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

Chapter 692 The Port of Palembang Without Ships

Caught red-handed by Nyx, Roland could only twitch his lips and sigh helplessly, as if he had resigned himself to his fate.

“Go, it’s your duty as king. Take Darian Nightblade, Ormusk, and the Knights with you.” Nyx smiled; seeing Roland occasionally get the short end of the stick was a pleasant surprise. She wouldn’t hinder Roland’s reasonable and dutiful work. Nyx was well aware of the king’s responsibilities and obligations, so Roland was just scaring himself.

"Okay, wait for me to come back!" Roland gently hugged Nyx, then kicked the still-dazed Darian Nightblade to signal him it was time to go.

"Oh, oh, oh, I'll go get Omske and gather the knights right now!" Darian Nightblade looked like he had just realized something, and quickly got up and ran off.

……

"Is this really a good thing for them?" Ymir asked somewhat awkwardly, touching her heavy armor as she looked at the goblin knights who were doing simple sprint training.

"Goblin Knights don't have many skills to begin with! Do you expect them to have a variety of colorful skills like Imperial Knights?" Ismir scoffed at this. If it weren't for the fact that the tamed boars raised by the barbaric goblins had the charge skill, the boar riders might have been removed from the three rider classes. After all, goblin knights don't have the charge skill by default like human knights. Goblin knights can learn to charge, but the charge skill will never be in their class awakening skills. This skill needs to be learned later.

"I just feel it's a bit clumsy..." Ymir was both amused and exasperated. After all, the imposing image of human knights was deeply ingrained in people's minds, and he couldn't help but compare these boar riders to human riders, only to find that he hadn't won against them except in terms of numbers...

“What I’m concerned about now is whether these goblin knights are still in their bare armor…” Ismir said, frowning.

"What? Should I kill that armored earth dragon, skin it, and make leather armor?" Ymir glanced at the armored earth dragon squinting in the sun to the side.

"..." Are you a devil? Ismir raised an eyebrow. Goodness, you really came up with that idea!

"Roar!" The armored earth dragon, which had been tied to the side, suddenly got up and roared angrily to the sky. The somewhat turbid dragon roar immediately echoed. The old dragon felt that someone was making fun of him while he was asleep and had even scared him awake.

The armored earth dragon shrewdly scanned its surroundings and realized that it was all just its imagination, so it lay down again and fell asleep.

"I remember we still have some hides. Let's make them some tough leather armor first," Ismir said honestly after thinking for a moment. After all, sending these expensive "gold coins" into battle bare-armored was something only a beast would do! (Alistar: Huh? Who's talking about me?)
"Leather armor is not good for knights..." Ymir's hesitant gaze wavered. Clearly, he wanted to persuade his lord to do something worthwhile: equipping knights with only leather armor... Who else, besides his own impoverished, nearly bankrupt goblin tribe, would waste the knights' fighting strength?

“It’s alright, put them on first. They can be used as inner armor later. We’ll upgrade their equipment when we make money or find some minerals!” Ismir nodded firmly.

“That works too… With armor, these knights can hunt for their territory!” Ymir agreed. These boar-riding goblins are excellent at raiding on the battlefield, and hunting at the junction of woodland and grassland is very suitable for them. The power of the boars can be brought out to 9%!
“Yes, this territory is still losing money… Chivalric novels are all lies!” Ismir said helplessly. After all, he hadn’t experienced any exciting developments in his own life. Was his becoming a lord really just a trivial matter? People could only envy Ismir for his quick and decisive way of currying favor with powerful figures; there was nothing else to learn from him. “Becoming a powerful noble is already the eternal pursuit of many nobles!” Ymir said speechlessly. This was a classic case of getting something for nothing and then complaining! After Ymir carefully learned about his lord’s life and past and looked at his current status… all he could say was that Ismir had caught a lucky break and had good fortune, a luck that had already crushed countless nobles who were trying to transition from court nobles to powerful nobles.

“That’s true.” Ismir thought for a moment and smiled. He was already a successful person, and now the most important thing was to consolidate his gains!
"Goblin Knights! Assemble!" Ismir announced loudly.

Soon, ten goblin knights ran over in an orderly fashion and lined up respectfully in front of him, ready to listen to Ismir's instructions.

"Have the women take your measurements in a moment. There are some hides left in the storeroom, enough to make you a set of leather armor so you can fight better!" Ismir commanded.

"Long live!" the goblin knights cheered. After all, how often did these low-ranking goblin knights get to see armor? Even a tattered half-body chainmail was enough for the barbarian goblins to fight over for a long time.

Seeing the goblin knights' excited, bloodshot eyes as they looked on to devour their prey, Ismir deliberately didn't tell them that he was also planning to give them armor... However, this news was too shocking, and he was afraid that if it got out, the enthusiastic goblins would just eat them up!

"By the way, once the leather armor has been distributed, you can try hunting on the outskirts of the forest!" Ismir said.

"Yes, Your Highness!" The others offered no objections. For these goblin knights, fighting for their employer was their only value! Clearly, they were about to prove themselves! The goblin knights were naturally delighted!

……

"Palembang is well-built!" Roland patted the stone-encased city walls of Palembang and smiled at Yu Mordran, who was following behind him. He clearly recognized Yu Mordran's governance ability. Under his leadership, Palembang not only absorbed tens of thousands of people but also developed a well-equipped city defense and port!

“It’s such a waste to leave these ports empty!” Yu Modran said to Roland with a wry smile, pointing to the nearly deserted ports.

"Tsk!" Roland was also a bit of a headache. There was a well-developed port and abundant fishing resources here, but it was difficult to catch fish without the tools. After all, the ships here were only a portion of those diverted from Swiftstream City, and their numbers were not large. Even so, it was only because Yu Mordland developed a small shipyard that the current scale of ships was achieved.

“Those small wooden boats we can build will only go a short distance before being blown away by the wind. We still need big ships!” Yu Modran said bitterly.

"With boats, we can fish and feed the people!" Yu Modran said solemnly, for food is the most important thing for the people! Moreover, Yu Modran was a high-ranking nobleman and was qualified to know what was going on, so he had long known that living conditions would decline this year and next.