Lord Harland.

Chapter 220
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 return to 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 gain a firm foothold in the hereditary earl class, you must at least pull out a legion with strong combat effectiveness.There must be at least [-] elite soldiers and several hundred monster 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 Li Cha was aggressive, he could expand the army by [-] to form a smaller army, while Earl Martins could only train [-] troops, and the quality of officers and soldiers, 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 him a large territory, most of it was worthless wasteland. He made the Donny Martins family undertake impossible tasks, which was actually a substandard performance.

If the Martins family made a fuss at the noble meeting and demanded to give up their title, it would be enough to embarrass the Grant Kingdom in the Dawn Plane.

Once the great nobles of the Grant Kingdom were worthless, their political influence would be too great.

Li Cha, who played games in the capital, didn't know about it. After returning to Fort William, taking advantage of the spare time during the war, Li Cha took the time 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.

These scale armors can be made into more than 300 pieces of enchanted armor.

After the orcs poured in from the province of Gascoigne, they divided into two groups, and went west with the strength of two legions, besieging Flame Castle, sweeping up the nearby noble territories, arresting people and robbing gold coins.

The Wild Lion Legion stationed at Flame Castle, in cooperation with the retreated half of the Redeemer Legion, united with the noble private army and the orc legion to entangle, barely maintaining the situation.

Another half-orc army turned to the west and began to attack Baron Harden's castle, intending to invade the province of Gerda from the west to plunder.

The situation became serious, and Zachary, the commander of the Redeemer Legion, immediately asked for help from Black River Fort.

Stein, the new head of the Northern Legion, was in a dilemma when he received the request for help.

Because of political strife and too many entanglements, many low-level officers were dismissed and retired. The morale of the Northern Legion was not high, and Stein did not dare to fight the orcs.

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 forces complained, did not work hard, and used the serf army to fool them, the battle situation was ruined, and he was mainly held accountable.

After all, Richard and Viscount Roman have already won the battle, so it will be easier to find excuses.

Although the confidence is somewhat lacking, but at this time, Stein must 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 the deputy head of the army and the captain of the first brigade, and Bernie has been transferred to the Wild Lions.The commanders of the third and sixth brigades were replaced by trusted 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 Fort is 160 kilometers away from Harden Castle, but this 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 asking for 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 [-].

However, the Kingdom of Grant still has a large number of second-line troops, which can be reinforced at any time.

The remaining troops of the Northern Legion were [-], and the Allied Forces of the Nobles of the Gerda Province could still mobilize [-] troops. Gathering all the troops together was enough to fight a 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 Legion in one fell swoop, especially the first brigade, which 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 army tent, the ninth-rank werewolf Su Yasola, the commander of the legion, sat in the middle, and a large number of senior orc officers sat 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 wiped out the Orc Legion twice in a row. Senior Orc officers were a little 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, large areas of the Grant Kingdom's northern border would be lost.

After the nest is overwhelmed, there are no eggs? If the overall situation is defeated, Harland's territory will not be spared.If you don't do it well, the accumulation of many years will be destroyed in one go.

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 Yasola turned his head and stared at the other orc officers: "Your opinion is also divided into looting?"

"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 Yasola wanted to fight the human army, 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 the orc army discussed, they decided to divide their troops 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 barony can't stop the orcs for a few days.

Although Baron Paul resisted very fiercely, he led the soldiers to fight to the last one, relying on the trebuchet on the top of the city, he also killed hundreds of orc soldiers.But the territory was only guarded for a day and a half, and more than 1 people were still 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, Pete, and Ramos, none of whom could hold on for 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 winning, the orcs had already lost [-] troops at this moment. Adding the [-] troops lost in Burnham's territory, the strength of the orc army going south was less than [-].

By this time, the orcs had robbed a large number of people and supplies, achieved their strategic goals, and were no longer ready to fight hard with the soldiers of 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 few battles, the territory of Harland had already lost some soldiers. More than two hundred soldiers were killed in the previous few battles, and four to five hundred soldiers were injured.

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 no fighting on the northern front lasted until June.

In the past three months, the orcs who divided their troops to the south have won successive battles, defeated five baronies, and entered the Laber Basin to rob a circle.

In just three months, the orcs have taken over 12 people.

Such a heavy loss made the capital extremely furious.

King Roger has led troops to fight for many years, and he grasped the key point at once, and wrote a letter to reprimand Stein, the commander of the Northern Army.Ask him to take responsibility and take back the population looted by the orcs, otherwise he will be held accountable after the war and deprived of his hereditary noble status.

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 is old in the army, has a correct view of the war situation, and does not need to listen to other people's opinions.

The Gascoigne province suffered heavy losses in this battle because of Stein's avoidance of the war.

If the Northern Legion took the initiative to take responsibility, the orcs would not be able to divide their forces, and Gascoigne Province would not be looted by the orcs.

Even if he had a reason to avoid the war, King Roger labeled Stein as ignorant of the overall situation in his heart.

(End of this chapter)