Warlord: King of All Clans

Olivia instantly realized that Leo was the adopted son of the Grand Duke of the North.

The second identity of the Grand Duke of the North is Count Odalov.

The Count Odalov family controls the most fertile land in the entire North. The middle plain of the Anzeno River in the north of the territory and the upper plain of the Dome River in the south of the territory are the first and second largest grain-producing areas in the North respectively.

As for the lower Anzeno River plain further north, although the terrain is also flat and the land is fertile, the climate is gradually becoming colder and has been mostly pasture for hundreds of years.

If the entire northern border is compared to the North China region, the Earldom of Odalov would be the ancient Yuzhou and today's Henan.

For a thousand years, it has been the economic, political, and cultural center of the North, with a population density far exceeding that of other earldoms.

This is the reason why the Odalov family has survived for a thousand years. They monopolize nearly one-third of the arable land in the entire North, have the most developed economy in the North, and can afford to support three hundred wind knights and three thousand heavy armored elites.

As for the remaining six earldoms, although they cover a large area, they are poorly developed, with many mountains and swamps, and are inhabited by foreign races everywhere.

For example, the Earldom of Freilov owns the entire Wolf-Driving Plain, monopolizes the World Tree Avenue, and covers an area of ​​more than 100,000 square kilometers.

The actual developed area is only the four cities along the World Tree Avenue, and the level of development is not even as good as that of a prefecture-level city.

Of course, the Earldom of Odalov originally consisted of only tens of thousands of square kilometers of land near the city of Anhurst.

After becoming the High King of the North, he acquired the current vast territory through the continuous annexation of successive family heads.

Of the hundreds of hereditary territories of varying sizes in the North, nearly half were destroyed in the hands of the Odalov family.

The main city of the Odalov family, Ancestor, the holy city in the North, is located in the middle reaches of the Anzeno River, only a thousand miles away from Isenpol.

Not to mention the small river bend, as long as the traffic on the Anzeno River is not blocked, the entire population of Isenpol can be fed.

Of course, the prerequisite is to have money and connections.

It just so happens that Leo now has them all.

I can't say about other support, but as long as Leo is willing to save face and ask for a few ships of food, it will be very easy.

After figuring this out, Olivia felt relieved and immediately laughed, "Who are you? You are my useless husband! The son-in-law of Hewan!"

"How dare you humiliate my Lord!" Leo was immediately furious. He picked up Olivia and threw her into the snow.

The Rose Knights immediately split into two factions. Those who were close to the mistress ran to protect her, while those who were guarding the lord threw snowballs to attack the enemy on his behalf.

At this time, Freya was the happiest. She stood on the side of her sister Olivia without hesitation, and pounced on Leo with a "woop", knocking him to the ground in the snow.

But Leo was not someone to be trifled with. While being knocked down, he used threats and inducements to force Freya to change her position.

And Olivia was obviously more powerful and more worthy of her fawning.

Freya fought back and forth like a Husky having fun in the snow.

The real Erha was on the top floor of the Mage Tower, wearing alchemical goggles, studying her breech-loading flintlock rifle.

In the corner of the alchemy table, seven or eight hunting rifles of various shapes were thrown on the ground. These were obsolete products.

After two months of research, Fraser's breech-loading flintlock rifle was improved several times and finally able to be used in actual combat.

This breech-loading flintlock rifle is almost identical to the single-barreled smoothbore shotgun of later generations, the only difference is that it is still a flintlock.

Its bolt part is an alloy steel tube that looks like a large bullet shell. When it is opened like a single-barreled shotgun, the muzzle of the steel tube is exposed.

Fill the metal tube with gunpowder and lead bullets, close the barrel, pour gunpowder powder into the gunpowder pool, and it can be fired normally.

This shotgun can be loaded with both magnum lead bullets and shotgun shells.

Large lead bullets have a longer range and greater power. They can penetrate ordinary plate armor within twenty meters and accurately hit targets within forty meters.

Small shotgun shells can only be used in close combat and can only pose a threat to plate armor within five meters.

Beyond five meters, the lead bullets will scatter and it will be difficult to penetrate plate armor, but they are still powerful enough to penetrate most scale-locked leather armor within twenty meters and cause damage to the human body.

In order to meet the mass production requirements of Leo, the entire shotgun can be hand-made by the Riverbend gunsmith.

Moreover, because the barrel is shortened, the forging speed is increased, and with the protection of the alloy steel tube, the barrel will not explode easily, and the process requirements of the entire shotgun are also reduced.

The only technical threshold is the alloy steel tube of the bolt part.

Such a small piece of alloy steel pipe is less than six centimeters long. In the eyes of modern people, you can just find a water pipe and cut a lot of it.

But in this era, mortal craftsmen are simply unable to forge it and can only smelt it on the alchemy table in the Mage Tower.

Fortunately, it is only a few centimeters long and the precision requirement is not high. Even Morse's alchemy apprentice, a low-level wizard who has just been promoted to the extraordinary level, can use a low-level alchemy table to make dozens of them a day.

Such a single-barreled shotgun can be transformed into a breech-loading flintlock rifle with a longer range by simply lengthening the barrel.

But because the kobolds couldn't use long rifles, Fraser had no interest in studying them.

When Fraser was researching shotguns, Six accompanied her throughout the process and was responsible for testing the performance of the shotgun and finding defects for her.

Through the small window of the wizard tower, Fesa and Six saw everyone playing in the snow and they barked with envy.

But after turning around several times, the two dogs looked at each other and then focused their attention on the single-barreled shotguns in front of them.

Smart Fraser and brave Six have transcended vulgarity!

Snowball fights are temporary, but gun fights are forever!

The heavy snow lasted for a week before it stopped. A week later, the River Bend Road connecting to the river mouth and the Gravel Road connecting to Gravel Fort were reopened. At the same time, various news came.

The Wolf-Drivers in the north, with the integration of the Jungle Trolls, formed a mixed tribe of nearly 10,000 people, and their sphere of influence approached the Gravel Hills.

Moreover, taking advantage of the heavy snow, the vanguard troops of the Troll Clan took the opportunity to plunder the pastures outside Stonecrest, taking away thousands of cattle and sheep from several pastures.

Uliyan sat on the lord's throne. He was in his early forties and already had white hair. He was now a mature head of a noble family and had a graceful demeanor.

After hearing the news, he immediately summoned the top leaders of Hewan to discuss military affairs.

However, Leo has always been in charge of the military affairs of Hewan, and Uliyan has been listening in most of the time and providing advice.

In the past, he had to back Leo up and support his decisions, but now that is no longer necessary, as Leo already has enough authority in Hewan.

Below the lord's throne, in front of the fire pit, there is a square table with a topographic map of the river bend on it.

Ivan, who came running, asked, "Are there any casualties?"

"No, the herders got the news from the sentinels and fled back to the Stone Fort in advance, but they didn't have time to move their cattle and sheep, so they were all taken away."

Ordinary citizens do not have the strength or courage to graze on the Gravel Hills. The pastures outside the Gravel Castle are all the property of the lord's mansion, and the herdsmen who graze are disabled retired veterans who are smarter than active soldiers.

Vicchi asked solemnly, "Should we gather the troops to help Stonebreak Castle?"

Leo nodded. "You can gather the troops, but don't go to Stonewall Fort. Go directly to Linhai Town. It's more likely to be attacked there."

The northern wall of Gravel Fort was originally located at the highest and narrowest point of the mountain pass. After three expansions, it was increased from four meters to ten meters.

Moreover, as the frontline position for the river bend's defense against the wolves and foreign invaders, it has the largest number of troops stationed here and is well-equipped with weapons for defending the city.

The garrison at Stonewall Fort relied on them to hold off the enemy's attack.

"So when do we leave?"

Leo looked at the map and arranged: "You go back now to gather your troops and rush to Linhai Town to help."

"As for me, I have to go to Isenbor first to convene a meeting of lords."