Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 363 - 4: Surging Wave Knight

On their fourth day advancing towards Black Castle.

The enemy surged over from the southern slope of the mountain.

It was an unnamed rabble of troops, lacking both flags and discipline, a swarm of about a thousand.

Jet concluded that they were merely peasants, but behind them lay numerous Nobles, urging them to clash with the River Valley Army, urging them to march to their deaths.

"Fire the arrows!" Dick commanded.

Whiz, whiz, whiz!

The Sniper team, already primed and ready, unleashed a hail of arrows, instantly felling many in the peasant army; the survivors, holding up their shields, began to flee backward.

"Enemies from the north!" a Scout reported.

The convoy was too long to protect both ends, and the enemy’s plan was precisely to catch the River Valley Army off guard.

But before two minutes had passed, another Scout reported back to Jet, "Commander, the Guard repelled them..."

This was a harassment tactic, with the enemy repeatedly launching assaults; the harassed army could easily become weary, nervous, and prone to mistakes.

But the River Valley Army couldn’t be assessed by ordinary standards; the troops were highly disciplined.

By now, they had repelled all enemy attacks, with virtually no losses on their side.

Those behind the scenes, failing to achieve their objectives, started to feel the pressure, after all, the casualties were real.

Some didn’t wish for them to reach Black Castle.

But nothing could stop this army’s advance.

If they weren’t elite, they wouldn’t even have the qualifications to stand before them.

At most, they could only resort to sabotaging roads and clogging rivers, trying to delay their march as much as possible.

Jet and the others were somewhat anxious, but haste and recklessness often didn’t lead to good outcomes.

Mist enshrouded the land. Enemies were everywhere in the wilderness, as if everyone was trying to stop them from reaching Black Castle; the Black Iron Land had completely spiraled out of control.

"Do we actually have any allies?" Dick asked with self-derision.

They had advanced for several days, only to be attacked multiple times.

In the foreseeable future, the number of attacks would only increase.

"We have allies..." Jet said, handing a letter to Dick, "but they have received the same treatment as us."

"The main force of Stone Castle is blocking Lord Oak in the Southern regions, and the main force of Dragon Castle is blocking the King of Ice Island in the Northern regions."

The letter was delivered by the Beast Witch, the Casting Group was small in number, but each member played a significant role. The Beast Witch’s birds were exceptionally successful in conveying intelligence.

"Duke Fury and Duke Riptide have openly betrayed the Black Iron King."

What kind of disaster was this?

Two Black Iron Dukes betrayed the Black Iron King together; with their prestige, their call to arms would be heeded by many, which was not an exaggeration.

The Nobles who had remained neutral in the face of the era’s great currents were now forced to choose sides, either supporting the Church Court and the Duke or backing the Black Iron King.

And those who saw clearly could tell that the latter was weakening, because the Church Court’s influence was growing.

Most people were shallow believers of the Church Court.

"Commanders, I have some unfortunate news for you," Green relayed, galloping up to them; he pointed to a hill ahead where several blue shadows flashed by.

"Is that..." Dick exclaimed in surprise.

"Surging Wave Knight!" Jet’s expression darkened as well.

That force had fought alongside the original Fury in countless campaigns, achieving renowned military exploits, and was considered among the very best armed forces in the entire land.

In a way, the Surging Wave Knight was stronger than all the Conquest Knights.

Green said with a bitter smile, "They are loyal only to one Bloodline and would betray the Conqueror Family for it."

Aaron said, "Weren’t they intercepting Lord Oak’s army?"

"This may not be their full strength," Jet said, "nobody knows the exact number of the Surging Wave Knights, and it’s normal for them to intercept the Oak army while casually blocking us, too."

Indeed, Lord Fury was the strongest Duke in the entire Black Iron Land.

People generally believed that only if Oak and Riptide united could they possibly stand against Fury.

But now it was Fury and Riptide who were in alliance.

The Surging Wave Knights were the bane of all armies, the masters of the battlefield; it was said that when they appeared on the battlefield, all warfare became meaningless.

The River Valley side also had Vanguard Cavalry, but they definitely couldn’t contend with the former on the battlefield.

Dick said, "This is truly terrifying, the beginning and the end of this war will have profound effects. Many things will perish in this war."

They discussed for a moment; the conflict was inevitable.

In the future, those blue silhouettes appeared more and more frequently.

The most recent time was just a few hundred meters from the River Valley army’s march, where the Surging Wave Knights stood neatly on a high slope, clad in dark blue armor, coldly watching them. freewebnøvel.com

...

Heavenly Pegasus Plain, Black Castle.

Legend has it that in the lost ages, this plain was a watering and resting place for the Heavenly Pegasus before humans built a city here.

This plain was directly under the King’s Domain.

The soil was fertile, hundreds of thousands of farmers toiled on the plain, a natural granary.

The Black Iron King introduced new farming methods, utilizing heavy plows to till the fields, hoping to increase food production and bolster the war foundation.

But despite all plans and calculations, they hadn’t anticipated this year’s flood disaster, leading to complete crop failure around Black Castle.

The farmers saw it as the All Gods’ punishment for the lord of Black Castle.

And the lord of Black Iron, in response to the pressure from the Church Court, ignored the will of the lower-class farmers and forcibly requisitioned grain. As a result, those farmers with very poor risk resistance met with ruin and death.

Correspondingly, the Church Court and the Monastery opened their granaries—the grain, which came from the tithe and was meant to be offered to the All Gods, was released because the All Gods only wished to punish the Black Iron King’s misdeeds, and not his lambs; as the messengers of the All Gods, the Church Court naturally wanted to relieve the disaster-stricken people—this was what the nuns and priests all said.

So the farmers suddenly came to a realization,

All the sins arose because of Iao III, they were just implicated...

I’m fucking joining the Holy War Army!

It’s time for rebellion!

Wherever the Holy War Army went, the entire Heavenly Pegasus Plain fell swiftly; the people offered food and drink, with gongs and drums thundering, welcoming them on both sides of the streets.

In theory, as many people as there were in the Yellow Turban Army, that’s how many they could have.

Even if it was several hundred thousand, they could muster them—of course, an insurrection of such scale wouldn’t be limited to just the Heavenly Pegasus Plain.

...

The skies were gloomy, and a fierce wind raged; the royal city was in complete disarray.

The Black Castle’s defenders, with the help of the tall and solid city walls, repelled the enemy’s attack once again.

Five days of defending, and the Holy War Army’s siege equipment increased by the day, with the appearance of scaling ladders and catapults pushing the siege to a fever pitch.

Tashina, standing tall and straight in her White Armor, led from the front, surrounded by corpses; she stood like an oak on the battlements, every leaf dripping with blood.

"We’re short on manpower, in these five days, we’ve lost hundreds of Iron Guard brothers..." Turner, covered in blood, came forward to report the situation to the princess, who was as steadfast as steel.

The death toll on the besieging side was at least ten times their own, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

The worst was that the number of enemy forces encircling the city continued to increase by the day, swarming and teeming like ants.

The greatest pressure was on the north side of Black Castle, while the east and west were narrow; to the south lay the Southern mountain range and the primeval forest.

The enemies on the three sides of the city walls, when combined, surely exceeded one hundred thousand.

The Holy War Army still gathered forces, vowing to take this Earth Capital in one fell swoop.

As many as die in the siege, that’s how many they’d replenish from outside; as a result, they haven’t replenished more than have died by now.