You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 188 Archers Suppress Spear Thrusts
The strategy of using a series of attacks is simple and effective.

The Simon family members were the first to go to the front lines, and the other families had to take turns.

The midsummer sun was quite strong.

Sir Simon advanced down the valley floor and soon came upon Roman's heavily armed formation.

He frowned as he stared at the defensive line.

Roman had already proven his tenacity to them.

From any perspective, the soldiers in front of us can be considered a large-scale army.

They simply couldn't understand how the other side could afford to support so many elite soldiers.

It's very difficult to beat.

But even if it's difficult, we have to fight.

Roman dared to supply hundreds of thousands of kilograms of salt to the entire land when he first started mining salt last year. He doesn't even dare to think about how much he will supply this year and next.

Every country has its laws, and every industry has its rules. How dare you do this without even giving a heads-up? That's incredibly rude!
Paying respects to the authorities first won't do you any harm; it won't make a difference if you have another salt mine. As long as there's a tacit understanding, it's fine.

Everyone knows it.

Their envoys were not only driven out by Roman, who also threatened to slap them in the face.

This is beyond outrageous!
We must take strong measures against these lawbreakers who disrupt market order!

……

Simon's army marched forward, and Roman's army also marched forward.

When they were about a hundred meters apart, both armies began to fire arrows simultaneously.

Not only Roman has ranged units, but the Simon family does too.

The quality is uneven; some are short bows, some are long bows, and some are crossbows, giving them a somewhat disorganized feel.

Roman knew that standard equipment was very important for the military.

Ancient trees naturally possess subtle yet extraordinary properties, and the longer a tree lives, the stronger its properties become.

The spirits of distant legends guard a mythical ancestral tree.

A bow made from ordinary wood can shoot up to 180 meters, while a bow made from a thousand-year-old tree can shoot up to 200 meters—but overall, it's only slightly better.

The land of Romans is rich in trees that have lived for thousands of years. They search for and cut them down to make high-performance standard weapons.

The bow is nearly two meters long.

The arrow was long, thick, and straight.

The Simon family had more archers than the Roman family; judging by the density of arrows alone, there were about four or five hundred of them.

However, shortbows don't shoot very far, and longbows aren't as good as Roman's, while crossbows are decent—but crossbows have too high logistical requirements, so Roman didn't equip them, and Simon equipped very few, less than double digits.

Each army raised its shields to defend against the crossbow bolts coming from the sky.

Bang bang bang! !

Sir Simon's shield was pierced by an arrow that came from the sky, and a cone-shaped arrowhead protruded three or five centimeters, exposed to Sir Simon's eyes.

You should know that he was far behind the lines, and he almost got infected himself.

His face turned pale for a moment.

He was good at analyzing pros and cons, and now even a fool could tell that the enemy's bows had a range and power that completely outclassed his ranged units.

"We'll launch the attack soon!"

Screams echoed continuously from his army.

Someone was hit by an arrow. The arrow was very powerful. A shield is useful, but that doesn't mean you won't get hurt.

Some crude and inferior shields will be pierced, while even better shields will be penetrated by several centimeters. Even iron shields may not be able to withstand this power.

We just need to wait until they run out of arrows.

These days, arrows are expensive and difficult to make, so shooting them this way is like burning money.

He counted silently.

The enemy's firing was very precise, with about two hundred arrows per volley, and they had already fired five volleys.

Damn!

When they attacked Sig Town two months ago, those archers didn't have this kind of discipline!
If they all had that level of skill, they would have had to leave behind at least a thousand corpses to get out!

……

Ten rounds.

Sir Simon was somewhat agitated.

His ranged units were completely suppressed.

The output environment is poor; it's been countered, leaving it only able to be attacked.

……

Fifteen rounds.

Morale began to decline, and it was unclear when the enemy would stop firing. The enemy showed no intention of ceasing fire, as their aim was suppression.

Moving forward will expose many weaknesses, making it impossible to defend fully and will only result in more casualties. Waiting for the enemy to stop firing is the best option.

……

Twenty rounds have passed.

The terrain here is bad, like a single-plank bridge.

Either you leave, or I leave; otherwise, we have no choice but to confront each other head-on.

The 1100-strong army was clustered together, occupying a 20-meter-long stretch of land. The terrain was narrow and the troops were scattered, making them a huge target.

……

Twenty-five rounds.

Still firing! Still firing!
……

Thirty rounds.

Five minutes passed.

The firing finally stopped.

……

Simon wondered if the young lord had used up all his arrow reserves.

A full six thousand arrows!
This is not a small number.

Even a low-ranking earl like the Earl of Conde would find it difficult to produce such weapons, because infrequently used military equipment is unnecessary to keep on hand, as it is too expensive to manufacture and requires maintenance.

Sir Simon tallied the casualties, then everything went black.

There were probably about a hundred dead or injured.

He immediately wanted to turn back.

This war is unwinnable!

The campaign failed before it even began!

"attack!!"

Even Sir Simon, with his shrewd and diplomatic nature, was furious at this moment.

The other conscripts were also furious.

I've never fought such a frustrating battle.

The Simon family's army marched on foot to conserve energy for the ensuing battle.

They advanced a hundred meters, and Roman's army also advanced fifty or sixty meters on foot.

Viewed from above, it looks like two dense ant colonies merging into a larger ant colony.

The battle has entered a phase of close combat.

Roman's heavy infantry were not positioned at the forefront; they were primarily tasked with countering cavalry.

The first row consists of lightly armored shield bearers, equipped with simple half-body plate armor made of iron plates, arm guards, gloves, soft armor hats, chainmail hoods, and light shields.

The second row consists of spearmen from Roman's side, whose spears are four meters long.

In the era of cold weapons, the longer the attack diameter, the greater the advantage.

The two sides were about four or five meters apart.

The conscripts, shields in hand, approached tentatively, essentially taking one step forward and half a step back.

Roman's spearmen made tentative thrusts, but the enemy wasn't within range, and they missed completely.

They both felt an unprecedented tension.

Many recruits' spears trembled in their hands, their Adam's apples bobbed uncontrollably, their breathing quickened, and their hearts pounded faster!

"what!"

A conscript got too close, and a squad leader seized the opportunity, swiftly thrusting a spear through his eye.

The screams rang out and blood splattered in an instant.

As if hearing the death knell, both armies, driven by unease, experienced a surge of adrenaline and became completely frenzied!
Weapons in hand.

When fear and tension reach their peak, just do it!

……

The brutal fight lasted for four or five minutes.

The conscripted army retreated in disarray, leaving behind about two hundred corpses on the battlefield.

Roman did not order his men to pursue them.

He wasn't doing well either, with sixty or seventy people killed or injured.

Some were killed by shortbows at close range, while others were killed by enemies who crouched down and rolled over to attack the spearmen's lower body, inevitably resulting in casualties.

(End of this chapter)