Take the ride to dominate the game

Chapter 98 Confrontation
Ten days later, Harrenhal, the base of the Widow's Tower, one of the five towers.

A few torches were the only light sources in this huge cell, and even during the day, it was as dark as night.

Due to the decline of the He'an family, there have been no new visitors to this prison for several years.

But now, there are more than 40 soldiers from the Western Region who are unwilling to surrender and more than a dozen Lion Family spies who pretend to be civilians and try to sneak in.

"Say, what is Tywin's army doing in Heron Town?" Patrick shouted viciously.

The voice is quite ferocious, but the temperament is a little bit worse.

In front of the young man in Haijiang City, there were four Lannister spies wearing only loincloths.

Their hands and feet were tied and they squatted on the ground.

This question has been asked countless times, and Patrick didn't answer it satisfactorily this time.

It's just that there are no recreational activities, so he can only make fun of intimidating the captured spies.

Arthur, in a linen robe, sat in front of these people, showing his face to them.

"Do you think I look like a duke or a rich man?"

Although his vision was dim, he could clearly see Arthur's handsome face and tall figure.

"Based on your noble appearance, I think you must be a duke." The prisoner who was questioned said with a smile.

Although he himself knew that the person in front of him was Arthur Bracken, the little baron who had recently become famous throughout the riverlands.

Behind the two nobles, there were seven or eight soldiers from various Hejian families, who were discussing their actions in low voices.

"Why does Lord Arthur like to let the lion family who enters here show his face?" A Bracken master soldier asked.

"Who knows? I also can't understand your lord's move to name this cell the Xibingku Hotel."

"But speaking of appearance, Lord Arthur does look very noble, with a full forehead, handsome eyebrows, and bright eyes. He is better looking than Prince Joffrey and Duke Renly." A soldier of Darry City said.

Though both Joffrey and Renly had crowned themselves and proclaimed themselves kings, since only a few weeks had passed, the custom of the people had not changed.

Several other people didn't take it seriously, "When have you seen these two big men? They are people from heaven."

"That's right, I know you admire Lord Arthur, but before you brag, let's see who you are. A mud-legged man who has never been out of the riverland in his life, can he meet Prince Joffrey and Duke Renly?"

Several soldiers shook their heads, not recognizing what their companions said.

Another soldier of Darry City who was present said: "Hey, we have actually met these two people, the legendary Kingslayer James, the fearless Barristan and Lord Ed of the Stark family. , we have all seen that the former king lived in our city of Dairui for several days on his way south."

When the former King Robert I welcomed Duke Ed to the south, he stayed in Darry City for four or five days because Ed's daughter Arya Stark ran away, so what the two Darry City soldiers said was true.

"Then tell me, what does a kingslayer look like?" someone asked.

They have been tired of hearing about Arthur riding alone among thousands of troops to take down the eldest son of Duke Tywin these days, but they haven't seen the real appearance of the kingslayer. It's time to be curious.

"I forgot." Said the Darry City soldier who had been talking about Arthur's face earlier.

Another Darry soldier exposed his lie, "At that time, he was only looking at the sweet Queen Cersei and Princess Myrcella, and the halazi was all out, so how could he look at the kingslayer's face."

Several people burst into laughter, which made Patrick turn his head and stare twice.

At this time, a voice came from outside:

"Come Arthur, we've got four more Lannister spies."

It was Ma Ke, who stood in front of the corridor of the cell and beckoned Arthur to pass.

Hejian God of War, who asked the prisoners to look at their faces, told the soldiers behind him:

"Seize them, and when someone is willing to surrender, take them to the armory and blow the bellows for the blacksmiths."

There are dozens of blacksmiths in the armory reforging weapons and armor, and strong labor is now needed.

Then Arthur took Patrick and others and followed Ma Ke out of the corridor, and went to the main entrance to deal with the Lion's spies according to the procedure.

Ten days ago, Arthur set off from Shili City with the rest of the Hejian Army, first followed the waterway to the Ruby Beach Ferry on the Trident River, and then led his army south to Harrenhal.

Hendry, the nephew of Earl Janos, also came with him. He said that his uncle handed over the soldiers to him to guard Stone Ledge City. After being taken away by Arthur, he was worried and had to keep an eye on them.

Anyway, Bracken's house governor had clearly given the command to Arthur, and Hendry couldn't do anything wrong, so Hejian War God allowed him to follow him to Harrenhal.

Once Hendry and all the veterans left, Janos' five daughters would also follow their cousin Hendry, so they also packed up several carts of daily necessities, and followed them to Hendry with a dozen maids and old women. Renburg.

Shili City is assisted by the coach as the acting city lord, several sworn knights and hired knights like Hans Darry, and more than 500 recruits are watching the city.

Five days ago, Arthur returned to Harrenhal with a team of more than 1000 people. Another day later, the mayor of Harren Town reported the appearance of the Western Territory Army.

So Arthur asked all the civilians near the town of Harren to take refuge in Harren Castle with food and daily necessities.

Soon, Tai Wen personally led the main force of the Lion Family to settle in Heron Town.

After confirming that there were thousands of defenders in Harrenhal, the Lion Army organized two small-scale siege attempts, one with a battering ram hitting the main and east gates for two hours, but there were no thick iron gates. Another time they used ladders to climb up the crenels of the city wall, but the normal ladders could only reach half of the walls of Harrenhal, so the siege soldiers had no choice but to give up.

After that, there was a confrontation for three or four days. Before the extended ladder was built, it was impossible for the lion family soldiers to attack again.

However, because Arthur ordered to open a gap from the smaller east gate to receive the refugees from the river, some spies from the lion family tried to disguise themselves as civilians to get through.

It's just that the soldiers in the western region are tall, big, muscular, and have firm skin, and they are obviously different from the tanned and thin farmers in the fields with their families, so it is still easy to distinguish between the two.

Ma Ke, who had nothing to do, was sent to supervise the gatekeepers at the east gate to identify the disguised spies.

After the lion family spies were caught, they would be tied to a cross first, and then erected on the wall above the main gate, to let the lion family scouts who were always watching outside the castle know that this road would not work, and secondly, to let these spies the first punishment.

After being tied to the cross for a full day, most Lions spies would surrender and be sent to the armory to help the blacksmiths, or to work with the civilians to repair the superstructure of Harrenhal.

The spies who refused to surrender were imprisoned in the Xibingku Hotel on the bottom floor of the Widow Tower, allowing these people to enjoy five-star prison services.

After passing the stone bridge connected to the Widow's Tower, the group passed through the Burning King Tower and reached the city wall above the main entrance.

With plenty of sunshine and no clouds, it is a good time to bask in the sun.

If it weren't for these people being good coolies, Arthur really wanted to try what he would get after 180 days of drying.

All four were stripped down to their underwear and tied to a cross laid flat in the crucifixion position.

Arthur approached, exerted force from the middle of the cross, vigorously lifted the cross with the people tied up, and then lifted it to the crenel.

Ma Ke and four or five Hejian soldiers hurriedly held the ropes. After busying for half a day, the first spy was fixed above the city wall.

Originally, ordinary soldiers could do this job, but because Harrenhal is too big, soldiers from various Hejian families in their early thousand can only be scattered around and take turns watching and standing guard. Several nobles and soldiers of the family came to do it.

In the distance, a western scout on horseback saw this scene and turned to leave.

After repeating this three times, the work is completed.

During the period, the four soldiers from the Western Region kept shouting and cursing, but after being fixed on the city wall, they became much more honest.

After all, under the sun like this, saliva and dregs are even more precious.

After finishing their work, several people stood on the city wall and chatted.

"The number of civilians who have taken refuge has increased in the past few days. It seems that Lord Tywin is collecting food on the spot again."

The more civilians, the more difficult it is for him to identify.

"Isn't it all like this? Which army will bring its own food after entering Hejian?" Patrick asked back.

Since the continent of Westeros is long and strip-shaped, the Hejian in the middle has naturally become the main battlefield of the previous Seven Kingdoms War. In addition, it is also a grain-producing area, so solving the military rations on the spot has become the best way for the army to enter the Hejian. cost-effective way.

Even the armies of the friendly Stark side will forcibly requisition the grain of the farmers in the river.

Tens of thousands of troops eat horse chews, and a normal earldom can't supply them at all.

Therefore, the farmers who were robbed of food could only starve to death, while the passing army continued to wreak havoc on the next area.

"The farmers in the riverlands are really the most miserable commoners." Arthur felt sorry for them.

Things hurt their kind, and he had a thought of saving them.

"You are here, let me find it easily." Raymond Darry's figure appeared from the stairs, "Earl Bailey and the red-robed monk Soros are here, bringing some very bad news."

Arthur was startled, "What news?"

Raymond shook his head and said, "They didn't say anything, Soros first asked for food to fill his stomach, and Earl Bailey said that we will discuss it after all of us arrive."

The few people no longer had the energy to chat just now, and hurriedly followed Raymond to meet the members of the Brotherhood Without Banners.

……

Most of the river nobles in Harrenhal were called together to listen to the latest news from Earl Beric.

About ten days ago, Kevan Lannister took over the partial division on the western front, and then led his army northward to attack Riverrun.

It's just that Edmure and more than 7000 Hejian troops held on to the city, making it impossible for the Western Division to attack hard in a short time.

Several days after the siege, Kevan used a large number of civilians as bait. Edmure, who had always been kind to civilians, couldn't take it anymore, and led some troops out of the city to protect the civilians in Hejian.

It's just that the Western Region Army was well prepared, and the Hejian Army was defeated, losing four to five thousand men.

What is even more touching is that Kevan ordered to shoot the civilians in Hejian, so Edmure took his soldiers to protect the civilians.

The only heir to the duke was seriously injured by crossbowmen in the western region.

Fortunately, the rest of the Hejian army in the city was led by Titos Blackwood, Jason Mallister and other river nobles to rescue the seriously injured Edmure.

The news made Arthur angry and sad.

The anger is that Kevan of the Lannister family is so despicable, using innocent civilians as bait; the sorrow is that the kind Edmure did not end well.

The two men of the Tully family were seriously injured and seriously ill, unable to take charge of the overall situation.

And the Hedong area was harassed by war again, so the five earls on the south bank of the Red Fork River led their troops to leave at the same time to defend their territory.

What was even more unexpected was that, taking advantage of the chaos, Earl Janos Bracken led someone to snatch Kingslayer Jaime, and then dedicated it to Kevan in the Western Region.

"It is said that the Kingslayer is shitting now, and there are three hundred heavily armed western soldiers watching, many of them are nobles in plate armor." Soros bit the fat chicken leg, and said he heard gossip.

Lord Beric, the Lightning King, shook his head, "Don't talk about these gossips. After the river nobles on the south bank left with their troops, the strength of Riverrun City dropped to about [-], and it was no longer Kevan's confidant. So he led the army across the river. Shoals of the Tengshi River, march north."

The Tengshi River is a tributary of the Red Fork River, and the two rivers meet at Riverrun.

Going up to the north of Tengshi River means that Arthur's territory, Haijiang City, Raven Tree City, Beauty Market and other riverside places are no longer safe.

Patrick yelled: "They must be heading towards my family's Haijiang City, and I don't know if my father can defend it."

Haijiang City is located at the source of the Lancha River, and is also close to the west coast. It is the first fortress in the river to defend against the invasion of the Ironmen of the Iron Islands. The strategic position of coastal defense is high, but the land battle is just an ordinary earl-level castle that does not matter. .

"Idiot, the northern border has gathered troops to go south to Calim Bay, and Kevan's army is targeting the Twin River City." Soros, the red-robed monk, was amused by Patrick's simple words, and reminded him.

Arthur also thought of this section, and as a result, the entire situation on the Western Front completely collapsed.

Although Robb, the eldest son of Duke Eddard in the north, had already led the army to Carlin Bay at this time, he had not won the support of the Frey family with more than [-] troops.

If Kevan led the army to the Twin River City, because of the marriage relationship between the local lords, the Frey family and the Lannister family, Lord Walder Frey would immediately stop sitting on the wall and fall to the Lion family.

At that time, the northern soldiers will not have to go south.

Because there are only two choices: Either fight with the Kevan-Frey family coalition forces of the same strength in the Twin River City, and it may not be possible to win.

Either go south along the king's road, and then be blocked by the combined forces of Kevan Frey in the narrow area between the Green Fork River and the Bright Moon Mountains.

If Tywin's Eastern Lion Army can also cross Ruby Beach and go north, then the nearly [-] Northern Army will be directly blocked at both ends, and Young Wolf Lord Robb will be defeated before fighting.

"That's why we hurried over here to deliver this series of news to you," Earl Bailey said.

After pondering for a moment, the steady Raymond said: "In this way, the only chance for the Western Front to come back is the northern army going south quickly, and then the Starks lure the Frey family with huge profits, and pull his family into the Fish-Wolf Alliance. Then join forces, and attack Kaivan's Western Division with Haijiang City, Riverrun City and others."

Earl Bailey nodded in agreement, "Yes, that's not enough to win the fight. Robb is only in his teens, so he's too young."

Arthur is not worried about Robb's ability to fight. With famous generals like Robb and Roose Bolton, who have amazing fighting talents, there is a high probability that the actions in the northern border will be the same as Raymond said.

It's just another problem. In this case, all the wolf soldiers will go to fight on the western front in the river land.

And Arthur who was stuck at Harrenhal couldn't get any support.

PS: Ask for a recommendation ticket and ask for a monthly ticket.

(End of this chapter)