Chapter 433 The Unexpected Appearance of the Undead

The two legion commanders, Soros and Jennings, were once again knighted and rewarded for their meritorious service, while the Fourth Legion was once again left out in the cold.

After the knighting after the war, dissatisfaction had been heard from officers and soldiers of the Fourth Legion. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Richard personally went to the Fourth Legion, talked with backbones such as Wang Del, and promised them that they would be used for meritorious service in the next war, and then calmed down the restless people.

After the Battle of Prilan, Lord Harland awarded a viscount and four baronies, and granted about 7,000 square kilometers of land to hereditary vassals.

Richard seemed very generous, but in fact, compared with the territory Richard got, the vassal was only a tiny bit.

After winning the Battle of Prilan, hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land in the nearby area will fall under the control of Lord Harland.

In fact, last year, the legendary ogre was annihilated, and 100,000 square kilometers of land in the vicinity fell under the control of Lord Harland.

Now, in a broad sense, the territory of Lord Harland exceeds one million square kilometers, but there are almost no people in more than half of the territory. The territories that have really been developed to a certain extent are the former Harland Territory and the three provinces in the northern border. Even the relatively wealthy territories such as Edward and Fox have not yet recovered from the pain caused by the invasion of the orcs.

The vast northern prairie and the coastal forest area are basically deserted now.

After the war with the orcs ended, due to the huge logistical pressure, Richard has discussed with the railway, finance and other departments many times and decided to increase investment this year to build a railway across the Eagle Mountains and through the north and south.

Now Harland Territory has three railways entering the Eagle Mountains. The western section of the railway extends to Songtao Castle and is slowly advancing towards Martins Castle.

The eastern section of the railway also extends from Feiying Castle to the northeast and enters the Eagle Mountains.

The middle section of the railway has the longest mileage. The 200-kilometer railway line from the military station to the Black River Fort has been put into operation and has now begun to slowly advance towards the Losa Basin.

Richard plans to increase the construction of the central line first, starting from the No. 10 military station and extending from the north to the south to the Hurricane Castle.

Last winter, the 120-kilometer railway from the No. 3 Military Station to the No. 10 Military Station was opened to traffic. The original plan was to extend it to the No. 4 Military Station. Then it would be built along the Canyon Castle, the Norman Castle, and all the way to the King's Castle.

However, after careful calculations by the railway planning department, it was found that this railway was more difficult to build. It would be better to use the power on the middle section of the railway first, which could be opened to traffic in a shorter time.

Now the Eagle Province has 680,000 people, and the human resources are relatively sufficient. It is very feasible to add 10,000 strong laborers to build the railway.

In order to connect the north and the south as soon as possible and reduce the cost of logistics and transportation, Richard personally ordered Clement to reduce the investment in the east line and let him transfer a group of backbones to be responsible for the construction of the middle line railway. The government will increase the budget of 300,000 gold coins, and Richard will also take out 100,000 gold coins from the mobile funds and invest them in this key project.

The construction of the middle line railway is very difficult, especially the section from the military station to the Losa Basin, which requires digging three tunnels. In order to speed up the progress of the project, Richard put Harland's mage group into the railway construction.

He even lowered his status and participated in the tunnel excavation.

Magicians can use fossils to turn into mud to soften hard stones, and can also use mud to turn into stone to provide solid support for tunnels.

Richard's magic power is far superior to that of ordinary people. He has also awakened the magic power multiplication and powerful spellcasting talents. One person can be used by ten high-level magicians. Sophia and Wendy's mental power also exceeded 40 points. They have awakened two major talents. One person can be used by seven or eight high-level magicians. The three of them joined forces, which is equivalent to more than 20 high-level magicians participating in the construction.

More than 200 magicians were invested in the tunnel construction project. Together with Richard and other senior executives, thousands of fossils were released every day. The effect was more powerful than several shield machines.

It took only six months to open up the three tunnels with a total length of more than ten kilometers, allowing the railway to enter the Losa Basin smoothly.

At the same time, Clement had already built the railway from the No. 10 military station to the No. 7 military station on the north line, and built a mileage of 50 kilometers.

By October, only 120 kilometers of this longitudinal line had not been completed. The weather was getting colder, but under Richard's strong request, the middle section of the railway could not be stopped in winter.

From Losa Basin to No. 7 Military Station, although the terrain along the way was also mountainous, it had already crossed the main peak of the Eagle Mountains. Most of the terrain was relatively gentle hills, and there were no high mountains blocking the road. Although it was still more difficult to build than in the plains, it should be open to traffic next summer.

By then, relying on this north-south artery, the food from Heihe Fort could be transported to the No. 10 Military Station within two days.

Five steam units could replenish 300 tons of supplies for the No. 10 Military Station within two days. Such a supply force is enough to support 40,000 to 50,000 troops.

Five steam locomotives, at most 20 train drivers, hundreds of maintenance workers on the railway line, plus one or two hundred loaders and unloaders, can provide logistics for 50,000 troops.

Now, to transport the same materials from Black River Fort to the No. 10 military station, using human and animal power, Harland County needs to mobilize tens of thousands of contract slaves, thousands of large livestock, and spend twenty days, and consume more than 3,000 tons of materials on the road.

When this railway is opened to traffic, the transportation cost will be greatly reduced.

Just as Harland County was desperately building the railway, scattered undead began to appear near Prilan.

The first ones to discover the undead were the Griffin Cavalry in the Puliland area. When the Griffin Cavalry was scouting north, they discovered dozens of undead 200 kilometers north of Puliland.

After discovering the anomaly, Grumang attached great importance to it and strengthened the reconnaissance force in this direction. It was soon discovered that many undead souls had traveled south from the North Icefield and entered the prairie in northern Puliland.

Now Lord Harland's main army has moved south, and the accumulated baggage is not enough to send troops to the ice fields in the north. Moreover, humans cannot be as rough-skinned and fleshy as orcs, and moral values ​​do not allow cannibalism to supplement logistics.

Therefore, Leader Harland could only let go of these undead that had infiltrated.

There are many kobold tribes in the northern part of Pulilan, which can serve as Harland's shield. Now the undead and the kobold tribes have been locked in a battle.

Four months have passed, and the scattered undead are getting closer and closer to the city of Pulilan. A small number of undead have been discovered in the northernmost countryside of Pulilan.

These undead souls seem to have no one to control them and rely on instinct to attack living people.

Because the situation in the direction of Puliland has changed, Richard first asked Sylph to lead the elf archers to station in Puliland City, and then asked the fourth group of Warcraft Cavalry, Harland to lead the mage group, and the Flying Dragon Knights to reinforce Puliland. Leland City.

With the end of the autumn harvest in September, the Eagle Province ushered in a bumper harvest this year, with 240,000 tons of grain harvested. The local people need to leave 180,000 tons of rations to grow grain, which can provide 60,000 tons of food support logistics for the army.

Sixty thousand tons of food can feed 120,000 soldiers for a year. Even with large livestock and warcraft horses, it is enough to ensure food supply for 80,000 people. In addition, a lot of cotton and ramie are grown in Eagle Province, and a clothing factory powered by steam engines has been established in the northern suburbs of Military Station No. 10. Military uniforms do not need to be transported from the southern part of the Eagle Mountains.

As the Eagle Province gradually developed and matured, a certain foundation was established, which greatly reduced the cost of garrisoning troops in Northern Xinjiang.

After late September, because there were more and more undead in northern Pulilan, Richard personally appeared in the northern suburbs of Pulilan. After several battles with the undead, Richard discovered that the undead coming down from the northern ice sheet were basically unmanned. .

Judging from the clothes, weapons and other antiquities on the undead, it can be seen that these undead came from the plane of dawn during their lifetime, and are relatively close to the undead in the mausoleum of Princess Oflan.

"I don't know how many lives died on the northern ice sheet during the wizarding era, and it has not been cleaned up for thousands of years."

After the undead appeared in the suburbs of Pulilan, Leader Harland stepped up the reconnaissance intensity of the flying units. The bipedal flying dragon knights even braved the unsuitable weather and came to the edge of the North Icefield to observe the scattered undead moving south.

According to rough estimates from the flying arms, more than a million undead have traveled south this year, and they are basically scattered in the northern part of the prairie, operating over hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land.

Now that the foundation of the Puliland area is unstable and unable to provide a large amount of logistics, Richard cannot send a large number of soldiers to clear out the undead. He can only take two methods. The first is to send bipedal flying dragon knights to sweep the northern area of ​​Puliland and clean up areas close to Puliland. Lilan's undead, secondly, recruit more mercenaries and demon hunters from countries near the Kingdom of Grant, and increase the intensity and price of purchasing soul enchantments and undead materials, hoping to attract some professional mercenaries and demon hunters through profit. .

In order to deal with the legendary dragon, Richard built a demon hunting city in the eastern part of the Sutton territory, and eventually developed a good stronghold. Then he slowly attracted professional demon hunters and formed a demon hunter unit. Without spending too much money, a force of 800 full-time professional soldiers was established.

Now Richard is once again recruiting undead hunters through Harland's business channels.

…

Kanas Castle is the capital of the United Kingdom on the east coast. It is very close to the coastline. Due to maritime trade, it seems to be more prosperous than Nolan.

The Fire Rose Tavern is a large-scale tavern in Kanas Castle. It is supported by Kanas gangs and hereditary nobles. It is a place where mercenaries near Kanas spend their daily activities. It has been established for more than ten years, but recently, Over the past three years, the tavern gradually fell into the control of Harland.

As a large number of soldiers from the United Kingdom on the east coast were captured by the Harland Territory, there was naturally no shortage of people who cooperated with the Harland Territory.

Since seven years ago, the Harland Territory has been secretly deploying in the United Kingdom on the East Coast. Now it has developed a strict intelligence network. Although the upper-level intelligence is difficult to find, this intelligence network has also penetrated into the United Kingdom on the East Coast. in the system.

There are even several hereditary nobles on the east coast who cooperate with the activities of Haaland's intelligence department because of business interests, family security and other factors. This intelligence network has developed more than a thousand intelligence personnel.

Through this huge intelligence network, Leader Harland can not only smuggle goods into the United Kingdom on the east coast, but also spread news to Kanas City.

It was under such a situation that the Fire Rose Tavern gradually fell into the control of Harland.

Of course, the apparent owner of this tavern is a hereditary noble who lost his territory due to the war. This man's name is Stevens Hogan. Apparently, because his territory was occupied by the Kingdom of Grant, he lost his title and was forced to come to the capital to seek refuge with his relatives.

In fact, Stevens is just the second son of the Baron. After being captured by the army led by Haaland, he quickly became a member of the intelligence department. Over the years, he became prosperous in Kanas and became the Kanas Intelligence Station. The stationmaster has hundreds of intelligence personnel under his command. He is placed in the intelligence department of Haaland, and he is already considered to be at the front of the middle level.

After losing his territory, being defeated and captured, Stevens had a great obsession in his heart, hoping to restore his status as a hereditary noble.

If the intelligence department wants to be awarded a title, it does not need to risk its life on the cruel battlefield, but it needs to continuously send important intelligence to Harland.

Although Stevens did not send back strategic intelligence, he also established a huge intelligence network, controlled the smuggling market of the East Coast United Kingdom, and accumulated three great merits in total. The speed at which he accumulated merits was several points faster than the captain of the regular army.

They, the front-line intelligence commanders, are actually easier to be awarded a title and merit than the intelligence personnel at the headquarters.

This time, Stevens once again passed the news of Richard recruiting mercenaries to the right people through the intelligence network of the East Coast United Kingdom.

A considerable number of mercenaries on the East Coast are retired soldiers, and the main officers come from the distant noble class.

The distant nobles also have a certain degree of extraordinary knowledge and are an important class in the kingdom.

Generally speaking, this class mainly develops in the army and accumulates merits to become hereditary nobles. If there are not many opportunities in the army, these nobles with distant bloodlines often form mercenary groups. I hope to bypass the military system and establish merit. Richard's uncle Soros came from such a class.

After receiving the news that Richard was recruiting mercenaries, the senior leaders of several large mercenary groups have been discussing activities in private. In these mercenary gatherings, there are many people arranged by Stevens.

"Do you think it is credible that the Duke of Harland is recruiting mercenaries?"

"I heard that the important figure in Harland, the commander of the army, Soros, was a mercenary leader. Since there are already mercenary leaders who have been promoted to hereditary nobles, they should not discriminate against us."

An informed mercenary heard this and said with contempt: "It is rumored that Soros is the uncle of the Duke of Harland. If you want to become a hereditary noble, your reincarnation skills may not be good enough."

Another mercenary retorted: "Whether you admit it or not, many hereditary nobles in Harland are from mercenaries, retired soldiers, and slave soldiers. Compared with our king, Duke Richard will be more More opportunities are left for the lower classes. Moreover, even if we cannot be granted a title, as long as we get the soul crystal, we can also exchange it for extraordinary materials and merits from Harland.

According to the rumored standards, a first-level soul crystal can be exchanged for a small merit, a fourth-level soul crystal can be exchanged for a medium merit, and a seventh-level soul crystal can be exchanged for a large merit. If you are lucky enough to get a legendary soul crystal, you can immediately be promoted to the hereditary noble class. "

Amidst the discussions, many mercenary groups decided to try their luck in Harland. In just three months, more than a thousand mercenaries from the East Coast United Kingdom entered Harland.

The mercenaries who dared to go north were all ambitious people. The quality of these people was generally good. The professional mercenaries of more than a dozen mercenary groups in the East Coast United Kingdom added up to nearly 300 people. Stevens was rewarded with two medium merits by the headquarters because he mobilized a large number of mercenaries to enter Harland.