Lord Harland.

Seeing that Viscount Nero was determined not to leave the city, Richard had no choice but to lead 11,000 infantry to besiege Nero's castle. Two thousand cavalrymen dispersed and entered nearby villages to capture serfs and seize grain and grass.

Commanding the cavalry were Captain Morgan of the Scout Cavalry Battalion and Captain Danon of the Third Squadron of Warcraft Cavalry.

After years of development, Harland Territory has organized three squadrons of Warcraft Cavalry. There are also fifty Warcraft Cavalry among the reconnaissance cavalry, adding up to a total of 350 Warcraft Cavalry.

The number of Warcraft cavalry is comparable to that of the Grizzly Legion.

Nowadays, the financial revenue of Harland Territory is close to 300,000 yuan per year. With a little squeeze, you can buy hundreds of Warcraft horses. The main reason why Richard did not expand the Warcraft Cavalry on a large scale was because he did not have suitable soldiers.

A squadron of Warcraft cavalry must have at least thirty professional officers in order to exert the power of Warcraft horses and form a strong combat effectiveness. If the quality of the soldiers is not high, even if they purchase Warcraft horses and form Warcraft cavalry, they will be useless and cannot fight against other nobles' Warcraft cavalry.

In order to form the third squadron of Warcraft Cavalry, all the new professionals in the territory this year were wiped out, and more than 70 veterans who were proficient in horse warfare were transferred. As a result, the infantry unit did not have new officers for a year.

According to the current rate of training officers in the Harland Territory, the expansion of up to one hundred Warcraft Cavalry can be completed every year.

Morgan and Danon led the cavalry to plunder an area of ​​more than 10,000 square kilometers. With the guidance of aerial reconnaissance troops, they plundered dozens of villages in just a few days.

Richard saw that the Warcraft horses were loaded with food, and the captured serfs were mixed among the cavalry, which looked particularly chaotic.

"Hurry up, send the prisoners to the barracks, and don't block the gate." The officers at the grassroots level kept shouting to maintain order.

Li Cha waved his hand and asked the young staff officer beside him to help him. After working hard for an hour or two, he escorted the captured serfs to the place of detention.

"How is it? Are the seizure statistics clear?" Seeing that the logistics staff had returned, Richard asked.

"Counting today's seizure, we have robbed tons of grain and a population of ."

Hearing the news reported by the logistics staff, Li Cha's face changed.

To send these serfs back to Harland's territory, it would take forty to fifty days on the road. Even if each person consumes one and a half kilograms of grain per day on average, two thousand tons of grain will be consumed on the road.

Now they have grabbed 1,800 tons of grain, which is not enough for the serfs to eat on the road, let alone to supplement the gap in military rations.

"Where are the livestock? How many are there?"

"More than 60,000 sheep were caught, hundreds of cattle were harvested, and more than a thousand mules and horses were caught."

Li Cha calculated in his mind that the number of animals seized was relatively small, and a large part should be concentrated in Nero Castle.The captured sheep, let the serfs eat on the way, saving hundreds of tons of grain

The remaining 40,000 sheep remain in the army, allowing the army to maintain rations for a while longer.

It is now April, and there was a spring rain a few days ago, the grass and trees have sprouted, and it is the spring plowing season.

Li Cha will arrange special manpower to graze the sheep. Goat milk and mutton can be used as military rations. In addition to the rations stored in the army, they should be able to eat until June.

Besides, although the supplies in the rear are intermittent, there will be some more or less.

The western part of the Ferraman Mountains is already the hinterland of the Grand Duchy of Stanik. This area is located in the middle of the Grand Duchy of Stanik and has not experienced war for more than a hundred years.

Over a hundred years of peace, the population has continued to multiply, making this area a relatively densely populated area. There are more than 600,000 people living in more than 10,000 square kilometers of land.

In terms of population density, the population density of this area is four times that of Harland's territory.

About 100,000 of the population of 600,000 were gathered in Nero's Castle, and the remaining 500,000 were scattered in the countryside.

However, in the face of the war, the nearby population fled one after another, some of the population entered the deep mountains, and some of the population migrated to the west to stay away from the war.Only one-tenth of the total population was captured by the coalition forces of the three provinces.

Through aerial reconnaissance, Richard knew that the land with a radius of more than 10,000 square kilometers had become a no-man's land in just ten days. In the desolate villages, only a very small number of people had returned to survive.

This shows how destructive the war is to the territory?

As long as this rich land encounters a war, there will be no roosters crowing for thousands of miles, and the bones will be exposed in the wild.

There are more than 600,000 people in this area. In order to escape the war, it is estimated that more than tens of thousands of people will starve to death on the road, which is much more than those who die directly from swords and arrows.

"Go and call Lost. I have something to discuss with him."

Not long after receiving Li Cha's order, Lost rushed to the main tent of the Chinese army.

A few days ago, Lost fought against the silver knight Viscount York. Although he contained the enemy, he suffered internal injuries and needed to rest for more than ten days.

Seeing Lost, Richard asked: "How are the injuries on your body?"

"It's not a big problem, but I can't get up my strength these days, and I shouldn't be able to fight in a short time."

Richard took out a box from under the tent bed. After opening the box, a golden light suddenly appeared.

"There are already more than 60,000 serfs in the camp, and it is noisy. You lead the second brigade and are responsible for escorting the serfs back to Harland. I can only give you 1,500 tons of grain and 20,000 sheep. This You can only eat the food and supplies for thirty days, and you need to make up for the remaining gaps on the road. This box of gold coins is the funds given to you, and you must keep it carefully."

Hearing Li Cha's order, Lost asked hesitantly: "The second brigade is gone, what should we do when we need to attack?"

In the army led by Li Cha, the second brigade is the backbone of the infantry and the backbone of the army in Harland's territory.In the last battle in Ferraman's Valley, relying on the second brigade of soldiers, they broke through the Viscount York's shield in one fell swoop and won the victory.

If this elite soldier is transferred back, it will have a great impact on the combat effectiveness of the Allied Forces of the Three Provinces, which is why Lost has this question.

"Through the test in the past few days, I found that the commander of Nero Castle is a mature and prudent person. It seems that they hope to pass through the fortified wall to clear the field and retreat when we run out of food.

Even if you go back, we still have 12,000 soldiers, while the enemy only has 7,000. They will never dare to fight our main force.

Second, escorting the serfs back to the territory of Harland is very critical to our development. I don't feel at ease about sending others. This task can only be undertaken by you. "

After explaining the task, Lost led the second brigade to escort serfs back the next day.

Now there is no resistance in the eastern part of Feilaman. There are military stations along the way and are protected by more than 700 soldiers from the second group. The road is very safe. After walking for seven or eight days, Lost successfully returned to Bursen Castle.

After a day's rest at Burson Castle, he walked for two days to Patin Castle and entered the Fox Dukedom.

Padin Castle is a typical border castle with limited products. Lost only purchased dozens of tons of grain and emptied out the grain store in Padin Castle.

Dozens of tons of grain could only feed more than 60,000 serfs for one day.

After walking for twenty days, Lost led the army of serfs into Palani Castle. Although he bought some supplies along the way, there was not much food left in the team and they could only hold on for three days.

During these twenty days, Lost and his army of serfs had eaten all the livestock. Even the precious cattle were fully stuffed into their stomachs.

With more than 60,000 serfs, the marching speed was much slower than normal. At the supply points along the way, the food on the market was also wiped out by Lost. The grain stocks in several towns combined totaled 200 tons, which was only enough to feed this huge team for six or seven days.

Palany Castle is located on the Black River and is an important transportation node in the Dukedom of Edward. It is also the third largest city in the Dukedom of Edward. There are as many as 50,000 people in the castle, and the size of the city is no less than Fort William.

When Richard led the intervention army into the Grand Duchy of Stanik, he replenished his supply of food and grass for twenty days here.

When Lost sent people into the castle to buy grain and grass, he was made things difficult by the castle's grain merchants.

"What, how come the price of food has soared fifty times?"

Hearing the story of the merchants accompanying the army, Lost came to the grain store in person and decided to negotiate with the grain merchants.

"We are the army of the earldom of Harland, and the serfs we are escorting are the spoils of war for the nobles of the three provinces. Are you sure you want to rob us?"

Lost brought the soldiers to show up in person, and the faces of the grain merchants became very ugly. In the end, they still couldn't bear the pressure and revealed some inside information.

"Dear Knight Lost, this matter was handed down from above, and we are in a difficult position. If you really need food, you can exchange it with slaves. One ton of food is exchanged for one hundred slaves. This is the price set by the Duke's Palace. Please don't make things difficult for us lowly businessmen. This matter was decided by the big shots, and you can't solve the problem by forcing us."

At a normal market price, a slave can exchange two and a half tons of grain. The transaction price set by the Duke Edward's House is obviously a public robbery.

Lost carried gold coins, of which were spent on the road, and now there are only gold coins left. According to the price of food in Palani Castle, he can only buy tons of food.

serfs and soldiers needed tons of grain to eat % of their food every day.All the gold coins carried by Lost are used to buy food, which can only be eaten for half a day.

After hearing the news, Lost's face changed greatly. He never expected that he would encounter difficulties from the Duke of Edward.

Lost is not a rootless person, he has the powerful Count Harland behind him.

Although the grain merchants in Palani Castle are greedy, they will only increase the price by 20 to 30% at most. Under normal circumstances, they would not dare to offend the Harland family at all.

Even if a businessman has the support of a big noble behind him, he would not dare to offend an earl who is in the limelight.

Now that the grain merchants in the castle have unified their opinions, it must be Duke Edward's Palace who has personally come forward.

Now the Harland family has become a hereditary earl. Although its strength is weaker than that of the Edward family, the difference is actually not very far.

The Dukedom of Edward had a population of 1.2 million and about 60,000 soldiers. However, the soldiers under Duke Edward's command were generally equipped and their quality was not as good as the three main armies in the north.

The elite soldiers in Harland's territory are enough to fight against three with one.

If a conflict breaks out between the two, the Duke of Edward does not have a % chance of winning.

Both parties are major nobles in Northern Xinjiang. Under normal circumstances, Duke Edward would never provoke the Harland family. Moreover, the loot that Lost escorted belonged to the coalition forces of the three provinces. Although the Harland family took the lion's share, they had to share the benefits with the hereditary nobles of the three northern Xinjiang provinces.

In doing so, the Duke of Edward offended the nobles of the three provinces, and it was even more troublesome to deal with.

Lost decided to talk to the mayor of Palani in person after he got stuck with the grain merchant. This person is a direct member of the Edward family and should have certain authority.In the end, the door was shut down, and no members of the Duke Edward's family were seen.

Palani City Hall, after Lost left, the city official Simone sighed: "This time we have seriously offended the nobles of the three northern provinces. Even if we eat half of the serfs according to our estimates, the sequelae will be very troublesome. From a long-term perspective, I'm afraid the benefits won't be enough to offset the losses.

After offending the nobles of the three provinces, if we encounter a crisis in the future, the nobles of the three northern provinces will definitely not come to support us.

The most important point is that the soldiers of the three northern armies all come from the three central provinces, and are closely related to the hereditary nobles of the three northern provinces.Even if the capital ordered reinforcements, and the nobles of the three provinces were bent on playing tricks, if we walked slowly on the road, our losses might be huge, and the main force might be surrounded and wiped out by orcs.

Besides, I heard that Earl Harland has a very bad temper, and he is not a person who can swallow his anger after suffering a loss. When he returns with his army, what will happen if he plunders inside our territory? "

Simeone is the cousin of Duke Edward, and he is considered an important member of the Duke of Edward.His face was full of worry, and from his original intention, he was unwilling to provoke the Harland family.

But Duke Edward of Maple Leaf Castle issued an order, and Simone could only execute it. The people above did not listen to his objections at all.

"The old man is very confused now. As long as someone makes some slanderous remarks in the palace, he will make a foolish decision."

The speaker is also an important member of Duke Edward's family. His name is Harris, a seventh-level silver knight and the fourth son of Duke Edward.

Harris is over fifty years old and has no hope of becoming a legend. He is not the first heir to the Edward family and speaks very boldly in private. When talking about his father, there are not many good words to say, it sounds very mean and there is no respect at all.

Simone has a close relationship with Harris, but because he is far away from Maple Leaf Castle, the core of Edward's duchy, the news is somewhat blocked. After all, he couldn't hold it in any longer and asked Harris quietly: "The old Duke is eighty-four this year. He has been very confused since last year. The orders he handed down are messy and there are many inconsistencies. Are there any core members of the family?" Have we discussed that the old Duke should retire and enjoy his old age?"

When Simone said these words, he implicitly meant serious dissatisfaction with Duke Edward. Strictly speaking, such words are very taboo.

Now that this kind of public rebellion is being uttered by the core members of the Edward family, it can be seen that there is a serious problem at the core of the Edward family, which has become unbearable for many people.

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