Chapter 112: Chain Reaction

The Iron Hills, located in the far north of Middle-earth, remain quite cool even now that summer has arrived.

Large groups of Dwarves are driving goats and horses, traveling in companies along the relatively flat paths between the mountain ridges toward the Lonely Mountain; these are the very Dwarves of Durin from the Iron Hills who are currently migrating.

By this time, the king's coronation ceremony held at the Lonely Mountain has already been hastily concluded, and Thorin II, who had originally intended to hold a grand celebration, has had his energy diverted elsewhere due to the arrival of the Easterlings.

At this moment, the King of Durin, having arranged the relevant affairs of the Lonely Mountain for Fili, has arrived near the Iron Hills accompanied by a troop of fifty Dwarf Goat Cavalry, led by Dain Ironfoot; he wishes to inspect the movements of the Easterlings to determine how to proceed with his next steps.

However, after their party arrived at the east bank of the Redwater River, there was already no sign of the Easterlings, leaving behind only some trash not worth taking and the remains of a vast encampment.

Judging from the traces left behind by the Easterlings, at least five large camps had been stationed here not long ago.

Seeing this situation, Thorin took the cavalry and followed the chaotic tracks left by the Easterlings, and soon the party arrived at the place where the Easterlings had crossed the river; it was now unguarded, with only a lonely wooden bridge and several dozen grave mounds nearby.

Thorin had originally wanted to take his soldiers across the Redwater River to continue the pursuit and see exactly where these Easterlings had gone, but Dain Ironfoot spoke up to stop his cousin.

"Thorin, we cannot continue the pursuit. Once we cross from here, it is an endless plain. We are few in number, and we cannot outrun the swift horses of the Humans on the plains. As our King, you cannot take this risk."

Thorin looked up toward the west without speaking; instead, he drew his weapon, Orcrist, and with a few strikes, hewed through the supporting pillars, and the wooden bridge, which had only recently been repaired by Baal, was once again swept away by the rushing waters of the Redwater River.

Thorin then reined in his mount, looked at Dain behind him, and said, "Then let us return the way we came. Dain, once we reach a suitable location, take your men across the river and inform Fatis of the situation here. I believe the Easterlings must have turned their spearheads toward the Humans first."

"I will," Dain nodded.

Having said this, the Dwarves turned around and headed north along the east bank of the Redwater River. After the party had traveled for half a day, a small detachment split off from the Dwarf column, crossed the Redwater River, and headed west.

It was Dain, leading a dozen Dwarf cavalrymen, crossing the Redwater River at a hidden ford; he was going to find Fatis.

In fact, Fatis, who had already scattered several reconnaissance squads across the Wilderness, had learned of the Easterlings' movements long ago, but these Easterlings had not attacked the Iron Hills Dwarves, who were closer to them, as Allen and Thorin II had feared.

Instead, like locusts, they had scattered into countless detachments, raiding the human settlements living in the eastern region of Rhovanion.

In just a few short days, several small human settlements of only a few hundred people were unable to react in time and were broken one after another by the Easterling armies with irresistible force.

As for the few larger settlements that had received advance notice from Herbert, they followed their usual custom and concentrated all their strength to defend Iron Wall Town, built near the cliffs of the Iron Hills, while their old, weak, women, and children hid in a camp within a secret canyon.

It was just that the number of Easterlings that came this time was too great; the soldiers of the Bartra had already surrounded Iron Wall Town, and under Ashur's orders, they had scattered a considerable number of cavalry squads onto the Wilderness to search for those Northern Men who were in hiding.

Some of the Northern Men who had luckily escaped the enemy's encirclement while their strongholds were being breached began to flee toward Long Lake Town, hoping that the Woodland Elves who protected that place could defeat the enemies behind them and provide a temporarily safe living environment.

But the tracks left by these people while fleeing were soon discovered by the Easterling cavalry squads. To the invaders, these were riches already in their grasp, and naturally, they could not let these displaced Northern Men escape.

Relying on the massive army behind them, they chased the fleeing Northern Men across the plains without restraint, using the wooden clubs or lassos in their hands to drag the desperate Northern Men back to their own camps, using hunger and beatings as a means to keep these people as slaves.

As for Fatis, through the reports of his reconnaissance squads, he had already understood the general combat situation in the Wilderness. He was powerless against the siege of Iron Wall Town; let alone him, even Thorin combined with all of Allen's armies would be powerless.

But Fatis would not stand by and watch the Easterlings commit evil. He took his two hundred cavalrymen and intercepted the Easterlings chasing the Northern Men several times, engaging in small-scale, brutal slaughter with these scumbags who were unwilling to let go even after seeing him.

Most of the cavalry under Allen came from the nomadic kingdom of Khergit and could be said to have lived on horseback since childhood; a very small number were well-trained and formidable Swadian Knights. In terms of combat effectiveness, they were absolutely no weaker than the Easterlings.

Not only that, Allen also provided the cavalry with sufficiently fine equipment and ample horses, allowing them to fully exert their combat strength on the battlefield.

During the engagements with the enemy, Fatis did not act recklessly but fully utilized the advantage of the enemy being in the open while he was in the dark. He divided his two hundred cavalry into several squads, relying on a configuration of two horses per man, and did not let his men spare the horses' strength, galloping rapidly across the plains to block the possible escape routes of these Easterling cavalry. After surrounding the enemy, they would launch an attack to annihilate them completely.

Using this style of combat, Fatis led the cavalry and successfully annihilated these Easterling cavalry squads with only minimal casualties. After all, when the enemy's figures occupied every direction, even the savage Easterlings could hardly stir up any trouble.

Due to an extreme shortage of horses, the Easterling cavalry units were not very numerous, and when deploying for large-scale battles on the plains, they actually preferred to use War Chariots rather than cavalry.

For performing reconnaissance work and capturing prisoners, riding horses was, after all, more convenient, so the Easterlings had sent out nearly ten squads, over a hundred cavalrymen, at the time. However, under Fatis's strategy of encirclement, interception, and piecemeal slaughter, the Easterlings, who were already lacking warhorses, lost them once again.

Once the cavalry sent by the Easterlings had been wiped out by Fatis, the plains became quiet again. Ashur, who had been waiting in vain for his cavalry to return, knew that something was wrong; a third-party force must have appeared in this area to stir up trouble.

But he did not send more cavalry to scout the Wilderness. Since stationing on the east bank of the Redwater River, he had lost two hundred cavalrymen in succession. Clearly, in the realm of cavalry, Ashur also knew he might not be able to beat the third-party force stirring up trouble in the Wilderness.

But Ashur's advantage was also obvious: his tribe was numerous. As long as he ignored the harassment of the cavalry, the enemy could do nothing to him. What he needed to do was to break through the town before him as quickly as possible, then establish a firm foothold and complete the mission given to him by the Dark Lord.

Therefore, he ordered the few remaining cavalry to only conduct reconnaissance not far from the main camp, so as to avoid being killed by an enemy of unknown origin, while also scouting the situation around the camp so he would not be left completely blind.

At the same time, he accelerated the speed of his attacks on the human strongholds, venting his rage on those Northern Men hiding behind the city walls.

Sauron did not expect the ten thousand or so Easterlings led by Ashur to be able to wipe out the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain, the Elves of Mirkwood, and the Humans living in the Anduin Valley. The mission he gave Ashur was simple: just wipe out the Northern Men living in the eastern part of Mirkwood and the northern part of the Running River, and then entrench themselves there.

After thousands of years of contact, Sauron knew clearly that Thranduil, that homebody, could not possibly take the initiative to expel the Easterlings entrenched in Rhovanion.

Sauron calculated accurately; the King of the Woodland Realm, who cared too much for the lives of his kin, would not let the Elves leave Mirkwood when he was calm. The terrain there was not at all conducive to Elven combat; he preferred to meet the enemy in the forest or defend from within sturdy fortresses.

As for the Dwarves, they had just reclaimed the Lonely Mountain from Smaug; they lacked the energy, the strength, and even the motivation to deal with the Easterlings. Of course, this was on the condition that the Easterlings did not provoke the Dwarves, which was the real reason Ashur did not attack the Iron Hills.

It was just that Sauron had not considered the friendship between Allen and Thorin. When the time was right, Ashur would inevitably face a joint attack from the Humans and Dwarves.

In his communication with Ashur, Sauron told him that the only enemies he needed to face were the Northern Men, or perhaps the few human soldiers under Allen, but their small number of soldiers was not enough to pose any threat to the Bartra tribes.

So in Sauron's view, he had given Ashur a very easy task. In fact, it was indeed easy; in just one month, Ashur led his tribe to launch a decisive battle against the Humans living in the north of Rhovanion. As long as Iron Wall Town was breached, the Easterlings would successfully seize control of this land.

By then, the Easterlings entrenched in this area would not only be able to monitor the movements of the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain and the Elves of Mirkwood at any time, but also greatly restrict the development of the Northern Men. Sauron, who had been hiding in Dol Guldur for thousands of years, naturally knew the potential of the Anduin Valley; the narrow and long land there could never develop into a great kingdom like Gondor or Arnor.

Originally, after attacking the Lonely Mountain, Sauron had put all his energy into rebuilding Barad-dûr and the friction with Gondor. In his mind, only the human kingdom of Gondor, plus the Elves living in Lothlórien, Rivendell, and Lindon, counted as his opponents.

As for the other small fry, Sauron did not care at all. Even the Kingdom of Rohan living in Calenardhon was only worth a slightly serious look from Sauron.

But Azog had failed too miserably in the battle for the Lonely Mountain, while the forces of the Humans, Dwarves, and Elves had not suffered too much loss. Coupled with the fact that Sauron's power in the Misty Mountains had greatly diminished and the forces in Dol Guldur had been wiped out, this forced the Dark Lord, who had returned to Mordor, to take a serious look at these northern powers.

Sauron had never given up the idea of rebuilding the Witch-realm of Angmar, so by then, the kingdoms led by those three fellows—Allen, Thorin, and Thranduil—would certainly become stumbling blocks in his way. That was why Sauron had abandoned the idea of sending Nazgûl to assassinate the leaders and instead sent the Bartra to occupy the eastern region of Rhovanion.

In fact, Allen, who was familiar with the plot, had vaguely guessed that his own actions might have caused Sauron to notice him and triggered the chain reaction of the Easterlings attacking Rhovanion, but he did not regret it. Even if it were to happen again, Allen would still do his utmost to deal with that war, saving his friends and those Elves and Dwarves who otherwise would not have had to die.

Now, after wiping out the Easterling cavalry squads, Fatis led his cavalry to catch up with the hundreds of Northern Men he had rescued, escorted them all the way to Long Lake Town, and handed them over to Balin, the Dwarf who was organizing the construction of a camp there.

Under Balin's suggestion, Thorin had stationed an elite Dwarf army of three hundred at the shore of the Long Lake, and there were many young Dwarves there assisting Balin in building a camp conducive to defense.

The Humans who had originally remained near Long Lake Town to farm for a living also participated in this work under Allen's orders, and Allen also had Fatis additionally take on the work of managing these townspeople, which could be considered letting him show his face in front of these people first.

After all, once Long Lake Town was rebuilt, these would all be townspeople under his management; getting familiar with them now was also conducive to the development of future work.

And these Northern Men who had fled here could also get a job under Balin, obtaining the supplies and food to survive. Once the construction of Long Lake Town began, they could also obtain a place to survive in the newly built town, which could be considered temporarily settled.

Allen, who was still waiting for the Easterling attack on Mirkwood Road, soon received intelligence on the Easterlings' preparations from a messenger sent by Fatis.

Allen, who had been waiting in vain for the Easterlings, had long since sent out his cavalry, and he himself had even taken his reassembled personal guards to scout around the Running River. However, the surroundings were very quiet, with no trace of the enemy at all; instead, he encountered several groups of Humans, numbering in the hundreds, who were fleeing.

Allen obtained some news from these people: at the location of Red River Town, an Easterling tribe had already begun to live there. They had directly occupied the town and even sent slaves to continue farming the surrounding land, looking as if they had already made that place their own territory.

And the small settlements living not far around Red River Town felt that if things continued like this, they would sooner or later be discovered by these Easterlings, so they also packed up their belongings and, following the footsteps of Malherbe and his people, quietly came to Allen, hoping that Allen could take them in.

【The ten-year-old book friend recommended a reading app to me, Wild Fruit Reading! It's really easy to use, I rely on this for reading and listening to books to pass the time before driving or going to bed, you can download it here: wildfruitreading】

This was naturally not a problem. Allen had already sent most of his soldiers to the location of Mirkwood Road, and the various tasks in Wilderness Town were in urgent need of labor. With those hundreds of people like Hank, and these Northern Men who had fled here, it just happened to make up for this.

As for Malherbe and his clansmen, they began to build a new town at the location designated by Allen; there were too many of them, and the current Wilderness Town was a bit unable to accommodate them.

Yamila, who had been guarding Wilderness Town all this time, would naturally arrange these matters properly; the difficult problem placed before Allen was that he did not have enough troops to rescue Iron Wall Town from the siege, yet he could not just watch those Northern Men die.

That night, Allen did not sleep at all.