Everyone truly hadn’t expected a young master to actually weed and tidy up the training ground with them, until Aegon really picked up a hoe.
“Could something be wrong with this young lord’s head?
Instead of enjoying a good noble life, he ran over here to weed?”
“Rich people’s hobbies are hard to say.”
Aegon certainly wasn’t here to weed; taking advantage of this opportunity, he understood the soldiers’ situation as much as possible.
Taking the time while the soldiers tidied up the training ground, he came among the soldiers to question and investigate, understanding the situation.
Just as Roget said, every single soldier here was in debt.
To them, becoming a soldier was just a job, and the content of this job was training three times a week.
Beyond that, each person among them also had three to four odd jobs.
Expecting an army like this to win battles was simply wishful thinking.
What surprised Aegon even more was that the cavalry unit had a quota of three hundred and thirty men, but in reality, there were only one hundred and twenty-four people.
The military pay received by these one hundred and twenty-four people was only one-third to one-fifth of what it should be!
In other words, the ghost soldier rate was close to ninety percent.
The process was roughly like this: the people above pocketed ghost soldier pay or docked military pay, and the soldiers below slipped away to find a livelihood, leading to a further decline in combat effectiveness.
With the combat effectiveness declining, the people above pocketed ghost soldier pay even more unscrupulously, and the soldiers below had to continue finding more odd jobs to make a living, or even directly flee.
For example, Aegon’s predecessor had embezzled the military pay of thirty men.
According to the rules of buying an official position, the military pay for those thirty men belonged to Aegon.
But what Aegon wanted wasn’t mere gold coins; what he wanted was an army capable of going into battle to kill the enemy.
Whether out of preparation for the future or wanting to obtain the game system’s rewards as soon as possible, he had to get these soldiers’ training onto the right track as early as possible.
…
…
Because of the ‘informant’ Belwas, Illyrio knew the situation in the military camp in greater detail; after all, there was Belwas as an informant.
“You’re saying he paid out of his own pocket to repay debts for those soldiers?”
“Yes, Master, and he even sold off some things…”
“What did he sell!” Illyrio widened his eyes, thinking to himself that he couldn’t possibly have sold his beloved luxurious mansion, right?
In Pentos, could anyone dare to buy it without going through him?
“Rest assured, Master, what the young master sold were all his own clothes, carriages, and the like…”
Aromatherapy products, spices—these were hard currencies equivalent to gold and silver.
“What is he after?
Just for the sake of letting them train a bit more?
What good does that do us?” Illyrio relaxed a little after hearing this.
He hadn’t expected Aegon to make back his capital through this position in the first place, but he couldn’t pour money in either, right?
If other people found out about this, wouldn’t he become a laughingstock?
Belwas didn’t know how to answer; after all, he was only a gladiator.
Illyrio thought about it and no longer took this matter to heart.
After all, the money for buying the official position was not worth mentioning to him, and what Aegon was spending now was merely the pocket money he usually gave him.
Perhaps after some more time, once Aegon’s novelty wore off, he would give up on his own.
“Master, there is one more thing.”
“What is it?”
“The young master is training together with those cavalrymen, and he’s very serious about it.”
Belwas said with a smile.
In his view, Aegon had finally started doing proper work.
This should be considered good news, and Illyrio ought to feel happy.
If their ‘father and son’ relationship were more harmonious, he would have an easier time as well.
“Training together?
He can endure that kind of hardship?” Illyrio thought he had heard wrong.
The reason he was raising Aegon was precisely thinking that in the future, if ‘Young Griff’ failed in his uprising, he could hand over the real Aegon to ransom his own son.
He didn’t want Aegon to become a truly useful person; this was one of the reasons behind his intention to raise him to be useless.
“Perhaps the young master saw you frequently going to Young Griff’s place, and he’s competing with Young Griff.”
“That’s right, it seems this is the only possible reason.”
Illyrio inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Currently, he was the only one who knew Aegon’s true identity; for him to suddenly strive so hard, there was only this one possibility.
Speaking of his true son Young Griff, he was about to turn fifteen.
A fifteenth nameday was very important for nobles, except his son was half a year older than the real Aegon, and his birthday should have been half a year ago, but to impersonate Aegon’s identity, it had to be delayed.
This caused Illyrio to give rise to thoughts of compensating his son.
Just a few days apart, Aegon once again summoned the soldiers.
Holding their external debt contracts, the soldiers discovered that the next repayment date had been postponed to a year later!
Within this year, they didn’t have to worry about being sentenced to prison by those magistrates because they couldn’t repay their debts, and then being cast into endless toil.
Nor did they have to worry about their sons and daughters being sold off, resulting in shattered families and ruined lives.
The new contracts in hand made the soldiers feel a sense of relief from the bottom of their hearts, as if even their bones had grown weightless.
“I know what I’ve done can’t solve all your difficulties, but it can at least make things much easier for you for a long time.
My demand is only one: from now on in training, everyone must complete it without fail.”
Aegon spoke up, but most people were still in a dazed state, including Roget, who had been able to speak with Aegon that day.
Repaying debts also had its techniques; Aegon tallied everyone’s debts together, and when negotiating with those creditors, he was able to secure a more favorable result.
Generally speaking, Aegon’s total repayment amount was about seventy percent of what it would have been if they repaid individually.
However, seemingly taking advantage, the current Aegon had already become the ‘laughingstock’ of Pentos.
Quite a few people knew that Illyrio’s foolish son had bought the position of cavalry commander, not only failing to rake in money but also pouring money into it—simply a total sucker.
Aegon naturally wouldn’t mind.
When the chaos of war arrived, if Aegon had a loyal army in his hands, then what difference did it make whether the money was with him or with those magistrates?
“Everyone train well.
There’s a saying that many skills don’t weigh down the body; even if I leave in the future, it will be easier for you to make a living.”
It was impossible for Aegon to tell them things like a soldier’s glory right now.
Empty talk about the future to people who couldn’t even fill their stomachs—it was better to save it.
“Rest assured, My Lord, however you want to train us is fine!” a soldier with graying temples spoke up.
He was actually barely thirty years old, but he looked as though he was over forty.
Aegon knew this was all caused by the heavy pressures of life over the years.
“Long live My Lord!
From now on, we only recognize you alone!”
“My Lord is brilliant and mighty, and in the future, you will surely be an invincible general!”
“Forever loyal, My Lord!”
“That’s right!
Loyalty!”