Volume 3 Chapter 31 - Wanting benefits again? (1/2)

Lampuri Thirteenth was sitting in a small garden in the back of the royal palace. There was a wool blanket on his legs and the winter sun welcomed him as he read the document in his hand.

This was the document the royal army submitted a few days ago and it was his third time reading it, but he was seriously reading it over.

Because this was a summary report of the Muerto Mountain Range campaign. As the king who had taken the throne during the ten year turmoil and then calming the turmoil in the worst situation, stabilizing his throne, the current king Lampuri Thirteenth understood military affairs better than his predecessors and placed more importance in them.

After holding the throne for more than ten years, he fully understood how important the conflict with the Sack Kingdom to the north was to the entire Lampuri Kingdom.

Because of the suppression from the Sack Kingdom, the Lampuri Kingdom had to spend large amounts of gold coins on the northern army each year. The army headquarters had to use most of the military expenses on the northern army, only being able to barely block the Sack Kingdom.

However, this sucked the Lampuri Kingdom in and they had to spend large amounts on military spending each year, which couldn’t be avoided at all.

Actually Lampuri Thirteenth was well aware of the Sack Kingdom’s strategy. The Sack Kingdom didn’t declare war on the Lampuri Kingdom to rely on their stronger national strength to slowly drag the Lampuri Kingdom down, then they would easily defeat the Lampuri Kingdom.

Rather if they threw the dice down and started a war, perhaps the Lampuri Kingdom would put up a fierce resistance, so the Sack Kingdom would be greatly damaged even if they could win. At that time, there might be another country that will swoop in.

But even if he knew, the Lampuri Kingdom couldn’t solve this problem. Because the Sack Kingdom was stronger than the Lampuri Kingdom and had the initiative, the Lampuri Kingdom being able to hold on was already good enough. How could they think of a way to fight back?

In this Muerto Mountain Range campaign, although the Sack Kingdom was aggressive in the beginning, like they wanted to start a war, they didn’t continue pushing forward after taking control of the Muerto Mountains.

This action was just to increase pressure on the Lampuri Kingdom, forcing them to invest more into the northern army. The Lampuri Kingdom’s finances wouldn’t be able to hold on like this.

But the Sack Kingdom never would have thought that the Lampuri Kingdom would suddenly change equipment and prepare those terrifying Magic Trebuchets. Adding in the fact that they used steel arrows without caring about the costs, they were able to forcefully take back the Muerto Mountain Range.

Now the northern army had control of the Muerto Mountain Range and created large pressure on the Sack Kingdom, forcing them to invest more into their armies to defend against the northern army.

As for attacking the Muerto Mountains…..With the strong equipment of the northern army, they didn’t have this thought at all for now.

But in the Lampuri Kingdom’s royal army’s report, they didn’t ask the king for their merit, rather they were asking for help.

According to the statistics of the royal army, in the Muerto Mountains campaign, although they had a great display and captured the important Muerto Mountains, the army headquarters had invested over one hundred and seventy gold coins. They had basically emptied the army headquarters’ budget for this year.

In order to maintain control of the Muerto Mountains, the northern army had to spend at least forty thousand gold coins each month.

It had to be said, just the cost of transporting goods was over ten thousand gold coins,

And that was even when the army headquarters racked their brains to think of ways to save money.

In the report, the royal army had accurately laid out all the data and clearly indicated that the royal army had no money. If the kingdom finances didn’t provide them more funds, the army headquarters wouldn’t be able to hold on and they would lose the Muerto Mountains again.

This report seemed like a threat to the king for more money, but Lampuri Thirteenth was very clear that the army headquarters were just reporting facts.

Because he knew the kingdom finances better than anyone else in the kingdom.

The kingdom had no money, so naturally the army had no money.

But this was a problem that had to be solved, otherwise the northern army’s actions before would all go to vain and the Lampuri Kingdom would be put in a passive position.

But if they found a way to increase the military budget, it would bring down the Lampuri Kingdom and make the kingdom finances even worse, forming an endless loop.

How could they solve this endless loop?

Lampuri Thirteenth thought for a bit before picking up another report to his side.

This report was a fall harvest summary from the kingdom’s agricultural department.

In this report, Banta City was in a very good position.

The reason was very simple, in this year’s fall harvest, Banta City had splendid results that far surpassed the other cities in the kingdom.

In the report, the agricultural department profusely praised the current Banta City City Lord Count Stagg, calling him the number one contributor to Banta City receiving such a high harvest and that he should be greatly rewarded. They said that if every city in the kingdom has such high grain yield, the Lampuri Kingdom would be able to cast off their lack of grains and every citizen wouldn’t be troubled by famine anymore.

After carefully reading this report, Lampuri Thirteenth suddenly gave a snort as a cold smile appeared on his face. He took another report and after looking at it for a while, his lips curled as the smile on his face turned joyful.

This report was actually a confidential report with several dozen pieces of paper thickly stuck together.