Lord Harland

After signing the territorial exchange agreement, it still needs the approval of the Noble Council before it can become legally effective.

The Jonathan family has a great influence on the Nobles' Council, and the Haaland family also has high voting rights on the Nobles' Council. They are the leaders of the nobles of the Gedda Province. The two big nobles join forces to promote it in the Nobles' Council, as long as the royal family does not object. , it is not difficult to pass the territory exchange motion.

The Grant royal family facilitated the westward migration of the Jonathan family and would naturally not object to the exchange of territory.

After the territory exchange was completed, Richard began to prepare to withdraw his troops.

After several months of expedition, the soldiers' homesickness was already very serious. In addition, Richard was very strict in military discipline and prohibited the soldiers from killing and indulging in indulgence. Morale was already very low.

Many noble officers wrote to Richard, hoping to withdraw their troops as soon as possible.

However, the situation in the Grand Duchy of Stanik is unstable, and the 100,000 intervention troops cannot withdraw all of them at once.

The commanders of the three armies communicated several times and decided to withdraw their troops according to priority.

The northern front army has the largest number of soldiers. Duke Jonathan's army has completely controlled the situation. The Iron Lion Army was the first to start withdrawing.

Next is the coalition of three provinces. According to the conditions negotiated by Richard and Duke Jonathan, the withdrawal will begin in mid-July.

The southern army has the most adequate supplies and needs to contain the great nobles in the south. The withdrawal time is later, and it needs to wait until early September.

All three legions were withdrawn, leaving only the legions directly under Duke Jonathan stationed in the Grand Duchy of Stanik. Due to the attrition caused by the war, the number of Duke Jonathan's soldiers was approximately 40,000.

However, after the war, Duke Jonathan recruited about 20,000 Linus Guards, and he directly controlled the total force of 60,000 troops.

Compared to the power directly controlled by the Linus family, the Jonathan family has about 40,000 fewer people.

Moreover, with the recruitment of 20,000 surrendered troops, there was also some internal instability.

Today, the Jonathan family's control over the Grand Duchy of Stanik is far less than that of the Linus family.

The power of the Jonathan family is already somewhat unbalanced compared to that of the Stanik nobles.

If you want to maintain the balance of the country, you can either continue to mobilize troops from the Grant Kingdom, or expand the army as soon as possible.

The Duke of Jonathan organized and trained three legions of regular troops, two of which were transferred to the Grand Duchy of Stanik. It is impossible to give up the territory of the Grant Kingdom, and it is imperative to expand the army.

Fortunately, the territory directly under the Stanik royal family is relatively wealthy and has a good economic foundation, so the finances for expanding the army are relatively loose.

The only difficulty now is that there are currently not enough grassroots officers and elite soldiers to train.

Time passed quickly, and more than twenty days passed in the blink of an eye. The coalition forces from the three provinces were ready and waiting for the order to withdraw.

One day in mid-July, Duke Jonathan came to Leah Castle with his entourage and a light carriage.

In the past month, Riya Castle has been the garrison of the coalition forces from the three provinces.

The area around Riya Castle was not affected by the war, and more than 8,000 tons of summer grain were harvested. Richard received two thousand tons of grain and completely got rid of the problem of food shortage.

During this month, the coalition forces from the three provinces lived very comfortably and peacefully.

After arriving at Ria Castle, Duke Jonathan went around the military camp. After returning to Richard's camp with an expressionless expression, the Duke said: "The soldiers don't seem to have high morale."

"It has been five months since we set out in February. The soldiers are quite homesick. In addition, they won the battle and received a lot of spoils. Now they all want to go home and have no intention of fighting."

Duke Jonathan nodded and said: "To be able to lead such soldiers to win the battle, the earl's ability to lead troops is very good. Even I can't do this."

Although the coalition forces of the three provinces were not a ragtag group, it was the first time for Richard to fight with soldiers with discord. The key reason why he can firmly control the troops is fair rewards and punishments.

In every battle, Richard did not avoid arrows and charged forward. He played a good leading role for the soldiers and established a high prestige.

In several key battles, Richard led the soldiers from the Harland Territory to act as the backbone and played a decisive role.

Relying on the soldiers of Haaland Territory, the coalition forces of the three provinces were controlled. Only by being fair and just in the distribution of spoils can the majority of noble officers be united and the balance maintained.

After fighting this war, Richard felt that his ability to lead troops had improved a lot, and his ability to unite officers had been greatly improved. However, in the next war, Richard is unwilling to continue to lead the aristocratic coalition to fight. Leading the aristocratic coalition to fight always requires weighing the pros and cons and striking an internal balance, which is too worrying.

A team with discord is a rabble.

Giving Richard 5,000 Harland Territory soldiers was enough to sweep away the 15,000 coalition forces from the three provinces.

Hearing Duke Jonathan's praise, Richard hurriedly said humbly: "Your Majesty, the Grand Duke, is overly complimentary."

Duke Jonathan said: "It's not an exaggeration. In my opinion, officers who can lead the noble coalition to win the war are all excellent generals. Moreover, in this war, you also played a key role in leading the coalition forces of the three provinces. Otherwise, I would I won't grant you a piece of earldom.

You ask all the other people to go out, and I have something to talk to you alone. "

Richard waved his hand and drove out the staff officers and guards in the general's tent. When he saw that the people were gone, he whispered: "What do you want to ask, the Grand Duke?"

"Did you invent a new type of alchemical bomb?"

"A new type of alchemical bomb has indeed been invented in the Harland territory. Because it was used frequently on the battlefield, Richard did not hide it and chose to tell the truth.

Since a large number of alchemical bombs were used in the war, Richard was mentally prepared in advance and had plans to trade with Duke Jonathan and the Grant royal family.

"Is the refining cost of this kind of alchemical bomb high?"

Alchemy bombs are not uncommon, the cost is the key.

"The cost of making an alchemy bomb is not high. The total material cost is about sixteen silver coins, and the labor cost is less than two gold coins. It is far cheaper than the alchemy bomb made by the Heart of Elements."

"Is it possible that an alchemical bomb like yours doesn't need fire crystals?"

"His Excellency the Duke guessed it right. With the addition of fire crystals, the material cost will increase significantly, which must exceed thirty gold coins. There is no way to compete with the alchemy bombs made by the Heart of Elements."

Seeing that Richard knew everything, Duke Jonathan was very satisfied. He said happily: "Are you willing to exchange this alchemy bomb manufacturing technology with me? I will pay a sufficient price and I will definitely satisfy you."

"Your Excellency, the Harland family has no shortage of general resources. Unless it is a treasure that is very important to us, we are not willing to exchange it. Even if we agree to exchange alchemy bomb manufacturing technology, we have additional conditions. First of all, Your Excellency the Duke cannot Proliferate alchemy bomb manufacturing technology, and secondly, the Jonathan family cannot sell alchemy bombs to outsiders.

In order to ensure the transaction, a royal power contract needs to be signed. At least ten people from the Duke's family must sign the contract. These twenty people must be important members of the Jonathan family. I need to ensure the security of the transaction. "

The royal power contract can only bind professionals below the level of legend.

Duke Jonathan is already at the second level of the Legend. If the Duke signs the contract, as long as he is willing to pay a certain price, he can be exempted from the royal seal attack. Therefore, the people Richard requested to sign must be other important members of the Jonathan family.

If a small noble negotiates a deal with the Jonathan family, Duke Jonathan can spend it with three melons and two dates, and he will definitely not agree to harsh additional conditions.

But when dealing with big nobles, negotiations can be relatively fair. The Harland family is already a hereditary earl and has enough power to negotiate terms with the Jonathan family.

The main purpose of the Jonathan family's trading of alchemy bombs is to defend their territory and fight against enemies.

Although the Linus family was defeated, the Grand Duchy of Stanik lost 80,000 soldiers. Even if the Jonathan family entered St. Jonathan Castle with two legionnaires, the number of soldiers in the Grand Duchy of Stanik was still 40,000 less.

Facing the orc attack, without 40,000 troops, the pressure on the front line will be much greater. Even if the Jonathan family expands its army immediately, the new army's combat effectiveness in two years will be average and will not be able to fill the gap.

Duke Jonathan is very worried about whether he can stop the orcs in two years.

Equipped with cheap alchemy bombs, the army's combat effectiveness can be increased by at least 30%. Each squadron is equipped with dozens of weapons. Even if the army does not expand in two years, Duke Jonathan can still defeat the orcs with the current strength.

Duke Jonathan said: "We can consider the Harland family's request. Since I came to negotiate the deal in person, I naturally have the resources the Harland family urgently needs. I have a royal seal here that can be exchanged for alchemy bomb manufacturing technology."

The Royal Seal is a replica of an artifact, and it is also an important resource for the Royal Church to control the great nobles.

The value of each royal seal is equivalent to a legendary magic item.

The value of legendary magic props cannot be exchanged for gold coins or magic crystals.

Although the Harland family has little background, Richard's luck is very good. So far, the family has three pieces of legendary magic equipment. Whether it is the lightning staff, the bottle of starlight, or the starlight necklace, it is impossible for Richard to exchange it for gold coins. , magic crystals and other common resources.

Relatively speaking, there are more royal seals, and among the legendary magic equipment, their value is slightly lower.

But for the great nobles, the royal seal is still a very important magic tool, which is related to the ruling power of the great nobles.

After Richard was promoted to earl, he immediately went to the King's Church to report and queue up, hoping to trade a seal with the King's Church. Normally, if the earl wanted to exchange a seal, he would have to wait in line for thirty years.

The Jonathan family has a rich heritage and has been a great noble for more than seven hundred years. They were once the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Stanik and held seven royal seals in their hands.

Although the royal seal is very important to the Harland family, there is no shortage of this kind of treasure for the Jonathan family.

After all, according to the strength of the Jonathan family, there is no way to expand the seven main central legions, and there is no need for seven royal seals.

The royal seal that Duke Jonathan traded came from the Linus family that escaped.

Although the background of the Linus family is slightly shallower, after all, they have been a great noble for hundreds of years. They have controlled the Grand Duchy of Stanik for more than a hundred years, and they also have six royal seals in their hands.

Due to civil strife in the Linus family palace, three royal seals were lost in the war.

After the Jonathan family took control of the Grand Duchy of Stanek, they found two lost royal seals through divination magic. After careful consideration, Duke Jonathan decided to exchange one with the Harland family.

The treasure that Duke Jonathan took out immediately moved Richard.

The Harland family has developed to its current level and is really in urgent need of a royal seal.

Both parties were very satisfied with this transaction. Richard immediately drew up a contract in the military tent, signed his name, and then rode the iron horned horse back to St. Jonathan Castle with Duke Jonathan to let important members of the Jonathan family sign the contract.

After signing the contract, Richard wrote down the alchemy bomb formula, the shell manufacturing process, and the explosive rune manufacturing technology, and obtained the ownership of a royal seal.

With the royal seal in your hand, you have control over the middle and lower levels.

Breathwork and meditation will become more difficult to spread.

With some advanced industrial technology and magic technology, it has become much easier to keep secrets, and the pressure to prevent espionage has been reduced.

After completing the transaction, Richard led the coalition forces from the three provinces back to northern Xinjiang. After returning to the territory, it was already mid-August.

Starting from early February, I went out to fight for half a year and finally returned to my territory. Returning with the coalition forces from the three provinces were 5,000 captive soldiers and more than 30,000 family members of the captured soldiers.

Although these captive soldiers have rich war experience and can skillfully use various instruments, they are very rare in practicing breathing techniques, and there are not many officers among them.

The aristocratic officers in the middle of Stanik all have the blood of Linus family. These people rarely surrender and basically follow Viscount Nero to escape into the Kingdom of Dron.

Most of the small nobles do not like the spread of breathing methods, especially in the central area of ​​the Grand Duchy of Stanik, where there is less pressure from the invasion of orcs, and the nobles mainly defend themselves against internal challengers.

Those who can practice the breathing method basically have aristocratic blood and are members of the aristocratic branch.

Even if he has not practiced breathing techniques and his physical fitness is average, Richard is ready to collect all of these captured soldiers.

Although the physical fitness of this group of people is average, after all, they have many years of war experience. They only need to practice breathing techniques to grow into qualified soldiers, and the training period is shorter.

After Richard returned to the territory, he began to hand over the territory with the Jonathan family.

Earl Roger has four castles, more than 30 villages, and a population of about 96,000. This territory was very close to Harland's territory, and Richard easily gained control.

In late August, Richard settled the families of the captured soldiers near the King's Castle in the Dukedom of Roger, and began to mix the soldiers.

Many of the newly recruited soldiers are illiterate. If they want to practice breathing techniques, they need to learn it from scratch. Only after you have learned common words can you understand the content of the breathing method. Generally speaking, this process takes about a year.

Soldiers with average talent can be promoted to professionals and become first-level officers in a squadron after ten years of joining the army. If there is a complete breathing method, it will take three to five years for soldiers with better talent.

The intervention war lasted for half a year. The casualties among the soldiers in the Haaland Territory were relatively small, with no more than 200 killed, and there were not many seriously injured people who retired from active service, which would not affect the expansion of the army.