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

Chapter 752 The Great Expedition

Five years is enough time for a lot to happen. Roland's Kingdom of Lagrand is temporarily on the right track. The only thing that bothers Roland is that the main quest has been changed due to the system restart and update. Otherwise, Roland would have received the reward by now. After all, the kingdom firmly controls the area from Swiftstream City to the southern region of Lulong Fortress. Towns are springing up everywhere. These towns, distributed along the banks of the Swiftstream River, are the kingdom's current blood bank. They control large areas of villages and farmland to supply Swiftstream City and Lulong Fortress with resources.

As for Roland's vassals... in fact, the only ones with real potential are Duke Apophis Breo and Lord Ismir. Five years of trials and tribulations have honed them into capable individuals.

As a stubborn resident of the Misty Mountains, Lord Apophis Breo inherited the King's Landing family's tenacious spirit, fully embodying the King's Landing's argumentative nature. Despite attacks from monsters, orcs, goblins, and other creatures, he refused to budge, tirelessly fortifying King's Landing. Thanks to the refugee respawn mechanism, he actually managed to hold out. With nearly 40,000 inhabitants and 3000 elite soldiers, Apophis Breo effectively divided the Misty Mountains in two, severing the connection between the northern and southern mountain ranges. With Rivendell as his backing, Apophis Breo confidently engaged the orcs a few times. However, due to the devastating defeat of the Nazghun of Gombad Fortress in the previous Forbidden Spell War, the lack of high-end combat power left Apophis Breo feeling like a monkey in the mountains, reigning supreme in the absence of a tiger.

However, the benefits of Apophis Breo controlling the Old Pass line are obvious. Mordor's controlled territory is directly divided along the entire Lagrange Kingdom – Woodland Kingdom – Beorn Landing – Rivendell line! The connection between the northern Gombad Fortress and the Misty Mountains Orc Kingdom and Mordor is severed. Although this defensive line has many loopholes, especially in the Beorn territory, a single Rosgar Castle fortress is simply not enough to block off their own territory. Fortunately, the Woodland Elves' assistance makes it barely passable. With the entire defensive line opened, the northern Orc army can no longer move south with impunity. If they want to move south silently, they can only choose to detour through the northern wastelands to the Eastern Barbarians and then into Mordor. It's not that Roland looks down on Orcs, but given the Orcs' organizational skills, there are probably only a few left by the time they reach the Eastern Barbarians.

Of course, there's also a representative of "mediocrity," Lord Ismir, who shamelessly clings to Windhelm and is considered a seasoned Middle-earth leech. He's been praised by King Roland more than once for truly mastering his skills, managing to assemble a 300-strong army of professional warriors (Nature Guardians) and two hundred goblin knights from his noble estate of less than 5000 people! He's a prime example of the kingdom's new era of warlike lords! Perhaps it was because three years ago, when Windhelm was still Windhelm, it was ravaged by wandering trolls. After losing hundreds of his people and soldiers, Lord Ismir had an epiphany amidst the war-torn ruins of Windhelm, and from then on, the wheels of fate began to turn!

Ismir, along with Ymir and the surviving people, rebuilt Windhelm and expanded it into Windhelm Castle. He then seemingly unlocked a new level of mastery over guerrilla warfare, raiding, and the art of using war to sustain war. Leading his swift goblin knights deep into the Dark Forest to raid, he truly grasped the essence of nomadic tactics… Later, atop the newly rebuilt Windhelm Castle, he proclaimed, “If they can go there, so can I,” transforming into the Little Khan of the Dark Forest.

Ismir's transformation into a "werewolf" forced all the alien tribes within a hundred miles to migrate. The most absurd thing was that he became the first allied force to storm Dolgodor fortress after the Battle of Windhelm (the battle where Sernar defected). Due to the powerful deterrent of the Kingdom of Lagrange, and fearing a trap, Khammur and Lydalias suppressed their anger, watching Ismir and his goblin knights practically shit on their heads without making a sound… In fact, Ismir had no idea he had reached Dolgodor. Inheriting Roland's unique ability to get lost, Ismir only realized he had charged into Dolgodor after bumping into the Star Elves' doorstep…

Ismir, who had become a scoundrel in the Dark Forest, finally calmed down after being chased by a group of armored earth dragons. However, he had already noted down the territories of those earth dragons in his little notebook, planning to team up with the king to take them down someday!
If things develop like this, it wouldn't be bad. Unfortunately, Roland is destined to be a restless person. With the rudimentary cities under his control, Roland has no reason to give up controlling the Lagrange Plains. By holding onto the location of Lagrange City and defending it well, the orcs south of the Swiftstream River will not be able to get over. In the north, there are also patrols of Ironhill dwarves guarding the area. The entire vast Lagrange Plains will become the largest blood bank in the north. Roland dares to say that with the Lagrange Plains as his shield, he can fight you like this for a year!
Thus, Roland chose to embark on a grand expedition for the kingdom! This was destined to be a battle as magnificent as the Battle of Azanubiza!

……

"The Vanguard Knights have already set off! General Omske has led the knights to clear the way!" Renault said, tightening his armor.

"I'm counting on you for the kingdom! Do your duty! Protect the kingdom for me!" Roland said, gently patting Renault on the shoulder.

"I will! As long as I live, Lulong Fortress will not fall! The same goes for Jiliu City, Lord Yunfeng will protect Jiliu City!" Renault gave Roland a knightly salute and looked north. Yunfeng was stationed in Jiliu City and did not come to Lulong Fortress, but Adolf Heinrich came along.

“Isn’t the kingdom’s remaining forces a bit too weak? All our high-level professionals have gone on my eastern expedition…” Roland frowned. After all, he had taken away the kingdom’s top combat power. Only Renault and Dos Anthony were left at Lulong Fortress. Jiliu City was a little better off, with Ajax remaining besides Yunfeng and old man Adile. Roland had basically drained the rest of the high-end combat power.

“I’m more worried about the soldiers than the high-level combat power…” Renault complained to Roland with a dark face.

看看罗兰的出征清单吧！王国满共20444名士兵！罗兰就带走了150名骑士！1000名拉格朗城卫兵！2000名巴丹尼亚射手！6000名疾流步兵！一个皇家法师禁咒队！一个二阶牧师团！500名皇家近卫和1000名哥布林骑士！这种丧心病狂的抽调兵力也就是趁着戒灵和半兽人都被打老实了才敢这么玩，要不然等罗兰回来了王国上飘的拉格朗龙旗还是半兽人氏族图腾还真不好说。