Volume 5 Chapter 98 The royal fleet was very poor
“Dear Remito, are you serious?”
The Candra Empire’s royal fleet chief of staff Chrysler Isler put down the doc.u.ment in his hand and knit his brows to look at Remito Russell in front of him with a confused look.
The vice chief of staff in front of him was the subordinate he always respected the most. Everyone thought that after he retired, there wouldn’t be a second candidate for the next chief of staff.
There were many times that he felt relieved in letting Russell take care of the chief of staff’s job. It was to one, test Russell and two, prepare Russell for the chief of staff job in the future.
Russell had always handled things very well and never made any careless mistakes, which made chief Isler satisfied and a.s.sured.
But this, the report that he handed made chief Isler…..feel a bit weird after reading it.
What a joke!
The Candra Empire’s navy was facing its most serious crisis in history?
If it didn’t make any immediate changes, they would lose complete control of the surrounding seas?
This was simply fear mongering!
On the continent, other than the Marlow Empire, there wasn’t a single country’s navy that could threaten the Candra Empire’s navy! There were many countries that didn’t even have a navy!
What made chief Isler more surprised and what he found even funnier was that in this report, the biggest threat actually came from…..an unknown Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet!
Seeing these words on the report, chief Isler almost spat out the tea in his mouth.
It was just a company, how were they qualified to be compared to the Candra Empire’s royal fleet? How could they even pose a threat?
However, after training and trusting Russell for years, chief Isler slowly calmed down in the end.
Russell had been his subordinate for twenty years and he fully understood Russell. He knew that Russell wasn’t something who said things lightly and knew Russell’s sincere loyalty to the Candra Empire’s navy.
Since he handed in this report so seriously, it definitely wasn’t fear mongering.
Not to mention that this was such a thick report, if it was all nonsense, that would be impossible.
But after he finished reading the report, chief Isler fell into a state of deep thought.
He believed that the report that Russell handed in was real because there was no need for Russell to lie to him.
But if this report was real, then if the guard fleet of that whatever Frestech Chamber of Commerce had this terrifying strength, it would be too shocking.
It was acceptable if it was said that the ship was completely made of iron, but a ship that was several hundred tons and was even bigger than the Thunderclap Ship was just a fantasy.
Chief Isler thought for a long time and was unable to imagine what the ship that was “bigger than the Thunderclap Ship that was completely made of steel, with a streamlined appearance that was completely white” would look like.
Moreover, ignoring the appearance, the various new things that were described in the report, the “Magic Cannon”, the “Magic Repeating Crossbows”, and the “Magic Fire Arrows”, just what kind of things were those?
Chief Isler had heard of magic weapons before, but weren’t those things that only super powerful mages would have? How could this Frestech Chamber of Commerce have so many of them?
Moreover, based on the might of these military magic machines from the report, they were even stronger than the magic weapons of legends.
If even a Thunderclap Ship couldn’t last five minutes under this attack, perhaps this Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet really was as the report described them, being able to move unhindered on the seas.
Thinking of this, chief Isler suddenly remembered that he had received this report before. There was a mysterious fleet that had appeared on the southern seas, attacking pirates. The pirates had been completely scattered and the seas had become much more peaceful.
This mysterious fleet, could it be the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet?
“Sir Chrysler, I am very serious.” Russell looked at chief Isler with a serious look and slowly nodded, “Actually, just from this report, you can’t feel the same shock I felt from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet. In the half a month we were together, I personally watched them destroy pirates one after another, being directly affected by the might they displayed. I’m certain that this fleet has even surpa.s.sed this era. If we don’t react fast enough and the Marlow Empire discovers this fleet, getting the same kinds of ships, we won’t be able to fight back when we face the Marlow Empire on the seas.”
Seeing how serious Russell was, chief Isler fell into silence again.
After a while, he gave a slight nod, “Remito, I trust your judgement. If this guard fleet is really as strong as you said, we must get them immediately. But two million gold coins for one……this price…..”
Chief Isler gave a bitter laugh and shook his head.
“In order to maintain the power of the empire’s fleet, we shouldn’t be hindered by the price.” Russell said with a serious look, “Moreover, I think that there’s a chance to discuss with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. After all, other than us, there is no one else who will buy those guard ships from them.”
Russell’s words were very accurate.
On the entire Sines Continent, there was only the Candra Empire, the Marlow Empire, and a few other smaller countries who could match this condition.
But other than the Candra Empire and the Marlow Empire who invested largely into their navy, the other smaller countries wouldn’t invest their previous funds on this.
The Marlow Empire was located further north on the continent and was quite far from the Stantine Duchy. It would be hard for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to contact them, so there was only one customer right now and that was the Candra Empire’s royal fleet.
The Candra Empire’s royal fleet didn’t have a choice, but the Frestech Chamber of Commerce also didn’t have a choice.
“Even if there are chances to discuss, I feel that this price is too much.” Chief Isler wasn’t as confident as Russell as he gave a sigh, “Russell, I’ll give you some news. Three days aog, I went to the budget meeting at the headquarters and according to the meaning disclosed in that meeting, they are planning on reducing our navy’s budget next year.”
Russell was stunned, “Again? Is there a mistake! Our budget is already very low and if we reduce it again, are we planning on not having a navy anymore?”
Chief Isler shook his head with a bitter smile, “There’s no other way, the majority of the budget is focused on the Marlow Empire. Even if the budget favours the army, it’s normal. Adding in the fact that the headquarters’ budget has been decreasing over the years, in order to preserve the fighting force of the army, they naturally have to decrease the budget of the navy.”
Russell could only silently accept this.
As the navy’s vice chief of staff, not only did he understand the situation of the navy, he also understood the situation of the royal army.
He knew that the royal army’s main policy was to deal with the Marlow Empire, always focusing on the empire’s north borders where they fought against the Marlow Empire.
The founding of the navy had always been questioned because many people thought that there was no use in having a navy.
Now that the empire was cutting the military budget, the headquarters would logically cut the navy’s budget.
“Sir Chrysler, can I ask how much the budget will be next year?” Russell thought about it before asking this.
“Un……this isn’t a secret for you since you’ll know in a few days.” Chief Isler stretched out three fingers, “Thirty million gold coins, it would only be less and not more.”
“Only thirty million gold coins?” Russell was shocked, “We had fifty million last year, how did it suddenly decrease by half?”
“The empire’s military budget had decreased by seventy million at once, so the decrease to our navy’s budget is less than the decrease to the army’s budget……” Chief Isler said with a self deprecating smile.
“The problem is that we have too little and if it keeps decreasing…..” Russell knit his brows and quickly made some calculations before finding a problem that made his face sink even more, “According to this, wouldn’t our navy only be able to barely maintain itself next year?”
“Yes.” Chief Isler nodded, “So that means that buying a guard ship that costs two million gold coins is……completely impossible.”
Russell couldn’t help being stunned.
Although he had already expected that it would be very hard to buy this expensive ship because of the budget.
He never would have thought that the navy would be this poor.
If they only had a budget of thirty million each year, they could only barely maintain themselves. If something ever happened, they wouldn’t be able to make ends meet.
In this situation, how could they pull out this large amount of gold coins to buy such an expensive guard ship?
After being silent for a bit, Russell didn’t give up. He thought for a bit before saying to chief Isler, “Sir Chrysler, I insist on my opinion. No matter what, the royal fleet must get these guard ships because only this way can we keep our navy as the strongest navy on the continent.”
Chief Isler knit his brows, “The problem is money……”
“Then squeeze out the money!” Russell took a step forward and said in a clear voice, “Sir Chrysler, I suggest directly reducing our current fleet and directly changing to this new type of powerful guard ship!”