Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 313 - 19: Long Live!

The Valley Army rested in the defenders’ camp for an entire day. This was primarily to receive subsequent troops and supplies.

All the transport capabilities were utilized, with torches raised, bonfires lit, moving back and forth.

Even so, it took two days and a night.

The Holy War Army of the Kant Territory quickly learned of the defenders’ camp falling.

At first, they were inexplicably astonished.

It wasn’t that they thought the group that escaped was joking with them, but rather that the whole battle process was incredibly absurd.

Some said hundreds of dismounted knights in plate armor suddenly appeared behind them, while others claimed that over a thousand conquest knights on warhorses charged at them, and still others said that blasphemers summoned undead knights from the abyss—they crawled out from the ground...

In any case, each tale was more outrageous than the last.

But the result was clear.

The camp was lost.

Blasphemer Roman led his troops beyond the pass!

Commander Matthew was dumbfounded for quite a while upon hearing this and was blank-minded for a long time before gathering all the higher-ups of the Holy War Army.

"I think this is not fake!" Matthew said, his face full of solemnity.

"Lord Matthew, are you saying the blasphemers suddenly have hundreds of knights in plate armor..." Sir Angus was surprised, "Do you know what you’re saying?"

"I am very clear!" Matthew retorted angrily.

"But do you know what this means?" Angus was very young, but that didn’t mean he lacked insight; he was passionate about martial arts and knew very well the price of plate armor.

A piece of poor-quality plate armor, untempered and unannealed, made of either low-grade phosphorus iron or wrought iron, would still cost a few gold coins, and that’s just one component.

Any custom plate armor made of steel would cost at least a two-digit number of gold coins.

Angus had seen a pitiful Oath Knight whose plate armor was pieced together, using parts from five different suits, neither fitting well nor easy to maneuver in, yet it was still his most treasured possession.

"Hundreds of sets of plate armor... the price alone would be thousands of gold coins!" Angus said.

Even ten thousand gold coins wouldn’t suffice!

The people present thought.

Before All Gods, if money could buy things, they would have had a set of plate armor each long ago.

Does the King of Divine Mystery lack money? Does the Pope lack money?

Not at all!

Even with ten thousand gold coins in hand, hundreds of sets of plate armor are out of the question.

If they wanted them, they would have to hire hundreds of seasoned blacksmiths from all over. Each blacksmith has subtle differences in forging techniques accumulated over years of practice, making cooperation extremely challenging. If these seasoned blacksmiths hammered away for three to five months doing nothing else, in three to five months, you might have hundreds of sets of plate armor.

That’s what insufficient productivity looks like.

Matthew said, "Sir Angus! You think this is wishful thinking, but we must be prepared for the possibility that Blasphemer Roman indeed commands such an army."

Sword Master Marshal Archil suddenly said, "I’ve heard that dusty boa site reportedly has a thousand armored soldiers appearing out of nowhere; no one knows where they came from."

Bishop Elva sighed, "Marshal Archil, I’ve heard that the blasphemer’s army is very tenacious; you’re probably in for a tough fight."

Archil answered the bishop without hesitation, "We have been honing our swordsmanship, waiting for this moment of loyalty."

Whether admitted or not, this battle greatly affected the upper echelons of the Holy War Army.

The first line of defense was smashed through with irresistible force.

They tried to stop the blasphemer from passing, but only three to four hundred of the three thousand defenders came back alive.

The shadows hinted in the news felt like an invisible hand clutching everyone’s heart.

"The blasphemer and the witch must have used terrible witchcraft to beguile those poor souls, getting them to serve him and kill the innocent; there’s nothing more evil in this world!" the nun angrily stated.

"Exactly, we must protect more innocent people; that’s why we are here! The blasphemer and his army must perish on this land; we’ll grind him to dust, him and his army, so they don’t crawl back from the grave, we can’t give him this chance!" yelled the young knight.

What a passionate young man, Matthew sighed.

Even after a lifetime in the military, he felt uneasy, yet he saw no trace of fear on Angus’s face.

He was only in his early twenties, yet he was already a third-tier Knight, young and handsome, brave and fearless, and the Divine Majesty believed he had the potential to become a Holy Knight.

But his first battle faced adversaries more challenging than pirates—the blasphemers.

The blasphemers’ power was more terrifying than the pirates.

When the Judgement Knights were carried back to Divine Mysterious, their eyes looked like they’d been through hell on earth, with no longing for victory.

Even if the pirates could defeat the Judgement Knights, they couldn’t make them look so desolate.

The Divine Mysterious and the Church Court both learned the results of the Spring Rain Battle.

The Rebel Suppression Army was utterly defeated, but the River Valley King’s army was also surely damaged by half.

Despite such results, the blasphemer still won a pyrrhic victory.

After such devastation, everyone had reason to believe the River Valley King’s strength should have been greatly reduced.

But how to explain this now?

"Look at the expressions on your faces!" Angus said, "The blasphemer may have armored soldiers, but we do not lack armored soldiers either. The blasphemer won’t stand a chance against the Holy War Army! Defeat is for heretics! Victory belongs to All Gods!"

Having such an energetic young knight as a teammate was undoubtedly a blessing.

Though he was outspoken and quick-tempered, he still dispelled the gloomy mood among the comrades.

The Holy War Army began to operate, gathering all available combat forces, distributing weapons, determined to engage the blasphemer in a fight to the death.

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Defenders’ camp.

Roman was conducting the final mobilization.

However, this step wasn’t done by him personally, as shouting until his voice was hoarse left him unable to deliver a speech to everyone.

During the meeting, he passed a speech draft to Jet, who passed it to each squad leader, then to each team, and finally, each soldier.

It had to be delivered convincingly, repeated over and over.

Some things, if spoken enough, become true.

They spoke the same rhetoric at different times and places—

"We are the army of the River Valley King!

"Everything we have is bestowed upon us by the River Valley King, and now the Church Court wants to destroy it all!

"The Church Court claims this is the will of All Gods, they call our King a blasphemer, they want to judge our King!

"Not only that, but they also want to drag us back to live like before, and say to us: ’That’s the good life for you!’

"Like hell, it is!

"They don’t care about us at all! They just want to see us suffer and struggle!

"On this land, aside from our parents and wives, only our King consoles, cares, loves, and treats us gently!"

"These others don’t even qualify to be our loyalists!

"We want to survive! We want to live! A good life!

"But they are pushing us towards doom!

"They can’t give us what we now have, yet they want to take it all away from us!

"If this is what the Church Court intends to do, if this is what those Priest lords want...

"Then! We will fight them to the very end!

"To defend our right to survive! To defend our right to survive!"

"If you ask who we are, I will tell you: We are the River Valley King’s army! Also, the army of all the suffering and troubled!

"Long live the River Valley King! Long live!!"