Chapter 887 The Army Has No Money! The King Is Bankrupt! (Ye Meng Bing Ten Thousand Rewards Additional Update 2)
Duke Flamengo suddenly found that his life here was difficult.
First, supplies. The delivery of supplies to the rear has always been very regular: grain and grass are delivered every 10 days, valuable and light supplies are delivered every 5 days, and military orders and letters are delivered as soon as they arrive.
But now, the wine, ham and oysters that were supposed to be delivered to the military camp were two days late. ——Forget about everything else, if the oysters get stuck on the road, they will rot!
"What's going on?" He sent his trusted attendant back to inquire. The attendant worked hard and ran for two whole days before he rushed over sweating and replied:
"Replying to your Excellency, it is the territory of the Duke of Ardennes that has set up checkpoints along the road! It is said that the plague has been too severe recently, and people and goods must be strictly checked on the road. Anyone who is sick or whose goods are contaminated will be detained together with the goods!"
Duke of Flamengo: "..."
"Is this a plague investigation? This is targeting me! Pass my order and if you don't open the checkpoint quickly, I will treat them as maliciously detaining military supplies and punish them as treason!"
The attendant rushed back to deliver the message. The Duke of Flamengo poured himself a glass of three-year-old champagne, and after tasting the ham happily, he went out to appease his subordinates:
"There is a little trouble in the transportation of military supplies. If you just be patient, it will be solved soon... When you go out to fight, it will not be like having a dance party in the royal capital. Everything is complete. Let's work hard to overcome it..."
The nobles complained. Duke Flamengo reassured and comforted him, and promised, "When the supplies arrive, let's have a banquet and relax," and finally suppressed him.
After the suppression here, they still have to visit the Grand Inquisitor over there: after all, although the clergy live in hardship and simplicity, necessary supplies still have to be supplied;
Just like although they strictly abide by the commandments and cannot drink alcohol, the "water of wisdom" packaged in the shell of the holy book is still indispensable...
His Excellency the Duke urged us in many ways and finally received the first batch of supplies. However, the second batch of valuable materials, including the grain and grass that should have arrived at the military camp together with the valuable materials, just...
"So why is it happening this time? Is the Duke of Arden still strictly investigating the plague?"
"Still investigating, but the Duke has ordered that the Royal Army's convoy can be let go. But, but..."
"but what?"
asked the Duke urgently. The attendant shifted his weight from his left foot to his right foot, and then from his right foot to his left foot, with an uneasy look on his face:
"But in many places, roadblocks and horse barriers have been set up in order to carry out the order. It is very troublesome to dismantle them one by one. In some places, roads have been dug or bridge decks have been demolished..."
Duke Flaminge's eyesight went dark. By digging roads and demolishing bridges, blocking traffic in this way, light riders and fast horses can pass through casually, or just take a slight detour, but heavily loaded grain and grass carts...
"Forget it, I'll write him another letter..."
Duke Flamengo sighed. Speaking of which, the Duke of Ardennes is also a powerful duke with a large territory. He is ranked higher than him in the aristocratic hierarchy. People can really ignore him.
The letter was written, but it was of some use, and the food and grass were delivered with great difficulty. However, what came with the grain transport team was more bad news:
"The Grand Duchess of Alva has ordered strict inspections. All people entering the territory must be quarantined for seven days to ensure that they do not have typhoid fever before they can move around!"
"The Count of Anjou has ordered that all outsiders entering the territory must obtain a 'disease-free' certificate from the local church within one day. Otherwise, they are not allowed to ride in carriages, boats, stay in hotels, or stay in hotels. Enter any public place!”
"The Duke of Lorraine..."
"The Duke of Lower Lorraine..."
Bad news comes one after another. Duke Flamengo was dizzy and almost wanted to vomit blood:
"These central barbarians, do they want to rebel?"
Whether the nobles in central Brolin want to rebel or not, they have to go back to the king, or even to the Glorious Holy See, and fight with all their strength. What lies before Duke Flamengo is a naked practical problem:
The food and grass are gone!
Military pay is gone!
For food and grass, you can also send troops to search everywhere, smash open every barn, and pry open every cellar. Anyway, the grain is heavy and difficult to transport. It is impossible for those Dutch country bumpkins to transport all the grain;
Military pay is another story. No matter what the world is like, businessmen run faster than farmers, and rich people run faster than poor people. The farmers are still digging caves hard, trying to hide the last bag of grain. Where are the businessmen?
Moisten it, it has been moistened eight hundred years ago.
Anyway, it is common for business people to run around everywhere. Packing up the gold and silver, they can go wherever they can!
When Duke Flamengo remembered that he ransacked every house and extorted those shops, workshops, and factories to give out gold coins——
"Sorry, this is Bishop So-and-so's property."
"Sorry, this workshop has been donated to a certain monastery."
"I'm sorry, this workshop is where the nuns produce sacrificial vestments and tapestries and worship the Lord of Glory. Are you sure... if you can't pay 100 gold coins in three days, will the workshop be closed?"
"Businessmen are the most cunning!" Duke Flamengo gritted his steel teeth. No wonder the holy scriptures say that it is more difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle...
Such a cunning and penniless person deserves to go to hell after his death!
No, even if they are alive, as long as they are caught by him, they will be tied to the stake one by one!
The Duke of Flamengo cursed hard, cursed hard. After the curse is over, we still have to try our best to raise money for these soldiers:
There is no way, without military pay, they really don’t work! Not only did they not work, but they also became deserters. No, in the name of raising their own military pay, they went to surrounding cities and villages to plunder randomly...
Forget it, they still rebelled!
They really dare to mutiny!
Can you believe that even the king's army dared to mutiny with the Inquisition's black cavalry on its side? Oh, although the black knights of the Inquisition did not openly rebel, they also secretly stopped working...
His Excellency the Duke held him with one hand and beat him with the other. He hanged a few and appeased many more, promising to make up for the military pay as soon as possible. Yes, make up the amount and add interest!
He wrote diligently to ask for military pay from the king. There was no reply to the first letter, and there was no reply to the second letter. After seven or eight consecutive letters, the news from the king finally arrived:
No money.
The royal family has no money, the treasury has no money, national bonds cannot be sold, businessmen refuse to borrow money, in short, there is no money.
The country is already in a serious fiscal crisis. Hope Duke of Flamenco. Be able to experience the difficulty of the situation so that you can deal with it yourself and not increase the burden on the king...
"Is the king declared bankrupt?" The Duke held the letter in both hands. The great knight, who could wield a giant sword as big as his body and crack mountains and rocks, was holding a thin roll of parchment, his hands trembling:
"Can a king or a country also declare bankruptcy?"
"We haven't declared bankruptcy yet." His secretary pushed the rim of his tortoiseshell glasses and said in a solemn voice:
"However, the king has already refused to pay once. It is said that his wedding cost another 20 years of taxes. In the language of our businessmen, this situation is called 'extremely low credit rating'. Generally speaking, businessmen The regiment will not lend him any more money.”
Duke: "..."
He later remembered a proverb: You don't have to wait until the last leaf falls to know that winter has come.
If I had known that the king would be so shameless, I should have thought of what happened today when he lost his face and refused to pay the national debt of the Netherlands.
If you can avoid paying the national debt there, you can naturally avoid paying the military pay here...
If he hadn't wanted to add another piece of land to his family, he wouldn't have ended the battle in the west and rushed back with an army of 20,000! Well now, I rushed back and stepped into the quagmire!
The Duke endured a mouthful of blood that rushed to his throat. He lost his temper and continued to write:
To the clan members of the family, to one’s relatives and friends. To the bishops of various churches, to the priests, to the central nobles headed by the Duke of Ardennes, to the wealthy businessmen in the noble territories...
Borrow money!
If you can borrow empty-handed, borrow empty-handed. If you can't borrow empty-handed, borrow a mortgage. If you can't, just sell the gold and silver you have on hand and all your belongings that can be sold!
the silver helmets and gold collars captured in battle against the barbarians;
Fighting in the west, a set of gold pots and cups were captured;
A New World-style gold crown as a gift from the king;
The trophies obtained on the battlefield in the Netherlands, a full set of armor, weapons and BMW...
All the same, they left their owners and ended up in the hands of unknown people. Not long after, the Duke's tent looked as clean as if it had been washed by floods, and as if it had been robbed.
In exchange for jingling gold and silver coins, they were distributed to the knights and their retinues and warriors, in exchange for the temporary obedience of these people.
However, the time you can buy gold coins is limited. One month, two months...
The Duke of Flamengo's face and treasures were finally exhausted. Faced with the threat of another mutiny, he desperately rushed into the Inquisition barracks and rushed to the Grand Inquisitor Gravela:
"I need money! I need money! I can't find even a small change, and I can't expect the king to send money here! I can't borrow a penny! No one here has any credit, no one!"
Grand Referee Gravela slowly stood up. Before he had time to answer, he continued to roar:
"Without a miracle, the entire army will fall apart in just the blink of an eye! In the blink of an eye! From the moment I noticed something was wrong and left the military tent, before I even reached you, the entire army was over! It's over!"
"In that case, let's start another war." Grand Referee Gravela replied slowly. The Duke was stunned for a moment:
"What?"
"Start another war." The Chief Referee's voice was firm. His gray eyes couldn't see any waves, like a piece of hard ice, looking into the distance:
"Defeat the rebel army and capture the city of sinners. Tell the soldiers that when the Netherlands is captured, everything will be theirs."
Duke Flamengo suddenly felt his heart beating very fast. He opened his mouth and tried twice before he made a sound with his dry throat:
"Then...the people in the city..."
"At that time, the Lord sent down brimstone and fire from heaven to that city." The chief judge recited expressionlessly:
"Destroy those cities, the whole plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, even what grows on the ground. - Your Excellency, do you have any questions?"
There is no doubt, and I dare not have any more doubts. Duke Flamengo bowed deeply and left silently. Before returning to his camp, he heard earth-shattering cheers coming from the military camp.
The army broke out of camp in a mighty and mighty manner. Such an obvious move would naturally not escape the eyes of the monitors. The parliament's response to this was -
"The chess piece of Ostend can finally be moved."
****
Although I understand the truth, I still can't figure out what it means when a country declares bankruptcy and issues a bankruptcy order...
Ah, I really want to declare that my brain is bankrupt, that I have no ideas, that I don’t want to write a word... lie down...
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