When Adric asked the question, his tone was serious, his eyes fixed on Ghislund.
The Storm Child of Landis Kingdom smiled reservedly. Although facing Adric's oppressive eyes, Ghislent turned his head to the side, avoiding the other party's gaze, and then he replied nonchalantly. : "Your Excellency Minister of Military Affairs, you forgot, I... is the Navy. You are asking an admiral about the Army, which is not a professional thing."
A hint of disappointment flashed in Adrick's eyes, and he shook his head: "You know very well that this is not a tactical issue."
"Then I have no right to answer this question." Gislent smiled: "Even if I answer, my personal opinion cannot represent the will of the country to which I am loyal."
Adrick was silent for a while, his eyes seemed a little worried, as if he was deeply worried about something in his heart.
After a long time, he finally spoke again. This time, the famous general of the Byzantine Empire even showed a hint of frustration in his tone.
"… My Majesty, I want to see you, Ghisrent."
Gislent glanced at Adric, and a smile suddenly appeared on his face - such a smile, for a man with a beard and a rough face, it seemed a bit nondescript. At this moment, Ghisrent's smile was somewhat meaningful, and more cunning.
"When should I go to see His Majesty the Great Byzantine Emperor?"
"… Tonight." Adric answered the question, and then he stared deeply at Ghislund: "I remember you said when you first came here that you are here in an unofficial capacity, so you can't Meet my emperor."
The Son of the Storm smiled reservedly: "This time, this time, my dear Lord Adric."
"That's what I'm worried about." Adrick's answer was cold, even a little hard.
※※※
"It's a bad time."
At the end of a remote road in the city of Osgilia, in the deepest part of a huge mansion, in a circular book building - just a few months ago, this place was regarded as the most mysterious and most fascinating by the entire imperial capital. A place of awe—before the man named Cavie Hill died.
At this moment, a girl was sitting on a soft couch behind the desk, in a half-lying posture, with one hand supporting the armrest beside the soft couch, and an unfolded book in her hand. A head of dark flaxen brown-black hair fell down naturally, her delicate face was full of bookishness, and her cheeks were dotted with some tiny freckles, adding a playful flavor to the originally delicate face.
This is a young face, but what flashes in those eyes seems to be wisdom that does not match this age.
"... very bad, bad timing." The girl sighed faintly.
When she spoke, her eyes were not looking at the person in front of her, but her eyes were downcast, and her eyes were covered with long eyelashes, which looked a little mysterious.
Standing in front of this freckled girl was a tall woman with stunning long purple hair that burst out with a breathtaking beauty. Her curvaceous figure was full of hot charm, but her face was unfathomable. , that half-faced iron face added a coldness and toughness to her who was supposed to be gorgeous! Under the iron face, in those purple eyes, it looks more and more bewitching!
Via stood there, just in front of the desk, her face was as cold as ever, her eyes were as cold as ever, and her body was as straight as ever.
But at this moment, the purple-eyed woman's heart was not as calm as she had shown.
Via looked at the girl who was halfway on the soft couch in front of her... This girl was originally just a sidekick beside the man, a shadow, a little tail hiding in the shadow beyond the dazzling light of Cavie Hill.
But now, this girl is sitting in Caviehir's study, lying on Caviehir's soft couch, with Caviehir's book by her hand - even the way she speaks, she looks a bit like the one who has already spoken. dead man.
This feeling made Via very uncomfortable, and seeing another person sitting in this familiar position in this familiar place made Via feel very awkward, so she seemed a little absent-minded.
"You are not listening to me carefully." The girl lying on the soft couch suddenly threw a sentence.
"… Hmm." Via looked at the girl in front of him: "You sit at the teacher's place."
The girl smiled: "And it's still in the teacher's study... Do you feel as if I inherited everything from the teacher? So you're a little dissatisfied with this?"
Via didn't speak.
The girl suddenly sighed: "Trust me, it doesn't feel good. Maybe you're a little dissatisfied with things like this, but I promise, I'm not just inheriting these - but also the responsibilities that the teacher left behind."
Via smiled silently.
"You and I are both his students." The girl lying on the soft couch suddenly stood up and stared at Via: "So, about jealousy, imbalance... these negative emotions, you and I are well aware of them. It's all boring. I don't care what's on your mind. You can be upset or upset with me, and I don't care, my only requirement is that you do what I say Do it, I only want the result, I don't care about your psychological and emotional changes during the process - these are also the teacher's arrangements before his death."
Via took a deep breath, and her purple eyes completely cooled down: "... continue talking."
The girl withdrew her gaze at Wea, and continued to lower her eyes, as if she was taking a stroll, and then slowly said, "This is a very bad, very bad time—I just got the news that His Majesty asked to meet with Guise immediately. Lent."
Via didn't speak.
"A lot of people have overlooked a very important question - this question was raised by the teacher a long time ago, but it was ignored by most people." The girl frowned slightly: "Lantis people, far more than We imagined it was much more dangerous. Even the teachers thought that the Landis were our true confidants in the future compared to the Odins."
"Future?" Via sneered: "The premise is that Byzantium can continue to exist without subjugating the country, otherwise, there will be no 'future' as you said."
"Correct you a little bit, it's not what I said, it's what the teacher said." The girl said with a stern face.
Via closed his mouth and made a "continue" look.
"... This issue has been ignored by the royal family for a long time. Whether it is the prime minister, the ministers of various ministries, or the dignitaries of the empire, they have never faced the overseas island country. Yes, the land area of Landis is only one-thirtieth of ours, The population is only one-tenth of ours. And, at least so far, this sea kingdom has never shown any ambitions for mainland land. But the teacher believes that this is not because they don't want to... but because it belongs to Landis The best time has not come."
The girl suddenly picked up the scroll next to the armrest and opened a few pages - this is not an ordinary book at all, it records densely packed data line by line.
"It's this Landis, it has always given us the impression that it is rich, prefers to stay overseas, has no intention of competing for the control of the world, lacks aggressiveness, the only foreign policy is balance, balance... endless balance. But maybe you'll see what I mean if I say the following data."
The girl took a deep breath: "Before the outbreak of the civil war, the annual revenue of the Byzantine Empire was about 30 million gold coins. Of course, this data excludes those Tema military regions that are not under the control of the central government. If If you add in the population and lands controlled by the governors of the Tema Military Region, this number may be doubled. It is about 65 million gold coins. However, please note that in this data, the 65 million gold coins are Financial revenue, every year, consumes nearly 20 million gold coins in military expenses. Other losses include the normal expenses to maintain the operation of the empire... In fact, the annual financial savings of the Byzantine Empire is very large. In some cases, additional taxes are required to meet the demand. Do you know how many troops we support under such circumstances? About 200,000 well-equipped central standing troops, 800,000 semi-professional local garrison troops and farmers Bing - The funny thing is that these 800,000 figures are only on paper, and you and I are well aware of the things below that are empty.
Let's look at Odin again... The political system of the Odin Empire is different from ours, they are more barbaric, backward, and the system is rougher, their population is one third of ours, and the land is about 70% of ours - but the area of arable land less! According to our estimates, the annual financial income of the Odin Empire is only 10 million gold coins, but thanks to their almost barbaric system, their armament consumption is much lower than ours. Of course, this is not worth learning. "
When the girl said this, she turned the book in her hand: "Now let's look at Landis... This overseas kingdom in our impression, their land is one-thirtieth of ours, and its population is one-tenth of ours. One… But their annual government revenue is about…”
Having said this, the girl deliberately paused, and then said the answer word by word: "Eighty million gold coins! And—this is the data obtained three years ago, given that the surveillance system of the Landis Empire is getting more and more strict. , we are getting more and more difficult to get the most accurate information. But according to the historical data, it shows a very interesting situation - every year when Byzantium and Odin went to war, the financial revenue of the Landis Empire in that year will be presented A stimulating growth! What does this mean... They are making a fortune in war! The two great powers on the continent are biting each other, bleeding, and fighting to the death, the Landis will quietly intervene in the war . This intervention is not overt, but in a cunning and vile way. They will quietly support both sides of the war, and then supply the resources they need: weapons, ordnance, and even... food! Even in some war years , the Landis can lease their fleet to us to transport the food and ordnance we need! They earn our gold by renting the fleet—and without dying, without spending a penny of their own It means that we are using our military expenses to help them maintain the maintenance expenses of their ships! Use our money to support their warships!
They maintain nearly three hundred warships, most of which have far more draughts and loads than we do—not to mention the Odin Empire, which has no navy at all.
The annual financial income exceeds 80 million gold coins, but do you know what the annual financial balance of the Landis Kingdom is? "
The girl's smile was a bit complicated: "... less than six million gold coins!"
She sighed deeply: "Think about it carefully, their population and country are much smaller than ours, but in the past two decades, they have used up almost all of their huge fiscal revenue every year, and the surplus It is less than one-tenth of the total! Where is the wealth of such a huge number used? We only saw that the army of Landis Kingdom was less than 60,000, but the establishment of two corps, but... We did not see What's more, the reservists in the Landis Kingdom are the most complete and advanced among the three countries! They have more than 800,000 reservists all year round! These reservists usually seem to be no different from ordinary people, but They spend 80 days every year assembling in various regions for military training, and the time and their work that are delayed by military training are financially subsidized by the government of the Landis Kingdom! At the same time, every adult Men, must enter the reserve establishment compulsorily at the age of eighteen!
They only have standing armies of two corps on the bright side, but in reality... if they wanted to, a mobilization order could recruit more than hundreds of thousands of well-trained soldiers within a month!
At the same time they have the most powerful navy, the total shipping volume of the navy is a number we can't imagine! If they want, they can easily use that invincible navy to enter our inland sea, with their transport capacity, they can transport two hundred thousand troops outside the port of Osgilia in a month - including weapons and forage!
Let me ask, if it is really a country with "no mainland ambition and no enterprising spirit", why does it invest such a huge amount of fiscal revenue into the reserve every year? Maintaining such a huge reserve force? "