Lord Harland

In just two years, two earls died and most of their power was lost. The Martins family may not have the confidence to run the territory.

According to normal development, the Martins family will probably give up their status as hereditary earls and retreat into the ranks of ordinary nobles.

Relying on Donnie Martins, he achieved a class jump, but the Martins family's background was not deep and they could not stabilize the situation at all.

If you want to stand firm in the hereditary earl class, you must at least build a legion with strong combat effectiveness. There must be at least 10,000 elite soldiers and several hundred Warcraft cavalry.

The earls in the south can all pull together a powerful force. Even the royal family will have to weigh the seven earls joining forces.

The power controlled by Earl Martins is slightly worse than that of the Harland family and the Roman family.

If Richard were to be aggressive, he could expand his army by 8,000 and form a smaller army, while Count Martins could only organize an army of 3,000, and the quality of his officers and soldiers, as well as their weapons and equipment, were very average.

The earldom is located in a prominent location and is easily attacked by orcs.

Although King Charles divided a large territory for him, most of it was worthless wasteland. He asked the Donny Martins family to undertake an impossible task, which was actually a sign of failure.

If the Martins family makes a fuss at the meeting of nobles and demands to give up their title, it will be enough to embarrass the Grant Kingdom in the Dawn Plane.

Once the great nobles of the Grant Kingdom are worthless, their political influence will be too great.

Richard was unaware of the game in the royal capital. After returning to Fort William, Richard took advantage of his spare time during the war to make enchanted armor.

This time, they surrounded and annihilated five brigades of orcs and killed 200 snake-born professionals. These snake-like people are basically the result of the battles of the soldiers in Harland's territory, and the scales and armor on their bodies were pulled off by the soldiers.

Together, these scales can be made into more than three hundred pieces of enchanted armor.

After the orcs poured in from the Gascoigne Province, they divided their forces into two groups and marched westward with two legions to besiege the Flame Castle, sweep the nearby noble territories, capture the population and steal gold coins.

The Mad Lion Legion stationed at Flame Castle, together with half of the Atonement Legion that retreated, combined with the noble private army and the Orc Legion to struggle and barely maintain the situation.

Another Orc Legion turned its troops to the west and began to attack the castle of Baron Harden, hoping to invade the Gedda Province from the west and plunder it.

The situation became serious, and Zachary, the commander of the Atonement Legion, immediately asked Black River Fort for help.

Stein, the new commander of the Northern Army, was in a dilemma when he received the letter asking for help.

Due to political strife and too many involvements, many junior officers were dismissed and retired. The morale of the Northern Army was low, and Stein did not dare to fight the Orcs decisively.

But once Haddon Castle fell, the situation was out of control.

Last time, he used the noble coalition to push forward, but this kind of thing cannot be done often.

Once the aristocratic coalition had complaints, did not work hard, used the serf army to fool them, and ruined the war situation, he was mainly responsible for being held accountable.

After all, Richard and Viscount Luomen had already won the battle, so it would be easier to make excuses then.

Although there was some lack of confidence, at this time, Stein had to organize a rescue.

He summoned the soldiers of the Northern Army and began mobilization before the war.

"Soldiers and officers, I know that during this period, everyone has suffered a lot, many people have been punished, and some people have been implicated and kicked out of the Northern Army.

These people are all excellent officers, and many of them are your old friends and senior officers. But they are politically unreliable, and the stronger their abilities, the more they must be suppressed. Who makes them lose their political foothold and follow the unlucky guy Zachary?

Now that the orcs have invaded on a large scale, I know the morale of the army is a little unstable, but we must fight.

Our goal in this battle is to rescue the unlucky guy Zachary. He is your old commander, and the officers under his command are all your comrades for many years, companions in life and death.

I ordered the First Brigade, the Third Brigade, and the Sixth Brigade to be the leading echelons and send troops for rescue today. "

The Third Battalion commanded by William and the Sixth Battalion commanded by Bernie were politically correct and no officers were implicated. These two brigades were least affected.

The former captain of the First Battalion was the deputy commander. Because of his higher status and a moderate relationship with Zachary, he was slightly less affected.

Now William has been promoted to deputy commander and captain of the First Battalion, and Bernie has been transferred to the Wild Lion Legion. The commanders of the Third and Sixth Brigades were replaced by close officers close to Stein.

However, the new captain's management time is still short, and William has a much greater influence on the two teams.

Moreover, William had the highest military rank, the most seniority, and the strongest strength, so he became the first echelon commander without hesitation.

Black River Castle is one hundred and sixty kilometers away from Haddon Castle, but this section of the road is connected by water.

Board the boat from Black River Castle, go upstream for 100 kilometers, and then sail along the Kaiya River, a tributary of the Black River, for 80 kilometers to reach the west of Harden Castle.

Transporting troops by water is not only fast, but also more convenient for transporting various logistical supplies.

William commanded three brigades and set up camp by the Kea River, forming a complete line of defense with Haddon Castle.

After the battlefield situation changed, Zachary wrote a personal letter to Richard requesting support.

Richard led the soldiers from Harland Territory to Platos Castle and confronted the five orc brigades, while Zachary gathered the soldiers at Haden Castle to wait for reinforcements.

Richard and William, father and son, were less than fifty kilometers apart. Although they are on the same battlefield, they cannot meet because of the emergency of the war.

At this time, a strategic confrontation has formed between Platos and Harden Castle.

On the defensive side, the Grant Kingdom's first-line garrison totaled 19,000. Richard led 5,000 troops, including 3,500 main troops and 1,500 auxiliary troops, stationed at the Platos Fortress Group. The orcs opposite Richard had five brigades, numbering about 10,000.

In the direction of Harden Castle, there are 8,000 Redeemer Legions stationed in the city. Outside the city, there are three brigades of the Northern Legion of 6,000 troops on the riverside. The total strength is 14,000. However, the Orcs opposite them have one and a half legions. The total number of auxiliary soldiers is about 40,000.

But the Grant Kingdom still has a large number of second-line troops that can be reinforced at any time.

The remaining troops of the Northern Army are 18,000, and the coalition of nobles in the province of Geda can still mobilize 5,000. When all the troops are gathered together, it is enough to fight an evenly matched decisive battle with the orcs.

Outside Harden Castle, the orcs launched several tentative attacks, which were easily repelled by the defenders.

Both William and Zachary were excellent officers, and the men they commanded were also considered to be elite soldiers and strong generals.

The three brigades commanded by William are all the main brigades of the Northern Army. The three brigades have a total strength of 6,000, with more than 400 professionals and more than 600 enchanted armors.

These three brigades are very powerful and can defeat the remaining seven brigades of the Northern Army in one fell swoop. Especially the first brigade has more than 200 professionals and its combat effectiveness is second only to the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade.

Even in hand-to-hand combat with the orcs, the combat effectiveness of the troops commanded by William is comparable to that of five orc brigades, which is equivalent to half an orc army.

Moreover, the camp built by William was close to the river and could receive support from the navy.

The transport ships were equipped with small trebuchets, crossbows and other heavy weapons. The orcs made two tentative attacks, killing and wounding five to six hundred soldiers, but did not find any weaknesses at all.

If you want to capture William's camp, you will probably have to cripple an entire orc army.

The Atonement Legion commanded by Zachary was not a winning force either. This legion was composed and trained by nobles who had failed to take political sides, especially the southern nobles, who all hoped to make a comeback through military exploits, so the soldiers were carefully selected.

In addition, many of the officers of the Northern Army who were implicated chose to defect to the old commander. These people were very good at fighting, and Zachary knew them very well. He knew people well and placed them in appropriate positions. Although the combat effectiveness of the Redeemer Legion is not as good as that of the main army, it is stronger than the second-line army.

In the orc military tent, the legion commander ninth-level werewolf Su Yasola sat in the middle, with a large number of senior orc officers sitting on both sides below.

"The battle situation has become clear. Let's share our opinions."

An orc captain held a riding crop and said cautiously: "The main force of the Northern Army has not yet appeared. We must be cautious in our actions to avoid exposing flaws."

The Northern Legion completely annihilated the Orc Legion twice in a row. Even the senior Orc officers were somewhat afraid of this legion.

The deputy commander of the ninth-level dragon-veined kobold Usmat nodded and said: "Through the information returned by human spies last year, we know that a civil war broke out in the Kingdom of Grant. Prince Roger and King Charles competed for the dominance of the country. In the end, Prince Roger won Victory, the civil strife lasted for more than a month. Unfortunately, when the information came back, the civil strife was already over. Otherwise, we could have achieved a glorious victory while taking advantage of the civil strife."

The situation last year was indeed very dangerous. If the civil strife lasted longer and the orcs were involved, a large area of ​​Grant Kingdom's northern territory would be lost.

After the nest is overturned, are the eggs intact? If the overall situation is defeated, the Harland territory will not be spared. Maybe years of accumulation will be destroyed in one day.

After hearing this, Su Yasola immediately frowned and said: "What's the use of talking about this? Let's talk about your views first. Should we mobilize the main force to attack Haden Castle and fight the human army."

"I think there is no chance of winning in a decisive battle, so we might as well divide our forces and plunder."

Su Yasora turned his head and stared at the other orc officers: "Do you think you also want to divide your troops and plunder?"

"That's right. After dividing the troops, we will go south and go to the Rab Basin to grab some. Just leave one legion here at Haden Castle."

Although Su Yasora wanted to fight the human army decisively, other orc officers wanted to go south to plunder.

The orcs have a tribal alliance system. Although Sulasora is the supreme commander, he must listen to the opinions of the majority to a certain extent.

After a military meeting, the orcs decided to divide their forces and go south.

Legion commander Su Yasola led a main legion of 25,000 orcs to watch the defenders of Haden Castle.

Another fifteen thousand orcs bypassed Harden Castle and began to march towards the hinterland of Gascoigne Province.

The first unlucky person was Baron Paul.

An ordinary baron could not stop the orcs for a few days.

Although Baron Paul resisted fiercely and led his soldiers to fight to the last soldier, he also killed hundreds of orc soldiers with the help of the trebuchet on the city top. However, the territory was only defended for a day and a half, and more than 10,000 people were captured by the orcs. The food and gold coins in the territory became the trophies of the orcs.

Next came the four barons Pellet, Wesker, Peter, and Ramos, but they couldn't last more than a few days.

The orcs mobilized their troops westward and entered the three baronies of Burnham, Tynes, and Cisse.

The three barons Burnham, Cisse, and Tynes were relatively powerful and mobilized 20,000 serf soldiers at their maximum. These serf soldiers fought very bravely. They formed a coalition and fought to the death, even causing the orcs to lose 2,000 soldiers. Capture of Burnham Castle.

Although five baronies were conquered after the victory, the orcs had lost three thousand troops at this moment. In addition to the two thousand troops lost in Burnham territory, the strength of the orc army going south was less than ten thousand.

By this time, the orcs had grabbed a large number of people and supplies, achieved their strategic goals, and were no longer prepared to fight a hard battle with the soldiers of the Grant Kingdom.

After the orcs divided their forces and went south, Richard did not take the initiative to ask for war.

In the previous battles, Harland Territory has lost some soldiers. More than 200 soldiers were killed in the previous battles, and there were also 400 to 500 wounded soldiers.

Relative to the number of soldiers in the territory, the casualties were already considerable. If the backbone of veterans is eliminated and there is no virtuous cycle, it may take ten years to build up this elite force again.

Therefore, in the next battle, Richard tried his best to avoid the battle.

The orcs in the northern part of the Platos fortress group did not want to pay too many casualties due to the blockade of the trebuchets, and did not take the initiative to attack the fortress.

The state of peace on the Northern Front lasted until June.

In the past three months, the orcs who had divided their forces and headed south had won consecutive battles, destroyed five baronies, and even entered the Rab Basin to rob it.

In just three months, the orcs had already captured a population of 120,000.

Such a heavy loss made the capital extremely angry.

King Roger had led troops to fight for many years, and he immediately grasped the key and wrote a letter to reprimand Stein, the commander of the Northern Army. Ask him to take responsibility and take back the population robbed by the orcs, otherwise he will be held accountable after the war and his status as a hereditary noble will be deprived of him.

By this time, Stein had no reason to avoid fighting.

Although the orcs were robbing the population of the Gascoigne province, the responsibility seemed to have nothing to do with Stein. Geda Province still won the battle, and if we want to be held accountable, we should also hold the Mad Lions accountable.

But Roger was experienced in the army and had a correct view of the war situation and did not need to listen to other people's opinions.

The reason why Gascoigne Province suffered heavy losses in this battle was because of Stein's avoidance of the battle.

If the Northern Army took the initiative to assume the responsibility, the orcs would not be able to divide their troops, and the Gascoigne Province would not be plundered by the orcs.

Even if he had a reason to avoid the war, King Roger mentally labeled Stein as not understanding the overall situation.