Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0033 War Economy
Desel, who rushed all the way to the Hanhai Castle from the back, scattered almost all the supplies he carried along the way and gave them away for free to the civilians in the three places.
This also stabilized the rule of the Principality of Ailan Hill over the Tubao and other areas. The civilians, who originally had no concept of a country, began to accept Ailan Hill, and the black eagle flag began to fly everywhere.
After Chris's troops entered the Hanhai, General Modler replaced Wilkes and led the Hanhai soldiers out of the castle, handing over the defense to the grenadiers of the 1st Regiment of Ireland Hill.
The first order that Grand Duke Chris of Elanhill gave to General Modler was to train the soldiers of the Hanhai and form a new infantry regiment.
Because of the rapid expansion, Chris now needs an army. He now owns a large territory and nearly two million subjects - to support the army, he can at least support an army of about 30,000 people.
Why couldn't a territory support more troops before? Actually, this has to be explained from other aspects.
Previously, taxes in the territories were very heavy, and the majority of the tax was paid by farmers, so naturally they could not support so many troops.
On the other hand, because the army's means of attack were limited, no one could break through a heavily fortified castle in a short period of time. Therefore, supporting a large army would only drag down one's own economy, but would not be able to expand and gain benefits. Therefore, everyone simply stopped building such a powerful army.
In addition, with the protection of the Holy Demon Empire, the cavalry of the Grassland Empire did not dare to invade the south on a large scale, and there were only minor fights on the border, so the standing military strength was naturally even lower.
The emergence of Ailan Hill was actually the biggest change in power in the past hundred years. Who would have thought that Seris, which was surrounded by enemies, could sweep across the entire northeast region in just over a year?
Because of this, the standing force of Seris Castle used to be only 1,300 people, 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 one territory can support 5,000 people.
The difficulty facing Chris now is how to arm so many soldiers and how to make these soldiers truly become reserve forces 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 can be settled with money." Des leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and complained to Chris helplessly, "The Alante Empire will never let us become a source of worry. They will definitely send troops to intervene."
Chris was helpless, he sighed and said: "I have no choice. Are we afraid of Alante, so we won't fight Beijun and Hanhai?"
Not fighting is absolutely not an option. How many workers in how many factories are looking forward to the war? If Chris says not to fight, they might replace Chris choose a new Grand Duke to start the war.
"Winter is coming soon, we still have a few months to breathe." Wilkes, who was left with Chris, has now become a general of Ireland Hill. Although he does not lead troops, he has been given the title of a staff officer. At this time, he spoke, and Bourjois and Walter looked over.
He coughed awkwardly, then continued with a thick face, "It is very unwise to fight in the northeast region in winter. Even the Alante Empire would not make such a stupid decision."
Desel was deeply touched by the corruption of the Alante Empire. The enemy's stockpiles of supplies on the border must be insufficient. As long as the generals were not stupid, they would not risk going to war with Alante in winter.
If the enemy really attacked, in fact, Ailan Hill could win easily: even if it did not use the elite 1st Regiment, and only relied on the 2nd Regiment to deal with the enemy, it had more than 70% chance of winning.
"What General Wilkes said makes sense." Des thought for a moment and agreed. "That's good news. At least we have a window of peaceful development before next spring."
"Oh, right!" At this point, he remembered something and reported to Chris: "According to reliable information, General Zorn is planning to march south to attack the Dosen Empire... This seems to be in our favor."
"This is good news!" After hearing this news, Burjos, who was originally a little worried, relaxed a lot: "If the Alante Empire and the Dosen Empire go to war, it will be impossible for them to attack us immediately."
It seems that when spring comes, the Alante Empire still has no energy to cause trouble for Ailan Hill. If things go wrong, the war will be delayed until autumn.
"Huh!" Chris let out a long sigh, thinking that starting the war in the autumn of next year was a situation he could accept: at least by that time, he could prepare three regular main force regiments, right?
He thought for a moment, then looked at Des and asked, "Can we think of a way to... delay the war a little longer...?"
"It's not easy. With the cannons we provide, the battle against Dothan is likely to become a quick battle..." Des shook his head and said, "This is all cause and effect. There is no way to avoid it."
In his opinion, if General Zorn did not get the artillery drawings, the crusade against the Dosen Empire would not have started in the south. By then, Alante might have gone north first to punish the disobedient small country of Ailanhill.
Now that General Zorn has obtained the blueprints and the cannons, he will go south to attack the Dosen Empire first, giving Ailanhill a chance to delay.
"I hope the Dosen Empire can work harder... and delay Alante for a few months. By the time winter comes in the north, we can delay it for a few more months." Chris said greedily.
Once this hope is realized, Chris will have a whole year to prepare for war. According to the current development speed, after a year, at least the problem of bullet supply can be initially solved.
"Yes. If the Alante Empire goes north and suffers a loss here, it might alarm the Holy Demon Empire... Our army is still a little overwhelmed when facing magicians and dragon knights." Des scratched his head and continued.
Magician? Dragon Knight? Hearing these frightening words, Wilkes and Bourjois looked at each other - what kind of country did they join? How dare they hold a meeting to plot against the Magic Empire?
After talking about dealing with Alante, it was time to calculate the benefits of the war. It was just an exciting moment that made Des extremely happy: there were two large iron mines in Tubao, which were mature for mining and fully staffed, and the output could basically meet Chris's consumption.
In Des's opinion, just these two large iron mines that Ireland Hill urgently needs are almost worth the cost of this war: even if another 100,000 gold coins are invested, Des would not feel that he has lost money.
Similarly, Tubao and Beijun are both major coal producers. In the past, most of the coal that Ireland Hill wanted to buy came from these two places. Now, the money for purchasing steel and coal can basically be saved.
With these high-quality coals, metallurgical technology can be improved and thermal energy can be sufficient. With steam engines, factories have a constant source of power, and with thermal power plants, Chris's electricity concept 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 in Chris's knowledge. However, the output of this oil mine is very small, and there are many impurities, so it needs to be purified before it can be used. But even so, it is much better than the previous oil reliance on acquisitions by Ailan Hill.
The biggest gain for Chris in the Hanhai area is actually the reinforcement of saltpeter and sulfur mines. These minerals are crucial to the production of gunpowder and are also necessary raw materials for many chemical products.
In addition, Chris also seized a large amount of kerosene used for defending the city and some gold coins in reserve in the three castles. Over the past six months, the profits they had obtained from extorting Ireland Hill had basically returned to Chris' pocket.
"No wonder powerful countries and capable kings love war so much... We spent almost 500,000 gold coins before, and we got back more than 200,000 gold coins in this battle." Looking at the accounts in his hand, Des exclaimed with satisfaction.
Spending two gold coins and getting one gold coin back almost immediately was something everyone wanted to do, including Des. He even thought that if conditions allowed, it would be the right choice to attack another country and make money.
He had thought that war would bring huge profits, but he had never thought that a quick victory could increase the profits to this extent. Just from the speed of gold coins being recovered, it can be said that this war did not lose money. If the profits from mineral deposits and population were included, it would be a good deal that doubled the profits.
"We are no longer short of copper. At least, there will be no problem producing 100,000 copper shell bullets." Chris saw the amount of copper mines in the material statistics and said with relief, "I wonder if the production of bullets can be accelerated."
"I don't know about the bullets." Des shook his head and said, "But I know something about the artillery. The second equipment in the arsenal has been put into production... The current production speed should be twice as fast as before."
"That's great ." Chris nodded with satisfaction. It seemed that while he was fighting all over the place, the production at home had not been neglected - this was all thanks to the efforts of Deans and Gurlo. They could be said to be the lubricant that supported the operation of this national machine.
