Throne of the North.

Chapter 176 Forced into War
There are two intersecting rivers and more than a dozen streams of various sizes in Baron Solis's territory. The cultivated fields are distributed between these water systems. As the ice and snow melt, the river water irrigates the surrounding areas, and the area has entered the spring farming period.

In the North, spring plowing is not done on a fixed day each year. When the weather is not so cold, the serfs need to hurry up and plant the seeds, and then take good care of them day and night.

For more than 99% of the serfs in the territory, there is no reward for growing crops well, but there will be severe punishment if they grow crops poorly.

When Viscount Hogg learned that Ryan's army had entered Baron Solis's territory, he easily captured the Greystone Castle, which was only defended by a few people.

The nobles from afar were also alarmed by this. This could be considered the biggest fruit of the war since the start of the war this year.

"Lian, the Frozen Baron is not as powerful as we thought. He lost Greystone Castle in less than two days."

"What about the undefeated nobles and the most powerful military strategist in the North? I think it's just a boast made up by those rubbish in Lingdu County."

"What a thing that can't even defend Greystone Castle!"

Obviously, after Greystone Castle was occupied by Viscount Hogg, some nobles in Longshan County began to panic, as this would allow Viscount Hogg's cavalry to easily appear in their territory.

And their own army is now following the army of Count Sauron's family to fight against the army of Thundercloud County.

But another day passed, and new news came, shocking all the nobles.

"Baron Ryan has recaptured Greystone Castle once again."

"Huh, it seems that this Frozen Baron is not completely useless. His achievements have not been exaggerated too much. He does have some skills."

But a new day...

"Greystone Castle has been lost again. Viscount Hogg has taken over the castle again!"

On the third day, Ryan recaptured Greystone Castle again. On the fourth day, Greystone Castle changed hands again...

At this time, even the dumbest nobles reacted.

"What happened?"

The truth? The answer?
Ryan, who was in the Barony of Solis, looked at Brand and thousands of soldiers running back and nodded.

The truth is that there is no infantry behind Viscount Hogg. As long as Ryan sends troops over, Viscount Hogg will leave on his own. Similarly, Ryan will recall the troops the next day because there is no food.

"The soldiers of the nobles of Yinchuan County were at war with the nobles of Tieshan County. Viscount Hogg, in addition to his own cavalry, only brought more than 2,000 soldiers and his elite cavalry to help Earl Weiss."

"That is to say, Earl Weiss is using the army of one county of Thundercloud County plus Viscount Hogg's more than 3,000 soldiers to fight against two counties and us."

"No matter how many people there are in the alien world he occupies, the number of troops is not enough."

"Some were sent to Beifeng County to deal with the most terrifying Earl Winter, and some were sent to fight against the army of Longshan County. In terms of numbers, Earl Weiss was at a disadvantage no matter where he was."

"So, Viscount Hogg can't control the 2,000-plus infantrymen he brought with him, in addition to the cavalry. They have to be used to help Earl Weiss fight against the armies of the many nobles in Longshan County on the front battlefield."

"Their goal is the same as ours, which is to prevent the enemy's army from appearing on the front battlefield."

After Ryan finished speaking, Baron Enzo, who had been shocked for several days, finally couldn't help it.

"You...already knew that Viscount Hogg was only trying to contain us?"

"No." Ryan shook his head. What could he say? That this was because Viscount Hogg left without even defending Greystone Castle?

So Viscount Hogg doesn't want too many casualties among his troops?
It is said that Viscount Hogg is just following behind Count Weiss with the purpose of making a lot of wealth to train his own extraordinary army?

Yes, a new year, a new war, and each noble has different goals for the war.

First of all, Ryan’s purpose of this war was just to get a windfall from the loser and ease the wealth pressure in his territory.

The second is Viscount Hogg's Yinchuan County. In last year's war, the nobles of Yinchuan County no longer wanted to continue the war. They also suffered heavy losses in the war at the end of the year. The most important thing was the snowstorm, which caused almost all the nobles to lose their income.

In this year's war, the nobles of Yinchuan County only wanted to make a fortune from Tieshan County to make up for their losses in the snowstorm.

Therefore, only more than 3,000 troops belonging to Viscount Hogg came to the front battlefield here to help Earl Weiss.

What he wants cannot be taken away from Tieshan County.

Earl Solon and Earl Winter? The two of them are the biggest beneficiaries of the Northern Wind Province. Their current war is to resist and protect their own cake and interests from being divided.

The most crucial one is Count Weiss.

Count Weiss's goal is different from that of all the nobles. He wants to occupy the entire Borean Province and become the ruler here.

Therefore, among so many nobles, only Earl Weiss would start a war at all costs, which led to Earl Winter and Earl Sauron being forced to accept this massive war.

That’s right, the price.

This is the most important issue. The high cost of the war caused the nobles in Longshan County to betray Earl Sauron and pass the trace of the grain transport team to Viscount Hogg. Similarly, the high cost also made Viscount Hogg and Baron Ryan form their own tacit understanding.

Of course, they hope that the great nobles on their side will win the war. For example, if Earl Weiss wins, Viscount Hogg will definitely be the noble who gains the most besides Earl Weiss.

Similarly, if Earl Winter and Earl Sauron won, Ryan would also be able to gain a large amount of wealth from Thundercloud County as reinforcements for the expedition.

However, this does not mean that they want the war to spread over their heads.

Viscount Hogg absolutely does not want any of his knights and squires, or the future extraordinary legion, to die, and the same goes for Ryan.

In this case, tacit understanding is very important.

Therefore, Viscount Hogg would not allow his cavalry to appear behind Count Sauron's army. No matter how good the opportunity was, his cavalry, which was less than a thousand people, would definitely suffer heavy losses.

How much wealth would be needed after the war to make up for it?
Of course, if there is a good opportunity, neither side will let it go.

From the beginning to the end, the war that broke out in the North Wind Province this year was only caused by the ambition of Count Weiss, and all the others were passively implicated.

The orcs' southward migration, the land war brought about by the lordship system, and the blizzard, all these disasters broke out within a short period of twelve months. Any one of them would have made the nobles unwilling to start a war afterwards, let alone all three combined.

"If there is no other means, Earl Weiss will definitely fail."

This is Ryan's judgment.

(End of this chapter)