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

"Sigh, the Swift Infantry are indeed too fragile. As soon as the professional army pushes forward, they shatter at the slightest touch!" Caslo shook his head and said helplessly.

"Who told you to use Swift Infantry to fight against professional armies?" Roland was speechless. After all, apart from the damage bonus against cavalry, the Swift Infantry's stats were almost no different from other ordinary infantry. Moreover, Swift Infantry was a type of unit between light and heavy infantry, and its defense was not as good as other ordinary heavy infantry.

“That’s true. The main battlefield is the business of the city defense forces and other professionals.” Caslo nodded.

“However, they are needed for maintaining order and defending the city, and it is difficult to spread those professional soldiers throughout the kingdom,” Roland said, propping his head up.

"Besides, do you think we have the ability to train those professionals right now?" Roland grinned, looking helpless. Let alone professionals, we can't even recruit many ordinary swift infantrymen. After all, recruiting ordinary soldiers would consume Roland's precious population.

“Indeed, our current troop strength is a bit tight, but it’s still barely enough!” Yun Feng nodded. For the Lagrang Kingdom at present, having more soldiers is not very useful. Roland, who has shifted his focus to development, would rather use the large population to develop the economy than to engage in an arms race with the orcs.

“There’s no point in discussing this now. I doubt a fight will break out anytime soon. It will take some time for the dwarves and orcs to determine a winner.” Roland pressed his hand down.

"By the way, the Ringwraiths haven't made any moves either?" Roland suddenly thought of the Ringwraiths hiding in Dolgodo and Gombada Fortress.

“No, Ajax and I patrol the outskirts of Dolgodor and Gombarda every day. The Ringwraiths are all holed up inside the fortresses and haven’t made a move,” Caslow affirmed. To be honest, Thorin had to thank Roland. Although Roland hadn’t sent a single soldier, his powerful dragon riders had successfully restrained and intimidated the Ringwraiths in the two fortresses. Otherwise, when the Ringwraiths’ army appeared in Moria, Thorin and his men would have been truly doomed.

"Keep a close eye on the Ringwraiths' movements. Although they are currently unwilling to travel too much in Middle-earth and disrupt Sauron's return plans, we cannot rule out the possibility that they might take a risk!" Roland instructed. He understood why the Ringwraiths were so restrained at the moment. If it weren't for a last resort, they wouldn't even want to be exposed to the sunlight, because they were afraid that the righteous would notice Sauron's existence.

At this point, even if the Ringwraiths were a bit arrogant, there wasn't much to fear. After all, judging by the timeline, Saruman, the leader of the Righteous Order, had already begun his double-crossing, and the Alliance was nearly riddled with infiltration. Fortunately, the Ringwraiths were cautious; otherwise, Roland wouldn't have known how to intercept them during their planned massacre of the dwarves…

……

"Release!" Thorin commanded the dwarf army outside the cave to "bathe" the orcs. A barrage of tetanus arrows rained down, and the orcs cried out in agony. Attacking from below was already difficult, but the fact that the defenders were dwarves made it even worse. When the dwarves unleashed their arrow rain, the orcs were in excruciating pain (literally).

"The armor-piercing effect is terrible!" Thorin's brows were so furrowed they could almost trap a fly. After the orcs cut down trees to make shields, these rusty arrows couldn't even penetrate the wooden planks, let alone kill the orcs.

"We need a more powerful heavy crossbow!" Balin, who was still recovering, and a group of people dragged the heavy crossbow to Thorin's side.

"Why are these crossbow bolts rusted too?" Thorin asked, puzzled, looking at the spear-like crossbow bolts carried on the backs of the other dwarves.

"Don't worry! At least piercing through the enemy lines won't be a problem!" Balin smiled. After all, weapons made of steel and bronze couldn't compare to the lifespan of alchemical magical weapons like the Black Arrows. Although these arrows couldn't reach their original design power, they were still more than enough as weapons against orc light infantry. "Let's hope so!" Thorin didn't waste any words and quickly helped the others assemble the heavy crossbows. With a crisp "click," the dozen or so heavy crossbows were all assembled.

"Load!" Thorin didn't waste any words, grabbing a bundle of arrows and heading to the heavy crossbow. Someone helped him nock the arrows and draw the string, while Thorin used his eyes to aim at valuable targets. He quickly spotted a group of orcs forming a tortoise-shell formation with wooden planks. Thorin couldn't help but chuckle. The low-ranking officer commanding that small group of orcs wasn't bad; he actually knew about such advanced tactics as battle formations, even if they were practically useless…

Thorin grinned maliciously, then pulled the trigger. The bolt whistled through the thick wooden planks, and the shattered fragments of the arrow ricocheted through the orcs. Almost instantly, several orcs fell, and the survivors clutched their wounds and howled in pain.

"So powerful?" Thorin was stunned. The already rusted bronze arrow shattered into fragments upon impact, which then scattered among the orcs... It was like an otherworldly version of a shrapnel bullet.

If Roland saw this, his eyes would probably pop out. After all, in the magical world, Roland had completely abandoned the firearms technology tree, but unexpectedly, the dwarves accidentally produced an effect comparable to cannonballs... No wonder many dwarves in other worlds possess firearms.

However, Roland is destined not to see it for now, but Thorin has found a new toy. He uses those rusted bronze arrows to attack groups of orcs, and the effect is outstanding!
"Elite orc heavy warriors!" a dwarf suddenly exclaimed.

"The Throne Guard, engage the enemy!" Thorin's eyes narrowed; he saw the battle flames flickering on the orcs' blades! Clearly, these iron-clad figures, like the dwarves, were the true elite of the orcs!

As expected, the army showed great resilience under the heavy crossbow fire. Ordinary crossbow bolts were cut down by their battle aura blades, and even the occasional stragglers were blocked by their iron armor covered in battle aura flames. The heavy crossbows, which were used to slaughter the rabble, finally met their match.

"Use good arrows! Balin, your crossbowmen stay here!" Thorin didn't say another word and drew his Oak Ridge, charging out.

“Turin…” Balin shook his head at the impatient Thorin, then ordered all the crossbowmen to change to brand new crossbow bolts.

……

"Bang!" Thorin smiled happily as he watched the orc heavy warrior suddenly pinned to the ground with a loud bang.

"Kill!" Thorin charged ahead, his purple-gold battle aura suddenly engulfing his body.

"Tear!" The electric current tore through the air around him. The dwarf king and his personal guards suppressed the heavily armored orc warriors head-on, and the two sides engaged in a fierce battle on the open ground in front of Moria!