Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 316 - 22: Making the Wedding Dress for Others

This was an asymmetric war, with the strengths of the two sides vastly unequal.

There were no ambushes, no guerrilla warfare, and no sudden assaults; if any tactics were to be mentioned, it was only the most fundamental coordinated operations, a grand and royal head-on battle.

Archers laid down suppressing fire, spearmen advanced from the front, Guards weaved through to fragment the enemy, Heavy Equipment protected the flanks, and Cavalry provided mobile support.

And with this combination of strikes, the Holy War Army was directly reduced to ashes.

The firepower of the archers and the advance of the spears equated to artillery and infantry coordination in the era of cold weapons.

The Guards found weak points to slice through the battlefield, fighting a beautiful war of annihilation.

Even Jet and Dick, who commanded the war, found it unbelievable.

This could no longer be called war.

They had slaughtered six thousand of the Holy War Army, losing less than three hundred of their own soldiers, and most of those were wounded rather than killed in battle.

When the Holy War Army faced the baptism of the first volley of arrows, and gaps were chiseled into their lines, their defeat was sealed.

They weren’t the only ones who found it unbelievable.

When the battle was over, news spread like a hurricane across the land, and the kings and nobles everywhere shook with astonishment!

The River Valley King emerged to sweep through the Church Court’s Holy War Army!

A battle that decided the fate of the world!

Though the land had long become numb to war, in the eyes of the nations, this battle was still so significant.

Shocking and unprecedented!

Incomprehensible!

But it truly happened, as if there had been a major earthquake.

It was said that even the master of the Black Iron Throne was so startled that he stood up from his throne and took quite a while to sit back down.

What was going on?

I only asked you to land a punch on the Holy War Army, but how did you manage to kill it with a single punch?

You’re more outrageous than Lu Zhishen!

The Black Iron King didn’t understand, but he was greatly shocked.

After he came to his senses, he immediately set out to use the influence of this event to suppress any follow-up actions by the Church Court.

The King of Divine Mystery and the Pope, who were much farther away, had a hard time. They had come to realize in their hearts that the Blasphemer Roman must have developed new iron forging techniques; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been possible to have thousands of Armored Soldiers.

And they were powerless to do anything about it. The Black Iron had not yet collapsed, and with the Black Iron King standing in the middle, Divine Mysterious couldn’t make a dent.

Losing so many troops in a single battle was painful for anyone to bear.

The Believer Army during the Battle of Spring Rain was from Black Iron people, born in Riptide Duke Domain.

And these twenty thousand Holy War Army soldiers were Divine Mysterious people. After they were stationed in Kant Territory, the Believers who joined them were also from Black Iron people.

Losing twenty thousand in their prime, the loss was too great.

"Sir, His Majesty the King says you are ’The Invincible,’ and the battle is called ’The Sweeping Victory’."

Seth handed the secret letter from the Black Iron King to Roman.

Roman glanced at it and noticed it was praise from the Black Iron King. It seemed the title had spread within the Black Iron Court.

He didn’t pay much attention to it as he was busy tallying the spoils of war at the time.

Over twenty thousand prisoners of war were no small matter; they couldn’t fit in Origin City, and Roman had no intention of stuffing them into Origin City.

Now, Kant Territory was his.

Previously, the main reason Roman had not seized Kant Territory was that he couldn’t defend it.

Times had changed.

This place would become a stepping stone for Origin City to reach the outside world.

To some extent, the predicaments faced by Divine Mysterious and Origin City were similar.

The former was trapped on Divine Mysterious Peninsula.

Origin City was trapped in a basin.

Both needed a stepping stone to expand their influence.

The menial workers were cleaning up the battlefield in the rear, while Roman led his troops to drive the prisoners to Kant Territory.

The situation here actually gave Roman a surprise.

The Holy War Army had done a good job building this place!

The Church Court absorbed many believers and undertook large construction projects during autumn and winter, which revived the once barren land.

Supplies from the Divine Mysterious continued to flow in from the Bro River, and the accumulated resources to date should suffice for the inhabitants of the Kant Territory for a month or two.

The treatment of believers by the Holy War Army was quite lenient.

Including, but not limited to, tax reductions, providing housing, agricultural tools, and leasing farmland.

For believers who had no food stores when they joined the Holy War Army, the army also gave them enough provisions to get through the winter without starving.

In the winter, they could also freely use firewood from the forests and fish from the rivers, with the wood tax and fish tax only being collected after the snow melted.

Compared to the nobles of the land, these policies could be described as more humane.

There were construction achievements as well.

The only drawback was that they hadn’t anticipated the Blasphemers forcefully breaking out, meaning all their efforts ended up benefiting Roman.

"Very good, very good!"

Roman grew more and more satisfied as he looked.

Though he found the basic infrastructure rough, it was functional, and that’s what mattered, not some fancy bicycle.

He was still unclear on the specific details of the population and land in the Kant Territory.

However, these things could all be slowly accounted for.

Roman stationed five thousand troops here to maintain basic order.

He must strictly supervise everyone on this land!

After all, they were all labor!

Once Roman had grasped the general state of the Kant Territory, there were far too many tasks to take on.

The immediate priority was the spring farming.

Origin City could begin sowing at the end of January, with temperatures rising rapidly. But that wasn’t possible elsewhere, it was too cold, and sowing would have to wait until the end of February.

Further north, sowing couldn’t happen until March, and some areas of the Northern Land had to wait until April or May because their winters lasted up to half a year.

Though there was ample preparation time, Roman’s steps for spring planting were also quite cumbersome.

He looked at the ploughing equipment prepared by the Holy War Army.

Good, standard light ploughs.

These plows were suitable for the Divine Mysterious peninsula but not for the Black Iron Land.

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Roman planned to transport heavy ploughs from Origin City to the Kant Territory.

They’d need at least several hundred heavy ploughs, otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough to go around.

Steel agricultural tools also had to be transported here in the thousands to ensure one for every hand.

Arrangements for three meals a day were made to increase labor efficiency.

Take this time to deeply plow the land first and foremost.

Tools alone were not enough; hundreds of agricultural guides also needed to be sent from Origin City.

Small-scale agricultural production was manageable and easy to oversee.

But large-scale agricultural production required specialized guidance.

The Ministry of Agriculture in Origin City had a large number of members.

Balrog had set up agricultural training classes where farmers could join the Ministry of Agriculture after passing a knowledge standard and Balrog’s review.

The population of Origin City was growing rapidly. New slaves knew nothing of Origin City’s production model and needed organization and constant supervision by professionals.

Members of the Ministry of Agriculture received a basic monthly salary of two copper coins, mainly responsible for agricultural guidance—not just standing by giving orders, but working alongside others, serving as role models.

However, pulling out several hundred agricultural guides was troublesome.

Because those guides had settled in Origin City, they might not be willing to come.

It wasn’t impossible for Roman to order them forcefully, but inwardly they would have their grievances.

Therefore, Roman informed Balrog that whoever was willing to come to the Kant Territory to farm would receive a special subsidy of three copper coins a month.

There were three hundred spots available, with priority given to those who signed up, and they could return after working for half a year.

This was essentially a long-term business trip.

Soon, he received word that the agricultural guides were very eager and would arrive at the Kant Territory with the heavy ploughs and other supplies.

Lastly, Roman had to draft a group of literate students to help him with clerical record-keeping and management.