The Boulder Town Camp, where the Lombard spies who were previously imprisoned were saved by God's mercy this time.
Yesterday, Art received a secret message from Flanders. After another group of spies who were escorted south arrived in Boulder Town, he was ordered to expel all these spies from the Burgundy Kingdom, but he must not kill these people secretly. Once these people die unexpectedly, it will inevitably arouse the hatred of the Duke of Lombardy.
The main purpose of sending these people back safely now is to take this opportunity to express their attitude to the Duke of Lombardy - once the Lombards invade the country, they will not be so lucky to return alive next time.
In addition, Flanders also informed Art in the letter, asking him to add another thousand troops based on the Wells Army and the Southern Xinjiang Garrison Army, and step up training. He has sent a special envoy to the Kingdom of France to ask the King of France to come forward to scare Swabia and Lombardy.
Of course Art understood that Flanders planned to defend the southern border of the Burgundy Kingdom. Once the Lombards send troops, the Welsh Army will become the main force to resist the Lombard army. This was not only a sign of Flender's trust in himself, but it also posed a problem for himself.
The Wells Legion is already a gold-swallowing behemoth. On this basis, it is difficult to expand by another thousand people. Although last winter, the Province of Wales recruited more than 30,000 people, of which nearly 3,000 were young and strong citizens. The source of troops is available, but where will the cost of raising troops come from? This is the biggest problem that troubles Art.
According to the average weekly salary of an ordinary soldier of seven pfennigs, a soldier needs nearly thirty pfennigs per month, which is almost 360 pfennigs a year. The salary of just one thousand people would require more than 360,000 pfennigs per year. Including the salaries of senior officers and junior officers, it would cost up to 400,000 pfennigs a year just to ensure food and drink for these people.
This does not include the weapons and armor provided to the soldiers. Although the valley is currently able to produce some of its own equipment and has captured a lot of it through war, it still cannot meet the needs of an army of one thousand people. Purchasing weapons and armor would cost at least more than half a million pfennigs. Coupled with the expansion of soldiers' barracks and the replenishment of other supplies, etc. As a result, it would cost more than one million pfennigs to raise troops every year.
With the current financial revenue and expenditure of the Province of Wales, it is barely enough to support the Welsh Army. On the one hand, this comes from the army's wartime seizures, and on the other hand, it comes from the profits of the caravans. But almost all the rest needs to be invested in the construction of the territory, and there is really no extra money to expand an army of a thousand people.
In this way, Art was thinking about this issue for three or four days in a row. Without the support of the army, once Lombardy really sends troops, the province of Wales will be in danger. The people and the foundation they have worked so hard to build will be destroyed by war again. This is definitely not what Art wants to see. But because of the lack of military spending, there was nothing we could do.
Half a month later, along with the group of Lombard spies who were escorted south, there was another good news~
…
"...My Earl, this secret letter was written by the Marquis himself. He asked me to deliver it to you~"
In the Lord's Hall on the first floor of the wooden castle in the valley, after handing over the group of spies who went south to the custody of the garrison of Boulder Town, the Flanders personal guard responsible for escorting them went to the valley to meet Art under the leadership of the soldiers of Boulder Town.
The guard then slowly took out the secret message from his waist and handed it to Art with both hands.
"Sir Lao~" Art said sincerely, turning to Ron and nodding. Ron then took out a bag of coins from the drawer on the side and handed it to the guard.
"Thank you, Lord Earl~"
"Ron, send this knight off for me."
"Yes, sir."
After the two of them went out, Art slowly opened the note. Looking at the yellowed Wells paper, Art felt very happy. Nowadays, not only teachers use Welsh paper extensively, but nobles and big businessmen from all over the world also love this light and convenient writing material. The palace was also a major customer of the Valley Paper Workshop.
Although the order volume was not very large, it also allowed Yate to earn huge profits. The main reason why Welsh paper has not been fully promoted is that it is limited by the scale of the papermaking workshop. The current production of Welsh paper is only enough for the domestic use of the Kingdom of Burgundy, and there is no excess paper to be sold to other major principalities.
For this reason, Yate has ordered the government to expand the scale of the papermaking workshop and strive to double or triple the production capacity of the papermaking workshop in six months. In this way, Wells Paper will be spread throughout the world~
In the secret letter, Flanders mentioned to Art that in view of the current predicament in the Province of Wales, he had sent people to communicate with the Knights Templar and was willing to use the taxes of the Burgundy Kingdom as a guarantee to borrow five million pfennigs in Art's name for the construction of the territory. But the prerequisite is that Yate must first repay the arrears of previous loans. Once settled, the second phase of borrowing can begin.
"Great!" Art Yuebi thought silently in his heart.
In recent days, Art has been suffering from the issue of military expenditures. After thinking for a long time, he finally found no solution. Now, a secret letter from Flanders solves all these problems. As long as military spending is available, the next thing will be much easier to handle.
That night, Art wrote a secret letter to Bob and asked him to send it to Besancon. Agreeing with Friend's suggestion, he first paid off the debt and then borrowed another five million pfennigs from the Knights Templar.
After dealing with this matter, Art finally breathed a sigh of relief~
The next day, Ron took Art's order to Boulder Town and sent all the spies to the border post. After giving them enough dry food for seven or eight days, they all blasted out of the outpost gate.
The only thing left was the "Southern goods" from those few horse-drawn carriages. Afterwards, after counting, the goods were worth one hundred thousand pfennigs, and there were also gold coins worth one hundred thousand pfennigs. Art put all of this in his pocket, treating it as a meeting gift from the Duke of Lombardy~
………
At the end of April, spring plowing had been over for more than half a month. Wales is a busy place. The construction site south of the workshop area is even more lively.
……
"Hey, it's my turn, it's my turn."
"What's your name~"
..."
Recently, the Military Affairs Office and the Government Affairs Office jointly issued an announcement that all men of appropriate age can sign up to join the army. After being selected by the army, they will become a member of the reserve group of the Southern Border Guard Corps of the Wales Army. The main responsibility is to guard the southern border and resist foreign enemies.
On the second day after the announcement, officials from the Military Affairs Office took people to the construction site in the south of the Gongfang District to start recruiting soldiers.
Although these refugees have not been in the valley for a long time, they are somewhat familiar with the reputation of the Welsh Legion. Not only because of its strong combat effectiveness, but also because the salary of the soldiers of the Welsh Legion is higher than that of the general army. As long as he works in the army for a year and a half, the salary he earns is enough to build a nice wooden house.
Seeing officials from the Military Affairs Office coming to the construction site to recruit soldiers, many young and strong citizens rushed to sign up to join the army. On the first day alone, more than 500 people signed up. Even though it was dark, there were still many people waiting in line. After the officials announced that the recruitment would continue tomorrow, these talents reluctantly returned to their camps...
Three days later, after many rounds of screening, the soldiers of the reserve group of the Southern Xinjiang Garrison Corps were finally determined - two hundred people more than the original standard. In order to avoid more troubles, Yat ordered the extra two hundred people to be added to the Southern Xinjiang garrison. But still training with the reserve group.
At present, the soldiers have basically been recruited, and the five million pfennigs borrowed from the Knights Templar have also been quickly shipped to Tyniec. The top priority is to arrange for these new recruits of the reserve regiment to be stationed in the temporary camp of Beiguan Army Fort, and then reorganize them according to the existing establishment of the Wells Corps. Once reorganization is complete, training begins immediately.
………
When the recruitment of new soldiers was over, Art summoned all the officers above the flag captain of the Wells Army and the Southern Xinjiang Garrison Army to the Lord's Hall of the Beiguan Army Fort. Including Lunicion and Jafar, who were training in the cavalry company camp. Except for a few officers such as Odo who were far away in Bonne City and Marsy Fort in Saone Province, they all rushed to Beiguan Army Fort after receiving Art's order.
Looking at the high-ranking officers above the flag captain who were crowded around the table, Art was filled with emotion and said, "Everyone, many years ago, I was a border patrol officer, and the number of soldiers who followed me to suppress bandits could be counted on both hands~" Art stretched out his hands and mocked himself with interest, causing the officers at the table to burst into laughter.
"But now, looking at you all, such a big long table is tightly surrounded. I think we should let the craftsmen build a bigger one, otherwise at the next military meeting, some people may have to sit on the ground to listen to my speech~"
Another burst of laughter came from the hall, and the officers were all in high spirits.
After a moment, Art said sternly: "The main reason why I have called you here today is to organize the one thousand people of the reserve group of the Southern Xinjiang Guard Corps. Now, let the sergeant major tell you the specific situation~" After that, Art took two sips of wine, and then leaned on his back and listened quietly to Angus's speech.
Angus stood up slowly, glanced at Art, nodded, and then glanced at everyone present. He opened his mouth and said, "According to the opinion of the Legion Staff Department, the new Southern Xinjiang Garrison Corps reserve regiment is not divided into regiments yet, and is all based on companies. The reserve regiment is organized into six companies in total, and the company captains are served by the six company deputy commanders of the Wells Corps and the Southern Xinjiang Garrison Corps. The vacant positions are selected from the corresponding flag captains according to their military merits." As soon as Angus finished speaking, the company deputy commanders present began to look around and whisper.
"...In addition, the flag captain in the newly formed company is also selected from the original deputy commanders of the flag group based on military merit, and the officers below the flag captain are also selected according to the same criteria~"
...In addition, some low-ranking officers in the reserve corps can be selected from outstanding soldiers. This is the issue of the establishment of the reserve corps in this military meeting. If you have any opinions, you can put them forward now."
After a moment, when no one responded, Art said: "Since everyone here has no objections to the arrangements of the Military Affairs Office, we should make preparations as soon as we get down. In the near future, the appointment documents of the Military Affairs Office will be issued to those officers whose positions have been transferred. This expansion of the legion is of great importance, and everyone here will You are all the backbone of our Wells Corps. The future safety of Wells Province is up to you. After the reorganization and recruit training are completed, your positions will be adjusted again based on the training results. Those with outstanding performance will be given priority."
"I am willing to serve the count!"
Everyone stood up and replied.
Just a few days after the conclusion of the military meeting, the formation of the Southern Xinjiang Garrison Corps reserve group was vigorously launched under the guidance of the Military Affairs Office...
At this time, the Duke of Lombardy in the south of the valley was completely unaware of this matter. In addition, a piece of news that shocked him reached his ears the next night.
It’s such a disgrace! Come on, get these bastards out and kill them!”
In the Lombardy Palace, the Duke of Lombardy was furious when he learned that the men he sent to inquire about the Burgundy Kingdom were captured, and he roared loudly in the palace.
"Your Majesty, Duke, calm down! Your Majesty, Duke, please calm down~" The Prime Minister of the Lombardy Palace, who was standing aside, hurriedly stepped forward to dissuade him, while waving the baron responsible for this task to leave.
"Your Majesty the Duke, you can't blame them. Flanders is a powerful character in his own right, and he will definitely be difficult to deal with. I think this may not be a bad thing~"
The Prime Minister of the Palace stroked the beard on his chin, thoughtfully.
The Duke of Lombardy picked up the wine on the table and drank it all in one gulp. His face was livid, and the hand holding the glass was trembling. After a while, he opened his mouth and said to the palace prime minister: "What do you mean, Flanders is not dissatisfied with us because we sent people to find out his details?"
"On the contrary, he didn't show it on the surface, but he must have hated Lombardy deeply in his heart. In addition, he released our people, and it seems he had no intention of becoming our enemy."
"Could it be that he was afraid of us?" The Duke of Lombardy was a little confused about Flanders' behavior.
"Judging from the current strength of the Burgundy Kingdom, he is indeed inferior to us. But we cannot ignore the French Kingdom behind him~"
The Duke of Lombardy paced back and forth in the hall, sighing from time to time. A few days ago, the Duke of Swabia wrote a letter asking the Duke of Lombardy how he considered the two countries' joint attack on the Burgundy Kingdom. The Duke of Lombardy had to delay again and again because he did not know the details of the Burgundy Kingdom. Now, the person he sent out to find out the news was actually released by Flanders, leaving the Duke even more confused about Flanders' intentions.
If you start a war rashly when the situation is unclear, and if you underestimate Flanders' strength, you will not only get no benefits, but may also lose a lot of troops and spend a lot of money.
It was not until a few days later that Ward Burley, who learned about this, informed the Duke of Lombardy about the secret passage leading to the valley that his people had discovered before. This made the hesitant Duke of Lombardy have a weird idea - since he could not annex the land of the Burgundy Kingdom openly, why not start from the unclaimed land that had been forgotten for many years and gradually encroach on the territory of the Burgundy Kingdom.
Under the suggestion of Ward Burley, the Duke of Lombardy began to secretly organize people again, intending to go to the north of Lombardy to find out. Once what he said is true, the valley will become his first step in annexing the territory of Burgundy.
But what he didn't know was that Ater had already deployed his own men in the south of the valley. Once the Lombard people show up there, I’m afraid it won’t be that easy to go back alive~