Warlord: King of All Clans

As Uliyan expected, the mountain guerrilla force composed of savages and gnolls did not cause too many casualties to the Black Armor Army.

The longbows and crossbows of the savages and gnolls were ineffective against the Black Armored Army at long range, and could not withstand the counterattacks of the Black Armored Army's heavy crossbows at close range.

In one day, at most it interfered with their cooking speed, and caused few casualties.

On the contrary, many of the wild hunters and ogre guards who lacked armor were shot to death by the Black Armor Army's military steel crossbows.

However, the Black Armor Army is obviously a group of elite infantrymen with heavy armor. They ride horses only to increase their marching speed. Although their horses are covered with horse armor, it is not the imperial heavy armor, but light galvanized horse armor.

So the wild hunters changed their strategy and began hunting the enemy's war horses.

There were quite a few war horses killed or wounded, so some of the black-armored soldiers had to march on foot.

But the twenty-kilometer gravel road was not long, and there were not many wild folks who could catch up. David left two teams of elite black-armored soldiers on foot to cover their retreat, and the main force soon arrived outside the Gravel Fort.

Looking at the rubble fortress wall that was nearly twelve meters high, the black-armored general David couldn't help but feel a pain in his teeth.

How could there be a majestic pass in such a wilderness with no human habitation for dozens of miles around?

The exterior walls of the Viscount Castle in the South may not be of this quality.

David instantly determined that the lord here was a Northern Bannerman.

The political structure of the North is similar to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period on Earth.

Seven hundred years ago, the northern kings, led by the High King of the North, joined the Orlantis Empire and became imperial earls.

But as a condition, they retained a high degree of autonomy, and even their direct allegiance was not to the Emperor of the Empire, but to the Grand Duke of the North.

This is completely different from the southern and western borders.

The berks in the West are all loyal to the emperor of the empire, so no one is willing to submit to anyone else. In the 500 years since joining the empire, no Grand Duke of the West has appeared who can legally subdue all the berks.

The marquises and earls in the south are directly loyal to the emperor, but the large number of viscounts and barons each have their own legal overlords, and only a small number of small nobles are directly under the emperor.

At the beginning, in the first one or two hundred years after the Orlantis Empire successfully expelled the orcs, it also conferred many viscounts and barons in the north.

All the earls, viscounts and barons in the North add up to as many as one hundred.

However, over the course of several hundred years, most of the weak nobles perished in the mutual conquests, and even some earl families that were second only to the Grand Duke of the North disappeared in the long river of history.

The sphere of influence of the seven earls in the North today has fluctuated slightly over the past three hundred years, but there has never been a major change.

They still follow the traditions of the era of kings and are unwilling to have their land and power dispersed.

Therefore, he was not willing to divide his earldom into small viscounties and baronies like the southern border did.

To this day, there are no more noble titles below the Earl of the North, only princely knights.

This is how the title of Knight of the Northern Banner came into being, a hybrid of a semi-military title and a semi-noble title.

They have most of the power and even strength of the Viscounts and Barons of the Southern Territory, but they do not have the legal right to inherit the territory.

The scale of Gravel Castle makes it look like a castle of nobles in the eyes of people in the southern border, and it would be a powerful square flag family in the northern border.

The Black Armor Army's vanguard scouts had already reported the situation here to David, but only by seeing it with one's own eyes could one truly feel powerless.

The southern wall of the Gravel Fort was originally a natural stone wall that was not too steep. It was just a stone slope that could be climbed on foot.

There are gravel and streams under the stone wall, which can also be used as cover for attack.

But Leo certainly couldn't just sit there and do nothing.

During the time he was away, the rubble fort had been built, and he allocated some of the excess labor to carve out and transport away the smooth parts of the stone wall.

They also cleared away the rubble and repaired the stream, turning it into a moat.

Without siege equipment, the Black Armor Army was unable to do anything for a while.

Of course, if they went around for dozens of miles to the other side of the northern city wall, that side would be only four or five meters high and would be easier to attack.

But outside the northern pass was all shrub grassland, the big trees at the foot of the mountain had been cut down by the laborers of Stonefort, and the nearest forest was twenty miles away.

Looking at the black-armored army camped under the city, Knight Solovi sighed and said to Leo: "Go ahead, I can still hold them off for a while."

Leo also observed the black-armored army for a while, and decisively chose to continue running, "Let's run away."

In the past few days, not only the Black Armored Army were looking for the little mouse, but also extraordinary adventurers with stronger individual combat capabilities.

There are not many regular River Bay troops left in Stonebreak Castle. Most of them are militias trained by refugees. It is already difficult for them to defend the city walls, let alone deal with extraordinary adventurers.

Knight Solovy and Leo have hanged two extraordinary adventurers who sneaked into the Gravel Castle at night in search of the princess.

The little mouse stayed here and his situation became increasingly dangerous.

Before Leo left the river bend, everyone had discussed the strategy.

That is to avoid fighting, delay the battle, and not give the other side any reason to attack.

As long as the location of Her Royal Highness the Princess cannot be determined, these armies and adventurers of unknown origin will not be determined to fight to the death.

Of course, if the enemy really wants to attack, it is not impossible to defend. The defense weapons of Gravel Fort are not just simple boulders and rolling logs, but also "booms" made from delicious cassava flour.

But Leo still chose the safest option.

After Leo left from the north gate with Freya and the little mouse, Solovy went out of the city gate alone and met David who was approaching on horseback.

"Who are you, and how dare you lead troops to invade my territory?"

Hearing Knight Solovy's indifferent tone and the strong hostility emanating from him, David did not dare to neglect it.

He made up an identity and reason and asked, "Are you the lord here?"

They had only been here for a few days, and although they had gathered a lot of local information, they had not expected that this castle was also the territory of Hewan.

In the subconscious of the people in the South, let alone a knight's territory, even a baron's or viscount's territory would be at most a few dozen square kilometers, and any larger would be an earl's territory.

Knight Solovy nodded, "That's right, I'm Knight Solovy the Wind."

David was intimidated by the title of the Wind Knight, so he became more cautious and asked, "Can we go into the city and look for him?"

Knight Solovie glanced at the black-armored soldiers behind David, and after thinking for a long time, he said, "Only ten people are allowed to enter."

David could only nod. He was too embarrassed to even suggest asking an army to enter someone else's castle, which would be worse than asking the other party to kneel down and surrender.

Just as David led ten good men into the city to search, Leo had already taken Freya and the little mouse to the courtyard.