The King

  Chapter 280 The Battle of Commanders

   Canglan City.

  Alliance reinforcements arrived, the orc army retreated, and after the news of the completion of the mission reached the palace, the faces of the princes and nobles not only did not show smiles, but their faces were gloomy and terrifying.

  It seemed that everything was going well, but the number of casualties in their hands couldn't make them happy.

  Nearly 600,000 troops remained forever on the orc prairie, the Alpha Kingdom was seriously injured, almost every noble group was crying, and every household hung white sails.

  Like previous wars, the kingdom’s accumulation of decades of wealth and military strength was exhausted in the war.

   "Why are you all silent? You were crying and clamoring to break out, but now the result is what you want!"

   Caesar III said angrily.

  Obviously, he still hasn't let go of the fact that the ministers united to force the palace last time.

  The king was in a fit of anger, so naturally no one went up to make trouble. At the moment, everyone is in a bad mood, and they want to throw the blame away, but they can't find the person who took the blame.

  Marshal Campbell died in battle, and if he threw the blame, Caesar III would definitely not agree.

  As the instigators, the five major families of the Northern Lands are well-established factions in the kingdom, and there is no lack of strength in the court. It is another endless wrangling for them to take responsibility.

  The Human Race Alliance involves too much and cannot be provoked. Let them take the blame, it will lead to international conflicts.

   Hudson, who is the best bully, just reached out to help everyone, and at this time he threw the scapegoat away, and his eating looks too ugly.

  Everyone is a decent person, you have to leave a bit of leeway when doing things, or you won't be able to see each other in the future.

   If there is no scapegoat, then you can only scold the orcs. But this is the imperial meeting, so there's no need to be so rude, it's not too late to scold the following when you go back to publicize.

   "Your Majesty, the orcs have always been scheming, and they may come back at some point. Now that the task of receiving them has been completed, let the army withdraw quickly!"

   Da Ai Fiero persuaded him publicly.

  The Alpha Kingdom, which has suffered heavy losses, can no longer stand the toss. In any case, the remaining elite of these kingdoms must be preserved.

  Compared to previous wars, in this war, the Alpha Kingdom was passively attacked for the shortest time, the occupied land was the least, and civilian casualties and domestic economic losses were also the lowest in history.

  As long as the elite seeds are kept, the kingdom will be able to recover its strength in less than ten years. If production in the newly recovered provinces can be resumed, the national strength may even be further improved.

   Even though the losses are heavy now, the Alpha Kingdom is still the strongest among all the clan kingdoms in the Northland.

  As long as the Human Race Alliance can give some strength to destroy the Orc Empire, the Alpha Kingdom will not be threatened by foreign enemies in the next few decades, and can farm with peace of mind.

  From an overall strategic point of view, the Alpha Kingdom was actually the winner in this heavy-loss war. It's just that the price paid was a bit heavy, and it looked like he was dying.

   "Then let them withdraw!"

   Caesar III nodded slightly and said.

  There are priorities and urgency can arise at any time, but military affairs must be dealt with immediately.

  Do not bring emotions into decision-making, which is also an important factor for Caesar III to firmly control the government. Even if a pillar in the army was broken, it still did not affect his status.

   "Your Majesty, the reinforcements of the Terran Alliance have already set off, and they will enter our country one after another in a short time. Next, it is our turn to launch a counterattack.

  Considering the geographical location, we continue to deploy defenses on the front line of Zijingguan and Helan Fort, which can no longer meet the needs of the next war.

  With the help of the first batch of reinforcements from the alliance and the Principality of Moxi, now is the time to consider: re-establish a defense line in the newly recovered seven provinces of the Northland, hoard supplies, and prepare for the big counterattack! "

  The Prime Minister, the Grand Duke of Newfoundland, suggested.

  Originally, this was not in the plan. According to the previous concept, the Northern Expeditionary Army directly followed the group of "lord knights" tossing in the Orc Empire to bring the enemy down.

  It's a pity that those old men's mentality is not very good. After learning that Emperor Bimeng died of the backlash of the secret method of longevity, their mentality collapsed.

   Except for the strong man from the Alpha Kingdom who remained in the army, everyone else went back to work on their own affairs.

  Everyone knows that dying people should not be messed with. Even if they knew that these people violated the contract and made the Northern Expedition Army miserable, the Kingdom could only swallow their grievances in their stomachs.

   Went to the hinterland of the orc empire to make a fuss, but it was not completely ineffective. There were also millions of orcs slaughtered along the way.

  The most important thing is to hit the five royal families in the hearts of the orcs, laying the foundation for the next civil strife in the orc empire.

   "Prime Minister, restoring the defense lines of the seven northern provinces will not be accomplished overnight. The manpower, financial and material resources required are all astronomical.

   What's more, you have to consider that the enemy will come and destroy at any time. If you don't pay attention, the construction site will become a battlefield. Destruction can be far faster than construction!

  With the current financial situation of the Kingdom, it simply cannot afford such a large project. As for advancing the front line and preparing for a major counter-offensive, I think it is better to postpone the discussion. "

  Delgado resolutely refused.

   It's not that he doesn't have a strategic vision, it's that the Alpha Kingdom is too poor. Now that the war has progressed, the treasury is empty enough to run away mice.

  With no money in his pocket, he, the chancellor of the exchequer, was also very helpless.

  Even if the materials for the construction of the defense line are all local materials, the peasants always have to eat. Affected by the war, domestic food production has plummeted, and it can no longer meet the needs of the whole people, so it can only be purchased from overseas.

   A penny is hard for a hero, not to mention that the Alpha Kingdom lacks not even a single star. The kingdom's funding gap is tens of millions, which is more than a year's fiscal revenue, and it cannot be squeezed out by the Ministry of Finance if it wants to.

   "Delgado, don't be too anxious. The problem of funds, didn't we just collect a war tax?

   Grit your teeth and persevere, you can always figure out a way. For the sake of the overall situation, everyone tightened their belts together to live a few years of hard life.

  Let me take the lead. From now until the kingdom’s finances improve, I will not receive a salary. All high-level officials in the Kingdom have suspended their salaries, and middle and lower-level officials have cut their salaries by 30% to 50% as appropriate.

  The budgets of various departments are also suppressed; the rewards for meritorious ministers are only distributed to minor nobles, and the rest are owed first! "

  The Prime Minister, the Grand Duke of Newfoundland, pretended to be calm and said.

   There is no doubt that this is an offending proposition. Since the outbreak of the war, the various welfare benefits of officials have been greatly reduced, and even less will be obtained after such a reduction.

  Departmental budgets, let alone. After the war broke out, except for the increasing expenditure of the Ministry of Military Affairs, other departments were tightening their belts.

   On the contrary, the problem of military rewards is the easiest to solve. Because of the war, not only the bounties remained on the books, but even the pensions of the nobles who died in battle were not paid out in time.

  If you know it is Lei, you have to step on it. Who made him the prime minister of the kingdom?

  As the head of the officials, at such a critical moment, if he dared not come out to offend others, he couldn't let King Caesar III go down personally to spread hatred, right?

   "Prime Minister, this is still far from enough.

   Most of the Kingdom officials are voluntary, and there are not many who need the Ministry of Finance to pay their salaries, and the Ministry of Finance has already owed everyone two months of salary.

  The budgets of each department are also pressed again and again. Unless you can suppress the expenditure of the Ministry of Affairs, at most hundreds of thousands of gold coins will be squeezed out.

  The bounties of nobles have been embezzled by the Ministry of Finance for a long time. The few million gold coins left in the account are still used for emergencies.

  The crisis we are facing now cannot be solved by throttling. The only way is to open source, for example: levy another war tax, or borrow money from countries in the alliance!

  Frankly speaking, neither of these is a good choice.

  We collected war tax three times last year alone, and again at the beginning of the year. If we collect it now, many small nobles may not be able to support it.

  For foreign debts, I think Earl Francis has more say. "

   Delgado shrugged and said.

  The kingdom's finances have been able to persist until now, and there has been no bankruptcy. He, the finance minister, can already proudly declare to the outside world: he is worthy of the kingdom.

   "The chancellor is right, borrowing from countries is not a good option. Referring to our past borrowing cases, this process is not beautiful.

  A few days ago, a war bond appeared in the Principality of Moxi. I think the Ministry of Finance can follow suit.

   Compared with negotiating with the governments of various countries, it is actually easier to raise funds by selling interest-bearing war bonds directly to the nobles at home and abroad. "

   Earl Francis said calmly.

  The principality of Moxi is selling war bonds everywhere, and there has been a lot of trouble on the mainland for a long time. The war bond was not sold to the Alpha Kingdom because everyone is a "bad brother" and life is hard for anyone.

  As the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Earl Francis naturally wanted to know what happened in neighboring countries.

   "Our current funding gap is as high as more than 30 million gold coins. Can such a large amount of money be borrowed by issuing war bonds?

   Take the lead in stating that usury is impossible. The kingdom's financial resources are limited, and it is impossible to bear more than too high interest. We can't afford even normal private lending! "

   Finance Minister Marquis Delgado said seriously.

   Wanting to borrow money but unwilling to bear high interest is a set of contradictory propositions in itself.

  The great nobles do have patriotic feelings, but it is still unknown how much gold coins this feeling is worth.

   What's more, the war has been going on until now, and the families of the nobles have also consumed a lot, and they may not be so rich now.

  Even if everyone is willing to support the kingdom, it may be difficult to spend a large amount of cash to buy war bonds. After all, people have to save money for post-war reconstruction.

   "Refer to the interest rate set by the Mosi people, and combine our actual situation, print a batch of war bonds to sell emergency.

   However, the specific figures must be strictly controlled by the Ministry of Finance, and must not exceed the Kingdom's repayment ability! "

   Caesar III said decisively.

  The money that should be spent must be spent. Even if there is no expedition by the Human Race Alliance Army, the newly recovered seven provinces also need to be included in the kingdom's defense line after the war.

   Even if you do it now, you can move the border line to the north. Anyway, after so many years, the specific boundary line has become a mystery.

   It would be a fool to occupy as many circles as possible without relying on the power of the Human Race Alliance.

  Using actual actions to create established facts, as long as the Human Race Alliance recognizes it, it will become the legal territory of the Alpha Kingdom.

  There is no need to worry about this kind of thing. The overlord of the mainland also wants face. Letting his younger brother give up the benefits that he has eaten in his belly, wouldn’t it make all races look down on the human race?

  As long as you don't play too much, exceed your own digestion limit, and attract the jealousy of your allies, then it's not a big problem.

  …

   "Your Majesty, Marshal Campbell was unfortunately killed. There are so many troops gathered on the front line. It is necessary for us to appoint a new commander. Who do you think is suitable?"

   Archduke Afiero asked tentatively.

  Frankly speaking, there are really not many generals in the Alpha Kingdom Army who are qualified to serve as frontline commanders.

  All the great nobles in the south were basically excluded from the candidate list for a very simple reason - lack of sufficient military exploits.

   On the contrary, the nobles in the north, because they have been fighting with orcs all year round, have accumulated more military achievements and have greater influence in the army.

  This is their advantage, but also their disadvantage.

  From the standpoint of the king, whoever has the most military achievements and the highest prestige is not the most suitable commander, and the balance of all aspects must also be considered.

   "Who are the candidates for the Ministry of Military Affairs?"

   Caesar III asked concerned.

   This kind of procedure is necessary. Even if you have your own candidate in mind, you have to look at the reaction of the officials first.

   It is best to let your subordinates do the nomination. If the general nominated in person is rejected by the officials, it will be embarrassing.

   This kind of thing is nothing new in the court. Caesar III is considered a powerful monarch, but he still needs to discuss with everyone on important personnel appointments in the kingdom.

   "The Ministry of Military Affairs proposed a total of six people, namely the Duke of Pias, the Duke of Agiron, the Duke of Dias, the Duke of Cavadia, the Earl of Hudson and the Marquis of James."

   As soon as Grand Duke Afiero finished speaking, Caesar III frowned. There are six candidates in total, and the first four are members of the five major families in the Northland.

  If the Duke of Arondo was not killed by the orcs, and the prestige of the heir was not enough, it is estimated that the five major families of the Northland would be shortlisted together.

   Almost without thinking, he immediately ruled out the first four.

   There is no way, the nobles of the Northland have too much influence in the army. If their people are appointed as commanders, will they also be given the position of commanders of the standing army in the future?

  Originally, the standing army was stationed in the Northland all year round, and the nobles of the Northland had a great influence in the army. If another nobleman of the Northland was appointed as the commander, the military power might completely fall into the hands of the nobles of the Northland in the long run.

   Undoubtedly, no monarch would want to see such a situation where the tail is too big to lose.

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  (end of this chapter)