Chapter 441: Strike and Rest

Chapter 440 – Strike and Rest
After killing Duke Madison, Richard easily seized the loot from this man. Although the enchanted armor had been broken a bit, after repairing it, it could still be sold for more than 100,000 gold coins, the legendary knight Sylph of Harland’s domain didn’t have such a good armor, so he could give it away after repairing and modifying it.

In the terrified eyes of the Lane Kingdom army, Richard stripped off Duke Madison’s armor and took away his enchanted longsword, then sent someone to send the body back to the Lane Kingdom army.

Taking advantage of the morale boost, Richard seized the opportunity to immediately launch an attack.

More than thirty magic crystal cannons were launched at the same time, and the unusually hard mountain copper alloy warheads with strong kinetic energy accurately hit the city wall, ferociously punching out a large hole.

Although Novena Castle was built very sturdy, and the walls were ten or so meters thick, it was still difficult to support in the face of the attack of this new type of magic props.

The powerful alloy cannonballs smashed into the stone walls, the spattering debris made the ordinary soldiers not dare to get close at all, and the cannonballs fiercely hit the inside of the walls, causing a crack to appear on the walls.

After just a dozen rounds of shelling, many bullet holes appeared on the front of the city wall, which was already riddled with holes.

Another round of artillery shells struck, sending out ear-piercing whistling sounds in the sky.

The shell was fired at five kilometers and traced an arc, this time it even directly collapsed the city wall. A loud bang erupted from the city walls in an instant, swirling up thick dust and burying many soldiers.

Seeing the city wall break down, Kromis closed his eyes in pain.

Entering the middle of June, the war entered a new phase.

Although the attacking Harland Collar army only had 60,000 men, while he himself had 200,000 troops, outnumbering the enemy by more than three times, the ones who had arrived near Novena Castle were only three legion vanguards.

While the logistical pressure on Grant Kingdom was getting heavier, Richard’s army along the way was relatively easy.

Although the battle line had stabilized, the flying soldiers of both sides were locked in a grueling duel.

Air battles erupted every single day, and in just over a month, Harland’s Domain had already suffered sixteen casualties of Lion Overdrive Knights, two Bipedal Flying Dragons, and had six magical airships destroyed.

Having lost the protection of the city’s fortifications, it was even more impossible to withstand the onslaught of the Harland Territory’s army.

The back road was unstable, Sartain and Duke Hughes kept sending letters of request for help to Richard, and the Harland Collar army could only give up its intention to attack, pulling out a portion of its elite troops to defend McKellen.

And the loss of Lane Kingdom was even worse, casualties exceeded one hundred Lion Rash Cavalry, among which the Lion Rash that was wounded and captured by Harland Collar was as high as more than two dozen, and the battle loss reached one-third level.

At this moment even the proud Thomas Kingdom had to admit that the Grant Kingdom’s military power had surpassed the Lane Kingdom by a lot, even minus Duke Harland’s collar, it was estimated that it could have the upper hand.

First of all, they occupied Duke Madison’s territory and captured 60,000 tons of food, which can let the whole army eat for half a year, and then caught up with the autumn harvest, and likewise harvested quite a lot of food, which can be replenished by war.

At the same time Cromis listened to McKellen’s advice, with McKellen, who had been treated and his injuries had been alleviated, as the commander-in-chief, he led two legions plus three thousand magical beast cavalry, bypassing the main force of Harland’s territory and attacking the two dukes, Sartin and Hughes, with the intention of cutting off the retreat of Harland’s territory’s main force, and restraining the movement of Harland’s territory’s army.

Because the nobles and bureaucrats of the Duke of Madison’s collar burned the supply wagons, Richard killed very heavily in the Duke of Madison’s collar, as long as the nobles and bureaucrats captured by the occupation army, basically all of them were executed, and their wives and daughters were given to the meritorious soldiers. Such a brutal suppression down, deterred the defenders of Novena Castle.

Although Cromis gave the same order to hold the wall and burn the supply wagons when he retreated, but in the chaotic battlefield, it was not well executed at all.

However, compared to the well-equipped and brave Harland’s main force, they were still clearly at a disadvantage, and Richard also had starlight bombs and magic crystal cannons to help him.

The battle fronts had basically stabilized, and it was difficult for either side to break the balance, falling into a state of stalemate.

In desperation, Kromis could only give up the city and gave the order to retreat.

Sartain, Hughes two dukes under the command of the fighting strength of the general, simply can not withstand the large group of magical beast cavalry onslaught, just half a month of heavy losses, adding up to more than 10,000 people dead or wounded.

With such tragic consumption, the Kingdom of Lane was the first to be unable to withstand it, and began to reduce the frequency of the Lion Rash Riders’ activities, giving up the sky to the enemy for the first time.

The Lane Kingdom’s army was more warlike than the United Kingdom of the East Coast, also facing the invasion of orcs all year round, possessing rich experience in war, with roughly the same combat power as the Grant Kingdom.

In addition Richard also captured Castle Novena and seized a large amount of provisions.

Incromis had already perceived the Starlight Bomb card, he did not personally charge in the battle, and under the cover of the Wraith Cavalry and Lion Rash Knights, the Kingdom of Lane retreated from Novena Castle at a cost of 8,000 lost troops, using the River Kampa as a natural line of defense to hold back the Harland Lords’ army.

Although some people set fire to some warehouses, it was quickly extinguished by the Harland Lord soldiers who entered the city, and the loss of supplies in the city was very light.

In Novena Castle alone, Richard captured 36,000 tons of grain, 20,000 rolls of cloth, 80,000 pounds of cotton, in addition to a wide variety of provisions such as timber, masonry, iron, kerosene, and so on.

Having captured Novena Castle, Richard’s army would not need to be replenished from the rear for a year.

Time passed like this, day by day, into September.

After three months of holding, Lane Kingdom’s Campa River defense line had been completed. Along the river area, more than a dozen military forts were built, each of which had a large number of soldiers stationed in them, a lot of magical crossbows were added to the forts, and the magicians of Lane Kingdom had also set up a lot of magical traps.

Even if Duke Harland put his life on the line and tried to break it, the casualties would be heavy.

Moreover, there was still an elite force of McKellen on the flanks of Harland’s army. As Richard sent his troops back, McKellen saw that there was no advantage to be taken, and decisively withdrew his troops to the south bank of the Mara River.

After a few months of war, Richard with Harland’s soldiers not only captured the prominence of Duke Madison’s territory, leveled the border between Lane Kingdom and Grant Kingdom, but also took down the northern part of the Mara River and the eastern part of the Kampa River, including the Lane Kingdom’s major town, Novena Castle, and pushed the border line forward significantly.

This time in the five kingdoms war, Harlan’s legion once again played a key role, not only blocked the biggest strategic corps of Lane Kingdom, but also captured more than 200,000 square kilometers of the enemy’s land, and got the biggest merit. At this moment, among the several countries at war, the Sith Kingdom’s navy suffered heavy losses, and because of the distance, it was basically equivalent to withdrawing from the war. The East Coast and Delong Kingdom were unable to break the balance despite their desperate efforts and their own average military strength.

The Lane Kingdom had no more confidence in a sure victory, even though it still had strength left. After all, continuing to expand the scale of the war, Harland’s Domain could still put in 100,000 troops, and Grant Kingdom could squeeze out 80,000 people when they put it all together.

When the time comes, we will still fall into a stalemate, reducing the strength of the Silver Wolf Mountain Range defense line, the only ones who will get a bargain will be the orcs.

Now several major warring countries are fighting for consumption, until the national strength is exhausted, unable to transport logistics provisions to the front line, will be able to achieve total victory.

Lane, Delong, East Coast three countries, together 120 million people, while the Grant Kingdom plus the Grand Duchy of Starnik, almost 60 million people, fight consumption, fight national strength has no chance to win.

According to the current situation, the Grant Kingdom would hold out for half a year at most, and would have to shorten the logistical line and reduce the soldiers from the front line.

Just when the Grant Kingdom was gritting its teeth and struggling to hold on, the orcs surprisingly made another large-scale invasion.

Because the eastern front army of the Prairie Governor’s Area had already been beaten up by Harland’s Leader, this time the invasion was mainly by the central and western front armies.

More than thirty orc legions appeared near the Silver Wolf Mountain Range.

At the same time, the Prairie Governor Region’s Eastern Frontier Army also launched a feint to hold back the Harland Collar’s main legions that were placed in the Northern Frontier, preventing them from moving westward to support the Grand Duchy of Starnik.

The orcs mobilized more than thirty legions to the south, such a huge force that the Kingdom of Lane, the two Grand Duchies of Starnic had to be asked to strike. In order to defend against the orcs, Archduke Jonathan immediately gave Macmillan an order to retreat immediately and reinforce the north with 80,000 soldiers. At the same time King Thomas also gave military orders to both armies to retreat.

Retreating in front of the battlefield was a very high risk. Especially Macmillan, who was on the defensive, personally rushed to the Lane Kingdom’s barracks in order to retreat successfully. Both sides had an in-depth negotiation and gained a limited amount of trust before they both retreated.

With the Lane Kingdom, the biggest variable, being held back by the orcs, the situation in the Grant Kingdom was instantly a few points easier.

King Roger seized this opportunity very decisively and kept sending emissaries in the hope of signing a short treaty and restoring peace for a while.

But this request was not agreed to at all by the three countries of Lane, Delong, and the East Coast.

This time the five kingdoms war, the three countries of Lane have seen clearly the bottom of the Grant Kingdom, the Grant royal family plus the Harland collar, is a man-eating tiger, in just twenty years it has expanded millions of square kilometers of land, swallowed the two countries of Delong and East Coast twenty million people. It made the nearby territories fearful.

It was in this situation that Lane, East Coast, and Delong formed the Triple Alliance.

In this war, the triple alliance plus the Sith Kingdom’s slave catching corps couldn’t win the enemy on the front battlefield, and the Lane Kingdom also lost a large area of land and lost Duke Madison in battle.

If this tiger was allowed to slow down, the next war the Triple Alliance might lose a big battle and head towards the fate of extinction.

Now that the Lane Kingdom had lost a lot of land, the battle line had stabilized, and the Triple Alliance could rely on their strong national power to consume the enemy. As long as they grit their teeth, last through this period of time, and hold off the orcs in the Silver Wolf Mountain Range, they could continue to fight with the Grant Kingdom until the Grant Kingdom’s national strength was exhausted.

The Triple Alliance did not agree to peace talks, but the situation was not subject to their will.

The stirring orcs concentrated more than 600,000 troops and broke through the defense of the Silver Wolf Mountain Range, and more than twelve orc legions poured into the two kingdoms of Lane and Stannic.

At this time, the Lane Kingdom had to sign a treaty with the Grant Kingdom in exchange for a short-term peace. Otherwise, if the Grant Kingdom seized the opportunity and once again mobilized more than 100,000 troops and cooperated with the orcs in attacking the Lane Kingdom, the situation could turn even worse, leaving the Lane Kingdom in ruins.

Lane Kingdom was ready to temporarily withdraw from the war, Delong and East Coast countries could only follow and agree, after all, in the three countries alliance, Lane Kingdom was the strongest and was the core of the alliance. This war held back the Duke Harland’s collar, which had the strongest fighting strength, and also fought against Starnic’s 200,000 strong army.

If the two countries dragged their feet and didn’t agree to peace talks, and the Kingdom of Lane unilaterally withdrew from the war, when the Duke of Harland’s Leader led his troops eastward and cooperated with the six dukes’ allied forces, the Grand Duchy of Delong’s armies might face a collapse.

The current situation Lane Kingdom, Grand Duchy of Starnic all need to restore peace immediately and move their troops south to the north to defend against the orcs.

After Archduke Jonathan wrote a letter to Richard, he conveyed the military order to the Dukes Hughes and Sartain to withdraw their troops and move north.

Hughes, Sartain two dukes with 40,000 troops withdrew from Duke Madison’s territory, Harland’s territory troop thickness immediately weakened by 40%.

As soon as the two dukes withdrew, the troops in Richard’s hands were somewhat insufficient. He ordered the 20,000 auxiliary troops of Harland to retreat and take over from Dukes Hughes and Sartain to defend Duke Madison’s territory. On the one hand, he dispatched bipedal flying dragon knights to write to Soros who is sitting in the rear, requesting to end the training of new recruits in advance, and add nine thousand reinforcements to the southern battlefield by adding three thousand veterans to the six thousand newly recruited infantrymen of this year.

The Lane Kingdom’s flying soldiers had suffered heavy losses and couldn’t beat the Harland Territory. But they were still able to rely on the Lion Rash Knights and scouted a large amount of intelligence.

After discovering that Harland’s Collar had increased its troops by nine thousand, the Kingdom of Lane immediately rebuked the envoy from the Kingdom of Grant, declaring that the Kingdom of Grant had no sincerity at all in peace talks, and that it had once again increased its troops on the frontline.

As the situation developed, the envoy of the Grant Kingdom also became tougher and tougher, not only did he not agree to return the occupied land, but also refuted the nonsense of the Lane Kingdom. And he took out evidence to show that on this front, the Grant Kingdom’s side kept its promise and had reduced its army from 100,000 to 70,000 men. On the contrary, the Lane Kingdom not only did not withdraw their troops on the west bank of the Campa River, but also replenished their battle losses.

Both sides argued for some time with their lips and realized that sniping was not useful at all.

In the end, the five warring countries signed a short-term peace contract, which surprisingly didn’t allow the king to sign it, so it could be said that it was a contract that could be torn up at any time. As long as the situation has a clear understanding of the situation, it must be clear that the retreat of the orcs, the five warring countries will also break out in a larger scale of war.

Into the middle of October, as the situation further evolved, the five countries finally cease fire.

Harland led the legion has been half a year, Richard already intends to lead the troops to return to rest, this time suddenly received a letter of request for help from Archduke Jonathan.

(End of chapter)