Plans

Inside a spacious office room, a man in his early forties with blonde hair & blue eyes was calmly going through some documents regarding the recent spending of the duchy. It had been 7 days since the whole outcry broke out & the overall situation of the state was not that well.

They had somehow controlled the situation, but no one knew how long it would last. Something had to be done soon enough or the whole duchy would crumble.

Knock!

Soon a knock was heard on the door & a handsome in his twenties with black hair & blue eyes entered the room, holding some papers in his hand. Bothe the man behind the table & the man with black hair had matching facial feature & any from afar could tell that they were related.

"So..." asked the man with blonde hair with a deadpan look in his eyes. He was not expecting his son to come to his office at this hour. Also, he had given him a job to complete & he should have focused on that.

"I... I am here to discuss..." the man with black hair tried to complete the sentence but could not as he was getting nervous for some unknown reason.

"Yes... you want to discuss..."

"I want to discuss on how to solve the upcoming Civil war issue."

"What?" asked the Duke with a shocked expression.

"Yes."

"You really want to discuss that."

Philip nodded, saying nothing. He was here to convince the duke to agree on his master plan & he was going to do it at any cost.

"Why? Why you wanted to discuss that now of all time? Did you run out funds to gamble or here to ask me for more money? Just tell the truth & stop wasting my time." said the duke with a sigh.

"NO, I really want to discuss how to solve that & I have prepared a plan."

"You have a plan."

"Yes."

"You really have a plan."

"Yes."

"Well, show it then."

"Sure." Philip sat down in front of the duke & opened the papers.

"So I am going to ask you some questions & you answer that." Asked Philip to the man before him, who was giving him skeptical looks.

"Sure... Let's hear about your revolutionary plan." The duke was skeptical about it. Still, there was no harm in listening to a useless plan created by a guy who had never held a pen properly.

"Yes. Tell me then how big is the duchy's army."

"Probably 10,000 men currently stationed all around our region & if we ever need more, we can call for arms from other lords."

"So, how many in total?"

"30,000."

"Is this army capable of fight the combined army of the other 3?"

"What do you mean by combined? And why do you think they would think about attacking us? We protect this empire. They depend on us."

"That's where you are wrong."

The other three states, depending on Leius duchy, were just true on paper. In paper, there was never been one instance of them protecting anything was recorded. This empire mostly was at peace except insignificant problems here & there, but that didn't require an army of that size. This duchy had always been bleeding money on maintaining army & those guys used that as an excuse to profit themselves.

No one knows when or why these weird laws were implemented, but nobody ever asked questions or thought about breaking them. These laws were flat out, damaging the duchy from inside. Young people from all over the region were mostly chosen as soldiers to serve, so few people left to do farming. From the few, many migrated to other states for better work & living.

Thus the food shortages appear & then they imported food, but for how long. They were spending too much but not earning back. Others never depended on them. They could have a massive army on their own & could cakewalk any war without their support. The truth was the Lexius's were dependent on other states for everything & would easily collapse without them.

"Excuse me, but mind explaining how I am wrong?"

"Yes Sure, but first tell me what's the use of that vast army, which is doing nothing?"

"For protecting this empire." replied Anslem, as if it was the most obvious answer. They were doing the same job for generation & no one questioned it, so why should he?

"From whom?"

"From enemies."

"And where is that enemy?"

"Are you mocking me?" asked the Duke in a serious tone. His son, who was as worthless as everyone spoke, was countering his every answer. Just what did he think of himself?

"I am not mocking you. I am just pointing out the flaws in how this ludicrous empire works." said Philip without averting his gaze from the paper.

Anslem just looked at Leon, who was scribing something on the paper with the same indifferent gaze as before. This guy who never knew how to spell the word empire was talking about the flaws. He knew what the positives & negatives of the inner working, but never asked questions, as it was useless at that time. But now it seemed it was necessary to know.

"Tell me then."

"Sure, but when was the first major war where this army was used?"

"Probably 70 years ago when we defeated the Salvadors."

"And most of the soldiers who fought in that war are now retired, right?"

"Yes."

"So this duchy is maintaining a totally useless army which has never fought a war or has done none significant work ever. Right?"

"Who do you think you are calling useless?" asked the man with blonde hair with an angered tone, but Loen seemed unfazed.

"The army."

"We maintain & pay them because they would lay down their life when needed. They will fight for us, die for us. They are never useless. Each & every one of them is far more useful than you."

"You are right. I am far more useless than them. But tell me what that army has achieved in past 70 years except bleeding money & profiting others. What that army of yours has achieved except massive debts or ruining this duchy?" asked Philip with the same nonchalant expression as the duke.

He knew Anslem was a proud man who took pride in his massive army. But if left alone, it would throughly crush him. It was time for him to realise what that army of his was doing. It was time for him to wake up & ask questions.

Anslem's mouth was hung open after hearing the words of Leon. Each & every word was correct. This army was doing more harm than any good. They really were bleeding money by supporting the soldiers who were doing nothing.

Seeing the dumbfounded expression of duke Philip spoke again.

"So I am asking you again, is this duchy maintaining an useless army which has done none significant work at all? Right?"

"What do you...?"

"Yes or No."

"Yes." replied the Duke in a defeated tone. For this solid reasoning, there was no argument anyone could pose. They really were getting debt instead of profits.

"Now let's get back to food shortages. Why do you think we are having food shortages?"

"Cause there are more soldiers in our region than people who could do farming." Replied the duke with a sigh. He was not an idiot who couldn't figure out simplest things.

"Bingo." said Philip, snapping his finger & pointing out to the duke. He liked the people who could understand the situation, and Henrich did the job.

"What?"

"Nothing, let's go to economic issue. Why aren't we earning enough?"

"Cause we are selling most of our stuff to Arlets & they are paying less."

"Kind of right, but not right."

"How?"

"Hein... I mean, father, how do you think economy works?"

"I don't know. You should ask your mother. She handles all that."

"Yeah but... Ok fine. So economy is the state of a country or region in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services and the supply of money. In short, how much we are producing & how much our people are consuming. And the reason we are slow at it because we are producing nothing, but people have to consume to live, right?"

"Yes."

"So we are selling most of our stuff to Arlet's & they are manufacturing various things out of it and then they are selling that back to us. Correct?"

Anslem nodded, saying nothing.

"So, their economy is moving because of the production & consumption. They are buying from us at a cheap rate and selling back to us at a high cost. Thus the profit. They have money because they are earning profits & their economy is going up. That's why they are the richest. They know how to make money."

"Where are you going with all this?" asked the Duke. His son was talking things beyond his grasp. When did he become so knowledgeable about economy?

"I am telling you all this so we can solve these problems. We have to become self sufficient. We have everything needed for becoming self reliant, but we are not. If we don't want a civil war, then it's the only way."

"And what's the way?"

"Demolish the army, increase farming, open industries." said Philip in a single breath which was too fast for the duke to catch.

"What?"

"First, we have to lower the amount of soldiers active in the region, teach them how to do farming & then open various industries from which we can produce goods for our people to consume. Thus we get food grown in our own region, economy kept rolling & when needed we can call all of them back to fight or protect. Simple."

The duke just blinked a couple of time with his mouth open wide. His brain was not completely processing the information, his son just spoke up. Was it that simple to do?

"So by doing all this we can become self-reliant & even if they broke all the deals, we could live on our own."

Everything Leon just said was accurate. They were depended on others for literally everything & were facing many hurdles, throughout the years & the princes were also increasing day by day. It was just not possible to keep up. And now his son's theory was conclusive from every angle. If they wanted to be self-sufficient, then they had to be self-sufficient.

"Exactly." said Philip , nodding his head.

"How did those idiots weren't able to figure out this simple fact?" said Anslem, leaning back on his throne & massaging his forehead. He had asked his advisors countless times about how to solve this issue. But never once they could answer correctly, like how Leon was able to. They only said it was done by forefathers for the greater good, but no good was ever evident.