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

Chapter 43 The Helpless King
Okay, even though these 500 conscripted light infantrymen are a bit weak, they're still decent recruits. Giving them some equipment, even if it's a tearful effort, is better than nothing. Roland really wanted to disband this militia; keeping them around is such a waste of food! Wait? Food!

"Holy crap! This is like feeding 500 extra mouths for nothing?" Roland's eyes widened, finally realizing what a useless piece of junk the system had given him! This group of light infantry was useless even for defending the city. After all, you can't expect unarmored infantry with only one-handed swords to defend a city, and keeping them as construction workers would be too wasteful! A typical case of being tasteless to eat but a pity to throw away!
"Sigh..." Roland sighed helplessly, sitting dejectedly against the wall. No one knew how desperate the future Emperor Lagrange was today.

"Your Majesty..." Renault was about to speak when Roland waved his hand to interrupt him.

"Tell me... is it a shortage of food or clothing?" Roland asked weakly, raising his head.

“Um… Your Majesty… there isn’t enough…” Renault said cautiously.

"Okay, got it!" Roland grunted. He had a terrible headache; it seemed he'd have to go begging Thorin for money again.

……

Roland and Caslo led 500 conscripted light infantrymen on their northward journey. Along the way, the performance of these conscripted light infantrymen arguably lowered Roland's expectations of Imperial soldiers to a whole new level.

Can you believe it? A dozen orcs wielding wooden clubs were able to chase after 500 conscripted light infantrymen, and these fleeing light infantrymen even scattered the accompanying knights. It was an eye-opener for Caslo and Roland.

Holding the orc's bloodied head, Roland stood before the light infantry with a frosty expression, angrily throwing the severed head to the ground and roaring, "Is this the Imperial army? Is this your glory?"

"I can understand you! You can say you're bad at fighting because you don't have good equipment and training, but I didn't expect you to be this bad!" Roland continued to roar angrily.

"500 people! Chased by sixteen orcs wielding wooden clubs! And dozens of them were even injured by the clubs? Are you guys carrying firewood on your waists?" Roland exclaimed in a frenzy.

Having vented his anger, Roland turned his horse around and galloped towards Lonely Mountain, leaving these incompetent light infantrymen far behind.

"Follow up, sir!" Caslo frowned and quickly ordered the ten knights traveling with him to follow Roland to prevent any accidents, while he stayed behind to escort the light infantry to Irubor.

Caslo sat on his warhorse, gazing at the dark mass of conscripted light infantry. His eyes swept over their terrified eyes, their tattered clothes, and the meager one-handed swords they carried. He muttered under his breath, "Which idiot armed these civilians?! Can these guys even go to war? Sending them to fight is practically a crime!"

……

"Thorin, I need your help!" Roland said bluntly upon meeting Thorin Oakenshield.

"..." Thorin couldn't help but tremble when he saw Roland's serious eyes. Last time Roland had plundered him, Thorin felt heartbroken for a long time and he still hadn't recovered.

"What's wrong? Have the orcs attacked?" Thorin asked tentatively.

“No, it’s a problem of our homeless people returning home.” Roland frowned.

"What's wrong? Are you short of food and clothing? Dann from Ironhill just sent over a lot, saying it was for our people in the Blue Mountains, but they haven't arrived yet. If you urgently need them, you can take them with you, since you need them more." Thorin, now free from the curse's effects, was still very warm and friendly.

"No! You have to see this!" Roland dragged Thorin to the outside of a hall. Standing at the door, Thorin clearly saw a group of ragged humans gulping down roasted meat, bread, and dwarven rum. They looked so hungry that they seemed to have been starving for a long time.

"Bearded one! Did you move your whole family to Irubber?" Thorin looked at the large group of people eating and drinking heartily, and anyone who didn't know better would think that Roland had moved his entire house into the country.

"No, these are the newly returned Lagrange light infantry..." Roland's face immediately turned red. It was too damn embarrassing! These guys were stuffing food into their mouths like they hadn't eaten in eight lifetimes.

"Bearded above! They're soldiers? This is practically a crime!" Thorin's focus was clearly different from Roland's. Thorin looked at the ragged conscripted light infantry with great astonishment. Apart from their broken swords, there was really no sign of soldiers on them.

"Roland, you wouldn't really be so heartless as to conscript these civilians as soldiers, would you?" Thorin suddenly turned his head, as if he were seeing Roland for the first time.

"No, in fact they really are soldiers, just conscripted militiamen..." Roland didn't even dare to call them light infantrymen anymore, only militiamen, after all, these conscripted light infantrymen were really too light!

"So?" Thorin seemed to have guessed something.

“Use your skills to equip them. It doesn’t need to be too good; their physique isn’t strong enough to support them in heavy armor.” Roland indicated that no one was better at forging than the dwarves.

"Come on, tell me what you need? I can provide any ironware you can think of!" Thorin proudly patted his chest, leading Roland into the dwarf's armory. "Look around! See what they need? Take whatever you like, consider it a gift from me, my friend!" Thorin said generously.

Roland felt a pang of envy. Was this what they meant by "having a mine at home"? It seemed that apart from the dwarves, no other faction could so easily provide a full set of equipment to arm 500 people.

"Thank you so much!" Roland couldn't help but thank Thorin. The initial investment was well worth it. What's the most valuable thing in this war-torn Middle-earth? Armaments! A force that controls a large amount of weapons and equipment can raise a large army at any time. Although the quality cannot be guaranteed, it is still very advantageous for defending cities and so on.

"Um...right, the dwarves' weapons and armor are a bit small for them. I'll have Balin and the others take their measurements and alter them." Thorin slapped his forehead, remembering the height difference between the two races.

"Thank you very much then." Roland nodded.

"Does Thorin have any recommendations?" Roland felt that this dwarf king, born for war, must know more about the equipment his troops needed than he did.

"What is your definition of them?" Thorin asked, looking up seriously.

"Let's defend! After all, with their quality and skill level... it's too difficult for them to break through the orc army's lines!" Roland said bitterly. These conscripted light infantrymen were truly taking the role of trash and cannon fodder to the extreme...

"Alright, my suggestion is to use a three-meter-long dwarven spear. That will give you enough space to keep your distance from the orcs! It should be more than enough for defense." Thorin thought for a moment and still recommended the spear. After all, the spear has a really low skill floor and doesn't require much skill to use.

“Yes, that’s a good suggestion.” Roland agreed, after all, long spears and lances were indeed very good weapons. The 5-meter-long chevaux-de-frise of the Swift Infantry had left a deep impression on Roland.

"As for armor... actually, for their role, the most suitable armor would be thick leather armor, which would allow them to be more flexible in defense. Unfortunately, we don't produce much leather armor here, so how about using fine iron chainmail?" Thorin thought for a moment and finally came up with a chainmail that would not affect flexibility and would also ensure defense.

“Okay.” Roland nodded.

"As for shields, let's use iron cross shields." Thorin didn't have any good recommendations for shields, so he just used the common cross shields. It's impossible to let these people carry tower shields; they wouldn't be able to handle them.

"What kind of weapon do you want for self-defense? A longsword, a hand axe, or a warhammer or something?" Thorin asked.

"Let's go with the battle axe, it's easier to use after all." Roland originally wanted to choose the longsword, but after thinking about their performance, he decided against it... the simple and brutal hand axe is much more useful.

"Alright! Is that all?" Thorin looked up to see if Roland had anything to add.

"Do dwarves produce bows and arrows?" Roland suddenly blurted out.

"Oh! Beard above! Although dwarven archers are not as famous as elven archers, they shouldn't be so insignificant! Dwarven bows and arrows may not be as good as elven bows and arrows, but they are just as reliable!" Thorin's eyes widened, quite shocked by Roland.

“One bow for each person,” Roland thought for a moment. After all, archery skills could be trained, and it was winter, so he had them practice archery. He didn’t expect them to reach the level of Elnino Rangers or Battanian Archers; he would be satisfied with the accuracy of Lagrange City Guards.

“Alright, let’s add another 10 arrows! They’re all from our deepest stash anyway, you’ll need them!” Thorin said half-jokingly.

"Kili! Prepare food for 500 people for six months!" Thorin shouted to Kili, who was passing by in the hall.

"Hey! Qili! Taolie'er?" Roland was surprised to see an elf in the dwarf city. It seemed that these two star-crossed lovers from their past lives had finally come together.

"Hi! King Roland! It's a pleasure to see you! How about coming over for a few drinks?" Qi Li invited warmly.

"No, I won't bother you anymore. I wish you happiness!" Roland winked at the two of them.

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(End of this chapter)