Chapter 401 The Orcs' Movements

Butler is a top-notch talent and can meditate very quickly, but unfortunately the meditation method he practices is incomplete. Richard has only deduced the Book of Curse to the fifth ring.

In recent years, there have been a lot of messy things in Harland Territory, and the territory has become larger and larger, so Richard has almost no free time.

The deduction of the two meditation methods has slowed down, and Butler will need to rely on his own deduction for future meditation.

In this way, his advancement speed will naturally slow down.

Bericka has a medium magic talent and has been studying magic for more than ten years. He is one of the earliest magicians trained in Harland Territory. He performs well and is promoted to the fourth ring smoothly.

Among the magicians who advanced this time, Adrian is the most special.

Compared with other magicians, Adrian's talent is very ordinary. He studied magic almost at the same time as Richard and Wendy, and it has been almost twenty years now.

Although he also worked very hard, he did not dare to slack off for twenty years, and insisted on meditating every day, and spent a lot of energy and time on magic research.

However, his weakness in talent gradually widened the gap between him and Richard and Wendy.

Normally, with Adrian's inferior talent, it would be difficult for him to be promoted to a third-ring mage before the age of 40.

But Adrian is an important member of the Mage Association of Harland Territory and has made a great contribution to magic research.

Because he has accumulated a large number of contribution points, Adrian can exchange for sufficient magic resources.

Thanks to a variety of potions that increase meditation speed and improve elemental affinity, Adrian finally promoted to the fourth ring at the age of 35.

Adrian once created a first-ring magic detection ray, which is a very important magic in the medical field. Its effect is equivalent to that of an X-ray machine, which greatly promoted the development of diagnostics.

Now it has been more than ten years since the creation of the detection ray, and Adrian's research has stagnated for many years. In these years, he has focused his energy on studying blood and gradually had new ideas, but if he wants to make important achievements again, he may need luck and time.

January passed quickly, and the climate in February was a little warmer. The freshmen have started school. As the temperature rises and the soil thaws, Harland Territory has started the annual reclamation of farmland again.

This year, the key development areas of Harland Territory are all in the northern part of the Eagle Mountains, with priority given to immigration and land reclamation around Snow Crystal Lake and Martins Castle to accelerate the development of these two areas.

The terrain in the northern part of Snow Crystal Lake is very flat, and there are large areas of impact plains on both sides of the Samba River. Because they won the Battle of Samba River last year, a large number of orc tribes on the north bank chose to migrate, and the control area of ​​Harland Territory extended to the north.

Although it is not mature to cross the Samba River to develop the northern bank area, the land on the south bank can already be reclaimed.

The land on the south bank of the Samba River is fertile and there is no shortage of water. If it can be developed to maturity, it can carry tens of millions of people.

Harland Territory plans to reclaim 4 million acres of farmland in the north of Snow Crystal Lake this year, and the number of immigrants will exceed 150,000.

In addition to the area around Snow Crystal Lake, another development focus this year is the area around Martins Castle. The Grant Kingdom has occupied this territory for 17 years, but unfortunately the Martins family could not withstand the orcs and has not developed very well.

Over the past decade, the situation in the northern border has changed dramatically. After many twists and turns, this area was incorporated into the Harland Territory, and finally attracted Richard's attention and invested a lot of resources.

This year, the number of immigrants in the vicinity of Martins Castle in the Harland Territory has also exceeded 100,000.

Two years ago, King Roger granted the Earldom of Martins to Richard. At that time, the situation in the Harland Territory was bad. The northern orc army was pressing on the border, and there was a dragon nest in the east. In order to avoid being attacked from three sides, the war with the legendary ogre tribe in the west began. Richard made a lot of compromises and gave up 20,000 square kilometers of land as a buffer zone.

Now the situation has changed. The orcs in the north were hurt and dared not fight the Harland Territory head-on. The legendary dragon in the east was beaten and fled in embarrassment, abandoning its nest. There are no enemies around the Harland Territory, so naturally they have to find trouble with the ogre tribe.

However, to conquer the ogre tribe, a large army must be dispatched to fight.

Although the Harland Territory has not fought with the ogre tribe on a large scale in the past two years, the garrison in the west also performs a large number of reconnaissance missions every year. By using magic hot air balloons for reconnaissance, various intelligence is collected.

The intelligence department of Harland Territory estimates that the number of ogres is between 2,000 and 3,000.

Although the number of more than 2,000 ogres is small, their combat effectiveness is very considerable.

Ogres are extraordinary creatures. Even if they do not awaken their bloodline, their natural strength is more than ten points, which is higher than that of second-level warriors. Most third-level warriors and knights have the same strength level as adult ogres.

Ogres with awakened bloodline, even at the third level, are very difficult to deal with, enough to fight against sixth-level warriors. If there are no sophisticated weapons and equipment, a sixth-level warrior may be slightly weaker than a third-level ogre.

More than 2,000 ogres, about half of them have awakened their bloodline, among which there are nearly 50 high-level professionals, more than 200 mid-level professionals, plus legendary ogres, their combat effectiveness is better than that of an orc army.

Although Richard has the Star Necklace, as long as the ogres do not gather together to fight a decisive battle with Lord Harland, it will not be an easy task to wipe out the ogres in an area of ​​tens of thousands of square kilometers. It will probably take a long time.

Now that the news that Richard has a legendary fourth-level magic item has spread, the legendary ogres, unless they are fools, will naturally not gather their troops to fight against the regular army of Harland. Instead, they will use their advantage of being familiar with the terrain to fight guerrilla warfare with the soldiers of Harland in the mountains of tens of thousands of square kilometers.

Compared with the army of Harland, small groups of ogres are usually more elite and more suitable for guerrilla warfare. Last year, the ogre tribe had this tendency and attacked many settlements opened up by Harland. In just a few months, the casualties caused to Harland exceeded one thousand.

If you want to defeat the ogres, you must develop the Earldom of Martins. In order to protect immigrants, Richard reduced the garrison on the northern border this year, added 6,000 soldiers near Martins Castle, and strengthened the demon hunting squadron and special squadron, letting the two troops undertake the task of harassing the ogres.

Harland has sufficient human resources, and now more than 1,200 professionals are promoted every year. The thing they are least afraid of is a war of attrition. Although fighting guerrilla warfare is very troublesome for Harland, now Harland is a big country, and Richard has the means to deal with guerrilla warfare.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye it was March, the temperature rose, and spring plowing was about to begin.

At this time of year, Harland would strengthen its reconnaissance mission.

Now Harland has a well-organized wyvern knight, and has established a foothold in the north of the Eagle Mountains, which can deeply investigate the northern prairie. In order to clarify the orcs' combat objectives, the wyvern knights went deep into the northern part of the Prilan area.

According to the intelligence detected by Harland, no intention of the orcs to fight was found.

After receiving the reconnaissance intelligence, Richard just breathed a sigh of relief. He thought that the orcs would not invade the south this year, but he didn't expect that the orcs just didn't mobilize troops in the north of Harland.

On March 16, the orcs mobilized ten legions and poured into the southwest of the Eagle Mountains.

The Jonathan family in the east of the Eagle Mountains was also in a bad situation. They suffered from the attack of two orc legions. The main force was tied up by the orcs and could not send reinforcements to other areas.

This time, the orcs completely gave up attacking Harland Territory and set their sights on the two dukes, Edward and Fox.

Among them, the Duke of Edward suffered a major blow from the orcs. More than six orc legions crossed the Eagle Mountains and entered the Duke of Edward.

Such a powerful force immediately caused the Duke of Edward's defense line to collapse.

In just one week, the Duke of Edward lost seven battalions of soldiers, and the key castles of Vera and Soya on the front line were lost.

Even the most prestigious commander of the Duke of Edward, the legendary second-level warrior Harmon, died and was not spared.

Harmon is the son-in-law of Duke Edward. He has been promoted to a legend for more than ten years. Although he is only a warrior, he is still the strongest and most prestigious member of the Edward family.

Unlike Harland, Duke Edward's territory did not develop flying troops. Without flying troops, the reconnaissance force was suppressed by the eagles. On the battlefield, it was like a deaf and blind person, and it was easy to be calculated and besieged by the orc army. In previous battles, most of the defeats of Grant Kingdom were due to this reason.

In the battle with the orcs, if you cannot develop flying troops, you cannot take the initiative on the battlefield.

The reason why Harmon died was that he fell into the calculation of the orcs. The cavalry he led was surrounded by the superior forces of the orcs. Although the two trump cards of the orcs were injured, the army of Duke Edward was still no match for the orcs.

Even the Warcraft cavalry of Duke Edward lost half of their troops in this battle.

After Harmon died in battle, the news was passed back to Maple Leaf Castle. The old and frail Duke Edward could not bear such a severe blow. He was angry and died in the palace that day.

As soon as the old duke died, the members of the Edward family immediately began to fight for the right of succession. Although the orc vanguard broke through their defense line, it was not far from Maple Leaf Castle. However, it was almost instinctive for the nobles to fight for power and profit. Before they could decide the winner, Maple Leaf Castle was surrounded by orcs.

Maple Leaf Castle was the capital of the Duke of Edward. There were 300,000 people near the castle. Now the capital was surrounded, and the territory was full of orcs who were burning, killing and looting. In a blink of an eye, the situation of the Duke of Edward became precarious and on the verge of being destroyed by the orcs.

In just over ten days of the orcs' invasion, the Duke of Edward lost more than 400,000 people. The capital Maple Leaf Castle was surrounded, and the garrison of Palani Castle was insufficient and dared not to send troops to assist. They could only send messengers to ask for support from the nearby nobles.

In late March, a large number of people from the Duke of Edward had already fled to the western border of Gascoigne Province and Harland Territory.

After the messenger entered the Gascoigne Province, he found the Mad Lion Legion.

Because of the relationship of mutual assistance, the Mad Lion Legion sent six battalions into the Duke of Edward to contain some orcs and provide a certain degree of protection for the eastern part of the Duke of Edward.

The elite Central Army of the royal family was transferred to the south, and now it can only provide this little help to the Duke of Edward. The Duke of Fox, its neighbor in the west, cannot protect itself in the face of the attack of four orc armies, and now it also needs the support of the Grant Kingdom.

Now the only people that the Duke of Edward can count on are the Duke of York in the south and the Duke of Harland in the east.

In recent years, the Duchy of Harland has risen rapidly, and its national strength is far ahead of the other three duchies. However, Edward, Fox and other great nobles in the northern border are very wary of the Harland family, and the relationship between the two sides is relatively distant. It may be very difficult to ask the Duchy of Harland to send troops this time. After all, the Duchy of Harland was besieged by orcs last year, and the two dukes, Edward and Fox, did not provide any help to the Duchy of Harland.

Now it is obviously difficult to ask Richard to ignore the past grudges.

After discussing with Simone of Palani Castle, Harris decided to focus on the Duchy of York for help. Although the military strength of the Duchy of York is not as good as that of the Duchy of Harland, it has three regular armies after all. It is also a huge force. If this legion participates in the war, it can help the Duchy of Edward reduce most of the pressure.

Although the focus of seeking help is on the Duchy of York, the direction of the Duchy of Harland cannot be given up.

At the critical moment of life and death, they must grab every straw.

Harris and Simon of Palani Castle acted separately, handed over six battalions of soldiers from Palani Castle to the deputy general, and personally acted as messengers. At this time, the messenger seeking help must have decision-making power and a high enough status. If you want the two dukes to do their best to help, you must give up a lot of benefits, and it is likely that you need to cede land. Ordinary messengers do not have enough authority at all.

Harris has a higher status in the Edward family. He is now an eighth-level golden knight and is considered the fourth most powerful person in the Edward family. Now Duke Edward died of anger and Harmon died near Vera Castle. Plot, the eldest son of Duke Edward, the first heir, was surrounded by orcs in Maple Leaf Castle.

The decision-making of the Duke of Edward is actually dominated by Harris and Simone.

Harris went directly to the Duke of York and promised to let his daughter marry the third son of the Duke of York, and to mark out 14,000 square kilometers of land at the border between the two sides as the fiefdom of his daughter and son-in-law in exchange for two legions of reinforcements from the Duke of York.

Although it sounds good and is acceptable in name, the transaction is actually the Duke of Edward ceding territory in exchange for the support of the Duke of York.

The Duke of York has another legion to provide assistance to the Duke of Fox. The situation of the Duke of Fox is not as bad as that of the Duke of Edward, and it only pays the price of a viscount's fiefdom to get support.

Although the victory or defeat of this war is still undecided, the Duke of York has gained a lot of benefits, cutting a piece of meat from the two major families of Edward and Fox, and expanding the territory by more than 20,000.