"Oh," Leonard Churchill started to understand as he listened.
The Revolutionary Army had always lived a life of privation except for the combatants, most of the rest were freed slaves and the indigent.
They had been besieged by the Federation, deprived of the conditions necessary for normal survival and production. To sustain such a large organization, the funds and resources required were astronomical.
Apart from covert donations from various sources, most of the fundraising needed to be done by their leaders.
Sophia Jones had originally served as the chief steward at Flood Gang, not simply as a cover identity. It had been a major source of funds for the Revolutionary Army.
Now that the troops had relocated, their combatants could not stay indefinitely in the barren land of the East Wilderness.
They needed funds and transcendent resources.
It wasn't just Sophia who needed Eighth Rank materials; many experts in her team also needed Seventh Rank materials.