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 manage 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 Donny Martins to achieve a class transition, but the Martins family background is not deep, and the situation cannot be stabilized 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 pull out a force that is not weak. Even the royal family has to weigh the seven earls together.

And Earl Martins' power is a bit weaker 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 position of the earldom is also a prominent part, and it is easy to be besieged 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 orc brigades and killed snake-body professionals.These snake-bodied people are basically the results of the soldiers of Harland's territory, and the scales 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 Redeemer Legion, immediately asked for help from Black River Fort.

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 Harden Castle fell, the situation was out of hand.

Last time he used the coalition of nobles to stand in front, but this kind of thing can't 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 Roman have already won the battle, so it will be easier to find excuses.

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

He gathered the soldiers of the Northern Legion and started the pre-war mobilization.

"Soldiers and officers, I know that during this period of time, everyone has suffered a lot of grievances, 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, old sir.But politically unreliable, the stronger the ability, the more they will be suppressed. Who made them not stand firm politically, and followed Zachary, the unlucky guy.

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.

The goal of our battle this time is to rescue the unlucky Zachary. He is your old commander, and the officers under his command are all your comrades-in-arms for many years, companions who have lived and died.

I ordered the first brigade, the third brigade, and the sixth brigade to be the first echelon, and send troops to rescue today. "

William's rd Battalion, Bernie's th Battalion, because of political correctness, no officers were implicated.These two brigades were the least affected.

The former captain of the first brigade was the deputy head of the army, and because of his high status and average 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 operating time is still short, and William's influence on these two teams is much greater.

Besides, William has the highest military rank, the deepest qualifications, and the strongest strength, and he has become the commander of the first echelon 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 a boat from Heihe Fort, go upstream for kilometers, and then sail along the Kaiya River, a tributary of Heihe River, for kilometers to the west of Harden Castle.

Transporting troops by water is not only fast, but also more convenient to transport various logistics materials.

William commanded three brigades and set up camp by the Kaia River, forming a complete line of defense with Harden Castle as horns with each other.

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

Richard led the soldiers from Harland's territory to Platos Castle and confronted the five orc brigades, while Zachary gathered the soldiers to Harden Castle to stand by and wait for reinforcements.

Richard and William, father and son, are less than fifty kilometers away.Although they were on the same battlefield, they could not meet because of the urgency of the war.

At this time, the direction of Pratos to Harden Castle has formed a strategic confrontation.

On the defensive side, there are first-line defenders in Grant Kingdom.Li Cha led troops, including main troops and auxiliary troops, who were stationed at the Platos fortress. The orcs facing Li Cha had five brigades, about in number.

In the direction of Harden Castle, there are Redeemer Legion stationed in the city, and there are Northern Army Corps in three brigades by the river outside the city. The total strength is . The total number of upper auxiliary soldiers is about .

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, but were easily repelled by the defenders.

Both William and Zachary are excellent officers, and the subordinates under their command can also be called elite soldiers.

The three brigades commanded by William are the main brigades of the Northern Legion. The three brigades are fully equipped with a total of troops, more than professionals, and more than pieces of enchanted armor.

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 orcs, the combat effectiveness of the troops commanded by William can be compared to five orc brigades, equivalent to half an orc army.

Moreover, the camp built by William is close to the river, and can be supported by the navy.

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

If they wanted to conquer William's camp, they might have to maim an orc army.

The Redeemer Legion commanded by Zachary was not a winner either.This legion was organized and trained by aristocrats who failed to stand in the political line, especially the southern aristocrats, all hoped to rely on military exploits to stand up, and the soldiers could be said to be carefully selected.

In addition, a large number of officers of the Northern Legion who were implicated chose to join the old chief. These people were very good at fighting, and Zachary knew them very well, so he arranged them in suitable positions.Although the combat effectiveness of the Redeemer Legion is not as good as that of the main force, it is stronger than the second-tier legion.

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 situation of the battle is already clear, let's all share our opinions."

An orc captain held his horsewhip and said solemnly: "The main force of the Northern Legion has not yet appeared. We must be cautious in our actions to avoid revealing our flaws."

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

Usmat, the ninth-rank dragon-blooded kobold, the deputy head of the army, nodded and said: "From the intelligence sent back 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 right to rule 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 over. Otherwise, we would have won a brilliant victory by 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 saying this, let's talk about your opinion first. Do you want to mobilize the main force, attack Harden Castle, and fight a decisive battle with the human army?"

"I don't think there is any chance of winning the decisive battle. It is better to divide the troops and loot."

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 up the troops, go south and go to the Labo Basin to grab one. For Harden Castle, just leave a legion behind."

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

The orcs are a tribal alliance system. Although Sulasola 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 took a main force of orcs and watched the defenders of Harden Castle.

Another orcs bypassed Harden Castle and began to march towards the hinterland of Gascoigne province.

The first unlucky one 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 moved west and entered the three baronies of Burnham, Tynes, and Cisse.

The three barons Burnham, Cisse, and Tynes are relatively strong, and they mobilized serf soldiers at their limit. These serf soldiers fought bravely. Capture 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 split up and went south, Li Cha didn't take the initiative to ask for a fight.

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.

Compared with the number of soldiers in the territory, the casualties are not light.If the backbone of the veterans is wiped out, there will be no virtuous circle, and it may take ten years to form this elite army again.

So in the next battle, Li Cha chose to avoid the battle as much as possible.

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 catapults, 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 the fight.

Although the orcs robbed the population of the province of Gascoigne, the responsibility seems to have nothing to do with Stein.Gerda province also won the battle, and if they want to be held accountable, they should also be held accountable to the Wild Lion Army.

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.