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

Chapter 873: Strike first to gain the upper hand

“No, you’ve come at the perfect time! There’s some government business to hand over to you here!” Roland waved for Adolf Heinrich to come over, but Adolf Heinrich felt as if he was about to embark on a path of no return!
"What's wrong?" Adolf Heinrich frowned. Had King Roland been enjoying a couple of peaceful days and was now looking for trouble?

"By the way! When do you plan to stop training those Gondor soldiers?" Adolf Heinrich looked up at Maple Forest Orchid.

“Talk is cheap, and we can’t just keep those soldiers around for nothing! How about we let them share some of the burden on our infantry?” Adolf Heinrich asked.

“Winter is here, food is scarce, and the orcs who used to hide have come out again! Today, orcs even robbed one of our small villages, and six families were wiped out!” Adolf Heinrich’s brows were furrowed.

"How could this be? There should be troops stationed around the villages and towns! At the very least, a small squad of soldiers, right? How could these wandering wasteland orcs break through our Lagrange City guards' ranks to rob us?" Roland said incredulously.

"And what about the militia organized by the common people? Where did they all go? In broad daylight, under the clear sky! How could they let orcs massacre an entire village?" Roland's teeth gritted together. Six households were roughly a third of the population of a small village! Such a small village wouldn't exist alone in the wilderness, which meant there must be a town nearby, and several other villages like his around that town. These small villages didn't have the kingdom's regular garrison, but they still had local militia, and the town definitely had several squads of the kingdom's regular army!
“It’s not their fault. The militia on patrol were ambushed. Those orcs attacked the village under cover of darkness. That village was the northernmost settlement around Lagrange, so the defenses had a huge gap!” Adolf Heinrich shook his head and sighed. The militia were not a regular army after all; you couldn’t expect them to do any better.

"Didn't the outposts issue any warning? Such a large group of orcs has reached the kingdom's doorstep, and the border guards didn't detect it at all?" Roland's tone was tinged with doubt! Logically speaking, these villages should be under the protection of the border outposts. Those small, permanently sturdy stone fortresses are like castles rooted in the Lagrange Plains. Their southern territory is the land truly controlled by the kingdom. But now, even their controlled territory has been attacked by orcs, which makes Roland feel very embarrassed.

“The snow is too heavy! The traces of our movements will soon be covered up, and our forces are already running low! So, Lord Yulan, is your Gondor legion ready for battle?” Adolf Heinrich probed.

After all, those Gondor soldiers couldn't be kept for nothing, could they? Although Denethor II paid them, actual combat was also part of the army's training and development. After all, the original agreement was to give Denethor II an elite infantry. How could infantry that had never even seen blood be called elite?

"Isn't this a bit inappropriate? Using our allies' soldiers to do odd jobs for us?" Maple Forest Orchid felt a little awkward for a moment, bound by chivalry.

"Ahem! How can you call it temporary work? It's clearly training their combat skills and willpower! I think your suggestion is excellent, Lord Adolf, it's settled then! Youlan, you'll transfer them out of the city in a bit. We don't expect them to be able to fight the orcs head-on right away, but having them help us guard the defenses and free up some of our soldiers to hunt down the orcs is still feasible!" Roland decided. "By the way? What was it you were thinking about?" Adolf Heinrich asked.

"Nothing major, I plan to take advantage of the winter to gather all the dragon knights and take down that griffin flock!" Roland rubbed his nose.

"Oh... um? All of them? Including those in Lagrange City?" Adolf Heinrich was about to nod when he suddenly realized, all the dragon knights? How did you learn to play all-in?
"Okay, let's finish this quickly. I'll leave Maple Forest Orchid here to help you confuse the enemy's spies, and I'll take the rest of you tonight! You guys hold the fort here for now!" Roland assigned the tasks.

"No? You actually agreed to this?" Adolf Heinrich ignored Roland and turned to look at the unfortunate child, Maple Forest Orchid.

"Hmm, His Majesty convinced me with his sincere feelings!" I didn't want to agree to his all-in plan either, but he allowed my wife and me to be all lovey-dovey! It was just too much for me to refuse!
"Huh? You're not the only one acting crazy! We're all alone out here!" Adolf Heinrich's pupils dilated, clearly shocked by these two all-in sages.

“There’s no other way, we have to go. We’re not the only ones who know about that griffon clan! But we’re the fastest force to take them down so far! I don’t know if others have made plans or taken action, but after witnessing the overwhelming advantage of the Dragon Knights’ air superiority, I think no one will let such a large griffon clan stay there peacefully!” Roland said decisively. Although he might not need it now, others definitely would. Rather than let others benefit, he would go all in and take those griffons before they could react!
“But…” Adolf Heinrich wavered, but reason compelled him to offer some advice!

"No buts. If the Empire needs to revive, then Sky Knights are indispensable! The current kingdom doesn't have many dragon knights for us to squander and display our power, but our Sky Knight heritage remains! We have the dragon race! If we take down this griffon race, then the revival of the Empire's three great Sky Knight orders will only be a matter of pegasus!" Roland said firmly. As the saying goes, high ground beats low ground, and that applies to Middle-earth as well! For Roland, I might not need them, but I can't be without them!

As we all know, the mounts of the four main types of human sky knights consist of the lowest-end Pegasus (also called the Pegasus), the mid-range Griffin, the high-end and majestic Wyvern, and the rare and decisive Dragon on the battlefield!

The kingdom currently possesses a dragon colony. With continued development and the constant capture of wild dragons to replenish its bloodline, this colony has the potential to grow into a massive dragon colony like the Lagrange Empire in Lord of the Rings, providing the empire with several dragon riders each year! As for the giant dragons, Roland will likely need to take Doss to Dragon Island for a chat after achieving great success. However, by then, Roland himself will need to be incredibly strong; otherwise, it will likely turn into a nine-dragon coffin!
While the low-grade Pegasus mounts had appeared in the Dark Forest, the dense forest provided the best refuge, and Roland lacked the time, energy, and manpower to search for better alternatives! The Griffin tribe in the Gray Mountains was equally tempting! Those creatures were magical beasts with lightning abilities! Even our future Grand Duke of Lordaeron, Valery, was envious of them!
Now is the perfect time to buy at rock-bottom prices! Strike first, strike hard! Are we going to have to compete with others later? Roland, who believes in making a fortune quietly, naturally hopes to stealthily plunder them during winter. This is the first time in years that Roland has had the time and resources to field his complete dragon knight team! (Previously, he had fewer dragon knights, making things less secure.)