Chapter 257: The Unexpected Allied Forces

The news that the Lord would lead a Knight Squad on an expedition had long since spread throughout the Wubei Territory.

Many of the territory's people, especially those living in Zhaoze Town, were worried about whether they would be dragged off to the battlefield.

After all, that was how Baron Leisen had been; as a vassal of Wushan Castle, he would respond to the call-up order, but that did not mean he would bring out his most elite troops for the campaign.

When Leisen felt there was profit to be made, he would send a few more knights, and conversely, he would send fewer; the time he sent the fewest, it seemed he only used three Primary Knights to lead the expedition.

With fewer knights sent, the carefully trained cavalry, infantry, and archers would naturally be fewer as well. But to make the scale look relatively large, Leisen would temporarily pull in serfs and militiamen who had not undergone much training to make up the numbers.

If you said he didn't respond to the call-up, he had indeed sent over a hundred people to participate in the war;

if you said he did respond to the call-up, his troops had no combat effectiveness to speak of.

Given this modus operandi of Leisen's, it was normal for the people of Zhaoze Town to have such worries.

However, their concerns were clearly superfluous.

In a situation where logistics were not required, Luoning had no intention of pulling in serfs and militiamen to make up numbers; letting them finish the autumn harvest, road repairs, and land reclamation in the territory, and making babies in their spare time, was better than wasting their lives on the battlefield.

Although he thought this way, he would not promote it like this within the territory.

Officials led by Wilson would tell the public that this was the Lord having pity on them as commoners, unwilling to let them, who had not received formal training, lose their lives on the battlefield—this was the Lord's benevolence, and so on.

At the same time, they were also promoting the righteousness of Luoning's expedition, playing up the detestability of the enemy, and what serious consequences defeat would bring to the Wubei Territory.

This could both make the people feel that the war was related to them and not just an outsider, and establish Luoning's image from another angle.

Of course, these propaganda statements might not have much effect in the short term; some ignorant serfs did not understand these things at all, and some who harbored hostility toward the nobility in their hearts might even pray for Luoning to lose the war.

But as long as the propaganda was persisted in for Along time, it would definitely be effective, because Luoning had indeed allowed them to survive securely, and their days would get better and better.

Take this year's autumn harvest, for example; when the people saw the lush wheat seedlings in the wheat fields gradually turning golden like waves, they knew this year would be a harvest year.

And this harvest was related to the guidance of the Village Chiefs and Group Leaders, and related to their fertilizing and tending, all of which stemmed from the Lord.

On the seventh day of the seventh month, Ruidar had already led the troops away from the Wubei Territory for several days, but Luoning, who had a dragon, still had not set off; he did not want to waste time on the road.

During this period, he rode Kaierluosi to the swamp area again and inspected the areas he had previously marked.

The fourteen places suspected of having wild rice seedlings had now yielded results.

Nine of them were ordinary wild grasses, while the remaining five were wild rice that grew symbiotically with barnyard grass and had already sprouted green rice ears!

Although the scale was very small, this discovery made Luoning very excited; his rice planting plan would be fully unfolded in the coming years.

In order to harvest more grain, he dug out the barnyard grass among the wild rice and transplanted it to the side; this thing hindered the growth of the rice but also had its uses, so Luoning only transplanted it and did not pull it out and throw it away.

The estimated date for the rice to mature was around the latter half of August; Luoning prepared to come and harvest it then.

It was also thanks to having Kaierluosi now; otherwise, being on the front line, he really wouldn't know how to harvest the rice, as this place was too far from Zhaoze Town, and it would be difficult for Wilson and the others to reach here.

After dealing with the wild rice, Luoning rushed back to Shanlin Castle without stopping.

Knowing the principles of papermaking, after going through the steps of pulping, mixing, sheet forming, pressing, and drying, he finally produced the first sheet of paper in this other world.

Although it was a grayish-yellow color and not as good-looking as white paper, it was clearly no problem to use it for writing.

Luoning spent two days handing over the raw materials needed for papermaking and the steps of boiling the fibers to Jialun, letting him prepare more materials while he was away.

When the war ended and Luoning returned to Shanlin Castle, he could recruit some papermaking craftsmen, let more people participate in the great cause of papermaking, and rid the territory of the annoyance of expensive parchment.

After dealing with these trivial matters, and seeing that the territory's autumn harvest work was beginning to be carried out in an orderly manner, Luoning rode Kaierluosi and left the territory, catching up with the troops led by Ruidar before long.

"My Lord, you've finally come!"

Looking at Luoning, who had suddenly appeared from the woods on one side, Ruidar was not surprised at all, but the soldiers in the rear were very confused—wasn't the Lord still in the territory? How could he walk out of the woods?

"How is it? Did you encounter any other noble armies along the way?"

"We encountered the armies of Muma City and Lake Town."

Ruidar replied: "However, their logistics teams are longer than ours, and their marching speed is a bit slower than ours; they are currently estimated to be ten or so miles behind us."

Luoning nodded; he had indeed seen troops in the rear while in the air, but he couldn't see them clearly; these guys didn't hang their heraldic banners high like the Wubei Territory's troops.

Luoning looked at Luogena in the ranks and asked: "Luogena, how many people did your father bring this time?"

"As far as I know, it should be a Knight Squad led by Baron Snow."

Baron Snow was Kelami's father and was a Silver Knight.

Being able to pull out a Knight Squad to participate in this war, Viscount Mawen could be considered to have put in effort.

"Is the one leading the Lake Town team Baron German?"

"Yes, my Lord!"

The one answering the question was Maiken; he had followed Luoning to Lake Town and Wushan Castle and had seen the One-armed Lone Wolf, Baron German, in person.

"However, his team is smaller than Viscount Mawen's, estimated at five or six knights, a dozen cavalry, and forty or fifty infantry."

Although Lake Town was a Baron Territory, its aquatic business was good, and German's family assets could be considered substantial; he should have two Knight Squads under his command.

Luoning frowned slightly; bringing only a few people out seemed a bit too little, right?

But fortunately, it was a Bronze-level Lord leading the team in person; although the number was a bit small, the overall strength should not be weak, so it was still okay.

"Jushi Territory is less than a hundred miles ahead; we will slow down our marching speed to maintain the physical strength and condition of the men and horses."

They also carried supplies, but not many; once they reached Jushi Territory, Jialier would be responsible for them.

Because Luoning slowed down, by the third day, Viscount Mawen and Baron German had caught up with their troops; the winding road was suddenly crowded with people, and it finally looked like a march.

Luoning glanced at the two men's troops.

The Knight Squad from Muma City naturally looked higher in overall quality; his horses and cavalry were equipped with iron armor, only the infantry and archers were a bit worse.

"Uncle Mawen, I think you need to purchase some Iron-wood Equipment for your infantry and cavalry."

Luoning said with a smile.

Mawen and German could not help but turn their heads to look at Luoning's Knight Squad; after two months of increased production, most of his infantry were wearing Lamellar Armor, looking much more imposing than their two infantry teams.

And whether it was an illusion or not, the two of them always felt that Luoning's soldiers were more orderly and disciplined in their actions.

"I asked you two days ago if you had any for sale, Luogena, but you didn't."

Mawen said with a smile: "After we go back this time, give me sixty sets of Lamellar Armor first; I'll let my infantry get armed first."

"Give me sixty sets as well."

Only a small portion of German's troop were elites, but that did not stop him from arming the soldiers who had not come.

"No problem!"

Luoning responded happily; the battle had not even begun, yet he had already made two deals.

The trio's party slowly approached Jushi Territory, where Luoning encountered more and more noble armies.

However, the state of their armies made Luoning's expression increasingly grim.

It turned out that the quality of Mawen's and German's troops was the best; the troops brought by the others were simply not worth looking at.

Either the numbers were too few, or they were ragtag soldiers who swayed while standing, the kind that clearly had no combat effectiveness at a glance.

To say nothing of the others, just look at Baron Kona, who was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Luoning was moved by his loyalty to Wushan Castle; he was participating in the war even though he was nearly bankrupt.

But his party, which consisted of only three people including himself, was truly not worth looking at.

"Viscount Weituolinuo didn't come?"

Luoning frowned slightly.

Viscount Weituolinuo of Jianjiao City was a Silver Knight; if he did not come, then the coalition's high-end combat power would be missing one.

"Who else hasn't come?" (End of chapter)