Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 184 - 21: Full Effort

Chapter 184: Chapter 21: Full Effort

Vilechka said on the boat,

"If you ask me, with so many of us, we’ll definitely scare that kid into peeing his pants!"

A hundred boats, nearly six thousand men.

Just forming a dragon line and passing through that canyon would take over an hour.

"It’s like adults beating a child!" said the hot-blooded Vilechka.

Carter chuckled low, his visage fierce, like a sharp-headed vulture, clearly not one of the kind-hearted.

"Do you find my words amusing?"

"A lion still uses full force when hunting a rabbit," Bald Carter said.

He did not deny Vilechka’s boastful claim, because he thought the same, but he objected to Foucault himself.

Vilechka raised an eyebrow. "Is this the knowledge passed down from the wild beasts? Truly barbaric indeed."

Bald Carter spoke with meaningful intonation. "Humans originally emerged from the pack of beasts too, young man, you’ve forgotten your nature."

"Heh, I’ll bear your advice in mind," said the young man, with an indifferent expression on his face.

Their conversation was tinged with gunpowder.

Behind a salt field, only three nobles could manage control, yet here sat five nobles.

Two families were bound to be eliminated.

After breaking through that town, they would meet in battle, and the losers would only receive a sum of money before having to leave.

They were well aware of this.

The people of the Simon family kept a low profile, speaking very little.

Steve’s eyes darted around, pondering who knew what.

Earl Kant had a pensive look, this Earl knew he definitely had a share in the salt mine, should have been stable as Mount Tai, but his expression was full of preoccupation.

Flant took everything in.

This middle-aged knight just smiled without speaking.

He was only responsible for bringing back a sum of money delivered by the victor to the Bexites family.

Who the victor was, did not matter to him.

Surprisingly, although Vilechka was arrogant, he was the first to seek Flant’s help last night, hoping to receive his backing with a promise of remuneration afterward.

Then, Gailande, Carter, and people from the Simon family also sent their agents to his resting place, each offering variable amounts of reward.

The permanently discreet Simon family surprisingly made the highest bid, claiming that if he intervened, the Bexites family could permanently secure a part of the salt mine.

But Flant remained firm and refused to get involved in the dispute.

The Bexites were responding to the call of Grand Duke Fury, lacking the energy to concern themselves with this salt mine, and instructed him to return as soon as possible. This trip was just to check the quality of the salt mine.

Unexpectedly, Earl Kant had not yet taken a position.

Flant knew well that Earl Kant’s vote was crucial, capable of shifting any of the two power factions, making him an object of eager coalition from the four families.

This was undoubtedly a good chance to profit more.

Yet he did not stand behind any party’s power, only excusing himself to wait and see after breaking through Sige Town.

Flant thought he was waiting for the highest bid, striving for the maximum profit, as the longer he waited, the more favorable it was for him.

Of course, this had to be managed carefully, if he held off for too long, by the time the victor was clear and he stepped in then, not only would there be no profit, but it could also attract the victor’s resentment.

Flant thought Earl Kant was an old fox, still able to sit tight up to this point.

Such tactics were not like those of a myopic and secluded noble.

Even pretending to be worried, as if genuinely considering how to break through Sige Town, it was laughable.

A hundred ships moved downstream, in a mighty formation.

All the ships converged together, finally entering this expansive river valley.

However, the scene visible across the water made this veteran knight’s smile stiffen on his face.

...

The army of Sige Town was assembled.

Roman had received early notice from the scouts and had prepared for defense.

Some were dismantling the docks, leaving no foothold for the enemy.

Just say, as long as there are two people watching upstream and downstream, anyone approaching will blow the whistle, no one can surprise attack this land—unless they go through the mountain roads.

Flant, who had good eyesight, could see those vaguely spread out, densely scattered forces lining the entire river.

And at the forefront along the riverbank, a wall composed of steel stood imposingly, facing them.

"All Gods above, how many soldiers do they have?"

The nobles who saw this scene exclaimed in surprise.

"The front army has about fifteen hundred men!" estimated the veteran knight, whose judgments based on war experience were often not far off from the truth.

"Wasn’t it said there were only a thousand at most?" Vilechka was extremely shocked, seeing that iron wall, which hardly seemed purely decorative.

"He has taken a lot of people," Earl Kant said, his face ashen.

How much time had passed?

In just over a month, they had been tamed, participating in the war against their former lord.

"Ha! Then our lord’s subjects truly have some backbone."

Bald Carter, picking up his war axe and clad in heavy lock armor and a helmet, said, "Now is not the time to speak of this, listen kid, hyenas only scavenge the dead, not the living."

"Don’t wag your fingers at me, I want to see if the warriors of your family are as good as their reputation!"

"The guys on the shore are kind of putting on a show," commented Sir Simon who had excellent vision and could see that the troops were a mixed bag.

Some were solid, unyielding as mountains.

Others were hunched and looking around uneasily.

"Their weapons aren’t just for show, don’t you think those glints of cold steel are blinding?" the Senior Knight remarked.

"Everyone! Go all out! This isn’t an ordinary army, those shields remind me of the legendary Shield Guard Army, I’m lucky I’ve never encountered those guys!"

Steve simply blew a whistle signal only their own troops could understand.

"Row over! Get all the boats to shore and tear them apart!" Carter spat out fervently.

"Watch out! Archers!"

Someone sounded the alarm.

Woosh! Woosh!!

Everyone looked up, only to see a barrage of arrow feathers descending from the sky!

[Six Nobles planned this battle to seize your resources, and you were determined to fight on relentlessly]

[Mode: Integrated Combat]

[Current Level: 0—2]

[Level Name: River Beach Defense]

[Level Introduction: The enemy’s numbers far exceed ours, we must not let them land]

[Recommended Level: —]

[Recording on the Battlefield: —]

Roman needed to train 200 archers.

But that didn’t mean he only had two hundred bows, nor did it mean only 200 people could use them.

After dispatching troops to plunder the Kant Territory, Roman knew this year was not going to be good for farming.

Therefore, the manufacturing of military weaponry definitely needed to be maximized.

The crafting cycle for individual bows was short, and they were made from thousand-year-old trees, the material was exceptionally high quality and powerful, making it the preferred choice.

A single longbow over a meter in length had a range of one hundred seventy meters.

Four to five hundred archers, formed in rows on land, began a volley of arrows when the fleet approached within one hundred fifty meters.

Having only undergone half a month’s training in shooting, they had a basic feel, just learned to control the direction of the arrows.

Accuracy didn’t matter much since it was more about the barrage.

Most arrows plunged into the water and disappeared without a trace; only thirty to forty arrows managed to hit the hull or the shields of the boats, lacking any lethal force.

But this was just the beginning of the shooting.

Earl Kant knew Sige Town had the capability to train archers, so he had brought a large number of shields before departure.

Despite being mocked by Vilechka, it did not affect his preparations.

Now, it proved effective.

Vilechka felt grateful while hiding behind the shields.

He had thought Sige Town would have at most a hundred to two hundred competent archers; now, he saw the numbers had more than doubled.

Without sufficient protective gear, these archers were enough to make them suffer a crushing defeat.

"Row!!"

Taking advantage of the river current, the rowers paddled furiously, with the fleet advancing at a speed of about two to three meters per second.

Roman ordered the archers to fire at will.

Some shot quickly, others slowly; uniformity was impossible.

At this moment, it wasn’t about maintaining any shooting formation, just shoot as much as possible.

Although the kill rate was very low, the size of the enemy boats made them significant targets, inevitably causing casualties, preventing them from a smooth landing, and greatly demoralizing the enemy.

It took the enemy over a minute to reach the shore, and during this time, each of his archers could on average fire five arrows.

Roman, standing on the shore, also began to draw his bow.

In the age of cold weapons, the suppressive power of long-range archers on the battlefield was absolutely terrifying.

Some weaker armies would fall apart after just two volleys.

Roman’s eyes glinted like torches, and as the boats entered the range of one hundred fifty meters, he released the arrows he had long readied!

His archers opted for arcing shots, seeking range and breadth of impact.

But Roman aimed for direct shots.

Whoosh!

The fierce arrows tore through the air with a mournful screech.

On the fastest boat, the soldiers’ shields shattered under the massive force, the arrows piercing through them and the three to four soldiers behind them, toppling them into the river, disrupting their defensive formation and creating flaws.

Kao handed him a Magic Steel arrow.

Roman spread his arms wide, using his shoulders to draw the bow.

Intuitively aiming, he loosened his fingers.

Whoosh!

Another Magic Steel arrow whistled through the air, breaking through the protective barriers of a boat.