Chapter 267 Duke Edward made things difficult.
Seeing that Viscount Nero was determined not to leave the city, Richard had no choice but to lead 11,000 infantry to besiege Nero's castle. Two thousand cavalrymen dispersed and entered nearby villages to capture serfs and seize grain and grass.
Commanding the cavalry were Captain Morgan of the Scout Cavalry Battalion and Captain Danon of the Third Squadron of Warcraft Cavalry.
After years of development, Harland Territory has organized three squadrons of Warcraft Cavalry. There are also fifty Warcraft Cavalry among the reconnaissance cavalry, adding up to a total of 350 Warcraft Cavalry.
The number of Warcraft Cavalry is already comparable to that of the Grizzly Bear Legion.
Nowadays, the financial revenue of Harland Territory is close to 300,000 yuan per year. With a little squeeze, you can buy hundreds of Warcraft horses. The main reason why Richard did not expand the Warcraft Cavalry on a large scale was because he did not have suitable soldiers.
A squadron of Warcraft cavalry must have at least thirty professional officers in order to exert the power of Warcraft horses and form a strong combat effectiveness. If the quality of the soldiers is not high, even if they purchase Warcraft horses and form Warcraft cavalry, they will be useless and cannot fight against other nobles' Warcraft cavalry.
In order to form the third squadron of Warcraft Cavalry, all the new professionals in the territory this year were wiped out, and more than 70 veterans who were proficient in horse warfare were transferred. As a result, the infantry unit did not have new officers for a year.
According to the current rate of training officers in the Harland Territory, the expansion of up to one hundred Warcraft Cavalry can be completed every year.
Morgan and Danon led the cavalry to plunder an area of more than 10,000 square kilometers. With the guidance of aerial reconnaissance troops, they plundered dozens of villages in just a few days.
Richard saw that the Warcraft horses were loaded with food, and the captured serfs were mixed among the cavalry, which looked particularly chaotic.
"Move quickly, send the prisoners to the barracks, and don't block the door." Officers at the grassroots level kept shouting to maintain order.
Richard waved his hand and asked the young staff officer beside him to help. After working for an hour or two, he escorted the captured serfs to the place of detention.
"How is it? Are the seizure statistics clear?" Seeing that the logistics staff had returned, Richard asked.
"Including today's seizures, we have seized 1,800 tons of grain and a population of 67,000."
After hearing the news reported by the logistics staff, Richard's expression changed.
To send these serfs back to Harland's territory, it would take forty to fifty days on the road. Even if each person consumes one and a half kilograms of grain per day on average, two thousand tons of grain will be consumed on the road.
Now they have grabbed 1,800 tons of grain, which is not enough for the serfs to eat on the road, let alone to supplement the gap in military rations.
"Where are the livestock? How many are there?"
"More than 60,000 sheep, hundreds of cattle, and more than a thousand mules and horses were captured."
Richard calculated in his mind that the livestock seized were relatively small, and a large part should be concentrated Arrive at Nero's Castle. The 60,000 sheep captured allowed the serfs to eat 20,000 on the road, which could save hundreds of tons of grain. The
remaining 40,000 sheep were kept in the army, allowing the army to maintain rations for a longer period of time.
It's April now. There was a spring rain a few days ago, and the grass and trees have sprouted. It's spring plowing season.
Richard will arrange special manpower for grazing, and the goat milk and mutton can be used as military rations. With the army's food reserves, he should be able to eat until June.
Moreover, although the supplies from the rear are intermittent, there will be some.
The western part of the Ferraman Mountains is already the hinterland of the Grand Duchy of Stanik. This area is located in the middle of the Grand Duchy of Stanik and has not experienced war for more than a hundred years.
Over a hundred years of peace, the population has continued to multiply, making this area a relatively densely populated area. There are more than 600,000 people living in more than 10,000 square kilometers of land.
In terms of population density, the population density of this area is four times that of Haaland territory.
About 100,000 of the population of 600,000 were gathered in Nero's Castle, and the remaining 500,000 were scattered in the countryside.
However, in the face of war, the nearby population fled one after another. Some of the population entered the mountains, and some moved to the west, away from the war. Only one-tenth of the total population was captured by the coalition forces of the three provinces.
Through aerial reconnaissance, Richard knew that the land with a radius of more than 10,000 square kilometers had become a no-man's land in just ten days. In the desolate villages, only a very small number of people had returned to survive.
This shows how destructive the war is to the territory?
As long as this rich land encounters a war, there will be no roosters crowing for thousands of miles, and the bones will be exposed in the wild.
There are more than 600,000 people in this area. In order to escape the war, it is estimated that more than tens of thousands of people will starve to death on the road, which is much more than those who die directly from swords and arrows.
"Go and call Lost. I have something to discuss with him."
After receiving Richard's order, Lost arrived at the Chinese army's tent in a short time.
A few days ago, Lost fought against the silver knight Viscount York. Although he contained the enemy, he suffered internal injuries and needed to rest for more than ten days.
Seeing Lost, Richard asked: "How are the injuries on your body?"
"It's not a big problem, but I haven't been able to muster the strength in the past few days. I shouldn't be able to fight in a short time."
Richard stepped out of the tent bed . A box was moved out from underneath. After opening the box, a golden light suddenly emitted.
"There are already more than 60,000 serfs in the camp, and it is noisy. You lead the second brigade and are responsible for escorting the serfs back to Harland. I can only give you 1,500 tons of grain and 20,000 sheep. This You can only eat this batch of food and supplies for thirty days, and you need to make up for the remaining gaps on the road. This box of gold coins is the funds for you, and you must keep it carefully." After hearing Richard's order, Lost asked hesitantly
. He said: "The Second Battalion is gone. What should we do when we need to attack a fortress?" The
Second Battalion of the army led by Richard is the backbone of the infantry and the backbone of the Harland Territory army. In the previous battle of Felaman Valley, they relied on the second group of soldiers to break through the Viscount York's shield formation in one fell swoop and won the victory.
If this elite force is transferred back, it will have a great impact on the combat effectiveness of the three-province coalition, which is why Lost has this question.
"Through testing in the past few days, I found that the commander of Nero Castle is a mature and prudent man. It seems that they hope to clear the country through the strong wall and wait until we run out of food to retreat. Even if you go back, we still have 12,000 soldiers,
and There are only seven thousand enemies, and they will never dare to fight a decisive battle with our main force.
Secondly, escorting the serfs back to the Harland territory is very critical to our development. I don't trust others to send them. This task can only be undertaken by you." He handed over the
task . After that, Lost led the second group to escort 67,000 serfs back the next day. Now there is no resistance in the eastern part of Feilaman. There are military stations along the way and are protected by more than 700 soldiers from the second group. The road is very safe. After walking for seven or eight days, Lost successfully returned to Burson Castle.
After resting for one day at Burson Castle, we walked for two more days to reach Padin Castle and entered the Dukedom of Fox.
Padin Castle is a typical border castle with limited products. Lost only purchased dozens of tons of grain and emptied out the grain store in Padin Castle.
Dozens of tons of grain could only feed more than 60,000 serfs for one day.
After walking for twenty days, Lost led the army of serfs into Palani Castle. Although he bought some supplies along the way, there was not much food left in the team and they could only hold on for three days.
During these twenty days, Lost and his army of serfs had eaten all the livestock. Even the precious cattle were fully stuffed into their stomachs.
With more than 60,000 serfs, the marching speed was much slower than normal. At the supply points along the way, the food on the market was also wiped out by Lost. The grain stocks in several towns combined totaled 200 tons, which was only enough to feed this huge team for six or seven days.
Palany Castle is located on the Black River and is an important transportation node in the Dukedom of Edward. It is also the third largest city in the Dukedom of Edward. There are as many as 50,000 people in the castle, and the size of the city is no less than Fort William.
When Richard led the intervention army into the Grand Duchy of Stanik, he replenished his supply of food and grass for twenty days here.
When Lost sent people into the castle to buy grain and grass, he encountered difficulties from the castle grain merchants.
"What, how come the price of food has soared fifty times?"
After hearing the story of the merchants accompanying the army, Lost came to the grain store in person and decided to negotiate with the grain merchants.
"We are the army of the earldom of Harland, and the serfs we are escorting are the spoils of war for the nobles of the three provinces. Are you sure you want to rob us?" Lost came forward in person
with his soldiers. The faces of the grain merchants became very ugly, but in the end they still refused. Unable to resist the pressure, he revealed some of the inside story.
"Dear Knight Lost, this matter was handed down from above, and we are in a difficult position. If you really need food, you can exchange it with slaves. One ton of food is exchanged for one hundred slaves. This is the price set by the Duke's Palace. Please don’t embarrass us lowly businessmen. This matter was decided by the big shots. You can’t solve the problem by forcing us.” At the normal
market price, one slave can be exchanged for two and a half tons of grain. The transaction price set by Duke Edward’s Palace , obviously an open robbery.
Lost carried two thousand gold coins, and had already consumed 400 on the way. Now he only had 1,600 gold coins left. According to the price of food in Palani Castle, he could only buy sixteen tons of food.
There were 67,000 serfs and 800 soldiers, and they needed 30 tons of grain to eat only 70% of their food every day. Lost all the gold coins he carried to buy food, and he could only eat for half a day.
After hearing the news, Lost's expression changed drastically. He never expected that he would encounter difficulties from Duke Edward.
Lost is not a rootless person, he has the powerful Count Harland behind him.
Although the grain merchants in Palani Castle are greedy, they will only increase the price by 20 to 30% at most. Under normal circumstances, they would not dare to offend the Harland family at all.
Even if a businessman has the support of a big noble behind him, he would not dare to offend a prominent earl.
Now that the grain merchants in the castle have unified their opinions, it must be Duke Edward's Palace who has personally come forward.
Now the Harland family has become a hereditary earl. Although its strength is weaker than that of the Edward family, the difference is actually not very far.
The Dukedom of Edward had a population of 1.2 million and about 60,000 soldiers. However, the soldiers under Duke Edward's command were generally equipped and their quality was not as good as the three main armies in the north.
The elite soldiers in Harland's territory are enough to defeat one against three.
If a conflict breaks out between the two families, Duke Edward does not have a 100% chance of winning.
Both parties are major nobles in Northern Xinjiang. Under normal circumstances, Duke Edward would never provoke the Harland family. Moreover, the loot that Lost escorted belonged to the coalition forces of the three provinces. Although the Harland family took the lion's share, they had to share the benefits with the hereditary nobles of the three northern Xinjiang provinces.
By doing this, Duke Edward offended the nobles of the three provinces, which made it more troublesome to deal with.
After Lost encountered a problem with the grain merchant, he decided to talk to Mayor Palani in person. This person was a direct member of the Edward family and should have certain authority. As a result, he was rejected and no direct members of Duke Edward's family were seen.
Palani City Hall, after Lost left, the city official Simone sighed: "This time we have seriously offended the nobles of the three northern provinces. Even if we eat half of the serfs according to our estimates, the sequelae will be very troublesome. From a long-term perspective, I am afraid that the benefits obtained cannot offset the losses. If we
offend the nobles of the three provinces, if we encounter a crisis in the future, the nobles of the three northern provinces will definitely not come to support us.
The most critical point is that the soldiers of the three northern armies all come from the central government The three provinces are closely related to the hereditary nobles of the three northern provinces. Even if the royal capital issues an order for reinforcements, the nobles of the three provinces are bent on mischief. If we walk slower on the road, our losses may be great, and the main force may be surrounded and annihilated by the orcs. Besides, I
heard It is said that Earl Harland has a bad temper and is not a person who can swallow his anger after suffering a loss. When he comes back with his army, what will happen if he plunders within our territory?" Simone is Duke Edward's cousin, so he
is An important member of the Dukedom of Edward. There was worry on his face. From his original intention, he did not want to provoke the Harland family.
But Duke Edward of Maple Leaf Castle issued an order, and Simone could only execute it. The people above did not listen to his objections at all.
"The old man is very confused now. As long as someone makes some slander in the court, he will make a foolish decision." The
speaker is also an important member of the Duke Edward family. This person's name is Harris, a seventh-level silver knight. The fourth son of Duke Edward.
Harris is over fifty years old and has no hope of becoming a legend. He is not the first heir to the Edward family and speaks very boldly in private. When talking about his father, there are not many good words to say, it sounds very mean and there is no respect at all.
Simone has a close relationship with Harris, but because he is far away from Maple Leaf Castle, the core of Edward's duchy, the news is somewhat blocked. After all, he couldn't hold it in any longer and quietly asked Harris: "The old Duke is eighty-four this year. He has been very confused since last year. The orders he handed down are messy and there are many inconsistencies. Are there any core members of the family?" Have we discussed that the old Duke should retire and enjoy his old age?"
Simone said these words, which implicitly meant serious dissatisfaction with Duke Edward. Strictly speaking, such words are very taboo.
Now that such openly rebellious words are spoken by core members of the Edward family, it can be seen that there is a serious problem at the core of the Edward family, which has become unbearable for many people.
(End of chapter)