So many lords like to maintain a sizable infantry corps as a façade because it's genuinely economical!
Take for instance two barons, each with 3,000 troops. One has 1,000 heavy cavalry and 2,000 infantry, while the other has 100 heavy cavalry and 3,000 infantry. The difference in combat power is like heaven and earth; the former can easily crush the latter's 3,000 rabble.
Even in Hesse Territory, it's the same; 300 Elite Knights need only a few charges to shatter 2,000 infantry.
And such a substantial and elite army means that every month, Su Li, without doing anything else, incurs military expenses close to 3,500 Golden Crowns.
In fact, the financial expenditure is far more because he also needs to maintain a massive bureaucratic and civil service system, as well as spending on taxes, healthcare, religion, and infrastructure in the territory.
