Chapter 261: Forming an Intervention Army

King Roger received the news of the civil war in Grand Duchy of Stannic only slightly later than Duke Jonathan.

Before Duke Jonathan sent people to the capital, the court of the Kingdom of Grant had discussed many times whether to intervene in the civil war in Grand Duchy of Stannic?

There are three continents in the Dawn Plane.

The East Continent is still a dense jungle, occupied by elves and lizardmen, and has not been effectively developed and rarely populated.

A large part of the land in the West Continent is polluted by the spirit of the dead, and the dwarves live in the high mountains near the coast.

Only the Central Continent has the largest area and the best climatic conditions, which is the focus of competition among various races in the Dawn Plane.

Humans occupy the most fertile land in the Central Continent and suppress the orcs in the cold and desolate northern plateau. In terms of strength, humans are already the overlords of the Dawn Plane. If the Holy Glorious Empire unites with several magic kingdoms, it will be stronger than the orcs, dwarves, elves, and lizardmen combined.

Unfortunately, the human countries are full of internal conflicts, especially the several magic kingdoms on the west coast of the Central Continent. In order to contain the Holy Glorious Empire, they even colluded with the orcs and jointly contained the power of the Holy Glorious Empire, resulting in the current situation.

The Kingdom of Grant is located in the northeastern region of the Central Continent, and there are four human countries bordering the Orc Empire nearby.

The relationship between these countries is relatively complicated.

There is a side of mutual cooperation and joint resistance to orcs, and there is also a side of conflict and annexation of territory.

Among the five countries, the three grand duchies are weaker, and the strength of the Kingdom of Grant and the Kingdom of Ryan is stronger.

If the Kingdom of Grant interferes in the civil war of the Grand Duchy of Stanik, King Ryan will certainly not sit idly by and watch the Kingdom of Grant control the Grand Duchy of Stanik, and a full-scale war may break out.

In terms of national strength, the Kingdom of Ryan is stronger than the Kingdom of Grant. However, once the army is trapped in the Grand Duchy of Stanik for a long time, it is possible that the Kingdom of Grant will fall into a turning point from prosperity to decline.

Although interfering in the Grand Duchy of Stanik is very risky, King Roger still wants to send troops to participate in the war.

Now the Jonathan family is already very strong, and its development has also reached a bottleneck, which puts a lot of pressure on the Grant family.

If the Jonathan family is supported to become the Grand Duke of Stannic, the power of the Jonathan family must be dispersed, and the energy will be concentrated on the Grand Duchy of Stannic. Through negotiations with the Jonathan family, the Grant royal family can also take back part of the mature territory of the Duke of Jonathan to reward military nobles and make the internal structure of the kingdom safer.

The Jonathan family can also get a bigger stage and usher in better development.

In this way, the two strongest families in the Grant Kingdom will usher in a healthy development, and internal friction will become smaller.

King Roger originally planned to interfere and was thinking about how to persuade Duke Jonathan. Unexpectedly, Duke Jonathan came to the door, and the two sides hit it off and joined forces to create topics in the Noble Parliament. The eldest and the second joined forces, and the third did not object. The issue of sending troops suddenly became very hot and was quickly voted through.

After the Noble Parliament voted to pass the motion to send troops, the Grant Kingdom began to mobilize.

First, the army of Duke Jonathan dispatched two-thirds of its forces, a total of two legions.

In order to show his support for the Jonathan family, King Roger also dispatched a second-line central legion, which was the Iron Lion Legion of Zakli.

Nolan also issued an order requiring the nobles of the three northern provinces closest to Jonathan's territory to jointly send troops and reorganize into a legion. In addition, the five dukes of Edward, Fox, York, Loran, and Duran each sent 4,000 troops, also organized into a legion.

In total, there were five legions in the intervention army, among which the Jonathan family sent the largest number of troops, almost all of them were elite, with a total strength of 45,000. The Iron Lion Legion was reorganized, but not fully staffed, with a total strength of 14,000.

The five dukes bordering the Grand Duchy of Stannic each sent 4,000 troops, reorganized into a large legion of 20,000 people.

The three northern provinces requested to send 15,000 troops, including 5,000 from the province of Rah, 4,000 from the province of Gedda, 3,000 from the province of Gascoigne, and 3,000 from the territory of Harland, forming a joint corps of nobles from the three provinces.

The five corps together had 92,000 regular troops. The serfs transporting food and grass along the way added up to more than 200,000.

These 200,000 serfs were mainly drawn from other provinces. Although the four earls and four marquises in the south did not need to draw the main force to participate in the battle, they needed to allocate food, gold coins, and supplies, and together with the Grant royal family and the Jonathan family, they paid for the intervention army.

When organizing the intervention army, the royal family also specially issued an edict requiring the nobles of each province to draw elite troops and not to use serfs to make up the numbers. The royal family and the Jonathan family would strictly check them. If the soldiers drawn were unqualified, they would face high fines.

When the order was passed down, it was almost February.

At present, there are about 11,000 soldiers in Harland Territory, of which 4,000 are new soldiers. Although the new soldiers have been trained for about half a year, they look well-equipped and well-organized, and they are no different from the elite.

But Richard knows that these new soldiers are just for show and can only fight a few battles to defend the city.

If they really encounter a tough bloody battle, the new soldiers have not seen blood many times, and their psychological endurance is not enough, so they are easy to collapse.

Originally, the training period for new soldiers in Harland Territory was one year. After completing one year of new soldier training, they were disbanded and incorporated into the veterans. Only with the guidance of veterans can the new soldiers be guaranteed not to panic on the battlefield.

Now the recruit training has not been completed, the conscription order has arrived, Richard can only end the recruit training ahead of schedule.

After receiving the order to recruit 3,000 soldiers, Richard thought for a moment and decided to select elite troops to participate in the war. After a meeting with the officers below, he decided to bring the Scout Cavalry Battalion, the Hot Air Balloon Squadron, the Territory Mage Corps, the Third Squadron of the Warcraft Cavalry, the Second Infantry Battalion, and the Sixth Infantry Battalion, with a total force of about 4,000.

Now a battalion in the Harland Territory has a total of eight squadrons, including some personnel from the headquarters, with a force of about 1,300 people. Compared with when the battalion was just established, the number of personnel has doubled.

Because a lot of new recruits were added this year, the actual combat effectiveness of the infantry battalion may be a little weaker than on paper.

After selecting the troops, Richard brought the soldiers of the Harland Territory to Lightburg to assemble.

Hearing that Richard was going to join the war with 4,000 elite soldiers, Duke Jonathan rushed to Lightburg from his busy schedule, talked to Richard in person, and appointed him as the commander of the joint army of the three northern provinces.

Now in the northern region, there are three dukes, two earls and five nobles. Duke Jonathan is the commander-in-chief of the intervention army. Edward, Fox and Martins will not join the intervention army. The troops sent by the branch members are Richard's turn to be the commander.

The noble coalition forces of Geda Province will all gather in Lightburg. The province recruited 4,000 noble coalition forces, 1,000 from Brena County, 1,000 from Romon County, 600 from Light County, 600 from Canyon County, and 800 from Black River County to join the war.

Richard carefully checked these soldiers and found that the quality of the soldiers was neither good nor bad. There were fewer professionals, but many experienced veterans.

Richard could even see some soldiers in their thirties and forties. Through questioning, he found that although these soldiers had not practiced breathing techniques, they had a lot of war experience and participated in many orc invasions. A few of them had more war experience than Richard.

The equipment on the noble coalition army looked very ordinary, and there were not many iron armors. The officers who led the troops were rarely from the noble lineage, but mostly from the noble branch. Even the second son of the noble was rare.

Richard thought to himself: "It seems that most of the nobles in the Geda Province have no intention of participating in the war. An army has a small number of professionals, and even if they have war experience, it is difficult to fight a field battle with the enemy's elite. However, when defending the city, relying on war experience and fortifications, ordinary people have the opportunity to kill professionals, so it may not be impossible to play a role?"

Richard waited in Lightburg for seven or eight days, and the 5,000 troops of the Rah Province also rushed over to gather.

The Rah Province borders the Dukedom of Jonathan. The Jonathan family has a great influence on the nobles of this province, and the soldiers drawn are also more elite than those of the Geda Province.

After joining the army of the Rah Province, Richard led the noble coalition army by boat, along the Starks River into the Black River, and then upstream into the Saint Fes Castle in the Gascoigne Province. At this time, the 3,000 soldiers of the Gascoigne Province had been waiting in the Saint Fes Castle for three or four days.

After passing the Saint Fes Castle, they walked more than 100 kilometers. The current of the Black River became turbulent, making it difficult to sail safely. Richard led the noble coalition army of the three provinces to disembark near the Palani Castle.

The Duke of Edward had already stockpiled a batch of food and fodder in Palani Castle in advance, enough for the noble coalition army of the three provinces to eat for 20 days.

The next stop was to collect food and grass at the Pading Castle in the Duke of Fox. This batch of food and grass was only enough for one month.

There were nearly 100,000 intervention troops, and the people and horses consumed nearly 10,000 tons of food in one month. Such a huge transportation demand could not be solved by relying on the Grant Kingdom.

If it were not for the invention of new alloys by Harland, the production of rolling bearings, and the large-scale use of four-wheeled carriages to improve transportation capacity, half of the military rations could not be solved.

With today's transportation capacity, only 5,000 tons of food can be transported to the Grand Duchy of Stanik every month. Once they enter the Grand Duchy of Stanik, the intervention army will need to find a way to solve the remaining half of the food problem.

The intervention army actually has only one way to collect food locally.

The serfs in the Dawn Plane don't have much food at all, and it's hard to feed themselves. If they want to collect food, they can only snatch it from the nobles. At that time, the resistance will be fierce.

Richard led the three-province noble coalition for fourteen days and rushed to Pading Castle, which is only a few dozen kilometers away from the Grand Duchy of Stanik and is close to the front line.

In order to prepare for the war, a batch of baggage was stored in advance in Pading Castle, and more than 300 craftsmen fought with the three-province coalition.

The food stored in Pading City is only fifteen days. Counting the ten days of military rations that Richard saved and brought with him, the military rations of the three-province noble coalition are less than one month.

The next batch of military rations will be delivered to Padin Castle in 20 days, and the quantity is only 500 tons. 500 tons of food may seem like a lot, but 16,000 soldiers can only survive for 10 days.

Due to the limitation of food supply, the intervention army can only fight in different groups.

Duke Jonathan led the Iron Lion Legion with a total of 60,000 troops for the northern line, Richard led the three provinces coalition with 16,000 people for the central line, and Sonny Fox, the third son of Duke Fox, led the five dukes' coalition with 20,000 people for the southern line.

The northern line army was commanded by Duke Jonathan himself, and he had the heaviest responsibility, responsible for defeating the main force of the Grand Duchy of Stannic and attacking the Castle of Clenus.

The central line troops led by Richard had the main task of attracting the attention of the noble garrisons in the central area and cooperating with Duke Jonathan in the battle.

The southern troops had the lightest mission, responsible for containing several other noble families in the Grand Duchy of Stannic. Among the opponents, there was also a hidden line of the Jonathan family, so there was almost no danger. Relatively speaking, the food route was the shortest, and there was no shortage of supplies.

As soon as a ray of morning glow appeared on the horizon, Richard took the soldiers to eat breakfast and moved camp away from the border.

The reconnaissance cavalry entered the territory of the Grand Duchy of Stannic yesterday and fought with some private armies of border nobles.

Richard's reconnaissance force was very strong, with the Magic Hot Air Balloon Squadron, the Lion Knight Squadron, and the Warcraft Reconnaissance Cavalry. Not only could they conduct aerial reconnaissance, but their ground reconnaissance power was also very strong.

The Grand Duchy of Stannic did not have the Lion Knight, and there was no way to resist the aerial reconnaissance force of the Harland Territory.

The Magic Hot Air Balloon Squadron carried telescopes and ran through several castles in the vicinity of more than 100 kilometers, and had figured out the enemy's strengths and weaknesses.

The reconnaissance cavalry brigade is centered on the Warcraft cavalry, and cooperates with experienced scouts. Its strength far exceeds that of ordinary border barons. Yesterday, it turned the surrounding area of ​​100 kilometers upside down and caught a lot of tongues.

By interrogating the captives, combining the intelligence held by the Duke of Fox and the intelligence held by the magic hot air balloon squadron, Richard also had a general understanding of the enemy's situation.

The noble situation of the Grand Duchy of Stannic is different from that of the Kingdom of Grant. The territories of the four dukes in the country are all in the safe south. The area of ​​the territory is also relatively small, about 40,000 to 50,000 square kilometers of land, slightly larger than the Earldom of Harland, but not as good as the Earldom of Martins.

The Duke family of the Kingdom of Grant is not as strong as that of the Duke family of Grant. It has only organized a legion, which is equivalent to the four marquises in the east of the Kingdom of Grant.

Because the pressure on the northern defense line is very high, the four dukes of Stannic drew troops and jointly organized a legion to be stationed in the north to cooperate with the Stannic border guards. Together with the local noble coalition, the Grand Duchy of Stannic's defense force against orcs exceeded 120,000, which is exactly half of the total force.

Under normal circumstances, the Linus family had strong control. Relying on the less than 100,000 intervention forces of the Grant Kingdom, it was almost impossible to defeat the main force of the Grand Duchy of Stannic and overthrow the rule of the Linus family.

But when the intervention forces were organized, the Grand Duchy of Stannic had already been in chaos.

Solaman's rule did not last long at all. In February, he was overthrown by Baldwin and Holden.

The false peace between Baldwin and Holden did not last long. The two soon broke out in conflict and fell into a more brutal battle for the throne.

It was early April when Richard entered the Grand Duchy of Stannic with the three-province coalition army. The civil war between Baldwin and Holden not only did not end, but also intensified.

Less than four months since the death of the old king, the Grand Duchy of Stannic has undergone two political purges and five large-scale battles, consuming more than 40,000 troops.

These 40,000 troops are all controlled by the Linus family. Now the Linus family can only control about 60,000 troops, and it is difficult to control the situation in the Grand Duchy of Stannic.

After Duke Jonathan led his troops into the Grand Duchy of Stannic, the northern border nobles coalition had chosen to stand aside and watch.

Even if Baldwin and Haldane shook hands and made peace, they would no longer have any advantage over the main force on the northern front led by Duke Jonathan.