Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 405 - 9: Rolling Back the Bead Curtain

Chapter 405: Chapter 9: Rolling Back the Bead Curtain

"What should we do about the mercenaries on Black Iron Avenue and those islanders?" Dick pointed up the road, "Our civilian crossbowmen have some strength, but they can’t handle their Conquest Knights."

"I will deploy the forces of Cold Wind Town to relieve Shane Domain Fortress and Slater Fortress at all costs, delaying their march speed..." Roman paused, deep in thought, "Our primary task is to defeat Makor’s main force as soon as possible."

"That’s easier said than done." It’s not simple, Tashina thought. Even if Roman leaves all the main forces in the middle, the enemy is still the infamous Sons of the Rage Tide.

The main forces of the River Valley Army returned from the lower road, took a brief rest, and then had to head to the middle road.

This time, over twelve thousand people were mobilized.

But this time, everyone was very excited because the commander was not Jet, but their revered River Valley King!

To ask what Roman’s status was in their hearts.

It could only be described with one word, which is—invincible! The embodiment of Heavenly Destiny! The supreme ruler!

As long as they see this figure on the battlefield, the morale of the River Valley Warriors would skyrocket! Increase tremendously! Wildly! Combat strength would increase tenfold or even ninefold!

Joining the army was like entering a cult; all the warriors had fervent faith in Roman!

They firmly believed that the most righteous and greatest thing in this world was to follow Roman’s silhouette forward on a path of infinite brightness!

If their lives could contribute to paving this bright road, they would sacrifice themselves without hesitation!

Because in this dark age—survival was never an inherent right!

For the peasant class, living peacefully and safely was a desperately desired luxury!

They used to live in deep waters and scorching fires; they were supposed to be mere expendable lives.

But ever since arriving at Origin City, they found this place exceedingly good, where they could be well-fed and warmly clothed, receive military pay, with fair and strict laws, and commanders treated them like brothers, and the Lord saw them as citizens; it was truly like the living world.

Those forced into a dead end, as long as they saw a glimmer of hope, a ray of light, would do anything to grasp it, guard it, and follow it!

Sooner or later, everyone dies, so rather than dying worthlessly, it’s better to die gloriously!

In the army camp, this thought, promoted from top to bottom, made the warriors of the River Valley Army have a steel-willed combat spirit and extremely robust belief goals.

...

"The Blasphemers are approaching our side?"

Count Filin replied, "Lord Makor, it seems they intend to divide and conquer—Lord Provence was defeated miserably."

Makor said, "They underestimated the enemy."

The failure on the lower road had a great impact on the entire situation.

Theoretically speaking, as long as the four routes advanced step by step, forming a surrounded posture, no matter how strong the Blasphemers’ army was, they could only lose Fertile City and retreat to the basin in disgrace.

But unfortunately, there were too many incompetent allies.

The lower road’s march speed was one day ahead.

Don’t underestimate the mere day’s difference; the result was that the lower road stood out alone, like a bird standing out, allowing the Blasphemers and the White Steel Princess to jointly ruin the lower road while they could do nothing.

Was this something humans could pull off?!

And he would never underestimate the enemy!

If the four routes combined had ten combat power, then just the middle road alone had four combat power.

Even so, the middle road army was steadily advancing, never impatient.

They encamped over ten miles, the tents vast.

Build strong camps, fight stupid battles!

To fight to the end with the Blasphemer Roman!

I have the national power of the entire Black Iron Land supporting my back; what do you have to fight me with?

"Leave the camp! Engage!"

...

Roman was not unfamiliar with Makor, the latter was his brother-in-law, his wife Hena being the daughter of Alster, and nobles being intermarried was normal.

He truly remembered Makor because of the Guardian Family’s downfall years ago, which was said he was also a perpetrator.

"This battle must be fought swiftly!" Tashina said.

"I understand."

"Lord, how do you plan to deploy the battle?" she asked again.

"Reverse Rolling Bamboo Curtain."

The Princess shook her head, "Never heard of it."

"I’ll tell you..."

Tashina might not have heard of it, but she undoubtedly understood the military concept within it.

The essence of the Reverse Rolling Bamboo Curtain is to drive the routed soldiers to impact the main formation, cavalry driving, infantry can drive too.

They are now in joint combat, and the battle plan must be clearly communicated to all brigades, battalions, and the independent column where Tashina is located.

The White Steel Princess had seen the standard tactics of the River Valley Army during this period.

Simply put, it is to leverage the phalanx advantage, openly and honestly penetrating the enemy line, with a very high fault tolerance rate.

Because in Roman’s view, as long as there’s no blind command, the River Valley Army was innately invincible, with no need for risky actions.

This set of tactics was formulated by Roman after hundreds of battlefield simulations.

Previously, Tashina taking the cavalry to outflank was already considered quite unconventional.

Because in the standard tactic, the Vanguard is supposed to guard their side flanks, not assault the enemy flanks; this approach aims to preserve strength and avoid unnecessary troop losses.

Of course, the specifics depend on the situation.

In the past, the reason the Vanguard didn’t outflank charge was that Roman’s knights couldn’t match up to the deeply rooted Noble Knights, and once separated from the main force, they had a chance of being captured and killed.

But now, Roman’s cavalry units had significantly increased in strength with the addition of the White Knight and Oak elite soldiers, thus using the anvil-and-hammer tactic—anyway, leading the charge at the front was the White Steel Princess.

Roman rarely engaged in battle in the real world, but he was almost crazed with killing in battlefield simulations, and the war experience he gained was by no means mere theory.

In the main line campaign "War of the Kings," Roman had seen the style of the White Steel Princess; she charged everywhere on the battlefield, very conspicuous, battling with a number of knights, coming in and out unscathed, very adept at seizing opportunities, clearly possessing innate military talent.

Roman wished he could chew the entire plan into pieces and feed it to them one by one.

Reverse Rolling Bamboo Curtain is different from the standard tactics; standard tactics are the optimal solution for conventional operations.

Because what war demonstrates is not the upper limit, but the lower limit.

A single decision mistake could lead to defeat.

Someone like Bai Qi or Han Xin might score ninety-five or a hundred points, but the standard tactic always pursues a pass score of sixty, as long as his opponent doesn’t pass, he wins.

This strategy is very conservative, the lineup rigid, lacking change, unable to bring out the River Valley Army’s advantage.

Because the brigade’s flexibility and mobility are very high, it should be fully mobilized.

This is very necessary!

Rather than using a very rigid strategy, fixing everyone in one position and making some inefficient decisions.

This is completely wasting potential.

But there was no choice.

Jet did not possess the ability for commanding large troop formations.

He was a Sword Master in the past, later a military instructor, and now served as a commander.

Roman couldn’t find a better candidate and had to let a sword instructor serve as the commander.

Jet was serious by nature, did things steadily, and as long as he received orders, he would complete them without fail, an extremely useful tool.

Now with Roman taking over the command of the army, the tactics can be changed.