Chapter 268 Help From the Dawn Church

Duke Edward is an eighth-level golden knight, but he is not the most powerful member of the family.

The most powerful person in the Edward family is a legendary warrior named Harmon. Harmon was from an ordinary serf family, just like Jennings in the Harland territory, but his talent should be better.

More than thirty years ago, Duke Edward married the daughter of his daughter to the son of a slave. With the training and support of the Edward family, Harmon fulfilled his talent and was promoted to the legendary level.

In addition to Duke Edward's son-in-law, the Duke's eldest son is also a ninth-level epic knight, with the hope of being promoted to the legendary realm.

Of the two, Harmon should be slightly stronger, but Plott, the eldest son of the Duke, has greater potential.

The Dawn Plane is an extraordinary world, and competition among nobles is very fierce. Once one's personal ability cannot bear the responsibility, it is difficult to secure a position in the position.

Duke Edward began to become comatose last winter, and by this spring, many people in the Edward family had already planned to replace him.

Harris nodded and said: "Why haven't we discussed it? There was a lot of quarrel in Maple Leaf Castle secretly. Harmon and Plott each recruited a group of people, each with their own opinions. Now that Maple Leaf Castle has passed this order, they may secretly want to Let the old man take responsibility. When something goes wrong, put the responsibility on the old man and you can save your face.

These people think well, but unfortunately their vision is a little short-sighted. We are in northern Xinjiang and have a formidable enemy, the orcs, so we should unite with our nearby neighbors. Even if the responsibility is passed to the old man, the nobles of the three northern provinces are not fools. They have opinions about us in their hearts and will always retaliate against us and give us suffering in the future. "

Simone said: "You will suffer big losses if you are greedy for petty gains. Although Harmon is very talented, he is the son of a slave after all. He has not received aristocratic education since he was a child, and his character is too greedy. But why doesn't Plot stop him?"

Harris said: "The matter is very obvious. Plott's group obviously wants to embarrass Harmon. When Harmon and the others create an uncontrollable situation, Plott will be out of control. Moreover, I heard that Plott is already close to breaking through the legend. Not far away, I haven’t shown up for more than two months, maybe I can’t care about this anymore?”

Although Simone was the core member of the Edwardian family, he served as the Sheriff of Palany County. However, it is far away from Maple Leaf Castle, and many information are not known at all. After listening to the information revealed by Harris, he asked with some concern: "There is a fight above, what should we brothers do?"

Although Harles and Simeone are cousins, they are about the same age. The two have been together since childhood and their relationship is closer than that of biological brothers. The real relationship between nobles sometimes does not depend on blood ties, but on whether there is a threat to each other.

With Simeone on the outside and Harris on the inside, these two people can be considered a small figure in the Edward family.

As long as a force has been established for a period of time, there must be various small groups within it. Whether the noble lord can integrate the hills in the territory is the key to the success or failure of the territory.

There are also various hills in Harland's territory, but Richard's prestige can easily overwhelm any hill member and integrate the power of the Harland family. This is also the key to the rise of the Harland family.

Generally speaking, rising nobles can basically do this.

Harris said: "We don't have to worry about anything. It doesn't matter who is in charge above. We can just carry out the tasks assigned to us."

The two quietly walked up the city wall and stared at Lost outside the city. Seeing that the second group of soldiers were setting up camp meticulously and the camp was very strict, Simone sighed: "If the soldiers of the Harland family plundered Palani Castle, What should I do? I think the army under the command of Knight Lost is very elite. Although there are two thousand defenders in the castle, they may not have a chance of winning. "

Harris said: "As long as the soldiers in Harland Territory dare to make trouble, we will resolutely destroy them. How can a thousand soldiers turn the world upside down? But we should not provoke the army in Harland Territory, and don't give the Count an excuse to fight with us. Start a war.

We caused trouble in the rear and affected the situation in the Grand Duchy of Stanik. We offended not only Earl Harland, but also Duke Jonathan. I am afraid that the Grant royal family will also cause us trouble. Only a son of a slave like Harmon could be so short-sighted. Although he had been a noble for thirty years, he had no respect for the country's system. I think we should make our attitude clear and support Plott becoming a duke, and we must not allow Prince Finnan to become a duke.

As for getting along with the army in Harland Territory, we have to control the scale well. As long as the soldiers in Harland Territory don't kill and loot, everything will be easy to handle. "

After entering the Grand Duchy of Stanik in late March, the coalition forces from the three provinces had escorted back three groups of serfs within a month.

The first batch of serfs numbered 20,000, the second batch of serfs numbered 8,000, and the third batch led by Lost had the largest number, with a total of 67,000.

The escort mission went very smoothly, and Duke Edward did not create any difficulties.

It was Lost's turn, but he encountered Duke Edward looking for trouble.

Lost didn't know anything about the situation inside the Duke of Edward, but there were intelligence officers from the Harland Territory in the accompanying team.

He summoned these intelligence personnel and inquired in detail about the situation in the Dukedom of Edward.

Although Richard attaches great importance to the intelligence system, the Harland family has only been prosperous for a short time and has not placed intelligence personnel in the palaces of the great nobles.

Generally speaking, as long as the Haaland family is not provoked, according to regulations, the Haaland territory will not plant spies specifically for the great nobles.

Harland's territory is in the Dukedom of Edward, and there are only some people who collect public intelligence.

"Last year's orc invasion war caused serious losses to Duke Edward's territory. More than 50,000 people were plundered by the orcs. In addition, the legendary ogres came south from the Eagle Mountains last year and also broke into several strongholds of the Edward family. We estimate that Duke Edward was because of last year's invasion. The losses were heavy, so we, the serfs, decided to go back and make up for it.”

After listening to the intelligence officer's story, Lost still didn't understand.

But the current situation forced him to find a way to resolve the difficulties faced by Duke Edward.

There are only three days of food left in the reserve. It will take about ten days to leave the Dukedom of Edward and enter the Gascoigne Province. At least 300 tons of food must be replenished in order to survive the crisis.

Now that Duke Edward's Palace has issued a statement, merchants in the city will never dare to sell grain.

If we use troops to grab food, it will seriously affect the safety of the food road and trap Richard on the front line. Lost would rather give up half of his serfs than do this.

The logistics channel of the three-provincial coalition forces is in the hands of Duke Edward, which offends Duke Edward. If not, the intervention army may be completely annihilated. Only after the war in the Grand Duchy of Stanek is over and Richard returns with his troops can he be able to find the back tent of Duke Edward.

Of course, Duke Edward's cutting off the grain road would also be tantamount to provoking a civil war. At the very least, Duke Jonathan would cause trouble for him.

Lost thought about it and thought that in Palani Castle, only the Church of Dawn was not afraid of offending the Edward family and had enough food to help him solve this problem.

However, the Church of Dawn has a special status and will basically not participate in conflicts between nobles. He has no friendship with the pastor of the Church of Dawn in Palani Castle, and the church pastor may not be willing to help.

But when the situation came to this, Lost had no choice but to become a doctor. He personally found the pastor of the Church of Dawn, hoping to purchase some of the food.

Lost begged the door. The bishop of Palany Castle heard about the dilemma he faced and did not refuse directly.

This bishop was born in the Dukedom of Jonathan. He was a branch member of a baron family. He had the blood of the Jonathan family. He was very dissatisfied with Duke Edward's behavior of holding back the front line.

Moreover, the relationship between the Church of Dawn and Richard is very special. Archbishop Walton of the Grant Kingdom once told the clergy below to take more care of the Harland territory.

He was also a participant in the battle to block the plane passage, and once fought alongside Richard.

Regardless of emotion or reason, he will support Lost through the difficulties.

"Don't worry, Knight Lost. There are more than a hundred tons of food stored in the church. You can take them all away. For the remaining food shortage, I will mobilize believers to raise donations."

The Dawn Church in Palani Castle has less than sixty clergy in total, and the food stored there is not much. Bishop Chenxi accepted 200 gold coins and asked Lost to move all the stored grain away. Then he sent priests to notify the believers to collect some of the grain.

The population of Palani Castle exceeds 50,000, and more than half of them are believers of the Goddess of the Dawn. Each believer takes out ten kilograms of grain, and the total amount is 150 tons.

Lost also took out a thousand gold coins from the funds and distributed money to purchase food to the followers of the Goddess of Dawn.

Most of the followers of the Goddess of Dawn are from the middle and lower classes, and it is already difficult for each person to donate ten kilograms of food.

The money lost by Lost actually allowed the believers of the Goddess of Dawn to make a little profit.

Seeing that the church had helped solve the problem of food shortage in Lost, Simone hurriedly discussed with Harris.

“The church has stepped in to solve the problem of food shortage, what should we do?”

Harris said: "It seems that Maple Leaf Castle's order has made people angry. Even the Church of Dawn can't stand it anymore. I remember that Bishop Dawn is a distant member of the Jonathan family, right?"

"Yes, the bishop has Jonathan family blood."

Harris clapped his hands and said, "Now let's hand over the conflict and see what Harmon is going to do."

Simone said: "Will Harmon be tough and send troops to rob?"

"He doesn't dare to do this. Directly sending troops to rob it will offend the legions fighting on the front line. Then the Grant royal family, Duke Jonathan, and the coalition forces of the three northern provinces will cause trouble. Although Harmon is stupid, there are smart people below who will remind him."

After Simone and Harris reported the situation to Maple Leaf Castle, Duke Edward did not continue to cause trouble.

With the help of the church, he obtained 250 tons of grain. Lost lived frugally and walked for ten days, and finally entered the boundaries of the Gascoigne Province before running out of grain.

After entering the three central provinces, it was easy to supply food. After walking for more than ten days, Lost finally completed his mission and entered the Harland territory with 67,000 serfs.

At this moment, it was late May, and Richard, with the coalition forces from the three provinces, had besieged Nero Castle for nearly two months.

Seeing that the food in the army was getting less and less, Richard was under increasing pressure.

There are still 500 tons of food left. Even if we save some, we can only eat it for half a month at most. There are more than 10,000 sheep left in the flock, most of which are ewes that can produce milk. Except for the breeding sheep, all the rams have been eaten by the soldiers.

Starting from late April, the war horses in the three-province coalition began to be let out to eat green grass. If a war horse is let out to graze, it will take more than ten hours a day to eat, which will greatly affect combat effectiveness. But there was not enough food, so Richard could only make this decision.

Fortunately, the army controlled by the Linus royal family was blocked by Duke Jonathan on the northern line, so the central army led by Richard could be leisurely and lay siege for a long time.

In recent days, at Richard's request, Duke Fox sent two batches of supplies, both of which were sheep.

Compared with the cost of transporting grain, it is easier to drive sheep here, and fewer people are needed. But it will take six or seven days for this batch of supplies to be delivered to the outside of Nero Castle.

With the tens of thousands of sheep supplied by Duke Fox, the logistics pressure of the three-province coalition was greatly reduced, and it lasted for another half a month.

In recent times, half of the diet of the three-province coalition depends on goat milk. According to the calculation of the logistics staff, if the front line saves a little and the rear provides some, it should be able to last until August.

In the past two months, the situation in the Grand Duchy of Stannic has been surging.

Duke Jonathan took advantage of the conflict between Baldwin and Haldane, and led his army to severely damage the Linus family coalition.

Baldwin's troops suffered heavy losses and fled westward into the Kingdom of Ryan. Haldane led the remaining troops and barely held on to the city of Linus.

A few days ago, Duke Jonathan sent an order, asking Richard to deal with the enemy as soon as possible, lead his army to join Duke Jonathan, attack the Castle of Linus, and deal with the intervention of the Kingdom of Ryan.

The northern line gradually decided the winner, the central line led by Richard was still in a stalemate, and there was still no war on the southern line. It seems that the great nobles of Stannic will make a decision after the northern line decides the winner.

After receiving the order from Duke Jonathan, Richard thought for a while and felt that a strong attack would not only cause heavy casualties, but also be difficult to win. After all, the army he led was not the central regular army, but the coalition of nobles from three provinces.

Since it was a coalition of nobles, internal friction must be very serious.

When fighting, some troops gnawed bones, some troops ate meat, some troops seized rich spoils, and some troops had to bear difficult responsibilities.

It is difficult to balance the interests of the noble coalition in commanding. Especially when fighting a siege, it is not easy to coordinate contradictions.

If the nobles of the Rah Province were asked to undertake the task of siege, the army might mutiny. If the soldiers of the Harland Territory were asked to attack the city, Richard was somewhat reluctant and unwilling to consume his own people.

Since it is impossible to attack by force, the only way is to lure the enemy to see if the enemy can be attracted to fight outside the city and defeat the enemy in the field.

When two armies fight, it is generally difficult to succeed by using strategies. Because the commander who can command thousands of troops is often resolute and wise.

Especially the northern countries of the Dawn Continent, which have been facing the invasion of orcs for many years, the nobles are experienced in war, and strategies are child's play for them. The victory or defeat of the war mainly depends on strength.

For example, Viscount Nero, the commander of the noble coalition in the central part of the Grand Duchy of Stannic, saw through the weakness of the three provinces' coalition forces' lack of food and would never fight recklessly.

If the enemy is not fooled and is only seeking stability, it will be difficult to succeed by luring the enemy to a decisive battle.

If you want to open up the situation, the best way is to catalyze the contradictions within the enemy and open up the balance from the inside. After all, the siege has been going on for two months, and Nero Castle will also face the difficulty of food shortage.

Now, it depends on which of the two armies has greater endurance and better internal integration.