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

Chapter 414 Thought-Provoking Theories
Roman knew the true nature of war.

Throughout history, wars have been a contest of strategic resources production and delivery capabilities.

Needless to say, the transport capacity of horse-drawn carriages and trains is not on the same level, and their mobilization is also not comparable.

But Roman couldn't lay the tracks, nor could he build a steam engine. Even if he could, it would take five or six years to lay them, and it would consume a great deal of his time and energy.

Roman was keenly aware that his two cities, with a population of over 200,000, were still in the agricultural stage, with most people only capable of farming and building houses, and not yet possessing the foundation to enter the primary industrial stage.

He was able to surpass the noble kings of his time because he reformed the army, redesigned the system of governance, introduced advanced technology, and continuously improved per capita productivity.

In the classical period, the production of arrow shafts was a long process, requiring many years of continuous output to accumulate the resources needed for a war. Consumables were gone once they were used up, including food, so it was impossible to speed up production.

On the Roman side, higher grain yields per acre and more efficient production processes give the valley a strong ability to sustain operations.

The valley's ability to generate its own supplies is incredibly fast; before the previous batch of arrows is even used up, the next batch is already being produced.

However, with such low transportation capacity, even if more is produced, it's all for naught if it can't be shipped out, and it can't support external operations.

Throughout human history, even in modern society, water transport remains the cheapest and most convenient mode of transportation.

With these ships, Roman no longer needed to rely on the dozens of dilapidated longships he had acquired from pirates in the past—those longships were only good for trade and not for military operations, and it was normal for them to leak at any time.

Neliel put a lot of effort into these new ships, developing them almost secretly.

The situation in the Black Iron Lands is turbulent, with many forces caught in the crossfire between pirates and the Papacy, wavering between opposing sides. Even Sea Castle, as an independent territory, cannot remain unaffected. Rumors circulate that Neliel and the Valley have an ambiguous relationship, which has directly drawn the hostility of the Papacy. However, their main forces are on the northern front and they have been unable to intervene.

Moreover, Sea Fort is not so easy to bully. After all, it is a large territory, surrounded by the sea on three sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Niliel shut herself in, focusing solely on building her ship behind closed doors, ignoring everyone, and managed to hold on for the time being.

The reason it is said to be temporary is because the people of Haibao now eat seafood and fish every day, and are severely lacking in carbohydrates and fats.

There's nothing we can do about it.

This year's drought is extraordinary; the land is so dry it's practically smoking. There were only two insignificant autumn rains, followed by heavy snow in winter. Everywhere is suffering, and even nobles have to tighten their belts because they can't buy any food.

Roman has stockpiled a large amount of grain and fodder, and his granaries are full, but there's nothing he can do if he can't transport it over there.

We can only make things harder for Nellie.

Sea Castle wasn't without its benefits; Roman promised to activate more Sea Castle bloodlines, allowing this ancient secret power to return to Sea Castle and restore its former glory.

Roman was not opposed to this at all.

Since they are all apostles anyway, training Deepsea Beings is another option.

As a chosen one, Roman can enhance the abilities of the apostles from a higher dimension, whether by improving their base attributes, honing their combat instincts, or imparting skills and spells.

Roman's initial motivation for learning magic was to learn Silvermoon magic and form the Silvermoon Knights.

But in reality, even if they weren't Silvermoon Knights, Roman's apostles were capable of wielding magic.

If resources were sufficient, Roman could transform all his apostles into full-body plate armor, deadly weapons proficient in both melee and ranged combat.

Even with limited resources, he can selectively teach certain practical spells to grant apostles greater mobility and functionality.

This is the source of Roman's confidence in fighting against the knights of the gods.

...Ever since Roman first entered the Dream Realm, it seems he has truly established a mysterious connection with the Netherworld.

During this period, he entered that deep and dark illusory world many times.

Roman realized that there was a pattern to this.

Actually, he is very busy.

During the day, players handle heavy administrative tasks, while at night they enter a [battlefield simulation].

The so-called "battlefield simulation" is to put him and his apostles into the battlefields of the past, so that they can experience the trials of life and death again and again.

Currently, not all apostles are veterans of countless battles. The three or four thousand apostles in the army can only be called veterans of ten battles—having experienced at least ten large-scale battles, either being killed and forced to leave the battlefield midway or fighting their way through the battlefield to survive to the end.

The more experience an apostle has in the dream battlefield, the more they will grow in the real world.

The benefits of doing so are undeniable.

Veteran soldiers possess high combat skills, making them extremely difficult to lose. This is also why the entire He Gu force is elite and invincible on the main battlefield.

This is all thanks to the combat experience that Roman and his team gained from countless simulations.

I basically play every night, and sometimes I treat running dungeons as a way to sleep. Even after having fun with Shasta and Margaret, I sometimes still run dungeons a few times.

But the situation is different now.

The transformation may have truly occurred after Roman mastered the magic of meditation.

When he is actually asleep and not taking his apostles into a dungeon, he will automatically enter the Dream state.

Sometimes, his dreams would give him some insights, such as bizarre and fantastical scenes, footsteps in the darkness, or a deep and eerie atmosphere...

Sometimes they would give him no information at all, leaving him in that desolate and cold dark world.

Theoretically speaking, a dream is a deep dream, and the dreamer will have a strong feeling of suffocation, as if sleeping in a damp and cold deep sea and waking up as you rise to the surface. The first thing you do is to take a deep breath, but Roman did not feel any discomfort.

Shasta was also puzzled by this, and could only attribute it to the fact that all kings are special.

After all, she didn't think His Majesty Ionus would be in a life-or-death situation when he had a dream.

Over time, Roman gained some basic understanding of the Netherworld.

The Netherworld is a special dimension, said to coldly project everything of the material world before the great tide of shadows engulfs it. Scholars and astrologers will also find it easier to predict the future.

According to Margaret, the real world cannot interfere with it.

But Roman had seen phantoms and steel knights, and the shadows of dragons, things that were active and lifelike in the Netherworld. The battlefield between the dragons and the gods corresponded to the wars in the real world.

Margaret also told him that the phantoms came from the Netherworld.

Knights of conquest, court witches, extraordinary metals—who dares to assert that their superhuman power comes from the real world?
Shasta, however, pointed out on the spot that her Thunder teacher had dared to assert that the witch's magic originated from herself even before he passed away.

This sharp and incisive remark struck Margaret squarely. She remained silent for a long time, and the conversation fizzled out.

Roman, however, felt that Margaret's theory was worth pondering.

(End of this chapter)