"At present, the annual tax revenue of all the territories in Efta, including all the income of Elsen City, may only reach the equivalent of three million gold coins. This is only a theoretical value. This is after taking into account the trade share with Lachman Kingdom this year and the military sales to Tasman Kingdom …"
Duncan took out a table that he had calculated. He continued, "Prime Minister, I have to admit that the income level of Elsen City is really amazing. If this territory is excluded, the income of the whole of Efta may be less than one million gold coins. But Elsen City is now in a period of development, with more revenue and more expenses. If you continue to invest in various areas of research and development, our military expenditure will be at least five million gold coins …
"Don't worry too much about the military expenditure. From the moment I decided to start this war, I have already thought of a solution."
Roddy took out a letter. "We don't have enough military expenditure, but we can borrow it. Lachman's fleet will arrive in half a month. "
Duncan obviously did not expect such a method. He had heard of "borrowing money to fight a war", but it was extremely rare in the Kingdom of Karen. Even if there was a similar situation, it was only a battle of a thousand people in a small territory. A poor lord would take charge of a rich lord, and borrow usury to hire mercenaries to work for them … Even so, there were not many who were willing to borrow money. Because the "credibility" of the current lord system was very poor. If a lord was destroyed, then the money that was lent could not be recovered. If the lord became big, to recover the money, it also depended on whether the other party was willing or not. In short, the one who owed money was the boss.
The ones who had real credibility were the royal family, a few Marquises of Duke, and the "Rose Cross". But the wealth of these forces, compared to Roddy's current spending … was nothing.
"Is it really okay to borrow so much money from a country?"
"With the cobalt gold ore as a guarantee, and the magic technology of Elsen City as a deposit, plus some port conditions, Lachman is obviously very willing to cooperate with me."
Roddy had actually started making this move a long time ago. Ever since Lachman's council changed its stance and showed its goodwill to Elson, he had been considering the feasibility of a "war loan." Based on the powerful and rich impression he had left on them, coupled with Houdini's analysis of the Mage Council, the loan that had been discussed since February was finally settled after the new fleet arrived at the port.
The interest on this loan was very low, no more than 7% a year, and it could be paid off in three years. This meant that Roddy had solved his "worries" — at least for the next eight months, he didn't have to think about tightening his belt.
War was a battle of economic strength. In this aspect, the royal family, which had almost zero foreign trade and could only rely on their savings, was no match for them. Roddy's budget for the war was eight million gold coins, and if Charles II were to fight according to the traditional model, the budget for a year would be less than one million gold coins at most. At the same time, for the royal family that had been ravaged by the orcs, it was another matter whether they could fork out that much money.
Turcan did the calculations in his mind, and suddenly felt that the boulder that had been pressing on his heart had mostly disappeared. Originally, he didn't think that Roddy could have any profound insight into the economy, and he was actually a little arrogant in his heart. But after seeing Roddy's ability to borrow money using the "country" as a unit, he was really impressed by this execution ability …
"To be able to solve this problem, the war is already half won!"
This was his biggest emotion. Money was too important for war. He had witnessed many defeats in wars, big and small … not because the soldiers were not good enough, but because the party fighting the war had spent all their money — the soldiers did not have enough pay, and they did not even have enough to eat. No army could escape the fate of being defeated without a fight.
The other members of the advisor team were also surprised by this amazing loan method and amount, and even some of them did not quite believe it. But Roddy did not feel much about this behavior — in the era he had experienced, "borrowing money to fight a war" was almost a common thing in modern times. But Roddy was not a war maniac whose goal was to "defeat the enemy". He always remembered one principle: war was the continuation of politics.
The purpose of starting this war and the follow-up plan had long been included in the future strategic guidelines. Roddy's current fundamental goal was very clear. He had now bet on the future of Elson and even the whole of Eiffta.
What the future would be like would depend on how this war would turn out.
*****
On the first of May, troops had begun to gather in the east of the Kingdom of Karen.
Because of the death of Count Milnor in the war last year, and the replacement of Count Moore to deal with the Orcs, it was now difficult for Charles II to find the most suitable candidate to fight the war.
In the era of cold weapons, Charles II had little choice in strategic planning. The only thing he could do was to first gather troops to take down the "Holy Sanctum", the outpost of Eiffta, and then march west, step by step. Only after successfully entering the hinterland of Eiffta, he would consider how to divide his troops to attack other places.
After all, for him, there was only one way to enter Eiffta. Let the army cross the central mountains? That was simply nonsense.
Even with the support of the Dragons, Charles II would not really think that these dragons would be willing to help him transport the troops from the top of the mountain. Until now, the greatest support that the Dragons had provided was the "Dragon Tower" Magic Academy and magic guidance. Although it did not sound like much, as long as such support existed, the prestige of the royal family would be established, and the surrounding lords would not have the slightest bit of disloyalty.
In such a situation, Charles II's mood of not being able to find a suitable commander also improved a lot — in his eyes, the war that was about to be fought now was not very technical. Previously, when dealing with the Orcs, it was because the Orcs were powerful and came and went like the wind. They needed someone who was good at fighting in the field to deal with them in time. Now that Eiffta was completely on the defensive, Charles II and his group of nobles analyzed and thought that Sally did not have the guts to take the initiative to attack, and would definitely rely on the fortress to defend the battle. Therefore, the final order was for Earl Harrison of the northeast of the kingdom to take the lead.
Earl Harrison was nearly 50 years old this year. Guarding the northeast of the kingdom, he had to face the attacks of scattered bandits from the eastern mountains all year round. After more than 20 years, he had accumulated a lot of combat experience. Last year, Sauron led the Orc troops through his territory. Because of the timely withdrawal of the defense, Earl Harrison did not suffer any losses. This made Charles II quite concerned, and he thought that he was a talent.
In reality, it was because Sauron did not have the time to pay attention to him.
The mountains in the east were also a natural barrier. The countries on the other side of the mountains had been in civil strife for the past ten years, and there was no movement to send troops to attack at all. There were some roads between the mountains, and occasionally, there would be caravans coming to the Kingdom of Karen to exchange needs. However, this situation completely disappeared after the Orc Sauron led his troops through.
Earl Harrison had gathered a lot of troops in fear, fearing that Sauron would turn around and attack him. However, a winter had passed, and the scouts sent out said that Sauron should have crossed to the other side of the mountains. Other than the corpses of the Orcs who had died of illness, there was no trace of this group of guys in the kingdom.
Only then did the Count breathe a sigh of relief. However, he did not expect that after a year, he would be assigned the task of attacking Eiffta. At this time, he actually wanted to refuse, but he thought that Charles II now had the support of the Dragons, and the territory's economy did indeed need special means to recover. After weighing the pros and cons, he finally accepted the task.
Earl Harrison's territory was in the east of the "Holy Sanctum" area. Whether it was economy or faith, the "Holy Sanctum" had a good influence in the territory. However, after Charles II's ban, he had to cut off all contact with the "Holy Sanctum" after the situation became tense. He closed the monasteries in the city, and in order to avoid arousing suspicion, he directly locked up the bishops and priests.
Needless to say, this series of actions brought about economic losses. Now that he had become the commander of the "Western Expedition Army," he could only hope to get rid of Eiffta as soon as possible to make up for his losses.
Now that the "assembly order" had been issued, Earl Harrison could gather a total of about 40 nobles, big and small. They each brought more than 2,000 knights, squires, and soldiers. And from other territories of the kingdom, there were tens of thousands of troops, and they were rushing here in batches.
"This kind of thing is too troublesome!"
Sitting in the mansion, Earl Harrison could not help but complain. In front of him, there were mountains of letters from various regions. If he had not found three stewards at the last minute to form an "advisor team," he would not have been able to deal with this complicated information alone.
"An army of 20,000 people eating all day is really scary. Where am I going to get so much food? When the Orcs passed by here, they stole hundreds of sheep from the pasture. His Majesty really knows how to make things difficult for me! "
The three stewards were too busy to talk at this time. In the past, Earl Harrison's "battles" were against refugees or bandits. There was no need to be so complicated. He could just order the competent knights to lead the troops to clear them out. The largest scale was only 300 people. It was his first time commanding such a large army of tens of thousands of people belonging to different lords. Because he had no experience, it was inevitable that he would be badly battered.
Of course, to be able to stand in this position also meant that Charles II thought highly of him. The war funds allocated by the royal family had tempted Harrison for a long time. To him, the gold coins that slipped into his bowl from a few small actions were more than what his territory would get in a decade.
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