Chapter 448 Military Expenditure and Military Gains

“…In terms of the military, we currently have 7200 enlisted soldiers and officers, 6300 enlisted Skitarii, and 12800 enlisted reserve Skitarii.

Among the registered soldiers, there are about 3210 people favored by the Saints and about 3450 holy soldiers (breathing method), with a total extraordinary rate of 63%.

The monthly salary paid to registered soldiers is 4814 gold pounds, and the non-wartime salary is 2500 gold pounds. Currently, 13628 gold pounds have been spent, and the estimated salary expenditure for soldiers this year is 25942 gold pounds.

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

Two Holy Gun Workshops: The Holy Gun Workshop in Autumn Dusk Island can produce 120 guns per month, and the Holy Gun Workshop in Huilu Town can produce 300 guns per month.

An armor workshop: 80-100 sets per month.

目前共产出1500杆圣铳花费2250金镑，400套盔甲3330金镑，配套的近战武器、衣物等杂物5500金镑，还有带上训练支出920金镑。

So far, more than 25620 pounds have been spent, and the annual estimated expenditure is more than 37940 pounds. Fortunately, it has not exceeded the budget of 4 pounds. "

An army consisting almost entirely of infantry, with less than 8 men, no, no, it should be close to 4 gold pounds in months.

Catherine was stunned by the financial report. It's not like she had never bought mercenaries before. You have to know that the weekly salary of an ordinary infantryman of the Empire Mercenary is only 5 dinars.

She had previously hired a mercenary infantry regiment of 2000 men, and her annual expenditure was less than 3000 gold pounds, because the 3000 gold pounds she spent did not include food expenses and weapons and equipment.

Even when there was no fighting and they were just stationed, Catherine could always use the excuse of not paying salaries or only paying low salaries, and even the old mercenary leaders could not find any fault.

If calculated based on the price of mercenaries, Horn's annual expenditure for 8000 men should be less than 12000 gold pounds, but the actual expenditure was more than three times that.

At this moment, Catherine suddenly felt that it was not so unreasonable for the Savior Army to defeat the Order Company.

Different from Catherine's exclamation, Horn, sitting in the main seat, held his forehead and rubbed it slowly. When the holy gun sounded, it was worth ten thousand pounds of gold.

At that time, Horn seized nearly 10 gold pounds of property in Kush, of which nearly 4 were invested in infrastructure construction and urban reconstruction, and a large number of orders were issued to keep the economy of Joan of Arc from going bankrupt.

During this period, there were also investments in the distribution of land and the monastery of the Holy Hoe and the Holy Scythe, as well as a large amount of housing and Invalides allocated to retired veterans and various administrative facilities.

After raising funds through Jihad Bonds, there is currently around 3 gold pounds in liquid funds in the Holy Treasury.

But Horn plans to expand the Guards Corps to eight Guards Regiments in the second half of the year, which will undoubtedly increase military spending again.

But if the army is not expanded, if Prince Kongdai comes with the remaining five imperial edicts, the consequences will be disastrous.

You know, even though Horn has led the Savior Army to defeat the Command Company twice, it does not mean that the Savior Army has completely suppressed the Command Company.

In his first battle, he relied on the advantages of terrain and weather as well as his strong morale of not caring about life and death to defeat his opponent, suffering extremely heavy casualties.

In the second battle of Rapid City, the Imperial Order Company was defeated at a relatively small cost thanks to the trained war monks and the Red Dragon Breath fireball technique, but now there are less than twenty Red Dragon Breaths left.

Moreover, Horn and his men are currently facing local guards and country knights, while Prince Kongdai is accompanied by the two most elite mercenary groups in the Kingdom of Leia - the Group of Death and the Group of Eagles.

As an elite army whose salary is almost on par with that of the Savior Army, they have many land servants and great swordsmen among them.

These people are not as easy to defeat as ordinary guards. After analysis by Hakuto and Jeshka, the current winning rate of both sides is about 30% and 70%.

And that 70% winning rate still belongs to others.

Now that Prince Conde has withdrawn to Hotam County, although the local church army is still besieging the city of High Castle, the second phase of the Thousand Valley Uprising has entered a trough, and both sides will have to continue licking their wounds.

Horn must expand his strength again as much as possible in this precious period of peace, and bring the strength of the army to at least 50-50.

"How much devil's wealth did the Salvation Army seize this time?"

Regarding the confiscation of monasteries and castles, the Salvation Army had a unified voice, calling it not plundering but rather the confiscation of the devil's ill-gotten gains.

"So far, a total of 25920 gold pounds have been seized from the castle and monastery in Ibe.

After confiscating castles, churches and monasteries in the territory, the Kush Knights in Jinhe Township handed over 18888 gold pounds.

15000 gold pounds were confiscated in Gouhu Township, plus 8800 gold pounds of spoils and ransoms from the knights in two battles, totaling more than 68000 gold pounds. "

This time, we got 68000 pounds in one go, at least we got the budget for next year's military expenditure.

If it weren't for the purpose of preventing a reaction from the monastic system, there would probably be more.

Their religious system is different from the centralized system of the Holy See. It is decentralized. There are different religious orders in different places, and most of them are sympathetic to the incident of blue-blood orphans.

Although their purpose might be to oppose the Holy See, they were friendly forces after all, so Horn did not wipe them out like he did in Kush Territory.

Therefore, the Salvation Army spared many well-known monasteries in the country, but required them to register their property, land and number of people at Jeanne d'Arc. At present, the amount of gold pounds that will enter the Holy Treasury and have been deposited in the Holy Treasury has increased to about 10 gold pounds.

This is the reason why Jeanne d'Arc was prosperous despite being under economic blockade. The money that was originally buried underground in various places in the South Thousand Valley was dug out by Horn from all directions.

And Horn did not hide it, but plunged into the local market in Longsand County, resulting in a hot market in the construction and service industries.

The order for military uniforms alone is enough to feed a dozen or twenty textile workshops and tailor shops, not to mention the terrible jihad bonds to raise funds.

Hotels and taverns in the service industry are basically booked out by the high-paid war monks. There are newly built courtyards by the war monks everywhere on the outskirts of Jeanne d'Arc and on Autumn Island.

Of course, such a large amount of money is invested in the market for consumption, but the local area cannot produce so many goods, and there is too much money and too few goods, which will inevitably cause prices to soar.

To maintain price stability, Horn imposed high excise taxes on luxury goods such as alcohol, sugar, and high-end furniture, imposed price controls on necessities, and had the Cheka crack down on speculation.

Then the people, especially the veterans, will have money but cannot spend it, and Horn will encourage them to invest their money in workshop industries instead of casinos and technical colleges.

As for some funds that are neither too little to be saved nor too much to start a business, the Papal State can recover the idle funds by issuing jihad bonds and invest them in state-owned workshops.

The wartime system will not last long. Horn cannot always rely on plundering others to replace production. The right way is to use this hot money to invest in production.

This is also the main reason why Horn wants to transform Fort Joan of Arc, develop Autumn Island and sign an agreement with the Franks.

The European countries at that time relied on borrowing from the people, plundering wealth from colonies across the oceans, and shipping it back to their countries to have enough funds to complete their early industrialization.

Horn's current behavior is to rely on borrowing money from the people, attack the upper wealthy groups in the Thousand River Valley to plunder their wealth, and transport it back to Langsander County in an attempt to complete early industrialization.

You have to know that industry is an asset-intensive business, and no one can handle it without a lot of money.

"Put aside 5 gold pounds as next year's military budget, and invest the rest into the market." Horn put down his hand that was rubbing his head.

"Among them, 2 pounds will be raised through jihad bonds?" Bousak raised his head and asked, "Otherwise, next year's infrastructure plan will be a bit stretched."

"Put less, and we'll see when the time comes." Horn scratched his head in annoyance. "Everyone, I'm not saying that we can't always rely on war. We can't just distribute without production."

"It takes at least three to five years to develop a workshop and recover the costs and make a profit. It's a bit too late." Granpuwen couldn't help but smile bitterly.

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

Horn turned his head and was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Go ahead, it's okay."

“Jihad bonds are a type of war bond. If you want to divert people’s interest from war to industry, you can’t just use this type of bond, because that will make people dependent and fanatical.

But under long-term victory, a small defeat in a war will cause the collapse of market confidence, followed by the collapse of this tightrope walking system.

To put it simply, you cannot put all your eggs in one basket, and it is unreasonable to have only one bond structure.

The essence of this high-interest jihad bond is high risk with high returns, so another type of industrial bond and government bond should be issued.

The former is guaranteed by the income of state-owned workshops, and the latter is guaranteed by national taxes. Compound investment is safer for both the people and the country.

At present, I suggest launching industrial vouchers specifically for the workshop industry, with lower interest rates, longer cycles, and higher single purchase amounts.

If there is one, I would personally be willing to subscribe for 5000 pounds sterling."

When the statement that an individual was willing to subscribe for 5000 gold pounds came out, the cardinals present were stunned, and then they sat up straight involuntarily.

You should know that the largest merchant family in Joan of Arc does not have assets of 5000 gold pounds, let alone liquid funds. The assets of the cardinals present are only 200-300 gold pounds.

How come this new cardinal was able to subscribe for 5000 gold pounds right away?

"This is a good motion." Horn thought for a while and said slowly, "How about this, you go back and write a motion and a related plan, and submit them at the regular meeting, and then we will discuss it."

"Okay." Catherine nodded.

After Madeleine finished reading the detailed situation report and everyone present reported their work one by one, this regular meeting was coming to an end.

Before adjourning the meeting, Horne asked one last question: “Have all the tax plans been worked out?”

"There are only a few details left, which will be announced along with the bureaucratic reforms, scheduled for early September."

"Well, I just happened to be going to Qiumu Island. When I come back, I will gather the centurions together and hold a meeting."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

(End of this chapter)