The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

Chapter 392 The Kings' Choice

"Sigh..." Thorin first showed a thoughtful expression, then sighed helplessly. It wasn't that the allied forces weren't trying, but the Ringwraiths had reinforcements!
Dolgodo has become a permanent source of pain for all the allied nations of the Northern Alliance! Whenever a major event occurs, this wretched place always jumps out and acts erratically in front of everyone, leaving you wanting nothing more than to crush them. Small infiltrations are no match for them, large-scale invasions are met with their support, you want to develop your territory but they constantly harass you, and if you want to fight them to the death, they retreat back to their fortresses. They're all about treacherous, underhanded tactics…

“Dolgado is indeed a problem…” Thorin frowned, his eyes full of thought.

Roland glanced at Thorin's appearance, and wow! Good heavens, look at those bulging veins... Roland had no doubt that if there were an orc in front of him right now, he would have devoured that orc alive...

"Dolgado...sigh!" Bard and White Wing exchanged a glance, their expressions filled with worry.

"Or else we..." Thorin began.

"No need!" Roland, White Wing, and Bard replied in unison.

"Do you know what I'm going to say?" Thorin was speechless.

"Stop talking. Dolgo is not going to fight at all. My army has been fighting for almost a year. They need rest! Otherwise, I can't guarantee that a knight's sword won't be at my neck..." Roland shrugged. If he were to launch another large-scale war, not only the soldiers, but also the generals and nobles would not support him. Roland didn't need to do anything that would reduce loyalty. Even if he really couldn't open up the trade routes this year, he could wait until next year to take action. At worst, he could just have a more monotonous and tighter winter this year.

Seeing Roland's refusal, Bard and White Wing also shook their heads repeatedly. After all, even the martial and virtuous Lagrange Kingdom was unwilling to be the first to step forward, so they were even less willing to provoke Dolgodo.

"...Then what should we do? You don't want to station troops at the Old Pass! And you're afraid of the Orcs of Dolgoth if we go south?" Thorin was almost laughing in exasperation at these guys.

“In that case, my suggestion is to head south to Gondor Rohan!” Yunfeng suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Huh?" The group turned to look.

"Your Majesty? What insightful opinion do you have?" Everyone showed due respect to a sixth-tier sage, after all, a sixth-tier sage was indeed a true sixth-tier sage!

"I wouldn't call it a brilliant insight, just a small suggestion," Yun Feng said with a shake of his head and a smile.

“What you are worried about now is that the orcs from Dolgodo are harassing our trade routes. The problem of the old pass cannot be solved for the time being, but if we go south, we can solve it!” Yun Feng smiled mysteriously.

"The same route as before! After arriving at the town of Kalock of the Beorn, we'll head south along the Anduin River until we reach the Graton Plains! There's a town there called Denor, where we can resupply! Then we'll cross the Anduin River to its west bank, and along the way we can visit Moria and the Golden Forest! Finally, once we pass through the territory of the Golden Forest, we'll be in Rohan's territory!" Yunfeng smiled.

"Of course, this refers to the situation where everyone uses land transport. It would be easier to travel by water! Besides, the orcs don't have a navy!" Yun Feng pointed out.

“But we don’t have any boats! Even if we did, we couldn’t row across the Anduin River! Besides, the monsters in the water are deadly!” Soren asked slowly. “Why don’t we rent boats from the Beorn? Or buy their boats? We can invest in a dock and shipyard to build our own boats, can’t we? I can provide the magic circle to drive away the monsters in the water. What difficulties are there now?” Yunfeng asked with a shrug.

"No, that's all. You explained it very well!" Bard smiled kindly.

For Bard and Whitewing, this kind of low-cost trade was more acceptable; even if something went wrong, they would only lose a batch of goods.

"What do you think, Thorin?" Roland asked Thorin. The King of the Mountain's attitude had a significant impact on this matter. After all, in terms of resources, the three kingdoms combined couldn't compare to Irubor! Most importantly, Irubor was still mining gold and mithril! It was as if the dwarves had a golden goose by nature!
“Very well, then let’s do it! Everyone go back and get ready! We’ll meet at the mouth of the Forest River in seven days!” The Forest River Roland was referring to was the east-west river that ran through the entire Woodland Kingdom and flowed into the Long Lake. Its end was closest to a tributary of the Anduin River. Roland had already begun to consider building a canal to connect the two rivers after the Gambada Fortress was destroyed.

"Alright! Then we won't disturb you any longer!" The kings bid farewell to Roland and hurriedly left Swiftstream City.

……

"Well done!" Roland gave Yunfeng a thumbs up. If it weren't for Yunfeng, he really wouldn't know how to persuade the kings. They couldn't really go and fight with Dolgodo, could they? And now, to compete with the surviving orcs and the huge number of goblins in the Misty Mountains for the Old Pass... No fiefdom without the strength of a border baron would even be a possibility.

If Roland were to actually grant a border baronship right now, he'd probably explode... The cost of building something from scratch would be enough to make Roland cry. A border baron's fiefdom is the culmination of a family's centuries of accumulation, the resources consumed are unimaginable! Castles, cities, towns, villages, roads, armies, caravans... If Roland were to provide such support, he'd probably rather hang himself from a tree in the southeast...

In reality, the Kingdom of Lagrange is not as well-developed as a border baron with a century-old legacy in the Lord of the Rings games; at least in many aspects, it's at zero...

"Of course," Yunfeng smiled.

"If we really take the old pass, how many people will be needed to garrison it? At the very least!" Roland asked, unwilling to give up.

Yun Feng glanced at Roland in surprise, then smiled. Sure enough, the men of the Lagrange family were still the men of the Lagrange family. Their greed for land and ambition to expand their territory could not be hidden at all. Most importantly, they were able to plan carefully before acting. They were truly a king of great talent and ambition!

As Yun Feng thought this, his mind began to race: "Taking it shouldn't be a problem, but holding it will be very difficult. If we just want to hold it, two squads of Swift Stream Phalanxes will be enough, but if we want to completely control it and build it into a complete fortress, we'll probably need a baron!"

Yun Feng told Roland his calculations, and Roland nodded. The results were not far off from his own calculations, and sending 600 Swift Infantry to seize that thing was pointless now. They could wait for a better opportunity later! Roland breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank you Duke Gao for the generous donation.

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(End of this chapter)