Chapter 261: Grey Mountains

As everyone knows, in this beautiful place of Middle-earth, the coldest area must be the vast ice field in the far north of the continent, the Northern Wasteland. The elves call that area, which is difficult for ordinary people to live in, the Forodwaith region.

As early as nearly ten thousand years ago, the Dark Lord Morgoth at that time ruled there, and his evil power still affects that vast land to this day.

Wise men believe that the unusual cold there must have been affected by dark power, which led to the powerful subordinates remaining after Morgoth's failure, that is, those cold dragons, being willing to occupy there.

The reason why the resource-rich Rhovanion was not affected by the extreme cold temperature in the north was because of the protection of mountain ranges, especially the Eothraim region, which was only separated by one mountain. The weather in the north was cruel and cold, but the weather on this side of the mountain was lush with water and grass, suitable for animal husbandry.

It has to be said that in this world with gods, the rules contained in some conventional natural phenomena may not be very reasonable, or rather, it conforms to the common sense of this world.

And the one protecting Rhovanion is naturally the Grey Mountains with snow-covered tops all year round. It has a total length of more than five hundred kilometers, and its eastern limit is the uninhabited Desolation of Smaug in the north.

The southern part of the wilderness is the Kingdom of Erebor where the Durin dwarves live today. This is no longer the territory of the Grey Mountains.

And to the west is the holy land of the Durin dwarves, Mount Gundabad. According to legend, the ancestor of the Durin dwarves, Durin I, was born here. The westernmost end of the mountain range is connected to the Misty Mountains, and continuing west is the branch of the Misty Mountains, the Angmar Mountains.

Although the peaks of the mountain range have snow all year round, even in the hot midsummer, as the altitude decreases, the slopes on the south side of the mountain range begin to appear green, extending to the plains at the foot of the mountain along several streams.

This is the confluence of the Langwell and the Greyflood, and also the source of the Anduin River. And Grunwalder Castle, which the dwarves helped Allen repair, is located on a high hill in this area. This actually stems from the architectural style of the Rohirrim.

If possible, they always like to build castles on high ground, which is more conducive to defense and observation of the enemy situation. Of course, another place favored by the Rohirrim is the valley. They will also build high walls in the canyon as a shelter in times of crisis.

The design concept of Framburg is just like this. After all, the role of this castle is to resist the orcs occupying the Grey Mountains, and half of its direction is surrounded by two cold and clear rivers.

The Langwell from the northwest flows to the southeast, while the Greyflood flows from the northeast to the southwest, and finally converges in the south of the castle, becoming a wider river rushing to the south.

And to the north of the castle is a vast plain, and further away is the dense forest extending from the Grey Mountains and the Misty Mountains. From time to time, flocks of birds fly up over the forest.

A team of a dozen grey-black orcs holding curved swords and short spears is moving quickly and nimbly on the withered and thick fallen leaves at this time, monitoring their target with turbid eyes.

Although these claws serving the darkness cannot be silent and swift in the forest with many trees like elves, the lush branches still make the woodland their home field. Because the big fireball emitting bright light in the sky cannot use power to dispel the gloom and terror covering here.

"Da da da" "Da da da"

And on the edge of the forest, five knights traveling together are driving their horses forward. Their figures are tall and straight, wearing fine armor engraved with complex carvings. It should be to maintain a good field of vision. The helmets they wear on their heads are cavalry helmets with a very Rohan style, which can protect both sides of the cheeks and the extremely fragile nose without affecting the vision of both eyes.

"Swish~" "Ugh!" "Whoa~~~"

The knight running at the front of the team suddenly pulled open a composite bow tightly gripped by his left hand. After a crisp shout, a cone-headed arrow shining with cold light accurately hit the orc captain who couldn't stop his footsteps because he ran too fast.

Accompanied by the miserable howl of the orc captain, the five cavalrymen immediately reined in their horses, aimed the strong bows and crossbows in their hands at the direction where the sound came from, and were always prepared for the enemy to launch a surprise attack on them from behind the dense trees.

It was just that the enemy did not come to the sunset that had already turned red as they hoped. The gradually weakening miserable scream accompanied by the rustling sound, instead, went further and further away from them, towards the depths of the forest, startling flocks of birds.

"This is the third time today, right? This bunch of guys doesn't fight, just peeping at us in the forest every day. Damn it, why don't we rush in and kill them."

The one speaking was a middle-aged man holding a repeating crossbow with a firm face. His name was Arnold, the first Rhodok Sharpshooter who followed Allen to Middle-earth.

In fact, Arnold's position was the captain of the second archer brigade. This appointment was actually a bit strange. Often, relatives and friends who didn't know the truth would privately and curiously ask Arnold.

You are a Rhodok Sharpshooter, how did you become the commander of more than a hundred archers?

And at this time, a shallow smile would appear on Arnold's face, and his tone would be indifferent and calm: "Don't ask, asking means His Majesty has a unique eye and discovered my talent among many choices."

However, the real situation was because among all the archers with sufficient qualifications, Arnold's command ability was the best, and his eyes were extremely sharp. Even if he operated a siege crossbow himself, he could let the arrow rain shot by his subordinates fall where it should fall.

Arnold, who was originally the captain of the archer brigade, should have spent most of his time on the repaired city wall. It was just that recently, when he was observing the night sky, he suddenly wanted to explore the surrounding terrain, always feeling that he would use such knowledge in the future.

So he used this reason to obtain Baron's consent and left the castle with the cavalry responsible for the reconnaissance mission.

Being able to make this decision and also being able to let Baron agree with his idea, Arnold naturally had his own confidence. Compared to the miserable situation of falling off the horse during the first duel with the wolf riders, his skills on horseback had been tempered to perfection in more than ten years.

And the repeating crossbow he held was combined by Allen with the craftsmanship learned in Pendor, using Noldor rune carvings and Moria mithril. Although it could only prepare three crossbow bolts at a time, with the special stringing device, it could be stably strung on the bumpy horse back.

And while it could be fired continuously, it did not sacrifice the attack power of the crossbow bolts. The force after firing was still comparable to a siege crossbow that required full strength to string, and it had extremely terrifying lethality for orcs whose equipment was mostly simple and wargs whose defense was only fur.

It was just that the biggest problem was still the low output. In the professional army, only officers at the captain and squad leader level held them, and another part was distributed to the personal guards guarding Grunwalder Castle.

"Mr. Arnold, don't say such angry words. The forest is too dangerous. You know I definitely won't agree to this suggestion."

Alice, who had a serious face, felt that the orcs were getting further and further away from her, and her tone softened unconsciously, like an explanation and like teaching to her subordinates behind her:

"My teacher, Lord Holimion, once said that the habits of orcs are like this. These dirty guys are extremely unwilling to appear under the sunlight, and the leader I just shot should be the one leading this small team. According to past experience, the morale of these guys is afraid that it has already collapsed. At the very least, there will be no danger in this direction within today."

Arnold naturally knew some of what Alice said. It was just that his understanding of orcs partly came from the accumulation of combat experience, and partly came from the popularization of the King. It was just that at that time, the King was not the King, but just the boss of the team.

"Forget it, let's show mercy today and let them go. There will be opportunities in the future. Now it's getting dark, we should go back. Although these guys collapsed quickly, as long as there is the whipping of a whip, the speed of gathering can also exceed our imagination."

"Let's go, today's reconnaissance ends here!" As he spoke, Alice reined in her horse and took the lead in running towards Grunwalder Castle standing in the distance, and the few people behind her also manipulated their horses to follow.

Ever since the dwarves began to openly repair Framburg, things like today had become commonplace. Orcs of different skin colors and different equipment often hid in the dark forests around the pasture.

At first, it was just cautious peeping. After a long time, the cruel orcs couldn't bear the desire for blood, and began to prepare for their specialty, which was to cooperate with wargs to launch surprise attacks on sleeping humans in the middle of the night.

This situation often happened in the area around the Misty Mountains before the Battle of the Five Armies. Whether it was farmers living in Eriador or woodland residents living in Rhovanion, they couldn't escape the harassment of orcs.

Baron, as a Northern Human born in Mirkwood, knew the habits of orcs very well, and the King who arranged the task before departure also solemnly told him that before the city wall was repaired, he must do a good job of night guard work.

Anyone who knows a little about orcs knows that if these despicable guys want to launch an attack, they will likely choose a dark and windy time.

Baron faithfully executed the King's order, and then a short and ridiculous battle happened.

Because the time was hurried, the orc leader Arag who launched the surprise attack did not gather too many troops, only more than a hundred wolf riders with decent equipment, and hundreds of Snaga with simple clothes and black short spears.

However, Arag did not think his troops were weak, because according to his observation, the number of human troops was not too many, and at least more than half of the humans still had to cooperate with the busy dwarves to repair the castle during the day.

As the orc leader of Mount Gundabad at this time, Arag was actually not particularly smart, at least not as good as Azog and Bolg. It was just that the failure of the orcs in the Battle of the Lonely Mountain indeed made them seriously injured, and it was difficult for excellent commanders to appear again in a short time.

It could be said that Arag was already among the top batch of orcs at this time.

Even if it wasn't particularly smart, Arag also knew that mining stone and cutting trees were never easy jobs. He didn't believe that humans and dwarves who were busy all day could easily pick up weapons and fight with him at night. According to his past experience, the enemy's camp should be full of snoring.

And he organized the troops to launch a surprise attack, not a strong attack. If there were too many people, it was not a good thing. It was just that not more wargs responded to his call, which still made Arag a bit unhappy.

It was just that he didn't have any good way to deal with this, because the wargs, who were also subordinates of the Dark Lord, were a faction of their own and only cooperated with the orcs. If they gave face, they could catch some prey, which was naturally good. If they didn't give face, Arag could only find a way himself. The two sides did not have a relationship of mutual subordination.

The surprise attack started in the second half of the night when the bright moon hung in the west. To some extent, Arag's guess was not wrong. The busy humans and dwarves were indeed very tired, most of them had entered dreamland, and there were indeed not many people on night watch.

Baron, who had just arrived near Grunwalder Castle, actually had some crisis awareness, because the situation on the scene was somewhat different from what he imagined.

Before the team set out, whether it was Allen who issued the task or Baron who led the execution, they all thought that they didn't need to help the dwarves repair the castle, and a team of several hundred people only needed to do a good job of guard work.

The facts were indeed so. The dwarf responsible for this task was a distant relative of Thorin, one of the members of the Durin royal family, Nori. Of course, he was also one of the dwarf partners who participated in the expedition. He clearly told Baron that the repair work indeed didn't need human intervention, but some auxiliary work still needed Baron's cooperation.

It was just that this part of the auxiliary work included opening up stone materials and cutting trees in the early stage, because the dwarves who came later were still on the road. In order to complete the repair work as soon as possible, Baron could only agree to Nori's request.

It was just that in this case, Baron didn't care about the complaints of some subordinates, forcibly arranged for one-third of the soldiers not to participate in the work, only needed to guard the camp, and did not rotate, because Baron believed that even if they rotated, it would affect the state of the soldiers when they were on guard at night.

The human body was not like that of a dwarf, which could recover energy immediately after a short rest. The fatigue of work was extremely easy to cause negligence in the night guard work of soldiers. This risk was something Baron could not afford.

And in order to deal with the possible night attack, Baron also imitated some of Allen's early practices, piled up a large amount of firewood around the camp, and arranged for his subordinates to pour some fire oil on the firewood pile at regular intervals. This could provide good vision for the soldiers at night, allowing the archers to fully exert their combat effectiveness.

Facts proved that when facing orcs, no amount of preparation would be in vain. ===== CHAPTER 262 =====