As the meeting began and everyone took seats around the table in the map room, Carlo had one of the staff servants bring him the map he'd purchased. It was a map of the Border Princes as they had stood at the start of the year, with but one exception, the boundaries of Ijssel had been drawn to encompass Bouellia and Quaterain as well, in order to reflect the current change in boundaries. A small chest filled with carved wooden tokens he had commissioned from Quaterain on the way through there was also brought forth. The map was rolled out onto the table and the chest of tokens was placed down.
Carlo placed one token with a carved knight on horseback down on the spot where the map showed Castle de Estang, along with a single notch carved carefully into its rim. A second token, this one showing a swordsman in chainmail bearing a sword and round shield was placed where the map indicated Castelle Bouellia. It also had a single notch carved into the rim. A token with two lightly armored spearmen standing next to two lightly armored archers was placed down in the middle of Bouellia and bore two notches carved into its rim. Next, a token with an archer clad in mail with a longbow and handaxe carved onto it was placed down on Quaterain and had a single notch carved into its rim. Next up, heavily armored pikemen carved into a token were placed onto Ijssel. That token had two notches carved into it. Another token bearing lighter armed pikemen all in a row with five notches carved into the rim was placed down on Ijssel. Another token with a row of lighter-armed swordsmen and two carved notches was placed down next to the five-notch pikemen. Finally, a token of crossbowmen all in a line with three notches was placed down next to the swordsmen and pikemen.
"These are the state of our land forces as they currently stand, not counting mercenaries of course. We lost some men, but have refilled our ranks and gained more men from incorporating Bouellia and Quaterain. Now, our men are fine, I'd venture to say they're the best in the Border Princes at the moment. The equal of any regiment in Tilea or the Empire. The problem is all the new forces and recruits we inherited." Began Carlo.
"Forgive me, but are those knights in Castle de Estang?" Questioned Jan Willem Dejong.
"They are. I have allowed the worship of the Lady to continue in Bouellia. We have need of the cavalry and I do not contest their prowess, merely the judgment of their leaders. With the Baron de Estang now dispossessed and headed back across the vaults with his wife, and the Grand Duke slain, someone more level-headed has been given command of the knights. I have appointed that duty to Maurice de Helmgart, a Knight of mixed Brettonian and Imperial Blood who won his spurs during the Brettonian Conquest of Bouellia, taking their crusade as his Errantry Quest. He has a better head on his shoulders than many of that lot and few would gainsay his appointment since he fought us longer than many of them. I mean their men-at-arms and levies. The former are somewhat laughable and the latter are barely more than rabble." Informed Carlo.
"Si, it is true. I saw many of their levies armed with little more than tunics and spears. And they relied almost solely on knights and men-at-arms to attack us, even when it was clear they needed more men behind their attack." Affirmed Dante Luccia.
"So what do you suggest? The Brettonians are a snooty lot. Even in defeat, you might lose the very knights you sought to court by giving their peasants plate armor, crossbows, and pikes." Cautioned Eric de Roelef.
"I don't intend to do that. Maybe halberds and chain, but the longbows can stay at least." Frowned Carlo.
"Voulgeiers." Uttered Karoline Blaumann.
"Che cosa?" Questioned Dante Luccia.
"Voulgiers. Brettonia has a precedent for their wealthier cities to equip Voulgiers as Men-at-arms in times of war. Give them Voulges, not halberds." Intoned Karoline Blaumann.
"That makes a difference?" Queried Carlo.
"It is not considered a chivalrous weapon, but neither is the longbow yet both have been used by various Brettonian Formations. If you stick with what is familiar the knights will have less to complain about. The men at arms can become swordsmen, such as the two companies we have now. It will not even change their tactics too much, just allow for standardization and upgrading of equipment. Keep the longbowmen, though I would suggest giving them a padded jack and boiled leather like the Quaterain Woodsmen, just in case." Offered Karoline Blaumann.
"Done. Voulgiers and Rodeleros it is. That raises another question we have two-hundred-forty militiamen not assigned to training and the ability to begin training another five-hundred-fifty if the numbers I was given are accurate. We should be capable of training another militia company as well as fielding a battery of around twenty guns before even needing to dip into the recruitment pool again. I think perhaps we should look into fielding a third crossbow militia company and casting ourselves or purchasing from the dwarves, around twenty cannons to back up our infantry and cavalry. We have more than enough guilders as is for that." Insisted Carlo.
"We do." Allowed Jan Willem Dejong, frowning.
"I also wanted to enlarge our navy. Currently, we have three ships, none of which can sail up the Tana Dante, so if our river ships should be attacked from that quarter, we would need to rely on merchant guards to fend off attackers. I plan to purchase another Tilean Galleass for our seaborne fleet and begin construction of a series of small, 8-gun, skiffs to protect our river trade up the Tana Dante to the Dwarves. Can you find enough sailors to furnish that, Admiral Karolski?" Questioned Carlo.
"Perhaps. We have won victories. That makes recruitment easy. I do not know that they will be able to meet your standards by the time what I think you're expecting comes to pass, but they will be passable. If nothing else they won't strike before the fight is lost, but that is as much as I can promise. Sailors take more time to train than soldiers. It is more technical than holding the line and pointing the pike at the enemy, after all. I do not have your knack for training miracles and you will be busy already." Sighed the big Kislevite.
"What? Why are we preparing for war so soon?" Asked Jan Willem Dejong.
"Did you not read any of the reports I've sent? Or have you been too busy eating other people's food and drinking their wine at parties?" Groused Karoline Blaumann.
"I'll have you know that social functions are the backbone of trade relations! Just this last fortnight alone, I've had drinks with Etienne Chalmont, a representative of several of the inns and taverns of Quenelles. They've run out of Cabernet Bouellia and when the last two shipments did not arrive, sent him to see why. I have that trade agreement, plus one for Copper with the Prince of Scarosio, and one for timber, wooden goods, and animal hides with the Voivode of Brovska awaiting your perusal, Excellency." Intoned Jan Willem Dejong.
"You had time for three working dinners and a party but not to read the diplomatic briefing?" Pressed Karoline Blaumann.
"Diplomacy is your job, Fraulein Blaumann. Mine is to ensure the county continues to make money. If someone could please elucidate, I'm sure we can move on." Huffed Jan Willem Dejong.
"Then maybe don't try to take on diplomatic responsibilities like you did with Domatburg if you plan to stick to economics." Snarked Eric de Roelef from the sidelines.
"Enough! This bickering serves no purpose! It's Khypris, Meneer Dejong. They have formed a league with Vloeden and Mont Blanc to curb our expansion. War is in the offing between us and them, though likely not until they feel they're ready. Likely they'll be drilling their troops and hiring mercenaries before taking a crack at us. Especially after we breezed through Bouellia with minimal casualties." Intoned Carlo, cutting through the argument.
"That could be a problem, though if you can impress Freiherr von Stahl, an alliance with Domatburg might be doable in what time we had. He seemed very eager to come to a favorable arrangement." Frowned Jan Willem Dejong.
"We'll see. In the meantime, I am going to require four-hundred-fifty suits of mail armor, nine-hundred kettle helms, one-hundred-fifty voulges, three-hundred padded jacks, three-hundred suits of boiled leather, three-hundred swords, one-hundred-fifty shields, one-hundred-fifty crossbows, and twenty cannons from the dwarves to outfit our new companies. We'll need them by spring at the latest. How much will that run us?" Questioned Carlo.
"We can likely make some of it ourselves. I'd say we should still be making a decent sum on metalwork exports if we make half the swords, pikes, kettle helms, and mail ourselves. The rest we'd need to purchase. Fraulein Blaumann what would the dwarves charge for such things?" Queried Jan Willem Dejong.
"They were quite happy with our last transaction, something about Manlings south of the mountains usually being late or delinquent with payment. I didn't quite catch all of the rant that followed, but King Kazran was seemingly relieved to not have to enter another principality into the Book of Grudges. The last one who came up delinquent was destroyed by Orcs before he could strike out the grudge. It's bothered him for close to a century. I believe I could get a good rate on most everything else. The canons might take some haggling, though. They are generally pricier, after all." Explained Karoline Blaumann.
"If not, I can ask my Tilean Connection about casting some cannon for us. They likely won't be as good as Dwarf-made cannons, but they'll serve well enough." Suggested Eric de Roelef.
"Ask for ten from your Tilean Connection, Karoline, you ask for the same from King Kazran. If we don't wind up with a deal, how many can we make on our own?" Questioned Carlo.
"With a proper source of tin to mix with our copper? Given until spring? Maybe six every Tilean Month, seven at a push? We're hardly the arsenal of Nuln. We barely have a workshop to cast bronze canon in." Shrugged Jan Willem Dejong.
"That only gives us forty-eight assuming we aren't attacked until spring. Minus thirty for the new Galleass, that leaves eighteen for a flotilla of small river craft, and none if we cannot close a deal with the Tileans or Dwarves." Frowned Carlo.
"I wouldn't worry about the Dwarves, Mio Capitano. Signora Blaumann has a silver tongue, and our gold spends just as well." Offered Dante Luccia.
"General Luccia is right, though clearly out of his element. I am sure I could get King Kazran to make us all twenty cannons, it's just a question of how much do we want to pay." Affirmed Karoline Blaumann.
"We have enough gold saved up that we should be able to pay any reasonable price. Plus with those trade contracts, Meneer Dejong got us, we should have a good amount of funds from trade coming in, more if we can get a good deal from Domatburg. Negotiate a price that's fair, but don't try to go for deep discounts or anything. We can afford a fair price for cannons. We can't afford a Dwarven Grudge." Ordered Carlo.
"That should be doable and it's sensible. You'll have your cannons, Excellency." Nodded Karoline Blauman.
"Well, if I don't have to ask my contact for cannons, I can make myself useful elsewhere. I happen to know that my family holds the debts of a privateer by the name of Matteo Castiglione. He has a 40-gun Galleass, the Drunken Razorbill which he uses to hunt pirates from Sartosa." Began Eric de Roelef.
"I'm familiar. They say he has enough gambling debt to sink a ship, yet he still sails." Frowned Carlo.
"That isn't figurative, Excellency. He has enough debt to pay for two ships of the same make, model, and armament of his own, and the de Roelef Family purchased it all a month before you arrived. We had been using it to force him to tithe a flat ten percent of every cargo he seizes from the Sartosans every time he puts out to sea, but it's been minuscule compared to how much we made off your spice cargo alone. If you'll buy out his debts, I can sell my family on repossessing his ship to transfer to your navy, which should free up the cannons required for the river flotilla." Grinned Eric de Roelef.
"How much does he owe?" Asked Carlo.
"The Principle was twelve-thousand guilders." Informed Eric de Roelef.
"That doesn't sound so bad, he should make that back in a year or so." Interjected Carlo.
"At twelve-and-a-half percent. Over the last Tilean Year. Before we bought the contract." Continued Eric de Roelef.
"Ah, so he owes forty-thousand-five hundred guilders then. That interest rate is extortionate." Pointed out, Carlo.
"I was told he was quite drunk when he signed the loan. Come morning when he realized what he'd agreed to, he attempted to duel his way out of the contract, but the Merchant of Verezzo who offered him the loan had already known he would try that and hired an Ogre Mercenary to be his Champion. When he predictably lost that duel, I suppose that Captain Castiglione simply decided he wasn't going to pay and that the political situation between Remas and Luccini was bound to heat up again and take care of his creditor for him when Verezzo inevitably became a battleground. We bought the contract when it started to look like Captain Castiglione was right about that. There's no war in Marienburg, after all." Shrugged Eric de Roelef.
"Very well, I can part with that much, even if it is enough to buy two 40-gun Galleasses. With the war in Tilea, I'd imagine getting ahold of guns in quantity or ships of that make any other way might be difficult." Replied Carlo.
"Good. Then you shall have your ship." Grinned Eric de Roelef.
"That leaves us with enough canons to arm around eight small riverine gunships. Admiral Karolski, can we handle the construction?" Questioned Carlo.
"Possibly. Materials aren't a problem so much as viable designs. The boats our carpenters know how to build for river travel tend to be more along the lines of barges. I have a design that might work from back home in Kislev, though. Erengrad maintains a small fleet of armed Tchaikas on the River Lynsk for defense against Sarl Raiders coming south from Troll Country. The design is sound and can carry six four-pound guns, twelve two-pound guns, or a mix of the two. It has both oars and a sail and maintains a certain amount of coastal seaworthiness in case the Naval Fleet needs reinforcements, though I wouldn't stray too far from the coast." Informed Admiral Karolski.
"Well, if you only need smaller guns, we can possibly make up to eight four-pounders or twelve two-pounders every Tilean month nine and thirteen at a push. Smaller guns take less work and are somewhat less prone to sponging defects than bigger guns. Six is the number for eight-pounders." Informed Jan Willem Dejong.
"How many of these Tchaikas can you build before spring?" Queried Carlo.
"Likely no more than ten without degrading the quality of work. It will take some time to get our boat builders used to the design." Informed Admiral Karolski.
"So that leaves us with an excess of twelve four-pound guns. Would you be able to find a buyer for those, Meneer Dejong?" Questioned Carlo.
"Four-pounders are generally the smallest guns that a naval ship outside the Border Princes uses, discounting things like swivel guns, mind you. Still, I'm fairly sure that I can find buyers. Because of their size, they're ideal for galleys. You don't lose as many rowers as with a six or eight-pounder which lets you maintain a certain speed while offering firepower. I had heard that Luccini lost a few Galleys in a naval action with Remas near Urbimo last week, I'm sure they would pay for them if only to not tax their Arsenal overmuch. We should probably look into supplying them or the Remans with gunpowder as well. After two-and-a-half months, they have to be running low on pre-war stocks." Nodded Jan Willem Dejong.
"Do it. How are the villages and roads I ordered built?" Queried Carlo.
"The Villages have been rebuilt with walls of stone as ordered, and we have a road linking Ijssel to Mijndorp and several decent-sized villages, though that was only possible with the militia you left behind to help. Even then it wouldn't be finished if you hadn't opened the treasury for Dwarven engineers to oversee things. We even managed to branch off the road so it connects to the Old Silk Road North of the Town." Informed Eric de Roelef.
"Good. I want you to do the same thing for our new holdings in Quaterain and Bouellia. Try to at least link up to L'haieville and rebuild Quaterain's walls to stone before Spring. Also see if we can't get one more workshop each for metalwork, gunpowder, cannons, and tchaikas. I don't care if you have to hire more Dwarven Engineers or take more companies of militia to get it done by spring." Ordered Carlo.
"All these projects will deplete our stored funds in around ten months at this rate. Even the over a million and a half guilders we have remaining will go fast if you spend like that without being able to replace the amount spent at the same rate." Cautioned Jan Willem Dejong.
"Then I suppose you'll just have to show me those trade contracts you negotiated." Intoned Carlo.
"Of course, Excellency." Nodded Jan Willem Dejong, handing over a series of parchments.
The first was from the Brettonian Representative of the taverns and inns of Quenelles. If Carlo read it correctly, they would purchase enough barrels of Cabernet Bouellia every month that he would be making around a thousand guilders a month off wine sales alone, but Jan Willem had also managed to get a commitment for them to purchase a certain amount of other goods every month, Ironware, Furniture, Peat for heating, and the like. It wasn't much additional only around two-hundred-fifty guilders a month or so. It was still better than the baseline. Carlo signed off on that and turned to the next one.
The Prince of Scarosio it seemed was in desperate need of copper. For the life of him, Carlo couldn't figure out why he'd pay so much for copper until Jan Willem told him that they had a supplier of tin in the Tilean City of Pugno, who had tin mines in the foothills of the Appucini mountains, but Scarosio's closest source of Copper was Bouellia, and with the war in Tilea raging, he desperately wanted the copper for casting cannons. Whatever the reason, he was willing to pay two-thousand-one-hundred-fifty guilders a month for it. Carlo signed that right away as well.
The final agreement was with the Voivode of Brovska out on the plains east of Khypris. There were precious few trees on those plains, so timber was at a premium. The Voivode was willing to pay six hundred guilders a month for timber and one-thousand guilders for wooden goods such as casks for his kvas brewery, furniture, lances for his cavalry, and so on. That wasn't all, he was willing to pay three hundred guilders a month for animal hides to feed his tanneries. Carlo signed that as well.
"So between these three deals and our current revenues, what are we making a month?" Questioned Carlo, handing the parchments back to Jan Willem Dejong.
"Altogether, around seven-thousand guilders a month in incomes. It's a decent start, Excellency but it won't replace lost guilders at the rate we're spending. Between upkeep for what we have now and all the new construction you've ordered, the purchases and raising of new units, projected costs for the month are around seventy-nine-thousand guilders." Warned Jan Willem Dejong.
"Hopefully, expenditures will drop as incomes increase going forward. More workshops mean we can make more trade agreements for manufactures, after all, and we won't be at war or about to be at war forever. Speaking of which, you all know what I need from you. Get to it and we'll reconvene weekly. In the meantime, someone tell Freiherr von Stahl that my schedule is free for a meeting until dinner. I think I will see what Domatburg wants for a favorable agreement." Nodded Carlo.
Everyone nodded and went to their appointed tasks, while Carlo went back upstairs to dress once more in his flashy Myrmidian outfit. He didn't know if Freiherr von Stahl would know anything about the significance, as he was an Imperial, but on the off chance he did, it would tell Carlo something about the man. If he didn't, the man would likely write it off as an affectation Carlo had retained from his mercenary days. Once he finished dressing, he headed to the kitchen for a quick midday snack and wound up grabbing honeyed biscuits and sausage left over from breakfast that he had missed due to certain amorous actions on his part. Two hours after that saw him in the great hall, awaiting Freiherr von Stahl.
Domatburg's representative had signaled he was on his way. . .
XXXX
AN: A lot of Kingdom Building Stuff in this one. Suffice it to say, Carlo's spending Guilders like water in order to build up his holdings while he has the cash. The idea is that once he's built himself up enough, his expenditure-to-income ratio will balance out enough to reach equilibrium while also being armed enough to thwart any attacks.
Of course, he's only been a lord for around two and a half months right now, so it hasn't gotten there yet.
Also, fun fact Mundus has four hundred days in a year. A month here refers to the Tilean Calender thanks to Ijssel's proximity to Tilea. The Tilean Calander divides the year into sixteen months of twenty-five days each. It's easier to use than the Imperial Calander, which has weird miscellaneous days and uneven numbers of days in their months in favor of keeping to twelve-month years.
Anyway, next will be the meeting with Freiherr von Stahl and we'll get to see what he wants exactly.
Stay tuned