Chapter 1102 - 167: Army Expansion Scale and Tech Tree · Combat Priest

Chapter 1102: Chapter 167: Army Expansion Scale and Tech Tree · Combat Priest

The Hesse Territory army’s strength boost is certainly not limited to the Sun of Vengeance Half-Lion Griffin Knight Order.

In fact, the improvement of this Knight Order is far from the greatest. The greatest boost is still the Hesse Guard Knights.

Since Su Li could not confer the title of lord, many knights chose the more honorable and prestigious Hesse Guard Knights. Participation in this Knight Order requires forgoing secular territory and titles, which awards high status and satisfies the honor-seeking aspirations of many knights.

This situation in the Hesse Territory allowed this army to rapidly expand, now breaking the 200-person mark!

These are Su Li’s direct forces, and he personally serves as Marshal of the Hesse Guard Knights.

Moreover, they are all provided with the finest armor, with nearly half already upgraded to perfect-level Vibranium Rune Armor, and the rest at least equipped with refined level armor.

According to rank division, the minimum for this force is silver armor, silver shield, with half carrying gold swords, gold armor, and gold shields. This is a fully structured army equipped with top-tier gear.

More critically, the Hesse Guard Knights are battle-hardened elite soldiers with remarkable honor and merit, without reserves, with each Hesse Guard Knight at least at elite level. Furthermore, they include more than 8 Champion Knights.

It can be said that the Champion Knights of Hesse Territory are indeed numerous and powerful.

Additionally, the strength of this force increases the fastest, unlike the Half-Lion Griffin Knight Order which is restricted by the number of griffins; the only limit to the Hesse Guard Knights’ strength is the number of perfect-level armor.

Yet this aspect is improving quickly, not only can they promptly forge war spoils from the Blue Mirror Territory, but two semi-giant iron mines continuously supply him with abundant vibranium. Each month, there is enough vibranium sent to the Hesse Territory, crafted into new Vibranium Rune Armor.

It’s a pity that the Blue Mirror Territory lacks such giant iron mines.

There isn’t a single one. This has made Su Li acutely aware of the preciousness of these giant iron mines. He could own two and a half, entirely because he benefited from a strategically advantageous location, one at the foot of the Black Forest Mountain Range, and another within the vast Blood Pine Forest. These two places are on the Empire’s frontier, deep in the wilderness, and thus rich in mineral deposits. The other half is shared with the Grey Rock Tribe, completely within the Gray Mountain Province, at the absolute core of the mountain range.

While the Blue Mirror Territory is situated on plains, it is naturally difficult to find such superior and abundant mineral resources.

Yet thankfully, the Blue Mirror Territory also possesses a unique advantage; every month it routinely gathers a batch of Light-Scaled Fish in Blue Mirror Lake. The timing is irregular, so Baron Grant cannot consistently harvest them. However, guided by Su Li’s intelligence system, he can harvest a dozen each month.

This greatly enhances the qualifications of the Hesse Territory’s knights, with such abundant resources boosting the territory’s populace allowing twenty or more knights to advance each cycle, among them three to four becoming elite knights.

And the Champion Knights also see one or two advancements every few months. This truly relies on resource investment, allowing the territory to enter a positive cycle.

Moreover, these individuals, upon advancing to elite knights, dream of joining Su Li’s army. After all, being part of the ruling class’s tool of violence, joining the Hesse Territory army indeed grants considerable benefits.

Massive casualties and mortality rate frighten no true warrior; on the contrary, it possesses a sense of poetic filtering, with some cowardly individuals voluntarily retiring, some weak ones dying in battle, leaving behind battle-hardened elite soldiers and brave combat-ready knights.

These elite soldiers’ greatest dream is undeniably joining the Sun of Vengeance Half-Lion Griffin Knight Order and the Hesse Guard Knights.

If both goals prove too challenging to achieve, some knights settle for becoming high-level Directly Affiliated Attendants. This means they need to fight alongside many non-knight-class individuals.

For many knights, this is hard to accept. Members of many knight orders refuse to live and fight alongside provincial legions’ peasants, hence their reason for joining knight orders.

Su Li’s Directly Affiliated Attendants have expanded from 500 to 800, of which a substantial number are not knights, at least not all elite knights.

Taking the High-level Directly Affiliated Attendant’s main force – Beast Slayers of the Blood Pine Forest as an example, many are Armed Attendants, with only captains and squad leaders being knights and elite knights.

This is also to provide ordinary citizens with more opportunities for advancement while increasing their sense of belonging to the territory and enthusiasm to defend it.

After all, if ordinary people are entirely deprived of hope, don’t blame some amongst them for becoming rebels and marauders.

These Beast Slayers of the Blood Pine Forest are certainly not equipped as well as the knights, but as Su Li’s high-level Directly Affiliated Attendant, their equipment is certainly remarkable, with 4 squadrons of Beast Slayer Attendants fully equipped, fully armed. Each has a set of fine plate armor forged by a dwarf master, a fine Long Halberd, and a sharp Longsword hanging from their waists.

With this equipment, as long as they’re well-trained, one Armed Attendant can easily defeat 3 to 4 Inferior Horned Beasts, Kobolds, or Tree Demons.

Absolutely living up to their name of Beast Slayers of the Blood Pine Forest.

Besides these 4 squadrons of Beast Slayers, Su Li’s high-level Directly Affiliated Attendants also include a squadron of Dwarf Thundering Musketeers, a squadron of Crossbowmen, additionally a warband of Walking Knights (80 people), totaling precisely 800 in number.