Yea, had it not been for the war which broke out among ourselves; yea, were it not for these king-men, who caused so much bloodshed among ourselves; … yea, if we had gone forth against them in the strength of the Lord, we should have dispersed our enemies.
Alma 60:16
Why is he talking about the king-men? Pahoran can’t send help due to the king-men, but how would Moroni know that? Well, he doesn’t. But why mention them then? He’s reminding Pahoran of the last time the king-men attacked. He’s saying “the Lord gave us these afflictions because we were fighting amongst ourselves. If we weren’t busy fighting the king-men, we could have overpowered the Lamanites before they took any of our lands.” What he doesn’t know is that the king-men came back while they were gone, and Pahoran has no control over anything anymore.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/60?lang=eng&verse=#p