A meeting about expenses just ended in nothing. The financial income of the Lions Empire itself is only a little, so fixed expenses are naturally indispensable.
For example, regarding investment in education, under the influence of the Tang Empire, all countries are working hard to build schools. This is the main way they believe they can catch up with the technology of the Tang Empire and retain talents.
Paying attention to education and retaining talents... has become a direction that monarchs or the ruling classes of various countries are very willing to invest in.
It's a pity that after so many years of hard work, apart from raising a group of white-eyed wolves who are sure to say how outstanding the Tang Empire is, the results are actually very limited.
Funds for education cannot be misappropriated, investment in agriculture cannot be shaken since it is the foundation of the country, and industrial matters... cannot be easily changed.
This is the hardest-hit area that various nobles are involved in. Most of the conflicts between the imperial power and the interests of the nobles are concentrated in this area. If Lions II dares to make any move in this area, the waves that will be set off may drown him.
For example, a certain steel plant was invested by a certain nobleman, or a certain parts factory was owned by a relative... In short, Lions II did not have the courage to carry out this kind of reform because it would affect the whole body.
.
If it were Lions I, it might still be possible. After all, he didn't need the support of nobles and landed gentry like Lions II did.
Reigns II, who had a chaotic process when he ascended the throne and had an unfair reputation, also lost the support of too many nobles in the assassination of the old prime minister, so he did not dare to provoke those nobles who were already on the verge of breaking out.
Therefore, Lions II was unwilling to interfere with any of the various industries that made the nobles make money, including factories, stock markets, land, etc.
After calculating this, in such a huge empire, there is really not much money for Lions II to squander. Remembering that the emperor's car he was riding in was given to his father by the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Lions II
I feel uncomfortable all over the world.
Unfortunately, he really has no way to change the status quo: in order to prevent the Tang Empire from threatening the imperial coast, all ports and coastal areas, including Bunas, must strengthen security.
This is the established national policy of the Lions Empire, and it is also a plan approved by Lions II himself. In order to support this plan, the Lions Empire can be said to have spent all its resources. Therefore, Lions II’s plan to repair the palace can only be continued.
Wait.
We can only wait a little longer... Most of the craftsmen have been deployed to build fortifications. Starting from Bunas Port, there are bunkers every less than a hundred meters along the coast of the Lions Empire. The entire fortification area,
Stretching for hundreds of kilometers, it is a spectacular sight.
The Lions Empire also gave the entire project a resounding name: Endless Barrier! The entire Endless Barrier plans to build 11,000 bunkers of various sizes, 15 large forts, 150 small forts, and 250 kilometers of reinforced concrete trenches. It is intricate and intricate.
The scale is huge.
Behind this line of defense, there are also a large number of anti-aircraft gun defense positions, radar stations, field airports and other facilities as support.
The entire line of defense has 50 large ammunition depots underground, and telephones connect each position to improve anti-interference. They even cleverly used electromagnetic signals to set up many false positions to deceive the attack power of the Tang Empire.
This is also one of the most effective defense methods that the engineers of the Lines Empire came up with without thinking of countermeasures.
In addition, there are more than 500 artillery pieces of various types distributed along the entire position, with calibers ranging from the terrifying 300 mm to 75 mm. These artillery can cover almost every inch of coastal beaches and can accurately hit landing troops through firing tables.
.
Of course, this can only be done after the entire defense line has been constructed and well preserved during the war.
If the Tang Empire's attack can be effective, then there is a big question mark as to how effective the above-mentioned so-called impenetrable defense line can be.
Moreover, during the actual construction, due to insufficient funds and time, the degree of completion of the endless barrier defense line of the Lions Empire actually had to be compromised.
I won’t go into details about the aristocrat who undertook the project withholding payment. Everyone knows that the remaining construction materials are actually substandard.
There was no way. After all, the construction period was too tight and the workers' construction skills were limited. The final product was slightly different from the actual design drawings... which is not incomprehensible.
For example, the original plan for a 3-meter-thick concrete roof turned out to be only half a meter thick. It was too much. In order to cope with the inspection, a thick layer of soil was added to the top of the bunker to make up for the damage. This is also a routine operation.
Already.
In short, this is a very interesting numbers game: when the finance department of the Lions Empire allocated funds, it could not get so much money, so it had to ask the nobles for loans. When the nobles paid 1,000 for a loan, they actually only gave 900. This was a common practice.
After the finance department got the money, it had to keep some "loss", so after getting 900, it only gave 800, and the rest had to be left to the people below to figure out their own solutions.
The aristocratic businessmen who received 800 first stuffed 300 into their pockets, and then everyone had to share the profits when purchasing cement, steel bars and various materials. In fact, only one or two hundred was left.
When these two hundred were handed out to the workers, there would naturally be complaints, and everyone just fooled around and considered it a bargain.
Then the army got a lot of them... They looked good on the surface, but in fact they were just shoddy lines of defense.
And even such a defense line actually does not meet the requirements in terms of scale: the originally planned defense line of more than 130 kilometers is actually only more than 80 kilometers long, and the original planned depth of more than ten kilometers is only two or three kilometers.
No way, no money!
Later, this kind of thing developed to such an outrageous level that it was shocking: the money the nobles lent to the country did not need to be actually taken out at all. After going around in the books, almost all of it returned to their own pockets.
Sometimes even counting corruption and the money invested by the country, they can still make a little bit. This little bit greatly stimulated the patriotic enthusiasm of the nobles, gentry and businessmen, and they worked hard to "donate money and materials" to the country.
", what a lively scene of loyalty and courage.
And the new emperor of the high-ranking Lions Empire didn't know these things at all. He was still worried about repairing his palace every day, and was thinking about how to extract this money from the ministers and the people.
