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

Chapter 292 A Head-on Crush
With a deafening roar, all military training ceased.

The Iron King and Damon hope that the Lord of the Vale will send out troops before autumn to defeat the Holy War army.

But Roman didn't want to wait that long at all.

We'll secure Kangdeling before spring planting this year!
All the soldiers took out their swords, spears, plate armor, helmets, longbows, shields, etc., for inspection and maintenance, wiping their sharpness. Various military supplies were transported out in boxes and crates.
This was a massive military operation, and all the workforce began preparing for the war.

As is customary, Roman convened a military meeting of the city's top officials.

Corps Commander Jet spoke first: "How do we fight this battle?"

Dick said, "We don't know the exact number of the Jihad Army. There are too many people. Even if we send out scouts, we can't count them."

Nathan said, "There are at least 30,000 men who can fight."

"They have knights of judgment, knights of demons, knights of conquest, swordsmen, javelin throwers, horse archers, priests and nuns skilled in magic, and a group of fanatical believers," Kao said.

Aaron said, "That's right."

"Roman, say something!"

Green looked at Roman, who hadn't said a word from the beginning, with displeasure.

Roman's posture was somewhat lazy, resting his chin on his hand and staring blankly into space, showing absolutely no sense of crisis or tension.

Roman glanced at Green: "What do you want me to say? Didn't I already call you all over here?"

"Huh? So you're leaving everything to us?" Green pointed to himself in disbelief.

Roman retorted, "Otherwise what?"

Green said, "They have an army of 30,000, while we only have 7,000!"

Jet added, "And they have elite forces; a holy war army of this size has at least two thousand skilled warriors who can wield the Holy Light Sword Technique."

Are they really elite?

Jeter said solemnly, "Very elite!"

He was once a swordsman in Sinnoh and knew all too well how terrifying a swordsman's combat power could be.

In Sinnoh, swordsmanship is highly valued. Swordsmen are trained to wield swords from a young age, and once they have mastered their skills, they can enjoy certain privileges, such as tax breaks and special subsidies. The lighter burden of life allows them to focus on honing their swordsmanship.

This was the Papacy's first expeditionary force, and Jeter had reason to believe that the members of this army were specially selected and their combat effectiveness must be considerable.

They came prepared, and few could rival them even among the nations of the world.

"So what do you think we should do?"

“Take out that thing that explodes…” Jett said, “I mean, take out that thing you use to blow up the mine.”

Roman knew their concerns; war was something that even battlefield commanders feared.

The war with the noble alliance resulted in nearly half of its troops being killed or wounded.

The war against the rebel army resulted in more than half of its soldiers being killed or wounded.

Now that we're facing an even more difficult jihadist army, nobody's happy about it.
What Jet fears is not necessarily the dead, but the death of too many people, meaningless casualties, and the fact that Origin City will have to recuperate for a long time, ultimately failing to break out.

"I will prepare a batch of gunpowder, and I will take action if the situation becomes unfavorable," Roman said.

Even without Jeter's reminder, he would be fully prepared.

Although he didn't think his army would be forced to this point, they didn't seem very confident.

Roman looked around.

He stood up calmly, gesturing as he said, "I understand your concerns, but you must also understand that there are no enemies in front of you. You think the Holy War Army is strong, but I have never taken it seriously. Troop strength is not important. Thirty thousand, fifty thousand, one hundred thousand... are they powerful? Alas, the more powerful something appears, the more fragile it is!"

The largest war ever fought in Origin City was only a large-scale battle involving tens of thousands of people.

Now, the enemy's numbers have suddenly tripled; anyone would be stunned. This isn't just a simple triple increase.

With a population exceeding ten thousand, the forces are boundless and limitless. Last time, Roman used a clever tactic to crush the opposing side before the actual battle even began.

So in the final battle, the number of people on both sides was almost equal, and the total number did not exceed 10,000. If you were standing at a higher position, you could barely get a general overview of the whole situation, but it was a different story with more people.

Both Jeter and Dick have a somewhat distorted understanding of larger-scale wars.

After all, they can only control a few thousand people at most, and they can't imagine what it would be like to fight against 30,000 people. They are used to thinking about problems with the war mentality of the old era.

The army of Origin City was indeed composed entirely of elite troops.

But the Jihad Army is not to be trifled with.

Just from Jet's calculations, there are already two thousand swordsmen—not all swordsmen are at his level, but those who have undergone sword training and can be sent to the battlefield generally have physical qualities that, if not at the level of a quasi-first-tier knight, are definitely stronger than ordinary people.

Moreover, they are experts in melee combat, especially against unarmored units; they are practically death gods, with extremely high killing efficiency!

Not to mention, there must be other branches of the military within the Jihad Army.

The spear throwers and horse archers are Sinnoh's regular armed forces, so they must have infiltrated the Holy War Army.

The Judgment Knight and the Demon Hunter Knight—the former's performance in the Battle of Spring Rain is still fresh in our minds, and now they've returned.

Which soldier who participated in the Battle of Spring Rain wouldn't tremble?
However, Roman didn't flinch at all; he wished he could punch them twice.

War is never won by numerical superiority.

What are the enemies?
A bunch of rotten fish and shrimp raised in a muddy ditch!
What do we have?
The military skills honed through intensive training, the sophisticated weaponry manufactured by advanced production capacity, the high-strength plate armor for defense, the long-range firepower output of standard military bows, and the extremely high level of obedience and organization.

We have an army of this overall quality at our disposal.

So what if the jihadist army has 30,000 men? So what if it has 50,000? Does it make a difference? It's not worth caring about at all!

Roman was good at analysis and knew the reasons for the defeats in the previous two wars long ago.

The Battle of the Valley resulted in nearly a thousand casualties, five hundred of whom were directly or indirectly caused by the conquering knights, half of whom were new recruits who had only been trained for two or three months.

The Battle of Spring Rain resulted in over 2,400 casualties. Due to a lack of protective gear, 1,700 of these casualties were caused by the knights in the campaign—this can only be considered a low-probability event.

Among these casualties, the heavy infantry suffered extremely low losses; even the knights of war would find it difficult to kill a heavy infantryman carrying a large shield.

Now, Origin City has been developing for more than half a year, and the furnaces in the blacksmith's workshop have been burning day and night, forging out seven thousand sets of plate armor.

The newest recruits have been training for four months, the rest for six months, and the latest batch of veterans have been in the military for two or three years. Almost all the squad leaders are selected from the veterans, and with them leading the way, there won't be any problems.

Lose? Tell me how you're going to lose.
"I see you have no idea how strong you are!" Roman said, exasperated.

Roman's words carried weight in everyone's hearts. Seeing his certainty, they all dispelled their doubts and relayed his words and confident attitude to the company commanders and squad leaders, who in turn spread the message to the rank-and-file soldiers.

Five days later, the entire army was ready, with a total of 7,000 soldiers and 5,000 accompanying servants.

Roman sent the magical witch's birds to communicate with the seven hundred returning veterans.

Two days later, the veterans who had returned from Seaburg finally approached this land.

At the same time, Roman began to transport troops downstream on a large scale.

The Jihadist army imposed a very thorough blockade, even deploying heavy troops to guard the downstream areas and regularly transporting supplies.

Once they see an inbound ship, they start shooting arrows like crazy, making it extremely difficult to get ashore.

Roman's war plan was simple.

First, unite with the veterans of Sea Fortress, launch a pincer attack, and eliminate the downstream outposts. Then, land the entire army and engage in battle in the open field, and then...

We'll crush them head-on!

(End of this chapter)