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

Chapter 1072 Jingguan (Happy New Year, Brothers!)

"I actually found it!" Bard roared, his longbow whistling as he drew it. As one of the few human archers, Bard's archery skills were no less than those of the elves.

"Swoosh!" He shot an arrow at the ogre's eye, but the ogre raised its hand to block it. The arrow penetrated several inches into the ogre's broad palm before being stopped by its flesh.

"Agh!" The troll screamed and swung its hands to smash through the barricades and fences.

"Form ranks!" The officers' roars echoed throughout the room.

"Drink!" At this moment, the Lagrange City Guard demonstrated the foundation of the city's defenses. With discipline ingrained in their bones, they were the first unit to line up in formation. While other soldiers were still in disarray, they had already marched in orderly steps and stood in formation with their guns raised in the open space between the camp and the fence.

"Roar!" After smashing through the roadblocks and leaping over the trench, a dozen ogres were met head-on by a neatly arrayed gun emplacement.

"Awooo!" The ogres opened their foul-smelling mouths, with rotten bits of meat still hanging from their yellowed teeth. Their brains were simply not capable of deep thinking; they could only distinguish that what was in front of them was some food that was hard to swallow. To them, food was a signal to attack!
Under the cover of night, a group of ogres, wielding makeshift clubs, charged toward the neatly arrayed Lagrange City Guards. Clearly, the gleaming spears had not served their intended purpose of deterrence.

"Do they even know what they're doing?" The officers in the middle rank exchanged bewildered glances. The knights, arrayed in neat formation, would not charge at the already formed warrior square. The firepower of the spears was not to be underestimated; those spear beams, each a meter long, would quickly calm any hot-headed enemy. Obviously, the ogres, whose brains were barely bigger than peach pits, were not among them, or perhaps these creatures, already starving in winter, didn't care!
"Bang!" As the ogre's massive body crashed down, the spears thrusting out from the front row were deflected, and the ogre roared as it tried to charge forward and crash into the crowd.

"Fool!" Feeling the excessive force on his hand, the Lagrange City Guard did not try to withstand the struggle. Instead, he decisively let go of the spear and let it fall to the ground. Then, he raised his large shield with his left hand and reached to his left waist with his right hand to draw out a sharp longsword.

"Dislocate the leg!"

"Bang!" The Lagrange City Guard, whose shield was struck by the club, felt a surge of blood in his chest. The smell of blood rushed up his throat and into his nostrils. Although the primitive clubs could not break through his defenses, the impact was still transmitted through his arm and into his body.

"Swoosh!" With a slash of the longsword imbued with battle flames, a gash was cut into the troll's rock-hard skin. However, not much blood seeped out. After all, these creatures had incredibly thick skin, and with their thick layer of fat, their durability was far superior in the Central Plains...

"Pfft!" As the saying goes, a cut is fatal, a stab is fatal. Although a longsword cut is like scraping a wound, a spear is a different story; one thrust and a bloody hole appears! The ogres that surged forward instantly dropped their crude weapons, clutching their wounds and howling in agony. The spears, imbued with their sharp light, tore through skin, ripped through fat, and pierced through muscle! Their so-called defenses were a joke at this moment. Blood gushed out like a fountain from both the front and back holes. These skilled soldiers would instinctively twist their wrists as they thrust and pulled out the spears. This little trick passed down from spearmen made thrusting and pulling easier, and also had the effect of widening the wound and crushing internal organs!
"Push them out! Don't let them in and destroy the camp!" Under the suppressive fire of arrows from the rear, the officers skillfully commanded, and the originally massive shield wall was quickly broken into small square formations, rapidly dispersing, dividing, and surrounding the ogres!
The expeditionary force consisted entirely of elite troops. After the initial panic, the other troops in the camp also reacted, but because they were a step too slow, they did not rashly join the battle. The darkness was the best cover for the chaos. Elven mages would occasionally cast illumination spells towards the battlefield and the outskirts of the camp, illuminating the area. The elven rangers and archers did not form ranks, but instead found suitable positions to provide cover fire towards the battlefield. The ogres that had not yet successfully broken into the camp were immediately riddled with arrows. Those ogres that tried to withstand the rain of arrows with logs and weapons were especially targeted. Facing the elven armor-piercing arrows enhanced by their skills, they were essentially naked. Their so-called defense was a joke; even the thickest hide could not withstand it.

"Fire!" Then came the neatly arrayed Lagrange archers! These terrifying archers, renowned for their precise, coordinated volleys that covered the battlefield with deadly force, were a perfect match for this fixed-area target! As they drew their bows in unison and fired, the battle aura of the North Wind Arrows instantly illuminated the sky, and the rain of arrows, carrying a terrifying, orderly whistling sound unlike anything seen in elven archers, resounded across the battlefield.

"...Has it gone mad?" Roland frowned as he looked at the ogre that was up all night and causing trouble, his face darkening.

“I told you it was dangerous, but you didn’t believe me… Look, these ogres have stormed into the camp. Luckily, our night watchmen were alert and spotted them sneaking out from the snow…” Lind kept nagging Roland, clearly unhappy that Roland had rejected his suggestion to camp here.

"No problem, you bunch of chickens and dogs! A bunch of losers! Let's see what great things those things can accomplish!" Roland said disdainfully, pointing at the corpses being cleared away by the allied soldiers. It wasn't that Roland looked down on them; if it were a regular orc clan commanding an army on a night raid, Roland would have given them some respect. But these wild chickens and dogs, bastards who couldn't even face the sunlight? Don't embarrass the generations of Lagrange Emperors. Rushing these things around doesn't even require using your brain. As it turned out, those ogres that stormed in didn't even manage to kill a single one of the Lagrange City Guards. Their only achievement was depleting the allied army's arrows...

"Ha! Where are the enemies? Kill!" Thorin rushed over excitedly, followed by a group of dwarves reeking of alcohol. One by one, the dwarven warriors with their helmets askew and belts loose, excitedly twitched their beards and carried all sorts of weapons as they surrounded him. Among them were some geniuses carrying marching pots.

"...It's really making my head spin!" Bai Yi's eyelids twitched a few times.

"I admire your foresight!" Thranduil looked at the dwarven army and then at the calm Roland, patting his chest in respect. His words were full of admiration and respect. When setting up the camp, Roland had defied the opinions of others and placed the dwarves in the center of the camp. At the time, he was slightly dissatisfied with this decision, but now it seemed to be a prophecy!
"Go back to sleep, the enemy has been dealt with!" Roland patted Thorin on the shoulder and instructed him.

"Huh? So fast? We haven't been able to help at all!" Thorin blushed, after all, the dwarves were indeed the slowest to assemble, because drinking before bed made them jump around when it was time to gather.

"I've got it! Do it this way!" Roland thought for a moment and suddenly snapped his fingers, having a great idea.

……

"Hiss... What is this thing! It looks creepy!" Bard's face contorted in horror.

"This is too cruel!" Lind's face turned red and then white.

“In our hometown, it has a nice name—Jingguan!” Roland grinned.

Happy New Year to everyone! May good fortune come your way! May the Year of the Horse bring you great luck! Thank you to all my brothers for your support last year!