Chapter 277: Expansion of the army again

Chapter 277 – Expanding the Army Again
This year’s financial expenditure was relatively small, with a large surplus, next year Richard was also prepared to expand the army by four thousand, expanding the number of soldiers in Harland territory to twenty thousand.

Now that the Harland territory has doubled in size, it needs to hold more than four hundred kilometers of defense from east to west.

The pressure of defense has become extremely great, and next year Richard not only intends to expand the army, but also intends to strengthen the construction of auxiliary soldiers, and give more subsidies to the auxiliary soldiers.

In the midst of Harland’s territory, the auxiliary soldiers’ training had been grasped very tightly. In addition to the lack of respiration, a dozen squadrons of auxiliary soldiers, the training subjects are almost the same as the regular army.

In all the battles, the auxiliary soldiers have suffered less casualties, and many of them are veterans with more than five years of military service, and in defensive battles, the auxiliary soldiers can also play a big role.

Because many soldiers have made war achievements this year and become free citizens, next year the number of soldiers receiving military pay exceeds eight thousand, and the expenditure on military pay will increase by twenty thousand gold coins.

According to Richard’s estimation, next year’s military investment would most likely increase to three hundred thousand gold coins. If next year’s financial revenue could not be increased, the territory would have a financial deficit.

Harland’s monetary policy was close to the gold standard system, and the currency in circulation was metal currency, once there was a fiscal deficit, the problem would become very serious.

However, next year, Harland’s territory will have new revenues, first of all, minting revenues.

Since the beginning of this year, the construction of the copper mine in Greyfusen County has been completed, and copper ingots were smelted in September. After the ingots were successfully smelted and sent to the mint, the first batch of copper coins were minted in late September. This batch of coins was of low quality and did not circulate in the marketplace.

In the next few months, the mint had been improving the process, and in December, the copper coins made by the mint were finally recognized by Richard, and gradually circulated in the territory.

Copper is a precious metal that can be minted into coins, and in Harland’s territory, the deflation problem is very serious. Next year’s minting revenue would bring in at least a few tens of thousands of gold coin funds.

Secondly, Richard is ready to sell alchemy bombs to the outside world, Harland territory alchemy bombs are a little less powerful than those made by Elemental Heart, but the cost is very low.

Now there are enough magicians in Harland’s territory, and there is no shortage of materials to make alchemy bombs, so after solving the problem of secrecy, it is already possible to make alchemy bombs on a large scale. Even if an alchemy bomb is sold for ten gold coins, it is still a profitable business, and the profit from selling several thousand of them would be very considerable.

After the financial meeting ended, it was soon time for the Goddess Birthday Festival, and the Harland family held their annual family banquet.

Because Richard harshly disposed of Donn, the atmosphere of this year’s family banquet was very gloomy, the third uncle Bernie did not come back, and father William was not very happy and gloomy. Other family members see Richard, all silent, as if the mouse saw the cat general.

Just after the Goddess Birthday Festival, King Roger’s envoy, Marquis Allen, came to the Northern Border. Marquis Allen sent someone to send a letter to Richard, and after touring the four provinces of the Northern Border, he was ready to come to Earl Harland’s Collar to talk to Richard.

Last year, the royal family established a new province, Grota Province, in the Northern Frontier. Although this province is a new province, Jonathan family development for many years, the construction of sixteen castles, reclaimed up to five million acres of farmland, the foundation is better than the Gascoigne province. There are more than 600,000 serfs settled in Grota province.

Grota province foundation is very good, operating here Grant royal family does not need to invest too many resources.

Marquis Allen is the chairman of the council of nobles, in the royal capital of Nolan political status is extraordinary, is considered to be the real power ranked in the first few big names. After his tour of the northern border, he came to Harland territory, Richard must personally greet.

Richard became a hereditary nobleman, seldom traveled to the royal capital, but also do not mix the circle of nobles. Although Marquis Allen was the chairman of the Noble Council, Richard and him were still meeting for the first time. Instead, Richard’s father, William, had traveled to Nolan to ease relations and dealt with Marquis Allen, and had met several times.

“Honorable Earl Harland, I took the liberty of coming to your door, besides some business matters to discuss with you, the most important thing is for the Alchemy Bomb.”

In last year’s intervention war, Richard had used alchemy bombs in large quantities during the war. There were bound to be people planted by the royal family amongst the allied forces of the three provinces, and with a little analysis, it was clear that the Harland family was bound to have already manufactured alchemy bombs on a large scale. Otherwise, Richard had thrown more than 1,500 alchemy bombs last year, and according to the normal purchase price, it was enough to make the Harland family financially bankrupt.

Since Duke Jonathan could see this, Nolan did not lack smart people, and the Grant royal family soon made a discovery.

“The cost of manufacturing the Harland Territory’s alchemy bombs is indeed relatively low, if they are manufactured on a large scale, the cost is no more than two gold coins, and the power is only slightly lower than that of a burst arrow. Soldiers using alchemy bombs only need a shorter period of training to play an important role, the reason why the Harland family can grow and develop, the role of alchemy bombs as a secret weapon is also very crucial.

Of course Roger’s Kingdom is the lord I am loyal to, and since he offered I am of course willing to exchange it, but I also have a few conditions here.”

Seeing Richard loosening up with the idea of an exchange, Marquis Allen sighed in relief and felt that accomplishing the task would not be difficult.

After Duke Jonathan traded with Richard last July, the Jonathan family had already created quite a few alchemy bombs in October. The Grant royal family was well-informed and had planted intelligence officers within the Jonathan family. After noticing that the Jonathan family’s army was equipped with alchemy bombs on a large scale, they immediately analyzed that the two great families, Jonathan and Harland, had completed their exchange of interests.

After taking the Grand Duchy of Starnic, the Jonathan family’s power swelled a lot, and even though their energies were dispersed and the threat to the Grant royal family lessened a bit, they were still the focus of the royal family’s attention. But the special reality of the situation again required that the great nobles of the Grant Kingdom must cooperate in order to maintain the situation in the midst of the wolves.

Before Marquis Allen entered the northern border to patrol, King Roger had already given him a secret order that he must obtain the alchemy bomb manufacturing method, and could not be pulled too far away from the two great families of Harland and Jonathan in terms of military technology.

In recent years, the Harland family’s strength had swelled extremely fast, especially its military power, which was already second only to several dukes. For such pivotal big nobles, the royal family could only choose to exchange and compromise if they wanted to gain benefits from them.

“Count Richard, of course you can make conditions. As long as they can be met, I can agree to them on behalf of the king.” Realizing that Richard was willing to negotiate, Marquis Allen was immediately clear that it was no longer difficult to complete the task.

“Firstly, the royal family cannot proliferate the Alchemy Bomb manufacturing technology, secondly, we cannot compete with the Harland Territory to sell Alchemy Bombs outside, and thirdly, I wish to exchange six hundred square kilometers of land to connect the two territories together. Also to be traded are eight hundred Teng Hui potions, one hundred pieces of enchanted armor, one hundred iron horned horses, one hundred enchanted crossbows, sixty explosive arrows, and to trade the complete Barbarian Breathing Method.

There is also the additional condition that the royal family needs to take out two hundred Teng Glory potions to the Harland Territory every year for thirty years.”

Although Richard’s requirements were many, they added up to a few hundred thousand gold coins of resources, a regular resource that the Grant royal family did not lack. After all, the Grant family held a kingdom with a financial income of several million per year. Upon hearing Richard’s trade request, Marquis Allen agreed to his trade conditions on the spot.

In fact, even if Richard traded the Seal of Kingship, Roger’s Kingdom would also fulfill his conditions.

In the long run, the Seal of Kingship was worth a bit more, but in the short run, the Harland Family was in desperate need of a war resource.

After weighing the pros and cons, Richard finally chose the short term benefits and traded a batch of war resources that could quickly increase the strength of the army.

Marquis Allen has high authority, immediately drew a batch of resources from the four northern provinces, and drew up the kingship contract, signed his name, but the contract has to have legal effect, but also need to be signed by King Roger himself to fulfill the treaty.

In late January, the two sides had completed the exchange.

A month after that, after taking eight hundred Teng Hui potions, the soldiers of the Harland territory had grown thick and thin, and managed to promote more than sixty professional officers.

With the arrival of the enchanted armor, and the Iron Horned Horses, Richard once again expanded the number of Wraith Cavalry, forming a fourth Wraith Cavalry Squadron, and expanding the strength of the Scouting Cavalry in the meantime.

Now the Harland Territory had organized four Wraith Cavalry Squadrons, and the Scout Cavalry had eighty Wraith Cavalrymen integrated into it. Close to five hundred beast cavalrymen, their strength was stronger than the Northern Legion’s beast cavalry brigade, and they could already be organized into a separate beast cavalry regiment in the war.

To form a Magical Beast Cavalry, the soldiers were all handpicked from among the veterans, as they were all veteran elites who did not need basic training, and the time to form combat power was shorter than recruiting new recruits.

After entering the month of March, the recruitment of new recruits had been completed and the soldiers began their recruit training. Normally, new recruits needed to train for a year before they were mixed with veterans.

After recruiting four thousand recruits, the number of Harland Territory’s army had exceeded twenty thousand.

Although 20,000 soldiers is a lot, the defense line of Harland territory is 400 kilometers long, need to defend seven or eight border castles, the orcs have the advantage of strength, it is impossible to fight with the Harland territory, but will choose to divide their troops and break through the defense line of Harland territory.

Each castle can not be lost, once the front line castle lost, the rear will be orcs scourge looting. Harland’s territory is not thick, as long as a battle is lost, recovery will have to wait for many years.

The front line of the seven castles, must be stationed strong soldiers, the Eagle Mountains south of the county to the Flame Castle, Lightning Castle, Fort Hyrule, Salt Lake Castle as the focus of defense. In addition, Platos Canyon also needs Harland’s territory to support, and the nearby Fort Sophia is also considered the front line.

South Eagle Mountain County is the core of Harland’s territory, and is also the focus of the territory’s operation, this county will be stationed in seven infantry brigades, a beast cavalry brigade, half of the scouting brigade, a magical balloon squadron, together with the logistics, military justice and other headquarters personnel, a total of 14,000 troops.

There are two mage towers in the swamp basin, a brigade of the garrison can stabilize the situation, and the mage towers in Harland’s territory are basically stationed on this side as well. Fort Hyrule is not far from the headquarters Fort William, only need to garrison one brigade. The Salt Lake Fort is outside the territory, this area is basically deserted, far away from the core territory, need to station two brigades of troops in order to hold for a longer period of time.

The remaining three brigades of infantry, one brigade of beast cavalry, half a brigade of scout cavalry, a squadron of magical hot air balloons, and logistical and military law officers are all stationed at Fort William, adding up to more than seven thousand soldiers.

The eastern county of Grota River was less populated, Duke Jonathan had already withdrawn his soldiers after the territorial handover was completed, Richard sent four infantry brigades, half of a scout cavalry brigade, and a magical hot air balloon squadron into the area, totaling about seven thousand soldiers.

Canyon Castle is located in the front line of the eastern county of Grota River, which is also the focus of this county’s defense, and will be stationed with one and a half brigades of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry, and a squadron of magical hot air balloons will basically be stationed on this side of the river, with a total of close to three thousand troops.

The riverbank castle in the east can’t be ignored either, the orcs once passed through here and broke through the defense line set up by King Roger. The garrison here also has a brigade of infantry, a squadron of scout cavalry, and a garrison of close to two thousand.

The king’s castle, the capital of the eastern county of Grota River, has a garrison of only one and a half brigades and two squadrons of scout cavalry, which is slightly stronger than the riverbank castle.

Because the recruits had not yet completed their training and the units were not yet at full strength, the actual garrison was somewhat smaller.

After the Goddess Birthday Festival, the army of Harland’s territory began to mobilize on a large scale, and Richard also began to replenish the ordnance for the eastern counties of Grota River. Heavy stone throwers, alchemy bombs, steel armor, enchanted armor, were transported to the first line such as the canyon castle and the riverbank castle in a steady stream.

Because of the distance, in order to facilitate the overall command, Richard had to appoint an army commander to coordinate the command of the 7,000 soldiers in the eastern county of Grota River.

Among the officers in the Harland territory, the only officer who had the prestige and ability to command 7,000 soldiers was actually Soros.

Even though Soros liked to command the Wraith Cavalry to charge into battle, he was the only one who could take on the responsibility right now, and could only reluctantly accept the task as the Supreme Commander of the Eastern County of Grota River.

The second brigade brigade commander, Lost, and the sixth brigade brigade commander, Jennings, each took the position of deputy brigade commander. The strength of Loste and Jennings had increased a bit in recent years.

Loste advanced to a Fourth Order Knight, and Jennings was also promoted to a Fifth Order Warrior after the year. Jennings’ age was still a year younger than Richard, promoted to Fifth Order Warrior at less than thirty years old, his talent was a bit better than even Richard.

Through the attribute panel prompts, Richard knew that his warrior rank was not far from advancement, according to the current cultivation speed, in another four months in June should be able to be promoted to the sixth rank warrior.

Richard had been a fifth-ranked warrior for four years and three months, and his warrior talent was almost comparable to that of his father, William. Richard’s luck is much better than William’s, when he was young, William was already a high-ranking officer in the Northern Legion, and he laid a stronger foundation from childhood, and he didn’t take a detour, and the process of climbing upwards was easier.

(End of chapter)