Chapter 345 Demon Hunting City
Jonathan's family was defeated in the Eastern Route Army, and Richard's situation was immediately in danger.
Although they occupied the Gnoll Cave and had defensive fortifications after the transformation, it was still impossible to win against the legendary dragon.
After all, due to supply restrictions, Richard now has only 500 soldiers under his command. Although they are all elite soldiers, their actual strength is not as good as the 6,000 people under Duke Jonathan.
Duke Jonathan dispatched 6,000 regular troops, but they couldn't beat the legendary black dragon. Richard's 500 people were also impossible to beat the army under the command of the legendary black dragon.
Because of poor transportation conditions, it was difficult for the East and West to communicate effectively. Although both sides had messengers to contact, it was already 20 days later that they received the news that Duke Jonathan was defeated.
In the past few days, the legendary black dragon Ramos has not organized an army to attack the Gnoll Cave.
After two consecutive battles, the legendary black dragon suffered heavy losses.
The dragon vein kobolds were completely wiped out, and only half of the wyverns were left. The western part of the kobold cave fell into the control of Harland. The half-dragons, lizardmen, and ogres all suffered different losses.
In the current situation, the legendary black dragon Ramos must shrink its forces and give up part of its territory, so it did not organize a large army to attack the kobold cave far away from the dragon's nest.
After more than 20 days of recuperation, most of the wounded have gradually recovered their vitality and can move freely.
During this period, Sophia made four slavery contracts for the four wyverns.
Because the wyverns left behind are relatively docile, they have been living with humans for a period of time and have been initially tamed in order to survive, so the probability of a successful contract is very high.
The first wyvern slavery contract has been successfully signed, and the contractor is the seventh-level warrior Driffin.
After the battle to annihilate Pirosa, although Driffin was seriously injured, he got his revenge and put his mind at ease. After recovering from his injury, he quickly broke through and was promoted to a seventh-level warrior, responsible for commanding the second wave of reinforcements.
Although Wilde and Driffin were very strong and capable, they did not make outstanding contributions in Harland Territory, and Richard could not directly appoint them as senior military officials.
They could only be adjusted to appropriate positions and let them make military achievements first.
After Driffin successfully contracted the wyvern, Richard appointed him as the captain of the Wyvern Knight Squadron, responsible for commanding four wyverns.
Although Driffin was only a captain, his position was more important than that of the infantry battalion.
Seeing that the legendary black dragon had no intention of taking back the dog-headed man cave, Richard also prepared to slowly withdraw to Harland Territory. However, he did not intend to completely abandon this area, but to establish a forward camp and a small-scale garrison.
The Warcraft Cavalry consumed too much food and was not suitable for stationing outside, so it was transferred back to the Twin Star Castle by Richard. Only 160 members of the demon hunting team were left in the Kobold Cave, and Commander Richard appointed Wilde to serve as the commander.
In addition, half of the magic hot air balloon squadron was stationed in the Kobold Cave, carrying high-powered telescopes to monitor the enemy.
In this way, the garrison was reduced to about 200 people, and there were 360 tons of food left. Without the Warcraft Cavalry, a large consumer of food, the 200 garrisons would consume only 600 to 700 kilograms of food a day, and only 10 tons a month.
More than 300 tons of food and grass are enough for the demon hunting team to eat for three years, so there is no need to worry about food and grass in the short term.
There are abundant Warcraft resources near the Kobold Cave. When the infrastructure is slowly completed, Richard plans to build a demon hunting town near the cave based on Warcraft resources.
Now the Harland Territory is ready to establish a demon hunting association to attract Warcraft hunters in the northern part of the Grant Kingdom.
The Duke of Harland now has three major associations, the strongest of which is the Mage Association, which has developed to a certain scale with a total number of more than 300 people. Magic civilization has also developed to a relatively high level, and new things are emerging in an endless stream.
The second is the Mercenary Union, whose president is Soros. Soros was also a mercenary in his early years. With his success in life, he enjoyed a very high reputation among the mercenaries in the northern border.
Because the Iron Lion and Grizzly Legions went south, the economies of the Iron Lion and Grizzly Castles suffered a devastating blow. Now there are almost no commercial activities. The mercenaries active in the two castles suddenly became unemployed on a large scale and eventually poured into the most economically developed Harland Territory.
These mercenaries are divided into 23 mercenary groups, with a total of 1,600 people. Many of these people have retired from the army. The backbone of the mercenary group is also a professional, and their combat effectiveness is a few points stronger than that of the Harland Territory Security Army.
At a critical moment, Harland Territory can recruit mercenary groups to fight, which can play an important role.
The third is the Demon Hunter Union, which now has less than 200 members, most of whom are members of the military demon hunting team and serve the official. There are only a dozen private Warcraft hunters in total.
In the past, hunting Warcraft was a business monopolized by the official, and the territory had also enacted laws to prohibit private hunting of Warcraft.
However, there are many monster resources near the Kobold Cave, but few people live there. In order to speed up the development here, Richard decided to make some policy adjustments and recruit scattered monster hunters in the northern border.
In the three provinces and four duchies of the northern border, in addition to the official monster hunting teams, there are also a large number of monster hunters active. The total number of these people is several thousand, and a large part of them are part-time monster hunters.
When Richard just debuted, he joined the monster hunting team organized by Soros and Roland with Hayden, and he was also a part-time monster hunter at that time.
Warcraft hunters generally have very high incomes. Most of them are professionals. They are considered excellent talents in the northern border area. Attracting these people to the vicinity of the Kobold Cave and establishing a base based on the Warcraft hunting business can not only make a lot of profits, but also guard the Kobold Cave with the help of the Warcraft hunters.
Richard took the soldiers and built a simple wooden castle near the Kobold Cave, named the Demon Hunting City. Then he returned to Harland Territory with the Warcraft cavalry.
Although the Demon Hunting City is simple, it is the key area for the next development of Harland Territory, and various materials are given priority supply.
Soon, the territory's direct Chamber of Commerce came to the Demon Hunting City under the protection of the soldiers. Warcraft material purchase shops, potion alchemy item sales shops, enchanted weapons and enchanted armor shops, taverns, and hotels were all opened. In just one month, the number of people providing logistics services exceeded 200.
Richard even set up a special transport team and appointed Jennings as the captain of the transport team. He specially brought twelve mid-level warriors and used the ninth-level lockers to supplement the logistics of the Demon Hunting City.
After returning to the territory, Richard vigorously promoted the Demon Hunting City to the surrounding areas.
Compared with the lords of other regions, Harland Territory was more fair in doing business, and the level of the entire bureaucracy was higher than the average level of the Grant Kingdom, which soon attracted a group of demon hunters.
After entering the autumn, there were already eight or nine hundred people living near the Demon Hunting City, and the scale of the castle had been greatly expanded.
Of course, this area was still very desolate, the houses were all simple wooden houses, and the number of craftsmen was scarce. Although demon hunters could make a lot of money, they could only provide a low standard of living.
After winter, demon hunters would return to their hometowns, and only Harland Territory's Demon Hunting Squadron was stationed here, and peace was restored.
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Although this battle did not severely damage the legendary black dragon, from a strategic point of view, the east-west cooperation was not good, and it was not particularly successful.
But for Harland, the harvest is not small at all. During the three months of the clearing operation, seven terrain dragons and twenty-two two-legged flying dragons were killed. The sub-dragon skins sorted out can be used to refine 200 pieces of fourth-level enchanted armor to equip two squadrons of elite soldiers.
Now Harland has only a dozen pieces of sub-dragon skin enchanted armor, which are basically in the hands of early officers. With these 200 pieces of sub-dragon skin armor, the combat effectiveness of Harland's army has been greatly improved.
In addition, the internal organs and brains of monsters can be used to refine Tenghui potions. With this batch of resources, the supply of Tenghui potions in the territory will increase by 6,000 this year. According to previous statistics, at least 500 to 600 professionals can be trained. With this batch of new blood, Harland's army can expand rapidly.
In general, the amount of Tenghui potions produced by Harland is not stable, although Harland can be self-sufficient in refining several auxiliary materials for Tenghui potions, boiling flowers, and moonlight grass, and can supply them in large quantities. However, the main material, the monster viscera, needs to be provided by the demon hunting team.
The income from demon hunting has always been very unstable, almost like a meal by the weather. Some demon hunting teams have been deep in the forest for half a year and have almost nothing. Because the supply of monster viscera is unstable, the production of Tenghui potion in Harland County fluctuates greatly and is very unstable.
In the entire Grant Kingdom, only the royal family and several duchies in the north can provide a large amount of Tenghui potion.
The Dukedom of Fox, like the Dukedom of Harland, has an unstable supply. The Dukedom of Edward has a large scale of Warcraft horse breeding base, and occasionally kills eliminated Warcraft horses to supply part of it. However, the iron-horned horse is of low grade and has insufficient magic power in its viscera. One iron-horned horse can only provide a few materials. Although the situation is better than that of Harland County, it is actually just enough for its own use.
The supply of the Dukedom of Jonathan is larger, mainly because it has more resources. There is a natural medium-sized magic well near the legendary black dragon's nest. There is a lot of magic power escaping from the nearby area, and there are also many monsters. The income from demon hunting is far greater than that of other duchies.
The reason why the Grant Royal Family has the largest and most stable supply is mainly due to the success of artificial breeding of magic beasts.
The royal family has an arrow demon pig breeding base, which can produce 200 arrow demon pigs every year. Arrow demon pigs are large-sized fifth-level magic beasts. One can provide 120 potion materials. With the arrow demon pig breeding base as a foundation, it can continuously provide basic resources such as magic beast meat and Tenghui potion.
However, the royal family also needs to supply the nobles across the country. In fact, the supply and demand relationship of Tenghui potion is not very balanced.
Harland Territory certainly also hopes to establish a magic beast breeding base, but the Grant Royal Family strictly guards the magic beast breeding technology. Outsiders are not welcome near the arrow demon pig breeding base. It is not an easy task to successfully establish a magic beast breeding base.
There are now three artificial magic wells in Harland Territory. The magicians in the territory are also doing induction experiments to see if ordinary animals can be catalyzed and induced to become magic beasts, but the induction experiments have not been very successful.
After killing the terrain dragon and the wyvern, Harland Territory carefully handled the spoils. All the monster meat was put into the space bag. The monster meat is rich in nutrients and can help train soldiers. Especially the high-level monster meat such as terrain dragons and wyverns can strengthen the body and strengthen the fighting spirit, and the effect is second only to the Tenghui potion.
The most important thing is to kill a large number of monsters and dig out 29 magic cores. Most of these magic cores are high-level magic cores, which can provide energy for high-level alchemical props.
From the remains of the ancient wizards, Harland has sorted out a set of high-level golem refining methods, which requires a large amount of super magic metal and high-level magic cores.
Harland Territory has very few high-level magic cores in reserve, and there is no high-level alchemist to support it. Richard tried to refine it twice but failed, and also used up the only two high-level magic cores in the territory.
Now there are a large number of high-level magic cores, and there is also Undine, a seventh-level alchemist, in charge, the probability of successfully refining golems has greatly increased. Even if it is refined into a squad of twelve golems, it can play a very important role in the battle.
The steel golem is a seventh-level alchemical item. Under the control of the magician, it is a few points stronger than the seventh-level warrior. The twelve golems attack at the same time, and the combat power of the head-on confrontation is close to that of a squadron of Warcraft cavalry.
In addition, the wyverns and terrain dragons were killed, and twenty-three bottles of dragon marrow fluid were collected.
Although the dragon marrow fluid is of little use to Harland Territory, it is the most urgently needed resource for Duke Jonathan Territory, and has a very high trading value.
Finally, the claws and fangs of the wyverns and terrain dragons are high-level alchemical materials, which are also very useful to Harland Territory.
Many years ago, Richard could not use these high-level magic beast materials, and could only trade them to the Grant royal family in exchange for ordinary resources. Now, the Harland Territory Mage Association has developed to a very high level, and every material can be used to enhance the territory's foundation.
This operation hunted 29 terrain dragons and wyverns, which almost added a million gold coins to the Harland Territory.
In addition to the benefit of hunting magic beasts, the Harland Territory also seized two precious magic props, the locker and the dragon blood mirror.
The locker was left in the dog-headed cave to treasure and store precious resources. Although the special legendary prop Dragon Blood Mirror was not used by the Harland Territory, it could be traded with the Jonathan family.
After Richard discussed with the territory's senior officials, he decided to exchange the Dragon Blood Mirror for a royal seal.
Although the Harland Territory has a royal seal, it has not been enough in the past one or two years. Now dozens of contracts need to be stamped with the royal seal every day, and those who sign the contract need to rush to Fort William.
According to the rules of the Grant Kingdom, a legion often needs a royal seal. For example, when Richard signed the royal contract with the Mad Lion Legion, he could complete the contract at the legion headquarters without going to Nolan to sign the contract.
Now there are two and a half legion soldiers in Harland County, and they all need to go to William Castle to sign the contract. A lot of time is wasted on the road, and efficiency cannot be improved for a long time.
Although Richard has been promoted to Duke and his priority has been improved, he is not a believer of the Royal Church and needs to queue for eight years to reserve a royal seal from the Royal Church and Order.
In order to make this seal, starting this year, Richard needs to provide 30,000 gold coins to the Royal Church every year, and continuously offer for twelve years, spending 360,000 gold coins to exchange for a royal seal.
For a great noble, the royal seal is the foundation of their monopoly of power and the most important foundation of a great noble. It is impossible to appear in auctions, trade fairs and other occasions.
Although the Jonathan family has formed two new main legions due to a large expansion of the army, and they also lack royal seals, in order to obtain the Dragon Blood Treasure Mirror, Richard estimates that the transaction has a great chance of success.