Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 256 - 25: Provide for oneself through one’s own efforts
Chapter 256: Chapter 25: Provide for oneself through one’s own efforts
"The Battle of Spring Rain" had far-reaching effects; if one looks at history, it can be found that this was a relatively critical turning point.
This has to do with the factors of the era and the system.
Without an influx of foreigners, Roman would need at least two to three years to catch a breath after each war.
Because the fights were too brutal.
And for a battle of the "Spring Rain" caliber, without the spoils of war, it would take at least ten years for Roman to gradually recover.
But it was not the same for other nobles.
Whether they won or lost, there seemed to be little difference.
The social system is part of the reason.
For example, after the lord of Buck High Land, Owen, died, Owen’s heirs bowed to Duke Gael and showed subservience, promising not to make mistakes again so they could return to their position. A father’s rebellion would not implicate his son.
Leave a line of retreat, for it is always good to face one another in the future.
Of course, such bottom lines are continually broken.
Simayi had much to say about this.
Another part of the reason is that the nobles of this era were unable to produce annihilation in war.
This is related to the military system.
The military system, in turn, is closely linked to socio-economic development.
If the economy is not doing well, then the organization of the military is inadequate, and annihilation cannot be achieved in war.
Thus, the pattern of warfare was very rudimentary, not intense, and remained in a mild fish pond scenario, at a Spring and Autumn period level.
Not even the Warring States period would play like this.
The moment a more robust military organization appears, fighting becomes a life or death matter, to the extent of a battle to extinction, and massive pits filled with ten thousand corpses are considered normal operation.
Now, what does the "Spring Rain Battle" signify?
Roman gave all the nobles of this land a little high-end shock!
In the last battle with the nobles’ coalition forces, Roman’s army was poorly trained, and the results were bad.
Because back then, most of the army were recruits who had only been trained for two to three months before being hastily thrown into battle.
Therefore, the casualties were high but within understandable limits.
But this time was different; most of the soldiers had been trained for half a year and could be considered elite troops, which was also why Roman dared to engage in open field battle.
After all, if they had all still been new recruits, Roman would definitely have been overrun.
But with a reliable military organization, he turned the tables and, using human wave tactics, dragged down all the Conquest Knights.
The results of the battle were exceedingly rich.
It was the first time an army of ten thousand had been completely annihilated!
From a historical perspective, this is a memorable event.
Because war promotes the progress of human civilization.
And in the future, this progress will be more evident and more visually manifest.
Those who do not participate will be overrun by those who do, like a fleshly hand fed into a meat grinder.
Roman was the one leading the charge in this upward spiral.
He had been striving for two years and had carved out the status of River Valley King for himself.
His development speed could not be considered slow by any means.
Only the Conqueror from a hundred years ago could be said to be on par with Roman.
As for how the former achieved it, Roman did not know.
Roman only knew that he had cheated and exerted all his effort to develop.
From Sige Town to Origin City, the hardship and labor involved could really only be understood by those oxen and horses.
Barely a few days off in an entire year.
It must be admitted that these were people capable of enduring hardship.
So this year, they would bear even more labor.
Because they had adapted to the past intensity and processes of labor, their work efficiency had greatly improved.
Tasks that used to take five hours to complete were now done in four.
Green was able to increase the workload with a clear conscience.
Of course, that was after he had reaped the war dividends from the "Battle of Spring Rain."
He would also appropriately distribute some benefits—
improving living standards, upgrading living conditions, initiating new infrastructure projects—of course, that would depend on their own efforts to create these amenities.
After all, self-reliance leads to abundance. Sharing some of the wealth they created with them,
wasn’t that the great kindness and generosity of the mighty Lord?
Yeah! (Double V hands)
...
Dick arrived at the prison, carrying a keg of beer.
"Is there really no way to release him?"
He asked the jailer.
The jailer seemed unsure, "Lord Roman says no..."
Dick explained, "I assure you there won’t be any trouble."
In the pause while he spoke, the jailer’s expression hardened,
"Instructor... Deputy Commander Dick! When Lord Roman says no, it means no! You taught us that! Military orders are absolute! Nobody can defy them!"
The jailer was emotional, raising his voice.
Dick was at a loss for words.
"You...well done!"
The rooms that once housed slaves had now been turned into a POW camp.
The Blood Salt Knight Flant sat on a pile of straw, limbs chained to four hundred-pound iron plates, a distinction only he was granted. Seeing Dick, he smiled and said, "I thought you held some sway around here."
"I do have some influence, but the rules here are different from other places," Dick replied.
"I can see that," said the Blood Salt Knight, "otherwise, I wouldn’t be here as a prisoner."
He had never imagined he would end up in such a predicament. The place was dark and damp, the straw reeked, and at night, fleas feasted on his body—it was dreadful.
Dick was unable to ameliorate his situation. He knew Flant was a first-rate Knight.
They had crossed swords before when Flant wasn’t young, but he himself was.
Now seeing Flant again, his face a bit aged, brown hair interspersed with white, Flant was still the renowned Blood Salt Knight of the Bexites family, maintaining a rigid posture even in dire straits.
"Since Harburg, I thought we would meet again, but then I heard you got into trouble, and I thought we would never see each other in this life. Now I find you’ve been hiding here..."
"I’ve been hiding here for many years," Dick said nonchalantly. He put down the keg, took out a cup, "They all rejected me."
"This is a good place. Lord Kate wants this River Valley," Flant said.
"It wasn’t so great before. Sparse population, poverty, barely getting by. The only advantage was the absence of Nobles, but once Roman arrived, that advantage turned into a disadvantage," Dick commented as he lifted the keg’s lid, "Do they think that having a Lord will make the land powerful? Hmph, Lord Flant, some people’s strength doesn’t come from land. But there’s a common misconception that a good fief equals everything."
"That’s not what you said before," Knight Flant pointed out, "During the struggle for Haltat Salt Mine, you firmly vowed to win the mine for Lord Warwick, contending with the Bexites family. Although I defeated you, everyone recognized your valour. Who would’ve thought after your return you would kill Lord Warwick..."
Dick paused mid-action, saying, "I was too naive then."
"Why did you kill Lord Warwick? Your colleagues called you ’Clean Dick,’ ’The Clear Man.’ There are no misnomers in this world, so when I first met you, I admired you immediately. And yet you massacred them all, Dick, I believe there must have been a reason."
"My wife asked Lord Warwick when I would be coming home. She was seven months pregnant, very anxious, longing for my return—I had lost the war and wanted to salvage my defeat, so I participated in a tournament hosted by the Grand Duke Oak. The prize was a Secret Silver Necklace, and I hoped to win it to apologize to my Monarch. But when I returned, I learned my wife had died in Lord Warwick’s castle. They said she had given birth to a girl... I strangled him to death with that necklace..."
He trailed off, a handsome and weathered face clouded with sorrow as he took out the tarnished silver necklace, gently caressing it.
It was another necklace that he had specially commissioned a silversmith to make for his wife. He had dearly wished to place the necklace around her neck himself or give it to his unborn daughter.
Flant said in a hushed tone, "You can’t be blamed for that. But is this why you serve Lord Roman? His reputation now closely resembles yours. If it weren’t for you intervening, he would have surely broken my limbs with his own hands, just like what happened to those Judgement Knights."
"You injured Green and Aaron, but luckily you showed restraint and didn’t kill them—if you had slain even one, no matter how desperately I pleaded, I couldn’t save your life. You would’ve been minced and fed to the dogs."
"Isn’t that how we Knights are, always showing mercy to the great figures? I bet those two aren’t even twenty-five and already they’re third-tier Knights. Facing such promising young men, how could I bring myself to finish them?" Flant mused,
"So what do you plan to do with him? I don’t want to say this, but do you still harbor hatred? Do you still have unreleased urges to kill? There are too many Nobles like that; you can’t kill them all."
He had lived for fifty to sixty years and had encountered such Nobles.
Nobles who didn’t care for their noble status, and then there was Dick the noble-killer...
He couldn’t even fathom what these two might do when they came together.
"No, that score has long been settled. You go and discuss this with my Commander." Dick said with a sad smile, pouring a drink for the Blood Salt Knight,
"Lord Flant, do you know? I used to harbor hatred, but then I met a little girl. Tiny and slim, she was frantically fleeing to the mountains. At that moment I thought if my daughter were alive, she would be about her size. With that thought, all my hatred disappeared without a trace... We must accept reality and look forward, mustn’t we?"
