Five days until the Meat Appreciation Festival. Kislöw, Bokha Palace, Duma of Kislöw.
The representative of Kislöw's Poillé nobility, Kislöw's Grand Marshal Dimitri Zaev.
Kislöw's Grand Marshal Konev, Kislöw's Wing Cavalry Marshal Romanov, Kislöw's Bear Cavalry Marshal Rokossovsky, Kislöw's Northern Front Marshal Zaka Fedosov.
Kislöw's Chief Minister of the Imperial Court Petrov and Kislöw's Minister of Finance Dmylov were both present.
These Kislöw's military leaders and landowners were gathered together to discuss the kingdom's recent difficulties.
What was interesting to Kislöw was that it was a very, very empty country. The sparse settlements were separated by vast ice plains and large tracts of land. Even within the country, apart from the three cities of Kislöw, Örengrád, and Prague, news from the other settlements was intermittent. Direct rule was difficult to achieve, so every settlement was highly independent. A Poillé nobility completely controlled the military and political power. Without a doubt, everyone acknowledged the authority of the Tsar, but if Her Majesty Katarina really went beyond the country's Duma and gave them orders, these Poillé nobles would be very surprised and reveal a 'you're kidding me' expression.
That was the logic. In theory, Poillé nobles had to be appointed by the Tsar, but in reality, this was a hereditary title.
Therefore, Kislöw's army was mainly composed of three forces: the city's army that was directly loyal to the Tsar, the local army controlled by Poillé nobles, and the Empire's garrison troops that came from various territories of the Empire.
Under these circumstances, the Poillé nobles were highly independent and eventually formed the country's Duma.
Right now, in the luxuriously decorated conference room of the Bokha Royal Palace which was covered with various bear-skin tapestries, ice sculptures, colorful murals, and colorful ceilings, the State Duma members were discussing what to do next.
"The supplies for the northern frontline, the refugees, and the supplies for Jakova Fortress in the south have all been arranged. We will try our best to maintain 70% to 80% of the rations. As for the military's salaries, we will prioritize the salaries of the Bear Cavalry, Griffin Legion, and Karim Guards. As for the salaries of the Kesa Legion, the Archers, and City Guard, we will, we will make do with it for now. after the festival is is over." Grand Marshal Dimitri Zaev nodded and slowly said to the crowd, "Prioritize ensuring the combat effectiveness of the frontline troops.
"What? There isn't any money left for the repair of Oszhorsk Fortress and the reconstruction of Slaghov Fortress in the north? " The representative of the northern frontline army, Marshal Zach Fedosov, said with dissatisfaction. "Then isn't your discussion for half a day in vain? If we can't guarantee the repair of the two fortresses in the north, how can we guarantee the smooth trade route with Dulong City?"
"Then what do you mean?" Marshal Kislöw, the commander of the central army of Kislöw, Konev, spoke up. He was a man with a firm expression and a bald head. He wore a brand new marshal uniform and tasted vodka. His eyes were sharp as he stared at Marshal Fedosov. "What do you want? Fedosov, just say it. I'm not interested in playing riddles with you. "
"What I want to say is that the amount of money and supplies you have allocated to the northern frontline army is too little!" Marshal Fedosov said loudly. "Many of the soldiers on the frontline lack food and clothing. They don't even have medicine when they get sick! That's fine. I understand the kingdom's difficulties, but what about the fortresses? Since the end of the winter war two years ago, the two fortresses have been built, but they haven't been completed yet. The soldiers are hiding in the half-open fortresses to spend the winter. If you don't allocate enough money and raise more manpower, we won't be able to finish the two fortresses next year! "
"This time, the national treasury received about 120,000 Dukat (Kislöw gold coins) from the Norsk expedition, but you only gave us 40,000. That's too little. We have to pay the soldiers, ensure supplies, and repair the fortresses. Building fortresses in such a cold and harsh environment costs a lot. You want the horses to run and not eat grass!"
"I said, what are you thinking?" Marshal Konev repeated. "I don't want to hear you complain. I want you to come up with a solution!"
"At least give us another 40,000 Dukat," Marshal Fedosov emphasized. Marshal Fedosov emphasized, "I know that after the trade agreement with the dwarves of Lone Dragon City, the tariffs and mineral taxes have become a new source of income. That is also not a small amount of income. We have ensured the smooth trade route, so why can't we take a part of the tariffs and mineral taxes as our military expenses?"
"The tariffs and mineral taxes are directly sent to the Ice Palace by Her Majesty Katarina's tax officials. It has nothing to do with us." The representative of the Poillé nobles, Marshal Dimitri, said in a low voice. "Her Majesty Katarina is conducting a very important ice magic experiment and needs money urgently. As for our request …"
"Her Majesty doesn't agree. The treasury and internal funds of the Ice Palace have been used up many times. You know this." Tsar's finance minister, Dmylov, said slowly. "The treasury can't only pay out but not receive any income."
"Very well." Marshal Dimitri nodded helplessly. He turned to the marshal of the Bear Cavalry and asked, "Konstantin, do you have any ideas?"
"I don't know." Marshal Rokossovsky's attention was clearly not focused on the meeting. He only said casually, "Perhaps we can re-audit and see which part of the expenditure can be recalculated? Saving a little bit is a little bit? "
"How?! How can it be recalculated?! " Marshal Konev slammed the cup in his hand on the ground. His face was red as he roared, "That's all we have. One hundred twenty four thousand five hundred and sixty-six Dukat! How can it be recalculated? Do we let the Northern Front Army fight the barbarians on an empty stomach? Or do we not provide aid to the refugees? Or do we not pay them back at all?! "
The cup fell to the ground and broke into a few pieces. The crisp sound could be heard clearly in the meeting room.
"As the marshal of Kislöw and the commander of the Central Army, I know best that the soldiers of the Kesa Legion and the Shooting Legion, as well as the soldiers of the City Defense Battalion, have owed money from bakeries, merchants, and even temples for months! Many soldiers have come to my house to ask for help. What can I do?! " Marshal Konev roared. "Do you think I don't know that there is no money in the treasury? We are constantly fighting the barbarians in the North, and Fort Jiakova in the South is facing the full invasion of the Green Skin Red-Eyed Tribe!"
"If this continues, soon Kislöw's millennium celebration will be the day of our country's demise!" Marshal Konev's loud voice echoed in the meeting room. He didn't care if his words were heard.
"Marshal Romanov." At this moment, an attendant rushed into the meeting room and shouted anxiously, "There is an emergency."
"What's the matter?" The Marshal of the Wing Cavalry looked up, and the attendant whispered in his ear, "Not good, the Kesa Legion and the Shooting Legion have mutinied because their pay is too low, and they are fighting with the guards! General Andrey killed himself with a flintlock, and this quelled the grievances, but the officers have gathered together and are heading towards the palace. We must give them an explanation! "
"What?!" The whole meeting room was shocked.
"Konev, hurry up and stop them. You are the commander of the Central Army and the commander of Kislów Castle's defense. You have enough prestige to quell the grievances." Marshal Dimitri immediately looked at Konev.
"Humph! Thinking of me at this time? It's too late! "Konev said impatiently and helplessly." What do you want me to do? "
"You have to explain the reason and law to them!" Dimitri advised. "You have always had a high prestige in the army, and the soldiers will understand."
"There has always been red cabbage soup and fried meat pancakes on the spot. How can there be reason and law on the spot?" Konev spread out his hands. "Give me a deadline, when can you solve the problem of unpaid wages?"
"This …"
… I am the dividing line between the red cabbage soup and the meat pancake …
Not far from the armory, General Ugor Berliat and his deputy general Xie Lieping were looking at the scene in the armory with complicated expressions.
The mutiny was quelled for the time being.
When the situation was at its most chaotic, General Andre, who was in charge of logistics, suddenly stood up. He stood on the table and shouted at the top of his voice, "I didn't do a good job. I can't do anything about your unpaid salary. I'm incompetent. I'm sorry to Her Majesty Katarina and all of you. I declare that I will take responsibility for this!"
After saying that, General Andre suddenly took out a short musket and aimed the muzzle at his chin.
The sound of the gunshot woke up the mutiny soldiers and the Karim guards. Seeing General Andre die for this, the Kesa soldiers and snipers felt bad. They finally gave up on the siege of the armory.
Then, the officers prepared to go to Bokha Palace. The Kesa soldiers didn't believe that they couldn't pay the money. Many Kislöw generals and Poillé nobles participated in the Norsk expedition. They brought back ships and carts full of spoils of war, filling up the streets! They had the money, so they went to them!
Thousands of soldiers chose dozens of officers to go to Bokha Palace to ask for their unpaid wages. The rest of the soldiers lined up to lead the troops for now and returned to the barracks to wait for news.
Meanwhile, deep in an alley on the main street, Belial was leading more than 20 fully-armed Ugur mounted archers. He had a complicated expression on his face as he looked at the scene before him. However, he still managed to hold himself back. "It seems that the problem is much more serious than I had imagined."
"The streets are full of starving refugees because of the unpaid wages." Deputy General Xie Lieping also said indignantly, "I went to ask just now, General. Ten kilograms of dalieba, two big bags of potatoes, one piece of butter and fifteen denga (Kislev silver coins). That's the treatment given to company commanders and battalion commanders! Normal Kesa soldiers and snipers only get five kilograms of dalieba, two bags of potatoes, and nine Kislöw silver coins. "
Only nine! Berliat was still calm. His heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "Then what about the market price? Did you check it out? "
"It was an emergency, so I didn't have time to check the market price." Xie Lieping shook his head. "But I just asked a few passersby. General, can you guess how much a normal roast chicken costs on the black market in Kislöw?"
"How much?" Berliat wasn't interested in guessing. General Ugor was clearly planning something.
"Three silver coins! My God, three silver coins! " Xie Lieping hurriedly said, "I can't believe it. The best roast chicken in Brittany is only sold for twenty-five to twenty-eight copper coins in the market. What I like most is half a roast chicken with a bottle of vodka after patrolling. But here, the price is more than ten times higher!"
"Come on, let's follow them." Berliat didn't answer Xie Lieping. General Ugor immediately got on his horse and followed with more than twenty mounted archers. When he got on his horse, he said slowly, "Khorkina, do you know her?"
"Of … of course, general, she's your new maid." Xie Lieping didn't understand what Berliat meant. He also had a young and beautiful girl as his maid.
Did the general change his mind?
"She's the daughter of a little Poillé! The daughter of a little Poillé who owns a whole village with a wooden fence and a wooden gate outside the city! "Berliat said sharply," Little Poillé! The lord of a village of three hundred people! She's been eating porridge for three months! Do you know what this means? Poillé has started eating porridge. What about the citizens? What about the peasants? And what about the refugees?! "
Xie Lieping understood. The deputy general suddenly felt cold all over, "Why did it become like this?"
"So I said before that our female Tsar may be an excellent wizard, but she's definitely not an excellent king or commander in chief. Since she ascended the throne, the kingdom has been in a mess. She has rarely led the army herself. Everything is done by appointing generals or sending supervisors. She has never visited the people often like His Majesty Laing. She only cares about her research, her research, her research!" Berliat still wanted to say something, but Xie Lieping immediately whispered, "Be careful with your words, general. Don't forget that you used to be a member of the Internal Affairs Committee. You should know that this city is full of secret police of Cheka."
"This is an extremely bad omen. We all know very well that if the citizens and nobles of a country start to decline, then the entire country will be in grave danger." Berliat ignored Xie Lieping's words. General Ugor knew that if he was still an officer of Kislöw, he would have disappeared a long time ago. However, since he was the special envoy of Knight King Laing, the people of Cheka would not dare to do anything to him.
In this world, strength was still the most important thing.
In fact, Berliat and Xie Lieping both knew why Kislöw's food shortage had caused the price of food to skyrocket.
There were only two main reasons. First, the war on the frontline had not stopped. Second, the Empire's recent internal strife had caused the amount of food that the Empire sent to Kislöw to decrease greatly. However, neither of them said anything because there was no need to.
As they talked, they arrived at Bokha Palace. Berliat signaled for everyone to stop while they observed from a distance.
Marshal Aleksei looked at the large group of middle and low ranking officers that appeared in front of the palace. He was so angry that his face turned red. "What do you want to do? After destroying the armory, you still want to come to the palace to rob your soldiers' pay? Soldiers, pick up your weapons! "
"Wait! We are not here to be bandits, we are all Mrs. Kiesler! We came here to see Her Majesty Katarina! "The leader of the Kesa soldiers, Aliosha, roared." What are the people of Duma doing? They owe our soldiers' pay! Which one of our families hasn't been owed more than half a year's pay? Many of us have been eating Dalieba for five months and even sold our sons and daughters! Let me ask you, when are you going to pay us back?! "
"Didn't we ask General Andrey to give you back your pay?" Marshal Konev rushed over from behind with several marshals. This marshal, who had a strong figure and a big bald head and was quite prestigious in the army, hurriedly blocked the entrance of the palace. "It may be a little too little, but there's nothing we can do about it. This is my responsibility, and I apologize. I'll let bygones be bygones. Everyone, please go back first and celebrate the festival. We'll think of another way, okay? I, Konev, swear in the name of Essun, the Bear God, that I didn't receive any salary this year! "
Marshal Konev was the commander of the guards of Kislów Castle and the commander of the central army. He was very respected in the army, but today he miscalculated.
"You? You're counting on that little salary to celebrate the holiday? " A Kesa officer immediately came out and said, "Many of you participated in the Northka Expedition. Many of us saw with our own eyes that you plundered a lot of wealth from Northka. The barbarians plundered all kinds of armor, furs, paintings, velvet, gold, and silk! The iron, copper, ores, livestock, and even the high-quality goods of the High Elves were all transported to your mansions. They're all yours now. The victory of the war is yours, the casualties are ours, the spoils are yours, the handicaps are ours, and now even the soldiers' pay is not ours anymore! "
"That's right! Her Majesty Katarina gave Kislów to you National Duma, but what are you doing?! Give us the money! Give us the pay that belongs to us! "
"Get out! You bunch of hungry jackals, spit out the pay and provisions! "
"National Duma, man-eating wolves, we must let Her Majesty Katarina know your true colors!"
Marshal Konev was speechless. He had a clear conscience about the distribution of the spoils, because he really didn't take anything.
But he couldn't swear to Essun that no one took anything. In fact, many nobles, generals, and Poillé who participated in the Northka Expedition did collect a lot of spoils and transport them back to their own homes. Not only did they embezzle a lot of gold and silver for themselves, but they also refused to hand over even a little according to the "glorious tradition" of Kislów.
Konev had sharply accused a colleague of bringing back more than twenty wagons worth of wealth from Noska all by himself. His house had almost become the "Noska Museum"!
Although everyone was noisy during the National Duma's meeting, they all made a lot of money! It was just that none of this money would fall into the treasury or the soldiers' hands. It was all theirs.
Seeing that the marshal couldn't answer, the situation became chaotic. The agitated officers tried to break through the defense line, while the Karim guards raised their weapons and aimed at their comrades.
In front of the palace, there was a strong smell of gunpowder. It looked like another mutiny was about to happen.
Berliat rode on his horse and stood in the distance. He saw this scene and sneered.
You must be watching somewhere in the palace, right? My female Majesty Tsar?
Also, Konev's plan is obviously not working. Ye Zorov, it's your turn.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
