It has been said that the war is about money and the comparison of the economic strength of the two sides, this sentence is basically true, it has been more than 5 months since Leo signed the peace agreement with the Duke of Orlando, and as the weather enters the hottest season, Stormwind's various war preparations are also coming to an end. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

After more than 50 days, Stormwind City has finally completed the upgrade, and the expanded city with a diameter of five kilometers and an area of 25 square kilometers has a bit of a city in Leo's eyes, but for the locals who have lived in this barren land all their lives, Stormwind City standing on the plains is simply like the legendary desolate beast.

The 30-meter-tall walls would have made any attacking army desperate, and it could even be said that as long as the ruling class within Stormwind City did not have any problems with itself, there was almost nothing that could be done about it by relying on ordinary human armies.

The walls were wide enough to run horses side by side, which facilitated the mobilization of troops and made the installation of large garrison equipment a reality, and the presence of dozens of small trebuchets and twelve eight-ox giant crossbows allowed the defenders to easily destroy a small army.

After further planning and sorting out the one city and three forts in his territory, the population controlled by Leo was further improved, coupled with the high military salary and the policy of exempting agricultural taxes, it could also attract a large influx of displaced people from other places every day, and this trend gradually began to drive the migration of some middle class and even small nobles, while promoting the commerce of Stormwind City, Leo also appointed some administrative officials from the small nobles who joined his camp, there is no way that in this era, almost only nobles are literate and educated.

Speaking of nobility, it will be a time for the steward Garin the Elder to bring Leo an unexpected surprise, he writes a letter to summon the son of a lord who serves in the southern part of the empire, Tron Veran, a traditional and upright knight, after receiving his father's letter, Tron, who is not at odds with the lord's philosophy, gives up the fief of one of his villages and joins Leo's command.

Due to his recognition and trust in the personality of the elder Garin, after completing the allegiance ceremony, Leo unexpectedly canonized Tron Veran as Lord for the first time as the Grand Duke of Stormwind, and appointed him as the temporary lord of Fort Korn, including the 50 soldiers who remained behind, and granted him the right to collect taxes and recruit soldiers, and at the same time, promoted Lester Crester to the title of viscount, confirming the territories of Nuremberg, Fort O'Brien, and their villages.

In the face of many doubts from the petty nobles, Leo, who has always been approachable, was extremely resolute in his order this time, explaining that as a grand duke, he could have his own principality, and under this premise, it was in line with the laws of the empire to canonize the nobles, and at the same time appeased the petty nobles and gave them bright hope.

Of course, only Leo's closest people understand that this long-dormant giant beast has finally begun to show its hideous face, arranging the people, canonizing new nobles, and strengthening armaments, these are like a gold-swallowing giant beast devouring a large number of gold coins frantically, and even according to the housekeeper's private revelation, even the lord of the rich country has a trance for a moment after seeing the expenditure statistics.

Also in the investment regardless of the cost, the number of soldiers in Stormwind City and its affiliated forces has increased considerably, taking Stormwind City as an example, it currently has 4 full legions of champion swordsmen, a total of 800 people, all of whom are selected soldiers, thanks to the upgrade of the blacksmith shop, the iron full-body armor of the swordsmen has also been fully replaced with steel armor, reducing weight and greatly improving defense.

Two teams of 400 people Storm Wings finally got rid of the embarrassment of hunting crossbows, although the military heavy crossbow that has just been redressed has a certain reduction in the rate of fire, but up to 150-200 steps of range, and strong penetration to make up for this shortcoming, the new generation of stainless steel woven chain mail has also replaced the original leather armor, so that their own melee crossbowmen can also be in hand-to-hand combat in times of crisis, it is worth mentioning that Itsev because of his outstanding performance, also became the commander of one of them.

As a mercenary, the highland swordsman has already been replenished with 50 people, although in advance of respecting the tradition of the highlanders, Leo did not force Edward and his companions to change clothes, but while retaining the original leather armor, they were replaced with stronger and sharper two-handed broadswords, and the previous messy helmets or felt hats were also replaced by standard infantry helmets.

In addition to these regular troops, the two major knights, who are the top combat forces of Stormwind City, have no possibility of improving, and can only train themselves desperately under the leadership of each group leader, in order to have some breakthroughs in attributes or proficiency.

Among them, it is worth mentioning our poor Aldarion, the Captain of the Dawn Knights finally waited for 10 new Dawn Knights after a few months of being alone, plus the original two, they can barely be called a team, and their relatively indifferent personalities also took time out every day under Leo's orders to guide the shooting skills of Storm Wings.

In addition to the troops directly under Leo, Lester, who has now become a viscount, has also greatly expanded his army, and the infantry side has recruited only 300 sword, shield and axe shield soldiers according to Leo's expensive proposal, and some of the equipment comes from Stormwind City support, and part of it comes from self-made and caravan procurement, compared to the previous miscellaneous elite, this army is also commanded by the lucky Sean.

Also due to the difficulty of training, the number of archers in the Viscount's army has only increased from 20 to 50, which can only be said to be better than nothing, and in terms of combat power alone, I am afraid that one Noldor Elf will be a little better than them.

The swan knights in the high-end combat power, under the tilt of the viscount's greatest resources, the number of knights under Andrew's command has also increased to 45 people, and the viscount who learned Leo's practice also did not use knights to fill the number, 45 people are completely professional knights, and the riding spears that were missing before are also equipped in place, by the way, Andrew was also canonized as a knighthood.

And on the side of Fort Ken, Tron's territory, Leo didn't have much hope for the time being, after all, the time was too short to deal with and there were many contradictions to be resolved after taking office, and when the time came, Tron could bring out a hundred and ten miscellaneous soldiers to fill the number, anyway, according to the current strength of Stormwind City, it was enough to sweep the northern territory.

In terms of internal affairs, before the completion of the upgrade of Stormwind City, the security post has been built, for which Leo recruited 100 poorly trained soldiers to station, they almost do not need to bear combat missions, as long as they are detected in advance and send the warning back to the city, the soldiers are basically composed of local farmers, and Leo has no doubts about their responsible attitude.

As for the colosseum being built in the south of the city, there has been a frightening 200-day construction cycle, for Leo, who is already impatient to unify the northern territory, can only regretfully wait for the return of the expedition to witness its magic, news has come from the imperial capital, the high-level officials of Stormwind City and the northern territory have almost made a decision, and now there is not much time left for him, in order to prevent accidents, Leo has a maximum of two months to complete the hegemony of the northern territory, and create an established fact for the imperial capital.

Of course, in the past half a year, the equally ambitious Duke of Orlando Roland Christian is also desperately preparing for war, and the duke, who has not bothered to hide his ambitions, understands that there can only be one overlord in the northern territory, and whether justice or not, the loser can only become a stepping stone for the winner to step to the top.

The Duke, who could not survive another defeat, was even more insane, he did not have Leo's financial resources, it was easy to do! Not only did they impose harsher taxes on their lords and caravans, but they also sent troops to loot villages and even the territories of other minor nobles disguised as bandits, and all the wealth they amassed was used for the expansion of the army.

According to the report of the spies, the White Moon City alone has now gathered an army of more than 2,000 people, and the number of the White Moon Knights after the re-expansion has soared to 300 people, including the subordinates, and with the convocation of the duke, more than a dozen northern lords who are loyal and attached to the White Moon City have also completed their preparations for war and are constantly concentrating on the dukedom.

When the news reached Leo, who was inspecting Stormwind City, the Lord of Stormwind City mocked in a disdainful tone, "It seems that some people still don't learn their lesson, when will he understand that the number of soldiers does not affect the victory or defeat, a hundred fully trained elites are enough to fight against ten times his own miscellaneous soldiers!" ”

Slamming his fists hard, Leo looked at the growing team of cronies around him, and said in an extremely confident tone, "Of course, even if Ulric and his Lion Knights stand in front of him now, I will crush him fiercely and completely!" Soon our enemies will know what it means to be in deep despair......"