diff --git a/ParadoxSaveParser.Lib/SaveParserEU4.cs b/ParadoxSaveParser.Lib/SaveParserEU4.cs
index 89d12ab..22a4998 100644
--- a/ParadoxSaveParser.Lib/SaveParserEU4.cs
+++ b/ParadoxSaveParser.Lib/SaveParserEU4.cs
@@ -16,9 +16,6 @@ public class SaveParserEU4
     private readonly ObjectPool<StringBuilder> _stringBuilderPool;
     private ISearchExpression? _searchExprCurrent;
 
-    public int SBPoolGetCount = 0;
-    public int SBPoolReturnCount = 0;
-
     /// <param name="savefile">
     ///     Uncompressed stream of <c>gamestate</c> file which can be extracted from save archive
     /// </param>
@@ -50,7 +47,6 @@ public class SaveParserEU4
             throw new Exception($"Invalid gamestate header. Expected '{expectedHeader}', got '{headStr}'.");
 
         StringBuilder strb = _stringBuilderPool.Get();
-        SBPoolGetCount++;
         int line = 2;
         int column = 0;
         bool isQuoteOpen = false;
@@ -80,7 +76,6 @@ public class SaveParserEU4
                 value = strb,
             };
             strb = _stringBuilderPool.Get();
-            SBPoolGetCount++;
             isStrInQuotes = false;
             return true;
         }
@@ -95,7 +90,6 @@ public class SaveParserEU4
                     if (TryCompleteStringToken())
                         yield return strToken;
                     _stringBuilderPool.Return(strb);
-                    SBPoolReturnCount++;
                     yield break;
                 case '\"':
                     isQuoteOpen = !isQuoteOpen;
@@ -150,7 +144,6 @@ public class SaveParserEU4
         }
 
         _stringBuilderPool.Return(strb);
-        SBPoolReturnCount++;
     }
 
 
@@ -161,9 +154,12 @@ public class SaveParserEU4
         switch (tok.type)
         {
             case TokenType.StringOrNumber:
-                string tokStr = tok.value!.ToString();
+                // string values can be empty
+                if(tok.value!.Length == 0)
+                    return string.Empty;
+                
+                string tokStr = tok.value.ToString();
                 _stringBuilderPool.Return(tok.value);
-                SBPoolReturnCount++;
                 if (tokStr[0] != '-' && !char.IsDigit(tokStr[0]))
                     return tokStr;
                 if (tokStr.Contains('.') && double.TryParse(tokStr, out double d))
@@ -194,7 +190,6 @@ public class SaveParserEU4
                 return true;
             case TokenType.StringOrNumber:
                 _stringBuilderPool.Return(tok.value!);
-                SBPoolReturnCount++;
                 return true;
             case TokenType.Equals:
                 return true;
@@ -218,7 +213,6 @@ public class SaveParserEU4
             else if (tok.type == TokenType.StringOrNumber)
             {
                 _stringBuilderPool.Return(tok.value!);
-                SBPoolReturnCount++;
             }
         }
     }
@@ -302,7 +296,6 @@ public class SaveParserEU4
             {
                 SkipValue();
                 _stringBuilderPool.Return(keySB);
-                SBPoolReturnCount++;
                 continue;
             }
 
@@ -315,7 +308,6 @@ public class SaveParserEU4
 
             string keyStr = keySB.ToString();
             _stringBuilderPool.Return(keySB);
-            SBPoolReturnCount++;
             if (!dict.TryGetValue(keyStr, out var list))
             {
                 list = new List<object>();
diff --git a/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/Program.RequestHandlers.cs b/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/Program.RequestHandlers.cs
index b5e5a27..0c9fcf3 100644
--- a/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/Program.RequestHandlers.cs
+++ b/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/Program.RequestHandlers.cs
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ public partial class Program
         }
         finally
         {
-            GC.Collect();
+            GC.Collect(GC.MaxGeneration, GCCollectionMode.Aggressive, false, true);
         }
 
         return await ReturnResponseJson(ctx, meta);
diff --git a/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/Program.cs b/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/Program.cs
index 155806d..9bab2bc 100644
--- a/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/Program.cs
+++ b/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/Program.cs
@@ -55,21 +55,6 @@ public static partial class Program
 
         try
         {
-            Stopwatch stopwatch = new();
-            using var save = File.OpenRead("data/gamestate");
-            stopwatch.Start();
-            var parser = new SaveParserEU4(save, SearchExpressionCompiler.Compile("saved_event_target"));
-            var result = parser.Parse();
-            stopwatch.Stop();
-            using (var resultFile = File.OpenWrite("data/parsed.json"))
-            {
-                JsonSerializer.Serialize(resultFile, result, _saveSerializerOptions);
-            }
-            Console.WriteLine($"get: {parser.SBPoolGetCount} return: {parser.SBPoolReturnCount} " +
-                              $"delta: {parser.SBPoolGetCount - parser.SBPoolReturnCount}");
-            Console.WriteLine(stopwatch.Elapsed);
-            return;
-            
             // config
             if (!File.Exists(_configPath))
             {