Chapter 438: The situation in turmoil
Chapter 437: A Stirring Situation
At the beginning of the war, the three Dukes requested for reinforcements at the Noble Council, and because they were at the frontline, they described the situation at the frontline as very serious.
Although there were quite a few conflicts within the great nobles of Grant Kingdom, after all, it was all for one and one for all. If the three dukes Edward, Fox, and Guise were heavily occupied by the Delong Kingdom, the war would burn into the three dukes’ territories of Duran, Loran, and York, and the six dukes would not be able to withstand it, and the Grant royal family would not be able to support it either.
Under the coordination of King Roger, the three York, Loran, and Duran almost did their best to enlist 100,000 regular troops to participate in the war.
The three main legions of the royal family in the southern territories were also mobilized in full force, together with the conscripted coalition of nobles. The royal family of Grant mobilized 300,000 regular troops to hold off the attack of the Delong Kingdom.
This time in the war, although the Delong Kingdom’s main force had been reduced to 400,000 people, its combat power was far stronger than a few years ago, and the Delong Kingdom alone had the strength to suppress the Grant Kingdom’s 300,000 regular troops.
In previous battles, the troops that Grant Kingdom used to deal with Delong Kingdom were basically only 150,000 people.
When war broke out between the Delong Kingdom and the Grant Kingdom, the nearby countries naturally acted with the situation.
First was the United Kingdom of the East Coast, which quickly formed three front armies, the first being the Ocean Front Army, which remained at 150,000 troops, including six legions plus 30,000 navy troops.
But because the Grant Kingdom issued the order to move to the sea, this army could not attack the coastal towns and replenish the fresh water supplies, and could only go north from the Oram River to the sea, and was intercepted by the private army of the four marquises of the eastern part of the Grant Kingdom and the three legions of the royal close-guard army in the Guevara and the Marquis of Krynn’s domains.
The Crown first had a total of seven centrally-administered legions, three of which were stationed in the three northern provinces as border troops for defense against the orcs, and four of which were stationed in Nolan as forbidden troops to suppress the nation.
The third road army had the largest number of people, up to eight legions of 160,000 people, wanting to join up with the kingdom of Delong, advancing along the Mara River, wanting to have a main duel, defeating the kingdom of Grant in one fell swoop, and achieving a total victory.
The personnel of the Forbidden Army and the Border Army, usually moved on a large scale, with many meritorious Border Army officers transferring into the Forbidden Army. Members of the Grant royal family in the forbidden army would also be transferred to the border army.
Although this direction of the noble alliance army combat strength is general, but the four legions under the jurisdiction of the royal family is the Grant Kingdom’s premier elite soldiers, even if the strength is at a disadvantage, still withstand the enemy, to maintain the stability of the situation.
Last war, the East Coast United Kingdom not only killed the legendary knight Mark Dean, formed by the Harland collar wiped out more than 100,000 people, on the other battlefield battle losses, a one-time loss of about 200,000 people.
Then there was the second army, which consisted of four legions with a total strength of 80,000 men, advancing along the Oram River and attacking the middle towns of the Grand Duchy of Starnick.
The first to strike was the army of the Linus family, this army rushed into the middle of the Starnic Grand Duchy at the head of the pack, there were about 40,000 men in this route, and attacked along the southern part of the Silver Wolf Mountain Range.
The regular army of Grant’s Domain, which fought against the United Kingdom on the East Coast, likewise added up to about three hundred and fifty thousand men.
Although the country for many years, but because the north has a powerful foreign enemy orcs, Grant royal central legion fighting strength maintained very good, these years with the royal grasp of the territory more and more large, more and more financial, the central legion has been expanded to eleven, but the strongest fighting force is still the border army which has withstood the northern frontier war. The war has lasted until now, except for Harland’s domain, Grant’s royal family and the great nobles are about to run out of power.
This time, the East Coast United Kingdom mobilized twenty-two legions, with a total strength of 470,000 troops, and has actually tried its best, holding the determination to succeed or die.
Although the last three years have seen the redemption of prisoners and the replenishment of battle losses, the six new legions have not yet formed their combat strength.
The East Coast of the United Kingdom has a total of twenty-eight legions, plus 600,000 naval troops. However, in the war of three years ago, the United Kingdom had suffered losses, which had actually damaged its fundamentals.
The five southern counts of the Kingdom of Grant formed a coalition army of 90,000 nobles, relying on the Andorra Mountains to easily hold back this enemy.
The second was the Andorra Front, the East Coast United Kingdom had gathered 120,000 troops from six legions in the southern part of the Andorra Mountains, preparing to go over the Andorra Mountains and reclaim the lost territories.
Having lost its naval mobility, this aspect of the army was not a serious threat to the Kingdom of Grant.
Earl Steven’s collar was completely wiped out in the last great battle, and now had only 10,000 recruits, Zachary had just been knighted and had only 8,000 soldiers, and William, with the support of the Dukedom of Harland and supplemented by smuggling revenues, had instead compiled 16,000 soldiers. The three earls joined forces and only had 34,000 men.
The third aspect of the army is the east coast of the United Kingdom main force, totaling 200,000 people, this huge force for the western aspect of the army.
Soon after the armies of the Kingdom of Delong and the United Kingdom of East Coast went into battle, the Kingdom of Lane declared war on the Kingdom of Grant.
The forces that resisted this aspect army were the four legions of the North, Grizzly Bear, Wild Lion, and Iron Lion, plus the three Earl Leaders of William, Steven, and Zachary.
Over the years, as the direct territories expanded, the military forces directly held by the Grant royal family also expanded and improved.
With the gradual participation of various troops in the war, the forces of the Grant royal family had been fully mobilized, and the vicinity of Nolan Castle, now possessed only two newly formed legions.
The Linus family’s troops this way are a heavy threat to the Grand Duchy of Starnick.
After all, the Linus family was once the master of the Grand Duchy of Starnic, ruling for more than a hundred years.
Many hereditary nobles in Starnic were bannermen of the Linus family, relying on the enthronement of the Linus monarch to be promoted to the hereditary noble class.
This way though, with the least amount of troops, Archduke Jonathan decided to personally go into battle, he led a legion north from St. Jonathan’s Castle, and gathered 20,000 allied nobles to meet this enemy army.
The commander of the middle road, Archduke Jonathan appointed his eldest son Macmillan, Macmillan with two legions of soldiers, converge Marshall, Watson two dukes, a total of 80,000 troops to deal with the enemy.
South Road Lane Kingdom army strength is too strong, Archduke Jonathan can only order Hughes, Sartain two dukes, to form a coalition of nobles, as the first wave of reinforcements.
Before the Kingdom of Lane had entered the war, the Kingdom of Roger had already realized that the army was not enough. Immediately sending the Lion Rash Knight to communicate with Richard, hoping to transfer troops from Duke Harland’s collar.
At this time, Richard had already taken his elite troops deep into the northern part of Priam and started to purge the undead, and was shocked when he received King Roger’s letter asking for help in May.
He never expected that the Kingdom of Grant was caught in a perilous situation with enemies on all sides.
Richard and King Roger are both smart people and veterans who have experienced decades of war, and this year, the Delong Kingdom took the initiative to provoke a war, and there is bound to be someone behind it.
From the situation of the neighboring countries, Lane Kingdom immediately fell into Richard’s line of sight.
Duke Harland’s territory expanded to the size of a kingdom, and although the number of troops is small, the fighting power can also compete with a kingdom. But leaving the support of the Grant Kingdom, it would likewise fall into a very large passivity.
After more than twenty years of bonding, Richard already had a basic mutual trust with King Roger. The two sides had dealt with each other many times, and there was also a marriage between the two families. With Duke Harland’s Domain and Grant Kingdom back to back, the situation was actually a win-win situation.
Once the situation in the Grant Kingdom collapsed, replaced by other people Richard will of course be uneasy, the southern part of the Dukedom of Harland is bound to be stationed in the large army, the two sides are caught in a standoff, and it will be difficult to expand the territory in the north.
In addition once the Grant Kingdom collapses, it is bound to blockade the commodities produced by Harland’s collar, the external market will be reduced on a large scale, which will also affect the finances of Harland’s collar.
The transportation channels for supplies and population will also be cut off, which is likewise a very troublesome matter.
Maintaining the stability of the Grant Kingdom was actually maintaining the Duke of Harland’s collar.
Moreover, morally speaking, Richard was still King Roger’s bannerman, and according to the moral standards of the Morning Realm’s nobles, he should send his soldiers to war to serve his bannerman.
After analyzing the situation in a very short period of time, although he was still clearing out the undead, Richard immediately decided to withdraw his troops and gave the main force the order to mobilize before the battle.
This time, in addition to a few elite troops, Richard mobilized the 1st and 4th legions to march south, accompanied by about 20,000 auxiliary soldiers.
Harland led the legion to assemble very quickly, and did not camp along the way as they marched through the country, and grabbed the Duke of Fox’s territory in late May to join the reinforcements of Dukes Hughes and Sartain.
Although the two sides have the same title, the power of both sides is not comparable at all.
Hughes, Sartain two dukes, is the dukes within the grand duchy, the territory is only 40,000 to 50,000 square kilometers, not only can not compare to the dukes of the Grant Kingdom, with the Harland dukedom is even more incomparable.
Hughes, Sartain two dukes, the combined power is only equal to Edward, Guise and other weak dukes of the Grant Kingdom, the strength is roughly similar to the eastern four marquises of the Grant Kingdom.
And the Dukedom of Harland’s army combat power, industrial production capacity, I’m afraid that it can already compete with the United Kingdom of the East Coast, although it may not be able to compare to the Grant Kingdom, but it is a few points stronger than the power held by the royal family.
The power gap between the two sides is more than ten times, Hughes, Sartain two dukes are not fools, of course, to listen to Richard’s military orders.
After the two armies converged in Duke Fox’s territory, Richard immediately led his troops westward and decisively attacked into the middle of Lane Kingdom.
Now Richard has 100,000 troops under his command, and the grain and fodder needed by 100,000 troops is at least 300 tons per day.
It was now a life and death national war, and Duke Fox’s collar was almost putting his life on the line to provide logistics for this large army of Richard.
In this great battle, Grant Kingdom and Grand Duchy of Starnick mobilized more than 800,000 troops in a battlefield of more than two million square kilometers, and the number of folk and auxiliary soldiers who provided logistics for these 800,000 troops added up to more than one million people.
Mobilizing two million people to participate in the war, the pressure on the two countries was exceptionally heavy.
Although both countries are feudal and classical militaristic countries, the mobilization capacity is very strong, but the combined population of the two countries is less than 60 million, the strong male population is only 16 million people, to fight this war, has mobilized will be one-eighth of the strong male population.
Just as Richard was preparing to lead his troops to attack the Lane Kingdom, the magic fleet of the Sith Kingdom poured into the vicinity of the Black River estuary.
Harland’s territory had built a castle after the Black River entered the sea, and now there were a few hundred soldiers stationed there, but in the face of the enemy’s elite soldiers and powerful magical ships, the castle’s garrison was simply not enough, and it was soon drowned in the Sith Kingdom’s attack.
The Sith Kingdom’s maritime slave catching regiment, which traveled upstream along the Black River, soon attacked Easter City, the capital of Duke Jonathan’s domain.
Although most of the soldiers were mobilized to the Grand Duchy of Starnic, Easter Castle still had sixteen thousand defenders.
The fighting strength of the Duke Jonathan’s Collar soldiers was very good, and withstood the attack of the Sea of Clouds Slave Trappers.
Seeing that they couldn’t attack Isthmus Castle, the Cloudsea Slave Trappers continued to advance along the Black River, and surprisingly attacked Harland’s Domain.
The Cloud and Sea Slave Trappers originally planned to go along the river crossing, attacking Flying Eagle Fort, Copper Mountain Town, and Greyfriarsen along the way, and then attacking Black River Fort in one fell swoop, and hitting Harland’s territory.
Unexpectedly, they had just arrived at the river bay crossing and were greeted by the attack of the Harland Collar’s soldiers.
Although Harland collar defense focus is north heavy south light, in the eagle mountain range north stationed heavy troops, the second legion, the third legion, the fifth legion of the three main forces are stationed in the eagle mountain range north defense orcs, the south is only the city defense army, security forces.
But Harland collar has a large number of flying soldiers, there are other gradually phased out magic hot air balloon troops, in addition to the matching artillery, basically are arranged in the south of the Black River province.
Moreover, because of guarding the dimensional passages, Harland Collar had hoarded six thousand of its more elite troops in the Dragon Canyon. Together with the second-line troops such as the security forces, there were 46,000 troops left in the south of the Harland Territory.
With a huge troop strength, soon the Harland Collar troops blocked the Cloudsea Slave Trappers near the River Bay Ferry.
After fighting a few outpost battles with Harland’s army, the Cloud and Sea Slave Trappers immediately sensed the seriousness of the situation.
Most of the castles in the southern region of Harland Territory, except for a few important cities such as Black River Castle, did not have the time to equip with Magic Crystal Cannons, but the castle’s defense fortifications were very complete, and the auxiliary soldiers and the city defense army, were equipped with heavy stone throwers and alchemy bombs.
The Cloud Sea Slave Catcher Regiment tentatively attacked the river bay crossing once, although the losses of the garrisoned city defenses were not light, and they themselves even lost seventy to eighty people. When they bypassed the river bay and attacked the Soaring Eagle Fort, they still could not succeed, and were heavily injured and killed by the alchemy bombs thrown by the city’s defenders. This time the casualties were surprisingly as high as one hundred and fifty men.
Although the Cloudsea Slave Trappers were all-professional soldiers, and also possessed a Lion Rash Cavalry of more than a hundred men, their fighting strength was far stronger than the defenders, and the two battles killed and wounded one thousand and three hundred of Harland’s Leader Auxiliary Soldiers. The casualty ratio reached one to six, far better than Harland’s Domain.
However, the members of the Cloud Sea Slave Trappers Regiment only had a dozen magical ships and less than four thousand people, with the huge scale of the Harland Collar’s army to fight for consumption, the scale of the Cloud Sea Slave Trappers Regiment was not good at all. Not waiting for them to be ruthless and take down a castle, Harland collar water army unexpectedly also appeared in the neighborhood.
After more than a year of construction, although only one magic ship was built, but with a few steam engine ships, Harland’s Black River Fleet has expanded to more than two thousand people.
Harland magic ship, equipped with magic crystal cannons, the power is exceptionally amazing, twelve magic crystal cannons fired in unison, immediately hit the cloud sea slave catcher regiment water army fled in a mess, even the magic ship was sunk a, this battle Harland collar army won a great victory, sunk a magic ship, wiped out more than three hundred people of cloud sea slave catcher regiment.
(End of chapter)