This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

However, her actions did not escape the keen eyes of Belfast, who quickly found out after asking a few questions.

Dick was overjoyed upon hearing the good news. Although he looked young, his soul, having lived two lives, was already approaching fifty. He had the body of a young boy but the heart of an old man. So he quickly tidied himself up and ran to find the Great Emperor's mother to confirm.

"Yes, my child, I have conceived a child that belongs to us."

"Great."

Overwhelmed with excitement, Dick wanted to go up and hug the Emperor's mother, and then he happily listened to see if there was a second heartbeat in her belly, which made the Emperor's mother smile and laugh.

"You silly child, there's no way it'll happen so quickly. Besides, I'm a ship girl, so theoretically, the child I give birth to will be a clone of me that incorporates your genes. That's why I haven't been in a hurry to tell you, because the existence of this child might... not be in line with the ethical standards of this world?"

"This is my daughter, our flesh and blood, and I don't care what others think!"

Dick was overjoyed. If it weren't for his height, he would have loved to pick up the Emperor's mother and spin her around a few times.

Soon, news of Frederick the Great's pregnancy spread throughout the group, and all his companions in the main city rushed over to offer their congratulations, then looked at Dick with fervent eyes.

When a woman truly loves you to the core, she will desperately want to have your child; this is probably a primal instinct in females.

That very night, Dick was kidnapped by several hot-tempered action-oriented members of the team!

Lucoa, Resentment, Golden Deer, and Shizuka Marikawa, who happened to bump into Dick on the way while having a late-night snack and was so happy to join in, these four infatuated women carried Dick into a small dark room with a sign that read "You can't escape until everyone gets pregnant," all of them looking like they were starving and wanted to devour him.

"My dear older sisters, isn't this a bit much?!"

Chapter 301: A Wolf Infiltrates the Flock of Sheep

With October drawing to a close, this year’s winter in the north seems to be unusually warm. Apart from a brief frost at the beginning of the month, the temperature has risen slightly since then, and there has been no snowfall so far. This makes northerners, who are used to continuous snowfall starting in mid-October, feel somewhat uncomfortable.

However, at this time in the north, not everyone had the leisure to pay attention to the weather changes. People in the Northeast, Northwest and Central South regions showed three completely different mindsets.

With the Northern Alliance stationed there, the Northeast remained peaceful and prosperous. Whether nobles or commoners, everyone enjoyed the joy and satisfaction brought by the bumper harvest, no longer tormented by wind and snow.

In the central and southern regions, officials were laughing while the people were crying. The noble group led by Marquis Richard voluntarily colluded with the tax collection team from the capital, but the taxes still had to be paid. However, Harvey gave them autonomy, only setting a figure and letting the local nobles raise the tax money themselves.

Ultimately, all these additional burdens will fall on the shoulders of ordinary people, while the officials will not only not lose out, but may even make a profit.

As for the worst-hit Northwest region, the tax collection teams composed of the Imperial Guards didn't even bother with the pretense of civilization. They were just like the Japanese invading a village, directly robbing everything of value that they could see.

In addition, in order to speed up tax collection and make up for the shortage of manpower, Harvey also temporarily recruited some locals as "assistants" for the tax collection team. Most of the recruits were local hooligans and ruffians, and there were even bandits and outlaws who impersonated others and transformed themselves into "officers and soldiers".

These lackeys were even more brutal and vicious than the guards in the tax collection team.

Soon, the people in the Northwest region could no longer hold on. Some fled into the deep mountains to try to hide, but with the approaching winter and severe food shortages, it was difficult for them to survive and emerge alive.

Others headed east, intending to seek a way to survive in Laguge.

But these people had no idea what terrible things awaited them ahead!

At this moment, in the mountains north of Earl Hoffman's territory, tens of thousands of orc cavalry were lying in ambush, awaiting their commander's order to attack.

With the help of some "human friends," these orcs infiltrated the land defenses controlled by the border legions in batches, successfully bypassing the more treacherous fjord direction and reaching the enemy's flank.

However, they did not rush to launch an attack. Instead, they waited for the orc legions responsible for the feint attack on the wasteland to arrive and draw the main force of Ragug to the fjord defense line before taking the opportunity to attack their weak points.

Over the past two years, Ramon has implemented numerous reforms within the orc army, reorganizing it in the same way as the human army, while also promoting a group of more intelligent orc sons.

Neg, whom Ramon had always been very optimistic about, suffered many defeats during the Winter War. However, after reviewing the game, Ramon realized that Neg had played at a high level throughout the entire war, and the one who defeated him was Dick Best, whom even Ramon himself was very wary of.

That's why Ramon didn't think Neg was bad at all. In fact, seeing that Neg had managed to escape death time and time again, he thought that Neg must have had some luck to it.

So, with Ramon's promotion, Neg is now the corps commander of the newly formed First Army Corps. His troops are now slowly approaching the north shore of the fjord, making it look like a large army is pressing in.

The orc who commanded the invading cavalry was named Gongg, who was the younger brother of Neg, born to the same human mother.

During the days since entering the human territory, Gongge has strictly disciplined his subordinates, telling them to stay hidden in the mountains and not to make any rash moves. He is very clear about what his mission is this time and cannot afford to make any mistakes.

As for the "human friend" who was in charge of making contact and guiding them, Gongge had been keeping him by his side these past few days, asking him to practice the human language with him, and also asking him a lot of questions about human territory. He seemed to be a very talkative half-orc.

"According to you, the human empire becomes more developed the further south you go, and the capital you just mentioned is even bigger than our capital, Dadu?"

"Hehe, you jest, sir. I'm not bragging, but although I've never been to your capital, I know that the orc population in the wasteland isn't very large, less than a million. But our Black Forest Empire's capital has over eight million inhabitants, and if you consider the entire imperial capital region as a whole, it easily exceeds ten million. That's definitely larger than your capital, isn't it?"

"That sounds amazing! I really want to see it for myself!"

Seeing the longing look on Gongge's face, the guide couldn't help but sneer inwardly and mutter "country bumpkin" to himself.

He had been staying in this stinky orc camp for several days, and every day he had to force a smile and chat with this talkative half-orc bastard while enduring the nausea.

Fortunately, his mission was expected to end soon, and once these foolish orcs marched on Ragug, which was also ruled by mongrels, he would find a chance to escape.

With his high-level warrior strength, the orc bastard might not even have noticed him leaving.

At this moment, one of Gongge's personal guards ran over, with an eagle perched on his arm and a thin letter tube tied to its leg.

The guards opened the letter tube in front of Gongge and handed him the papyrus slip inside.

Upon seeing this, the guide assumed that the orcs' feint attack force had arrived and the attack could finally begin.

"Are we about to begin?"

"Ah."

"Great, this is it... pfft!"

Before the guide could finish speaking, Gongge swiftly drew his knife and plunged it into his abdomen.

Although he possessed the strength of a high-level warrior, he was still caught off guard and ambushed by another expert of equal strength.

Gongge, grinning maliciously, twisted the blade and sliced ​​the opponent's stomach open from the right side.

"you you……"

The guide, his mouth spitting blood, could no longer utter a complete sentence, while Gongge grinned maliciously and kicked him to the ground.

"Foolish fellows, do you really think our king doesn't know what you're up to? War is all about the final outcome. Fighting Laguge is nowhere near as easy as fighting your nobility from the central and southern regions."

Stomping on the unseeing head of the guide to prevent his resurrection, Gongge wiped the sole of his shoe and blew the whistle to signal assembly. The beastmen, who had been holed up in the forest for seven or eight days, immediately perked up.

Riding his ferocious beast, Gongge leaped onto a large rock and roared his pre-battle declaration in a deafening voice.

"Warriors of the Beast King, it is time for us to prove our loyalty and bravery. The King has ordered us to launch an attack to the south, to kill, to plunder, and to spread fear! Let us tell those weak and cowardly humans that the wolves of the wasteland, who terrify them so much they dare not close their eyes in their sleep, have come to play with them again!"

Chapter 302: Human-Beast Play

In just one day, the already chaotic northern region, which was in turmoil due to taxation, was thrown into even greater chaos by the sudden appearance of an orc army.

Nearly 10,000 orc cavalry appeared without warning on the inner side of the border and launched a rapid southward attack with lightning speed, aiming directly at the central and southern regions behind them, catching the local nobles' private armies off guard.

At the same time, a large army of tens of thousands of people appeared on the north shore of the fjord. The south shore defense line immediately entered a state of full combat readiness according to the plan, and the various covenant members of the Northern Alliance also sent troops to the front line to support them, vowing to stop the orcs from crossing the sea.

After the incident, the most panicked person was undoubtedly Marquis Richard, who had secretly colluded with the orcs and revealed a smuggling route that could cross the border defenses to them, luring their army into the heartland.

His original intention was to use the orcs to inflict heavy damage on Ragug and the entire northeastern region.

If the eight thousand orc cavalry were to seize the opportunity to invade, they would definitely turn the Northern Alliance's territory upside down and severely curb their development momentum, which is what the nobles in the central and southern regions all hope to see.

But these self-proclaimed clever people never expected that the once ferocious but foolish orcs had already learned to use their brains!

Ramon saw through the intentions of these traitors at a glance, so he turned the tables and dealt a heavy blow to these "allies".

Two years ago, the orc invasion only devastated the northwest. The central and southern regions were spared because of the Nie River defense line painstakingly built by Earl Hoffman.

This time, however, it was the nobles of the central and southern regions who personally acted as guides, allowing the orc cavalry to appear directly in the heartland east of the Nie River without losing a single soldier.

It is indeed very close to Lagug, but it is also not far from the Marquis of Richard's territory.

It's worth mentioning that the appearance of the orcs scared Count Hoffman, this "otherworldly Yan Xishan," half to death. After investigating the truth, he was furious.

Prior to this, Count Hoffmann, fearing the rise of Lagug, maintained a neutral stance on the surface but secretly mingled more closely with the conservatives in the south and central regions. He also hoped to revert to the previous version, returning the situation to what it was a few years ago.

Richard's actions were tantamount to a ruthless betrayal of his potential ally.

After the nearly 10,000 orcs began their attack, they first chased him into his territory. They nearly killed Count Hoffman, who was patrolling the countryside at the time. He only managed to escape with his life thanks to the desperate protection of his family guards.

Enraged, Hoffman sided entirely with the Northern Union.

You're not worth talking to. I'm not going to associate with you bunch of scum!

The eight thousand beast riders swept through the land almost unimpeded, and the small and medium-sized territories were simply powerless to stop such a large-scale orc invasion.

This time, the orcs' invasion was not for plunder, but for destruction!

Ramon had long seen through the disunity of the human race. His strategy was to use destruction and plunder to weaken the strength of the empire's northern border until they were able to annex it.

Therefore, Gongge's mission can be summed up in one word—kill!

People were to be killed, and livestock were to be killed as well. Anything that could be set on fire was to be set on fire, and anything that couldn't be set on fire was to be kicked.

Gongge was overjoyed with this job. He wasn't stupid, no less so than his brother Nege, but he was more ferocious and sought thrills in battle, which he found very exciting!

The orcish Saint-level expert who accompanied him this time was none other than the orcish druid who could transform into a Nightmare Dragon.

Two years ago, he was defeated in the war by a human woman who could transform into a serpentine dragon. When he returned to the orc capital, he was shocked to hear the devastating news that his most respected master had died.

In order to avenge himself on the human race, he followed the customs of the orcs and forged his teacher's remains into a "witchcraft crown" to wear on his head. This would greatly enhance his strength and grant him his master's ability to transform.

On their southward advance, the army easily defeated most of the human territories, but occasionally encountered some formidable opponents.

When they first arrived at the border of Marquis Richard's territory, they were intercepted by a private army of more than three thousand nobles. The key was that they had invited a Saint-level mage to help them.

The orc druid immediately transformed to fight his opponent, skillfully using several transformations to counter the opponent's magic. Finally, he successfully closed in and used his master's stag-headed spirit transformation, delivering a powerful headbutt that shattered the opponent's protective magical barrier, sending him crashing into the mud.

In this battle, the orc druids successfully regained their confidence by killing the human saint-level warriors, and their army was greatly encouraged. They quickly scattered the three thousand human soldiers and soon reached the gates of Marquis Richard's main city.

On the watchtower of the city wall, looking down at the ferocious orc cavalry below, Marquis Richard's nightmare was awakened again, making him vaguely recall the scene of being besieged in the town of Ideide. His fat face instantly lost all color, and his double chin almost trembled out of shape.

Over the past two years, the Marquis Richard has not been able to shake off the shadow of that time. After fleeing back to his hometown, he became withdrawn for a period of time and later developed bulimia. He quickly became a completely different person from the elegant and flamboyant middle-aged man he once was.

Ironically, this guy transformed his fear of orcs into hatred for Ragug!

He hated Dick for stealing his limelight, taking away his title as the best in the North, and even becoming the object of ridicule for many people, all of which Richard could not accept.

Upon seeing the orcs approaching the city, Richard's first thought was to send someone to Lord Harvey, who was still collecting taxes in the northwest, to ask for help. He hoped that, for the sake of the Empire, Harvey would lead his three thousand guards back to help his brother!

However, at this moment, Harvey was in dire straits, barely able to save himself!

Due to the tax collection team's perverse actions, Harvey had already caused widespread resentment in the Northwest. Those who were driven to the brink of despair and refused to submit to death had no choice but to rise up in rebellion.

In the early stages, these peasant rebels were indeed no match for the well-trained Imperial Guards, and because they fought individually and were not united enough, they were easily annihilated by the Imperial Guards, whose bodies were hung up as a warning to others.

However, just as the Royal Guard and his henchmen were having a great time crushing the weak, the Orcs attacked.

Ramon used the smuggling route provided by Marquis Richard to send in more than just Gongge's team. After confirming that Gongge's progress was going smoothly, the follow-up troops quickly followed and launched an attack to the northwest.

Then a rather darkly humorous scene unfolded: a peasant uprising army actually contacted the invading orc army and led them to fight Harvey's tax collection team.

It should be noted that Harvey plundered the people's wealth in the Northwest, and the money and grain he plundered were not immediately sent to the south. Instead, they were first concentrated in one place and transported together after the amount had been collected.

Harvey chose to stockpile grain at the very place that was the Marquis Richard's place of sorrow—Ideid Town.

Chapter 303: Relief

Harvey was in a terrible mood. He had been collecting taxes just fine, but then the orcs attacked, catching them completely off guard.

As for those damned northern scoundrels, their refusal to pay taxes to the empire is already unforgivable, but now they've gone so far as to collude with the orcs!

Because the tax collection team was operating in small squads at the time of the incident, with each squad consisting of thirty guards and seventy auxiliary soldiers, they were completely powerless to resist an attack by orcs who outnumbered them several times over.

The auxiliary troops could only display some "bravery" when bullying men and women. When faced with the ferocious orc soldiers, their morale immediately collapsed and they lost all will to fight. Not only could they not play any positive role, but they would also break the formation of the guards due to their rout.

After losing several squads in succession, the tax collectors, realizing what was happening, immediately retreated towards their stronghold in Ideide Town.

The town was destroyed during the last orc invasion, but it has not been properly repaired since the war due to the death of the original lord. The defensive capabilities of the surrounding ruins are quite worrying.

However, Harvey had no time to retreat, because the orcs had cut off their only route to the nearest city. A forced breakout would not only result in heavy losses, but the money and food they had painstakingly collected would also be lost to the orcs for nothing, which Harvey could not accept.

So Harvey decided to hold out and wait for reinforcements. He still had 5,000 troops under his command, half of whom were well-trained elite guards. With sufficient food and supplies, holding out for a month or two shouldn't be a problem... right?

Meanwhile, in Ragug, upon learning that the orcs had once again swept into the heart of the North and that their two armies were now besieging Ideide Town and Marquis Richard's capital city, he quickly ordered the Northern Alliance to make a series of military deployments.

He first ordered Black and White Spear to lead three thousand cavalry to quickly support Count Hoffman, who had requested reinforcements, and then gave five thousand elite heavy infantry to Dongfeng Wuxi to follow with the cavalry.

Dick knew that although Hoffman's stance was wavering, he was actually worth trying to win over. Moreover, he was no mediocre man. Before he inherited the title, the Hoffman family had been in a mediocre position for three generations, until his generation truly rose to prominence.

If it weren't for Dick's meteoric rise and the significant suppression it created for his family's development, Hoffman, who was a reformist himself, would never have gotten involved with the conservative aristocracy.

Along the fjords, the lords of the Northern Alliance used railways and highways to send 40,000 troops to the front lines in just three days. Combined with the 10,000 regular troops already on the border, they formed a force of 50,000 to confront the more than 30,000 orcs on the opposite shore.

The orcs deployed a large force in this direction with the intention of containing the Northern Alliance's army.

But this actually gave Dick a reasonable excuse not to support the nobles in the south and central regions, whose main forces needed to be used to defend against the orcs' "main force," and it would take time to temporarily recruit soldiers.