Warlord: King of All Clans

The people from the northern border, who were born in the bitter and cold land, only realized that there is always a better place when they arrived in the western border.

The prairie wind that blew all day long swept up dry snow powder, hitting their faces and quickly taking away the little remaining warmth.

No matter how good their warm equipment was or how strong their willpower was, the Hewan soldiers could not march for a whole day in such a snowstorm.

Even if the Riverbend soldiers could, their war horses and pack horses could not.

This was only daytime. At night, the temperature dropped sharply and the breath turned into ice. The team could only find a sheltered place to camp before dark and hide in tents to keep warm.

They couldn't carry much firewood with them, and the endless grasslands in the west were different from the vast forests in the north. They couldn't find much fuel at all, and could only barely collect some dead grass and shrubs.

These Northern soldiers, who were able to break through the ice to swim in winter and fight shirtless in the snow, were frozen to death on the Western grasslands where the temperature was higher.

After half a month of special operations, the number of Hewan soldiers did not decrease much, but most of them suffered frostbite to varying degrees.

Strong followed Leo's orders and did not let the Riverbend soldiers engage in high-intensity combat and incur unnecessary sacrifices, but he also did not intend to let them make money too easily.

After taking over the mine, Noyce's team felt a little better.

While he was keeping watch, one of Noyes's friends came over, scratching the itchy chilblains on the back of his hand, and was particularly puzzled. "This ore mine is quite large, but after looking at the quality and output, I guess it can't even supply a small civilian blast furnace in Hewan. Why would they seize such a garbage mine?"

"When spring comes, the Third Madam will go to the River Bay House and make a scene. Won't she return it to the West Territory? Then won't we have stolen it for nothing?"

The third lady refers to Arina of the Tarhan tribe, which is a secret name in the army.

The soldiers of the main River Bend Legion are all Leo's fanatical fans, and the focus of their casual conversations is naturally the Dragon Slayer Leo.

When she was bored in private, she would fight for the status of her lord's mistress.

Some people think that Arina is strong enough and has a strong record, so she can be ranked second.

Some people think that Noreen is of noble birth and is more favored by the mistress, so she should be ranked second.

Because of this incident, opposing camps emerged in the military camp, and each side established its own party.

There are also some people who think that neither of these two is good enough, and that the lord’s favorite is Si Zhuang, so "Mrs. Niu" can be ranked second.

Of course, these things were just private entertainment, and even Leo was completely unaware of them.

Noyce smiled on his young face and explained, "Mineral resources are not about current output, but about storage and mining difficulty. Now that this mine is in Hewan's hands, it will be no problem for the output to increase tenfold."

"If we don't seize it now, we will have to contribute a lot and take a small share when we develop it together with the Tarhan tribe. Now it's in our hands, even if we jointly operate it in the future, we will have the final say."

"And this mine doesn't have to be returned to the Tarhan tribe. It can also be returned to the A'er tribe, or the Kasi tribe, or the Kerey tribe. This is the only way to break the Tarhan tribe's monopoly."

Noyce's friend seemed to understand what he said, but he did not question it. He just said enviously: "I really need to read more. I have no idea what you are talking about."

Currently, the trade between the Western Territory and the Northern Territory is in a stage of mutual monopoly.

Seventy percent of Hewan’s commodity exports come from official trade managed by the Lord’s Mansion.

The same is true in the Western Territory, where 70% of the minerals and caravans are owned by the Talhan family.

This may not be a problem in the short term, but after a few years, the monopoly situation will have an increasingly greater impact on profits.

Whether it is the input or output of goods, productivity has increased, costs have decreased, but the benefits have not changed much. Who can stand this?

The consumption of fuel stone in Hewan is becoming more and more intense, but the price of fuel stone of the Talhan family has only dropped by 30%. In other words, each kilogram of coal costs seven copper coins, which is more expensive than the food in Hewan.

If the Red Stone Castle mine goes into production next year and the fuel stone consumption increases exponentially, but the price of fuel stone is still monopolized by the Talhan family, then Hewan will be working for the Talhan family, and the bulk of the profits from steel exports will be taken by the Talhan family.

In the face of huge interests, the binding force of a piece of covenant seems too weak.

Leo is unwilling to break the alliance between the two parties, but that doesn't mean he is willing to suffer a loss.

Therefore, Strong's military operation not only resolved the unstable factor of Dukak, but also took the opportunity to break the monopoly of the Talhan family.

If other grassland tribes also have a supply of fuel stone and the price is less than half of that of the Talhan family, why should I continue to purchase it at a high price?

As the dominant party, I can monopolize, but you can't!

After chatting for a while, the friend looked at the snow outside and said, "You unlucky boy, you are a Hewan person with a good family background. You just need to be promoted step by step. It's not like us who have to work hard and constantly gain military merits. Why do you run to the West to suffer instead of staying at home with your beautiful wife?"

Little Noyce looked at the snow and whispered, "The commander took too much care of me. I ran away secretly this time. You need military merit, and I also need to prove myself."

The core senior executives of the entire River Bay all knew that Little Noyce was Leo’s cousin and also his “eldest disciple”.

This is one of the first batch of officers trained by Leo personally, and also the junior that Leo values ​​most.

So whether it is Leo or other military leaders, they will subconsciously protect him.

Young Noyce has been in the army for the past few years, but he has mainly been assigned less dangerous duties such as patrolling, suppressing bandits, and guarding the border.

Even if he followed the regular army to fight, he would stay beside Leo as a personal soldier.

So although he is only twenty years old now, he is already a veteran among veterans, and is only one step away from entering the upper echelons of the military.

But young Noyce was not reconciled in his heart.

The older brothers in the village: Leo, Viktor, Ivan, etc., were all only a few years older than him, but none of them was protected like he was.

Unfortunately, Hewan's huge network of personal connections had already been formed. Even though he resigned from his post in Arbroath and returned home, and joined Strong's team without telling Leo, the other generals who knew about this did not let him go, but instead casually sent a personal guard or an officer to him.

Now, in his team of one hundred people, there are twelve extraordinary people assisting him in fighting. He has both strategists and warriors.

The friend who talked to him was not a good person either. Although he acted like a fool in front of little Noyce, he also graduated from Hewan Primary School and attended a serious officer training class.

After defeating the main force of the A'er tribe, he was the one who initiated the negotiations with the remaining forces. With his imposing and well-reasoned speeches, he made the remaining Western Territory warriors put down their knives.

This is the biggest secret to the success of Strong's winter military operation.

The thousand Hewan soldiers are not only a pure combat unit, but also a group of illiterate personnel. Pick out any company commander or battalion commander, and their comprehensive quality is comparable to that of a thousand-man captain in the Western Territory.

Whether competing in battle or in verbal confrontation with the tribal leaders in the west, he can crush them.

Only such an army can break away from the commander's vision and independently complete complex military tasks.