CHAPTER 469: CHAPTER 447 MILITARY EXPENDITURE AND MILITARY GAINS

"...Regarding the army, we currently have 7,200 registered soldiers and officers, 6,300 registered Defensive Army troops, and 12,800 registered reserve Defensive Army troops.

Among the registered soldiers, there are about 3,210 Blessed and about 3,450 Holy Soldiers (Breathing technique), with a total Extraordinary rate of 63%.

The monthly salary paid to registered soldiers is 4,814 gold pounds, the non-war salary is 2,500 gold pounds, and currently, 13,628 gold pounds have been expended. It is estimated that soldier salary expenditure for this year will be 25,942 gold pounds.

Currently, army equipment is divided into three categories: melee weapons, armor, and holy guns.

There are two Holy Gun Workshops: the Autumn Dusk Island Holy Gun Workshop can produce 120 pieces per month, and the Gray Furnace Town Holy Gun Workshop can produce 300 pieces per month.

There is one Armor Workshop: producing 80-100 sets per month.

Currently, producing 1,500 holy guns costs 2,250 gold pounds, 400 sets of armor 3,330 gold pounds, and miscellaneous items such as matching melee weapons and clothing 5,500 gold pounds, along with training expenses of 920 gold pounds.

Currently, over 25,620 gold pounds have been expended, with yearly expenditure expected to be over 37,940 gold pounds, fortunately not exceeding the 40,000 gold pounds budget."

A nearly pure infantry army, less than ten thousand, no, it should cost nearly 40,000 gold pounds in just eight months.

Catherine was somewhat stunned by this financial report; she had bought mercenaries before and knew that the weekly salary of a regular imperial mercenary infantryman was only 5 Dinars.

Previously, she packed and hired a mercenary infantry corps of 2,000 men, and the annual expenditure did not exceed 3,000 gold pounds because this 3,000 gold pounds did not include food and equipment expenses.

Even when not fighting and just stationed, Catherine can use excuses to not pay salaries or only issue low wages, and not even an old mercenary leader can find fault.

If calculated according to mercenary prices, Horn’s 8,000-strong contingent should cost less than 12,000 gold pounds a year, but the specific expenditure turned out to be more than triple.

In this moment, Catherine suddenly felt that it wasn’t so unreasonable for the Salvation Army to defeat the Decree Legion.

Unlike Catherine’s amazed admiration, Horn, who sat in the main seat, held his forehead and slowly rubbed it; a holy gun’s roar, gold in thousands of pounds.

Back then, Horn seized nearly 100,000 gold pounds worth of assets in the Kush Territory, of which nearly 40,000 were invested in infrastructure development and urban reconstruction, with a large amount of orders issued to maintain Joan of Arc Castle’s economy from bankruptcy.

During this time, there were also land allocations and investments in the Saint Plow and Scythe Monastery, as well as substantial housing and Veterans’ Home allocation and various administrative facilities for retired veterans.

After gathering funds through Holy War Bonds, there are currently about 30,000 gold pounds of liquid funds in the Holy Treasury.

However, Horn plans to expand the Imperial Guard to 8 units this fall to form Guard Battle Groups, which will undoubtedly increase military expenditure again.

But if the army is not expanded, if Prince Kongdai leads the remaining 5 Decree Legions to attack, the consequences would be unimaginable.

It’s important to know that although Horn has already led the Salvation Army to defeat the Decree Legion twice, this does not mean the Salvation Army has completely suppressed the Decree Legion.

During the first initial venture, he relied on terrain and weather advantages and overwhelming morale, which disregarded life and death to defeat the opponent, with extremely heavy casualties.

In the second battle at Rapids City, trained War Monks and the Red Dragon Breath Fireball Technique were used to defeat the Decree Legion with relatively low costs, but now there are fewer than twenty Red Dragon Breaths left.

Moreover, they are currently facing local guards and rural knights, but Prince Kongdai has the two elite mercenary corps of Leia Kingdom by his side - the Death Squad and the Eagle Corps.

As elite troops whose salaries are nearly on par with the Salvation Army, within their ranks are also numerous Land Servants and Great Swordsmen.

These people aren’t as easy to deal with as ordinary guards. According to analyses by Hakuto and Jeska, the current win rate between both sides is approximately seventy-thirty.

And that seventy percent win rate is theirs.

Currently, Prince Kongdai has retreated to Hotam County, although the local Church army is still besieging High Castle City, the second phase of the Thousand River Valley uprising has entered a trough period, as both sides continue to lick their wounds.

Horn must take advantage of this rare peace period to expand his forces as much as possible, at least to a fifty-fifty strength.

"How much of the devil’s wealth has the Salvation Army confiscated this time?"

Regarding confiscation of monasteries and castles, the Salvation Army internally uses a unified term, calling it the collection of the devil’s ill-gotten wealth rather than plunder.

"Currently, confiscating castles and monasteries from Ibe Village has yielded 25,920 gold pounds.

The Kush Knights from Jinhe Town, after confiscating castles, churches, and monasteries within the territory, submitted a total of 18,888 gold pounds.

The seizure at Dog Fox Village yielded 15,000 gold pounds, plus 8,800 gold pounds from trophies and ransom gained by knights through two operations, totaling over 68,000 gold pounds."

This time, a whole 68,000 gold pounds were acquired in one go, at least the military expenditure budget for the next year was secured.

If it weren’t for preventing escalation in the monastery system’s reaction, there might have been more.

The monastery system is different from the centralized church, exhibiting a decentralized attitude with various monasteries across regions, most of which hold sympathetic attitudes towards the Blue Blood Orphan Incident.

Although the intent might be opposing the church, they are, after all, allies, which is why Horn didn’t take everything as he did in the Kush Territory.

So, the Salvation Army spared many well-regarded monasteries within the territory, but required them to register their properties, lands, and numbers at Joan of Arc Castle.

The money about to enter the Holy Treasury and already deposited has increased to around 100,000 gold pounds.

The reason Joan of Arc Castle remains prosperous despite an economic blockade is precisely this; the money once buried underground in various locations of the Southern Thousand River Valley was unearthed by Horn.

Moreover, Horn did not hide it, but instead poured it into the local market of Langsande County, causing the construction and service industries to boom.

Just one order for military uniforms was enough to satiate a dozen or so textile workshops and tailor shops, not to mention the formidable Holy War Bonds gathering capital.

The inns and taverns of the service industry were basically fully booked by the high-paid war monks, with newly built small courtyards of war monks scattered around the outskirts of Joan of Arc Castle and Autumn Dusk Island.

Of course, putting such a large sum of money into the market for consumption while the local production could not churn out that many goods—more money, fewer goods—inevitably led to inflation.

To maintain price stability, Horn levied high consumption taxes on luxury items such as alcohol, sugar, and fine furniture, imposed price caps on essentials, and ordered Cheka to harshly crack down on speculation.

Then the populace, especially the veterans, would find themselves unable to spend money, so Horn encouraged them not to invest their money in casinos and entertainment venues, but in the workshop industry.

As for some funds which were neither small enough to be saved nor large enough to start a business, the Pope Country could use Holy War Bonds to recover idle funds and invest them in state-run workshops.

The wartime system won’t last long, and Horn can’t rely on plundering others to replace production; channeling the hot money into production is the proper way.

It’s also the main reason Horn wants to transform Joan of Arc Castle, develop Autumn Dusk Island, and sign treaties with the Falan people.

In those days, European countries borrowed from their citizens to plunder wealth from overseas colonies, bringing it back home and gaining enough capital to complete early industrialization.

Horn’s actions at present rely on borrowing from citizens to oppress the upper wealthy groups within the Thousand River Valley, plundering wealth, bringing it into Langsande County, trying to complete early industrialization.

It’s known that industry is a heavy asset start-up; without significant capital, who can make it work?

"Allocate 50,000 gold pounds as next year’s army budget; the rest continues to flow into the market," Horn said, putting down his hand from rubbing his forehead.

"Raise 20,000 gold pounds with Holy War Bonds?" Busak looked up and said, "Otherwise, next year’s infrastructure plan will be quite tight."

"Lower that a bit; we’ll see later." Horn scratched his head in frustration, "Everyone, it’s not that I complain, but we can’t always rely on war; mere distribution without production won’t work."

"Developing a workshop to recoup costs and generate profits takes at least three to five years, not enough time," Grampwen couldn’t help but smile wryly.

"Your Majesty, I have a small suggestion about this," Catherine, who had been sitting and listening for a long time, suddenly raised her hand and spoke.

Horn turned his head, first taken aback, and then smiled, "Go ahead, it’s fine."

"Holy War Bonds are essentially war bonds; if you want to shift the citizens’ interest from war to industry, you can’t just use this single type of bond, as that may foster dependence and fervor.

But under long-term victory, a minor defeat in a war might cause a collapse in market confidence, followed by a collapse of this tightrope system.

Simply put, the eggs can’t be placed in one basket; a single bond structure is unreasonable.

This high-interest Holy War Bond is essentially a high risk met with high reward, so there should also be issued industrial bonds and state bonds.

The former would be guaranteed by the profits of state-run workshops, and the latter by national taxes, making composite investments safer for both citizens and the country.

Currently, I suggest launching industrial bonds specifically for the workshop industry, lowering interest rates, extending cycles, and increasing single purchase amounts.

If available, I personally would like to subscribe to 5,000 gold pounds."

The statement of personal willingness to subscribe to 5,000 gold pounds stunned several cardinals present, who then sat up straight involuntarily.

It should be noted that the largest merchant families in Joan of Arc Castle currently don’t have assets of 5,000 gold pounds, let alone liquid funds, and the assets of the cardinals present were only around 200-300 gold pounds.

How did this new cardinal come to be able to subscribe to 5,000 gold pounds right away?

"This is a commendable proposal." Horn thought for a while, then slowly said, "How about this, write a proposal and a related plan, submit it at the regular meeting, and we will discuss it then."

"Alright." Catherine nodded.

After Madlan finished reading the specific situation report and everyone present reported on their work, the regular meeting approached its end.

Before adjourning, Horn asked one last question, "Is the taxation plan all set?"

"Only minor details remain; it’s going to be announced along with the bureaucratic reform, tentatively scheduled for early September."

"Alright then, I’ll take a trip to Autumn Dusk Island in the meantime, and when I return, gather those Hundred Households Captains for a conference."

"Yes, Your Majesty."