Mercenaries are very expensive. Back then, Switzerland and Germany in Europe were famous for their mercenaries. Their participation was indispensable in any war, so much so that later popes in the Vatican still hired Swiss mercenaries as guards.
.
There is no place for mercenaries to survive in Russia. After all, most of the soldiers are serfs and have no freedom at all. They cannot work odd jobs all over the world like the Germans and Swiss.
Dmitry thinks that what Li Xiao calls mercenaries is a volunteer army or joint defense team similar to the regiment training or rural bravery in the late Qing Dynasty. This is very common in Russia. Whenever a war breaks out, there are always some old generals who will organize them with a wave of arms.
A group of troops assisted the regular army in fighting.
However, this type of troops are similar in nature to mercenaries. They have to bear the responsibility for their own profits and losses from weapons to food and grass. After all, people also need to eat and clothe themselves.
Even if a Russian life is relatively worthless, it is still necessary to provide some clothes and weapons and some accommodation expenses.
If there are only a few dozen or a few hundred people, the squires and nobles can still afford it, but Wallachia obviously needs more than this number of people, at least tens of thousands of people, and this expense is not small!
Li Xiaoqian laughed and explained in a low voice: "Actually, it doesn't cost much. The military uniforms and weapons are all ready-made, and there is basically no need to pay for settlement. After all, there are so many people in the country who want to make great achievements in Bulgaria.
!”
Dmitri immediately realized that the situation was indeed quite special. In the past, settlement expenses and even travel expenses and living expenses would have been indispensable. But now the country is eager to see Bulgaria. Almost everyone thinks that Bulgaria is a big gold mine. As long as you pick up the
The gun gathered a group of people to follow the army and sweep them there. Not to mention bread and butter, it was very possible to be promoted to an official position.
The problem now is that not everyone has the opportunity to go gold mining in Bulgaria. I don’t see that nobles from all walks of life are eager to join the army and hope to follow Paskovich and Duke Mikhail to make contributions!
This has led to serious involution. Only the most prestigious and influential families can send their children into the armies of Duke Paskovich and Mikhail. As for other ordinary noble families, that is really the case.
Can only look at it.
If Li Xiao suddenly told these people that Wallachia needs mercenaries, do you think these people would be ecstatic?
Although serving Wallachia is very different from directly entering the troops of Duke Paskovich and Mikhail. But Wallachia is close to Bulgaria! According to the ideas of these small nobles, as long as the war starts, they will follow
Large armies can still have the opportunity to go to the battlefield and make achievements.
What kind of settling-in allowance does this kind of pie-in-the-sky opportunity require? It doesn’t matter if you let them be the ***! It doesn’t matter whether you have money or not, as long as you can give them a chance!
After thinking about this, Dmitri had to admit that Li Xiao was so shrewd that he bought a team for nothing without paying a dime. This deal was really a good deal!
However, Dmitri also admitted that this kind of business can only be done in Wallachia. The reason is very simple. First of all, Wallachia is close to Bulgaria and is on the front line. If you let those guys who are eager to make achievements go there,
Try Moldavia, do you think they are still so enthusiastic?
Secondly, if you want to build a team, you need to have a material base. Wallachia started preparing for war early, so it has sufficient guns and materials. Look at the volunteer army that Archduke Constantine built on the fly.
Absolutely most soldiers can't even carry a rifle. They even have to go to the country to pick up trash to make up for it. This is not the age of cold weapons. You can survive on the battlefield with a stick or a rake.
Demirit knew very well how important combat readiness was. In this regard, Wallachia was much better than the Russian army. They could keep their troops well-organized and well-trained, but most of the Russian army were serf soldiers. Many of them were
They didn't even have shoes. In order to meet the requirements of Prince Paskovich and Prince Mikhail, the War Ministry had to find a way to make up the supplies, and finally managed to get the supplies together.
But here, in Moldavia, Archduke Constantine made a trick, and a large amount of food disappeared. You can see the whole thing at a glance. When you see these details, you will know how hard it is to start a war machine.
It's difficult.
"How many mercenaries do you plan to recruit?" Dmitri asked.
"About ten thousand people,"
Li Xiao said and sighed again, because the closer to modern war, the larger the scale. Before the Napoleonic era, tens of thousands of people participated in the war, which was already an incredible battle.
But by the time of Napoleon, decisive battles involving hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands were not uncommon. Especially when faced with the Turkish army, which had relatively abundant human resources, it might not be able to withstand it without sufficient numbers.
It's just that their financial resources are really limited. Recruiting another 10,000 troops is already their limit. If they have any more, their finances will collapse.
Dmitri counted with his fingers. He had 40,000 troops in hand. You could say it was a small number, but it was not a small number. However, he was always cautious and felt that it was better to prepare for the worst. After all, who
There is no guarantee that Britain and France will not send troops to assist Turkey in fighting.
If Britain and France got involved, then these 40,000 troops would really not be enough. However, he did not ask Li Xiao to recruit more mercenaries, because he also knew that Li Xiao and Alexey had tried their best and had already
The situation was much better than he expected.
"I'll try to discuss with the Army Department and ask them to support you with some supplies. Although it won't be of much use, it's better than nothing, right?"
It was expected by Li Xiao that Dmitri would help. Having him in the Army Ministry would give him some face. After all, he was a favorite of Crown Prince Alexander. Even if he didn't give face to Dmitry, he would have to give face to Crown Prince Alexander.
"In the next stage, I will focus on supervising the fortification projects," Dmitri directly pointed out the focus of his work. "According to Count Rostovtsev's estimation, this war may not go smoothly. Once Britain and France intervene, we will be in Bulgaria.
The operation will come to an abrupt end, and may even be pursued by the Turkish army and the British and French intervention forces. We must be prepared for a defensive war!"
Li Xiao agreed with both hands, but he and Dmitri had differences on how to build the fortifications.
What Dmitri means is that good steel is used on the blade. Since Wallachia is financially strapped and cannot build fortresses all over the country, then it is enough to focus on the Bulgarian front line and concentrate financial resources on this line to build a strong defense line...