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

Chapter 434 The Mill
The orcs and dwarves outside Moria were locked in a stalemate, and the dwarven reinforcements were also unable to find an opportunity to enter the battlefield. The entire battlefield remained in a strange stalemate, with both sides waiting for a variable that could change the situation.

……

"The orcs and dwarves are going to bleed to death outside Moria..." Yunfeng shook his head with emotion as he looked at the battle report.

"Correction: it's dwarves! If the orcs bled dry, I'd do a handstand while washing my hair!" Roland scoffed. The orcs' cockroach-like resilience—even in the Fifth Age, when humans were in charge, these creatures still firmly held onto Middle-earth. With that kind of tenacity, a mere war? Forget bleeding them dry, they'd barely even break their bones…

The annihilation of an army of tens of thousands would be a disaster for any intelligent race, but for the orcs, a mere fatal wound was nothing to worry about.

"Uh..." Yun Feng blinked, having to admit that Roland's words made a lot of sense. To cripple these orcs who could reproduce like pigs, they'd have to fight their way to Mordor, right?
Unfortunately, Roland didn't know what Yunfeng was thinking. If he did, he would probably laugh at him again. After all, didn't Aragorn still manage to storm Mordor? Even though Frodo destroyed Mount Doom, the orcs weren't affected much. Give them some food and they still had litters of them.

"By the way, is our mill finished yet?" Roland asked quickly, as if he had just remembered something.

After all, the kingdom had a bumper harvest this year. The army's food was supplied by Roland through the system, but ordinary residents had to be self-sufficient in food. Of course, this year was a bumper year, and the people could live a good life for a year. However, the process from wheat to flour was still quite complicated. At least a stone mill was needed to complete the grinding process. As for the hulling and other things before that... ordinary people didn't care about those things. For the common people, black bread with bran was considered a good thing. What was hard to swallow for nobles was a delicacy that ordinary people could only dream of... So building a mill was very necessary.

Therefore, Roland, who was concerned about the people's hardships, personally oversaw the construction of a large water-powered and animal-powered mill on the banks of the swift-flowing river outside the west of the city. If this mill were put into use, it would be able to produce at least a thousand bags of flour a day.

"It should be alright by now..." Yun Feng was taken aback. He hadn't really paid attention to such a trivial matter. For Lord Yun Feng, who was busy with countless affairs of state, equivalent to a prime minister, he had no time to care about the convenience of these commoners' lives. To him, as long as the lives and property of the citizens were protected, the kingdom had fulfilled its obligations. It was just that Roland, from Earth, was out of step with the nobles of this era.

"Without a mill, how long would it take for ordinary people to grind wheat using stone mills?" Roland's face darkened. If he hadn't asked, would anyone have cared? He'd already lowered the social status of commoners enough, but he hadn't expected the bar to be even lower in this era…

"..." Yun Feng's eyes twitched. His king was really different from other nobles. His focus was always different from other nobles. While other nobles were thinking about how to go hunting, his king's mind was full of the suffering of the people... He didn't seem to fit the image of a monarch in this era at all.

"I'll go ask!" Yun Feng stood up and said. After all, Roland had spoken, so it would be too ungrateful of him not to say something.

After Yun Feng left, he casually grabbed a few minor officials and questioned them. For a sixth-level sage, it was just a matter of a few flashes or blinks if he wanted to.

……

"Your Highness, the mill has been completed and has been in use for several days," Yunfeng said to Roland as he returned.

"Let's go take a look!" Roland became interested. After all, having lived in the "concrete jungle" before, Roland had never seen such a rustic object, even though it might be a bit large...

However, Yun Feng didn't refuse. After all, Roland's request wasn't excessive; the king had the right to inspect his territory, and as long as safety wasn't an issue, Yun Feng wouldn't interfere in other matters. ...

"You're going out?" Nyx looked at Roland in surprise, seemingly more surprised than anything else. Before Roland could speak, Nyx's brows furrowed, but she quickly masked her worry and silently straightened the silk lining of Roland's armor.

"Come back safely." Nyx's voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally warm.

Roland then realized that he might have made his wife misunderstand. Nyx might have mistakenly thought that Roland had ultimately devoted himself to the bloody war between dwarves and orcs, which is why she looked so sad when she heard that Roland was going out.

“Silly girl, you’re overthinking it… I’m going to the Jiliu River outside the west of the city to check on the mill. People still need to eat; they can’t just grab the husks and wheat together and eat them…” Roland quickly explained, knowing that if he didn’t, the girl would probably cry after he left.

“Hmm…” Upon hearing this, Nyx immediately showed a look of surprise, and then, as if she had thought of something, her pink fists rained down on Roland.

"Want to come along?" Roland asked, ignoring Nyx's outburst and picking her up.

“…Yes!” Nyx blushed, but in the end she gave in to her heart. After all, she felt at ease whenever she saw this man, no matter where she was.

……

"Holy crap...Caslo! Is it really necessary to make such a big fuss just to go out?" Roland felt a headache coming on as he looked at the fully armed knights in front of him. Caslo really deserves a good scolding. Isn't this just a waste of money and resources? How much does it cost to move the knights around? Not to mention anything else, the fodder, the maintenance of the warhorses and equipment alone would be enough for an ordinary lord to work for free for a year.

“It’s for safety, isn’t it…” Caslo shrugged. Compared to spending some money, Roland’s safety was the top priority.

Roland shook his head and didn't say anything more. Oh well, that's how it is. Anyway, he didn't have anything to show for himself. The Royal Guards had been sent out to travel with the caravans, so only these knights were left to maintain the glory of the kingdom.

……

"Is this thing any good, folks?" Roland asked, grabbing one of the people outside the mill as he watched them pushing carts or carrying bags.

"Of course, it's definitely easy to use! Much better than that stone mill. We have to thank the benevolent... Your Highness? Greetings, Your Highness!" The man carrying the sack suddenly sensed something was wrong and turned to look at Roland and his entourage riding on tall horses.

(End of this chapter)