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

Chapter 785 The advantage is mine!

"..." Roland was completely dumbfounded. Good heavens, Charlie Prosper actually brainwashed his own knightly order? Is this old guy trying to create a Templar Knights?

"Your Highness, please do something about this! I can't stand this guy anymore!" Omske looked at Roland with a gloomy expression, his eyes filled with terrifying resentment.

“Ahem, you there… Darian, go tell Lord Charlie Pros to tone it down.” Roland was somewhat amused and exasperated. He didn’t object to Charlie Pros’s fanatical belief in the Dragon God, but only if he didn’t brainwash the army. After all, what he wanted was a monarchical empire, not a theocracy.

“…” Darian Nightblade nodded with a dark expression. Although somewhat unwilling, he still had no choice but to leave.

……

"Heh, these things seem to have ill intentions. What are they doing now?" Roland asked Caslo, who had just brought him news of the orc army joining forces with Weiss.

“Two armies of orcs have already set up camp, and they’ve encamped about ten miles from us!” Caslo told Roland.

"Ten miles..." Roland silently calculated. This distance was significant. It allowed him to keep an eye on Lagrange City while remaining out of the city's garrison's attack range, and also provided a buffer against knight charges. It was a position that could be defended or attacked at will.

"It seems they're not in a hurry to attack." Joelster calculated the distance to the orcs' encampment and came to this conclusion. After all, he was the patriarch of the Swifthand family. Although he didn't command troops, it didn't mean he was ignorant of warfare. Many members of the Swifthand family had a deep understanding of warfare! After all, he was the weightlifting king of the Middle-earth! The empire's capital and twelve cities were all on his shoulders. Could he have done that without some skill?
"What are they waiting for? They must be waiting for something if they don't attack!" Adolf Heinrich narrowed his eyes. How could those brainless orcs possibly wait to attack a human city so close at hand! Two orc legions of ten thousand or more were enough to make those orcs take a desperate gamble!

"Heh! It must be the Eastern Yi chariot people!" Roland could guess what these orcs were waiting for. The Eastern Yi chariot people's army was probably still lying in wait somewhere. If those sons of bitches didn't come, how could these orcs make a move?

“It’s almost winter! Look at this snow! Will the Dongyi people really come?” Caslo said with some worry. After all, the corpses of the vanguard of the Dongyi chariot people were already growing grass. Who knows, that great forbidden spell might scare them back.

“Of course, their vanguard is still lying there!” Roland pointed into the distance. “The Eastern Barbarians will definitely come; they won’t retreat. They won’t be foolish enough to let the kingdom establish a foothold here! Lagrange City is like a nail driven directly into their most sensitive position!” Adolf Heinrich saw Caslo’s confusion and explained to him. You see, just across the confluence of the two rivers lies the Rune region. Let alone traveling by land, even if the kingdom were to come down the Swift River, it would be enough to give them a hard time! With a forward base, the Kingdom of Lagrange could easily transport its troops to the banks of the Swift River and the Rune Inland Sea coast via the Swift River!

"However, they're being a bit slow. If they don't come soon, they'll all freeze to death on the way. Even if they don't freeze to death, those orcs will be in a bad way!" Duke Joelster keenly sensed the crux of the matter. You see, even if the Eastern Yi people of Rune are not very good, they still have a complete civilization. At least their manufacturing and industry can support them. The orcs of Mordor are different. What manufacturing industry do orcs have? Their clothes are tattered and barely enough to survive! They're lucky they haven't frozen to death yet, it's a blessing from heaven, a gift from the Beast God! If they don't attack soon, most of those orcs will probably freeze to death.

"How about we go out and catch them off guard?" Omske and Caslo exchanged a glance and said in unison. They both understood the principle that it's better to break one finger than to injure all ten! As long as they wiped out this army before they could react...

"Don't even think about it, the Ringwraiths are here!" Adolf Heinrich waved his hand. Just because those heroes couldn't sense the hidden presence of the Ringwraiths didn't mean that a sage like him couldn't detect them.

“Yes, I can feel that disgusting feeling!” Maple Forest Orchid nodded in the face of their gazes, acknowledging Adolf Heinrich’s words.

"Then can we destroy them directly by covering them with forbidden spells?" Mogus, the guardian hero of the Swifthand family, rarely spoke up.

“While it’s a good idea, it doesn’t mean that the orcs and Ringwraiths are willing to fight a forbidden war with us!” Adolf Heinrich sighed.

“Forbidden spells cause too much of a commotion, not to mention Grand Forbidden Spells! The Ringwraiths aren’t fools! The Forbidden Spell War in the Misty Mountains already showed them how deep our pool of forbidden spells is! They won’t easily engage in a Forbidden Spell War with us…” Verway shook his head. Although he hadn’t participated in the previous Forbidden Spell War, he could easily guess the Ringwraiths’ thoughts. Just look at how the Ringwraiths of Dolgodor turned into turtles after Cernar’s death—these Ringwraiths are very cautious!

"Once I initiate a forbidden spell war, there are only two possible outcomes: the orcs will suffer some casualties and retreat, consuming several of our forbidden spell slots; the worst outcome is that they will start a forbidden spell war against us..." Adolf Heinrich frowned. A forbidden spell war can only occur when the combat power of both sides is balanced. Otherwise, is the weaker side brain-dead and just sitting here being bombarded by forbidden spells? Once a forbidden spell war is really initiated, it means that there will definitely be quite a few sixth-tier enemies in front of us!
"Cough cough! Don't be so discouraged! When it comes to high-end combat power, we're not lacking! We're also quite rich in Tier 6 heroes! Tier 6 heroes: Omske, Mogus, Maple Forest Orchid, Adolf Heinrich, Charles Proust, Darian Nightblade, and Valverde!" Roland said, giving everyone a boost of morale after considering the situation.

"We have seven sixth-tier members! How many sixth-tier members can the Ringwraiths possibly have? Three Ringwraiths plus two Orcs at sixth tier only make five! No matter what, seven against five is our advantage!" Roland was fine until he started calculating, and then he suddenly realized how incredibly wealthy he was! Three gift packs yielded three sixth-tier members! These high-level rewards are truly amazing!
"Your Majesty's insight is brilliant!" The crowd cheered in unison, showering Roland with flattery, one wave after another!
"Ahem! Alright, no matter what, we're the ones defending the city now! We have fortified cities to rely on for defense, while they're the ones suffering from the wind and cold. That's an advantage for us! We must prepare our defenses and strengthen our vigilance! We can't give them any opportunity to take advantage!" Roland instructed. Winter siege warfare is incredibly advantageous! It's just that Lagrange's location isn't particularly cold in winter, otherwise the Ringwraiths would really be like Napoleon, attacking Middle-earth in winter.

"Yes, sir!" The crowd nodded repeatedly. They had plenty of food and drink by the fireplace, so what did it matter to the orcs and the Eastern barbarians who were keeping the Lagranges locked up in Lagrange City? It wasn't the Lagranges who were blowing in the north wind outside the city that were unable to take it down, so they weren't worried!