Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 181 - 18: Military Restructuring

Chapter 181: Chapter 18: Military Restructuring

Roman arrived at Sige Town on the 403rd day.

The vegetables planted last fall could now be harvested.

The first to mature were cabbages and rutabagas.

The advantage of overwintering vegetables is that they can avoid pests, improve land utilization, and amend the soil.

However, the disadvantage is that they are prone to freezing, yield less, and are smaller in size.

The yield of these two vegetables was about three hundred catties per mu.

Although this was quite impressive, it was a bit low compared to what Roman had invested in this plot of land.

After all, this land had undergone slash-and-burn, deep plowing, and fertilization.

Had it not been new land but old instead, following this process, the yield could have increased to over eight hundred catties without a problem.

Compared to staple grains, the yield of vegetables per mu was quite high.

Because vegetables are planted more densely and are larger in volume, but the downside is that they are low in carbohydrates and calories, and can only be used as a side dish.

Eating vegetables can only fill one’s stomach for a short period.

But the cruel reality was that many farmers could not even get enough vegetables to eat.

Roman brought about a thousand children to harvest the vegetables in this field.

This was like a three-day spring outing.

Getting these young ones to work a bit to relax.

These children had all done farm work before, so their movements were not sloppy, and harvesting the vegetables was not difficult.

A thousand mu of vegetable land yielded a total of three hundred thousand catties of vegetables.

The Ministry of Agriculture had not completed the task of ten thousand mu of wasteland, only cultivating seven thousand mu.

After the vegetable harvest, Roman had them come here to plow this vegetable field again.

Roman had them plant another round of crops here.

In total, five thousand mu were planted with spring wheat— one thousand mu in the vegetable field and an additional four thousand mu of newly cultivated wasteland.

The remaining three thousand mu of wasteland were planted with various vegetables.

Such as spinach, kale, tomatoes, lettuce.

The growth cycle of spring vegetables is very short, and they can be harvested in one or two months.

Then soybeans could be planted to accumulate nutrients and improve the soil.

In another ten days or so, the first batch of pigs, sheep, and chickens from the breeding farm would be ready, and together with these vegetables, getting by until summer would not be a problem.

...

At this time, the trade networks on the continent had revived with astounding speed.

Traders, who had rested for most of the winter, were also setting out on their trading routes again.

Some merchant ships arrived at the docks of Sige Town, although there were fewer than last year.

Roman learned from the traders who came to Sige Town that an army with fluttering flags, embroidered with the Salt Flower crest, had appeared upstream and received a warm welcome from Earl Kant.

"It’s the Gailande family," Seth reported to Roman after learning this from the merchants.

"How many people?"

"Probably around a thousand," Seth guessed.

Roman waved his hand, "Don’t worry about them, let’s talk when everyone is assembled."

"Any news from Morry?" he asked.

Seth shook his head.

Transportation was not smooth, and information was blocked.

In these times, not to mention a mere trader, even the death of a noble stirred no waves.

Roman was waiting for Morry to transport slaves to him, but the latter had disappeared without a trace, which made him somewhat helpless.

"Let’s conduct another round of conscription," Roman said, "This time... recruit eight hundred people."

The land clearing had ended earlier than planned.

He had intended to plant for a few more days.

But the tree desires calm while the wind continues to blow.

One must choose between the plow and the sword.

Farming was never smooth sailing.

Roman thought.

If it truly were, then farmers should be the most trouble-free people in life.

But everyone knows that this isn’t the case.

Roman planned to increase the size of the army to two thousand men.

He arranged this matter with an aggressive attitude.

Now there was no shortage of young, strong labor.

The population structure of Sige Town was very healthy.

Food was plentiful, and certainly affordable to sustain.

To be realistic, what’s most essential in expanding the army?

Recruits!

Roman had purchased over two thousand six hundred slaves last year.

Most of them came from Daken and Morry, with a small proportion from scattered traders.

Slaves meant laborers, with fundamentally no elderly people.

It was simple for Roman to select one fifth of these slaves to become soldiers.

Next, he had captured more than seven hundred conscripted soldiers from the Earl of Kant’s territory; these were mostly strong, working-age men who also enlisted at the first opportunity.

As to whether he could successfully brainwash them and make them fight for him, that depended on Roman’s methods.

At last, there were also eligible youths in the villages they had plundered, who had been captured along with their families, ensuring their loyalty.

Thus, the sources of soldiers were ample.

Transferring a batch of young and strong laborers meant only a reduction in productivity—no other consequences.

Roman thus planned to establish a logistics department of a hundred people to take care of the army’s food supply.

Previously, food in the military camps was transported from the main kitchen using wooden barrels and wagons.

From now on, it would be self-sufficient, with rotating duties in laundry and cooking.

The logistics head was Roman himself, as he placed great importance on this matter.

So, for the next few days, Roman was completely absorbed in building the military.

Daily food, weapon distribution, military supplies; the sole duty of the logistics department was to operate efficiently and effectively.

Next, the military also needed to be reorganized.

Previously, managing or training was easy with only six hundred men.

Now, the number of soldiers had more than tripled, and it was time to reorganize them into more refined combat units.

Roman’s planned military structure was simple.

Twelve people formed a squad, commanded by a Squad Leader.

Five squads made up a squadron of sixty people, with the highest authority being the Squadron Leader.

Five squadrons comprised a squad of three hundred people, commanded by a Squad Leader.

Roman now had four infantry squads, which equated to twelve hundred light infantrymen.

The first Squad Leader was Aaron,

the second Squad Leader was Green,

the third Squad Leader was Nathan,

the fourth Squad Leader was Kao.

There were also other types of troops.

Four hundred Heavy Infantry, commanded by Jet.

Two hundred Archers, commanded by Dick.

Fifty Scouts and fifty Cavalry, these two troop types were commanded by Dota, holding a position equivalent to a Squad Leader.

The horses for the cavalry were obtained from war horses and pack horses seized from Kant Territory, plus a small number of tamed wild horses.

Excluding those special troops,

Roman assigned key responsibilities to soldiers and Angel Envoys who had received second and third class merits by promoting them directly to Squad Leader or Squadron Leader.

Once the military units were defined,

each squad, each squadron, each squad, all began intense devil training round the clock.

Old soldiers trained new ones, practicing formation in the morning, physical training in the afternoon, and studying the alphabet and words at night, along with ideological education.

It could be said they trained mercilessly to the utmost intensity.

The blacksmith shop, as instructed by Roman, had long stopped making farm tools and started crafting weapons full-force.

The Wood Factory also operated non-stop, producing longbows and arrows.

Gleaming swords and knives; ultra-large spears of four or five meters; shields both large in length and width; fine steel axes with two-meter long handles...

Holding such fierce and heavy weapons compels your genes to swing them.

This is the so-called natural instinct to fight when armed.

Don’t underestimate humanity’s propensity for combat.

People farm because they have no alternative, not because they’re afraid to fight.

Roman provided his army with superior equipment.

For example, the Heavy Equipment troops, a single shield cost a gold coin, and that was just the cost price – extremely expensive.

But there was no choice, as Conquest Knights were the most formidable military unit of the age.

Even dense formations of long spears might not withstand a charge of Conquest Knights.

Due to their terrifying impact, any slight hesitation would result in both men and spears being blown away.

Magic Steel Armor impervious to swords and spears; a disjoint mob would scatter at one charge.

After all, this is a fantasy world with highly potent biological potential, and through special breeding methods, war horses significantly outperformed ordinary wild horses in physical quality.

When an eight-hundred-pound warhorse carrying six hundred pounds charges at you at a minimum speed of ten meters per second—

A modern car could knock you as far as a Conquest Knight could knock you, not to mention they would be wielding a Cavalry Spear.

Roman believed that only well-trained Heavy Infantry could withstand that impact force.