Video spoilers history, starting with the blitzkrieg on Poland

The sky screen also continued to play.

This time, it's about the wages of Roman soldiers.

[In addition to grains, legionnaires consumed a wide variety of other foods.]

[Analysis of skeletal remains suggests Roman soldiers ate more meat than local residents.]

【This may be because they are paid more.】

[High salaries mean another huge resource pressure. ]

【That is gold and silver. 】

How much of these precious metals, which must be mined and processed manually, will be provided to the military?

[We happen to know the exact ranks and salaries of Roman legions during the Augustan period.]

[In addition to the legionary cavalry, there are also ordinary infantry, and those who receive double pay after being promoted. ]

[To simplify the calculation, I assume that three people in each 100-man team receive double salary.]

【But the actual number is almost always higher.】

[I also did not include those who received 1.5 times the salary for their merits.]

[They far outnumber those making twice as much.]

[I don’t even count the senior commanders and generals.]

[But even so, this very conservative estimate yields a staggering number.]

【We use dinars as our unit. 】

[At the time, the dinar was a pure silver coin weighing 3.8 grams each.]

[The annual salary of a single Roman legion would total more than 140 million dinars, equivalent to 5.4 tons of silver.]

[The annual salary of the entire Roman army, including auxiliary troops and navy, easily exceeded 290 tons of silver! ]

[Of course, other currency denominations exist.]

[Some silver dinars might be paid in the form of four brass sesterces.]

【Sestetti is made only of copper and zinc, which is much easier to obtain and process.】

[However, part of the salary may also be paid in gold coins such as aureus.]

We can estimate.

[In practice, most military salaries were paid in gold and silver.]

[Because the largest and most important expenditure of the empire's treasury is spent on the military.]

[Paying wages in heavier brass sestites would increase the transport weight by more than five times.]

Outside the sky.

At the end of Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Chongzhen saw the Roman soldiers on the sky tent receiving their wages on time and in fixed amounts.

Affirmatively and enviously said:

"Tianmu once said that the Ming army was not fully paid, and was invincible when fully paid. I have to admit that many local soldiers in my Ming Dynasty are invincible."

“It’s really hard to get the compensation they deserve.”

"This is my fault."

“But is the Roman Empire on the sky really so precisely run?”

“Can you ensure that the soldiers receive adequate wages?”

"Can you guarantee that the soldiers have such good supply logistics?"

"I'm afraid that this can only be achieved during the heyday of an emperor like Augustus, right?"

"The Ming Dynasty I took over is already in turmoil."

"So, you can't really blame me entirely for the Ming army's dissatisfaction with their pay, right?"

……

Tianmu also tells the last part.

[Speaking of transportation, all of the above resources need to be transported to remote military fortresses. 】

[That’s another logistical challenge.]

【Completely hidden behind the scenes of the Roman army's success were tens of thousands of non-combatants.】

[From military personnel to local businessmen and contractors. ]

[Then to the senior administrative staff under the provincial governor.]

[These civilians also had to be paid by the imperial treasury to ensure that the army could function at full capacity.]

[Working together with them were tens of thousands of pack animals.]

【Used to transport goods and materials. 】

【Horses were used to deliver messages and carry people because of their speed. 】

【Mule is used to pull carts because of its great endurance.】

[The big bull is the first choice for pulling heavy freight carriages because of its great strength. ]

[Feeding these animals is another aspect of logistics.]

[Big cattle are the slowest, but are less picky about food and are easily fed with locally available grass.]

【However, healthy working horses and mules also needed a lot of grain to stay healthy. 】【As for the 75000 war horses of the Roman army? 】

[They graze on special military pastures called pratae.]

[Almost every Roman fort has such a pasture nearby. ]

……

The blogger on the sky curtain finally ended his virtual battle.

Then he wiped the sweat off his face and continued:
[Okay, after watching this video, I think everyone already knows it. ]

[How huge was the cost of a Roman legion? ]

[This may explain why Augustus was completely defeated after losing three elite legions.]

[But it is worth mentioning that all the numbers I just mentioned are actually very conservative estimates. ]

【But even this is a conservative estimate. 】

[We can also understand how much a standing army consumes the resources of the empire's provinces. ]

【But the Romans were not stupid.】

【They go to such great lengths to maintain a standing army.】

[Of course, we must make full use of everything, not just for fighting. 】

[In the ancient Roman system, a standing army was still vital to the functioning and survival of the empire.]

[A considerable part of the administrative management, construction and transportation work of a province is completed by the legion. ]

[Essentially, they are more than just professional soldiers.]

[Or professional administrators, engineers, and builders working under the Governor. ]

[Capable of completing large-scale civilian projects such as building cities from scratch.]

[In addition, they serve as the bodyguards and police force of these cities and are responsible for all security matters in the province.]

[These regiments are fully paid by the state.]

【It is a professional workforce that is ready to complete all required tasks at any time. 】

[Even the legion itself can undertake a large part of the maintenance work. ]

[This includes making and repairing your own equipment, hunting, and transporting your own food and water.]

[They even engage in some agricultural activities.]

[For example, the manure of thousands of war horses would provide a large amount of fertilizer.]

[This excrement may need to be collected daily and spread on military pastures.]

【Easy to grow hay for horses during the winter.】

[This level of self-sufficiency greatly reduces the cost of maintaining the military.]

[Of course, the most expensive weapons and armor still had to be borne by the Roman state. ]

The video ends here.

Barrages of comments flew out one after another.

"It does seem like a waste of money."

"My god, it's too expensive. It's a miracle that Rome has not collapsed for so many years."

"Rome could only support so many troops by constantly expanding and plundering. If the expansion stopped, it would be doomed."

"Maintaining a professional legion for a long time is very expensive. In the middle and late stages of Rome, all the cities declined and the empire could not afford it. It could only be changed to a frontier field army, and then the national defense was outsourced to the barbarians."

"As expected, the first part of the empire to collapse was its finances."

"Later, when Belisarius was recovering the lost territory in the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium was thankful that it could send a few thousand reinforcements."

"What a severe recession."

"Compared with the Han Dynasty, we can find that Emperor Wu of Han actually exhausted all the money in the country in his fight against the Xiongnu. The money was still not enough due to selling official positions, salt and iron monopoly, and inflation."

Is such a huge cost really worth it?

"It must be worth it. These professional soldiers who have served and trained for a long time cannot be compared with the temporary soldiers of miscellaneous brands."

"It seems that Crassus really has a lot of spare money, so he can form four legions on his own."

"Crassus was the richest man in Rome after all. The reason he formed four legions was that he only gave them four legions."

"The annual salary expenditure of a combined force brigade is more than 1 billion, not including food and equipment."

"And this money is not enough to buy a Type 052D."

Outside the sky.

Song.

After all, Zhao Kuangyin was determined, so he recovered from the blow of the Jingkang Incident.

Now Zhao Kuangyin showed a somewhat hesitant expression and said:
"In this way, the cost of supporting the legions in ancient Rome has indeed been reduced a lot."

“Even the cost of keeping horses has gone down.”

"And we can ensure that each legion has a cavalry brigade."

"But the legion's finances and supplies are entirely dependent on the local governor?"

"Isn't Rome afraid of a rebellion by its soldiers?"

"It's impossible for the Roman legions to rebel. It's a Roman feature, so we have to try it, right?" (End of this chapter)