King
Chapter 655 - 655 163 Big Military Cuts_1

655: Chapter 163, Big Military Cuts_1 655: Chapter 163, Big Military Cuts_1 At Blood Moon Castle, Hudson looked at the terms made by Caesar III, standing at the peak of the new city.

He cast a glance into the distance and shook his head privily.

The Noble Consortium isn’t easy to bully.

Even making significant concessions, it is still very hard for Caesar III’s plan to pass.

“Tom, inform the senior officers in the army to come for a meeting!”

Hudson commanded impassively.

No matter how great the difficulty, a show of effort must still be made.

Whether or not it can be accomplished is one thing, not attempting is another matter altogether.

Presumably, even Caesar III himself doesn’t have high hopes for everything to progress according to his plan.

Although the Royal Family appears formidable, its influence within the military has been declining since the failure of the last northward expedition, which is an indisputable fact.

Many aristocratic military officers close to the Royal Family perished, and the new generation of the Royal Family couldn’t rapidly fill the vacancies.

The King’s authority in the military has dropped to its lowest point in decades.

This is the core reason why Caesar III is bent on bringing down the Nobles of the North, the largest force in the military.

Taking down the mightiest force in the army does not automatically strengthen the monarchy’s control over the troops.

A single Marquis James is far from enough to hold things steady.

If there were better options, Caesar III wouldn’t have chosen a slippery character like Hudson to implement his political plan.

The results just prove that slippery means slippery, and there wasn’t much effort being put in the tasks.

All these were determined by one’s status.

As a member of the Major Nobility, Hudson couldn’t possibly fully support the King.

Who could blame him when Hudson’s rise was merely due to chance and not because he was promoted by the King?

In fact, Hudson’s current situation is somewhat awkward.

In the past, commanders of wars at this level would either be the King himself or someone directly related to the Royal Family.

Having unexpectedly gained his position, Hudson can neither fully support the King nor the nobility.

He has to play a balancing act in the middle.

One misstep, and he would be left out in the cold.

Especially at a time like now, when both sides are at a stalemate, being the middleman puts him in a difficult position.

If one is not mentally strong enough, it’s very easy to mistake that they are the only one making an effort in the entire Kingdom.

…

In Lutesya, the Human Alliance meeting is in chaos again.

Squabbles over the interests of the plains have been going on for quite some time.

There’s no choice – not all plains are created equal.

Some fertile regions with lush water and grass can be turned into farmland to develop agricultural civilization.

In fact, the Orc Empire has already begun doing this.

One-fifth of the vast Orc Prairie is now farmland.

This is still limited by the relatively low level of orc civilization.

If the human race were to develop the land, productivity would certainly increase significantly.

Theoretically, as long as there is ample water, flat terrain, and fertile soil, agricultural civilization can be developed.

Smaller problems can be solved with human effort to alter nature.

At least to the major powers, changing the natural environment in certain areas is not a problem at all.

However, theory is just theory, and with good, mature land available, no one would want to make do with the bad land.

Apart from the issue of land, there is also incessant dispute over the governance of the Orc Prairie.

Some advocate for the complete division into multiple states, some offer to create a unified state, and others suggest the establishment of a loose federation.

All the major powers are acting in their own interests, and no one is willing to give in, making the meeting progress very unsatisfactorily.

Facing this situation, Charles III, the host, is nearly tearing his hair out.

“Enough!

If you want to argue, then go do it elsewhere!

What’s there to argue about?

Since there’s endless dispute, let’s just vote.

We’re all elites of our Human Race.

We shouldn’t behave like a marketplace!”

Charles III’s roar seems to be solving the issue, but it’s actually a bad idea.

Voting can indeed produce a result, but that doesn’t mean voting is a panacea to resolving problems.

In the short term, the distribution of interests can be accomplished through voting, but the underlying conflicts aren’t something that can be resolved with one round of voting.

However, there isn’t a better option at the moment.

As the initiator of the Alliance meeting, there needs to be some sort of satisfactory conclusion.

As for how many hidden dangers and pitfalls are left behind, Charles III can’t worry about that now.

Anyway, there are already a heap of internal conflicts within the Human Race, a little more wouldn’t make a difference.

“As Your Majesty suggests, let’s each make a proposal and proceed with the voting.

Whichever proposal receives the most votes will be the Alliance’s resolution!”

Bishop Montson smoothly added in agreement.

The Clergy, as the biggest troublemaker within the Human Alliance, always relished in employing such tactics of sowing discord and setting up explosive situations.

The only pity was: they were a religious organization and thus, their political manipulations could not avoid being tied to their religious agendas, often making things rather messy and absurd.

In a twinkling of an eye, more than a dozen schemes were put forward.

Clearly, everyone kept themselves under control as the representatives of the lesser factions wisely chose to take a back seat.

…

“The war has already ended, continuing with the current massive armament puts too much pressure on the Kingdom.

The military department, after careful study, has decided to make a big round of military cuts.

Given that the threat from the Orc Empire has now vanished, the future military pressure on our Kingdom will be significantly reduced, and therefore, the number of standing armies will also be substantially reduced from before.

In my opinion, keeping the standing army between fifty to eighty thousand should be able to meet our current military needs.

Reflecting on the Kingdom’s current fiscal pressure, within a short period, the number of the Kingdom’s standing army could be further minimized.

We can continue to research the specific standards.

The top priority now is to disband the surplus army, in order to lower the military expenditure of the Kingdom!”

In the military meeting, Earl Hudson enthusiastically promoted the theory of military cuts.

After this battle, the Alpha Kingdom was seriously wounded, particularly in terms of fiscal losses, which were quite heavy.

The enormous debt pressure was already leaving the Kingdom breathless.

The necessity of disbanding the army was pressing and inevitable.

In order to extricate himself from the tug of war between the King and the Noble Consortium, Hudson decisively chose to make a round of military cuts.

As the Commander of the Army, overseeing the disbandment at this time when it was urgently necessary, in order to ease the financial pressure of the Kingdom, was absolutely a sign of loyalty and commitment to the country.

Incidentally, this also diffused the present largest hidden danger for Caesar III.

Once the Noble Forces are disbanded and sent home, the ensuing battles would merely be a political struggle.

There would no longer be a need to worry about potential military conflicts arising in the midst of balancing different factions.

“To the esteemed Count Hudson, we have no objections in disbanding the army once the war is over.

It’s just a matter of sooner or later.

However, isn’t the count of the Kingdom’s standing army a bit too low?

You must know that the Kingdom has maintained more than three hundred thousand standing armies for many years.

How can such a massive reduction match our international stature?

Especially now, while the Kingdom is regaining the lost territory, it has also profited a little.

We are fully capable of maintaining a larger army, to showcase our status as the third strongest nation on the Continent!”

Earl Piers was the first to object.

Instinct told him there was a hidden agenda behind Hudson’s plan.

Even though he didn’t know what was being plotted, it was correct to directly oppose anything that the enemy supported.

Theoretically speaking, it made perfect sense to cut back on the standing army as the military pressure of the Kingdom had subsided.

However, Earl Piers was feeling rather uneasy.

On the surface, while the number of Kingdom’s standing army was dramatically reduced, the count of private armies of the Nobility remained unaffected, which seemed very advantageous to them.

However, this only benefitted major nobles whose power remained intact.

The Nobilities who were greatly weakened, or more precisely, on the verge of collapse, were, at the moment, in dire need of the Kingdom’s protection.

The Dalton Family had not fallen into such straits, but there was no denying that they had suffered a significant blow.

If they were free from the threat of competition, retreating for a decade or so to recuperate, they could gradually recover.

Unfortunately, they not only faced competition, but also strong competition.

Although the overall strength of the Dalton Family could easily suppress the Koslow Family, unfortunately, their current military strength was at a disadvantage.

Historically, numerous instances have proven: only strength put into military use is the real solid power.

Even with a strong foundation, there is a process of transformation required.

Before the complete transformation, everything seems ephemeral and illusory.

“Earl Piers, your worry is totally unnecessary.

The strength of the Kingdom has never depended solely on a mere standing army.

Even the Frank Kingdom, the strongest country in the Continent, has only over two hundred thousand standing armies.

From this war, we can see that the old ways of warfare are constantly being upended.

What we need to do next is: adapt to the new pattern of war, cultivate more elite soldiers, rather than blindly increasing the quantity.

An extraordinary army of fifty thousand could perhaps unleash a strength that isn’t too far from the original standing army of over three hundred thousand.

Now with the scarcity of labor in the Kingdom, we must strive to maximize our combat power with the least number of personnel.”

Hudson argued back with an unchanged expression.

This small trouble would hardly pose any difficulty to him.

The premise of military cuts was that both labor and fiscal power of the Kingdom were significantly depleted.

Problems have arisen so surely they must be solved.

The proposal of military reform just had to be pushed out accordingly.

…