Warlord: King of All Clans

Leo was stunned when he heard the words of the Grand Duke of the North.

The image of the little mouse immediately appeared in his mind, so he turned around and looked at the Duke of the North. After confirming their eyes, he smiled and said, "You're welcome."

One noble, one humble, one old, one young, both of them obviously thought of the little mouse, and they both smiled like old fathers.

Walking out of the Earl's Palace, Knight Arnold stared at Leo, as if he didn't know this young man.

When the Grand Duke of the North praised him, his words were gentle and forceful, but he always gave people a sense of invisible pressure from a superior, which made him always observe the rules of hierarchy.

But when it comes to Leo, his attitude changes quietly, as if he is treating his own children and grandchildren.

Is it just because he is the son-in-law of an ally of the eldest brother of a retired knight of the Wind Knights under the Archduke?

No, the Grand Duke of the North even thanked him!

Knight Arnold couldn't understand what Leo had done to deserve such public thanks from the Grand Lord of the North.

In the Earl's Mansion, the Grand Duke of the North sat at his desk and continued to handle official business and summoned generals.

When I have free time, I can't help but take out another letter and read it again.

This is the letter his granddaughter wrote to him after she was successfully rescued. He has read it four or five times.

Two years ago, his youngest daughter took her granddaughter to Olenik, but the alchemical airship crashed in the mountains of Earl Beboos's territory.

The explosion caused by the crash of the Alchemy airship was very violent. Although no remains of the little princess were found, not many people thought that the little princess could survive.

He also sent his Wind Knights to track and investigate, but like the other two major knightly orders, nothing was found in the end.

Looking for a little girl in the vast northern territory is like looking for a needle in a haystack, and no one knows whether she is still alive.

As the orcs moved southward, the war situation became urgent and the Grand Duke of the North had no choice but to recall all his extraordinary troops to fight against the orcs.

Like the Emperor of the Southern Territory, the Grand Duke of the Northern Territory has not had an easy time these years.

Although he was still the nominal ruler of the North and the Lord of the Seven Lords, he owned the most fertile land, the largest population, the largest cities, and the most powerful army in the North.

But compared to a hundred years ago, the reputation of the Northern Grand Duke's family has begun to decline.

If a dispute had arisen between the earls of the North a hundred years ago, the Duke's Palace would have only needed to issue an order, and the earls on both sides would have stopped the war and personally rushed to the Duke's Palace in Olenik to wait for the Grand Duke of the North to mediate.

But now, let alone deciding everything with one word, even if he wanted to call on the earls to send troops to resist the invasion of the orcs, he had to go there personally to force the earls to come.

Otherwise, as the Grand Duke of the North, he could just stay in the main city of Olenik and defend the eastern frontier. Why would he need to lead his troops all the way to Frovald in the western North?

As long as he did not appear on the city wall of Frovald, these powerful earls would dare to shirk responsibility and delay each other, ignoring the invasion of the orcs and continuing their civil war.

The beastmen are under a lot of pressure, and the humans are also under great pressure.

Although Frovald now seems to be a gathering of heroes, in fact the local legions are weak, and the earl's legions are afraid of fighting and want to protect themselves. They simply have no confidence to leave the city and fight a decisive battle with the main force of the orcs.

When Varanger fell, Count Fruilov and his earl's legion were killed by the orc army. The entire Earldom of Fruilov lost 70% of its combat power, leaving only three low-level local legions.

In order to deal with the main force of the orcs in the east, Count Isharov and Count Kurolov in the eastern part of the North did not send troops to Frovald.

Now, the Grand Duke of the North only has his own 5,000 elite troops, Count Gustav's Legion of 3,000, Count Beboos's Legion of 6,000, and Count Beowulf's Legion of 6,000.

Together with Frowald's two thousand defenders and eight thousand local legions, the total number was thirty thousand.

Although their combat power is elite, their number is 20,000 less than the main orc army.

The Grand Duke of the North could only rely on the city to defend himself.

Fortunately, the Beastmen’s logistics are weak, and their food depends entirely on the other half of the clan to gather and hunt in the wild. Their own reserves are not much, and now they are already showing signs of decline.

As food resources in the north become increasingly scarce, the main force of the orcs is blocked outside the city of Frovald and cannot continue to move south. Sooner or later, they will face the crisis of food shortage.

War does not only depend on which side has the stronger army, but also on which side has more stable logistics.

Even if the humans in the North do nothing, as long as they hold on to Frovald for a year, the orcs will definitely not survive the next winter.

However, this plan has two prerequisites.

First, during this year, the covetous Southern Border will not take the opportunity to declare war on the Northern Border.

Second, the major earldoms in the north are willing to continuously provide food and supplies to Frovald's army throughout the year.

Unfortunately, the Grand Duke of the North felt that there was little hope for either of these two points.

That was why he rewarded the Isenbol Legion with a large sum of money, encouraging the human legion to take the initiative in fighting, reducing the orcs' access to resources, and squeezing their living space.

If the Isenbol Legion killed two thousand orcs in a short period of time, as it did eight or ten times, the main orc legion would have internal strife due to lack of food.

The human army formed by the five earls cannot work together, so how can the orc army formed by hundreds of clans remain united?

The Grand Duke of the North was extremely delighted when he received the news that his granddaughter had been rescued. It was not only because of the spiritual comfort he gained after losing his beloved daughter, but also because of political considerations.

The little princess of the empire is the link between the north and the south. As long as she is still alive, the marriage relationship between the Duke's Mansion in the North and the royal family in the South will not be severed.

Although the current situation of the Southern Territory Royal Family is worse than that of the Duke's Palace in the North, it still owns the entire Orlantiri Province and has two hundred Griffin Knights. Its military strength ranks among the top ten in the South, and the family's influence still ranks first.

If the imperial royal family stepped in to suppress them, the restless nobles in the southern border would be more obedient.

The Grand Duke of the North, who was sitting in Frovald, was unable to break the impasse in a short period of time and could only find a little comfort by reading his granddaughter's letter.

"Grandpa, please make Leo an earl, and give him half of your Wind Knight, okay?"

"Leo and sister Olivia's hometowns are both next to the Aeolus Fortress. Grandpa, you should give the Aeolus Fortress to Leo as well!"

Every time he saw this, the Grand Duke of the North couldn't help but smile.

The little girl didn't understand the complexity of politics and just wanted to give back to others with everything she had.

But giving Leo the title of count and the fortress is good for him, right?

The identity of the Earl of the North is not only reflected in himself, but also in his one hundred and eighty in-laws and vassal families.

If Leo is crowned Earl of the North, how many troops can he mobilize when his neighbors declare war on him?

However, even if the Earl's family, which has hundreds of years of inheritance, does not send out a single soldier, his one hundred blood relatives, in-laws, and vassal families, each of which sends out one hundred armored soldiers, can form an army of ten thousand people.

As for the Wind Knight...

Thinking of this, the Duke of the North beckoned the guards and ordered, "Give a horse to Leo Mondo of the Isenbor Legion."

"Dragon scale horse, I want the best."