Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 301 Money is like dirt

Miriel rolled her eyes with a grand heart, this half-elf inherited the beauty of the elves, but abandoned their coldness and possessed the charm of humans.

This eye roll was full of teasing meaning.

"Levi, do you know how much the cheapest Mamluk warrior costs?" She held up two slender fingers. "It costs twenty gold grams!"

"Even if we calculate based on purchasing 4,000 warriors, it will cost 80,000 gold grams!"

"Not to mention that we can't just buy it. We have to provide the equipment ourselves, or spend extra money to buy it. There are also various material consumptions. You must understand this!"

"Just one sentence, do you have money?"

"Twenty gold grams per person is not too expensive." Levi muttered.

I remember that the orc barbarian bought it from Florina for forty gold grams, and that was a discounted price. Otherwise, an orc, a natural fighter, would be sold for at least seventy or eighty gold grams.

Miriel became even more excited when he heard this, and even slapped the table: "Levi, you don't understand what 7,000 standing soldiers represent at all."

"Even if you have the money to buy them back, with the current number of people in Gaoya Fort, we won't be able to support so many people in the future!"

"Now the warriors of Highcliff Castle are all big-bellied men. One of them can eat as much as ten people. It's just barely enough to survive."

"Add another 7,000 warriors. If they are orcs, they will eat even more. With the current situation of High Cliff Castle, it is impossible to support so many full-time soldiers!"

When Zat heard this and was glanced at by Miriel, he continued to eat without paying any attention.

However, the Shaman Orc Orak looked at the lamb leg in his hand with some embarrassment, not knowing whether to eat it or not.

In the entire High Cliff Castle, apart from the horses and humans, the orcs have the largest appetites.

"Don't even think about spending money to buy food. The weather has been bad in recent years. The harvests in many places are poor, and food prices are rising rapidly." Miriel sneered. She is a businessman and knows this better than anyone else. "Some nobles have even started hoarding food, preparing to drive up the price and sell it when it reaches the highest point."

"This bunch of damn nobles!" Zat listened for a while, but didn't understand Miriel's exquisite explanation at all. He only knew that the nobles caused the price of food to soar, and High Cliff Castle could not buy food.

But the next moment it seemed to realize something, and it shrunk its neck and ran out of the cafeteria.

Levi put down his fists and didn't beat the fool directly, all for Ashe's sake. Taking action in front of the Elf Queen would somewhat undermine his demeanor as a lord.

"The number of subjects is indeed a problem." Levi frowned. In the past, he was the only one maintaining the operation of Gaoya Castle, so he did not consider the ratio of the number of subjects to soldiers.

In this world, the ratio of noble territories is generally 25 to 1, which means that 5,000 standing soldiers require at least 120,000 residents.

"At worst, we can just handle both. Anyway, the number of people in Gaoya Fort is indeed a bit small now. Let's solve the problem of the subjects first, and then the problem of the soldiers." Levi waved his hand and set the policy.

"I do have something I want to tell you about this, Levi." Just as everyone was racking their brains to figure out where to capture the people, Beristina raised her hand.

"You say." Levi snapped his fingers.

"In the Kaas Mountains, there are some old tribes of the North that are on good terms with the former Fede tribe. There are about 10,000 of them." Beristina said nervously, "They want to become vassals of High Cliff Castle."

Ever since Gaoya Castle experienced several battles, it had already gained a reputation and became the overlord of the wilderness.

These old northerners hid in the Cass Mountains. Their lives were already difficult, and with the almost constant snow in the wilderness this year, it was even harder to maintain their lives. Naturally, they wanted to join Highcliff Castle when they couldn't survive any longer.

After all, they still have some friendship with the Fed tribe, and now seeing that they are living so well in Gaoya Castle, they have become interested.

"Tina, you did a good job. This is a good thing." Levi agreed directly with a smile on his face.

He had originally wanted to go to the Kaas Mountains to abduct people, and now that they had come to him, he was naturally very happy.

Princess Fede couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Although she is the steward of High Cliff Castle, she cannot make the decision when it comes to such important matters.

"Where are they now?" Levi asked concernedly.

If Gaoya Castle wants to grow stronger, it must first increase the number of its subjects. It is simply unrealistic to abduct civilians from Debe. He has been thinking about these old people in the Kaas Mountains for a long time.

"They are at the iron mine now. They said they are helping us guard it to prevent people with bad intentions." Bai Ruisi Tina said with a smile.

Being able to help Levi made her happier than anything else.

"They are a warm-hearted bunch." Levi smiled. He could tell that they really wanted to join Highcliff Castle from the bottom of their hearts. Otherwise, they would not be stationed at the iron mine. He snapped his fingers and said, "Gus, Hogg, go and take them over."

The iron mine is not far from Highcliff Castle, so even if it snows heavily, these old men in the wilderness will not get lost in the snow.

The main reason is that the lord is afraid that the snow will get heavier in the future, so the sooner we take it over, the better.

Gus and Hogg had already finished eating. Upon hearing what was said, they each called their own number of people, took enough warm clothes, and headed towards the iron mine in the wind and snow.

"Now that the issue of the people has been resolved, we can talk about expanding the army." Levi looked at Miriel with pride.

He was quite curious about that Mamluk warrior.

He remembered that the Persian Gulf Kingdom and Derby were separated by a sea, but the two often had trade exchanges, generally with spices and the like. He did not expect that the other party was mainly engaged in the slave trade.

"So what if Levi adds another 10,000 people?" Miriel spread her hands and sneered. This half-elf seemed to like arguing with the lord. "Let alone 7,000, even 3,000 is not affordable with the current finances of Highcliff Castle."

"Although I have no intention of knowing the financial situation of Highcliff Castle, a simple calculation will reveal the truth."

"At present, Gaoyabao's only sources of income are commerce and weapons trade. These two together can bring Gaoyabao a total of 3,000 gold grams per month, and this is still the best case scenario."

"And the funds available to Highcliff Castle right now are probably no more than 10,000 gold grams. At most, we can only afford a troop of 500 Mamluk warriors."

"Not to mention maintaining a standing army of several thousand people!"

For most barons, three thousand gold grams per month is enough to wake them up with a smile in their sleep, but trying to use it to maintain a standing army of 7,000 people is a complete pipe dream.

A famous person once said that the army is a waste of money, but Miriel doesn't think so, because the money doesn't burn that fast. To be honest, Levi was a little stunned. As the lord of High Cliff Castle, he actually knew these things better than Miriel, an outsider.

The other party was just the proprietress of a shop in Gaoyabao.

He thought thoughtfully and realized that Gaoya Castle was indeed in need of a financial manager.

"Levi is capable of doing things according to his ability." Miriel looked like an experienced person. He snatched the apple in front of the lord and took a bite. "Although you are very strong, strength cannot be turned into gold."

"Hahaha, who said we can't?!"

Unlike the dejected look Miriel had imagined, the Lord laughed three times, took out a piece of parchment from his arms and threw it in front of Miriel: "Pick it up and see for yourself."

Miriel picked up the parchment and read it carefully. The expression on his face changed from disdain to shock. He muttered to himself: "Southern Border Extra-Staff Legion, 3,000 Standing Troops."

After reading it, the half-elf merchant asked in disbelief: "Levi, you sold yourself to Leah?!!"

It's no wonder that Miriel lost his composure. You have to know that this so-called extra-staff army is just a cover-up. In fact, the South Territory pays Highcliff Castle to support 3,000 soldiers, and the term of the support is during the reign of the new Duke.

It can be said that even a father would not help his son do this.

Miriel felt that only if the Lord of Highcliff Castle sold himself to Leah could he get this kind of help from the other party.

"Look, what are you talking about? Are you jealous of my talent?" Levi said with disdain: "This is the result of my sword and gun."

At this moment, Leighton calmly dropped another bombshell on the turbulent water: "We also brought back several carriages full of coins, gold and silver utensils, and antiques. After a rough estimate, the conservative value is more than 250,000 gold grams."

"How...how much?" Miriel felt like she was dreaming, with gold coins falling all around her.

"More than 250,000 gold grams. This is just a rough estimate. The exact amount may need to be calculated by a specialist, but I personally think it must be more than this." Leighton pushed his glasses. In fact, when he saw the gold and silver, his reaction was not much better than Miriel's.

But even if it is an unimaginably stunning beauty, ordinary people will get bored after being with her for several months in a row, let alone several carts of temperatureless gold and silver.

When the excitement subsides, there is only calm.

Miriel finally reacted. He didn't even notice the apple in his mouth falling to the ground. He stammered, "You guys got... got rich?"

"It's just so-so." Levi said calmly, with his hands behind his back, as if he was a great monk who regarded money as dirt. "I was the first to capture the town of Kalia and Blackstone Castle, so naturally I had to enter the castle first to look for my own hard work fee. In addition, the property belonging to Damon and Penny was given to me by Leah, so I barely managed to collect 200,000 gold grams."

"These people are so rich." Bai Ruishina was amazed.

Just by looting a baron's castle and a marquis's castle, plus a duke's brother and a duke's daughter, he could get 200,000 gold grams. It is hard to imagine how fat and powerful those nobles staying in the noble garden are.

"Isn't it like this? The world's wealth is always in the hands of a small group of people." Levi spread his hands, not surprised at all.

Think about the end of the Ming Dynasty in the previous life. The last emperor used all means to get only tens of thousands of taels of silver from officials, but Li Zicheng extorted more than 70 million taels of silver as soon as he arrived.

You have to know that the total tax revenue of the imperial court at that time was only more than 3 million taels of silver per year.

It is clear who got the money.

"What about the remaining 50,000? Didn't they say it was at least 250,000?" Miriel asked impatiently. As a businessman, she felt sad if she lost even one gold gram.

So naturally you want to find out where all the money comes from.

"I went to the Dreadfort for a visit." The Lord sneered, as cold as the white-haired wind in December, blowing people all over the body with chills: "The group of demons were deliberately put into the Bone Fortress. The people from the Dreadfort are the most suspicious."

"I am not making a blind guess. If they were Daemon's men, they would have been defeated long ago and would not have waited for our support. The Thorn Legion was also checked afterwards and no problems were found. Therefore, the suspects can only be those people from the Dreadfort."

If there was a good excuse, the lord would have taken the opportunity to raze the Dreadfort and ended the matter, instead of what is happening now. It's just that the other side couldn't bear the pressure due to the overwhelming army and chose to settle the matter peacefully by offering 50,000 gold coins.

Miriel and Beristina nodded with understanding on their faces.

The person in front of me is never one to suffer losses.

If it weren't for the fact that there was no legitimate reason for attacking a count, randomly attacking him would lead to very troublesome consequences.

I'm afraid there is no Dreadfort in Derby now.

But obviously the matter will not end like this, because the Lord of Highcliff Castle is not only not a person who will suffer losses, but also very vindictive.

Now that we have money and a place to live for our subjects, expanding the army by 5,000 no longer seems to be a problem.

Miriel took the initiative to ask: "Levi, do you need me to contact the slave traders in the Persian Gulf countries?"

"I traded spices with him before, but the slave trade was his main business."

"There is no rush for this matter. Compared to buying these slave warriors, I would rather go to the arena in Derby to buy those fighters."

"Besides, Derby is not without slaves, so there is no need for me to go far away."

Levi waved his hand.

When the elves of the Whisperwind Tribe joined High Cliff Castle, together with the old people in the Kaas Mountains, Levi's desire to buy slave warriors became much weaker.

Because these specially trained Mamluk warriors are probably like robots.

They might be able to carry out difficult hand-to-hand combat, but it would be difficult to use them to implement unexpected tactics.

Mainly, he also had some ideas about where to find elite fighters.

"My Lord Baron..." Just then, a bunny sentry came running in with a spear in hand. But just as he opened his mouth, Zat, who had returned out of nowhere, slapped him on the back of the head: "You have to call me Marquis now!"

"My Lord Marquis." The bunny sentry covered the back of his head with tears in his eyes. He looked at the strong man next to him and tried hard to hold back his tears. "There is a very beautiful human woman outside. She said she is looking for you."

"A very beautiful human woman?" The Lord was stunned at first, but soon realized, "It's Xiong!"

(End of this chapter)