Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 201 - 6: Annihilate Eight Hundred Enemies, Self-Harm One Thousand

Chapter 201: Chapter 6: Annihilate Eight Hundred Enemies, Self-Harm One Thousand

Two armies in battle must eventually have a commander.

Flant was a fairly suitable candidate.

Because the Bexites family was the strongest and Flant’s war experience was the most abundant.

But Flant wouldn’t accept the position.

Once he became the commander, he could no longer shirk his duties.

Flant declined, saying the Bexites forces were too few and he would only assist in support, thus he nominated Earl Kant.

Earl Kant naturally took command of the military power.

The original troop structure was as follows—

Cover 1000 people. Vilechka 1100 people. Simon 1500 people. Carter 800 people. Bexites 100 people.

They brought so many forces, initially planning to take it down in one fell swoop.

But they suffered a crushing defeat and realized that no matter how many troops they put in, they couldn’t break through, so they had to switch to a long-term blockade.

However, their troops had been partially drawn away by their respective ruling families during this period.

In fact, by the end of summer, if Sige Town had not been taken, at least three of the five families would withdraw their troops.

They simply couldn’t continue to bear the costs.

They couldn’t stubbornly cling to a salt mine; half a year was the limit, and without results, they would naturally return home and count their losses as they may.

The reason they had not wavered yet was that Earl Kant was desperate; his powerful neighbor made him uneasy, and he was willing to take on the logistics support of the allied forces to continue the blockade.

Now the troop structure was like this—

Cover 700 people. Vilechka 800 people. Simon 1100 people. Carter 500 people. Bexites 50 people.

Earl Kant’s forces had, in fact, increased. He held half of the total military strength.

So, this earl’s say became more and more significant.

Even the haughty members of the Beast Family had to be polite in front of the earl—of course, that didn’t stop them from secretly despising the quality of his conscripted soldiers.

Carter believed that five hundred beast warriors could easily crush the latter’s three thousand conscripted soldiers.

But now the five noble families tacitly acknowledged Earl Kant’s contribution to the campaign.

Once Sige Town was taken, the River Valley land would belong to Earl Kant, and the other families could only share the benefits brought by the salt mine.

...

The allied forces were encamped five miles away from the valley.

The nobles began to discuss the battle deployment.

How to attack? And who should attack?

"I suggest our Lord Carter takes the vanguard, his family’s beast warriors have a formidable reputation," Vilechka said with a grin.

"Then be careful not to get your neck bitten off by beasts while you’re asleep!" Carter said coldly.

"The people of the Vilechka family are not easily frightened!" Knight Foucault scoffed, long immune to such intimidating talk.

"Enough!" Earl Kant commanded, putting an end to this endless dispute.

Earl Kant was very troubled.

Vilechka was arrogant and sharp-tongued, a haughty character developed from childhood.

But Carter, the Beast, was not one of Vilechka’s family elders; there was no reason to indulge him, and he had long wanted to teach this reckless youngster a lesson.

The Beast Family had suffered heavy casualties in the battle at Sige Town, losing forty to fifty family warriors, which pained Carter deeply, and he had a dark expression every day during that time.

Vilechka thought little of this, believing that Carter looked down on the sacrifices of the Vilechka family.

So it’s only your family that has lost people? Which family hasn’t?

No wonder Flant refused the role. Earl Kant thought.

Just maintaining the balance among the five great families had exhausted him.

Now, how was he supposed to command them to attack?

The Carter family was particularly resentful, and the other families felt the same, each believing they had taken the brunt of the losses.

They all had suffered losses, yet reaped no gains; wasn’t that a blood loss?

If they launched another such charge, they would likely all want their comrades in front to protect them, everyone wanting to play the support role, and then there would be no battle at all.

Since they could not form an allied army, the families had to attack individually.

Thus, the Earl said, "Knight Simon, how about you take the lead in this battle?"

Roman could not delay, and neither could they.

They needed to fight swiftly and decisively, to retrieve those who had been stolen, his poor farmers, who were waiting for his rescue.

Moreover, he could no longer tolerate the squabbling of those foreign nobles before him!

One claimed they had lost forty or fifty men, another said seventy or eighty, completely disregarding the nearly two hundred casualties of Kant Territory’s soldiers.

He had once voiced his dissatisfaction with this issue but was met with comments that were more than disdainful—

"Earl, the deaths of your warriors are due to their lack of training. Had they been well-trained and adept in battle, they would not have ended up in such a state..."

That was what they all said.

From that point on, he never brought it up again, only pressing his anger and frustration deep inside.

He, too, wanted an army like that!

But he had no money!

If only he could defeat Roman, reclaim the populace, annex Sige Town into his territorial map, seize that salt mine, he might unlock the secret to that young Lord’s swift development and leap to become a noble with real power in Black Iron Land.

...

Earl Kant stared at Knight Simon.

The Simon family’s coat of arms is a "Closed Door," adhering to the family motto "Silence is Gold."

Unless necessary, the Simon family rarely voices opinions, and now they were in cahoots with the Carter Family.

Knight Simon glanced at the Earl.

His tone was very amiable, but the Knight was well aware that the Earl did not give him the right to refuse.

It was the Simon family’s turn to pay their dues.

In the battle for Sige Town, everyone suffered losses, and, upon reflection, the Simon family had about thirty casualties, only a few more than the Bexites family riders.

Are you secretly slacking off?

Knight Simon explained that they charged too fast and got stuck in front, making it impossible for his men to get to shore.

No one believed this excuse.

Foucault and Steve mocked him relentlessly.

But Knight Simon’s temperament was the complete opposite of Bald Carter’s.

He had great endurance, taking all the sarcasm and mockery without a hint of retaliation, unlike Bald Carter, who would explode at the slightest provocation.

"Earl, I heed your command. You are the chief commander, we will attack immediately," Knight Simon was very smooth, having never gotten into an argument with anyone so far.

His prior actions had already caused everyone to complain.

Dare to find another excuse, and he would incur everyone’s wrath, being kicked right out of the game.

Bald Carter was his ally, but even now he did not speak in his defense, because even allies had their selling points, and eventually someone had to be the scapegoat.

Now, the Simon family’s forces were second only to the Kant Family, with a solid 1100 men.

The Kant Family may have gotten control of Sige Town, but they still allowed other nobles to share in the salt trade and profits; the Simon family was the strongest competitor.

He was very decisive, immediately mobilizing all the family infantry into the valley.

...

The disparity in force was significant.

Easy to say it was fightable, and hard to say it was not.

Firstly, seeing the large enemy force would cause instability in the hearts of the outnumbered, leading to low morale.

If the troops were not well trained, they did not need a fierce attack; just experiencing a battle could lead to collapse.

Then, facing a force several times larger, the outnumbered would suffer a tremendous drain on their energy and stamina.

After ten minutes or so of fighting, they would take half a day to recover.

They would fall exhausted, while the enemy could send fresh soldiers to continue the fight, naturally leading to a breakdown.

But the difficulty also lay in the fact that it was two thousand soldiers, not two thousand pigs.

Both sides would suffer casualties.

To destroy eight hundred of the enemy and lose a thousand of one’s own was considered normal.