Lollister returned to Syrovas Island at the end of November. Along with him were ten newly formed slave guard battalions. In the following cold winter, the naval army still did not have time to rest. As usual, they would transport the goods, rations, soldiers, and freed slaves from the Haneabada Archipelago to Syrovas Island. The entire transport process would only end in February next year.
The naval army now had around 45,000 people and more than 400 ships of various types. Lollister ordered the current commander of the naval army, the Golden Knight Sunbarwood, to reorganize the naval army after the transport was completed. He set up two armed patrol fleets on Syrovas Island and the Northern Lands, as well as the Lightning Strike Fleet, which focused on cannons. He also set up three merchant fleets and released the one or two hundred medium-sized ships that had been requisitioned. He also gave them compensation, and they would be responsible for transporting the slaves who wanted to go home to the Galinthia Continent.
Lollister planned to turn the twenty slave guard battalions in the Haneabada Archipelago into twenty guard battalions. Together with the five guard battalions in the family's territory, they would form a large guard corps. The five battalions would form a corps, and the five corps would form a corps. The total number of people would be 75,000. This would be the Norton Family's most important defensive force.
Thanks to the bountiful spoils from destroying the Haneabada Kingdom, Lollister had enough capital to once again reform the Norton Family's military. Other than the guard corps that was about to be formed, Lollister also planned to form two field and attack corps. One was the Monolith Corps, which focused on infantry, and would be the main force for future sieges. The other was the Flying Tiger Corps, a cavalry corps that focused on field raids.
The days passed quickly. In the third month after the new year, Lollister held a family's New Year's Knight Assembly in the Monolith Castle, and announced the Norton Family's military reform. He would establish the Monolith Corps, with two heavy armor corps and a single-wheeled crossbow corps as the main force. The archer and scout corps would be merged to form two scout corps. The scout corps, the Thunderbolt Catapult Corps, and three logistics corps would be formed to form a corps. There would be a total of 60,000 people in four corps. The commander of the corps would be the family's Gold Knight Bofinger. The deputy commanders would be Malek and Mason, the two Gold Knights.
He established the Flying Tiger Army. The Army Commander was the Golden Knight Roth, and the Deputy Army Commanders were the Golden Knight Yuri and the Divine Arrow Josk. The Flying Tiger Army consisted of two Cavalry Divisions and the War Chariot and Crossbow Divisions. In addition, there was a Scout Division, a Female Division, and three Logistics Divisions to form a Division. Similarly, there were four divisions with 60,000 men.
Finally, there was the Imperial Guard Corps. There were a total of 25 battalions and 75,000 people. The commander was the Gold-ranked Knight Freya. The deputy commanders were the two Gold Knights, Beluniak and the former slave gladiator, Jades.
Apart from these three armies, there were also three battalions of the Norton Knights, led by Terman, with a total of nine thousand men, and three thousand guards under the direct control of Laurist. The other one was the 18,000 strong Maritime Legion led by Sunbarwood. In other words, the Norton Family had a total of 225,000 soldiers. This did not include the Garrison Barracks, Garrison Troops, and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers stationed in the towns and villages.
The Monolith Army, as the main infantry force, was stationed on Sirovas Island. The Flying Tiger Army was stationed between the Xingan Plains and the Red River Plains in front of Monolith Castle. The Northern Lands were vast, and the wastelands were vast, suitable for cavalry to gallop through. The 25 battalions of the Imperial Guard Corps were scattered. Monolith Castle was stationed in the First Guard Battalion, and the Port City, which Master Siroba had named Northsea City, was stationed in the Second Guard Battalion. The Tortoise Mountain Stronghold and Crouching Bull Stronghold were stationed in the Third Guard Battalion and the Fourth Guard Battalion to defend against the mountain barbarians.
Because the western part of the Northern Lands had become the Norton Family's pasture, Laurist decided to restart the old smuggling tunnel in the Blade Edge Mountains under the suggestion of Fatty Shi and the other subordinates. It was the tunnel that the Duke of the Northern Lands, Duke Lujins, had used to order the Golden Knights Chevani and Henned to launch a sneak attack on the Norton Family's territory. Six or seven years had passed, and the burnt vines had grown back. They could once again use these hanging vines to build a new chain bridge.
With this tunnel, the cattle and sheep produced in the western part of the Northern Lands did not need to take a long detour from Monolith Castle to enter the family's territory. They could enter the family's territory directly from the Blade Edge Mountains, saving two days of time. Laurist did not plan to build a chain bridge. He planned to use the ancient bridges built in Sichuan that he had seen on television in his previous life to replace the vine bridge. Then, he would build a castle fortress in the valley where the Chevani Knight had died, and the Fifth Guard Battalion would be in charge of guarding it.
The remaining 20 guards would undergo training in the family's territory, awakening their combat energy, familiarizing themselves with all kinds of military equipment, and practicing martial arts. Laurist told his subordinates that he hoped to arm the Norton Family into an elite and invincible military force within two years, living up to the reputation of the Northern Lands' Roaring Bear Family.
After concluding the military reform, Laurist reviewed the family's achievements in the development of the territory in the past year. This year, the development of the Red Riverlands and the construction of the North Sea Castle would be completed. Other than the construction of the new tunnel and the castle fortress in the Blade Edge Mountains, the biggest construction project in the family's territory was the Nico Academy that Miss Tracy was in charge of. Laurist gave Sadekamp a task, asking him to be in charge of renovating all the roads in the family's territory after the Red Riverlands was opened up, widening, straightening, and flattening them so that the roads in the family's territory would be more convenient and faster.
The development and construction of Syrovas Island was carried out according to the previous plan. The main labor force was the tens of thousands of refugees rescued from the Haneabada Archipelago. With the help of Bofinger's Monolith Army stationed on the island, he believed that results would be seen in another two years. The head of the family's statistics department, Hansk, was appointed the new governor of Syrovas Island by Laurist.
After the family meeting, Laurist finally had some free time. He first went to visit his beloved disciple, Schwald. Before the expedition to the Haneabada Kingdom, Schwald insisted on going with Laurist. Laurist said that the war would be dangerous, and the outcome would be unpredictable. It would be difficult for him to take care of Schwald. However, Schwald said that he had already advanced to the Iron-rank and was more than enough to deal with a few soldiers. He did not need Laurist's care.
Laurist smiled and called Redi over, asking him to bring Schwald to practice his artificial motion vision. Laurist told Schwald that if he became my disciple, he would have to learn this motion vision. It is a requirement of our training. Since you're already Iron-rank, you can't delay any longer. You should practice it at home while I'm away.
Schwald was thus brought away by Redi. When Laurist returned to the family's territory, Redi came to report that Schwald had already learned motion vision. However, his body was still not as strong as Redi, or even Padt. It took him another half a month to get used to the feeling of being tied to an iron ring and being spun around. Schwald had his own thoughts and refused to see Laurist.
When Laurist went to the training field at the back of the mountain, Schwald was practicing with his sword. It was obvious that Schwald's swordsmanship had improved greatly after learning motion vision. Laurist was very satisfied. After two more years of practice, he would be able to handle the Silver-rank swordsman Schwald with ease.
Other than teaching Redi and Schwald carefully, Laurist would harass Miss Tracy when he had time, or go to Maple Villa to find his concubine Elina to satisfy his dissatisfaction. Then, two months later, Ms. Tracy and Elina won the bidding again, and they were both pregnant. Compared to Elina who was overjoyed, Ms. Tracy was furious. This year's focus was on the construction of Nico Academy, and she was pregnant with Lollister. How could she manage the construction of the academy? Therefore, she announced that Lollister was not welcome and refused his visits.
Laurist returned to Monolith Castle just in time to see Fatty Shi's application for a leave of absence. He planned to stay at home and not care about anything else. He would train hard for two years under the guidance of Master Swordsman Ingelek and strive to reach the Gold rank.
This was something he had agreed to back in the Haneabada Islands. Laurist approved Fatty Shi's application, opened a few bottles of good wine and ordered a few side dishes, and prepared to get drunk with Fatty Shi. In the heat of the wine, Fatty Shi finally asked his question. Why did the Laurists expand their family's military force after destroying the Haneabada Kingdom? Did they have another target to target?
His family had more than three hundred thousand men, and the equipment and military expenditure had greatly exceeded the family's income. It was estimated that they were overspending by more than a million gold fords every year. Fatty Shi was worried that the family would have a heavy burden in the next few years.
Laurist grinned as he pulled over the map of the Madras Principality and punched it. "Don't worry, the Madras Principality will be ours in two years …"
Fatty Shi wanted to ask again, but he saw Laurist fall asleep on the sofa.
Approving Fatty Shi's leave of absence resulted in a chain reaction. In less than ten days, Dolus, El, Jim, Vasima, Paciko, Peter, and more than ten other three-star Silver rank family knights all submitted their applications for a leave of absence, requesting for two years to prepare to advance to the Gold rank. Even the former bandit of the Thunderbolt Catapult, Big Bearded Overkiss, submitted his application.
"What the f * ck are you trying to do? Are all of you going to wash your hands and not do anything?" Laurist was furious. He first called Overkiss over and scolded him.
Overkiss said in a wronged tone, "My lord, didn't you give me a high-rank fire-attributed battle aura manual when you recruited me as a family knight? I was already a three-star Silver rank at that time. I've familiarized myself with this high-rank battle aura manual these past few years, and now I'm at the peak of three-star Silver rank. I feel like I'm about to advance, so I want to apply for a year's leave … "
"Ugh …" Laurist pulled Overkiss over and examined him. It was just as he said. This bearded bandit had indeed reached the peak of three-star Silver rank. Laurist's anger immediately turned to joy. He patted Overkiss' shoulder and said with a smile, "I approve of your leave. Work hard and advance to the Gold rank as soon as possible. The family will also have one more Gold Knight. The knight's manor in the Red Riverlands has already been prepared for you."
Speaking of the knight's manor in the Red Riverlands, Laurist suddenly understood why so many three-star Silver rank family knights wanted to apply for leave. The eight knight's manors in the Xingan Plains had already been allocated to Bofinger, Ferocious Tiger Roth, and the other three Gold Knights. Then there were the eight knight's manors in the Red Riverlands. The three Gold Knights, Samba, Wood, Jades, and Mason, had already reserved three of them. Therefore, the remaining five knight's manors fell into the eyes of the three-star Silver rank family knights. Everyone wanted to advance to the Gold rank as soon as possible so that they could obtain a knight's manor.
"These bastards, why are they in such a hurry! It's not like the family will stop building knight's manors. What's there to snatch? " Laurist approved the leave of all the family knights who applied. In any case, the Norton family was planning to hide their strength and bide their time for the next two years, so nothing should happen. At the same time, he picked up the map of the Northern Lands and muttered to himself that he was going to find a place to develop and build some kind of plains.
23rd of May. Laurist, who had returned from the gunpowder laboratory in the Blade Peak Mountain Range, sat in his study, deep in thought. Under the circumstances that he could not forge suitable steel, he had already stopped experimenting with firearms. Without a solid foundation, he would not be able to leap into the era of firearms. Right now, the family's firearms production was basically bronze cannons. Under the circumstances that they were unable to forge firearms on a large scale, a small number of handmade firearms would not be worth it to the family. After all, Galinthea was a world of Dou Qi. Some cold weapons were more suitable for warfare than firearms.
Not to mention other things, for example, the steel crossbows that the family armed forces were equipped with had a range of 300 metres, while the effective range of handmade firearms was only 150 metres. With this difference of half the distance, if they were to line up and shoot people, the steel crossbows were guaranteed to be much more effective than the firearms.
Ward knocked on the door and entered. "My lord, there's an urgent messenger from North Sea City. He reports that the Flying Fish from the Kingdom of Dawn has returned from Syrovas Island with the latest news of the war. The Ford Commercial Alliance has sent out a large number of troops to occupy the Cambona Province of the former Redelis Kingdom. The 170,000 men led by the second prince are trapped in three provinces of the Redelis Kingdom, and their communication with the Andenac Kingdom has been cut off. In addition, the young master of the Chick Merchant Guild, Theriham, has arrived at Syrovas Island on a merchant ship belonging to the Peterson Merchant Guild. He says that he is here as a messenger to seek peace and wants to see you. Governor Hansk left him on Syrovas Island to await your punishment. "
"What did you say?" Laurist was shocked. When he went to the Haneabada Kingdom in September last year, the second prince had suffered consecutive defeats in the last province of the Redelis Kingdom, the Madjik Province. However, the second prince had more than 200,000 troops under his command, and this did not include the more than 100,000 troops that were distributed in the Andenac Kingdom and the newly occupied provinces. Laurist thought that the second prince had a strong military force and would eventually win.
He did not expect that when he returned from the destruction of the Haneabada Kingdom, he would still receive the news that the second prince was still entangled with the nobles' armed forces in the Madjik Province of the Redelis Kingdom. Moreover, the second prince had also sent 100,000 troops to the two duchies of Handa and Falkel, demanding that the four central duchies cancel their titles and return to the territory of the Empire. However, this request was rejected by the four duchies. They once again formed a coalition to confront the second prince's army and vigorously supported the nobles' armed forces in Madjik.
At that time, Laurist was very happy when he received this news. He felt that the second prince had finally suffered and understood that anything could happen. Thinking back to when they met in the imperial capital, the second prince had solemnly vowed that the grand dukes of the four central duchies were loyal to the former Crimson Empire. As long as he led the army, the grand dukes of the four duchies would enthusiastically join him and restore the former Empire's glory.
Anyway, although Laurist was in the Andenac Kingdom's camp, he knew that the second prince was very afraid of himself and the Norton Family's armed forces, so he did not summon the Norton Family to participate in the war. However, it seemed that the second prince could still hold on, so Laurist did not plan to meddle in other people's business. Without the second prince's official order to participate in the war, he would be accused of rebellion.
Laurist was happy to be at ease and did not plan to send troops to help, so he hid in the north. He did not expect that after half a year, not only did the second prince not destroy the Redelis Kingdom's armed forces, but he was also stabbed in the back by the Ford Commercial Alliance. After losing Cambona Province, the second prince lost contact with the Andenac Kingdom. The Podorg Province and Andvov Province, where the capital of Fedelga was located, were both territories of the Redelis Kingdom. Moreover, there was a chaotic battle in Madjik Province, so the situation had become extremely bad. Without support from the rear, he would not be able to hold on at the frontlines.
"Strange, where did the Commercial Alliance get their troops from?" Laurist muttered to himself as he stood up and said to Schwald, "Pass down the order, I want to go to Sirovas Island …"
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