Chapter 495: The soldiers are strong and the horses are strong

20,000 soldiers and 5,000 horses?!

Several patriarchs were shocked when they heard this, this number was unexpected, and at the same time very unexpected, they didn't expect Li Lingyi to be able to come up with so many people, this flagless family has been established for less than three months now, where did so many people come from?

In fact, they still greatly underestimated the attractiveness of the Bannerless Family to civilians and wandering mercenaries, although the new family has many disadvantages, it also has an advantage, that is, quick promotion.

It's a bit like a modern company, the old family is equivalent to the old state-owned enterprise, let you go in with talented young people, don't think about it if you don't stay up for a few years, don't think about it, it's better to be stable. The new family is like a start-up company, which may start with a small salary, but once it succeeds, it can get huge benefits, and the opportunities are more energetic and sufficient, which is equivalent to being your own boss.

Not to mention that Li Lingyi himself didn't keep any money at all, and he didn't have any so-called lord treasury, and all the money in the family was only used for three things, training soldiers and horses, relieving civilians and economic construction.

In this case, civilians can get good benefits by working hard, and everyone will naturally do their best to do it. At the same time, the high welfare of joining the army has also attracted a large number of young and middle-aged people to join the army, and even some mercenary groups that have declared themselves outside have joined the Flagless Family, further strengthening the family power.

As for where the money comes from, on the one hand, it sells grain, and on the other hand, it relies on the Twin River Cities to collect tolls. Of course, these can't be accumulated in the short term, and the biggest source of money is taxes.

Since the Flagless Family actually took control of the Riverlands region, it is natural that this place no longer has to pay taxes to King's Landing, but to the Flagless Family.

For commoners, the tax rate is much lower than before, but for the nobleman Li Lingyi, the tax rate is directly doubled. Of course, this caused the dissatisfaction of many nobles, but when Li Ling and his soldiers raided a few of the most murderous homes, others didn't dare to say anything anymore.

The nobles would feel unfair, but Li Lingyi would not. These nobles have exploited the commoners over the years, not to mention doubling, even tenfold it is not an exaggeration.

Take a nobleman's house he copied, it was still a small nobleman, and the place where he lived looked like a dilapidated small castle, but he found more than 200,000 golden dragons in the cellar!

It is estimated that 90 percent of them were exploited, because according to the investigation, the aristocrat did not engage in any profitable business at all, and the family spent all day eating, drinking, and merrymaking. In this case, how can you save such a huge amount of money?

And this is just an inconspicuous-looking little nobleman, as for those who are slightly larger, I don't know how many golden dragons are hidden in the house. So after this incident, some nobles immediately fled to the south.

For these escapees, Li Lingyi also intercepted them according to the situation, and all the notorious crimes were detained, and those with good reputations were let go.

So after such a toss, at least tens of millions of gold dragons were taken from these nobles, and Li Lingyi himself did not spend a single silver deer, and all of it was used for military expenses and people's livelihood.

There are now ballads on the continent that praise the common people of Harrenhal for how much better than King's Landing are, a paradise and a hell. It's an exaggeration, but there's some truth to it.

Therefore, in order to repay their families, the enthusiasm of civilians to join the army is also high, and they fight for the sake of their families and their families to continue to maintain this life.

So the number of soldiers has almost exploded during this time, and even if 20,000 is taken out now, Li Lingyi estimates that there will still be 15,000 left, so there is no need to worry.

This Iron Throne is too far away, according to the Hawkeye organization, since Joffrey came to the throne, the royal family has become more and more extravagant, a large number of golden dragons have been used for entertainment, and because he is the king, no one can control him.

And the royal city guards are also expanding, but most of them are golden-robed people wandering around King's Landing, and when they see suitable young adults, they will be forced to join the army, otherwise they will kill people.

This also led to a great increase in the military strength of Wang Cheng's escort, but it was a very unstable increase. I also heard that some men deliberately dressed up as old people in order to avoid being forcibly conscripted into the army, and even some wore women's clothes, which was a mess.

As for the Lannisters, Tywin Sr. is also recruiting, and has also conducted several military exercises with the Rose family, knowing that the big war is coming.

As soon as Li Ling finished speaking at this time, he glanced at everyone's faces and said, "I hope you can all take it seriously, it's not a joke, so for a hearty victory, enough soldiers are indispensable." ”

As soon as these words came out, several families could only nod helplessly and agree, now that the new family of Wuqi has so many people, if they can't even take out half of it, it's really a bit embarrassing.

However, there is an exception, and that is Luce of the Bolton family, he looked embarrassed, thought about it for a while, and hesitated: "Can our Bolton family produce less? We can't take out so many people." ”

Li Lingyi had foreseen Luce's reaction, because he had already figured out the details of the Horror Castle, and there were only 10,000 people in the entire city who could pull it out and fight.

If it really takes out 10,000 people, it is equivalent to cleaning up the old bottom of the Bolton family, and there are no soldiers in the castle to defend it, then they can't stand it.

But Li Lingyi deliberately said that he wanted 10,000, in order to make Luce object, so that the other families must have some complaints. We all take at least 10,000, so why can you take less?

Let everyone express their dissatisfaction, so as to put pressure on Luce, so that Li Lingyi can better "raise the price".

Sure enough, after Luce finished speaking, several patriarchs frowned, and Stannis took the lead and said, "Lord Luce, 10,000 people shouldn't be nothing to the Horror Castle." ”

"What do you know?" Luce immediately retorted when he heard this, "Our family has not vigorously developed the military in the first place, so there are naturally fewer soldiers. ”

"Hehe, maybe. ”

"You!"

As soon as Li Ling saw that the two of them were about to quarrel, he immediately spoke to stop it, "Okay, two adults." As he spoke, he looked at Luce, "Since the Bolton family can't get so many people, let's reduce it by two thousand, eight thousand." ”

After speaking, Li Lingyi squinted his eyes and smiled: "Patriarch Luce, this number shouldn't be out of place anymore, right?"

“…… Get it. ”

Luce looked helpless, and a trace of resentment flashed in his eyes, their Bolton family took out these eight thousand people, and there were less than three thousand people left in the fort, so they definitely couldn't do anything.

And the most important thing is that he still lost people at this meeting, after all, the other families did not ask to reduce the number of people, only he brought it up......

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