Chapter 88: The Valley at the Lower Level of the High Pass (This is an extra chapter for the big boss's tip)

The next morning, the sun was bright, the weather was warm, suitable for traveling, and suitable for giving the enemy an unexpected surprise.

Allen and his party of over ninety people carried five days of supplies, wore wide cloaks that could cover their full-body armor, and rode warhorses, galloping along the well-maintained road toward the Old Ferry.

Because Allen had already learned the specific situation of the Orcish in the Misty Mountains, he was also worried that these fellows might rush out from the forest or hillsides at any time to attack him.

In order to preserve sufficient stamina to cope with such sudden situations, under Allen's orders, the group only hurried toward the High Pass at a speed that was not considered slow.

By the evening of that day, they stopped on the Wilderness between the High Pass and the Old Ferry. After setting up a simple camp, the group rested vigilantly for the night under the illumination of the stars and the moon.

Bandak, who set off just before and after Allen, led the infantry and Archers to camp and rest near the Old Ferry, twenty kilometers away, while the Cavalry unit led by Fatis would set off from Wilderness Town at dawn tomorrow and arrive near the High Pass before dark.

In this way, the three units could form a state of sequential advancement, so that after the decoy unit led by Allen was attacked, it could quickly receive support from the follow-up troops.

However, the surroundings of the camp were calm all night; the Orcish entrenched in Orc Town seemed to have truly abandoned the forests near the Misty Mountains and hidden themselves in the tunnels deep within the Misty Mountains.

There was no movement all night, which actually caused Allen to have a sliver of doubt about his decoy plan. If those nearly a thousand Orcish just hid in the dark tunnels without coming out, doing nothing but focusing on reproduction, that would truly become a trouble for Allen.

There is the logic of chasing a thief for a thousand miles, but no logic of guarding against a thief for a thousand days. If this situation really happened, it would not take ten years for the Orcish of Orc Town to inevitably walk out of the Misty Mountains again and form a certain threat to Allen's territory.

If the battle only took place on the surface of the Misty Mountains, Allen would not be overly worried, because sooner or later he would train a batch of troops capable of fighting in mountainous terrain.

However, this could only achieve passive defense, because according to the habits of the Orcish, they would absolutely never engage in a fair, head-on decisive battle with Humans in broad daylight.

If they appeared in front of the Human army, it was either because they had an absolute advantage in numbers, or there was no sunlight; most of the time, they liked to launch attacks on the enemy when both conditions were met.

What Allen lacked now was an army that could still exert one hundred percent of its combat effectiveness in dark tunnels with complex terrain. This was hard to find; perhaps only his dozen or so personal guards and Beorn's kin had such ability.

But it would certainly take a long time for such elites to accumulate in a certain quantity. Allen had already set his sights on the Noldor Elves of Pendor, especially those Rangers; dual-cultivating sword, shield, and bow, they would certainly be able to cut the Orcish to pieces in the tunnels, though he would need at least several hundred.

This would take too long. For now, Allen still pinned his hopes on today's plan. If he could deal a heavy blow to the Orcish again today, he could win more time.

Thinking of this, Allen glanced at the high reaches of the Misty Mountains, which were full of craggy rocks and patches of unmelted snow, while he had already led his team to the entrance of the valley at the lower level of the High Pass.

In this valley, whether it was the valley floor or the not-so-steep slopes on both sides, it was already covered with lush trees; looking at it, it was a sea of green.

In the center of the valley floor, amidst the cluster of trees, one could still barely see a path with obvious traces of human labor; it should be the road mentioned in Desaiwei's report, nearly forty kilometers long, that could traverse the upper valley.

Judging from the situation around the path, the width of this road in the past must have been at least several times what it was now, and even what remained now was enough for Allen and his men to pass through.

Having arrived here, Allen took a deep breath of the scent of the trees and led his team onto this still relatively flat road, walking slowly toward the center of the valley.

Besides the trees and the road, there was also a deep riverbed at the lowest point of the valley; that should be a gully washed out by rainwater flowing down from the Misty Mountains when it rained, and the rainwater would naturally collect here and flow into the Anduin River.

At this moment, this riverbed was completely dried up. Walking on the road, Allen could see piles of white bones at certain spots in the riverbed with a casual glance, both Human and animal; these should be traces left by the Orcish after harming passing merchants.

As the group went deeper into the upper valley, the surrounding trees were no longer quiet, and from time to time, flocks of birds were startled by Allen and his men.

This situation could only mean one thing: the surrounding environment was very safe. Apart from Allen's party, there were no other creatures that could startle the birds nesting in the trees; there was even a lack of wild beasts.

As time passed, when the group had walked through one-third of the upper valley, treading on withered and rotten leaves, the sky gradually darkened. The light of the setting sun cast a layer of golden radiance over all the scenery in the valley, as if the group were inside a golden oil painting.

But Allen, who was leading the team, had no time to watch such beautiful scenery. He was pondering the progress of his plan in his heart. For the entire day, there had been no trace of any Orcish in the valley. This could not be considered good news for his plan; even a wolf howl would have been fine, but there was nothing.

Allen would not be shaken in his plan because of this, because it conformed to the habits of the Orcish. Today the sunlight was so brilliant; if the Orcish could still rush out from the hillsides on both sides, howling and launching an attack on the group at this time...

Then Allen would definitely retreat along the way they came without a second word, because the enemy would inevitably be the Uruk of Barad-dûr, and they would certainly be astonishing in number; only they could fearlessly launch a surprise attack on Humans in the clear daytime.

But the current situation conformed to two results of Allen's speculation: one was that the Orcish were truly cowardly, and even the One Ring on the Hobbit beside Allen could not lure them out.

Then Allen's plan could be declared a complete failure at this point, and in the future, he could only rely on stationing a large number of troops in the valley to maintain its safety.

The other was that Allen's plan had already succeeded, and the Orcish had already begun to act; then everything would be revealed in the night.

At this moment, Fimbul, standing on the hilltop on the north side of the valley, looked at Allen's party, his surging emotions filled with a little bit of conflict.

Back then, when a thousand Wolf Riders attacked Wilderness Town, he was still the deputy of Yazini'ge, but following the failure of the battle, his boss died miserably under the bear mouth of the Skin-changer Grim.

And Fimbul, who led the remaining Wolf Riders, made a prompt decision in this situation and immediately ran away with the remnants of the troops. From then on, he naturally became the leader of this team.

In fact, after Fimbul became the leader, his days were not bad, although the thousand Wargs had scattered after the war's failure.

But Fimbul still had over two hundred well-equipped Wolf Riders under his command. Relying on these soldiers, he forcibly occupied Orc Town and became the new Orc King, and his original subordinates also gained many benefits and slaves.

At the same time, in order to expand his power, Fimbul sent people to quickly devour the remaining Orcish strongholds in the surrounding area; for a time, he had become the most handsome guy near the High Pass of the Misty Mountains.

And those Orcish who had originally set out from Orc Town to participate in the Battle of the Lonely Mountain at Gundabad were soundly defeated by the allied forces on the battlefield of the Lonely Mountain, with more than half of their companions dead.

The few hundred survivors fled back in a panic all the way from the Lonely Mountain, only to find that their original home already had a new master; having lived there for a long time, they were naturally unwilling.

All of them had a standoff with the two hundred-plus elites led by Fimbul in a cave near Orc Town.

Soon, the roars of the Orcish, the exasperated arguments, and the sound of weapons clashing in protest filled the entire dark cave.

"This is the place we have always lived in; you don't belong here. Get out, get out."

"We are in a very bad mood right now and really want to kill someone. If you don't get out, I don't mind using this Curved Blade to bleed you."

With the support of hundreds of Orcish behind them, there would naturally be hot-tempered and self-righteous Orcish who stood up to confront Fimbul.

They held their heads high, negotiating with Fimbul who stood on the high slope, threatening him with war to leave their homeland.

It was just that they, who had thrown away their armor and fled for their lives all the way, did not know how mismatched their verbal provocations and their extremely haggard figures were, and how easy it was to make people laugh.

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Fimbul did not make any response at all, but amidst a burst of wild laughter, he ordered his soldiers wearing elite equipment to launch an attack on that group of fellows who looked like beggars.

How could the Wolf Riders who had already obtained some benefits abandon the slaves and wealth they had in hand and leave Orc Town? If Fimbul had issued an order to leave, the only response would have been a mutiny.

These Wolf Riders, wearing Scale Armor and Chainmail, brandished the more refined weapons in their hands and howled as they rushed down from the slope; just a simple charge was enough to disperse the little guys who were originally clamoring to go home.

Soon the cave was filled with the wild roars of the Wolf Riders venting; it wasn't easy for them either, as only two hundred out of a thousand returned from the battlefield, and the fear in their hearts was no less than that of these clansmen who had fled from the Lonely Mountain.

Although they had not seen their companions burned alive with their own eyes, those miserable screams at the time and the roar of that great bear would forever linger in their dreams.

Facing weaker enemies, they naturally chose to vent to their heart's content, as if this could dispel the fear that haunted their hearts.

Just like that, a small internal strife among the Orcish ended near Orc Town. Fimbul achieved a complete victory; not only that, the dead Orcish further replenished their food supplies.

And those who survived became slaves and were divided among his subordinates again.

Since then, Fimbul felt that his rule had become much more stable; not only were his subordinates very obedient, but whenever there was anything good to eat or use, his subordinates would also offer it to him first.

I don't know about others, but he had indeed gained a lot of weight in the two months he had been here.

Originally, Fimbul didn't have any great ambitions and just wanted to live steadily like this, but on this day, a palpitation in his heart made him lead his men out of Orc Town.