"Go tell all the knights to prepare their belongings. After one day of rest, we will board the ships tomorrow. We must eradicate the Barbarians." Rocar was overjoyed to hear this good news. He bowed deeply and hurried off to the knights' encampment outside the city.
"Logistics... Never mind, I'll go find my father." Kailar shook his head and walked towards the city.
The month before the operation began was spent on surveying people's property, transferring supplies, and evacuating the populace.
In fact, this was largely thanks to Red Leaf Ridge. After the new policies in Red Leaf Ridge, the people's trust in the government reached over eighty percent, and it was on this foundation of trust that Red Leaf Ridge was able to carry out the relocation of all its people without causing trouble. The destruction of Laila Town near Red Leaf Ridge also served as a wake-up call, which is why the relocation proceeded so smoothly.
The relocated people were moved further to the rear, while all supplies were stored in the underground fortress of Red Leaf Inner City. Due to its construction against a mountain, Red Leaf Inner City, which lacked dungeons and water prisons, possessed an underground fortress. It was easy to defend and difficult to attack, serving as a place to store important data and archives, which was also Kailar's achievement.
This underground fortress had almost hollowed out the small mountain that Red Leaf Inner City relied on, and even had a secret passage leading to a certain forest to ensure final survival.
It wasn't that Kailar lacked confidence in himself, but rather that such matters required foresight. No one could claim to be omniscient and omnipotent like a god. Even Kailar only achieved the best results by relying on his calculation abilities; even a single unstable factor could ruin the outcome Kailar envisioned.
Therefore, foresight is what a wise person should possess.
Kailar wasn't afraid of this place being known. He mobilized thirty thousand slaves to build the bunker over several years, not for concealment. Kailar, with absolute confidence in the structures he designed, could use a hundred men to withstand an attack from ten thousand, all thanks to the bunker!
Absolute confidence.
So there was no need for concealment.
And now all the supplies of Red Leaf Ridge were stored there. Kailar needed to speak with Grand Duke Andrei to mobilize them and then commence the expedition.
The Bee Ships and Medium Ships were all left in the harbor. Even without cultural education, many Barbarians, who often lived by raiding, were still quite capable. It wasn't impossible for them to take advantage of the situation, attacking the weakly defended Red Leaf Ridge while its main forces were at sea.
While Bee Ships and Medium Ships were not suitable for sailing on the open ocean, they could provide unexpectedly strong defense for coastal waters.
It was not surprising that Kailar left them behind.
More importantly, large warships had immense carrying capacity for both personnel and cargo. Food, fresh water, even fresh fruits and dried fruits, were all essential necessities.
This had the greatest impact on logistics. Why was the Ming Dynasty able to achieve the first trans-oceanic voyage across centuries? Because of Zheng He's Treasure Ships! Zheng He's Treasure Ships were 125.65 meters long and 50.94 meters wide, with anchors alone weighing over a thousand catties, carrying over three hundred people, and goods, calculated in tons, brought along to display national power and for trade. What could such a large fleet fear, besides storms and tsunamis?!
So when Kailar instructed Rocar to prepare the large ships for the expedition, Rocar eagerly set off. After waiting at sea for a month, he seemed not at all tired despite a major battle.
First, many seaweeds and barnacles would accumulate on the bottom of large ships, affecting their load capacity and draft. These had to be cleared. In an era without cranes, the only method was to send sailors down with hammers and chisels.
This was a high-risk job, especially for such massive ships that could draw two or three meters of water.
And so, slaves became useful.
This high-risk work offered significant sentence reductions, and many Scotland fishermen were willing to do it.
One could only say that ignorance is bliss.
Kailar shook his head, no longer thinking about the ships. He simply watched as carts of square-shaped bread were transported out. This coarse-grain bread, pressed by giant stones, could be preserved for a long time. This was Kailar's military ration, along with dried meat. These two were essential. The so-called ancient canned food made by sealing clay pots with wax, in Kailar's opinion, was utterly useless. First, there was no absolute sterility when sealing, meaning even if made, bacteria would still enter. Canned goods made this way would spoil within three days, let alone a month. Second, there was the wax. Regardless of the era, paraffin wax was difficult to produce due to technological limitations. Ancient people could only use pine wax and beeswax, both very precious. Forget large-scale application; even the kings of this era only lit candles in their own rooms. And the white insect wax of ancient East was an Eastern specialty, completely unavailable in the West.
This rendered the idea of using wax-sealed clay pots as canned food for military logistics completely nonsensical.
Kailar would not produce modern items that transcended the entire time corridor. Modern items, because they encapsulate the wisdom of all humanity, bit by bit, with every single part bearing the shadow of technology, could not appear in this century. This was an absolute iron rule; anyone who broke it was either cheating or had cheated.
Besides carts of grain, there were also wooden barrels filled with wine. This was essential for sea voyages. Firstly, alcohol could refresh the mind, and secondly, wine quenched thirst and contained essential vitamins from fruit, making it an excellent beverage.
In fact, this was the only thing among all provisions that could comfort the knights of the expeditionary force preparing to depart.
Artoria seemed to be missing. According to the news Kailar received, she had apparently returned to the Royal City to arrange for the people of Red Leaf Ridge to gradually return to their hometowns. Kailar also felt relieved; he would be the commander-in-chief this time.
Shaking his head, he slept soundly in his bedroom, then woke up refreshed and began to muster his troops.
This expedition involved fifteen large ships. Besides logistics support, each ship could carry three hundred people. Of these three hundred, at least one hundred needed to stay behind to operate weapons, sails, and the rudder.
Therefore, two hundred people per ship was the number for the knights, but if horses were included, it would become even more troublesome. So, this operation required no horses, relying solely on foot combat, and the number of troops deployed was: three thousand!