In order to oppose Lorist's case of adapting and expanding the Guards Corps, Director Speer made a list for Lorist and Fatty Shi, which filled the scale and establishment of the Norton family's armed forces and the huge annual military expenditure. amount.
At present, the Norton family armed forces have five first-line legions, the Rock Legion has a full strength of 60,000 people, the Flying Tiger Legion has a full strength of 60,000 people, and the newly formed Chaser Legion has a strength of 60,000 people, followed by the Guards Legion with 75,000 people. , and a sea corps of 55,000 people. These five legions added up to 310,000 people.
At the same time, the family also owns 15,000 members of the Raging Bear Knights. The bodyguard battalion around Lorist has only 3,000 people, but Lorist has selected personnel from the bodyguard battalion to carry out special top-secret missions, and the number has reached 3,000. , which is equivalent to having two guard battalions, and the total number of soldiers above is 331,000. These are front-line soldiers who enjoy the best treatment in the family's armed forces, and their annual salary alone reaches 1.3 million Jinford huge.
In addition, the family also has ten security battalions. They are responsible for guarding material warehouses, prisons, industrial and mining workshops and other important places that the family needs to keep secret, as well as transporting logistics and supplies. In addition, there are also garrison teams in various villages and towns. forty thousand. Although these are the second-line troops armed by the family, the annual salary and subsidies also cost nearly 200,000 Jinford.
"Your Highness, the total number of our Norton family armed forces has reached 400,000 people, and the total number of registered citizens in the entire Northland is only about 1.6 million. Even if we include Dremke Province and Winston Province, It's only about 2.344 million, including the nobles of the territories under our family's jurisdiction. The ratio of soldiers to civilians is nearly one to five. This is an extremely dangerous ratio. It is not an exaggeration to say that we are militaristic. In addition, our family has been fighting endlessly for the past two years, and the expenditure on armaments has long been too much to make ends meet. If it weren't for the wealth of nearly 30 million captured from the conquest of the slave kingdom of Haneyabada, there is this foundation to support , our Norton family has long been bankrupt."
Director Speer looked a little agitated, and after a pause, he continued to persuade: "Your Highness, what I calculated just now was only the salary and subsidies of the family's armed forces. , as well as the compensation expenses for the casualties, the amount in this regard is close to two million goldfords. This does not include the replacement of weapons and equipment of each legion, the cost of war horses, armor and clothing, daily accommodation, food and medicine consumption, etc. …
Last year, our family's total expenditure on military expenses reached more than 4 million. Of course, the newly formed Chaser Legion accounted for more than 1 million. Moreover, in order to destroy the Iberian Kingdom, Your Highness specially approved another 3 million. Kingford's military spending. Although we seized nearly 2 million property in the occupation of Windbury, in general, the total military expenditure last year has exceeded twice the family's total income. Although the family still has more than 10 million Jinford reserves, if we can't persist for two or three years like last year, the family's finances will collapse.
Your Highness, I am not alarmist, what I said is the truth. Originally, I wanted to advise His Highness to reduce the family's armed forces by half after the war against the barbarian army to save expenses. Our family has so many troops that it is almost equivalent to the troops owned by the imperial family in the former Krissen Empire. At that time, the entire empire supported so many royal armies, and our family only owned three provinces. From a defensive point of view, one legion per province is enough. If there is a war, we can ask the nobles of the territory under our jurisdiction to send troops to reduce the consumption of our family's armed forces and military expenses like the former royal family of the Christen Empire. "
Lorist smiled wryly, this is the difference in philosophy. If Lorist was like the former Grand Duke of the Northland, Duke Lukins, then his current status and family power would be enough for him to live comfortably through this life, but the current situation of the Norton family is like sailing against the current, if they do not advance, they will retreat. Whether it is the potential threat of His Royal Highness as the king to the Norton family, the long-term maintenance of the alliance of the four northern lands, and the pressure brought by the countless knights who are eager to make contributions and hope that the family will go to glory, all of them force Lorist to continue. Go down the road of expansion.
Director Speer is right, if it is successful, only one legion is enough for a province. But if the family wants to maintain the momentum of expansion, it must have offensive spears and defensive shields. The Rock Legion, Flying Tiger Legion, Chaser Legion, and Sea Legion are all offensive spears, and only the Guards Legion is the defensive shield. Abandon the offensive spear and only take the defensive shield. Lorist did that when his brain was kicked by a donkey. That was almost self-abolishment of martial arts, and it changed the Norton family from a courageous and aggressive situation to a passive defensive and beaten situation, and lost the strategic initiative.
Director Speer didn't have any malice, he was the most loyal old man of the Norton family, otherwise Lorist would not have let him take charge of the family's financial power and be in charge of the family's total expenditures. But Director Speer cares too much about financial expenses and doesn't understand the situation facing the family. Regardless of the fact that the Norton family is now in full swing, they have destroyed the Principality of Madras and the Kingdom of Iberia, and successfully suppressed the Grand Duke of Feisabrunn to his own family territory. A deep crisis is hidden.
Needless to say, Grand Duke Feisabrun, Lorist's blow to him was so deep and desperate, it was like kicking him out of his dream of dominating the northeast region of the empire, and slapping the Feisabrun family. Swept down from the peak of the heyday, the wounded soldiers will have no strength to turn around, and they can only linger in the family territory in the future. But Lorist did not dare to relax his vigilance against Grand Duke Fessabrun. It was obvious that the Fessabrun family would become the mortal enemy to the east of the Norton family.
Although Lorist is an aristocrat of the Antinac Kingdom and the Grand Duke of the Northland, and the destruction of the Iberia Kingdom can be regarded as an expansion of the territory, but Lorist knows very well that the Second Highness of the Western Imperial Capital is not an easy-going lamp. The greater the contribution he has made to the kingdom, the more suspicion the Second Highness will have towards the Norton family. Don't look at the fact that His Royal Highness the Second Highness stayed in the imperial capital quietly last year, and even the disputes between the border and the Ford Business Alliance and the four principalities in the middle did not happen, but this is not a lord who keeps his own place. He conspired with the Duke of Kenmes to use the oath to make the Second Highness suffer a great loss, and he must be holding back in his heart and planning to get it back somewhere.
Now the Norton family is relying on the sharp front to make the second highness feel scruples and dare not act rashly. If the Norton family abolishes their martial arts, then the second highness must be the happiest one, and the dirty tricks against the Norton family will be used one after another. , make yourself overwhelmed. The legion cannot be reduced, at least it must maintain its current size. But how to convince Director Speer gave Lorist a headache.
Looking at the organization and size of the various armies of the family armed forces listed by Director Speer on the table, think about the series of armaments and military expenditures reported by Director Speer. Lorist had to admit that his accusation made sense. The military-to-civilian ratio of nearly one to five is really appalling. No matter what country or family enlists soldiers to this point, it is indeed militarism, and it is not far from extinction.
Lorist rubbed his chin, wondering. Why do I feel that the family's armed forces have more than 400,000 troops, but they are too few and not enough? Thinking of a famous assertion circulated on the Internet in the previous life, well, this must be a problem with the system, but what is wrong with the system of the family
At this time, Lorist heard Fatty Shi's laughter: "Hehe, Director Speer, your calculation of the military-civilian ratio is wrong. In fact, the military-civilian ratio of our family is not one to five, but more than one to twenty." , is not considered militaristic at all... "
Director Speer was angry, and stood up waving his hands: "Nonsense, is it true that the family armed with 400,000 people is false, and the Northern Territory registered more than 1.6 million people? Is it true that the annual expenditure is so much? Is the huge military expenditure fake? In fact, the ratio of soldiers to civilians in our family is not one to five, but one to four!"
"Please sit down, don't get excited, Director Speer." Fatty Speer said calmly: "I don't question the huge military expenditure. I just think you made a mistake when calculating the ratio of soldiers to civilians. It's not that our family The total number of armed people is divided by the total population of the territory to get the ratio of soldiers and civilians. If our family really recruited troops in the family territory according to this ratio, the family territory would not be able to maintain it long ago. It is impossible to have the current vitality , a booming phenomenon. In fact, I think you're forgetting the two most important things.
The first point is that we only recruited soldiers from the family territory three times in total. The first time was when the Marine Corps recruited sailors. I remember that more than 20,000 people were recruited. Composed of pirates and freed slaves. The second time was to form the Unicycle Steel Crossbow Corps, and 15,000 people were recruited from the new barracks. The third time was the establishment of the Chase Cavalry Regiment last year. More than 27,000 recruits were selected and recruited, and they were mixed with 20,000 veterans selected from other legions. Three regiments.
Therefore, the number of soldiers we recruited from the family territory is actually less than 80,000. Compared with the total population of more than 1.6 million people, the actual ratio of soldiers to civilians is only more than 1:20. However, there are only so many armies in our family, so many young people who meet the standards cannot join the legions and can only go to work or join the village and town garrison. When I visited villages and towns and new barracks in the North, I often heard complaints from young people who wanted to join the family legion but couldn't.
The second point is that you forgot the origins of the soldiers who formed our Norton family armed various legions. They are not actually our subjects, but our captured prisoners of war and freed slaves. The correct statement should be that our family's armed forces implement a employment system, which is also the reason for the huge military expenditure. The formation of the Rock Legion and the Flying Tiger Legion is due to the coalition prisoners of the Grand Duke of the Northland and the 100,000 soldiers of the Second Prince's army who were captured by us. These prisoners of war were freed after three years of hard labor in our family territory. In order to prevent them from being homeless We recruited them only after returning and wandering in all directions.
The formation of the Guards was due to the 200,000 freed slaves. Our family territory could not absorb so many young and strong laborers for a while. In order to prevent chaos, we formed a guard mainly composed of freed slaves. Legion. It can be said that the establishment of these three legions not only did not recruit young and strong people in the territory, but also greatly increased the population of the family territory because of the joining of these freed prisoners of war and freed slaves. Because the families of these soldiers also migrated to our family territory because their relatives joined our family's armed forces.
Director Speer, I don't deny our family's huge expenditures on armaments and military expenditures, but it is precisely because of the generous treatment that our family's armed forces are second to none and invincible. It also guarantees the soldiers' absolute loyalty to the family. Just like the defeat of the Chaser Legion in Makinohara Province this time, the soldiers of the Chaser Legion are still fighting bravely in a difficult situation. Although we suffered 30,000 damage, the loss of more than 100,000 barbarian cavalry was twice as high as ours. As a result, their morale declined after they encountered the desperate resistance of 3,000 people from the 23rd Battalion of the Guards when they attacked the city of Pedro. Soon, you will be unable to fight again after a slight setback.
If there is no family armed force, the Norton family would not have the current glory. It is the formation of the family armed force that we can destroy Haneyabada, a slave kingdom that seized so much property. Now Dremke Province and Winston Province have become the sphere of influence of our family territory. Although we have not gained a lot of property in the past two years of war, and even the military expenditure is not worth the loss, we have expanded the sphere of influence. He has dominated the entire Northland, and these will bring great income to our family in the future.
This time, His Highness's plan to expand and reorganize the Guards Corps is not aimless, but to firmly control the provinces of Dremke and Winston in the hands of the family. Moreover, His Highness is not planning to conscript soldiers from the territory, but has the idea of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the original Principality of Madras who overcame hard labor in Drum. As far as the family is concerned, although the military expenditure has increased a bit, allowing the more than 100,000 soldiers from the former Principality of Madras to belong to the family will reduce the main factor of instability within the family territory. It is a very cost-effective thing for the long-term stability of the country.
I have always believed that allowing these prisoners of war who were originally our family to join our family's armed forces after their labor service, military life can make these soldiers quickly identify with the family and be loyal to the family, and it can also make their relatives feel at ease To be the leader of our family. The current military expenditure is a bit larger, and when the war subsides, the family's financial income will also increase. After all, we have added two provinces, so the expansion and reorganization of the Guards will not increase the family's military expenditure much. "
Fatty Shi is the chief administrative officer of the Norton family, and he knows the family's situation very well. His words made Director Speer unable to refute and find no faults, because what he said were all facts.
Thinking about it carefully, what Fatty Shi said makes sense. Every time the family expands its armed forces, it is mainly those prisoners of war, which has no effect on the production and development of the family territory. The ratio of 1:5 soldiers to civilians mentioned by Director Speer is indeed true. It was a mistake, because the conscripts were not counted as the leaders of the family. On the contrary, if these prisoners of war who have been freed after serving hard labor are left alone, it is really easy to cause big problems, at least the security costs of the family territory will be greatly increased. It is easy to go astray. In terms of cost and expenditure, it is more cost-effective to recruit these prisoners of war to expand the family's armed forces.
"Well, I agree with the plan proposed by Your Highness to expand and reorganize the Guards Corps." Director Speer corrected his mistake and stopped expressing his objection.
Lorist was overjoyed, he didn't need to spend much time convincing Director Speer, Fatty Shi really made a great contribution this time.
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