In order to oppose Laurist's plan to reorganize and expand the Norton Guards, Spear gave Laurist and Fatty Shi a list, which was filled with the size and organization of the Norton Family's armed forces, as well as the huge amount of military expenditure every year.
Currently, the Norton Family had five frontline divisions. The Monolith Division had 60,000 men, the Flying Tiger Division had 60,000 men, and the newly formed Hunting Division also had 60,000 men. Then there was the Imperial Guard Division with 75,000 men, and the Maritime Division with 55,000 men. These five armies had a total of 310,000 soldiers.
At the same time, the family also had fifteen thousand members of the Raging Bear Knights. Although Laurist only had three thousand guards, the number of people that Laurist could select from the guards to carry out secret missions also reached three thousand, which was equivalent to having two guards. There were a total of three hundred and thirty-one thousand soldiers, and these were the frontline soldiers who enjoyed the best treatment in the family's armed forces. Just the salary that the family paid them every year amounted to one million and three hundred thousand gold fords.
In addition, the Norton Family had 10 guard camps, which were responsible for guarding the warehouses, prisons, factories, mines, and other important places that the Norton Family needed to keep secret. They were also responsible for the transportation of supplies and supplies. There were also the guards of various villages, which totaled nearly 40,000 gold coins. Although these were the second-line forces of the Norton Family's armed forces, the annual salary and subsidies still amounted to 200,000 gold coins.
"Your Highness, the total number of soldiers in the Norton Family's armed forces is already 400,000, and the registered population of the entire Northern Region is only about 1,600,000. Even if we include Delemark and Winston Provinces, there are only about 2,300,000 to 2,400,000. This includes the people of the nobles in the territories governed by the Norton Family. The ratio of soldiers to civilians is close to one to five. This is an extremely dangerous ratio, and it's not an exaggeration to say that we are militaristic. Furthermore, the Norton Family has been fighting non-stop for the past two years, and our military expenditures have long exceeded our income. If it weren't for the 30 million gold coins we seized from the slave kingdom of Haneabada, the Norton Family would have gone bankrupt a long time ago. "
Spear looked a little excited. She paused for a second and continued, "Your Highness, I just calculated the salary and allowance of the family armed forces. If you add in the expenses of the Warbell Intelligence and Investigation Bureau, the cost of the patrols in each town, and the compensation for the dead soldiers, the total is close to two million gold fords. This did not include the cost of changing weapons and equipment, warhorses, armor, clothing, daily lodging, food, and potions …
Last year, our family's total military expenditure reached more than four million gold coins. Of course, the newly formed Hunting Cavalry accounted for more than one million gold coins, and in order to destroy the Iberian Kingdom, Your Highness specially approved three million gold coins for military expenditure. Even though we have seized nearly two million gold coins from the Kingdom of Windbri, the total military expenditure last year was more than twice the total income of the family. Although the family still has more than ten million gold fords in reserve, if we can't hold on for another two or three years like last year, the family's finances will collapse.
Your Highness, I'm not trying to scare you. I'm telling the truth. I originally wanted to persuade Your Highness to reduce the family's armed forces by half after the war with the Mountain Barbarians to save money. Our family has so many armed forces that it's almost equivalent to the armed forces of the royal family during the Crisen Empire. At that time, the entire empire supported the armed forces of the royal family, while our family only had three provinces. From a defensive point of view, one regiment per province is enough. If there's a war, we can be like the royal family of the Crisen Empire, and let the nobles in the territories under our jurisdiction send troops to reduce the expenditure of our armed forces and military expenditure. "
Loriste smiled bitterly. This was the difference in philosophy. If Laurist was like the Grand Duke of the North, Duke Lujins, then he would be able to live comfortably for the rest of his life with his current status and family's influence. However, the Norton Family's current situation was like a boat sailing against the current. If they did not advance, they would fall behind. Whether it was the potential threat that the second prince posed to the Norton Family as king, or the long-term maintenance of the alliance of the four northern families, or the pressure from the countless knights under his command who thirsted for achievements and looked forward to the family's glory, Loriste could only continue on the path of expansion.
Spear was right. If they wanted to defend their province, they only needed one legion to defend it. But to maintain the momentum of expansion, the family needed a spear for offense and a shield for defense. The Monolith Army, Flying Tiger Army, Hunting Cavalry Army, and Sea Army were all spears for offense. Only the Imperial Guard Army was the shield for defense. Loriste would have to be kicked in the head by a donkey to abandon the spear for offense and only use the shield for defense. It would be equivalent to crippling one's own martial arts, turning the Norton Family from a brave and aggressive stance into a passive defensive position, losing the strategic initiative.
Spear had no ill intentions. She was the most loyal elder of the Norton Family. Otherwise, Loriste wouldn't have let her be in charge of the family's finances and overall expenses. But Spear cared too much about the financial expenses and didn't understand the situation the family was facing. Although the Norton Family was like the sun in the sky, destroying the Duchy of Madras and the Kingdom of Iberia, and successfully suppressing Grand Duke Fisabulon to his own territory, the Norton Family's armed forces were famous everywhere. But under the song of victory, there was also a deep crisis.
Grand Duke Fisabulon didn't need to be mentioned. Loriste's blow to him was so deep and filled with despair. It was equivalent to kicking him out of his dream of dominating the northeast region of the empire. With one slap, the Fisabulon Family was swept down from the peak of its glory. With the loss of soldiers and generals, the Fisabulon Family could only struggle at death's door in the future. But Loriste didn't dare to let his guard down against Grand Duke Fisabulon. It was obvious that the Fisabulon Family would become the Norton Family's mortal enemy in the east, and they wouldn't rest until one of them was dead. He had to be wary of their counterattack at all times.
Although Loriste was a noble of the Andinac Kingdom and the Grand Duke of the North, and destroying the Kingdom of Iberia was considered an expansion of his territory, Loriste knew very well that the second prince of the capital in the west was not easy to deal with either. The more contributions he made to the kingdom, the more suspicious the second prince would be of the Norton Family. Although the second prince had been quiet in the capital last year, and didn't even have any disputes with the Ford Commercial Alliance and the four central duchies, he wasn't a quiet person. Loriste and Duke Kempis had conspired to use the oath to make the second prince suffer a great loss. The second prince must have some bad intentions and was preparing to take revenge somewhere.
Now, the Norton Family was relying on their sharp military to make the second prince hesitate and not dare to act rashly. If the Norton Family crippled their own martial arts, the second prince would definitely be the happiest one. He would immediately use the dirty tricks to deal with the Norton Family one after another, and Loriste would be overwhelmed. The army couldn't be reduced. At the very least, it had to be maintained at its current size. But how to convince Spear was a headache for Loriste.
He looked at the list of the various army divisions and the size of the family's armed forces on the table, and then thought about the series of armaments and military expenses reported by Spear. Loriste had to admit that his accusation was very reasonable. A ratio of nearly one to five soldiers was really shocking. No matter what country or family it was, conscription to this extent was indeed militaristic and not far from destruction.
Loriste rubbed his chin and was very puzzled. Why did the family's armed forces have more than 400,000 soldiers, but I still feel that the number of soldiers is not enough? He thought of a famous statement on the internet in his previous life. Yes, this must be a problem with the system. But where exactly is the problem with the family's system?
At this time, Loriste heard Fatty Shi's laughter. "Hehe, Spear, your calculation of the ratio of soldiers to citizens is wrong. In fact, our family's ratio of soldiers to citizens is not one to five, but more than one to twenty. It's not militaristic at all …"
Spear was angry. She waved her hands and stood up. "Nonsense. Is it false that the family has 400,000 soldiers? Is it false that there are more than 1.6 million registered citizens in the north? Is it false that we spend such a huge amount of military expenses every year? In fact, our family's ratio of soldiers to citizens is not one to five, but one to four! “
"Please sit down. Don't get excited, Spear," Fatty Shi said calmly. "I'm not questioning the huge amount of military expenses. I just think that you made a mistake when you calculated the ratio of soldiers to citizens. You can't get the ratio by dividing the total number of our armed forces by the total population of our territory. If our family really conscripted soldiers in our territory according to this ratio, our territory would not be able to sustain itself. It would be impossible for it to be full of vitality and development like it is now. In fact, I think you forgot the two most important points.
The first point is that we have conscripted soldiers from our family's territory for a total of three times. The first time was when the Marine Legion was recruiting soldiers. I remember that we recruited more than 20,000 people. The Marine Legion has a total of 55,000 people, most of which are pirates and rescued slaves. The second time was when we formed the Wheelbarrow Steel Crossbow Legion, which recruited 15,000 people from the recruit camp. The third time was when we formed the Hunting Cavalry Legion last year. After selection, we recruited more than 27,000 recruits and 20,000 veterans from other legions. Although the Hunting Cavalry Legion had 60,000 people, it was never full. We only formed three legions.
So the number of soldiers we recruited from our territory was actually less than 80,000. Compared to the total population of more than 1.6 million citizens, the ratio of soldiers to citizens is only one to twenty. Our family's armed forces only have so many soldiers, so many young people who meet the standard can't join the legions. They can only work or join the village guards. When I visited the villages and recruit camps in the north, I often heard the complaints of young people who wanted to join the family's armed forces but couldn't.
The second point is that you have forgotten the origins of the soldiers who formed the Norton Family's armed forces. They are not our citizens, but our prisoners of war and slaves that we have rescued. The correct way to put it is that our armed forces are hired, which is why the military expenses are so high. The Rock Legion and the Flying Tiger Legion were formed because we captured the prisoners of war of the Grand Duke of the North's allied forces and the 100,000 soldiers of the second prince. These prisoners of war were freed after serving in our territory for three years. In order to prevent them from being homeless and wandering around, we recruited them.
The Imperial Guard Legion was formed because of the 200,000 slaves that were rescued. Our territory couldn't handle so many young and strong laborers in a short time. To prevent chaos, we formed the Imperial Guard Legion, which mainly consisted of rescued slaves. It can be said that the formation of these three legions not only didn't transfer the young and strong people from our territory, but also greatly increased the population of our territory because of these freed prisoners of war and rescued slaves. This is because the families of these soldiers have also migrated to our family's territory because their relatives have joined our family's armed forces.
Chief Spear, I don't deny that our family's armed forces and military expenses are huge. But it's because of the generous treatment that our family's armed forces are second to none and invincible. It also ensures the soldiers' absolute loyalty to the family. Just like this time, the Hunter Legion was ambushed in Makinohara Province, but the Hunter Legion soldiers still fought bravely despite being in a difficult situation. Although we lost 30,000 soldiers, the loss of more than 100,000 barbarian cavalrymen was more than double that of ours. When they attacked Pidro City, they encountered the desperate resistance of the 23rd Battalion of the Imperial Guard Legion. Their morale dropped very quickly, and they couldn't fight again after a slight setback.
If it weren't for the armed forces, the Norton Family wouldn't be as prosperous as it is now. It's because of the armed forces that we were able to destroy the slave kingdom of Haneabada and seize so many treasures. Now, the provinces of Delemke and Winston have become the territory of our family. Although we didn't gain much in the past two years, and the military expenses didn't even make up for the losses, we have expanded our territory and dominated the entire North, which will bring us rich income in the future.
This time, Her Highness is not planning to expand and reorganize the Imperial Guard Legion. She wants to firmly control the provinces of Delemke and Winston in the hands of the family. Also, Her Highness is not planning to recruit soldiers from the territory. Her Highness is targeting the 100,000 former Madras Duchy soldiers who have completed their labor in Delemke. To the family, even though the military expenditure had increased a little, the fact that these 100,000 soldiers of the former Madras Duchy had pledged allegiance to the family had reduced the internal instability of the family's territory. This was a very worthwhile thing for the long-term stability of the family's territory.
I've always believed that if we let these captives of war join our family's armed forces after finishing their labor, the military life would allow these soldiers to quickly recognize and pledge allegiance to our family. This would also allow their relatives to be at ease as our family's citizens. The military expenses are a bit high now, but when the war is over, the family's financial income will also increase. After all, we have gained two more provinces, so the expansion and reorganization of the Imperial Guard Legion will not increase the family's military expenses much. "
As the Chief Administrative Officer of the Norton Family, Fatty Shi was very familiar with the situation of the family. His words made Spear unable to refute or find any fault, because what he said was the truth.
Thinking about it carefully, Fatty Shi's words were very reasonable. Every time the family expanded the armed forces, they mainly used the captives, which had no impact on the production and development of the family territory. Spear's one-to-five ratio of soldiers to civilians was indeed wrong, because the conscripted people were not considered subjects of the family. On the contrary, if the captives of war who had completed their labor and gained their freedom were left alone, it could easily cause big problems. At least, the security expenses of the family territory would greatly increase. These captives, who were brave and used to holding weapons, could easily go astray if they had no food and clothing. In terms of cost, it was more cost-effective to recruit these captives to expand the family's armed forces.
"Well, I agree with the plan proposed by Her Highness to expand and reorganize the Imperial Guard Legion." Spear knew that she had made a mistake, so she did not object anymore.
Buckingham was overjoyed. He did not need to spend much time persuading Spear. Fatty Shi had really made a great contribution this time.
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