When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 826 - 777: King of Falan Generously Provides Funds

Chapter 826: Chapter 777: King of Falan Generously Provides Funds

"This national debt of 100,000 gold pounds, half of it will be delivered in cash, and the rest will be transported in the form of food, armor, and weapons.

The first batch of supplies passed the border checkpoint of Kasha County yesterday, aiming to complete the handover by the weekend.

The second batch of 50,000 gold pounds in cash will pass through Kasha County this weekend."

The autumn wind blew against the curtains, with Horn’s voice echoing in the crowded meeting room.

Slogans need to be shouted, but work must also be done.

After completing a series of emergency tasks, including formulating the flood release plan of the Nao’an River, mobilizing conscripted laborers, recalling soldiers on leave, and other actions, a relatively calm period began.

The Leia people couldn’t reach here for a while, and Horn couldn’t send out troops for a while either.

Anyway, Moliat’s bonds didn’t need his help to be repaid, the trouble had already exploded.

Thus, this 100,000 gold pounds became Horn’s military funding.

Speaking of which, he had to lament the cunning of King Charles VIII.

Under the banner of the Thousand River Valley’s national debt, he took money from the manor aristocracy, placed orders with local armory workshops, and cleared inventory in the process.

Weakening the manor aristocracy while also boosting the strength of the new aristocrats on his side.

It must be noted that most industry and commerce are operated by the new aristocrats.

Before the attendees could react, Horn continued reading, "The King of Falan plans to supply us with 1,675 sets of infantry armor, 884 sets of cavalry armor...

10,500 long-handled weapons like spears and 7,755 short-handled weapons like military sabers...

1,400 horses with harnesses for battle and transportation, and 12,000 tons of wheat..."

A total of 2,559 sets of armor, if made by the Gray Furnace Town armory, would take about nine months. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Armor is not like spears that can be made in any village blacksmith shop, or that specialized sword shops would necessarily make; it’s a technical craft.

Only specialized armorers can manufacture armor.

This isn’t the guild causing trouble; armor requires complex composite materials and layered forging, along with various sheet metal and heat treatment processes.

Even the simplest infantry armor requires basic riveting and hinge techniques, with precise calculation of joint positions and bearing capacity.

The Thousand River Valley already has few armorers, and Horn established a template process, gathering most of the armorers for streamlined production, yielding approximately 270 sets a month.

If all the armory workshops across the Thousand River Valley worked together, they could reduce the time to less than six months.

This armor could equip about five infantry regiments, one and a half cavalry regiments.

Among the 1,400 horses, 920 of them have been gelded, just enough to fill the gap for one and a half cavalry regiments.

These warhorses indeed resolved an urgent issue.

Most warhorses in the Thousand River Valley were seized from Prince Kongdai, while the native Kush coarse-hoofed horses are excellent pack horses but are inferior to Falan’s warhorses for battle.

Yet maintaining these warhorses isn’t cheap; a good warhorse consumes about 3 to 8 tons of feed annually, and might even need concentrated feed.

According to Jeanne, a warhorse needs to eat at least 2.5% of its weight in feed daily, or else it will lose weight.

As for the military sabers and long spears, they can equip about two or one and a half battle groups.

About the 12,000 tons of wheat, that’s roughly enough to provide training rations for 30,000 soldiers for a year.

King Charles VIII may be cunning, but he truly meant it when saying, "As long as you can defeat Leia, I wouldn’t know how to treat you better."

The supplies given were substantial, and Horn in the Thousand River Valley or even in buying from Falan might not get as much for 50,000 gold pounds.

Moreover, Lorenzo proposed offering to support Horn with 80,000 to 100,000 gold pounds every six months, as long as he could survive against the Leia army.

"If anyone wants to purchase something, please write a list and give it to me." Horn put down the data report he held, "They might appear in the next batch of supplies."

Looking up, he saw the attentive, note-taking faces of the meeting members.

The main participants in this meeting were Saint’s Grandson Horn, Kasha County Governor Martin, Lower Reif County Governor Catherine, and Black Snake Bay Federation Ambassador Istria.

"Does anyone still have any questions?" Horn asked again seeing that the crowd remained silent.

Catherine looked left and right at the quiet staff monks and officers and took the initiative to speak, "How will these supplies be distributed, as for the Autocratic Duke’s side..."

"Send a batch of provisions and long-handled weapons to Xia Lvcheng."

"Doesn’t Her Highness Moliat need to join forces with us?"

Horn shook his head, "There’s no time, and directly withdrawing from Hotam County would allow Leia’s forces to advance directly towards Lower Reif County, inevitably affecting the Deer Horn Town flood discharge work."

"Are you saying that Moliat should hold firm in Xia Lvcheng?" Catherine’s exploratory gaze was plainly visible on her face.

"Yes." Horn nodded firmly, "I actually don’t want her to retreat so early."

Whether it was the banks’ monks with the power to attend, the Imperial Priest from the ry Court, or the members from Black Snake Bay, all had the same thought.

Is His Excellency the Great Shepherd borrowing a knife to kill?

Horn could imagine the looks surrounding him.

But given the current situation, he truly had no energy to explain.

After the incident of "Plain People killing Mountain Dwellers" fermented, every Military Settlement District was in a state of panic, afraid of also being massacred.

In some unconquered areas, incited by those with bad intentions, bloody conflicts between the Mountain Dwellers and the Plain People erupted.

The Mountain Dwellers were better equipped and more skilled, but the Plain People were more numerous, and the two sides were always evenly matched, depleting internal strength uselessly.

Therefore, Horn’s next action was to forcibly take over the Military Settlement Districts and increase Cheka’s numbers in various areas.

He even had to dispatch part of the Black Snake Bay’s Tax Police Team to support Cheka, using those ruthless Combat Mages to enforce order.

His refusal to unite forces with Moliat and take over the Military Settlement Districts appeared to outsiders as taking advantage of the situation to seize Moliat’s power.

The hurried selfishness was indeed somewhat unsightly.

Horn believed his actions were clear as a mirror, all for the state, yet he still owed some explanation.

"Directly abandoning is detrimental for rear mobilization." Horn stated concisely, "So we must concentrate forces along the Lvwa Village front, which is the core area of the Mountain Knights.

With villagers defending their lands, using the Damp Dock and Xia Lvcheng’s river transportation for supplies and reinforcements to stall the enemy."

"In the early stages, they suffered several major defeats; the investments on ramparts with thousands of gold pounds didn’t work, can it hold off this time?"

A strange voice arose, and everyone turned, only to see it was Istria from the Dreamless Scholar Association of Black Snake Bay.

Unlike other Secret Faction witches, who rise when they’re born, decline when they die.

The Dreamless Scholar Association, like the Ruo’an Faction and Shadow Council, is a legacy of a three-generation organization, all generations specializing in divination witch spells.

Horn always felt she was a similar type of witch to the Wolf Woman.

Both lived in wheelchairs.

Only the Wolf Woman had no legs to stand, while Istria’s weakness allowed her to take a few steps with crutches.

Istria was originally only conducting an academic visit to the Holy Machinery Court University.

But en route, hearing of the Leia’s early invasion, she actively requested to join the conference in Rapids City.

"Drag it as long as we can; Moliat lost the fortress due to a surprise attack and the outbreak of the debt crisis." Horn looked warmly at Istria, "Now that we’re prepared, I have confidence in the ramparts and Moliat."

Istria smiled slightly, closed her eyes while nodding towards Horn.

"About the strategy in Hotam County, does anyone have further questions?" Horn asked the attendees while stacking several documents neatly on the table.

The crowd exchanged looks, and apart from a few confirmations, had no more opinions.

After resolving the strategy for Hotam County, Horn produced the next document.

"Given the current dire situation, we need more efficient and rapid administration.

The previous dual leadership model is unsuitable for wartime.

Among the four county plains, apart from the warzone of Hotam County and Langsande County Special Administrative Region, there are Lower Reif County and Kasha County left.

So, I propose that the Thousand River Valley enter a wartime state.

The monasteries in these two counties will form county monasteries, with original County Governor Martin and Lady Catherine directly serving as County Priests.

The original village magistrates will transfer all functions to the village monasteries, acting only as Village Night Watch Commanders, only responsible for maintaining security and escorting taxes.

Just as Martin and Lady Catherine are both present, what do you two think?"