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

Chapter 800 The McDougal Family!
"I'll stay. This place needs someone of sufficient stature to stay and guard it. Besides, no king has ever abandoned his capital..." Roland said with a wry smile. Having already fought his way back, he couldn't possibly run back again. Otherwise, his trip would have been in vain.
"This..." Duke Joelsteria wanted to dissuade him, but he didn't know where to begin. After all, he couldn't persuade the king to leave his capital.

“His Excellency Adolf Heinrich!” Roland called out, looking up.

"Assemble the troops! Prepare to divide them!" Roland said firmly after thinking for a moment.

"Yes, sir!" Adolf Heinrich nodded, not disobeying Roland's will. After all, Roland's decision was not inherently wrong. Among that group of Lagrange "Great Generals of the Northern Expedition" emperors, he was considered a normal king. What's so special about a king guarding his own territory? Have you ever seen a king leading a lone army deep into the northern wilderness to build a city a thousand miles away? Haven't seen that? No problem! There are also emperors who personally led expeditions to the Herkan Sea. If that's not exciting enough, then there are "gods" who led a knightly order to the gates of Angban.

……

“We now have 250 knights! They are the Holy Glory Knights (150 people) and the Romanian Royal Knights (100 people),” Omske and Maple Forest Ice Orchid exchanged a glance and said.

"1000 Lagrange City Guards are ready for battle!" Verin Angus said respectfully, now a fourth-tier warrior commander.

“2000 Battanian archers are ready at any time!” Verway nodded to Roland, because Verway was the only high-level archer under Roland’s command. Although Verway preferred to use a longsword, it was not considered a waste of time for a ranger to lead archers.

"The First (Second) Legion of Swift Infantry is ready to die for you!" Luke Leopold and Merk Leopold, the only two commoner generals under Roland, were both incredibly excited. After all, they had successfully recaptured and defended Lagrange City alongside Roland! In the past, they would have been deserving separate family genealogies!
"800 Royal Guards have assembled!" Caslo said to Roland with a serious expression, patting his chest. After Omske went to lead the Knights, Roland's personal guards were naturally under Caslo's responsibility.

"The goblin knights are ready!" Alistar said sincerely, kneeling on one knee as he looked at Roland.

"The Royal Mage Forbidden Spell Squad is assembled!" Adolf Heinrich nodded to Roland.

"The priesthood has been integrated!" Charlie Pros finally got serious for once.

“那么我们手下就有250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！800名皇家禁军和1000名哥布林骑士！一万多号人了！”罗兰点点头。

"We'll discuss the rewards for this battle later! Let's arrange the withdrawal of troops first!" Roland noticed Duke Joelster's faltering state and raised his hand to interrupt him.

"Let each soldier receive 50 gold coins for now! The rest of the rewards will be decided later!" Roland nodded to Adolf Heinrich. After all, it was a major matter concerning the promotion of noble titles, and it couldn't be decided in a short time. However, Roland already had a plan in mind. Every general in this battle would have to be promoted. Except for the Duke of Joelster, who was at the top and couldn't be promoted, everyone else would at least be a court viscount! High-ranking officials like Adolf Heinrich would at least be court counts. If the kingdom weren't still in its infancy and lacked resources, Roland would have to give away a group of powerful nobles! However, this wasn't a complete severance package. Once the kingdom was stable, Roland would compensate these people with their fiefdoms.

"The soldiers who remain here will receive rewards from Duke Joelsteria, while the others will be distributed by Cloud Maple upon their return to Swiftstream City!" Roland tapped the table.

“Alright!” Duke Joelsteria nodded. He planned to use his family’s money to distribute the money directly. After all, the Dukes of Midgard were one with the royal family. Where would the emperor get money? Throughout history, they had always been fleecing the empire. With the idea that it was better to contribute voluntarily than to be asked for money by Roland, Joelsteria directly paid out of his own pocket.

In truth, Roland had no intention of letting Joelstia foot the bill. Besides, he had no idea how deep the relationship was between the royal family and the Two Fists. If he had known that the Emperor's private treasury was directly the treasury of the Swift Hand family, he would never have let Joelstia distribute the money… What? The Beigal family of the Hand of the North? That's the Great Emperor's treasury! If the Hand of the North doesn't contribute money and provisions, how can the Great Emperor Lagrange launch his expeditions?!
“That’s settled then! Verin Angus, you stay here with all the Lagrange City guards!” Roland nodded to Verin Angus first.

“Yes, sir!” Verin Angus replied respectfully.

"Maple Forest Orchid and Maple Forest Ice Orchid, is it alright for you two to stay with the Romanian Royal Knights?" Roland looked at the two again. "As you wish, Your Majesty!" The two lowered their heads.

"Alright, Battanian archer stays! Verway, you go back and help keep an eye on Swiftstream City!" Roland knew that the grassland elves must be worried about Verway if he had been away from home for too long, after all, Verway was the grassland elves' last hope.

“Okay!” Verway nodded.

"Omske, you and Mogus take the Holy Knights back to Swiftstream City. They need a knightly order as a mobile force! And they need even more high-ranking guardians along the long border!" Roland instructed Omske.

"Luke and Merck, you two can lead all the Swift Infantry back to Swiftstream City, right?" Roland looked at Luke Leopold and Merck Leopold.

"No problem, Your Majesty!" The two nodded to indicate that they had no problem.

"Alista, take your people back. Your loyalty has been seen by the Kingdom!" Roland nodded to Alista. After all, after the fall of the South City, the city was filled with goblin knights grinding meat with orcs. His people also suffered heavy casualties. If it weren't for the forbidden spell of the One God that brought them all back, the entire tribe would have been wiped out. As mercenaries, only goblin mercenaries could probably manage to fight to the death with high morale and grind meat when the army suffered nearly half its casualties.

"The spellcasters have also returned to Swiftstream City. I'm not at ease without a powerful legion of spellcasters guarding the city!"

"The rest of you can stay here. Lagrange isn't a big city, these soldiers are enough to defend it!" Roland said to the group.

Finally, six Tier 6 soldiers – Adolf Heinrich, Charles Pros, Caslow, Darion Nightblade, Maple Forest Orchid, and Maple Forest Ice Orchid – remained to guard the city. Roland, in turn, sent away most of his army, leaving only over four thousand of his most elite professional soldiers to defend the city.

……

"Have a safe journey!" Roland nodded to the departing army, indicating that they could leave.

"Take care, Your Majesty!" Omske and the others bowed to Roland from afar before leading their group back home.

……

"Let's go, Your Majesty, they're all gone!" Darian Nightblade reminded him.

"Let's go!" Roland shook his head, pulling himself out of his thoughts. This parting might be long, and it would be a long time before they met again! At least the Imperial Road would need to be extended to Pingnan City! Right now, it's probably only reached the territory of the former Northern Fortress of the Empire…

“Your Majesty! The McDougal family needs the kingdom’s help!” Just as Roland was pondering, Maple Forest Ice Orchid interrupted his thoughts.

“McDoug?” Roland was taken aback. How did she know?
(End of this chapter)