The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 156 The Oriental Trap (7k)

In the chaotic army, Viserys Targaryen was wearing a suit of black armor and was protected by a large number of guards. Targaryen's three-headed dragon roared above his head, but even with such tight protection, the battle before him still made him terrified.

Longswords and scimitars were flying together, Dothraki kept falling down, and the Westeros people relied on their thick armor to run among the centaurs like a massacre. Many knights even gave up their shields and picked up weapons with their other hands - anyway, the centaurs could not cut through their armor, so there was no need to keep the shields.

The usurper, Robert Baratheon, had turned into a bloody man in the fight. He held a hammer in one hand and a sword in the other. As he swung his weapons, centaurs fell immediately. The stag emblem was covered by layer upon layer of blood, and the original color could not be seen.

Viserys saw Khal Moro's head smashed by the usurper. He had seen this khal before. As a powerful khal under Khal Balb, he was a typical Dothraki - which also meant that he extremely despised armor - he was full of contempt for the fact that he wore armor and had verbally abused him many times because of it.

And now, Moro Kao has proved the value of armor with his death. If he had worn armor and a helmet, he might not have been killed so easily by the usurper.

When Khal Moro died, his bloodriders rushed forward howling for revenge, but were slain by the Usurper's White Knights.

When he saw those white knights, Viserys felt pain from the bottom of his heart. He couldn't help but think that all this should have belonged to him. He should have such guards, not soldiers sent by Braavos who were sent to protect him in the name of protection but in fact for surveillance.

King Viserys was eighteen years old, and if rumors were true, he had been crowned by his own mother at the age of eight.

In this way, he was the youngest king in the history of the Targaryen family, even surpassing Aegon the Dragonbane and Daeron the Young Dragon.

If he had been born in a peaceful time, Viserys would have waited for adulthood with the assistance of his ministers, but the brutality of his father and brother ended this possibility. When he put on the crown, the vast territory of Westeros had changed hands, and the only thing left for the little king was Dragonstone, the ancestral land of his family.

A few months later, when the fleet of the noble known as the Usurper approached, he was forced to abandon this land of roots and spent nearly ten years in exile in the East with his only surviving sister.

Because of this, although many of the remnants of the Dragon family still respect him and hope that he can one day restore the country like the former Targaryen lords, more people call him "the Beggar King" and "the King with a Crown" with full contempt for him.

When rumors emerged that the Crown of Layla was lost in the fall of Pentos, he was given the derogatory title of "the King without a Crown". In the eyes of many people, his fate seemed to be to die in a foreign land.

However, the hopelessness of the situation did not make the little king give up on himself, but made him more resilient.

After obtaining the protection of Braavos, he studied military tactics and martial arts with the assistance of his loyal ministers, preparing for possible opportunities in the future and waiting for the right time to come.

Perhaps his efforts were blessed by the Seven Gods. In the tenth year after his exile, Khal Balbo unified the Great Grass Sea by force. After countless chaos and killings, the nomadic power reappeared hundreds of years later.

In order to prevent a foreseeable large-scale invasion from destroying the fragile eastern trade routes after the Eastern Expedition, the city-states began to contact Balboa and planned to divert the locust disaster in the Grass Sea to the west.

After learning of this plan through the power of Braavos, the young king realized that a rare opportunity had arrived. He immediately contacted the Sea King and volunteered to participate in this offensive in which all the forces in the East were doing their best.

Moreover, he did not intend to go to the more stable northern coalition to help, but to join the risky centaur army.

Therefore, even the experienced generals of the Northern Alliance were surprised that the Young Dragon King had such courage, which was almost stupid.

However, Viserys's idea is not without insight. It is more of a gamble of a young man than a foolish act of youth - in this war, Viserys positioned himself as "tempting bait". He was well aware of the usurper's hatred of the Targaryen descendants, so he tailored a target that he could not refuse - that is, himself.

In the Young Dragon King's conception, he would secretly go to the east, join the Centaur team, and appear in front of the usurper in an abrupt form, leaving him no room to stop and think calmly.

Next, the Targaryen dragon banner will gradually lure the usurper to lead the elite troops away from the main army and lead them into the trap that has been prepared long ago... High risk, high reward, this is the strategy given by the Young Dragon King.

Many people expressed doubts about this strategy of luring the beast with one's own body, but Viserys had made up his mind. He was determined to go to the battlefield and avenge his brother. He even made his own will, which inevitably caused heated debate.

In the end, Aquaman approved the plan, not because it was foolproof, but because it was more likely to lead Robert into the arms of the Stranger - in order to ensure that Viserys would not die in battle too early, the city-states led by Braavos also formed a special guard to protect the young king.

Even Khal Balboa agreed to this secret plan. He planned to transfer the old party of the city-states gathered along the line to guard Viserys, so that he would have more time to encircle and kill the infantry of the Seven Kingdoms.

The plan went smoothly. When the always impatient King of Westeros saw the Targaryen flag, he immediately accelerated his entire army. After the battle began, he led his knights to charge towards the Targaryen flag.

Next, Robert fell into the trap of the centaurs. The khals on the Great Grass Sea tried their best to take down Robert, whose military reputation was known throughout the East and the West. They rushed towards the usurper with their blood guards, so that even those who were not famous enough were not worthy to join in the siege of the usurper.

At that time, Viserys thought that the usurper would finally pay the price for his actions, but what happened next was beyond his expectations.

Facing the famous khals and warriors on the Great Grass Sea, the Usurper proved his ability with the hammer stained with Rhaegar's blood. One brave centaur after another was knocked off their horses by the Usurper's hammer, and one head after another was pierced by the Usurper. The Usurper was like a flame, devouring all challengers who tried to take his head.

Khal Moro was one of the khals whose heads were taken off by the usurper. Many famous warriors of the Great Grass Sea died in this way, but even so, they still enjoyed it, even if they could only leave a scratch on Robert's armor at the cost of their lives.

This also shows the level of Robert and his Kingsguards. When a group of people have to risk their lives for injuries, even the most powerful warriors can easily be killed in this way, but Robert has persisted until now.

Although Viserys had also experienced cities in flames, that was still far from the bloody battlefield. The blood on the battlefield made him extremely uncomfortable and made him want to vomit, but the exiled prince still forced himself to swallow it back.

But even so, the approaching Westeros people made his inner fear continue to intensify, and maintaining the courage not to turn his horse around and escape made him exhausted.

Viserys knew that if the centaur had not been so fearless and had used his flesh and blood to block the usurper's horse's hooves, the usurper and his hammer would have come to him long ago, and the man would have smashed his head without hesitation.

As Viserys's fear continued to grow, the scene he had been expecting finally happened. Amid the almost endless blockade of the centaurs, the usurper slowed down and stopped. Although he and his knights were still efficiently killing all the centaurs that rushed over, slowing down was slowing down.

Viserys's fear and worry also dissipated a lot, and were replaced by confidence. Now the usurper was surrounded by countless centaurs, and the kinetic energy of his attack was also used up by the corpses of the centaurs. No matter how brave he was, the outcome would be that all his energy would be exhausted and he would die in the siege.

As the fear dissipated, another emotion surged into Viserys's mind. It was hatred, hatred for the man who had killed his parents, taken away the throne, turned the Targaryens into refugees, and left him and his sister wandering in the East like dogs.

So, Viserys did a very irrational thing. He took off the helmet carved into a dragon head, revealing the handsome face of a Valyrian, the iconic silver hair and purple eyes of the Targaryen family, and then he raised his middle finger to the usurper who was surrounded by the chaotic army.

Although he could not see the usurper's expression hidden behind his helmet, Viserys was sure that he saw it, because at that moment, the usurper's movement frequency went up a level. Unfortunately, the centaur warriors facing the usurper also paid the price of blood. He saw a centaur almost split in half by the usurper.

A strong feeling of comfort surged into Viserys' heart. He had never felt so proud as he did today. The usurper was furious at his insult, but he could do nothing to him.

A smile involuntarily appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then this smile turned into a loud laugh, a wild laugh. The soldiers of Braavos looked at the Beggar King in confusion, not understanding why he was like that.

And those followers who followed Targaryen into exile also expressed the same emotions as Viserys, and they were the ones who could best understand such emotions.

"Your Majesty, please do not indulge in such disorderly emotions. The battle is not over yet." said a knight. He was a member of the Darry family and joined the exiled prince's team after the usurper's expedition.

After the Darry family acquired territory in the East, they secretly established contact with the exiled prince. They provided the prince with a large amount of resources for activities in the trading city-states, and also specifically "expelled" their own people so that they would follow the true descendants of the king in their hearts.

Faced with the situation, the knight from Darry was actually very excited, but unlike others, he controlled his emotions very well - after all, he was an elite sent by Darry and his men.

"I just...can't control my emotions." Viserys paused. "If this continues, it won't be long before the Usurper pays for his actions."

"It would be great if my people were here. They could start a rebellion at this time. With them, everything would go more smoothly and the plan would be more likely to succeed. But, alas, the usurper did not even bring them with him..."

"Don't be discouraged, my lord." The king comforted his loyal subjects, "House Darry is the most loyal subjects of Targaryen. You have given too much to me, so I will not blame you for occasional absence."

"Moreover, the usurper's current arrangement is exactly what I want: your Nanqiu territory is in a special location. In the eyes of the usurper, you are an obstacle to the invaders' northward advance and a pawn destined to bleed. But in my opinion, you also control their passage to the south, which is what I value most.

When this battle is over and the news reaches Nanqiu, the Brown Banner Army, which is ready to go, will be able to block the road to the south from the plains and Anders. Then, when I persuade the Dornishmen from all over the world to surrender, the coalition of city-states and centaurs will surely destroy the remaining forces of the usurper in the east - such as Randyll Tarly and Barristan. If they still know the current situation, I can give them a chance to redeem themselves from their crimes… Think about it, can the usurper dynasty, which has lost its king, great nobles and many eastern lands, remain stable? By then, we can divide and divide them, and defeat them one by one, such as Frey and Tollet. Anyway, Pentos is completely finished, and the Holy Land of Anders cannot be handed over to others. We can keep them, on the one hand, to restrain the easterners who have recovered their vitality, and on the other hand, to limit the falcon and trout who betrayed us…"

Before Viserys could finish his words, another horn sounded. It was a sound that only a centaur horn could make, which immediately drew the two men's attention to the distance.

And then, they saw another exciting scene. Even though they were far away, they could still see it because the scene was so huge - the centaurs were galloping among the Westeros infantry. The usurper's army formation was originally considered tight, but the centaurs were running everywhere.

One army formation after another collapsed under the flexible movement of the centaurs, and more army formations were affected accordingly. The collapse spread among the Westeros army like a disease.

Compared with the Western army, the number of centaurs was not large, but these centaurs made the most of the advantages of their horses, constantly moving around in the chaotic army and spreading chaos.

Viserys' emotions immediately reached a climax again. He understood the meaning and representation of this scene. The plan of Khal Balboa was fully and smoothly implemented. In other words, if nothing unexpected happened, victory would be theirs! The failure of the Westeros people was only a matter of time!
"Sir, in this battle, those arrogant usurper armies will figure out some things, such as why the coalition of masters and the cavalry of Qohor were shamefully defeated by the centaurs - it's a pity that they will soon meet these predecessors!" Looking at the chaotic usurper army, Viserys said jokingly.

.

Aim, pull the trigger, and as this series of actions were completed, a centaur cavalryman in long clothes fell off his horse and then disappeared in the dust raised by countless centaurs' hooves - the casualties of just a few people could not stop the centaurs' advance.

The centaurs rushed towards the Northern army that was ready for battle, shooting arrows continuously. The arrows rained down on the Northerners' shields and the careless unlucky men. When the Northerners were ready to meet the centaurs' desperate charge, the centaurs turned their horses' heads as if by magic and turned the charge into a round.

Many people in the North did not expect this to happen, so some people subconsciously relaxed. However, this subconscious relaxation was caught by others, and the centaurs did not forget to turn around and shoot arrows, so some unlucky people died under the arrows.

If the Northerners had encountered the previous defeated soldiers and learned from them how they collapsed, they would definitely not have been so lax. But the fact was that they had no chance to gain such experience - because there were defeated soldiers everywhere and collapse was happening everywhere.

Some Northern cavalrymen chased out, but many of them and their horses fell under the arrows of the centaurs. Only a few Northern cavalrymen inflicted some damage on the centaurs by throwing spears, and then they were reluctantly called back by the horn.

"Restore the battle line! The centaurs may return at any time! Put up your shields! It depends on your lives!"

Duke Ed's penetrating voice rang out. The voice of this majestic and fair duke immediately put the northern soldiers on alert, ready to meet the enemy who might come again at any time.

Although his words successfully restored the troops to their normal state, Duke Ed was not happy about it at all, because the situation around him was too bad, and from the very beginning of this battle, the development of things was not what Duke Ed wanted. The fact that he did not lose his temper now was the result of forcing reason to take over.

At the beginning, the unauthorized actions of Dorne and the River Reach army caused Eddard's blood pressure to soar, and he helplessly discovered that the people of the North could only act along with the bastards who acted on their own.

If not, the entire army might become even more chaotic, and all Ed could do was to control the Northern troops and prevent them from falling apart.

But in this battlefield where "glory" is everywhere, no one is willing to move slowly for the sake of discipline. After many efforts, Eddard managed to gather the Stark headquarters and teams from powerful and disciplined families like Bolton and Manderly.

Eddard's decision at the time caused many northerners to resent it, believing that the Duke was blocking their road to glory.

If Ed had not always had a very good reputation, someone might have gone to settle accounts with Ed at that time - however, with the arrival of another group of centaurs and the chaos on the entire battlefield, everyone now has only gratitude towards the Duke.

When the long-robed centaurs cut in on the pursuing Rivermen, the Lysmen in the Rivermen's army simply ran away.

No one was surprised by the escape of the Lys people. As a city famous for its eroticism, no one expected the fighting ability of these Lys people. Lys's acting governor, Randal Tarly, was even unwilling to let these people who were proficient in the ways of the bed fight under his command. He sent these people to his governor, and his main force was composed of soldiers from the former Disputed Lands and Mangrove Coast.

Lord Inflatable Fish adheres to the principle of "more is better". The participation of the River Reach in this expedition is more to demonstrate the strength of Tyrell. Naturally, the more troops the better, so these Lys people were also incorporated into the River Reach army.

However, after being incorporated into the River Bend Army, these Lys people returned to their old profession, but this does not refer to their old profession of eroticism, but music and art.

Lys, as the resort of the Valyrian dragon king and a famous city of pleasure on both sides of the Narrow Sea, does not rely entirely on carnal desires - of course, carnal desires are the main branch - there are also music, art, and gambling... In Lys, tourists can realize almost all their inner desires and enjoy a variety of services. This is the foundation of Lys.

So the Lysmen began to do their old job in the Reach Army. The Reachmen were originally the richest group of people in Westeros, and their developed agriculture had created a developed culture, which naturally hit it off with the Lysmen.

So they turned the military camp into some kind of pleasure cave, attracting all the playboys in the camp. Under such circumstances, who would think that the Lys people had any fighting power?

In fact, Lord Inflatable Fish also thought so, so he brought the Lys people with him just to make things look more serious, and did not expect them to fight at all. As for the current situation... who could have thought that the situation would develop like this.

In short, the Lysmen directly led to the collapse of the Rivermen. Many Rivermen knights and soldiers found that they had no allies around them while chasing them, and the centaurs soon came roaring and chopped them down.

The River Bend Army was originally large and bloated, and the current battle situation has fully exposed this problem. Therefore, the collapse of the River Bend Army is inevitable, and when they collapse, the scene will be extremely terrifying.

As for the Inflatable Fish Lord, he was still trying to command the battle at first, but as the chaos spread, the loyal roses immediately surrounded him and retreated.

These suddenly appearing centaurs implemented the principle of roaming shooting, that is, they did not fight with the Westeros people, but just shot arrows at them. At the same time, they did not forget to carry out various tactical deceptions.

For example, just like just now, charging towards the enemy camp in an attacking posture, shooting while charging, and finally turning the horse's head at the moment of collision, making the Westerners' mood rise and fall like falling from a mountain and rising again.

However, if that was all they did, it would not be possible to cause such a large-scale collapse, so sometimes the centaurs really charged forward, and the infantry who thought the centaurs would keep shooting arrows would often pay a terrible price at this time, and then the entire front line would be broken through by the centaurs.

It was by relying on this method that the centaurs defeated one army formation after another. As the army formations collapsed, the resulting defeated soldiers would drag more people down with them, forming a snowball trend.

This is how the people of Hewan collapsed. They were either suddenly overwhelmed by the fleeing soldiers, or suddenly defeated, or suddenly found themselves surrounded by enemies and collapsed.

Moreover, since the generals of Westeros were simply unable to maintain a complete battle line, all the nobles could do was barely maintain their own troops. So in front of the centaurs, the Westerners' battle line was full of gaps that allowed the cavalry to pass through in large numbers.

The centaurs rushed in through these gaps. They did not blindly fight with the enemies around them, but rushed as far as possible into the enemy formation, shooting arrows and creating panic along the way.

The result was that Westerners suddenly found that there were hateful horsemen everywhere, and after the confusion, they began to suspect that the front line had collapsed, which further shook the military's morale.

As for those knights who bravely attacked, they would soon be lured and divided by the centaurs, and then beaten to death by the centaurs. The fact that these knights never returned further intensified the worries of others.

The knights and soldiers who once thought that this war was nothing more than an armed parade had fear on their faces. No one had expected that the war would turn out this way. They came to win wealth and glory, not to be surrounded by countless centaurs and live in danger of their lives.

After the determination to win was shattered, what naturally arose was the fear of defeat, which spread among the army like a plague.

By now, the Westerners on the battlefield had lost even their complete front line. Everywhere were soldiers running around and centaurs creating chaos. Only some disciplined or well-organized troops were defending in groups, like lions and wolves. They were like reefs in the huge waves, facing countless waves around them.

These troops also tried hard to gather the defeated soldiers and give the scattered troops space to regroup, but no matter what they did, the results were minimal.

"Lord Ed, I think we must make a decision. If we continue as we are now, I'm afraid it won't be long before we end up like those people."

When Eddard heard this, he was watching the centaurs driving the fleeing soldiers to overwhelm a nearby mercenary battle formation. He was also familiar with the owner of the voice, it was Roose Bolton.

Roose wore a helmet with a howling human face, and the flayed man of House Bolton was painted on his breastplate. Several guards followed closely behind him, holding large shields in their hands.

However, these decorations can only be seen clearly if you look closely. From a distance, the attire of the Count of the Dreadfort is no different from that of an ordinary knight.

After the great collapse caused by the centaurs, the Earl of Dreadfort's men firmly held their positions. They also forcibly took over several nearby troops when the collapse began, and used small-scale killings to maintain the morale of the troops. This prevented Bolton's men from suffering any damage in the collapse, but instead grew further.

The centaurs also launched several attacks on Bolton's army, but they ended up hitting a snag in front of Bolton's troops. Neither the rain of arrows nor the direct impact could do anything to Bolton's troops. The troops of the Dreadfort still stood there like a mountain. Therefore, the centaurs avoided this tough bone, and Bolton was able to come and meet up with his troops.

"I can only say that there is no hope of victory in this battle. The front lines are constantly collapsing. So Lord Ed, please make a decision."

Roose's voice was not loud, but when he spoke, everyone around him fell silent, even the subjects of Duke Stark, because the aura emanating from that man was truly terrifying.

Eddard met those colorless eyes. As always, there was no emotion in Bolton's eyes except indifference. Lord Stark understood that Bolton's suggestion was the most rational choice at the moment, but to be honest, he really couldn't make that choice.

Duke Stark opened his mouth and was about to say something, but at this moment, a rain of arrows fell on a group of nearby centaurs who were preparing to launch an attack. These arrows were very powerful, and the centaurs were knocked to the ground, and the survivors also scattered.

This sudden scene was completely unexpected by the Northerners, so everyone was stunned. Then they saw the people who fired this wave of crossbow arrows. They were a group of crossbowmen wearing green smocks, and around the crossbowmen were Myr soldiers who were advancing cautiously.

The crossbows in the hands of the crossbowmen were much more complicated than the various crossbows commonly used in Westeros. Eddard recognized these crossbows. These were Myrish crossbows, an expensive and ingenious crossbow. Even at the moment when the Iron Throne was conquering the East, there were not many such weapons in Westeros.

However, what surprised Ed more than this was that a man walked out from among the crossbowmen.

This man was Petyr Baelish, Lord Governor of Myr and a former admirer of his wife.

(End of this chapter)