“.... The newly acquired 5,000 three-wheeled infantry motorcycles with spare parts cost a total of 500,000 points, the construction of a hydroelectric power station in the middle reaches of the Huoshui River cost another 1,000,000 points, and the daily ammunition consumption of the infantry training camp ....."

The elven elder with reading glasses raised his head from the ledger and said bitterly to King Elrond, "My king..... We're running out of money. ”

"What?" said King Elon as he stood up from his throne and asked, "What's the matter? Didn't I send someone to take out the treasure from the underground treasury and exchange it for it a few days ago?"

The elven elder stood up with a wry smile, spread out the ledger densely packed with numbers in front of King Elron's table, and said, "That's indeed a lot of money, but the expenses are even greater.

The scouts had news that Sauron's minions had crossed the mountains and were scurrying near the Great River of Andoin. When the settlements around Rivendell heard the news, they rushed over with their families.

In order to resettle our compatriots, we need to open up new open space and find more food sources....."

The elven elder pursed his lips and said in an astringent voice, "If we come and go like this, we will have no money." In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the inhabitants had donated their treasures and exchanged them for points from Mr. Anduin, Rivendell would have gone bankrupt by now..."

In order to fend off Sauron's threat, the elves drank to quench their thirst and consumed all that Anduin was peddling.

The original fragile production capacity of handmade products collapsed directly, and what old-fashioned textile clothing was defeated by warmer and lighter woolen sweaters and autumn pants, and exquisite long swords were worthless in the face of firearms.

If Anduin wasn't some businessman from an alien planet, but a black-hearted oligarch during the Industrial Revolution, I'm afraid that all the inhabitants of Rivendell would have become his workers by now, and their fate would be miserable and humble.

One counts as one, and healthy adult elves are placed on the assembly line to perform uninnovative mechanical labor, enduring pneumoconiosis, strangulation by machines, eighteen hours of labor, and low wages......

Maybe some bard will be inspired to write a book of "Les Miserables" or "Orphans of the Fog".

At this moment, Anduin was watching the flames burning in the fireplace, and the charred fruit wood emitted bursts of fragrance, rising from the chimney with smoke.

The house was located east of Rivendell, near the river, and was carved out by King Elon as Anduin's office.

More precisely, it should be a showroom for storing goods.

He'd made a lot of money just by scavenging around Rivendell. Even though elves are not as fond of gold, silver, and jewels as the dwarves, the wealth accumulated over the centuries is enough to eclipse the royal treasury of Gondor or Rohan.

Enthusiastic elven citizens stood in line outside Anduin's apartment with their treasured antiques and treasures.

The anti-Sauron national united front naturally needs the help of ordinary people, and every gun, every ammunition, and every barrel of oil in the righteous camp needs to pay the bill.

"Look at it, the ancient reliefs in good condition, depicting the story of the elves who migrated away from their homeland to the dwelling places of the gods during the First Age.

What? This is the mosaic tile that King Elon put on his bath? Then count him 100,000 yuan. ”

"The sword that participated in the First Age's war against the demon lord Malko at the time is intact, still sharp, and has the function of detecting whether there are evil creatures around it. It can be counted as two hundred thousand. ”

"Well, the painting drawn for me by an elf girl who is not yet 50 years old, although the brushwork is immature, but the color is quite bold, and the red and green gradient is almost flawless, and it looks quite a taste of the revival of the evil god. ”

Anduin put down the oil painting in his hand that was enough to cause visual pollution with a helpless face, looked at the elf little Lori who was not as high as the table, blinking with starry eyes, and full of anticipation, and sighed: "Count you 500,000 lines, right? You can already buy ten field guns." ”

"Oh yes!" little Lori, who was in her forties, spun around happily and proudly puffed out her chest to her parents next to her.

Groffindelle smiled at Anduin rather awkwardly and patted little Lori's father on the shoulder in a friendly manner, "Thank you very much for your contribution to the anti-Sauron National United Front. ”

"That's what every citizen should do. The elf man, who looked to be no more than 18 years old, nodded, and left silently with his family.

This kind of scene has been going on for half a month, and Anduin has to help all parties choose the right weapons in addition to taking care of every transaction.

Truth be told, the way of thinking of the leaders of Middle-earth is still stuck in horseback and slashing or large infantry phalanxes, even elves are no exception. Even if they get their hands on a powerful gun, they will only attack with the kind of standing stake propulsion that stands in a row.

In this regard, it was the younger elven rangers like Legolas who were more enlightened, and they strongly advocated the elimination of the original three-to-five squad system and the large army style of combat. Advocate a more granular hierarchy of command powers.

This approach has actually begun to move towards the modernization of military power, but there are still many Elven Elders who are either antiquity, or cautious (sometimes without any difference between the two), and refuse to make such a change.

In their opinion, only an impregnable formation could destroy the enemy's defenses while preserving themselves from damage.

If it weren't for King Elron's decision to appoint Groffindelle to preside over the construction of a new type of army, Anduin would have seen rows of elven soldiers blowing horns and striding towards the Lickers with M16s.....

Thinking of this, Anduin couldn't help but glance at Glorffindelle standing next to him, this old elf who had lived for an unknown amount of time turned out to be the first person in this world to propose the concept of "depth of firepower".

"Use terrain such as trenches to limit the enemy's advance, use heavy machine-gun fire to embed anchors like nails in the front line, and arrange for lightly armed rifle soldiers to guard all sides. Layer by layer, forming a ubiquitous network of firepower. ”

Thinking of the troop manual issued by Groffindelle a few days ago, Anduin couldn't help but grin, it feels quite cool to have this kind of teammate with an IQ to keep up, at least he doesn't need to be thorough and teach these medieval old hats how to fight like a nurse.

By the way, the Gray Mountain Dwarves have filmed quite a few representatives coming over, ready to talk in detail about the production of artillery. Since the drivers trained by Jin Pi and the driving school half a month ago returned to Gray Mountain in Humvees with a large number of artillery and gun drawings, the dwarves couldn't sit still.

At first, they wanted to imitate artillery, but even the simplest Tiger Squat Cannon was not something that a dwarf without technical accumulation could make - the gunpowder grinding part alone killed a large number of craftsmen, not to mention the problem of too many bubbles in the barrel and easy to explode.....

As a result, the dwarves who were interested in the new weapons sent the Golden Bolt back to Rivendell with a group of younger, more active-minded dwarven boys to learn about the construction of a new army.

As for the humans, Boromir had already invited Anduin to Gondor on more than one occasion to trade on a larger scale.

However, the goblin merchant, who had a deep understanding of the nature of two-legged beast urine, naturally did not agree, "I will ask Legolas and Golden Thunderbolt to help you train infantry and artillery, and Raven's driving school will also drive a truck to bring food and grass to Gondor." ”

To Boromir's unwilling eyes, Anduin replied with a smile, "Are you sure that if I go there in person, there will be no one in the kingdom of Gondor who will have evil intentions?"

You know, the whole family of Rivendell has almost emptied their money and mortgaged it to me in exchange for weapons and equipment. The dwarves also took out the treasures in the Gray Mountain, and exchanged them for a large number of mechanical drawings that can be said to be the basis of industry.

Only the humans, whether it was Gondor or Rohan, hesitated, and the three melons and two dates on the messenger sent were sent to call Hanako?

If you don't have enough awareness, it's better not to make this kind of transaction. ”

Boromir retreated, begging Gandalf to accompany him to the capital of Gondor to explain the situation, and sent letters to Gondor letter by letter, signaling his father to realize that the situation had become extraordinary.

"This goblin merchant named Anduin, any of his commodities is of epoch-making significance. I've seen the elves burst into energy in a short period of time, and I've seen the dwarves pour their passion into steel — I mean rumbling machinery, not anvils next to fires. ”

"Humanity, or Gondor, if it cannot get rid of distractions and grasp the tail of the times, will only lose a defeat or even become extinct in the war that is imminent. ”

In the candlelight, Boromir sealed the letterhead in red stamp, looked out the window at the chirping sparrows on the telephone pole, and sighed.