Lord Harland.

Harland's territory lacks strength, and Richard doesn't want to be in the limelight now.

Only when the territory develops to a higher level, reaching the level of hereditary earl, will Richard need to make a name for himself.

The reputation has spread, which is very good for Harland's territory to recruit talents.

The improved reputation can also reduce the hostility of the surrounding nobles and reduce the pressure on Li Cha to carry out reforms.

But there is a major premise, that is, the strength of Haaland's territory must be outstanding.

At the very least, to be promoted to earl, a population of 300,000 and 10,000 elite soldiers are the basic requirements.

Time entered March, and the orcs once again led their troops south.

The shouts of killing and the sound of horns continued to sound from every corner of the northern border.

The orc army once again appeared in the northern part of the Harland Valley.

This is already the fourth orc invasion that Richard has experienced. Compared with nine years ago, Richard has grown from a low-level officer to a leader of an army.

The army in Harland's territory now has twenty-one infantry squadrons, four cavalry squadrons, plus headquarters personnel, the total number exceeds four thousand.

In Gerda Province, the noble private army commanded by Richard is already an important military force in the province.

In Fort William, watching the rising smoke, Li Cha immediately gave the order to assemble, and notified several nearby hereditary nobles of the orc invasion.

This time, the six barons of Black River County, Rice, Barton, Barzel, Duck, Sauron, and Sharp, were all willing to accept Richard's command.

Cooperating with the Harland territory many times, Baron Rice and others were not defeated. Richard's command ability was recognized by the nearby nobles.

Moreover, the Haaland family was so powerful that they were convinced to leave the army under Richard's command.

Six hereditary barons, with fifteen hundred soldiers, were stationed at the Castle of Malte. The supplies of the noble coalition do not need to be burdened by the Harland territory.

Richard only needs to provide food. After the war, the six hereditary nobles will use gold coins for settlement.

Now there is no shortage of food in the Harland territory, which can feed the 1,500 noble coalition troops for a long time.

The coalition forces of the nobles stationed at Marte Castle, guarding the back road for Harland's territory.

Richard concentrated the main force in Fort William, the most forward military station, with only the third brigade stationed.

The third brigade has five squadrons of infantry, one squadron of auxiliary troops, plus brigade headquarters guards and command personnel, with a total strength of about 1,100 people.

"How about we find out the main direction of the orcs' attack?"

Every time the orcs invade, they cross the Eagle Mountains through different mountain tunnels.

In recent years, I usually go to the Harland Valley.

Now the Harland Valley has been controlled by the Kingdom of Grant and has completely become the territory of the Harland family.

If the orcs wanted to enter Gerda province, they had to take a detour unless they conquered the Harland family military depot and the two castles of William and opened up the Harland valley.

"Opposite the Fort, there are three groups of orcs stationed. There are also two groups of orcs who have chosen to take a detour to the east. They should go through the valley north of Graveson."

After listening to the intelligence staff's report, Richard still stared at the map: "What's the situation in Platos Valley?"

"The last two orc invasions did not take the Platos Valley, and the defense of the Platos Valley was handed over to the Redeemer Legion. We haven't invested too many scouts in this direction, and the intelligence and intelligence are still unclear. "

Li Cha's inquiry immediately made the intelligence staff understand that there were omissions in the previous intelligence investigation.At the end, he was so nervous that he couldn't speak.

Li Cha knocked hard on the table, and said angrily: "Whether others have defenses or not, the Pratos Valley is only a dozen kilometers away from the territory. If there is a mistake here, our situation will become very dangerous. Immediately arrange manpower, To strengthen the intelligence and reconnaissance forces in the Pratos Valley, we must clarify the key attack directions of the orcs."

Facing the invasion of the orcs, Harland Territory has formulated various plans, but in order to implement these plans, it is necessary to clarify the key attack direction of the orcs before taking the next step.

Every time the orcs invaded, they started with three tricks, launching a full-scale attack and testing the loopholes in the defense line.After finding out the loopholes, the main military forces were deployed to tear apart the defense line at the southern foot of the Eagle Mountain Range, and then began to annihilate the vital forces of the Grant Kingdom, looting a large number of people and property.

In the last orc invasion, Commander Zachary wiped out the orc army in Graveson Castle.

The result of this battle was brilliant, and it was a rare victory for the Kingdom of Grant in the past ten years, second only to the battle in which Earl Martins wiped out the orc legion and planned to kill the legend of the orc.

The Orc Legion was annihilated in two consecutive Orc Wars, and the Northern Legion is now the opponent that the Orcs focus on.

Because of its outstanding military achievements, the Northern Army has been replenished very quickly in recent years, forming a good cycle. Now it is fully staffed, with a total of 24,000 soldiers and more than 1,000 professionals.

Because they had won important battles in succession, the soldiers of the Northern Army were in a very good state of mind.

The current combat effectiveness of the Northern Army has surpassed that of the Mad Lion and Grizzly Bear Army, and is the most important pillar of the Grant Kingdom in the northern province.

According to common sense, the Orc Empire has a very strong desire for revenge.

Earl Martins killed the legend of the orcs, and the orcs immediately added four legions to invade the Kingdom of Grant, killed Earl Martins, and launched a tragic revenge on the county.

Now the Northern Legion has become a thorn in the flesh of the orcs. According to the character of the orcs, a large number of legions must be mobilized to attack the Geda Province.

Unexpectedly, the orcs would do the opposite. The orc army now appearing in the northern part of Geda Province only has five brigades, just over .

Although the organization of the orc empire is not much different from that of the human army, the composition of the orc empire is still the traditional tribal form, and the control and command capabilities of the army are obviously more than one step worse.

It's not that the orcs don't want to change, they mix and group orcs of different races.

But this reform of the military system failed quickly, and there were hundreds of tribes among the orcs.

Not only do the tribes have different languages, but there are also serious conflicts between the ethnic groups, often causing internal strife and conflicts.

In order to allow all tribes to contribute, in the end, squadrons could only be organized into different tribes.

There are many kinds of orcs in a brigade, which often looks very chaotic.

Fortunately, in the last hundred years, the Orc Empire has promoted the Orc Common Language on a large scale, but because different Orcs have different vocal organs.

When using lingua franca across races, sometimes many meanings are unclear.

Different orc races displayed vastly different combat effectiveness.It may not be correct to judge the main attack direction of the orc army simply by the number of people.

The real main attack direction of the orcs is not necessarily the one that invests the most troops, but it must be the one that invests the most elites.

Generally speaking, the human scouts lost the most in that area, and the orcs covered the widest area of ​​the battlefield. The less intelligence was detected, the more likely it was the main direction of the orcs' attack.

To put it more bluntly, that direction where the harpies mainly appear is generally the focus of the orcs' attacks.

With a large army stationed near the Pratos Valley, it is difficult for the situation to deteriorate to the point of getting out of hand in a short period of time.

Zachary is stationed at Harden Castle with a Redeemer Legion, and the Pratos Valley is also his defense zone.

The Redeemer Legion is a small legion, with only four brigades and a total strength of about 9,000 people.

Because of last spring's rebellion, the Lions had suffered the most losses, so two of the Penitent Legions were stationed in the Gascoigne Province.

Zachary's troops were stationed in the Castle of Baron Harden, and another legion, led by legion commander Huo Xiu, was stationed in the Earl of Martins.

The two Redeemer legions, one east and one west, together with the Wild Lion Legion and the noble private army, had more than troops stationed on the front line of the Gascoigne province.

Since Gerda Province was not affected by last year's rebellion, there was no Redeemer Legion stationed there.

However, the defense of the Platos Mountains on the western border of the province was handed over to the Atonement Legion led by Zacli.

The main defense force in the northern part of the province, in addition to the Northern Army, is the aristocratic private army led by the Harland and Luomen families, with about 35,000 troops stationed on the front line.

There are two regular legions stationed on the front line of Lach Province, one legion of the Redeemers, and the private army of the provincial nobles. The number of front-line troops is the largest, with a total of more than 60,000 troops.

Although Gerda Province has the least front-line troops, Gerda Province has the greatest geographical advantage.

To the north of Gedda Province is the central part of the Eagle Mountains, with towering mountains and few valleys between them. The defense width is about 160 kilometers, and there are only three passages to the south.

By guarding these three passages, the orcs will not be able to cross the Eagle Mountains and invade the territory of Geda Province.

The Passage of Platos to the west was garrisoned by the Redeemer Legion.

Gerda Province only needs to guard the two mountain passages.

In the Harland Valley in the middle, two castles have been built, one from the south and the other from the north to lock this passage.Li Cha is in charge of guarding this channel.

The eastern valley is still a large piece of wasteland, which has not been developed, and has not been enshrined as a hereditary noble. Only Gravesson Castle was built in the north of the valley.

The geographical advantage of Graveson Castle is far less than that of Fort William.

Because the Black River flows eastward from this area, there is a large alluvial plain near Graveson Castle. The northern valley is low and relatively flat, making it more suitable for a large army to break into.

Stein, the new commander of the Northern Army, is a foreigner. He is an old subordinate of Duke Roger and a senior official of the Royal Guards.

Because of this relationship, Duke Roger was transferred to the Northern Legion, responsible for cleaning up the legacy of the former legion commander Zachary.

Zachary won the battle and had a high prestige in the Northern Legion, and promoted many officers.

After Stein took office, he severely suppressed these people. Many of them have already retired voluntarily. Because they lost some outstanding officers, the combat effectiveness of the Northern Army was also affected.

Stein, a veteran of the military, knew this very well.

The past decade has been a glorious decade for the Northern Legion. Not only did one regiment leader become a hereditary earl and was promoted to a nobleman, but six or seven senior officers within the legion were also promoted to hereditary noblemen.

Stein did not want to be disgraced in the Northern Army and become a laughing stock. However, in order to ensure the reliability of the Northern Army, political executions must be carried out.

Especially since the status of the Northern Legion is so special, Zachary's influence must not be allowed to continue.

Due to political strife, the army of the Northern Territory was a bit fluctuating during this period of time. Stein was going to let the Northern Legion take a break for a period of time. Stein ordered Viscount Roman to lead the noble coalition troops to garrison Castle Gravesson.