Highgarden in the Reach is located on the banks of the Mander River, and the wide Mander River flows from the northeast to the southwest of Highgarden.
The upper reaches of the Mander River from High Court are full of mud and turbid water, densely covered with dark sand and shoals, making it difficult for ships to navigate.
Downstream from the High Court, the water flow is huge, and the river surface is wide, clear and gentle, which is conducive to shipping and transportation. In addition, the Esplanade and Rose Avenue converge here, and the superior geographical location of the High Court is self-evident!
The entire Highgarden Castle is built on a relatively gentle hill. This historic castle is protected by three circular walls built of white marble stones.
The lowest low city wall surrounds the entire foot of the mountain. Between it and the second higher city wall is a plant maze carefully organized by dedicated personnel.
This plant maze is usually used for entertaining guests and for fun. However, it also has defensive purposes during wartime.
If the first wall were to fall, intruders unfamiliar with this plant labyrinth could easily get lost.
Either he was shot by the guards on the second wall while passing through the winding plant maze, or he stepped on various traps in the plant maze and died.
Each wall of Highgarden is taller and thicker than the previous one, and is guarded by a slender and elegant round tower. Therefore, the last wall responsible for guarding the inner castle of Highgarden is the strongest and most difficult to attack.
Olenna and her left hand stood on the balcony of the inner castle tower, silently looking down at the enemy troops outside the city wall who were constantly organizing their formations.
"Left hand, is there a letter from Margery from Crake Hall?"
It was also the first time for Olenna to feel the pressure brought by such a large army. Her face was filled with gloom and she asked in a low tone.
"No, Bachelor Lomis said that not a single raven has come to the crow's nest in the past few days. I guess they were all shot by the enemies outside!"
When Zuo Zuo heard this, he immediately shook his big round head and answered.
Ta-ta-ta!
Olenna turned around and no longer looked at the numerous enemy troops approaching the city. Instead, she turned around and walked slowly into her room.
She paused, stared in the northwest, and continued to ask: "If the enemy shoots the raven, will Earl Paxter..."
"Madam, please rest assured. We released a large number of ravens at the beginning of the siege. It is impossible for them to intercept them all. Count Paxter must have received your raven letter."
"Ah That's good!"
Woo!!!
A loud horn sounded outside Highgarden City, which immediately made countless people inside and outside the city feel tense. This meant that countless lives were about to be lost in this battle.
Located in a transportation hub, Gaoting has a city gate in the southeast, northwest and north. Among them, the north and south gates connecting Rose Avenue are the widest and largest.
Because the south is connected to the once largest city, Oldtown. The north is connected to the current largest city, King's Landing.
The main attack direction of the coalition army commanded by Oberyn was also the two city gates in the north and south. Outside the two city gates, there were about 30,000 coalition troops in each of them and began to approach as the horn sounded.
As for the east gate facing the Dorne border, Oberyn left five thousand United Army cavalry to guard it.
The West Gate facing the Marina Avenue is even simpler, with only two thousand Union Army infantry guarding the Mander River Bridge connecting the Marina Avenue.
In fact, Kevan is not optimistic about Oberyn's siege tactics from both sides. In his opinion, a large castle like Highgarden should concentrate all its forces to break through one gate and give full play to its numerical advantage.
Break the noodles.
However, he previously thought that the Lannister army stayed behind because they were waiting for the Tyrell family's reply, so that they could attack Dorne, Stormland and other combined armies at the same time.
Now, since he had not seen Tirek's signal, Davon followed Oberyn's command wholeheartedly and just wanted to take Highgarden as soon as possible.
Although Oberyn mainly attacked the north and south gates at the same time, the focus was actually slightly different. Oberyn personally led half of the Tyrell family prisoners, Martell family soldiers, and Lannister family soldiers to attack the north gate.
city gate.
Ser Bonifer Hasty from the Stormlands led his hundred-man holy war regiment, as well as half of the Tyrell family prisoners, soldiers from the Stormlands, and soldiers from the surrendered families of the Reach to attack the southern gate.
In fact, it stands to reason that Sir Bonifer is just a knight and is not qualified to command this combined army. However, at the previous meeting, many nobles quarreled over the position of commander.
Based on the intelligence he collected and his interactions with him during this period, Oberyn appointed Sir Bonifer as commander against all odds.
Sir Bonifer is a devout believer in the Seven Gods. His nickname is "The Good Man". He is not only clear-headed, but also very responsible.
Moreover, he and the Hundred Crusaders are well-known for their discipline, and they have a good reputation in areas such as the Stormlands and the Dorne Frontier.
Therefore, I don't know whether Oberyn was unintentional or intentional, but his decision happened to achieve a balance, and many noisy nobles accepted Sir Bonifer as their commander.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Hundreds of sharp arrows fell like raindrops on the formation of the coalition siege soldiers near the north city gate.
Bah, bah!
ah!
The coalition siege soldiers who were the first to approach the North City Gate were hit by this wave of arrows, causing considerable casualties. Hundreds of siege soldiers were hit by arrows and fell to the ground, with bright red blood flowing outside the city.
On the scorched earth.
Count Landau, who was standing in a defensive round tower at the north city gate, saw that his first wave of arrows had achieved such a good effect, and a look of surprise suddenly appeared on his face.
He approached the observation port of the defensive round tower and took a closer look, and immediately understood the reason.
There is a large group of siege soldiers outside the city, holding a simple one-handed shield. Most of them are wearing shabby armor with various family emblems, and a small number are even wearing ordinary clothes without any armor. They are completely improvised.
Looks like a motley crew.
First use the cannon fodder troops to consume our energy and physical strength, and as soon as we show fatigue, we will immediately organize elite troops to forcibly attack the city?
Count Landau, who was experienced on the battlefield, immediately understood the enemy commander's intentions.
Highgarden, who fell into Tywin's scheme, currently has far fewer defensive forces than the enemy troops attacking the city, and is still guarding the four gates.
Although the reserves of defensive materials are very sufficient, drawing a bow, shooting, and throwing stones are indeed very physical tasks. If the enemy waits until the defenders are exhausted and attacks, they will have a high chance of success.
Originally, Lord Randyll wanted to enlist the civilians in Highgarden to assist in defense, but Olenna was worried that Tywin had already planted spies among them, so she directly rejected his proposal.
Earl Landau also understood the danger of being led by spies to defect on the battlefield during a fierce battle. So he did not refute, but just moved the suggestion from the first city wall to the second city wall.
After all, compared to the large number of civilians living in the first city wall, the credibility of the dignitaries within the second city wall is higher.
And when it comes to that critical moment, we can no longer think about trivial matters like spying!
The siege soldiers of the United Army were attacked by arrows from the defenders in the city walls and defensive round towers. After leaving hundreds of corpses behind, they finally succeeded in approaching the first city wall of Highgarden.
Click, click, click!
Countless siege ladders were erected on the wall on the north side of the High Court, and these motley siege soldiers wearing various armors began to climb up the siege ladders.
pound!
Zhi,zhi!
Pieces of stone about the same size as heads fell from the city wall, smashing the siege soldiers until their brains and blood spurted everywhere.
At the same time, golden-colored, steaming boiling oil sprayed down from the city wall, causing the siege soldiers to have their skins torn and their flesh torn apart, causing them to scream in agony. This caused a large number of casualties to the siege soldiers.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The archers at the top of the city wall are inconvenient to attack the siege soldiers who are climbing the siege ladder, but for the archers in the defensive round towers that protrude outward at every other section of the city wall, they are living targets.
As time went by, it became too difficult for the siege soldiers who only relied on a single siege ladder to force their way to the top of the high garden wall.
Under the city wall on the north side of High Court, the corpses of these siege soldiers gradually piled up in layers. Their casualties were increasing.
"Ah... why are you fighting for them? Run away!"
Seeing half of his familiar comrade's head smashed by a stone, a siege soldier suddenly shouted in horror. At the same time, he dropped his sword and shield and fled towards the left side of the city wall on the north side of the High Court.
The escaping behavior of this siege soldier seemed to cause a chain reaction. A large number of siege soldiers began to flee.
However, they did not flee towards the center of the coalition army behind them. Instead, they fled in a tacit understanding towards the left and right directions of the northern city wall.
"Gulu! These river bend soldiers are really useless. It seems that their most valuable things are their armor and weapons!
Count Franklin, kill the first group of Riverbend soldiers to defect!
Keep the rest for further consumption!”
Outside the northern city wall, on a movable command platform in the center of the United Army, Oberyn picked up the wine glass filled with blood-red wine and took a big sip, then spoke.
"As you command, Prince Oberyn!"
The gray-haired Earl of Tianji City, Franklin Fowler, nodded to Oberyn and accepted the order, and then quickly left the central command platform.
"Well, it turns out that our strong wine from Dorne suits the taste. It's as deep red as blood in color, and it has an evocative sweet aftertaste.
Is this the sweetness that tastes like revenge? One day, I will taste it!"
Glancing at Earl Franklin who was leaving, Oberyn turned his head and looked somewhere behind him, his eyes that were as dark as the night gradually revealed a cruel look.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A large number of arrows were shot from the central position of the combined army towards the deserters on the left and right sides of the northern city wall. The unsuspecting deserters fell to the ground in large pieces like wheat being harvested.
Da da da!
Two Dornish cavalry troops, wearing Dornish's characteristic cotton armor and turbaned faces, rode out from the center of the army and attacked the deserters on the left and right who were out of the range of bows and arrows.
Bah, bah!
The two Dornish cavalry units quickly pursued the deserters and quickly killed them all with their spears.
Upon seeing this, the remaining siege soldiers who were either unable to escape from the siege or who had no time to react immediately gave up their thoughts of becoming deserters and worked hard to survive the battle.
These siege soldiers were actually the River Bend soldiers that Vilas left behind, but the situation after the surrender was not satisfactory.
Although they were temporarily able to survive after surrendering some time ago, their weapons and equipment were directly looted and divided up by a large number of Stormland nobles and Riverland nobles.
Moreover, he had never had a full meal until today when he was used as cannon fodder for the siege.
Sandwiched between the defenders of Highgarden and the soldiers of the United Army, these river soldiers either died in the hands of the defenders or in the hands of the Dornish war team. They just kept falling under the northern city wall.
As the siege time passed, the defenders on the High Court wall killed almost five to six thousand siege soldiers without suffering any major casualties, which was a remarkable result.
However, perhaps due to the heavy physical exertion of the defenders, the frequency of their attacks on the remaining siege soldiers under the city wall has become much slower visible to the naked eye.
At the command post of the Central Army of the United Army, Oberon, who seemed completely addicted to wine and didn't care about the siege at all, suddenly glanced at the wall of Highgarden with drunken and blurred eyes.
Then, he put down the red wine glass in his hand, stood up, took the golden snake spear from the attendant, pointed it at the high court, and shouted loudly: "Send the order, the whole army attacks! Brothers, go to the city to snatch the golden dragon and women!"
Woo!~~
As the horn of the combined army's general attack sounded, Oberyn led in addition to five thousand cavalry troops composed of Martell cavalry and Lannister cavalry.
Another 15,000-strong combined army began to rapidly approach, pushing siege rams, siege towers and other siege equipment.
"The enemy has launched a general attack! Dicken, inform the soldiers who had rested before to return to their positions. All city defense equipment have canceled the ban on use and entered a state of readiness!"
When Earl Landau in the defensive round tower saw the enemy launching a general attack, he calmly issued orders to his son Dickon beside him.
"Yes, father!"
Dickon, who was missing several teeth, was still a little swollen on the left side of his face. He muttered the order and immediately ran out of the defensive round tower.
In the early stages of the siege of Highgarden, according to changes in enemy forces, Earl Randyll and Vilas led their troops to guard the north and south gates respectively.
After seeing the flags of the Martell family and the Lannister family, Lord Randyll took the initiative to stay at the north gate with two thousand Tully family soldiers and one thousand Tyrell family soldiers.
Now, it's time for him to play his role as a famous general in Westeros!
"Push! Hard! Archers cover!"
Earl Franklin directed the troops who were trying to push the battering ram towards the north gate, and at the same time asked the archers beside him to start covering fire on the walls of Highgarden.
Hoo, ho, ho!
At the rear of the combined army, more than a dozen simple trebuchets were operated by soldiers, and more than a dozen boulders as big as millstones headed towards the high garden with a whistling sound.
Puff, pff, pff!
Most of the boulders fell into the plant maze inside the city wall, knocking the two-person-high maze plant upside down. Two or three boulders hit the Highgarden wall with relative accuracy, but did not cause much damage.
However, the purpose of these trebuchets is only to provide cover!
Under the cover of archers and trebuchets, the troops pushing battering rams quickly moved towards the north gate. In addition, the siege towers covered with raw animal skins and with wooden wheels at the bottom were scattered towards various city walls. go.
"Father, why don't we start attacking with all our strength?"
After conveying the order, Dickon returned to the defensive round tower again. He looked at the approaching enemy and couldn't help but ask.
"Don't worry, Dickon. I arranged for the family soldiers to take turns to rest and gradually slow down their attack speed. I also banned the use of defensive equipment, just for now.
The enemy has an absolute advantage in strength. If we attack continuously day and night, we will definitely not be able to afford it.
Therefore, it is necessary to hit them painfully once so that they can calm down for a period of time."
Lord Landau shook his head upon hearing this and explained his tactical plan to Dickon in a teaching manner.
"I understand, father!"
As the combined army approached, the defenders on the wall on the north side of Highgarden were actually suppressed. This caused the battering rams and siege towers to approach even faster.
"Attack with all your strength!"
Seeing that the time was ripe, Earl Landau gave Dickon the order in a calm tone.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Boom, boom, boom!
As Earl Landau's order was conveyed, the number of soldiers guarding the city wall on the north side of Highgarden suddenly increased, and a large number of archers began to launch a counterattack under the city wall.
At the same time, the giant crossbow on the top of the defensive round tower began to attack the siege tower that was already very close.
Bang!
A siege tower that was about the same height as the city wall on the north side of Highgarden was suddenly attacked by giant crossbows from the defensive round towers on the left and right sides. The spears fired by the giant crossbows hit the support frame of the siege tower hard, with a powerful
The kinetic energy of the spear will destroy the support frame.
Ah, ah!
Poof!!!
As the support frame of the siege tower was continuously broken by giant crossbows, the siege tower broke directly from the middle. A large number of Martell family soldiers hiding in the siege tower screamed as the upper part of the siege tower fell.
.
Wow!
At the north gate of Highgarden, the battering ram pushed by the combined army is about to arrive at the north gate.
Suddenly, two copper water pipes protruded from the defensive round towers on the left and right sides of the North City Gate, and two jets of black and sticky water sprayed from the copper water pipes towards the siege ram troops.
Oops!
In the defensive round towers on the left and right sides, there was a blazing torch in front of the copper water pipe. Two orange-red flame pillars spread rapidly along the two water pillars, and then submerged the siege ram.
Of course, the surface of the battering ram was also covered with fireproof raw animal skins, but it could not withstand this level of flames.
In a very short period of time, the wooden frame of the battering ram collapsed, and a large number of human-shaped torches came out from underneath screaming, running for their lives in panic.
After these two pillars of flaming fire burned the siege ram, they began to burn the siege ladders and siege towers within the attack range.
For a moment, it was like a flaming hell outside the North City Gate, and all combustible objects were ignited in blazing flames. The ground outside the North City Gate gradually turned into the same scorched earth as the surrounding High Garden.
Through the window of the defensive round tower, Earl Landau saw the blazing flames at the city gate. He was very satisfied with the power of these two flamethrowers. If there were enough, he felt that it would be easy to defend Highgarden.
The flamethrower is a new type of city defense equipment introduced by the High Court. Due to its high risk and high cost, only two are currently equipped at the north and south gates.
The battle at the North City Gate gradually entered a fierce stage, while the battle at the South City Gate was still in the early stage of consumption and testing because the commanders of the offensive and defensive sides were completely inferior to Earl Landau and Oberyn.
After the attack horn sounded, Olenna sat on a wicker chair on the balcony to watch the battle, with her left hand standing respectfully beside her.
Seeing the raging fire burning at the North City Gate, a smile appeared on her face that had always been clouded.
"Hehe, it seems that the golden dragon who bought the flamethrower did not spend it in vain. It also played a big role in clearing the crops around the High Court."
Woo!
While she was talking to her left hand, a rapid horn sound suddenly sounded from the west.
After Olenna heard the sound, she immediately got up from the wicker chair and quickly walked into the house and looked out through the west window.
I saw that on the Mander River, which has a balanced flow and a wide channel, countless small and medium-sized paddle warships occupied a large section of the Mandeb River and came towards the High Court from the southwest.
"Well, it's a bit far away and I can't see the flag clearly. However, this number of warships must be the Redwin fleet!"
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
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