Chapter 255
After Earl Harland joined the coalition of nobles in Heihe County, Richard left a thousand soldiers to guard the rear, and led 6,000 main troops and 2,000 auxiliary troops to attack the logistics line of the Orc Legion.
There is a mountain road in the north of the military station. Twenty kilometers to the north, there is an orc logistics stronghold.
Through magic hot air balloon reconnaissance, it was found that there were only three squadrons of goatmen stationed at this stronghold, and their strength was extremely weak.
There are about eight to nine thousand human slaves in the stronghold.
The reason why Richard wanted to attack this stronghold was to rescue these slaves.
In March of this year, the Duke of Guise sent 16,000 slaves. By April, he swallowed 23,000 refugees from the Viscount Nelson territory. Now the population of the Harland territory has exceeded 300,000.
Although the population is growing very fast, the lack of population in the territory has not changed.
With the two rich lands of Graveson and Swamp Basin, the population carrying capacity of the Harland Territory exceeds one million.
With a population of 300,000, it can't even fill Graveson and Swamp Basin. It will take more than ten years to fully develop the Haaland territory.
This year, the Harland territorial army fought three battles with the 59th Orc Legion, with more than 2,000 casualties.
However, the number of soldiers killed in the battle was relatively small, about 700. After treatment, most of the remaining wounded soldiers can return to the team.
The casualties among officers and soldiers were close to one-third, which had a huge impact on morale.
We can still fight a defensive battle, but in an offensive battle, morale is already a bit low, and it will be a bit difficult when there are more casualties.
After all, intelligent creatures are afraid of death. Seeing many familiar comrades and brothers die in battle, soldiers are of course not robots, so they naturally feel fear in their hearts.
War is very cruel and destructive to humanity. When fighting within the territory, soldiers cannot release their fear through killing, looting, rape and other atrocities. In addition, without family members to accompany them for a long time, they will become particularly depressed. The slightest disturbance can ignite sparks, causing soldiers to mutiny or even rebel.
After heavy casualties, how to stabilize the morale of the military is very critical, and it tests a general's ability to lead troops.
If you have no prestige and are not good at appeasing the morale of the military, even if you can lead the soldiers to victory, the continued accumulation of casualties will still cause the soldiers to rebel.
Richard is very prestigious in the army of Harland Territory. He went down to the grassroots to chat with soldiers countless times, paid out pensions for more than ten years, and spent a lot of time visiting disabled soldiers every year. There was not much airs in the military camp, and he solved countless troubles for the officers and soldiers. After every battle, as long as there is still enough magic power, Richard will also release healing spells to personally treat the wounded.
Although the casualties were already heavy, the officers and soldiers were still able to grit their teeth and launch a tough battle.
However, Richard had already felt the low morale, so he personally preached and mobilized before the battle.
"Through investigation, we found that there are only three squadrons of satyrs in the forward stronghold. Everyone knows that the combat effectiveness of the satyrs is inferior to that of the serf soldiers. This time it is quite easy for us to attack the orc logistics stronghold, which is ten times the strength of the orcs. They are still weak goatmen, and the casualties are expected to be single digits. Besides, I will let the noble coalition be the vanguard. They break through the camp, and we can follow behind to capture the prisoners. After the war, the veterans take turns to take half a month's leave
. , each person will be rewarded with a gold coin, ten kilograms of brown sugar, a jar of white wine, a bolt of woolen cloth, and a sheep. Indentured
slave soldiers who have made great achievements in battle will be restored to their status as free citizens together with their families in advance, and their fields will be allocated from official fields immediately. "
Richard The promise restored most of the soldiers' morale. Over the years, Richard has kept his promise and has a high reputation among the soldiers.
The material rewards plus half a month's vacation immediately made the soldiers in Haaland Territory very happy.
The attack on the orcs' logistics stronghold went very smoothly. The coalition of nobles from Heihe County broke through the Goat defense line in one charge. The stronghold was captured with almost no casualties and a large amount of logistical supplies were seized.
This included approximately 50,000 gold coins in grain, cotton, and iron materials, and even 20,000 to 30,000 gold coins were seized.
There was no shortage of ordinary supplies in the Harland Territory. Except for food, Richard distributed everything to the coalition of nobles. As for the most valuable population, of course, the Harland Territory monopolized it.
After taking this stronghold, the morale of the officers and soldiers recovered a little because they captured a large amount of loot.
There are 7,000 regular troops in the Harland territory. Before the war, they also swallowed 600 soldiers of Viscount Nelson. The total force is close to 8,000. Now there are less than 6,000 soldiers left.
More than a quarter of the casualties were considered severe blood loss. The most important thing now is to rest for a while.
The soldiers in Harland's territory are not serf soldiers, so it is difficult to expand.
After returning to the military base, Richard immediately ordered to recruit 4,000 new soldiers from the territory to expand the territory's strength to 11,000.
Of course, the new recruits don't have much combat effectiveness yet, and it takes a year of training to be incorporated into the main force.
However, as the wounded soldiers gradually recovered, the combat effectiveness of the Harland territorial army finally recovered a lot.
According to the financial capacity of the Haaland territory last year, it was enough to support 11,000 regular troops.
With more than 10,000 regular troops in hand, they can be organized into a smaller army.
The military exploits achieved in this battle were enough for Richard to be promoted to earl. If the territory did not have a legion, there would be no great nobles.
After the war, Richard sent people to send the orc deputy commander Raquel to the royal capital Nolan.
Raquel is an eighth-level professional. Normally, his head is worth five great merits.
Of course, a living high-ranking orc officer is worth more than a dead one. Although Raquel was captured by Sophia and Wendy, in order for Richard to become a great noble as soon as possible, the two gave up the credit, and the credit was counted. Under the name of Richard.
King Roger issued an edict to capture Raquel alive and reward Richard with a miraculous feat.
In this year's orc invasion battle, the Harland territory alone blocked the orc army. Richard even severely damaged this army in several battles and stabilized the northern defense line of Geda Province.
It can be said that Richard and the soldiers of Harland Territory took the greatest credit and played a very important role. They also rewarded Richard for his extraordinary achievements.
In addition, hundreds of orc professionals were killed in the Harland territory, and a large part of them were attributed to Richard, which added up to eight great achievements.
Taking into account some of the contributions that Richard and Sophia had accumulated in the past, Richard could be granted a viscounty territory after the war. Richard has three viscounties in his name. After the war, he can merge the territories and be promoted to earl.
Nowadays, the actual needs of the Grant Kingdom's northern region require new nobles to stabilize the situation.
The political channels for Richard to be promoted to the great nobility have been opened. In the current situation in the north, the Royal Capital Noble Council will only support the Harland family and will not stop it. With Richard's accumulated achievements and the strength of the Harland family, it is already certain that the Harland family will become a great noble after the war.
After struggling for more than ten years, Richard is about to achieve another class leap.
After defeating the 59th Orc Legion, peace returned to the Harland territory. When reporting his battle exploits, Richard deliberately overreported the casualties.
The above also took into account the strength of Harland's territory. It was already very difficult to defeat an army of orcs that severely damaged them, so they did not put a heavier burden on him.
In the end, it was Duke Jonathan who broke the deadlock, defeated the Orc Front, and freed up his hands to change the situation in the Lach Province.
In this year's war in Grant Kingdom, although the Orc Empire's army suffered heavy casualties, it broke through the defense line of Lahe Province, severely damaged the Grizzly Bear Army, captured six noble territories, and robbed the population of Lahe Province of more than 100,000 people. .
The orcs on the Western Front also achieved great results, severely damaging Duke Edward's army and taking away 50,000 people. The Duke of Fox also lost two baronies to the orcs, losing 30,000 people.
Compared with the advertised result of annihilating 80,000 orcs, Grant Kingdom obviously suffered a little loss.
A race like the kobolds only takes three years to reach adulthood. It only takes six years for wild boars and snakes to reach adulthood, and ten years for werewolves, lions and harpies.
It takes at least twenty years to train a human warrior.
The Orc Empire invades once every three years, which is actually to consume the excess population and avoid internal population explosion and civil strife due to insufficient resources.
After Duke Jonathan defeated the orc army, this year's orc invasion war was basically over.
The orcs slowly retreated to the north of the Eagle Mountains, and the Grant Kingdom took advantage of the situation to regain its lost territory.
After August, the royal capital began a new round of rewards and punishments, and King Roger also granted titles to new nobles.
The Harland family made great achievements in this battle this year, and Richard was successfully promoted to earl.
The uncle's Soros family has also accumulated enough military exploits and is about to obtain a fiefdom and be promoted to a hereditary baron.
In order to obtain a better fief, William went to Nolan after the war, communicated with the Speaker of the Noble Parliament, Marquis Allen, and expressed the demands of the Harland family.
Richard's demands were not high and he did not propose conditions for dividing the southern territory.
The great nobles in northern Xinjiang would try their best to develop to the south after making military exploits and distribute their territories to their heirs to spread risks.
The Grants, despite their reluctance, were sometimes unable to stop this trend. Every few years, a piece of fat will be given to the great nobles of Northern Xinjiang who have made great military exploits. Edward, Fox and even Duke Jonathan have been operating in the hinterland of the Grant Kingdom for several generations and have developed into more than a dozen barons.
A few years ago, three earls from three parties rebelled, and the territory was swallowed up by the Grant royal family. Such behavior of eating alone made the great nobles of northern Xinjiang very dissatisfied. The two Dukes Edward and Fox took the lead and repeatedly made trouble in the noble council, initiating proposals requiring the royal family to strengthen the northern military and assume greater responsibilities.
King Roger could not withstand the pressure and agreed to add a second-line army.
This second-line central army was temporarily adapted from the Redemptor Army commanded by Zachary.
After repelling the orc invasion this time, the two dukes strongly requested that the new fiefdom be placed in the south, and Duke Jonathan also had the same intention.
The royal family needed to divide three baronies in the south to meet the requirements of the three dukes.
The southern territories were different from those in the northern territories. The climate was mild, the land was fertile, and there was basically no threat of war. Giving up three baronies already made King Roger feel pain.
On the contrary, in the unclaimed land in the north, King Roger wanted to throw all the burden to the northern nobles, so that the northern nobles could become stronger.
The Haaland family in the northern part of Geda Province has restrained a legion of orcs, greatly reducing the pressure on Geda Province and improving the strategic situation of the royal territory.
In recent years, Gedda Province no longer needs to worry about troubles in the north.
Therefore, if the Harland family wants to choose the northern territory, whether it is the Noble Council or King Roger, it will be convenient for them.
More than 7,000 square kilometers of land northeast of Flower Castle were allocated to Richard, and the Salt Lake, which Richard had never forgotten, was also included in the new territory.
Now the territory of the Harland family has expanded to the northern part of the Lach Province and the northwest region of Nelson Viscounty.
Richard planned to develop the salt lake, refine salt, soda ash, and mine the potassium ore in the salt lake. He would inevitably build castles and station troops in this area.
With Haaland's territory in the northwest, Viscount Nelson only needs to defend the northeast, and the pressure will be much reduced. Otherwise, the Nelson Viscounty would suffer heavy losses and would not have the strength to manage the territory, so it would have to give up part of its land and move the border south.
In addition to expanding to the northeast, they captured the Salt Lake area. The Harland territory also developed to the southwest, swallowing up the Harden Barony. The area between the Gascoigne Province and the Gedda Province was also granted to the Harland family.
The territory expanded in the southwest totaled more than 3,200 square kilometers.
After William completed the communication with the noble council, Richard personally went to the royal capital, took the new nobles to participate in the ceremony, took the lead in swearing allegiance to King Roger, and became the hereditary earl of the Kingdom of Grant.
At the level of hereditary earls, they can already influence the policies of the Grant Kingdom to a certain extent. The fate of the territory is mostly in their own hands, and they can be regarded as the ruling class of a kingdom.
After being promoted to earl, the Harland Territory has the right to mint copper coins. The deflation situation in the territory can be improved a lot. It no longer accepts the jurisdiction of the Gedda Province and has greater freedom.
In the meeting of nobles, there are also more voting rights.
However, in the political landscape of Grant Kingdom, the earl family can only be regarded as a local overlord and has no overall influence. Apart from the royal family, there are only a few powerful dukes who can really stand firm. The duke family is the partner of the Grant royal family, while the earl and marquis are still subordinates of the royal family.
From the perspective of knighthood etiquette, the earl still has to swear allegiance to the king, but the duke does not need to do this. In terms of strength, there is not much difference in the strength of the earl and marquis. The duke family is much stronger, with at least tens of thousands of regular troops under their command.
After the territory was demarcated, the earldom of Harland had a total area of 29,000 square kilometers. By the end of the year, the total population was 320,000.
Although the population is slightly smaller than that of the southern earls, after the army has been expanded, its military strength exceeds that of the remaining four earls in the south.
The economic powers have advantages for each other. Although the southern count's territory is smaller, it has more arable land and grows a lot of cash crops. The agricultural output value is almost two or three times that of the Harland territory, but the Harland territory also has some basics. Industry and income gradually surpassed the Southern Earl.
(End of chapter)