In his work "The Prince", the Italian philosopher Machiavelli said something to this effect:
"Mercenaries and auxiliaries are no good. Those guys are the worst, they will do anything for money. Can't trust 'em at all. If they're capable they become a threat to the state, if they're useless then you're gonna lose to the enemy anyway. You gotta have your own forces, like a militia or a standing army these days. It's just gross for a prince to rely on mercenaries and auxiliaries. Rome is the best after all!"
※This is simplified. Machiavelli did not actually speak like a gyaru.
When he recalled this, Hercule had a childish thought full of rebellious spirit.
If you can't pay for a standing army, what's wrong with relying on mercenaries?
The Spanish-Hasburg Empire, which was filthy rich from the plantations in its South American colonies and the Potosí silver mine, had to empty its treasury several times to finance the tercios.
Granted, the tercios could be described as a "mercenary army" turned standing army, which was a bit different in nature from the state army and militia that Machiavelli adored.
During the French Revolution, as opposed to the French National Guard who betrayed the King to take the people's side, the Swiss Guard was loyal to him until their death. You simply can't group all mercenaries as bad, and all national armies as good. (For the monarch, that is. From the French citizens' perspective, the National Guard who took their side was obviously the good guys.)
Machiavelli himself seems to have suffered greatly due to mercenary and foreign forces; it's understandable that he disliked mercenaries. One-third of it was probably his personal grudge.
They say every tool has its use. The effectiveness of mercenaries depends on how you use them.
While Hercule was certainly a machiavellian ideologist, that didn't mean he believed in everything Machiavelli said. In the first place, his personality and way of thinking didn't change much after he first read "The Prince".
It's not like Machiavelli himself had a lot of political achievements in life anyway… That was Hercule's personal impression of Machiavelli.
Be that as it may, it's the truth that mercenary forces typically can't be trusted. Hence…
"As expected, maintaining a standing army is the first priority. Garphis."
"I share the same opinion… We should avoid relying entirely on mercenaries."
While it sounds as if the Lemurian Empire depended completely on mercenaries, that was actually not the case. They did have a small standing army.
10,000 elven longbowmen, and 10,000 elven heavy cavalry called the clibanarii. Altogether, the Lemurian standing army numbered 20,000.
The Empire also possessed a navy of over 100 galleys.
Can you see why the finances were in peril?
Even one warhorse was enormously expensive, and a suit of armor had to be provided on top of that. The clibanarii were a huge burden on the treasury.
Originally the Empire had a standing army of approximately 100,000 infantry, and their cavalry troops were employed from allied barbarian tribes. But cavalry would become the main force in warfare from there on.
Taking that into consideration, Hadrianus III disbanded the infantry and formed a standing army composed of heavy cavalry and longbowmen. Hercule thought that was a wise move. It was obvious that wars from now on would be decided by cavalry charges.
The imperial standing army of the good ol' days… It sounds nice and all, but the legionaries armed with short swords and shields had become hopelessly obsolete. The legions that were once extremely flexible, could adapt to any battlefield and thus became the driving force behind the Lemurian Empire's territorial expansions, by Hadrianus's time had declined greatly in quality.
On top of that, changes in battle tactics had made close combat with short swords and shields difficult.
Against other foot soldiers—infantry armed with swords and spears like themselves and arranged in tightly packed formations, the mobile and flexible Lemurian army prevailed.
But when most enemy barbarian tribes started using cavalry—the invention of the stirrup made cavalry charging much easier—short swords and shields proved inadequate as protection against cavalry.
In that sense, it could be said that Hadrianus III had managed to read the trend of the times.
His only miscalculation was that the treasury was insufficient for reinforcing the cavalry and archer units, so he ended up having to disband the infantry entirely. Hadrianus was by no means an incompetent emperor… he was just lacking in some odd areas.
At this point, Hadrianus pondered on how to assemble a new infantry force. This should go without saying, but you can't fight wars with just cavalry and archers.
His answer was simple. Half of them would be soldiers conscripted from the peasantry, the other half would be barbarian mercenaries who had encroached on the Empire's interior.
10,000 soldiers who were little more than greenhorns.
And 10,000 soldiers who had zero interest in putting their lives on the line to fight his wars.
With that, even winnable wars became unwinnable.
"We have money from the financial reforms. 100,000 is impossible, but we should be able to maintain an army of about 30,000 men."
Roughly 70% of the Empire's expenditures were military spending. Thanks to Hercule's financial reforms and the 50% growth in tax revenue, military expansion was now possible.
"So, Garphis. How much military strength would be needed to defend the Empire's borders and wage wars to recover some of our lost territories?"
"…We have more than enough cavalry… That's what I would like to say, but it's still insufficient. As for infantry, we would need 100,000 men at least. Add another 100,000 men to that if we want to be on the safe side…"
"That's impossible," said Hercule as he shrugged. Then he inquired the other military man, Christos.
"What about the navy? How much reinforcement does it need?"
"There's no problem with the current navy if we want to maintain the status quo. But many ships are slowly approaching the end of their lifespans, so there's a need to build new ones. If spending was to decrease, we might be in danger of being unable to control the seas."
Basically, the navy is working just fine so please don't cut our budget.
Hearing that, Garphis spoke with a displeased expression.
"Your Majesty… In the past twenty years, there hasn't been any naval battle to speak of. What we need right now is the Army."
Upon that, Christos snapped.
"What did you say!! How are we going to defend the imperial capital if we lose control of the seas! Your Majesty, the Navy is indispensable!"
"There's no need to waste money on a bunch of loafers… Your Majesty, please strengthen the Army!!"
The two men started to squabble noisily. Since a while ago, Hercule had been hugging Carolina who was watching the two men with a wry smile on her face.
"Carolinaa—, the Army and the Navy are fighting over there…"
"Isn't it Your Majesty's job to be the mediator?"
Carolina made a strained smile. She found it sweet that whenever something happened recently, Hercule would get all clingy with her. It tickled her maternal instinct.
Geez, this person would be no good without me… That's how she thought. Perhaps that's the mentality of a woman who is being leeched on by a worthless guy.
"Your Majesty, please do your best."
"If Carolina says so then…"
Unable to refuse, Hercule stood up. The reason he revived so quickly was that he had snuggled his face into Carolina's chest amidst the chaos and managed to replenish his energy.
"I won't downsize the Navy, since it's difficult to recover control of the seas once it has been lost. I will reinforce the Army by 30,000 men. So have some patience, Garphis. And you guys gotta get along, or else I will abdicate."
Hercule ordered the two men. Realizing that they were quarreling in front of the Emperor, they promptly bowed in apology.
"Then hug each other to make peace."
"Er, that's a bit!!"
"Eh, Your Majesty?"
Christos and Garphis stared at one another in shock. But unable to disobey the Emperor's command, the two men grudgingly embraced each other.
"Kiss each other on the cheek."
"..."
"..."
The two men cleared all thoughts from their minds then placed their lips on each other's cheek. Seeing that, Hercule nodded in satisfaction…
"Dammit, my eyes. I wanna throw up! I just saw something disgusting. Save me, Carolina!"
While calling for help, Hercule clung to Carolina. She gently brushed his hair.
"How do you feel now?"
"Un, it's like I'm being purified."
Hercule gazed directly at Carolina's eyes. Her lovely face had already overwritten the sickening scene from before.
It was pitiful for the two men who had to kiss their hated rival then got called disgusting on top of that.
For a while, Garphis and Christos awkwardly watched on as Hercule and Carolina flirted with each other.
"The problem is how do we recruit officers for a standing army of 30,000 and what weapons this army should have. Any ideas?"
They say a thousand soldiers are easy to find, but a single general is hard to come by. But officers were even harder to come by than generals.
Compared to a general who could issue excellent orders, an officer who could convey those excellent orders to the rank and file soldiers was more important.
"Arranging officers for an army of 30,000 isn't a problem. We maintain a constant quota of officers in charge of directing mercenaries and conscripted soldiers."
"Is that so? That's good to hear. Next are armaments and tactics, then."
Hercule didn't feel like reviving the good old legions at all. The legion battle tactics were very sophisticated and difficult to teach, and most importantly, terribly outdated by now.
It was simply not worth the trouble reviving them.
"Take on the enemy with infantry, intercept them with archers, and pursue fleeing enemies with cavalry. Or restrain the enemy with infantry, break them with archers, and assault them with cavalry. These are the ideal scenarios."
Combining several military branches and making use of their respective advantages. That is the basic form of warfare.
In this world where battle tactics had regressed compared to the old days, such obvious concepts were being forgotten. The most damning evidence was how Hadrianus emphasized only cavalry and forgot about infantry.
The only reason the infantry that was the weakness of the Empire could repel foreign invaders was because their enemies shared the same weakness of making light of infantry.
"Your Majesty is very well-informed. Come to think of it, Your Majesty has a lot of battlefield experience."
"I've never seen victory, though."
Because Hadrianus had expectations for Hercule as his successor, he took Hercule with him to battle a lot. He lost a lot, too. Thanks to that, Hercule became top-notch at running away.
That didn't mean he had no experience, however. Quite the opposite—he analyzed the causes behind the bad examples that were Hadrianus's defeats, then read many strategy books to confirm his analysis… Because of that, he became quite well-versed in the matters of war.
He had never taken command of an army though, so in the end, it's all just armchair knowledge. It was only sufficient to augment for Garphis.
"Legions can neither hold back an enemy army nor pin them in place. The combination of short sword and shield is quite powerful, but…. that was thanks to the former Imperial Lemurian Army's high morale and strength. As expected, we have to use spears in this day and age."
Hearing Hercule's words, Garphis nodded in agreement. Garphis had also thought the same thing.
The problem was…
"The spear length, and whether or not to arm soldiers with shields. This depends on how we arrange battle formations…"
Afterward, Hercule and Garphis created a new and ideal standing infantry army after repeated discussions.
The infantry corps they created showed its usefulness one year later, when Hercule was about fifteen years old.