Army Expansion

During the meal, the dining hall was quiet. After all, everyone here, including Ron and the two little ones, had received proper noble etiquette training.

After dinner, Victor took turns answering his mother's questions, recounting what had happened on the battlefield and his father's instructions. After listening for a while, the two little ones complained that it was boring, and Lady Ellie had the servants take them back to the recreation room to play. Ron continued listening, occasionally interrupting, until Lady Ellie shot him a glare and he finally fell silent.

"Mother, at present, the Central nobles have suffered the worst losses. Although the Eastern nobles still retain their strength, they may face punishment after the war. The situation in the Eastern Four Counties could become unstable. Arrange for someone to bring Irene back first. Her school will probably close by then as well," Victor said, sharing his assessment with Lady Ellie.

Lady Ellie nodded in agreement. "Uncle Downs, send a few men by ship to Cambridge tomorrow and bring her back."

"Victor, I read the letter your father sent back as well. If possible, he plans to go directly to the Capital City to attend the Noble Council. During that time, you will be fully responsible for the territory. He asked me to support you, and I have the key to the Inner Treasury. Whatever plans you have, go ahead and carry them out," Lady Ellie said to Victor.

"Yes, Mother. Since Uncle Ron is here as well, I've been considering the unrest that may be coming. Our territory's Inner Treasury is fairly well stocked, so I'll put the other plans aside for now. My top priority is expanding the army," Victor said.

A normal territory was generally divided into an Inner Treasury and an Outer Treasury. The territory's taxes went directly into the Outer Treasury, which covered its daily expenditures. The Inner Treasury, meanwhile, was the lord's private property. For example, all the farms in Golden Sunflower Territory belonged to the Inner Treasury, and all their output was freely controlled by the lord. In some territories, all income entered the Inner Treasury before being distributed by the lord.

Golden Sunflower Territory's main source of income was the sale of Golden Sunflower Seed Oil. Since all the Golden Sunflower fields were planted on the territory's farms, all profits from their cultivation belonged to the lord. Even in Victor's grandfather's time, income from Golden Sunflower Seed Oil had accounted for half of the territory's total revenue, and that portion went directly into the Inner Treasury.

Later, Victor increased both the sales volume and price of Golden Sunflower Seed Oil, greatly raising the territory's overall income. Nearly ninety percent of Golden Sunflower Territory's revenue now flowed into the Inner Treasury. The territory's overall output and income had more than doubled. Golden Sunflower Territory's finances were now extremely ample, which was why Baron Wembley had been so confident about raising his title and had agreed to let Victor inherit it early.

"I plan to spend one thousand gold coins from the Inner Treasury and directly expand the territory's army by half." Under the territory's previous standards, the equipment and training cost for one Professional Infantry soldier was normally one gold coin. Once trained, each soldier required two Silver Coins per month in maintenance, including wages and supplies. Cavalry cost even more. Horses, weapons, armor, and higher training costs added up to more than three gold coins, with four Silver Coins in monthly maintenance. That did not include the cost of feeding horses, since the territory had plenty of old grain that was practically worthless. One thousand gold coins would be just enough to double the territory's eighty Light Cavalry and more than seven hundred infantrymen into two hundred Light Cavalry and fifteen hundred infantrymen.

"Is it necessary to spend so much and form so many new troops? That already exceeds Edelweiss Territory's military strength," Lady Ellie said, stunned by Victor's bold proposal. A normal barony only had around five hundred professional soldiers. A viscountcy might have one to two times that number depending on its finances, and during wartime, it could conscript Serf Soldiers and auxiliary troops, basically doubling its military strength.

"Yes, Mother. I believe we must prepare in advance. The unrest in the eastern counties may become very serious. Besides, our Inner Treasury is well stocked, so maintaining these troops will not put us under pressure," Victor answered.

"Besides, everyone has seen how Golden Sunflower Territory has developed over the past few years. Someone will definitely set their sights on us when the time comes. This is exactly when we need to expand the army to deter them. It is the most effective preventative measure."

There were two old sayings from his previous life: "When the neighbor stockpiles grain, I stockpile guns; then the neighbor becomes my granary." And, "If you have money but do not spend it on military expenses, are you saving it for reparations?"

Ron repeatedly slapped his thigh and shouted, "Excellent! Excellent!"

Lady Ellie rolled her eyes at him.

"Very well, Victor. We'll do as you say. I agree. But Golden Sunflower Territory has limited Freemen. Can you recruit that many soldiers?"

"Mother, you're right. The territory only has a little over sixteen hundred Freemen households. We probably cannot recruit many more troops from among them. This time, I plan to rely mainly on serfs," Victor revealed his plan.

Even Ron was surprised this time.

"Serfs can serve as auxiliary troops and laborers, but as soldiers, I'm afraid they may not be qualified. Can they really fight on the battlefield?" Lady Ellie asked directly.

"That is why I plan to reform the territory's recruitment rules. Previously, a Freemen household could basically only provide one recruit. But this time, when recruiting serfs, I plan to allow each household to provide two or three people. Once recruited, the corresponding serf families will be moved out of the farms and placed together in one area for unified management. Under the old standard, each household handed over half its annual output. A household that provides one soldier will have that reduced by twenty percent, two soldiers by forty percent, and households that provide three soldiers will receive an annual subsidy instead. If a conscripted serf soldier serves for a certain number of years or earns merit, his family can be directly made Freemen and granted land," Victor briefly explained.

The reasoning was simple: old wisdom from ancient times, modeled after Cao Wei's Tuntian System. It had essentially been a disguised form of serfdom. Tuntian soldiers had to hand over half the output of their land. When they went to war, they also faced the tragedy of their wives being forced to remarry and their children being sent away as slaves. Even so, relying on fathers and sons serving together, brothers serving together, and harsh collective-punishment military laws, Cao Wei still built an army with fighting strength.

Victor, on the other hand, intended to use this method to raise the fighting spirit of Serf Soldiers. In favorable circumstances, they would fight fiercely for emancipation and land. In adversity, they could show remarkable resilience to protect their brothers, fathers, and sons.

Of course, he could not simply pull together such a force through wishful thinking. They still needed training and cultivation, and recruiting them would cost less than recruiting from Freemen.

"Uncle Ron, what I need now is for you to organize a new training program, one that can help these serfs adapt to training, temper their will, and fight on the battlefield."

"Alright, I'll give it a try," Ron said hesitantly.

"Mother, don't worry. I've been planning this idea for a long time. I believe it has a high chance of success."

"I'm not worried. You've always had ideas since you were young. With your talent, you would be qualified even to serve as the heir of an earl or even a duke," Lady Ellie said with a smile, as though she had remembered something.

Seeing Lady Ellie's smile, Victor could not help but shudder. His mother's smile meant that embarrassing stories from his childhood were about to be dragged out for judgment.

Victor hurriedly tried to change the subject.

"Mother, you have the key to the Inner Treasury, right? I'll go count out the funds in a moment. You should rest early and needn't worry about me." With that, he prepared to leave.

"Victor was always like this when he was young. Whenever he got anxious, he forgot things. You're leaving now without taking the key, so how are you going to get into the Inner Treasury?" Lady Ellie said.

"Do you remember Mira? She is Viscount Sweek Ironshirt's daughter. She came here as a guest when you were eight and she was six. Little Mira kept pestering you to play with her and even said she wanted to marry you. But you told her outright that you would marry a princess in the future and would never marry her. Little Mira cried so sadly. Victor truly was a heartless boy." Victor's face darkened at her words.

"We were just children. We didn't understand anything," Victor replied helplessly.

"So you admit that what you said was wrong, then. Well, Viscount Sweek wrote to us as well. He said Mira has reached the proper age and wishes to form a marriage alliance with our family. If there is time, the two of you can meet," Lady Ellie quickly said.

She's only fifteen. What's the rush? Victor grumbled inwardly.

"Yes, Mother. But I'll be quite busy for a while. Once the army expansion has stabilized, I'll go to Ironwood Territory to pay a visit." Victor did not dare go against his mother. Without her approval, he could not even take the first step of his army expansion plan, since the key to the Inner Treasury was in Lady Ellie's hands.

Lady Ellie nodded in satisfaction. "That's good. I knew Victor would not make things difficult for his mother. But there is no need to rush. I'll give you the key tomorrow. For now, you can return to your room and rest. Write Mira a letter while you're at it, just to get in touch in advance."

Figures she wouldn't be easy to fool. Victor could only nod in agreement.

Afterward, he briefly discussed the details with Ron before returning to his room and spending some time writing a letter filled with polite formalities.

He had no desire to consider marriage now. After all, Duke Kaishen had possessed him. His energy needed to be focused on military matters, and nothing else should come looking for him.

After that, Victor continued revising the recruitment and new compensation plans. They would be issued alongside the army expansion plan, then announced throughout the territory by messengers.

Only after revising several versions did Victor finally feel satisfied. He merely needed to bring them to the territory's work meeting for opinions before they could be issued and implemented.

Just as Victor began to feel sleepy, his mind suddenly blurred, and his consciousness entered an inexplicable space.

"The inheritor's condition is good. The concentration of magical energy particles has reached the minimum activation requirement. The Kindling Lighthouse module will attempt activation at minimum energy consumption. Activation is expected to require ten hours. Please confirm your consent, inheritor," a neutral voice said.

"This is... my Golden Finger? It's finally here. Agree, agree quickly!" Victor was ecstatic. He had waited so long. At last, he could use cheats too.

"Activation confirmed. Host, please rest. Activating the module requires a large amount of Soul Matter for computation," the voice continued.

"Soul Matter? What is that? Ah, I'm so tired..." Before he could receive an answer, Victor felt his consciousness begin to blur, and he fell directly into a deep sleep.