Chapter 369 Snow Crystal Lake

The land within 100 kilometers south of the military station defense line is basically uninhabited. After the war ended this year, Richard only sent a small number of sheep-bodied slaves to graze in this area.

Although Harland County rescued more than 200,000 people from the northern prairie, they were basically settled in Martins County south of the Eagle Mountains.

Because the northern foothills of the Eagle Mountains are a war zone, the back-and-forth tug-of-war must be very fierce, so Richard will not establish a large settlement in this area in the short term.

Without sufficient population, it has always been difficult to replenish the military station defense line.

Since the army returned in May, Richard has continuously sent transport teams to transport carts of food to the grain storage points north of the Eagle Mountains.

Sometimes he and Wendy personally took action, using the Starlight Bottle and the Legendary Space Bag to help transport food. They could transport 500 tons of wheat in one trip, enough for 1,000 soldiers to eat for a year.

Richard and Wendy ran more than a dozen times, and the transportation efficiency was equivalent to that of three auxiliary battalions for more than half a year.

Because the road conditions in the northern part of the Eagle Mountains are very bad, there are only simple passages built by orcs, which cannot allow four-wheeled carriages to pass. The transportation of food can only rely on simple tools such as camels and wheelbarrows, which requires a lot of manpower and time.

In order to strengthen the food transportation work, Richard specially mobilized 8,000 city defense troops and security troops to strengthen the transportation force. By mid-July, tens of thousands of tons of food were finally transported to the grain storage station.

Richard transferred the main force of Harland to the northern part of the Eagle Mountains, which actually faced a high risk.

Once the winter snow closed the mountains, it would be difficult for the forces south of the Eagle Mountains to effectively reinforce. If the northern military station defense line is attacked by orcs, it must bear the test alone.

Moreover, the core strongholds of the defense line are all rebuilt from orc military stations and grain storage points, which are far less solid than Canyon Castle, Binary Star Castle, and Hurricane Castle, which will undoubtedly reduce the advantages of the defenders. So we must seize the time and take advantage of this period of time when the orcs are defeated to stockpile a large amount of supplies on the front line.

After defeating the orc army, Richard inspected Martins County in May and June, coordinated various materials and presided over the resumption of production. In July, he crossed the Eagle Mountains, supervised the transportation of logistical materials, and coordinated the command of the military station defense line.

Compared with Harland Territory, the orcs' attack on the military station defense line has shorter supplies.

Because the core area of ​​the northern prairie where the orcs are entrenched is not far from the military station defense line. Most of the orcs live a nomadic life. Although many were slaughtered by Richard this year, as long as the army of Harland Territory withdraws, the orc tribe will soon come back.

With the support of a large number of orc tribes on the prairie, it is not difficult for the orc army to supply.

Now that the orcs' logistics line has become shorter and they don't need to cross mountains and ridges, it is not difficult to transport food and fodder. It is no longer necessary to accumulate three years to cross the Eagle Mountains. The war between Harland Territory and the orcs may become a daily battle.

The intensity of the war will also be more intense.

Since entering July, the two sides have fought many outpost battles.

Because the density of orcs in the southern part of Prilan is very high, the scouts of Harland Territory will fight with the orc nomadic tribes and the soldiers of the main legion of orcs every time they perform reconnaissance missions.

In just over a month, the reconnaissance brigade lost more than 200 soldiers. Richard had no choice but to order a reduction in the frequency of reconnaissance.

After moving the defense line to the edge of the northern prairie, the army of Harland Territory will bleed every day. Since July this year, the two sides have fought almost every day.

Even if the scouts of Harland Territory can exchange one for ten or even one for a hundred, as long as the orcs in the Governor's District of the Prairie grit their teeth and persist, relying on the huge number of races, the scouts of Harland Territory will eventually not be able to hold on, reduce the frequency of reconnaissance, and start to choose to avoid fighting.

It is not an easy task to gain a foothold in the more than 50,000 square kilometers of land in the north of the Eagle Mountains. In the era of King Charles, several main legions in the northern border once invaded the area north of the Eagle Mountains, but they could not gain a foothold and could only let the soldiers plunder.

Even the Kingdom of Grant could not push the defense line to the north of the Eagle Mountains.

Although the Dukedom of Harland now has a foundation in the middle of the Eagle Mountains, with a population of more than 1.7 million, and has developed a relatively good industry, even the level of magic civilization is very developed, it is easier to support the war in the north of the Eagle Mountains.

However, managing the land in the north of the Eagle Mountains is still a long-term job, and it may take several years to confront the orcs.

Since the beginning of the war, the war machine of Harland Territory has been running at full capacity, weapons and equipment have been continuously manufactured, and a large number of steel armor, crossbows and arrows, alchemical bombs, scorching ray guns, and force field shields have been transported to the military station defense line.

The second-line corps such as the Security Army and the City Defense Army are also strengthening their equipment and training. They are almost all equipped with steel plate armor. With the invention of the steam hammer, it is very simple to manufacture plate armor.

If the production capacity is fully released, the Harland Territory can manufacture 100,000 pieces of plate armor a year.

Time passed quickly. One day in mid-August, Richard arrived at the No. 11 military station. Wilde, the commander of this line of defense, went out of the city to greet him in advance.

After four months of repairs, the No. 11 military station was much larger, and a three-kilometer-long earthen structure wall was built outside the military station.

These walls were built with tall logs outside and rammed earth inside. The walls were four or five meters thick and wide. Two smaller earthen structure castles were built in the south of the wall, forming a three-dimensional defense line with the No. 11 military station.

All three castles were equipped with heavy catapults. During this period, the auxiliary soldiers who operated the catapults used local materials and fired a large number of pottery bullets in advance.

Richard and Wilde walked around the No. 11 military station, watched the soldiers' training, and inspected the city defense fortifications, and deduced the weaknesses of this line of defense on the sand table.

In the afternoon, Richard was just about to go to the No. 12 military station 50 kilometers away with Wilde, when suddenly an urgent letter was delivered to Richard.

The letter was sent by Rogge, and the content was very simple.

In August this year, prospectors from the Harland Territory discovered a mysterious lake in the dense forest northeast of the Snow Mountain Castle. The concentration of magic power near this lake is very active, and the lake water is also very sweet. I am afraid there is a long underground river connecting the nearby water system.

It stands to reason that most of the lakes in the Eagle Mountains are alpine saltwater lakes, and this lake is also north of the Eagle Mountains, and cannot be connected to the Black River system in the south of the Eagle Mountains.

Such a strange situation was reported and immediately attracted Richard's attention. He immediately stopped the inspection, personally selected the elite personnel of the Harland Mage Association, and summoned Sutton and Sylph to go to the lake together to check.

This lake is a typical mountain lake. The surrounding landforms are similar to active volcanoes. There is no stream replenishment nearby and no river outflow.

The lake is crescent-shaped and covers an area of ​​about 30 square kilometers. Because it was discovered relatively recently, the depth of the lake has not been explored.

When he came to the lake, Richard clearly felt that the concentration of magic power in this area was very high, and the number of magic beasts nearby was obviously increased.

On the way here, Richard and others successfully hunted a fifth-level fire-breathing bull. You must know that fifth-level wild magic beasts are rare in the Eagle Mountain Range.

Now the Harland Mage Association is strong and powerful. Even if a legendary magic beast is nearby, Richard dares to fight. Even without starlight bombs, Richard, Undine, and Sofia, three high-level magicians, together with Sutton and Sylph, two ninth-level knights, have a good chance of winning.

The Death Knight Pirosa of the Stark Kingdom encountered the combination of Harland Territory and was not spared either.

The soldiers of the Guard Battalion made a few simple rafts and used some tools to start a simple survey.

This alpine lake is located in the north of the main peak of the Eagle Mountains, about 40 kilometers away from the Snow Mountain Castle. Because it is far away from the orc supply line, neither the magic hot air balloon nor the Lion Cavalry seldom go to this area to scout. This large lake is the first time that Harland Territory has discovered it.

The soldiers of the Guard Battalion had just left the shallow water area when a silver light attacked a soldier. Fortunately, the deputy captain of the Guard Battalion, Sox, was sitting on the raft. He was quick to intercept the silver light.

In an instant, Sox felt a soreness and numbness in both hands.

"Be careful, retreat quickly, it's the bloodline spell silver lightning released by the snow crystal fish."

Richard had very good eyesight and was very knowledgeable. He had seen the reality of the white light in a flash.

Although the snow crystal fish is only a second-level magic beast after maturity, the power of the bloodline spell silver lightning is smaller than that of magic missiles, and the individual combat power cannot be compared with the iron-horned horse. However, this type of magic beast is a rare super-large-scale group magic beast, with a population of tens of thousands. The larger snow crystal fish group will have a population size of more than 100,000 or 1 million.

Even the strange beasts in the deep sea dare not easily provoke large snow crystal fish groups. Fishermen on the east coast of the Central Continent are even more terrified when they see this kind of magic beast.

Every autumn, there are hundreds of millions of snow crystal fish upstream along the Black River and enter the rivers and streams of the East Coast Plateau to lay eggs.

Because the number and population size of snow crystal fish are too large, it is very dangerous to go into the water to catch this kind of magic beast. The Duke of Jonathan can only catch a small amount in some special river sections.

Because thousands of snow crystal fish can be caught every year, the Duke of Jonathan has a sufficient supply of Tenghui potions, and can even trade this precious resource with foreign countries.

Due to its huge population, snow crystal fish have almost no natural enemies. They are very brutal and have sharp teeth that can eat gold, silver, copper and iron. This kind of magic fish is a terrible piranha population. If you encounter a large number of snow crystal fish on the route, you can often chew through the bottom of the ship and eat all the living things on the ship. It is rumored that even legendary knights are not immune.

Even the magic ships built with a lot of money by coastal countries will immediately run away when they see groups of snow crystal fish to avoid fighting with this monster. Because tens of thousands of silver lightning spells are fired at the magic ship, even if a large magic array is arranged on the magic ship, it will still be penetrated by thousands of spells.

According to some books, snow crystal fish are basically active in the northern waters of the Central Continent, and their spawning grounds are also on the East Coast Plateau. The Harland territory is still three or four hundred kilometers away from the East Coast Plateau. It stands to reason that snow crystal fish rarely spawn in the middle reaches of the Black River, but I didn’t expect to find it in this alpine lake.

Hearing Richard's reminder, Sox hurriedly ordered the soldiers to row towards the shore.

Although Sox didn't know what risks he would face, he was immediately alerted by Richard's reminder.

In the hearts of Sox's generation, Richard was like a great king recorded in ancient books. Even if his life ended now, he would be a legend in the Kingdom of Grant, enough to be praised for hundreds of years.

Richard had fought in the Northern Frontier for 18 years and had become an idol for thousands of young people in the Northern Frontier. Countless people took him as an example and joined the army to achieve class transition through war.

Sox grew up in Harland Territory during his teenage years, and his admiration for Richard was even stronger. He was Roland's eldest son, and his talent was inherited from his father. At the age of 28, his professional level had been promoted to the fourth level.

Roland was a very senior officer in Harland Territory. If we count from the beginning, he had served Harland Territory for 17 years. He was very talented and was promoted to a mid-level professional before the age of 30. However, because he commanded the brutal defense of Pratos, Roland was physically disabled and never advanced again.

Shortly after the end of the defense of Pratos, William was promoted to hereditary baron, and Roland entered Harland Territory at William's invitation after the Goddess's birthday.

In the past 17 years, Roland has been conscientious and has made some contributions, but because his professional level cannot be improved and he cannot keep up with the great development of the territory, his promotion has been very slow in recent years, and he is still jumping back and forth at the level of captain.

There are extraordinary powers in this world, and the strength of high-level officers can reverse the situation of the war to a certain extent and determine victory or defeat. The influence of individual combat effectiveness on the outcome of war is far greater than that of Richard in his previous life. In a country like the Kingdom of Grant, which is full of militarism, it is difficult to be promoted to a high-ranking officer if the professional level is not high.

The same is true for the Dukedom of Harland. The military system naturally believes in strength. Those who cannot be promoted to high-level professionals are destined to be unable to be promoted to legion-level officers.

Although Roland has a long history and was considered the third person in the Harland army in the early days, his actual status has been declining, and many old subordinates have surpassed him.

After more than ten years of accumulation, Roland and his son have accumulated four major merits and three medium merits, and are less than halfway to being promoted to hereditary nobles.

Roland is only 48 years old, not too old. His eldest son Sox has a good talent. He has broken through the fourth level at a young age and has gradually caught up with Roland in his position in Harland.

Hearing Richard's reminder, Sox's order was very decisive. In just two or three minutes, the raft reached the shallow water area.

At this moment, the raft has been gnawed by dozens of snow crystal fish.

Seeing this, Undine, Sofia and others hurriedly released powerful freezing spells to freeze the water surface near the raft and help Sox and others escape to shore.

Seeing the prey escape, the snow crystal fish still refused to give in and struggled to jump onto the ice. Because of its slow movement on the ice, it was easily caught by Richard and others and brought ashore.

After catching dozens of snow crystal fish, Richard's face suddenly showed some joy.

Although there is nothing special about the snow crystal fish, it is risky to catch it, but it is a monster fish after all. The fish's internal organs can also be used to refine Tenghui potions, and the fish meat can help soldiers strengthen their bodies and strengthen their foundation.

Catching hundreds of snow crystal fish every year is a precious resource for the Harland territory.

After discovering the snow crystal fish in the water, Richard immediately stopped exploring the lake. The depth of the water was unknown, and Richard was unwilling to let the soldiers take risks easily.

He named this crescent lake Snow Crystal Lake and quickly formulated a fishing strategy.

Snow crystal fish have a shark-like sense of smell and can smell the blood of creatures from far away. They have few natural enemies and their IQ is very low, so it is easy to catch them as long as you set a trap.

Richard asked several magicians to work together to freeze the ice near the lake shore, and then throw bait in the deep water, and they caught some easily.