Chapter 74 (2/2)
Rody hesitated and did not kno to ask On the other hand, Sieg was really angry and shouted, ”Reuben, what have you done?! There are 10,000 ghost soldiers! You have tarnished the name of the Tulip Family's banner!”
Reuben as already 's state, do not talk nonsense! I, Reuben in all my life have never tarnished the nas…”
Sieg looked gloomy and ruthlessly replied, ”In that case, explain these 10,000 ghost soldiers! How are you going to explain this to the late duke in the afterlife?”
Reuben's face was pale as ashes He hesitated for a moment before he finally explained His explanation not only shocked Rody but also the corrupted officers
”The Northwest Legion claims to have 200,000 soldiers! The main ararrison duty The figures sound very iion does not have that th including myself, the other officers and all the defenders, were never more than 130,000 soldiers!”
”My arrisons were actually frightening! According to the report, there were 15,000 soldiers at Loulan Fortress It was a lot of soldiers However, when they retreated from Loulan Fortress, only then did I find out that the situation was not right”
”The commander of the Loulan Fortress is dead and his fauards and servants at home? On top of that, their names were listed as the defenders of Loulan Fortress In other words, the commander of Loulan Fortress used the Empire's money on his own servants and family I tortured a few escaped officers and found out that the real army in Loulan Fortress had less than 8,000 soldiers Hmph, they reported 15,000 soldiers which mean that the commander misappropriated the funds for 7,000 soldiers! The other places are likely to be the same!”
”Were you never aware of this?” Sieg asked gloomily
Reuben was eeneral He could lead tens of thousands of soldiers and train theth However, he could not be a coe the entire aristics report arrived, Reuben would get a headache froh the materials Therefore, he would quickly approve them
”What about yourasked again
”Thein front of o, I also found out that i money The coarrison My main army of 100,000 was actually an army of just more than 80,000”
Sieg sighed and sat down on the chair
Rody looked gloomy and slowly said, ”You ion only had 130,000 soldiers That host soldiers? How much is the salary of 70,000 people a year? Those officers dared to commit such a crime?”
Sieg gave Rody a glance and slowly said, ”Your Excellency, you are still young and would not understand such things in the arht for ait to Rody
”A year's salary for a soldier is 3 gold coins After old coins However, the actual amount is much more
”A sword for the infantry was about 5 silver coins Equipping theold coins each For archers, the bows and arrows also required old coins each and that was not including the cost of food required to feed the horses Cavalry armor and weapons were also more expensive compared to the ones for infantries
”The host soldiers would also have to include money for their old coins for each infantry and 15 gold coins for each cavalryman every year On top of that, there were also costs forthe equipment When all the costs were added up, the total ae
”After calculation, the 70,000 ghost soldiers would cost the Ee a into the hands of corrupt officials!”
Rody turned pale the moment he heard that He stood up and slammed the table The wooden table broke instantly
”Is this the Eion? Is this the elite ar the borders?” Rody was furious He loudly asked, ”General Reuben, what about that commander of Trier Fortress?! What about Ferara?”
Reuben felt ashamed and said, ”Him? His Trier Fortress was almost an empty city! The report said that there were 15,000 soldiers when in actual fact, there were less than 5,000 soldiers…”
”bastard!” Rody shouted ”No wonder when I passed by the village near Trier Fortress, I heard that the Imperial Army forcefully conscripted soldiers! This must be the reason Due to the war, Ferara knew he could no longer hide this issue and forcefully conscripted the farmers to cover it up!”
”Reuben, since you already knew about this, why have you not punished the the hilt of his sword and was extrery ”Are you involved as well?”
Reuben was agitated and shouted back, ”Punish? Hoas I supposed to punish theht outside the city! How could I punish them at that ti Ferara and Fedol A! What could I have done? Catch them and execute them? The morale of the military was unstable If suddenly, half of the available commanders were executed, hoas I supposed to defend the city and fight the war after that?”
”Then… what about Louch1?” Sieg suddenly whispered ”I heard that Louch was a commander at the Blackstone Fortress They were on the way to support you when they were intercepted by Reuenthal”
Reuben showed a soleuard Naturally, he would not do this kind of things! I have already checked All of the 15,000 soldiers froenuine When Louch was killed, his ed to escape reported to me When Louch was in the Blackstone Fortress, his family did not have much wealth They only had a small residence and two horses”
Sieg sat back down on the chair His face revealed both sadness and anger
Rody also felt abnormally worried He never expected the situation of the Northwest Legion to be that terrible In fact, he never expected ion to be rotten
What about the other arion was supposed to be one of the three largest armies in the Empire and yet they are like this
Rody then suddenly remembered what he saw at the Empire's most famous Central Cavalry in the Imperial City that day His heart turned cold
He was no longer happy about the earlier victory
After some time, Rody slowly said, ” General Reuben, the war has just ended Go and attend to the ar accompany you… I… I want to be alone for a while”
Sieg and Reuben looked at each other After that, Sieg walked out of the roolance Reuben felt asha out
Rody was sitting alone in the rooht to hihter Ferara and Fedol
At that moment, there was a knock on the door and the captain of the bodyguards walked in After saluting, he whispered to Rody, ”Your Excellency, the coarrison at Watt Fortress, Fedol invites you for dinner”
”What dinner?!” Rody suddenly shouted
The captain was shocked Ever since he followed the young duke, he noticed that the duke had never treated his subordinates in a haughty ry
”The dinner is to celebrate today's victory,” the captain whispered again
Rody sneered and was about to say no when he suddenly had an idea He then spoke in a cold voice, ”Tell them that I will be there!”
At that moment, there was a peculiar and sharp flash in Rody's eyes
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1Louch The chinese characters, 老七 (Lǎo qī ), actually mean 'seventh bro' Such names, or nicknames, are usually reserved for close friends I have decided to use Louch because it issense in this novel