Richard spent every day leisurely in Vicksburg, learning magic with Sophia. He wished he could live like this every day until the winter, waiting for the orcs to return to the northern foot of the Eagle Mountains.
His father William was caught in a bitter battle at Black River Castle.
The Sixth Brigade was dispatched to build a camp outside Black River Fort and was the key target of the orc army's attack.
In more than two months of fighting, the Sixth Battalion suffered more than one-third casualties.
Even Richard's third uncle, Bernie, had his stomach cut open by the orcs, and his intestines flowed out all over the floor. If the priest hadn't used a spell to treat serious injuries, Bernie would have died in the battle.
Now the camp can no longer hold, and the legion headquarters has not yet issued an order to retreat.
Just when William was worried, the orcs launched another overwhelming attack.
William has rich war experience and knows that in such dangerous moments, he should be calmer and not expose his panic and fear to the soldiers.
He looked at the remaining soldiers of the Sixth Brigade and found that there was timidity in the soldiers' eyes. William knew very well that at this time, he could not let go of his anger.
Once morale declines, the camp will immediately fall.
At the critical moment, William decided to do a pre-war mobilization. He stood among the soldiers and shouted loudly.
"Brothers of the Sixth Brigade, if the war continues to this point, maybe we will all die?
People are born greedy for life and afraid of death.
As the captain of the Sixth Brigade, I was granted the title of hereditary baron in the last war. I have not enjoyed the life of a hereditary noble for a few days, and I am actually more afraid of death.
Now, I am actually scared to death inside, but I still want to cheer you up and mobilize you. How ironic is this?"
I heard a burst of laughter from the soldiers.
William waved his hand to stop everyone.
“But what’s the use of fearing death?
Will you not die if you are afraid of death?
I have experienced ten orc invasion wars and am a veteran who has been in the army for 27 years.
According to my experience, people who are more afraid of death in war will die more miserably.
On the contrary, the goddess of the morning favors brave men.
Today I am here to call on everyone to fight the final battle.
In the last period of our lives, we must shine with the light of courage and fight to the death against fate.
In the next battle, I, William Haaland, will stand in the middle of the first row and take on the most difficult task.
If I take a step back, please supervise me and cut off the foot I am taking a step back from.
Please also fulfill your duty to fight. No matter who takes a step back, I will cut off the leg he retreats from.
Soldiers, let us cheer, the victory will definitely belong to us, to the Sixth Brigade, and to the Grant people!"
William's agitation was very inspiring. The injured Bernie struggled to stand up, walked to William's side, and shouted loudly: "Let us follow William, victory belongs to us, and victory belongs to the Grant people."
The soldiers shouted in unison, the sound was deafening.
The deputy commander of the army, Tengwei Saman, who was standing at the top of the city, saw this scene and was greatly shocked. Tears suddenly filled his eyes.
But in order to win the war, he could not give William the order to retreat.
He needed to use William's brigade as bait to attract the main force of the orcs to the camp.
In more than two months, Black River Fort built 138 heavy trebuchets, and they were already preparing to deal a heavy blow to the orcs.
The camp where William was stationed was the burial ground prepared by the Northern Army for the orcs.
William fought head-on with six brigades of orcs in the camp, and the orcs concentrated their main force near the camp.
Seeing that the fighter plane was ready, Tengwei Shaman waved his hand fiercely.
The flag was waved, and more than a hundred catapults were launched at once.
The stone bullets were like meteors falling from the sky, hitting the orc team fiercely and accurately.
The sudden scene frightened the attacking orcs.
Although Richard did not give the method of calculating ballistics to the royal family, there was no shortage of smart people in the royal family.
There are many magicians inside the Royal Mage Tower, all of whom are proficient in mathematics. They quickly figured out many stupid methods and summed up some experience in using heavy trebuchets.
For example, if the counterweight is one ton, the riprap pole is fifteen meters long, and the stone projectile is two hundred kilograms, the stone projectile can be launched three hundred meters away on flat ground.
If the trebuchet is installed on a thirty-meter-high city wall, the range can be increased by more than forty meters.
After summing up a lot of experience, the Magic Tower bound these experiences into a book and handed them to the main leaders of each province and each legion.
The trebuchets fired continuously, and after only three rounds of stone bombs, the orcs were already suffering heavy casualties.
Seeing that the orcs began to retreat, the gate of Black River Castle opened wide, and a cavalry rushed out from the city gate to kill the retreating orcs.
The Orc Empire was lagging behind in organization. Two months ago, Richard and the Fort William garrison used heavy trebuchets to severely injure the Orcs.
Such important information did not attract the attention of the top brass of the orcs.
Today, the heavy trebuchet was used for the first time in Black River Castle, and it immediately achieved decisive results, severely damaging the main orc army.
Statistics after the war showed that the orcs left more than 19,000 corpses. Counting the missing and captured, more than 80% of the main orc army was killed.
The Northern Army severely damaged the orcs at Black River Fort, and the situation in Geda Province immediately changed.
Without the orc blockade, political orders issued from Black River Fort can pass.
Finally, Richard could no longer take it easy. Spencer, the mayor of Heihe Fort, sent a military order, asking Richard to mobilize three squadrons of troops to organize a coalition of nobles to expel the Bastruan Brigade.
Now the Northern Legion is chasing the remnants of the main orc army, and the Bastruan Brigade operating in the Gedda Province is left to the private army of the nobles.
As the most powerful unit among the aristocratic private armies in the northern part of Black River Castle, the Harland family naturally shouldered important responsibilities.
After seeing off the messenger, Richard took action immediately.
He first removed a city defense squadron from Fort William, and then persuaded Sophia to send troops to remove a main squadron from Fort Vick.
Concentrating the strength of four squadrons, they left Vic Castle and began to chase the orcs.
Baron Dirham was a softie, and his territory was easily captured by the orcs.
But Baron Rice, who borders Baron Dirham, is a qualified hereditary noble.
Baron Les had only two squadrons of soldiers, and with the support of the neighboring Barons Bazel and Baron Duck, the territory was not lost.
For more than a month, Baron Rice led a coalition of nobles to fight against Bastruan's brigade three times, with each winning and losing, killing more than 200 orcs.
During the attack and defense of Vic Castle, the orc brigade had already lost more than 500 men, and now it was losing another 200 men.
The casualties of Bastruan's brigade have already exceeded half.
After receiving the news of the defeat of Black River Fort, the orc brigade was already in retreat.
Being entangled by Baron Wright, the Bastruan brigade retreated very slowly, and was quickly stopped by Richard and Sophia leading their troops.