Chapter 101: Successfully Persuading Thorin

Thorin, with his arms wide open, smiled and embraced Bilbo Baggins, then nodded in greeting to his other two friends, Allen and Gandalf.

In any case, among these three, the relationship between Thorin and Bilbo Baggins was the best; besides, since the other two fellows were too tall, Thorin did not really want to make his friends crouch down just to accommodate him for a hug.

He said enthusiastically: "Allen, I must say, you have arrived quite late; you know, the ceremony will begin in just a few days, and I have been worried that you might not make it."

Allen looked at the happy Thorin, wondering in his heart whether he should immediately inform this Dwarf friend, who was about to become King, about the matter of the Easterlings.

Subsequently, Allen decided it would be better to choose a more tactful approach, and he also smiled and said: "Thorin, you know, it is quite a distance from Wilderness Town to here; if I hadn't already been here once, I likely would have gotten lost on the vast wilderness."

Upon hearing this, Thorin seemed to think of something, and a look of reminiscence appeared in his eyes.

However, at this moment, Allen changed the subject and continued: "However, I ran into your kinsmen from the Blacklocks and the Stonefoots on the road; have you seen them yet?"

Thorin, having returned to his throne, felt a bit strange, not knowing why Allen would suddenly bring up his kin from the Far East, but he still answered the question.

"Oh? Dwalin reported their arrival to me earlier, and I have already arranged for Kili and Fili to receive them. I will officially meet them at the banquet later; why? Do you want to meet them? I can introduce you."

Thorin believed that his human friend wanted to establish more diplomatic relations, and Thorin was very happy to be of service to Allen in such matters.

Allen shook his head, the expression on his face becoming slightly grave, and he said: "In fact, these kinsmen of yours have brought me some rather bad news. As for what news, I believe you will also learn of it soon. It is just that, before that, I would like to speak with you privately; can you spare a little time, Thorin?"

The closer it got to the coronation ceremony, the busier Thorin became. He was not like Allen, who had no interest in such matters; Thorin personally participated in every aspect of the ceremony held at the Lonely Mountain, large or small, as he strove to do his best and leave a deep impression on the clansmen, friends, and allies attending the ceremony.

But even so, Thorin still met with Allen and the others immediately while discussing matters, and at this moment, he did not intend to refuse Allen's request.

Because Thorin knew that this human friend of his would never do anything without meaning.

Just as Thorin was about to agree, Fili walked in. This young Dwarf, who had lost his left arm while pursuing Azog, no longer had the liveliness and naivety he had at Bag End, nor the playfulness he had when he and Kili were scaring Bilbo Baggins in the camp.

His calm eyes revealed resilience; it must be said that losing his left arm and becoming the heir apparent to the King of Durin's Folk had changed Fili's temperament a great deal.

Having approached the group, Fili greeted everyone present with a serious expression, his demeanor already showing a hint of Thorin's style.

Allen could be certain that, in time, Fili would become a qualified Dwarf King, though whether Allen would live to see that day was an unknown.

"Your Majesty, the envoy from the Woodland Realm, Legolas, son of Thranduil, has arrived. Do you wish to see him?"

In fact, Legolas had parted ways with Allen after seeing the merchants from Dorwinion. Ever since the former Town Mayor of Long Lake Town followed Allen to Wilderness Town, the Dorwinion wine that had remained in Long Lake Town had gone to Wilderness Town along with Stephen.

After tasting it, Allen had kept this considerable amount of delicious wine in his own small treasury for banquets or entertaining distinguished guests. After nearly half a year of consumption by the Woodland Realm, this fine wine produced in Dorwinion was nearly exhausted, and now that he had finally seen the merchant, Legolas had immediately gone over to strike up a deal.

It must be said that both father and son had a habit of being fond of fine wine.

Now, the Dorwinion merchant had changed his route to head toward the Woodland Realm, and Legolas, having negotiated everything with the humans, had arrived at the Lonely Mountain a step behind Allen.

But this Elf Prince received treatment from Thorin that was completely different from Allen's. Thorin waved his hand and said: "Fili, go and arrange for these Elves to stay first; I will see them when the banquet begins."

After Fili left, Thorin looked back at Allen and said: "Allen, you said just now that you wanted to speak with me privately; no problem, come with me. However, you don't mind if I bring Dáin and Balin, do you?"

Thorin looked at Allen's expression and knew that he must have something important to discuss. Dáin and Balin were his important right-hand men and subordinates who could give him excellent advice on most matters; he needed these two Dwarves to stand by his side.

Every time Thorin recalled the various events of the expedition, he always felt that Allen could overwhelm him in momentum during every conversation, forcing him to adopt his suggestions.

Although Thorin also knew that Allen did it all for the success of the expedition, the feeling of being at a disadvantage was not pleasant, so even though his friendship with Allen was already very deep, Thorin was not very willing to discuss important matters with Allen alone.

At this time, Gandalf also stepped forward and added: "If you don't mind, I would also like to participate; may I?"

Bilbo Baggins did not know what was to be discussed, but being curious, he also nodded frantically on the side, indicating that he wanted to participate as well.

Thorin looked at Allen; after all, this meeting was initiated by Allen, and whether to let Dáin, Balin, Gandalf, and Bilbo participate required Allen's consent.

Originally, Allen wanted to talk to Thorin alone about forming an alliance with the Elves. Since he could not guarantee that Thorin would agree, Allen felt that he and Thorin would inevitably have to argue about it, and he had some confidence in that regard.

It was just that if there were others present, Allen did not intend to do so, because it would easily be counterproductive. The current Thorin was no longer that down-and-out Dwarf Prince; he had become the King of Durin's Folk.

Whether as a friend or an ally, Allen had to maintain Thorin's dignity in front of his subordinates, otherwise, it would easily hurt the friendship between the two.

Now, the number of people participating in this discussion had increased, and Allen could only change his approach to discuss with Thorin.

Helpless, he nodded and said: "No problem."

Having received the answer, Thorin instructed his ministers: "Let the ceremony matters proceed as we just discussed; as for other issues, we will talk after the banquet ends."

As the many Dwarves left, Allen's party also arrived at Thorin's reception room and sat down on both sides of the stone table. Without waiting for Thorin to speak, Allen said directly with a grave face: "Thorin, the war is about to begin again."

The Dwarves, who had been full of smiles, were stunned by Allen's words. They knew that Allen would not joke about such things, and the expressions on their faces gradually became serious.

Thorin, who had always trusted Allen, did not say any words of rebuttal or doubt, but exchanged glances with the two Dwarves beside him, then signaled for Allen to continue.

"Please wait for me for a moment, everyone."

As he spoke, Allen picked up the paper and pen on the table and, based on his memory, simply drew a map of Rhovanion and parts of Mordor and Gondor, while very carefully marking the locations of various forces.

On the way to the Lonely Mountain, Allen had made many speculations about Sauron's next moves. He was prepared to explain his thoughts in detail to the three Dwarves present, letting them understand that the current situation was very dangerous.

Then Allen would use the pressure brought by Sauron's attack to facilitate a tripartite alliance between Humans, Elves, and Dwarves.

Since it was proposed by Allen, everyone naturally maintained a certain amount of patience. After waiting for a moment, Allen stood up and slapped the map onto the center of the table. At this moment, everyone looked at the map and felt a bit surprised.

It was not that the Dwarves had never seen a map, but this was the first time they had seen a flat map that could encompass the entire Rhovanion plus half of the southern region, and could mark the positions of various forces so clearly.

In the past, most Dwarves relied on landmarks and scenery in the environment, as well as the stars, sun, and moon in the sky, and calculated the time spent on the road to travel for long periods; to put it bluntly, they relied on experience, and even Gandalf, who had traveled abroad for years, was the same.

At this time, the Grey Wizard was constantly using the memories in his mind to verify the various markings on the map on the stone table, and finally discovered with surprise that the map Allen drew actually had no major errors.

【To be honest, I've been using Wild Fruit Reading to keep up with books recently. It has many sources, and the audio reading voices are varied. It works on both Android and Apple.】

However, Allen did not care what the people present were thinking; he just wanted to use this simple map to explain Sauron's intentions more clearly and concisely.

Allen pointed to the east of the Redwater River on the map with a quill and said: "Everyone, this place, according to intelligence provided by the Blacklocks, already has Easterling tribes stationed here, and their numbers are increasing day by day. Conservatively estimated, it is no less than ten thousand. Look at their position; they are already very close to the Iron Hills, and they could cross the Redwater River at any time to enter the northern region of Rhovanion and threaten us."

As Allen spoke, he drew a line on the map, and the arrow of that line pointed vaguely toward the Lonely Mountain, the Woodland Realm of the Forest Elves, and the Mirkwood Road leading to Wilderness Town, then he continued.

"My friends, I don't know if you have any understanding of the Easterlings, but I can provide some information. They mainly live in the Rhun region, which is extremely close to Mordor. I believe everyone can understand what this represents. This time their arrival is definitely related to the battle we fought against Azog at the Lonely Mountain."

Just this opening news made the three Durin's Folk Dwarves present start whispering to each other.

During the Third Age, the Dwarves of Durin's Folk indeed had little contact with the Easterlings, because most of the two large-scale invasions by the Easterlings at that time occurred in the southern region of the Running River, which was closer to Gondor than to the Misty Mountains or the Grey Mountains.

For example, the first large-scale invasion by the Wainriders was more than 1,800 years into the Third Age; at that time, most of the Durin's Folk Dwarves were still mining in Khazad-dum.

But during the Second Age, the Dwarves of Durin's Folk and the Northern Men living in the Anduin Valley fought together against the invasions of these barbarians and Orcs, and in that war, the Durin's Folk Dwarves living in Khazad-dum suffered heavy losses.

It can be said that the hatred between the Durin's Folk Dwarves and the Easterlings has spanned thousands of years. Perhaps those Easterlings have already forgotten these things, but the Dwarves still remember, because holding a grudge is a fine tradition of their race.

Thorin, having finished talking with Balin and Dáin, looked carefully at the map drawn by Allen. If Allen had not drawn it wrong, the place where the Easterlings were stationed was indeed very close to the Iron Hills. If these barbarians launched an attack on the Iron Hills, then Thorin's kinsmen living in the Iron Hills would be in great danger.

Because at this time, most of the soldiers brought by Dáin remained at the Lonely Mountain, and the Dwarves of the Iron Hills were still moving to the Lonely Mountain in a steady stream; those kinsmen trekking on the road could be attacked by the Easterling cavalry at any time.

This situation made Thorin feel very anxious inside; now, he was actually more eager than Allen to launch an attack on those barbarians.

In Thorin's hands were one thousand elite Dwarf warriors, most of whom were veterans who had survived the battle a year ago, while the other portion were Durin Dwarves who had arrived one after another from the Blue Mountains and the Iron Hills over the past six months.

If he put in more effort, Thorin could still muster five hundred young Dwarf warriors, but their combat effectiveness was far inferior to those veterans; this army of fifteen hundred was already all the troops Thorin could assemble for the time being, and this was only because most Dwarves were natural-born warriors who could possess decent combat power just by being issued a set of equipment.

Yet Thorin also understood that relying solely on the Dwarf warriors of the Lonely Mountain, it was impossible to defeat the Easterlings, who numbered in the tens of thousands; at this moment, the Dwarves needed the support of allies.

Thorin stood up and said to Allen with a somewhat urgent tone: "Allen, what are your thoughts? I feel we should assemble our troops and drive these barbarians back to their home."

Allen nodded, knowing that his words had already given Thorin a sense of crisis, but in order to achieve his own ideas, he still needed to add more fuel to the fire.

"Thorin, we certainly must do this, but not now. According to my understanding, the Easterlings' combat power is very strong; although their development cannot compare to Gondor and Rohan, they still have iron weapons and equipment, and their combat power far exceeds that of the Orcish. With numbers over ten thousand, relying solely on the two of us, we simply cannot confront them head-on."

Allen's words were not wrong; according to the current strength of Wilderness Town, plus the armaments of Dale, even if they were to be as militaristic as possible, being able to field an army of over two thousand was already the limit. These human soldiers plus the Dwarf warriors of the Lonely Mountain, facing the Easterlings who were all capable of fighting, simply could not win.

And Gandalf, who was smoking Pipe-weed on the side, took over Allen's point and said: "Yes, I have learned about these Easterlings in Minas Tirith of Gondor. The Kingdom of Rhovanion, which once lived in the plains south of the Running River, was destroyed at their hands. Not only that, the powerful Kingdom of Gondor has also suffered defeats at their hands, and even a king sacrificed his life in that war. To defeat them, you need other forces."

Gandalf clearly understood Allen's intention, and he assisted Allen in his words without leaving a trace.

"Other forces?"

The standing Thorin stared at the map in Allen's hand, then realized who Gandalf was referring to.

"Are you talking about the Elves living in Mirkwood? Are they willing to help us? After all, I have never heard of any conflict between the Easterlings and the Elves."

Having experienced the Battle of the Lonely Mountain and that trip to Lothlorien, Thorin's impression of Elves had changed a lot, and this also included the King of the Woodland Realm, Thranduil; after all, the Lord of Lothlorien, Celeborn, was a king of the Sindar Elf, and there was a sense of loving the house and its crow in this.

Therefore, he was not as repulsed by forming an alliance with the Elves as he had been before; now, Thorin was more worried that Thranduil would not take the risk of letting his people leave Mirkwood to go to war with the Easterlings.

It worked!

Allen had already heard his meaning from Thorin's words and immediately spoke up: "How would we know if we don't try? Although the Elves and the Easterlings have never had a conflict, the Elves and Mordor have had a hatred spanning thousands of years. I think we can draft a treaty now and then head to the Woodland Realm to talk to Thranduil about this matter. Thorin, what do you think?"

At this moment, Thorin was thinking about whether, with the help of the Woodland Elves, he could safely bring his kin from the Iron Hills to the Lonely Mountain, so he did not have too many associations with Allen's words; he subconsciously nodded and said: "We can try."

After saying this, Thorin immediately realized that this behavior was equivalent to him taking the initiative to beg the Elves for an alliance. But he had just made the response in front of his subordinates and friends, and if he were to go back on his word immediately, he felt it would be even more embarrassing.

Thorin, feeling slightly awkward inside, looked at the serious-looking Allen and Gandalf, always feeling that this scene had an inexplicable sense of familiarity, and then he looked at Dain and Balin beside him.

These two Dwarves did not say much; Balin had seen something, but this relatively gentle-natured Dwarf hoped that Thorin could continue the alliance with the Elves of Mirkwood from a hundred years ago, while Dain was worried about whether his old home would be wiped out by the Easterlings in one fell swoop.

Therefore, neither of these two Dwarves gave Thorin any hints just now, causing Thorin to secretly ponder: "Could it be that I am overthinking it?"

But not allowing Thorin much time to think, Allen's next action quickly drew his attention over.

At this moment, Allen pointed his quill toward the direction of Mordor and drew two more lines.