When Adric asked the question, his tone was serious, and his eyes were fixed on Gislent.

The Son of the Storm of the Landis Kingdom smiled reservedly, although in the face of Adric's oppressive eyes, Gislent skillfully turned his head sideways, avoiding the other party's gaze, and then he replied lightly: "Your Excellency, Minister of War, you have forgotten that I am a navy." You're asking a general about the Army, and that's not a professional thing to do. ”

A hint of disappointment flashed in Adric's eyes. He shook his head: "You know very well that this is not a tactical issue. "Then I have no authority to answer this question. Gislent smiled: "Even if I answer, my personal opinion cannot represent the will of the country to which I am loyal." ”

Adric was silent for a moment, his eyes seemed to be a little worried, as if deep down he was deeply worried about something.

It was a long time before he finally spoke again, and this time, the famous general of the Byzantine Empire, even a hint of frustration in his tone. "My Majesty, I want to see you, Gislent. ”

Gislent glanced at Adric. There was a sudden smile on his face that seemed a bit nondescript to a man with a full beard and a thick face. This mystery, Gislent's smile, is a little meaningful, but also a little cunning.

"When shall I go to see His Majesty the Great Byzantine Emperor?"

"Tonight. Adric answered the question, and then he stared deeply at Gislent: "I remember that when you came here, you said that you came here in an unofficial capacity, so you can't meet my emperor. ”

The Storm's Child smiled reservedly: "For a moment. At that moment, my dear Lord Adric. ”

"I'm worried. Exactly. Adric's reply was cold, even hard.

※

"It's a bad time. ”

At the end of a remote road in the city of Osgiria, in the deepest part of a huge mansion, in a circular study building, a few months ago, it had been regarded as the most mysterious and awe-inspiring place in the entire imperial capital, when the man named Cavishir died.

At this moment, a girl is sitting on a soft couch behind the desk, in a semi-recumbent position, one hand supporting the armrest next to the soft couch, and an unfolded scroll is placed in her hand. A dark flaxen-colored squeezed black hair was naturally draped, and the delicate face was full of bookish air, and the cheeks were dotted with some small freckles, adding a bit of playfulness to the originally delicate face.

It was a young face, but what those eyes were about to flicker was as if it was a wisdom that did not correspond to this age.

"Very bad, very bad timing. The girl sighed faintly.

When she spoke, her eyes did not look at the person in front of her, they all drooped their eyes, and her long eyelashes enveloped her eyes, which looked a little mysterious.

Standing in front of this freckled girl was a tall woman, with stunning long purple hair bursting out with a kind of strange beauty that captured people's hearts. The graceful figure is full of fiery charm, but on her face, the half of the iron face adds a cold and tough to her, who should be full of beauty!

Via stood there, right at his desk. Her face was as cold as ever, her eyes were as cold as ever, and her body was as straight as ever.

But at this moment, the purple-eyed woman's heart was not as calm as she appeared.

Wei Wu looked at the girl in front of him who was halfway on the soft couch, this girl was originally just that. The man's attendant was a shadow, a little tail hiding in the shadows beyond the dazzling light of Kavishir.

But now, the girl sat in Cavishir's study, lying on Cavishir's soft couch, with Cavishir's books in her hand, and even the smell of her words looked a little like the dead man.

This feeling made Via very uncomfortable. And, when in this familiar place, look at another person sitting in this familiar position. It made Via feel very awkward, so she seemed a little absent-minded.

"You're not listening to me. The girl lying on the soft couch suddenly threw a sentence.

"Hmm. Wei Yan looked at the girl in front of him: "You sit in the teacher's place."

The girl smiled: "And it's still in the teacher's study" Do you feel as if I have inherited everything from the teacher?

Via didn't speak.

The girl suddenly sighed: "Trust me, it doesn't feel good. You may feel a little unhappy about this, but I promise you that I have inherited not only these responsibilities but also those responsibilities that my teachers have left behind. ”

Via laughed silently.

"You and I are both his students. The girl lying on the soft couch suddenly stood up and stared at Via: "So, about jealousy, imbalance" These negative emotions, you and I are very clear in our hearts, these are all very boring things. I don't care what the hell is going on in your heart. You can be dissatisfied, or you can be unhappy with me in your heart, I don't care about this, my only request is that you have to do what I say, I just want the result, for the changes in your psychology and emotions in the middle of the process, I don't care about these are also the arrangements of the teacher before his death. ”

Via took a deep breath, her purple eyes completely cold: "Go on." ”

The girl withdrew her gaze from Via. He continued to lower his eyes, as if he was strolling through his heart, and then said slowly: "This is a very bad and very bad time I got the news from the Internet, and Your Majesty has asked to meet Gislent immediately. ”

Via didn't speak.

"A lot of people ignore an issue that's actually very important, something that teachers have raised a long time ago, but that's ignored by most people. The girl frowned slightly: "The Landis people are far more dangerous than we thought, and the teachers of the mortar department think that compared to the Odin people, the Tis talents are the real danger for us in the future."

"Future?" Via sneered, "The premise is that Byzantium can continue to exist without dying." Otherwise, there's nothing you call "future." Finish. ”

"Correct you a little, I didn't say it. It was the teacher who said it. The girl said with a straight face.

Via closed his mouth and made a "continue" look.

However, this issue has always been ignored by the royal family, whether it is the prime minister, the ministers of various ministries, or the powerful people of the empire, they have never faced up to that overseas island country. Yes, Landis has only one-thirtieth the land area and one-tenth the population of our land. And, at least so far, the kingdom of the sea has never shown any ambition for the lands of the mainland. But the teacher thinks that this is not because they don't want to", but because the best time to belong to Lantis has not come. ”

The girl suddenly picked up the scroll next to the armrest, and after turning a few pages, it was not an ordinary book at all, and it recorded dense rows and rows of data.

"It's this Landis, and it has always given us the impression that it is rich and safe. There is no intention of fighting for control of this world. Lack of initiative, the only foreign policy, is balance, balance, endless balance. But what if I say these data below. Maybe you'll see what I mean. ”

The girl took a deep breath: "Before the outbreak of this civil war, the financial income of the Byzantine Empire in a year was about: ten million gold coins. Of course, this data excludes those Tema military districts that are not under the control of the central government. If you add in all the population lands controlled by the governors of the Tema Military Region, this number may be doubled. There are about 65 million gold coins. However, please note that in this figure, of the 65 million gold coins, nearly 20 million gold coins are consumed in military spending every year. The other losses included the normal expenses of keeping the empire running"In fact, the Byzantine Empire had very little financial savings each year, and sometimes even additional taxes were required to meet the demand. Do you know how many troops we have fed under such circumstances? about 200,000 well-equipped central standing troops, 800,000 semi-professional local garrisons, and peasants, the figure of 800,000. It's just on paper, and you and I are very clear about the things that eat empty quotas below.

Let's look at Odin again: "The political system of the Odin Empire is different from ours, they are more barbaric. The more backward it is, the crarser the system. Their population is one-third of ours, and their land is about seventy percent of ours, but the arable land is even less! According to our estimates, the Odin Empire's annual revenue is only 10 million gold coins, but thanks to their almost barbaric system, their armament consumption is much lower than ours. Of course, this is not worth learning from. ”

At this point, the girl flipped the page of the book in her hand: "Now let's look at Landis, the overseas kingdom that we have the most impression of. Their land is one-thirtieth of ours, and their population is one-tenth, but their annual government revenue, is about

Speaking of this, the girl paused deliberately, and then said the answer word by word: "Eighty million gold coins! And this is the data obtained three years ago, given that the surveillance system of the Landis Empire is getting stricter and stricter, it is becoming more and more difficult for us to get the most accurate information." But according to historical data, a very interesting situation is shown: the year when Byzantium and Odin went to war. The Lantis Empire's fiscal revenues of that year will show a kind of stimulating growth! What does this mean, "They are making a lot of war money! The two great powers on the continent are biting each other and bleeding." When you are fighting to the death. The Landis will quietly intervene in the war. This intervention is not overt, but in a cunning and despicable way. They would quietly support both sides of the war, and then supply both sides with the resources they needed: weapons, ordnance, and even "food!" even in some years of war. The Landis can actually rent their fleet to us to transport the food and ordnance we need! They earn our gold by renting out their fleet, and they don't have to die a single person, they don't have to spend a copper plate of their own! We are using our military expenses to help them maintain the maintenance of their ships! Use our money to support their warships! They maintain nearly three hundred warships, most of which have far more water and load than us, not to mention the Odin Empire, which has no navy at all.

More than 80 million gold coins of financial income every year. But do you know what the annual financial balance of the Landis Kingdom is?"

The girl's smile was a little complicated: less than six million gold coins!"

She let out a long sigh: "Think about it carefully, their population, the country, are much smaller than ours, but in the past twenty years. Almost all of their financial revenues are used up every year, and the surplus is less than one-tenth! Where is the huge amount of wealth used? We only see that the army of the Landis Kingdom is less than 60,000, but the establishment of two corps, but what we do not see is that the reserve force of the Landis Kingdom is the most complete and advanced among the three countries! They have more than 800,000 reserves in the whole country all year round! These reservists look no different from ordinary people in normal times, but they spend eighty days a year gathering in various regions for military training, and the time and work delayed by receiving military training are financially subsidized by the government of the Kingdom of Landis! At the same time, every adult male must enter the reserve establishment compulsorily at the age of eighteen!

On the surface, they only have two corps of standing troops, but in reality, if they want to, a single mobilization order can recruit more than hundreds of thousands of well-trained soldiers in a month!

At the same time they have the most powerful navy. The total volume of naval transport is a figure that we cannot imagine! If they wish, they can easily use that invincible navy to enter our inland sea, and with their transport capacity, they can transport 200,000 troops outside the port of Osgilia in a month, including weapons and food!

Let me ask, if it is really a country that "has no mainland ambitions and no enterprising spirit", why does it have such a huge fiscal revenue every year? Putting it into the reserves? Maintaining such a large number of reserves?"