Franz was pleased to see his junior brothers possessed such fighting spirit. Success or failure was of little consequence; what mattered most was this positive, striving spirit, which deserved encouragement and promotion.
Austria now had a vast family fortune and a greatly increased tolerance for error. The outcome of the South African War would not affect the overall situation of the nation.
Of course, success would still be better. It would crush British ambitions in one stroke and prevent the British from entertaining unrealistic fantasies after the gold was mined, sparking another war.
Colonizers of this era had absolutely no resistance when faced with profit. Only after suffering defeat would they learn that heaven was high and earth was deep.
Finance Minister Karl handed Franz a report and said with a worried frown, "Your Majesty, these are the military expenditures for the South African War over the past two months, totaling 12.486 million Divine Shields."
War was a beast that devoured gold—there was nothing wrong with that saying. Even a mere local war consumed more than six million Divine Shields per month on average. If it were a full-scale war, the cost would be unimaginable.
Cutting military expenses was impossible. For an expeditionary force fighting far from home, weapons and ammunition all had to be shipped from the homeland, and transportation costs alone were no small expense.
In fact, the current military spending was already considered low. At the very least, Franz did not need to pay salaries or pensions to the cannon-fodder troops; otherwise, the figure would have multiplied several times over.
But no matter how much they economized, these men still needed clothes and food. Replacing their obsolete muskets, broadswords, and spears also came at a cost.
Franz looked over the report. The expenses for the hundred-odd thousand