Duke Edward was an eighth-order Golden Knight, but he was not the most powerful member of the family.

The strongest of the Edward family is a legendary warrior named Harmon, who comes from an ordinary serf family, like Jennings in Harland's domain, but should be better talented.

More than thirty years ago, Duke Edward married the son of a slave with the jewel of his palm, and with the support of the Edward family, Harmon cashed in on his talent and rose to the rank of legend.

In addition to Duke Edward's son-in-law, the duke's eldest son is also a ninth-order epic knight, and he has the hope of advancing to the legendary realm.

The strength of the two should be slightly stronger than Hamon, but the Duke's eldest son, Plott, has more potential.

The Dawn Plane is an extraordinary world, and the competition among nobles is very fierce, and once the personal ability cannot bear the responsibility, it is difficult to sit firmly in the position.

Duke Edward has been in a coma since last winter, and by the spring of this year, many of the Edwards family have already planned to change people.

Harris nodded, "Why hasn't it been discussed?" Maple Leaf Castle secretly quarreled very much, Harmon and Plott each recruited a group of people, each with their own opinions, and now Maple Leaf Castle has passed this order, secretly I am afraid that it wants the old man to take responsibility. When something goes wrong, put the blame on the old man, and he can explain the past in face.

These people think well, but unfortunately they are a little short-sighted. We are in the northern frontier, and we have the great enemy of orcs, so we should unite with our neighbors nearby. Even if the responsibility is passed on to the old man, the nobles of the three northern provinces are not fools, they have opinions about us in their hearts, and they will always retaliate against us in the future and give us hardships. ”

Simeone said: "Harmon is very talented, after all, he is the son of a slave. He has not received an aristocratic education since he was a child, and his personality is too greedy. But why didn't Plott block it? ”

Harris said: "It's very obvious, Plott's faction clearly wants to disgrace Hamon. When Hamon and the others got out of control, Plott was in anticipation. Besides, I heard that Plott is not far from breaking through the legend, and he hasn't shown up for more than two months, so he may not be able to take care of this matter? ”

Despite being the core of the Edward family, Simeone served as the county warden of Parani. But it is far away from Maple Leaf Castle, and a lot of news is not known at all, and after listening to the information revealed by Harris, he asked with some concern: "What should our brothers do if there is a fight above?" ”

Although Harles and Simeone are cousins, they are about the same age, and the two have been together since childhood, and their relationship is closer than that of their own brothers. The true relationship between nobles is sometimes not based on blood, but on whether there is a threat to each other.

Simeone is outside, Harris is inside, and these two people are a small hill in the Edward family.

As long as a force has been established for a period of time, there will inevitably be various small groups within it. Whether a noble lord can integrate the hills in his territory is the key to the success or failure of his territory.

There are also various small hills in Haaland's territory, but Richard's prestige can easily overwhelm any mountain member and integrate the power of the Haaland family, which is also the key to the rise of the Haaland family.

Generally speaking, the nobles in the rising period can basically do this.

Harris said: "We don't have to care about anything, no matter who is in charge above, we can carry out the tasks that have been assigned." ”

The two quietly walked up to the city wall, staring at Lostster outside the city, seeing that the second brigade of soldiers was meticulously camped, and the camp was very strict, Simeone sighed: "What if the soldiers of the Harland family loot at Parani Castle? I think the army under the command of this Knight of Lloester is very elite, although there are 2,000 defenders in the castle, there may not be a chance of victory in the fight? ”

Harris said: "As long as the soldiers in Haaland's territory dare to make trouble, we will resolutely exterminate them, can a thousand soldiers still turn the sky upside down?" But let's not provoke the army of Haaland's domain, and don't give the count an excuse to go to war with us.

We have caused trouble in the rear and affected the situation in the Grand Duchy of Starnik, offending not only Count Haaland, but also Duke Jonathan, and I am afraid that the Grant royal family will also trouble us. Such short-sightedness is what the son of a slave like Hamon can do, and although he has been a nobleman for thirty years, he has no reverence for the institutions of this country. I think we should be clear and support Plott as a duke, and we must not let Finnan become a duke.

As for getting along with the army in Haaland's territory, we must control the scale, as long as the soldiers in Haaland's territory do not kill and loot, everything will be easy to do. ”

Since entering the Grand Duchy of Starnik in late March, the allied forces of the three provinces have returned three groups of serfs within a month.

The number of serfs in the first batch was 20,000, the number of serfs in the second group was 8,000, and the third group led by Loester was the largest, with a total of 67,000.

The escort mission went very smoothly in front, and the Duke of Edward did not make it difficult.

It's Losest's turn, but he encounters the Duke of Edward looking for trouble.

The situation inside the Duke of Edward's Duchy was not known at all, but there were intelligence officers from Haraland's domain in the accompanying ranks.

He summoned these intelligence officers and inquired in detail about the situation in the Duke of Edward.

Although Richard attaches great importance to the intelligence system, the Harland family has only been in existence for a short time, and has not placed intelligence agents in the court of the great nobles.

Generally speaking, as long as the Harland family is not provoked, according to the regulations, the Harland territory will not place spies on the big nobles.

Haaland's territory is in the Duke of Edward, and there are only a few people who collect public information.

"In the Orc invasion war last year, the Duchess of Edward suffered serious losses, and more than 50,000 people were plundered by the orcs. In addition, the legendary ogre traveled south from the Eagle Mountains last year and also breached several strongholds of the Edward family. We estimate that Duke Edward suffered a lot of losses last year, so he attacked our serfs and wanted to make up for it. ”

After listening to the intelligence officer's account, Loster still didn't understand.

But the current situation forced him to come up with a way to resolve the difficulties of the Duke of Edward.

Now there are only three days left in the reserve, and it will take about ten days to get out of the Duke of Edward and enter the province of Gascoigne, and at least 300 tons of food will need to be replenished to get through the difficulties.

Now that the Duke of Edward's palace has spoken, the merchants of the city will never dare to sell grain.

If the soldiers rob the grain, it will seriously affect the safety of the grain road and trap Richard on the front line. Löster would rather give up half of his serfs than do so.

The logistics channel of the coalition forces of the three provinces is in the hands of Duke Edward, and if he offends Duke Edward, if he does not interfere with it, the army will be wiped out. Only when the war in the Grand Duchy of Starnik was over and Richard returned with his troops could he be able to find the back account of Duke Edward.

Of course, Duke Edward's cutting off the grain route is tantamount to provoking a civil war, at least Duke Jonathan will find him trouble.

After thinking about it, Lloster thought that only the Church of Dawn in Parani Castle was not afraid of offending the Edward family, and there was enough food to help him solve this trouble.

However, the Dawn Church has a special status, and basically does not participate in the conflicts between the nobles, and he has no friendship with the pastor of the Dawn Church in Palani Castle, and the church priest may not be willing to help with this.

But the situation is forced to this, and Lluster can only be a dead horse as a horse doctor, and personally finds the pastor of the Dawn Church, hoping to buy some food.

Lloster begged for the door, but the bishop of Parani Castle heard of the predicament he was facing and did not directly refuse.

This bishop was born in the Duke of Jonathan, a member of a branch of the Baronial family, with Jonathan's family blood, and had a very strong opinion about Duke Edward's behavior of dragging the front line.

Moreover, the relationship between the Dawn Church and Richard is very special, and Walton, the archbishop of the Grant Kingdom, once explained to the following clergy to take care of Harland's territory.

He was also a participant in the battle to block the plane passage back then, and once fought side by side with Richard.

Reasonably, he will support Lossster through the difficulties.

"Knight Lost, don't worry, there are more than a hundred tons of food hoarded in the church, you can take them all, and the rest of the food is short, I will mobilize believers to raise donations."

The Chapel of Dawn in Parani's Castle, with less than sixty clergy combined, does not have much food in stock. Bishop Dawn accepted 200 gold coins and told Luse to move all the food stockpiles, and then sent the priests to inform the faithful that they would collect some of the food.

The population of Parani Castle exceeded 50,000, and more than half of them were followers of the goddess of the dawn, and each believer took out ten catties of grain, which added up to one hundred and fifty tons.

Lluster also took out a thousand gold coins from his funds and distributed money to the followers of the goddess of Dawn to buy food.

Most of the believers of the goddess of Dawn are middle- and lower-class people, and it is already difficult to donate ten catties of food per person.

The money that Loster took out made the believers of the goddess of Dawn earn a little.

Seeing that the church had helped solve Loss's lack of food, Simeone hurriedly consulted with Harris.

"The church has stepped in to solve the problem of food shortage, what can we do?"

Harris said: "It seems that the order of Maple Leaf Castle has made people angry. Even the Dawn Church can't stand it, I remember that Bishop Dawn is a distant member of the Jonathan family, right? ”

"Yes, the Bishop has Jonathan family blood."

Harris clapped his hands and said, "Now let's turn over the contradiction and see what Harmon is going to do?" ”

Simone said: "Will Harmon come hard and send troops to rob." ”

He didn't dare do that. Directly sending troops to rob will offend the legions fighting on the front line, and when the time comes, the Grant royal family, Duke Jonathan, and the coalition forces of the three northern provinces will all be looking for trouble. Although Harmon is stupid, there are smart people below him who will remind him. ”

After Simeone and Harris reported the situation to Maple Leaf Castle, Duke Edward did not continue to look for trouble.

With the help of the church, 250 tons of grain were obtained, and the province of Lostster spent ten days on frugality, and finally entered the territory of the province of Gascoigne before the food was eaten.

After entering the three central provinces, it was easy to supply food, and after continuing to walk for more than ten days, Loster finally completed his task and entered the territory of Haaland with 67,000 serfs.

At this moment, the time has come to late May, and Richard and the allied forces of the three provinces have besieged Nero's castle for nearly two months.

Seeing that the food in the army was getting less and less, the pressure on Richard was also increasing.

Now there are still 500 tons of grain left, and even if you save some, you can eat for half a month at most. There are more than 10,000 sheep left, most of them are milk-producing ewes, and the rams are eaten by the soldiers except for the breeding sheep.

From the end of April, the war horses in the allied forces of the three provinces began to be released to eat grass. If the war horses are released to graze, they need to eat for more than ten hours a day, which greatly affects the combat effectiveness. But there was not enough food, and Richard could only make such a decision.

Fortunately, the army controlled by the Linus royal family was blocked by Duke Jonathan on the northern front, and the middle army led by Richard was able to roam the city for a long time.

These days, at Richard's behest, Duke Fox has sent two batches of supplies, both of which are flocks.

Compared with the cost of transporting grain, it is easier to drive sheep over, and fewer people are needed. But it would take six or seven days for this batch of supplies to reach the outside of Nero's castle.

With the tens of thousands of sheep supplied by Duke Fox, the logistical pressure of the coalition forces of the three provinces has been reduced a lot, and they will hold on for half a month longer.

Recently, half of the diet of the coalition forces in the three provinces has relied on goat's milk, and according to the calculations of the logistics staff, the front line will save a little and the rear will receive some help, and it should be able to hold out until August.

In the last two months, the situation in the Grand Duchy of Starnik has been turbulent.

Duke Jonathan took advantage of the conflict between Baldwin and Haldane's uncle and nephew to lead an army to inflict heavy losses on the Linus family coalition.

Baldwin's forces suffered heavy losses and fled west into the kingdom of Lane, with Haldan taking the rest with him and barely holding on to the city of Linus.

A few days ago, Duke Jonathan sent an order, asking Richard to deal with the enemy as soon as possible, lead the army to join Duke Jonathan, attack Kleinus Castle, and deal with the intervention army of the Kingdom of Lane.

The northern front gradually divided the winners and losers, the middle line led by Richard was still in a state of stalemate, and there was still no war on the southern front, and it seemed that the great nobles of Starnik would not make a decision until the northern front decided the winner.

After receiving the order from Duke Jonathan, Richard thought for a moment and felt that the strong attack would not only cause heavy casualties, but also be difficult to win. The army he led was, after all, not a central regular army, but a coalition of nobles from the three provinces.

Since it is an aristocratic coalition, the internal friction must be very serious.

When fighting, some troops gnaw bones, some troops eat meat, some troops have captured abundantly, and some troops need to bear arduous responsibilities.

Commanding a coalition of nobles, it is difficult to balance the interests in the middle. Especially when fighting siege warfare, it is not easy to coordinate contradictions.

If the nobles of the province of Lah were to be given the burden of besieging the city, this army would mutinied. If the soldiers of Haaland's territory were allowed to attack, Richard was also a little reluctant and unwilling to consume his own people.

Since it is impossible to storm the enemy, we can only adopt the method of luring the enemy to see if we can attract the enemy out of the city to fight and defeat the enemy army in the field.

When two armies are at war, it is generally difficult to succeed using stratagem. Because commanders who can command thousands of armies are often resolute and intelligent.

Especially in the northern countries of the Dawn Continent, facing the invasion of orcs all year round, the nobles have rich experience in warfare, and their strategies are all pediatric to them, and the victory or defeat of the war mainly depends on strength.

For example, Viscount Nero, the commander of the aristocratic coalition in the central part of the Grand Duchy of Starik, saw through the weakness of the alliance of the three provinces due to the lack of food, and he would not easily waste the war.

If the enemy is not fooled and is bent on seeking stability, it will be difficult to lure the enemy into a decisive battle.

If you want to open up the situation, the best way is to catalyze the contradictions within the enemy and open the balance from within. After all, it has been two months since the siege of the city, and Nero's castle will also face the difficulty of running out of food.

Now the two armies will depend on who has more endurance and better internal integration.

(End of chapter)