Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 349 - 22: Do You Have the Strength to Fight with Me, River Valley King?
Chapter 349: Chapter 22: Do You Have the Strength to Fight with Me, River Valley King?
At first, Roman initiated the Spring plan.
The nobles of Apple Town did not speak up because their fiefs were not located there.
Then, Roman crushed the Noble alliance.
They remained silent because they were not the saltworks owners.
Later, Roman won the Spring Rain Battle.
They did not speak because they were not vassals of the Grand Duke of Riptide.
Afterward, Roman won the Sweeping Battle.
They said nothing because their faith in All Gods was not devout.
Now, Roman’s troops were heading straight for Apple Town...
And no one stood up to speak for them anymore.
...
Such were the times during the era of fiefdoms.
To get them to stand up, one had to first ask why they, who could afford to watch indifferently, should help other nobles by sending troops?
Hasn’t the boomerang found its way back to them now?
Apple Town had a large reserve of talent, with hundreds of craftspersons’ families across all industries.
Their loss was your robbery; what did it have to do with others?
Moreover, the River Valley King, Roman, had a formidable reputation, renowned as "The Invincible" after triumphing in both the Spring Rain and Sweeping Battles.
Now other nobles were preoccupied with the widespread Spring rains and temporarily dared not wade into these muddy waters—literally muddy waters.
It was raining everywhere, and Fertile City was not the only disaster-stricken land; other areas were also mired in mud.
...
If the Guard and Vanguard forces were merely out to scavenge, then the Heavy Equipment troops could be considered an expedition, directly loading Roman with a mainline operation named "Golden Apple."
But Roman wasn’t scared at all.
The Heavy Equipment division totaled twelve hundred members, with an additional two thousand support troops.
And the military strength of the nobles from Apple Town... was more in quantity, but also more mixed... and as for combat effectiveness, it was honestly too pitiful to discuss.
Do you have the strength to battle the River Valley King, Roman?
Out of all the forces, aside from Kao’s Guard division, only the Heavy Equipment had the most abundant strength. Being the earliest established and earliest to transfer vocations, the Heavy Equipment division had the highest proportion of extraordinary individuals—basically half were First Rank Knights, and the other half were also qualified First Rank Knights.
When Roman received the battle report, he didn’t pay much attention to it.
He busied himself with arranging this migration wave.
Fertile City welcomed waves upon waves of population.
These people, in a state of confusion and panic, accepted their settlements; having just stayed in the makeshift housing in Fertile City for two or three days, they were promptly sent off to Origin City.
Apart from purchasing slaves, only war could result in a large-scale increase in population.
If things at Apple Town went smoothly enough, then this operation should add a population of fifty thousand and corresponding resources to Roman.
Fertile City accommodated twenty thousand people, and the remaining population was all dispatched to Origin City.
The transportation of ships, personnel coordination, resource inventory, population registry, and settlement of residents required great effort.
And it had to be Roman himself on-site to arrange and manage.
He was the supreme ruler of this land, and if he were not present, what could be accomplished in a month might not be completed even if delayed to three months.
Such was the effect brought about by a ruler.
In gaming terms, this was equivalent to a "leadership +50" buff.
After that half-month rain season passed, Fertile City was greeted by clear skies.
This allowed Roman to completely relax.
It was wonderful to see the brilliant and clear sunshine.
Although the crops’ yield decreased, the reduction was not severe.
Especially since this rain season was not entirely over yet.
He was quite fortunate.
For Roman knew that many lands of Black Iron Land were still submerged in this incessant spring rain that seemed endless. The downpour had not ceased to date.
Endless drizzle was too much for anyone to bear. The natural disaster was severe.
But Roman didn’t care about that too much.
If wealthy, help the world; if poor, help yourself.
As long as Origin City and Fertile City weren’t rained on, that was enough.
Time to plant crops, hurry and plant.
Especially for those new residents, they needed to be arranged for work immediately.
In the second month of spring, Origin City had already begun spring planting.
This time, they were planting Gwivelle No. 3 rice.
Even without seeing it for himself, Roman was confident the yield per acre would not be low this year.
If all went well, the harvest from these paddy fields could equate to the harvest from twenty thousand acres of mature land.
Now, the population in Roman’s controlled lands had soared, and the demand for food had increased further.
Without sufficient food reserves, his rule would never be stable.
When the resettlement work was nearly done, it was time for a large-scale harvest of vegetables.
Mostly turnips, broad beans, peas, onions, garlic, and other vegetables.
Manure and peat were organic fertilizers, warm in nature, providing nutrients while maintaining soil temperature.
Combined with plant root systems, they improved the soil effectively.
After harvesting the vegetables, it was time to start spring plowing.
Last year, Roman established the Wood Factory, mass-produced furniture, and ended up with several dozen tons of sawdust. Added to that were collections of silt, household waste, plant debris, and plenty from the toilets, contributing to a massive amount of agricultural manure mixed with tens of thousands of tons of peat.
There was no better fertilizer than this.
He had planted a hundred thousand acres last year, and this year the number must not be any less.
This brought up the issue of land planning.
Roman had to go back and forth to each residential point of Fertile City, re-planting flags, and allocating cultivation tasks.
For such a colossal production task, the use of livestock and heavy plows was essential.
Fortunately, Roman had not only obtained people from Cold Wind Town, Blackbird Forest, Lester Castle, and Shane Territory but also the livestock of these lands.
He didn’t spare a single large animal; all were brought over for work.
Though they were emaciated, their bony figures like dry kindling, they could still pull plows.
Roman transported hundreds of tons of soybean meal from Origin City especially to supplement their nutrition.
...
While Roman was busily carrying out major agricultural production,
The Heavy Equipment Brigade of Apple Town had also clashed with the local nobility forces.
The enemy was a ragtag army, made up of the military forces of various nobles, similar to the last noble coalition. The banners were colorful, the crests varied—wrapped in armor cloaks and robes, all garishly bright.
In the past half-month, the nobles had been consistently disrupting Aaron’s retreat.
Or to put it another way, Aaron and the Vanguard could retreat, but they had to leave the people of Apple Town behind.
This was non-negotiable.
Without doing this, there was no way forward.
If the town’s craftsmen were all taken away, these nobles’ potential for warfare would decrease by at least thirty percent.
They sent envoys to negotiate with Aaron, coaxing him to leave with nice words—take the money, but leave the people behind.
However, the latter’s attitude was firm.
Get lost, all of you!
Aaron was composed and would not utter such crude words; these were Roman’s words.
Roman issued the mockery but sent no troops to the rescue; he wanted to see through this battle what his most elite and longest-trained forces could achieve.
