Yu Lin Bloodhawk relaxed once he had figured out the key issue. He did not think asking the Alliance for some prisoners of war would be much trouble; he would simply have to offer a little more in return. During wartime, almost everything of value came down to two things: food and weapons. Those happened to be the two things The Hinterlands had in the greatest abundance. Yu Lin Bloodhawk was not at all afraid that the Alliance would demand an exorbitant price. That little markup was nothing compared with the projects he could build with the manpower he so urgently needed.
Besides, in the original history, the Human Kingdoms had argued endlessly over the prisoner camps. Why had they argued? However complicated an issue seemed, once the falsehoods were stripped away and everything was reduced to its essentials, wasn't money all that remained? Sentiment had no place in disputes between nations. The simple truth was that every kingdom had been ravaged by the war, and the Kingdom of Stormwind and the Kingdom of Arathi had practically had to start again from scratch. Their people were going hungry. How could they spare so much to support the orc prisoners of war held in the Kingdom of Lordaeron?
Yet The Hinterlands lacked none of those resources. Perhaps the Alliance would even applaud and gladly hand the prisoners over when he asked. Besides, the Quel'Danil Council of The Hinterlands had done them a favor by repatriating the refugees-a full hundred thousand and more healthy, lively humans. Those people would be a great help in rebuilding the kingdoms after the war. Surely over a hundred thousand healthy people could be exchanged for ten or twenty thousand orc prisoners of war?
Yu Lin Bloodhawk stopped dwelling on the manpower problem. As he walked, he