Chapter 58: Wilderness Town in a Standoff with Wolf Riders

At this time, the surroundings of Wilderness Town had long since become a paradise for Wolf Riders, led by a subordinate of Azog, the Orcish Yazini'ge.

In recent days, every night, thousands of Wolf Riders would run and howl incessantly around Wilderness Town from a safe distance.

They wanted to use this method to continuously increase pressure and instill fear in the Humans inside the town.

During the day, they would hide in the nearby forest, staring fixedly in the direction of Wilderness Town with hungry eyes.

As long as anyone dared to walk out from that city wall, they would launch a surprise attack without hesitation.

The infuriated Yazini'ge would not let any Humans leave that town; he wanted to trap those Humans inside those high walls until they died.

In truth, this fellow could only manage to this extent.

As Light Cavalry, the Wolf Riders' ability to raid Human villages was exceptionally strong; they could breach a village in a short time and bring immense fear to the Humans living inside.

But as they were lightly equipped, they simply had no way to bite into Wilderness Town, which possessed complete city walls.

They didn't even dare to approach; the corpses of those few Wargs near the city wall were the best proof.

In fact, Yazini'ge, having received orders from Azog early on, did not have Wilderness Town as his initial target.

He had chosen Horse Pasture Village; as an outstanding Wolf Rider from Gundabad, he understood the surrounding situation very well.

Horse Pasture Village not only lacked city wall defenses, but also had plump sheep and firm-fleshed Warhorses; these had long made Yazini'ge and his mount drool with greed.

It was just that in the past, his strength was poor, and whenever he came near this area, he would be hounded everywhere like a dog by the Twilight Knights.

Now his strength had grown, and it was time for revenge and slaughter.

However, when Yazini'ge led a thousand Wolf Riders and traveled day and night to reach Horse Pasture Village.

There was nothing left there but empty houses and bare grasslands; Yazini'ge, whose plan had fallen through, could not accept this.

But helpless, they could only burn down all the houses there to vent their spite.

It is estimated that even Azog, when issuing the order, had not expected such a thing to happen.

In his view, it was a long-premeditated attack, but in reality, Allen had already learned of it more than two months ago.

Not only that, Allen had formulated a series of precautionary measures to deal with this potential problem.

Back in September, after Fatis left with the vast majority of Wilderness Town's troops.

Yamila, whose actions were becoming increasingly decisive, immediately organized the villagers to begin the work of "strengthening the walls and clearing the fields."

She organized manpower to store a large amount of firewood and fresh water within the town, for which they cut down every tree near Wilderness Town.

And the grain after the autumn harvest, after being dried, filled the warehouses; this food was enough for everyone to eat for several years.

As for the people and livestock that migrated from Horse Pasture Village, they were also properly arranged by Yamila to live in Wilderness Town, protected by the city walls.

At this time, Wilderness Town was home to just under eight thousand people, over a thousand horses, several hundred cattle, and a small portion of sheep.

Yamila settled most of the personnel in tents in the open spaces within the town, or in larger residential houses.

Even Allen's lord's house was full of herdsmen at this time.

The livestock were distributed to each household to be cared for, and the entire Wilderness Town went from being slightly empty to extremely crowded.

At this time, Wilderness Town entered a state of military management; residents who did not hold specific jobs in Wilderness Town were not allowed to leave the area where they lived during normal times.

Yes, when Artimenner planned the town, he referred to Allen's opinions and divided the entire town into blocks of roughly equal area, separated by roads and low walls.

Although it seemed very troublesome at the time, after construction, Wilderness Town appeared very orderly, and the roads were exceptionally smooth.

And now, this planning also brought great convenience to Yamila's management.

Although residents could not move about freely, if they needed food or other help, they could find the person in charge of their area, and they would naturally handle it.

For a time, the entire Wilderness Town entered a state of silence.

Yamila did not want to restrict the residents' freedom like this, but before Allen left the town, he had spoken to her solemnly.

The minions of the dark forces were not lacking in Humans, and no one could guarantee whether there were enemy spies in Wilderness Town, so sometimes, being cold was the only way to appear more merciful.

For a time, the management work within the town increased greatly; James and Fatis both put down their work to help Yamila maintain the safety, hygiene, and public order of Wilderness Town.

Beorn and Wulf's families also moved in, and Marian, who was nearing her due date, was arranged to be in the hospital.

James, having received Allen's special instructions, would take some time every day as a doctor to check on Marian's condition; over these years, he had delivered who knows how many children for the women of Wilderness Town, and his experience was quite rich.

As for those two young Skin-changers, they often followed Cress, patrolling on the city walls.

Four or five years had passed, and they had stepped from boyhood into youth; although Allen believed they were still young and refused their request to go to the Lonely Mountain.

But they had already mastered the ability to turn into bears and possessed powerful combat strength.

Mainly responsible for defending the city walls were the three hundred or so reserve soldiers Allen had left behind.

Being reserve soldiers did not mean their combat strength was poor, but that Allen no longer had enough supplies to provide them with standardized equipment.

What they wore now were the ancestral armors replaced by the Woodland Residents; although they looked motley, they were complete sets after all, and they had all been repaired by Dwarf blacksmiths, so they still had defensive power.

Of course, the weapons were even more motley; swords, spears, pikes, they had everything, and the only thing relatively uniform might be the Hunting Bows held tightly in their hands.

As for the others, there were only the one hundred Archers left by Allen who held Elven Longbows.

With even greater strength, they were treated by Yamila as a reserve force; it could be foreseen that wherever it was most dangerous, they would likely appear there.

It was these warriors who, at every moment, were on the city walls and within the town, maintaining this town they relied on for survival.

Through their efforts, the people finally settled down; after all, they could communicate and understood awe, and as long as there was food and drink, there would be no problems in the short term.

The biggest problem was actually the livestock; because horses and plow oxen were of extremely high value, Yamila carefully settled them.

However, Horse Pasture Village previously had thousands of sheep, which were Allen's property, and Yamila truly had no suitable place to house them.

In the end, this female Town Mayor could only ignore the bitter pleading of the Horse Pasture Village elder, Tuoju, and ordered the herdsmen to slaughter them in batches.

In the days that followed, the miserable cries of the sheep before death drifted over Wilderness Town for a long time, causing the residents, who already felt that a great battle was near, to feel a sense of sorrow in their hearts.

Only afterwards, Yamila distributed the innards, which were not easy to preserve, to every household, and also included a few portions of seasoning; this was a formula Allen had specially researched to satisfy his own appetite.

Used to stew the innards, the taste was still acceptable; at the very least, Allen was satisfied.

It was just that the small treasury Allen had left for Yamila to keep had suffered a heavy blow, with large amounts of spices being distributed.

In exchange, the residents had long-lasting smiles on their faces, and the scent of meat lingered for a long time over Wilderness Town.

Yamila was truly at a loss; although it was already winter, the weather in Wilderness Town was not particularly cold.

Yamila handed the large pieces of meat to the herdsmen for safekeeping, and for this, she withdrew a large quantity of coarse salt from the warehouse.

As for the small pieces of meat, Yamila could also arrange for the soldiers to finish eating them before they spoiled.

But what about the offal? If it wasn't distributed, were they just supposed to let this food rot?

As for the spices, they could also allow the residents to eat something good in this overly serious environment, easing their moods and making them more compliant with Yamila's management.

This massive amount of work, while not difficult, was truly too tedious; soon, dark circles appeared once again on Yamila's fair face.

While Wilderness Town was still preparing, the scouts on Carrock were the first to see the black smoke coming from Horse Pasture Village.

Desaiwei even took her Horse Archers to scout in the direction of Horse Pasture Village.

After shooting down a small squad, Desaiwei brought back news that over a thousand Wolf Riders were attacking Wilderness Town.

Yamila immediately stopped all outdoor activities for everyone.

After all, she had previously been arranging for personnel to continuously obtain resources like clean water and firewood from outside the town.

This was not because the town was not well-prepared, but because the more of these things they had prepared, the better.

Soon, the Wolf Riders appeared around Wilderness Town, and after a brief probe, both sides began to enter a standoff phase.

Facing the brick city walls, the Wolf Riders had no way to bite into them, and the soldiers in Wilderness Town could not leave the city to drive them away.

Just like that, with neither side able to do anything about the other, the days passed one by one, and the weather gradually turned cold.

And the Wolf Riders, who were supposed to be continuously harassing Wilderness Town from outside the city, had also disappeared for several days.

During these days, Yamila, Desaiwei, and Cress were working in three shifts, constantly patrolling the city walls with the soldiers.

Sensing that something was wrong, they felt worried, because these Wolf Riders could absolutely not have given up on the attack on Wilderness Town; they must have had other sinister plans.

The saying Allen often kept on his lips, "When things are abnormal, there must be demons," constantly reminded them, making them even more vigilant in this eerie calm.

And on this day at dawn, it was Yamila who was patrolling on the city wall.

Fully armed, she wore a Swadia helmet, and draped over her was a green surcoat chainmail, with the emblem on the surcoat being exactly Allen's Crown Three-Star Flag.

In the past, Yamila, who dreamed of becoming a warrior, habitually used a Warrior Longsword; this weapon, which had followed her for several years, was still sharp and hung steadily on the weapon belt at her waist.

In her hand, she held the only monocular telescope in Wilderness Town, carefully observing the ford near Carrock.

The golden strands of hair that slipped quietly from her helmet shimmered with a faint glow in the dawn sunlight, setting off her stern and handsome face.

Finally, the enemy appeared; at that ford, a considerable number of figures had gathered, and the last time this situation occurred was five years ago.

Looking at these annoying Wolf Riders, Yamila suddenly remembered a concept Allen had proposed.

That was to build a small castle at every ford of the Anduin River and station elite soldiers to guard them.

That way, it wouldn't be so easy for the Orcish from the Misty Mountains to come over and harass the villagers in the future.

However, even the current Wilderness Town did not have the strength to build such a massive project, so this proposal was temporarily shelved.

And now, hundreds of Wolf Riders appeared on the opposite bank of the river, constantly waving the whips in their hands, driving nearly a thousand Orcish and Human slaves.

They gathered into a force of over a thousand people, slowly crossing the riverbank and marching toward Wilderness Town.

Among them, the nearly five hundred Human slaves mostly had dull eyes and numb expressions, with almost no armor on their bodies.

Even in winter, they only wore tattered clothes, shivering as they carried crude Siege Ladders and walked toward Wilderness Town.

Their feet, having just waded through the river water, were already frozen purple, and from time to time, someone would be unable to bear such cruel torture and collapse to the ground.

Some could still stand up under the lashes of the Wolf Riders and continue walking; those who could not stand up would be bitten to death by the Wargs that pounced on them, and then...

As for those Orcish infantry, most of them looked panicked, twisting their heads around, trying to find an opportunity to escape.

They were completely unwilling to participate in this battle, so they were driven by hundreds of Wolf Riders in a state of extreme reluctance toward the West Gate of Wilderness Town.

It turned out that during this period of standoff, Yazini'ge, who led the Wolf Riders, had thought of a plan through continuous observation and intelligence from other Wolf Riders.

He had already learned that the most elite forces of this town had all gone to the Lonely Mountain, preparing to resist his leader, Azog, there.

Now the forces left in Wilderness Town should be very few, likely only a few hundred soldiers on the city walls.

As for the old, weak, women, and children hiding inside the city walls, to Yazini'ge, they were no different from lambs waiting to be slaughtered and were not in his consideration at all.

This guy, who was a bit smarter than the average Orcish, had a very simple plan.

That was to find a way to open the city gates and let a thousand hungry Wolf Riders rush into the town.

By then, this town that Azog hated would be destroyed, and Yazini'ge would not only receive Azog's reward but also gain countless Human captives, thereby greatly increasing his strength.

As for the Humans and livestock slaughtered in the attack, they would not be wasted either; they could appease the Wargs, who had been growing increasingly dissatisfied lately, which was simply killing many birds with one stone.

But to complete this plan, there were two difficulties facing Yazini'ge.

One was the city wall that was like a turtle shell, and the other was the few hundred soldiers on that city wall.

To solve these two difficulties, Yazini'ge felt he needed some cannon fodder to attract more of the Humans' attention.

Therefore, during this period, Yazini'ge led the Wolf Riders to search for Orcish everywhere in the nearby Misty Mountains.

However, the results of the search made him very dissatisfied.

It turned out that the Orcish living in the Misty Mountains, as long as they had a bit of fighting spirit, had all followed Sauron's orders and gathered toward Gundabad.

What remained were these cowards who were extremely unwilling to fight.

These cowardly guys who feared war had already run away halfway through the march in the Misty Mountains.

Originally, Yazini'ge wanted to wait until night to attack, as the environment at that time would be more favorable to the Orcish.

However, if he really waited until then, it was estimated that the conscripts he had captured would all have run away.

Moreover, in order to make up the numbers, Yazini'ge even dragged out the slaves from these small tribes.

Most of these slaves had been tortured by the Orcish for a long time and were basically no different from obedient puppets.

Letting them participate in the battle probably wouldn't have much hope, but Yazini'ge felt that attracting the Humans' attention would still be no problem.

Now, the one leading these people to attack Wilderness Town was Yazini'ge's deputy.

And he was hiding in the forest, staring intently at the soldiers on the city wall.