Hayden was two years older than Richard, and his career rank had just been promoted to the fifth rank, although he had served as Minister of Intelligence for a long time, he was actually only a civilian bureaucrat, and his accumulated merits were far from enough, and he was still not a hereditary nobleman.

Although Rogge is the prime minister of Haaland's cabinet and the leader of the civilian system, he also does not have much merit, and his status is the same as Hayden's, although he has a lot of power, he is also not a hereditary nobleman.

The two of them have followed Richard for many years, and they are both important figures in the Haaland domain, and now there is a change in the system of territorial knighthood, and they can exchange money for titles. Once the two of them embezzled for money, Richard was not easy to deal with. In the end, after Richard had a deep conversation with the two, he decided to take out a sum of money from his private account and lend it to Hayden and Rogge, so that they could promote the hereditary nobility in this way. The two also promised Richard that they would never take bribes and be corrupt to make it difficult for Richard.

One day in late March, the sky was unusually dark, and the dense clouds looked low, even though it was noon, it looked like dusk.

Especially near the mouth of the Heihe River, the wind is raging, seven or eight ships are moored in the sheltered harbor, even if it is a legendary magic ship with a displacement of several thousand tons, it will not go to sea in this weather, and it is honestly docked on the shore.

In the Great War of the Five Kingdoms last year, the mouth of the Heihe River was captured by the Yunhai Slave Catcher of the Sith Kingdom. Although Haaland led the naval army and the Jonathan family cooperated to defeat the Yunhai slave trapping group, the stronghold that had been operated for several years was also burned down, and years of hard work were destroyed.

After the war, Haaland mobilized a lot of manpower and material resources to rebuild this coastal stronghold. In order to quickly transport all kinds of supplies, Harland led to use the magic airship force to transport thousands of tons of materials at one time. By the time Richard had returned with his troops, Rogge had already sent men to build a small castle on the same site, and built a trestle bridge and other infrastructure that could accommodate more than a dozen ships to dock.

This new castle, named Starlight Castle by Richard, was the first stronghold of the Harling Lord's sea.

Last year, after repelling the Yunhai Slave Catcher, Haaland led the capture of several sunken and stranded magic ships. The Haaland Mage Guild has the technology to build magic ships, and it didn't take long for four magic ships to be successfully restored.

When the four magic ships were incorporated into the army, the Black River Navy already had four ordinary magic ships, a large legendary magic ship, and twelve steam ships equipped with magic crystal cannons.

The ocean of the Dawn plane is very dangerous, not only the fish-people but also many sea monsters, deep-sea monsters, without the protection of magical power, ships cannot be too far from the land.

Although the steam magic ship is equipped with a magic crystal cannon, it is extremely powerful, but this kind of ship lacks the protection of magic shields, cannot carry out ocean voyages, and can only operate in rivers and offshore waters, and there are only five magic ships that really have the ability to sail far away.

Since last winter, Haaland has been building a second legendary magic ship, which will be ready to sail by August this year, depending on the progress of the project.

By the time the second legendary magic ship entered service, Haaland's naval force was not as powerful as the Sith Kingdom, but it could already be compared to the United Kingdom on the East Coast. As Haaland's territorial naval forces are getting stronger and stronger, they are enough to block the waters of the Black River and Samba River and protect their own coastline.

In the past two years, the Haaland Collar Railway Line is still under rapid construction, and after the north-south artery is connected, the railway has been built north along the No. 10 military station and has been built to the Samba River.

The railway was built to the banks of the Samba River, just over 80 kilometers away from the Priland Castle.

Although there is no railway bridge, and the goods transported need to be unloaded from the Samba River station and then sent to the north bank by ferry, which is particularly cumbersome to move supplies, but the logistics are already very easy and simple compared to a few years ago.

In addition to the northbound railway, the section from No. 3 military station to Shuangxing Castle has been opened to traffic, the section from King's Castle to Shuangxing Castle has also been built by one-third, and the western railway has also been built from Songtao Castle to Martins Castle.

By the end of last year, the Haaland Collar Railway had been built 1,500 kilometers away.

In the blink of an eye, the era of railways is just around the corner.

Samba River Station is the terminus of the Northern Railway.

The railway continues to run north and south, with the northern part of the railway to be built to Priland and the south to the south of Dragon Canyon according to the short-term plan.

The only thing limiting the railway's connection is the Samba River and the Heihe River, two large rivers that cut the planned railway line into three sections. In order to connect this artery and increase the efficiency of rail transport, two railway bridges must be built to connect the three sections of railway line.

Although it was very difficult to build the railway bridge, Richard decided to start the project, and the construction of the first railway bridge had already begun, and a large amount of building materials were transported by train to the Samba River station.

Samba River Station is the terminal station, and there are a lot of people who get off the train here, and many passengers are mercenaries with their families in tow. These mercenaries are ready to enter the northern part of Priland to hunt the undead, and be knighted like their predecessors.

As of April, with the support of Richard with a large amount of gold coins, Hayden and Rogge also followed the example of Odaye and Immorton, and successfully purchased enough soul crystals from the mercenaries with money and materials, and successfully became knighted.

Counting Haden and Rogge, there were already eleven barons in the north of Prilland, forming a defensive line two hundred kilometers long and thirty kilometers wide. The eleven barons combined, with a total of nearly 7,000 private soldiers. The presence of this army at the front greatly reduced the pressure on the defenders of Prryland.

In addition to the eleven hereditary nobles, a large number of mercenaries were active in the northern part of Priland, numbering more than twenty or thirty thousand. These mercenaries are basically active in the Burton Forest, they will not only hunt the undead who infiltrated from the Burton Forest, but also hunt the magical beasts in the Burton Forest, the living conditions are very difficult, and they earn hard-earned money.

In just two years, the mercenaries active in northern Priland have lost more than four thousand.

If it weren't for the successful mercenary leader who was knighted and set an example, and could continuously replenish new blood, many mercenary groups would already have plans to retreat.

Frye got off the train at Samba River Station and prepared to explore the Priland area. He was over forty years old, he had been licking blood for more than twenty years, and as an adventurer, his professional level was already seventh.

As a seventh-order warrior, Frye could easily seek mid-to-high-level positions in the regular army, with an enviable social status and a high economic income.

Promoted to such a professional level, no matter where you go, the fate of the family will change.

Even if he joins the strict scrutiny of the army, a soldier like Frye will be appointed as a lieutenant colonel or even a colonel officer when he enters the army.

Generally speaking, it is very rare for a seventh-order professional to become an adventurer.

Fleburne was an officer in the Duchy of York, who had accumulated some merits in his own right, had an enviable future, and was expected to be promoted to a hereditary noble knighthood.

But he is now a criminal, having killed Viscount Snyder with his own hands two months ago.

Viscount Snyder is the sixth son of the Duke of York, and he was knighted in the Southern Territory just last year, not far from Earldom Philip, and Frye is the heavyweight officer who assists Viscount Snyder.

Because Viscount Snyder drunkenly took Frye's daughter, he was killed by a furious Frye.

The Duke of York is the third largest nobleman in the Kingdom of Grant, and he is very close to the royal family. Although Frye's career level is very high, he is a good talent, and other great nobles will not risk offending the Duke of York and accept Frye to protect him. Even Haaland wouldn't do that.

Because the Duke of York borders on the territory of Harland, and the two sides have important economic and political interests, Richard cannot offend the powerful Duke of York because of a seventh-order warrior.

The great nobles would not openly accept it, and after the catastrophe, Frye could only change his name and surname, and sneak into Haaland to take refuge.

As a seventh-order warrior, Frye quietly hid for a while. Because he had to feed a large family, it was not an option to sit and eat for a long time, so Frye had to go to the north of Priland to venture alone.

In order to avoid revealing his identity, Frye also disguised himself as a third-order warrior and prepared to join a mercenary group.

Despite the defeat of the orcs, the Priland region is not too safe. Orc troops are still roaming the area, and in January of this year, there were even Silver Moon Wolf cavalry entering the Priland area to raid.

Although the garrisoned Fifth Legion cooperated with the magic airship troops, they successfully encircled and suppressed the two orc troops, severely damaged the Silver Moon Wolf Cavalry, and kept the orc elite away from the shop.

But around Priland, there are still many kobold tribes. These kobold tribes have an extremely high fertility rate, and they have been killing them for more than two years.

Because there are many kobold robbers on the road, the 80-kilometer stretch from Samba River Station to Priland Castle is not very safe.

Frye disembarked from the Samba River station, took the ferry to the north bank, and waited three days before he had gathered enough men to join a supply caravan and prepare to go to Priland in company.

This force was quite numerous, adding up to five or six hundred personnel, including a squadron of auxiliary transports, more than sixty caravan guards, plus scattered mercenaries, more than half of the armed personnel. The rest are old and weak women and children, most of whom are the families of mercenaries, and in the past two years, the families of these mercenaries who have emigrated to northern Priland have added up to 50,000 or 60,000.

After crossing the Samba River, there are two grain strongholds along the way to Priland. These two grain strongholds were also post stations and inns along the way, and could be used as military stations in wartime.

The two cantonment points were on one of the most important supply lines in Prilland and were each guarded by a squadron of auxiliaries. Although the combat effectiveness of the auxiliary troops led by Haaland is not as good as that of the regular army, they have sufficient equipment and their combat effectiveness is not inferior to that of the main army of the Grant Kingdom.

Normally, with a military station fortification, it can withstand the kobold army of 3,000.

The Priland Castle has a powerful flying class, with a main force of more than 20,000, and the kobolds do not dare to assemble on a large scale to fight against the regular army led by Harland, but scatter around the perimeter of Priland to fight guerrilla warfare with humans for territory.

In the past two years, although the development of Harland in the Priland area has achieved considerable results, and more than 30 strongholds have been established, it has been facing harassment from kobolds, and the total number of pioneers who have died in the attacks of kobolds has exceeded 2,000.

Although these casualties are not particularly serious, the continuous casualties have greatly dampened the enthusiasm for land reclamation in the Priland area and slowed down the development of this land.

Because the main force is not easy to disperse, local protection needs to rely on mercenaries to a certain extent.

Some mercenaries who don't want to take risks tend to stay near Priland and fight mainly kobolds.

Although the bounty on the kobold is relatively low, it is easier and safer to clear the kobold than the large number of undead in the Burton Forest.

Frye followed the large army and fought two kobolds along the way.

The kobold's combat effectiveness is not strong, and the combat effectiveness of ordinary kobold warriors is worse than that of ten-year-old children, and the strength and physical strength of the old and weak women and children are stronger than that of kobolds with the same number.

But in the Priland region, there are more than a few tens of millions of kobolds, and no more than two hundred thousand humans.

Although kobolds can't be gathered, after all, they are intelligent races, and the threat to humans is still very high, and a few kobold professionals will cause great trouble to the wastelanders.

More than ten kilometers away from the Priland Castle, you can see scattered kobold activities, and once you are left alone in the northern savannah, you will face kobold raids.

Even a caravan of more than 600 people was attacked and robbed by two or three thousand kobolds.

Because of the protection of the army, Frye and the others easily defeated the kobold army, and destroyed a kobold den along the way, killing more than a thousand kobolds.

But this level of killing and purging cannot completely eliminate the kobolds.

The humans in Haaland's territory will inevitably be entangled with the kobolds in the orc steppes for many years. Only by having enough population, filling up the northern savannah, and establishing enough strongholds can the kobolds be completely wiped out.

Frye did not show great combat strength on the way, and followed the caravan to Priland with a little paddling.

He directly entered the mercenary union and prepared to register as a member of the mercenary union first.

Haaland led the mercenary union for about 20 years, although Soros served as the president of the mercenary union, but in fact the management has always been the military and intelligence services.

In the past, the strength of the Haaland Mercenary Guild was average, and both the size and combat effectiveness of the mercenaries were far from those of the Demon Hunter Guild.

But in recent years, in order to stop the undead from going south, Richard has formulated a system of exchanging soul crystals, orc heads, and monster materials for meritorious deeds, and more than 30,000 mercenaries have poured into Prillan.

In order to take on the task, these mercenaries have joined the mercenary union, which has led to a great increase in the strength of the mercenary union, which is stronger than the witcher union.

The Priland area is the headquarters of the mercenary union, and there are six or seven hundred permanent personnel at the headquarters. It consisted of three infantry squadrons, about 450 armed men, and the rest were basically intelligence and civilian personnel responsible for distributing tasks and registering files.

Frye entered the mercenary guild and, received by a female civilian, quickly began registering the file.

"Name?"

"Flesorani."

"Age?"

"Forty-three."

"Gender?"

"Male."

"Origin?"

"Duchess of Lorraine."

"Class level?"

"Third-Order Warrior?"

The two asked and answered, and under Frye's fabrication, the file was quickly complete.

After registering the file, the receptionist asked, "Mr. Fry, are you willing to become a free mercenary, or are you going to join the mercenary group?" ”

"What's the difference between the two?"

"Free mercenaries can only take on some small tasks, which is relatively safer, and if you join the mercenary group, you may be called up to fight in Bolton Forest. But if you join the mercenary group, you will have a fixed salary and more opportunities for meritorious service. ”

(End of chapter)