Wizard Farming Guide

Chapter 135 Pre-Battle Preparations

River Mouth Town, Castle Banquet Hall.

After listening to Rhodes's speech, the group of pioneer knights fell silent.

"Should we attack Sarko again?"

Charlie, Byrne, and the other four Knights of the Round Table murmured to themselves, recalling that less-than-successful war.

That was the first large-scale battle they experienced after arriving in the North.

From initial ambition to repeated setbacks and eventual defeat.

Although the final outcome wasn't terrible, the failure to conquer Wolf Chief's city left an indelible mark on everyone's hearts.

Having now experienced several wars, both their own strength and the strength of their troops have grown.

Upon hearing Rhodes's decision to launch another siege, many pioneering knights couldn't help but have their own thoughts.

Rhodes scanned the faces of the crowd and could sense their eagerness.

But that was all; no one rushed to speak, but waited quietly for him to continue.

Rhodes understood the reason: the men were no longer the naive knights they had been when they first arrived, and they wouldn't agree to send troops on a whim like they did back then.

The details of how to conduct the siege, who will be in charge of the main force, and how to distribute the spoils of war all need to be determined in advance.

If no tangible benefits are in sight, no matter how much the knights of the Alliance praise him, Rhodes will not be able to borrow a single soldier from them.

"Both the cold wave and the appearance of the White Frost Order prove that turmoil is about to occur in the North. In order to ensure the safety of our territory, we need to capture Sarko Ice City as a strategic fortress to resist the barbarian army."

Rhodes opened the map, which showed the Coldwater River basin and the distribution of Alliance Knights' territories.

The locations of the various territories are scattered, making it difficult to form an effective barrier.

In this context, the location of Sarko Ice City becomes extremely important.

If the alliance occupies Ice City, it can station troops there, using it as a shield to form a pincer movement with its rear territories.

To avoid the risk of being attacked from both sides, the enemy dared not easily cross the Ice City and attack the heartland of the alliance.

"As long as we occupy the Ice City of Salko, each family can avoid the threat of being defeated one by one during a siege, and other allies can quickly provide support."

Rhodes explained the strategic significance of the Sarko Ice City.

The Alliance knights nodded in agreement, the five Knights of the Round Table remained expressionless, but the ordinary pioneering knights were more clearly moved.

After all, the security of Sarko Ice City after its capture was of utmost importance to them.

After Rhodes and the others had finished digesting the strategic significance of Ice City, he continued:

"I will lead the siege and be responsible for breaching the city walls. In addition, the distribution of spoils will remain the same as the previous six-regiment system of the alliance, and will be fairly distributed by the six regimental commanders."

The other five Knights of the Round Table were most concerned about the distribution of the spoils.

When they heard that Rhodes was still implementing the policy of assigning tasks to each party without forcibly seizing control, their eyes lit up.

"I agree to send troops." While the others were still hesitating, Charlie spoke first, staring eagerly at the ice city of Sarko on the map.

The two strongest members of the alliance decided to attack the city.

Byrne, Okaf, and the other Knights of the Round Table no longer hesitated and nodded in agreement.

"Great, it seems we've reached an agreement."

Rod looked at Charlie with delight, and from the burning glint in his eyes, he understood his thoughts.

Charlie did not acknowledge his dominant position; rather, he likely wanted to prove himself and regain control of the narrative through outstanding performance in the upcoming siege.

Just as the opera house is to a dancer, the battlefield is the stage for a knight's performance.

Rhodes didn't mind; he agreed with his idea and looked forward to his performance.

"The six regiments of the alliance are allocated according to the army size of 1,000 men per regiment. If there are not enough soldiers, civilians can be arranged to enter the logistics transport team to replace them. Every three logistics transport soldiers enjoy the minimum military merit distribution of one front-line soldier."

"Anyone else have any objections?" Rhodes asked.

Seeing that no one objected, he finalized the decision.

"Therefore, from this moment forward, the Alliance enters a state of war. All factions shall assemble their soldiers and converge at the entrance canyon of Dragonspine Plains in half a month!"

After the banquet, the Alliance Knights did not linger in Rivermouth Town and hurriedly returned to their territory to reorganize the soldiers going into battle.

During the war preparations, Rhodes released a list of military supplies needed, which continuously attracted merchants to come to him.

The already bustling commercial environment of Hekou Town has become even more prosperous.

After dealing with the military equipment issue, Rhodes went to Mole Town.

The list of soldiers to be deployed was confirmed from the Third Divine Arrow Battalion stationed in the area.

After traveling back and forth between the three territories under his control and resolving the army's problems,

Rhodes eventually returned to Pingdingshan and arrived at the center of the magic pool where the mountain lake was located.

The bright moonlight draped over his shoulders at night.

Rhodes slowly raised his palm, confirming that he had made further progress in his control over magic.

This is thanks to the Snow Moon Rabbit's innate ability to condense moonlight.

More importantly, in the Northern Remnant, he received Alice's blessing.

Manipulating that massive amount of third-tier magic power, even though it was only a brief glimpse, still allowed him to make significant progress, enabling him to advance to the advanced first tier of wizardry.

Rhodes aimed his palm at the demon field area, and under the earth-spirited magic, the earth churned and surged once more.

The number of demon fields he could contract doubled, adding another two hundred acres.

They successfully transformed all 400 acres of planned farmland into "magical fields".

After completing the transformation of the Demon Field, Rhodes integrated the mottled divinity into his body, initiating his own transformation.

As higher spirituality merged into him, the power latent in his blood was activated.

After consuming five hundred units of mottled divinity, accompanied by the beating of his heart like a drum, icy white mist spewed from every pore of his body.

It also contained traces of murky, dark red blood energy, which were impurities accumulated in the body over the years.

Impurities are enveloped by the mist and expelled from the body.

With the help of the ice mist, Rhodes could clearly feel the lightness and the gradually expanding power emanating from all parts of his body.

He bent his knees in a lunge position and reached out his arms to hug a three-meter-high stone pillar in front of him.

"Get up!" Rod gritted his teeth.

With all his might, he successfully lifted the seven-ton stone pillar.

Rhodes brandished the stone pillar in mid-air, drawing exaggerated arcs.

Ten minutes later, feeling the soreness in his arm muscles, Rod put the stone pillar down and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Beishuang's bloodline awakening was successful, and he has stepped into the second tier, becoming a true Frost Knight.

Unlike first-tier extraordinary knights, second-tier awakened knights are special in that they can master innate skills and unleash the magical power of magic.

As a Frost Knight, Rhodes' awakened talent skill is [Frost Blade], which can imbue his weapon with terrifying freezing damage.

It is not a physical enhancement of talent.

However, after becoming a second-tier knight, his strength reached an astonishing level, enabling him to lift objects weighing over seven tons.

Tier 2 is a completely new realm, signifying the knight's absolute dominance on the battlefield.

Even without talents or skills, just relying on the most basic stats.

Now, Rhodes can wield a long-handled weapon and transform into a humanoid war machine, wreaking havoc among ordinary armies and achieving the feat of single-handedly destroying an army!

The next morning, Rhodes, who had just been promoted, woke up somewhat excitedly.

After washing his face to calm himself down, he went to the Magic Steel Plant in Pingdingshan to confirm the most crucial preparations before the war.

In the open space in the center, a broken ice beast was lying down, lazily yawning.

Two soldiers were carefully tending to it.

Every now and then, we would feed the old man some high-quality barley stalks to keep him lying still on the ground.

On the back of the Icebreaker, a weapons craftsman, with the help of his apprentice, was busy installing a large steel cannon barrel.

Rhodes watched from the sidelines, and only approached to inquire about the situation after the weaponsmith had finished and relaxed.

"My lord, please look! This is the steel mill's newly completed large-scale siege cannon, 'Wrath of the Sun'!"

Upon seeing the lord arrive, the weaponsmith, unable to contain his excitement, began to introduce him.

"With the tools provided by the God of Forging, this 'Wrath of the Sun' is forged entirely from high-quality steel, measuring four and a half meters in length. Its 24-pound solar cannon has a range of ten kilometers, and a single shot is enough to destroy a five-meter-high conventional brick and earthen wall, creating a gap large enough for a carriage to pass through!"

As the weapons craftsman passionately explained, Rhodes gazed at the cannon mounted on the back of the Icebreaker, his heart pounding with excitement.

Power is secondary; after all, the explosive power of the Sun Mushroom spores is terrifying, so it's bound to be just as powerful after being made into a Sun Cannon.

What truly amazed Rhodes was the range!

If I heard correctly, ten kilometers?

Then what's the point of fighting this war? After the war starts, the enemy probably won't even be worthy of seeing his army before being sent to heaven by a barrage of artillery fire.

Rod didn't rush to open the champagne. Sure enough, after some investigation, he understood the problem behind the range.

Being able to shoot at 10 kilometers and being able to hit a target at 10 kilometers are two completely different concepts.

As a smoothbore cannon without rifling, the shell technology was also in its primitive stage, and long-range precision positioning was basically a dream.

Let alone ten kilometers, as long as the distance is more than five hundred meters, whether you can hit the target or not depends entirely on luck.

The target here refers to a large, fixed target like a sentry tower.

If it were a small, moving target like a soldier, getting hit by artillery fire would probably mean they angered the goddess of misfortune in their past life.

The solution is simple: use firepower to cover the area.

Once the entire war zone is cleared, there's no need to worry about aiming.

Rhodes wanted to implement this extravagant spending tactic, but unfortunately, the current resource shortage in his territory did not support it.

Then the only option is to focus on precision shooting.

"Let me think. The most basic sight uses three points to determine a line, which isn't too difficult."

Installing mechanical sights on artillery is not difficult; the difficulty lies in teaching soldiers how to use them.

Even the simplest curved trajectory involves a series of parabolic coordinate calculations, which are based on the accumulation of knowledge in classical mechanics.

Professional artillerymen are a highly qualified cultural branch of the military.

Unfortunately, most of Rhodes' soldiers were illiterate.

For them, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division beyond the ten fingers are like reading a book written in heaven; their minds are filled with nothing but question marks.

"Literacy education, let's take it slow." Rhodes smiled and shook his head, not paying much attention.

Development must always proceed step by step.

For now, he can only temporarily assume the role of gunner.

Rhode sat atop the icebreaker, directing it to the foot of the mountain before adjusting the angle of the cannon barrel.

During this process, he shifted his perspective to the ravens in the sky, using a bird's-eye view to calculate the distance between himself and a distant hillside.

After determining the firing angle of the cannon, Rhodes ignited the cannon.

With a deafening roar, flames lit up the distance, and large amounts of rubble and ice flew into the sky.

After continuous shooting tests, Rhodes gradually mastered the artillery shooting skills.

The effective firing range of this artillery was also confirmed.

Within a three-kilometer radius, it is possible to locate and strike large targets.

Once this distance is exceeded, accuracy drops rapidly, and due to manufacturing issues, the trajectory of the shell becomes unpredictable.

This result is not bad; it's more than enough to attack the ice city of Sarko.

Time passed quickly as Rhodes confirmed the various armaments.

The day when the Allied forces will assemble is just around the corner.

Early morning, at the road intersection outside Pingdingshan.

Soldiers from the Third Battalion of Mole Town, River Mouth Town, and Pingdingshan gathered here.

They were all in high spirits, lined up neatly on the road, ready to set off at any time.

Meanwhile, in front of the Iron Wall Camp, the members of the Alvis family, who had recently joined Rhodes's forces, were chatting quietly.

Chief Meg, the Extreme Knight, swept her gaze across the army, her eyes filled with astonishment:

"No matter how many times I see it, I can still feel the amazing vitality of this army. They are not afraid of war, but rather look forward to it. That's truly remarkable."

The other family members around him were speechless.

They were both pleased and disappointed by the lord's display of power, as the hope of their family's independence was fading.

The eldest son, Kroll, nodded in agreement, his eyes revealing the same longing and excitement as the soldiers.

He wasn't that obsessed with his family.

His understanding over this period of time made him realize that military promotion was not limited by status, and Kroll saw a broader future in it!

When a slight tremor was felt in the ground, the previously somewhat noisy army instantly fell silent.

Everyone stood upright, their eyes uniformly turning towards the source of the problem.

From that direction, four fully armored Icebreakers were striding towards them.

Rhodes was standing on the very front.

Holmes stepped forward to greet him and briefed him on the army's situation.

Of Rhodes' three knight commanders, only Holmes was assigned to accompany him in this campaign, while Noah and Loren stayed behind to defend the territory.

Rhodes looked at the army in front of him.

For this war, he gathered thirty snowfield cavalry, six heavily armored sword guards, six ice bow hunters, and four ice-breaking beasts from among the extraordinary troops.

The regular army consisted of three hundred cavalry, five hundred heavy infantry, two hundred longbowmen, and two hundred crossbowmen.

The total number of troops deployed exceeded 1,200.

Half of them were veterans who had experienced several wars, and the other half were new recruits who joined during the period of large-scale military expansion.

By having experienced soldiers mentor new recruits, these new soldiers can grow up as quickly as possible through the trials of war.

Thanks to the cultivation of superior highland barley and superior black goji berries, the territory's military strength has increased significantly.

Even if more than half of the military force is committed to this war.

This time, Rhodes need not worry about the territory's defenses being weak.

After confirming that everyone had arrived, Rod drew his sword, pointed it forward, and shouted:

"All troops, march!"

"Target: Sarko Ice City!"

Amidst resounding shouts, the soldiers excitedly raised their weapons and embarked on their journey.

(End of this chapter)