Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

Chapter 338: Chapter 153: Lion King Title and Red Brotherhood (Part 2)

So many lords like to maintain a sizable infantry corps as a façade because it’s genuinely economical!

Take for instance two barons, each with 3,000 troops. One has 1,000 heavy cavalry and 2,000 infantry, while the other has 100 heavy cavalry and 3,000 infantry. The difference in combat power is like heaven and earth; the former can easily crush the latter’s 3,000 rabble.

Even in Hesse Territory, it’s the same; 300 Elite Knights need only a few charges to shatter 2,000 infantry.

And such a substantial and elite army means that every month, Su Li, without doing anything else, incurs military expenses close to 3,500 Golden Crowns.

In fact, the financial expenditure is far more because he also needs to maintain a massive bureaucratic and civil service system, as well as spending on taxes, healthcare, religion, and infrastructure in the territory.

Not to mention, just the construction costs of Heisen Castle alone are over 5,000 Golden Crowns, another 1,500 Golden Crowns are spent on the Lion Ring Arena in the territory, the magnificent and sacred marble monastery and hospital of Shalya cost over 2,000 Golden Crowns, and then there’s the armory, blacksmith shop, barracks, etc., maintaining these artisans, blacksmiths, engineers, and church priests are considerable expenses.

Basically, every month, Su Li’s fixed expenses are over 5,000 Golden Crowns, and if there are large construction projects or emergency military mobilizations, these expenditures can soar to over 8,000 Golden Crowns.

Therefore, once war breaks out, Su Li’s small treasury can only sustain for two to three months at most.

In this situation, every day Su Li does nothing, and upon waking, faces a financial deficit of over 200 Golden Crowns.

This makes him very unhappy, as if he has returned to being a laborer in his past life, carrying heavy mortgage and car loan debt, waking up every day with a debt of over 200.

Then Su Li looked at Oerstein and said, ”My marshal, the territory’s war must end quickly. Now, just maintaining such a large army, incurs over 3,000 Golden Crowns in various expenses, not even counting the food consumption of various mounts and soldiers.”

Fortunately, when Su Li first came to Hesse, he was determined to turn this territory into a border granary.

So after two bountiful harvests, the territory is currently not short of food, and stored grain can at least sustain until winter.

But if the third harvest season of the year fails to produce enough grain, or if during this period the farmland outside the city is burned massively, then before next summer’s harvest, at least three or four tenths of the territory’s people will starve to death.

Oerstein is also aware of this situation; he clearly knows that the lord prefers the life of farming rather than war.

Therefore, he immediately assured, ”Lord, these days we’ve been receiving and recruiting brave men rushing here from all directions of the border; the army’s strength is rapidly growing. Now, the Provincial Legion’s scale has restored to over 1,500 people. We are confident to crush any of the Green Dragon’s subordinate legions in a single blow.”

The 1,500 Provincial Legion is already larger by hundreds than before the war.

Of course, correspondingly, the scale of the Free People’s Corps has reduced. Initially, there was a 1,400-member Provincial Legion and a 1,600-member Free People’s Corps.

In the frontier outpost battle, the Free People’s Corps suffered the heaviest losses, so even after replenishment during this time, their numbers have only barely restored to 1,000 people.

It’s not that the casualties were over 600, but Su Li disbanded most of the production professionals, sending them back to work in production.

Only some with strong combat power remain in the camp for training, with the elite being selected into the Provincial Legion.

If all goes well, the scale of the Free People’s Corps will continue to shrink, from 1,000 people gradually down to around 800, 600.

Although their size is decreasing, their combat power is rapidly increasing because those remaining are veterans, mercenaries, adventurers, wandering knights, and rogue knights who enjoy adventure and warfare.

These people are willing to sell their martial arts and combat experience to any lord; they not only have excellent combat instincts but have also spent a high price equipping themselves with fine gear, with some wandering knights and mercenary leaders even owning gleaming armor and a refined weapon.

This setup significantly surpasses most Provincial Legion soldiers, only the knights serving as lower-level officers in the Provincial Legion can boast such equipment. And it’s not issued by the army; these are purchased by members of the Knight Clan themselves.

These Free People’s Corps are something every empire’s lord would welcome and are a type of corps each territory maintains. They are somewhat akin to mercenary families serving the lord.

Usually, no salary is needed for them; only during wartime are spoils distributed to them based on their battle numbers, which suffices.

The military composition of every territory is like this: a large force of elite Knight Clans and a massive regular Imperial Army form the territory’s main force, with various Free People’s Corps serving as auxiliary and roaming scout troops during wartime.

They assist the lords in doing things that aren’t convenient for them and take on many duties of daring squads.

After discussing the regular army matters with Knight Oerstein, Su Li turned his attention to this aspect, looking at Hilude and asked, ”I remember during my recuperation, you told me a few leaders of the Free People’s Corps wanted to see me?”

Hilude immediately nodded and said, ”Yes, Lord, we have this meeting scheduled. I think this meeting is very meaningful and can help us attract a considerable Mercenary Corps.”