The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 32 Heading North to the Valley

In King's Landing, Hugo attended a banquet held by the Iron Throne to celebrate the successful suppression of the rebellion. At the banquet, he met Varys and the Archbishop. The former pretended not to have seen him, and the latter interacted with him as if nothing had happened. chat.

While talking to the High Septon, Hugo noticed that King Robert was very friendly to Varys, and it seemed that the eunuch had gotten what he needed.

As for the Archbishop, chatting with him was still so tiring, but the fat man leaked some trivial but useful information to him. Basically, which big ship owner owed money to the church, and which chamber of commerce had a relationship with the church. , the meaning of compensation is obvious.

Seeing this, they didn't take the initiative to expose anything. If these two old foxes wanted to be like this, then so be it. Anyway, they were just getting what they needed.

After enjoying the spies from all walks of life and the conversations with various ulterior motives, Hu Ge first received praise from the king, and then officially received the order to break camp from the Prime Minister. Now the expeditionary force is finally about to move.

It has been a month since he arrived in King's Landing, and the total number of expeditionary forces has exceeded the 25,000 mark. This number has been reached not only because of the manpower in King's Landing, but also because people from all over the country have been joining in a steady stream.

As for the specific number of people, he didn't know, because his team was expanding almost every moment, and it could only be more than this number, never less.

The Iron Throne also organized a team of mercenaries for him. This team was composed of mercenaries and mercenary knights who lost their jobs after the Usurper War. According to convention, after the war, they often went to the East to work as mercenaries or do odd jobs. There are also some who will start to rob their homes, but they will soon be eliminated by the lords and driven away, and now they are heading to the east with the expeditionary force.

When the expeditionary force set off, many people from King's Landing came out to see them off. Many of their familiar relatives and friends embarked on a long journey. They didn't know when they would see each other again. Of course, sadness was unavoidable when parting.

But these leavers still have to move forward, because their hometown no longer welcomes them, and there is no way back.

Riding his horse forward on the King's Road, looking at the huge team behind him, Hugo felt that behind him was more of a migrating nation than an expeditionary force. He was used to such a scene, so he just sighed a few times.

The nobles always lead the troops on their own, regardless of whether others can follow, but fortunately they will not run too far; the civilians are very loose, often stop and go, and camp on the spot regardless of orders or even want to. There are many incidents of people leaving on expeditions; as for Hugo's headquarters, the situation is not very good, and management problems are still huge. Maintaining order depends on the continuous work of Hugo and Tiget.

Whenever the troops set up camp, there would always be a lot of trouble. There would always be many conflicts between nobles and civilians, civilians and civilians, not to mention the disasters caused by insufficient organizational capabilities.

Fortunately, practice makes perfect, and after a lot of overturning, everyone almost figured out what to do, and since then, there have been very few troubles.

Whenever the troops set up camp, Hugo would supervise the training of civilians after handling the matters at hand.

Recently, he has changed his mind. Civilians without equipment and strength can simply use spear throwers and slings, and then become light infantry in front of and in the formation.

These two things are still very powerful, and are very suitable for civilians who have no equipment or training. It is better for them to throw a few throwing spears and throw a few rocks than to die with a wooden spear - just as Hu Ge was leaving Jun. A batch of gun heads were temporarily pulled out from King's Landing's armory.

Therefore, on the playground specially set aside in the camp, you can always see people in civilian clothes practicing spear throwing and slinging. They were still very unfamiliar at first, but as the practice increased, they became more and more proficient.

"Lord Hu Ge, let me tell you, the boys under my command are definitely better than these, and they are also good at robbery and fighting."

On this day, when Hu Ge was watching the training of spear throwers and slingers in the camp, his guest said that the man who was bragging about his men was not tall, but he was quite honest. His face had obviously experienced a lot of wind and sun, and was wrapped in Under the cloak he wore was a green coat.

This man is Eustace Brun, Baron of Dreadhole Castle. He comes from the Crab Claw Peninsula, a barren and barren place full of swamps and pine forests.

The Crab Claw Peninsula is an extremely unruly land. Most of them are descendants of the ancestors. When the Andals tried to seize the Crab Claw Peninsula, they encountered obstacles everywhere. In the end, they used their daughter's arms to obtain their son's sword but failed to obtain anything. .

Although the Crab Claw Peninsula has accepted the Seven Gods and Andal culture, they still maintain barbaric customs on their deep peninsula. The maesters of the city call them half-barbarians - which is indeed the case.

After Targaryen conquered Westeros with the dragon's flames, the residents of the Crab Claw Peninsula knelt before the Iron Throne and became loyal subjects of the Iron Throne.

During the Usurper's War, many families in the Crab Claw Peninsula fought hard for the Targaryen throne. But now that the throne has changed, the self-proclaimed "most loyal subjects of the True Dragon Dynasty" in the Crab Claw Peninsula must also recognize the reality. Serve the new dynasty.

The order issued by Robert naturally included these Crab Claw Peninsula barbarians, but they did not rush to King's Landing immediately, but discussed internally how to deal with the new dynasty.

Since they had to summon the lords of the entire peninsula, they discussed it for a long time and finally decided that at least they had to be subdued. So the Baron of Horrible Cave Castle led many men from the Crab Claw Peninsula and families who could not survive the harvest to catch up with the expeditionary force. team.

After initially seeing these people from the Crab Claw Peninsula, Hugo thought he was seeing savages who came out of nowhere.

The residents of the Crab Claw Peninsula had disheveled hair and wore cloaks that covered their entire body. Some even wore no shoes. If not each of them carried decent weapons, Hugo would really think that they were refugees.

"Of course, Lord Eustace, your people will definitely become excellent scouts and forwards in the future wars in Essos."

Hu Ge followed the wishes of the Baron of Horror Cave Castle and said that he had seen the abilities of these peninsula people before. Their basic skills were indeed very solid and they were very good mountain infantry.

"I can't wait to show off my martial virtues in Essos. Speaking of which, Andas is the place where the seven gods walk as mentioned in the book. I wonder if I can see the seven gods." Baron Terror Cave Castle He was an acquaintance, so he started chatting with Hu Ge directly.

"Of course devout people can see the Seven Gods, and even if they cannot see the Seven Gods, it is just a test of the Seven Gods." Hu Ge said the safest nonsense to perfunctory the person in front of him, and continued for the next ten minutes. They were chatting with the baron and then dismissed him.

"One day I don't have enough energy." After the Baron left, Hugo couldn't help but sigh. Since embarking on this expedition, he has met too many people and spent too much energy. "So, I think you should share part of the work with the people below." Canatier, who was accompanying him, quickly gave his suggestion, but Hugo immediately waved his hand and said that this would not work.

"My career has just begun, and every support is important. I am just complaining. After complaining, I still have to work honestly. Even Aegon the Conqueror will not put on a high profile after landing. "

As Hu Ge said, his career has just begun. This is the time when he needs to lower his profile, welcome everyone who comes to seek refuge, and get every support he can get.

"By the way, Canatir, how are you managing? Did you encounter any problems?"

Hu Ge happened to chat with Black Blade. Black Blade manages all the desperadoes in the team and is responsible for the hardest bone.

"Everything is fine, no problem. That Harold Teague wanted to take away the leadership position from me, but I stopped him." Canatier still answered so succinctly, and he couldn't help but move his hands to his waist. The way the black blade diverted attention showed that killing was inevitable.

Harold Teague, Hugo knew this person. He led the unemployed mercenaries arranged by the Iron Throne, but he always disobeyed management and caused trouble from time to time.

Hu Ge nodded, as long as he could solve it, "When did we arrive in the valley? I was busy dealing with all kinds of people, and I forgot a little bit."

"Just a few days, Lord Hu Ge, it won't be long before we see the Blood Gate like this."

"That's it, it's finally time to reach the Blood Gate..."

.

Not long after, Hu Ge's team set foot on the valley road. As they advanced, the terrain around them became higher and higher, and the surrounding terrain became narrow and steep. They were surrounded by steep and dangerous hilly terrain, and the horizon in the distance was covered with snow. Peaks and mountains.

Every night, the howls of countless beasts would be heard next to the camp. Under the howls, many farmers who left their hometown for the first time began to tremble, remembering the horrors told by the elders when they were young, plus the pain caused by the long journey. Tired, the camp was on the verge of bombing several times.

If Hu Ge hadn't paid close attention to the bombing of the camp from the beginning and taken many preventive measures, something might have happened.

Entering the valley also means entering the attack range of the Alpine clan. However, seeing such a huge team, these rebellious mountain people did not dare to act rashly. At most, they only attacked the stragglers at the end.

This greatly alleviated the problem of the expeditionary force's queue being too long. The news of the Alpine Clan's attack made people dare not fall behind and speed up their pace.

Then, after passing through a section of mountain roads, they came to the Blood Gate

The Blood Gate is the key to entering the valley. Since the Age of Heroes, countless soldiers and horses have been crushed under the walls of the Blood Gate.

When he saw the Blood Gate again and watched the scene in his memory emerge before his eyes, Hu Ge was quite emotional about the scene before him: the battlements were built on the dangerous cliffs on both sides, the mountain road shrunk to the point where only four people could ride side by side, and there were two watchtowers. Standing on the rocks, they are connected to each other by a weathered stone arch bridge.

Indeed, the name Blood Gate is so worthy of its name. It is the gate to the valley, blocking out countless soldiers and horses. The valley has only fallen once - at the hands of the Andals, who came from the other side of the sea. Arrived by ship.

The Blood Gate defenders had already received orders from the Valley Guardians, and Hugo had also sent forward scouts, so they opened the gate directly to allow the expeditionary force to pass through the valley.

Under the seven-pointed star flag, the huge expeditionary force began to pass through the narrow blood gate one after another. Due to the narrowness of the gate, the progress was very slow, so Hu Ge chatted with the guard of the blood gate.

The current Knight of the Blood Gate is not the black fish that Hugo is familiar with, but a Knight of the Valley whom he has never seen. However, he is currently giving a report at the Gate of the Moon. The person entertaining him is William Shidong, an illegitimate son of the Valley. , currently in charge of the blood gate.

"The mountain roads have been uneasy recently, Lord Hugo. The raiding season of the mountain clan has begun, and the knights in the valley have also gathered to prepare for the plunder. Lord Jon has already cleared the way you are going, but Still have to be careful.”

"On the way to the valley, I have experienced the enthusiasm of the Alpine Clan. I will be careful about them next." The expeditionary army lost hundreds of people on the way to the Blood Gate, but it was not because of the enthusiasm of the Alpine Clan.

But Hu Ge is also somewhat grateful to the Gaoshan clan. If it weren't for them, the expeditionary force would probably still have a long queue.

However, the Alpine Clan was poorer than his Crab Claw Peninsula barbarians. They held inferior weapons and wore stolen armor. If they had not been entrenched in the mountains, they would have been annihilated long ago.

After finishing speaking, Hu Ge looked at the mountains in the valley in the distance. It was still as he remembered it. After wandering outside for so long, he finally returned to the valley.

However, his expedition still has a long way to go. Although the Iron Throne has issued an order, he still has no idea what kind of attitude Seagull Town will use.

However, he still had confidence in his heart. Since the Iron Throne had issued an order, Seagull Town could not refuse. It was just to see how the attitude was.

After thinking about this, Hu Ge also rode through the Blood Gate and officially entered the valley.

(End of this chapter)