What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

Not long after, a short and thin man with a moustache came out trotting.

The Duke of Normandy pulled out the whip and hit Grimal without saying a word.

"I told you to embezzle! I told you to embezzle!"

"Sir! I am innocent!" Before the whip even hit Grimal, he had already started shouting heart-wrenchingly.

After three swings of the whip, Grimal fell to the ground, dying, his whole body twitching in pain.

The Duke of Normandy was losing interest. He knew how much strength he had in his hands. It wasn't that he didn't want to use all his strength, it was just that the other person was too good at acting. He said, "Come in and talk."

After hearing this, Grimaldi immediately jumped up from the ground and followed the Duke of Normandy to the back hall.

"In three months, we have only recruited more than a thousand people, and they are all old, weak, sick and disabled. People who don't know would think we are running a hospital." The Duke of Normandy said, "How many times have I told you! You have to have a limit when doing things. It's okay to be greedy, but you have to do things well! This time we are facing the Northern Alliance and the Chinese Alliance, not the stupid military department of the past!"

"But sir... you also know." Grimal said with a bitter face, "This time it is really difficult... Fran's conditions are good and she recruits a lot of people. Anyone who has nothing to do but come here to serve as a soldier and be trained will be called a traitor and a traitor."

"Then give back some of the money you have embezzled. Don't be so anxious!" The Duke of Normandy said, "Tell your men to be patient now. When the number of recruits is sufficient, the dwarves will have a steady supply of supplies. Then they will have food to eat. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I want to, but..." Grimal hesitated, and finally said, "You spent a lot of money and made a lot of promises to squeeze Wallenstein out. Now they come to us for money, we can't just refuse. We have no choice but to embezzle part of the food and money. This is also a helpless move."

After hearing this, the Duke of Normandy was silent for a moment.

Chapter 287 Forced Expedition

Grima was right.

In order to bring down Wallenstein, Margaret's confidant, the Duke of Normandy tried every possible means, spending money lavishly, making connections within the empire, and managing the elves and dwarves. This finally "separated" Margaret and Wallenstein and forced Wallenstein to step down from the position of Minister of War.

If Wallenstein had not been deeply rooted in the New Vienna Legion (renamed after the capital was moved), he would even have wanted to obtain the title of commander of the New Vienna Legion.

After this series of operations, the Duke of Normandy's money was instantly exhausted.

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. The Duke of Normandy was a greedy man who was good at making money, and most of his subordinates were also like this.

Without money, how can you drive your people to work for you? These people have been starving for a long time and are waiting for food. If you let them stop now and wait for the conscription to end, they will probably be the first to eat the Duke of Normandy.

"Then, what do you think we should do?" The Duke of Normandy asked Grimal. "You heard what the elves said. If I can't recruit enough soldiers, the elves will drive me away, and my money will be wasted."

"Let me think about this."

"You'd better come up with it." The Duke of Normandy said unhappily with a serious expression, "You were the one who gave me the idea before. If you can't come up with it, I will skin you first, and then sell your wife and daughter to the dark elves for training."

Can you take me one?

Grima thought to himself, but when he saw the Duke of Normandy's expression, he shut up obediently.

"Maybe..." Grima's eyes turned, and then he said: "We can forcibly recruit them."

"Forced conscription?" The Duke of Normandy's face changed, and then he said: "The forced conscription order must be issued by the emperor. Do you think Margaret will agree?"

"Humph! She has no say over the current situation!" Grimal said, "Wallenstein and her are now estranged, and she has lost her last support. She has to do whatever we say."

"You think too little of the emperor. Have you forgotten what Margaret did before the undead disaster?" The Duke of Normandy said, "She is not her father, so she can be manipulated at will. Moreover, she has a high reputation in the empire."

"Well... the worst that can happen is that we can just quietly capture the men without being discovered by her." Grima said, "Anyway, the elf masters only need men and never ask about our methods. Once we have done the job, Margaret can't say anything. If the time comes, she can't order us to disband the army!"

After hearing this, the Duke of Normandy fell silent. He closed his eyes and kept thinking about Grimal's suggestion. Grimal didn't say much and waited quietly for the Duke of Normandy.

"After all, it is a dishonorable thing to forcibly recruit civilians and conscript men." The Duke of Normandy said earnestly, "You did not do it cleanly, and public opinion will be very unfavorable to us."

"Don't worry." Grimal said, "I will do this cleanly and beautifully. Moreover, I can use the emperor's name."

"Under the name of the emperor?"

"Anyway, these common people can't see the emperor, let alone verify it. By the time Margaret notices, we will probably have almost done it." Grimal smiled sinisterly and said, "The elf master's target has always been Fran in the west. They don't care whether Margaret lives or dies."

"Okay! Let's do as you say." The Duke of Normandy finally felt a little relieved. He sighed deeply and left the military headquarters.

As soon as the Duke of Normandy left, Grimal's flattering expression instantly turned into a cold one. He waved his hand and asked his men to call over dozens of people.

"Inform the city lords, mayors, mayors, viscounts who have bought official positions and titles from us..." Grimal pulled out a stack of papers and said, "Tell them that they must recruit so many soldiers within two months. I don't care what method they use! Even if it's cheating,

, even if it means tying me up! You have to get enough for me!"

"As commanded!!"

Klolo Village.

In the busy market at noon, a young man was carrying eggs and selling them everywhere. Seeing more and more people coming, but the number of eggs in his basket did not decrease, he was so anxious that he kept wiping his sweat. But at this time, he heard someone calling him from a platform in the distance.

"Hey! The egg seller! Come here!"

The boy thought it was a customer and ran over quickly.

"Hey, hold up the basket so I can see the quality of your eggs."

Having finally got a customer, he quickly raised the basket.

"Raise it higher!"

"Raise it higher!"

The boy was already standing on tiptoe, when he felt a force pulling him hard, and the next moment he was dragged onto the stage. Before he could react, a military cap was put on his head.

Netherlands Village

Several vicious bullies threw the two skinny villagers into the dungeon. When they saw the door was locked, they immediately rushed forward and shouted heartbreakingly: "Masters! Please let us go! Our fields are waiting for us to cultivate them!"

They continued to bang on the cell door, but were soon interrupted by a voice.

"Stop arguing, they won't let you go."

"This...what on earth happened? Why did they suddenly arrest us?"

The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw a man sitting cross-legged in the corner of the cell with despair in his eyes.

"New Vienna wanted to recruit soldiers, but couldn't find anyone. In order to complete the task assigned to them, these minions began to capture men from everywhere."

"But...if we are captured, what will we do with the spring farming?"

"The masters don't care about spring plowing. Besides, don't we have Lady Fran to support us? She won't watch our family starve to death, so they are even more fearless."

"But we... can't keep waiting for Lady Fran's help. How much surplus food can she, a merchant in the underground city, have?" The villagers said worriedly, "How can we... get out?"

"It's not difficult to get out. Just pay the money." The man who came first said disdainfully, "As long as you pay enough, they will release you immediately without any further ado. Before you came, Lord Sar's son was imprisoned here, but he has already left."

"How much does this cost?"

"Ten magic crystal coins."

Ten magic crystal coins??!!

They worked hard in the land for a whole year, and even if they sold all the grain, they might not get ten magic crystal coins. How could they just give it away? The seeds for next year are free? The taxes are free? The security tax and tithe of the nobles are free?

"If you don't have money, just stay here quietly. You will be escorted to New Vienna soon. Whether you live or die will be up to fate."

After saying this, the two newcomers immediately collapsed to the ground.

"My Lord Viscount! This batch of goods is much better than the previous ones."

In the only decent castle in the town, a man dressed like a gangster was hunched over and spoke to the Viscount, who was wearing a brocade robe and eating goat soup with his hands.

"So the price..." the man said flatteringly, "It has to be a little higher than before. Twenty Roll coins per person."

"Twenty Rolls? You are robbing me." The Viscount spat, then said, "My mutton only costs twenty Rolls. How can these lowly people be worth so much money? You are robbing me!"

"Extraordinary times! Extraordinary times!" the man said immediately, "After these lowly people found out about the conscription, they hid better than rats. It's getting harder and harder to catch people, and it's difficult for us too."

"Same as always, ten Rolls coins each!" The Viscount said, "If you don't want to, forget it. At worst, I can ask the slaves in my manor to make up the number."

"But... they are indeed much stronger than before. Look at their bodies..."

"I don't care whether I am strong or not!" The Viscount said, "The higher-ups just want people, but they didn't say how good they want them to be! No matter how good they are, they won't reward me with anything."

"No matter what, ten Rolle coins are too low! Fifteen Rolle coins."

"Okay, okay, okay! Deal! Bring the people and take the money away."

Chapter 288 Not Targeting Anyone

Just as New Vienna's 'recruitment' business was in full swing, Fran also finally began to expand the army.

Of course, Fran is not targeting the Northern Alliance and the Chinese Alliance. It is just that as her sphere of influence becomes larger and larger and her overseas bases become more and more numerous, the size of the army she needs is also increasing. The situation has reached the point where she has no choice but to increase the size of the army.

In addition, after the implementation of Fran's semi-military training results, the first batch of young people just reached the age to join the army. Many of them had longed to join the army and were waiting to join the army as soon as they reached the age to open up new territories for the new world.

If we don't expand the army at this time, when will we?

Even without the series of actions by the Northern Alliance and the Chinese Alliance, she would have needed to expand her army. It was just that she happened to encounter this situation.

However, in the eyes of the Northern Alliance and the Chinese Alliance, that is another matter.

Obviously, Fran was anxious! It was the pressure from the Northern Alliance and the Chinese Alliance that forced Fran to invest resources to fight back.

In this way, even if their plan succeeds, Fran's attention will be constantly focused on the Holy Roel Empire, leaving her no time to look elsewhere. They can quickly reorganize the navy and army, develop firearms, and regain the right to speak on the battlefield.

Before this, the Northern Alliance and the Chinese Alliance had estimated the size of the army in Orila City, which was about 40,000. Even if the number increased sharply during the Undead Scourge, it would never exceed 50,000. Such a large number of troops is really not worthy of a large force.

In this regard, all the major forces in the Northern Alliance and the Chinese Alliance sneered at Fran.

They just thought that Fran was just like the merchants in Venice and Genoa, who focused on trade and didn't care about the army. The reason they were able to win battles in succession was mainly because of the sudden appearance of firearms, which caught them off guard.

Things are different now.

With the continuous technological breakthroughs of various forces in the main plane, the daily output of firearms has exceeded fifty, and the gap in firepower is obviously shrinking. By then, the city of Aurora may become a weakling like Venice and Genoa.

Having wealth but no strength.

Even if Fran realized the importance of the army at this time, it was too late.

But in their view, the army is not something you can recruit just because you have money! Building an army requires not only money but also time! Otherwise, why would the Venetians be bullied repeatedly as weaklings? A fully armed and heavily armored army would still be chased and beaten by bandits wearing straw sandals.

By the time Fran has spent several years expanding her army to the size of a great power, the artillery and warships of the elves and dwarves will probably have been completed, and Fran will have no role to play by then.

Thinking of this, the elves and dwarves felt that this tactic of attacking Wei to save Zhao was really brilliant.

They merely fostered a puppet and formed a third-rate army, and then they pinned down the emerging force of Fran on the continent of Calradia, leaving them no time to take care of the real battlefield - the sea.

However, some things are obviously beyond their imagination.

Firearms not only changed battlefield tactics, strategy in war games, and weapons, but also, more importantly, the composition of the army.

In the past, in order to build an elite army, one had to first select good magic seedlings from the people, train them in magic for fighting on the battlefield from a young age, learn the types of weapons, and then enter various training grounds when they grow up to learn military formations, teamwork, etc.

It would take years or even decades to build a military system from scratch. Otherwise, no matter how many soldiers are recruited, they will only become cannon fodder on the battlefield.

The dwarf's golem army, the elf's archer army, the Holy Roll Empire's spirit-armored knights, the human heavy cavalry, and the berserker army of the northern countries.

Every once famous army had a history of decades or even hundreds of years. It would be extremely difficult to build one from scratch and surpass them in a short period of time.

This is why Arthas was able to easily force the Elf Empire to sign a truce treaty after he captured a large number of elven magicians and warriors. It was not because the elves were too weak and surrendered after being beaten, but because such an army was too difficult to maintain and the elves were reluctant to do so.

Decades of consistent training in divine arts and costly equipment construction have made traditional elite armies stand out in combat effectiveness, allowing them to defeat hundreds of ordinary soldiers alone, but have also restricted the speed and scale of their formation.

But with the advent of firearms, the situation is completely different.

No matter how expensive a musket is, it is not as expensive as an elven longbow engraved with holy marks, nor as expensive as a full set of heavy armor, let alone the mounts of the dwarf golem legion.

The training of the musket was even simpler. It was no exaggeration to say that after only one afternoon of training and firing a few rounds, one could develop the basic power of a musket.

With the popularization of firearms, what the army needs most is no longer individual effort, but team cooperation, formation and command.

In other words! Discipline!

The new army's requirements for discipline far exceed those of the traditional army, and the same is true for the complexity of various instructions.

Of course, training a disciplined firearms army is not something that can be achieved overnight. It requires long-term and arduous training and polishing.

But compared with the formation of traditional elite soldiers, this time is much shorter.

In terms of discipline training, Fran's power also has unique conditions. After all, industrialization has already begun in her sphere of influence.

Even though Fran did not implement the military training system, the militia system, or limited military training at the grassroots level, nor did it set up a large number of shooting experience halls to train potential soldiers, the employees trained in various factories had a much better sense of discipline and time than the people of other forces.

Such workers will be able to accept and adapt to the training content of the new army more easily than people from other places.

Another thing that the Northern Alliance and the Chinese Alliance did not expect was the enthusiasm of the people around Orila City to join the army.

In the concept of traditional military, except for the elites and a part of the permanent soldiers, the rest of the army members are not even qualified to be soldiers. They are just hired servants.

In normal times, they escorted food and grass, served the real soldiers, and took care of all the miscellaneous and dirty work. In battle, they acted as cannon fodder, either guarding the rear or charging to disrupt the enemy.

Therefore, ordinary people have always avoided conscription. Even if they were conscripted, they just wanted to live one day at a time and never thought about fighting bravely and making achievements.