If the family's energy wasn't entirely focused on developing the Black Mud Swamp right now,
Right now, Lorist stood atop a massive wooden tank—yes, that's exactly what Lorist called this newest model of steel crossbow war cart. To meet Lorist's specifications, Master Farin had expended great effort to construct an enormous super steel crossbow, roughly three times larger than the standard war cart crossbow. To say nothing of the rest, just the three-point-six-meter-long, armor-piercing, cone-tipped iron crossbow bolt weighed more than twice as much as the lances used by the
To accommodate this colossal super steel crossbow, Master Farin had also collaborated with skilled master carpenters to build a huge flatbed cart for easy movement and transport. When Lorist discovered that this flatbed cart had one, two, three, four, *five* pairs of wooden wheels underneath, he insisted on calling this seven-meter-long flatbed war vehicle a "tank."
Unfortunately, this tank had no propulsion of its own and moved slowly, taking fifteen days to be hauled by ten draft horses from the crossbow workshop in the Blade Mountains to the Black Mud Swamp. Then, one of its large wooden wheels got stuck in a small pit. Lorist had to summon fifty family soldiers and another ten draft horses, and it took half a day to haul the entire flatbed war cart out.
"There was nothing to be done. The vibration when this super steel crossbow fires is simply too intense; an ordinary vehicle would be shaken apart. So this flatbed cart is essentially solid; I estimate its weight is over five thousand pounds…" Master Farin explained, somewhat sheepishly.
"Master Farin, what you've built is practically a road roller! Didn't you notice how the road this flatbed cart passes over gets compacted and much flatter?" Lorist laughed. "Now, tell me about the power of this super steel crossbow."
After this little interlude, Lorist felt it was better to just call it a flatbed war cart. Although it also had five pairs of road wheels, the lack of its own propulsion made for too big a difference.
"The main issue now is really these iron crossbow bolts. Bolts this long made of iron are too heavy; it affects the range, but the lethality is doubled. The effective direct-fire range is about five hundred meters, but we can guarantee it. Never mind a ten-odd-meter-long Iron-Spine Bay Crocodile; even one twice that size would be killed in a single shot," Master Farin said with great confidence in his creation.
"Bay Crocodiles! Careful! Iron-Spine Bay Crocodiles incoming, three of them! Left front, one big, two small! War cart crossbows, attention, prepare to fire!"
A warning cry came from the sentries ahead. This had become a commonplace occurrence on the central route over the past two months or so. Everyone was busy with their tasks; after all, when these Bay Crocodiles showed up, the War Cart Battalion's crossbows would handle them.
Lorist's plan to develop the Black Mud Swamp involved advancing simultaneously on three fronts. The left route involved digging trenches and building walls from Woniu Ridge to Turtle Mountain, which hadn't attracted the Bay Crocodiles so far. Peace and quiet. The right route involved filling in the terrain from the Blade Mountains down into the Black Mud Swamp, bridging a drop of several dozen meters to the coastal highlands. Stones tumbled down with great momentum, a spectacle the Bay Crocodiles wouldn't approach. Moreover, these magical beasts had no interest in the sea and always kept far from the coast, so this route also didn't need to consider the threat of Bay Crocodiles.
That left only the central route. To build a road through the Black Mud Swamp to the coastal highlands, they had to start filling earth from the swamp's edge. Since they'd begun, Iron-Spine Bay Crocodiles had been attacking from time to time. Nearly two hundred had already been shot and killed.
Lorist jumped down from the flatbed war cart and ran forward to look. Over a hundred meters away in the Black Mud Swamp, three muddy ripples were slicing their way toward them. Judging by the wake, Lorist estimated the two smaller ones flanking the sides shouldn't be too large, maybe three or four meters long. The one in the middle was slightly bigger, around seven meters. Perfect. This would be a good chance to test the power of the super steel crossbow Master Farin had made.
"Fall back. Move your carts over next to the flatbed cart and let these three Bay Crocodiles come through. The two smaller ones are yours to handle. That big one will be taken out by the super crossbow." Lorist issued the orders.
Lorist had no choice. Moving the flatbed cart to his current position would take half a day's effort. It was faster to have the carts ahead pull back and lure the three Bay Crocodiles closer.
The five war carts ahead were quite willing. To increase the crossbows' power and to prevent the slain Bay Crocodile carcasses from sinking into the swamp, they normally let the crocodiles get within fifty meters of the roadbed before opening fire, making it easier to retrieve their trophies. The downside was that some particularly large Bay Crocodiles posed a threat to the carts. These creatures had incredibly tough hide; even after being hit by multiple one-point-two-meter-long iron bolts, they often remained fierce and aggressive. Only a shot to the vital spot on the forehead could kill them.
Everyone was eager to see this super crossbow's power, so they quickly pulled back to position themselves near the flatbed cart, ready and waiting.
The three Bay Crocodiles climbed onto the roadbed, and their speed dropped drastically on the rough, uneven terrain of earth and rock. They lost the agility and nimbleness they enjoyed in the water, which also made aiming the crossbows easier.
A deafening boom erupted, followed by a series of "buzz-buzz-buzz" sounds—the unnerving, rapid vibration of the steel wire crossbow string. Lorist's intuition registered a black shadow, too fast for the naked eye to track, as it streaked past him. The lead Bay Crocodile, over seven meters long and more than seventy meters away, was already pinned to the ground. It twitched twice and then lay still.
"Excellent!" Lorist shouted in excitement. With such a super crossbow in hand, what was there to fear from four- or five-meter-tall Bay Crocodiles?
He turned his head, intending to offer a few words of praise, but the sight before him immediately froze him in place.
The archer who had aimed and fired was trembling all over, like he was having a fit of ague. Two assistants beside him were vigorously patting his shoulders, massaging his arms and other parts of his body.
"What's wrong with him?" Lorist asked.
"My Lord, this is another drawback of this super steel crossbow. One person can only fire it once. The vibration from the crossbow's frame and steel string after firing causes any archer who comes into contact with it to end up like this. He'll need to rest for more than half an hour to recover, and we can't let him fire again today to avoid any health issues. But it's fine; we've equipped this super crossbow with ten archers. They can take turns, one by one," Master Farin explained.
Lorist examined the super steel crossbow closely. He realized this colossal crossbow was similar to the war cart crossbow below. It had only a single support pillar, though this pillar's diameter was about three times larger than the one under the war cart crossbow. Atop the pillar was a large steel ball, and a hole had been cut into the wooden beam beneath the super crossbow, allowing it to socket over the ball. This design facilitated the up-and-down, side-to-side movement needed for aiming. The archer, however, had to press their shoulder firmly against the rear half of the crossbow, aim, and then pull the trigger mechanism to fire the bolt. No wonder the recoil left them in such a state.
Lorist sighed inwardly. He thought to himself that asking Master Farin, a crossbow expert, to improve the longbow had been a big mistake. He'd wanted the mounted archer battalion to switch to riding bows that could be fired from horseback with power comparable to a longbow, and he'd put Master Farin in charge. But progress had been stalled for ages. The main reason, it seemed, was that Master Farin lacked innovative ability.
When Lorist asked him to design a powerful steel crossbow, Master Farin had simply scaled up the war cart crossbow by threefold, following the existing pattern. Whether it was the support pillar or the overall size, this threefold enlargement was perfectly executed, leaving nothing to be said.
One archer, one bolt—fine. The War Cart Battalion was already regiment-sized, with plenty of men. They could just line up and take turns. One bolt per archer would eventually wear down those Bay Crocodiles.
"Master Farin, I'm very satisfied with this super steel crossbow. I'll trouble you to build two more. With three of these, the Iron-Spine Bay Crocodiles in the Black Mud Swamp will pose no threat to our family soldiers," Lorist said.
"As you command, My Lord. We will construct the other two super steel crossbows as quickly as possible and send them to the Black Mud Swamp." Receiving Lorist's approval, Master Farin beamed with happiness. He readily agreed to Lorist's request.
…
At the end of May, Orvikis, commander of the First Guard Battalion at
The messenger who delivered it explained that the arrow-missile had arrived the previous noon. A knight had appeared below Rock Fortress, shot this single arrow directly at the battlements, and left. Commander Orvikis discovered a letter attached to the arrow. Upon unrolling it, he saw the words "For Baron
The letter bore a crest with a Z-shaped pattern; it looked somewhat familiar. After thinking for a while, Lorist recalled it was the crest of Knight Henneid,
Knight Henneid's letter was brief. It said that he had gone to Gil Dusk to attend the Northern Lords' Social gathering. There, he'd heard the Second Prince announce his intention to crusade against the Norton family. The charges were disrespect for the Iblia royal family, repeated defiance of the Second Prince's commands, failure to pay the annual tribute, and the unauthorized acceptance of a count's title from the Andinak royal family—amounting to treason. Therefore, the Second Prince intended to mobilize troops to subdue them.
Knight Henneid wrote that he was currently under house arrest by the Second Prince. The prince was pressuring him to dispatch ten thousand troops to assist in the crusade against the Norton family. This letter had been written in secret and sent back to the Shahin family along with the troop mobilization order. Someone then carried it to Rock Fortress. Knight Henneid said he would try to delay, and with the usual foot-dragging of other Northern lords in mustering their forces, he estimated that by June 20th at the latest, the allied army of the Second Prince and the Northern nobles would be at the gates of Rock Fortress. He hoped Lorist would prepare. Additionally, Count Kenmais was under house arrest just like him, and his family would likely be forced to contribute troops as well…
Damn it! Couldn't he just farm in peace for once? He had no desire to get involved in the so-called war games for supremacy played by those ambitious nobles. He only wanted to develop his family's territory. So why did someone always have to target him? Did they really think the Norton family was a soft persimmon, so easy to squeeze? It seemed the lesson from Duke
"Pass the word. All work crews on the three development routes in the Black Mud Swamp are to cease operations immediately and stand by in camp. All knights from the three routes are to report here at once. I am convening a meeting…"
Lorist gave the order to his guards. Instantly, messengers poured out of the camp, spurring their horses to ride in all directions.
The main tent was packed with dozens of family knights, many still covered in dust and mud. Everyone was curious why Lorist had suddenly summoned all the family knights for a meeting. Had something happened?
Reidi pulled back the tent flap at the rear, and Lorist strode in with a stern expression.
"My Lord!" Bodfing shouted. Every family knight in the tent snapped to attention and performed the knight's salute of hand to chest.
Lorist nodded. "At ease. Sit down."
"I've gathered you all here today because I have bad news to deliver. The Second Prince has lost his mind. Last time, he wrote to me, demanding I go pay respects to him. He also demanded our family present him with five hundred thousand gold Forde coins and provide ten million pounds of snow salt annually as tribute. I refused. Now he's calling upon the Northern lords to raise an army and crusade against our family. They'll be at our gates soon."
A loud "Boom!" erupted as the tent descended into uproar. To Lorist's surprise, almost everyone wore a look of excitement. He really couldn't understand—was there really cause for such joy when war was imminent?
"Locke, your scheme was brilliant! Last time you had us change the arrow wounds on the magical beasts into sword or spear stabs, and sure enough, a bunch of idiots have shown up to get themselves beaten…" Er said happily.
Lorist's face darkened. Heaven and earth as his witness—the last time he'd ordered Er to alter the wound marks on the magical beast carcasses, it was primarily because he didn't want outsiders to know his family already possessed such powerful war cart crossbows. He understood the principle of not flaunting one's wealth. Another reason was that he wanted those wound marks on the corpses to signal to others the formidable strength of the Norton family's forces; even such ferocious magical beasts fell to the swords and spears of Norton soldiers.
Unfortunately, Lorist hadn't realized the Second Prince interpreted those wound marks differently. The prince had concluded that the Norton family's forces had suffered devastating losses while fending off a magical beast tide. That was what had solidified his resolve to move against the Norton family. Had Lorist known, he could only have sighed at his own cleverness backfiring into a war.
"My Lord, please rest assured. With the strength of our family's forces, defeating the Second Prince's allied Northern army will be child's play. This time, not only will we crush the enemy, but we'll also capture plenty of prisoners…" Bodfing, speaking for all the family knights, declared their firm determination and fighting spirit to win.
"Capture plenty of prisoners? Capturing prisoners means we have to feed them. You gonna take care of that?" Lorist scolded with a laugh, but he wasn't actually displeased. It was good that everyone had confidence in victory, though they seemed perhaps a bit *too* warlike. To hear that war was imminent and see them all rejoicing so strangely—he thought. Usually, he hadn't realized so many among them were warmongers.
"Having the determination to win is good, but we cannot be careless. Our family's forces are strong, and this time we must teach the Second Prince and his noble cronies a profound lesson, to extinguish their wolfish greed for our family's territory and wealth. But the situation on the battlefield can change unpredictably. Everyone must still exercise utmost caution, lest we get bitten by a mad dog before victory is achieved. Even if we win then, the losses would outweigh the gains. I hope everyone takes note," Lorist warned.
"Since the enemy will be knocking at our door soon, we must also prepare for battle. My orders are as follows: development of the Black Mud Swamp is suspended. Within five days, the garrison forces across the family's territory are to return to their posts and stand ready for immediate deployment. All regular family forces are to concentrate at Rock Fortress, rest and refit. The recruit camp's reserve soldiers who have completed two months of training are to be immediately integrated into active units. Familiarize yourselves with the new structure as quickly as possible and prepare for combat." Lorist issued his commands.
"Yes, My Lord!"
…(To be continued.)
PS: The power company replaced a transformer the day before yesterday, causing a power outage in the community for a whole day, so I couldn't update. My apologies. I woke up at 4 AM today to write for fourteen hours and almost made up for it. I'm posting one chapter first, and there will be another one shortly. Thinking about those plagiarism ghosts now, they say they can type forty or fifty thousand characters an hour. As someone with crippled hands, I'm incredibly envious.
Also, thanks to all the friends who voted and gave rewards. Your generous support is what keeps me motivated to keep writing. Thank you once more. With best regards!
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