In the face of so much popular welcome, especially some familiar faces, Duke was naturally very happy. Even Duke saw Hera and Gandalf on the city wall, especially Gandalf, who usually maintained the dignity of the Grand Magus, and wanted him to welcome a viscount nobleman, which was simply something he didn't even think about, but he appeared today.

From this, it can also be seen that respect for Duke is no longer a matter of power, but a feeling.

After pacifying the people, Duke led all the generals of the Storm Army back to the conference hall in the castle, ready to plan for the next development plan of Storm Castle, Duke's return to Storm Castle is not the end, to be precise, a new beginning.

The first thing Duke has to solve is the problem of the Storm Army, and with the thousands of Storm Army on his expedition, he will have to get at least a period of repair, which is also a normal time to relax. The reason why it is easy to have a riot at night in the ancient military camp is because night blindness cannot see things clearly, and on the other hand, it is a long war, and there is no way to go home for several years, which causes the soldiers' spirits to be in a highly tense environment, and they are naturally prone to accidents.

Therefore, Duke has always resolutely avoided this situation, and the soldiers trained in the barracks are generally in the room for a month to three months, and there must be a rest time after a big war. Now that this kind of expedition is away for most of the year, Duke will give the soldiers at least ten days and half a month to reunite with their relatives, and how to rotate the storm army during this time is a matter worth planning.

"Fei Duo, how has the training and recruitment of the Storm Army been during this period of time?"

Duke's most important issue is the number of the storm army, although Duke has always understood that the number of soldiers is not about the number, but there is a premise, that is, the number of soldiers is enough. The problem now is that Stormfort doesn't have enough soldiers, and this expedition is even more obvious.

Once the troops are divided, whether it is Duke or Storm Castle, they can only keep a low profile during this period of time, because the strength of both sides is only a few thousand soldiers, not to mention provoking any big power at the imperial level, even if it is a big lord at the level of the duke, there may be a danger of annihilation, and the base of troops is still too small.

"Tell you, Lord Lord, during your absence, the number of people in Storm Castle has increased by about 60,000, including more than 50,000 humans and nearly 10,000 dwarves. Moreover, the population flow of Storm Castle has also increased a lot with the opening of the Storm Market. ”

"Of the 60,000 people, the previous musket squad of 200 people, after the request of the stove, formed a musket brigade, which was expanded to the number of 1,000 people. Later, after several months of training, the 1,000-strong musket team was sent to the northern defense line to support the lord. ”

"In addition, I have expanded the recruit corps of 1,500 people, because because the logistics regiment has to support the transportation of the expeditionary corps and the defense line of the Storm Castle Monster Valley, the pressure is very huge, so the new corps replaces the pressure of part of the logistics army. ”

"As for the number of the Dwarven Legion, it has not increased, because the number of the Dwarven Legion has always been in a dangerous situation, and their conscription ratio is too high. So this time, the increase in the number of dwarven tribes is only a slight supplement to the previous establishment that was not fully full, and there are no other changes. ”

Hearing Fedor's answer, Duke also nodded with satisfaction, he knew that the number of troops in Storm Castle before had actually exceeded the limit that Storm Castle could bear. Especially the previous dwarf tribes, which almost reached the point where four people sent one soldier.

Think about going out, the old and weak, women and children, basically the entire dwarf tribe, as long as a man has joined the army, which is a great risk to the future and population structure of the entire dwarf tribe. Moreover, almost the entire dwarven tribe is out of production, and they all rely on Storm Castle to supply food supplies, which is also a great burden on Storm Castle.

Now the number of dwarven tribes has increased, but the number of storm dwarven armies has not increased, which can be regarded as giving the dwarven tribe a time to rest and recuperate.

"By the way, how is the Storm Army's armor now?"

Duke continued to ask, the armor of the Storm Army was already in a serious shortage, and the inventory was equal to zero, which was also a manifestation of the strength of the Storm Fortress army exceeding the limit of its own bearing. Now that Stormcastle has expanded its army by two or three thousand, Duke wants to know how much armor is up.

"Lord Hui, as the weather warms up, the mining of the Storm Mine is much easier, and the output has also increased greatly. But with the beginning of spring ploughing, a group of men were reinforced to spring ploughing, and it was not until the arrival of summer that the human resources of the entire Storm Castle were finally liberated,"

"However, at present, the main force of the Storm Army is 100% equipped with armor, and the logistics army is basically equipped, leaving the Storm New Army and the later musket team, and there is no armor equipment for the time being, but there are 1,000 sets of storm armor in stock, if it is really urgent, you can also let the musket team leisurely equip it. ”

After listening to Fei Duo's description, Zhang Nan nodded thoughtfully, he was thinking about whether it was too much pressure for him to equip all his staff with such a full force in terms of the current production and cost of the storm armor. After all, Storm Castle's current production capacity has reached its limit, and other aspects are developing rapidly, especially in construction, which has a great demand for steel production.

"Well, Feido, you can pass on my order to Copperbeard, and let them design a relatively light and light armor to equip the recruits and musket teams. The recruits are to let them get used to the feeling of fighting in armor, so that they can go directly to the battlefield in times of crisis. ”

"The Musketeers, on the other hand, have very high requirements for their reloading, and the current Storm Armor is too heavy, which greatly limits their flexibility. However, it is completely unarmoured, and it is also very dangerous on the battlefield, so it is best to combine cotton cloth with steel sheets to make a new type of cloth armor for the musket team. ”

Duke knew in his heart that with the development and emergence of firearms, plate armor would eventually retire from the stage of history. The cloth armor inlaid with iron sheets may not be as good as the plate armor for cold weapons, but the defense power of hot weapons such as guns is actually not inferior to plate armor, and the cost is lower and lighter.

Since sooner or later it will have to be transformed, it is now possible to test the armor to deal with hot weapons in the future, which can not only seize the opportunity, but also greatly reduce the cost of weapons and equipment in Storm Fort, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.