As early as several hundred years ago, scouts from the Shen'dralar had clashed with the Sandfury Trolls. Ultimately, a proactive withdrawal by the Shen'dralar had brought a temporary halt to the dispute.
However, the irreconcilable conflict between Trolls and Night Elves would not simply vanish because of such a gesture.
Andreas had long been looking for an opportunity to teach these Sandfury Trolls a lesson. But since the core territories of the Night Elves remained in the northern part of the continent, relying solely on the military strength of the Shen'dralar would likely not be enough to gain a decisive upper hand in an all-out war against the Sandfury.
Trolls are a short-lived species. Aside from a few extraordinary individuals who use special methods to extend their lifespans, their life cycle rarely exceeds 150 years.
While short-lived species cannot compete with long-lived ones in terms of individual power accumulation, they possess an inherent advantage: fertility rate.
At the end of the War of the Ancients, the total population of the Night Elf race was recorded at 35 million, most of whom were concentrated in northern Kalimdor.
The only large-scale settlement in the southern part of the continent was the former Hidden City, Eldre'Thalas.
Compared to when contact was first established with Eldre'Thalas, the population of this southern stronghold had not grown significantly, only increasing from 1.3 million to 1.5 million over several centuries.
This despair-inducing population growth rate had long left Andreas speechless. Although he had tried various methods to encourage breeding, innate biological limitations were difficult to overcome by human intervention.
As the reputation of Moonshadow's Rest grew louder, this coastal city gradually became the preferred choice for Night Elf immigrants who yearned for a prosperous urban life.
Today, the population of Moonshadow's Rest has reached 2.2 million, but the natural population growth over the past 100 years has only been about 100,000. This was already the result of Andreas exhausting every possible method to encourage births; the rest were existing populations that had migrated from other regions.
Fortunately, due to their harsh living environment, the Sandfury Trolls—though having many births each year—suffered from an equally high mortality rate.
The rogue scouts led by Prisim had begun secretly infiltrating the areas around Zul'Farrak to gather intelligence thirty years ago.
By now, Andreas had a very intuitive understanding of the Sandfury Trolls.
The total population of the Sandfury Trolls is approximately 1.5 million, with most residing near the water sources around Zul'Farrak.
Water is the most critical source of life in the desert. The Sandfury Trolls occupied over 70% of the water sources in Tanaris, making them the undisputed overlords of this vast desert.
To solve the water issue, Andreas specifically established a small village near the southeastern coastline of Dustwallow Marsh.
Relying on the abundant freshwater resources there, the naval forces from Storm Port built a major military stronghold—Moonsea Town—on the eastern coastline of Tanaris, located roughly where the later Steamwheedle Port (which might no longer exist) would have been.
The return of Night Elves into Tanaris left the Sandfury Trolls infuriated. Furthermore, this was not a mere exploration as before; the opposing side clearly intended to take root here long-term.
The Sandtop Chieftain of Zul'Farrak immediately issued an order, sending a vanguard force to launch an attack on the "purple-skinned freaks" who dared to invade their sacred territory.
Without naval supremacy, blindly charging a coastal military stronghold was undoubtedly a foolish decision.
The ships of the Second Naval Fleet docked at Moonsea Town gave the invading Trolls their first lesson in "firepower saturation."
Facing this type of long-range attack that caused small-scale explosions for the first time, the Sandfury vanguard fled in panic, leaving behind several hundred corpses. With this victory, Moonsea Town officially established a firm foothold in Tanaris.
As it was the first time the Night Elves had truly entered a desert region, the Tanaris Expeditionary Force still needed time to adapt to the harsh living environment to avoid poor performance during combat.
Fortunately, with an ample supply of freshwater transported from Dustwallow Marsh, the living standards of the Night Elves in Moonsea Town were far better than those of the Sandfury Trolls, who guarded only a few small water sources.
The Sandfury Trolls were originally part of the Gurubashi Empire, and their skin should have been blue-grey like that of Jungle Trolls.
However, countless years of desert life had changed their appearance. Today's Sandfury Trolls possess bronze-colored skin.
Because of the long-term exposure to dry desert winds and the lack of water, their skin surfaces show very prominent signs of cracking.
Since the Sundering, the regular military of the Night Elves had engaged in a head-on battle with Trolls for the first time. Even Tyrande, who was overwhelmed with appeasing the citizens in the capital, spared considerable attention to watch the situation on the front lines.
Regardless of internal affairs, Tyrande remained very reliable when facing foreign enemies.
As the ancestral enemies of the Night Elves, the two sides had forged an unresolvable hatred thousands of years ago.
Although they had endured a brutal war with demons, the army of Moonshadow's Rest still contained a portion of veterans who had participated in the Troll Wars of old.
Under the guidance and example of these veterans, the Tanaris Expeditionary Force took the initiative to strike after gradually acclimating to the desert climate.
The Sandfury Trolls are only a small tribe within the global Troll hierarchy of Azeroth, but through fighting them, the Night Elves would at least avoid being caught off guard when facing other types of Trolls in the future.
Seeing that the Night Elves had moved beyond the protective range of the naval guns, the Sandfury Trolls immediately sent out their second wave—their main force. A fierce battle erupted in the Eastmoon Ruins area in the northeastern part of the desert.
Although they lost the cover of naval guns, the 60mm portable mortars carried by the expeditionary force still caused massive trouble for the Sandfury Trolls. Organized musketeer units were also deployed in actual combat for the first time.
Taking into account the Trolls' powerful self-healing abilities, Andreas had intentionally chosen toxic lead bullets.
As it turned out, his choice played a significant role.
Unless struck in a vital spot, a Troll wouldn't be in life-threatening danger even if shot; instead, they could quickly regain combat effectiveness thanks to their regeneration.
However, the toxic lead bullets embedded in their bodies significantly slowed the Trolls' recovery rate, effectively curbing the Trolls' greatest advantage.
Despite the fearless Trolls launching multiple consecutive attacks, the coordination of guns and artillery, combined with the efforts of soldiers from other combat disciplines, ultimately forced the Sandfury Trolls to retreat temporarily under the order of the Sandtop Chieftain.
From then on, the Eastmoon Ruins became the Night Elves' first forward base in Tanaris. The logistics units of the expeditionary force, having secured their foothold, also began the formal mining of nearby Mithril veins.
...
In the Equipment Research Department of Moonshadow's Rest, Andreas looked with interest at the slightly yellowish, milky-white ore on the table.
"Is this the Mithril ore?"
Alan, the Director of the Weapon Research Department, nodded. "Yes. During the era of the Night Empire, this ore was used extensively to manufacture Arcane constructs and enchanted equipment. Its ductility and mana-conductivity are exceptional; it is typically used in conjunction with Thorium ore."
The mineral locations from Andreas's previous life could not be used as a reference. The minerals in Kalimdor were not distributed according to the level-scaling maps seen in the game.
He hadn't found Thorium in Winterspring; instead, the natural mining grounds of Stonetalon Mountains had a small output.
Similarly, Feralas had no Mithril but instead had a vast amount of Copper. Andreas had once thought that all Mithril production had been allocated to the Eastern Kingdoms, but he hadn't expected to find such a surprise in the Tanaris desert.