Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 245 - 14: Please Review

Now it was the last month of winter.

Roman’s visit to the camp this time served two purposes: first, to inspect the quality of the troops and second, to establish a more comprehensive military system.

Over the past few months, military salaries had been the main financial burden on Origin City.

Roman did not have the right to mint coins, and the gold that was currently mined could not be circulated, as the Black Iron King must not find out; it needed to be kept secret for the time being.

He now had about four thousand soldiers.

This meant that military salaries were nearly three hundred gold coins a month.

Compared to this, the salaries of the civil servants were mere trifles.

The salary of all major departments combined might just match the expenditure on military pay.

Thus, Roman had always partially used salt to offset the military salaries.

Soldiers and their families could take 10 kilograms of salt to the market each month and trade it with merchants.

Salt could be stored long-term and had attributes such as value preservation, essential demand, and robustness; it was always usable.

At any rate, everything could be economized on except the military budget.

All soldiers had to be fully paid.

Roman needed them for the warfare next year.

By this autumn, he had declared his independence, and the news must have reached Gael by now, probably catching Gael off guard.

The letter was respectful and polite, but was it an uprising behind the scenes?

But it was somewhat unrealistic for Gael to attack directly.

After all, things were also a mess on their side.

But by next year, Gael would have organized troops and generals. Whatever needed to be prepared would definitely be ready.

A war among the Riptide rank was about to start.

And these soldiers in front of him were the foundation of Roman’s victory.

Most of them had undergone training for at least half a year, with only a thousand new recruits still in the adaptation phase.

The army was slowly taking shape.

Roman now had eight infantry squads, and there should have been eight squad leaders.

But Roman’s requirements for squad leaders were high; either a Conquest Knight or a Third Rank, and there were very few who met the criteria.

Thus, there were only five squad leaders.

Aaron, Green, and Nathan were to lead two infantry squads, while Kao and the newly promoted squad leader Rick each led one infantry squad—the latter having participated in the Kant Territory raid, receiving commendations and attribute enhancements.

The number of squadron leaders was also limited, only 27, all promoted from team leaders.

Each squadron leader led two infantry squads; Roman’s requirement was a Second Rank standard, with at least two items in the Five-dimensional Attribute Table at level D or above.

The requirements for team leaders were not as strict.

There were a total of 200 team leaders, the positions were fully staffed with no vacancies.

This was because team leaders were directly recruited from among the soldiers.

If a soldier had the experience, medals, and good physical fitness, then they could become a team leader.

Additionally, Roman had recently enhanced the attributes of over a hundred Angel Envoys.

Thus, these team leaders were either First Rank or close to it.

These were grassroots positions that could not be left vacant.

Every squad needed a team leader.

After all, squadron leaders and squad leaders only needed to play a crucial role or lead during key times, but the team leaders had many more responsibilities to consider.

Roman had separated the cavalry and scouts, specifically forming a cavalry unit of 200 men, led by Cavalry Captain Luca.

scouts were led by Dota.

heavily equipped soldiers were led by Jet.

archers were led by Dick.

The functions of these four Angel Envoys were equivalent to those of squad leaders.

There were additional units such as the cooking squad and medical team for logistics.

Archers were somewhat special because every soldier had to undergo archery training. Mastery was not required, but volley fire was basic, leading to a decrease in the importance of archers.

Yet these four hundred men were professional archers.

With higher accuracy, longer range, faster shooting speed, and stronger suppression capability.

...

"Lord! The first squad, 303 people! The sixth squad, 304 people! All present! Please inspect!" Aaron shouted from the front row.

"Lord! The second squad, 305 people! The seventh squad, 303 people! All present! Please inspect!" Green immediately shouted.

"Lord! The third squad..."

...

Eight infantry formations were orderly.

At least their positions and military postures were flawless.

But given the current situation, this level of discipline was excellent.

They now had a subtle military presence, the dignity and temperament that only professional armies possessed.

Roman could feel it, and others could sense it too.

What was strong and what was weak was blatantly obvious.

When hundreds to thousands of professional soldiers formed neat squares, holding rows of super long spears and marching towards the enemy, those conscript armies probably lacked even the courage to fight.

Of course, war was complex.

Roman didn’t expect to actually overrun the enemy just with infantry formations.

It was too simple to counter a single type of troops.

When the formations marched, a rock or a bush could disrupt them because obstacles prevented the maintenance of a strict formation.

Therefore, Roman paid more attention to the field capabilities and skirmish tactics of the army.

Instructors and squad leaders sporadically took them out for exercises, enhancing mobility and responsiveness through outdoor training.

They disbanded the army into smaller squads, dispersed in deep forests and treacherous swamps, then ignited smoke signals miles away, requiring all members to reach the location within a set time, or else they went hungry.

According to the scale of squads, squadrons, and large squads, they carried out military drills and combat simulations.

These were all essential phases.

Such training also made the army more unified and cohesive, sharing hardships and fostering a sense of collective honor.

Eventually, after column training, physical training, and outdoor training...

At last, Roman saw what finally seemed like a professional army in his eyes.

...

Roman stood on the platform, overseeing the infantry, cavalry, shield soldiers, scouts, archers.

For these men, he had given up too much.

Not to mention the expense in money and grain.

By Roman’s estimates, if these troops were turned into laborers, helping him reclaim land for farming,

he could have cultivated at least thirty-thousand acres of winter wheat this year.

Cultivating land is always profitable, even if it’s recently reclaimed land.

Just one seed can yield multiple seeds.

What would that amount of food production be?

Roman thought.

All gone!

A huge loss!

All because those idiots outside wouldn’t listen to him and wouldn’t die, making things difficult for him!

After inspecting the military, the units began exercising according to plan.

First to enter were the infantry formations,

with the front row of spearmen leveling their long spears.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" The soldiers stepped forward, chanting in unison, each chant boosting morale.

Lord watched from above, everyone focused, gripping their weapons, following training procedures.

Only the first three rows were super long spear bearers, with a range of four meters, each row varying from 20 to 50 men, and depth from 15 to 6 rows.

On the sides and rear of the spearmen were sword and shield soldiers, swordsmen, crossbowmen, axemen.

The formation was solid and mobile.

Their combat concept was for the spearmen to serve as the vanguard, piercing the enemy’s front lines, then the rear troops would continue the pursuit. Even if the spear attack was unsuccessful, they could still fall back, with sword and shield soldiers taking over the enemy engagement.

The infantry formation was well-trained.

Stepping forward, thrusting directly, and repeating the action, advancing a hundred meters without breaking the formation.