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

Chapter 350 Since things have come to this, let's start farming.

The fifth year, early winter.

When the army returned, Roman was busy expanding the mine's production, and the original production scale gradually could not keep up with the demand.

The mining efficiency is quite impressive, but the processing efficiency is poor.

In the current era, these processing positions are all skilled trades. Small-scale workshop production is stable, but once the scale is expanded, it will face the dilemma of insufficient skilled workers. Because training talent is a long process, Roman can't possibly throw all his apostles into it.

Currently, the main production focus of Meitie Town is steel agricultural tools, which Roman not only sells to the outside world, but also has a huge internal demand.

Reclaiming wasteland is a task that wears out farm tools.

This year alone, nearly a hundred human-shaped farm implements have died due to land reclamation. Some died from illness, some drowned, some were carried away by wild animals, and some reached the end of their service life; the reasons are varied and numerous.

As for those who starved or froze to death, not a single one did.

Of course, the wear and tear rate of the other type of farm tool is even higher.

This year, Roman gave them over 100,000 pieces of various farm tools. The most common ones were hammers, sickles, axes, hoes, and shovels, while less common ones included steel wedges, pickaxes, and sabers.

The dozen or so tools combined can meet all the needs during the land reclamation process.
This farmer has a hammer and a sickle, that farmer has an axe and a shovel, they exchange them to cultivate a cooperative atmosphere and a sense of collaboration... This is a last resort.

It's impossible for each person to have a complete set of farm tools; the cost would be too high, and production capacity would be limited.

The limit for Meitie Town is 700,000 to 800,000 farm tools produced a year—on average, each blacksmith has to produce one farm tool per day.

It sounds like a small number, but they are also responsible for the armaments.

Forging plate armor alone requires a huge amount of manpower.

If we had to divide them into categories, then half of the senior blacksmiths were responsible for plate armor, a quarter for weapons, and the last quarter for apprentice blacksmiths for forging farm tools—this would be a separate matter during wartime.

On average, the blacksmiths in charge of farm tools have to forge seven or eight farm tools a day. Sometimes, when they are in a rush, they have to work for more than ten hours a day.

Although casting agricultural tools is more efficient—directly casting tools from molten iron—this type of cast iron is hard but brittle and cannot withstand high-intensity impacts—a cast iron sickle hitting a stone could easily become unusable.

Although forged farm tools are not as hard or as productive as cast ones, they are more durable and are essential for land reclamation.

Therefore, Roman was mainly used for forging farm tools, and this year alone he gave out more than 100,000 farm tools.

Guess how much was lost?

The answer is that more than 200,000 pieces were worn out, and almost all the farm tools were replaced with new ones, and some farm tools were replaced more than once.

Every day, hundreds of people bring their broken farm tools to Moer to exchange them for new ones.

If those farm tools were their property, they would use them carefully and extend their lifespan, at least two or three years. It would be normal to pass them down as family heirlooms to the next generation, as they are valuable assets... But they have Mr. Roman to back them up.

Oh dear! We've been fleeced by the master for generations, but now we finally have a chance to fleece him.

It's like when others are reluctant to ride a bicycle, they stand up and pedal!

If you wear out your pedals, replace them with new ones, and then keep standing up and pedaling hard!
Great efforts can produce miracles, so the land reclamation efficiency was naturally extremely fast. Because time was precious during the land reclamation period, no one would do something foolish like deliberately damaging farm tools—replacing farm tools would take a lot of time.

Faced with such a high loss rate, Roman had no choice but to expand the production of farm implements and improve agricultural efficiency.

In fact, he now faces two paths.

One option is to upgrade the military industry, which requires a huge investment—just look at the manpower needed for armor and weapons. If the military industry is upgraded further, agriculture will probably not even be able to produce enough water to drink, let alone sell farm tools, and it will be difficult to even be self-sufficient.

One option is to develop agriculture, continue farming, and enhance war potential—war is all about logistics, and logistics is food. If Roman had unlimited food, he would dare to convert half of the population of Origin City and Abundance City into firewood for war.

Roman chose the latter.

We should dedicate more blacksmith and carpenter apprentices to agricultural development, vigorously popularize agricultural tools, and drastically transform the land.

This output is far from enough; it's simply not enough!

……

Just as he was formulating his development strategy, Jeter returned with his team.

Roman already knew the outcome of the war through the Warcraft Witch.

He did what he was supposed to do, but the Dark Iron King still died, and the Dark Iron lands were shattered.

A new power has emerged in the north.

Although the witch named Cassandra was a bit mentally unstable, it might not be a bad thing for him.

Where did Cassandra's dragons come from?
Igor.

Ego's dragon worship has a long history, no less than that of the gods. Both are ancient and originated from those lost dark ages.

The dragon worship of the land of Igor profoundly influenced the Arctic Ocean; in fact, the core of the Arctic mythology is the dragon worship of Igor.

To the Vatican, this is heresy.

Although heresy is more abhorrent than paganism, the world of gods has a recognized religious leader, the near-divine one who sits enthroned in the holy city, also known as the protector of the gods, the Holy See, or the Pope. He has the right to interpret the gods and faith—commonly known as the final interpretation.

At least Roman had never heard of any heretics within the Vatican; individuals like Garin didn't count, they couldn't cause any trouble.

If there are no heretics, then heresy is the greatest enemy of the Papacy.

The battle between the Dark Iron Order and the Order of the Gods has ended, with the latter emerging victorious after two Dark Iron Dukes defected.

If that witch named Cassandra really has power...

Next up is the battle between the Dragon Order and the God Order—the Dragon World versus the God World.

Of course, Cassandra is not enough with just a few dragons, far from enough.

However, based on the information from Pegasus Plains and the account of the events given by the raven of the Beast Witch, Roman suspected that Cassandra and Pirate King Alex were having an affair.

After all, the latter did indeed say, "My army and the dragons reign supreme over Blackburg."

How could a mere witch have such a large army?

Aside from the Igors and the Pirate King, Roman couldn't think of any other army for the time being.

He thought for a moment and decided to ignore those people.

Since things have come to this, let's start farming.

Pirates, dragons, witches, the Papacy, dukes, kings—any faction is fine.

When the soldiers come, it's enough to cover up the water and earth.

Of the more than 12,000 troops that Roman sent out, 9,000 eventually returned, more than 2,000 of whom were wounded or disabled and had to retire.

Neither the three major knightly orders of the Papacy nor the Sinnoh Shield Guard could subdue them.

Roman's greatest fear was that his army would be annihilated in a battle of annihilation. An annihilation battle was the complete destruction of the main force, which meant that the entire battalion commander, company commander, and platoon leader would be killed in action.

However, the widespread use of plate armor greatly increased their survival rate. It was no longer possible for them to be wiped out in organized groups.

Sinnoh's Shield Guard is very strong. If Jet throws a black powder explosive pack at their faces, all they have to do is raise their Orichalcum Shields, and at most they'll be blown away; it's impossible for them to die instantly.

The Thousand-Jin Copper Armor can be described as immovable as a mountain and capable of striking like thunder.

However, Roman's heavy infantry was no pushover either.

How could the Shield Guards, wearing such heavy armor, possibly break through a shield weighing fifty or sixty pounds and inlaid with fine steel?

What is a shield wall? It's a sea of ​​people. Like sardines in a can, shoulder to shoulder, unable to move. You can only push forward with all your might—the opposite of a tug-of-war, a group of people fighting against each other.

However, fighting with all one's might leads to exhaustion, and even the lowest-ranking knights in the Shield Guard need rest.

Roman's heavy armored battalion has a thousand men, while the Shield Guard has a maximum of two hundred.

The other battalions were in a similar situation; the enemy lacked the ability to kill them in one strike. Even in the most brutal and chaotic battlefields, they could maintain their formation with minimal casualties.

Unless Jet and Dick, along with other senior officers, deliberately send a large battalion to the most dangerous location and then fail to relieve them, there is no possibility of them being completely wiped out.

……

“Ten days of rest, then come back,” Roman said to Jet.

This expedition was incredibly difficult. The lower-ranking soldiers might not have known that they were facing the main force of the Papacy, but Jet and his men were truly going into battle with a doomed mentality.

Because there are too many variables.

Can we break the siege? Are there any reinforcements? What if we're trapped? What if the enemy is too strong?
Even Roman was a little hesitant.

When they returned, Roman gave them a ten-day leave—of course, it was a rotating leave; soldiers who didn't go on campaigns got one day off per month, so they got ten days off this month.

Other material rewards are also available, as are pensions.

We must never skimp on military pay!
"Yes." A rare smile appeared on Jet's indifferent face. He had been exhausted these past few days and deserved a rest.

Roman seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, right, tell me more about the role of gunpowder on the battlefield."

"It's okay against ordinary armies, and it works best against unarmored soldiers, but against war knights or shield guards... it's not ideal," Jet said, shaking his head.

He saw the entire battlefield filled with thick white smoke, and almost every time it was thrown, it would cause a violent explosion. The Papal Army called this explosive 'the breath of the devil' or 'the breath of hell'.

Whenever the army was under too much pressure, he would throw out several hundred kilograms of explosives to force the enemy back and relieve the pressure.

But that's it.

Roman wondered to himself: Would primitive firearms actually be effective against the Shield Guard?

The answer is that it had no effect whatsoever.

Unless it's a more advanced firearm, then go straight for cannons. However, however.

Those special units are incredibly mobile!

The Shield Guards were alright, their marching speed was slow, not much better than a heavy infantry. But the Storm Knights were outrageous. Wearing hundreds of pounds of dark blue armor, they moved freely, turning heavy cavalry into light cavalry, wreaking havoc on the battlefield.

Unless there is overwhelming firepower, dozens or even hundreds of cannons can bombard simultaneously...

However, the cost to Roman of transporting these cannons and ammunition to the battlefield was equivalent to forging tens of millions of farm implements, and that's no joke.

It's better to farm, really better to farm.

As Jet said, black powder is incredibly effective against unarmored units, and its fragmentation damage is enormous.

The foundation of the knights who can fight is plate armor—they are the lowest-ranking nobles.

As long as you don't get too close, the shrapnel damage is unlikely to harm the conquering knight, let alone the damage from the release of gunpowder—the power is too low, it takes several kilograms to have this effect, and if it's less than half a kilogram... the main ingredient of fireworks and firecrackers is gunpowder, which can only be used to fry fish.

While it's very effective against miscellaneous troops... a well-organized plate armor battalion standing here has the same deterrent effect on ordinary troops as gunpowder.

Therefore, even without gunpowder, Roman could still annihilate the enemy!
……

After seeing Jet and the other generals off, Roman returned to Plenty Castle and began planning for the future.

He doesn't ask for much; he just wants to protect his small piece of land.

"Ugh."

"Why are you sighing?" Sanna popped out from behind Roman and said with a grin.

Roman looked at her with surprise. "Why didn't you go back?"

Currently, most of his soldiers are registered residents of Origin City, and upon returning, they were eager to reunite with their families. Those who weren't married were rushing to find wives. Of course, it wasn't just wives who were reuniting; brothers and sisters were among them, and even Kao had returned to Origin City.

"You said you'd give me a ten-day vacation." She glared at him, her expression like that of a little killer whale. Roman noticed that she actually had small, shallow, pointed fangs, which were rather cute.

He held absolute power and was extremely busy, leaving him no energy to pay attention to those around him, let alone Sanna, who had been sent to the army by him for two years and could only see him occasionally. She was willing to risk her life for him, and she and her sisters played a very important role in the Black Fort battlefield.

Roman's gaze softened. He sat down at the desk in the hall and said, "Then go do what you love."

She squeezed in with a grin and plopped down on Roman's lap. Even through her clothes, you could feel her muscular, tanned skin, taut and firm, with a bouncy bottom that gave her a wild, girlish vibe.

"Roman, I'll stay here with you."

She held the person she longed for day and night in her arms, gently sniffing, carefully and greedily inhaling the scent that haunted her dreams, her body feeling as if it were heating up.

Roman thought she was too clingy. She was clearly an athletic girl, very active, but when she was with him, she acted like a sloth, and he couldn't do anything.

"You mean Princess White Steel went to Oak Territory?" he asked casually.

“Yes, that princess is absolutely stunning!” Sanna nestled against his chest like a kitten. She had witnessed firsthand his dashing and heroic figure, his fearless courage, and his sharp gaze, which was even more refreshing than the north wind.

"Lord Oak only acknowledges her as the next Dark Iron King, while Lord Rage Tide and Lord Crack Armor support His Majesty Io's second prince to become the Dark Iron King. Everyone knows that the second prince is a puppet of the Holy See, but Princess White Steel says that Lord Oak is truly sincere towards her."

"Shouldn't loyal dogs never bark?" Roman thought to himself. "The Duke of Oak has the air of a king, just like the King of Iceland."

Knowing that he was an ally of the Black Iron royal family, the King of Iceland gave him a business deal involving hundreds of thousands of kilograms of wool, making his stance clear.

However, the Grand Duke guards a gap in the entire land, which is an enclave of the Black Iron Land. It would be normal for him to establish his own mercenary group.

The Duke of Oak's continued support for Iotashina is admirable.

At the very least, Roman couldn't do that. He had already done more than enough by sending away the Black Iron King; don't expect him to find himself a new leader.

Iotahina knew his thoughts and that he refused the marriage alliance, so she had no choice but to go to Oak Territory to become the Black Iron King.

The plot in the beginning was poorly designed and gave away the flaws. I'll revise it when I have time. Please forgive me, gentlemen.
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(End of this chapter)