“Nobody really wants to hear the truth, eh?” Aahz said, sympathetically. “I suppose that’s typical. I think you’ll find it’s different this time around. Grimble. If nothing else, Skeeve here has full power to implement whatever changes he thinks are necessary to bring things in line.”
“That’s right,” I said, glad to finally be able to contribute to the proceedings. “One of the things I think we should do as soon as possible is cut back on the size of the army . . . say, maybe, by one-half?”
Knowing the Chancellor’s long-time feud with military spending, I thought he’d leap at this suggestion, but to my surprise, he shook his head.
“Can’t do it,” he said. “It would cause a depression.”
“I don’t care if they’re happy or not!” Aahz snarled. “Let’s get ’em off the payroll. The Queen’s agreed to stop her expansionist policies, so there’s no reason we should keep paying for an army this size.”
Grimble gave my partner a look like he was something unpleasant on the bottom of his shoe.
“I was referring to an economic depression,” he said tersely. “If we dump that many ex-soldiers on the job market at the same time we’re cutting back on military spending, it would create massive unemployment. Broke, hungry people, particularly those with prior military training, have a nasty tendency to revolt against those in power . . . which, in this case, happens to be us. I think you’ll agree, therefore, that, in the long run, huge cutbacks in the military force is not the wisest course to follow.”
I was rapidly developing a greater respect for Grimble. Obviously there was more to this beancounting game than I had ever imagined.