Although the senior generals in the overseas territorial theaters were all labeled as Prince Hansback's influence, the reserve crisis that occurred in the royal capital was really too far away for them. Just like Claude, he was a civilian grassroots officer who was favored and promoted by the eldest prince. He also won the favor of Marshal Michele. He relied on his military exploits to reach his current position step by step and became the king of the kingdom. A regular major general.
Even if he learned the news about the royal capital from Mr. Veblen and knew about Marshal Michelci's injuries, he was unable to do anything to help Claude. The continent of Nubisia and the continent of Farea are separated by an ocean of silence, which is too far away. Moreover, Marshal Michelich was assassinated more than five months ago, but the people here knew nothing about it. It is likely that the marshal deliberately concealed the news and did not want to distract the generals here.
From a certain perspective, the five reinforced divisions in the directly-administered theater are the direct troops of Prince Hansback. To be more precise, the division commanders and most of the senior officers of the five reinforced divisions are He is a student of Marshal Michelch. He was born as a commoner and joined the Royal Armed Rangers. They followed Marshal Michelch and were loyal to Prince Hansback.
It is precisely because of this that the Kingdom's Army Department and other legions in the Kingdom do not want to see the Ranger Division. It happened that the Hicks Kingdom launched another colonial war, so the Rangers returned as expected, and were naturally dispatched to the Overseas Territory of Nubisia Continent to resist the invasion of the Hicks Kingdom's colonial garrison.
But beyond everyone's expectations, the Ranger Regiment showed its prowess in the directly-administered theater, won two colonial wars, and completely annihilated seven standing legions of the Kingdom of Hicks. Military merit is the most important thing in the kingdom, so the Kingdom's Ministry of War had to pinch its nose and expand the Ranger Division into a legion, and promoted a large number of meritorious officers. General Michelchi was also promoted to Marshal of the Kingdom.
In view of General Michelci's huge prestige in the Ranger Corps, other members of the Sterling royal family and the Kingdom's Ministry of War formulated a strategy to recall Marshal Michelchi and the Ranger Corps, but at the same time removed the backbone of the Ranger Corps. Officers and elite soldiers remained in overseas territorial theaters and were reorganized into five local second-line reinforced divisions.
Then the Kingdom's Ministry of War incorporated a large number of senior officers with blood ties to the Sterling royal family into the Ranger Corps, euphemistically calling it the formation of a real royal armed force. In fact, it cut off Marshal Michelchi's influence in the Rangers. While handing over the command of the Rangers to the Sterling royal family, it also abolished the combat effectiveness of the Rangers.
It’s not that Marshal Michelich doesn’t understand the tricks of the Kingdom’s Ministry of War and the Stirling royal family, it’s just that he is magnanimous and selfless, and has no desire to control the Rangers. His thoughts are focused on resisting the Kingdom of Hicks in the direct-administered war zone. This colonial war was launched. Therefore, since the Kingdom's Army Ministry adopted the strategic deployment he proposed after leaving office, he also cooperated well in resigning from the post of commander of the Ranger Corps and became a senior counselor of the Kingdom's Army Ministry and a counselor around Prince Hansback. A staff member. net
As for the overseas theaters directly under the jurisdiction of Marshal Michelic after he left office, in the eyes of the Kingdom's Ministry of War and the Kingdom's senior officials, they are already destined victims and cannot escape the fate of cannon fodder. It's very simple. The Kingdom of Hicks has announced that it will form ten standing legions and transport them to the mainland of Nubisia. It has vowed to carry out this colonial war to the end and will not give up until the goal is achieved.
If the Kingdom of Overas had not experienced the five-year war in the eastern region, it might have been able to compete with the Kingdom of Hicks on the Nubisia continent. But less than eight years after the end of the war, the kingdom's treasury was empty. Although three principalities were occupied during the five-year war in the eastern region, these territories were full of vicissitudes of life and needed the investment of time and funds to slowly restore their vitality.
The kingdom also had to form three standing legions to guard the newly occupied territory, so military expenditures were very tight, and there was not much spare power to support this colonial war that took place on the Nubisian continent. Therefore, in comparison, the senior officials of the Kingdom's Army Department and the powerful figures in the Kingdom all have a pessimistic attitude towards this colonial war, just as the bottom line they handed over to the Territory War Zone is to defend the Amphiston Territory and ensure that the future The territory of three overseas territories.
But no one could have imagined that Honorary Baron Claude Hanfield, Major General of the Kingdom, who took over as the supreme commander of the theater who took over from Marshal Michelchi, would be so fierce. This scapegoat who was originally the scapegoat in the eyes of the king's senior figures actually took his Thunder Division, a copycat version of the Ranger Division, and took the initiative to attack the colonial garrison of the Kingdom of Hicks.
The Third Colonial War not only annihilated its three main legions, but two of them were also the main legions hired by the kingdom's mortal enemies, the Kingdom of Nasseri and the Principality of Karrnath. This outcome completely changed the strategic situation of the entire overseas territory war zone, and even forced the Kingdom of Hicks to have civil strife. For half a year or even longer, the Kingdom of Hicks was unable to carry out effective control of its colonies on the mainland of Nubisia. Military support
Realizing that this was a very good strategic opportunity, the Kingdom's Ministry of War and the Kingdom's senior officials sent the Kingdom's general, hereditary earl General Algeske Osmolin, to serve as the Supreme Commander of the Territory War Zone, preparing to give Hicks The kingdom struck a fatal blow by capturing the port city of Vibato, cutting off its transportation and shipping lifeline with the inland colonies, and completely ending this colonial war.
Claude, on the other hand, read the royal capital newspapers sent by Mr. Veblen, handwritten gossip and oral messages to understand the intentions of the Kingdom's Army Department and the Kingdom's senior officials, but he could not change this established result. On the continent of Nubisia, even if he could be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in the kingdom very quickly, he would not have access to the powerful people in the kingdom. In the eyes of the people above him, he was just a relatively brave high-level thug. net
Mr. Veblen came here this time not only to send information, but also to discuss with Claude the business of two joint iron ore workshops. The success of the grenades had already earned him a large business order, and Claude decided to have each division possess 10,000 grenades. Half of it is used for live-fire training, and the other half is reserved for combat. So Mr. Veblen's current headache is just how to complete the order of 50,000 grenades in the shortest possible time.
In terms of profit, the internal price of a projectile is one gold crown, and its cost is no more than one silver thaler at most. In other words, you can earn four silver thalers by selling one projectile. This profit is comparable to robbing a bank. Mr. Veblen has even handed over the management of his family's mining business to others. He is wholeheartedly trying to run this workshop jointly run by the Field family. After all, the profits from this arms are so exciting
The current war zone is not in the financial difficulty and tight state when Marshal Michelich left office. Thanks to Claude's victory in the Third Colonial War and battlefield captures, the war zone command already has tens of thousands of gold crowns in its account. balance. Since the new supreme commander of the theater will take office in a month, Claude will naturally not leave this money in the public account for his successor to waste. So with one stroke of his pen, he asked the theater logistics department to purchase various military supplies to enhance the combat effectiveness of the five divisions in the theater, so the purchase of grenades was ranked first.
In addition to the production of grenades, Mr. Veblen also wanted to discuss with Claude the imitation and sale of the hot air balloon machine, which Claude called a fire machine. After Claude led the Thunder Division to attack, Mr. Veblen recruited mechanical talents from many sources and continued to improve and imitate this kind of firepower machine in the iron ore workshop. According to him, the iron ore mining workshop currently has five types of fire power machines of different sizes and models, and these fire power machines are very popular among mine owners and workshop owners. Now he has more than 100 fire power machines in his hands. piece orders.
Mr. Veblen hopes that Claude will not take away the profit share of the iron ore mine within the next three years, but invest all the profit share in the expansion and completion of the iron ore mine. He promised to build the largest iron ore machinery workshop in overseas territories within three years, and then it would be time to enjoy the dividends. Claude was very happy and agreed to Mr. Veblen's request.
The next morning, Claude continued to go to the theater headquarters to handle official business. At noon, I am going to have dinner with General Scree, the head of the Logistics Department, and exchange views on the funding for the reconstruction of Wickham Castle. When I was walking to the office building of the Logistics Department, I heard a loud voice yelling something, and then General Skerry's kind words. Finally, the loud voice calmed down, and he said a few words unwillingly. Leave.
Claude entered General Skree's office and saw him rubbing his temples, so he smiled and asked him what made him feel so embarrassed, with a sad look on his face?
The two are good friends and naturally don't see each other very often. General Skerry said with a wry smile: "The person just now was not from our war zone, but an inspector sent by the Kingdom's Army Department to supervise the firearms repair workshop. This time he The reason for the commotion is that the newly appointed director of the gun repair shop used more than 800 gun barrels in half a year during an experiment. He could not bear the responsibility for such a large loss of barrels and asked us to warn the gun repair shop. The new supervisor will also issue a certification document for this batch of lost gun barrels."
Claude was curious: "Why is the kingdom's management of gun barrels so strict?"
"This is very simple, because each barrel can be assembled into a musket, and the muskets of our Kingdom of Ovelas are the most advanced muskets in the entire Falea continent. As long as you control the musket, you are equivalent to controlling a musket. The lifeblood of the legion." General Skerry picked up the tea cup: "Although the five reinforced divisions in our theater are powerful in combat, as long as the Kingdom's Army Ministry controls weapons and equipment such as muskets and artillery and does not provide us with supplies, then we will not be able to last long. The battle continues. Because guns and artillery are the biggest consumables on the battlefield."
After taking a sip of tea, General Skerry continued: "I know what you are thinking in your mind. It is nothing more than capturing the enemy's weapons and using them. The problem is that if you are used to using the advanced muskets and artillery produced by the kingdom, you will look down on the backwardness of the enemy. Weapons. Of course, if the enemy is another legion of the kingdom, that's another matter, but you have to think in advance how many people will follow you in rebellion.
Therefore, even though we are far away on the mainland of Nubisia, the Kingdom's Army Department still controls us. This is why they only open a gun repair workshop here, not a gun making workshop. Opening a gun repair workshop can use undamaged gun barrels to assemble new muskets on the spot. This can greatly reduce repair costs, and only the damaged gun barrels need to be transported from the kingdom. And if a gun-making workshop is opened, it may be controlled by the local garrison, causing it to disobey the orders of the Kingdom's Ministry of War and become de facto independent. ”
General Skerry put down his tea cup: "It's a very simple control method, but it is very effective. Okay, I won't bullshit you anymore. Just tell me what happened when you came over at noon. I have to go to the gun repairman after dinner. Let’s take a look and see what the new manager is doing and how he is wasting so many good barrels.”
"Let's have dinner with you and discuss the funding issue for rebuilding Wickham Castle." Claude replied seriously: "I feel that the cost of rebuilding Wickham Castle and the subsequent four castles in the two demesne cannot be borne by our war zone. Instead of allocating military expenditures, we should ask the kingdom to allocate construction funds. If the above does not agree, I think the gold and silver ore ingots produced in the directly-administered territorial war zones should be withheld. The Mining and Business Association will allocate 60% of the annual The Kookmin Bank was deeply dissatisfied with the production being handed over to the Royal Capital for free."
This was the last thing Mr. Veblen discussed with Claude last night, and he was also entrusted by the Mining and Commerce Association. At present, the taxes from the seven overseas territories have become the majority of the military expenditures of the five divisions in the war zone. Since the Kingdom's Ministry of War cannot support them, in terms of military expenses, the war zone is actually in a state of collecting independent expenditures on the spot.
However, 60% of the output of the two large gold mines and several silver mines under the Amphiston Territory Mining and Commerce Association is handed over to the National Bank Head Office in the Royal Capital free of charge every year. This is a profit worth more than 200,000 gold crowns. The remaining 40% minus expenses and mining costs, there is not much left for the mining and business associations, plus the management of various gods. , in the end, the members of the association profited very little, and very little was left.
The so-called money moves people's hearts, and the Mining and Business Association is also looking for ways to take the profits from the gold and silver mines into their own hands, instead of handing them over to the National Bank Head Office in the Royal Capital for free. Since learning that Claude submitted a plan to the theater command to rebuild five defensive castles in the two territories of Cromwell and Beringana, the association believed that this was a good opportunity to be justified. The 60% of the gold and silver mine production that was handed over for free will be recovered by supporting the construction of overseas territories.
General Skerry had been working with Claude for many years, and he understood what he meant when he heard it. He shook his head: "This matter is easy or difficult to handle. The output of the gold and silver mines is handed over to the National Bank Head Office and belongs to the Kingdom's Treasury. It has nothing to do with the Ministry of War of the Kingdom. After all, the annual royal fees are budgeted, and all expenditures are planned and verified in advance. However, we are in a war zone, and we use special war funds. The Kingdom has no money, so we All taxes from overseas jurisdictions are allocated to us.
After all, we don't need to look at the face of the Kingdom's Ministry of Finance and the Kingdom's Ministry of War. Anyway, when we report it, they will just reply that there is no money and let us find a way. Since we are left to figure it out on our own, we will deduct the output of this gold and silver mine and use it as post-war urban construction expenses for the two directly governed territories.
This is a public expenditure. If the Kingdom's Ministry of Finance is not happy, let him go to the Kingdom's Ministry of War to argue. I believe that the Kingdom’s Ministry of War will publicly reprimand us, but secretly it will only applaud us. However, the report still needs to be typed in advance. Of course, the output of this gold and silver mine cannot be mentioned in the report.
We have to wait for the kingdom's Ministry of War and Finance to reply that they have no money to allocate, and then seize the output of the gold and silver mine, so that if we are held accountable in the future, we can confidently let them see the reply that they have no money. And as the supreme commander of the theater, there is a high possibility that he will have to take responsibility for this matter. ”
Claude laughed loudly. Anyway, he will no longer be the supreme commander of the war zone in a month. This blame can be shouldered by the general of the kingdom who wants to be promoted to marshal: "Okay, let's go to dinner first, and I will accompany you after dinner. Let’s go to the gun repair shop, and let’s think about this together on the way.”