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

Chapter 344 The Knight of the Storm
On the fourth day of their march toward Blackburg.

The enemy troops charged down the southern slope.

It was an unnamed ragtag army, with no flags or discipline, numbering about a thousand in a large group.

Jet assumed they were just poor people, but that they had many nobles behind them who were driving them to attack the Valley Army and to their deaths.

"Fire!" Dick ordered.

Whoosh whoosh!
The snipers were already poised to strike, and a hail of arrows rained down, instantly killing the peasant soldiers on the hillside. The survivors, shields in hand, began to flee.

"There's enemy activity to the north!" a scout reported.

The convoy was too long, making it impossible to keep an eye on both ends. The enemy's plan was to make the river valley army unable to attend to both sides.

But less than two minutes later, another scout reported to Jet, "Commander, the Imperial Guard drove them back..."

This is considered a harassment tactic. The enemy launches repeated surprise attacks, and the harassed army is easily exhausted, suffers from nervous breakdowns, and makes mistakes.

However, the River Valley Army cannot be judged by ordinary standards; their troops are highly disciplined.

By now, all enemy attacks had been repelled, and our side had suffered almost no losses.

Those behind the scenes, having failed to achieve their goals, began to feel the pressure, given the real casualties.

Some people don't want them to be in Blacksburg.

But no matter what they did, they couldn't stop the army from advancing.

If you're not an elite, you don't even have the right to stand before them.

At most, they could only resort to measures such as damaging roads and blocking rivers to slow down their march as much as possible.

Jet and his colleagues were getting anxious, but rash actions often lead to bad results.

The land was shrouded in mist. Enemies roamed the wilderness, as if everyone was preventing them from reaching Blackrock Fortress; the Black Iron Lands were completely out of control.

"Do we even have any allies?" Dick asked with a self-deprecating laugh.

They advanced for several days and were attacked several times.

In the foreseeable future, the number of attacks will likely increase.

“They have allies…” Jett said, handing the letter to Dick, “but they received the same treatment as us.”

"The main force of Stone Castle is blocking Lord Oak in the south, while the main force of Dragon Castle is blocking the King of Iceland in the north."

The letter was delivered by the Warlock, whose spellcasting group is small but highly capable. The Warlock's birds are invariably effective at delivering intelligence.

"Lord Fury Tide and Lord Crack Armor have openly betrayed the Black Iron King."

What kind of disaster is this?
The two Dark Iron Dukes betrayed the Dark Iron King together, and with their prestige, it's no exaggeration to say that their call to arms was swift and powerful.

Those nobles who remained neutral in the face of the great tide of the times were forced to choose a side: either support the Papacy and the Duke, or support the Black Iron King.

Anyone with eyes to see can see that the latter is weak because the Papacy is powerful.

Most of them are only superficial believers in the Vatican.

"My lords, I have some very bad news to tell you." Green rode up and pointed to a hillside ahead, where several blue shadows flashed by.

“That is…” Dick exclaimed in surprise.

"The Knight of the Storms!" Jett's expression also turned grim.

That force followed the first generation of the Raging Tide in battles across the north and south, achieving remarkable feats and becoming the most elite armed force on the entire land.

In a sense, the Storm Knight is more powerful than all the Conqueror Knights.

Green smiled wryly, “They are only loyal to one bloodline, and they would betray the Conqueror family for it.”

Aaron said, "Weren't they going to intercept Lord Oak's army?"

“This may not be their full strength,” Jett said. “Nobody knows exactly how many Tide Knights there are. It’s not surprising that they’re blocking us while intercepting the Oak Army.”

Indeed, Lord Fury Tide is the strongest duke in the entire Black Iron Lands.

It is widely believed that only by combining the strengths of Oak and Cracked Armor could they possibly withstand the Raging Tide.

But now, it is the Raging Tide and the Armor Rift that are joining forces.

The Storm Riders are the bane of all armies and the masters of the battlefield. It is said that when they appear on the battlefield, all wars become meaningless.

The valley side also had vanguard cavalry, but they certainly couldn't compete with the former on the battlefield.

Dick said, "This is a terrible thing. The beginning and end of this war will have far-reaching consequences. Many things will perish in this war."

After a brief discussion, the conflict became inevitable.

In the future, those blue figures will appear more and more frequently.

The most recent instance was when, a few hundred meters away from the valley, the Storm Riders stood in neat rows on a high hillside, clad in dark blue armor, coldly watching them.

...Pegasus Plain, Black Castle.

Legend has it that in the lost ages, this plain was once the drinking and resting place of the Pegasus, and later humans built a city here.

This plain is directly under the royal domain.

With its fertile soil, this plain is a natural granary where hundreds of thousands of farmers cultivate the land.

The Iron King introduced a new farming method, using heavy plows, hoping to increase grain production and enhance the war effort.

But despite all the planning, no one expected the rain disaster that occurred this year, resulting in a complete crop failure in the land surrounding Blacksburg.

The farmers viewed it as punishment from the gods for the lord of Blackburg.

In order to cope with pressure from the Holy See, the Lord of the Black Iron ignored the wishes of the peasants and forcibly requisitioned grain. As a result, many peasants, who had extremely poor risk resistance, lost their homes and lives.

Correspondingly, the Papacy and monasteries opened their granaries to distribute food—this food came from tithes, which were originally intended to be offered to the gods. After all, the gods only wanted to punish the perverse actions of the reigning Iron King, not to punish their own lambs. As the messenger of the gods, the Papacy naturally had to relieve the disaster victims—this is what the nuns and priests all said.

Then the farmers immediately understood.

All the sins originated with Io III; I was implicated...

I'm joining the Holy War Army right now!

They're rebelling!
Wherever the Holy War Army went, the entire Tianma Plain fell swiftly, and the people welcomed them with food and drink, gongs and drums resounding.

Theoretically speaking, they could have as many people as the Yellow Turban Army.

Even hundreds of thousands could be mobilized—of course, the sources of such a large-scale rebellion would not be limited to the Tianma Plain.

……

The sky was overcast, a strong wind was blowing, and the royal city was in chaos.

The garrison of Blackburg, with the help of its tall and sturdy walls, once again repelled the enemy's attack.

After five days of siege, the Holy War Army produced more and more siege weapons. The appearance of ladders and catapults brought the siege and defense battle to a fever pitch.

Tashina stood tall and straight, clad in white armor. She led the charge, her feet paved with corpses, and she stood like a tall tree atop the city wall, every leaf dripping with blood.

“We are short of troops. In these five days, we have lost hundreds of Iron Guard brothers…” Turner walked over, covered in blood, and reported the situation to the steel-like princess in front of him.

The attacking side suffered at least ten times more casualties than the attackers, but this was not the worst-case scenario.

Worst of all, the number of troops outside the city is increasing day by day, their figures swarming and densely packed like ants.

The northern walls of Blackburg are under the most pressure, while the east and west sides are narrow, and the south side is bordered by the southern mountains and primeval forests.

The enemy forces on three sides of the city walls must have numbered no less than 100,000.

The jihadist army is still gathering forces, determined to conquer this great city in one fell swoop.

For every city siege that resulted in casualties, they would replenish the numbers from the outside, but so far, the number of casualties has not been as many as the number of replenishments.

Book Recommendation – "The Mystery Girl Won't Meet the Detective Boy" Asuka Hayashibara hums a little tune as she happily writes in her diary.

"What are you writing?"

Suddenly, a hand snatched her diary.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

The boy narrowed his eyes and read aloud from the diary: "Is Kashiwagi Ryo a greedy, wicked, and conceited idiot with no redeeming qualities?"

Asuka blushed instantly: "You, you're violating my privacy!"

Ryo Kashiwagi: "So that's how I am in your eyes, huh? Well, in that case, I'll handle the case by myself tonight..."

Upon hearing this, Asuka's angry little face immediately turned into a fawning smile: "Master, no, no, no... I'm just a child, I was just writing for fun. I, I'll massage your legs for you!"

Kashiwagi Ryo was already sitting on the bed, legs crossed, and chuckled.

"It's alright, why would I hold a grudge against my silly apprentice?"

Asuka, staring intently at him, thought to herself: "I will endure this, bide my time, and one day I will learn all his skills. Then I will kick him aside and become Tokyo's one and only beautiful detective!"

“What are you still spacing out for… Oh, the case…”

"Master, is this the right pressure? Do you think it's appropriate?"

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This is a story about a naive and inexperienced girl who loves detective work and a "boy" detective who has lived two lives, and their everyday detective routines.

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This book is also known as *I'm Not Death, I'm a Detective*, *Tokyo's Number One Detective*, and *The Rival of a Mystery Girl*.

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(End of this chapter)