When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 716: Qianhe Valley’s War Preparations
"This Black Snake Bay War was totally worth it." Horn couldn't help but admire it as he looked at the beautiful numbers and overflowing amounts on the financial statements.

"Stop bragging about yourself. How come you suddenly approved the budget approval report of Dragon Language Alchemy University this morning?" Thinking of this, Xixi immediately frowned her thin willow-shaped eyebrows and asked with a frown.

"They have developed a key technology that is absolutely worth the money compared to the budget." Horn quickly explained to the Holy Alliance's "housekeeper".

"But you've allocated too much money to universities and research institutes." Sissi rolled her eyes. "People outside are calling you the Pope of Watchmakers."

"You're the only one who dares to shout that name, right?" Horn smiled as he looked at the room full of gears. "Compared to the name of the Merciful Pope, I quite like the name of the Watchmaker Pope."

"But the funds for universities and research institutes..."

"Don't worry." Horn smiled and took out a letter from his arms. "Armand sent a letter back. Catherine and her team made a lot of money from the Leia people in the windmill. It is estimated that they can earn nearly 20 gold pounds."

"20!" Sissi and Madeleine looked at each other, "Damn, these blood-sucking financiers really know how to make money."

Horn was smiling at first, but an idea suddenly occurred to him and the smile on his face gradually disappeared: "I heard that the Leia people are heavily in debt. Do you think this will cause them to go bankrupt and lure the enemy to attack early?"

Sissi shook her head, "50 pounds won't bankrupt me, will it? At most, I'll suffer some serious damage.

Besides, if they were going to go bankrupt, they should have taken a rest or attacked the Windmill Field or the Thorn Garden first. Why would they attack us at the risk of not being able to pay the salaries of the Knights of the Imperial Order?"

"That's true." Horn thought about it carefully and it made sense. Even if he went bankrupt, he should attack the windmill land first to make money. Wouldn't it be a loss to attack Qianhe Valley?

"Yes," said Madeleine cheerfully, "the earliest they can think of attacking is next year. If we save up our resources for another year, we shall certainly make sure that King Guigui will not return."

With the current rate of development of the Thousand River Valley, its rapidly increasing income and military strength, it is hard for Madeleine not to be optimistic.

When King Jiji attacks next year or the year after, what awaits us will not be a fully staffed or half-staffed army, but seven or eight fully staffed new-style combat regiments.

After all, after the Holy Alliance’s territory expands, the manpower of Black Snake Bay can also be used by them.

Looking at the two people with smiles on their faces, Horn smiled helplessly.

Successive victories in wars and prosperous life had gradually changed the fear of the Leia people among these high-ranking officials.

Especially in the Battle of Black Snake Bay, the God's Punishment Army, which had been trained for three months, fought against the noble coalition forces in the Lilac Corridor as easily as kicking a stray dog ​​on the roadside.

Otherwise, why would the people in Qianhe Valley be clamoring to take over Gravel Plain and the meadow in Shiya Township?
After all, peace is a rare occasion, so let's not spoil the fun.

"That being said, not everyone is rational after all." Horn put down the tax report in his hand and said, "We still need to be prepared. How is the war preparedness of Qianhe Valley?"

Madeleine turned around immediately, walked to the door and stuck his head out: "Pettier, Bernardo, come here for a moment."

Soon, two people carrying a large amount of information walked into the room. Bernardo stood in front of the table and began to report:
"At present, both Rapid City and Shelley City have arranged new recruit camps to train soldiers and conscripts..."

"Each recruit camp has an infantry regiment stationed there. When necessary, the captain of the fifty-man squad will serve as the captain of the hundred-man squad, and the hundred-man squad will be promoted to legion commander. The veterans will lead the new recruits, and within three months, the battalion can be expanded to half its strength, that is, 4 infantry regiments..."

"Xalvcheng is a new-style regiment arranged by Andre, with two infantry regiments... but the biggest problem at the moment is that there is a serious shortage of holy gunners..."

Everyone in the room looked at Horn at the same time, with a hint of cautious inquiry in their eyes.

Horn sat back in his chair and said, "Shilov's research has reached a bottleneck recently. Don't put too much pressure on her.

Otherwise, I can go to Xialu City to bless a group of people, or transfer some alchemy priests and workers..."

"It doesn't matter if we withdraw money in peacetime, but what should we do in wartime?" Madeleine calculated in his mind and came up with the answer instantly, "Withdrawing too much will cause a large number of workshops to stop operating, and the living standards of residents are expected to drop significantly." There is no way around it. The Holy Union is a country built on alchemy workshops.

One of the main reasons for its rapid development is that it relies on the convenience of alchemy.

"Well... let's talk about this later. If it doesn't work, we can just implement the planned rationing system again. It's for the sake of our country and freedom."

Upon hearing this, Madeleine took out his notebook and took notes. This meant that he should publicize this aspect more and give the residents a good psychological expectation.

The Holy League is different from other places. The general ranking of cabinet ministers is Foreign Minister/Finance Minister, Military Minister, Home Minister, and Admiralty Minister.

But in the Holy League, the Minister of the Interior (Minister of Truth) comes first, followed by the Minister of Finance (Minister of the Holy Treasury), then the Minister of War (Minister of Exorcism), and finally the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Minister of Gospel).

After all, the Holy League is surrounded by enemies, so there is no need for diplomacy.

A large number of the functions of the Gospel Court itself were taken away by the spy system controlled by the loyal descendants, so Busak, the head of the Gospel Court, has never had much status.

He didn't even come to a small meeting like today's, but was instead busy in Xia Lucheng.

This was obviously unfair to him, but he had not done anything meritorious, which led to his complete political suppression by his old rival, Jeshka.

While thinking about whether to send Busak to Black Snake Bay to be the emperor, Horn said, "Go on."

"At present, Xia Lucheng's four 4-pound coastal defense clockwork guns and winding machines are being installed and debugged. It is expected to be available in the summer..."

"The planned seven large fortresses and ten riverside bastions have all been completed. Each bastion is equipped with seven or eight falcon cannons..."

"Isn't that a little too little holy wind?" Madeleine interrupted.

Horn waved his hand and said, "Copper and steel are in short supply. It would be great if the cannon foundry can supply eight guns for each bastion."

The clockwork warehouse is a big consumer of steel and orichalcum. Although we now have mithril, it can only be used on a small scale before mass production.

Now that the problem with the clockwork engine pump has been solved, it would have been possible to mine deep mines.

But the smelting speed was not fast enough, causing Horn to be extremely anxious but unable to do anything about it.

After turning around, he suddenly realized that the problem actually turned to Shilov again, because the wolf girl was also responsible for the research of the lightning furnace and lunar mercury.

Even with the absorption of alchemical talents from Black Snake Bay, the Lightning Furnace still did not make much progress.

The most critical point is how to ignite lightning? How to maintain lightning to refine and smelt metals?
It was too difficult for Shilov to tackle three technologies by herself, even if she had the smartest brain among all the beastmen.

"Shilov has been in a bad mental state recently. It seems that she was affected by the incident in Serfaye. Strengthen the protection and don't let the demon hunter take advantage of it."

"Okay, I'll arrange it." Pettier nodded immediately.

"I should have known I shouldn't have told her." Xixi muttered with her head down.

"We must tell her." Horn suddenly became serious and stared at Sissi, "This is a clue about her mother. We can't hide it for our own benefit.

...Everyone, I'm thinking, should we put one of the technologies on hold first and focus on one or two of them? It's better to bite off more than you can chew. What do you think?"

(End of this chapter)