Southshore is a good place, conveniently located with a combination of river and sea transport. It's built at the mouth of the Thondroril River, with river transport running through the entire Hillsbrad and Westweald regions of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, connecting north and south.
The Westweald region is what would later become the Western Plaguelands, while the Eastern Plaguelands are currently called the Eastweald.
The Kingdom of Lordaeron is the strongest of the seven human kingdoms, largely because it possesses the wealthy Weald region.
Especially the Eastweald region, which is the heart of the entire kingdom, Lordaeron's breadbasket, and the nobles who live in this region are all filthy rich.
The capital of Eastweald is Stratholme, and the paladin class first appeared in Azeroth in the chapels of Stratholme. This famous and prosperous city was ultimately destroyed by Arthas, the bastard son, in the Culling of Stratholme.
Galen' thoughts drifted again as he looked at the various ships shuttling through the port of Southshore, feeling that this place was simply blessed. The delta formed by the river flowing into the sea was a natural harbor, easily developed into a large town.
Moreover, the scenery of Southshore is indeed excellent. In his previous life, Galen often ran to Southshore to fish in the game. It wasn't until the Forsaken of the Horde besieged Southshore, using biochemical plague bombs, that Southshore was turned into a ruin flowing with green liquid.
Before it was destroyed, this seaside town of Southshore was very pleasant. Whenever it drizzled, sitting on the wooden pier, blowing the sea breeze, and fishing, although someone would occasionally give you a Cheap Shot skill, followed by a combo attack.
If such a seaside town existed in reality, it would definitely be a popular tourist attraction, no less than various coastal cities.
Galen' sightseeing was secondary. His purpose was to recruit an excellent talent in Southshore, the future mayor of Southshore: Haynie Harbaugh.
Speaking of Haynie Harbaugh, he is unlike Lightbringer or Ashbringer, heroic figures who are renowned in world-class events and have earned these titles. For nearly thirty years in the future, he could only be considered unremarkable.
During his leveling period in his previous life, Galen took on many quests from him, and Mayor Harbaugh contributed a lot of rewards to Galen.
From the quests, he knew that he was an important figure that the Syndicate thieves and the undead wanted to get rid of quickly, but he was able to evade assassination and live well, which also showed his extraordinary qualities.
He originally thought that he was just an important plot character in the World of Warcraft, usually issuing some quests to help the million-strong Grand Lords enhance their strength as elite NPCs.
It wasn't until the Cataclysm that he emerged and amazed everyone.
The world-destroying dragon Deathwing unleashed earthquakes, tsunamis, and other cataclysms around the world, even soloing Stormwind City, the human capital at the time. Under the leadership of Mayor Harbaugh, Southshore avoided the unannounced Cataclysm tsunami, without causing too many casualties.
After the Cataclysm, when the Forsaken wanted to completely rule the Hillsbrad region, it was Mayor Harbaugh again who led the residents of Southshore to withstand the undead's attack. The undead finally had no choice but to use biochemical weapons on a large scale, and the plague gas forced Mayor Harbaugh to flee.
Afterward, he did not retreat to the Arathi Highlands to request support, but directly led all the citizens of Southshore across Tarren Mill, which was under undead rule, then through the Syndicate-controlled territory, and then through the ruins of the ogre-controlled Alterac Mountains, finally reaching Fenris Isle, behind the Forsaken's undead base.
He eliminated the undead and gnolls on Fenris Isle, and then formed a rebel army to fight against the undead of Undercity. At this rate, Lordaeron would have been recovered by the Southshore militia, directly fulfilling Galen' ambition to recover the royal city of Lordaeron.
Galen guessed that he should have been almost fifty years old at that time, a true Azerothian late bloomer!
At this point in time, Haynie Harbaugh is still a young man. Galen had previously arranged for people to come to Southshore to inquire about his news. In Southshore, a port city with a resident population of only over 10,000, but a daily floating population of nearly 100,000, and nearly a thousand ships, it took the scouts two months to find this person.
Based on his previous life's experience, Galen had always thought that Harbaugh was a Southshore native, so the scouts searched the entire town based on this information and found nothing.
Until half a month ago, a young man came to Southshore to visit relatives and play, said to be the nephew of the old mayor's wife.
So Galen received the information reported by the scouts and found the target. Finding Harbaugh's whereabouts was also one of the reasons why Galen decided to postpone the capture of the Stillpine Hold, taking this opportunity to recruit the future god of war.
After entering Southshore, Galen didn't bother to enjoy the seaside scenery, but directly announced his name and visited the old mayor.
In the old mayor's house, Galen met the future god of war, Haynie Harbaugh, who looked about twenty years old at this time, about the same age as Varrokal, with a face full of youthfulness.
The old mayor was flattered to learn that the prince of the Kingdom of Stromgarde had come to visit. Although Southshore is considered a large port in southern Lordaeron, the people he comes into contact with every day are mixed, from noble children to peddlers, but he has never met members of the royal families of various countries.
Galen pretended to want to order a batch of sailing ships from the Southshore shipyard, and because he didn't know anything about sailing ships, he specially came to visit the old mayor.
Then Galen and the old mayor discussed with each other. Galen was barely able to agree with the old mayor with his shallow maritime knowledge from his previous life.
The old mayor already looked old, and his teeth had begun to leak air. With the god of war's own qualifications, it shouldn't be difficult to gain the recognition of the people of Southshore in a short period of time and take over the position of the old mayor.
However, Galen felt that the mayor of a port town was not the path for the future god of war. Although the Hillsbrad region later belonged to the Alliance and the Horde's contested territory, it was far from the center of the major events in Azeroth. When the Scourge broke out, the disaster areas were in the Weald region and Tirisfal Glades, and there was only a detachment of the Scourge here, and they were still heading for the Arathi Highlands.
A person's growth is inseparable from experience. If Harbaugh stays in Southshore, he will at most deal with the low-level forces such as the Murlocs, Gnolls, and the Syndicate. If he gives him a bigger stage, his future achievements will definitely be worthy of being called a true god of war.
Galen seemed to be talking happily with the old mayor, but his attention was always on the young man who was serving tea and water next to him.
He had golden hair, which was similar to Varrokal. He was also young and full of vigor. However, Varrokal had been under Galen for many years, and Galen had even taught him and Omar some superficial tactics from Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
Varrokal had also been on the battlefield and experienced it, and he had more iron and calmness than the current young and inexperienced god of war.
Seeing that the topic was coming to an end, Galen casually asked:
Mayor, this young man is shrewd and capable, and he doesn't look weak. Is he your son?