Chapter 172: Arrangements Before Heading South (Part 1)

When Allen and his party followed the Elf Path, leaving Mirkwood and entering the Anduin Valley, the heavy snow had already stopped for several days, and the sun had finally appeared in the sky after a long absence; however, the temperature was even lower now, colder than it had been before the snow.

Fortunately, the Anduin Valley was sheltered by Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains, so the wind blowing through here was far less fierce than it was out in the Wilderness.

And what was even more pleasant was that as they continued to move forward, residents living in the farmsteads began to spontaneously clear the accumulated snow from the roads, thereby maintaining smooth traffic between the farmsteads and Wilderness Town.

When those hardworking people discovered that the newcomers were carrying their King's Crown Three-Star Flag, they began to bow and salute the cavalry in the middle of the road; some Conscripts returning home even burst into cheers upon seeing Allen.

Although he did not appear before the people often, Allen's long-standing actions had earned him a very high reputation in the countryside.

The one carrying the royal flag was not a Twilight Knight, but a young Khergit lad from Horse Pasture Village named Asudan.

He was the son of Tuoju and was also the person in charge of a surveillance outpost.

This outpost was located between Horse Pasture Village and the Elf Path, equipped with horses and manned by a dozen young herdsmen who monitored the vast surrounding area.

When Allen led his troop just as they stepped out of the Elf Path, Asudan recognized the King's identity and hurriedly carried out the spare royal flag from the outpost, preparing to ride his horse and accompany His Majesty the King back to Wilderness Town.

After all, this was a cavalry unit of considerable size; without familiar identification, it would easily startle the residents working in the fields, and there would also be the risk of large-scale cavalry units surrounding them.

Asudan carried the flag, extremely excited to be by Allen's side; the young man was very willing to make this trip, and regardless of what impression Allen had of him, he would have plenty of capital to show off to his friends after returning.

Allen, for his part, noticed the people saluting him from the very beginning; he wanted to stop and chat with his subjects to understand whether this once-in-a-few-decades heavy snow had caused any adverse effects on their lives.

But Allen's time was truly too tight, with an army of several thousand waiting for his arrival in Wilderness Town; helpless, he could only stop occasionally to nod and greet the people before quickly leaving.

By the time they returned to Wilderness Town, it was already noon the next day; Yamila, having received the news from the outpost at Carrock, had long since led a portion of the Cabinet officials to wait for Allen's return.

The Khergit lad carrying the royal flag looked reluctant to leave as he bid farewell to his King, while Allen smiled and said to him, "Asudan, son of Tuoju, you are a clever lad; if you are willing, you may come to serve me after obtaining your father's consent."

Hearing this news, Asudan went home in high spirits, while the Cabinet officials who heard these words would prepare the corresponding documents and send someone to deliver them to Tuoju at Horse Pasture Village.

After handling this small matter, the group entered the city.

This time, Allen had led his army out and, with the help of the Dwarves and Elves, dealt a heavy blow to the Easterlings entrenched in the east of Mirkwood.

And as for his own side? Whether in terms of battle results, spoils, or their own casualties, it could be called a glorious victory.

Therefore, Fatis and Alayen, who had returned a step earlier, jointly proposed a suggestion to Yamila: they believed that for such a victory, a grand triumphal ceremony should be organized for Allen and the soldiers who fought, so that Allen's prestige would be extolled by every person in the Kingdom of Rhovanion.

The sense of honor that the triumphal ceremony would bring to the soldiers could also stir up the enthusiasm of the domestic residents to enlist, laying a firmer foundation for future war mobilization.

After ten years of understanding, Fatis and Alayen had gained a certain recognition of this world; Middle-earth was indeed as Allen had promised, not as turbulent and unstable as the continent of Calradia.

But it was not without danger here either; all peoples who loved a stable life shared a common evil and dark enemy, namely the Dark Lord Sauron.

And their two monarchs had always stood on the front line against the darkness, so both agreed that maintaining a strong military force was the most necessary policy for this country at present, and military force was not just weapons and equipment; the war enthusiasm of the people was equally important.

Yamila did not object to their proposal, but she did not agree either, only saying that such a major event required His Majesty the King's permission before preparations could begin.

As Allen's Prime Minister, or to put it more colloquially, as Allen's housekeeper, Yamila felt this was somewhat too extravagant and wasteful.

One had to know that in the past, Allen had always been generous to his warriors; not to mention the salaries of those professional soldiers, every time they returned victorious, the gold and silver in the warehouse, whether made into Medals or used as bonuses, were always scattered in large amounts.

Especially for those soldiers who were wounded or sacrificed, the compensation was even more substantial.

Yamila felt that this was enough; there was really no need to hold any grand triumphal ceremony. She felt it was a waste, and she had never organized such an event, so it could be said she had no experience at all.

If any problems were to arise by accident, it would be a very dangerous thing for an event where tens of thousands of people gathered together.

Finally, this proposal was placed on Allen's desk, causing a trace of surprise in his heart.

It was not that there was anything wrong with what the three of them were doing; Allen knew that from their perspective, these were all good things, and at the very least, a portion of it was for his own sake.

It just made him feel a bit amused that the military forces under his command finally had the confidence to contend with the administrative forces. The army was meant to spend money, but in the past, if Yamila had already rejected this matter, it generally would not have had the chance to reach his desk.

But with the continuous victories in battle, Yamila naturally would attach more importance to the needs of these soldiers, and the soldiers, having won the battles, would naturally want to obtain more—gold, land, power, or honor—which was actually very normal.

This time, Fatis and Alayen wanted to fight for honor for the soldiers who had fought, which was the opportunity to show their faces in front of the general public. Allen did not intend to dampen their spirits, because it would not cost much money, and the person who would show his face the most in this ceremony was actually Allen himself, because he was the King who led the soldiers to victory.

However, Allen still denied this proposal at this moment because the timing was wrong; Allen was about to lead his troops south. The war between Gondor and Mordor, the Elf Cavalry led by Lindir, and Cirdan and Estel in Lothlorien—none of them had time to wait for the Cabinet to organize this ceremony.

If Allen himself could not participate, then the significance of this ceremony would lose at least half, and to Yamila, who held absolute power whenever Allen was away, the significance of a ceremony without Allen's participation would only be ten percent.

In the end, Allen could only tell Fatis and Alayen that a triumphal ceremony could not be held in this urgent period; it needed to wait.

However, although there was no ceremony, the rewards were certainly distributed. In addition to the regular rewards, compensation, and Medals, for subordinates like Alayen who had already become lords, Allen also rewarded him with hundreds of Easterling captives to reclaim land and handle chores near Heidelberg.

It was not that Allen was unwilling to give more, but with the strength in Alayen's hands, he could barely control these people; any more, and unless he adopted enslavement similar to Sauron's, Heidelberg simply could not suppress more Easterlings.

The number of Easterlings who surrendered on the battlefield this time reached nearly ten thousand; for Allen, they were all precious labor, and the warehouses of Wilderness Town stored a large amount of grain, which was enough to feed them.

But there were also some problems that needed to be solved, namely that the original population of Wilderness Town was too small, only twenty thousand or so, and even counting the newly born infants, it was less than thirty thousand.

If they were still in the midst of war, it would be relatively easy to manage; just imprison them.

But after the war, how to properly arrange these Easterlings and reasonably manage them became a big problem.

After some thought, Allen finally decided to use a method that only worked in Middle-earth to deal with these nearly ten thousand captives: judging people by their appearance.

It was helpless, but it might also be the most effective method.

For those who looked decent and not ugly, he would keep them and use some simple control methods to make them work in the Anduin Valley to offset the crimes they had committed.

Once they reached a certain time limit and performed well enough, he would remove their status as war criminals and could even find them a decent place in the Anduin Valley to survive; if they were willing, they could let the next generation serve Allen, thereby completely changing the fate of their families.

As for those who were not too ugly and were still obedient, Allen also intended to let them work in the Anduin Valley, but the supervision had to be stricter. Those who performed well could receive preferential treatment, but Allen never intended to give them the opportunity to hold weapons or power.

As for those who looked particularly ugly and were also unruly, then let them go to Stier Mining Town to mine and atone for their crimes; that place was strictly guarded by soldiers and was extremely short of labor, which was exactly the right post for them.

Using this set of methods was because Allen knew that in Middle-earth, humans who were inherently evil or easily submissive to evil generally looked uglier, while humans with resilient hearts who were willing to embrace the light did not look ugly.

Some powerful individuals could conceal their original appearance once their strength reached a certain level, but humans were far from having such powerful existences.

Of course, this method might only be applicable to humans, and it could only barely be used to identify those who were particularly easily seduced by evil; bad habits like laziness, lack of ambition, or gluttony and drunkenness could not be identified.

Moreover, if they encountered a situation where Sauron personally took the field, even humans who looked particularly good-looking probably wouldn't last long; this was a gap in power, which the Edain might have deeply experienced.

Ultimately, this matter might be because when the sun first rose, the humans who had just awakened in Hildorien were targeted by the evil Morgoth; after discovering them, the Dark Lord cruelly sowed dark power into the hearts of these second-born children.

Some humans awakened and fled, a small portion becoming the future Edain, while most of the others scattered throughout Middle-earth, and those who did not awaken became the minions of Morgoth.

And under the influence of dark power, humans were easily rendered ugly, vicious, and gloomy and suspicious. In fact, it was not just these humans who were seduced by Morgoth at the beginning; Allen believed that the creatures living on Middle-earth today were also being influenced by Morgoth at every moment.

Because long ago, Morgoth had scattered his power into Arda, causing every blade of grass and tree in the world to suffer defilement. Living in such an environment, the Elves, who possessed long lives, felt it the most intensely; their souls were constantly being eroded, while their bodies were being weakened in such circumstances until they were consumed completely.

And when that time came, the souls of the Elves would return to the Halls of Mandos in Valinor; however, among the Three Rings of the Elves, the power of the Ring of Water and the Ring of Air could protect a portion of the Elves from this disaster, and Allen believed that the Silmaril might also have this effect, as it contained the light of the Two Trees.

And because humans had extremely short lifespans and were born with weak strength, the dark power that Morgoth scattered into Arda influenced their temperaments more; humans with resilient hearts could be immune to Morgoth's influence and maintain a decent appearance.

Those with fragile minds easily swayed by bewitchment, or those naturally inclined toward evil, would quickly become abnormally ugly under the influence of dark powers; for instance, Old Bill, who had been soundly thrashed by Allen in Bree, possessed a fierce and unsightly face.

Understanding all this, and with no better method available, Allen could only resort to judging by appearances when dealing with those Easterling captives; in any case, he could not allow chaotic situations to arise due to the captives while he was away from Wilderness Town.

To this end, Allen still made a secondary plan: he did not intend to disband the Conscripts, but rather let one-third of them take turns on leave to visit their families, while the remainder would work with the professional soldiers to maintain stability within the territory; at the very least, an army of over three thousand men had to be kept to control the Easterling captives who had surrendered not long ago.

As for the land of the Conscripts with no one to manage it, the Easterlings, who had already become prisoners of war, would be made responsible for the farming; this situation had to be maintained at the very least until Allen returned from Gondor.

Regarding the arrangements for heading south to Gondor, Allen had also given it some thought on the return journey; since the distance from Wilderness Town to Minas Tirith was extremely far, with a straight-line distance of at least over one thousand kilometers, he did not intend to bring infantry who could not ride horses for long distances, but would instead take those four hundred Heavy Cavalry and over one hundred adult Knight apprentices.

As for the five hundred assault cavalry composed of Northern Rangers, they would be led by Abinas, and once they reached Lothlorien, command should be transferred to the fifteen-year-old Estel, though nominally, they would still be Allen's subordinates.

However, Allen did not intend to forcibly command them in battle, because after the battle with the Easterlings ended, the transaction between the two sides would be concluded, and the Dúnedain would have no responsibility to serve Allen.

As for those weapons and equipment, let it be considered that Allen had lent them to them for the time being.

Allen's original plan was to give these Dúnedain some remuneration after the battle; now, he would simply use these weapons, equipment, and horse rental fees to offset it.

After all, this was over five hundred horses, five hundred Elven Longbows, three hundred sets of Elven Plate Armor, and two hundred sets of Chainmail Hauberks; even if several of those poorer lords of Gondor pooled their resources together, they probably could not produce these things.

Allen had thought about it, but in the end, he could not bear to give them to the Dúnedain as gifts; he was not wealthy himself right now.