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

Chapter 694 Transporting Supplies

“The winds will soon rise in Middle-earth…” Roland suddenly blurted out a sentence, but he didn’t intend to explain it to Reno. After all, he couldn’t explain Sauron’s public return to Mordor a few years later. But it was good to make plans now. He figured the Dark Lords would be very “moved” during the War of the Ring.

Roland eagerly anticipated the scumbags' faces when they invaded the North during the War of the Ring. Compared to the North in history, which was only defended by King Brand and Dain, the North was now terrifyingly strong! The divide between the elves and dwarves had been eliminated, and the three human kingdoms had united, along with the two dwarven kingdoms! The combined military strength of the entire North was no less than that of any kingdom in the South!

With so many goblin mercenaries now, Roland can already foresee what might happen: decades from now, during the Lord of the Rings War, he might be able to field a pig cavalry force of tens of thousands!

……

"Are they there now?" Roland asked, pointing to the distant lights as he gazed out from the top of the Dragon Tower.

“It should be. Judging from the direction, that should be their camp!” Renault nodded.

"Have the supplies arrived?" Roland asked. Although they didn't have to cover all the goblins' daily food expenses, the kingdom still needed to provide them with essential survival supplies.

"The tents and such are still being prepared, but they'll be delivered soon!" Renault said after thinking for a moment.

"They're moving too slowly. Without tents, they won't be able to sleep well at night. Arrange it as soon as possible! Also, get them some logs!" Roland instructed Reno. Based on Roland's knowledge of the impoverished background of the wild goblins, he could guess that the goblins slept in the open around campfires, and only women who had given birth and young children could sleep in the limited tents. Roland did not want his reserve forces to be reduced due to the environment, so he naturally wanted to provide them with a clean and comfortable environment.

“Okay!” Renault nodded without questioning Roland’s order and immediately instructed the soldiers to prepare.

“Your Highness? General…” Lafitte Anthony found Renault and was surprised by Roland beside Renault before continuing to report to Renault.

"Here's the situation. Are you serious about your order? It basically means we'll have to take those supplies from our soldiers!" Lafitte Anthony looked at Renault with some hesitation. After all, logs were easy to obtain, but tents were indeed difficult to come by. They could only be obtained by recycling some from the soldiers to make up the required quantity.

"Let's collect some of the old ones from the soldiers first. We won't be exposed to the wind and rain in the fortress, but those wild goblins are different." Roland shook his head and decided to use the soldiers' ones first.

"Alright! Lafitte? Did you understand His Highness's words?" Renault immediately asked Lafitte Anthony as soon as Roland spoke. "Understood!" Lafitte Anthony nodded and immediately went to collect the supplies from the soldiers. Anyway, Roland had spoken, so it was Roland's fault if he had to take the blame!
……

"This is..." Chief Alistar held an iron spear and looked at the human caravan with some confusion. Did those human nobles want to collect taxes? After all, Alistar couldn't think of anything that would require so many large carts except for collecting taxes.

"These are the supplies His Highness promised you, including a large number of tents and food, as well as some daily necessities such as salt!" The leading escorting soldier said to Alistair after looking at the list in his hand.

"Oh, right! There are also 200 wooden round shields and 1,000 iron spears here!" The escorting soldier found a piece of supplies at the bottom that required special attention and told Alistair.

"My God! By the gods! King Roland is so generous!" Alistar was already grateful to the gods. Not to mention those shields, those iron spears alone could raise the entire tribe's attack power by two levels! For a barbaric goblin tribe dominated by goblin knights, these were undoubtedly the most important things!
"My God! This sharp spear!" Alistar was the first to run over and pull out a spear to examine it closely. For goblins who lacked iron tools, every piece of iron had a unique value! Although their cherished weapon was made from scraps left over from the blacksmiths' practice sessions in the Stream City, it still completely outclassed their bone and stone spears!

Soon, the entire goblin camp was alerted. They stared in astonishment at the brand-new weapon, and one by one, they withdrew their hands in fear. After all, it was incredibly precious ironware, the kind they couldn't afford to pay for.

"Alright, the supplies have been delivered. You can distribute the rest yourself!" After delivering the supplies, the soldiers who came out of Lulong Fortress unloaded the goods from the wagons and turned to leave, leaving behind only large boxes of supplies and bewildered goblins standing there.

"What are you standing there for? Everyone, grab a spear and get yourselves!" Alistar called out to his tribesmen with a smile. They were overjoyed. Upgrading their weapons by several generations at once was a major event that could be recorded in the history of their goblin tribe!
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" A group of goblin knights laughed wildly, pounding their chests in excitement that they were among the recipients of these weapons! Soon, the goblin knights began scrambling for their favorite lances...

……

"What was their reaction?" Roland asked, looking at Lafitte Anthony. Clearly, it was Lafitte Anthony who had just disguised himself as a squad leader to deliver supplies. To observe the goblins' true reaction, Roland had Lafitte Anthony disguise himself as a common soldier and personally investigate!
"What kind of reaction could they have? They'd be ecstatic! But they're not really interested in the piles of grain, though they're extremely satisfied with the weapons!" Lafitte Anthony said to Roland after a moment's thought.

“That’s not surprising! Wild goblins are warlike! Weapons and mounts are their lifeblood! What could be more attractive than weapons? After all, with weapons, food is everywhere to them!” Roland shrugged helplessly. After all, goblins are small, and catching a gopher is commonplace for them! In the past, when they had no food, they would hunt rabbits and mice in winter to fill their stomachs! If they were lucky, they might even find a nest of nuts hidden by squirrels!

“With weapons, they naturally have the ability to hunt prey!” Lafit Anthony nodded. The goblin knights were capable of including large creatures in their hunting plans, and of course, they now had the strength to hunt even larger prey, such as giant reindeer, etc.

"Keep a close eye on them, don't let them die! Otherwise, we'll have to rely on our own people to be at the forefront of battles!" Roland instructed, for him, these goblins were the only thing that mattered!
(End of this chapter)