Farming in the Magical World

Tim didn't stop Lanny from talking about the experiment he mentioned; instead, he brought up something else.

"By the way, Lanny, now that your injuries have fully healed, I need to discuss the defense of the territory with you. You are now Baron Wells, and these responsibilities rest with you!"

"I've been keeping a close eye on the movements of that group of Grummans lately. While they haven't ventured deep into the Kast Ridge, they haven't returned to the Grumman Mountains either, remaining active in the nearby ridges. This is very worrying..."

Speaking of which, those Grummans were really quite strange.

The Grummans who came down from the mountains would attack and plunder the surrounding villages as quickly as possible. If they had the chance, they would also attack the nobles' castles and then retreat back to the mountains with their spoils before the nobles' army could react.

If it were a situation like the Wells family, where the knights lost most of their strength in the Battle of Dragon Ridge, they would definitely press their advantage and attack the castle directly. This is because most of the wealth of the territory is concentrated in the castle, and capturing a noble castle would be much more worthwhile than plundering several villages.

However, this group of Grummans was completely different. After the battle of Dragonfall Ridge, they did not press their advantage. Instead, they moved along the Black Pine Ridge area, plundering the villages they passed by, and heading deeper into the noble territory.

They seemed completely unconcerned about the encirclement by the noble army.

When talking about these things, Tim was worried about the safety of his territory, but he was even more angry.

If it weren't for the heavy losses in the previous battle at Falling Dragon Ridge, and the fact that the knights who escaped had scattered, he would have long wanted to lead his men to find these guys and take revenge.

Now that he is the only knight left in the castle, it is neither the time nor the time for him to act recklessly. He must consider the safety of the territory and Lanny.

At the very least, Lanny's safety must be guaranteed; this was something he had personally promised August.

Upon hearing Tim mention these things, Lanny first waved for the two people beside him to go about their business before turning to ask for his opinion.

"Uncle Tim, as you know, I don't really understand knightly combat... What do you think I should do?"

Worried that Tim might not understand what he meant, Lanny immediately changed to a more straightforward way of putting it.

"So, what do you need me to do?"

Tim nodded, and without any hesitation, held up a finger in front of his eyes.

"First, I need you to select about one hundred servants from among your people, young and strong."

"I will give them some basic training so that they can understand basic instructions, so that they won't be at a loss on the battlefield."

"Furthermore, I think we need to recruit ten more knights..."

Perhaps considering the castle's financial situation, they immediately changed their tune.

"Eight, at least eight. Equip them with full protective gear, weapons, and horses."

"After all, the knights are the main force against the Grummans."

As he listened to the other party's demands, Lanny's face grew increasingly bitter, until he almost curled up into a ball.

Recruiting the people might not go too smoothly, but since it's for their safety, it should be manageable.

But what about eight knights, and a full set of armor, weapons, and horses?

Lanny calculated the amount of gold coins needed, and all he could think of was "MMP" (a vulgar expression of frustration), though he didn't know whether he should say it or not.

He thought to himself, "Why don't you just sell me off? Where am I supposed to find that much money?"

"Wait a minute, Uncle Tim, according to the kingdom's laws, a baron and his territory can only recruit a maximum of five knights as squires. Aren't eight too many?"

Seeing Lenny's suspicious expression, Tim remained calm and showed no sign of worry.

"Yes, you are right, but the kingdom's borders are frequently at war. The king has granted permission for nobles to increase the number of their retinues as appropriate."

"And Caster Ridge is located in the northern border of the kingdom, do you understand?"

"Oh," Lanny nodded knowingly. So this was a supplementary regulation; no wonder it was different from what he had read in the book.

He had previously wondered how August was able to recruit twenty-five knights on his own.

But soon, another question arose in my mind!

"There's still one thing I don't understand: why does the Cavaliers have to be the starting lineup?"

Lanny disregarded the fact that the person in front of him was a knight and asked this somewhat presumptuous question directly.

This is something he hasn't figured out. If we don't count the game, he really hasn't experienced war and doesn't quite understand this point.

But in his mind, if he had more than a hundred subjects, even if it was a war of attrition, he could wear down seven or eight knights. Why did he have to recruit knights? Wouldn't it be better to recruit more subjects?

No salary required, and no need to buy ridiculously expensive longswords, horses, or anything like that. How great is that!

While cavalry is certainly better than infantry most of the time, this is a mountainous area, and cavalry may not necessarily be able to defeat infantry, since there isn't enough open space for cavalry to accelerate.

Of course, it's not that he's unwilling to spend the money; it's just that even if he wanted to, he couldn't afford it now.

He had no idea how to pay back the more than 800 gold coins the castle owed, or where to find so many more for Tim.

Upon hearing Lanny's words, Tim was taken aback and remained silent for a long time, unsure of where to begin with the question.

Seeing Tim's speechless expression, Lanny realized that he might have said something stupid. His face flushed slightly, and he was about to try to save face when Tim began to explain.

"The army composed of the people is called a slave army, and it can't even be considered an army. Once war breaks out, it will probably collapse on its own!"

In the era of cold weapons, morale played a very important role in warfare; it could be said that morale could directly determine the outcome of a battle.

Once one side's morale is destroyed, what remains is almost always a one-sided massacre.

Knights are fully armored, and ordinary people can't even break through their defenses. They can only stare helplessly as the knight's sword comes down on them. In such a desperate situation, few ordinary people can hold on without breaking down.

This is why only knights can be the main force, while the auxiliary troops are only assigned to support.

Tim explained the issue in great detail and didn't find explaining these basic knightly knowledge points particularly annoying.

He was even somewhat pleased, looking at Lanny with a smile.

In his opinion, this was not a bad thing; at least the young master had begun to care about this issue.

In the past, Lanny would get impatient whenever these things were mentioned, but today he listened so attentively.

Of course, Tim didn't use the word "cold weapon," but that was the gist of it.

Lanny listened very attentively, partly because it was a matter of great importance concerning his own safety, and he couldn't afford to be indifferent.

On the other hand, the question he just asked made him realize that even though he came from the information explosion era, he wasn't the one who was blown up. He was just an ordinary person who was hit by the explosion and there were many things he didn't understand.

Although Tim's words sounded reasonable, he did not entirely agree with Tim's view that he valued knights only and completely ignored the servants.

"In other words, as long as the problem of the servants' collapse can be solved and their discipline improved, they can also exert a certain combat power, right?"

He believed in the saying, "Many ants can kill an elephant." As long as he didn't break down, if one person couldn't handle the knight, would two? Or even four?

Even if there were ten, the cost of maintaining these servants would be much lower than maintaining one knight.

“How is that possible?” Tim raised his voice slightly. “Even if they don’t run away, they can’t do anything to the Knights. The collapse is inevitable, and there’s no going back!”

He found Lanny's explanation incredibly naive, and if it weren't for the fact that he was dealing with this kid, he wouldn't have bothered to explain the issue at all.

"Pshaw, what's so scary about a tin can!"

Lanny curled his lip in disdain, thinking that even if one or two people couldn't handle it, what about ten? They could probably kill them by surrounding them and pelting them with stones.

Tim is just too rigid; he values ​​knightly honor and beliefs too much.

This is blind worship, superstition, and it's unacceptable.

Tim was annoyed by Lanny's disdain. If it weren't for Lanny, he would have drawn his sword and challenged him to a holy duel.

He would never allow anyone to tarnish the honor of chivalry.

However, on second thought, this was a good opportunity to educate Lanny. Since he couldn't persuade him with words, he decided to let him personally experience how desperate it was to face a knight, so that he wouldn't always look down on knights.

As the famous knightly saying goes: Actions speak louder than words.

He beckoned two servants from the castle, who helped him put on his armor. He then drew his own sword and, to Lanny's astonishment, handed it to him.

Lanny looked at the longsword in his hand, then at Tim in his full armor, and thought that he couldn't win by arguing, so he prepared to take action directly.

Holding the longsword, he felt a little flustered, unsure of what Tim would do to him.

I can't exactly put myself in a fight with him, can I?

The longsword is about 1.5 meters long and weighs about 10 kilograms. The blade is slightly wider than the two longswords hanging in the bedroom. It is difficult to hold with one hand, so you have to use both hands to lift it steadily.

Clearly, this sword is not only suitable for thrusting, but also for slashing.

The longsword was polished to a gleaming shine, reflecting even Lanny's slightly pale face. Several prominent notches on it indicated that it was not an indoor ornamental piece, but a "battle veteran" forged in the crucible of war.

"Come on, stab me!" Tim's voice rang out from inside the armor, muffled and not very clear, but in conjunction with his movements, Lanny immediately understood his meaning.

I thought he was going to teach me a lesson on behalf of August, but it turns out he just wanted to give me a live lesson.

Holding the heavy longsword in both hands, feeling the coolness emanating from the blade, Lanny swallowed hard.

He knew that since Tim had already donned that troublesome armor, it was clearly impossible for him to give it up now.

It has to be said that the violent genes ingrained in men are truly powerful.

When Lanny raised his longsword and pointed it at his opponent, he was initially flustered, but instead of being alarmed, he gradually became excited.

"Haha, interesting!"