Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 88: Territory Armament

Su Li did not get angry in the face of the dispute between Lawn and Fandral. This was exactly the purpose of his summoning all the cabinet ministers, attendants and lords today.

Partial listening leads to ignorance, while listening to both sides leads to enlightenment. He plans to listen to everyone's opinions and reports before making a decision.

While Laun and Fandral were arguing, Boros, the dwarf rune blacksmith, reluctantly walked out of the blacksmith shop. He stayed by the furnace every day, lifting weights and drinking, so he smelled of sweat and alcohol.

As soon as he entered the room, everyone looked at him with frowns on their faces.

In fact, he was unwilling to leave the blacksmith shop and interact with other people. The stubborn dwarf hated anything that disturbed him from lifting weights.

So, upon entering, he shouted at the top of his voice, "My friend, respected Lord, what is the matter that requires you to summon a blacksmith like me to a meeting? Wouldn't it be more helpful to the territory if I could forge a few more pieces of armor?"

Su Li immediately replied, "I invited you here to discuss weapon forging. From now on, for the next three days, all other forging work in the territory will cease. All blacksmiths will go all out, forging weapons and armor day and night."

Boros's small round eyes suddenly widened, and he said excitedly, "My Lord, have you finally figured it out? We dwarves should focus on forging weapons and armor. Forging those crude farm tools is a complete waste of our energy."

Su Li asked with concern: "I want to recruit an army with all my strength. How many weapons and armor are there in the armory now?"

Boros scratched his head, cracked his stubby fingers, and said in a muffled voice, "I need to count them. Troll Brew Kiss Day has three long swords, and Troll Brew Intimacy Day has four spears..."

Laun couldn't wait for Boros to count the goods in detail, so he answered Su Li on his behalf: "In the armory, there are 50 fine two-handed swords forged by dwarves and 100 spears. The armor and mail have been distributed to the knights."

"Is this all the equipment in the armory?" Su Li couldn't help but clench his fists. If there were only so many weapons, he could only muster a team of 200 people at most.

Even if all the troops are included, the size will not exceed 500 people.

Using 500 hastily assembled soldiers against 5000 green tides, it would be difficult to win even if the soldiers could fight one against five.

But there can't be only goblins in the green tide, there must be orc boys, trolls and the terrifying Anar'rek giant spider.

Well-trained human soldiers may have an advantage against goblins, but it is very difficult for them to fight against the brute force and burly orc boys. They need to rely on equipment and combat skills to win. Facing trolls, it takes more than a dozen soldiers to barely stop their charge.

So, overall, even 500 soldiers alone wouldn't necessarily be stronger than the orcs. If they were to engage at this scale, the enemy would only need a single charge to overwhelm the weak human formation, and then the green tide would completely submerge everything.

Fortunately, Lawn gave Su Li some exciting good news at this time. This talented civil servant managed everything in an orderly manner.

"My Lord, the territory's armory does indeed contain only so much standard military equipment. However, in the castle's material warehouse, we have a batch of captured supplies. I had Harry and his men sort through them, and there's a batch of high-quality equipment. This includes 400 weapons, including axes, swords, bows, spears, 30 suits of full-body mail armor, and 100 suits of full-body leather armor with iron inlays."

"Damn old thing! Why are the equipment sent to the blacksmith shop for forging all in tatters, requiring me to pick through them like scavenging junk? Turns out you hid all the good stuff!" The grumpy dwarf's eyes suddenly blazed with anger.

But Su Li excitedly pumped his fist: "Well, my virtuous minister, you really gave me a surprise. With these weapons and armor, we can raise a militia of at least 400 people."

Laun triumphantly pinched his beard as he looked at the enraged dwarf and said, "It's the right thing to do to prioritize melting down the tattered equipment. They'll all be melted down anyway, and that tattered equipment will be enough for you to forge for a long time."

Su Li immediately stood by Laun's side and said to Boros, "We've defeated the enemy many times before, and the spoils we retrieved should be sorted and organized. Next, you should focus on smelting these unusable pieces of equipment and forging more equipment as quickly as possible. As per our agreement, as long as you give it your all, I'll let you handle the corpses of the trolls we kill in the upcoming battle against the Green Tide."

After hearing what Su Li said, the dwarf finally controlled his anger. He patted his chest and promised with full energy: "I will lead all the blacksmiths and apprentices in the territory to forge equipment with all their strength. I guarantee that within three days, I will work day and night to create 100 high-quality weapons and 6 sets of high-quality dwarven armor for you."

Su Li nodded and said, "I will assign 10 more flexible apprentices to you, no matter the cost, to speed up the forging!"

Adding 10 more apprentices is already the maximum that the two blacksmith shops in the territory can accommodate. Adding more people will only create congestion and will not have any other effect.

After discussing weapons and equipment, Su Li turned to look at Minister Lauen and Military Commander Orstein and asked, "The weapons and equipment have been finalized. How many troops can the territory mobilize now?" Knight Orstein spoke first, "Since Hirud isn't here, I'll speak on her behalf about the territory's direct retainers. These are the territory's elite troops. They're well-equipped and well-trained. They train daily to kill and win on the battlefield. They're the backbone of this battle."

"Our elite regular army currently consists of one champion knight, nine elite knights, 1 official knights, 9 apprentice knights, 24 armed squires, and 37 archery squires. A total of 117 people. Furthermore, according to vassal obligations, the Balan Autonomous Region of the Balan Donborn family must provide one elite ogre bull warrior and 48 halfling archers."

"This is all our regular troops. If we add two squadrons of shepherds, our total military strength will be roughly two squadrons."

Two squadrons, that’s about 240 people.

He couldn't relax at all, considering how few troops he had to fight against a 5000-man Green Tide. Frowning, he asked, "Besides these people, can't we find more elite soldiers?"

Fandral immediately expressed his opinion, saying, "We have an elite priest, a formal nun, and two trainee nuns from the Church of Dawn, and we are willing to follow you into the battlefield to fight the monsters."

With these four extra people, the combat effectiveness is basically zero.

The members of the Dawn Church were not good at fighting, and even four of them combined might not be able to stop an elite knight. So, if they were replaced, even the four of them might not be able to deal with a troll.

Lao En pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "We still have another troop in our territory."

"There's another army?" Knight Orstein looked at him in confusion. He had already counted all the troops he could think of, and the only ones left were the ogre workers and slaves. These couldn't be considered an army, they could only be considered militia.

Laun said, "There's a mercenary caravan outside our city's southern walls! Although they've suffered heavy losses, after resting and receiving treatment, there are still at least 40 of them. Their leader is an elite Knight Ranger who believes in the Church of Redmar and has considerable combat effectiveness. There are no fewer than five full knights and trainee knights in total."

Fandral also remembered this group of mercenaries. After all, he was the one who treated many of their wounds, so the two sides formed a good friendship.

He asked, "But didn't the caravan leader set off for Maleburg with his guards a few days ago? Without the order from the Chamber of Commerce leader, can these mercenaries cooperate with us?"

Without waiting for Laun's reply, Su Li said, "We can't let them have it. They have to agree whether they want to or not! After the cabinet meeting, Laun, you will go to their camp with Knight Orstein to inform them of the monster attack and discuss how to deal with it together. We will use courtesy first and then force, and we can pay them a hire fee."

"It would be best if they agree. If the negotiations fail, we'll show them how tough we are! Either we fight the evil monsters together, or we use them as training grounds before we face them!"

Laun immediately agreed, bowed slightly, and said, "Rest assured, my lord, I will handle this matter properly. I think the possibility of them refusing is very small. When the people of the empire encounter a monster attack, it is encouraged by the doctrine to help defend the city."

This doctrine refers to the official doctrine of the Church of Redmar, that is, the church that believes in the Human Emperor Redmar. Its doctrines are relatively numerous, including obeying Redmar's instructions, assisting the dwarves, being forever loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, and maintaining the rule of the empire, eradicating and destroying demon servants, greenskins, and all those who use dark magic, no matter where they hide.

Therefore, as citizens of the Empire, maintaining the security of the Empire's rule and destroying the Green Tide are doctrines revered by many warriors. For believers of the Church of Redmar, nothing is more important than defending the Empire that Redmar founded.

This mercenary group will most likely not refuse the request to fight together.

Su Li then stood up and made arrangements for everyone, "Let's split up and act immediately. Fandral, you and I will go gather the slaves and select qualified soldiers. Laun and Boros, you two will be in charge of distributing weapons. Knight Orstein, you will be in charge of organizing the troops and conducting preliminary training."

Giving weapons to slaves and forming a prisoner army is the last resort of the imperial nobles. Unless they have no other choice, they will never choose this path.

Because these criminal armies can easily be transformed into peasant mobs, nine out of ten peasant mobs commanded by border princes come from this method.

Both Laun and Fandral accepted the order without hesitation, and rushed out of the castle and started to act despite the heavy rain.

However, the always decisive military commander, Knight Orstein, did not take action. Instead, he stayed in the castle and said to Su Li, "My Lord, you have made perfect arrangements in every aspect, but how could you have missed the most important thing?"

(End of this chapter)