Chapter 272 Rewarding According to Merit

Holdan is a legendary knight with rich combat experience. As the situation has developed to this point, he knows in his heart that there is no way to defend Linus Castle.

At this point in the war, Holdan's losses are also very serious. The army he controls, plus the city defense army, is only more than 30,000 people. These soldiers need to guard the 140-kilometer river bank, 13 camps, and three front-line castles. In addition, soldiers must be drawn to defend Linus Castle. There are no extra soldiers at all.

The only mobile ones are only 2,000 Warcraft cavalry.

Although the 2,000 Warcraft cavalry under Holdan are powerful, they are not good at siege.

Moreover, these 2,000 Warcraft cavalry are the last capital of the Linus family, and Holdan is unwilling to easily consume them in siege warfare.

If the Warcraft cavalry is transferred to the south line, the north line will lose a decisive force. Once Duke Jonathan launches a general attack, it will not be able to hold on for too long by relying on infantry.

In the current situation, if you want to break the deadlock, you can only rely on external forces.

Holdan's only hope is the reinforcements from the Kingdom of Ryan.

In the past hundred years, the Grand Duchy of Stanik has had close relations with the Kingdom of Ryan, and several generations have intermarried. As long as it can hold on, the Kingdom of Ryan will naturally not sit idly by and watch the Grand Duchy of Stanik being controlled by the Kingdom of Grant.

Unfortunately, the war has been going on for nearly four months, and the reinforcements from the Kingdom of Ryan have not arrived yet.

The distance between the Kingdom of Ryan and the Grand Duchy of Stanik is slightly farther than that of the Kingdom of Grant, so the intelligence received is naturally slower.

The news that the Kingdom of Grant had formed an intervention army reached the Kingdom of Ryan in late March, and by the time the Kingdom of Ryan had organized its army, it was already mid-April.

According to common sense, the intervention army of the Kingdom of Ryan would have arrived at the battlefield in late May.

But now it is June, and the reinforcements still have not appeared.

Some time ago, Holden received intelligence that the old king of the Kingdom of Ryan had a problem with his health. For a time, the Kingdom of Ryan was undercurrent, and it was unable to interfere with the situation of the Grand Duchy of Stanik in a short period of time.

Without the reinforcements from the Kingdom of Ryan, the situation has developed to the point where the Linus family has been defeated and is unable to save the situation.

Although he was very upset, Holden was still very calm. Seeing that Linus Castle could no longer be defended, he burned the castle and fled to the west with the Warcraft Cavalry.

In order to be quick, Holden killed his family and relatives and abandoned the infantry of Linus's guards. The Warcraft Cavalry under his command was extremely fast. In just three days, they fled 600 kilometers and entered the territory of the Kingdom of Ryan to seek refuge.

Holden fled, and the intervention army of the Kingdom of Ryan did not participate in the war. The war in the Grand Duchy of Stannic was about to end.

At this moment, the Linus family left a mess for Duke Jonathan.

Because of the impact of the war, the Grand Duchy of Stannic's grain production has been severely reduced this year. The refugees caused by the war have exceeded two million, hundreds of thousands of people have died of hunger, and Stannic's national defense force has lost half.

Now it is about to enter July, and the farming season has been missed. It is impossible to resume production this year. Duke Jonathan can only try his best to clean up the mess and solve the problem of food shortage.

This war basically destroyed the capital of Stannic.

The central region also became a wasteland, with 200,000 people robbed by the coalition forces of the three provinces. It may take decades to recover.

In the territory directly governed by the Linus royal family, hundreds of thousands of serfs fled into the mountains and became war refugees, or became savages, or were annexed by the great nobles in the south.

Although the Linus family was defeated in this war, the central power of the Grand Duchy of Stanik was almost destroyed, adding countless troubles to the Jonathan family's rule over the Grand Duchy of Stanik.

After controlling Linus Castle, Duke Jonathan immediately dismissed the vassal army and transferred back the Iron Lion Legion to reduce the pressure on logistics supply, and then incorporated about 20,000 Royal Capital Guards and added a legion.

In addition, Duke Jonathan immediately announced that Linus Castle was changed back to its original name, St. Jonathan Castle, which was the most important political correctness of the Grand Duchy of Stanik.

Because of the impact of the war, the territory that Duke Jonathan can control is now only about 40,000 square kilometers, and the population is temporarily only 600,000.

The entire Grand Duchy of Stanik has a territory of 350,000 square kilometers. The territory controlled by the border nobles in the northern region is about 80,000 square kilometers, and the territory controlled by the four dukes in the south is about 170,000 square kilometers. The territory directly under the Linus royal family is 70,000 square kilometers. The central border nobles are members of the Linus family branch, and the territory they control is less than 30,000 square kilometers.

After winning this battle, Duke Jonathan must reward according to merit. Recently, many nobles have come to inquire about the news, asking Duke Jonathan to clarify his opinions and give everyone a reassurance.

Even within the Jonathan family, many people are eager to try and ask the Duke to listen to everyone's opinions.

The division of interests must be very difficult, and Duke Jonathan needs to compromise with all parties.

The first thing to deal with is the four dukes in the south of Stanik.

Although the four dukes in the south of the Grand Duchy of Stanik did not work hard and did not do their best to support the Linus family, they were on the side of the Linus family politically.

Of the four dukes of Stannick, only the Watson family joined Duke Jonathan early on and was not implicated because of their correct political stance. Duke Watson's third son was even made a hereditary viscount. At the same time, the five dukes who sent troops, Edward, Fox, York, Lorain, and Duran, were each granted a viscountship in the south.

The six viscounts are not very large, with a total area of ​​about 9,000 square kilometers. This part of the territory needs to be ceded by the three dukes who failed in their political stance. In addition, each of the three dukes needs to transport 8,000 tons of grain to St. Jonathan Castle before they can be pardoned by the Jonathan family.

The three dukes can easily take out 8,000 tons of grain, but to transport it to St. Jonathan Castle, it will consume a lot of food along the way. In fact, more than 20,000 tons of grain need to be paid, and a large number of draft animals and personnel need to be mobilized.

After this war, the three dukes suffered heavy economic losses.

Although the three dukes did not fight any major wars in their territories, and did not delay farming due to the war, the losses of various materials were not small, and the need to transport grain to St. Jonathan Castle meant that the economic losses were about more than 200,000 gold coins.

Each of the three dukes lost one-fifteenth of their territory, divided into two viscounts, and their power weakened a little.

However, the Duke of the South was strong after all, with a combined force of more than 100,000 soldiers. They did not suffer any serious damage in the war. Although they suffered some losses in strength, they stabilized the situation in the turmoil of the country, and the power comparison increased a lot, and their voice also increased.

Most of the nobles in the north of Stanik remained neutral, and some supported Duke Jonathan.

After Duke Jonathan's victory, the neutral nobles were somewhat politically incorrect.

However, the nobles in the north were relatively united, with 40,000 noble coalition forces as backup, and Duke Jonathan could not punish them severely, so he could only ask them to hand over some grain, about 10,000 tons.

The grain-producing area in the north of Stanik is not far from St. Jonathan Castle, about 150 kilometers away, and can also be transported to St. Jonathan Castle through the waters of the Nit River, with relatively small transportation losses.

The economic losses are relatively small, and these neutral nobles can basically accept it, because they did not support Duke Jonathan.

The northern nobles who supported Duke Jonathan were granted the title of hereditary baron because of their correct battle team. Four nobles who made military achievements were granted the title of hereditary baron. Their territories were granted in the central region, on both sides of the Felaman Mountains.

Although the four marquises in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Grant did not directly send troops to participate in the war, they provided a large amount of food, weapons, armor, pack horses and other war supplies, and mobilized more than 200,000 serfs to transport countless supplies to the front line. One person in each of these four marquis families was granted the title of hereditary baron, and the territory was also placed in the central region of Stannic.

Although the earl in the south also paid various materials, his political influence was slightly smaller. He did not get the title, but only received a gold coin reward and the agency rights of the elf black tea. These commercial interests can bring thousands of gold coins in revenue every year. In the long run, this investment is very profitable.

In addition to the great nobles, the role played by the coalition forces of the three northern provinces in this battle is also very critical.

The army led by Richard not only annihilated the noble coalition forces in the middle of Stanik, but also cooperated with the northern army to capture the County of St. Jonathan.

The military exploits of the central army far exceeded those of the southern army, and Richard was also granted an earldom. His territory was formed by the merger of the three viscounties of Nero, York, and Casaro.

These three viscounties are not adjacent to each other, and their areas vary in size. The total area is about 13,000 square kilometers. The viscounty of Nero has the largest area, exceeding 6,000 square kilometers, almost half of it.

Forty percent of the 13,000 square kilometers of land is plains, and 2 million acres of farmland have been reclaimed. The climate is relatively drier than the three northern provinces, and the grain output is also lower. It can carry hundreds of thousands of people after development.

Burton, Kalani, Sharp and other nobles who have made military exploits were all granted hereditary barons this time. The remaining nobles did not have enough merit, so they could only get a little more in gold coins and population.

After obtaining the fiefdom, Richard came to St. Jonathan Castle and decided to talk to Duke Jonathan. After weighing the pros and cons, he felt that the power of the Harland family was not suitable for dispersion, so he decided to use the land of the Grand Duchy of Stannic to exchange territory with Duke Jonathan.

The Earldom of Harland is not far from the Dukedom of Jonathan, especially from the original Earldom of Roger, which is only a dozen kilometers away.

The area of ​​the Earldom of Roger is about 27,000 square kilometers, which is slightly smaller than the Earldom of Harland. If the two territories can be merged together, the total area will be about 56,000.

Although the Earldom of Roger is large in area, it has been developed in a relatively short time, and a large amount of land is mountainous, and only the river valley area has water sources. In terms of agricultural conditions, it is not as good as the central area of ​​Stannic.

Moreover, the Earldom of Roger is located at the forefront of the war with the orcs. Although the territory is large, it is difficult to develop. The central area of ​​Stannic is more than 200 kilometers away from the front line, which is relatively safe. Unless the orcs can break through the northern defense line, they will not plunder in the central area at all.

Although the central earldom of Stannic is smaller in area, its real value is greater than that of Roger's earldom.

Richard met the new Grand Duke at St. Jonathan Castle and informed Duke Jonathan of his intention to exchange territories.

After the victory of the war, the power of the Jonathan family will tilt towards the Grand Duchy of Stannic.

If the three-province coalition had not played a key role in this battle, Duke Jonathan would not have been willing to divide a large piece of territory and grant Richard an earldom.

According to the terms negotiated between Duke Jonathan and King Roger, if the war is victorious and the Jonathan family controls the Grand Duchy of Stanek, Duke Jonathan will allocate 30,000 square kilometers of land to the royal family and establish a new province, Grotta Province. The Iron Lion Legion will be expanded and reorganized into a central legion stationed in the Grotta Province.

In terms of the area of ​​land acquired, the Jonathan family did not make much money. However, most of the territory under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family of Grand Duke Stanik is plain, far away from the front line of the orc invasion.

By winning this territory, we can expand our army by 100,000. The location advantage of the territory far exceeds that of the Northern Xinjiang front line.

By integrating the power of the Stanik Grand Duchy, the strength of the Jonathan family will usher in greater development.

After hearing the news, Duke Jonathan looked a little happy and immediately agreed to negotiate with the Harland family.

The Earl of Roger was originally a fiefdom of King Roger. After the civil war in the Kingdom of Grant, in order to repay Duke Jonathan's strong support, this territory was granted to Duke Jonathan.

This territory was established relatively recently and was still deserted more than ten years ago. Although King Roger invested a lot in resource development, when Roger left, the population in the territory was only 60,000.

After the territory was merged into the Dukedom of Jonathan, it was not a key development area for the Dukedom of Jonathan. Although Duke Jonathan moved part of the population in the past few years, the total population of this territory was less than 100,000.

The central earldom of Stanik under Richard's name has been deserted due to the war. After the war, a small number of freedmen returned to the city, and now only a few thousand people live there.

Normally, the exchange of territories in border areas and inland areas is about one for three, and the exchange of mountains and plains is about one for two.

According to the unspoken rules of the Dawn Plane, the earldom of the central Stanik region that Richard was granted could be exchanged for 50,000 square kilometers of border territory. However, the northern part of the Grant Kingdom has abundant rainfall, rich forests, and magical beast resources, which is very suitable for mountain breeding. In addition, the two territories plus the attached population, the comprehensive value is not far apart.

The Harland family is focused on developing in the north, while the Jonathan family wants to focus on the west. The two families hit it off almost immediately, quickly negotiated terms and signed a territory exchange treaty.