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

Chapter 1112 The Black Cloud Knights (Large chapter with data)
"Alright! We won't see you off, Balin! We're leaving!" Sorin patted Balin on the shoulder.

“Bahrain, from now on, you must bring enough guards when you go out. The king cannot be allowed to have any accidents! Anything can happen here!” Roland pointed to the dense forest of the Misty Mountains.

"I will, Roland! Take care, everyone!" Balin's eyes were filled with tears of emotion, a mixture of the joy of reunion and the reluctance to part.

"Take care! Moria's hospitality was excellent! We'll definitely come back again if we have the chance!" The others waved goodbye to Bahrain.

"Go back! Live well! Live until the day of our final battle!" Roland waved his hand.

"It's a promise! I'll chop those Ringwraiths' heads off with this axe!" Balin swore, raising the axe of Durin.

“Of course! It’s a man’s agreement! In the name of Lagrange!” Roland nodded.

……

"Ding! Witness the Lord of Moria! The East-West trade route has been opened! Reward: 10 Honor Points!" The system's reward sound rang out after a long time. Aragorn and the others had witnessed a lot in the Shire, but they had only managed to earn a meager 1 or 2 Honor Points. Now, they finally had a large amount of Honor Points!

"Let me see what the Honor Points Shop has!" Roland finally mustered up his courage and opened the Honor Points Shop. After all, he had never spent Honor Points before, but now he finally had money! 30 Honor Points! Enough for a shopping spree!

"The Black Cloud Knights? 15 honor points? Buy it!" After comparing the cost-effectiveness, Roland found this seemingly decent knightly order. After all, Roland was destined to be the King of Knights! There's never too many knightly orders! The kingdom currently only has four standard knightly orders! It can't even muster a single standard knightly order! This is incredibly difficult for Roland! For King Lagrange to be unable to muster a thousand knights is truly beneath him (for the empire!).

"The Knights have been deployed! They are rendezvous with you!" Roland flicked his wrist and pointed the Knights' rendezvous point at himself.

"..." Roland's grin instantly vanished.

"System, check the territory panel!" Roland decided to take a look at the empire he had conquered!

Territory: Capital: Lagrange City! Rapids City, Lulong Fortress, Palembang, North Crossing Fortress, Dragon Cliff Fortress...

Commanders: Caslo (Tier 6 Dragon Knight Commander), Renault (Tier 6 Holy Hero), Radil (Tier 5 War Mage), Adile (Tier 6 Hero), Yun Feng (Tier 6 Sage), Omske (Tier 6 Hero), Lavian (Tier 4 Knight Commander), Holin (Tier 4 Knight Commander), Luke Leopold, Merk Leopold, Ajax Antony (Tier 5 Dragon Knight General), Lafit Antony (Tier 3 Grand Knight), Valin Angus (Tier 3 Warrior), Dos Antony (Tier 4 Dragon Knight), Yu Mordran (Tier 4 Knight Commander), Verway (Tier 6... Tier 6 Hunter), Adolf Heinrich (Tier 6 Sage), Darion Nightblade (Tier 6 Creed Assassin), Weiss (Tier 3 Dragon Knight), Alistar (Tier 3 Goblin Knight), Marcus (Tier 4 Knight Commander), Lance (Tier 3 Warrior), Maple Forest Orchid (Tier 6 Dragon Knight Commander), Maple Forest Ice Orchid (Tier 6 Hero), Charlie Pros (Tier 6 Priest), Mogus (Tier 6 Hero), Lilith (Tier 6 Sage), Nogai (Tier 4 Wyvern Knight), Al-Tegran Franz (Tier 4 Mage), Nicholas Black Cloud (Tier 6)

Vassal: Apophis Breo (Tier 4 Knight), Ismir (Tier 3 Druid), Okrian Yasuo (Tier 6 Hero!)

Special personnel: Ivy (fourth-tier war priest), Grand Duke Nyx: Nyx ​​(fifth-tier dragon mage), Nina Bonn (third-tier archmage), Ruhr (third-tier warrior), Joelsteria (third-tier knight), Vladivostok (second-tier knight), Maple Forest Xilan (second-tier dragon knight), Maple Forest Shulan (second-tier dragon knight).

Troop strength: over 2.

Holy Knights Order: 100 members (second-tier knights plus a small number of third-tier grand knight officers)
Royal Knights of Rome: 100 (Second-Tier Knights)

The Fourteenth Legion of the Empire: 100 members (the Integral Knights are mainly second-tier knights).

The Twenty-Fourth Imperial Knights (Black Cloud Knights): 120 (Second-Tier Lagrange Knights)
Lagrange City Guards: 4000 (Tier 2)

Battanian Shooters: 6000 (Tier 2)

Dovenian Heavy Swordsmen: 1000 (Tier 2)

El Niño Rangers: 500. (Tier 2)

Lordaeron Rangers: 300. (Tier 2)

Lagrange Royal Guard: 500. (Tier 3)

Lagrange Royal Crossbow Guard: 300 men. (Tier 3)

疾流军团：疾流步兵15000名。    牧师：二阶牧师团*1（50名）三阶牧师小队*1（10名）。

Mages: 1 squad of the Royal Forbidden Spells Mage Corps of Lagrange (5 Tier 3 Fire Mages, 5 Tier 3 Wind Mages), 30 mages of all levels (including Tier 1 to Tier 3 mages).

Cross-Bauhinia Knights: 100 members (a knightly order mainly composed of second-tier knights, with a chaotic and complex membership!)

Crusader Legion: 100 cuirassiers, 100 Crusader crossbowmen, and 300 Crusader heavy infantry.

Woodland Warriors: 500 (Tier 2 Warriors)

Griffin Knights: 7 (Tier 2)

Two-legged wyvern riders: 20 (10 Tier 2, 10 Tier 1 trainees).

Grassland Elves: 200 (Tier 2).

Goblin Knights: 1000 (a mix of Tier 1 and Tier 2).

Total Kingdom Population: 70+ (Trainable Civilians: 15+)
Honor points: 15.

Main Quest: Establishment of the Twelve Cities of the Swiftstream! (Top-Tier Legion *1), The Road to Imperial Revival (Control ten towns, reward: Mage Tower *1, any Mage Legacy *1!)
Overall Assessment: A thriving kingdom, its surroundings have been pacified and stabilized. The resilient people of Lagrange still tenaciously defend this ancient land, and their king has reclaimed the old capital! Vast tracts of land have been recovered! The kingdom urgently needs numerous cities to consolidate its territory!
Note: The Kingdom of Lagrange firmly holds sway over the North through its military hegemony, and its noble expansionist territories have successfully penetrated various parts of the North. The shadow of darkness in the North has been suppressed to the extreme under the king's brilliance! The king, brimming with martial virtue, has accomplished a momentous event that will go down in history—opening up trade routes between the East and the West!

"Both Swift Infantry and Griffin Riders have increased? Looks like my good wife is quite attentive!" Roland nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the data. (Duke Yunfeng: How can you be so selfish? Bah!)
The Black Cloud Knights are actually the Empire's 24th Legion? Wow! Earl Black Cloud is a ruthless man! Roland scratched his head thoughtfully.

"Won't this bankrupt me?" Roland looked at the data of the Black Cloud Knights. Each of them had three second-tier magical beasts, the Wind Chaser. Roland's eyelids twitched. Why was the Empire treating them differently? Why did each member of his knights have three horses?
"Is this the knightly order that once earned its infamous reputation of 'Black Clouds Rolling Across the Land'?" Roland scanned their equipment and stats, and couldn't help but admit that these were probably the toughest steel cans under his command! No wonder each person had three horses! Who the hell wears a thousand-pound enchanted heavy plate armor?! Forget about being called a knightly order! Go back and compete with the Wall of the Continent for titles!

"Your Majesty! There's movement! Something big is coming!" Marquis Al-Tegran Franz said solemnly, looking at the dust billowing in the distance.

Before anyone could react, Caslo and Weiss had already taken off! Their enormous projections streaked across the ground and sped away into the distance!

"Look! This sense of security is amazing!" Bard whistled.

"Prepare for battle! We can't rely entirely on those young dragon knights!" Thorin drew his sword.

……

"All clear!" Caslo landed and shook his head.

“But there’s a big problem! It’s the Black Cloud family! The former Southern Earl family!” Caslo shook his head.

"The Black Cloud family? The last backbone in the South! Since that family fell apart, the Southern nobles have practically turned into dogs!" Marquis Al-Tegran Franz made a "woof woof woof" gesture!
"Tell me!" The advantage of having a living history book nearby is that Roland doesn't have to rack his brains trying to figure out that long and tedious history of the Lagrange nobility!

“It’s the Black Cloud family that wiped out the Boundless Duke family back then!” Marquis Al-Tegran Franz nodded.

“There was a serious rebellion in the south back then. The Duke of Wubian attempted to break away from the imperial system or exist as a duchy, and he had been quietly plotting for over a hundred years…” Marquis Al-Tegran Franz recounted.

"And then?" Roland asked curiously.

"That's it! The strongest patriarch in the history of the Black Cloud family was that generation's Earl of Black Cloud! Nicholas Black Cloud! He led the 24th Legion of the Empire to wipe out Korchagin Wubian... literally, all the male members of the Wubian family were wiped out in one battle. They said they ran away, but actually... cough cough! The Empire punishes crimes without mercy!" Marquis Al-Tegran Franz whispered.

"So he was granted the rights of a county! In his county, he was king, and essentially one of the kings of the empire, only... you know, the county was a bit small!" Marquis Al-Tegran Franz gestured with his hands to indicate the size of the county; clearly, the county was only so big, and this county status was more of a political concept than a sign of power!
“Interesting! A county!” Roland nodded. Counties were quite common in medieval Earth, after all, many kings of small Western countries held the title of count! It wasn't surprising that counties existed in a Western fantasy world like Middle-earth! But Roland hadn't expected that the Lagrange Empire would also have counties? Well… an empire has kingdoms and duchies, so adding a county wasn't unexpected!
"I wonder which survivor from the Black Cloud family it is! The Black Cloud family actually managed to preserve an entire knightly order! That's quite remarkable!" Marquis Al-Tegran Franz was very satisfied; it was already quite an achievement for the Earl to have rescued a knightly order!
Although Al-Tegran Franz did not know who the visitor was, Roland saw through the system panel that the Black Cloud family member was none other than the patriarch, or rather, the king, of the strongest Black Cloud family in history!
(End of this chapter)