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

Chapter 477 A Lone Army on a Distant Expedition
After Roland and Caslo talked for a long time, Roland waved Caslo away with a headache. In the end, neither of them was wrong. It was just that Ravian was worried about the safety of the soldiers and hoped for gradual training, while Caslo was worried about the progress of the war and wanted to speed things up.

"Sigh, it's too difficult to quickly develop air power, and there's not enough time for slow training," Roland sighed, shaking his head.

“Actually, I think it’s better to rely on the strength of our ground army than on the power of the air knights.” Omsk shook his head. As a true land hero, Omsk understood the power of the air knights, but the struggle between the sky and the earth has never stopped since ancient times. As a member of the land army, Omsk naturally stood up for the ground forces.

"..." Roland rolled his eyes at Omske. Could air supremacy be equated with land supremacy? Roland couldn't afford to lose air supremacy, just as the West couldn't afford to lose Jerusalem. After all, Roland had been reaping the benefits of air supremacy since arriving in this world. However, judging from the current situation, this benefit wouldn't last long. Soon, Sauron's army of demonic dragons and two-headed dragons would be unleashed, enough to tie down the North's only three dragon riders. As for the war bats, they would be more than capable of dealing with the remaining dragon eagles and griffins. Once bogged down in a vast ocean war on the ground, the North's current forces would undoubtedly be at a disadvantage. Sauron could use his large numbers of orcs, Eastern barbarians, and even Black Barbarians to wear down the already stretched forces of the allied army.

"It seems we either need to increase the size and proficiency of the air knights or find a way to increase the number of other soldiers!" Roland rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache.

At this moment, Roland missed the immense size of the Kingdom of Lagrange in The Lord of the Rings. The empire, with its complete system, could quickly summon an army of the same size even after losing tens of thousands of professionals. But clearly, the Kingdom of Lagrange didn't have these things now. There were no professional temples to awaken professionals, and no mentors to teach them skills and combat techniques. Although Roland had a population of about 20,000, the only thing he could do was recruit some Swift Infantry.

(Although there are Knight Temple and Archer Temple, only Knight Temple is actually usable. Even if you awaken your battle aura, you may not be able to actually become a trainee knight...)
"Sigh!" Roland flipped through the population records and found that there were quite a few people of the right age. However, under normal circumstances, only people aged 12-18 could awaken their battle aura or magic and become professionals. There were not many people of this age in the kingdom at present. What bothered Roland the most was that there were hundreds of people of the right age who had awakened their battle aura but failed to become knights and could only be idle and become ordinary farmers or citizens!

"Damn it! Even if I had a Warrior Temple and a Warrior Mentor, the situation would be different... I could easily have at least a few hundred more Lagrange City Guards..." Roland looked at the dossier, feeling like crying.

While King Roland was worrying about the future, Apophis Breo was much more pragmatic. He was currently leading his friends in an attempt to cross the territory of the Woodland Kingdom. However, the valiant warriors on foot were severely slowing down their progress. Compared to the mere 16 King's Knights, the valiant warriors moved at a snail's pace, especially in the forests at the end of winter when the snow was just beginning to melt but had not yet completely melted. The feeling of stumbling through the snow was enough to make all the infantrymen curse.

"Let everyone rest for a bit. Find a clean, dry place for everyone, and don't go too far!" Apophis Breo summoned his only great knight, patted his shoulder armor, and said to him.

"Yes, sir!" The great knight turned his horse around and relayed Apophis Breo's order.

"I will succeed!" Apophis Breo clenched his fists tightly, his mind filled with the image of Roland regaining his status as Grand Duke of Kings. Although the title of Grand Duke was currently just an empty promise, and he would have to fight for it to make it as effective as possible, at least it was a good start.
“Your Highness, we can’t keep traveling like this!” Lord Olaf said, leaning closer.

"Hmm?" Apophis Breo glanced over. Oh! So it was that lucky kid. Although he was just an ordinary person, Apophis Breo still didn't hesitate to bestow upon him a hereditary title, giving the kid a goal to strive for and hope to fight for. "What? Aren't you going to lead five men in a three-pronged attack to flank them from both sides?" Apophis Breo teased his quartermaster. Although Apophis Breo had bestowed a title upon Olaf, he hadn't promoted him. After all, who would dare let a reckless young man with only ten men lead even more when he was chasing after an orc army?

To paraphrase Apophis Breo, if ten men dare to hunt down a fleeing orc army, would a hundred men be enough to fight Gombad? And a thousand men enough to stroll around the gates of Mordor?
"Hehehe, Your Highness is too kind!" Olaf smiled shyly.

"Don't call me Your Highness, just call me Lord or Grand Duke... Calling me Your Highness now is a bit inappropriate." Apophis Breo shook his head, correcting Olaf's form of address. Although the Grand Duke was qualified to be called Your Highness, Apophis Breo knew his own limitations. He felt embarrassed to be called Your Highness now. After all, Roland could be called Your Highness, Bard could be called Your Highness, and so could he...! Therefore, the title "Your Highness" didn't carry much weight!

"I'm telling you, sir, we can't keep traveling like this!" Olaf whispered.

“I understand! We are a lone army, and we have no reinforcements for this expedition, but I can’t wait, and neither can you! Spring is coming soon!” Apophis Breo said in a low voice, looking at the thick snow on the treetops.

"Why don't you ask for more Sharma?" Olaf pointed to the twenty or so Sharma pulling the sleds in the group.

"More? Can I even afford to feed them?" Apophis Breo's eyes widened. The amount of hay consumed by these Shire horses, along with the knights and his own horses, was already astronomical! Apophis Breo could now finally understand how Roland felt being dominated by those astronomical figures of resource consumption every day. Just these few dozen horses were enough to put Apophis Breo under pressure. There were even two sleds behind them specifically for feeding the horses. Moreover, to prevent any accidents, Apophis Breo had specially filled a ten-cubic-meter space ring with hay and coarse grains and carried it with him.

“That’s true!” Olaf scratched his head sheepishly. He wasn’t in a position to meddle in politics, so of course he didn’t understand how terrifying the consumption of warhorses was.

“Let’s take a rest. This is an area controlled by the elves! We’re still safe. Once we reach the border of the Woodland Kingdom, we won’t have such a good chance to rest.” Apophis Breo patted Olaf on the shoulder.

(End of this chapter)