Cedric was not the kind of petty person, and he did not get angry because of this. Instead, he lowered his head and thought for a few seconds with a serious expression and said: "The situation you mentioned is indeed feasible to a certain extent, but it is too idealistic. You have
Have you ever thought about the consequences of large-scale opening of border trade? Those unscrupulous businessmen have no integrity. As long as there is profit, there is nothing they dare not sell. If military supplies are exported to the Odin Prairie on a large scale, the people who will eventually be affected by the disaster will
It’s still us.”
"This is a matter of trade control. The army is in the hands of His Excellency the Grand Duke. It's not you who has the final say on what is allowed to be sold. We will give you strong support if you abide by the law. If you dare to do sneaky things, don't blame us for being too quick.
, Not to mention the death of the people, all the materials sold were confiscated. We can't give up huge profits for a potential threat? This kind of thing has never been banned. All we can do is control it." Sean said to Cedric.
After the Grand Duke was led to a familiar area, he talked endlessly.
"His Excellency the Grand Duke can definitely support the official caravans. I think there should be no shortage of injured soldiers who have been on the border for so many years. They have no way to go to the front line to fight, but doing business is not a problem, right?
They have many benefits from being in business. The first is loyalty. Is there anyone more loyal than them in the world?
The second is to reduce the burden, which is equivalent to finding a new career channel for them, ensuring their future lives, reducing the pressure on the Broken Blood Castle to support them, and increasing their own financial income, but it has become a matter of convenience."
When he heard the last part, Archduke Cedric's eyes were already brightening, and he couldn't help but lost his voice: "This is a good idea, this is a good idea, why didn't I think of this before?"
After Archduke Cedric took over the Blood Fort, he was under increasing pressure and the number of soldiers he could support was getting smaller and smaller. One of the problems that could not be ignored was the issue of dealing with the old, weak, sick and disabled.
Before that, the successive Grand Dukes of Broken Mouth Blood Castle dealt with things in the same way as other lords and nobles - burning bridges across rivers.
Those wounded soldiers and retired veterans who were of no use to the Broken Blood Fort were nominally repatriated to their original territory by the Broken Blood Castle.
Everyone knows what is actually going on.
These soldiers who had fought for the Strachey family for many years and guarded the border for the Byron Alliance for many years were abandoned.
When they return to their hometown, one can imagine the fate that awaits them.
No one in the Broken Blood Castle where they fought bloody battles treated them as heroes, let alone those remote and remote places. In their eyes, the Odin Orcs were just distant legends, and they were indifferent at all, let alone
I wonder who these people are fighting with to become like this.
These repatriated retired soldiers have been fighting abroad all year round, have long suffered from injuries, and lack the most basic means of livelihood.
What awaits them will be the cruelest fate. They will either become bandits and rob the people they once fought and protected with their sick bodies, or they will die miserably in some unknown corner.
The result accumulated over a long period of time is.
Ordinary people in the Byron Alliance had a bad feeling for the retired soldiers of the Bloody Broken Blood Fort, and even for the Bloody Broken Mouth, thinking that there was a concentration camp for a group of thugs.
Soldiers who later return from retirement will have an even more difficult life, and will be ostracized by the local people, resulting in more people taking the path they don't want to take.
This was one of the reasons why the Byron Alliance sent prisoners as new recruits to the Broken Mouth Blood Fortress, because at that time, ordinary people were not willing to go at all, so they had to do it by force.
This has led to a more uneven supply of soldiers in the Broken Kou Blood Fort, and the possibility of problems after retirement is greater. After all, their shortcomings are inherent, and limited by military law, they cannot do anything until they return to their original living conditions in their hometown.
When it was no longer possible to survive, it naturally intensified, further causing the Broken Mouth Blood Castle to become notorious.
This is an out-and-out vicious cycle.
It is hard to say how low the morale of the soldiers on the border of the Bloody Fortress was at that time.
As Sean just said, soldiers are also human beings, with flesh and blood and thoughts.
No matter how good the commander-in-chief or general is, if he cannot provide the most basic protection for his soldiers and still wants them to fight the enemy bravely on the battlefield, this is not a question of shamelessness, but a question of whether they can do it.
No matter whether physically or mentally, nothing can support them.
What are these soldiers fighting for?
After Archduke Cedric came to power, he was also deeply troubled by this problem. Finally, he peeled it off and discovered that the fundamental problem lay in the placement of retired soldiers.
If this problem is not solved, everything else will be empty talk.
Since then, Broken Blood Castle has canceled the idea of repatriating retired soldiers to their hometowns, and the Strachey family has arranged to relocate them nearby.
Those who can continue to work in the auxiliary arms will join the auxiliary arms, and those who can be transferred to logistics work will be transferred to logistics work. Those who are really unable to work will also be supported by the military.
The results of this were obvious. Not only was the reputation of Broken Mouth Blood Castle slowly wiped clean, but the internal cohesion was also gradually improved. Coupled with their brilliant achievements, they soon became famous all over the world and became the names of countless teenagers and knights.
Yearning for the Holy Land, he took the initiative to bring his family's weapons and armor, and rode his war horse to the Bloody Fortress of Broken Mouth to join the army.
As time goes by, these retired soldiers put more and more pressure on Broken Blood Fort.
As of today, they have almost exceeded the number of soldiers currently serving in the Broken Blood Fort.
Every time Archduke Cedric woke up from nightmares, it was mostly because of their problems.
Once there is a problem with the defense line of the Broken Blood Castle, causing these people to lose their livelihood, the torrent of chaos they bring to the Byron Alliance is no less than the large-scale Odin orcs breaking through the Broken Blood Castle.
The reputation of the Strachey family, which he had worked so hard to manage for so many years, was ruined in one fell swoop.
A confrontation with Sean, a young man, opened up a new way of thinking for him.
In fact, many retired soldiers of the Broken Blood Fort are already engaged in similar work, but they are doing it secretly. The Broken Blood Castle just turns a blind eye. Archduke Cedric has heard about it to some extent, but he is limited by his own thinking.
, never thought of transforming this kind of smuggling behavior into a high-sounding official behavior.
"At that time, we can completely control the balance between the two Odin empires of the East and West through this kind of transaction. If we need to suppress it, we will reduce the transaction volume. If we need to support it, we will increase the transaction volume. We can even trade some military supplies in a limited amount.
give them.
In turn, by obtaining a large number of livestock from the Odin Empire, we can exchange the supplies we need from other military leaders. In this way, we can get rid of our dependence on them to a large extent and have more freedom and freedom.
Right to speak, why didn’t I think of this method before?”
Archduke Cedric thought of more things, his eyes were piercing, and a whole new world was before him. This was a new battle mode. If it was operated properly, the power would not be inferior to the attack of the Broken Mouth Blood Cavalry.
No, it should be far better than the Broken Mouth Blood Cavalry.
How much does it take to get full blood from a broken wound?
So far, there are less than ten thousand.
The retired personnel of Broken Kou Blood Castle are dozens of times more numerous than him. Once mobilized, they will definitely be a terrifying force.