Duque had asked himself countless times why Stormwind City could not defend even with the elite soldiers taught by Lothar.
Was it because Lothar was forced to attack Karazhan at a critical time?
Or was there another reason?
After traveling to the World of Azeroth for so long, Duque finally understood something. Because the seven human kingdoms all implemented the incomparably stupid aristocratic enfeoffment system, some things were destined to be irreversible.
Unlike any centralized country, the backward enfeoffment system had its inevitability. In this era where transportation was incomparably bad, it was practically impossible to gather troops in one place and have food and supplies from all directions.
Just transporting the food over, the terrible soil and wet weather were enough to waste half of the food. In order to avoid excessive food loss, countries often arranged troops in various regions for the various nobles to provide for themselves.
The king only had the right to order a certain noble when and where, according to their rank, how many troops they had to send, what equipment they had to use, where to go, and where to attack. However, the king could not order the knights under a certain noble to do anything.
This was the so-called vassals of the king's vassals, not the king's vassals.
While the king had the right to order the nobles to do something, the nobles could also use their own troops to influence the king's decisions.
The Orcs had invaded, and like a plague, they spread across the entire eastern kingdoms of the World of Azeroth.
From the beginning when some of the nobles insisted that this was making a mountain out of a molehill and requested more information, the situation was like an express train heading straight to hell, falling straight down.
Three days later, the only thing the higher-ups of Stormwind knew about the Orcs was that they had brought back an extremely majestic corpse in a griffin.
Other than that, what did the Orcs know? How strong were they? How many people did they have? Where were their targets?
Stormwind knew nothing about this.
However, the group of stupid nobles still forced the frontlines to send back more 'accurate' information, and refused to send troops, money, and manpower for an illusory invasion, refusing the entire kingdom to enter a state of war.
The endless wrangling with the nobles in Stormwind Stronghold made Laing and Andod tired both physically and mentally.
When all the blockhouses near the triangular junction between the Elven Forest and the Red Ridge Mountain were captured by the Orcs, the nobles panicked.
Not only did this mean that Stormwind had lost its connection and control over its eastern territory, the Redridge Mountains, but it also meant that once the orcs broke through the Redridge Mountains, they would be able to enter the richest region of Stormwind – the Elven Forest.
Compared to the precipitous terrain of the Red Ridge Mountains, the Elven Forest that was situated on the plains was truly without any danger to defend.
In the tens of thousands of square kilometers of Elven Forest, there were more than a hundred human settlements. If the Orcs wanted to, they could completely ignore the defenses of the human towns and cities. They could first divide and surround the towns and cities, then annihilate them one by one.
These settlements were the fiefdoms of the nobles in Stormwind, and where their core interests lay.
"We must not let those damned beasts invade the kingdom!"
"Yes! In order to protect our homeland, we will fight to the last man. "
"For Stormwind, for Azeroth! Fight — "
The nobles who had been slow to react suddenly came to a consensus within an hour. They unanimously requested King Laing to organize a battle at the mountain pass of the Elven Forest into the Redridge Mountains, and use the dangerous mountain gorge to stop the Orcs from further invading.
After finally sending the nobles away, Laing slumped on the throne and asked Andoine in a weak voice. In this empty and huge inner court, there was only him and Lothar, the king and the minister.
"What do you think of this battle?"
"Your Majesty, I am not optimistic. According to the intelligence, those huge green beasts are very good at fighting in the mountains. I do not think that they can be stopped by just relying on the terrain. "
"Then what should we do? Let them invade the Elven Forest and destroy the essence of the whole kingdom? Hell, if Medivh is here … God! Why do I always forget that he is the culprit of this incident? "Laing covered his face in pain.
"Actually … I think we should ask for Duque's opinion. After all, the response from the frontline is that the performance of the troops trained by the Naga is obviously better than the other troops, "Lothar suggested in a low voice.
"He may have some smarts, but he is too young and his status is too low. Besides, the great nobles will not tolerate a little kid telling them what to do. "
"Sigh!" As the preparation for the war began, Andoine felt that Duque was more and more good.
Before the troops arrived, the food and fodder arrived first.
In order to mobilize the food needed by the army, Laing had to order the food of Stormwind City to be transferred to the frontline near the Redridge Mountains.
However, the spring rain in March made the transportation of food extremely difficult. The transportation from Stormwind City to Goldshire Town was extremely smooth because of Duque's road construction. However, the road from Goldshire Town to the east of the Redridge Mountains was so terrible that it made Lothar curse.
The muddy dirt road almost paralyzed the entire transportation plan. A large amount of food, armaments, and various supplies were piled up in Goldshire Town and could not be transported out.
"Why is the road from Stormwind City to Goldshire Town so good? But the rest is so terrible!? " Due to the needs of the war, the Lion's Pride Inn in Goldshire Town had become Lothar's temporary command post. Lothar, who was looking at the map, slammed the table and cursed.
At this time, a sergeant said in a low voice, "Originally, Sir Marcus was willing to fund the construction of the road from Stormwind City to the Redridge Mountains and replace all the mud roads with cobblestone roads. However, among the nobles, only Duke Bolvar Fordragon agreed. In the end, only the section from Stormwind City to Goldshire Town was built. "
King Laing and Andoine were speechless at the same time, but there was a vague feeling in their hearts. Did that kid Duque even predict this?
Impossible!
On the first of April, which was later known as the first year of the Dark Portal.
Despite the harsh conditions, Stormwind gathered 10,000 soldiers and nearly 6,000 private soldiers of the nobles to form a coalition army and set them up at the entrance of the Redridge Mountains.
Looking down from the enormous Redridge Mountain, there was not a single tree on the barren scarlet mountain, and then a sea of green forest in the distance, stretching as far as the eye could see. It was like a distant painting that could be expanded without limit, making everything seem very small in front of it.
The Redridge Mountains were very large, but unfortunately, the V-shaped twin peaks in the westernmost part of the Redridge Mountains were like a lonely island in the endless sea in front of the vast Elven Forest. It seemed so lonely and helpless.
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