Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 378 - 12: Military Fortress_2

The flaw lies in management loopholes, but Roman felt it was normal for political systems to have pitfalls.

He only needed to periodically execute a few Stewards or residential area agents exploiting these loopholes to effectively curb unwanted phenomena.

This was one of the effects of his long-term residence in Fertile City.

As long as Roman continued to move across this land, it would greatly deter people’s deepest fears.

...

Roman toured Fertile City again, planning the infrastructure progress for winter.

Winter was a major off-season for farming, allowing Fertile City to mobilize fifty to sixty thousand workers for construction, while the rest provided logistics support.

Because self-farming households had shallow foundations with no food reserves.

During the busy farming season, everyone shared communal meals, but to eat well during the off-season, they had to serve and eat the workforce meals provided.

Those serving could taste oily food every day, better than what they ate during the farming season.

After two years of intense construction, Fertile City was now decent in appearance, at least all residential areas were connected without any obstructions.

Everyone had brick houses to live in, winter clothes to wear, sufficient honeycomb coal and iron stoves, and food was not scarce.

But Roman was still not satisfied.

He said to himself, "Just relying on this city isn’t enough."

Shasta and Margaret trailed behind Roman, thinking that Fertile City was in good shape now.

All the self-farming peasants carried heavy debts.

But having debts indicated a stable ability to repay them.

Moreover, borrowing was a way to bind people’s hearts; the more the peasants borrowed, the deeper their relationship with the Lord became, as he couldn’t just abandon them—selling them as slaves wouldn’t even cover the debts.

Resident stability +5.

So, in their view, the happiness in Fertile City was second only to Origin City on this land.

They did not understand what Roman was thinking; Shasta seldom engaged in conversations, and aside from making similar sounds with Roman in bed, they hardly shared any common language.

Shasta: "I’m just an emotionless assassination witch; isn’t it a bit difficult for me to get involved in administrative management and planning direction.JPG"

She glanced at Margaret, who seemed lost in thought.

She thought about what happened today, the extremely soft words Sanna whispered in Roman’s ear. Ordinary people couldn’t hear them, but not her, the little witch expressed her ambitions, wanted more favor, and then they entangled...

She suddenly felt uncomfortable; Sanna was very proactive, and she wasn’t, if not for that day she inadvertently walked in... To this day, she still treated it like a task or job.

The role could be performed by Margaret as well, who was a dull character, also holding the position of a Chamberlain, and she had no reason to compete with Margaret for it, so they took turns.

But she had never seen such an assertive girl before, and it shocked her, giving her an inexplicable sense of crisis.

Thinking she should perhaps initiate something other than standing like a statute, Shasta then said, "Isn’t Fertile City enough already?"

Roman turned and glanced at her, "The Church Court will soon dispatch troops to attack here."

"Then we should deploy troops to meet them in battle, just like before," said Shasta, but she noticed that Roman was looking at her as if she were a fool, which deeply wounded her.

She pursed her lips, her expression cold, thinking it was better to just destroy it all.

Roman spoke, "Before, this wasn’t our territory; we could fight however we wanted, but now we can’t. I need a stable production base at the rear."

"Why not just let the army block the enemy?" Shasta pressed on determinedly; she had spent thirty years studying spells, was a qualified witch, deeply understanding solo combat, but was a blank slate in other areas.

"No, we can’t," Roman shook his head. Fertile City was an undefended wilderness area.

Neither a strategic choke point nor possessing solid city walls.

This was the fabled land not contested by military strategists, otherwise it wouldn’t have ended up in Earl Kant’s hands.

To defend against foreign enemies, city walls and fortresses had to be built... to secure the entirety of Fertile City was too costly.

Though called a city, it was pretty much like a modern city, with true city walls only at Fertile Castle, but stuffing two hundred people in Fertile Castle was too much.

Once an enemy forces pressed close, coming from all directions, Roman would inevitably have to deploy troops to defend; otherwise, the enemy could march straight into Fertile City.

Each residential point, all the farmlands, would face threats from war.

Even distributing troops wouldn’t be enough because that fan-shaped defensive line spanned tens to hundreds of kilometers.

Once war commenced in full scale, Fertile City would be directly on the front line, not the rear, and all developments would be exposed under the blades of the enemy army.

Roman explained these concepts to Shasta, who could understand them but had not thought about this layer.

The Lady had a troubled expression on her face, which was why she didn’t want to join the conversation; she knew nothing about war, production, or management.

If she were to engage in the conversation, Roman simply had to explain, while she would have much to consider.

"What are you planning to do then?" Margaret asked at that moment.

Roman thought she was a bit simple, but she never wasted words, often hitting the nail on the head.

He replied, "In Cold Wind Town, Lester Castle, Blackbird Forest, Shane Territory, and Apple Town, I just need to deploy five hundred elite soldiers at each location to make the enemy feel a thorn in their side and deter their deeper intrusion."

Margaret wasn’t clear about these details, but seeing his steady confidence, full of assurance on his face, she refrained from asking further. If Roman were defeated, she would protect him in retreat; if she couldn’t, they would both perish together, journeying to the world of the dead—a thought not without its charm.

Roman didn’t care about Margaret’s whimsical thoughts; defeat was impossible, never in his lifetime.

He hadn’t lost in the War of the Kings; the River Valley Army withdrew because the Black Iron King was dead, and the collapse of the Conqueror Order was inevitable. Continuing the fight was unnecessary, it was better to prepare for a second battle.

His mention of military fortresses was part of that preparation.

The places spoken of by Roman actually all had nobles’ castles, which were generally situated on high grounds, in rugged terrains, impregnable even by thousands of troops.

The closest distance from Fertile City was forty to fifty miles, reachable in half a day’s time. The longest was a hundred kilometers—this meant that they would have to stretch their supply lines very long.

Apart from Apple Town, the remaining territories were too small, needing expansion and improvement.

Or rather, the forces in this area were merely small fish, none capable of a real fight.

Any single faction from the War of the Kings was like a great white shark that could easily sweep through them.

And here in this base, Roman was akin to an orca, easily capable of swallowing these small fish and shrimp.

Once those nails were securely in place, let the Church Army come.

Dare to come, and the military fortresses in the rear would quickly deploy troops, delivering a punch from behind.

Cut off the supply lines, murder, set fires, and launch night raids on the enemy.

These maneuvers could easily cause an army to collapse.

...

Roman had always scorned castles simply because they were greatly flawed defensive structures.

Earl Kant had fled into a castle unscathed after being defeated at the gorge, but Roman didn’t care at all how difficult a castle was to breach.

You have castles, but those lowly farmers don’t.

Either protect all of them, or protect none.

Building a Great Wall wouldn’t work either.

Roman’s expansion was rapid; the Great Wall built this year would be outpaced by territorial expansions the next year.

Moreover, the cost of such a wall in the Middle Ages was equivalent to building the Maginot Line in World War II.

Construction of military fortresses required much less labor.

Two to three thousand laborers could construct a fortress in two months, with a total of just over ten thousand people needed for five.

Roman planned to establish these military fortresses this year, stockpiling a large amount of military weapons and food within, to prepare for next year’s conflicts.

He was of action, immediately sending out teams with convoys, dispatching labor to various locations.

Three hundred think tank members accompanied throughout the journey to supervise the progress of the projects and survey the local resources—for instance, which industries were suitable for development in this territory, where was fit for farming and where appropriate for building brick kilns. These considerations would influence future construction plans.

In the depth of winter, Roman received a letter, originating from Oak Territory.

Princess White Steel, Iota Hina, was soon to arrive at this land.