Recaps

Victor discussed the wedding and the territory’s administration with Wembley, who urged him to restructure its growing bureaucracy and stay closely involved with the army. Victor began planning administrative changes with Number One, while awaiting Alex’s visit from Iron Birch Territory.

• Wembley told Victor he would handle the wedding preparations and leave the territory’s affairs and army to Victor.
• Wembley advised Victor to restructure the administration because too many officials relied on Victor’s direct orders and the northern and southern territories were difficult to manage from one place.
• Wembley said Alex would soon arrive from Iron Mountain Fortress, and reassured Victor that equipment deliveries to Iron Birch Territory had gone smoothly.
• Victor discussed administrative matters with Wembley, then tasked Number One with creating a practical system plan based on the territories’ circumstances and Wembley’s advice.
• Victor thanked Wembley and said he would inspect the territory and gradually make adjustments, while Wembley encouraged him to ask for help and start a family with Veronica.

Victor trained his guards, announced an exam to promote them into officer roles, and encouraged them to lead troops in future battles. After breakfast with Wembley and Lady Ellie, he and Veronica traveled to her workplace, where he flirted with her in the carriage.

• Victor beat his guards during morning training, then announced an exam that would determine their new positions and urged them to become officers to protect more soldiers.
• Victor privately told Veronica that even guards who failed the exam would return to the army as company commanders because the forces needed mid-level officers.
• Victor and Veronica joined Wembley and Lady Ellie for breakfast, and Victor told them he and Veronica planned to visit the laboratory and possibly Riverside Village.
• Victor pulled Veronica into the carriage after breakfast, and she protested when he tried to kiss her because her students would be at her workplace.

Victor visited Veronica’s laboratory and learned that her team had built a steam-powered generator and a working wired telegraph. The telegraph sent coded messages over two thousand meters, and Victor promised to reward everyone for their contributions before asking for a tour.

• Victor entered the laboratory and found a steam traction engine where the diesel engine test rig had stood.
• Octavia mistook Victor for a thief, but Veronica reassured her and Victor apologized for touching the equipment.
• Octavia explained that the steam traction engine powered a generator connected to two telegraphs, which communicated over two thousand meters using long-and-short codes.
• Veronica credited Octavia with devising the code and contributing to the engine’s miniaturization, while explaining that Victor had inspired the telegraph and several other inventions.
• Victor praised the team, promised them rewards, and asked Veronica and Octavia to show him around the laboratory.

Victor visited Veronica’s laboratory, learned about Octavia’s background and wishes, and then inspected the diesel train operating near Riverside Village. The chapter ended with Victor proposing future railway expansions, while Veronica cautioned that labor and resources would be limited before the civil war ended.

• Victor praised Octavia’s intelligence, and Veronica insisted that Octavia join them on a visit to Riverside Village.
• Victor learned that Octavia had been born a bonded slave, excelled at the territory’s education center, and became Veronica’s student and research assistant.
• Octavia asked Victor to free her parents and relatives from their contracts, and Victor promised to do so and provide them money.
• Victor, Veronica, and Octavia arrived at Riverside Village and watched the diesel train return to the steelworks carrying ore.
• Victor questioned the train’s crew about its capacity, schedule, and fuel use, then discussed building railway connections with Veronica.

Victor inspected the Steelworks and paper mill, praised their staff, and agreed to fund a telegraph line between Riverside Village and Wood Fort Town. Meanwhile, Viscount Ferry’s forces seized Baron Sebas Raspberry’s castle, and Ferry prepared to continue the campaign despite a messenger alerting Governor Dansol.

• Victor asked Ramsay about the Steelworks’ safety problems, confirmed casualties remained within his targets, and checked that families received full compensation.
• Victor praised Veronica’s paper mill team and announced rewards, though the mill’s progress remained limited by a shortage of Salt-leaf Trees.
• Victor agreed to fund a telegraph line and planned to remind Alex to deliver the ordered trees.
• Viscount Ferry’s forces confronted the wounded Baron Sebas Raspberry, who warned that Governor Dansol would rally the Coalition of Nobles against them.
• Viscount Ferry killed Sebas, told Cohen to calm the Raspberry troops, and said their campaign would continue.

Viscount Ferry led Ironvine’s army as Count Lloyd launched a rebellion across Cornwall County, while Cohen watched the forces depart and Governor Dansoer struggled to respond. The chapter ended with news reaching Silver Maple City that Tyre City had fallen, Dansol Cassava had died, and Cornwall County was in chaos.

• Count Lloyd ordered Viscount Ferry, Baron Nio, Baron Eamon, and Baroness Kailan to lead three armies against loyalist territories and Tyre City.
• Viscount Ferry rallied his soldiers and marched east, while Cohen questioned whether betraying Sebas had been right.
• Ironvine’s forces captured the territories of the three other vassal families and crushed loyalist nobles who tried to resist.
• Viscount Dansoer summoned Cornwall’s independent nobles after learning Raspberry Territory had fallen, then discovered Count Lloyd’s army had surrounded Tyre City.
• Three days later, news reached Silver Maple City that Lloyd Ironvine had rebelled, Tyre City had fallen, Dansol Cassava had died, and Cornwall County was in chaos.

Grand Duke Mora learned that Lloyd’s forces had rapidly conquered much of southeastern Cornwall County and routed the county’s nobles, despite earlier reports downplaying the losses. Viscount Borey suspected the East Sea Alliance was supplying Lloyd, and Mora approved sending the Fourth Legion into Cornwall while keeping Hampshire’s nobles on the border.

• Mora raged over Cornwall County’s defeat and demanded advice from Viscount Borey.
• Mora revealed that Lloyd’s army had taken six baronies and Cassava Territory, defeated reinforcements, and killed or captured numerous nobles and troops.
• Mora disclosed that the Silver Maple secret guards had reported the full scale of Lloyd’s victories, beyond what Count Lagos and Borey had been told.
• Borey concluded that Lloyd had ample military supplies and might be backed by the East Sea Alliance.
• Borey advised keeping Hampshire’s nobles at the border and sending the Fourth Legion from Dorset County and Devon County into Cornwall County, and Mora approved the plan.

Mora approved Audrey’s plan for the Sixth Legion to attack Ironvine Territory, bypassing the usual military command. Turas led the legion across the border, while Ironvine’s forces remained unaware of the approaching invasion.

• Count Lagos reflected that Mora had become a ruler rather than a grandson, and invited Viscount Borey to visit him.
• Audrey argued that Mora should use the Sixth Legion to strike Ironvine Territory, and Mora authorized Turas to act.
• Turas led the Sixth Legion across the border and split it into land and water forces to seize key positions near Ironwire City.
• Turas revealed that he had secretly redirected the legion to help the Pepper family gain power in the civil war.
• Ironvine’s forces continued advancing through Cornwall County, unaware their territory was under attack.

A mysterious army overwhelmed Xibro’s former outpost, but two Light Cavalrymen escaped south to warn Ironwire City. Turas ordered his forces to leave the burning outpost and reach the city before its defenders could respond.

• The newly appointed garrison officer and many defenders died in a surprise arrow attack, and the deputy outpost commander sent Hank and Fis to warn the eldest young master in Ironwire City.
• The deputy commander used Viscount Ferry’s Bed Crossbow to disrupt a cavalry unit pursuing the messengers, but enemy arrows killed Rupert, Buck, and the other operators.
• The cavalry returned with its commander’s head displayed on the banner, then charged past the western wall as the besieging army launched its assault.
• The outpost defenders set the main structure ablaze as the enemy broke in.
• Turas learned that the defenders had burned the outpost and ordered his army south toward Ironwire City.

Turas divided his Sixth Legion’s forces to pressure Ironwire City and delay Count Lloyd’s return, while Randolph prepared to defend the city. Count Lloyd then learned that Ironvine Territory had come under attack.

• Turas ordered Gaba to take a regiment north, destroy three towns along the Green Forest River, and join Wendu, while Turas advanced toward Ironwire City.
• Turas told Gaba to urge Wendu to block Lloyd’s reinforcements at the river ferry for three days so Turas could capture Ironwire City.
• Randolph Ironvine learned that the outposts had fallen and that the enemy had burned the three river towns, and he ordered his people to stay calm.
• Count Lloyd returned to Tyre City after fighting in Cornwall County and planned to unite his scattered forces against the Fourth Legion.
• An officer brought Lloyd an urgent report that Ironvine Territory had come under enemy attack, shocking him.

Count Lloyd learned that a powerful, unidentified army had invaded Ironvine Territory and ordered his forces to abandon their occupied lands and return immediately. He left officers preparing to withdraw within two hours as he feared the enemy would block the Green Forest River crossing.

• Downster reported that an army of more than ten thousand had crossed the northern trade route, captured three towns, and massacred their inhabitants.
• Count Lloyd agreed with Lenster’s suspicion that the invading force might be the Duchy’s Sixth or Seventh Legion, though the Sixth Legion had secretly moved without authorization.
• Count Lloyd ordered Viscount Ferry and Baroness Kailan to defend territories near Red Mountain City while Baron Nio and Baron Eamon returned with troops to Ironvine Territory.
• Count Lloyd studied the Green Forest River crossing and feared the enemy intended to block his army’s return.
• Count Lloyd summoned his battalion commanders, rejected their objections, and ordered the army to withdraw within two hours, abandoning everything but essential baggage and supplies.

Count Lloyd ordered his army to retreat and burn its camp and Tyre City to delay a feared pursuit, while Viscount Ferry hurriedly followed the withdrawal order and others hesitated. Meanwhile, Gaba’s Fifth Regiment joined Wendu’s Second and Fourth Regiments, leaving Wendu with little choice but to obey Turas’s military order.

• Count Lloyd ordered the camp supplies and Tyre City set ablaze, sparing the residents only a warning before the fires began.
• Count Lloyd admitted to Lepond that he feared the Fourth Legion might be pursuing them, then rode north with the retreating army as Tyre City burned.
• Viscount Ferry sent Baron Nio back to Raspberry Territory to summon Knight Keli, then abandoned baggage and began his own return march.
• Baroness Kailan and Baron Eamon delayed their return because they were reluctant to leave their captured loot behind.
• Gaba’s Fifth Regiment joined Wendu’s Second and Fourth Regiments, and Wendu realized Turas’s forces left him no room to resist the military order.

Gaba proposed taking a vanguard downstream by boat to reach the Green Water River ferry crossing ahead of Count Lloyd’s forces, while Wendu’s troops gathered replacement transport. Gaba concealed the full brutality of his regiment’s actions in three towns and sought to use the vanguard mission to expend his now-uncontrollable soldiers.

• Gaba told Wendu that their army was marching too slowly to meet Turas’s deadline for reaching the ferry crossing.
• Gaba proposed sending part of the force downstream by boat and showed Wendu a map of the route and nearby towns where they could gather more transport.
• Gaba said he had already taken carts and livestock from three towns, and claimed Turas had authorized action against their Freemen as Lloyd’s accomplices.
• Gaba’s regiment had massacred residents while plundering the towns, and Gaba hoped to win merit and get rid of his bloodstained, uncontrollable troops by leading the vanguard.
• Wendu agreed to let Gaba lead the vanguard while he used Gaba’s carts and livestock and gathered more transport along the way.
• Gaba promised to clear the towns and villages ahead and share the credit with Wendu.

Wendu surrendered Gaba's ships and continued marching with fewer supplies, while Turas's forces advanced through an evacuated, scorched landscape and learned more about Lenster. In Ironwire City, Lenster organized the city's defenses and laborers as the enemy approached.

• Wendu handed Gaba all the ships, then took over the remaining livestock, slaves, and carts and marched on while avoiding most conflicts with locals.
• Turas's troops encountered abandoned roads and burned supplies, checked wells for poisoned water, and learned from the surrendered officer Shanno that Lenster was leading Ironvine Territory's defenses.
• Turas promised Shanno command but planned to use him and prisoners as cannon fodder to fill Ironwire City's moat.
• Lenster explained to Kadok that he had evacuated residents and supplies from the enemy's route to protect them and concentrate the defense at Ironwire City.
• Lenster ordered Kadok to reinforce the walls, recruit paid civilian work crews, and prepare them to fight if necessary.

Lenster and Kadok prepared Ironwire City for an unexpected siege as Turas ordered the exhausted Sixth Legion to attack immediately. The defenders opened fire on the moat-fillers, only to recognize them as Freemen from their villages and, in many cases, their own relatives.

• Lenster learned that enemy cavalry had killed the city's scouts, while Kadok reported that the surrounding settlements had been emptied of most residents and supplies.
• Turas ordered Shanno's unit of more than three thousand captives and civilians to fill Ironwire City's moat, and promised Shanno his command would continue even if his men died.
• Turas sent the First Regiment to attack with ladders and held the Third Regiment in reserve, while Lenster ordered the city's defenders to prepare and remain on alert for trouble inside the city.
• The Sixth Legion charged Ironwire City, and Shanno's laborers began filling the moat with sacks of dirt and stones.
• Kadok ordered the archers and crossbowmen to target the laborers, but the defenders recognized them as Freemen from their villages, including their relatives.

The Sixth Legion attacked Ironwire City but withdrew after Lenster used catapults to destroy the bridges across the moat. Turas paused the siege for the night, ordered Shanno to fill in the moat, and reflected on having underestimated the city's defenders.

• Kadok ordered the defenders to shoot the conscripted laborers, while the Sixth Legion crossed the moat and assaulted the walls.
• Lenster told Kadok to use the catapults, which smashed the temporary bridges and prompted Turas to order a retreat.
• Kadok reported more than two hundred and sixty defenders killed or wounded, and Lenster ordered militia from the residents to reinforce them.
• Turas reprimanded Shanno for failing to fill the moat, then agreed to pause the siege while Shanno attempted the task that night.
• Turas ordered Shanno to execute one in ten of the soldiers who had fled and admitted to his adjutant that he had underestimated Ironwire City's defenders.

Turas ordered a midnight surprise attack on Lenster’s city while Shanno’s laborer corps worked to fill the moat and distract the defenders. Lenster and Kadok patrolled the walls and discussed dwindling arrow supplies as the attack approached.

• Turas ordered the First Regiment’s elite battalion and his guard unit to launch a midnight surprise attack while Shanno’s laborers filled the moat as bait.
• Shanno led the gagged laborers toward the city after executing one in ten who had fled during an earlier defeat.
• A city patrol spotted no approaching threat, then encountered Regimental Commander Kadok and Lenster on their night patrol.
• Kadok told Lenster that the city had enough food for half a year but was running short on arrows after fighting the Sixth Legion.
• Lenster ordered the city’s military workshop to produce arrows and offered to requisition materials in the Count’s name.

Turas's forces began a nighttime assault on Ironwire City after Shanno's laborers filled part of the moat. Lenster discovered the attack too late and gathered the city's lightly equipped defenders to contain Sailik's troops on the western wall.

• Lenster continued patrolling the walls while Shanno led laborers in filling the moat with bags of earth and stones.
• Sailik and Ivand waited for the moat work to advance, then set out with their troops under cover of darkness.
• Turas praised Sailik and Ivand as they marched toward Ironwire City, while Shanno redirected his laborers away from their route.
• After a whistling signal alerted the defenders to Shanno's group, Sailik charged the western wall with soldiers carrying ladders.
• Lenster spotted the filled moat and sent guards to inspect the other walls, but Sailik's troops climbed onto the battlements and scattered three patrol units.
• Lenster summoned Kadok and gathered a little over four hundred defenders, using their numbers to contain Sailik's landing force.

Sailik’s force failed to capture the wall after defenders reinforced the rampart and drove back the attackers. He escaped with the surviving soldiers and told Ivand that the defenders had reacted too quickly.

• Sailik killed one of the greatswordsmen, signaled his soldiers to withdraw, and formed them into a defensive retreat.
• Lenster recognized the retreat and ordered a patrol captain to alert the defenders and lead a charge.
• A wounded soldier and other injured men stayed behind to hold off the defenders while Sailik and the remaining soldiers descended the wall.
• Sailik hurled his axe at the defenders, slid down the ladder, and fled toward camp with his surviving soldiers.
• Sailik met Ivand and reported that they had failed to take the wall.

After Sailik’s night raid inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, Turas praised his guard unit while ordering Shanno to continue filling the moat. Lenster ordered Kadok to use incendiary bombs to disrupt the siege work, but at dawn the defenders saw that much of the moat had been filled.

• Sailik returned injured after his troops lost more than eighty men and inflicted an estimated three hundred casualties on the enemy.
• Ivand and Sailik reported to Turas, who praised Sailik’s efforts and ordered Shanno to prioritize filling half of the moat’s eastern and western sides.
• Kadok inspected the night raid’s aftermath, and Lenster warned him that enemy troops had filled part of the moat beneath the city.
• Lenster ordered Kadok to fire incendiary bombs at the moat every quarter hour and promised patrol captain Kachiri a promotion.
• At dawn, Ironwire City’s defenders saw that a considerable portion of the moat had been filled.

The Sixth Legion secured the Green Forest River crossing while Count Lloyd set out from Red Mountain City toward Ironwire City. Turas intensified the siege of Ironwire City, where Kadok reported dwindling ammunition and arrows to Lenster.

• Kadok saw that the Sixth Legion had filled much of Ironwire City's moat with forced laborers and corpses.
• Turas sent Dirac and the Cavalry battalion to reinforce Wendu at the crossing.
• Gaba's fleet reached the Green Forest River crossing, and Gaba learned that no Ironvine troops had passed through recently.
• Count Lloyd left Red Mountain City with 12,000 men after Viscount Ferry agreed to defend the city and wait for Baron Eamon.
• Turas ordered repeated attacks on Ironwire City, and the Third Regiment suffered over a thousand casualties, many killed by Turas's own supervisory force.
• Kadok told Lenster that Ironwire City's incendiary bombs and arrows were nearly exhausted.

Lenster and Kadok endured another costly assault by the Sixth Legion, while Turas ordered preparations for renewed attacks. Count Lloyd reached the Green Forest River, drove Gaba’s troops from key positions, and prepared to force a crossing.

• Lenster reorganized Ironwire City’s defenses around the heavy crossbow unit, increased bolt production, and limited ammunition use per defense.
• The Sixth Legion launched a larger assault with siege towers and battering rams; Ironwire’s defenders repelled it after two breaches, though Kadok and Lenster’s guards suffered heavy losses.
• Lenster learned the Garrison Regiment had dwindled to little more than one battalion, but Kadok reminded him that two battalions of able-bodied recruits could still fight.
• Turas ordered Shanno to lead his remaining laborers in the next assault and directed the Sixth Legion to rebuild siege equipment and attack again the next day.
• Count Lloyd learned that Gaba held the Green Forest River crossing, sent for boats and reinforcements, then used ranged troops to force Gaba’s men from key positions.
• Count Lloyd halted the cross-river volleys after Gaba withdrew and ordered his troops to cut down trees for a crossing.

Count Lloyd's troops attempted to cross the Green Forest River to reach besieged Ironwire City, while Gaba prepared to defend the crossing with help from Dirac's Cavalry. The fighting left both armies locked in a fierce battle on the riverbank.

• Dirac informed Gaba that his Cavalry had arrived nearby, and they met before dawn to plan their defense.
• Gaba withdrew from the riverbank as Count Lloyd's forces assembled, and Count Lloyd's officers devised a crossing plan using raft barricades and a flanking force.
• Count Lloyd sent more than a thousand soldiers across the river, and his troops used rafts as walls while ranged units covered their landing.
• Gaba ordered a charge against the beachhead, but Count Lloyd's ballistae and catapults inflicted heavy losses.
• Gaba pressed his troops into close combat with the crossing force, and the two sides became locked in a fierce battle on the riverbank.

Gaba’s Fifth Regiment held Ironvine Territory’s landing forces in a bloody stalemate while Count Lloyd committed his cavalry against Dirac’s Sixth Legion Cavalry. Ironvine Territory’s cavalry won the clash by charging with the winter sun behind them, and Dirac fled toward Gaba with his surviving riders.

• Gaba ordered the Fifth Regiment to keep the landing forces locked in close combat, using battlefield supervisors to drive fleeing soldiers back into the fight.
• Count Lloyd’s third wave failed to land, and his fourth wave was broken by Dirac’s Sixth Legion Cavalry after it landed farther downriver.
• Lepond offered to lead his heavy infantry in an assault, but Count Lloyd refused and ordered Ironvine Territory’s cavalry into battle instead.
• Count Lloyd sent his cavalry westward with the rising sun behind them, leaving Dirac’s charging troops facing into the glare.
• Ironvine Territory’s cavalry defeated Dirac’s force, and Dirac fled toward Gaba with the surviving Sixth Legion riders.

Dirac fled with Gaba and the Fifth Regiment remnants after Count Lloyd’s forces retook the river crossing, repaired the drawbridge, and prepared to confront Wendu’s troops. Turas learned of the defeat and ordered his army to withdraw from Ironwire City.

• Dirac knocked Gaba unconscious and led him and the Fifth Regiment soldiers away from the lost battle.
• Count Lloyd’s river-crossing troops broke the remaining Fifth Regiment resistance, secured the crossing, and captured the surviving soldiers.
• Count Lloyd’s craftsmen repaired the drawbridge, and he decided to wait for Wendu’s troops before returning to Ironwire City.
• Dirac brought Gaba and the Fifth Regiment remnants to Turas, who blamed Wendu’s failure to arrive and ordered his troops to prepare to withdraw.