Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin reached for his waist again. His anger was growing little by little. The Interior Minister's finger was already on the wand. In just one second, the attack spell would kill him.
The hateful guy in front of me was cut into pieces. But just like the previous four times, when the tense muscles touched the ivory gilt handle of the wand, his right hand helplessly moved back to its original position.
It’s not that magic skills have declined. According to human standards, the Interior Minister is a six-pointed magician, so it is impossible for him to make such a basic mistake. It’s also not because the negotiating opponent has a loaded ppk pistol hidden in his sleeve.
He held two grenades, and the fuse pull ring was connected to the ring finger of his left hand - he had no idea about this. It was just a basic
Due to the simple fact that "if he kills the other party, the principality will not even be able to borrow a cape", he had to endure it and even condescended to come to v.e company's St. Petersburg branch in person - a building that was famous for its unique
The tasteless building named "Pentagon" due to its regular pentagonal structure was negotiated with a special representative from a small consortium.
"Impulse is the devil."
Repeating this sentence for the eighth time, and after re-adjusting his emotions, Storey looked at his negotiating opponent calmly, and his unhappiness began to accumulate bit by bit again.
As an important minister of the principality and one of the few talented and dedicated elites, Stolypin has always had good self-cultivation. He can control his emotions well during negotiations and always remains polite in front of outsiders.
Many people who dealt with him would even inadvertently forget that when suppressing the rebellion, the Minister of the Interior once placed gallows all over the principality, earning the noose the nickname "Stolypin's Tie".
But now he has been on the verge of losing control of his emotions many times. He almost took out his white gloves and threw them away, and then used the traditional way of the principality to solve the problem.
Walter Friedrich Schulenburg was the most direct cause of this gaffe. The negotiator of v.e Company was a typical playboy and a cunning fox. He kept looking around during the more than ten days of negotiations.
Talk to him, otherwise he would prepare the banquet salon, tease the ladies, touch the buttocks of the cat or rabbit maids, and make electric discharges from time to time... He would not mention a word about the important loan negotiations.
Damn it! Is there nothing serious about this bastard other than beautiful women? Why didn’t any woman show her hatchet and chop him into pieces?!
In normal times, Stolypin would not have cared about this ridiculous behavior, but now he kept cursing it.
This is a waste of his, the principality's precious time!
Although the Riga Fortress defense battle was going well, and the entire front line has temporarily calmed down at this stage, everyone knows that this is only temporary. Based on past experience, humans will soon organize more troops to retaliate. With strong defenses
The fortress system and garrison are effective
Action. This fortress can continue to hold on, there is still enough food and ammunition stored, and reinforcements and supplies are constantly moving towards the fortress. But what everyone knows is that there is no city in this world that will never fall, let alone
There is no inexhaustible source of troops.
It may sound unbelievable. In people's minds, the principality is the country that least worries about the problem of military resources. The sight of endless gray animals shouting "Ula" and charging bravely without fear of swords, guns and arrows is a sight that every day
The lingering nightmare of a human warrior fighting against a bully.
They should not and cannot worry about the source of troops.
However, the group of important ministers, including the Grand Elder, Count Sergei Yuryevich Witte, knew very well that the problem of military resources would soon begin to plague the country.
As we all know, sieges have always been a long and bloody process. In the past history, there have been cases where the attackers besieged a certain city for 16 years but failed to capture it. The final decision on the outcome of the siege must be the supplements of both warring parties.
Personnel and material capabilities—without back-up
The other side is bound to suffer defeat. Now that guns and artillery are put into the battlefield, this general principle is still valid, and it affects the balance of victory and defeat even more strongly than in the past. Who can withstand the consumption, who can put more guns and shells
Whoever sends medicine and a sufficient number of qualified soldiers to the front will win the war.
Unfortunately, although the principality has seemingly endless human resources, it cannot produce its own guns, and its ability to replace lost soldiers is more fragile than ever.
There are many reasons for this phenomenon, including objective conditions and institutional problems. Generally speaking, there are more institutional problems.
As we all know, the United Principality of Ross is a country composed of many orc tribes. The bear tribe is the majority, but not the absolute majority. They always have doubts about other ethnic groups and suspect that they intend to separate and become independent. This is not unreasonable.
In the early days, the principality was just a collection of tribes. It was common for everyone to commit rebellion and betrayal. In order to deal with potential threats, the Bear Tribe tried various means.
At first, it was a straightforward genocide, but later it was abandoned due to low efficiency and excessive intensification of internal conflicts; then it was changed to the use of a recruitment system, coaxing with fine words such as wine and meat, faith, preferential treatment, or "recruiting soldiers with a rope".
Members of other ethnic groups serve as soldiers, and then give them second-rate or even third-rate weapons to fight with the human army, thereby achieving the purpose of stabilizing the internal and external situation.
Based on this traditional mentality, when the new army was formed, all the soldiers recruited were from the bear tribe. The meaning of guarding against other ethnic groups is self-evident.
Politically speaking, there is nothing wrong with this approach, but for the current war, this is an out-and-out military disaster.
Due to the lag in establishing an all-firearms force, the new army cannot compare with their counterparts in the human camp in terms of quantity and quality. They can gain a certain degree of advantage by relying on the fortress system, but losses are inevitable.
With the arrival of monkeys and cannons and muskets, losses will continue to rise. In order to make up for the losses, the principality must send more gray animals who can operate muskets.
They were sent to the front line to fill holes, but these recruits received much less training time than those who died. Their combat effectiveness is definitely worse, and their survival time on the battlefield is also shorter, so there are more rookies with worse combat effectiveness.
Pulled up to fill new holes, the Bear Clan youths continued to disappear into this bottomless pit, and the strength gap between other ethnic groups and the Bear Clan gradually narrowed...
A vicious circle, not only for the Principality, but also for the entire Bear Clan.
What's even worse is that even if smart people like Witte and Stolypin saw the problem, they lacked the means to effectively solve the problem - enough money.
It is not difficult to relax the restrictions on who can be recruited into the new army. Even if there are risks, when the country's survival is at stake, tradition must give way to military needs. Once restricted, in a very short period of time, the principality can have an army that is enough to overwhelm
The mass superiority of the human army sent all the hairless monkeys to the Mother Goddess.
Restrictions and bans, and the number of soldiers are not a problem, but where are they going to get so many guns and cannons to equip this army? We can't let everyone continue to use cold weapons to kill others?
Of course, I bought it from v.e company with real money. Who else could I buy it from except the dealer?
The dwarf craftsmen in Seres once copied muskets, but the quality, performance, and universality of parts were worse than those of v.e Company. It took more time, materials, and funds, and the output was less. As long as you are not desperate, you don't have that gun.
The army will equip these expensive knock-off goods. Moreover, due to the grievances and grievances between the dwarves and the orcs, the dwarves will not export weapons to the principality, let alone the human countries.
It's not that the principality itself has never thought about establishing its own military production system, but it is short of time and unlike human countries that can accumulate the original capital to start industrialization by plundering overseas colonies. Finally, all technologies are in the hands of v.e company
inside.
For businessmen, there is nothing that cannot be sold, provided the price is sufficient, and it is obviously impossible for the current principality to provide an attractive offer, allowing the company to hand over its cash cow...
As a result, the principality's arms can only be provided by V.E Company. V.E Company is also willing to export weapons, but the problem has returned to the original point - lack of money.
Guns and artillery cost more money than cold weapons. The ammunition consumed in the Riga Fortress Defense War alone made Stolypin sweat. The funds needed for army expansion and long-term attrition wars, the expenses for recruiting young labor during the spring plowing season,
The expenditure on transporting personnel and materials to the front line... The capable ministers and bureaucrats of the Principality are almost driven crazy by the numbers, because there are people who have collapsed due to heart disease, there are people who have committed suicide, and there have been no cases of insanity yet, but it is estimated that if this continues
, not far away either.
If this trend continues, within a year at most, the principality will spend every copper in its pocket. If the war continues, the principality will be completely bankrupt and the entire country will collapse.
The only way to solve the problem is to borrow money from v.e Company to tide over the crisis, but is Li Lin's money so easy to borrow? That profiteer is very aware of the economic situation of the principality and will definitely take advantage of it and put forward very harsh conditions, but the principality cannot refuse.
In the end, even if the principality wins, it will become a slave to debt.
Schulenburg's performance in the past few days has proved that this fear is by no means groundless. In the past week, the special representative has deliberately avoided loans or credit, making it clear that he intends to wait for the price and wait for the principality to take the initiative to request a loan, thereby taking control of the negotiations.
Take the initiative and kill him with a knife.
Damn profiteer!
Stolypin once again blamed the other party in his stomach, and was about to say something to break the suffocating deadlock in front of him. At this moment, Schulenburg laughed.
"Your Excellency the Earl, our company has always spared no effort to support the cause of the Principality. We cherish the brotherly friendship with the Principality..."
Schulenburg talked endlessly, looking back on history and "friendship made of blood". What he said was so wonderful that it could almost be used as propaganda material. Stolypin just looked at each other silently and said nothing.
, until Schulenburg said those words.
"...Therefore, in light of the changes in format, the President hopes to develop deeper cooperation with the Principality."
The Home Secretary's eyes lit up. (To be continued...)