Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 266 - 2: I hit them both the same!

The situation in the North Sea was tense.

Pirates and Riptide had fought three major wars to date, not to mention countless smaller-scale conflicts.

Both sides had suffered losses, with nearly five figures in deaths alone.

But there was no helping it.

It was indeed tense!

You couldn’t get at me, and I couldn’t get at you.

All the fighting had led to a stalemate.

Lord Riptide was struggling to hold on, and though the warfare against the pirates was somewhat successful—not losing meant winning, after all, and they had managed to hold their ground—

the eastern battlefield was not going well.

The Black Iron Nobles and the Highland Kingdom, united against the Barbarians, were being pushed back step by step, with the Shattered Archers suffering heavy casualties and in need of reinforcements.

And the pirates were also having a hard time holding on.

They had been fighting for a whole year, and the front line was still stagnant in the North; so many people had died, and yet they had not managed to push into the South.

The position of Pirate King Alex was somewhat shaky.

Do you really have the capability to lead us to a life of luxury?

After much pain and reflection, Pirate King Alex realized that in terms of army morale, organization, and elite forces, his pirates were not inferior to the enemy in any aspect.

Why couldn’t they win then?

It was an equipment issue!

A full-scale invasion, a massive battle.

There were over ten thousand pirates alone, not to mention the countless servants and slaves, who brought their own equipment.

Certain pirate groups had indeed robbed money in the Black Iron Land and could afford fine equipment.

But that didn’t mean all pirates could.

The quality of their weapons was inconsistent, and that was the norm.

And weapons... they wear out.

Anyone who often uses them knows that even a bone-chopping knife will get nicks after hacking about ten people.

And the iron refining technology of this era was not very advanced.

The quality varied greatly, with some high carbon, some low carbon, and some not even steel, just pure iron. Worse still, some were made from inferior phosphorus iron.

So Alex put out the word that whoever could solve the equipment problem would be greatly rewarded.

"Pirate King wishes to establish a cooperative relationship with Your Highness, exchanging slaves for weapons and armor."

Scarhead had come specifically for this.

Riptide’s weapons were fine; the River Valley King’s weapons must be fine as well.

There was no way to win with inferior gear against superior gear.

Only superior quality could defeat another superior quality.

If this deal were to be made,

His position and power would greatly increase in the future, and the profits would be enormous.

Roman frowned slightly.

He had no fondness for Gael, and even less for pirates.

But this deal had come at just the right time.

He was still in desperate need of workforce.

But having become a Lord, he could no longer rob without a reason, at least not in the Black Iron Land.

The main issue was the hefty fines.

It was difficult for the King of Black Iron when the enforcer of order himself broke the order.

Roman had reason to believe that this was one of the reasons the Black Iron King had given him the title of Lord.

Previously, being called a barbarian was one thing, but now they had put a high hat on him, raised his status to that of a high-ranking noble, so he should stop engaging in such shameless acts.

Admittedly, this tactic was quite effective.

Robbing openly and legitimately was no longer an option.

The only way to supplement the workforce was to buy slaves.

The River Valley King, for now, neither opposed nor supported the idea, merely saying indifferently, "Let me hear your price."

"One slave for one axe, or two single-handed swords, or four spears, or forty arrows;

"Two slaves for one longbow, or one helmet;

"Ten slaves for one suit of chain armor."

The River Valley King’s brow furrowed slightly as his fingers gently tapped the armrest.

"You slaves are not worth that price," he said.

"Your Highness, we have higher-value slaves—dyers, tailors, stonemasons, lawyers, scholars..." Scarhead listed them off as if he were counting treasures.

"As you know, ordinary people cannot afford this price, only a wealthy king like yourself can buy them all.

"Moreover, we have noble ladies and women on our side, some of whom we won’t touch, after all, we intend to exchange them for ransom—but we can provide you with a list, and you can choose whomever you want us to deliver."

"The price doubles!" declared the River Valley King, "The price for my weapons must double."

Scarhead looked troubled; he had estimated that raising the price by half would be sufficient.

But it had doubled directly.

Ten thousand ordinary slaves could only be exchanged for five thousand axes, or ten thousand single-handed swords, or two hundred thousand arrows.

I know that the population is quite invaluable, but the transport costs are.

Scarhead was somewhat conflicted.

The pirates invaded the land comprehensively, not just to plunder money, but also to seize land.

The rich, fertile land was far better than Igo’s bitter cold land.

The land used to belong to the nobles, but now the nobles had been killed by the pirates.

Yet that land was still inhabited by generations of farmers.

The land’s carrying capacity in Black Iron Land was already at its limit, the only reason it hadn’t been reached was the continuous depletion of the population by various low-intensity, small-scale wars before the pirates came.

But the number of people alive was not small.

They couldn’t just kill them all.

That would be a massacre.

The pirates had a simple idea, keep some farmers to till the land, and there was no need to keep the rest, as too much population would make governance inconvenient.

It would be best to use them to gain profits, it was a no-cost business.

"I don’t have the authority to decide this, I need to inquire with the Pirate King," said Scarhead in the end.

His visit this time was just to test the water with the River Valley King, regardless of the price, he had to go back and seek the Pirate King’s opinion, without his nod it wouldn’t work.

Now that the pirates had gained a foothold in the North, Scarhead took a few weapon samples and set sail.

Using the river, the round trip was extremely convenient, taking just a few days.

After all, the North Ice Warships were famously fast.

Ten days later.

Scarhead rowed dozens of North Ice Warships against the current, carrying over three thousand slaves, and reached the docks of Origin City.

These were a selectively chosen batch of high-quality slaves.

Most had their Handicraft skills, and even if they had no Handicrafts, they were physically fit young people.

The value of a single person could be worth two or three ordinary slaves.

Seth and Jimmy received the slaves at the dock, confirming their value.

Since such transactions occurred periodically, the process was quite mature.

Roman did not waste words, directly selecting a batch of obsolete, spare but still good-looking weapons from the abandoned warehouse to send to the pirates.

The pirates, living by the blade’s edge, recognized at a glance that these were used weapons.

But the fine steel material was still much stronger than most of the weapons of the current era.

What if they were a bit rusty; just grind them a few more times, and they’d immediately sparkle with a chilling brightness.

The pirates swung the weapons on the spot, tested the feel, and hearing the whistling wind they made, felt extremely satisfied. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Very handy!

Scarhead came again to seek an audience with the River Valley King, kneeling on one knee and said, "Your Highness, the Pirate King is very pleased with the quality of your weapons and has asked me to inquire if you can custom-make plate armor? He is willing to pay the price of five hundred slaves."

Roman told him to get lost directly.

Trying to rebel, huh!

Don’t you know that privately holding armor is a capital offense!

As for the weapons he traded with the pirates...

Roman didn’t really care much about them.

So what if I give you a million pieces?

Riptide or pirates, I’ll fight them both just the same!

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PS: Book friends group 975842136, sorry for neglecting the platform differences, providing the group number for the brothers on the Q Reading side.