What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

By this calculation, the number of Margaret's troops in name has reached a huge number of 100,000. At the same time, there are a large number of reserves in the rear, as well as various private armies of the principalities waiting to be reorganized, slave legions, and a large number of followers. Even Margaret probably doesn't know the exact number.

Looking at so many laborers, Fran's mouth was watering with envy.

If so many people were used for production and construction, I wonder how much fertile land could be reclaimed and how many houses could be built.

Although she was jealous, these people belonged to Margaret after all, and Fran was even less likely to hire them. She had already absorbed a large number of laborers from around Vienna, which made Margaret extremely wary. If she continued to do so, Margaret might turn the gun around and kill her first.

Just like that, as the Northern Alliance's army gradually arrived at the continent of Calradia, the clouds of war gradually enveloped the sky over this ancient continent.

War is about to break out.

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Uncapped

Chapter 147 Assembly

At first, no one cared about the army of Orila City. After all, their numbers were too small, and Margaret's army was indeed powerful.

On the battlefield, it is just a battle lost, a fort lost, a battle defeated, until failure affects everyone.

— "History of the Wars of the Holy Roel Empire"

When the war started, Margaret still did not bring Fran along.

I don't know if she still wants to isolate Fran from gaining battlefield experience, or if she has already looked down upon the small number of troops in Orila City.

After all, the nominal number of troops in Orila City was still only over 3,000 people, and there was no expansion at all. To outsiders, Fran was not at all concerned about the construction of the army. Compared with Margaret's huge army, the number of people in Orila City was not even enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.

Of course, Fran was not really uninterested in the military. In fact, she paid more attention to military construction than anyone else.

After all, Fran deeply understands one truth - others store food while I practice shooting, others are my granary. She doesn't want to treat others as a granary, but she also doesn't want to be a granary coveted by anyone.

So secretly, Fran continued to expand her army, but she did not expand them into the city defense force of Orila.

After Fran defeated the four Huang wolves, he used the miners and guards who were oppressed by the nine families as a base to build an army to explore the underground world. This army was led by Huang Shang, a wolf girl who had helped Fran capture the Wolf Castle.

The exploration army has a total of three thousand people. Their main duties are to explore the underground world, protect the mines, and fight against the monsters underground.

Because of the years of fighting against the ferocious and numerous monsters underground, this army has extremely strong combat effectiveness and is accustomed to skillfully using firearms to solve problems in various environments. In terms of the proficiency of using firearms, even the troops of Duke Tilly, who have been fighting all the time, cannot match them.

Among all of Fran's armies, this exploration army is the most powerful.

However, because the targets they have always fought against are monsters with little intelligence and they have never fought against the armies of various forces, this is their biggest weakness.

The second army was the guards of the Jingxi Chamber of Commerce, with a total of more than 4,000 people.

When people talk about the guards of the Chamber of Commerce, their biggest impression is that they are incompetent. They are okay at fighting bandits, but they will probably retreat quickly if they are put on a real battlefield.

However, this special training is obviously not suitable for the guards of Jingxi Chamber of Commerce. Because Fran trained them according to the requirements of the army!

With the completion of the Port of Biesson, the trade route from Orilla City to Vienna to the Port of Biesson was opened up. The caravan guards took on the duties of guarding, patrolling and various bandit suppression along the way, nipping all the lawless elements who coveted the trade route in the bud.

When necessary, they would also help villages and towns along the trade routes to eliminate bandits and defeated troops.

Because of the presence of this caravan guard, the security along the trade route improved immediately. The surrounding bandits fled or surrendered and became good people.

And in this process, they are also constantly training themselves.

Years of fighting against bandits have centered their skills around mobile warfare, and they also have the only lance unit under Fran.

The third force was a construction corps that was used as a reserve force, with the former dwarf chief, Gorronil, as its commander.

The number of construction corps members has exceeded 10,000, but their most important work is still construction, and military training is only a part of it. So they can only be used as reserve forces.

Finally, Fran still has a navy with only about a thousand people, mainly responsible for maritime trade. However, the training method of the new navy is still being slowly explored, and the Holy Roel Empire is still very lacking in experience in naval construction, so Fran does not expect them to be able to enter the battlefield in a short time.

By this calculation, the total size of Fran's army is about 20,000 people, which is roughly equivalent to Margaret's legion.

That doesn't sound like much, after all Margaret has five legions!

However, unlike Margaret who was frantically expanding the number of troops, Fran's army had always taken the route of elite soldiers. The soldiers were equipped with sufficient firearms, and some assault troops were even equipped with multiple long and short muskets. Not only that, they also had sufficient firearms training.

Sharpshooters are made by feeding themselves a large amount of bullets. If you don't pull the trigger, no amount of training will help.

However, Margaret's army was not even fully equipped with muskets, let alone training. Ordinary soldiers were lucky if they could shoot once a week.

In addition to firearms training, Fran also put a lot of effort into military and political construction. She invented a position called political commissar, who would do ideological work for the soldiers on weekdays and solve internal conflicts and ideological problems. Later, she delegated ideological and political work to the company.

This is obviously Margaret's blind spot, so a traditional commander like her has no idea what ordinary soldiers think and want, so it is easy to collapse when fighting against the wind!

In addition to these, Fran also actively trained workers, students and farmers, allowing them to touch muskets on a daily basis and learn simple combat skills. In case the fighting on the front line becomes tense, Fran can quickly draw reinforcements from the civilians in Orila City, although that would be a last resort.

In the academy for all age groups, Fran introduced a military training model. Students of every level must take a certain amount of time for paramilitary training. Since students are still off-duty, they have more time than others and have more time to receive systematic military training.

At this time, Fran's academy has covered 90% of the children in Orila City, which also means that in the next few years, the army will be able to easily recruit a large number of high-quality soldiers.

Raise an army for a thousand days, use it for a while.

As the war clouds on the Calradia continent grew heavier, Fran began to mobilize and reorganize the army early. She stopped most of the exploration of the underground world, gathered all the fighting forces at hand, and temporarily recruited 10,000 people to start emergency training as a reserve.

So when Margaret "recruited" the troops from Orila City to go to the battlefield, Fran assembled them at lightning speed and rushed to the battlefield.

The ordinary people of Orila City obviously also felt the shadow of war, but they were not like ordinary civilians in other countries who thought that the war was just a power struggle between noble lords and felt that they had no obligation or need to sacrifice their lives for the noble lords.

They have regarded Orila City as their hometown and themselves as the masters of this land. So when facing the enemy, they will share the same hatred with the city lord, Fran, instead of being like the civilians in other places.

After hearing the news of the war, a large number of Orila citizens came forward to donate money and food, and some civilians even took the initiative to request military training or directly join the army.

With so many people behind her, Fran's confidence has greatly increased!

Northern Alliance!

We are here in Orila City!

Chapter 148 Divine Arts and Firearms

According to the Northern Alliance's combat deployment, the main force will land on the east coast of Calradia and then settle in the Mad Sand Empire. After the assembly is completed, it will launch an attack on the Feruman Empire next to the Mad Sand Empire.

The strategy is well formulated, but execution is another matter.

Due to the large number of forces within the Northern Alliance (a mixed bag), it is a headache just to assemble them, not to mention the need to sort out the command rights and determine the responsibilities. There are too many things to argue about in this process. The elves' troops have been stationed in the Crazy Sand Empire for more than two months, but the coalition forces have been unable to assemble.

In desperation, the elves had to abandon the other members of the Northern Alliance and launched an attack on the Feruman Empire first.

Although Fran could not be present at the battlefield in person, she paid special attention to the war.

She really wanted to know how the Elf Empire, the world's most powerful country, fought wars! Who was more powerful, the legendary elves' invincible archers or the musketeers?

To this end, Fran once again cooperated with Wallenstein and placed a large number of officers into her legion early on.

This time, Wallenstein not only did not refuse, but instead took the initiative to ask Franga to send people.

Mainly because after visiting Fran's army, Wallenstein praised Fran's military construction and expressed his hope to help her improve her own military construction. Fran has always been very generous to her old friend's request, so she sent many more officers.

This was obviously a win-win situation for both parties. Fran's officers were well trained, and Wallenstein's military strength was also increasing.

Of course, with more people involved, the news would definitely leak out. However, at this critical moment, Margaret was too lazy to care and allowed Wallenstein and Fran to continue their in-depth cooperation. This caused great dissatisfaction to Duke Tilly, and the rift between him and Wallenstein became larger and larger.

The first battle with the Northern Alliance soon began. The soldiers of the Holy Roel Empire, far away in the heart of Calradia, finally tasted the power of the elven archers from the distant continent.

It could be described as a nightmare.

With the blessing of divine magic, elven archers far surpass ordinary archers in terms of shooting speed, accuracy and range.

At the beginning, Duke Tilly tried to use tactics against cold weapon troops (the elves disdained to equip firearms). He hoped to rush to the front of the enemy's formation and shoot under the rain of arrows, and use the maneuvering tactics to defeat the enemy.

However, after just one charge, Duke Tilly was awakened by the elves' rain of arrows. This was not a charge at all, it was seeking death.

The elves' rain of arrows was not only dense, but also extremely accurate, specifically shooting at the gaps in armor. Even the knights in spirit armor could not withstand such an attack. Before the charge was halfway through, the heavy cavalry suffered heavy losses and had to retreat.

Duke Tilly's most proud cavalry was mercilessly beaten back by the elves. This was even more humiliating to him than the musket era, but he was not a hot-blooded officer. He knew that with his own strength, he could not do anything to the well-prepared elven archers, so he had to retreat temporarily.

The elves did not pursue too deeply, and after completely driving Duke Tilly out of the position, they went back.

Of course, this is not because the elves are merciful, but mainly because the elves' magic must rely on the Tree of Life. So before the war began, they quickly gave birth to the Tree of Life in the middle of the position. Without this tree, the power of the elves' archers will be greatly reduced.

Because of this tactic, the elves are famous for their ability to fight positional warfare.

In addition to the most important tree of life, the elves also planted other trees in their positions, such as the ancient war tree that could use earth magic to throw stones, and the ancient guard tree that could erect a defensive shield. As long as they were given time, they could establish a comprehensive offensive and defensive position in a very short time.

This position is not only used for defense, it is also extremely powerful in offense.

Because the ancient trees not only provide shelter for the elves, they can even stand up and walk forward slowly, which is equivalent to giving the fortress the ability to move.

Later, when the elves attacked a fortress of the Feruman Empire, they first planted various ancient trees out of range, and then slowly pressed forward until the fortress was within the range of the ancient war trees, and then waited for an opportunity to launch an attack.

The artillery purchased and imitated by the Feruman Empire is basically the first generation of Fran's structure. The range of the artillery is comparable to that of the ancient war tree, but the ancient war tree has a magic shield defense, which can withstand artillery several times, but the artillery is basically scrapped after being hit once. Therefore, in the attack of various earth magic, the border of the Feruman Empire

The fortress was easily conquered.

The battle between firearms and divine magic seemed to end with the complete defeat of firearms.

This made the elves believe even more that firearms were just a gimmick and not something to worry about.

The elves defeated Arthas and Margaret's army with overwhelming force, the fortress was breached, and the sneak attack was repelled. The elves were like heavenly soldiers. When the heavenly soldiers arrived, all the monsters and demons turned into birds and beasts and scattered.

For a time, people in the Feruman Empire were in panic.

In this way, the elves made steady progress along the way, constantly eliminating military strongholds in the Feruman Empire. And every time they eliminated a stronghold, the cavalry of the Crazy Sand Empire would take over, and the elves did not need to worry about the chaos in the rear and the supply line.

As a result, the elves' advancement speed was unexpectedly fast. In half a month, they had penetrated most of the territory of the Feruman Empire and were approaching the capital Minsk. If they continued at this speed, they would be able to end all the wars in the Feruman Empire and capture Arthas alive in another half a month.

Faced with the menacing elves, Minsk was naturally in turmoil. Fortunately, at this time, the young Emperor Arthas expressed his determination to fight the elves to the death and would no longer allow the elves to control him like his ancestors. Afterwards, he personally led a large army to station in front of the Soul-Guiding River 300 miles east of Minsk, preparing to

Fight to the death with the elves.

The Soul-Guiding River is a long river that runs through the Feruman Empire. Its source is the White Frost Mountains north of Minsk. The water from the melted ice and snow continues to flow downwards, eventually forming this river that wraps around Minsk and becomes its natural barrier.

In the history of Minsk, the Soul-Guiding River has protected it countless times, resisting the invasion on the other side of the river and saving the city from massacre. In the process, countless Feruman soldiers died on the banks of the Soul-Guiding River, and the river got its name from this.

Now the Soul-Guiding River has once again become Minsk, the last barrier of the Feruman Empire. Arthas said that he must rely on this natural barrier to defend the elves. If the elves cross this river, the fall of the Feruman Empire will not be far away.

Margaret and Arthas were obviously well aware of this, so they simply abandoned all defenses east of the Soul-Guiding River, withdrew all their troops, and began to set up a defense line along the Soul-Guiding River. Countless artillery and crossbows were brought out and set up on the west bank of the river, as if they were fighting to the death.

At the same time, the elves were also actively preparing for the attack. They suspended the offensive and waited for the Northern Alliance troops to arrive at the battlefield one after another. Judging from the way they were stationed, the elves wanted to launch a river crossing campaign from multiple directions at the same time.

A great war is imminent.

At this time, Fran finally received a letter from Margaret, hoping that Fran could go north to provide support.

It seems that the elves' river crossing offensive has indeed brought great pressure to Margaret and Arthas.

The proud Majesty Margaret finally couldn't hold it anymore.

Chapter 149: Principality of Habsburg

The Fran army marched very fast. Of course, this was not only due to the quality of the troops.

When the war began, Fran anticipated that Margaret might not be able to hold on any longer, so she had already started making preparations in secret. Along the way from Vienna to the Feruman Empire, Fran built a large number of supply warehouses and simple camps, and also had people fill in some difficult paths.

Although it did not get to the point of digging holes in mountains and building bridges across rivers, it did remove a large number of obstacles on the march.

Now that war has broken out, all these preparations have come in handy.

In just over ten days, Fran's army had reached the border, but then there was a troublesome issue.

Standing before them was the only principality in the Holy Roll Empire that had not been conquered by Margaret - the Principality of Habsburg.

Since becoming the emperor, Margaret has been unwilling to have too deep a connection with her relatives, so the imperial troops did not march through the Principality of Habsburg, but marched all the way to the northeast.

At the beginning of the war, Margaret's actions were understandable, after all, the entire territory of Feruman was still there at that time, and the battlefield was far to the east. But now the elves have fought to the vicinity of the Soul-Guiding River, and Fran must march northwest to reach the current battlefield.

So Fran had two choices: either to go around the border of the Principality of Habsburg, or to go directly through the Principality of Habsburg.

Although the former takes a long time, it can at least guarantee that there will be no mistakes. Although the latter is convenient, the Habsburg Principality has not yet made it clear that its troops will be sent. If Fran wants to take a shortcut, she must ensure that the Duke of Habsburg is willing to support the Vienna Alliance. Otherwise, even if her troops get through safely, it will be difficult to get supplies later.