Claude was curious as to what kind of plan Baron Robert had proposed to infuriate everyone in the meeting.
Welikro's father, Kubrik, in particular, had a falling out with him on the spot and even threatened to report him. Just how much hatred did he have?
Those who were invited to the meeting were all retired veterans of the town. Even though Whitestag was small, there were still more than fifty of them and they couldn't be bypassed when it came to the formation of the garrison.
Baron Robert's plan had to be approved by at least two-thirds of the people before it could be implemented. It couldn't be helped, as it was stipulated by the laws of the kingdom.
Before Stellin IX ascended to the throne, he had traveled the entire continent of Freia. After he returned, his father, Stellin VIII, appointed him as the overseer minister and put him in charge of the kingdom's garrison.
During his time on the job, he discovered that many of the garrison troops were filled with ruffians without any fighting ability. They were the best at bullying the commoners and extorting merchants.
Most of them became the minions of the lords and local officials. They were the kingdom's army in name, but in reality, they were the private armies of ambitious people.
In the end, Stellin IX had no choice but to go on a killing spree to reorganize the garrison troops and punish the ruffians according to their crimes. That won him a great deal of reputation among the commoners, but it also earned him the hatred of countless lords and local officials.
That was also why almost all the lords and local officials stood against him after the kingdom's civil war broke out.
However, Stellin IX still managed to emerge victorious in the end.
After he ascended to the throne, he laid down detailed laws on the garrison troops in each region to prevent the possibility of the garrison troops becoming the private armies of local officials. At the very least, he ensured that the garrison troops had a certain level of fighting ability and wouldn't become a source of unrest in the region.
The kingdom's military force was divided into three parts. The first was the field troops, which were stationed at strategic locations.
The field troops had the most extensive source of recruits. Even ruffians wouldn't be a problem. Sometimes, when war broke out, they would even organize forced conscription campaigns to forcibly enlist the commoners who didn't have a fixed job or those who had nothing better to do. The ruffians weren't rejected at all.
In any case, there was strict military discipline to restrain them. As long as they went through a period of strict training, they would become qualified cannon fodder.
The second part was the Garrison Barracks. Generally speaking, every county had a local Garrison Barracks with about eight to nine hundred people. They were divided into four Garrison Brigades, each with about two hundred people.
Most of the members of the Garrison Camp were retired and demobilized officers from the field army, as well as a large number of veterans from the field army.
For example, a soldier had to serve in the army for 15 years to obtain national status. Then, he could serve in the field army for 7 to 8 years, then transfer to the local garrison to complete the rest of his military service to obtain national status.
For the kingdom, the local garrison was a second-line force responsible for local security. During the war, it could be expanded quickly to fill in the gaps in the frontlines.
The third part was the local garrisons.
In fact, there were not many local garrisons in the kingdom. The largest organization was the garrison brigade, which was responsible for guarding the strategic checkpoints in the interior of the kingdom.
During the war, he maintained local order, guarded the transportation safety of the traffic roads, and looked after the logistical supplies. Sometimes, he was also conscripted by the military to the frontlines to guard the prisoner camps.
Since the expenses for the formation and maintenance of the local garrison weren't borne by the kingdom's military, it was allocated from the local treasury.
That was why, out of fear that the garrison would become the private army of the local nobles, the kingdom's laws had detailed regulations for the formation of the local garrison.
For example, retired veterans would be the main force while civilians with clean backgrounds would be the secondary force. It was strictly forbidden to recruit hoodlums and even civilians with criminal records.
Welikro's father, Kubrik, finally calmed down a little after scolding Baron Robert. He drank a big bowl of rye wine before telling his father about Baron Robert's plan to set up the garrison in Whitestag.
The prefectural capital's order was for Whitestag to form a garrison brigade of 224 men. The kingdom's military system was based on a four-by-four system, which meant that four garrison squads would form a garrison platoon and four platoons would form a garrison brigade.
The prefectural capital would then provide Whitestag with the resources needed for a garrison brigade, but the town itself would have to raise the funds to maintain the brigade.
As for the recruitment of new garrison members, the town hall would have to go through an examination and approval process. The prefectural capital would then order the garrison camp to send more than ten officers and veterans to join the brigade as instructors, supervisors, and commanders. That way, there would still be a group of middle-ranking officers that would need to be filled by retired veterans.
Baron Robert convened a meeting in the name of the mayor to discuss the formation of the garrison brigade.
He went straight to the point and said that the town hall wouldn't be able to complete the task due to the lack of funds.
There were only two ways left. The first was to levy a temporary tax and collect a sum of money from every household in the town to fund the formation of the garrison brigade.
The second was to make a donation. The merchants and wealthy households in Whitestag would be willing to donate money to complete the task.
Those who attended the meeting were all retired veterans of the town. Given their statuses as citizens, they were considered wealthy in the town, so they didn't object to Baron Robert's suggestion of a temporary tax or a voluntary donation.
Apart from the elderly and the handicapped, at least half of the men present at the meeting would have been able to secure an officer's post in the garrison, which would have been of great advantage to their advancement in the town, and they would have been glad to be a member of the garrison, even if the monthly stipend was small.
However, when Mayor Robert announced the amount of the tax and voluntary donation, everyone was shocked. That amount was a little too large. Let alone a garrison brigade, even a garrison camp would have to be formed with that amount.
Especially when Mayor Robert said that they would only be collecting the funds to form the garrison brigade. They would have to think of other ways to maintain the brigade. It would be best if the temporary tax could be turned into a regular tax and collected twice a year. That way, they would be able to maintain the garrison brigade.
So, Mayor Robert decided to leave the tax proposal to everyone and sign their names before submitting it to the council of the prefectural city. Once it was approved, the town hall would be able to implement the proposal.
No one was a fool. A few retired veterans who were good at math pointed out the unreasonable amount of money in the tax proposal on the spot. They believed that the mayor, Baron Robert, was putting the blame on the veterans who came to attend the meeting, while he reaped the benefits of the tax proposal.
Moreover, the tax wasn't monitored at the end, so who knew if the money would be used on the garrison brigade?
Mayor Robert argued that it had nothing to do with him, as the treasurer had also been arrested that morning for endangering the safety of the kingdom.
The town hall's accounts hadn't been sorted out yet and without a treasurer, it was a complete mess.
So, he could only make a rough estimate of the amount. Regardless, having more money was always a good thing.
Well, after the three heads of the town hall, the treasurer, and the patrol officers were arrested in the morning, Baron Robert, the mayor of the town, had become the only voice in town.
However, the veterans didn't give him any face. No matter what he said, they wouldn't agree to the two proposals.
It was obvious that everyone saw through Baron Robert's intentions. He wanted to use the opportunity to build the garrison brigade to rake in a huge sum of money.
Due to the unanimous opposition of the veterans, Mayor Robert no longer insisted on the tax and voluntary donation plans.
He said angrily, "Even if none of you are willing to contribute to the construction of the garrison brigade, there are others who are willing to contribute to the town."
Then, he came up with another plan to form a garrison brigade.
Mayor Robert said that the owner of the fish processing plant, Bidlir Blanche, was willing to donate the funds needed to build the garrison brigade and promised that he would be responsible for its maintenance in the future.
The only requirement was that he be appointed as a platoon jarl and be in charge of recruiting members for the platoon.
If Mayor Robert's two proposals to raise funds were just a little bit of a ripple, then this proposal was simply a monstrous wave.
The retired veterans in the room snapped back to reality and were enraged, asking Mayor Robert what he was trying to do.
Kubrik even started cursing on the spot, threatening to report Mayor Robert for plotting a rebellion …
"Is he crazy?
Why would he suggest something like that? He's basically betting his life on Bidlir Blanche. If something happens, there's no way he'll be able to escape. "Claude was truly shocked. Mayor Robert must have been kicked in the head by a donkey to suggest something like that.
Every resident of Whitestag knew what kind of person Bidlir Blanche was.
On the surface, he was the owner of the fish processing plant with more than two hundred workers under him.
But in reality, he was the boss of Blacksnake and the true controller of the old street in the Land of Moonlight.
Almost all the crimes that happened in the slums had his shadow behind them.
His nickname, Bloody Bill, wasn't just for show. It was said that the number of innocents who died in his hands numbered in the double digits.
However, Bidlir Blanche was only the boss of the slums. Even though he came from a wealthy family, nobody in the upper class of Whitestag was willing to pay attention to him.
The main reason was that his reputation was so bad that nobody wanted to have anything to do with him. It was only after Baron Robert became mayor that Bidlir Blanche had a few chances to appear at the family banquets hosted by Baron Robert.
Even though Bidlir Blanche always claimed to be a law-abiding citizen and workshop owner who paid taxes and did charity, those who knew about him kept their distance.
However, those who knew his background kept a respectful distance from him. Even at the family banquets hosted by Mayor Robert, many people would find an excuse to leave after exchanging a few words with Bidlir Blanche out of respect for Baron Robert. Unknowingly, he was isolated.
Only Baron Robert didn't mind Bidlir Blanche's dirty money and tried his best to rope him into the upper class of Whitestag. But with the resistance of the three heads of the town hall, the matter didn't go anywhere.
Now, the three people from the town hall who went against Baron Robert were all arrested.
Baron Robert thought that as the mayor, he could do whatever he wanted in the town hall and actually wanted to use the opportunity to push Bidlir Blanche to the front.
Everyone knew that becoming a platoon jarl of the garrison meant that he was one of the new nobles in Whitestag.
There wasn't a single veteran in the meeting who didn't know about Bidlir Blanche's background. Kubrik's accusation that Mayor Robert was plotting a rebellion was quite reasonable.
First of all, Bidlir Blanche was only a commoner and not a citizen. What right did he have to be a platoon jarl?
Second, Bidlir Blanche's request to be a platoon jarl and be in charge of the recruitment and formation of his own platoon made it obvious that he would only recruit members of Blacksnake. That was already against the kingdom's laws regarding the recruitment of garrison members.
Those hoodlums would only listen to Bidlir Blanche's orders. That was akin to having their own authority within the garrison.
Third, Bidlir Blanche said that he would be in charge of the garrison's finances in the future. Everyone knew that apart from manpower, the most important thing was financial authority.
If Bidlir Blanche was in charge of the garrison's finances in the future, wouldn't the garrison become a private army that would only listen to his orders?