"I can't believe they really retreated, Oryx, father really didn't misunderstand you."

At the palace of Lordaeron, at sunrise, at the top of a tall tower with an unobstructed view of the capital, Arthas's eyes were full of relief after reading the battle report from the front.

risked his life, went straight into the orc camp alone, and retreated from thousands of troops in a few words...... Looking at the history of mankind, I am afraid that only the hand of the young king in front of him can do it. To Arthas's embarrassment, he was three years younger than himself.

"I just made the stakes clear to the orc chieftain, and thankfully, Thrall wasn't stupid." Oryx replied very respectfully.

After returning from the front, he followed Arthas back to the palace and discussed the situation in the middle of the night, and then they went to sleep.

The original agreement between the two was to talk about state affairs at noon on the second day. As a result, Oryx, who had been living an ascetic life, waking up at dawn to pray and meditate, met the same Alsace in the garden of the royal palace.

So he was invited by Alsace to the tower to enjoy the sunrise.

Speaking of which, after Alsace became king, he still maintained his original self-discipline, not close to beauty, alcohol and any addictive products, which is particularly rare.

Arthas asked the maid to pour wine for Oryx, and replaced the grapes with new ones, while he took a sip of the juice himself, and sighed faintly: "It's just that the kingdom of Stormgard is about to suffer, and the king's power has not yet changed steadily, and I don't know how many innocent civilians will die because of it." ”

Oryx looked at the rising sun, which had already revealed a red line behind the Eastern Mountains, and was silent.

Just now, Arthas told him the shocking news of the Northlands - King Solas Thorbain of the Kingdom of Stormgard has died, supposedly in a sudden emergency.

Although it is very puzzling, this old king, who is still martial and warlike, and has been working hard for the affairs of the alliance, although he is not young, is still old and strong, how could he die so suddenly, but fate is so impermanent, and it can only be said that birth, old age, sickness and death, human nature.

Prince Garin Torbain has succeeded to the throne as the king of this stormy kingdom. Fortunately, there was a smooth transition of power and no big mess. Originally, according to the friendship between Solas and Terenus, Arthas had to rush to pay his respects anyway, but now he could not make the trip due to the eastward advance of the orcs.

Oryx wouldn't let him go.

Because he knows that Solas did not die of an emergency, but was murdered by Prince Garin Torbain - nothing more than a "big filial son" plot that abounds in World of Warcraft.

In the original history, Garin Thorbain would soon "cooperate" with Aurillac Prince Auridon Pirenod, who had been in hiding for more than ten years, to create a syndicate, taking advantage of Lordaeron's scarcity by the Scourge to grab land and wreak havoc on the Northlands...... However, in the end, the cooperation between the two may have broken down, otherwise Fort Riptide in the Kingdom of Stormgard would not have been occupied by a group of ogres who had been left behind in the Kingdom of Alterac since World War II, and the other half would have been occupied by the Syndicate.

"Your Majesty, as cruel as it is, there is an Arasso chess term that can be used to describe it, 'abandon the knight and protect the king'." Oryx whispered.

To relieve Lordaeron's pressure, he hid the orcs from the wetlands. If you want to go to Minahir Harbour to plunder ships, you must pass through the Arathi Heights, pass through the land of the Kingdom of Stormgard, enter the wetlands via the trench-like Sador Bridge, and finally march to Mineshir Harbour on the western coast of the wetlands.

The journey will take at least a few months.

What did the orcs eat and drink during this time? During the autumn harvest, all the grain and grass harvested southeast of Hillsbrad were burned by the Cursed Sect, and in order to feed their stomachs, the orcs could only raid the human settlements along the way.

Where there is looting, there will be killing.

Orix knew Thrall's nature, and Thrall would not tolerate indiscriminate killing, as it was the practice of the Old Horde, a thirst for murder that had been cultivated under the control of the Burning Legion.

But will the Great Chief be able to restrain all his subordinates?

No.

Even if his prestige is on the rise because he has liberated all his orc compatriots, it is vain to want to control all his subordinates.

Some orcs don't mind slaughtering a few old and weak women and children while plundering. Not to mention most orcs, who have imprisoned themselves for more than ten years and treated their humans like livestock. Human-hating hawks are the mainstream of orcs, not Sal's peace-precedent doves — Thrall's belief in peace, which has even been widely criticized, has only recently been unmanifested due to his high popularity. When the orcs settle down in Durontar, there will be more and more opposition to this, and slowly, Thrall will be branded by his compatriots as "weak", "incompetent", "human-raised humans in orc skin", "unorthodox orcs" and a series of labels.

How many people will die before the orcs reach Minahir Harbor, Oryx doesn't know.

But there must be a lot of it.

As for communicating with the kingdom of Stormgard beforehand, warning them to do what they can, this is not realistic.

The people had already discovered the eastward advance of the orcs, and the information they had was no less than that of Lordaeron, so there was no need to make more of a move.

And send the so-called help...... All of Lordaeron's armies must deal with the impending Scourge Legion, so what is left to help the kingdom of Stormgard? What help could it really need, except to send troops to support a kingdom that had long since been withdrawn from the alliance and was on the verge of being shattered?

A lot of people are bound to die.

Oryx knew he was cruel, but if he had to choose again, he would lure the orcs eastward and pray for the soldiers and innocent civilians who would die as a result.

Staying, not staying, will pin down the regular army of the Lordaeron Kingdom, making Lordaeron unable to properly deal with the Scourge Legion.

Fighting, can't fight, Lordaeron is no longer the northern power at the peak of national power and standing at the highest apex of the Seven Kingdoms of the human race during the second war. If you go to war with the orcs, you will run out of what little vitality you have left, and you will be taken advantage of by the Burning Legion and the Scourge Legion.

Eventually, the wheels of history were brought back to their original ruts, Lordaeron was destroyed, the Northland was once again reduced to a paradise for the undead, Quel'Salas was destroyed, the Forsaken appeared, and everything returned to square one.

With his current influence, it was the best choice to lure the orcs eastward.

Death is inevitable.

Oryx sacrificed this small group of people in exchange for the benefit of many more. Those who are sacrificed will see him as a demon. But those who survived because of this will sing praises to him. For Oryx, who has gradually climbed into the ruling class, all this is just a game of profit, and human life is only one part of it.

The Arathi Heights, on the other hand, are the land of the Kingdom of Stormgard.

"'Abandon the knight and keep the king,' ......" Arthas sighed.

In the past, he would have rebuked Oryx for his cold-bloodedness and righteously opposed the decision of the King's Hand, but he was no longer the carefree prince he had once been without the burden of state.

He is the king of Lordaeron.

A king who is responsible to all the people of this vast land.

Sacrificing the kingdom of Stormgard, sacrificing perhaps thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of innocent civilians, in exchange for the peace of millions, this is the reality.

Cold and cruel reality.

"It is said that Gilneth in the south tried to build a high wall to separate the country, and it was called the 'Wall of Greyman'. What do you think? Perhaps in order not to think about this worry, Arthas moved on to something else.

It was clear that he was curious to know what Oryx had to say on the matter.

Oryx took a sip of red wine and said without thinking, "I, like Your Majesty, sit and watch from this tower. King Jean Greymane's policy of 'getting out of the world' was inherited from his father, Archibald. I think he is the most conceited, opinionated, self-righteous king in the history of mankind, there is no one. I can say to you, Your Majesty, that I have the confidence to convince the leader of an orc, but not to the 'old wolf'. ”

"Old wolf?" Arthas, of course, did not know the deeper meaning of these two words, and laughed, "Nice nickname, it is very much in line with his temperament." ”

"It's a pity for Darius Crowley, the great lord of the northern territory of Gilneis. If the Wall of Greymane is built, this righteous man who has been urging the king to fully support the alliance in the second war more than ten years ago and devote himself to a community with a shared future for mankind will probably have friction with his own king because all his fiefs are cut off. ”

Oryx put down his glass and sighed secretly.

The Kingdom of Gilneth still chose to "close the country", just like the official history.

After the Wall of Greymane was built, King Jean Greymane not only allowed the archmage Arugao to summon werewolves to resist the wave of undead for his country, causing the werewolf curse to quietly spread, becoming the country's biggest hidden danger; The friction with the High Lord Darius Crolley would also intensify, eventually leading to a civil strife......

Why wouldn't Oryx want to convince King Jean Greymane to stand with Lordaeron against the coming evil, as he did to Salr?

But as he said, before he woke up, this "old wolf" was a complete bastard. Convince the "old wolf" at this time? It's better to let the orcs lay down their weapons and drown in the endless sea.

While the two were talking, the morning sun was rising. The brilliance of the morning sun paved the top of the tower with a golden coat.

Princess Galia Minahir also went to the top of the tower, but she did not disturb the two of them, but leaned against the door, smiled and admired the side face of Oryx, and gradually fell into a trance. Diagram of the Avenue of the Heavens