Lord Harland

Haldane is a legendary knight with rich combat experience. The situation has developed to this point, and he knows in his heart that Linus Castle can no longer be defended.

The war has reached this point, and Haldane has suffered very serious losses. The army he controls, including the city defense army, is only more than 30,000. These soldiers need to guard 140 kilometers of river banks, thirteen camps, and three frontline castles. In addition, soldiers must be deployed to defend Linus Castle. There are no extra soldiers at all.

The only ones left with the ability to maneuver were two thousand Warcraft Cavalry.

Although Haldane's two thousand Warcraft cavalry were powerful, they were not good at attacking cities.

Moreover, these two thousand warcraft cavalry are the Linus family's last capital, and Haldane is not willing to waste them easily in siege battles.

If the Warcraft Cavalry is transferred to the southern front, the northern front will lose a decisive force. Once Duke Jonathan launches a general attack, relying on infantry will not be able to stop him for too long.

If we want to break the current situation, we can only rely on external forces.

Haldane's only hope is reinforcements from the Kingdom of Lane.

In the past hundred years or so, the Grand Duchy of Stanek has had a close relationship with the Kingdom of Lane, and generations of people have been married to each other. As long as it can persist, the Kingdom of Lane will naturally not sit back and watch the Grand Duchy of Stanik being controlled by the Kingdom of Grant.

Unfortunately, the war has been going on for nearly four months, and reinforcements from the Lion Kingdom have not arrived yet.

The distance between the Lane Kingdom and the Stanik Grand Duchy is slightly further than that of the Grant Kingdom, so the information received is naturally slower.

The news of Grant Kingdom's formation of an intervention army reached Lane Kingdom in late March, and by the time Lane Kingdom organized its army, it was already mid-April.

Normally, the intervention forces from the Lane Kingdom would arrive on the battlefield in late May.

But it's already June, and reinforcements still haven't appeared.

Some time ago, Haldane received information that the old king of Lane Kingdom had a physical problem. For a time, undercurrents surged within the Lane Kingdom, and he was unable to interfere with the situation in the Grand Duchy of Stanik in a short period of time.

Without the reinforcements from the Lion Kingdom, the situation has developed to this point. The defeat of the Linus family has been determined, and there is no way to save the situation.

Although he was very upset in his heart, Haldane remained very calm. Seeing that Linus Castle could no longer hold on, he burned the castle and fled westward with the Warcraft Cavalry.

In order to speed up his army, Haldane killed his own family and relatives and abandoned the infantry of Linas Praetorian Guard. The Warcraft Cavalry under his command was extremely fast. In just three days, they fled 600 kilometers and entered the territory of the Kingdom of Lane to seek refuge.

Haldane escaped, the intervention forces of the Kingdom of Lane did not participate in the war, and the war in the Grand Duchy of Stanik was about to end.

At this moment, the Linus family left Duke Jonathan with a mess.

Due to the spread of the war, the food production of the Grand Duchy of Stanik has been severely reduced this year. The war has caused more than two million refugees, hundreds of thousands of people have died of starvation, and half of Stanik's defense force has been lost.

Now that we are about to enter July, we have missed the farming season and it is impossible to resume production this year. Duke Jonathan can only try his best to clean up the mess and solve the problem of food shortage.

This battle basically destroyed Stanik's capital.

The central region has also become a white land, and 200,000 people have been robbed by the coalition forces of the three provinces. It may take decades to recover.

In the territory directly under the royal family of Linus, hundreds of thousands of serfs fled into the mountains and became war refugees. They were either reduced to savages or annexed by the great nobles of the south.

After this war, although the Linus family was defeated, it also almost destroyed the central power of the Grand Duchy of Stanik, adding countless troubles to the Jonathan family in ruling the Grand Duchy of Stanik.

After taking control of Linus Castle, Duke Jonathan immediately dismissed the servant army and transferred back the Iron Lion Army to reduce the pressure on logistics supply. Then he incorporated about 20,000 Royal Guards and added an additional legion.

In addition, Duke Jonathan immediately announced that Lenas Castle would be renamed St. Jonathan Castle. This was the most important political correctness of the Grand Duchy of Stanek.

Due to the spread of the war, the territory that Duke Jonathan can control now is only about 40,000 square kilometers, and the population is currently only 600,000.

The entire Grand Duchy of Stanik has a territory of 350,000 square kilometers. The territory controlled by the border nobles in the north is about 80,000 square kilometers, and the territory controlled by the four dukes in the south is about 170,000 square kilometers. The territory directly under the Linus royal family totals 70,000 square kilometers. The central border nobles are members of the Linus family branch. The territory they control is less than 30,000 square kilometers.

After winning this battle, Duke Jonathan will of course be rewarded based on his merits. Recently, many nobles have come to inquire about the news, asking Duke Jonathan to clarify his opinions and give everyone reassurance.

Even within the Jonathan family, many people were eager to give it a try and asked the Duke to listen to everyone's opinions.

The division of interests must be very difficult and requires Duke Jonathan to compromise with all parties.

The first to be dealt with were the four dukes south of Stanik.

Although the four dukes in the southern part of the Grand Duchy of Stanik did not work hard and did not do their best to support the Linus family, after all, they were on the side of the Linus family politically.

Of the four Stanik duke families, only the Watson family had defected to Duke Jonathan early, and their correct political alignment was not implicated. The third son of Duke Watson was also made a hereditary viscount. At the same time, the five ducal families of Edward, Fox, York, Lorraine, and Duran who sent troops were each granted a viscounty in the south.

The area of ​​these six viscounties is not very large. The total territory of the six viscounties is about 9,000 square kilometers. This part of the territory needs to be ceded by the three dukes who failed to take political sides. In addition, each of the three dukes needed to transport 8,000 tons of grain to St. Jonathan Castle in order to receive pardon from the Jonathan family.

The three dukes could easily take out 8,000 tons of grain, but transporting it to St. Jonathan's Castle would consume a lot of food along the way. In fact, more than 20,000 tons of grain would need to be paid, and a large number of draft animals and personnel would also need to be mobilized.

After this war, the three Dukes suffered heavy economic losses.

Although the three dukes did not fight any major wars, and the farming season was not delayed due to the war, the losses of various materials were considerable. In addition, the need to transport food to St. Jonathan Castle meant that the economic losses were converted into more than 200,000 gold coins.

Each of the three dukes lost one-fifteenth of their territory and were divided into two viscountries, and their power weakened a bit.

But after all, the dukes in the south are strong, with a combined force of more than 100,000. They were not injured in the war. Although there was some loss in strength, they stabilized the situation in the turmoil of the country, and the balance of power increased a lot. Discourse The power has also increased a bit.

Most of the nobles in the northern part of Stanik remained neutral, while some supported Duke Jonathan.

After Duke Jonathan's victory, the neutral nobles were somewhat politically incorrect.

However, the northern nobles were relatively united, with a coalition of 40,000 nobles acting as backup. Duke Jonathan could not severely punish them, but could only ask them to hand over part of their grain, which amounted to about 10,000 tons.

The grain-producing area in the north of Stanik is not far from St. Jonathan Castle, about 150 kilometers away. It can also be transported to St. Jonathan Castle through the waters of the Nit River, and the transportation loss is relatively small.

The economic losses were relatively small, and these neutral nobles could basically accept it, but they did not support Duke Jonathan.

The northern nobles who supported Duke Jonathan, because the team was correct, four nobles who had made military exploits were granted hereditary barons, and their territories were granted to the central region, on both sides of the Feiraman Mountains.

Although the four marquises in the eastern part of the Grant Kingdom did not directly send troops to participate in the war, they provided a large amount of war supplies such as food, weapons, armor, and pack horses, and mobilized more than 200,000 serfs to transport countless supplies to the front line. One person from each of these four marquis families was granted the title of hereditary baron, and their territory was also placed in the central Stanik region.

Although the Earl of the South also contributed various materials, his political influence was slightly smaller and he did not receive a title. He only received a gold coin reward and the right to act as an agent for Elf Black Tea. These commercial interests can bring in thousands of gold coins every year. In the long run, this investment is very profitable.

In addition to the great nobles, the role played by the coalition forces of the three northern provinces in this battle was also very crucial.

The army led by Richard not only annihilated the coalition of nobles in central Stanik, but also cooperated with the Northern Route Army to seize St. Jonathan County.

The Central Route Army's military exploits far exceeded that of the South Route Army, and Richard was also granted a county. His territory was formed by the merger of the three viscounties of Nero, York and Cassaro.

These three viscountries are not contiguous and have different sizes. The total area is about 13,000 square kilometers. The Nero Viscounty has the largest area, exceeding 6,000 square kilometers, accounting for almost half of it.

Forty percent of this 13,000 square kilometers of land is plains, and two million acres of farmland have been reclaimed. The climate is relatively drier than the three northern provinces, and the food yield is also lower. It can be developed to support the population. Hundreds of thousands.

Burton, Kalani, Sharp and other nobles who had made great achievements in war were all granted hereditary barons this time. The remaining nobles did not have enough credit, so they could only share more in gold coins and population.

After obtaining the fief, Richard came to St. Jonathan Castle and decided to talk to Duke Jonathan. After weighing the pros and cons, he felt that the power of the Harland family was not suitable for dispersion, so he decided to use the land of the Grand Duchy of Stanek to exchange territory with Duke Jonathan.

The Earldom of Harland is no longer far from the Dukedom of Jonathan, especially the original Earldom of Roger, which is only a dozen kilometers away.

The area of ​​the Earl of Roger is approximately 27,000 square kilometers, which is slightly smaller than the Earl of Harland. If the two territories could be merged together, the total area would be approximately 56,000.

Although Roger County is large in area, its development time is relatively short, and a large amount of land is mountainous. Only the river valley area has water sources. In terms of agricultural conditions, it is not as good as the central Stanik area.

Moreover, Earl Roger's territory is at the forefront of the war against the orcs. Although the territory is large, it is very difficult to develop. The central Stanik area is still more than 200 kilometers away from the front line, so it is relatively safe. Unless the orcs can penetrate the northern defense line, they will not plunder the central area at all.

Although the area of ​​the central earldom of Stanik is smaller, its real value is greater than that of the earldom of Roger.

Richard met the new Grand Duke at St. Jonathan Castle and informed Duke Jonathan of his willingness to exchange territories.

After the war is won, the power of the Jonathan family will tilt towards the Grand Duchy of Stanek.

If the coalition forces of the three provinces had not played a key role in this battle, Duke Jonathan would have been reluctant to carve out a large territory and grant Richard a county.

According to the terms negotiated between Duke Jonathan and King Roger, if the war is victorious and the Jonathan family takes control of the Grand Duchy of Stanek, Duke Jonathan will allocate 30,000 square kilometers of land to the royal family and establish a new province, Grotta Province. The Iron Lion Legion will be expanded and reorganized into a central legion stationed in the Grotta Province.

In terms of the area of ​​land acquired, the Jonathan family did not make much money. However, most of the territory under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family of Grand Duke Stanik is plain, far away from the front line of the orc invasion.

By winning this territory, we can expand our army by 100,000. The location advantage of the territory far exceeds that of the Northern Xinjiang front line.

By integrating the power of the Stanik Grand Duchy, the strength of the Jonathan family will usher in greater development.

After hearing the news, Duke Jonathan looked a little happy and immediately agreed to negotiate with the Harland family.

The Earl of Roger was originally a fiefdom of King Roger. After the civil war in Grant Kingdom, in order to repay Duke Jonathan for his strong support, this territory was granted to Duke Jonathan.

This territory was established relatively recently and was still deserted more than ten years ago. Although King Roger invested a lot in resource development, when Roger left, the population in the territory was only 60,000.

After the territory was merged into the Dukedom of Jonathan, it was not a key development area for the Dukedom of Jonathan. Although Duke Jonathan has moved part of the population in the past few years, the total population of this territory is less than 100,000.

The central earldom of Stanik under Richard's name has been deserted due to the war. After the war, a small number of freedmen returned to the city, and now only a few thousand people live there.

Normally, the exchange of territories in border areas and inland areas is about one for three, and the exchange of mountains and plains is about one for two.

According to the unspoken rules of the Dawn Plane, the earldom of the central Stanik region that Richard was granted can be exchanged for 50,000 square kilometers of border territory. However, the northern part of the Grant Kingdom has abundant rainfall, rich forests, and magical beast resources, which is very suitable for mountain breeding. In addition, the two territories and the attached population, the comprehensive value is not far apart.

The Harland family is focused on developing in the north, while the Jonathan family wants to focus on the west. The two families hit it off almost immediately, quickly negotiated terms and signed a territory exchange treaty.