The Grain Seizure Begins, Undead Assault
Zul'ra was somewhat surprised that someone had offered him their services, as she was taken aback by the Goblins mechanic Piz's request to join Amani. However, after some thought, she decided to agree. 🎅😾 Claw 🐉♧
Zul'ra's original plan was to build Amani into a diverse and prosperous nation. If the goal was diversity, then what reason was there to exclude Piz, even though he had his own interests to consider? After all, who in this world doesn't have interests to consider? It's just that everyone's starting point is different.
In any case, with Zul'ra's approval, Piz became a member of Amani and provided services to Zul'ra, finding the personnel he needed in exchange for permission and assistance to establish his own factory.
After inspecting the progress of industrial technology and making new demands, Zul'ra turned his attention back to the summer harvest campaign that was about to begin.
Under Broken-Tooth's orders, the Aman'Shuli Council has issued a mobilization order, mobilizing most of the adults in Zul'Aman and Jintha'Alor. Urban settlements are on high alert, ready to fight the invading Scourge and await the harvest of rice.
Fortunately, Zul'Aman has only enjoyed a few years of peace. All Amani'lai, except for those born in recent years, have survived the brutal years following World War II and are relatively well-adapted to the current situation.
In recent years, Zul'ra has recruited professional soldiers, but has not strictly enforced the separation of soldiers and farmers. As a result, farmers and civilians still maintain a collective lifestyle and often have collective training. They don't even need to be issued too many weapons and farm tools.
Zul'ra, Lostro, Maki, Broken-Tooth, and others discussed the summer harvest and devised a plan to harvest the farmland in different areas. Farmland areas far from cities and near war zones or those likely to be hit by the Scourge should be harvested in advance, while other areas should be harvested as soon as they are ripe.
The plan to harvest the farmland ahead of schedule was carried out smoothly. With advance mobilization, the Giant Deer Army guarded the perimeter, while farmers from the city, carrying their farming tools, poured into the fields. They harvested the rice that was not yet fully ripe in just two days, creating a buffer zone.
Unripe rice cannot be threshed directly. It must be placed in an open threshing ground and exposed to the sun before it can be threshed, air-dried, sifted for dust, bagged, and stored. When it is ready to be consumed, it will be taken out of the warehouse and threshed manually or by wind. Only after this process can the rice be cooked into rice.
In support of the summer harvest, most adults in Zul'Aman mobilized, and the early harvest in the outer areas went smoothly. However, after the early harvest stopped and the real summer harvest began, the the Scourge launched an invasion from the Howling Necromantic Tower of Dead Scar towards the southeast corner of the Ghostlands.
Led by Lostro and Maki, a town's Giant Deer Army and a thousand farmers and artisans joined the fight against the invading the Scourge. The dense Undead of undead were held back west of the line between Sath Valley and Anowien by powerful Warrior, Witch Doctor, Shaman, and ballistae.
The invasion by the the Scourge was unsuccessful, but their attack was not a lone effort.
Early the next morning, following the Scourge Dead Scar, an Amani farmer who was busy harvesting in the morning light looked up and unconsciously cried out upon seeing the sky. This startled the other farmers in the fields, who looked up in alarm.
In the early morning light, a dark and cold Undead fortress could be seen slowly approaching in the sky above the Thalas Mountains. The fortress was shrouded in an invisible orange mist, from which sparse, eerie blue lights could be seen.
The dark, Undead fortress was still just a tiny dot and hadn't yet landed, but the farmers in the fields had lost all interest in working. They couldn't bear to work under the nose of an enemy floating fortress that could land at any moment. They gathered together, hesitating whether to flee back to the city.
Just as the Undead fortress was spotted on the horizon and the farmers stopped working, Amani'lai was holding a weapon and keeping watch in the fields, quickly reported the situation to the priest Utai.
Utai was a priest of the bear spirit Nalorakk, responsible for guarding and leading the farmers during the harvest. Now, facing the sudden Undead raid on the undead fortress, he seemed somewhat at a loss, as this was beyond his ability to cope. All he could do was keep asking the Loa he worshipped for help.
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"Idiot, go find Zul'ra Jin." Nalorakk's reprimand came as Utai was lost in his prayers, causing Utai to pause in surprise. Zul'ra Jin was a sky fortress; how could he possibly handle it?
No matter how Zul'ra Jin dealt with it, he couldn't handle it now. Utai couldn't figure out how his boss could deal with it, but he felt that it wouldn't be wrong to report the problem that he couldn't solve. So he immediately asked the farmer next to him to ride Raptor to Battleaxe Ridge to report.
Unlike Lostro and Maki, who commanded the battle on the front lines, Zul'ra was responsible for holding the rear at Battleaxe Ridge, and providing support to the surrounding areas when needed. The attack on the Undead Fortress was exactly when he was needed, but Tarecgosa was with him, also requested to go.
"I'll go with you!" After the Aman'Shuli Council issued the mobilization order, Tarecgosa and Anveena came to Zul'Aman to stay with him, and have been by his side ever since he took command of Battleaxe Ridge.
"No, stay here, be with Anveena, and wait for me to come back." Zul'ra looked at Tarecgosa Anveena, who was pleading in her eyes but hadn't opened her mouth, and gave her a direct refusal.
"Why?" Tarecgosa, feeling both indignant and hurt by Zul'ra's rejection.
"Because I can handle this by myself. When we get back, we'll find some time to go on vacation to Kalimdor. If you dare to come along, I'll only take Anveena, not you." Zul'ra didn't say anything to Tarecgosa, and flew straight up from the ground, her body soaring into the southwest sky.
"Always so biased." Tarecgosa pouted as she watched the creature fly away in the sky.
"Is he really going to be alright?" Anveena was more worried than anything else.
"Don't worry! He'll be fine." Tarecgosa shook her head. She felt there was something wrong with what Zul'ra had just said, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Leaving aside the ambiguous Tarecgosa and the worried Anveena, Zul'ra flew straight over golden farmlands after leaving the camp at Battleaxe Ridge, arriving near the northern edge of the Thalas Mountains, where he saw the Undead fortress in the sky, which had not yet entered the flat area.
"Zul'ra Jin!" The farmers who had been hesitating in the fields cried out in surprise as Zul'ra flew in from the direction of Battleaxe Ridge in the blink of an eye. Their voices were filled with more surprise and excitement than anything else. Although they had not had much contact with Zul'ra, or even seen Zul'ra, in the propaganda they had been given, this King of the Amani was the center of Amani'lai, and it was certain that he would be the one to appear at this time.
"Zul'ra Jin is here! What are you all waiting for? While King of the Amani is fighting for us, we should harvest the rice even faster!" Suddenly, a farmer shouted, then turned around and went back into the rice paddies.
"Yes, harvest."
"Everyone, let's get moving!"
"For Amani!" The farmers, spurred on by the sudden appearance of Zul'ra, buried themselves back in their work, some harvesting, others carrying the grain.
Compared to the farmers who were easily provoked and infected, Utai also saw Zul'ra flying in from the sky, but he was conflicted. Unlike those blindly enthusiastic farmers, he was very worried about the situation. After all, the other party was coming from a fortress, and Zul'ra Jin alone.
Should he tell the farmers to retreat? Utai hesitated, but after observing the farmers who were now enthusiastically engaged in their work, he decided to give in.
"Go, gather everyone who isn't involved in the harvest and bring them to the south, for Amani's sake." Utai ordered the lookouts beside him, summoning those who weren't working. Zul'ra Jin couldn't stop the Undead fortress; it would inevitably descend. He needed to buy time for the farmers, even if it was just to escape.
There was no more at night.