Chapter 296 War Bonds

Chapter 296 War Bonds
Just as the officers and soldiers of Arda’s army were fighting a bloody battle on the frontline.

Oh, to let a temperamentally high and cold female scholar moreover a legendary powerful witch do so much is too …… much of an achievement.

Slightly raising his head, he was facing a pair of big soulful eyes, waving two small pink fists left and right to pound his legs for himself.

Betty Diaz, a famous family from the Gabella Empire, after meeting her own line of sight, shyly turned her head away and pouted, “Really, people have never been …… like this.”

Smiling, he reached out his hand to gently stroke her beautiful blonde hair.

Ah! What a rotten and depraved life!

……

“Lord Earl …… Lord Earl …… Lord Earl!”

The world suddenly shook and the scene in front of him began to become blurry.

What’s going on? Paul shook his head.

By the time he came to his senses, the bright autumn eyes from a moment ago had turned into thick eyebrows.

“Bernard! Why it’s you!” Paul nearly jumped out of his chair and looked at the man in front of him, “Where’s Laddie? Where’s Betty?”

The chief secretary said very apologetically, “Lord Gladman, I apologize for interrupting your nap, the two young ladies are right here, would the meeting like to continue?” .

“Uh …… sure, of course.”

Paul remembered, he had made an appointment with the heads of various departments to discuss the recent progress of work, and he had actually dozed off in the middle of it.

After thinking back carefully, it was all because of that damn Hansel, this guy spoke to him every time he reported to him in an incredibly long, roundabout, rhetorically complicated sentence, a word that could be pulled into a sentence, a sentence that could be expanded into a large paragraph, and he himself had to mobilize every brain cell to summarize exactly what he meant.

By now Hansel had finished his debriefing, which seemed like a century, and Paul glanced indoors, where Laddie and Betty were sitting not far away.

Ms. Witch’s face was expressionless, her head down as she flipped through her notebook.

The headmistress was looking at Paul with a look of disgust: really, how old are you to be dozing off and drooling, and what do you mean you woke up and called us two ladies names.

She quietly gestured towards the corner of her mouth.

Paul took out his handkerchief and wiped the corner of his mouth, coughing dryly.

“Sorry, I’ve been a little tired lately …… Which piece is next?”

Old Ford, the chief administrator of the Council of State, spoke up, “Lord Gleeman, I must consult with you regarding this aspect of finances,”

Paul put a hand on his head and said painfully, “Don’t tell me there isn’t enough money to spend.”

“Unfortunately, that is the case, the expenses for the month of May amounted to more than 8,000 silver coins, and even with the addition of your private coffers, we are nearing the bottom of our money.”

Since the Salt People’s Riots, policing expenses have increased greatly because of the expansion of the Ministry of Public Safety and the Internal Defense Force.

And since the official war with the Kent family, military expenses have become a large part of Alda’s financial outlay, and after the landing in Fishtail Town, in order to meet the demand for troops on both fronts, Paul waved a large sum of money, and nearly 2,000 militiamen were sent to the battlefield by the military service stations all over the country, and at the same time, he also approved Schroeder’s plan to enlist auxiliary troops in the local area. Since it was a war, naturally it could not be fought empty-handed, and the corresponding weapons and equipment had to keep up. Soldiers need to eat and drink, and some wine to buff up before the battle.

And Paul strictly forbade his troops to solve the supply problem by means of looting – unless he himself was out of ideas.

As of now, the size of Alda’s existing military force is nearly 6,000 men, and if he didn’t have a way of making money, Paul would definitely be the most militaristic lord in the history of the Gladman family.

Such a “huge” army, the daily cost of money in the eyes of the old Ford and Philip, these old men of the Lord’s House seems to be just like running water.

“I don’t understand, our territory has expanded so much, the entire northern part of Emden, and now the Carter family’s territory is almost taken over by us, can’t the tax revenue from these places be balanced partially?”

“Earl-sama, the situation I told you about has already taken this part into account ……”

The Council of State’s gentlemen certainly did not intend to leave the tax money from these occupied areas to the old masters.

“Lord Count, I do have a suggestion ……”

“Hansel? Speak up.”

“Actually, you can save a large amount of money by stopping whatever [Allowance] you’re giving to your soldiers. Just like other lords, military service for one’s lord is supposed to be the duty of the lords ah.”

Hansel’s words caused many people to agree, but Paul immediately shook his head, “No way! Absolutely not! Material incentives are an important means of maintaining morale, our series of victories over this period of time have already shown that I was right to give the soldiers allowances, do you see any army that can fight as well as ours?”

“If it’s material incentives, there are actually other means that people commonly use ……”

“No way! That’s even more no!”

Before Hansel could finish his sentence, Paul knew what he was going to say, how could he tolerate his hard-earned trained army degenerating into a bunch of bandits.

Seeing that His Excellency the Count could not do this or that, Hansel offered another trick: “His Excellency the Count, if I remember correctly, the Port of Flanders is in the process of building a stock exchange, right?”

Paul nodded his head, “Yes, this is a plan that has long been set in motion, and you are aware of it.”

Hansel continued, “Since that’s the case, why not issue a war bond through the stock exchange, both raising military expenses and promoting the business of the exchange, two benefits in one go.”

“This …… has just been established to enrich itself, this is not good, right?”

“What’s not good about it, isn’t it common for kings and lords to borrow money in order to fight a war? According to my understanding, there hasn’t been an instance where the Gleeman family has borrowed money and not paid it back, and with our army going all the way, there’s definitely no worry that no one will come to buy the bonds. And ……”

Hansel paused and lowered his tone, “You can test the rich people in the territory in this way, which ones are on the same page as you and which ones are not, and the people who buy the bonds surely don’t want you to fail anyway.”

Paul realized, “You’re right, Hansel.” Then he hesitated, “What if the war drags on too long and you can’t pay it back?”

Hansel: “according to the current situation, sooner or later will not be able to make ends meet, it is better to raise a huge sum of money as soon as possible, manufacturing more muskets and cannons, as soon as possible to fight the city of Sente, I heard that the Ferdinand family generations of accumulated wealth for the northwestern lords of the crown, you grabbed the northwestern dukes of the treasury in the possession of the others, still afraid of not paying the money?”

“But …… what if …… unfortunately the money in the vault is not as much as the legend says? Those rich people are not like the salt people who have nothing to lose, and it will be more troublesome to make trouble.”

Hansel smiled slightly, “What are you afraid of? Haven’t you built more musket cannons as well?”

(End of chapter)