King of The Wall

2021-01-06

Chapter 197 Mutiny
Under King's Gate, smoke billows from asphalt burning on siege machines , covering a large section of the city wall. The flaming red heart flag fluttering in the wind on the top of the city was broken because it was shot through many times by the arrow, but it was always hung firmly on the top of the flagpole... just like the city defense troops who stood firm on the city wall.

Under the city wall, corpses lie on the ground, blood is everywhere, and the thick blood and burnt smell overlap, mixing into a strange and exciting atmosphere.

Stannis sits on top of the tallest tower, fully armed, but does not fight in person, he only overlooks the whole situation under the protection of his cronies, and promptly directs the reserve to the most critical points. .

The Stormlands army carrying the Crowned Stag launched several charges against the city wall, but they were smashed and repulsed like a wave hitting the reef. The only siege warrior who boarded the city wall, also Before he could predict where oneself would become the count, he was swarmed by the filling force assigned by Stannis and slashed with swords.

The battle continued from noon to the west slope of Sun, hundreds of Storm Reach soldiers were killed in King's Landing, and the last batch of siege ladders were also thrown into the field to no effect. Later, the rear commander finally ordered the withdrawal of troops.

The soldiers have long given up hope of winning the city wall today. When they heard the long-awaited retreating cornet, they turned their heads and headed towards the camp behind them, like a traveler in the desert seeing a water source. run.

The defenders were also tired and tired, but their casualties were much smaller than the corpses of Chen Heng lying all over the city. Those who are attentive will find that the casualty ratio of the offensive and defensive sides far exceeds 3:1. According to this trend, even if Renly wipes out the troops outside the city, he will not be able to let the defenders lose more than half, let alone the defenders. We can continue to levy the assistance of citizens climbing the city.

Before the heroes who defended the city wall could breathe a sigh of relief, a new order was conveyed to all sections of the city wall: all those who could still walk, gather at the city gate and prepare Out of town to chase!
…

Everything is planned.

Stannis stood at the top of the city, squinting contemptuously at the Renly army soldier who was receding like a receding tide, calculating the distance in his heart: he would run to the retreating enemy infantry just to When the city wall and Renly's camp are in the middle, they order the door to attack, and Barristan will lead the cavalry to charge... As long as they successfully seize the opportunity, their cavalry will drive the enemy's infantry back to their oneself camp like Duck. Just use the rout army to smash the Stormlands cavalry guarding Renly's side, and then oneself will take the remaining infantry out of the city to attack the entangled Renly army...

If this move is successful, even if you can't take Renly, you can. Lose half of his army outside King's Gate and ruin the siege of the enemy. And then...oneself just need to sit firmly in King's Landing, wait for the arrival of the King's troops from the three northern places and Crownlands, and Iron Throne will sit firmly and no one can take it away.

Stannis pinched his fingers to count the time, but a panicked voice interrupted his thoughts. A Dragonstone soldier with a slanted hat and a crooked hat rushed up to the city wall: "Your Majesty, the major event is not good, the old city gate garrison... and the auxiliary defense forces gathered by the Crownlands families rebelled, The north gate of King's Landing has been opened, and the enemy has been let into the city!"

"What?!" Stannis turned his head, so surprised that even the bones in his neck made a crackling sound. : "Where's the reserve team in the city? Let them rush to the Northern Part of City and retake the city gate!"

"It has been notified... But Your Majesty, since the old city gate garrison will betray, it is impossible to guarantee Dragon Gate, Gate of the Gods ... and even the golden robes in places like Red Keep are not the same, I beg Your Majesty - hurry back to Red Keep, take the risk, and plan later!"

Stannis, who was reminded, woke up: Eddard Stark gathered all the family members of the Crownlands princes in the city into the Red Keep, not only to protect them, but also to use them as a pledge to force the relevant troops to defend the city hard... If The renegade garrison and the Storm Reach army of the advanced city head towards the Red Keep...with unimaginable consequences!
"Leave 100 people to continue to guard the gate, send someone to inform the defenders of the other gates, and fire the army back to defend the Red Keep. Barristan! Take the cavalry with me first, and clean up the rebels who enter the city as soon as possible!"

＊＊＊

At the gate of Red Keep, Igor looked at the dozen or so golden robes in front of him who raised their long spears and pointed them at oneself, wondering in his heart: which side is this? Should ?oneself turn his head and escape back to the Red Keep now, or should he force his way through the gate and hide in the city?

Soon he realized that no matter which of the above options was chosen, it would have extremely bad consequences and destroy oneself's painstaking neutrality, and after some hesitation, he decided to take a risk: "It's me! Don't do it!"

(The soldiers of the garrison in front of him are very face-to-face.) Igor made a magnanimous appearance, and approached the blocker on horseback in an imposing manner, but after looking around, he secretly said in one's heart It's not good, these people in front of them actually look like they don't know oneself. Fortunately, before he could figure out how to frighten a bunch of golden robes he had never met, someone recognized him first: "Igor West? What are you doing here?"

Looking at the speaker for a second, Igor also recognized the other party - he was the old city gate guard Captain, one of the members of House Buckwell, an important investor in the Night's Watch industry. He was the junior who recommended to Antlers count to invest in the Night's Watch industry. oneself is also on the list of visits after Tyrion escaped from King's Landing... As the old city gate garrison Captain, he didn't guard the north gate of King's Landing well, what did he do in the Red Keep?
Of course, this question cannot be exported. Compared with the old city gate garrison, it is even stranger for a Night's Watch to appear in the Red Keep at this moment: "Uh... Ser Buckwell, hello... I'm here to look for it. Master of Coin, who reported the income of Night's Watch for the past two months. I just saw that the door of the Red Keep was open and unguarded, so I rode in... What happened here?"

In front of this Night's Watch is a good friend of his patriarch, an important business partner of House Buckwell, and the God of Wealth in the eyes of countless forces in King's Landing. Ser Buckwell stared at Igor for a few seconds while pressing the hilt of the sword, and finally decided not to live with the money: "Forgive me to speak bluntly, Lord Igor, what happened here has nothing to do with you, hurry home and close the door until the trouble is over, Let’s continue to open the door and make a lot of money!”

Igor made eye contact with him, and quickly nodded pretending to be calm: “Well… I understand, Eli, let’s go and go home.”

p>

……

Arya often runs around the city, and also frequently goes in and out of King's Gate to the Night's Watch Industrial Park, Igor is now afraid that she will be recognized, but the worst case is not in the end Happened - Luckily, Arya hadn't been to the old city gate, and now she was dressed as a man in black clothed. The soldiers in the garrison were all focused on Igor, thinking that the black clothed boy on another horse was Igor. The squire, put away the lance under the command of the superior, let the door open and let them go.

Resisting the tension, Igor and the girl rode past more than a dozen golden robe soldiers armed with steel spears, and out of the Red Keep from the chaos army.

With more friends, it can really come in handy at critical moments!
"Master...this...what's going on?" Arya was so frightened by the corpse of her own bodyguard she saw just now that she stammered and asked, "Sansa...is still inside, we... Is that just gone?"

...

What's going on? Do you still need to ask, the part of the King's Landing garrison that is loyal to the Crownlands families...even the forces behind the Night's Watch industry, the sponsors of the oneself business, they betrayed Stannis, at the moment of Renly's siege. , taking advantage of the emptiness of the Red Keep's defenses to capture here, cutting off an important back road for the new king!
Cold sweat quickly wet the back - if it wasn't for oneself's Night's Watch industry and the Crownlands lords forming a solid community of interests, the one they met today happened to be a garrison officer who had dealt with each other and knew each other, oneself this The chief logistics officer was probably killed by Arya if he was not confused. The army that launched the coup has always been the most murderous executioner. At a critical moment, who will care if you are wearing black clothed and a Night's Watch that "does not interfere in the internal affairs of the Seven Kingdoms"?
Igor was surprised by this coup, but when you think about it, everything is not without reason. It can even be said that it was doomed on the day Stannis ascended the throne: when the brother raised the flag of treason and approached the capital, there was a rumor in the city. The news that the new king is about to implement a series of reforms - closing down casino brothels, banning the printing and selling of yellow books, strictly limiting the frequency of Tourneys... I don't know if it is true or not, but it fits the style of "decent" Stannis.

It's good to be decent, but not to touch other people's interests - how many brothels and casinos in King's Landing are not owned by Crownlands lords? Night's Watch's Xiao Huangben is also making money for everyone. The official does not stand up to refute the rumors and default to the truth. What will stakeholders think?
These reforms do not hurt the interests of the nobles. Normally, it is not a big problem. However, on the eve of the rebels attacking King's Landing, how many neutrals were vacillating between the two brothers of Baratheon. Will this fall to Renly?

……

Looking at the Red Keep behind him, the golden robes who launched the coup didn't chase after him, and even closed the door. Igor put the heart he lifted back into his stomach, annoyed Staring at Arya: "You and Sansa are members of House Stark. Since those soldiers want to help Renly fight for the throne, how can they hurt you as long as they are not crazy? But now you are with me, in case they recognize me, I I'm going to be extremely unlucky!" He escaped a life-and-death crisis in a thrilling manner, and now he is far away from the Red Keep with murderous intentions. p>

No matter how much she wants to stay out of the way, how much she cherishes the neutral privilege of oneself Night's Watch, Arya calls oneself a master after all. Although he deliberately made friends with her for the purpose of exploiting her, but people are not grass and trees, how could they not have any feelings after getting along for so long? Igor can comfortably accept that she is caught by the renegade garrison in the Red Keep and falls into Renly's hands, but there is no way I can just watch her be taken from oneself. Although the endings are similar, the nature of the two situations is completely different - in any case, one has to have some bottom line.

On the way back, Igor witnessed the scene of Stannis in uniform and a group of cavalry rushing back to the Red Keep... Seeing them with red eyes and desperate attitude, he suddenly disappeared. At the thought of handing Arya over to their custody, he couldn't even help but laugh at himself: How come oneself is always involved in King's Landing no matter what major event happens?
——

(end of this chapter)