Thirty-Three War Economy

Des, who rushed all the way to the Hanhai Castle from the back, scattered almost all the supplies he was carrying on the way, and gave them to the common people in the three places for nothing.

This also stabilized the rule of the Duchy of Ailan Hill over the earth fort and other areas. Civilians who had no concept of a country in the first place began to accept Alan Hill, and black eagle flags began to fly everywhere.

After Chris's troops entered Vast Sea, General Mordelair took over for Wilkes, and withdrew from the castle with Vast Sea's soldiers, and handed over the defense to the grenadiers of the 1st Regiment of Ireland Hill.

The first order that Archduke Chris of Alan Hill gave to General Mordelair was to let him train the soldiers of the vast sea and form a new infantry regiment.

Because of the rapid expansion, Chris needs the army too much now. He now has a large territory and nearly two million subjects - to support the army, at least 30,000 people can support the army.

Why couldn't a territory previously support more troops? In fact, this has to come from other aspects.

The previous territorial taxation was very heavy. Basically, the farmers were the main body to pay the tax. Naturally, it could not support so many troops.

On the other hand, because the army's attack methods are limited, no one can break through the tightly fortified castle in a short period of time, so feeding a large number of troops will only drag down their own economy, but they will not be able to expand and obtain benefits, so everyone will not be able to. Build such a strong army.

Coupled with the protection of the Holy Demon Empire, the cavalry of the Prairie Empire did not dare to invade the south, and the borders were only making small troubles, so the standing force was naturally lower.

The appearance of Ailan Hill is actually the biggest change in power in the past hundred years. Who would have thought that Seris, who was surrounded by enemies on all sides, could swept the entire Northeast region in just over a year.

Because of this, Serris Castle used to have only a pitiful 1,300 standing troops, and the expansion of the army could only support about 2,000 people. But now it is different, because there is economic support and demand, so a piece of territory can support 5,000 people, and it can be done.

The difficulty facing Chris now is how to arm so many soldiers and how to make these soldiers truly become a reserve force in the future so that they can be equipped with more powerful and advanced weapons and equipment.

"This time, it's definitely not something that money can settle." Leaning on the chair, Des folded his arms and complained to Chris, "The Arrant Empire will never let us develop into a problem. Yes, they will definitely send troops to intervene."

Chris was also helpless. He sighed and said, "I can't help it. Are we afraid of Arrant, so we won't fight North County and Hanhai?"

It is absolutely impossible not to fight. How many workers in how many factories are looking forward to war? If Chris says not to fight, they might replace Chris and choose a new Archduke to start the war.

"Winter is coming soon, and we can still have a few months to breathe." Wilkes, who was left by Chris's side, has now become the general of Ireland Hill. Although he did not lead troops, he was banned. the title of a staff officer. At this time, he opened his mouth to speak, and Bourgeois and Walter on the side looked over.

He coughed in embarrassment, then continued to bite the bullet and said with a thick cheek: "It is very unwise to fight in the Northeast region in winter. Even the Arrant Empire would not make such a stupid decision."

Des felt the corruption of the Arrant Empire. The other side's hoarding of supplies on the border must be in short supply. As long as those generals are not stupid, they will definitely not risk war against Arrant in winter.

If the opponent really came over, in fact, Ailan Hill could easily win: even if the elite 1st regiment was not used, only relying on the 2nd regiment to deal with the opponent would have a more than 70% chance of winning.

"What General Wilkes said... also makes sense.

Des thought about it for a while, and said in agreement: "Then this is good news. At least we have a window of peaceful development before the arrival of next spring." "

"Ah, that's right!" Having said this, he remembered one thing, and started reporting to Chris Hui: "According to reliable information, General Zorn is planning a crusade to attack the Dothan Empire in the south... This seems to be right. We are good."

"This is good news!" Hearing this news, Bourgeois, who was still worried, relaxed a lot: "If the Arrant Empire and the Dothan Empire go to war, it will be impossible to attack us immediately."

In this way, when spring came, the Arlant Empire still did not have the energy to trouble Alan Hill. If not, the war will be delayed until the fall.

"Huh!" Chris, who let out a sigh of relief, thinks that starting a war next fall is a situation he can accept: at least by that time, can he prepare three serious main groups?

He thought for a while, looked at Des again, and asked, "Can you think of a way...to delay the war a little longer...?"

"It's not easy to handle. With the cannons we provide, fighting Dothan is likely to turn into a quick-fix war..." Des shook his head and said, "It's all one cause and one effect, there's no way. Avoided."

In his opinion, if General Zorn didn't get the blueprint for the artillery, the crusade to the Dothan Empire would not start, and Arrant might go north to punish the disobedient small country Alan Hill first.

Now that General Zorn has the blueprints and cannons, he will first go south to attack the Dothan Empire, and only then will Alan Hill be given a chance to delay.

"I hope the Dothan Empire will work harder... Let's delay Arante for a few months. When winter enters the north, it can be delayed for a few more months." Chris said greedily.

Once this hope is realized, Chris will have a full year to prepare for the war. According to the current development speed, after a year, at least the problem of bullet supply can be initially solved.

"Yeah, if the Arlant Empire goes north and suffers a loss from us, then it may alarm the Holy Demon Empire... Our army, facing magicians and dragon knights... is still a bit reluctant." Des He scratched his head and said.

magician? Dragon knight? Listening to these heart-pounding words, Wilkes and Bourgeois on the side glanced at each other - what kind of country did they join? Dare to have a meeting to calculate the Magic Empire?

After talking about dealing with Arrant, it was time to calculate the benefits of the war. It was just exciting times that made Des extremely happy: there are two large iron mines in the earth fort. These iron mines have mature mining conditions, and the personnel are also complete. The output can basically meet Chris's consumption.

In Des's opinion, just these two large iron mines that Alan Hill desperately needs are almost worth the cost of this war: even if he invests another 100,000 gold coins, Des will not feel lost. .

Similarly, Tubao and North County are big coal producers. In the past, most of the coal mines that Ireland Hill wanted to buy came from these two places. Now, the money for purchasing steel and coal mines is basically all the money. can be saved.

With these high-quality coals, metallurgical technology can be improved and thermal energy can be plentiful. With the steam engine, the factory has a steady stream of power, and with the thermal power plant, Chris's idea of ​​electricity can be implemented immediately.

In addition to these two, there is also a small kerosene mine in the Hanhai area, which is the oil mine that Chris knew. However, this oil mine has very little output and a lot of impurities, so it needs to be purified before it can be used. But even so, it's far better than Ireland Hill's previous reliance on oil purchases.

For Chris, the biggest gain in the Hanhai area is actually the reinforcement of saltpeter and sulfur ore. These minerals are vital to the production of gunpowder and are essential raw materials for many chemicals.

In addition, Chris also seized a large amount of kerosene for the defense of the three castles, as well as some gold coins in reserve-in the past six months, the proceeds from their extortion of Alan Hill have basically returned to Chris's pocket. inside.

"No wonder powerful countries and capable monarchs like wars so much... We spent almost 500,000 gold coins before, and we got back more than 200,000 in this battle." Looking at the account in his hand, Des was satisfied of admiration.

Spend two gold coins, and almost one gold coin will be returned to his pocket immediately. Anyone is willing to do this kind of business, and Des is also the same. He even felt that if conditions allowed, it would be the right choice to directly fight another country to make money.

He used to think that the war would bring a lot of benefits, but he really didn't think that a quick victory could expand the benefits to this extent. Just the speed at which the gold coins are returned in front of us can be said to have not lost any money in this battle. If the income from the mines and the population is counted, it is a good business that has doubled.

"There is no shortage of copper. At least, there is no problem in producing 100,000 copper shell bullets." Chris saw the number of copper mines in the material statistics, and said with relief: "I don't know the production of bullets, will it be possible? Some speed."

"I don't know about bullets." Des shook his head and said, "But I know a little about artillery. The second equipment in the arsenal has already been put into production... The production speed should be twice as fast as before."

"That's great." Chris nodded with satisfaction. It seems that when he was begging for things, the family's production did not fall - this is all thanks to the efforts of Deans and Gullo. , they can be said to be the lubricant that supports the operation of this country's machinery.