The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 196 Actively Fighting
"Let's stop here today, Rokus. Tell those waiting outside that they don't have to wait any longer and can come back tomorrow."

In the original book, "Little Aegon" who will participate in the game of thrones obeys orders obediently. Whenever Hugo sees this person, he is always filled with emotion, lamenting the changes in the world and the unpredictability of the future.

Leaning his back against the chair, he felt comfortable with the relaxed feeling on his spine, even though he knew it was more of a psychological effect - after receiving the blessing from the Seven Gods, Hugo's body no longer felt very tired, but his mind had never relaxed.

Although he became the commander-in-chief of the East, Hugo did not relax at all. The one favored by God understood that the integration of the new seven countries was only the beginning, and countless challenges were waiting for him ahead.

The war situation in Westeros is still confusing and no one knows where it will go.

Robb Stark's army was still fighting fiercely with the Lannisters in the West. The military strength that Casterly Rock could mobilize far exceeded the Young Wolf's expectations. Even though he won victory after victory, the Lion and the westerlies were always able to quickly form new armies and send them to the front.

Stafford Lannister, the general who was defeated by Robb in the original story, escaped Karstark's sword under the sworn protection of the Centaur Guards and the Westerlands Knights. Now, relying on the new system built by Arryn and Tywin, he constantly recruits troops and supplies to stubbornly resist the Wolf and Fish Alliance. Although his leadership ability is mediocre, this steady advancement of the tactics, coupled with the continuous replenishment from the rear, has made Robb feel difficult.

Of course, the battle situation was not without good things for Robb.

According to reliable information, he drove out the centaurs in the Red Lion's old land in a recent battle and occupied the large military camp in Castamere. Although most of the horses and pack animals had been taken away by Tywin and Staver before, Robb still captured thousands of mules and dozens of war elephants that were abandoned voluntarily because of their slow action.

Against the backdrop of the Lannisters gradually clearing the westerlies, this batch of captured spoils should be the biggest gain for the Wolf and Fish Alliance for a long time to come.

For the coalition forces, these mules and horses also greatly alleviated the increasingly sluggish army after continuous looting - speed advantage is the foundation of the coalition forces. If they lose it, it is only a matter of time before they are trapped in the narrow plains of the western border.

On the other side of the mountains, the situation was completely reversed - Tywin and Jaime, father and son, led the Iron Throne army to completely defeat Duke Tully's defense line.

If Hugo's guess is correct, the plan formulated by Robb and Blackfish this time is still to stimulate Tywin to return to defend the Westerly, and then in turn block the Iron Throne's army on Lannister's territory. Especially since they are not fighting alone, the alliance agreed upon by Catelyn and Renly is still valid, and the River Reach Army and the Arbor Fleet will block Tywin's outward passage from the south and the sea. It seems that they are so determined to succeed in this plan.

But things often cannot keep up with changes. Tywin did return west to provide assistance, but when looking at the baggage train that accompanied him, Tully's scouts saw a large number of disassembled siege equipment being loaded onto trucks. They were built outside King's Landing under the orders of Dontos Hollard before Robert's death. They embodied the crystallization of more than a decade of war technology and were originally planned to be used in sieges of Volantis, Norvos, Qohor and other cities, but were now used by Tywin. It was obvious that the Duke had made two preparations: on the one hand, he assembled the army to return to the territory for assistance, and on the other hand, he sent troops to sweep across the river to force Robb to leave east.

The people of the Three Rivers were well aware of the power of these machines. When Balon rebelled more than a decade ago, siege weapons led by the City Breakers easily took down the castles occupied by the Ironborn one by one, turning Balon's carefully planned delaying tactics into a futile attempt. The people of the Three Rivers still remembered this vividly. And in the Riverlands, except for the cursed Harrenhal, no castle could withstand their long-term projection, not even Riverrun and the Twins, which had the advantage of geographical location.

Therefore, Edmure urgently assembled a large army and rushed to the Red Fork to intercept Tywin's army. This was a series of fierce battles. The two sides fought for more than ten days at various river crossings and bridges. Even the Red Fork was dyed red by the blood of the soldiers of both armies. Edmure was just a mediocre lord, but he resisted Tywin's army with unexpected tenacity and bought time for his nephew and vassal with blood. The two sides were actually in a stalemate on the river.

Finally, one night, Tywin quietly released his beasts - those fearless centaurs, who then quietly crossed the Red Fork River upstream at night, and then launched a raid on Edmure's camp at dawn - at the same time, Tywin's main force also crossed the river under the cover of war elephants; Edmure's river army was already exhausted from days of fighting, coupled with the early morning raid and two-pronged attack, the defense quickly turned into a retreat, and the retreat quickly turned into a rout.

Duke Tully luckily escaped from the battlefield, but the current situation did not allow him to gather another large army to stop Tywin. He had to retreat to Riverrun and, like his vassals, continue to strengthen the city walls and stockpile supplies so as to hold out longer under the projection of siege equipment.

As speculated, after crossing the Red Fork, Tywin split his army into two. The army led by Davon Lannister, son of Stafford Lannister, continued to reinforce the country westward, while he led the main force of the Iron Throne, the centaur tribe and all the siege equipment to the north, and began to take down the castles of the river families loyal to Tully one by one. For the Wolf and Fish Alliance, the war situation in the river was taking a sharp turn for the worse.

Now, the young and promising young wolf must make a choice: should he immediately return to save the shaky situation in the river, or should he continue to replicate his military legend in the west and use the unbearable losses of Lannister to force Tywin to lead the main force back? Hugo is looking forward to the result of all this.

However, what surprised Hugo the most was that Robb Stark did not become king under the instigation of the Northern lords.

However, the gods' favored ones soon figured out the key. The northern princes were no longer the bumpkins who only stayed in the north as in the original novel. Many of them had participated in expeditions, fought side by side with the southerners, owned fiefs and subjects in the east, and were aware of the power of the south.

As long as they are sane, even the most arrogant northern lords will realize that the northern region's thousand-year advantage in combat power is being rapidly weakened:
So what if they are good at fighting? When the South can continuously mobilize hundreds of thousands of people, can the North's brave soldiers win? So what if the Neck Marsh is easy to defend but difficult to attack? The current large-scale Southern Navy can carry troops to bypass the Neck Marsh at any time and sweep the North from the rear.

Therefore, the northern lords would rather act under the banner of revenge raised by the Young Wolf Lord, using war and looting to gain benefits for themselves, and at the same time they could eat up the extinct families of the declining southern families and find a way out for their second and third sons.

Become king? That's unthinkable. After all, the main war now is the battle for the throne between the Baratheon uncle and nephew. In order to seize the throne, they are willing to fight with all possible people. Robb's wolf-fish coalition is no exception. Although the lion and the wolf fight fiercely, they also keep sending envoys to negotiate with Robb at the level of the Iron Throne. Even Robb's sister, Sansa Stark, did not have her engagement with the king abolished because of Robb's uprising. This is undoubtedly an olive branch thrown by Tywin. It depends on whether Robb accepts it.

In this case, who would be so foolish as to suggest that Robb be made king? That would mean fighting the three kings in the south to the end, not to mention that the great commander in the east is nominally loyal to the Iron Throne...

Turning our attention to the south, the two Baratheon brothers were also fighting fiercely in the south. Renly Baratheon proved himself to be a king in summer with his achievements. Stannis's offensive made him retreat step by step. Now the Stormlands have completely changed hands, and the war has spread to the border of the River Bay. If it weren't for the strong family background of the River Bay, it would be easy to mobilize a large army after being defeated many times, and the outcome of this war would have been decided long ago.

The current war situation in the River Reach is entirely supported by Randyll Tarly. As the only general who has defeated the King of Conqueror, Randyll has proved his ability. He led the Reach Army that withdrew to the west and blocked Stannis's attacks several times. However, the elite troops of the River Reach suffered heavy losses in the Battle of the Kingswood. After losing their backbone force, the hastily assembled River Reach Army seemed bloated. Although they were huge in number, they were also difficult to command.

Of course, Renly was not just taking a beating. According to Kanatir's news, he had abandoned his flashy appearance and showed what a general should be like in front of the army. He was learning lessons from his failures. However, Hugo did not think that this short autumn would give the King of Summer enough time to adapt to the cold.
While the North and the South were fighting fiercely, King's Landing was able to achieve a strange peace. Tyrion was now the Hand of the King, and was strengthening the defenses and replenishing supplies in King's Landing to prepare for the attack that might come at who knows when.

In the valley, Littlefinger was not busy exterminating the mountain clans. Instead, he led his army directly to the Eyrie, where he married Lady Lysa and became the rightful guardian of the valley.

According to the news Hugo received, Littlefinger wanted to negotiate with the Mountain Clan. This made Hugo confused about what Littlefinger was trying to do. Now the lords of the valley were sharpening their knives against him, the guardian of the canyon who suddenly appeared, but he was negotiating with the Mountain Clan at this time.

But, that is Littlefinger after all. Petyr has proved that although everything did not go according to the logic of the original book, he can still thrive and even do better than before.

As for the Iron Islands... the Ironmen still remain neutral. After Balon's rebellion, the Iron Throne has been strictly monitoring the Iron Islands to ensure that the stab in the back will not happen again. It seems that the measures taken by the Iron Throne have worked. Although the Ironmen have assembled the army and the Iron Fleet according to Robert's previous call, they have unusually remained silent after the civil strife of the Iron Throne, even when their lord, Theon Greyjoy, returned from the mainland and asked them to join the Northern Army. According to the few news, Rodrik the Scholar, the younger brother of the Queen Mother of the Iron Islands, united a group of more rational leaders on the island to control the political situation. They constantly persuaded the Duke of the Iron Islands not to drag the islands into the meaningless war on the mainland, and on the other hand, they were also wary of the restless mood of those old followers.

It seems that the Ironborn, who were once the most enthusiastic about war, are now the most cautious force. This is really ironic. However, Hugo also knows that the situation in the Iron Islands is supported by the rational and sober lords such as Harro. The fanatical believers of the Ancient Road have not disappeared, but have been more patient and dormant, waiting for a suitable opportunity to start an uprising - this may be the return of Euron.

Hugo still hadn't received much news about Euron and his Tranquil Fleet. He was not in Goros, and the last batch of returning Velaryon and Celtigar ocean-going merchant fleets did not see him (lucky), and he should not be near the Narrow Sea, because no one saw his ship - although those who saw it were basically doomed. Facing this unpredictable opponent, Hugo could only respond passively and do a good job of coastal defense in major cities.

In the east, the news from Slave Bay made Hugo a little uneasy. One after another, the Slave Bay city-states had fallen in front of the centaurs, and now only the Red Brick City was still barely holding on.

The merchant ships returning from the east brought news that the Unsullied, which the Red Brick City was so proud of, were defeated by the centaurs. These eunuch warriors paid a huge price to withdraw from the battlefield. If it weren't for the city-states such as New Ghis that urgently put together an army for support, Astapor would have been hung with the centaur flag by now.

Although Daenerys did not get dragons as in the original book, the direction of the situation is not much better than if she had dragons. Her husband will definitely launch a war against the West again.

Drogo is even more troublesome than his father, and it will undoubtedly be a tough battle.

As for the giant dragon, although there is no news about it yet, Hugo has not relaxed his vigilance at all. His subordinates have already dug out various equipment they used to hunt dragons in the past from the piles of old papers in various free trade cities, and Andas has also been making these things.

However, these are still relatively unimportant to Hugo at the moment. The most important thing is the Great Wall. He will not forget the words of the Seven Gods. It is a showdown of greater level of power.

Therefore, it is inevitable that the White Walkers will break through.

Therefore, combat readiness in this regard has never been relaxed.

However, the progress at the Great Wall is also very smooth. After the wildlings have entered the Great Wall, the White Walkers now have 100,000 fewer wight cannon fodder. They probably only have the humans killed in the early stage and a small number of frozen corpses. The situation is much better than before.

The wildlings were also sent to the south, which was a development beyond Hugo's expectations, but it was also a great thing. Currently, due to the war in Westeros, many refugees and knights have also come to the east, and now with the wildlings heading south, it is enough to launch another expedition.

Hugo has already chosen the direction for this expedition, which is Braavos - no matter what, Braavos must pay the price for what it has done since the expedition.

They also have the cooperation of the locals. Over the years, Hug City has been exerting influence on the northern people of Fshan day and night. The mountain Andals under Braavos have long been more inclined to their compatriots in the south. In fact, the inclination of the mountain Andals is no secret - it can be seen from the previous scattering of those mercenaries.

However, even though the situation was so good, Hugo did not relax. He continued to invest manpower in the Great Wall and began to prepare to assemble a large army in the New Seven Kingdoms.

Whether it's the White Walkers breaking through the pass or the centaurs coming from the east, this army is enough to deal with the situation.

With this mentality, Hugo devoted all his energy to preparing the army to prepare for the inevitable super war.

(End of this chapter)