This year's fiscal expenditure is relatively small, with a large surplus, and next year Richard is also preparing to expand the army by 4,000 and expand the number of soldiers in Haaland's territory to 20,000.

Haaland has now doubled in size, and has more than 400 kilometres of defence from east to west.

The defensive pressure became extremely great, and next year Richard not only planned to expand the army, but also planned to strengthen the construction of auxiliary forces and give them more subsidized funds.

In Haaland's territory, the training of auxiliaries has been very tight. In addition to the absence of breathing methods, more than a dozen auxiliary squadrons, the training subjects are almost the same as those of the regular army.

In previous operations, the auxiliary soldiers suffered relatively few casualties, and many of them were veterans with more than five years of military experience.

Because many soldiers have made great achievements in war this year and have become freemen, more than 8,000 soldiers will receive their salaries next year, and the expenses on their salaries will increase by 20,000 gold coins.

According to Richard's estimates, next year's military spending is likely to increase to 300,000 gold coins. If the fiscal revenue does not increase next year, the territory will have a fiscal deficit.

The monetary policy of Haaland's territory is close to the gold standard, and the circulation is all metal money, and if there is a fiscal deficit, the problem will become very serious.

However, there will be new income in Haaland's territory next year, starting with minting income.

Since the beginning of this year, the construction of the Graveson County copper mine has been completed, and copper ingots will be smelted in September. The ingots were successfully smelted and sent to the mint, and the first copper coins were minted in late September. It's just that this batch of copper coins is of low quality and is not in circulation in the market.

Over the next few months, the mint continued to improve its process, and by December, the copper coins produced by the mint were finally approved by Richard and gradually circulated in the realm.

Copper is a precious metal that can be minted for coins, and in Haaland's territory, deflation is very serious. Next year's minting income can bring at least tens of thousands of gold coins.

Secondly, Richard is ready to sell alchemy bombs, and the alchemy bombs in Haaland's territory are less powerful than those made by the Elemental Heart, but the cost is very low.

Now that there are enough magicians in Haaland's territory, there is no shortage of materials to make alchemy bombs, and the problem of secrecy has been solved, and alchemy bombs can be made on a large scale. Even if an alchemy bomb costs ten gold coins, it is still a lucrative business, and the profit from selling a few thousand pieces is very considerable.

Soon after the financial meeting, it was the Goddess's Birthday, and the Haaland family held their annual family feast.

Because Richard dealt with Don harshly, the atmosphere of this year's family banquet was very solemn, the third uncle Bernie did not come back, and his father William was not very happy and had a gloomy face. When the other family members saw Richard, they were all silent, like a mouse seeing a cat.

Just after the Goddess's Birthday, King Roger's envoy, Marquis Allen, came to the northern frontier. The Marquis of Allen sent someone to send a letter to Richard, and after inspecting the four provinces of northern Xinjiang, he was going to come to the Earldom of Harland to talk to Richard.

Last year, the royal family established a new province in northern Xinjiang, Grotta. Although this province is a new province, the Jonathan family has developed it for many years, built sixteen castles, and reclaimed as many as 5 million acres of farmland, which is better than that of Gascoigne Province. There were more than 600,000 serfs settled in the province of Grotta.

The province of Grotta has a good foundation, and it doesn't take much resources to run the Grant royal family.

Marquis Allen is the chairman of the aristocratic council, and his political status in the royal capital of Nolan is extraordinary, and he is considered to be one of the top few people in real power. After inspecting the northern frontier, he came to Haaland's territory, and Richard had to greet him personally.

After Richard became a hereditary nobleman, he rarely went to the royal capital and did not mix in the aristocratic circle. Although the Marquis of Allen was the chairman of the noble council, Richard met him for the first time. On the contrary, Richard's father, William, once went to Nolan to dredge up relations, dealt with Marquis Allen, and met several times.

"Dear Earl Haaland, I took the liberty to come to the door, in addition to some business matters to discuss with you, the most important thing is for the alchemy bomb."

In last year's intervention war, Richard used a lot of alchemy bombs in the war. There must be people planted by the royal family in the alliance of the three provinces, and it is clear that the Haaland family must have made alchemy bombs on a large scale after a little analysis. Otherwise, Richard dropped more than 1,500 alchemy bombs last year, which was enough to bankrupt the Haaland family's finances at a normal purchase price.

Since Duke Jonathan saw this, Nolan was not short of smart people, and the Grant royal family soon found out.

"The cost of manufacturing the alchemy bomb in the Haaland territory is indeed relatively low, if it is manufactured on a large scale, the cost will not exceed two gold coins, and the power is only slightly lower than that of the burst arrow. Soldiers who use alchemy bombs only need a short period of training to play an important role, and the reason why the Harland family can grow and develop is that the role of the secret weapon of alchemy bombs is also very crucial.

Of course, the Kingdom of Roger is my allegiance to the sovereign, and since he proposed it, of course I am willing to exchange, but I also have a few conditions here. ”

Seeing that Richard was relieved and had the idea of exchange, Marquis Allen breathed a sigh of relief and felt that it was not difficult to complete the task.

After Duke Jonathan's deal with Richard last July, the Jonathans family had already made a lot of alchemy bombs in October. The Grant royal family is well-informed and has installed intelligence agents within the Jonathan family. After perceiving that the Jonathan family's army was equipped with alchemy bombs on a large scale, they immediately analyzed that the two major families of Jonathan and Haaland had completed the exchange of interests.

After taking the Grand Duchy of Starnick, the Jonathan family's power has swelled a lot, and even if their energy is dispersed, the threat to the Grant royal family has been reduced a little, and it is still the focus of the royal family. However, the special reality requires that the great nobles of the Grant Kingdom must cooperate in order to maintain the situation surrounded by wolves.

Before Marquis Allen entered the northern frontier to inspect, King Roger had already issued a secret order to him, and he must obtain the method of making alchemy bombs, and he could not be too far away from the two families of Harland and Jonathan in terms of military technology.

In recent years, the strength of the Haaland family has expanded extremely rapidly, especially in military power, which is second only to several dukes. For such a pivotal aristocracy, the royal family wants to benefit from them, so they can only choose to exchange and compromise.

"Count Richard, of course you can make conditions. As long as it is satisfied, I can agree on behalf of the king. Finding that Richard was willing to negotiate, Marquis Allen immediately knew that it would not be difficult to complete the task.

"First of all, the royal family cannot spread the alchemy bomb manufacturing technology, secondly, it cannot compete with Haaland's territory to sell alchemy bombs, and thirdly, I want to exchange 600 square kilometers of land to connect the two territories. In addition, you need to trade 800 Tencenium Elixirs, 100 Enchanted Armor, 100 Iron Wildebeests, 100 Enchanted Crossbows, 60 Burst Arrows, and the complete Brute Bull Breathing Method.

In addition, there are additional conditions, the royal family needs to give 200 Tenhui potions to Haaland every year for 30 years. ”

Although Richard's requirements are many, they add up to hundreds of thousands of gold coins, and the Grant royal family does not lack such regular resources. After all, the Grant family controls a kingdom with millions of dollars in revenue every year.

Hearing Richard's request for a deal, Marquis Allen agreed to his terms on the spot.

In fact, even if Richard traded the royal seal, Roger's kingdom would meet his conditions.

In the long run, the royal seal is worth more, but in the short term, the Haaland family is in dire need of war resources.

After weighing the pros and cons, Richard finally chose short-term interests and traded a batch of war resources that could quickly increase the strength of the army.

Marquis Allen has a high authority, and immediately transferred a batch of resources from the four provinces of northern Xinjiang, and drew up a royal power contract, signing his name, but the contract must be legally valid, and it also needs to be signed by King Roger himself to fulfill the treaty.

In late January, the two sides had already completed the exchange.

In the following month, after taking 800 Tencel potions, the soldiers of Haaland's territory accumulated a lot of money and successfully promoted more than 60 professional officers.

With the arrival of the enchanted armor and the Iron Wildebeest, Richard once again expanded the number of Warcraft cavalry and formed the fourth Warcraft cavalry squadron, which by the way expanded the power of the Scout cavalry.

Now the Haaland Territory has trained four Warcraft cavalry squadrons, and there are also eighty Warcraft cavalry in the reconnaissance cavalry. Nearly five hundred Warcraft cavalry, the strength is stronger than the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade of the Northern Legion, and it can already be organized into a separate Warcraft cavalry regiment in the war.

To form the Warcraft Cavalry, the soldiers are carefully selected from the veterans, because they are all veterans and elites, and there is no need for basic training, and the time to form combat effectiveness is shorter than recruiting new soldiers.

As we enter March, the recruitment of new recruits has been completed and the soldiers have begun their recruit training. Normally, recruits need to train for a year before they mix with veterans.

After recruiting 4,000 recruits, the number of troops in Haaland's territory has exceeded 20,000.

Although there are many soldiers of 20,000 people, the defense line of Haaland's territory is 400 kilometers long, and it is necessary to defend seven or eight border castles, and the orcs have the advantage of troops, so it is impossible to fight a decisive battle with Haaland's territory, but will choose to divide their troops and break through the defense line of Haaland's territory.

Every castle must not be lost, and once the castle on the front line is lost, the rear will be plagued by orcs. Haaland's territory is not yet well-established, and as long as he fails in one battle, he will have to wait many years to recover.

The seven castles on the front line must be stationed with elite soldiers, and the southern foot of the Eagle Mountain Range is defended by Flame Fort, Lightning Fort, Soldier Station Fort, and Salt Lake Fort. In addition, the Platos Gorge also needs the support of the Haaland territory, and the nearby Sophia Fort is also considered a front line.

The southern foothills of the Eagle Mountains are the core of Haaland's territory, and it is also the focus of territorial management, this county will be stationed with seven infantry brigades, a Warcraft cavalry brigade, half a reconnaissance brigade, a magic hot air balloon squadron, plus logistics, military justice and other headquarters personnel, with a total strength of 14,000.

There are two mage towers in the swamp basin, and a brigade of garrisons can stabilize the situation, and the mage towers in Haaland's territory are basically stationed here. Fort Garrison is not far from the headquarters Fort William, and only one brigade needs to be stationed. Outside of Fort Salt Lake, this area is basically deserted, far from the core territory, and it takes two brigades to hold on for a long time.

There are three infantry brigades left, a Warcraft cavalry brigade, half a reconnaissance cavalry brigade, a magic hot air balloon squadron, and logistics and military judges are all stationed at Fort William, and these soldiers add up to more than seven thousand.

The eastern counties of the Grotta River are less populated, and after the handover of the territory, Duke Jonathan has withdrawn his soldiers, and Richard has sent four infantry brigades, half a cavalry reconnaissance brigade, and a magic hot air balloon squadron to station, with a total strength of about 7,000.

Canyon Castle is located at the forefront of the eastern county of the Grotta River, and is also the focus of the county's defense, and will be stationed with one and a half brigades of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry, and a squadron of magic hot air balloons will basically be stationed here, with a total strength of nearly three thousand.

The castle on the eastern bank of the river cannot be ignored, and the orcs once passed through it to break through the defensive line set by King Roger. The garrison here also had a brigade of infantry, a squadron of reconnaissance cavalry, and the defenders were close to two thousand.

The King's Castle, the capital of the eastern county of the Grotta, had a garrison of only one and a half brigades and two squadrons of scout cavalry, which was slightly stronger than the castle on the banks of the river.

Because the recruits have not yet completed their training, and the units are not yet fully staffed, the actual number of troops stationed is smaller.

After the Goddess's Birthday, the army of Haaland's domain began to move on a large scale, and Richard began to replenish the eastern counties of the Grotta River. Heavy trebuchets, alchemy bombs, steel armor, and enchanted armor are continuously transported to the front line of canyon castles and riverbank castles.

Because of the distance, in order to facilitate the overall command, Richard had to appoint an army commander to coordinate and command the 7,000 soldiers in the eastern county of the Grotta.

Among the officers in Haaland's territory, there is a prestige and capable command of 7,000 soldiers, and in fact, only Soros is the only candidate.

Even though Soros likes to command the Warcraft cavalry to charge into battle, he is now the only one who can take responsibility, so he can only reluctantly accept the task and serve as the supreme commander of the eastern county of the Grotta River.

Captain Loster of the Second Brigade and Jennings of the Captain of the Sixth Brigade respectively served as deputy captains. In recent years, the strength of Roster and Jennings has improved a bit.

Lloster advanced to the rank of Fourth-Order Knight, and Jennings was also promoted to the rank of Rank 5 Warrior a year later. Jennings was one year younger than Richard, and at the age of less than thirty, he was promoted to a fifth-order warrior, and his talent was better than Richard's.

Through the attribute panel prompt, Richard knew that his warrior level was not far from advancement, and according to the current cultivation rate, he should be able to be promoted to a sixth-order warrior in June in another four months.

It had been four years and three months since Richard became a fifth-order warrior, and his warrior talent was almost comparable to that of his father William. Richard's luck was much better than William's, when he was young, William was already a high-ranking officer in the Northern Legion, and he laid a stronger foundation from an early age, without taking detours, and it was easier to climb up.

(End of chapter)