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

Chapter 859: A Plan? A Backstab?
"The elves of the valley are no longer willing to get entangled with those pests, so our Duke Apophis Breo has no choice but to retreat back to his territory." Ruhr shook his head regretfully. The Lion Kings are old hands at using others' strength against them, and dragging the elves into this mess was something Apophis Breo had planned for a long time.

"It seems my Duke of King's Landing has miscalculated!" Roland said with a smile. He really didn't know these things in Lagrange. As a powerful feudal family, the King's Landing family naturally had the right to declare war and make peace. They had no obligation or need to consult and report to Roland on everything.

“In essence, they succeeded!” Ruhr shook his head.

"How so?" Roland asked curiously.

"The Queen and King's Landing mean that the elves' dominant position needs to change. If we are to become an empire, there can be no stronger forces around us. There can't be two overlords in one region! The elves... need to be weakened." Ruhr looked at Roland meaningfully.

"Hiss..." Roland gasped. Sure enough, the bloodline was pure! A genuine Lagrange!

"What else have you been hiding from me???" Roland's mouth tasted bitter. No wonder they were from a powerful noble family that had survived the corrupt political maelstrom of the Lagrange Empire; two families together were bound to cause trouble—no, three families! Roland refused to believe that the Vladivostok family wasn't involved!
As the Hand of the Swift Current, a powerful political family that controls half of the empire's personnel appointments, it's hard to believe that such a family, with its extensive political skills, doesn't have some influence behind the scenes!
“Besides Nyx and Apophis Breo, Duke Joelsteria was also a mastermind here!” Roland said quietly. It’s even possible that the “mastermind” was Duke Joelsteria. As a well-known diplomatic and political troublemaker in the Lagrange Empire, he has an incredible ability to maintain balance, comparable to Great Britain. It’s no surprise that Roland was involved in this mess with the Swift Hand.

"Yes, Your Majesty has keen insight!" Ruhr flattered. He had guessed that Roland would quickly figure out the role of the Swift Hand, but he did not expect Roland to guess it in an instant.

"Sigh, what are they planning to do? Bloodletting the elves is fine, but not now!" Roland rubbed his temples. He didn't object to bloodletting the elf in the Valley, but it wasn't the right time yet. A great war that would affect Middle-earth would require them to sacrifice themselves decades later!
"It's said to be a tug-of-war between the elves and the orcs north of the Misty Mountains!" Ruhr thought for a moment.

"Are the elves of Rivendell so obedient? They just go into the mountains and fight the orcs like that?" Roland asked incredulously.

“Of course not, our people are leading the way! The Valiant Warriors under Duke Apophis Breo are acting as guides, after all, the elves won’t attack alone,” Ruhr said calmly, shrugging.

"Wait a minute? How many people will we need to sacrifice?" Roland felt something was wrong as he listened. He pulled Lalul aside, after all, it didn't make sense that if those elves were all dead, ordinary human soldiers who were even weaker than them could survive!
“Of course, but according to Duke Apophis Breo, King’s Landing can sacrifice ten thousand men for the Lagranges, but the Elves cannot afford the death of a thousand!” Ruhr said matter-of-factly.

"..." Roland frowned. He still couldn't agree with this way of sacrificing himself to weaken his competitors.

"Your Majesty, compassion is not the way to command an army! Human lives are just numbers in the face of a nation. All we can do is make their sacrifices more meaningful!" Ruhr saw Roland's struggle and tried to comfort him. Loving the people like one's own children is a good phrase, but sometimes it shouldn't be highlighted!
"Stop Apophis Breo! We don't have enough men to take the fall for the elves of Rivendell! Contact Stream City now! Stop these activities!" Roland turned and called to his guards, who all spoke up. He knew that the War of the Ring had already weakened the elves enough to bleed them dry, and there was no need for further action.

“Didn’t I just say that even if you wanted to continue, there’s nothing I could do now? After all, the elves have given up! Elrond—King Elrond has withdrawn the elven garrison, and unless our King’s Landing is breached by the orcs, they won’t come up the mountain again!” Rul shrugged and smiled awkwardly.

"How many people have died in Rivendell?" Roland suddenly had a premonition that these people had pulled off something big behind his back! After all, the fact that even Elrond was deterred showed just how much these shady strategists from Lagrange had done.

“Not much, just a trip with the elves to the Goblin Kingdom in the north,” Ruhr said, pointing to the map. Roland glanced at it; it was the address of the new underground kingdom where Thorin and his group had moved after killing the Goblin King. The kingdom’s scouts had once again located them, so it wasn’t surprising that they could be found.

"How many of our people have been killed or wounded? How many of the elves have been killed or wounded?" Roland asked Ruhr.

“We have a 500-strong elite warrior team that will remain there forever.”

"As for the elves... there are probably close to a thousand, who knows?" Ruhr said nonchalantly.

"Nearly a thousand? You're fighting goblins? What makes those goblins so capable of killing nearly a thousand elves? And they even brought the Ringwraiths and Sauron over?" Roland's mouth dropped open. He thought his people were making a big fuss, but it turned out they'd dug a hole in the sky! Nearly a thousand elves! Are you trying to kill Elrond? You could have made up for all the elves you raised before the War of the Ring! No wonder Elrond ran away with his bucket; he probably wanted to kill Apophis Breo himself! Besides, goblins can kill nearly a thousand elves?
“Our people detonated several forbidden spell scrolls… underground,” Ruhr said sadly, scratching his head.

“King's Landing’s assassins?” Roland narrowed his eyes. Only King's Landing’s assassins could take on such deadly underworld missions. If this incident were to be leaked, it would be fatal to the entire Lagrange.

"..." Ruhr subconsciously looked around and then nodded.

"Enough! This matter ends here! Don't mention it again, let everyone forget about it! The families of the fallen soldiers will be supported by the kingdom and paid the highest level of compensation!" Roland rubbed his temples. No wonder! What did the goblins have to do with this? It turns out that the King's Landing assassins betrayed the elves and buried them.

It can only be said that Apophis Breo is really ruthless. He actually pulled this stunt to eliminate potential future competitors. After all, it is obvious to everyone that the North is now basically dominated by Lagrang. The orcs of Gombad Fortress are also struggling in the face of the increasingly powerful Lagrang. The pace of the empire's revival and the kingdom's expansion is destined to catch up with the local power of the Rivendell elves!

“It’s still too early. The elves shouldn’t be weakened at this time! And we need this ally right now!” Roland shook his head and sighed.

"You guys actually made such a commotion? Yunfeng didn't even inform me?" Adolf Heinrich, who had been listening for a while, strode in and closed the door.

Ruhr glanced at Adolf Heinrich without saying a word; with the spiritual power of a sage, he could hear himself speaking from a great distance.

"Yes! We almost created a hole in the sky!" Roland frowned and said helplessly. There was nothing he could do now that things had come to this. After all, they didn't know the future history and couldn't predict the situation of the elves in advance, so they acted early.

(End of this chapter)