The Prince of Andorra was in a good situation, but a fire broke out in the backyard of the Prince's life, and suddenly a Duke captured the mountain city with lightning speed, which not only put him in the drawbacks of a possible two-sided battle in the future, but also greatly weakened the strength of the Andorran prince's army, and the prince's dream was almost shattered.

With the lords of the northern territories taking the lead, all the lords of the French Empire began to follow suit and began to declare autonomy. In fact, it doesn't matter if these lords don't declare it, because with the lords of the northern territories announcing autonomy, the imperial army has basically taken the initiative to evacuate, after all, Emperor Henry VII is not stupid, and in this case, the troops are scattered, not only does it have no effect, but it is also very likely to lose this part of the troops.

In fact, seriously speaking, it is not a good idea for Henry VII to take the initiative to give up those territories, after all, after all the contractions, even if it is impossible to prevent independence, it can also make those who have ambitions for the central territory sober up, after all, the strength of the imperial army and the royal army is still far more than the average lord army, and even 50,000 to 100,000 is not too much.

At the same time, Henry VII can also take advantage of the population and financial advantages of the Central Territory to expand the imperial army again, as long as the development can be maintained, the soldiers who promote the warriors can survive this most difficult time, maybe one day there is a chance to make a comeback.

It's just that Duke is not optimistic about this kind of opportunity at all, because many things are determined by character, and the fact that the French Empire can get to this situation is not unrelated to the character flaws of Henry VII. At least one thing, if he can win over Duke Otto in a more integrated way, or play the emotional card, maybe Duke Otto will really take the initiative to give up some of his military power and reduce his threat to the French Empire to a dangerous level.

And with the help of the Duchy of Berry, the largest territory of the empire and the lion army, even if the entire empire's army rebelled, Emperor Fran did not have the slightest problem, because their strength was enough to solve all the lord armies. It's just that in the end, because of the opposition with Duke Otto, Henry VII is now almost alone.

Henry VII is out of play, but Duke is very optimistic about Princess Jena, after so long contact and understanding, he understands very well that Jina, a little girl, has an incomparable resilience and perseverance, and the more she reaches this kind of crisis, the more her character can give full play to her potential advantages. The most obvious thing is that when she was at the most dangerous time in Storm Castle, she chose to come to the border, even after experiencing defeat in war, she still reorganized a royal army of her own.

But Princess Jina's biggest flaw is precisely because of her womanhood, no matter how much the world emphasizes that women still have the right to inherit, but in practice, unless His Majesty the Emperor is the heir, it is not the turn of a woman to ascend the throne as the emperor. Because the lords and generals of the military will not believe that a woman will lead them to victory.

And judging from the current situation, Princess Gina has not shown enough convincing, and she has basically failed in the case of leading the army alone. But Duke knows that these so-called failures, in fact, cannot be blamed on Princess Jina for the root cause. Even if Duke, a person with experience in later generations, is allowed to lead these soldiers, it will not be much better than Princess Jina, and even the generals under her command can't recognize it, how can she be a perfect command?

What's more important is that Jina, as a female commander, is born with soldiers who don't believe in her very much, and she is already very good if she doesn't disobey orders, which is still seen in the face of the royal family. So it's still a question that Duke has already said before, Princess Gina wants to change all this, and there is only one possibility, and that is to have an army that is completely her own, and now it has begun.

Basically all the lords of the French Empire have already acted, and this time Duke will not be left behind, he has begun to gather the soldiers of the Storm Army, ready to launch a thorough attack on Andorra City, as long as this battle can be won, then Duke will become the first lord of the French Empire, surpassing his father's Principality of Berry!

Therefore, after Duke got the news of the Northern Territories, he first went to the arsenal and asked Copperbeard and Bruro about the construction of artillery. However, the result can only be said to be very reluctant, and it is still a bit far from Duke's previous concept.

First of all, the caliber of the cannon on the first day was not large, not the level of fortress guns that Duke had imagined before. Of course, for this point, in fact, Duke had already prepared in his heart before, and it was still a little difficult to develop a fortress cannon at the level of craftsmanship in this era, even if it was good-looking, it was built with large iron blocks, and then polished the relatively rough iron cannon, which was heavy and powerful, and the convenience of transportation was basically the kind that was not there.

So Duke ruled out this kind of artillery before, because even if it was cast, it would be a matter of human life to transport it to Andorra City, and Duke did not plan to fight this war for a few years, because then the consumption of both Storm Castle and Andorra City would be too great, even if it was finally won, the final income might still be a loss, and it would take a few years to make up for it.

And not to mention that it has been fighting for a few years, even if it is just a year, whether it is the French Empire or other empires on the continent, it is a turbulent situation now, in case the Hans Empire or the Milan Empire really grit their teeth and attack the army, the Storm Army and the Andorran Army consume each other, and as a result, they will pick peaches for others.

On the whole, Duke set the time for his battle at a month, because Andorra City is just a very ordinary city on the mainland, and if even this kind of city attack has to be counted in years, then it will take him a lifetime to fight just in the future.

Therefore, Duke had certain requirements for the transportability of the artillery, at least to be able to quickly transport it to Andorra. Once the thickness of the cannon wall is thin, there is a great risk of blowing up the bore in the long-term siege operation, artillery is a high-tech branch of the army in any era, and there are basically few people who can use artillery in Fort Storm, and they are all going to become artillery instructors in the future, and Duke doesn't want them to be consumed in this kind of bore accident.

In the face of these requirements, they finally created a 6-inch gun, that is, a 152 mm caliber gun in modern society, with a shell weight of 80 pounds, which is the largest caliber heavy artillery in this era!