Yun Zhe finally realized that his abilities had reached their limits. The myriad of things to deal with had finally caused him to completely lose himself.
Yun Zhe stopped dwelling on the specifics and handed over the crossbow project entirely to McClenol, even his envisioned assembly line production method with its division of labor and clear labeling. McClenol was incredibly excited, encountering such an advanced manufacturing process for the first time. Everyone who learned about the process agreed that Yun Zhe was indeed exceptionally clever.
Yun Zhe then freed himself up to devote himself entirely to building up the mercenary force. In Yun Zhe's view, the creation of this private army could very well determine the course of the entire war, and it was also a key force he could rely on in the future.
So the next day, Yun Zhe left Donicburg and returned to Dorgnitzburg.
Unexpectedly, things in Dorgnitzburg were not so simple. As soon as Yun Zhe returned, he encountered a thorny problem: rumors were spreading throughout the city that Ellie, who was by Yun Zhe's side, was a vampire.
Yun Zhe stood at the city gate, thinking that it seemed Ellie hadn't handled the matter and had clearly been outmaneuvered.
To Yun Zhe's surprise, the military camp was unusually quiet about vampires; almost no one mentioned them. Yun Zhe observed that it wasn't that people didn't believe it, but rather that the story of fighting alongside vampires had already secretly spread throughout the camp, and Akdina's story had been embellished to an almost mythical degree. Therefore, the fact that Ellie was a vampire didn't seem to bother them much. This was quite different from the general public.
Clearly, the soldiers seemed to regard this experience as something they couldn't talk about but were proud of, secretly enjoying it. When Yun Zhe realized this, he couldn't help but laugh as well.
It seems that in everyone's mind, vampires aren't something to be afraid of. The soldiers' thinking is indeed rather naive.
Yun Zhe sighed. It seemed that the only way to break the deadlock was within the military camp. However, guiding this emotion was indeed a tricky task.
Another thing is that, with all the Aruru mercenaries gone, it's clear that the soldiers' laziness is slowly creeping up. Without role models to compare themselves to, these soldiers immediately became complacent.
This sentiment wasn't limited to ordinary soldiers; even Morrison Blazer began to slack off in training. Jerok, on the other hand, remained very strict, but it was obvious that he had fewer and fewer soldiers under his command, and the number of soldiers being eliminated from training each day was gradually increasing.
Besides these two things, what troubled Yun Zhe even more was the issue of money.
Sure enough, being broke is the norm. Yun Zhe had considered whether to use his own money, but after thinking it over, he finally gave up on the idea.
It's best not to flaunt your money too much. After all, we haven't reached the most critical moment yet.
Yun Zhe quickly summoned everyone to Dorgnitzburg. Ellie, Gao, Gerald, Morrison, and Blaze were present. After announcing Serena's latest decree of fiefdom, Yun Zhe also discussed the mercenary matter.
"My lord, with such a large reduction in territory, even if the count allows us to maintain mercenary groups, we can't support many. As you know, there's not much usable land south of the city walls," Gao said, quite dissatisfied upon learning that half of his territory had been taken away.
"There is gain in loss. Although we have lost some territory, our defensive pressure has been reduced by half. Moreover, the territory that has been ceded is closer to the enemy, so we are actually being protected. Of course, River Valley Village is not a good place, but it is not a big place either, so it's alright."
Yun Zhe's explanation did not satisfy everyone. However, Yun Zhe had a different perspective on the mercenary group.
"This mercenary unit was named by the Earl himself, which means that this mercenary unit will have some privileges that other mercenary units will not have. What's even better is that we can completely monopolize the mercenary business in the entire Earl's territory."
Yun Zhe paused, clearly his words had moved everyone present. "Of course, the only drawback is that this unit might not have much autonomy, and in many situations, they might have to follow the Earl's orders. However, we are loyal to the Earl, so this shouldn't be a problem."
Gao clearly didn't see it that way. "My lord, this force is funded by the Earl, so it essentially belongs to the Earl. We have less room to maneuver than you might imagine."
“We’re going to play a little trick here. The Count will naturally pay for it, but the soldiers won’t know that. What we need to do is make them believe that we’re still paying for it. Of course, I understand what you mean. Things can’t be so easily fooled, but since we’re doing it, I think it’s only right that we have some special privileges here.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. After all, no one wanted to wake up one day to find that military power had been transferred to someone else. Moreover, the interests of mercenaries were not simply limited to military power; they involved many other interests as well.
"So what we need to do is get the mercenary business up and running as soon as possible. Of course, we also need to get our own city defense forces going. Gao, how many soldiers do we have right now?"
“Three hundred city garrison troops, five hundred infantrymen, and two hundred cavalrymen,” Gao said, listing them off as if they were his own treasures.
"Five hundred troops are too many, let's reduce it to three hundred. Two hundred cavalry is also a bit too many, let's cut fifty cavalry and have all these soldiers join the mercenary group. Of course, the premise is that they themselves do not object."
“If you explain the pros and cons clearly, these soldiers might be tempted,” Morrison said. In fact, reducing the number of infantrymen affected the size of his troops, but Morrison clearly didn’t think five hundred men were a small number, so he was happy to reduce the number of soldiers so that he could better focus his energy on building up his mercenary forces.
“Regarding this mercenary force, it’s clear that Gerald alone can’t handle it all. So, I have a bold suggestion: let Gao manage all the units. You can promote your vice-captains to captains and each take charge. And you,” Yun Zhe pointed to Morrison, “also Gerald and Ellie Blaze, go help out with the mercenary force. We can have fewer soldiers, but I suggest we have more mercenaries.”
"Sir, how many people do you think would be suitable?" Gao asked.
“It depends on how much money we have,” Yun Zhe sighed deeply. “Jerok told me that we still have about a thousand mercenaries left. With these disbanded troops, I think that’s probably the limit.”
Gao looked at the notebook in his hand with some difficulty. "My lord, what I want to say is that these people are actually fine, as long as the Earl's money arrives on time."
Yun Zhe immediately understood Gao's meaning: "We absolutely cannot support these people on our own."
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