Chapter 66： Easy to disembark (1/2)
Without money, this is an embarrassing problem. The Kingdom of Sardinia is located in northwestern Italy and is considered to be the best state in Italy.
Unfortunately, this cannot change the nature of the Sardinian kingdom, which is a poor ghost. The territory is only 70,000 square kilometers, and the population is only 5 to 6 million. There are no resources, and the industry has just started.
However, they are always poor and have been striving for the unification of Italy. Because of their ambitions, the Kingdom of Sardinia is even poorer.
In order to unify Italy, it is naturally necessary to rely on fists. The military expenditure of the Kingdom of Sardinia is so small, so their finances have been in a deficit.
It was not until 1852 that the legendary Prime Minister Gafur came on the scene, reformed the fiscal and taxation system, and increased the country's income; a series of measures including railway, port construction, and the development of industry and commerce were released from the financial crisis.
Prime Minister Azelio echoed frowningly: ”Your Majesty is right, we are really out of money. The war came too suddenly and we were not adequately prepared.
Occupying Lombardy, we consumed a lot of financial and material resources, which greatly exceeded our budget. So far, more than 28 million liras have been spent.
(1 Lira = 4.5 grams of silver)
Due to the war, the tax revenue in Lombardy this year is not expected, and it will still be in the state of net expenditure in the second half of the year.
The French abruptly terminated their previously promised weapon assistance. Now we have to squeeze a sum of money out of the limited war funding to purchase weapons and equipment. This alone costs at least 17 million liras.
Together, these two items cost nearly 45 percent of our war funding. We still have nearly 200,000 troops and spend at least 1 million lira per day. If we continue to drag on, we will go bankrupt for a maximum of two months. Already. ”
After listening to the Prime Minister's explanation, the first reaction of Secretary of the Army Li Qi was impossible. At the moment, he questioned: ”How can the Prime Minister spend so much money? According to our plan, this billion lira is enough to support us for half a year!”
”Sir Li Qi, do you suspect that I am corrupt?” Prime Minister Azelio said angrily
corruption? How many officials are not corrupt in this era? However, the secret that everyone knows is not to be broken, otherwise everyone's face will not look good.
Li Qi quickly explained: ”No, Your Excellency, I did not question your meaning, I was just a little curious about these expenses!”
After listening to Li Qi's answer, Azelio looked a little slower and explained without hesitation: ”I'll give you a rough calculation, let you see where the money is going.
In Lombardy, the Liberals spent 8.65 million liras, the food issue cost 10.5365 million liras, relief war refugees spent 3.637 million liras, and the establishment of administrative agencies cost 3.862 million liras ...
Because the European revolution is endless, the price of weapons and equipment on the international market has increased by 37%. The specific situation of your army has also sent someone to participate. Do n’t ask me, right?
According to our prior plan, we did not plan to recruit another 70,000 troops in Lombardy. With so many people added, the cost will naturally go up! ”
After listening to the Prime Minister's explanation, Li Qi had nothing to say. There is no way, who will let their army have no confidence in fighting against the Austrians? In order to increase their odds, they adopted the simplest method-expanding the army.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the mobilization ability of the agricultural society was not high enough to enable all people to participate in the war.
More than 100,000 people were mobilized within the Kingdom of Sardinia, basically reaching the limit of mobilization. At this time, the enthusiasm of the people in Lombardy is so high that good soldiers have no reason to refuse.