Urban Sims

"The marriage between the two countries cannot satisfy the appetite of the Soliu Kingdom... a woman... a princess cannot satisfy them."

"Once the weather improves and the roads become easier to navigate, it is impossible for their half-a-million-strong army not to take action."

"Promising a marriage between the two countries will only make the Soliu Kingdom think that we are afraid of being guilty, so we will be more aggressive and make more unreasonable demands."

"The only way is to be fully prepared and give up all their ill intentions!"

Zhou Ming said.

Many people were surprised when they heard this.

"Leylin, what do you mean...refuse to marry and prepare for war?"

"In the rebellion last year, both the royal family and the border guards suffered heavy losses. What can we do to resist the Soliu Kingdom?"

"We can't fight anymore! Spring has just begun, and farmers are busy in the fields. Once they are recruited into the army, it will cause a nationwide famine and many people will die!"

"Young, you are still too young." An old earl shook his head.

There were many voices of criticism in the palace.

And the protagonist of the incident...Princess Xivenis, who was hiding behind the curtain, had a smile on her face at this moment, sweet and happy.

She whispered in a low voice: You still care about me.

"Whether we want to fight or not, the initiative is not in our hands, but in the hands of the Soliu Kingdom!"

"If their ambitions don't die, there's no way we can marry them to please them!"

"The only thing we can do is to be fully prepared for war!"

Zhou Ming's face was serious and his tone was frustrated.

Criticisms subsided slightly.

Many younger nobles nodded. Leylin was right: the initiative was not in the hands of the Kingdom of Yadud. If peace was wanted here, as long as the ambition of the Soliu Kingdom did not die, war would still break out.

"not to mention……"

Zhou Ming continued: "Even if a war breaks out, will we definitely lose?"

"In my opinion, as long as we are willing to sacrifice something, we have a 90% chance of victory."

Wow~

Now everyone was even more surprised.

"90% sure of victory? How can you be so confident?"

"If you give something, what should you give? Is it more than 300,000 lives?"

"Mr. Leilin, this is a national war that concerns the survival of the country! Please don't look at it like it's a child's play!"

The criticism grew louder.

Duke Rudolf even tapped the floor with his crutch, pointed at Zhou Ming and said: "You kid only knows how to fire cannons! You are great at making money, but what do you know about war?!"

Some people even complained dissatisfiedly: "His Majesty the King is not asking anyone. He actually asked Leylin, a guy who knows nothing about war."

Still 90% sure, can you be more restrained in bragging?

"Twenty million gold coins."

Zhou Ming suddenly stretched out two fingers and said loudly: "As long as you are willing to spend 20 million gold coins, I can let the kingdom end this war with very slight casualties."

"There is no need to recruit a large number of farmers, no need for all nobles to come on stage, and the army of the Soliu Kingdom will not be allowed to penetrate deep into the hinterland of our country."

"For only twenty million, we can buy a victory."

boom!

After everyone heard these words clearly, they all fell into his rhythm again.

The controversy grew louder.

"Twenty million gold coins to buy a victory?"

"How to buy it? Could it be that you use this money to bribe the nobles of Soliu Kingdom?"

"Leylin, what on earth are you thinking about? Can you finish it in one go?"

King James was also anxious and asked him: "Leylin, what can you do, tell me quickly?!"

"Your Majesty, don't be anxious."

Zhou Ming waved his hand and asked King James: "I will ask your Majesty a question first. If your Majesty gives a positive answer, I will tell you my solution."

"Ask quickly."

"I would like to ask, in Your Majesty's heart, which one is more important, 20 million gold coins or Your Highness the Princess?"

"Of course my daughter is important!"

King James said angrily, what is twenty million gold coins in front of his precious daughter?

"Ding!"

Zhou Ming snapped his fingers, nodded and said: "Very good, your majesty, please quickly raise 20 million gold coins. I will try to hire 100,000 mercenaries within three months to deal with the provocation from the Soliu Kingdom."

mercenary?

Now everyone understood Zhou Ming's plan.

Spend a lot of money and hire a large number of mercenaries to participate in this upcoming national war.

In the continent of Azeroa, mercenaries are very common. Many kingdoms with a lot of border wars or internal chaos often spend money to hire professional mercenaries to fight for themselves.

Many adventurers in the Adventurer's Guild often play the role of mercenaries to make a living.

Moreover, the combat effectiveness of mercenaries is generally not weak, and they have rich combat experience. The combat effectiveness of some professional mercenary groups is not weaker than the elite regular armies of many kingdoms.

It is indeed possible to spend money to hire mercenaries to fight this war and reduce the country's losses.

but……

One hundred thousand mercenaries.

How could such a terrifying number be recruited in three months?

You must know that mercenaries are like wandering crows looking for carrion. Wherever there is war, there will be more people gathered. War is the rice bowl of mercenaries, and they will consciously go to places with more rice bowls.

In some peaceful countries with fewer wars, the number of mercenaries is naturally pitiful.

For example, in the Yadud Kingdom, are there 1,000 mercenaries active here?

But the number Zhou Ming requested was 100,000, or was it to be convened within three months? This...

So King James frowned and said: "I can raise 20 million gold coins, but 100,000 mercenaries will take at least a year to recruit, right?"

"This method won't work. Once the Soliu Kingdom destroys us, it will be good if we can gather 20,000 mercenaries."

"Mercenaries are not good at fighting. During last year's rebellion, we also hired some mercenaries. Only a few people died and we couldn't defend the city properly. We kept asking for more commissions, otherwise we wouldn't work hard."

Lubis, a general from a royal family, shook his head and said.

"If you give them a lot of money and have good equipment, they will naturally work hard." Zhou Ming said lightly.

"But you can't raise 100,000 people in three months?"

"I have my own way."

Zhou Ming looked mysterious and proposed in front of King James: In order to prevent leaks, it is best for what he is going to say next to be heard by only a few nobles. If it is known to the Soliu Kingdom, they will speed up their military operations. What will happen here? Become very passive.

"good!"

King Jaime nodded.

…

At the next secret meeting.

Zhou Ming took out a scaled model of a "propeller" transport aircraft and introduced the performance of this aircraft:

"This plane can fly 20,000 miles in a day. When transporting 500 shi (≈80 tons) of supplies or 200 fully armed mercenaries, it can still fly 10,000 miles."

"In other words, with this kind of aircraft, we can get 100,000 mercenaries with just 500 takeoffs and landings."

"The Continental Chamber of Commerce and Industry currently has 10 such aircraft. If all of them are used, each aircraft only needs to fly 50 sorties to complete the troop transport mission."

"In the next month, if the aircraft assembly plant is in full production, the number of such aircraft should be increased by 30 to 50, and transportation will be easier by then."

"So we can recruit mercenaries from fifty kingdoms at the same time, with an average of two thousand people per kingdom. This task shouldn't be heavy."

"In the Soliu Kingdom, it will probably take them three months to complete all the war mobilization."

"But we can find ways to delay it, such as pretending to agree to a marriage, and sending a fake princess over to confuse them. If we can get an extra month or two, that would be great."

"In short, we are going to use gold coins to win this war!"

Zhou Ming told his complete plan.

As for the huge-capacity "Hercules" transport aircraft, it was the research result of the team led by Mo Duofu of the Continental Chamber of Commerce and Industry throughout the long winter. Zhou Ming also participated and built 10 prototypes. The thought of it coming in handy so soon.

In addition, with the arrival of the "Hercules" transport aircraft, Dillo Bank has opened branches in dozens of surrounding kingdoms. The over 100 million gold coins stored in these branches can not only be transported back to the Yadud Kingdom via transport aircraft, but also a small amount can be withdrawn. Part, used to recruit mercenaries.

In this way, it also saves the trouble of transporting gold coins back and forth.

Relying on the combination of Hercules transport aircraft and Dillo Bank, recruiting 100,000 mercenaries in three months is definitely not a dream!

"boom!"

King James slammed the table hard, his face glowing red.

"It's only 20 million gold coins, I'll pay for it! Smash the Soliu Kingdom to death!"

Today's royal family is really in trouble. In addition, after the potion production factory restarted, the magic potions representing "gold coins" continued to come off the production line. 20 million gold coins, King James did not feel distressed at all!

"With 100,000 elite mercenaries, we can definitely fight against the Soliu Kingdom. Their army of 500,000, excluding farmers and strong men, 100,000 elites is not bad at all!"

"You can also marry a fake princess. It's best to delay him for two or three months!"

"What if we spend 100 million gold coins, hire 300,000 mercenaries, and destroy the Soliu Kingdom?" Some nobles also had their imaginations opened up and made rich associations.

More nobles, including King James, were sighing in their hearts: The feeling of having money is really good, really good!

In this way, after the response plan was finalized, the top leaders of the Yadud Kingdom suddenly became extremely calm.

Then while thinking of ways to delay time, I was looking forward to it: after all the 100,000 mercenaries are in place, look at how the Soliu Kingdom will be smashed to death by gold coins?