Allen stayed in River Valley City for nearly ten days. At the same time, the troops gathered in Gushan gradually dispersed under the leadership of various lords.
The orc corpses that were full of pits and valleys on the mountains were cleared away with the efforts of many soldiers, and then burned in a hidden canyon somewhere.
Even in winter, the corpses of tens of thousands of orcs cannot be allowed to rot slowly. It is not that Middle-earth has not experienced the ravages of plague.
The temperature in winter has quietly dropped amidst everyone's busy schedule. Fortunately, the first snow of the year has not yet come.
Different from the weather, the scene in River Valley City is becoming more and more lively. A large number of people and materials frequently enter River Valley City, and urban reconstruction work has begun here.
On the second day after the meeting, Alan handed over one-fifteenth of Bilbo Baggins' treasure to Bud.
On the day when Bard pledged his allegiance to Allen, he asked his friends to spread the news about rebuilding River Valley City. A large number of businessmen and related personnel were already ready to take action.
When the results of the Battle of the Five Armies spread throughout the north through the mouths of birds, the Running River became lively in a short period of time, and time seemed to go back two hundred years ago.
This can be regarded as Allen fulfilling his promise. The young ruler of Rovanian city-state does not like to break his promise and get rich.
Moreover, Artiman will arrive in River Valley City soon, and under Allen's instructions, he will cooperate with Bard to complete the project.
Allen found out from the dwarf engineering master responsible for the reconstruction work that one-fifteenth of the wealth of Lonely Mountain was more than enough to repair River Valley City, and it was inexhaustible.
It takes a long time to repair River Valley City. In the original trajectory, it took Bard at least three or four years to complete the restoration and officially declare himself the king of River Valley City.
Of course, now he can still declare to be the lord of River Valley City, and at the same time declare to be Allen's vassal. At that time, in addition to Allen, kings from other forces will come to watch the ceremony.
Considering the urgency of time, Allen naturally hopes to start this matter as early as possible, and also to find something to do for the more than 2,000 people of Changhu Town.
Even if Allen and Thrandu Yin have a good relationship, the elves cannot always feed their neighbors.
Although King Thrandu Yin did not mention this, Allen could imagine how big the burden would be.
For this reason, Bard also gave the "Girion Necklace" that Allen gave him to King Thranduin as a thank you to the woodland elves for taking care of the residents of Long Lake Town during this period of time.
After all, in the short term, these residents of Long Lake Town will live with Bard in Riverdale City. It is his duty to thank the King of Woodland on behalf of these residents.
Allen had never thought about forcibly bringing the more than two thousand residents of Long Lake Town back to Wilderness Town. There was no need for this. On the one hand, it was necessary to give Bard some foundation for development.
On the other hand, many of these people are descendants of the residents of River Valley City, and they naturally have a favorable impression of Bard.
After the construction of River Valley City is completed, Allen plans to use the remaining money to rebuild Changhu Town at the corner of Jungle River and Long Lake.
Allen felt that the previous Long Lake Town was not suitable for this crisis-ridden world, especially after it came under Allen's rule.
Connect them with wooden piles and build the town in the middle of the lake. It seems to be very unique and safe, but in fact it is isolated and digging its own grave.
Once they are besieged by a large number of enemy troops, the residents in the town can only defend the town and either die in battle or surrender, without even the option of escaping.
The supporting troops could not march into the city, and they could not even cooperate inside and outside to fight the enemy. The narrow wooden passage was a double-edged sword.
So Allen doesn't plan to rebuild Long Lake Town in the same way as before, he plans to build a port town.
In Allen's vision, the main body of the city must be on the shore. Most of the residents live on the shore, and more agriculture and animal husbandry can be taken care of. Moreover, the town definitely needs a city wall to protect it.
safety of residents.
A large number of ports should be built in the lake to receive merchants from various places who come through the rushing river, and collect various fees to enrich Allen's finances.
Moreover, in order to cope with the Dongyi people's attack at any time, Allen is also planning to build some military ports, purchase some or build some warships himself.
You can find a way to ask Lady Galadriel about this. The elves in Lothlórien have extremely high skills in shipbuilding.
Allen heard that Linton's elf shipbuilding skills were even higher and were at the pinnacle. Unfortunately, Allen didn't have any friendship with the legendary navigator Kildan, so he didn't dare to think so much.
After the fleet is completed, Allen plans to install dwarf repeating crossbows on the warships and deploy sailors and archers to build a powerful naval force.
In this way, when a battle breaks out on the eastern plains of Rovanian, Allen can rely on the rushing river for defense.
Let the navy and army cooperate to block the enemy on the other side of the rushing river.
Of course, this kind of thing has no clue. Allen is only making preliminary plans in his mind.
But this does not prevent some people from finding Allen with a little trouble.
It's Mayor Stephen and his deputy Alfred.
The former mayor of Changhu Town, who had obviously lost a lot of weight, knelt in front of Allen as soon as he entered the room, prostrate himself on the ground and howled loudly.
While crying, he denounced the atrocities of the evil dragon Smaug, and after finishing the scolding, he began to praise Allen's great kindness in preparing to rebuild Lake Town, and expressed his willingness to donate his family property to do his part in rebuilding Lake Town.
.
Behind the scenes, I still hope to be the mayor of Changhu Town.
This... Allen can only say that he is daydreaming in his heart. He has already planned to hand over the rebuilt Changhu Town to Fatis for management.
Yes, it is management, not fiefdom. Allen plans to give Fatis the status of governor and let him govern Long Lake Town for him, as well as the fleet that exists in Allen's plan.
Although he is also a feudal official, his situation is completely different from that of Bard. In other words, Fatis is the general manager of the territory directly under the royal family of Allen.
If possible, Allen does not want to enfeoff the land. He can hand over the management rights to his subordinates, but he will not hand over the ownership. He does not want to play the game of vassal's vassal is not my vassal.
This is also the result of Allen's careful consideration. According to the current transportation and information communication methods, the enfeoffment system is actually more suitable.
But this will cause some problems for Allen. After all, after the fief is divided, Allen can only make demands on the vassals of the fief, and cannot directly manage the specific affairs of the fief.
Allen has some ideas about the income and future development direction of Changhu Town. After it is sealed off, can he still have the final say?
For Allen, this means that the rights are dispersed. As long as such rights are given out, it will be difficult to get them back.
Forcibly retrieving it may cause a lot of unnecessary trouble and even division, which is not what Allen wants to see.
Therefore, Allen still wants to implement the county system. Although the sky is high and the emperor is far away, whether managers do well or not depends entirely on their ability and moral character.
But there is no dispute over the ownership of the town. In the whole world, whether it is the royal land, the shore of the land, or the royal ministers, as long as there is enough reason, changing the manager is just a matter of Allen's order.
At the same time, Allen believed in Fatis's character and his ability to manage a city well.
If it really doesn't work, it would be better to change the governor in a few years, and let Fatis come back as his military deputy. It's not impossible to change him.
As for Bard, this is a special situation. As a descendant of Girion, he has the natural legal inheritance rights of River Valley City, and this inheritance rights are generally recognized by dwarves, elves, and humans.
Therefore, Allen can only trade with Bard and make him surrender to him. He cannot directly rob or occupy it by force. This will cause dissatisfaction with the dwarves, elves and other human forces.
But Changhu Town is different. This town has always been in a state of autonomy, and the mayor is selected from the older and wiser people in the town.
Now that the original Changhu Town has been destroyed, a large number of original residents of Changhu Town may stay in River Valley City to live in the future.
The subsequent Changhu Town is wholly owned by Allen. As long as it develops well, it will attract more people from other places and form a completely different town from the previous one.
In this case, there is no problem at all for Allen to arrange a governor of his own, and the dwarves and elves will not have any objections.
Therefore, the plan of Stephen, the former mayor, will definitely come to nothing.
However, the mayor is still somewhat capable. Although his management skills are mediocre, he is still good at doing business.
Allen somewhat wanted to use him. After all, after opening up trade, Wilderness Town needed a businessman who was familiar with product prices in various places to help stabilize prices in Wilderness Town, and to cooperate with Jamila in dealing with merchants from other places.
Avoid any business problems that would affect the lives of the residents of Wilderness Town.
Allen doesn't have any relevant talents at hand, so Stephen is a good choice, but Allen doesn't intend to give the former mayor too many rights.
This guy can't see his own shortcomings at all, and he regards wealth as his life.
Giving him power will inevitably lead to enriching his own pockets, and then Allen will have no choice but to hang him.
Not giving him rights now would be like saving his life later.
After thinking about it again and again, Allen looked at Stephen and made his decision.
"Stephen, Changhu Town has been destroyed now. As for whether to rebuild it or who will manage it after reconstruction, I have my own arrangements. In this regard, I can only regret to inform you that I cannot help you with your request.
promise."
After hearing Allen's words, Stephen's face, which was still a little oily, quickly became decadent.
The corners of his mouth moved, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't speak.
Stephen was very unwilling. He was quite eloquent and had prepared quite a lot of speeches when he came.
But the young man in front of him looked at him calmly, and that look made him swallow back all the words he had prepared.
Stephen didn't dare to say anything anymore. At this time, he already knew that Allen sitting in front of him was already the human king of the north recognized by the dwarves and elves.
Although the young man behaved very politely, Stephen, who had been a mayor, knew that angering a king was a very irrational behavior.
Even if he is not killed, he will probably be expelled from the north. By then, his life will be extremely miserable.
Allen looked at Stephen's expression and roughly guessed what Stephen was thinking.
He smiled and offered an olive branch to Stephen: "Stephen, if you are willing, I have a job as a financial consultant for you. If you are willing, there will be a seat for you on my conference table.
.”
After Stephen heard Allen's invitation, his heart sank to the bottom, and he suddenly came back to life, and his face no longer had a decadent expression.
He quickly bowed his head and expressed his loyalty to Allen, saying that he would serve with all his heart in the future and would not betray Allen's trust.
Allen waved his hand and asked Stephen to stand aside. Of course, Allen didn't have much trust in him. As long as he didn't act like a monster and didn't make Allen have murderous intentions.
But looking at Alfred standing next to Stephen, Allen was a little worried.
Allen didn't want to use him. Not only that, Allen didn't even want to give Alfred his identity as a territorial citizen.
This guy has some abilities, he is literate, smart, and his reactions are quite fast.
The shortcomings are also very obvious: no sense of responsibility, no reverence, no sympathy, seeking power for personal gain, gossiping, greed for life and fear of death, and most importantly, lack of gratitude.
In any case, Allen did not want to leave such a scourge around him. In fact, he was already considering whether to hang Alfred.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! However, after much thought, Alan could not find a suitable reason. At this time, Alfred did not do anything that violated the law and hurriedly hanged him.
He will only give Allen the reputation of a tyrant.
For this reason, Allen looked at Alfred and thought for a long time. In his thinking eyes, he inadvertently exuded a trace of killing intent.
Alfred, who secretly looked up to observe Allen from time to time, instantly felt the killing intent. Although he didn't know why Allen wanted to kill him, it didn't prevent him from reacting immediately.
This timid guy actually moved his steps slightly in front of Allen, retreating little by little towards the door, and while retreating, he checked Allen's reaction from time to time.
Just when Allen raised his hand to summon his personal guards, Alfred, who was stimulated, turned around and ran away, and was then forced back by a sharp Noldor sigil sword.
Allen waved his hand just to ask his personal guards to call Bud to see if Bud was interested in Alfred.
Unexpectedly, Alfred had such a big reaction. Not only that, Alfred's pants were already wet under the edge of the talisman sword.
He was so frightened that he peed his pants when the shining sword light went straight to his throat.
Allen looked at Alfred who peed his pants, and Stephen who looked indifferent next to him.
I also admired their courage in my heart, and wondered in my heart, how could these two people really dare to come to me for the position of mayor?
Are you bullying yourself for being a good person? Or do you think the two of them are really good? Will you be impressed by them?
Alan found it a bit funny.
The new Lord of River Valley City, led by the Twilight Knight, hurried to the place where Allen temporarily lived.
Bud's heart is now full of gratitude to Allen. He never thought that Allen would give so much wealth to rebuild Riverdale City and Lake Town.
Bud, who has entered middle age, has never seen such a generous person. If someone asks now what Bud thinks of Allen, Bud would only say that he wishes him a long life.
After Bud, who came in a hurry, walked in, he bowed to Allen with great respect.
After getting up, he noticed his two old enemies, Mayor Stephen standing on one side and Alfred kneeling in the middle of the hall.
Bud was a little confused, but did not ask any more questions. Allen was not too polite and asked directly: "Good afternoon, Bud, I came to you to ask you if you are willing to accept Alfred as my wife."
You serve? If not, I will be ready to expel him from my territory."
Alfred, who was kneeling under the force of the sword, was still thinking about when he had offended the young king.
But at this time, after hearing Allen's words, he couldn't care too much. Under the sharp sword light, he cried bitterly and prayed for Bud's shelter.
Under Alfred's prayer, Bud accepted Alfred's allegiance without too much hesitation. After asking Allen for instructions, he left directly and took him out to work.
It has to be said that Bard is indeed a kind lord. An ordinary person would be unlikely to take in this former enemy. Allen himself cannot do that.
Allen's original intention was to hand Alfred over to Bud and let him do whatever he wanted with him. After all, Bud had suffered a lot from Alfred in the past.
And Bud is now Allen's subordinate. Helping his subordinates vent their anger is an essential quality for a qualified leader.
Just seeing the current situation, Allen knew that Bud would not do anything excessive to Alfred, but physical labor was definitely unavoidable.
Since Bard doesn't care, Allen doesn't think much about it anymore. Alfred will be Bard's trouble in the future. If this guy commits a crime outside of River Valley City, Allen won't be short of a rope.
.
And after finishing these things, Allen was also ready to leave River Valley City and return to his own territory.
During this period of time, Allen not only fulfilled his promise to Bud, but also arranged the follow-up treatment plan for the injured.
Soldiers with minor injuries will follow Allen back to Wilderness Town this time, while soldiers with serious injuries must wait for their injuries to recover before returning.
After all, it is easy to cause bumps on the road. If the wound opens again, they may die on the road. Allen cannot accept this.
For this matter, Allen ordered Bandak to stay and take charge of the wounded here, while Bud would be responsible for taking care of them and purchasing corresponding supplies and medical supplies.
In addition, Allen also found the busy Thorin, the dwarf prince, who also had many things going on at this time.
Dyne Ironfoot has already planned to move most of the dwarves in the Iron Hills to live in the Lonely Mountain. After all, it is richer here, and the Iron Hills will be preserved as an iron ore producing area.
In addition, Thorin also sent a force to the Blue Mountains to inform the dwarves of Durin's clan there that the Lonely Mountain had been reclaimed and they could return home.
At the same time, he was also preparing to go to Lothlorien, but he couldn't do it with Allen. Both of them were busy and the time didn't coincide.
When Allen found Thorin this time, he did not want to discuss the tripartite alliance between elves, dwarves, and humans with Thorin.
This kind of formal alliance needs to wait until Thorin takes over the throne of Lonely Mountain and becomes Thorin II before he can truly give Allen an effective reply. His current status is not enough.
In addition to returning Oakcrest to Thorin, Allen is also preparing to negotiate a deal with him.
Allen obtained a lot of treasures in this battle to regain the Lonely Mountain, but it is unrealistic to take them all back.
And why bring it back? Create a treasure house and lie in it every day to appreciate it?
He is not so evil yet. What Allen hopes is to use part of the gold from his treasure as reward to order a thousand sets of full-body plate armor suitable for humans from the dwarves, as well as a thousand sets of steel horse armor.
Thorin, who was deep in thought while holding the beast's biting sword, readily agreed after hearing Allen's request.
He told Allen that at least half of Allen's gold should be paid for these armors, of course, gems were not included.
However, it cannot be delivered immediately. Solin will deliver fifty sets to Allen every year starting from next year and complete this order within twenty years.
After all, the dwarves of the Durin clan have just taken back the Lonely Mountain, and they will have a lot of things to do, and the forging of plate armor itself is very troublesome and extremely expensive.
Even though there are many top blacksmiths in Gushan and Iron Hills, it will take twenty years to complete this order.
Allen felt that the price was still cheap, and maybe Thorin gave him a good discount.
In any case, Allen thinks it's worth it, and he plans to wait until the order is completed before ordering a batch of armor suitable for infantry from Thorin. It is best to only equip breastplates and helmets. Full-body plate armor is still too heavy.
, not suitable for infantry.
These full-body plate armors are equipped for heavy cavalry. In addition, Allen also plans to use his own and Twilight Knight's elf horses as stallions to breed a batch of excellent horse breeds with better endurance and faster speed.
In fact, Tuoju was already doing this in March this year, but when Allen went back last time, the pony hadn't been born yet.
For this reason, Tuo Ju did not report the matter, and the pregnancy cycle of horses is about ten months. After the New Year, the pony should be born, and Alan will naturally know the result by then.
In addition, Allen considered the training method. He planned to ask Horimion to slightly simplify the Twilight Knight's horse melee combat training method and use it to train his own cavalry to improve their combat effectiveness.
As for the source of troops, Allen's idea is to mainly recruit soldiers summoned by himself. Their survival rate is higher, they recover faster, and their morale is stronger.
By then, the mounts of Allen's heavy cavalry will be the descendants of elf horses, and the soldiers will be summoned soldiers with higher loyalty. They will be equipped with a full set of plate armor made by dwarves, and coupled with the training of the Twilight Knight, it should be very powerful.
powerful.
The most important thing is that for an army like this, only horses are not a problem. Within twenty years, Allen can organize thousands of people.
By then, the four hundred Kugit herdsmen would be able to gather thousands of cavalry.
As long as the horses in Muma Village can be preserved, each heavy cavalry can even be equipped with two light cavalry attendants. The light cavalry can be recruited from the residents in the forest.
At that time, it will be a mixed cavalry brigade of 3,000 people.
With such an army, Allen dared to fight against the Dongyi army in the Rovanian Plain in the eastern part of the Black Forest.
In the west, as long as he has the means to deal with the Nazgûl, Allen can also use the fast mobility and powerful destructive power of the cavalry to force the orcs into Dol Guldur, so that they will never dare to step out of the Black Forest again.
step.
Of course, now Allen can only go in this direction and plan.
If you want to form such an army, in addition to a lot of preparations, just feeding these thousands of mouths is a huge problem for Allen now.
Things always need to be done slowly and little by little, and Allen already has enough time now.