"Logistics are a bit tight."

When Kvito came with the ledger, Duncan realized that so many people and horses consuming resources were stretching his finances thin.

Anya, where are you?

I miss you so much!

Though there are only about six hundred people, truly sustaining them is a challenge. Just for daily maintenance and training, it costs about a hundred gold coins per month. This is without even issuing military pay; if the troops were maintained to the empire's standard army, the expense would multiply several times. A hundred-man squad of the empire's field army requires close to a thousand gold coins annually.

The empire's field army is infamous for its high military expenditure, far surpassing the army costs of other forces.

Of course, these are all regular armies, the main combat soldiers. The empire's auxiliary corps barely require this much money. The empire's army typically distributes wages quarterly, with the expenses of a standard field army squad around three hundred and fifty gold coins. Spread out, it's actually not much, even slightly tight financially, needing to rely on spoils and rewards for maintenance.

The Barbarian Race's troop wages are only half of the empire's, but they have plunder and land allocation as spoils.

The troops Duncan recruited don't need wages for now, yet daily consumption is unavoidable. Feeding five to six hundred Great Han Dynasty soldiers daily is a considerable expense. With Duncan's approach, he wouldn't have them eat gruel every day, at least ensuring they have one meal of meat (fish) daily, even if it empties out his savings.

Due to the large number of people eating, it attracted nearby Briton residents, forming a small market outside the camp, with fishermen bringing their catch to exchange for household money.

Duncan also needs to prepare weapons and equipment for them. After various miscellaneous expenses, the money pouch is nearly drained, yet many still do not have armor, only able to use crude shields.

The bag of gold Anya left behind was gradually spent until empty.

"We can't wait any longer!"

"Actual combat training."

When Duncan realized his money pouch was almost empty, he decisively decided to take the initiative to attack.

Scout cavalry, gather intelligence!

Clegane and Talon each led a group of scout cavalry out, totaling about twelve men. Duncan had this many cavalry under his command; the warhorses would still need to be taken from others, as he truly couldn't afford to buy them.

The native chieftains and lords all had their own protective riders, whereas Duncan only had a squad of Celtic warriors who fought on foot, his resources falling short compared to theirs.

The Duke of Dingtiger had already reclaimed most of Devon County's land and even captured Exeter.

Currently, his troops are in a standoff with the enemy near Dorset.

To put it plainly, the Duke of Dingtiger has made steady progress, reclaiming a county's territory, and is probing Saxon pirates in the neighboring county, both sides trying to seize the chance to take out the other.

A day quickly passed.

Just as Duncan was preparing to take action.

"Fleet!"

"A fleet's coming!"

Cheers erupted from the direction of the coast, prompting Duncan to spring to his feet and rush toward the seacoast.

Anya's fleet!

Dear witch Anya had finally returned.

There wasn't a proper port nearby, making docking a little time-consuming. Anya's fleet had a total of six cargo ships and three small boats, none of which had a deep draft, mainly used for Mediterranean trade. The surrounding coastline of Britain was still under Saxon pirate control, coming here was a bit dangerous, but thankfully they didn't encounter any trouble.

Anya stood on the deck, wearing an opulent Roman aristocratic court gown, looking like a proud peacock!

In recent years, the influence of the church has grown, and traditional Roman clothing has changed. Anya was wearing early empire noblewomen's clothing, slightly reminiscent of the noble gowns in 'Spartacus,' showing a bit more, making her appear glamorous and alluring.

After the church was established as the state religion, Roman attire changed, arenas were closed, and the Olympics were stopped, leading to a gradually conservative mindset.

People used small boats to transport items from the cargo ships, such as shields, javelins, heavy short swords, and other military supplies, and food, cloth, dried meat, and other provisions—with those cargo ships packed to the brim.

Anya stepped onto the shoreline, proudly raising her head, giving Duncan a charming smile and saying, "I sold all my North African property at a low price."

"From now on, I can only rely on you."

"This is the first batch of supplies; the sale of estate land in Rome may take a while longer."

Truly a relinquishment of property.

Anya, although full of aristocratic quirks, possessed a boldness far beyond other men in her actions.

This batch of supplies relieved Duncan's urgent needs, with the only regret being the lack of armor—even Anya couldn't manage to acquire the empire's field army standard armor.

Though one of the ships had leather armor, it could barely arm quite a few people.

Duncan did not speak, only tightly gripping Anya's hand, intertwining their fingers, then raising her hand high, signaling to the others, soon prompting cheers to ring out.

Amid the cheering, Anya's beautiful face turned slightly red with excitement, seemingly thoroughly enjoying the feeling of being the center of attention.

"I also brought some people for you."

On the way back to the camp, Anya leaned close to Duncan's ear, whispering, "They used to be empire-associated traders."

"Any unnecessary loot can be sold to them."

—Associated traders.

—Empire-hired guards.

Duncan had already noticed, as their guards were dressed in the fashion of the empire's private conscripts, with some holding crossbows.

The empire was built on war.

As early as B.C., when the empire's troops were on expedition, they were accompanied by a large number of associated traders. They could purchase spoils at reduced prices and bring in supplies to meet the legion's needs from other places, to some extent replacing several civilian duties.

Of course, all this is done for profit.

Associated traders are a hugely profitable trade, their earnings are made by risking their lives, buying loot and selling them elsewhere for over double the profit; these converted cash valuables are usually distributed among the entire legion according to merit.

Everyone benefited—as long as the legion commander wasn't corrupt, spoils distributed from a victory would leave the legionnaires' purses full.

Rome's external wars frequently garnered enormous benefits, like immense war compensations from the Carthaginian wars, completing its Mediterranean domination; from the Macedonian wars, just the war compensations were as high as 1.2 billion, followed by annual tributes comparable to three national years' tax revenue at the time.

Starting from before B.C. to now, associated traders have developed slowly, even helping handle spoils looted by the Barbarian Race Huns post-empire.

If there's money to be made, they'll do anything!

Within the camp.

Following Anya's return, the merchants she brought immediately took over the army's logistics operations. Among Britons, few were literate or skilled with arithmetic, but Romans generally received a higher education. Anya's merchant association could maintain trade routes from North Africa's Carthage to Egypt's Alexander, managing logistics for a mere five to six hundred people was no problem.

Before leaving the tent, Anya's little finger softly hooked in Duncan's palm, her beautiful face showing a subtle expression requesting a reward.

This period of running around, exhausted and weathered, Anya was clearly famished.

Crow Queen Triss glanced over indifferently, merely watching Anya twist her full moon-like waist and hips as she slowly left, her eyes deep and inscrutable as to what she was thinking.

Her meeting with Merlin wasn't very successful.

Or to put it more frankly, Merlin belonged to the middle ground, inclined towards the church, unwilling to be dragged into these troublesome matters, nor obligated to assist her.

Since Duncan noticed Crow Queen Triss hadn't mentioned Merlin after returning, he knew the journey hadn't been smooth. Whether Merlin helped or not was indifferent to him, as Merlin wasn't counted into Duncan's plan.

In such chaotic times, one can only rely on oneself!

......

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