Knight with Wand

Leon cleared the funds in his hands.

He now has about 5077 gold crowns, but there are only 177 in Selva's small treasury.

This is of course not a feudal lord refusing to pay, but Baron Elliver came and went in a hurry, and he certainly would not carry so many coins with him, so he gave him 100 Orland gold coins first, and the remaining 4900 gold crowns would be delivered to him by knights from Achersburg later.

However, it was in the form of an equal amount of Cantadar gold coins.

Obviously, the Thorn Flower Family had spent a large amount of the Orland gold crowns they held on the war before the war, so most of the cash in hand at present probably came from the funds looted from this gamble.

I wonder how much the former Achersburg lord who might be on the front line of Mamor would drop when he knew the terrible news that his hometown was stolen.

Leon was also really alerted by the living example in front of him.

As the saying goes, if my neighbor hoards grain, I hoard guns, and my neighbor is my granary.

He didn't want to throw all his wealth into the vault to gather dust, repeating the tragedy of making wedding clothes for others. Leon would not feel bad about spending money to build an armed force to protect his family, friends and home.

The armor and weapons currently in the barracks arsenal can fully arm more than 50 professional warriors equipped with iron helmets and chain mail blouses, arm guards and greaves, spears and various types of shields.

The source of soldiers is also simple, and they can be directly recruited from the soldiers who have experienced the Battle of Longka in the three territories.

With sufficient equipment and a bloody trial, these young and strong men now only lack a period of more professional intensive training.

He is not afraid of not being able to recruit soldiers. As long as he does not delay the salary, the annual salary of a professional soldier of 11 gold crowns a year, this income and status change are enough to make people rush to scramble for it.

However, as early as when calculating the rewards for killing the enemy, the outstanding conscripts in the army in the Battle of Longka were also roughly recorded, and Leon will recruit the best from the warriors.

In this way, after everyone's calculation, the annual maintenance costs of more than 50 chainmail spear infantrymen, such as military pay, food and grass, are about 680 gold crowns.

In addition to the main infantry, the archer unit, which has suffered serious casualties, also needs to be supplemented.

The Battle of Longka also demonstrated how effective long-range projectile weapons are against unarmored targets under appropriate conditions.

But compared to infantry, it is much more difficult to recruit longbowmen. There are very few people who can shoot bows, and it takes at least two or three years to train civilians who can't shoot arrows into qualified archers from scratch. The cycle of effort and reward is too long. Leon understands why mercenaries are so popular on this continent.

Many times, facing an imminent war, it is unrealistic for lords to train a technical force from scratch. It is more efficient to spend money to hire ready-made professional mercenaries to fight. To some extent, it is like the support provided by Sir Redo's troops in the Battle of Longka.

"Sir, since you have sufficient funds and you don't plan to recruit mercenaries, I suggest you send someone to River Valley County to order a batch of light crossbows from the Craftsmen's Guild of "Silver Mountain City". The training ground and shooting range of the barracks are already available. I can train a group of qualified crossbowmen for you in just three months." Old Brian proposed confidently.

"Is there any difference in the crossbows there?" Leon asked.

He remembered that he could also buy crossbows from the Chamber of Commerce in Farolis City. He didn't know why he had to go to the next county instead of the nearby one. It was so far away, and the transportation cost was even higher.

"The technology of the Silver Mountain City Craftsmen's Guild was inherited from the last master craftsman of the 'Heraen' who left in the history of the kingdom. Although the crossbows and other equipment they made were expensive, the quality was far better than that of ordinary craftsmen." Old Blair explained.

"Master dwarf craftsman?" Leon was alerted by the words, but noticed the price mentioned by Brian, and asked, "How expensive will it be?"

"The price of the famous 'Turning Crossbow' in Silver Mountain City is too exaggerated, but Selva doesn't need such a luxurious weapon. It's just a light crossbow of ordinary structure. Although the cost is still far higher than ordinary crossbows, the number we need is not large, and it is still worthwhile to bear its price and the combat benefits it brings.

After all, the cost of training another batch of archers may be far more than the price of buying light crossbows, provided that their current market price has not changed much from the past." Brian recalled the past memories and answered carefully: "I estimate that the price of a light crossbow produced in Silver Mountain City should be around 20 gold crowns now."

Leon's eyebrows trembled slightly in shock.

A complete set of chain mail infantry equipment with helmet, arm guard and greaves on the market is only five gold crowns, while a light crossbow produced in Silver Mountain is enough to fully arm four armored infantrymen.

According to Brian, training a troop equipped with thirty Silver Mountain light crossbows would also require equipping the crossbowmen with tower shields, light armor, and portable swords.

There were quite a few portable weapons in the arsenal, but archer tower shields and light armor had to be purchased separately. The cost of arming this type of crossbowmen would be as high as 25 gold crowns per person.

In this way, another 750 gold coins would be spent like water.

This was only the one-time cost of building an army. After that, it would be mixed with the rare archers. The annual maintenance cost of this full-strength crossbow detachment of about 45 people would also be over 600 gold coins.

Although he was surprised, after careful discussion, Leon still approved the plan to train crossbowmen.

In the battle of Longka, if there were archers who were not inferior to the enemy, with the advantage of the terrain, the conscripts of the Wolf Lord might have been shot and fled before they met the enemy.

According to Brian, the power of the arrows fired by the Silver Mountain Light Crossbow was still enough to threaten ordinary armored soldiers. Moreover, ordinary armored infantry could not be armed as thoroughly as the Knight Master. Arrows flew directly into the place where the armor could not cover, and would take the life of a big and strong elite infantry.

Calculating the cost, this can be said to be quite cost-effective, of course, the premise is to command properly.

After formulating the recruitment plan for chainmail spearmen and archers, Leon put his mind on the more important force than the first two.

That is naturally the cavalry.

Now in his team, Sir Redo and his attendants have left the team, and the young man from Anquila who helped in the battle and returned to Elliver at Wachterburg.

After losing these four foreign aids, including the armor and harnesses used by Leon himself, he currently has a total of 24 war horses and 30 sets of heavy armor with complete parts.

There are quite a few ordinary riding pack horses, but those livestock bought for sentinels and daily labor and cargo transportation are not "war beasts" and cannot bear the high-intensity driving of heavy armored cavalry.

In terms of the number of riders, there are himself, Corvis, and the six heavy armored guards who learn horsemanship with him on a daily basis, as well as Olivia and Old Brian, Azerian and Lohak, and their retainers after the Longka War.

In total, there are 14 heavy cavalry, and there are still 10 war mounts that need to recruit riders to enrich the cavalry ranks.

In this way, the order of building the army is naturally the cavalry as the guards first, followed by the elite crossbowmen equipped with the Silver Mountain Crossbow, and finally the ordinary chain mail infantry.

This time, the candidates for the guards cavalry do not have to go through Leon's trial like the six people who started it.

However, during their training, they can only receive the same salary as ordinary soldiers. Only when they pass the riding skills and prove that they have become a real heavy cavalry, not a mounted heavy infantry, can they receive the salary that an elite cavalry should receive.

Of course, Leon does not intend to block the opportunity for his soldiers to try to be promoted as soon as possible.

As usual, he welcomes his soldiers to challenge.

As long as someone can survive five sword strikes without being defeated by him, who is now a knight of military honors.

Then he can still become a member of the initial guards like Zabron and others, and enjoy the generous income after the six guards were given a salary increase.

The official guards have already received a salary increase.

The six guards' military exploits and loyalty in Longka proved that he could entrust them with his flag and back.

Now that he has become rich as the lord, he will definitely not forget to increase the treatment of the guards.

But they are not the only ones who get high salaries.

Not to mention Leon himself, Lohak, and Azerien, who are lords and independent of the public account allocation.

Among the elite cavalrymen in the territory now, the one with the highest income is old Brian.

Out of respect for his future father-in-law, who played an irreplaceable role in commanding and building the army, Leon could not help but give the old centurion a standard salary of a genuine inner court knight.

That is, ninety gold coins per year.

Next are Olivia and Corvis, whose annual salary will be equivalent to the market price of hiring heavy cavalry, which is forty-three gold coins per year.

In fact, Leon originally wanted Olivia, the first "Baturu" under his command, and Corvis, the "chief warlock", to receive the same knight-level treatment as Uncle Brian.

The girl was the first to capture the general, and Corvis's magic supply was the key to Leon's successful charge.

However, the two refused, and Leon reluctantly let these two great contributors accept the annual salary of forty-three gold crowns.

Considering that he had other arrangements for everyone, he did not force his lover and partner to accept this high salary.

Then there are the guards such as Zabron and Hawke.

The annual salary of the six people has been increased from 24 gold coins to 30 gold coins.

Finally, there are the knights who are taken in by Azerien and Rohak. The two from Pleton will enjoy the same standard annual salary as ordinary Selva guards, about 21 gold coins.

However, this money will not be paid by Leon.

Azerien and Rohak will use the allocated funds and their territory income to support their own retainers.

Although according to convention and tradition, most retainers do not have any salary while serving their masters, these two Pleton warriors who survived the Battle of Longka are not traditional retainers who follow their masters since childhood. They are much older than Azerien and Rohak, and their martial arts are up to the standards of cavalry, so everyone thinks that it is more in line with people's hearts to treat them as truly independent combat soldiers and give them corresponding treatment.

Including the ten future guards, the basic salary expenses of the cavalry team add up to 608 gold crowns per year.

Because the pastures of the three territories are not large enough, the number of livestock on the territories seriously exceeds the carrying capacity of the grasslands, so the maintenance cost of the 24 war horses has also soared to nearly 400 gold coins per year.

It cost more than a thousand gold coins to maintain only 24 heavy cavalrymen, which is not a one-time construction investment to buy equipment such as silver mountain crossbows.

But this time, Leon would rather spend a lot of money to keep the horses than sell them. On the contrary, if he trains enough riders in the future, he would like to be a little thick-skinned and ask Baron Elliver to buy back the war horses he sold last time.

Selva has changed from a mountain valley that no one cares about to a borderland with many disputes.

Expanding the cavalry is a rigid need. After all, whether in the past life or in the present world, heavy cavalry is almost the trump card that dominates the battlefield of cold weapons.

Even though there are many cases of heavy cavalry overturning in the history of the two lives, the reason why those cases are so famous is that the creators of such great achievements have left a deep impression on people's hearts with the impression that the "weak" defeated the "strong".

The mobility of cavalry is crucial to the initiative of the battle and the victory or defeat of the battle.

Especially the heavy cavalry.

Leon still remembers that he had watched a ridiculous program in his previous life, the so-called "Mongolian light cavalry sweeping the European plate armor knights".

At that time, when he was young, he was quite shocked to see the Mongolian light cavalry wearing only Hu clothing and shooting arrows to beat the plate armor knights. It was not until later that he learned from the real historical materials that the "plate armor knights" shot into sieves by the grassland archers in the rumored program animation were at least a hundred or so years away from the Mongol westward expedition.

The European knights who faced the Mongol Empire at that time were just a group of horseback riders wearing chain mail robes, while these Eastern European riders had to face the most luxuriously equipped, most powerful and largest heavy armored cavalry in the world at that time, the real main force of the Mongol Empire sweeping the world.

The power of heavy cavalry on Earth in the previous life always dominated the battlefield until the perfection of gunpowder weapons, the power of bullets and the popularization of machine guns.

And the land where he lives now is obviously still the same.

Especially since he woke up from the journey, Leon has not even heard of the existence of gunpowder.

The closest thing to gunpowder in the previous life is the alchemical crystal that Corvis used at the beginning, which can trigger elemental reactions.

I really don't know if the formula of one nitrate, two sulfur and three charcoal still works in this world. Leon pondered and planned to try it out if he had the chance.

Charcoal is simple, and although the first two have never been heard of in this world, perhaps there are similar isotopic substitute materials?

However, leaving aside the gunpowder weapons that have not been seen for the time being, there are things on this continent that can threaten heavy cavalry.

The most direct one is "magic".

Whether it is Isa's arrow, Amon's fire snake, or the strange spell of Mette's transformation into a monster, it is extremely dangerous to ordinary knights.

Leon can't estimate how powerful the ancient civilization of Lorelit, where Miss Lola was born, is.

But Lorelit has long disappeared. At present, this land is no longer an era of magic. There are only a dozen warlock masters in the northern kingdom with a population of more than 10 million, and there are more than thousands of knights of military honors like Orland, who are as strong as superman. This is not counting the civilians. Maybe there are also martial artists like Olivia who do not have the title of knight for the time being.

Excluding rare magic, in terms of pure violence, other things that can shake the status of knights and heavy cavalry, as far as Leon himself thinks, are probably those giant beasts that he has seen or heard of.

For example, the Dinosaurus he escaped from.

For example, the griffin that rescued Selva.

For example, the so-called "dragons" whose true form he has not yet seen.

The greasy look of Goliad suddenly flashed through Leon's mind, and he couldn't help but close his eyes and pinch his nose.

Since it was Laura who saw through the other party's true form, he certainly wouldn't question the judgment of the ancient king of magic.

It's just that it's really hard to connect the elegant and cool giant mythical creatures in the magic book illustrations with the bard's mean behavior.

After the long territorial meeting, it is expected that a standing army of about 100 people will be established. At least 3,000 gold coins will be burned this year. Leon, with a feeling about the military expenditure, came to the backyard of the house after the meeting and summoned the three soldiers who had witnessed the death of Canis, who had been under the watch of Zabron and others.

The three were surrounded by six guards, and their expressions were somewhat visibly uneasy, as if they were worried that they would be punished by the lord because of some secrets they accidentally learned. Obviously, the house arrest during this period made them have wild thoughts.

"Don't be nervous." Leon smiled at them.

He finally had time to deal with this "hidden danger" that was not big or small.

Even if it was leaked, no madman would believe that a small country lord could completely call back the deceased from the afterlife imagined by the world.

But just in case, the three people in front of him had to keep their mouths shut.

In the previous life, there were fools who believed "I am Qin Shi Huang, I am Chen Oxi", so there was no guarantee that there would be no fools in this other world who would accidentally hit him.

However, he would not slash the guards' necks and use some method that the dead would not speak to keep his secrets.

That was not his style, and in fact, he had already made the dead speak.