Haaland's territory has been developing for more than a decade, and this year for the first time there is a fiscal deficit of 37,000 gold coins, accounting for 8.6 percent of the fiscal revenue.

In the past few years, the fiscal surplus of Haaland's territory added up to about 100,000 gold coins, and the fiscal deficit of 37,000 gold coins is not particularly serious. Relying on the gold coins saved in the vault can make up for the shortfall.

Soon after the financial meeting, it was the goddess's birthday.

The Goddess's Birthday is the final festival in the Kingdom of Grant, and although most of the nobles are believers in the gods of kingship and order, the influence of the Church of Monarchy in the Kingdom of Grant is not as strong as that of the Church of Dawn.

During the Goddess's Birthday, Haaland's territory is closed for ten days.

Even the heavily guarded factories and scientific research institutes, except for those who need to be on duty, have all returned home to celebrate the holiday with their families.

During the Goddess's Birthday, the shops in Haaland's domain are particularly prosperous, with artisans selling all kinds of small goods on the streets.

Because of the harsh environment in northern Xinjiang, residents in this area do not like to save much, and both high-income people and ordinary people have a timely and happy style.

This national identity is not very conducive to capital accumulation.

However, it is not an easy task to change the atmosphere of society and change people's attitudes.

Although Richard has prestige in the Haaland Territory, at most he can unite the hearts and minds of the people, assimilate the population from different ethnic groups into the Haaland Territory, and comprehensively reshape the national character of the Haaland Territory, which can only be handed over to the next generation.

Shortly after the Goddess's Birthday, six primary schools in Haaland's territory have begun to recruit people.

This year, Richard lowered the tuition fee again, reducing the tuition fee for one year of elementary school to two silver coins and fifteen copper coins, and asked for free breakfast in the school. Even though these breakfasts are only made of goat's milk and whole wheat brown bread, they can also reduce the burden on children in ordinary families.

Tuition fees have been lowered, and the number of freemen has increased dramatically, and more than 1,600 children have enrolled this year. On average, each school recruits six or seven classes of students.

After the Goddess's Birthday, Wendy personally went to Nolan and used three hundred magic crystals to exchange a crystal ball with the Grant Mage Guild for a test qualification.

More than a dozen magicians in Haaland's territory were dispatched to test the qualifications of the 1,600 newly enrolled children, and fourteen students with magical qualifications were found, and one with intermediate qualifications was found.

These magically qualified students received the attention of their teachers, and after they began to practice meditation, they would join the Harland Mage Guild to replenish their nutrients for the Mage Guild.

In February, the soldiers in Haaland's territory began to fully mobilize and enter emergency alert.

The Magic Hot Air Balloon Force and the Lion Cavalry all began to take to the air to reconnoiter the northern region of the Eagle Mountains, looking for the whereabouts of the orcs.

The Reconnaissance Cavalry Brigade will also send elite troops to cooperate with the actions of the air reconnaissance force.

After years of development, Haaland's territory is now equipped with three magic balloon squadrons, each squadron is equipped with eight hot air balloon teams, plus the hot air balloon teams organized by the headquarters, more than 30 groups of hot air balloons can be lifted into the air.

After four years of training, the Lion Horse Cavalry has trained seven Lion Knights, and the eggs captured that year have also been successfully hatched, and in recent years, the Lion Bird population has expanded a bit, and the number of young Lion Birds has exceeded ten.

By the time the next orc invasion comes in, there should be two griffin squads ready to use.

Because there are third-order archers in the magic hot air balloon team to restrain the harpy, the aerial reconnaissance force of Harland's territory can already compete with the aerial reconnaissance force of an orc legion.

However, the situation of strong enemy and weak enemy in the northern Xinjiang region has not changed, in order to avoid stimulating the orcs to be desperate, Richard ordered to reduce the intensity of aerial reconnaissance, and still focus on ground reconnaissance.

In the battle between the orcs and humans, the reason why they were able to take the initiative was that in addition to the superiority of the number of people and the strength of the man, the overwhelming advantage of the reconnaissance force was also an important reason.

Once the orcs perceive that the Harland Territory has cultivated a large number of aerial reconnaissance forces, they will inevitably concentrate their efforts on defeating the Harland Territory.

Although the Haaland Territory has developed rapidly in recent years, it is not comparable to the huge orc empire.

This limelight is still handed over to the Grant family, and even if the sky falls, there will be tall people to top it.

Through frequent reconnaissance, the orc army was gradually exposed to Richard's eyes.

This time, the orcs really drew a large army and flocked to the Harland Territory, according to the scouts' estimates, the orcs who appeared in the northern region of the Harland Territory already had three legions, more than 100,000 troops.

This powerful force is impossible to compete with on Haaland's territory alone.

In order to ensure the authenticity of the information, Haaland led the loss of four magic hot air balloons, and killed more than a few dozen missing scout cavalry. Even the griffon cavalry was wounded by two people, and one of the griffins was too badly injured to be able to fly in the future.

Sensing the route of the main force of the orcs, Richard immediately wrote a letter for help to the main army in the rear.

Because the reconnaissance force is in a weak position across the board, the strategy of the Grant Kingdom has always been to divide the troops, consume the strength of the orcs, and then wait for the orcs to withdraw.

Such a strategy is very passive, and every time the orcs invade, the northern region suffers a lot of losses.

However, the reconnaissance force is not comparable to that of the orcs, and any initiative to attack is unilateral and transparent to the orc army.

Leaving the fortified castle and the line of defense that has been in operation for many years is bound to suffer heavy losses.

Years of war experience have also proved this, a few years ago, the Grizzly Legion fell for the orc encirclement and reinforcement strategy, and almost wiped out the entire army.

The Mad Lion Legion also failed to detect the main force of the orcs, so they rashly sent troops to fight the main force of the orcs, and fell into the trap of the orcs and suffered heavy losses.

After receiving a letter of request for help from Haaland's territory, Rabe, the commander of the Northern Legion, did not rush into the army, he first sent a main brigade and 1,000 auxiliaries into the Platos fortress group, and guarded this important mountain road with the hundreds of soldiers left in the territory by Baron Sharp.

Then he ordered the nobles of Heihe and Luomen counties to join forces and garrison 4,000 troops to Haraland.

Although the first batch of reinforcements was only 4,000, Richard was still very happy and sent 4,000 noble troops to the northern boundary fort in Salt Lake County.

Salt Lake County is located in the middle of the two counties of Haaland's territory, once this county is lost, the east and west counties of Haaland's territory will be separated, and when the time comes, they will not be able to take care of each other, and it is easy to be divided and encircled by orcs.

Salt Lake County was geographically important and was a key point of the defense of Haaland's territory, but due to the number of soldiers, the defenders in this area were only 4,000 men.

Among the 4,000 defenders, the main force of two brigades consisted of 3,000 men, and the auxiliaries and the local security forces were close to 1,000.

Despite the defense of 4,000 soldiers, it was still a weak point in the defensive line. This area is equivalent to the eggs of Haaland's territory, and once pinched by the orcs, it is easy to fall into passivity.

Before the outbreak of the war, Richard had planned to transfer soldiers to strengthen the defense of Salt Lake County, but now the 4,000 people sent by the nobles of the two counties can just strengthen this direction, and with these 4,000 reinforcements, the defenders of Salt Lake County already have 8,000 people.

Eight thousand men garrisoned Salt Lake County, and the orcs could only pose a threat unless they dispatched a legion-level force.

The remaining troops, Richard could hold in his hands and act as a general reserve.

In order to unify the command, Richard appointed Viscount Rohmon as the commander of the Salt Lake County garrison, and Jennings, the captain of the Sixth Brigade, as the deputy commander.

Haaland's territory is now divided into two counties with a total area of 56,000 square kilometers, and about 400 kilometers of front need to be defended from east to west.

There are four key points of defense in this 400-kilometer defense line.

In the far west is the Platos fortress complex, because the Northern Legion has sent reinforcements, and the Haaland territory does not need to send reinforcements for the time being.

According to aerial reconnaissance, there was about half an army of legionary orcs in the northern part of the Platos Line.

The area east of Platos is the core of Haaland's territory, from Fort Sophia and Fort William to Fort Soldier's Station and the swamp basin are the focus of Haaland's territory.

In this direction a large army was stationed in the territory of Haaland, and in the swamp basin there was not only a brigade garrison, but also half a regiment of mages, and a brigade was also stationed in the fort.

Fort William is the headquarters of Harland's territory, with three infantry brigades, one Warcraft cavalry brigade, half a scout brigade, and a magic hot air balloon squadron, concentrating the main force of seven thousand troops.

The garrisons of the three castles together numbered more than 10,000, and if the war was urgent, the mobilization of second-line combat personnel such as auxiliaries, public security, and intelligence could dispatch a large army of 15,000 people.

It's just that second-line forces such as auxiliaries, public security, and intelligence can only fight to defend the city, not field battles, and defeat the orcs head-on.

To the east of the passage of the fort was Salt Lake County, an area supported by the nobles of the two counties of Geda Province, with a garrison of 8,000 men.

The easternmost part was the county of the Grotta River, which was divided into three castles, with four infantry brigades, five squadrons of scout cavalry, and a squadron of magical hot air balloons, with a main force of about 7,000 men.

If you are fighting a defensive battle, you can also send 2,000 auxiliaries to cooperate with the battle.

The defenders of the four areas combined, a total of 35,000 soldiers, but the real combat effectiveness is stronger, and the only one who surpasses the orcs in a head-to-head duel is the 20,000 regular army in Haaland's territory.

Through reconnaissance, the orc army that poured into Haraland's territory exceeded the three legions, and the total number was about 100,000 orcs.

The first to engage the Harland Territory were the Orcs of the Grotta River County.

Located in the northernmost part of Grota River County, Fort Canyon is located in the eastern part of the Eagle Mountains, just one hundred and eighty kilometers from the lair of the legendary Green Dragon.

In the vicinity of the castle, there is occasional wurm activity. In order to avoid irritating the legendary green dragon, the demon hunting team led by Haaland basically does not operate in this area.

During the period of control of Grota River County, Haaland's territory and the legendary green dragon were at peace, and no conflicts broke out.

The location of the canyon fort is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the northern side of the mountain ridge has been built to support each other with the castle in front of the canyon. The castle was entirely a military fortress, and there were hardly any people nearby except for the garrison.

"Attention, the orcs are coming up, light the wolf smoke, put on the crossbows, help each other put on their armor, we only have about ten minutes."

The fortifications in the northern part of Fort Canyon stretched about thirty miles to the north, and brick watchtowers were built every ten miles, and the inside of the guards could be lit at any time.

The watchtower is built on a mountain beam and has a very good line of sight to monitor the enemy from a great distance. The surrounding trees were also cut down, and a trench was built in the rear, through which you could quickly descend the mountain.

A small military station was set up at the foot of the mountain, and a dozen war horses were hoarded in the station, which could quickly make the defenders retreat to the rear.

Stretching north along the canyon fort, more than two dozen watchtowers have been erected in the northern part of several valleys, large and small.

According to the terrain, these towers were stationed with dozens of scouts, with only a few soldiers, and the number of scout cavalry stationed in the towers exceeded three hundred regular troops.

It was with the help of these front-line scouts that the enemy situation in the northern part of Fort Canyon could be figured out.

From the moment the Harpy was discovered, the defenders of Fort Canyon began to mobilize in full force and could enter a state of war at any time.

On the third day after the Harpy appeared, the orc army appeared in the northern part of Fort Garrison.

The orc vanguard brigade brandished a jumble of weapons and let out a majestic cry. The orc captain is more savage, probably relying on the experience of three years ago, and without careful reconnaissance, he rashly launched a siege war.

This orc brigade had a total of about two thousand soldiers, and the two thousand orcs were divided into seven or eight races. Swarmed up in a chaotic manner, they began to storm the defensive line established by the defenders of Fort Canyon.

The valley in front of the Canyon Fort was only a hundred meters wide, and the two thousand orcs poured in and immediately became chaotic.

The soldiers on the walls of the Canyon Fort seized the opportunity, and the crossbows in their hands constantly fired crossbow arrows.

The arrows continued to pierce the orc's shield and leather armor like locusts, and for a moment a terrible scream was heard in the canyon. The rabble of orc forces has begun to crumble.

Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, the orc captain immediately dispatched the elite, and the serpent heavy infantry quickly entered the battle, wanting to climb the city wall in one fell swoop and break through the defense line.

As a result, the defenders had already set a trap, and when the snake man appeared on the battlefield, he immediately threw dozens of alchemy bombs.

After the burst of gunsmoke, bed crossbows had already been shot out of the city wall, and the officers also used enchanted bows and crossbows one after another, aiming at the snake man to greet him, and in an instant, the loss of the snake man had been more than half.

Seeing that the snake man was about to be completely annihilated, the orc captain hurriedly urged the eagle man to launch a surprise attack and cooperate with the snake man in battle.

As a result, two hot air balloons were raised inside the castle.

The hot air balloon had a third-order archer on it, and it was also equipped with a burst arrow, and the harpy didn't notice it for a while, and three of them were hit by the burst arrow and exploded into pieces in the air.

Seeing this scene, the harpy man was frightened and didn't dare to step forward at all.

Without the cooperation of the Harpy, the battle line was disrupted, and the Serpent was quickly surrounded and annihilated by the defenders.

The main backbone suffered heavy losses, and the orcs suddenly could not bear the casualties and wanted to withdraw from the battle line.

Seeing the orcs retreating, the trebuchets on the city wall fired one after another, and the shooting table had already been marked in advance in this area, and countless stone projectiles fell into the retreating orcs. The defenders in the camps on both sides also shot arrows from the heights, and the orc brigade was besieged on three sides, and it couldn't hold on for too long, and it was soon wiped out.

(End of chapter)