The Saro Basin sinking into the sea caused Darkmoon City to lose its farms.
Before Garrosh arrived, they relied on bread made by Mages, game from Dustwallow Marsh, and fish caught from the ruins in the sea. Later, the Mages suffered from magic addiction, and they didn't even have bread to eat.
Duke Moon Rage gathered some people and opened farms along the foothills. These farm lands were barren, but at least they could grow grain. By autumn, the food crisis was significantly alleviated.
After three years of hardship, many people couldn't bear it anymore.
The arrival of the Shadowsong Fleet gave Duke Moon Rage hope for resolving the food crisis. Garrosh led the fleet to survey the area around Darkmoon City and quickly discovered a fertile piece of land near Alpha Fortress.
This land belonged to the Corridor Woodlands, most of which had sunk into the sea. Only the area near Alpha Fortress survived due to magical protection.
According to Gale's plan, Northrend was allocated to Darkmoon City's economic sphere. Although Alpha Fortress still belonged to the Kaldorei Empire, it had lost its original purpose and could be transformed into a port specifically for growing food to support Darkmoon City.
Of course, Alpha Fortress was not entirely useless; it was very close to Dragonblight, and the facilities within the fortress were still functional, allowing it to serve as an eye to monitor Dragonblight.
According to the alliance agreement between Gale and the Guardian Dragon, both sides had an obligation to supervise each other.
Gale directly allocated a valley in Aszuna to the Blue Dragon, allowing them to monitor Nordrassil from close by. The Kaldorei Empire could naturally also use Alpha Fortress to supervise Dragonblight.
Therefore, Garrosh dispatched a warship to return to Nordrassil with the message.
Gale was also surprised when he received the message.
During the War of the Ancients, the garrison of Alpha Fortress had withdrawn. When the Well of Eternity exploded, the reconnaissance outposts around the fortress failed, and Gale had thought that Alpha Fortress had also sunk into the sea!
After all, in the original history, the location of Alpha Fortress was the sea.
However, since Alpha Fortress was still preserved, it should be utilized. He strongly agreed with Garrosh's idea, but currently, there was a shortage of personnel and it was difficult to arrange.
Alpha Fortress was close to the Drakkari Troll territory, so a powerful Mage was needed to guard it.
Gale thought for a moment and wrote a letter to Mejia.
A few days later, a team of Liches arrived in Nordrassil. The two leading Liches were a married couple, Elder Aedes and Lady Erythea.
Both of them were Archmages no weaker than Delyana, and after their resurrection, they were Liches with demigod-level strength. They were not only powerful but also experienced, serving as highly valued advisors to Prince Farodis.
Gale also trusted them; he had many interactions with them during his time in Nathalass and had a certain understanding of them.
The only concern was their strong loyalty to Farodis.
However, after talking with them, Gale found that they seemed to have a sense of disillusionment with the world.
Many Liches had this feeling, possibly as an aftereffect of their resurrection. These Liches regarded life and death very seriously and did not wish to exist in their Lich state.
The key was that Liches looked too ugly!
Unfortunately, without a phylactery, they couldn't even commit suicide. So, many Liches just resigned themselves to their fate, doing whatever they were told.
Such passive emotions were certainly not right. But Gale couldn't concern himself with that much; who else was he going to use when he was short on people?
The warship brought this team of Liches back to Alpha Fortress, and Garrosh immediately had them take up residence.
Elder Aedes was in charge of monitoring Dragonblight and also responsible for the defense of Alpha Fortress, trying to avoid provoking the Drakkari Troll. Lady Erythea, on the other hand, was responsible for building the port and developing the farms.
The port didn't need to be large, just big enough to accommodate cruisers.
Even if a trade route to Grizzly Hills was opened in the future, expansion wouldn't be necessary. Garrosh had already checked; the river leading to Grizzly Hills could only allow cruisers through, and battleships couldn't even enter the river mouth.
The explosion of the Well of Eternity tore apart the land, causing the continental shelf to shift. Originally, Alpha Fortress was only adjacent to Dragonblight, but now it was closer to Grizzly Hills. Its location, along with the river mouths leading to Zul'Drak and Grizzly Hills, was within a single bay, which greatly enhanced Alpha Fortress's military importance.
By holding this position, the Drakkari Troll's ambitions to expand seaward from southern Northrend could be stifled.
Although this was just Garrosh's wishful thinking, in original history, the Drakkari Troll had no intention of developing seaward at all. But this wishful thinking represented a forward-looking strategic vision; even if the Drakkari Troll didn't recognize the advantages of the sea, this strategy still had to be implemented.
Otherwise, if the Drakkari Troll suddenly had an epiphany, it would be too late to set up defenses.
For this strategic deployment, Garrosh also built a Beta Port on the opposite bank in Dustwallow Marsh to berth warships.
Alpha Port and Beta Port formed a gateway, firmly blocking the exit of the bay. The Kaldorei called them Twin Ports, and the place originally known as Fjord Bay in history was also called Twin Bay by the Kaldorei.
While Twin Bay was under construction, Garrosh transferred to a cruiser and entered the river leading to Grizzly Hills.
He was entrusted by Gale to visit the two demigods, Ursol and Ursoc. At the same time, he was to reach an agreement with the two demigods for mutual exchange of envoys, strengthen bilateral relations, open trade routes, and facilitate mutual exchange of goods.
For Darkmoon City to develop, Grizzly Hills was an unavoidable hurdle.
Fortunately, the two demigods were amenable; they not only agreed to exchange envoys but also to open trade routes. Since the Bearman were not skilled in seafaring, Darkmoon City would dispatch the ships.
Ursol also suggested that the Kaldorei Empire help the Bearman establish a passenger shipping route connecting Grizzly Hills and Dreamgrove. The Bearman in the two regions were too far apart, leading to poor communication. Over time, they would become very estranged.
Garrosh readily agreed; this was another profitable project. There were over a hundred thousand Bearman in the two regions, and with mutual movement, there would be at least ten thousand passenger trips per year. Charging 10 silver coins per trip would amount to one thousand gold coins.
A single ship with an annual turnover of one thousand gold coins, after deducting labor and other expenses, could earn at least half of that, enough to purchase ten unarmed cruisers.
After the new alliance was formed, Garrosh returned to Alpha Port.
As soon as he exited the river mouth, he saw a fleet in the bay attacking the Shadowsong Fleet.
Garrosh immediately ordered the Mages to conduct reconnaissance, and the Mages quickly projected the situation on the battlefield. The ships fighting the Shadowsong Fleet were primitive cruisers, or Vrykul ships. The Vrykul ships, piloted by Vrykul, constantly approached the fleet, attempting to engage in boarding combat.
"Where did these Vrykul come from?"
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