Chapter 430 Taking the Initiative to Send Troops

Philip stayed at the farm and factory for more than ten days, and handed the investigation report to Richard before the Goddess's Birthday. Through Philip's investigation material, Richard had a general understanding of the situation in grassroots farms and factories.

The farm is in pretty good condition, after all, it is already the third year of land reclamation, and the location is not far from Fort William.

As the saying goes, under the emperor's feet, law and order are strict. Richard often inspected near Fort William, and the bureaucrats near Fort William were relatively restrained. Coupled with Haaland's continuous cultivation of talents, bureaucrats with management skills and basic knowledge are no longer scarce, and the official atmosphere is clearer than twenty years ago.

Twenty years ago, there were almost no upright officials in the Halland Territory. As long as 99% of the bureaucrats had some power, they would find ways to harm the public and enrich themselves to make money for themselves.

Over the years, Richard has eliminated and dealt with corrupt officials one after another, and established an audit and supervision system. Nowadays, officials who directly commit corruption are relatively rare. Most bureaucrats today are engaged in rent-seeking for power, and they are more civilized than they were twenty years ago.

Nowadays, in Philip's village, the average life expectancy of indentured slaves has increased to forty-eight years. They can barely eat enough and are given one set of clothes a year, because it is close to the coal mine and there is coal for heating in winter. In addition, doctors from Tulum Coal Mine will go to the countryside twice a year to go to the farms to treat the indentured slaves, and occasionally distribute some free medicines. Compared with the first half of these serfs' lives, the few years they entered the Harland Territory were already considered the best and happiest years in terms of living conditions.

Because the flour mill where Philip works is a state-owned factory, the remuneration is pretty good. Workers generally receive a monthly salary of four silver coins, and they can also receive sixty kilograms of flour every month. If one person works, the whole family can live without worries about food and clothing for a year. If you can pass the training and become a skilled worker, your monthly salary will increase to eight silver coins, and your welfare benefits will be comparable to those of the main legionnaires.

Through Philip's investigation report, Richard observed that the economy near Fort William has greatly improved. The people in the capital area have solved the problem of food and clothing and are gradually developing to a higher level.

Of course, Richard cannot make decisions based on a report from Philip. He will read the official statistics and the information from the intelligence department. A few days before the birthday of the goddess, he will also launch a surprise attack and personally go to the grassroots level. Take a look.

Time flew by like this and ushered in the dawn calendar year 3274.

It has been twenty-eight years since Richard traveled to the plane of dawn.

Twenty-eight years was a long time, enough for Richard's outlook to change to a certain extent, becoming more like a native. Compared to when he just traveled through time, his way of thinking seemed to be a different person.

Shortly after the goddess's birthday, Richard sent Philip to the Third Legion.

Although the training in the army is very difficult, after last year's decentralization training, Philip's character has matured a lot and he has also developed strong endurance. After a period of adaptation, under the covert care of Jennings, Morgan, and Levine, he slowly integrated into the army.

Philip's changes over the past year have surprised Sophia. She thought in her mind: "Richard's method is indeed good. It seems that in the future, future generations of the Harland family should find ways to decentralize their training and receive a period of training." The Tribulation of Time Life.”

After settling Philip, the schools in Harland Territory have started enrolling students. As the number of free people in the territory increased, six more elementary schools were added after the New Year. Now there are 40 primary schools and ten middle schools in Harland Territory.

Harland Territory Primary School is not a small mountain primary school. Because of the relative shortage of educational resources, education in remote mountainous areas has always been abandoned. Harland Territory schools are all established in relatively prosperous large-scale strongholds.

There are no 50,000 to 60,000 people nearby, and there will be no schools, hospitals or other infrastructure at all. Therefore, each primary school has at least two to three thousand students.

The total number of students enrolled in forty primary schools and ten middle schools has exceeded 100,000.

The number of new students enrolled this year is as high as 23,000. From these new students, the territory has found 236 children with magical talents, and these children have been selected to enter the magic academy.

Starting last year, these children with magical talents will no longer go to school with ordinary people, but will all enter the Magic Academy. Counting this year's freshmen, the Magic Academy already has more than 400 students. The children with the best qualifications have been promoted to senior mage apprentices, and they should be able to advance and become professionals in their third year of learning magic.

Including the children from the Magic Academy, the Harland Wizards Association already has 1,150 members, almost twice the number of the Grant Wizards Association. In terms of number, it has already met the standards of a large magic organization. The Harland Wizards Association The background is even stronger than that of ordinary large-scale magic organizations.

Last year, a total of three people died in the Mage Association, and 37 people advanced. Now there are 305 official magicians in Harland's leadership. The number of magicians is roughly the same as that of the Grant Mage Association.

It took Harland more than twenty years to catch up with the Grant family's six hundred years of accumulation. This is entirely because Harland's leadership is more open, the selection range is wider, and blood is not used as a selection condition.

As the number of freedmen increases, Richard will build more schools, Harland's selection of candidates will become wider and wider, and talents will emerge like a spurt.

Soon after the new students entered school, the weather became warmer and warmer. Time passed in March, and the northern Xinjiang region was about to enter the spring plowing season.

The heavy snow in March has melted, and there are constant carriages crossing the valleys of the Eagle Mountains to replenish supplies to the North Mountain Defense Line.

Now Harland has 140,000 troops, of which 80,000 troops remain in the Eagle Province to defend against the orcs.

Although Richard strongly supports the development of the Eagle Province and continues to immigrate to the Eagle Province, due to poor foundations, as of the end of last year, the population of the Eagle Province was less than 600,000.

Because the time for reclamation is short and the grain output is relatively average, in the past one or two years, it has been necessary to transfer grain from the central, Vera, and Heihe provinces. The Eagle Province is simply unable to supplement the logistics for the garrison.

From the most prosperous Heihe, the central province, over the Eagle Mountains, which are 200 to 300 kilometers deep, to transport food and supplies thousands of miles away, the loss is very serious. Even for Harland, which has abundant supplies, the pressure is very heavy and it carries a heavy burden.

However, the orcs still stationed heavy troops in the direction of Purilan, and Richard did not dare to withdraw a large number of troops from the North Mountain Defense Line. Before the railway line was completed, Harland County had to face the difficulties of logistical supply.

Richard and the staff department made a lot of plans and decided to grab a handful of orcs in the early spring of this year.

The Purilan area is an important town for orcs. Not only do a large number of orc tribes live nearby, but there are also large tracts of arable land, and hundreds of thousands of humans have been captured for cultivation.

After conquering Purilan and seizing this part of the mature arable land, the army in the north of the Eagle Mountains can be replenished nearby. There is no need to transport food from the rear, and it is relatively simple for Harland County to transport other supplies.

In fact, four years ago, Richard severely damaged the orc army, wiped out the orc elite 17th Legion, and then launched a surprise attack to conquer Purilan. However, because the supply line was too far away at the time, and the main force of the orcs was cruising on the outside, Richard had to give up Purilan and devote himself to the North Mountain Defense Line.

It has been four years since the last war. Harland's army has increased by 60,000, and its strength is far greater than four years ago. The orcs lost the Battle of Samba River, and their strength is not as good as it was four years ago.

In addition, Richard has been operating the North Mountain Defense Line for four years, building more than a dozen solid strongholds, and shortening the logistics transportation line by more than half.

This time, when attacking Prilan, Richard also plans to continue to weaken the orcs and fight a decisive battle with the orcs of the Eastern Front of the Grassland Governor's District.

In March, Harland began to stockpile supplies, and the supplies were not ready until April.

Just before Richard was about to go to war, Undine happened to give birth.

The pregnancy period of elves is much longer than that of humans, and generally speaking, the span is also very large, usually between three and nine years. According to experience, the longer the pregnancy period of elves, the higher their own talents.

Half-elves have strong elf blood, and the pregnancy period is also longer than that of humans. Richard and Undine's child has a quarter of elf blood, and Undine's pregnancy period is as long as sixteen months.

Before the child was born, Richard had discussed with Undine that if the child was a girl, she would be named Isabella, and if the child was a boy, he would be named Rex.

Undine gave birth to a boy, who was very good-looking even though he was just born.

Richard met the child, had a brief conversation with Undine, and rushed to the front line with his personal soldiers overnight.

This time, the troops were divided into three groups. Soros led the Second and Third Corps to cross the Samba River from the Snow Mountain County and led the troops to attack Prilan.

This army had 40,000 regular troops and 20,000 auxiliary troops. It was also strengthened with three Warcraft Cavalry Squadrons and five Magic Crystal Cannon Squadrons, totaling 60,000 infantry, 2,000 Warcraft Cavalry, 1,300 artillery troops, and the Lion Duck Knights to cooperate with the northern troops. The total force was about 64,000. This army was the northern line.

Richard led the First Corps from the No. 10 military station to find an opportunity to cross the Samba River and cooperate with Soros's troops in the battle. Four artillery squadrons were also strengthened along this route, including the first magic airship battalion, the second and third magic balloon battalions under Richard, with a total of 20,000 infantry, 1,000 Warcraft cavalry, 1,000 artillery, and more than 2,000 aerial reconnaissance troops. Together with the headquarters personnel, the total force is 25,000, and this army is the southern line.

Sutton led the elf archers, the demon hunter troops, the noble coalition led by Harland, the fourth battalion of the Warcraft cavalry, and other troops, with a total force of 16,000, crossed the river in the east of Prilan, and surrounded the Prilan area from the flank. Above this army, there were the most powerful troops of Harland, the two-legged dragon knights, to help, which was the eastern line of the three armies.

The three armies defeated the orcs in the Prilan area from three directions, with a total force of up to 110,000.

Although the noble coalition led by Sutton was poorly equipped, the quality of the soldiers was also very good, and they were all carefully selected from the major noble coalitions. There are more than 30 high-level professionals, and there are also elite soldiers such as wyvern knights, elven archers, demon hunters, and Warcraft cavalry to cooperate in the battle. On the surface, the combat effectiveness is better than that of the strong troops such as the Northern Legion.

However, whether the full combat effectiveness of the noble coalition can be exerted is also a test for Sutton's command art.

The three armies marched in unison and pressed straight to the Prilan area, causing the orc army to panic.

Especially the flying troops of Harland, which were active in the sky over Prilan like an overwhelming force. In just two or three days, more than 300 eagles have been killed.

It is difficult to train flying troops. Generally, one legion of orcs only has 160 harpies. The loss of 300 harpies in two days almost wiped out the flying troops of two legions. Such heavy casualties have made the orcs unbearable. The harpies have lost a lot of blood and dare not take off to fight easily.

The casualties caused by the orcs to Harland Territory were almost negligible. They only shot down eight magic hot air balloons and a magic airship, killed two lion knights, and injured a two-legged flying dragon.

In the Dawn Plane, although harpies are relatively weak flying troops, they are also third-level professionals when they grow up.

Usually three or four harpies can compete with the fifth-level lion duck, but with the cavalry on the back of the lion duck, three or four harpies often cannot beat the well-equipped lion duck knight. After all, the lion duck knight can use explosive arrows, alchemical bombs and other magic props in addition to allowing the lion duck to use bloodline spells.

Generally speaking, half a squad of harpies will have a higher chance of winning against a lion knight.

As for the wyvern knight, a squad of twelve harpies cannot compete with it, while Harland has fifty wyvern knights, hundreds of lion knights, magic airships, magic hot air balloons and other flying arms, and its air force has far exceeded the Eastern Front of the Orc Grassland Governor's District.

The six hundred harpy soldiers gathered near the grassland governor's district were soon beaten by Harland's flying arms and dared not take off.

Without flying arms in the sky, the orcs near Prilan suddenly fell into a serious passive situation. Now the orcs can only rely on the Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry to participate in reconnaissance activities on the ground.

Although the Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry is also a professional arm, its combat effectiveness can compete with the Warcraft Cavalry, but in the open wilderness, it cannot beat the wyvern and lion knight.

Dispersed reconnaissance is easy to be ambushed and killed by flying troops, and concentrated reconnaissance lacks efficiency, resulting in particularly poor reconnaissance results and easy to fall into the trap of Harland's army.

Soros was near Prilan and successfully mobilized the elite to wipe out three Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry squadrons. Richard also crossed the Samba River and successfully ambushed the 200 concentrated Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry.

The continuous ambush of the reconnaissance troops also made the orcs extremely painful. Snakemen, eaglemen, Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry, and half-orc archers are all elite orcs. Loss is not easy to replenish.

In the past five years, the orcs have suffered repeated defeats, and the loss of elite troops has been quite serious. With the deployment of magic crystal cannons on the battlefield, the snakemen heavy infantry has gradually become an obsolete unit. Every time they fought with Harland, the orc commanders did not dare to let the snakemen concentrate, losing the ability to attack head-on. Now they can only let the snakemen disperse in the ordinary orc army.

Now the decisive battle has not yet begun. First, the harpies were beaten and dared not take off, and then the Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry suffered heavy losses.

Before the decisive battle came, the elite orc professional army lost more than 800 people. Such a situation made the legendary jackal heartbroken.

The situation has developed to this point. The orc high-level has been very clear that the strength of the Eastern Front is no longer comparable to that of the Duke of Harland, whether in defense or offense.

The war is not going well, and the legendary jackal has already planned to withdraw.

】