Chapter 432 Prilan

Now that the eastern and southern armies have successfully joined forces, Harland has gathered 37,000 troops. Although the orcs near the Prilan area now have 34 battalions and more than 70,000 troops, their actual combat power is far from the opponent of Harland's army.

The enemy cannot be defeated in the field, and the city defense fortifications cannot stop the magic crystal cannon and have lost their function. In fact, the only way waiting for the orcs is to retreat.

After the two armies joined, it was already late, and Richard did not want to march after dark. He decided to set up camp and rest for a night, and fight tomorrow.

Seeing Harland's army approaching, the legendary jackal has decided to evacuate.

Since the failure of the Samba River Battle, the orcs' upper echelons realized that Prilan City could not be held for a long time. Both Melonla, the commander-in-chief of the grassland governor's district, and the legendary jackal Troye, the commander of the Eastern Front, planned to retreat from the Prilan area.

But according to their estimates, it will take at least ten years for Harland to be able to occupy the Prilan area.

The intelligence of the orcs can only be deduced based on the situation at the time.

But in this world, the situation will continue to change.

After the failure of the Battle of Samba River, the orcs turned their attention to the west and severely damaged the two dukes Edward and Fox. After the defeat of the two northern dukes, they decided to develop to the south with all their might. Under their promotion, the Grant Kingdom launched a southern expedition, defeated the Delong Kingdom and the East Coast United Kingdom, and seized a large area of ​​territorial population.

Harland has ushered in a leapfrog development with the help of war.

The population size alone has increased from more than two million to nearly eight million, and the army size has also increased by 30,000. In just three years, the number of professionals in the Duke of Harland has increased by more than 8,000 people, and they also have an elite and combat-ready noble coalition under their command. Three years have exceeded the normal ten years of development.

In the current situation, Harland has enough power to swallow Prilan.

In the past three years, the legendary gnolls have moved some of their tribes westward, mainly the snake tribe, the gnoll army, the dragon vein dog head tribe and other elite tribes.

The half-orc tribe, the silver moon wolf tribe, and the eagle tribe are ready to move, but have not found a new settlement. Human slaves are still farming in the Purilan area.

Ordinary orc tribes, such as the fox tribe, lion people, wild boar people, and werewolves, have received notices and started preparations to start moving westward in two or three years.

A large number of dog head tribes do not need to move. Anyway, the reproduction speed of dog heads is so fast that humans can't kill them all. Leaving the dog head tribe in Purilan can also tie up the energy of Harland. The Orc Empire is least lacking in this kind of garbage soldiers.

Richard appeared near Purilan with a large army, and immediately caught the orcs off guard. Now the relocation work is not ready. Once they decide to withdraw, facing the pursuit of Harland's army, the losses will be very heavy.

However, it is also very difficult to let the main force of the orcs stay in the Prilan area to fight a battle and cover the orc tribes' westward migration, because the orcs of the Eastern Front Army of the Grassland Governor's District have no chance of winning a field battle with the corps led by Harland. Although the orcs' strength has been restored to 14 corps, they have lost two elite troops, and the combat effectiveness of the newly formed orc corps is very average.

Moreover, there are many places that the Eastern Front Army of the Grassland Governor's District needs to defend, not just one Prilan. The legendary jackals can only gather eight corps in the Prilan area at most.

With eight orc corps and Harland's 110,000 troops in the field, the legendary jackals have no chance of winning at all.

Melonla, the commander of the Grassland Governor's District, explained very clearly that the Grassland Governor's District could not get support from the headquarters in recent years. The superiors have no reinforcements, and the Eastern Front Army can only rely on its own strength to maintain the situation.

The war between orcs and humans has been fought for nearly three thousand years. In this long-term war, the front line has been constantly moving. When the orc empire was strong, it once reached the southern border of the Delong Kingdom. When the orcs declined, they also gave up the northern prairie.

For the vast orc empire with an area of ​​more than 80 million square kilometers, the Prairie Governor's District is very important, but after all, it is only a small army, and the land controlled by the Central Royal Court is the most critical.

The Prairie Governor's District also has 12 million square kilometers of land. The three fronts must not only defend the northern prairie, but also the Silver Wolf Mountains, coastal forests, Fili Highlands, and the Northern Icefield.

The situation is now very unfavorable to the orcs. The power in the hands of the legendary jackal can no longer occupy such a vast territory. Now he must make a decision.

As an experienced commander, the jackal Truye is very decisive. When Harland led the flying troops deep into the Prilan area, Truye had a plan to shrink comprehensively.

The first thing to give up is the Northern Icefield.

The Northern Icefield is located in the northern part of the prairie. Its area is twice that of the northern prairie, more than 6 million square kilometers, and its geographical location is almost the northernmost part of the continent in the Dawn Plane.

Going north from the northern prairie, there is a vast ocean named the Arctic Sea, located at the North Pole of the planet Dawn. A legendary magician once traveled in this area, personally measured the terrain of the Arctic Sea, and drew a rough map. The area of ​​the Arctic Sea is about 30 million square kilometers, which is far less than the area of ​​other seas.

The coastal areas of the northern ice sheet are frozen for at least four to five months a year, and some areas are frozen for eight to nine months.

The Northland Icefield was the center of the battle between the Rule Wizards and the Undead Lords. An Undead Lord had fallen in this area, and the land was filled with a large amount of Undead power. Every year, many Undeads went south from the Northland Icefield to fight the Orcs.

In the northern front area, the Orcs often need to concentrate four legions. Only when they march south will they transfer troops from the Northland Icefield to the south to plunder.

By giving up the Northland Icefield, Truye can not only liberate four legions, but also rely on the undead going south to contain part of the energy of Harland, making Richard unable to catch up. After all, occupying Prilan is only three or four hundred kilometers away from the Northland Icefield. After this decision is made, it should be able to hinder the pace of Harland and improve its own situation.

In addition to giving up the Northland Icefield, Truye also concentrated a large number of elites, arranged three Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry Battalions, and two Half-Orc Battalions to move part of the Orc Tribe to the east. With this army in the east, Richard cannot focus on the west.

Seeing Harland leading three armies approaching, Truye decisively ordered the massacre of human slaves and abandoned Prilan.

Instantly, the cries of human slaves were heard everywhere in the Prilan area. Although Harland led the army to rescue some, the total number was only 120,000.

This group of people came from the two dukedoms of Edward and Fox. They were looted by the Orc Empire three years ago and then arranged to farm near Prilan. After surviving in the Orc Empire with great difficulty, they suffered another massacre and lost more than two-thirds of the population. They looked extremely miserable.

Seeing that the orcs were so cruel, Richard left 5,000 soldiers to guard Prilan and took the remaining soldiers out of the city to chase them.

The two armies met in the northwest of Prilan, and Richard decisively led more than 30,000 soldiers to fight against 70,000 orcs.

Before the decisive battle between the two armies, Richard, Sophia, and Wendy released eight starlight bombs in succession. The continuous starlight fell into the orc army formation. The ground forces of Harland Territory had not yet taken action, and the orcs were directly defeated.

Even the legendary first-level jackal commander Truye was not spared. He was exposed in the battle and was hit by two starlight bombs in succession, and died on the spot.

In this battle, more than 30,000 of the 70,000 orc troops were annihilated by Harland Territory, and 40,000 orcs were scattered on the spot. The soldiers of Harland Territory were negligible, with only 200 to 300 casualties in the pursuit and annihilation battle.

The main force of the Prilan orcs was defeated, and the Soros troops also seized the opportunity to beat the fallen dogs on the northern line. They fought several battles and wiped out 20,000 orc troops.

The three armies won successively, annihilated 70,000 orcs in several battles, and defeated 60,000. Almost six orc legions were eliminated in a strategic sense.

The Eastern Front had only fourteen corps in total. After this battle, it was even more unable to fight against the Duke of Harland, and could only withdraw its main force to the west.

After defeating the main force of the orcs, Harland's army could not stay in the northern prairie for too long.

After all, the Eagle Province was underdeveloped and could not support a large number of soldiers fighting on the front line. As Harland controlled Prilan, the supply line was extended by more than 200 kilometers.

The supply line for transporting food from the Black River Province to Prilan was already 800 kilometers long. Although it could be transported 100 kilometers north by rail, saving a lot of manpower and material resources, the 600-700-kilometer supply line had to cross the Eagle Mountains at an altitude of 4,000 to 5,000 meters, and the cost was still very high. It took 20 kilograms of food on the road to transport one kilogram to the front line.

Moreover, Harland's army also rescued 130,000 people from the Prilan area. Although the food consumed by serfs was far less than that of the army, the food consumed by 130,000 serfs was roughly equivalent to 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers.

However, with the increase of 130,000 mouths in Prilan, at least 25,000 tons of food need to be transported from the rear. In order to settle these people, livestock, crops, clothes and salt need to be mobilized from the rear. In the first few years, even wood and bricks need to be transported and dispatched from the rear. This huge demand for transportation capacity was simply not borne by Harland before the railway line was built.

So after a lot of food was consumed, Richard immediately made the decision to withdraw. But this time, after conquering Prilan, Harland has already planned to control this place for a long time.

Although it is impossible to support 110,000 troops and 130,000 serfs in Prilan, according to the calculation of the staff department, 15,000 soldiers and 30,000 serfs can be stationed in Prilan.

In the end, Richard drew five battalions from the First Legion, and two infantry battalions from the Second Legion and the Third Legion respectively, and then temporarily left the Lion Duck Knights in Prilan.

This garrison will be reorganized into the Fifth Legion of Harland, and the legion commander Richard directly recruited Grumman.

Grumman has been in Harland for five years. He has served as the deputy commander of the Mad Lion Legion. His professional level is already level nine, and he is capable enough to be the commander of the legion.

Harland's elite infantry first battalion also temporarily stayed in Prilan.

After leaving a garrison in the Prilan area, Richard led the main force of Harland and slowly retreated to the Beishan defense line.

As the army retreated, the supply line was shortened by hundreds of kilometers, and the pressure on Harland to transport food was greatly reduced. In particular, the several battalions stationed in Snow Mountain County no longer needed to transport supplies from the rear.

And the more than 10,000 noble coalition forces under Sutton will also return to the territory after the war, saving a lot of costs.

As for the 90,000 people brought back to the Eagle Province from the Prilan area, they will be temporarily settled in this province.

Although the development level of Eagle Province is very general, it can provide basic supplies for 90,000 contract slaves, such as wood, coal, bricks, steel and other basic resources. The rear only needs to transport food to support the 90,000 people to open up wasteland and develop.

Last year, Eagle Province was not self-sufficient and needed the central province to mobilize food support. This year, with the improvement of the development level, it has more cultivated fields. After the autumn harvest, Eagle Province can be self-sufficient and replenish part of the food for the Beishan defense line. The tense logistics transportation line only needs to be maintained for a few more months.

Fortunately, the serfs involved in the transportation are very low-cost. If free people are used, Harland County can't afford the labor cost.

After the army returned, Harland County began to reward merits again.

The first is Viscount Romen. He not only sent 2,000 elites and 150 Warcraft cavalry to participate in the war, but also let his eldest son Terrason lead the troops in person. In this battle, the Roman family made 14 great contributions. With the merits accumulated in the past, they can be awarded two baronies.

In recent years, Viscount Roman has given a barony to his third son, Klein, and gave his second son a territory in the south. With the great development of the Dukedom of Harland, the Roman family has also successfully embraced the thigh, won many battles, and made meritorious deeds. In less than ten years, four baronies were awarded.

Even at the current development speed, it is possible to be promoted to the noble class.

Then there is Sutton. The elves and Sylph played a very critical role in this battle. Together, they were awarded another viscount. Now Sutton and Sylph each have two viscounts. The mother and son's territories together have exceeded 30,000 square kilometers, which is enough for the elf tribe to operate.

Then there are the two legion commanders, Thoros and Jennings, who have accumulated enough merits again and were awarded a barony.

Jennings has been awarded three baronies and can be promoted to the viscount class. Thoros has five baronies in his hands, but he has distributed them to his three children, and his own territory cannot be promoted to viscount.

When you become a corps commander, you can get victory merits. Compared with decapitation merits, the awarding of victory merits has more vague standards. After winning a battle like this, corps commanders such as Soros and Jennings can get at least five great victory merits.