Chapter 333: The lips and teeth are interdependent

No one expected that the rainy season would last for 150 days.

From early spring to late spring, from early summer to midsummer.

The rare sunshine and intermittent rain became a nightmare for many people.

The excessive moisture destroyed the soil composition, and crops could not be rotated in an orderly manner.

The land was soaked by rain, and the roots of the crops were all soaked and rotten. The seeds that had just been buried could not germinate. Due to the lack of light, even if they germinated, they could not survive.

The capital of the Black Iron Land is Black Castle, and the surrounding areas of Black Castle are all directly under the jurisdiction of the King of Black Iron.

Iolion tried to promote agricultural reform, but he lacked cognitive experience, so he did not promote it on a large scale. The Lord of the Black Iron Crown ordered the Minister of Agriculture to select multiple pilot sites.

This matter also caused a lot of discussion within Black Castle.

Some people fanned the flames, some secretly expected it, and some had doubts.

But the king in his prime ignored all resistance and pushed this decree forcefully.

They sowed barley, oats and other crops that can survive the winter last fall.

Theoretically, the yield of this round of harvest can be seen in the spring and summer of this year, and the results will be clear.

However, things did not go as planned.

This long rainy season came suddenly, almost destroying all the crops, and the land was barren.

It was not only agricultural production that suffered this devastating blow, but also the prestige of the King of Black Iron.

This disaster caused his reputation among the people to plummet, and all the negative news swept over.

Beggars hated, farmers cursed, citizens abused, and nobles were dissatisfied.

Food pressure also followed.

Black Castle has more than 100,000 residents, which is almost the largest city in this era. The daily rations consumed are huge, even the Citadel of Sinnoh and the Holy City of the Church are difficult to compare.

Once the food runs out, the consequences will be disastrous.

Iolion had to issue a grain collection order to collect grain from the nobles of the entire Black Iron Land.

He sent envoys to many noble fiefdoms, and some of the replies were very intriguing.

Some agreed openly but delayed secretly;

Some spoke rudely and refused to be invited;

Some complained and had no surplus food at home.

This rainy season disaster was widespread. There were so many people in the Black Castle alone, so what about the surrounding areas of the Black Castle?

Roman could boldly predict that the population affected by this disaster was at least one million people - whether it was two million or three million was uncertain.

…

It was March. The grain collection order came to Fengrao City, and the envoy came to meet Roman.

Natural disasters and man-made disasters are a great challenge for any feudal kingdom.

Roman regarded it as a node in the cycle of the dynasty.

During this time, all kinds of demons and monsters would jump out, the earth was full of smoke and miasma, and demons were dancing wildly.

The Conqueror was the greatest hero of the human race in hundreds of years, but the rule of the Conqueror Dynasty did show signs of national destruction.

Natural disasters can be resisted, but man-made disasters that intend to overthrow the rule of the Black Iron cannot be avoided.

Roman learned from the Black Iron messenger that the Church was inciting the hungry people to march and throw dirty water on the Black Iron King and the blasphemer.

The bishop said that the blasphemer had angered the gods, so the gods punished him with rain disasters.

All this was the fault of the blasphemer.

Although the spearhead was not directly pointed at the Black Iron King, the people were secretly pondering the relationship between the blasphemer and the Black Iron King. Was the latter in cahoots with the blasphemer?

Later, a series of news exposed from the court further deepened this impression.

Io III was trying his best to protect the blasphemer and was willing to marry a Black Iron Princess to the blasphemer.

At this point, the storm of public opinion was completely formed.

The royal party loyal to the Black Iron King had to dispatch the Black Castle Iron Guard to suppress the march and unrest, which resulted in stronger opposition from the Church and the people. The huge Black Castle is now in chaos.

Chaos is fine.

But it cannot start from Black Castle, which is the source of order.

Besides, will Iolion fall easily?

The Conqueror Family has more than just the Iron Guards of Black Castle, but also some special high-level units.

Roman knew that he was not an incompetent person. He had been confronting the Grand Duke of Fury in the royal court for two years and had not compromised yet. Now he urgently needed external help.

Roman considered for a moment and prepared to transport 5.6 million kilograms of food to Black Castle.

He hoped that Io III could survive the difficulties, because the King of Black Iron knew how to balance and analyze the pros and cons, so he did not betray him.

Even if they were not married, they were de facto allies.

The King of Black Iron weighed the interests, took the overall situation into consideration, and was not hostile to him.

Now it was time to stand on the side, and Roman had to make his position clear, otherwise it would be a loss for both sides.

Roman has always been concerned about the food problem. He has been living by the grain these years. After taking out these millions of kilograms of grain, the remaining surplus will only be enough for him to survive until the summer - or, at most, to survive for two or three months until the summer harvest.

But is it enough to transport this food?

Not enough.

I can only do my best.

"Your Highness, I'll leave this matter to you." said the eunuch chief steward named Tusos. He has a white face and no beard, loose skin, and is loyal to the Black Iron Royal Family.

Lord Damon has mentioned many times that although the King of the Valley is difficult to get along with, he is by no means ignorant of the limits. But Tusos has seen countless people, and the more he expects, the more disappointed he is. He never puts his first impression of people on other people's tongues. Now that he sees him, he is immediately relieved.

He could see that the King of the Valley had spent a lot of money to take out so much food at once. The latter had only been canonized for five years. Unless the gods descended, these were the assets accumulated through hard work. Any stingy or not-so-stingy nobles would definitely not be able to take them out.

The blasphemer was also afraid that His Majesty would turn to the Church... the old eunuch thought to himself.

…

After Roman sent someone to send the visitor away, he began to arrange a grain transport team. At the same time, he also had to accept the population of Apple Town.

Not long ago, Aaron defeated the siege with 1,200 troops.

Roman didn't know how many enemies there were. According to the battle report sent by Aaron, there were enemies everywhere in the mountains. As the commander, he hadn't counted them clearly before his phalanx began to march forward and killed more than 200 people in one encounter. With heavy equipment, the enemy began to retreat step by step, and the enemy's front line was defeated in just over ten minutes.

The front line was in chaos, leading to the collapse of the battle formation in the rear.

Once the scene was in chaos, it was even more impossible to count.

The heavy-armored brigade threw away their shields, drew their fine steel swords, and chased ten people one by one.

The enemy fled, they chased, wherever the enemy fled, they chased.

After chasing for several kilometers in plate armor, they were all exhausted and almost died of exhaustion. As a result, the enemy cavalry rushed over at this time.

The captains and squadron leaders were shocked and urgently ordered the soldiers who were slumped on the ground to form a formation quickly.

Due to the muddy land, the speed of the expedition knights was greatly reduced. Seeing the heavy-armored soldiers quickly formed a square formation, they mistakenly thought they were a group of tireless and energetic supermen. Immediately, morale was greatly reduced, and they fled before they rushed to the front, otherwise they would really cause some damage to the heavy-armored brigade.

Of course, the damage would definitely not be much, after all, plate armor and large shields are not for decoration.

After a battle, the heavy-armored soldiers only lost dozens of people.

This cannot be called an annihilation war, it can only be regarded as a rout.

The enemy was able to gather their defeated soldiers and launch a second attack, but their performance was even worse than the first. Before they even started a direct battle, they panicked and fled when they saw the rows of steel figures.

Aaron was sure that they had lost their will to fight, so he began to drive the slaves to the City of Plenty, and they had a smooth journey.