Lord Harland.

Chapter 271 Taking prisoners
The [-] captives in the city are the most important spoils of war for the Allied Forces of the Three Provinces.

According to the unspoken rules of the Kingdom of Grant, plus the contributions made by the soldiers of the Harland Territory, which played a key role in the war, Richard can get about [-]% of the share.

6 people, worth 30 gold coins.

Such a huge amount of wealth is crucial to the development of Harland's territory.

But it is not an easy task to feed these 10 people.

Due to the destruction of the war, the farmland near Nero Castle has been barren, and more than 300 million acres of land have not been harvested.

If you want to save the population in Nero Castle, you must let them move away to survive in areas with abundant food.

There is only one month of food left in the city, which is not enough for all the population to move back to the three northern provinces.

In the past two months, the communication between the front line and the rear has not been cut off. Whether it is the territory of Harland or the second brigade led by Lost, some letters have been sent to Richard intermittently.

The Duchy of Edward suddenly made things difficult, and Richard had already received the news.

The last time I relied on the power of the Church of Dawn to solve the trouble, this time I can't turn to the power of the church again.As a great nobleman, the most difficult thing to repay is favor.

There are too many debts of favor, and the territory of Harland will inevitably be involved in the religious war.

The religious war on the Dawn plane is not only huge in scale, but also very cruel, and its intensity is no less than that of race wars.As a noble lord, he can't actually get too close to the Church of Dawn.

So this time to escort the population, Li Cha will definitely bring enough food and will not continue to ask for help.

But the food in the city is only 5000 tons, even if all the food is taken away, a maximum of [-] people can be relocated.

"Everyone knows the situation. We don't have enough food now. The food shortage near Nero Castle is serious. We can't stay here for too long. I ordered the sixth brigade of the Harland Territory to escort 6 people back to the three northern provinces. Jennings, you guys Let’s set off tomorrow and take away all [-] tons of grain.”

Escorting the population is a very important job, and Li Cha is not at ease in entrusting it to others.

But after Jennings left, there were less than 2000 direct descendants around Richard, and it was not enough to control the coalition forces of the three provinces.However, according to Richard's estimation, there is no big enemy in the west.It is estimated that there will be no fierce battles in a short period of time. In another month, the first and fifth brigades will be able to rush to the battlefield to take over the gap left by the second and sixth brigades returning to the territory.

The most critical question now is whether to grab enough food after the westward advance to stabilize people's hearts.

In the territory of Harland, there are a large number of slaves from the Grand Duchy of Stanik.Now many of these slaves from the Grand Duchy of Stanik have joined the army.These soldiers are proficient in the language of the Grand Duchy of Stanik, and they participated in the conversion of prisoners, which helped Richard a lot and temporarily stabilized the prisoners.

But if the problem of food shortage is not solved, these prisoners of war with war experience will be time bombs after all.

In order to control these prisoners of war, Richard adopted two strategies.The first is to collect the bow and crossbow armor of the prisoners of war and supplement the equipment of the noble coalition army. The second is to identify the family members of the prisoners of war and organize them into an old camp. Soldiers from the territory of Harland are allowed to guard the old camp and use the relatives of the captured soldiers to control them. .

There are wives and children to keep them in check, as long as they are not forced too hard and have enough logistical supplies, the prisoners of war are willing to obey orders.

After collecting the prisoners of war, Li Cha dispatched a group of officers from the reconnaissance brigade and the Demonic Beast Cavalry, and ordered Morgan to be the commander of the captive soldiers, and Baggett, the squad leader of the Demonic Beast Cavalry, and Van Lundin as adjutants to assist Morgan in managing the team.

It took seven or eight days to collect prisoners of war and form the old battalion. Seeing that there was not much food left, Li Cha immediately led the soldiers to the northwest of Stanik.

After continuing to walk for six days, the troops walked about [-] miles and entered Lynas County, only to find a large amount of farmland being cultivated.

At this moment, it has entered the middle of June, and the summer harvest is about to usher in.

Looking at the heavy ears of wheat in the farmland, Li Cha finally let go of his worries.

Li Cha dispatched a squadron of magical hot air balloons to scout nearby enemies.

In less than an afternoon, the Magic Hot Air Balloon Squadron sent back the information.

Through high-altitude reconnaissance, it was found that this place is not far from Linus Castle, about [-] miles away.

During the investigation, the magic hot air balloon squadron also discovered the cavalry under Duke Jonathan, and the distance between the two armies was only 150 miles.

According to the scouts, Li Cha has roughly figured out the situation on the northern front.

Linus Castle is surrounded by the Nit River on three sides. If Duke Jonathan wants to attack the city, he needs to cross the fast-flowing Nit River.

Twenty-six days ago, Duke Jonathan seized the weakness of Baldwin and Haldane's nephew in defense against each other, and seized the opportunity to severely injure Baldwin on the north bank of the Niter River.

Without the containment of Baldwin's troops on the north shore, Haldane's troops fell into a complete passive situation.

Now that it was summer, the current was fast and it was difficult to cross the river. Only then did Haldane barely maintain the front line, blocking Duke Jonathan on the north bank.

Haldane now has about [-] troops, including [-] elite monster cavalry.

These two thousand monster cavalry are a great threat to both the main force on the northern front and the southern front where Richard is.

Duke Jonathan did not dare to cross the river on a large scale because he was afraid that the monster cavalry would attack halfway.

Although the South Route Army led by Li Cha seemed to have a large number of people, there were [-] captive soldiers.However, the second and sixth brigades are escorting the population, and the army lacks a backbone capable of fighting tough battles. If these two thousand monster cavalry charge, they will probably collapse immediately.

As long as the enemy came over, the Allied Forces of the Three Provinces would not be an opponent at all, and they would not be able to stop the charge of the Warcraft cavalry.

Now Linus Castle has two fronts, north and south, and the north line is still the focus of Haldane's defense.

Under the command of Duke Jonathan, there are now a total of 6 soldiers.

After entering the Grand Duchy of Stanik, Duke Jonathan fought several battles with the Linus family, and the casualties were not low, adding up to about 8000 people.The original 5 army now has only [-] left.

But now the army under the command of Duke Jonathan is close to 8 people, and its strength is stronger than when it entered the Grand Duchy of Stanik.The extra 2 troops were all servants supporting the Jonathan family in the northern part of Stanik.

These small northern nobles sensed that the Linus family was in danger, so they took the initiative to send troops and organized a coalition of nobles to help Duke Jonathan fight.They also provided a lot of food for Duke Jonathan, which relieved the logistical pressure of the North Route Army.

The addition of the northern nobles of Stanik is also a key factor in Duke Jonathan's victory.

The three-provincial coalition led by Li Cha on the southern front has a total of 5000 troops, of which [-] are captive soldiers.

These captive soldiers now want to eat, and they don't want to fight with their own people at all.The old troops from the three northern provinces now number only 1000.

The coalition forces of the three provinces are already a plundered army, and their morale is not high.In this situation, it is already difficult to bear the arduous battle.

After analyzing the situation, Li Cha knew that the most urgent task was to find a stronghold immediately.

With the current situation of the Allied Forces of the Three Provinces, they are simply unable to fight Haldane's troops in the field.

But if a strong foothold is taken, the coalition forces can hold on.

Now it is less than twenty miles away from the nearest castle of the Allied Forces of the Three Provinces.

In the blink of an eye, Li Cha decisively issued an order to scout the cavalry, and the monster cavalry immediately assembled to attack the Ria Castle and seize a foothold.

The war has reached the present, and Linus Castle has become very empty.

Ria Castle originally had [-] city defense troops, but because the northern line was tight, they were all transferred to the front line to assist in the defense.

Originally, Ria Castle was an area directly under the royal family, and it was not the focus of the Linus family's defense. There were not many armed personnel in the castle, but now the defenders were transferred to the banks of the Neite River to guard the ferry, and the defense of the castle was almost empty to the extreme.Now facing cavalry raids, there are only one or two hundred armed men in the city to maintain order.

In just one stick of incense time, the cavalry of the Allied Forces of the Three Provinces captured the city gate.

Upon receiving the news of the capture of Keria Castle, Li Cha immediately ordered the soldiers to hurry up.Before it got dark, he took the army to the castle of Riyadh.

After entering the castle, Li Cha immediately ordered: "The logistics staff will work overtime tonight, and quickly count the grain in the castle. The guard squadron will seal up all the grain stores and restaurants in the castle. Immediately seal the city gates, and from now on, no grain will be allowed to leave the city. .

The food stored by the residents of the castle must also be confiscated and counted, and seven days of rations will be left for them, and then the residents of the castle will be driven out, telling them that the city of Ria is already a battlefield, let them join relatives and friends, go as far as possible, go outside Find a way out. "

After entering the city, the military affairs were arranged, and it was already late at night.Li Cha took a nap, and summoned the logistics officer in good spirits the next morning.

"Is the statistics clear last night? How much food is there in the city?"

"Not all statistics are clear yet."

Before the logistics staff could finish speaking, Li Cha's face showed a bit of joy. "Is there a lot of grain in the granary?"

The logistics officer nodded and said, "My lord guess is right. We counted about [-] tons in the grain depot yesterday. In addition, there are six grain stores and dozens of restaurants in Ria Castle. The wealthy households can harvest at least a thousand tons of grain."

After getting an affirmative answer, Li Cha finally let go of his worries.

Although the coalition forces of the three provinces are unable to fight field battles, they are able to defend the city.Although Haldane's monster cavalry is powerful, it is impossible to fly to the top of the city.With the protection of the city defense fortifications and relying on the strength of the number of people, Li Cha is no longer afraid of Haldane's monster cavalry.

Now Li Cha has [-] soldiers under his command, and [-] families of captive soldiers.Soldiers consume three catties of grain every day, and most of the family members of captured soldiers are old and weak women and children, who consume about one catty of grain every day.Coupled with the consumption of war horses and pack animals, the daily food consumption is about [-] tons.

The grain collected in the castle is enough to last for two months. Moreover, the Allied Forces of the Three Provinces still have more than 2 sheep and more than 600 tons of grain, which can last for about 20 days.

With a little savings, this batch of food can last for three months.In three months, according to the development of the situation, Duke Jonathan must attack Kleiners Castle and end the war.

Everyone brought Li Cha to the warehouse and saw the pile of grain. The logistics staff said with a smile: "This castle is really rich. Not only did we find a lot of grain, we also found the money bank and got [-] gold coins , there are even about a thousand precious magic crystals."

"This castle is already part of Gyeonggi, and its location is equivalent to the Nolan Administrative District of our Grant Kingdom. Of course it is very rich." Richard said with a smile.

After leaving the warehouse, Li Cha took the officers to the top of the city to check the city's defense.He looked at the large farmland outside the city, and said to the officers beside him: "There are 10,000+ acres of farmland outside the city, and a bumper harvest is about to come. When the wheat is harvested, we will finally not have to worry about food shortages."

The vicinity of the Lia castle was not affected by the flames of war, and the bureaucrats did not give orders to fortify the walls and clear the fields.Production has not been affected. 10,000+ acres of wheat are harvested, and at least [-] tons of grain can be harvested.

In addition, there are [-] to [-] mu of grain planted with autumn harvest crops such as black beans and potatoes. If this part of grain is controlled, the grain of the Central Route Army will be completely worry-free.

Richard led the Allied Forces of the Three Provinces to conquer Ria Castle, and the news was sent to Haldane's desk the next day.

After receiving this bad news, Haldane's mood suddenly became particularly bad.

Linus Castle is the capital of the Grand Duchy of Stanik, and there are a lot of unproductive people in the city.Counting the family members of the city defense army, the population of the city is about 30.

Such a big city is very difficult to stick to.

Although Linus Castle has a geographical advantage and is surrounded by the Niter River on three sides, it wants to feed a population of 30, all relying on the rich land on both sides of the Niter River.

The North Shore area has been affected by the flames of war and is now completely under the control of Duke Jonathan.The reason why Linus Castle is able to hold on today is all supported by the south bank of the Nit River.

Now that the granary in the rear was attacked, the situation changed suddenly. If both the summer and autumn grains were robbed by the enemy, Lynas Castle would also face food shortages.

However, the main force was pinned down by Duke Jonathan on the northern front, and the deployment of troops to the south would definitely reveal flaws. Duke Jonathan was old in battle, and once a flaw was revealed, he would definitely launch a general attack.

If the enemy army on the northern front is allowed to cross the Neite River smoothly, the Lynas family will lose all their chips in this battle.

However, the enemy troops on the southern front were left alone and could not control the food production areas. The [-] army would soon be short of food, and they could not hold on for too long.

For a moment, Haldane was in a dilemma.

Looking at the magnificent palace, Haldane regretted it immediately: "Everything today is really terrible. If we can cooperate with Baldwin and not tear each other down, the situation will not evolve to this point?"

Although Haldane had a king's addiction, he also brought the Linus family to a dead end.He is a powerful legendary knight and the pillar of the Linus family.

Now that he has become the king of subjugation, the proud Haldane can't accept the reality in his heart.

"It's all due to the damned Solaman, who hastily provoked the Linus family's internal strife, causing the family members to slaughter each other. Of course, the stupid James should be more responsible. He didn't set a clear heir, and died irresponsibly. In the court. Baldwin is also a stupid fool. He is still unwilling to cooperate in a critical moment. He was caught by the enemy and lost his army. But the subjugated king of the Linus family turned out to be my great legendary knight Haldane. This What a terrible fate?"

(End of this chapter)