Lord Harland

Richard adjusted the front line in the north and delineated the border, and the Grant Kingdom's army in the south fell into fierce fighting.

With the transfer of the Northern and Feiyan armies to the south, the Grant royal family has accumulated six main armies in the three southern provinces.

Although the three southern provinces are prosperous areas, with a combined population of more than 1.4 million. However, supplying such a huge demand was still unaffordable. After the war broke out, all resources were provided by the territories directly under the royal family.

Six legions and 150,000 troops were divided into two fronts: east and west.

The eastern front is dominated by three royal guard regiments, with the eighth-level golden knight Galen Grant as the commander.

Galen Grant is a rising star in the royal family. He is only in his forties. His bloodline is not far from the Kingdom of Roger. His grandfather and King Roger's grandfather, Duke Brenner, are all brothers.

Although he was a close descendant of the royal family, Galen was not yet a hereditary baron.

This person also had a comrade-in-arms relationship with Richard. When Richard was serving in the 6th Brigade of the Mad Lion Legion, Galen served as the deputy captain of the 4th Brigade. At that time, Galen had just been promoted to the fourth level and was sent to Northern Xinjiang for training.

Officers with royal blood often serve in the Guards at first, and when they reach a certain level, they are sent to Northern Xinjiang for training, so that they can withstand the test of war. After withstanding the test of war, they will be gradually promoted to command the Royal Guards Corps.

In fact, a large part of the officers of the Guards Corps are selected from the officers and soldiers of Northern Xinjiang.

For example, when Galen was transferred to the Guards, he had already served in the Mad Lion Legion for fifteen years, serving as deputy captain for three years, captain for eight years, and deputy commander for four years. His comrades from the old army were all over the Mad Lion Legion. After he was transferred to the position of commander of the Guards Corps, he naturally had to mobilize a group of old troops into the Guards system to facilitate his command of operations.

Although Galen and Richard knew each other, their relationship was very ordinary. After all, Richard had served in the Wild Lion Legion for a relatively short time. On the contrary, he and Richard's third uncle Bernie were true comrades and colleagues.

Galen and Bernie both serve as captains in the Wild Lion Legion and have worked together for more than ten years. They still communicate occasionally. They are old comrades who have been through blood and fire, and their friendship can withstand the test.

Among the three Guards commanders on the Eastern Front, Galen was relatively junior. However, in order to cultivate new blood, Roger Kingdom defied all odds and appointed him as the commander of the Eastern Front.

In fact, Galen was not the best candidate. The most suitable person was Earl Steven. Steven has fought in the South for many years, commanded three Southern Guards regiments for more than nine years, and is familiar with the human geography of this region. There are also many old units in the Guards, and they are very easy to command.

It just happened that because of Steven's great influence in the South, Roger would not let him serve as commander.

As a king, Roger was obviously smarter and more capable than Charlie. He carefully controlled the situation to prevent anyone from being too big to lose and posing a threat to the royal family. Especially the commander of the Guards cannot be allowed to serve for a long time and establish prestige.

The Southern Army and Guards Corps commanded by Steven must rotate frequently. After Steven made great achievements, he took advantage of the situation and made him a hereditary earl, and at the same time took back his military power.

The Eastern Front is dominated by the Royal Guards, and the main forces on the Western Front are the Iron Lion, Grizzly Bear, and Northern Army Corps. Although the Iron Lion Army was established relatively recently and has inferior weapons and equipment, King Roger still appointed Zachary as the commander.

Zachary is a veteran of the Grant Kingdom. He is not only strategic but also very brave and good at fighting. William and Rab were both his old subordinates, and they followed his orders without complaint.

The main opponents on the eastern front are the five and a half legions of the United Kingdom on the east coast. The enemies on the western front are even more numerous, including fifteen legions of the Kingdom of Delong, with a total strength of 300,000.

Although the combat effectiveness of the army of the Kingdom of Delon was inferior, there were too many ants to kill the elephants, and the difference in the number of armies was so large that Zachary felt like he had no choice.

At dusk, groups of cavalry stopped at the border of the province of Ferdinand.

After conquering the three southern provinces last year, the Kingdom of Roger named the new provinces after its queen Helen and its eldest son Ferdinand. The last province is located in the core area of ​​the Duchy of Saxony and is directly named Saxony Province.

Someone among the court nobles proposed naming the province after Roger, but the king did not agree.

Faced with a large number of enemies, the Grant Kingdom implemented a strategy of strengthening the walls and clearing the country, and the entire border area was almost depopulated.

Because of the tense situation, this team of cavalry had a chilling feeling. They walked slowly along and entered a border town. There was no one in the town, and the doors on the streets were closed. Only the wind blew up the leaves on both sides of the street and made a rustling sound, bringing a slight feeling of coolness.

William took a sip of Bei Xin Shao Knife, a burning sensation fell from his throat, and the strong drink finally felt a little easier.

In recent times, William has been commanding the cavalry to fight behind the enemy's rear.

Fighting behind enemy lines is not only difficult to supply, but also very dangerous.

At the most critical moment, William's troops were on the verge of running out of food. In order for the troops to survive, William ordered that food be left for the war horses, and the soldiers hunted and killed the people of the Delong Kingdom, relying on cannibalism to survive.

After this incident, the cavalry commanded by William already had a crazy temperament, and he himself also suffered from severe headaches.

As a human being with normal outlook on life, not only will there be physical problems after eating human beings, but it will also be very difficult psychologically.

Whenever he had a headache, only drinking strong alcohol could make William feel relieved.

William turned his head and asked the adjutant beside him: "How far away is the enemy from us?"

"According to the reconnaissance of the Lion Cavalry, the enemy cavalry is less than thirty kilometers away from us. We only left the enemy behind for half a day."

"Has the main army entered the ambush site?"

"Our main force is still more than ten kilometers away from the ambush site. They are infantry and their speed is slower. It is estimated that they will have to wait for half a day."

Because of Harland's relationship, the royal family also cultivated lion cavalry. Although this group of lion cavalry was small in number, they were sent to fight in the three southern provinces.

The two southern countries, the United Kingdom on the East Coast and the Kingdom of Delon, do not have flying Warcraft units and lack the emphasis on aerial reconnaissance. Their whereabouts can always be discovered by the Kingdom of Grant in advance.

After hearing the intelligence compiled by the adjutant, William quickly made a decision: "Since the ambush position is not ready, we will struggle with the enemy for a long time. Order the troops to rest in this town for a while, take a good afternoon nap, and refresh themselves. Wait until night to lead the enemy to the ambush location.”

After William passed the military order, the soldiers immediately packed up their equipment. Except for a few sentries, the sergeants of the group quickly slept in the border town.

This period of continuous fighting made William's soldiers very tired. But being able to fall asleep before the tense battle showed that the morale and experience of this army were extraordinary.

Time soon arrived in the evening, and the soldiers silently packed up their belongings and formed a complete formation. After leaving the town, they were quickly discovered by the pursuers.

Pursuing William were the elite Warcraft Cavalry of the Kingdom of Delon, totaling 3,000 in number. In addition, there were 20,000 mounted infantry to cooperate with the Warcraft Cavalry. Under William's command, there were only more than 900 Warcraft cavalry and 3,000 reconnaissance cavalry.

Seeing thousands of mounted infantry chasing after them, they slowly dismounted and formed a formation to fight. Five to six hundred Warcraft cavalry followed the mounted infantry to protect the mounted infantry line.

Seeing this scene, William immediately frowned, with a look of disgust on his face.

"These mounted infantry are a real nuisance."

The first principle of cavalry combat is to form a formation without fighting, and cannot easily attack the elite infantry line.

First of all, the power of the infantry bow is much greater than that of the cavalry bow, and the infantry's archery is also much more accurate than the cavalry's.

Secondly, the armor worn by infantry is heavier than that of cavalry. Infantry armor is basically based on iron armor. It is very rare for cavalry to be heavily armored. Armored horses must be carefully selected. A heavy cavalry with armored cavalry often needs the cooperation of three or four light cavalry and six or seven horses to leave and occupy a point and fight in a slightly distant area.

The reconnaissance cavalry commanded by William are not armored cavalry. They must maintain mobility and wear half mail and half leather armor.

The third human's horse steps are more stable with both hands on the ground, and it is more convenient to control weapons with both hands. Even in hand-to-hand combat, once the cavalry loses its impact ability, its tactical ability is far inferior to that of the infantry, and it is easily defeated by the infantry phalanx.

Fourth, horses are difficult to train. When faced with swords, guns, swords and halberds, the horses will retreat on their own. When they are in front of the two armies and charging into battle, it is difficult for the horses to keep calm, especially when their companions are bleeding and neighing. It is very difficult for the Cavaliers to stabilize their formation.

Because of various shortcomings, the first principle of cavalry tactics is to form a formation without fighting.

William had Warcraft cavalry under his command and was actually not afraid of the infantry phalanx. No matter how well the infantry square is arranged, if thousands of magic missiles are fired at it, at least half of it will collapse.

Moreover, the Warcraft War Horse is tall and has amazing endurance. It is a truly super powerful armored horse that cannot be stopped by ordinary elite infantry.

However, the enemy is in a mixed military formation, with the mounted infantry and the Warcraft cavalry pressing behind them. It is particularly difficult to defeat such an enemy.

It is precisely because of the tacit cooperation of these three or four groups of enemy soldiers that they gradually reduced the scope of William's activities, making their results less and less, and the situation becoming more and more dangerous.

During this period of time, under the enemy's divided forces and combined attacks, William's troops had gradually retreated from the enemy's rear to the border.

Seeing the enemy infantry slowly charging over, William held his spear tightly, pointed at the phalanx of mounted infantry, and shouted: "Warcraft cavalry, follow me to charge and overwhelm the enemy infantry phalanx. Scout the cavalry for protection." On our flanks, don’t save ammunition in this battle, use up all the alchemy bombs and explosive arrows.”

William gave the order and rushed to the front fiercely. The two legions of Warcraft Cavalry under his command were extremely crazy and brave. After the Iron Wild Horse fired a round of magic missiles, William's troops rushed in fiercely despite the dense arrows. Inside the infantry formation.

The Warcraft cavalry attacked the infantry formation, and it was extremely cruel and bloody. Countless soldiers' shields were shattered, and large mouthfuls of blood spurted out from their broken sternums. The fallen soldiers were trampled by huge iron cans and reduced to pulp.

If you are not an elite soldier, you cannot afford such casualties.

After last year's war, the Delong Kingdom restored some of its classical military traditions, and its army's combat effectiveness improved. But it is still very rare to be able to withstand such casualties.

The 20,000 mounted infantrymen who pursued William were carefully selected from the entire army of the Kingdom of Delon.

Many of these people were landless nobles. Their land, homes, wives and daughters were taken away by the Grant Kingdom, and they had irresolvable grudges with the Grant Kingdom. The gap in their hearts was very big, and many people decided to die to wash away their humiliation, drive away the Grant people, and regain everything they lost.

Many of these people have family breathing techniques, and their foundation is very good. After a year of reorganization by the East Coast United Kingdom, the morale problem has been solved, and the combat effectiveness has been close to that of the Grant Kingdom Guards Corps.

Despite the heavy casualties and the bloodshed every minute, the infantry phalanx still struggled.

It is also very difficult for William's cavalry to stop the Demonic Beast Cavalry of the Kingdom of Delon, although the enemy's Demonic Beast Cavalry only has 500, and his own side has 3,000 troops. However, the combat effectiveness of the two sides is not equal at all. If it were not for the explosive arrows and alchemical bombs, the scout cavalry would be scattered by the enemy with just one charge.

The two sides fought back and forth, but in the end the Grant Kingdom's frontier army was more powerful. The Warcraft Cavalry commanded by William took the lead in breaking through the enemy's mounted infantry line.

After defeating the enemy, William had no time to pursue them. After briefly cleaning the battlefield, he led another group of mounted infantry into the ambush site.

The Northern Army Corps was responsible for the ambush operations. Under the command of Army Commander Rab, the second mixed formation was easily annihilated.

In this battle, William and the Northern Army annihilated not many enemies, but they were all elite troops of the Delon Kingdom. The mounted infantry lost 8,000 people, and the Warcraft cavalry lost 650 people in two battles. It is not easy to replenish this kind of elite troops. Without this backbone, with the reinforcements of the Northern Army, Zachary successfully stabilized the army. Stayed at the front.

Due to the lack of decisive power, although the Delon Kingdom had a large number of troops, it was unable to annihilate the effective strength of the Grant Kingdom.

Although the Grant Kingdom's army was elite, it was small in number and did not dare to easily extend the front line. After entering late May, the two sides faced off at the border, and the war gradually ceased.

King Roger was planning to continue to mobilize elite troops from the north for reinforcements, but when he saw that the battle line had stabilized and he didn't have much money left in his treasury, he gave up this plan.

In June, the war ended in the three southern provinces of the Grant Kingdom, and production began to resume in the northern region.

Especially in the Martins County area, spring plowing has been delayed this year. They could only replant some potatoes and beans in May, and they could harvest a little.

The more than 200,000 people rescued from the northern prairie have basically settled in this area. They can only rely on relief food to get through the most difficult period this year.

Fortunately, there are 90,000 tons of surplus grain in the territory, which is enough to support Martins County for a year.

In the northern area of ​​the Eagle Mountains, a complete line of defense has been formed with the orc food station as the core. The demon hunters and prospecting teams in Harland's territory also went deep south of this defense line to explore the resources in this area.