Turbulent Winds – Iron and Earth

It is truly a vicious and troubled time that we live in, my lord. States devour other states much as an alligator swallows fish. Weakness means subjugation, and neither can be tolerated. To protect the city of Handan and the Kingdom of Zhao, you must see through to completion a critical portion of the long wall. Once finished you can rest more easily in its shadow. In the meantime — beware! Violent enemies now ride the wind on fast new steeds, armed with iron weapons! Powerful new engines of war lay siege to unwary cities. If you study carefully ‘The Art of War’ and learn the ways of Sun Tzu, you will surely be better prepared for the trial you are about to face.
Deposits of iron ore must be shaped into strong weapons for our soldiers. Our farmers will even benefit, with more durable iron plows to better split the earth, increasing their output. Make good use of this new technology. You will find it important both of offence as well as defense.

Starts Feb 353 BCE

$17,000 Normal

Requirements:

  • Produce 10 bars of iron in one year
  • Rule 1 City
  • Complete Earthen Wall

Now that we are in Handan, you can settle in for a while. It takes a long time to build this Earthen Wall. You can entertain yourself with making pots of money and conquering cities while you wait.

The immigrants and traders enter the map on that short bit of road on the lower east side. Do yourself a favor and place the houses on that side of the river. They will fill up faster and that is always a good thing. Here is how I laid mine out.

There is a big block of common houses served by a Grand Market. Later I added another block of Common Houses with 4 Elites along one side, served by the same Grand Market. If you evolve the Elites to at least Lavish Sinyhans, you can build some additional forts.

I fished and hunted in the beginning while the farms and hemp was growing. Once everyone was eating, I started growing mulberries across the river. That production area was connected to the Iron Smelters where I made weapons to sell and supply my forts. So, that was one trading area, selling silk and weapons.

It doesn’t show up on the spy map, but I had two bridges across the river, one to the farms and another at the end of my industrial loop on the east side to the silk/iron production area.

Back next to the Mill I made ceramics for the houses and sold a bit of wood and game meat. I imported the bronzeware I needed and had a “getting” warehouse for the silk to evolve the Elites. And imported some additional food for insurance.

Once you have workers to spare, start chopping wood for the Earthen Wall. I had those loggers on the other side of the hill. Once you have 4 units of wood in a warehouse connected by road to the road up to the site, the cart guys will start delivering the wood. Add Carpenters and they will take the road up and start work. Later you will need Labor Camps.

There are a lot of requests for iron in the early part of the mission. As I had no military at that point and I am a wimp, I just complied with the requests. Later on, I was attacked, but I chose to pay them off. You might want to fight, but I don’t care for that too much.

I started gifting my trading partners and making nice. I made alliances with two cities; it seemed prudent since at least one of the cities in the area had already attacked me. Once I had some military of my own (2 infantry and 2 chariots) I asked my allies to send some troops to protect my city while I was busy doing some plundering and wrecking havoc of my own. Just in case I ran into trouble, I called Sun Tzu to go with me. I conquered Anyi with no trouble at all. But, it wouldn’t stay conquered. No amount of gifts or even cash would put out those flames of rebellion on the Empire map.

Eventually I sent a small force back to Anyi to see if that would make an impression. I got a message back that they were humble and contrite now, and were willing to resume paying tribute. Some times the stick works better than the carrot.

Finally, the Earthen Wall was finished and I was on to the next mission.

  • June 340
  • Pop 3786
  • Best iron production – 37
  • Rule Anyi
  • $87,002

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