When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1244 Preparing for War
Starting in July, all the residents of the Holy Alliance clearly felt the approach of war.

First, there was the re-issuance of war bonds, and then the prices of copper and mortar in the market rose steadily.

Then came the increasingly frequent appearances of military police and Cheka guards in the countryside.

Special envoys from the Exorcism Court began inspecting warehouses, docks, and barracks one by one along the border.

During the humid summer, the frequency of these fires increases.

This feeling is quite familiar to the older generation of Saint Alliance members.

Another war is about to break out.

Having sung hymns to send the Salvation Army westward back then, the old members of the Holy Alliance have long since become indifferent to war.

They may feel fear, but they will not be afraid.

However, for the new members of the Holy Alliance who immigrated from Leia and Fran in the last twenty years, it was a time of great fear.

War is actually going to break out, and the scale and intensity of this war are unimaginable.

They came to the Holy Alliance to avoid war, but now that war is coming, where can they hide?

Anxiety, like a dark cloud, hung over the hearts of these new members of the Holy Alliance, as did those regions that were later incorporated into the Alliance.

They learned about the vampires' power from the newspapers.

The Great Lords, the overlords of the North, fought against the dwarves and centaurs for centuries, and often managed to invade the south and ravage the Leias.

Even if they are not a match for the Holy Alliance, how much effort would it take to swallow them up?

But even such a massive giant couldn't last a year under the vampires' control before surrendering.

For France, the Battle of Zealand, the Battle of Gau, and other battles dealt a crushing defeat to the former imperial hegemon.

Even the Holy Alliance, which has always been invincible, only managed a draw when facing vampires.

Most importantly, the Royal Court has a large population and can field a massive army. How can the Holy Alliance possibly compete with them?
Unless the Holy Alliance annexes Franleanon and borrows their manpower and resources, there is no possibility of a war of attrition.

The only problem with this plan is that time cannot be reversed; the vampires have already arrived, and it's too late.

The territory of the royal court is larger than that of the empire, and due to its almost universal conscription system, it can quickly produce a large number of soldiers.

In the past, the various clans were embroiled in internal conflicts within the royal court, engaging in small-scale civil wars.

Outside of the royal city and castle estates, the area is basically within the wasteland order.

Vampire bandits and human wanderers clashed in the countryside, robbing merchants and attacking castles.

Southern clans, being close to the desert region, could obtain food by capturing desert slaves.

However, the northern clans did not have this advantage, so they were even more aggressive in their pursuit of power.

When Serfaye unified the entire royal court, despite the massacre of a number of vampires, the number of vampires was still quite large.

In particular, Serfaye's flesh-and-blood feast system provided vampires with a rare path to upward social mobility.

As time went on, the vampire army in the Windmill Land region had grown to around 5, while the Northern Route Army had reached around 10.

There are at least 30,000 vampires on the Zealand Islands, and at least 200,000 to 300,000 more troops on their home islands.

This is why the Holy Alliance Cardinals allowed Horn's reinforcements and alliance.

Without increasing troops or forming alliances, even if the battles end in a draw every time, the Holy Alliance's forces will be quickly depleted.

Therefore, it was necessary to increase troop numbers, which led to the troop increase plan of 12 battle groups.

Such a large-scale troop increase actually exceeded the Holy Alliance's financial limit.

According to the current salary standards of the Holy Alliance, soldiers are divided into four levels: recruits, veterans, sergeants, and sergeant majors.

New recruits typically receive half pay and are promoted to veterans after two and a half years or after experiencing a major battle.

Under normal circumstances, a veteran's annual salary is around 700 to 900 dinars, which is equivalent to 6 to 7.5 gold pounds (including allowances).

Taking the median of 7 gold pounds, the 12 new warbands would require at least 42 gold pounds in salary expenses per year.

In addition, there are training and maintenance costs when forming a legion, such as uniforms, equipment, cannons, military rations, and administrative expenses.

On average, that's at least a thousand dinars per soldier.

If you do the math, you'll have to spend almost 100 million gold pounds more in a year.

After several years of development, the Holy Alliance has achieved an annual fiscal surplus of around 80 gold pounds, which is barely enough to sustain itself. But the problem is, who would use 125% of their fiscal surplus to build and maintain an army?

Even if it's spread over two years, the expenditure would still be at least 50 gold pounds per year.

During this period, Horne embarked on a massive construction project, building railways, establishing factories, and launching foreign wars.

The gold pounds that had been painstakingly obtained from Xianshidian were invested in railway construction before they could even be warmed up.

Horn plans to build at least 3000 kilometers of railway over five years for troop mobilization.

Although only the main railway can run on spring-loaded locomotives and branch lines can only run on horse-drawn trains, this greatly enhances the transport of troops and the movement of supplies.

Now that local county heads have received new evaluation criteria, they have immediately shifted their attention from water conservancy and the economy to railways.

Previously, local governments turned over funds to the central government, but now they have to ask the central government for more, which makes them even more short of money.

Fortunately, through his ally Charles VIII, Horn managed to secure 50 gold pounds for the organization's expenses.

However, the price was that Horn had to train three Fran foreign warbands for him, and Charlie would still pay for it.

Similarly, France is also increasing its troop presence, preparing to raise it to around 20.

Lorenzo is now waging a major terrorist operation in France, squeezing money out of bankers and nobles.

Under the pressure of foreign wars, nobles had to bleed either at the rear or at the front, without exception.

Those former rent-seeking classes who had deceived their superiors and subordinates have unearthed a large amount of gold coins during this wave of purges of guilds and other organizations by the Fran.

Charlie has money, so naturally he'll spend it with Mihoon.

Everything seemed to be thriving, but the cardinals of the Holy Alliance still had a hidden worry.

That is the common weakness of both the Holy Alliance and the Fran – Norn.

Horn and Charlie both knew Norn's skill level.

It has a vast territory and a large population, but its power is scattered, internal strife is fierce, and it is poor.

Their soldiers can't be considered human; they're just gray livestock.

In this respect, it is quite similar to the royal court, which makes Horn very worried.

Once the royal court captures Norn, the compatibility between the two sides will be ridiculously high. Such a massive amount of blood and flesh will be enough to give the Northern Army a qualitative leap.

Unfortunately, the commander of the northern army was none other than his old rival, Lacuño.

The cardinals of the Holy Union were quite familiar with Lacunio.

Even many veteran officers in the Holy Alliance had suffered at Lacunio's hands and were quite wary of this old man.

Since he came to Prince Condé's side, he has made every step with great precision and steadiness, and has made the right decisions almost every time.

It's just that Prince Kong Dai wouldn't listen.

If it weren't for Wayne's deadly spy, which completely shattered Prince Condai's trust in the nobles in the rear, the Thousand River Valley War might not have ended yet.

His defeat was truly not due to a lack of skill.

Ultimately, he was not the commander-in-chief and could not control the army; he could only control it indirectly through Prince Kongdai.

Currently, the Northern Route Army appears to be assisting the Southern Route Army in suppressing the Black Legion, and has not yet deployed troops.

Worrying now won't solve anything.

The Holy Alliance could only intensify its preparations for war. Unlike the radical monks, the cardinals were very aware of their own circumstances.

There's even a conspiracy theory surrounding this alliance, suggesting that the Holy Grandson was actually using it as a shield to support the two kingdoms.

As long as the Holy Alliance is located inland, the vampires won't be able to reach it for a while.

Let Farran and Norn wear down the vampires while they continue their development, and then step in to clean up the mess when all three sides are exhausted.

From July to October, Horn was on tenterhooks for three months, fearing that the Northern Army would launch an offensive and that Norn would cause trouble.

Strangely, although it was said that troops would be dispatched after autumn, Horn had not heard any news until late October.

What on earth did the vampires do?

(End of this chapter)