Chapter 390 Philip's Marriage
Although the results of the Battle of Samba River were brilliant, the casualties of Harland were not light at all. Counting the loss of the Mad Lion Legion and the noble coalition, the casualties of the Grant Kingdom exceeded 16,000.
After all, the orcs dispatched 300,000 regular troops, which had a great advantage in manpower. The losses on all fronts were not light at all. Even in the main battlefield of the No. 10 military station, in order to defeat the Orcs' 13th Legion, the elite of Harland also suffered heavy losses, with more than 4,000 casualties.
The 16,000 casualties belonged to about 1,200 people in the Mad Lion Legion, more than 3,000 people in the noble coalition, and about 11,600 casualties in Harland's army.
Among the 11,600 casualties, about 4,200 people have been killed, and about 2,900 people are disabled and need to retire from active service to receive pensions. There are about 4,500 lightly wounded soldiers who can return to the team.
More than 7,000 regular troops were lost at one time, and the pension expenditure this year will increase significantly. However, after the capture of the Dragon's Nest this year, the finances of Harland's territory are very loose.
Seven thousand troops were permanently lost, of which nearly six thousand were from the regular army.
This year's recruits have been trained for ten months, and will be filled in after the new year. Because of the heavy losses this year, Harland Territory can no longer expand its army this year.
The Eagle Mountains entered mid-October, and the first heavy snow has already arrived.
Although the mountains were closed by heavy snow and the mountain roads were difficult to walk, doctors from more than a dozen hospitals in Harland Territory still crossed the Eagle Mountains in groups with the help of professionals and treated the wounded in the frontline hospitals.
After more than ten years of development, Harland Territory has the leading medical level in the Dawn Plane. The invention of various medical devices and the combination of magic and surgery have greatly reduced the neonatal mortality rate in Harland Territory.
According to the normal death age statistics of the civil affairs department, the average life expectancy of residents in more than a dozen castles has reached 62 years old. In the Dawn Plane, this data is already very amazing.
However, the average life expectancy of the population in the countryside is just over 50 years old. Because of the lack of medical resources, the average life expectancy of contract slaves is even lower, just over 40 years old, which is still at a very low standard.
Shortly after the war, Duke Duran personally led a team to escort 200,000 serfs to Harland.
Counting the harvest from the Delong Kingdom in the spring, Harland has added nearly 600,000 new contract slaves and 30,000 freemen this year.
Because the victory in the Samba River Battle gave the officials and people of the Northern Frontier great confidence, a large number of freemen have been moved from the three dukes of Jonathan, Fox, and Edward in recent times.
Most of these people come from professional families, and the rest have skills, which are considered high-quality populations, and they have accumulated some capital.
The immigration of these middle-class forces to Harland will undoubtedly increase the foundation of Harland.
Harland had a population of only 1.8 million last year, and the new population in the new year exceeded 600,000, which put a lot of pressure on the territory.
Although Richard used various methods, such as robbery and purchase, to get back more than 200,000 tons of food, which was enough for the new population. But settling more than 600,000 new population is still a very troublesome thing.
Fortunately, most of the new population were indentured servants, and their living requirements were very low. The indentured servants were allowed to squeeze together, and the strong male slaves lived in tents, and finally these 200,000 new indentured servants settled down.
With the extensive use of steam machinery, coal production continued to surge. Two new mines were put into production this year, and three coal mines already had seven mines, and the output also broke through 400,000 tons for the first time in history.
Even though the railway consumed coal very seriously, the railway in Harland Territory was only less than 60 kilometers long, and there were only four steam locomotives. Now it only consumes more than 1,000 tons of coal a year. With enough abundant coal, even if you live in tents in winter, you won't freeze to death easily.
After settling the new serfs, Richard personally entertained Duke Duran and sold some sensitive arms, including 30 magic hot air balloons, 6,000 alchemical bombs, and 1,000 scorching ray guns, which offset about 200,000 gold coins.
This year is the first time that Harland Territory has sold magic hot air balloons. With the completion of flying arms such as wyverns and lion cavalry, Harland Territory's air superiority has greatly increased.
The situation has changed, and Richard began to sell lower-end flying arms.
The core equipment inside the magic hot air balloon is the magic combustion furnace and the telescope. The construction of these two equipments requires a high threshold. Although the construction of the telescope is easier, it is difficult to make it successfully without a good lens grinder.
Richard asked for 3,000 gold coins for a magic hot air balloon equipped with a standard telescope. Like the alchemical bomb, the selling price of this kind of military supplies is almost ten times the profit. As long as the magic civilization of the great nobles of the Grant Kingdom has not developed, this business will be monopolized by Harland for a long time and earn a lot of money.
These funds are converted into food, population, livestock, and Warcraft horses, which greatly increased the strength of Harland. In just three or four years, relying on commercial profits, Harland's army doubled in size, trained multiple full-professional arms, and now has become the strongest army in the Grant Kingdom.
Duke Duran returned to the southern region with a large amount of arms and 800,000 gold coins in cash. With sufficient gold coins, he immediately began to recruit soldiers and prepare for next year's operation to hit the grass valley.
With the magic hot air balloon, Duke Duran's reconnaissance advantage will be greatly increased.
As the arms trade is opened up, the nobles in the south will work for Harland.
Even the royal family was a little tempted when they heard that Leader Harland was selling magic hot air balloons. It's just that the royal family has a high level of magic civilization, so it's possible that a copycat magic burning furnace could be produced.
The royal family wants to buy a magic hot air balloon, but Richard has been hesitant. The two parties have already discussed the issue of technology transfer. However, Richard has opened his mouth and wants the province of Geda, but the Kingdom of Roger has not agreed.
After all, through the transaction with the Harland family, the royal family also cultivated the Lion Knight. With the Griffin Knights as a stronger flying unit, the royal family had low demand for magic hot air balloons and was not willing to pay too high a cost, so the two parties had been negotiating the deal for two or three years, but had not reached an agreement.
It was already late October when Duke Duran was sent away, and by the time the new indentured servants were settled, the time had entered November unknowingly.
In November, Harland Territory once again held a trade fair.
Thanks to the reputation accumulated over the years, the Harland Product Expo has become a business card. At this time of year, nobles of all sizes from the Grant Kingdom would flock to the Harland Territory, and the area near Fort William would be very prosperous.
In the past two or three years, even the Grant royal family has sent important members to participate in commodity expos and establish friendship with senior leaders of Haaland.
Some members of the royal family even began to marry into the families of important members of the Harland leadership, such as Powell, Hayden, Rogge, and Soros.
In fact, the royal family has a huge population. There are hundreds of close members within three generations. Many of them do not even have palace titles. In other words, they are superficially glamorous and far inferior to the lowest hereditary barons of the feudal nobles. In fact, their status, energy, and wealth are , the influence on the heavyweight nobles is not as good as that of Hayden, Rogge, Powell and others.
Richard is not opposed to the marriage between the top leaders of the territory and the royal family. In recent years, the Harland nobles have had many marriages with the Grant royal family, including Powell's most capable son Cohen, Soros' eldest grandson Merlin, and Hayden's second son Pei. Lun and Rogge's daughter Freida were both married to members of Grant's immediate family.
As the next generation grows up, the bloodlines of the two families will inevitably gradually blend, and the Harland family will also be integrated into the Grant Kingdom's aristocratic system.
Unlike the Jonathan family, Richard believed that the Harland family had ordinary blood. The Harland family had no taboo against blood leakage and did not object to marriage with the kingdom's nobles.
In fact, even if there is no attribute panel, Richard and Wendy have middle-to-high-level magic talents. Their mother's bloodline is not ordinary, and they are probably people with high magic talents. However, they are limited by their class and have limited access to them. To the magic inheritance. Sophia's magic talent is even better. A family like the Harland family with outstanding magical talents is somewhat more precious than the blood of knights.
At this year's commodity expo, Earl Karen of the Grant family tested Richard at the banquet and prepared to marry King Roger's youngest daughter to Philip.
Karen is the cousin of King Roger. He is in his forties and has pretty good talents and abilities. He has worked in the Northern Army for ten years and is now a Golden Knight, the commander of the Royal Guards, and a The status of court earl.
Because I have lived in Northern Xinjiang for more than ten years, I have a common language with Northern Xinjiang people like Richard. In the past few years, Karen often came to Harland to discuss sensitive matters with Richard.
The former special envoy Maurice Allen is now stationed in Fort William to facilitate quick communication between Richard and the Roger Kingdom.
Although Philip is Richard's son, his talent is far inferior to that of his sister Margaret, even though he used three bloodline enlightenment potions in three years to awaken the knight bloodline.
However, the knights who accumulate resources to awaken their bloodline are actually far less qualified than those who awaken naturally.
Richard and Sophia carefully examined Philip's body and found that his qualifications were relatively ordinary. Philip's innate mental strength is average, his elemental intimacy is very low, and he has no magical talent. The talents of knights are also inferior. For people with ordinary qualifications, even if they are provided with the best resources and conditions, it will be difficult for them to become a silver knight before the age of sixty.
Moreover, people who are born in a privileged position may not be able to endure hardships. They have strong perseverance and perseverance, and can not let up for decades, focusing on increasing their strength and seeking career advancement.
A considerable number of nobles, those who have been promoted to professional positions, and after gaining inheritance rights, tend to indulge in dances, banquets, and pomegranate dresses of beautiful female slaves.
In Richard's mind, he was more inclined to leave the territory to Margaret to inherit.
The Dawn Plane does not discriminate against women, only against the weak.
Margaret has outstanding talent in magic, and is practicing the legendary fourth-level meditation method. She is protected by Richard and Sophia. The conditions for learning magic are far better than those of her parents. Before being promoted to legend, it was almost a smooth journey. According to the meditation she is showing now The progress is far superior to that of Sophia and Richard when they were young. It is highly likely that they will be promoted to a nine-ring magician at the age of thirty.
After a few more years, the rights to the general territory will slowly be transferred to Margaret, and the rights to the Harland territory will be smoothly inherited.
If there are no problems with the second generation, the Duchy of Harland will be able to maintain stability.
Richard was mentally prepared to let Margaret inherit the territory, and of course he would not allow her to marry. Although Margaret was young, she firmly held the autonomy of marriage in his hands.
As for his younger son Philip, his talent was average, so Richard planned to make him the marriage tool. Richard readily agreed to Earl Karen's temptation.
Although Philip will only be twelve years old next year, he will be engaged to eight-year-old Princess Vivian next year.
"Philip is the only son of Duke Richard. The Duke agreed to let him marry into the royal family. It is estimated that he has no intention of leaving the Kingdom of Grant in the short term. However, the increasingly prosperous and powerful Harland Territory will eventually pose a challenge to the royal family. It is good for both parties to let the Harland family leave."
After returning to his apartment, Earl Karen fell into a long period of thinking.
In fact, after receiving the news that Harland Territory defeated the orcs in the northern border, the Kingdom of Roger had many secret talks with the great noble Nolan, and finally decided to let Harland Territory leave the Kingdom of Grant, but the good relationship between the two sides must be maintained to avoid conflict.
The 280,000 square kilometers of land in Harland Territory were mostly expanded by themselves. The territories granted to Richard by the royal family were mainly the two earldoms of Roger and Martins.
The two earldoms of Roger and Martins were newly expanded lands in the past 20 years. The royal family did not invest too many resources in development, and the losses were not serious.
If Harland Territory becomes independent, it will immediately become a natural shield for the Kingdom of Grant to help the Kingdom of Grant resist the orcs.
Once Harland becomes independent, the Grant royal family will be able to impose high tariffs on Harland goods, which will not only increase the cost of Harland goods, but also earn a lot of taxes.
King Roger sees this very clearly.
Although the royal family can get some political and economic benefits from Harland, Harland can also make profits by using the huge market of the Grant Kingdom.
King Roger analyzed various intelligence, carefully weighed the pros and cons, and finally made a decision to promote the independence of Harland as soon as possible.
In addition to economic factors, there is also a very important political reason for doing so.
Although the Grant family has a long history, it started as a rebellion after all. Their situation back then was very similar to the present.
After overthrowing the rule of the Venus family, in order to be recognized by the Holy Glorious Empire, the first King of Grant, Wood, who was already a legendary fourth-level knight at the time, participated in the war to purify the undead and eventually died in the tide of the undead.
After paying with their lives and making meritorious contributions, the Grant family was canonized by the Seven Gods Church and recognized by the Holy Glorious Empire.
In the neighboring country of Stanik, the Linus family relied on supporting puppets and marrying members of the Jonathan family to control the government, and then stabilized the situation by bribing domestic nobles and giving up a lot of benefits. In the end, in order to get the recognition of the Holy Glorious Empire, the legendary weapon of Jonathan's ancestor Nicholas Jonathan was handed over, and the dragon crystal of Nicholas' wife, the legendary third-level red dragon, was given.
Only by bribing with treasures did the Holy Glorious Empire acquiesce.
Because the country was not established correctly, the Linus family's rule was not stable, and it lost the crown in just over a hundred years.
Various cases tell the Roger Kingdom that if there are two strong families in a kingdom, internal struggles will inevitably break out. Before the internal struggle breaks out, it is a good thing for both parties to make Harland independent.
However, it is actually a troublesome thing to make Harland independent from the Grant royal family. First of all, Harland must have the will to be independent, and secondly, it must be canonized by the Seven Gods Church, and finally, it must make meritorious contributions to be recognized by the Holy Glorious Empire.
Now most of the undead land has been purified, and most of the undead land is in the Orc Empire.
The human race in the Dawn Plane has long been the dominant force, with almost no racial merits.
In addition, the recent years have been a critical time for the Grant Kingdom to expand its territory in the south. King Roger also wants to use Richard to defeat the main force of the Delong Kingdom and let Harland lead the army to make the final decision. The operation of making Harland independent cannot be implemented for the time being.