Early the next morning, the entire Edoras mobilized, because King Théoden, who had broken free from the control of the evil white-robed wizard Saruman, issued an announcement in their capital of Rohan. Order: From now on, the entire city of Edoras must be evacuated. Everyone must take necessary light property and some food and other daily necessities before noon, and take refuge in the Horn Castle of Helm's Deep, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack!
This order was executed quickly. At noon, the residents of the entire capital of Edoras, under the protection of Rohan's infantry and cavalry, began to retreat to Helm's Deep in an orderly manner.
The reason why it can be so fast is actually because there are only less than 6,000 residents in Edoras.
Firstly, it is because not many people in the Rohan Hussars, a traditional nomadic people, are willing or like to live in cities. They need to chase pastures to graze cattle, sheep or horses; secondly, Because in this period of low-productivity Middle-earth, a city with more than 5,000 people was considered a big city!
In this era of low productivity, if too many people gather together, the problem of food will become unbearable for the people of Rohan.
"Théoden, do you, the Riders of Rohan, really want to join that little witch's United Kingdom of Alicia?!"
"Please believe us. Gandalf will definitely bring Eomer's cavalry back in time. There is absolutely no need for you to seek refuge in a country of unknown origin!"
"Moreover, their royal rights are not legal at all! What they occupy is the territory of the original Kingdom of Arno, the territory of us Dendan people!"
Looking at the thousands of Edoras residents who were evacuating in a long snake formation under the protection of less than 1,500 soldiers, Aragorn rode his horse to Théoden and spoke to persuade them.
Last night, in the palace hall, Aragorn and Gandalf almost had a falling out with the little girl because of the United Kingdom of Alicia! The relationship between the two parties has almost reached freezing point!
Because Gandalf didn't trust the newly-rising United Kingdom of Alicia, and even more distrusted Queen Orfina, who ambitiously wanted to annex the Riding Kingdom of Rohan!
In Gandalf's view, Orfina, who also has an unknown origin, is even the same person as Saruman or the Demon King Sauron. They are all people who want to join Middle-earth and achieve some kind of ulterior purpose. Conspirator!
Gandalf will not allow a unified political power or union to appear in Middle-earth! This is not only his intention, but also the will of the gods of Valar!
The former Númenor Empire and those greedy Númenóreans who wanted to attack Aman for more profits are a lesson from the past! Therefore, the Zhu gods do not allow the same country to appear in Middle-earth, even if it is a sign!
This is also most of the reason why Gandalf has been traveling among countries and leading various races and countries to fight against Mordor who wants to dominate Middle-earth! Fighting against evil is just one of them. Preventing people in Middle-earth from having too many ideas or unrealistic ideas is the most important thing!
So, because of this matter, they had a big fight in the hall of the palace last night, and almost had a full-on martial arts show!
Aragorn and Gandalf accused the little girl and Queen Orfina of wantonly invading the territory of the people of Middle-earth and expanding the territory to provoke war, pointing out that their behavior was no different from the evil Lord Sauron!
In fact, it is open to question whether it is because Aragorn is jealous or Gandalf is unwilling to see the Middle-earth world he has trained for more than two thousand years fall into the hands of an unstable little girl.
The little girl Anne and the Queen Ofina said: Everything they did was to fight against Mordor and bring permanent peace to Middle-earth!
Therefore, in the end, the two sides naturally broke up. The United Kingdom of Alicia could not stop its expansion, nor could it return the territories it had acquired! Are they even trying to seduce the entire Rohan to join?
In Gandalf's original plan, the Riding Kingdom of Rohan was definitely bound to Gondor, not the United Kingdom of Alicia who didn't know the details!
So, early in the morning, Gandalf set off angrily on his horse Shadow.
He planned to find enough reinforcements to rescue the troubled Rohan Kingdom, rescue the confused king who led the people to the dead end of Helm's Deep, and prevent them from joining the so-called United Kingdom of Alicia.
He didn't want to see that unsightly red bald eagle flag with gold rim on the land of the Rohan Hussars!
This is mainly because, last night, King Théoden of Rohan had already expressed his attitude: in the end, who can save their country from the hands of Saruman and the Dunland barbarians, and who can help him defeat Saruman, whose side are they Rohan is on!
Similarly, in the early morning of the next day, the little girl disappeared. No one, including Gandalf, knew where she had gone or what conspiracy she was up to?
"Aragorn...you should understand that kingship has no eternity!"
"The Kingdom of Arno has been destroyed for countless years. Whether Alicia is legal or not depends on her strength!"
"Now, it's all over! You should learn to let go, just like you gave up your original identity and responsibilities!"
After experiencing the pain of losing his son and seeing the once powerful Riding Kingdom of Rohan reduced to such a state, Théoden began to take power less seriously.
When he thought about it, at this moment, if there were no more foreign aid, the current Rohan would definitely not be able to fight against the coalition forces of Essinger and Denland! According to the intelligence, they have at least tens of thousands of troops this time! Moreover, it is said that Isengard is still using evil magic to mass-produce strong orcs?
If that's the case, maybe it's really a good choice to side with a strong person?
As for Aragorn, he didn't even dare to try to get or inherit the kingdom of Gondor in the south. What's the point of worrying about and jealous of Arnor's original territory now? In Théoden's view, his country has nothing to do with him since Aragorn went into exile in Rivendell.
People's hearts are selfish, and no one will support a king who has no soldiers and no power, no matter how legal he is! As for Gondor... If Théoden himself were the prime minister of Gondor, as long as there was no big accident, he would not be willing to welcome back a king who was in the way!
"..."
Seeing Théoden who had made up his mind, Aragorn could only silently slow down his mount and let the other party speed away. Maybe, he really wants to do what Gandalf said, it's time to take back his inheritance and his kingdom of Gondor?
Otherwise, he, a wandering ranger, is soft-spoken and would be too passive in everything he does!
Now, he can only place his hope on Gandalf and his group to escort these civilians to Helm's Deep for refuge. It will take almost three or four days. He hopes that the other party can move to Helm's Deep as he said in the morning. Enough reinforcements and appear at the first light of dawn on the fifth day...
————
The two hobbits who had nowhere to go for the time being, for the sake of safety, had been fooling around with the tree shepherd Treebeard in Fangorn Forest. They ate and slept every day, and then ate after sleeping enough. Here, Apart from feeling a little lonely and not having any more entertainment, my life was pretty carefree!
From time to time, they followed Treebeard around, and saw a lot of other tree herders from the other side, and even saw the other side's horribly inefficient tree meeting?
"Treebeard? Where are we going?!"
The night was very late today. The hobbits Pippin and Merry, who were sleeping on the head of the tree shepherd Treebeard, started to ask doubtfully after they were awakened.
Because, they found that something seemed a little wrong tonight?
Wherever they could see, they saw at least dozens of tree herders, and in the distance, there seemed to be more? They are marching silently toward the southwest together with the tree beards under them.
The two hobbits knew very well that in the southwest of Fangorn Forest, wasn't that the direction of Isengard? And now, with so many tree shepherds running to Isengard, are they looking for a fight with the white-robed wizard Saruman?
"We...are going to...answer...the evil little witch's call..."
After turning his head slightly to glance at the two hobbits who had been accompanying him for several days, Treebeard sighed heavily.
In fact, they tree herders really don’t want to participate in the war in Middle-earth. During the War of the Ancients, Morgoth and his minions caused too heavy losses to their tree shepherds... so , they originally wanted to continue to watch as they did in the Second Era, they did not want to join any party!
But how could they have imagined that the evil little witch would use what they cared about most to coerce them into participating in the war? Those tree wives... For the sake of their tree shepherds' tree wives, they had no other better option than being forced to agree to the little witch's threat.
"Are you going to attack Isengard? This is great! Saruman will definitely be finished!"
After standing up and making a rough estimate, Pippin and Merry began to cheer excitedly after seeing at least hundreds of tree herders silently walking up towards Isengard.
They had been assigned by Gandalf to stay here in Fangorn Forest. In addition to being safe here, wasn't it just to trick these tree shepherds into fighting Saruman of Isengard? And now, when they have done nothing, this mission is about to be completed? !
"Saruman? No... we tree people are not Saruman's opponent..."
Seeing the two hobbits dancing excitedly on his body, Treebeard thought for a while and finally gave them a small blow.
"Based on the hundreds of us tree people alone... we can't defeat Saruman..."
"The evil white-robed wizard...he hides in the tower...can release lightning...and terrible flames..."
"If...we enter the range of his tower...he can...burn all of us tree people..."
If the opponent only deals with the strong orcs or half-orcs under Saruman the White, Treebeard is sure to beat the opponent's base to pieces with very little loss!
But if he were to face that evil white-robed wizard, he wouldn't have any good options...
These tree shepherds are too big and their movements are too slow. They are just living targets for wizards who can cast evil spells.
"Can't beat me?"
"Wait! If we can't defeat the white-robed wizard, then why are we going to Isengard now?!"
Seeing that the tree man said such depressing words, Pippin and Merry were frightened and asked quickly.
If they can defeat Saruman, then they will definitely want to join in the fun! But it would be foolish to follow them even though they knew they couldn't beat them. They were two hobbits who enjoyed themselves, but they didn't want to die just yet!
"That's because...that little witch...she's back..."
Treebeard said a little dejectedly. He didn't like the little witch, but he had to obey the other party's orders.
But actually, if their tree beards help the little witch, don't they really have no other benefits?
In addition to being able to learn the exact location of the Treewives, they can also expand their Fangorn Forest to the west, all the way to Dolbalaan further west. These are all conditions that have been negotiated before. The little witch gives them the promised new territory of the tree people.
"Your Excellency Witch Anne, is she really back? That's great!"
Unlike Gandalf or others who were afraid of the little witch, the hobbits Pippin and Merry felt that the little human witch named Anne was quite to their liking anyway! Can it even be said that they have similar personalities?
After all, when they were in Rivendell, they had stolen chickens, petted dogs, infiltrated into the elves' treasury, and even eaten King Elrond's mythical beasts. After doing these things together, they established A deep comrades-in-arms friendship developed!
"If that's the case, then we can't wait to attack Essinger now!"
"That's right! Maybe we should prepare some ammunition first? For example...a big bag of big rocks that can be used to hit the orcs?"
After knowing the whole story, Pippin and Merry began to discuss it excitedly.
If they were hiding on the tall and safe tree men and throwing stones at the strong orcs or half-orcs, they felt that the two of them were still very powerful in combat!
"There's no rush... Let's go to the south first and wait... Waiting for the signal from the little witch... Tonight's night is still very long..."
After slowly taking a step forward to a distance of ten yards, Treebeard spoke in a low voice again.
Rather than victory, it hopes that tonight's battle will not reduce the number of its tree herders too much! Now, they only have a few hundred clansmen left...
As for the big moving trees in Fangorn Forest and the treebeards that can be seen everywhere, they can never become tree shepherds without their tree wives. They can only be magical creatures managed by their tree shepherds. Just a tree friend...
…
"Your Excellency, Legion Commander! There is movement in Saruman's army! Now, they are organizing an army and intend to break through our blockade!"
"He must have discovered that Her Majesty Queen Ofina led the main force to leave here. What should we do now?!"
When King Théoden of Rohan led the residents of Edoras to take refuge in the Horn Castle, Queen Orfina also led her main force to leave the military camp secretly in the darkness of a few days ago and began to head towards the territory of Rohan. Head southeast towards Helm's Deep.
Now, outside Essinger, there are only some artillery formations that are not convenient for rapid march, musketeers of less than 300 people, and miscellaneous troops of more than 1,000 people.
Therefore, when it was detected that strong orcs were once again organized within the high walls of Essinger, intending to forcefully attack their now weak blockade, an officer quickly rode his horse and ran to where Ellie was standing. Reported next to Lenas, the commander of the Second Army beside the West Asian flag and a bonfire.
"Hmph! Saruman has actually discovered it a long time ago! The reason why he is attacking now is because he thinks that the number of troops may not be enough, so he has been waiting for these few days!"
"The Musketeers are ready to form up! Let the artillery load the cannonballs. If Saruman thinks that he can break through our blockade with less than five thousand troops, then he is wrong!"
Lenas sneered disdainfully as she looked at the groups of orc troops that opened the high wall gates, lined up in neat phalanxes, and came out shouting slogans.
It seems that during the time when they besieged Essinger, the opponent finally learned some good methods, and also knew how to launch an attack late at night when the line of sight was poor, hoping to use night battles to defeat their firearms troops. Are the advantages suppressed?
If they relied solely on their current army of more than a thousand people and artillery, they might not be able to defend this place under the opponent's desperate charge! After all, when the number of muskets is insufficient, it may indeed be a bit inconvenient to use slow-loading artillery to deal with infantry that can move and charge.
However, these are not the only ones they have now, they also have a more powerful trump card!
"Send a flare and let the trees prepare to attack!"
After looking at the dozens of hundred-man phalanx in the distance, and the orc army totaling at least thousands of people, pressing towards her along the road they deliberately set aside, Lenas's mouth was slightly unnoticeable. He bent up and then ordered decisively.
Now the treebeards in Fangorn Forest who are controlled by tree shepherds, those big trees that can move and strangle people, have already slowly swarmed over when they in the United Kingdom of Alicia blocked the gate of Isengard. , and occupied all other places except the main road at Essinger Gate!
"But, your Excellency, Legion Commander! If we let the tree people attack now, they will suffer heavy losses under the attack of the mage tower..."
Looking at the towering black mage tower in the distance, the herald was a little confused.
When their Queen Ofina was still leading the army to block here, it was because of the existence of the opponent's mage tower that she didn't want to launch a general attack. Otherwise, under the encirclement of thousands of main troops and powerful tree men, this How can Essinger remain until now?
"Ha! Don't worry, Saruman has no time to cast spells now, go and carry out the order!"
————
"Hmph! My army will crush you!"
Within Isengard, on a protruding balcony-like platform in Orthank Tower, Saruman sneered and looked at the sporadic firelights in the distance.
His Isengard has been blocked by the group of little girls claiming to be the Kingdom of Alicia for many days, and now, when they are about to produce thousands of orc legions, Saruman finally decided to While the opponent's main force is not here, break the opponent's blockade in one fell swoop!
After watching his thousands of troops begin to shout loud slogans and march slowly towards the position of the Alicia United Kingdom's garrison camp far away from the Isengard Gate, Saruman nodded with satisfaction.
Now, his tens of thousands of orcs have entered the territory of Rohan. Now, they are probably about to launch a raid on the Horn Keep or other important targets in Helm's Deep?
And a few days ago, when the Queen of Alicia led her troops to block his Isengard gate, he forcibly resisted the urge to let the tens of thousands of troops return, and just faced off with the other side, and no one could do anything. who!
Until today, after waiting for the opponent's main force to rush to the aid of Rohan, he ordered the orc army that had finally been produced to start attacking, preparing to drive away those guys blocking the door and let the furnace under his Essinger We can continue to get more wood and other resources to continue producing troops.
You know, they have actually stopped production for several days. If the enemy continues to block it like this, they may not even be able to open the pot...
"what is that?!"
Just as he was about to turn around and walk back to the main control room of the tower from the balcony of the mage tower, a huge colorful firework suddenly exploded in the dark sky in the distance. Then, the Fagonn beside the road suddenly exploded. The forest started to become restless?
Then, the big trees that could move began to pour into Essinger. At the same time, the faster tree herders began to rush out of the forest, directly towards the trees he had finally accumulated. Thousands of strong orcs crashed into the formation, causing their formations to become loose and chaotic...
Bang... bang...
Boom~! Boom~! Boom~!
While the tree people rushed into the second half of the Orc army, in the distance, the gunpowder weapons of the Alicia United Kingdom's musketeers and more artillery troops began to roar, and countless cannonballs and bullets directly hit them. The forward of the advancing orc army was beaten to a pulp, and a burst of blood broke out in an instant!
"Treants! How dare you?!"
Feeling that at this time, those tree shepherds in Fangorn Forest dared to come out to cause trouble for him, Saruman was immediately annoyed! He decided: He would use a wide range of fire spells to kill all the trees who dared to enter the attack range of Isengard Orthank Tower, leaving no one behind!
"What?!"
"Little girl! How dare you appear in my mage tower?!"
When Saruman thought about doing it, he lifted up his black staff bitterly. Just as he turned around to walk back to the tower, he suddenly discovered that in the middle of his main control room, there was a little girl sneaking around. Picked up his crystal ball of true knowledge? Then, she suddenly shoved her somewhere and disappeared? !
"Shameful thief! Give me back my crystal!"
After seeing that his precious crystal ball was inexplicably lost by the other party, Saruman shouted suddenly with his eyes split open, and then waved his hand fiercely, and the head of the black staff appeared. A thick bolt of lightning struck straight towards the opponent's face.
Crack!
The electric snake flashed past, and then just made a muffled sound before disappearing on a transparent shield around the little girl.
"Crystal ball?"
"I didn't see any crystal ball! I don't know what you were talking about just now! Look, how can I hide such a big crystal ball on my body?"
Anne herself is a very honest little girl, and now she has not seen any crystal ball of true knowledge!
How could she return a treasure that could be easily viewed throughout Middle-earth without using magic power once it was in her pocket? nonexistent!
Maybe she wants to take it back and reward her Ophina, so that the other party can more easily conquer the Middle-earth world for her?
"Hmph! Stupid little witch! I will make you regret coming to my Orthanc tower!"
After seeing that ordinary spells didn't seem to work on the little girl, he gathered more mana on the spot and opened all the restrictions in the tower at the same time, intending to suppress this girl to the maximum extent while strengthening his own strength. The power of the little witch!
"You will soon find that in my mage tower, your power will be severely suppressed! Then... you will regret being my enemy!"
If this little girl were elsewhere, he thought he might not be able to beat her, but in this Orthank Tower, he had an absolute home field advantage!
"Huh? Are you talking about the kind of vague suppression? They are of little use to me!"
"Forget it, why don't I take action at all? Because I'm not here alone today! Come out, Tibbers, and bite him to death!"
"No! Catch him for me!"
After tilting her head and looking at the old man in white robe who was guiding the spell, Annie didn't even attack him, but directly threw the bear in her hand.
Because, she planned to catch him alive today, catch this old man in white clothes with a white beard!
Roar! !
Tibbers the teddy bear suddenly grew huge after leaving Little Annie's hand.
Then, while Saruman was in a daze, a giant toy bear with dark red flames all over his body suddenly appeared in the main control hall of the Orthank Tower, scaring Saruman opposite. As soon as I shuddered, I immediately blasted the unfinished lightning spell at the giant flame bear!
(…)
(Little Master Anne, this place is really too small, and I can’t exert my full strength... What should I do if I accidentally bite you to death?
——Tibbers waved his paws and casually patted the black mark on his chest that was blasted by the other party's lightning, and then muttered to Anne in private, a little unhappy.
Its current height is almost reaching the top of this hall. In a fight here, it has no room to maneuver or move. It can't run even if it wants to. Maybe, if it is not careful, it will burn the opponent to death. Already? )
"He can't beat you anyway, hurry up and catch him!"
"If you accidentally beat him to death, I will lock you up and turn you into a toy!"
Anne didn't care about the complaints of this smelly little bear. She quickly pointed at the surprised white-robed Saruman and ordered to Tibbers.
Originally, she wanted Tibbers to kill him with one claw!
However, when she knew that this old man with a white beard had an army of at least tens of thousands, and seemed to know how to massacre those powerful orcs, Anne felt that it might be better if he was captured alive?
"..."
When Anne gave orders to Tibbers, Saruman, who saw that the situation was not good, was already secretly retreating.
He is not stupid. If the other party was outside the mage tower, he would dare to use his home field advantage to attack this little girl and her magic pet! However, now that the opponent has sneaked into his main control room and released such a powerful monster, he does not plan to fight the opponent here!
After all, although there are ways to suppress the little witch, there is no good way for him to suppress the flame monster that is obviously a melee type!
Now in Essinger, there are tree people outside who are taking the opportunity to cause trouble, and there is this little girl and her pets inside who are restraining him. Saruman feels that he can no longer stay here? Therefore, he could only decide with grief and indignation: first find a way to retreat here, and then think of other ways after saving his own life?
"what?!"
When Saruman secretly retreated and moved towards the platform he was on just now, a wave of heat suddenly hit him from behind. He was so frightened that he quickly flew towards a corner on the left and narrowly avoided it. That kind of life-threatening flame!
Then, when he turned his head to look over for the first time, he discovered that at some point, outside his mage tower, there was an equally huge Balrog with the same flames all over his body lying down. On the outer wall of Orthanc Tower?
Moreover, at this time, it was blocking the exit of the platform with its huge head, as if it wanted to see where the white-robed wizard himself was hiding?
"This is the Balrog...?!"
Saruman never imagined that there would be a Balrog here first? How did it get here?
Moreover, this Balrog seems to be an accomplice of this little witch? How can this be! Saruman knew that since Gandalf was still alive, shouldn't it have been killed by the old man in gray robe? !
"That's not a Balrog, that's my Erhei! Of course, you can also call it Erhei!"
Balrog and all that, it’s really ugly!
Little Annie felt that the two names she gave her, Er Fool or Er Hei, would be more affectionate. It's a pity that her big cart puller was beaten to death. Otherwise, she can still let it out and get to know its younger brother Erhei?
"Look! You can't escape now, can you? Do you want to surrender quickly? Or do you want to continue fighting?"
As she spoke, Anne sat directly on the stone platform where the True Knowledge Crystal had just been placed. She glanced at Saruman who was forced into a corner by his little bear Tibbers and the Balrog lying outside. , he asked tentatively with a smile.
At this time, there were more intense gunfire and the angry roars of the tree people outside. Those tree people, as well as the big moving tree beards, plus the troops of the United Kingdom of Alicia, seemed to have attacked Ai. Within the walls of Singer?
