The intensity of the war in the two years since the Dark Portal was unprecedented.
Although commanders with foresight could see the decline of the Horde, the Alliance, on several battlefields and in a defensive position, seemed to be in a precarious state.
In the southernmost Ironforge, the Bronzebeard dwarves were under a new strategy from Kilrogg Deadeye of the Bleeding Hollow clan. He began to arm the peons, who were worthless in the eyes of the Horde, with armor made from iron ore, and bled the dwarves dry through attrition.
In the southeast of the Eastern Kingdoms, almost all of Arathi Highlands had fallen, and Stromgarde seemed on the brink of collapse. The Horde had brought in a large number of new warriors and peons through the Dark Portal.
Rend Blackhand finally had a smart idea. He gave up on the strong attack on Stromgarde and instead had the peons dig into the mountain.
Stromgarde is located on the largest hill in Arathi Highlands. Except for a few places, most of the mountain roads leading to Stromgarde have a slope of more than 45 degrees. This is truly a place that is easy to defend and hard to attack.
But digging into the mountain was Stromgarde's Achilles' heel.
Without the support of the earth, the ground in the outer city of Stromgarde began to collapse. The sinking ground spread out in all directions, causing houses to topple over in large areas. A large amount of debris formed a landslide, falling to the foot of the mountain.
The only consolation was that Stromgarde, as the former capital of the Arathor Empire, had top-tier defenses in the entire continent and even the world. From inside to outside, there were a total of five city walls. Even if the outermost wall collapsed now, there were still four walls left.
According to this progress, Stromgarde could hold on for about half a year.
At Thoradin's wall, located between Arathi Highlands and Hillsbrad Foothills, the Horde's offensive was very fierce. Regardless of the quality of the troops, the Horde had brought over two hundred thousand people.
Under the repeated impact of various newly built large and hard siege weapons, General Abidis of Lordaeron was a bit overwhelmed. Now, the allied forces of Lordaeron, Stormwind, and Alterac were defending Thoradin's wall.
Further north, near the holy city of Stratholme, Duke was confronting an unknown number of Horde forces at Northgate Tower, now Northgate Fortress.
Duke was not sure whether Orgrim's main force was right in front of him. But Duke had no way to confirm. Because the place where the Horde's large army was located was Zul'Mashar, which had always been the territory of the Mossflayer trolls. Duke didn't know how Orgrim convinced the remaining Mossflayer trolls to join the Horde.
Anyway, the Horde there now had trolls, ogres, Gronn, and a large number of Red Dragon riders.
The presence of a large number of elite Horde troops there made even Duke's probing attacks suffer heavy losses.
Duke asked Kurdran to do a reconnaissance flight, which turned into a large-scale air battle that fought until the sky was dark. The Alliance lost nearly three hundred gryphons. Of course, the Horde also suffered, with over 100 red dragons killed.
In this way, the Alliance was in a very passive defensive position on almost all fronts. Every day, lives were disappearing at a rate like a dam bursting.
Requests for help from the front line flew like snowflakes to the two Alliance commanders. In fact, the war between the Alliance and the Horde had reached a point where it was like two ferocious beasts, wildly tearing at each other, constantly inflicting wounds.
Now it wasn't about who could deliver a fatal blow to the other, but who could hold out longer. Whoever stood last on the dueling platform would be the victor.
Whether it was Anduin or Duke, they were both at their wits' end, yet they had to appease the various kings. Duke didn't have a magic lamp to conjure up millions of troops.
For King Thoras Trollbane of Stromgarde's request for help, Duke, like squeezing toothpaste, managed to get Daelin to give a little, and through the secret passage on the coast of Stromgarde, sent several seven-pound cannons originally used on warships to Stromgarde.
These seven-pound cannons greatly enhanced the defense of Stromgarde, at least against the Gronn, it wasn't so vulnerable.
As for King Aiden of Alterac, Duke looked down on him. What's the meaning of sending ten letters for help every day when the Horde hasn't even reached your borders?
Actually, Duke understood that after King Terenas forced several lords to bring their mediocre private soldiers to Duke's command, Duke had completed his defense in the 'Eastern Plaguelands' of the future.
And the further west you go, the more densely populated the area, the stronger the defense of the Kingdom of Lordaeron. Unless Orgrim's fifty thousand men could truly overcome all obstacles, his breakthrough of the entire Eastern and Western Plaguelands, crossing a distance of a thousand kilometers, and reaching the Lordaeron royal city located in the center of Tirisfal Glades, would only be a joke.
Of course, Orgrim could also hope for Grom Hellscream to break out, suddenly using the trapped Horde to break through the defense line set up by the main force of Lordaeron along the northern part of Silverpine Forest, and reach Lordaeron.
On the march map, no one could imagine how the Horde could reach the royal city of Lordaeron. But there is actually a third way. That is to return to Hinterlands, go west through Plaguemist Ravine and Chillwind Camp, cross the Alterac Mountains, and reach the city of Lordaeron.
Looking at this route, Duke was stunned for a long time.
He eventually called over Jandice, handed her a letter he had written earlier, and said, "Take this letter to your father in Caer Darrow. Gavinrad will accompany you. Remember, you are now the aide to the deputy commander of the Alliance. If you are detained... if necessary, I will personally lead the army to get you back."
Jandice was completely dumbfounded. What did Duke mean?
After Duke pulled Jandice over and whispered a few words in her ear, the lady of the Barov family, who always seemed unflappable, fell into the deepest fear for the first time in her life.
"Don't worry, since I've foreseen it, it's just a precaution."
"A precaution...?" Jandice's lips were still pale.
"Yes! You don't have to worry, if it really happens, I also have a way to turn the situation around."
July 13, 2 years after the Dark Portal.
Near Chillwind Camp, Warchief Orgrim, accompanied by his bodyguards, slowly climbed down a small mountain path into the valley below.
It was late at night, a time when most people were already asleep.
Orgrim also hated the lack of sleep, which made him irritable and his mind not clear.
Unfortunately, there was an urgent matter waiting for him.
Two tall and slender figures appeared in front of Orgrim, startling his bodyguards. He quickly realized they were the troll scouts he had sent out.
In terms of scouting, agile trolls were obviously better than the clumsy and rude orcs. So when Orgrim found that there were other trolls in Zul'Mashar who were unwilling to follow Zul'jin and could be recruited with some food, Orgrim recruited over a thousand Mossflayer trolls without hesitation.
"Great Chieftain, we've found the target," the troll scout said.