To oppose
Currently, the Norton Family's armed forces fielded five frontline legions: the Ironwall Legion at full strength of sixty thousand, the Flying Tiger Legion at full strength of sixty thousand, the newly formed Hunter Cavalry Legion with an establishment of sixty thousand as well, followed by the Imperial Guard Corps at seventy-five thousand, and a Naval Corps of fifty-five thousand. These five legions together numbered three hundred and ten thousand troops.
Additionally, the family possessed the Wrathful Bear Knights at fifteen thousand strong, and Lorist's personal guard battalion had an establishment of only three thousand. But Lorist had also selected another three thousand from the guard battalion to carry out top-secret special missions — essentially giving him two guard battalions. The total number of the above soldiers came to three hundred and thirty-one thousand, all frontline troops enjoying the best treatment in the family's military. Their annual salary alone amounted to the staggering sum of one million three hundred thousand gold Forde.
Furthermore, the family maintained ten garrison battalions responsible for guarding supply depots, prisons, mines, and factories — locations the family needed to keep secret from outsiders — as well as transporting logistics and supplies. There were also garrison units in various towns and villages, bringing the total to nearly forty thousand. Although these were second-line troops, their annual salary and subsidies still cost close to two hundred thousand gold Forde.
"Your Highness, the total strength of our Norton Family's armed forces has reached four hundred thousand, while the entire Northland currently has only about one million six hundred thousand registered subjects. Even including Dremuk Province and Winston Province, that only brings us to two million three or four hundred thousand — and that figure includes the subjects of territory nobles under our family's jurisdiction. A soldier-to-civilian ratio of nearly one to five is an extremely dangerous ratio; there is no other word for it but militaristic overreach. On top of that, our family has been at war nonstop for the past two years, and military expenditures have long since overshot revenue, with spending far exceeding income. If we hadn't seized nearly thirty million in wealth from the conquest of Haneabada, that slave kingdom, and used that as a foundation, our Norton Family would have gone bankrupt long ago."
Steward Spell's expression grew somewhat agitated. He paused briefly, then continued his argument: "Your Highness, what I've calculated so far covers only the salaries and subsidies for the family's armed forces. If we add the expenditures of the Warribel Intelligence Bureau, the costs of patrol units in each town, and the compensation for wounded and fallen soldiers, that figure approaches two million gold Forde. And that still doesn't include the costs of replacing weapons and equipment for each legion, warhorses, armor and clothing, daily quarters, food, and medicinal supplies..."
"Last year, our family's total military expenditure in these areas reached over four million. Naturally, the newly formed Hunter Cavalry Legion accounted for over one million of that. And to destroy the Iberia Kingdom, Your Highness, you personally approved an additional three million gold Forde in military spending. Although we seized nearly two million in assets when we captured the royal city of Windbury, overall, last year's total military expenditure exceeded the family's total income by more than double. The family still has over ten million gold Forde in reserves, but if we continue at last year's pace, we won't last more than two or three years before the family's finances collapse."
"Your Highness, I am not trying to sound alarmist. Everything I've said is fact. I had originally intended to advise Your Highness to cut the family's armed forces in half after the war against the mountain barbarians' army is concluded, in order to save on expenditures. The military strength our family now commands is nearly equivalent to what the imperial royal house possessed during the era of the former Krisen Empire. Back then, the entire empire sustained that many royal troops, but our family controls only three provinces. From a defensive standpoint, one legion per province would be sufficient. If war broke out, we could do as the former Krisen Empire's royal house did — call upon the territory nobles under our jurisdiction to raise troops, thereby reducing the size and cost of our own family's military."
Lorist smiled bitterly. This was a difference in philosophy. If Lorist were like Duke
Steward Spell wasn't wrong — for a defensive posture, one legion per province would suffice. But if the family wanted to maintain its momentum of expansion, it needed both an offensive spear and a defensive shield. The Ironwall Legion, the Flying Tiger Legion, the Hunter Cavalry Legion, and the Naval Corps were all offensive spears; only the Imperial Guard Corps served as the defensive shield. Abandoning the offensive spears and relying solely on the defensive shield — Lorist would have to be out of his mind to do that. It would be tantamount to crippling the family's own strength, shifting the Norton Family from an aggressive, forward-leaning posture to a passive, defensive one that only takes blows, surrendering all strategic initiative.
Steward Spell harbored no ill intent. He was the most loyal veteran in the Norton Family's service — otherwise Lorist would never have entrusted him with control over the family's finances and overall expenditure. But Steward Spell was too focused on financial expenditures and didn't fully understand the situation the family faced. The Norton Family might appear to be at the height of its power, having destroyed the Madras Duchy and the Iberia Kingdom and successfully pushed the Grand Duke of Fisablen back into his own family's territory, with the Norton Family's military reputation spreading far and wide — but beneath the victory hymns lurked a deep crisis.
The blow was devastating — it was like kicking the Grand Duke of Fisablen out of his dream of dominating the northeastern empire, sweeping his family from the pinnacle of their power, leaving them to lose troops and generals with no ability to recover, condemned to merely linger on in their own territory. But Lorist didn't dare relax his vigilance against the Grand Duke of Fisablen. Clearly, the Fisablen Family would become the Norton Family's mortal enemy to the east — the kind that would fight until one side was destroyed — and they had to remain constantly on guard against a counterattack.
Although Lorist was a noble of the Andinak Kingdom and the Grand Duke of Northland, and the conquest of the Iberia Kingdom counted as expanding the kingdom's territory, Lorist understood clearly that the Second Prince in the western capital was no pushover either. The greater his contributions to the kingdom, the deeper the Second Prince's suspicion of the Norton Family would grow. The Second Prince might have lain low in the capital all of last year without even any border disputes with the Forde Commercial Alliance or the four central duchies, but he was not the type to sit idle. Lorist and the Duke of Kenmais had conspired to use the oath document to deal the Second Prince a significant blow, and he must certainly be harboring schemes to get his revenge somewhere.
Right now, it was the Norton Family's sharp military edge that kept the Second Prince cautious and prevented him from acting rashly. If the Norton Family were to cripple its own strength, the Second Prince would be the happiest person of all, and underhanded schemes against the Norton Family would follow one after another, leaving Lorist unable to cope. The legions could not be reduced — they had to maintain at least their current size. But how to convince Steward Spell was giving Lorist a serious headache.
Looking at the list of the family's military units, their compositions, and their sizes that Steward Spell had laid out on the table, and recalling the series of military expenditures Steward Spell had recited, Lorist had to admit that his criticisms made a great deal of sense. A soldier-to-civilian ratio of nearly one to five was truly appalling. For any nation or family to conscript to that degree was indeed militaristic overreach, and it wouldn't be long before ruin followed.
Lorist stroked his chin, deeply puzzled. Why was it that even with over four hundred thousand troops in the family's armed forces, he still felt the military strength was insufficient? He recalled a famous saying that had circulated on the internet in his previous life — ah, it must be a systemic problem. But where exactly had the family's system gone wrong?
Just then, Lorist heard Fatty's laughter. "Hehe, Steward Spell, you've miscalculated that soldier-to-civilian ratio. In reality, our family's ratio isn't one to five — it's better than one to twenty. It's nowhere close to militaristic overreach..."
Steward Spell flew into a rage, waving his hands as he shot to his feet. "Nonsense! Is the family's military strength of four hundred thousand not a fact? Are the one million six hundred thousand registered subjects of the Northland not a fact? Are the enormous annual military expenditures not a fact? The actual soldier-to-civilian ratio isn't one to five — it's one to four!"
"Please sit down. Don't get agitated, Steward Spell." Fatty spoke calmly. "I'm not questioning the enormous military expenditures. I'm simply saying you've made an error in calculating the soldier-to-civilian ratio. You can't just divide our family's total military strength by the territory's total population and call that the soldier-to-civilian ratio. If our family had actually been conscripting at that rate throughout its territory, the territory would have collapsed long ago. It would be impossible for it to be the thriving, prosperous place it is today. In fact, I believe you've overlooked two crucial points.
"First, we've only conscripted from the family territory three times total. The first was to recruit sailors for the Naval Corps — I recall we recruited over twenty thousand, and the Naval Corps' fifty-five thousand were mostly composed of pirates and freed slaves. The second was when we formed the Wheelbarrow Steel Crossbow Regiment, conscripting fifteen thousand from the training camps. The third was last year, when we formed the Hunter Cavalry Regiment, selecting and enlisting over twenty-seven thousand new recruits and mixing them with twenty thousand veterans drawn from other legions. Although the Hunter Cavalry Legion had an establishment of sixty thousand, it was never brought to full strength — only three regiments were formed.
"So the total number of troops we actually conscripted from the family territory was less than eighty thousand. Compared to the territory's total population of over one million six hundred thousand, the actual soldier-to-civilian ratio is better than one to twenty. Meanwhile, the family's military establishments are capped at these numbers, leaving many young men who meet the qualifications unable to join the legions, forced instead to take up work or join local garrison units. When I toured the towns, villages, and training camps across the Northland, I often heard those young men complaining — they wanted to join the family legions but had no way in.
"Second, you've forgotten the origins of the soldiers who make up the Norton Family's various legions. They are not actually our subjects — they are prisoners of war and freed slaves. The correct way to put it is that our family's military operates on a mercenary system, which is precisely why military expenditures are so high. The Ironwall Legion and the Flying Tiger Legion were formed from the war prisoners of the Northland Grand Duke's allied forces and the soldiers from the Second Prince's one-hundred-thousand-strong army that we captured. After these prisoners completed three years of labor service in our family's territory and earned their freedom, we recruited them to prevent them from becoming homeless vagrants.
"The Imperial Guard Corps was formed from the two hundred thousand slaves we freed. Our family territory couldn't absorb that many able-bodied laborers all at once, and to prevent chaos, we established the Imperial Guard Corps primarily from these freed slaves. In other words, the formation of these three legions didn't drain the territory's working-age population at all — on the contrary, the addition of these freed prisoners and liberated slaves significantly increased the family territory's population. That's because the families of these soldiers also migrated to our territory due to their relatives joining the family's military.
"When the Hunter Cavalry Legion was ambushed and suffered a devastating defeat in the Meadow Plains Province, the soldiers fought bravely even when trapped. Although we lost thirty thousand, the ten-odd-thousand grass barbarian cavalry suffered losses double ours. As a result, when they subsequently attacked Pidro City and encountered the desperate resistance of three thousand men from the Imperial Guard Corps' Twenty-Third Battalion, their morale plummeted quickly, and they were unable to fight on after meeting even minor setbacks.
"Without the family's armed forces, the Norton Family would not enjoy its current splendor. It was precisely because we established a military that we were able to destroy Haneabada, that slave kingdom, and seize so much wealth. Now Dremuk Province and Winston Province have become part of our family's sphere of influence. Although the wars of the past two years haven't yielded much in terms of wealth — in fact, the military expenditures have arguably outweighed the returns — we've expanded our sphere of influence and achieved sole dominance over the entire Northland. All of this will bring rich returns to the family in the future.
"This time, Your Highness's plan to expand and reorganize the Imperial Guard Corps is not without purpose — it is to firmly secure Dremuk Province and Winston Province under the family's control. Moreover, Your Highness doesn't intend to conscript from the territory at all; rather, he's eyeing the hundred-odd-thousand former Madras Duchy soldiers currently performing labor service in Dremuk. For the family, although military spending will increase somewhat, winning the loyalty of these ten-odd-thousand former Madras soldiers eliminates a major source of internal instability within the family's territory. In terms of long-term peace and security for the family's domain, it is a very worthwhile investment.
"I've always believed that having these former prisoners of war join our family's military after completing their labor service is beneficial. Military life allows these soldiers to quickly identify with and grow loyal to the family, while also reassuring their relatives so they can settle down as our family's subjects. Yes, military expenditures are higher at the moment, but once the fighting subsides, the family's revenue will grow — after all, we've added two provinces. The expansion and reorganization of the Imperial Guard Corps won't significantly increase the family's military spending."
As the Norton Family's chief administrative officer, Fatty had an intimate understanding of the family's affairs. His words left Steward Spell with no room for rebuttal and nothing to pick apart, because every word of it was the truth.
On reflection, Fatty's reasoning was entirely sound. Every time the family expanded its military, it drew primarily from prisoners of war, which had no impact on the territory's production and development. Steward Spell's one-to-five soldier-to-civilian ratio was indeed miscalculated, because the conscripted soldiers didn't count as the family's subjects. On the contrary, if these freed prisoners who had completed their labor service were simply left to their own devices, it would likely cause serious problems. At the very least, the territory's public security costs would skyrocket — these battle-hardened, weapons-trained prisoners, if left without food and clothing, would easily turn to crime. From a cost standpoint, recruiting these prisoners into the family's armed forces was far more economical.
"Very well. I agree to Your Highness's proposal to expand and reorganize the Imperial Guard Corps." Steward Spell acknowledged his error and withdrew his opposition.
Lorist was overjoyed. He hadn't needed to spend any breath convincing Steward Spell himself — this time, Fatty had truly rendered a great service.
...(To be continued.)