Chapter 315
Going South Shortly after the birthday of the Goddess, the Duke of Guise gathered his soldiers and prepared to go south to plunder the Dukedom of Isaac.
Duke Isaac and Duke of Guise live in two countries and have always had a grudge.
The Isaac family was originally the vassal of the Duke of Guise. They betrayed their monarch two hundred years ago. If the Kingdom of Grant had not divided the border land for shelter and shelter, I am afraid that the Guise family would have been killed and exterminated.
During the turmoil that year, the Isaac family occupied the Guise family's fiefdom and ushered in earth-shaking development.
In the early years, the Grant Kingdom was not strong and could hardly provide much support to the Duke of Guise. The Isaac family often sent soldiers into the Duke of Guise to plunder. With Duke Brenner winning the Battle of Dragon Canyon, the Kingdom of Grant ushered in rapid development. Not only did it expand a large area of land in the north, it also established three Dukes: Jonathan, Edward, and Fox.
The prosperity of the country has brought very good development to the great nobles in the territory. In addition, members of the Guise family will join the main army. They have experienced a brutal war in three years and have greatly tempered their abilities. Now the power of the Duke of Guise has gradually surpassed that of Duke Isaac.
With the Orc Empire as a formidable enemy, the Grant Kingdom did not dare to neglect it from top to bottom. The cruel environment also forced the nobles to be smart, capable, and good at fighting.
Although the Grant Kingdom has been established for six hundred years, the military has not deteriorated seriously. The kingdom's military strength is now even comparable to the elite soldiers of the founding country.
King Delong's geographical conditions are superior to those of Grant Kingdom. More than a thousand years ago, he was the backbone of several kingdoms in the northeastern region of the mainland in the Dawn Plane. His strength is so powerful that it can even make the Holy Glory Empire fearful.
Unfortunately, after more than a thousand years of development, the nobles of the Delong Kingdom have formed a powerful interest group, with extremely serious nepotism and occupying all the good positions. Class solidification is extremely serious, strict policies of obscuring and weakening the people have been adopted, and the military strength has become relatively average. Even if the situation of the border nobles is better, the soldiers of the Duke of Isaac are not as good at fighting as the Duke of Guise.
Among Grant's many great nobles, Harland's army soldiers were the most adept at fighting, followed by the Fourth Central Army of Northern Xinjiang, followed by the main army of Duke Jonathan, and then it was the turn of the Royal Guards Army. These legions are considered the first-class main force of the Grant Kingdom.
The combat effectiveness of the legions under the two Northern Dukes, Edward and Fox, was relatively poor. The Duke of Guise often had small-scale wars, and its soldiers were often trained. In the Kingdom of Grant, it could only be regarded as a third-class army. Even so, it was worse than Isa. The Dukedom of Ke is much stronger.
Last October, the Grizzly Legion moved south and entered the Stevens Province in late October. It easily suppressed a rebellion and sent a part of its soldiers to attack Duke Hubble, who was providing support to the rebels.
Duke Hubble is a neighbor of Duke Isaac and one of the six dukes in the Kingdom of Delon. Because he is a border noble, his military power is relatively strong. But compared with the Grizzlies Legion's experienced soldiers, the gap is very serious.
After a battle, the Duke of Hubble lost eight thousand troops, and even the Duke of Isaac was implicated.
After all, in recent years, when Duke Guise led troops to capture slaves, Duke Hubble would lead troops to support him. Now that there are no reinforcements, the Duke of Guise will naturally step up his plundering.
Moreover, after seeing the Jonathan family seizing the Grand Duchy of Stanik, the Guise family was also very jealous and wanted to take back their homeland for greater development.
But to achieve this goal, we must obtain the support of King Grant and coordinate domestic forces, especially the royal family and several big nobles. The key is whether they are willing to go south?
The Duke of Guise communicated with King Roger several times and made a lot of commitments before he received the royal family's support. The Grizzly Legion's southern transfer was not only to limit the power of the Harland family, but also to develop southward.
Strong troops came from the southern province, and the Duke of Guise naturally became more rigid.
In early January, the Duke of Guise completed his mobilization and crossed the border with 6,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry.
The area of the Duchy of Guise is not as large as that of the Duchy of Harland, with only about 60,000 square kilometers of land. The cultivated land is not very fertile and cannot support too many people.
Despite many years of development, it only has a population of 1.3 million.
With a population of 1.3 million, it has organized two infantry corps, one cavalry corps, and one Warcraft cavalry brigade. There are a total of 40,000 regular infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and 600 Warcraft cavalry. The number of soldiers far exceeds that of Harland, and the military strength is very impressive.
The development of the Duchy of Guise can be described as militaristic, and a large part of the domestic economy relies on robbery.
In this invasion of the Dukedom of Isaac, the Duke of Guise only brought eight infantry brigades, four cavalry brigades, and one Warcraft cavalry brigade. His direct troops were less than 17,000, and the remaining 9,000 troops were from Among the vassals of the Duchy of Guise was Viscount Fanta, an acquaintance of Richard who had dealt with him many times.
For this slave hunting operation, the Fanda family mobilized 800 infantry and 300 cavalry, almost half of the Viscount's private army.
The Duke of Guise led his army into the Kingdom of Dron. The initial progress was very smooth. He captured two border baronies and captured 46,000 slaves.
According to previous years, it should be settled as soon as possible. After all, with a population of more than 40,000, even if some were lost due to various reasons during the migration, if 40,000 intact slaves could be sent to Nolan, they could exchange for resources of 200,000 gold coins.
Excluding the cost of sending troops, the profits are already very considerable.
However, this time, the Duke of Guise did not just accept the slave capture. In addition to sending a large group to escort the slaves, he also sent troops deep into the core land of the Duke of Isaac, and took the initiative to find the main force of the Duke of Isaac for a decisive battle.
In order to protect the territory, Duke Isaac decided to mobilize fully and recruited 120,000 serf soldiers to cooperate with the regular army of three legions to fight the Duke of Guise.
Although the combat effectiveness of the regular army of the Duke of Isaac was average, the serf soldiers recruited had a deep grudge against the Duke of Guise. After all, the serfs of the Duke of Isaac are captured and robbed by the Duke of Guise every year.
Although these serf soldiers were not trained, they often had high morale when they encountered the army led by the Duke of Guise. After several battles, the Duke of Guise had lost three thousand soldiers.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the Duke of Guise immediately issued an order to retreat, but it was too late and he fell into the encirclement of Duke Isaac.
After being surrounded, the Duke of Guise did not panic. Instead, he took the lead in building a camp, and then ordered the Warcraft Cavalry Squadron to break out of the encirclement. While attacking the enemy's food stations on the outside, he tried to cut off the enemy's defense line, and returned to the territory to mobilize more troops. Soldiers enter the border.
The Duke of Guise chose to go to war on all fronts, and the Duke of Isaac also asked for help from the Kingdom of Delon. Although the country had been at peace for a long time, the response was relatively slow, and it took more than ten days to organize reinforcements. The Kingdom of Delong still sent three legions for reinforcements.
Seeing that the number of enemy troops far exceeded the Duke of Guise's estimate, he had no choice but to request reinforcements from the Grizzly Bear Legion.
As a winger, William has a lot of autonomy. After receiving a letter from the Duke of Guise asking for help, William thought carefully and decided to send troops for reinforcements. Unexpectedly, after fighting several bad battles, he got himself trapped in the quagmire of war.
Seeing that the scope of the war was getting larger and larger, the matter was brought to the meeting of nobles by people from the Duke of Guise family.
Rumors spread for a while, and many minor nobles gave speeches at the noble meeting to promote their ideas, but they had no say.
Those who can really decide the direction of the noble meeting are the great nobles of the Grant Kingdom. For example, the Duchy of Harland has twenty-seven voting rights in the meeting of nobles. In addition, there are three barons, Soros, Bernie, and William. Regardless of the influence, the Harland family has thirty voting rights, which is equivalent to Thirty hereditary barons.
Moreover, the Harland family is the leader of the nobles in northern Xinjiang and can influence a large part of the votes. Often, bills promoted by several big nobles can be successfully passed.
The proposal of the Duchy of Guise was like a stone thrown into a pond, causing countless waves.
Rather than expanding their territory from the north, the nobles of the Grant Kingdom, from large to small, all wanted to develop in the south. Compared with the Orc Empire, the soldiers of the Delon Kingdom are much easier to deal with, and their current national strength is slightly worse than that of the Grant Kingdom.
Even the land is more fertile.
With the rise of the Dukedom of Harland, the Grant family has followed suit, and together with the entire Grant Kingdom, the national strength has greatly developed.
Now that the conflict on the southern front is so intense, King Roger has plans to expand.
With the joint efforts of the royal family, the Duke of Guise and the Duke of Duran, the bill was passed smoothly, and the formation of an intervention army was once again put on the table.
Having made several war fortunes, Richard now thinks like a Showa staff officer. He is obsessed with making war fortunes and will not stop him at all. Instead, he actively supports the Grant Kingdom's participation in the war. The other duchies, except Duke Duran, have average interests.
The Jonathan family took over the Grand Duchy of Stanik, and their energy could not be distracted. The Dukedom of Edward is now facing a transition between the old and the new, and the main members are relatively sensitive. The Dukedom of Fox was badly beaten by the orcs and could not mobilize any troops in a short period of time. The Duke of York's territory is fertile and large, and his desire for expansion is not strong.
After several days of discussion, the great nobles compromised. The royal family transferred two legions from the Central Guards, plus a second-line legion to serve as the middle route army. The noble coalition forces from the four northern Xinjiang provinces and the army led by Harland formed a legion to serve as the left route army. , the right army was dispatched by the Duke of Duran as a complete legion.
The total number of the three armies exceeds 100,000, which can be regarded as the first batch of reinforcements. If the war goes unfavorably, the Grant Kingdom will still have the resources to send reinforcements.
Now that there are people to send troops, the remaining nobles have contributed money to provide material support to support the interventionist army.
Compared with the battle for Stanik's throne, the intervention forces encountered slightly less trouble this time.
The provinces that Richard led his troops south through were relatively prosperous, and their stockpile of food supplies was enough for a hundred thousand troops. The Grant royal family was also far more generous than Duke Edward, and provided a large amount of food to ensure the intervening army's food routes.
After careful observation, Richard found that there were even a large number of military stations on the way south, so dispatching troops and generals was not a problem.
This time, Richard invested more resources in organizing the intervention army. There were 6,000 Harland troops going south, including elite divisions such as the Harland First Brigade, the Scout Cavalry Brigade, and the Warcraft Cavalry. Three hundred soldiers were recruited, and the newly formed Thirteenth and Fourteenth Brigades also wanted to go south to participate in the war and accumulate war experience.
The four northern provinces have levied 6,000 soldiers in the province of Gedda, 7,000 soldiers in the province of Lach, and 5,000 soldiers in the province of Gascoyne. The province of Grotta has not been established for a long time, and there are relatively few hereditary nobles. Two thousand were recruited.
Compared with the last time the intervention army was formed, this time the intervention army was formed very actively. The soldiers were almost carefully selected, and the quality of the soldiers was far higher than before.
In the last intervention war, the Northern Xinjiang coalition suffered relatively few casualties, but its military exploits were extraordinary. Not only did they recapture more than 200,000 people from Stanik, they also seized a large amount of resources. Military merits, female slaves, and coins entered the pockets of officers and soldiers, and even the nobles received generous rewards.
After the war, the three-province coalition system obtained four baronies. Richard's old leader Sharp, because of his strong support for the intervention army, got a lot of credit with Richard, and also successfully obtained a barony and entered Stanik. Development of the Grand Duchy.
Now Sharp already has two baronies, which can be passed down to different children to pass down the family business. As the son of a cobbler, his life is inspiring enough for countless people to write about.
Now the opportunity is once again in front of everyone. The vast majority of nobles support participating in the war, and countless nobles hope to develop in the south and leave the northern front line.
Following Richard's order, the Northern Allied Forces quickly completed their formation. Except for the poor quality of the coalition of nobles in Grotta Province, the other soldiers in this army seem to be relatively capable.
After the legion was organized, Richard immediately issued an order to concentrate the cavalry and recruit war horses from noble officers.
Compared with the last time he participated in the war, Richard's authority was undoubtedly greater this time.
Last time, Richard was still an earl and was not easy to deal with noble officers. This time Richard has become a duke and has higher authority, which is equivalent to the ancient generals in previous lives who have mastered the royal flag and the sword of Shang Fang. He has enough power to execute aristocratic officers who violate military discipline without going through the aristocratic council.
In addition, the last time Richard led his soldiers to win a battle, the northern Xinjiang nobles' confidence in Richard increased.
Normally, it would be difficult for the aristocratic coalition to integrate, and there would be a backlash against the order to concentrate the cavalry. However, Richard was a highly prestigious commander in Northern Xinjiang. Although his qualifications were not very high, his military exploits were very dazzling and he still had sufficient status and authority.
After receiving Richard's order, the noble officers did not dare to neglect, let alone oppose and block it. They brought their Warcraft horses to the Warcraft Cavalry Brigade to assemble.
In just one day, the intervention army actually added a hundred Warcraft cavalry, and the number of ordinary cavalry also increased by 300. Almost all of these people were recruited by Harland's elite troops. It can only be returned after the war.
(End of chapter)