Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 335 - 8: Nobody Doesn’t Want to Be a Soldier

This phenomenon indicated that Gwivelle’s spell truly took effect on him.

Speaking of the brave and valiant youth.

In two cities with over a hundred thousand residents, the bravest people are undeniably in Roman’s army.

However, not everyone is an Angel Envoy.

Roman couldn’t bless all the soldiers, and only a few enjoyed the extraordinary enhancements.

Now things had changed.

The number of Angel Envoys in the 7,000-strong army had doubled, reaching a scale of a thousand.

This was a good thing.

If they were newly recruited Angel Envoys, they would need to be integrated into the army and trained to see if their Attributes could be improved. All in all, there was a need for an adaptation period.

But now, some of the veteran soldiers could skip the training and proceed directly to the blessings.

Moreover, based on his observations, the newly recruited veterans had nearly the same level of loyalty as those trained for two years, with Relationship readings between 70% and 80%.

A few new Angel Envoys even soared to the major milestone of 80%.

The higher the Relationship reading, the tighter their Destiny was linked to him.

Just those over seven thousand veterans.

He estimated that about seven hundred soldiers had the physical qualities of a First Rank Knight.

Next were the almost First Rank Knights, about two thousand or more.

The rest were all soldiers close to the First Rank Knight threshold.

Typically, the longer the training, the higher the physical quality.

But it also closely related to past experiences.

Take Sword Masters, for instance. They had handled swords since childhood, and although not well-fed, they had hardly ever starved.

Busy with all sorts of labor when needed, they practiced swordsmanship in their free time.

Thus, the two thousand Sword Masters from the sweeping battles were all nearly First Rank Knights.

And Roman’s troops? They had once been cold and hungry.

Under high-standard diets rich in fats, proteins, and calories, followed by intense Devil training, while their physical condition improved significantly, most hadn’t quite reached that threshold yet.

Just one more year would do.

Roman had great confidence in this, even though he knew that Devil training was sacrificing the soldiers’ futures.

He didn’t care.

With so many more Angel Envoys now, all of them undergoing direct enhancement.

By the end of this year, he would have at least two thousand soldiers with the physical condition of a First Rank Knight.

Conquest Knights in Origin City would soon become as common as cabbages.

Excellent!

This was excellent!

Gwivelle was also very happy.

Heh, Roman had spent ten days with her.

...

During those ten days, Roman hadn’t been idle at all.

He had initiated a recruitment drive, kicking any Angel Envoys he could find straight into the army—as if drafting them didn’t even matter.

In fact, there was no resistance to the recruitment order.

Rather, all the able-bodied were eager to sign up, many single men especially.

Because it was too enticing.

The soldiers were now top-tier sought-after commodities on the marriage market.

For those female slaves who still hadn’t been allocated houses, lonely and forlorn, marrying a soldier could turn their lives around, elevating them to one of the most well-treated groups in Origin City.

To speak bluntly, even if their husbands died in battle, they would receive a hefty widow’s compensation.

Roman was never stingy with the compensation funds; after all, those widows receiving the funds would still have to work for him.

A joke—why wouldn’t the widows work for him when the wives of soldiers who hadn’t died must work for him? To live required spending, spending meant spending gold, and the compensation gold that flowed out would ultimately return to Roman’s hands.

Even so, the stream of suitors never ceased.

Whenever the soldiers had time off, there would always be eligible women trying their best to linger around them, hoping to catch their eye.

Alas, there were too many nuns and not enough porridge, and nearly all of them found it difficult to have frequent contact with them—except for the many cooks, who had to deliver processed flour and various foodstuffs to the army camp.

So, soldiers led by the cooking squad were able to socialize.

Most soldiers were willing to marry women who knew how to cook.

Origin City’s laws mandated monogamy; no one dared to break them.

Otherwise, they would have to taste the iron fist.

Therefore, women of marriageable age with no prospects could only turn their attention to production departments, such as staff in the residents’ office, Ministry of Agriculture advisors, blacksmiths, carpenters, and construction teams.

They all had incomes and owned houses.

Poor farmers and other male slaves were the last choices.

Of course, there were highly sought-after women too, such as tailors, textile workers, and women who had given birth.

Regardless of gender, people were not picky about appearances or attire, as long as they were physically able. freёwebnoѵel.com

It was just that soldiers received three bars of soap monthly for washing themselves, and if they used them sparingly, they could even bring one home.

Therefore, their appearance was the best.

Under these circumstances, who wouldn’t want to be a soldier?

...

Within just a few days, the first batch of new recruits reached three thousand.

This year, Roman planned to add five thousand new soldiers first.

Then he would recruit another five thousand next year.

Recruiting ten thousand people at once, let alone Origin City and Fertile City, even the army could not bear it.

The training difficulty would be too high.

Everything had to be done gradually.

Roman placed great importance on organizational strength.

This was the case in Fertile City, and even more so in the army.

A new recruit needed half a year of training before being ready; not to mention executing tactics, even regular combat was challenging.

Moreover, they also had to undergo a series of battle training such as archery, spear handling, and adaptation to plate armor.

But with veterans and squad leaders guiding them, it was not difficult to adapt.

...

After all, the army was autonomous.

A squad leader commanded eleven soldiers for training.

Squadron leaders and squad leaders handled higher-level affairs, coordinating with Jet.

Just like a school, by squad, they took turns assisting the cooking squad with water fetching, cooking, regular cleaning of the toilets, and distributing soap and clothing.

Were there any higher difficulties in logistics needed?

If an army couldn’t even manage itself, then Roman had no hope of taking them into battle.

In fact, all he needed to provide was food, shelter, transport, and weapons.

The Wood Factory and Coal Iron Town were in charge of weapons equipment. Soldiers also took care of maintenance.

The army uniforms were the responsibility of the textile factory and leather factory, which combined could employ at most eight hundred people.

Food included flour milled by the kitchen, fresh meat from the ranch, and various vegetables. Delivering two or three cartloads to the barracks daily was sufficient, and in comparison to the current meadows ranch, this was nothing.

Especially since the roads had been laid out, transportation efficiency was greatly improved.

They lived in barracks, bunk beds, with a dormitory accommodating twelve people; each person only had four square meters of space. However, the cramped space was good for fostering an understanding – an advantage.

...

Only during wartime was it necessary to call up more menial labor to assist the army in combat.

Such as guarding prisoners, cleaning the battlefield, transporting supplies, setting up camp, and cooking.

Especially when embarking on expeditions, once the supply lines stretched, the consumption of materials was astonishing.

But what about when there was no war?

To be fair, the only downside to a standing army was their consumption of supplies.

If Roman had ten thousand soldiers, he had to throw in at least fifty thousand kilograms of rice and flour, meat, eggs, milk, and vegetables daily.

In the current era, which noble could afford that?

Even the Black Iron King would be struck dumb.

But hadn’t Roman worked hard year after year cultivating and breeding, just to support his troops?

Fifty thousand kilos a day a lot?

This year Fertile City harvested a total of twenty million kilos of wheat, and that’s just the staple food.