Chapter 377 Rapid Support
"My home is deep in the forest, at the foot of the mountains."
As Gandalf and his companions hurriedly headed towards the capital of Rohan, there was an obviously harmonious scene in Fangorn Forest.
Pippin and Merry sat on Treebeard's shoulders and talked to him.
"I promised Gandalf to keep you safe, so I have to keep you somewhere safe."
"Little Hobbit, you can live in my house without worry."
"Well...it's a long way to go, maybe you would be interested in listening to my poems..."
Having said this, Treebeard began to sing in his broad and slightly hoarse voice.
Soon the two hobbits fell asleep.
"Well, then go to sleep, little ones, sleep peacefully, you can sleep as long as you want."
"I have some things to do."
"I have a feeling that a huge shadow is growing near Fangorn Forest."
"Also, there seem to be some new and tenacious companions in the brown land on the other side of the river, but they are square and not easy to communicate with..."
"We need to have a meeting to discuss this matter."
…
"The great Eye sits in Barad-dur, ever vigilant, never letting down its guard."
"Sauron is anxious. He is afraid."
In the land west of Rohan, Gandalf expressed his views.
"He fears the emerging human city-states, their leaders, and what you might accomplish."
"Therefore, as soon as he confirmed that Levi had lost contact and was missing, he immediately launched a general attack on the human world, trying to end the war quickly."
"Faced with Sauron's army, even the Free Cities were briefly in trouble, let alone Gondor and Rohan?"
"Lady Galadriel revealed to me the situation in Gondor. Many armies are attacking it from different directions. Their numbers are huge, several times greater than the Gondor defenders."
"The fierce attack and siege of the North have been broken, but the noose of the South is tightening."
“That’s why we have to speed up.”
At Gandalf's suggestion, the five of them immediately set out on the journey, heading for the capital of Rohan without sleep.
It took them only four days to reach Edoras, outside the dazzling golden palace.
"Where did you come from, you shabby tramp? Your robe is not beautiful at all. It will dirty the king's eyes."
Outside the door, a thieving figure stopped the five people and attacked Gandalf physically.
This sentence made everyone unhappy.
"Who are you?"
Gandalf asked this out of politeness.
"I?"
"Hmph, listen carefully. I am the advisor appointed by the great King Theoden, Grima. If you have nothing important to do, please leave immediately and do not disturb the king's peace."
Looking at this smug guy, Boromir was the first to frown.
He looked around and found that the guards at the door all looked helpless.
The captain of the guard recognized Boromir, the eldest son of the famous Prime Minister of Gondor, so he took the initiative to come over, pointed at Grima and whispered:
"This man is favored by the king with his sweet words and fake loyalty, and he has great power."
"Not to mention the visiting guests, even the scout who arrived before you just now was muzzled and locked up for bumping into him."
"If you have something important to do, maybe you should take a tougher stance instead of wasting time here with him."
Hearing the captain's words, Gandalf in front shook his head repeatedly.
"Theoden is really out of his mind to employ such a sycophant."
“Bold!”
Hearing this, Grima lost his composure and shouted, "How dare you slander me in front of me! Someone, lock up this poor beggar!"
"Go to hell!"
Without warning, Gandalf raised his staff.
Boom! There was a dull sound of impact, and Grima's eyes rolled back, and he fell straight to the ground.
Starting from zero frame is the most difficult to defend.
Swoosh——
The surrounding guards immediately drew their weapons and pointed them at the five people at the door.
Even though they also disliked this villain, he was a senior executive after all, and it was unacceptable for him to be attacked like this.
This matter must be explained.
"What's all the commotion?"
Just when the two groups were on the verge of a confrontation, a voice came from the hall.
Théoden came out.
He looked at Grima who had fainted on the ground, then looked at the five people in front of him and frowned.
"Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir son of Denethor, an Elf and a Dwarf."
"What's wrong with you five? Why is my advisor lying on the ground?"
"Advisor? You call such a sycophant an advisor?"
Boromir was the first to speak out.
"I have always heard that King Theoden is brave and wise, but I never thought he would make mistakes."
"A man like this would be thrown into prison as soon as he appears in Gondor. There would be no place for him in the Council Hall."
Aragorn behind him nodded silently in agreement.
In an environment like Gondor, which is always tense and stressful due to the huge threat from Mordor, even if such a person manages to come to power by chance, it will not last long.
Sooner or later he will expose his ability or weakness of character because he fails to handle something well.
A person without ability cannot survive at the top of Gondor now. Even if Gondor does not punish him, the Orcs at the gate of the capital will teach him a good lesson.
Denethor is not someone who is easy to talk to. If it were this iron-blooded chancellor, he would never show mercy if he found such a person.
After hearing what Boromir said, Théoden felt a little embarrassed and immediately retorted:
"That's not the case. I know Grima is a bit arrogant, but he does have some management skills and has saved me a lot of trouble."
"Save trouble?"
Gandalf took over the conversation and said, "By saving trouble, do you mean that he locked up the scouts who had just arrived at the front line and didn't report the news?"
"Is there such a thing?" Theoden said seriously.
"But…"
"Do you believe him or me?"
Gandalf also lost his temper. He interrupted Theoden and said, "If you continue to allow such flatterers to interfere with government affairs, I will let Levi kick your ass hard. But don't forget what happened in this hall. I don't believe your father didn't tell you."
Théoden looked at Gandalf, who was really angry and seemed a little anxious, and felt helpless. He said:
"If you can really get Levi to appear in front of me, I'll be happy to turn my back and let him do it."
"I heard, Gandalf, that Levi was tricked and disappeared into the Northern Wastes. The people of the Free Cities are very angry."
"Don't worry about that. I know about him and I've seen him. He will be back soon."
"Yeah."
Theoden's eyes wandered, and he suddenly said, "Can I take back what I just said?"
Gandalf glanced at him with a subtle expression, but did not respond to the topic.
There are more important things at hand.
He used his stick to nudge Grima aside to make way, and then he and Theoden went to visit the scout who was imprisoned as the captain of the guard had mentioned. The inquiry yielded some incredible news.
"The crossing of the Isen River has been lost. A large army of Dunlendings and Uruks is heading towards Helm's Deep. His Highness Theodred is defending there. The situation is not optimistic. We only have less than 2,000 people."
"How many enemies are there?"
“Almost ten times as much as us.”
Théoden's heart skipped a beat.
He now felt that Grima really deserved to die.
If Gandalf and others had not arrived, this news would have been blocked in the scout's mouth, and it would have been unknown when he would have heard it.
So he immediately ordered: "Put Grima in jail and shut his damn mouth. I don't want to hear anything from him anymore."
"Smart move."
Gandalf praised.
"So what are you going to do?"
"Theodern said, Théodred and less than two thousand soldiers alone cannot resist that army. I must gather the army immediately to support Helm's Deep."
"It's better to do it as soon as possible." Aragorn on the side suggested.
"If what the scout said is true, the Uruk army is about to cross the Aisen River crossing. Even if we set out now and move quickly, I'm afraid we will only arrive a little earlier than them."
"There's no time to prepare slowly."
…
When Theoden was urgently assembling his army, on the wall of the Water City, Levi turned around and looked at the newly assembled army and nodded.
He raised his head, but before he started to speak or take any further action, the army let out a shout that resounded through the sky, and even those who did not participate in the expedition began to cheer.
The miracle of Roadside Fort has spread throughout the four districts of the Water City, and the gentle glow has become a landmark event.
It signifies that the supreme leaders of the city-states are favored.
People were so enthusiastic that it was hard to calm down.
After letting the crowd make noise for a while, Levi pressed his hand, and the crowd immediately became quiet.
After half a day of preparation and mobilization, a total of four legions, or a total of 8,000 people, have now gathered in the open space.
This is not the limit.
At present, part of the troops of Water City have been dispersed to the distant southwest coastline, and they are patrolling back and forth on the sea by boat.
In fact, in terms of population alone, the total population of all the cities in the Free Cities is no more than that of Gondor.
But the conversion rate is high.
With a smaller population, we can mobilize more troops.
"Let's go."
"The journey is not short. We have to walk faster."
(End of this chapter)
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