The second verse was not louder. It was quieter, and it was worse.
Khao'khen had studied the Meren valley's agricultural calendar with the attention that he applied to terrain maps and garrison strengths, because the agricultural calendar was a weapon that no commander in the campaign's history had used and that no commander had thought to use, because commanders thought about armies and Khao'khen thought about systems.
The valley's spring planting season was entering its critical phase, the two-week window during which the crops that would feed the eastern province's population, including the twenty-five thousand soldiers of the combined force, were planted. The planting required civilian labor. The civilian labor required access to the fields. The fields were in the valley that the Horde controlled.
