Commanding Five Hundred Thousand Troops Was No Dream!

Ortolan sat in an office chair drinking tea, while Tesoro sat on a sofa opposite him, reporting on relevant data.

"Currently, the total number of troops stationed in our countries has reached 40,000, involving more than 10 countries, both allied and non-alliance, within our jurisdiction. On average, each country has about 3,000 troops stationed there, and maintains at least one warship and three auxiliary warships."

"The military expenditures for these 40,000 personnel are uniformly submitted by the host countries to our G-5 for distribution. Annually, the surplus is 1.6 billion Belly..."

When Tesoro got to this point, Ortolan raised his hand and asked with a hint of curiosity, "There's still a surplus?"

"Yes, basically all countries will give a little more, some give two or three hundred million more, and some in less favorable situations will give tens of millions more." Tesoro replied with a smile.

"Not bad, these guys do have some sense. There really needs to be a flexible bottom line for military spending, otherwise we can't be too flexible..." Ortolan said with satisfaction.

At first, they only thought about spreading the burden of these armies to these countries. They didn't expect that they could make a small profit in the end. Although it's only a billion or so Belly, it's not a big amount for the G5 at present. But it's a freebie, so why not take it?

"Through the conscription of the past two years, our G-5 base now has an army of 54,270 men. Of these, 40,000 have already experienced at least three battles and have all Armament Haki. They can be considered elite troops. However, our expenses in this area are also very high because Lord Ortolan has always set our military expenditure and rewards at the highest level. Therefore, the pressure in this area is quite great. My suggestion is that we can appropriately reduce..." Tesoro with some helplessness, wanting to offer his suggestion.

However, before he could finish speaking, Ortolan waved his hand to stop him. "Don't mention reducing the salaries, benefits, and bounties of your subordinates anymore. This is a hard and fast rule, and no one in G-5, including myself as the base commander, is allowed to change it!"

After a slight pause, Ortolan said with a hint of helplessness, "Due to the situation and the pressure from the New World, I've been ruthless enough in training my troops. The vast majority of recruited soldiers are sent to the front lines as soon as they learn how to fire a gun and practice target shooting. This is already quite cruel. Because of this, I have to pay my brothers well for risking their lives for me. If I reduce even the pay for this kind of sacrifice, who will be willing to lead the charge in battle? Our G-5's combat effectiveness will also decrease, which is not what I want to see!"

Indeed, G-5's casualty rate is arguably the highest in the Marines, especially during the two or three years of the Ortolan intensive training program. Building a powerful Marines force of 50,000 elite troops from scratch requires immense bloodshed and sacrifice.

Therefore, from the very beginning, even if he had to tighten his Ortolan and shamelessly extort money from others, he still had to maximize the treatment and rewards offered by G-5, otherwise he would feel guilty.

Those were his subordinates, not Impel Down's imported slaves whom he could wreak havoc on as he pleased!

Therefore, in terms of military spending, welfare benefits, and post-war bounties, the benefits of G-5 are at least three times that of headquarters!

It was also because Ortolan never skimped on this aspect, and after purging the relevant corrupt generals and officials three times, that G-5, despite being under great pressure, had such prestige that no one in the entire G-5 could replace him!

According to Ortolan, the accumulation of prestige is not about how many meetings you hold in a day, or how many targets you set, or how you forcibly use power and strength to suppress those below you.

Building prestige depends on what you can bring to your brothers!

Promotion and wealth are the most effective ways to accumulate prestige. Why does Ortolan admire Sengoku, the Marine Admiral? Because Sengoku, as his direct superior, never made empty promises to Ortolan. He provided money and promotions without hesitation. As a result, they built up enough trust between them, making Ortolan willing to work for Sengoku!

The same applies to G-5. In just the last two years, the number of officers sent from G-5 to headquarters has exceeded a thousand. Basically, when they came to G-5, they were still recruits. In two years, as long as they went to war and survived, they were at least junior officers. If they were lucky, they survived many wars or made some important contributions. Many of them wore the shoulder insignia of senior officers!

Of course, it was impossible to fully integrate them into the G-5 organization. Some who were willing to stay were assigned by Ortolan to mentor new recruits and serve as officers in the new recruit units. Others who were truly unsuitable were directly sent to headquarters to continue their development.

After all, this temple is small and cannot accommodate too many officers.

These officers, who are being sent out in this way, are also very meaningful to Ortolan and G-5. Although it is not obvious now, they will inevitably become the backbone of the G-5 Marines faction in the future, and will extend G-5's influence from one base to the entire Marines system!

Seeing that his base commander was determined to stand up for his brothers, Tesoro was helpless, but he also felt warm inside. Who wouldn't want their boss to think of their own people?

If even the base commander is willing to brave financial pressure to fight for welfare benefits for the lowest-ranking, least influential Marines soldiers, then it goes without saying that Marines officers who have already risen to leadership positions are even more so.

Just like the promise Ortolan made to Smoker not long ago, once G-5 arrives, they're under Ortolan's protection. As long as they don't embarrass Ortolan 'll hold up the sky for them even if it falls!

Without that kind of courage, how can you get people to be willing to go through thick and thin with you?

"Since you insist on this, then I won't say any more. However, due to the high level of welfare benefits, our current financial pressure is also great. This year, our expenditures on military expenses, bounties, and welfare within the base have already resulted in a deficit. Judging from the model of the Chamber of Commerce's operation, this project alone has resulted in a total loss of nearly 130 billion Belly this year..." Tesoro said.

"How much!?" Ortolan was completely dumbfounded when he heard this.

They were happily making a small profit of a billion or so just now, but now they've lost hundreds of billions?

"Thirteen billion Belly," Tesoro said calmly.

Ortolan clutched his head, asking with a heavy heart, "I'm losing half the Shichibukai a year?"

"Our G-5 Marines needs to support over 14,000 troops. Since the standards I've set for you are high enough, the average cost per person per month is nearly 300,000 Belly. Just the regular salaries alone amount to over 1 billion Belly per month, and nearly 200 billion Belly per year... And that's just the regular salaries. After each battle, we give out bonuses, which amount to at least 700 million Belly per year. Besides that, there are various benefits, such as daily necessities and food for the troops... In total, it's nearly 400 million Belly per year. And our high casualty rate results in high resettlement allowances, pensions, disability subsidies, and..." Tesoro calculated for Ortolan on the spot.

These string of expenditure figures gave Ortolan a headache, but upon closer examination, they made perfect sense.

"Therefore, a deficit of 13 billion Belly is not a very large number. If we maintain last year's level, we will have to lose at least this amount every year from now on," Tesoro said with a smile.

"How can you still laugh like that!?" Ortolan glared at Tesoro with indignation.

"Lord Ortolan, you don't need to worry so much. Based on the projections of next year's fiscal revenue, as long as we maintain the current level of the past three months, we can fully afford these expenditures next year and even maintain a surplus..." Tesoro comforted her.

Ortolan breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "So, there's been progress on the other businesses, right?"

"Yes, the first batch of goods from the North Blue is selling very well in Totto Land Totto Land. They're almost sold out as soon as they arrive in port. With the current cargo volume alone, we can maintain a net income of nearly seven billion Belly per month, which adds up to nearly a hundred billion Belly in net profit per year. And obviously, we're only in the initial stage right now. Once our navigation is fully established and we can effectively increase the number of armed transport ships that can cross the Calm Belt, our profits in this area will reach a terrifying scale. It's possible that we can earn a surplus of trillions of Belly per year..." Tesoro said with great anticipation.

This kind of smuggling business, which spans across seas, has a stable sales channel, and safe shipping routes, is indeed extremely profitable!

"Annual revenue of trillions!" Ortolan suddenly stood up from his chair, his hands gripping the table. "Then having an army of 100,000 is not such a distant dream for me, Ortolan!"

Of course, if we also consider the constraints on the other side, even an annual income of trillions is still not enough... Oh, this is just the beginning. Apart from this life, Ortolan also has a huge Impel Down, waiting to create value and devote themselves to the cause of justice!