When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 692 - 650: The 1st Four-Year Plan Hearing (Part 2)

After completing the report, it was time for the Exorcist Leader, Saint Jeanne of the Exorcism Court, to speak.

However, it was clear to everyone that although Jeanne was the Exorcist Leader, Hakuto was the actual handler of affairs.

Therefore, the person who truly took the stage according to the report was Hakuto himself.

Hakuto was a legitimate Norn military noble by birth, having fought battles all his life, and in terms of both experience and theory, he far surpassed Jeanne or Jeska.

Jeska knew he couldn't compete, so he settled for the position of commander of the Black Champion.

If nothing goes wrong in the future, as the Exorcism Court gradually perfects itself, Jeanne will resign from the position of Exorcist Leader and serve solely as the commander of the Salvation Army.

According to the current opinions within the Pope's Palace, the succession order for the Exorcist Leader should be Jeanne, Hakuto, Jeska, Bernardo.

The succession order for the Truth Court is similarly clear and should be Madlan, Busak, Armand.

Originally, Petier had the capability to compete for this position as well, but he is older than Armand and his achievements and qualifications are lesser than Armand's. Unless something unforeseen happens, in this lifetime, he will only be the Chancellor at best.

Holding onto the main podium, Hakuto's deep voice echoed throughout the hall:

"From 1445 to 1446, the Salvation Army transformed from once having only over 4000 infantry and cavalry combined to now a standing force of 11,500 soldiers.

Currently, under the name of the Salvation Army, there are still two corps totaling 9000 men, 1500 cavalrymen, and 1000 engineers and Mage Corps, totaling 11,500 men. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Except for the engineers, seventy percent of the infantry are equipped with breastplates, sixty percent of the cavalry are equipped with three-quarter armor, only ten percent deficiency in weapons, and fifty percent of the Holy Gunmen are equipped with electric gold pendants.

In terms of the overall Thousand River Valley, the Mountain County and Pingyuan County have each established a new local defense corps with a quarter composition…Currently, the Joan of Arc Castle recruit camp has 1000 recruits in training, and the Saint Danji Military Academy has 220 officer cadets…

…59 supply depots have been built, and 112 are under construction…"

Hakuto's report was much more brief compared to Qianqian's, partly for confidentiality, and partly because the war achievements were obvious, and the greatest achievement and merit was defeating Prince Kongdai.

But this achievement, everyone knows, there's nothing more to report.

Listening to Hakuto's report, Horn's index finger gently tapped the armrest of the chair.

The so-called military modernization actually means making soldiers regularly equipped and officers professional.

The prevailing quality of the armies in the Empire is mainly based on local nobility and feudal lords. The King can only call on the nobility to provide troops when needed.

In other words, it's temporary and emergency-based, causing the training levels to vary greatly, so much so that the national army can't even match privately assembled mercenary corps.

Most of the time in the past, faced with such poorly equipped, low-spirited, and untrained infantry, fully armored Extraordinary Knights could easily break through their formations.

Even the culture among Knights fostered a tradition of reckless charging, because this could indeed win battles.

However, with the rise of the Deng Jia'er Array and the professional Extraordinary Infantry, although infantry still lacked counterattack ability, they could now hold ground and trade blows.

Horn's first four-year preparedness plan required that soldiers ideally become regular or semi-regular (reserve system).

As battlefield tactics evolved, the previous approach where Knights served as part-time commanders started to lose effectiveness.

Horn took the lead in the army by employing full-time, professionally trained grassroots officers, and utilized these grassroots officers to achieve an organizational level unimaginable in his times.

With the addition of the Holy Gun, a groundbreaking war weapon, the Salvation Army repeatedly performed miracles on the battlefield.

However, with the victory in the Thousand River Valley War, when Horn wanted to continue using this set to expand the army, problems arose.

A military, especially a standing army, is a gold-devouring beast.

A fully manned new-style army costs around 30,000 gold pounds annually for maintenance, and Horn has two such armies.

Previously, he could rely on battling demons and burning down churches to secure funding to supply the army, and after draining the cash from Lower Reif County and Langsande County, barely manage the deficit.

Moreover, the cash flow in the bond market and industrial market is very tight; if drawn upon carelessly, financial bankruptcy could easily occur.

To deal with the invasion from the Leia Kingdom, relying on the current 25,000 standing army is far from enough; at least 40,000 to 50,000 troops are needed.

The Thousand River Valley is considered future warriors, meaning future prospects but currently not ready.

Given the current financial situation of the Thousand River Valley, maintaining the expenses for these 20,000-plus standing troops is somewhat stretched, let alone recruiting another 20,000 new standing troops.

Therefore, the Exorcism Court and Holy Treasury Court proposed the notion of local defense corps, and the two newly established Salvation Army mode corps in the Thousand River Valley belong to defense armies.

The so-called local defense corps were essentially discovered by Hakuto, showing that a newly styled army trained for 3 to 6 months is sufficient to resist an equal number of elite Empire infantry or a small number of Extraordinary Knights.

Although it can't achieve enemy-breaking victories like Salvation Army elites, defending or holding a city poses no problem.

If that's the case, why not simply maintain a roster of half or even a quarter composition usually, only preserving the officers, regular training for reserves, and replenish personnel when war breaks out.

Based on the mobilization speed of the Empire's system, Horn could be alerted once the Leia Kingdom begins gathering forces.

By the time the Leia Kingdom completes assembly, gradually advances towards the Thousand River Valley border, Horn should have already replenished troops and even trained for another half a month.

Thus, only half the elite standing troops coupled with half quarter-composition reserve troops could maintain sufficient combat power while avoiding financial bankruptcy.

Though the Leia Kingdom is now shaky, a thin camel is still bigger than a horse; no matter who the new King is, mustering 70,000 troops is not considered a difficult task.

In fact, excluding border defense armies, the Leia King can directly mobilize only about 20,000 troops, and the remaining 50,000 troops as estimated by Horn and others entirely provided by vassals and mercenaries.

The Secretariat had long made specific assessments of what would happen after the Leia civil war ends.

Regardless of who achieves victory, after stabilizing the political situation, their first action would be to use the Thousand River Valley to establish authority.

After all, Horn bears too many heretic opprobriums—heretical beliefs, mistreatment of nobles, promoting spells, treating the witch as the saintess...

Within the Imperial Church, Horn had long been classified as a heretic, so the Military Order and the Knight Order are eligible to participate in this Chao Character Army expedition.

Given the mutual anathematization attitude among the several Popes currently, these nobles are all charged with the fervor of a "Holy Crusade".

Engaging in such a large-scale team-building activity with intent from everyone can efficiently establish prestige for the new King.

Time is running out for them.

After the key leaders presented the year and a half annual reports, it was time for the Directors from various divisions and Priest-in-Charges from each rural county to take the stage to report or participate in routine meeting discussions.

Horn was initially listening attentively, but soon found out that many people were merely here with political showmanship intentions.

Many events detailed in the reports were repetitive and padded, just for them to gain some visibility in front of Horn and other high-level officials.

Listening for a while, Horn even began to feel somewhat sleepy.

However, this feeling was swept away when an engineer named Leonardo took the stage to propose a hydroelectric storage gear engine solution.