Chapter 109: Preparation, Departure

About half a month ago, Cress took Allen's orders and led fifty cavalrymen, setting out from Lonely Mountain toward Mirkwood Road to notify Alayen, who was stationed there, to prepare for enemy attacks.

After spending a few days, Cress and her party finally arrived at Alayen's camp, completing all the tasks Allen had entrusted to her.

But at that time, the Easterlings were still building bridges and hadn't even approached Red River Town, let alone Allen's sphere of influence, so the surroundings were quiet and peaceful, with no signs of impending war at all.

After staying in the camp for a few days, the idle Cress took Grim across the Running River and headed east; she wanted to see what kind of enemy could make her boss so nervous.

Soon, the birds in the area told Cress a great deal of news, letting her know that a massive group of Humans was driving livestock and migrating toward this side.

Once the restless Cress learned of this, she took the fifty cavalrymen Allen had assigned to her directly from the camp and rode off in the direction provided by the birds.

Alayen, who was trying to find ways to reinforce the camp, had originally intended to scatter these cavalrymen as scouting squads, but before he could wait for Fatis's reply, all these cavalrymen had been taken away by Cress.

Helpless, Alayen could only watch as Cress left; after all, those fifty cavalrymen were not under his command in name, and before leaving, Cress had also demanded a significant amount of supplies from him.

If Fatis were here, both his personal prestige and the various powers Allen had granted him would have been enough to order Cress not to continue acting recklessly.

However, Allen's Military Minister was still at Wilderness Town preparing for the mobilization of the entire army, and since Yamila and Allen were currently on their way back to Wilderness Town, Fatis had too many things to attend to and simply had no time to look after Alayen's side.

Now, Kelis, who still possessed the authority to command these cavalrymen, could truly do whatever she wanted.

Since the ones providing information to Cress were not those small animals that had been kept for a long time, their intelligence was relatively lower, and the information provided was also vague and unclear.

At first, the news Cress received was that those driving livestock were coming from the direction where the sun rises, so based on this information, Cress led her team and ran straight toward the east.

In this way, Cress's direction was naturally wrong, as most of the people from Red River Town were traveling along the Running River toward this side.

Several days later, the small animals in the area told Cress again that many people were resting by the river, so she ran east along the Running River for a while, only then discovering the residents of Red River Town who were preparing to migrate to the western part of Mirkwood.

It was just that the people Cress found at this time were no longer the first batch of Northern Men to set out from Red River Town, and she had missed the opportunity to rendezvous with Holimion.

It was precisely because they missed each other that Cress did not return to Wilderness Town with the Elf, but instead learned from other small animals about the battle in which Herbert died.

Cress did not know how important the deceased person was, but she definitely had to go and see such an event; after hearing that someone had died, there was clearly some chaos in the Red River Town migration party, and subsequently, they also split off a few cavalrymen to follow Cress as she continued to advance east along the river.

Soon, they ambushed the party of Baal and Akad, and also protected those Red River Town residents who were migrating on small boats.

Because of Grim, the few Red River Town cavalrymen following far behind Cress showed clear expressions of panic on their faces after seeing the large-scale Easterlings; they already had some guesses about the fate of their own lord.

After interrogating the captives for a few sentences, they finally confirmed the fact that their lord had died tragically, so they bid farewell to the helpful Cress and rode at full speed to notify Malherbe, who was at the front of the party.

Cress did not care about these people's reactions; she was still somewhat smug about her ability to eliminate some enemies and save hundreds of people. After all, the order she received from Allen was merely to deliver a letter, yet she, with her strong subjective initiative, was able to stir up so many things in a short time.

Of course, these were all good things. Although this little girl was a bit restless and somewhat too unruly, she was extremely lucky and most of the time could bring some unexpected surprises to her boss.

It was just that her boss, Allen, did not yet know about these surprises, as he was currently rushing on the road, preparing to return to Wilderness Town.

At this time, a tense atmosphere permeated Wilderness Town; children playing everywhere could no longer be seen on the streets, and even if their families were quite well-off, these children still had to go to the fields to help their mothers complete the spring plowing work.

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As for their fathers, who were originally busy in the fields, they immediately put down their farm tools after receiving the lord's mobilization order, preparing to respond to their lord's call.

After receiving the order, the time left for them was actually very short, only enough to say a few words to their elders, wives, and children at home, after which they had to follow their Captain to the parade ground in Wilderness Town for pre-battle assembly.

Fatis, meanwhile, led his personal guards and waited for the soldiers to arrive at the parade ground. As Military Minister, while issuing the order to mobilize soldiers, he also drew out the weapons and equipment for each legion from the Wilderness Town warehouse.

These weapons and equipment would be distributed based on a soldier battalion as the basic unit. According to past habits, soldiers needed to check whether their previously sealed equipment was in good condition, and at the same time, they had to undergo a few days of full-gear field training before they could set off for the battlefield.

"Infantry Legion, Light Infantry Third Battalion has assembled, one hundred expected, one hundred present."

"Archer Legion, Crossbow Battalion has assembled, one hundred expected, one hundred present."

"Infantry Legion, Heavy Infantry Battalion has assembled, one hundred expected, one hundred present."

Looking at the three battalion commanders reporting to him, Fatis pondered how much more time it would take for him to finish mobilizing the soldiers.

Ever since the battle of Lonely Mountain, many battalions were no longer at full strength, but Allen had thought of this long ago and had Fatis make relevant preparations for supplementing soldiers in advance.

Fatis had also executed Allen's orders very well. In these few months, each legion had been gradually replenished from the reserves, which meant that Wilderness Town could still mobilize a full force of fourteen battalions, a total of 1,400 soldiers, and their combat effectiveness was also much stronger than before.

It was just that after the New Year, according to Allen's orders, Alayen had already taken the First and Second Battalions of the Light Infantry Legion and the First Battalion of the Archer Legion to the southern end of Mirkwood Road, where they were stationed.

And in March of this year, before Allen went to Lonely Mountain, he also took away a battalion of cavalry from Horse Pasture Village.

Now, there were still one thousand soldiers on the rolls who could respond to the mobilization order.

At this moment, it was the second day after Fatis issued the order. The three battalions that were able to report were all soldiers whose own fields were extremely close to Wilderness Town, which was why they were able to complete assembly within a single day; at this time, they had already begun to collect equipment and make preparations before training.

As for the other soldiers, they would only be able to complete mobilization in two to three days, especially the cavalry from Horse Pasture Village and those families who had moved out of Wilderness Town in response to the Cabinet's call; they would require even more time.

This was one of the negative impacts brought about by the policy issued to reclaim more land.

It was also at this time that Allen and Yamila finally returned to Wilderness Town, and with the return of the two, various affairs within the town proceeded more quickly and smoothly.

Since the mobilization of soldiers would inevitably affect farming work, Yamila and Allen discussed it and recalled the hundreds of captives saved from Orc Town from near the Old Ferry; they all needed to help in the fields before the spring plowing work was finished.

And after the work in the fields was finished, they would also need to urgently craft some simple weapons and ammunition under Fulei's leadership as backups for the soldiers.

Because Allen and Yamila could not judge how long this battle would last, the weapons in the soldiers' hands, as well as the various types of ammunition used by Archers and Crossbowmen, would certainly become fewer and fewer as the battle time extended.

Therefore, making some preparations in advance was always good, and these craftsmen, who had once been forced by the Orcish to learn crafting skills, also possessed the ability to complete these tasks.

On the second day after his return, Allen took over all work related to the military from Fatis's hands; he prepared to send Fatis to lead the cavalry team to Lonely Mountain to support the relocation work of the Durin Dwarves.

Allen had no other choice; if possible, he still hoped that his Military Minister could be by his side to handle some complex work or provide some suggestions on campaigns.

It was just that among Allen's existing staff, besides himself, only Fatis had experience in commanding large-scale cavalry operations, so he had to let his Military Minister fulfill the duties of Cavalry Legion Commander once again, while the remaining matters in Wilderness Town would be completed by Allen himself.

After receiving Allen's order, Fatis, having handed over his work clearly, led his personal guards, collected the corresponding supplies from Yamila, and set off immediately.

The task of mobilizing soldiers fell on Allen's head. Allen, who had always been the one giving orders, actually did not particularly like dealing with those complex administrative affairs; his consistent idea was to let the right people do the right things.

As the lord, he should control the general direction and lead this small boat that everyone was riding on to sail on the correct route, rather than approving slips of paper in a tent, deciding how many spears this team should receive, how much Leather Armor that team should receive, or gathering all the battalion commanders at night to have them train at the appropriate time and prepare for departure.

It was just that at this time, Allen had no other choice. With Bandak's help, he spent a full week on the parade ground, finally finishing the assembly of all the remaining soldiers and distributing all the equipment.

After the troops were assembled, Allen urgently dispatched the Heavy Infantry Battalion and two Archer Battalions, which were already prepared for departure, to Mirkwood Road.

Accompanying the soldiers to Mirkwood Road was Artimenner, who had returned from Lonely Mountain with Allen; this engineer would continue to build the unfinished defensive works the moment he arrived there.

As for the cavalry, Allen believed that the ones Cress took away were already completely sufficient for Alayen's scouting needs, while the fifty cavalrymen he had on hand and the other one hundred cavalrymen already assembled at Horse Pasture Village would, under Tuoju's leadership, guard against enemies who might come down from Gundabad or the Misty Mountains.

Although these filthy fellows had already suffered heavy losses, Allen always felt that they would, under Sauron's orders, take risks to do things he could not accept.

For example, while he was fighting for his life against the enemy on Mirkwood Road, these fellows might appear around Wilderness Town again riding Wargs. Now was not winter; at that time, the crops in the fields had all been harvested and piled up in the warehouses.

As it was now spring, Allen had to leave behind a force capable of actively driving away Wolf Riders; otherwise, the farmers' hard work for the year would very likely be destroyed in this battle, and such a loss was truly unacceptable.

To avoid this situation from happening, besides the 150 Cavalry, Allen also found Beorn and asked his Skin-changer friend to arrange for a few of his kin to assist the Cavalry in defense.

Beorn thought for a moment and decided to let Wulf stay behind; at the same time, in critical moments, the Skin-changers' family members could also transform into great bears to assist Allen's soldiers in defense.

As for himself, he would take the two other male Skin-changers who had just joined them, Baierke and Ogris, to Mirkwood Road to assist Allen in guarding against the Easterlings' attack.

After all, the living environment of the Skin-changers was closely tied to the existence of Wilderness Town; even if just to protect their hard-won stable life, they had to contribute their own efforts.

And as followers of Sauron, the Easterlings were extremely savage and bellicose; Beorn dared not guarantee that they would have a friendly attitude toward the Skin-changers, as it was more likely that those people, who were keen on fighting, would tame them—the Skin-changers—into mounts or battle pets to attack other Human forces.

Therefore, faced with Allen's request, Beorn naturally would not refuse, though he, who was peace-loving by nature, often sighed in his heart that war came far too frequently.

Allen did not like this either; originally, he had made a five-year short-term plan and a twenty-year long-term plan for the development of Wilderness Town, but now it had all been disrupted by Sauron's counterattack, and today, everything had to give way to war.

After continuing to be busy for a few days, Allen handed over all the remaining work on hand to Yamila, while he set off toward Mirkwood Road with a team composed of extremely complex personnel.

In this team, besides Allen's six personal guards and one hundred light infantry armed with Elven Spears, the three Skin-changers, including Beorn, were also in the ranks.

As an old friend of Allen, James insisted on going to the front line, so the helpless Allen had no choice but to agree to bring him along, as well as the battlefield medical team composed of his apprentices.

On the side of Wilderness Town, Allen not only left behind 150 Cavalry but also 200 light infantry and 100 Crossbowmen, while also leaving Bandak to assist Yamila in defending his base camp to avoid any unexpected situations.

As for the defensive forces at Mirkwood Road, Allen prepared to have a talk with Hank to let them accept his employment and fight a battle against the Easterlings; as for whether these Northmen would accept his employment, Allen still had some confidence, as in his memory, most Northmen had endless hatred for the Easterlings.