"First, the Dragon Palace reserve force will be expanded from the original 10,000 to 12,000, and the families of all reserve members will be taken care of by the Dragon Palace!"
"General, this means we will be supporting 12,000 families. With our finances, this will be very tight. And we don't have enough housing in the Dragon Palace building?" Zhou Ningdong asked in confusion.
"We are not taking care of them for free. We will have them form gold-farming teams. They will only receive the minimum monthly living allowance. As for the housing issue, this is what I need to specifically address!"
"Acquire all residences within two kilometers of the Dragon Palace building! Then, build an impenetrable protective wall! This should be enough to house all personnel! It will also prevent various nuisances from bothering us from time to time. The excess houses can be reserved, and will be useful as the Dragon Palace grows."
After speaking, Ye Yun looked at Liu Hai.
The reserve force fell under Liu Hai's jurisdiction.
Hiss...
Ye Yun's words made the eight people present gasp. Expanding the army, expanding territory, and increasing financial expenditure – none of these projects were within their authority, as the Elder Council had not granted authorization for them.
However, as the highest commander of the Dragon Palace, Ye Yun's orders were to be followed.
"General, if we have to cover the families of the reserve force, our monthly expenditure will increase by... around 80 million! Coupled with the cost of the additional 2,000 reserve members, our monthly expenditure will increase by approximately 20 billion gold coins." Liu Hai lowered his head, his fingers rapidly typing on the computer, quickly calculating the figures.
"20.1 billion? Per month. If it can earn the loyalty of the reserve force, it's worth it. Liu Hai, the reserve force is large, and the families of the regular members also need your management. Your workload is heavy. Look for talented individuals within the reserve force for management, and find several assistants."
"Yes!" Liu Hai quickly responded.
"General, there are a total of 162 buildings and 13,782 residences within two kilometers of our Dragon Palace, with a total floor area of 1.32 million square meters. The CBD has 17 buildings, with a total area of about 540,000 square meters. If we were to acquire all of them... it would cost about 72 billion. Our current remaining funds are 177.2 billion." Zhou Ningdong swallowed, Ye Yun was playing too big a game. He, as the finance manager, was a bit bewildered.
The guards were already dissatisfied with the monthly gold coins they had to submit. If Ye Yun proceeded like this, it would only intensify the conflict. It wasn't just the Ministry of National Defense; other departments would likely have opinions too.
"So much?" Ye Yun's brow furrowed upon hearing this.
Damn it, Modu truly lived up to its name. The housing prices were frighteningly high. Such a small area cost so much money. In terms of purchasing power, this money could buy four to five times the land in the previous Dragon City. Most importantly, this money could create two SSS-tier talents, or 40 SS-tier talents!
Ye Yun's fingers tapped incessantly on the conference table, and the entire office fell into a suffocating silence.
Compared to the tens of kilometers of territory owned by the guards, the Dragon Palace's territory was pitifully small, consisting of only the Dragon Palace building.
"Let's put it on hold for now. Liu Hai, the reserve force will be expanded first. For both regular and reserve members, do not forget their ideological education. We cannot let our comrades focus their minds on the wrong things."
"Zhou Ningdong, Li Chenxu, when you have free time, go visit the Modu City Government. See if we can acquire the properties by expropriation, which would save us at least half the money." The Dragon Palace's daily expenses were calculated in billions, so every bit saved counted.
The Dragon Palace's total monthly income from various departments and funds was only around 118 billion. However, for every person who transitioned from reserve to regular member each day, 1.7 billion had to be disbursed to them. Calculated this way, the monthly expenses for this alone would be 51 billion!
Although Ye Yun's requirement for regular members to submit 2 million gold coins per month seemed like a lot, it only amounted to 400 million gold coins! Their monthly salaries alone weren't enough, requiring subsidies.
If we included in-game income and other calculations, the Dragon Palace's monthly surplus should be around 70 billion! To create one 4S-tier talent would take a full 10 months!
Ten months was too long!
This created a huge gap between Ye Yun's expectations and reality. Although this path could bring more SS-tier talents to the Dragon Palace, the number of high-end combatants would be limited.
"Am I asking too much? Or perhaps, to create an all-SSS talent?"
Ye Yun muttered to himself as he watched the others leave the conference room. After all, the cost of creating one SSSS-tier talent was enough to create 20 SSS-tier talents.
The talent rankings required 100 million players to reach level 20. Based on the current situation, this would take at least a month!
Let's see what happens then.
The talent rankings were far more rewarding than the level rankings. The first place prize was a staggering 10 billion gold coins!
Currently, Ye Yun's talent ranked first on the leaderboard, though he had hidden all his information.
"General, someone from the Li family has arrived! It's not the Li family patriarch, but their head butler, Li Yuezhen." At this moment, Ding Yi walked in.
Since arriving at the Dragon Palace, she had been working as Ye Yun's assistant, not only coordinating with Zhou Ningdong and Chen Jiamiao but also handling some of Ye Yun's personal matters.
This title felt a bit distant.
Ye Yun felt a pang of discomfort, but he didn't say anything.
"Li family butler? Send him away! Damn it, I told them to send the patriarch, and they sent a butler. Do they look down on our Dragon Palace that much?"
"But... he brought over a hundred people and is currently confronting our Dragon Palace members downstairs. They've already trashed the lobby on the first floor," Ding Yi said, her face pale. She had never experienced such a situation before – hundreds of heavily armed soldiers in a standoff. She was afraid of an accidental shot being fired!
"Brought people?"
"It seems these prominent families are as rotten as they say on the internet?"
Ye Yun frowned, a surge of anger rising within him.
The Dragon Palace building had 68 floors. Ye Yun usually stayed on the 68th floor, occasionally on the 67th. He had never been to the lower floors.
"Get your weapons! Assemble on the first floor in two minutes!" Ye Yun raised his wrist and pressed a button on his watch, saying coldly.
"General, won't this escalate things too much?" Li Chenxu, who had just entered the conference room, was almost scared out of his wits by Ye Yun's command.
That was the Li family of Modu, the foremost prominent family in Modu and even the entire East China region! They were even among the top five in the entire Chinese military and political system. And Ye Yun's current actions were undoubtedly heading towards a confrontation with them.
Earlier, Ye Yun had asked him to build relationships with the city government. Now, it was likely that no one in Modu's government, police, or military would be friendly to them. They might even blacklist the entire Dragon Palace.
"You've come at the right time. Everyone, prepare for battle. Damn it, if anyone dares to cause trouble at our Dragon Palace, even the King of Heaven will have to bow down." Ye Yun completely disregarded their concerns. If they pushed him too far, he would destroy the Li family and all other prominent families!