Recaps

Victor led the Second Legion into a decisive battle against Bloodhoof's Barbarian right-wing army on the Black Stone Plain, using disciplined defenses and a Heavy Cavalry charge to break the enemy. Bloodhoof was killed, but Gubai escaped, and Victor sent his cavalry toward Hot Water Fortress to cut off the survivors.

• Victor arranged for Baron Brown and Knight Jack to use a disguised convoy to lure the Barbarian tribes and later help block their retreat at Hot Water Fortress.
• Bloodhoof brought the Barbarian right-wing army onto the Black Stone Plain, where Victor's Second Legion began its battle formations and cavalry strikes.
• As the Fifth Regiment's line faltered, Victor executed a fleeing noble and threatened soldiers who abandoned their posts.
• Raymond's Heavy Cavalry charged into the Fierce Horse Tribe's forces while Ron, Pim, James, and Jackson attacked the Barbarians from multiple directions.
• Raymond pierced Bloodhoof's Golden Wolf Banner, killed the chieftain, and helped rout the Barbarian right-wing army.
• After learning Gubai had escaped with survivors, Victor sent the right-wing cavalry toward Hot Water Fortress to close their route.

After the right-wing cavalry defeated the barbarians on the Black Stone Plain, Victor rode to Hot Water Fortress as its defenders and Pim’s cavalry destroyed Gubai’s remnants. Gubai died rather than surrender, and Victor declared victory over the Vulture Tribe’s right-wing army.

• Victor heard the casualty report, threatened Viscount Hawke, and rode to Hot Water Fortress with Jackson.
• Baron Brown and Captain Marvin repelled Gubai’s cavalry and infantry assaults with crossbows, fire, and catapults.
• Pim’s four thousand Light Cavalry arrived and attacked Gubai’s army from the flanks while the fortress forces advanced.
• Surrounded by the remaining defenders, Gubai killed three of his guards and took his own life; the surviving barbarians surrendered.
• Victor arrived after the battle, accepted Gubai’s battle axe, and proclaimed victory as the soldiers cheered.

Victor’s victory over the Barbarian right wing earned him the support of Viscount Benjamin, who announced him as Acting Legion Commander of the Second Legion. After the banquet, Victor began writing to his father about his new command and the Northern Frontier’s respect for war merit.

• Victor reviewed the Second Legion’s battlefield gains, including prisoners, horses, and livestock, and left the spoils distribution to Number 1.
• At the victory banquet, Benjamin told Victor that he had recommended him for Acting Legion Commander and petitioned Count Colt to approve war rewards that could raise the Golden Sunflower Family to viscounts.
• Benjamin publicly announced Victor’s appointment as Acting Legion Commander, and the assembled nobles accepted it, with Baron Brown and Viscount Hawke voicing their support.
• After the banquet, Victor wrote to his father about Benjamin handing him the Legion Commander’s Scepter and the soldiers’ respect for his war merit.
• Victor recalled two Fourth Regiment knights arguing over his reputation, with the older knight pointing out that Victor had captured Chieftain Bloodhoof’s battle-axe.

Victor rested and reorganized the Second Legion after its victory, sold captured Barbarian slaves, and distributed the spoils. The army then resumed its march north to reinforce the central defensive line.

• Victor wrote to his father and discussed with Baron Brown how a marriage alliance could help secure his position among the Northern Frontier nobles.
• On August 18, Victor gave the Second Legion five days to rest, replenish equipment, treat the wounded, and replace lost horses under Military Judge supervision.
• Viscount Benjamin arranged the sale of eighteen thousand Barbarian soldier slaves to Northlands merchants, and he told Victor that noble private troops often operated disguised as merchant guards.
• Victor and Viscount Benjamin approved and divided the remaining spoils, while Victor gave Benjamin two thousand gold to thank him and prepare support for Alex.
• Victor used much of his new wealth to buy supplies and equipment for his territory and army.
• On August 24, Victor led the Second Legion north of Durham County to reinforce the central defensive line alongside the First Legion of the Iron Birch Territory and the First Legion of the Allied Army.

Victor and the Second Legion learned that Count Colt’s victories against the Barbarians had driven their main force into Blackrock Mountain Hollow, and discovered the governor planned to use them as bait. After the Barbarians refused to pursue them into Count Colt’s trap, the governor withdrew and promised Victor a title-promotion ceremony.

• Victor received reports of Count Colt’s victories, including the defeat of a Barbarian ten-thousand-man squad on the Ashen Plains.
• Captain Raymond brought in a Barbarian spy carrying a map of tribal granaries and arrows pointing toward Ice Wind Valley, leading Viscount Benjamin to conclude Count Colt meant to use the Second Legion as bait.
• Victor divided the Second Legion into three groups and led 600 Light Cavalry ahead to scout the route toward Ice Wind Valley.
• Victor and his scouts found conscripted herdsmen hidden in the pines, while Barbarian Cavalry appeared nearby but did not attack.
• Victor recognized Count Colt’s trap at Ice Wind Valley, but the Barbarian army stayed back instead of pursuing the Second Legion into it.
• Count Colt withdrew his troops and sent word that he would hold Victor’s title-promotion ceremony after the Second Legion returned to its garrison.

Victor was elevated to Viscount at the Allied Army camp and swore to serve the Duchy’s border. Count Colt then assigned him to lead the Second Legion on a mission to cut off the Barbarians’ supply route, and Victor began preparing the Heavy Crossbow units.

• Victor arrived at the Allied Army encampment and was welcomed by cavalry sent by the Governor.
• Count Colt elevated Victor to Viscount and granted him unrestricted rights to expand along the northern bank of the Great Fish River.
• Victor swore loyalty to the Duchy as the assembled army and nobles watched.
• At the banquet, Victor told Viscount Edmond that Golden Sunflower’s sunflower seed oil production was mortgaged to the Wright Trading Company.
• Count Colt ordered Victor to lead the Second Legion toward Ice Wind Valley on September 5 and cut off the Barbarians’ supply route, granting him the First Legion’s Heavy Crossbow units, wagons, and craftsmen.
• Victor went to the Drill Ground at dawn to learn about the assembled Heavy Crossbow units and prepare for the campaign.

Victor prepared the Second Legion’s wagon fort and heavy crossbows for its march, adapting the wagons and their defenses while resolving disputes among the crews. On September 5, the legion departed north, with Count Colt’s plan to use it as bait looming over the campaign.

• Victor ordered a wagon fort built with staggered rows, caltrops, rotating crossbow ranks, and heavy crossbows aimed at enemy cavalry.
• Victor assigned Baron Brown’s Light Cavalry to guard the wagon fort’s flanks and ordered wet birch bark prepared to create smoke.
• Victor inspected the wagons and directed smiths and craftsmen to reinforce them and improve their protective boards.
• Victor settled a fight between crossbowmen and carpenters by ordering adjustable mounts for the bed crossbows.
• Victor saw the completed defensive line of nearly six hundred wagons and learned from Count Colt that the Second Legion would serve as bait.
• On September 5, Victor signaled the Second Legion to march north with its wagons, carts, and horses.

Victor led Viscount Benjamin’s wagon column through two days of relentless Barbarian attacks, using heavy crossbows, caltrops, and fire to keep the mobile fortress moving. The column reached its destination at dusk, where Victor ordered the wagons set ablaze as the decisive battle began.

• Victor ordered the column to maintain its pace and deployed Heavy Cavalry and bed crossbows against the first Barbarian charge.
• Victor scattered caltrops beside the wagon ruts, disrupting the attackers, and ordered damaged wagons dismantled to repair gaps and move the wounded.
• Viscount Benjamin prepared rolling logs against a night attack, and Victor used the burning logs to sweep Barbarian ambushers into flames.
• Victor and Viscount Benjamin repelled a second-day ambush with bed crossbows and Fire Oil Bombs while the Barbarians tried to ignite the wagons.
• Viscount Benjamin planted his battle flag as the column reached the destination, and Victor ordered the wagon fortress ignited.

Victor and the Second Legion’s exhausted defenders held the wagon formation against days of increasingly fierce Barbarian assaults, defeating the Iron Hoof Great Chieftain and forcing the enemy to retreat. With supplies nearly spent, Victor watched a new king’s banner replace the Iron Hoof Tribe’s standard as a fresh Barbarian army prepared to attack.

• Victor directed the defenders to burn the battering rams and repel the Iron Forest Army’s armored cavalry with specialized crossbow bolts and a contracting wagon formation.
• Victor used hidden spiked wheels and Baron Brown’s Light Cavalry to turn the Barbarians’ fire oxen back against their main force.
• Victor wounded the Iron Hoof Great Chieftain with help from Grape and the Combat Assistance System, and Raymond killed the chieftain.
• Victor and the other commanders used fire, grain carts, and a suicidal cavalry charge to repel the Barbarians’ final assault and force their retreat.
• Victor learned that the defenders had almost no ammunition or functioning weapons left as survivors rebuilt the line.
• Victor saw the New King’s Banner replace the Running Wolf Banner and prepared for the Barbarian central army’s renewed attack.

Victor led a desperate cavalry strike against the Barbarians, killing Blood Scorpion as Count Colt’s forces broke through and turned the battle. He survived the final fighting and explosion, waking to find the enemy defeated and the battered army rebuilding its camp.

• Victor heard that his forces were running low on arrows and crossbows as the Barbarians prepared another assault.
• Victor led the First and Second Regiments in a strike on the barbarian main camp, then pursued Blood Scorpion and killed him beneath the royal banner.
• Count Colt’s main force arrived, and Victor’s troops joined them in a moonlit charge that routed the Barbarians.
• Victor found Chieftain Bloodhoof dead in his tent before the last barbarian death warriors detonated barrels of gunpowder and blasted him away.
• Victor awoke after the battle as Ron reported that many soldiers had survived, while the army rebuilt the barricades and Baron Brown celebrated their victory.

Victor woke in a medical tent after the Northern Alliance Army’s victory and learned that the Iron Bone Tribe had appeared during the pursuit and escaped with part of the barbarian forces. The army had dealt a devastating blow to the Barbarian Tribal Alliance, but Victor wondered what had happened to the allied Third Legion and left the next steps to Count Colt.

• James, Benjamin, and Pim praised Victor’s medical detachment for saving wounded soldiers and discussed establishing similar care in Golden Pear Territory.
• James told Victor that the barbarian forces scattered after Victor killed the Blood Scorpion Chieftain, and that he and Jack pursued the fleeing troops with the Iron Knights.
• James and Jack joined Regimental Commander Rune after a wounded messenger warned them that the Iron Bone Tribe was nearby.
• Rune’s Iron Knights formed a defensive line as ten thousand Iron Bone cavalrymen assembled, and the two sides held a standoff through the night.
• At dawn, Rune ordered the Northern Alliance Army not to pursue the retreating Iron Bone Tribe, which withdrew with part of the barbarian forces.
• Victor concluded that the Northern Alliance Army had achieved most of its objectives and wondered whether the allied Third Legion had been defeated or had failed to stop the Iron Bone Tribe.

Victor and Viscount Benjamin toured the Second Legion’s medical company, where Isaac and his staff treated the wounded with organized triage and improved procedures. After visiting the officers and sick camp, they received orders to attend a post-battle meeting at the First Legion’s camp that night.

• Victor and Viscount Benjamin visited the medical company and watched Isaac direct the triage and treatment of newly arrived wounded.
• Victor and Isaac reviewed the medical company’s statistics, including improved clean water access and survival rates for amputees.
• Victor and Benjamin visited the officers’ ward, checked on Viscount Hawke and the other wounded commanders, and Victor promised to report their merits.
• Victor and Benjamin toured the clean, orderly wounded and sick camp, strengthening Benjamin’s resolve to establish a medical company in Golden Pear Territory.
• Back at Second Legion headquarters, Victor and Benjamin received Count Colt’s order to attend a post-battle meeting at the First Legion’s camp that night.

Victor and Viscount Benjamin attended Count Colt’s post-battle conference, where the nobles disputed responsibility for the battle and the distribution of merits. Count Colt assigned the merits among the legions, and Victor left with Benjamin to get his reopened wounds treated.

• Victor and Viscount Benjamin arrived at Count Colt’s tent, where Viscount Edmund Crimson Maple taunted Benjamin and Benjamin traded insults with him and Viscount Philip Sage.
• Count Colt announced that the Third Legion would be excluded from the post-battle merit assessment because it had failed its mission and affected the battle’s outcome.
• Count Colt proposed distributing five Viscount-level merits, but the commanders argued over each legion’s contribution and share.
• Victor threatened Edmund by driving his sword into the tent pole beside him after Edmund criticized Victor’s use of serfs in battle.
• Count Colt awarded two Viscount-level merits to the Second Legion, one Viscount-level and two Baron-level merits to Iron Birch Territory, and one of each to the Allied Army First Legion.
• Victor left the conference with Viscount Benjamin so Benjamin could receive medical care for his reopened wounds.

Victor and the regimental commanders agreed on how to distribute the Second Legion’s war merit and captured gold, then Victor assigned the remaining merit and rewards to his officers. Benjamin reminded Victor that the army’s prisoners and livestock still offered a chance for further rewards, leaving Victor prepared to seek a larger share from Count Colt.

• Victor assigned two apprentices to treat Benjamin, then met with the regimental commanders to settle the legion’s merit distribution.
• The commanders accepted Victor’s plan and agreed to distribute captured gold among their regiments, including to nobles who would receive no merit.
• Benjamin told Victor that the prisoners, horses, cattle, and sheep managed by Count Colt remained to be distributed, and encouraged him to request a larger share.
• Victor allocated the remaining Baron-level merit to Second Regiment officers; James received the major merit he needed for promotion, while Ron and Jack each received one major merit.
• Victor set gold-coin rewards for officers who received no merit and postponed the soldiers’ rewards until their return to Two Rivers Territory.

After the Second Legion’s costly campaign, Victor planned a more mobile, better-supported army for Two Rivers Territory and gathered usable weapons, wagons, and supplies to take home. Once the battlefield was cleared and the fallen were mourned, Victor ordered the army to return to Enzo City.

• Victor planned to expand Two Rivers Territory’s army with mobile crossbow and siege weapons, a dedicated transportation detachment, and more auxiliary soldiers.
• Victor arranged to salvage Iron Birch Territory’s abandoned crossbows and ballistae, repair more than 130 war wagons, and acquire horse feed.
• Victor submitted the Second Legion’s promotion list, including Raymond’s promotion to baron and four knights’ promotions.
• On September 15, the Second Legion cleared the battlefield and held a funeral for its more than two thousand dead soldiers.
• Viscount Benjamin thanked Victor for the spoils that helped cover Golden Pear Territory’s death benefits, then urged him to take the army home.
• Victor ordered the Second Legion to set out for home.

After the Second Legion returned to Enzo City, Count Colt held a victory celebration, promoted two of Victor’s allies to barons, and distributed the campaign’s spoils. Victor left with thousands of horses and observed that the Northern Frontier nobles seemed increasingly detached from the duchy.

• On September 21, Victor led the Second Legion into Enzo City, where Count Colt began the victory celebration after all four legions had arrived.
• Count Colt promoted James Blue Rose and Raymond Majulan to barons, granting each the right to expand one thousand square kilometers northward.
• Viscount Edmund Crimson Maple mocked the new barons, and Victor silently resolved to teach him a lesson.
• During the ceremony, Victor noticed that Count Colt praised only the Northern Frontier nobles and that they showed no loyalty to the duchy.
• Count Colt distributed the spoils, and Victor received more than sixteen hundred warhorses and over two thousand packhorses, bringing his campaign total to four thousand warhorses and six thousand packhorses.

After the war, Victor and the surviving nobles returned to their territories, with James heading south to claim support from his father and Baron Brown traveling alongside Victor. Victor’s army reached Two Rivers Territory to a torchlit welcome, where Sanders greeted him and credited the territory’s defenders for securing their victory.

• The nobles departed Iron Birch Territory, while Victor stayed in Enzo City to procure surplus supplies and James announced he would travel to Boler County to seek his father’s support.
• Victor gave James two hundred warhorses, and James pledged that Green Valley Territory would follow the Golden Sunflower Family’s military and diplomatic lead.
• Baron Brown joined Victor’s homeward march and explained that his family’s ties to Barbarians made it practical to recruit Barbarian slave warriors.
• Victor set out with the Two Rivers and Stream Territory troops on September 20, and Baron Brown parted from him in Stream Territory on September 26.
• Victor reorganized his troops in Green Valley Territory before they reached the edge of Two Rivers Territory, where Sanders greeted him and welcomed him home.
• Victor led the army to Wood Fort Town, where residents welcomed the returning troops with torches and loud cheers.

After the campaign, Victor restored Two Rivers Territory’s construction and agricultural work, compensated and rewarded soldiers, and expanded the army. By October, silage preparations were finished, and Victor had begun reorganizing the forces while returning to his daily duties as lord.

• Victor ordered construction to resume and assigned the Horseshoe Tribe’s herders and territory herding slaves to prepare silage while the tribe’s people remained on patrol.
• Victor personally visited families of fallen soldiers to deliver compensation and address their needs, while wounded soldiers received compensation and suitable jobs.
• Victor rewarded campaign soldiers with land and additional pay, and gave the Garrison Corps monetary rewards.
• After silage work ended in mid-October, Victor released the Horseshoe Tribe’s herders but kept its warriors in the Cavalry detachments, compensating the tribe with wheat and flour.
• Victor established a fully staffed Transport Detachment and transferred professional soldiers from the Garrison Regiment to the First Regiment.
• Victor resumed traveling around the territory with Michael and Little Paru to oversee routine work.

Victor inspected the Arms Factory’s completed armor quotas and modified chariots, then discussed their spring suspension and future weapons work with Bob and Master Mikhail. He suggested making bed-crossbow and ballista frames from steel, giving the craftsmen a new approach to the delayed repairs and designs.

• Bob reported that the Arms Factory had delivered 600 suits of half armor and 200 suits of chainmail ahead of schedule, while steel shortages limited further production.
• Bob showed Victor more than a dozen modified chariots, and Master Mikhail explained their reinforced frames, steering mechanisms, and spring suspensions.
• Master Mikhail said spring-equipped chariots carried 5,000 kilograms for more than twice as long as unsprung ones, though their maximum load was 500 kilograms lower.
• Victor planned to test the modified chariots with troops and train the transport detachment over winter for a possible spring expedition into the grasslands.
• Master Mikhail told Victor that bed-crossbow and ballista repairs depended on air-dried wood, and Victor suggested using steel for their frames.

Victor inspected the Machine Factory and Steelworks, advancing cashmere production plans for Edelweiss Territory and learning of a newly discovered iron deposit. The ore proved to be low-grade hematite, leaving Two Rivers Territory’s iron shortage unresolved.

• Victor arranged for Edelweiss Territory to buy cashmere machinery from Two Rivers Territory and secured a loan using three years of cashmere products as collateral.
• Viscount Roy transferred two major Snowflake Family merits to Ron and promised that Ron would serve as Victor’s vassal once he became a baron.
• Victor told Rafam to use the primitive blast furnace when new iron materials arrived, rather than firing up the costly Martin furnace.
• Rafam reported finding an exposed mountain of ore west of Red Soil Village and showed Victor a sample.
• Number One identified the sample as low-grade hematite with substantial impurities, then stopped Victor as he was about to respond to Rafam.

Victor reconsidered the value of a hematite mine after Number One explained how its costs suited Two Rivers Territory, then surveyed the mine and planned its development. He decided to wait until spring to begin mining and considered having James incorporate the land into Green Valley Territory.

• Number One persuaded Victor that the hematite mine was valuable because he could use slave labor, local fuel, and manual ore sorting.
• Victor visited Red Soil Village, where Mala reported that Iron Bean yields could produce at least forty-five tons of iron material from the current harvest.
• Victor and Rafam reached Iron Mountain, where Victor surveyed the ore and Number One estimated at least twenty million tons of hematite reserves.
• Victor decided to ask James to incorporate the land north of Green Valley Territory, where the mine lay, into James's territory.
• Victor and Number One completed a mining plan featuring wooden rails reinforced with iron sheeting and horse-drawn trains, and Victor scheduled the work for next spring.

Victor welcomed James and the supply fleet, learned that Green Valley Territory would become a vassal of Two Rivers Territory, and assigned James responsibility for the iron mine and a planned campaign against nearby Barbarian Tribes. The chapter ended with Victor overseeing the first steel production for future railways and preparing the mine to begin extraction after winter.

• On October 18, Victor met James at Wood Fort Town, where James pledged Green Valley Territory's service to Two Rivers Territory.
• James explained that Viscount Ronald had supplied him with 5,000 serfs and 400 professional soldiers, and Victor assigned Green Valley Territory the iron mine project.
• Victor planned to use intelligence gathered by the Horseshoe Tribe to organize a campaign against nearby Barbarian Tribes next spring and capture slaves for the mine.
• Victor received Wembley’s letter and supplies, including 200 tons of iron and 2,000 tons of wheat, with 6,000 tons of wheat promised for the following year.
• Victor showed James the mine’s extraction plan and promised Two Rivers Territory would support Green Valley Territory’s production and buy its iron ore at market prices.
• Victor moved into the Steelworks, where the first batch of steel from the Martin furnace was produced on October 28 for future railway construction.

Victor’s housing and land policies had helped thousands of serfs gain freedom while tying the territory’s residents to manageable debts. Alex Iron Birch then arrived in Two Rivers Territory to propose an engagement between Victor and his sister Veronica Golden Pear, and Victor agreed to meet her.

• Two Rivers Territory completed most of its planned homes, which residents received through interest-free loans, while serfs could earn freedom and land through five years of service.
• The territory granted serfs and soldiers’ families benefits that had already helped free three to four thousand people.
• Baron Brown arrived on October 30 with Alex Iron Birch and more than a hundred guards, prompting Victor to greet them at the border.
• Alex told Victor that Viscount Benjamin Pear wanted to arrange an engagement between Victor and his daughter, Veronica Golden Pear.
• Victor accepted the proposal in principle but asked to meet Veronica first, then escorted Alex and Baron Brown toward Wood Fort Town.

Victor and Alex agreed on a marriage contract with Veronica and the support the Iron Birch and Golden Pear families would provide. Victor planned to visit the Iron Birch Territory between April 5 and April 15 next year, while Alex, Baron Brown, and James stayed in Wood Fort Town for the night.

• Victor showed Alex and Baron Brown his newly completed residence in Wood Fort Town and discussed the proposed marriage alliance with them.
• Victor agreed to a marriage contract with Veronica, Viscount Benjamin's daughter, provided they could meet beforehand.
• Alex laid out five benefits for Victor, including armor and warhorses, Chamber of Commerce shares and trade access, military merits, cargo space on the southern fleet, and access to Northern Frontier Noble Alliance resources.
• Victor accepted the terms and agreed to visit the Iron Birch Territory between April 5 and April 15 next year to meet Alex's family.
• Victor sent a greeting letter to Viscount Benjamin, then joined Alex, Baron Brown, and James for dinner and agreed to show them the territory the next day.

Victor toured Alex and Baron Brown around Two Rivers Territory and demonstrated weapons made by the Arms Factory. He secured a major sale of weapon designs and Catapult technology to Alex, leaving Iron Birch Territory set to receive prototypes, blueprints, and technical support.

• Victor showed Alex and Baron Brown the dock cranes, then took them to the Arms Factory in Riverside Village.
• Victor demonstrated improved Bed Crossbows and ballistae, and Alex bought three types for 1,700 gold coins; he gave Baron Brown five of each item from his order.
• Bob unveiled Victor's counterweight Catapult, and five soldiers demonstrated it by hurling a one-hundred-kilogram stone two hundred meters.
• Alex asked to buy the Catapult's blueprints and finished units, but Victor offered the complete technology and technical support for 3,000 gold coins.
• Alex insisted on paying 5,000 gold coins, and Victor accepted the price.