Warlord: King of All Clans

Earl of the North is the only actual title in the North.

In the North, the only hereditary titles are earl and grand duke. There are no such things as viscount and baron as are found in the South.

Even if it was imposed by people from the southern border hundreds of years ago, it soon disappeared in the long river of time.

Today, there are only seven earl titles in the entire North, so you can imagine how noble they are.

As the bloodline of the 100 sons of the gods, the Seven Earls of the North are the seven eldest brothers. Every earl of the North can be worshipped in the ancestral temple and accept worship from all the tribes in the North.

If you lose the war, you will be sent to that station. Civilian soldiers have no right to take prisoners and must be well fed and served.

You have to be at least a city lord, and only as a descendant of an earl's family can you negotiate and talk with them.

Count Fabti of the Kurolov family, joined forces with the orcs to break through Peshnik and killed Count Isharov in battle. This was already a great offense against the world and also brought shame to the Grand Duke of the North.

The earls were attacking each other, confiscating property and exterminating clans, but he, the Grand Duke of the North, was unable to intervene. What would the people of the world think?

It's easier to deal with Kurolov, just think he has evil ambitions and wants to rebel.

Count Rio Mundo of River Bay is the adopted son of the Grand Duke and the newly-appointed Count personally supported by Grand Duke Michael Odalov. Now he wants to rebel too?

The Earl of Riverbend is the adopted son of the Grand Duke of the North, and the Earl of Fonteyne is the Grand Duke of the North's henchman. The attacks between the two were intended to shake the Grand Duke of the North's rule.

If Leo had simply defeated the Gustav family and occupied their land, the Grand Duke of the North could still favor his adopted son despite public opinion.

The Earl of the North is personally quite strong, and he is surrounded by the army and the protection of extraordinary people. As long as he does not want to die, it will be difficult for him to die on the battlefield.

At most, you will lose your territory and become a puppet.

But now that an earl has died, the situation has changed, and the Grand Duke of the North has to intervene to prevent his own ruling authority from completely collapsing.

The Grand Duke of the North hinted to Rio to expand southwards through Grant out of consideration for the situation in the North.

The weakened Gustav family could no longer serve as his right-hand man and help him resist attacks from the south.

Therefore, no matter how loyal Count Fonteyne had been over the years, he could not escape the fate of being replaced by the Grand Duke.

Why not take advantage of the fact that the orcs are peaceful, Kurolov has just been defeated, and there is no movement in the south, to replace the weak Gustav with the powerful River Bay? In a few years, the world will be in chaos, and you will sit back and watch your own Earldom of Odalov being surrounded by enemies on all sides?

Take the last Frovald racial war as an example. If the Gustav family had not been unable to defend the southern border, allowing the Southern MacDonald Corps to invade, the rear of the Northern Coalition would have been unstable.

If the Duke of the North can hold out in Frovald for another year or two, he will be able to wear out the Western Legion of the Orcs, and there will be no need to cede land or negotiate.

Whether it is supporting the Earldom of River Bay or establishing the Earldom of Grant, both are strategic plans of the Grand Duke of the North to build a barrier around his own territory.

The Earldom of Odalov is located in the north, occupying the most fertile plains, and cannot be unstable on all sides.

But now, Fonteyna used his own life to defeat the Grand Duke of the North, forcing him to intervene and extend the life of the Gustav family for a few more years.

At Earl Odalov's palace in Anhurst, Leo met the Grand Duke of the North again.

In order to prevent the Grand Duke from getting angry, he specially asked Six to wear an exquisite little dress, wag his tail obediently, and present the gifts from the river bend.

But the Duke of the North was not really angry. Instead, he praised: "You have a really good general. He captured a city in Earl Gustav's territory and defeated the main army within two months. I thought it would take at least a year. It's really unexpected."

Leo said modestly: "It was just luck. I took advantage of the opportunity."

The Duke of the North sighed and said, "Originally I could have left it alone, but Fontena was a bit stubborn and died on the battlefield, even killed by your alien army. I had no choice but to intervene."

Leo quickly expressed his understanding, "Whatever the Grand Duke does is right."

At this time, Xikes wagged his tail and looked at the Grand Duke with tears in his eyes, "Grand Duke of the Northern Territory, it took many lives for us to conquer the city of Weidanlan. Can we not give it back?"

The Duke of the North smiled and said, "I said what I should say, and you do what you should do. There is no need to be too serious about every word. Just keep a sense of proportion in everything."

He then pointed out something, "Gustav's Xingtao City has the largest iron mine in the North. There are three roads to the west that connect to the West, and another road to the south that leads to the South. This is a battleground for the western part of the North, so don't try to get your hands on it."

Leo patted his chest and promised, "I will never do that!"

Although the wording of the edict was harsh, the Grand Duke was expressing his political attitude and appeasing other earls and vassals, and he secretly supported Leo's efforts to become stronger.

In addition to the Earldom of the Reach, the Duke was also very concerned about the movements of the Earldom of Beowulf. After learning that the wild folk wanted to make Leo the king of the wild folk, he also advised: "Before the invasion of the orcs, the wild folk have always been the biggest hidden danger in the North. Even the wild tribes are more obedient than them. If you become the king of the wild folk, at least in the next twenty years, you don't have to worry about the disaster of the wild folk."

Leo just wanted to take care of his own family. He nodded randomly and said, "We'll talk about it later. I'll manage the river bend first."

After finishing the business, they chatted about some family matters. After knowing that Olivia was pregnant, the Grand Duke of the North took up his pen again and wrote a gift list.

Leo took a look at it and handed it to Six beside him.

The gold, silver, jewelry, and various materials in this gift list are worth no less than ten thousand gold. In fact, it is the compensation made by the Grand Duke for his intervention in the expansion of the river bend.

The Grand Duke was a reasonable man. With just one sentence, Leo gave up the Earl's capital city that was within his grasp, and he could not remain silent at all.

Six's eyes widened as he stared, and he immediately thought that the Duke of the North was not bad, so he went up to him and wagged his tail.

Looking at the well-behaved little golden retriever, the Duke of the Northern Territory also became interested and asked, "Would you like to sell this puppy? How about keeping it in my house for a few days?"

"What puppy? This is your darling granddaughter! Six, call me grandpa!"

Six barked, "Grandpa Grandpa!"

Three days later, Leo said goodbye and left, riding Pegasus back to the army with the fruitful harvest of Six.

The first thing he did was to lead the army to surround Xingtao City, expel the former city lord Raymond Gustav by force, and occupy the entire territory of Xingtao City!

At this point, the two branch cities in the west and north, five castles, and two-fifths of the territory of Earl Gustav were all occupied by Earl River Bay.

Isenbol, Abros, Vidanlan City, Xingtao City, four cities, nine castles, more than ten small towns, and nearly three hundred knight territories of all sizes.

If we include the Buck Mountains in the middle, the Earldom of Riverbend has an area of ​​one province and a population of 600,000 to 700,000. In terms of territory and population, it has caught up with the Great Earl of the North.