Lord Harroway's town is a town located on the Trident River in the Riverlands, across the water from the bustling Crossroads Inn. It was originally a siege of the Root family who was loyal to the Tully family.
However, in the initial war of the Western Territory's invasion of the Riverlands, Tywin easily captured the place with an overwhelmingly superior force and massacred all the resistance of the Root family.
Some time ago, this closed city was given to the surviving collateral heirs of the Root family by Brynden.
But the good times did not last long, and the Riverlands, which had just been peaceful for a long time, was once again swept by the refugee uprising launched by the Brotherhood Without Banners.
"The defense of this town is not as strong as the previous one. Brothers, work harder!"
"Kill! Kill the damn nobles and divide their wealth and lands!"
"In the name of the Lord of Light, judge these greedy sinners!"
Outside the town of Earl Harroway, more than a thousand armed refugees were shouting and attacking the outer city wall of the town.
These refugees had sufficient siege momentum, but their siege methods were crude.
Moreover, their clothes are also all kinds of strange. Some are wearing tattered clothes but wearing half-new armor, and some are casually wearing more gorgeous noble casual clothes.
However, compared to the less than a hundred defensive soldiers in the town, their number of more than ten times brought great siege pressure.
As time went by, the town's defensive soldiers suffered more and more casualties, and they were gradually unable to suppress the crazy attacks of these refugees who were not afraid of death.
Of course, these refugees who were frantically attacking the city also felt that the town's defense line was about to collapse. Having already tasted the benefits of breaking the city, their eyes suddenly looked as ferocious as hungry wolves.
Da da da!
A burst of rapid hoofbeats grew from weak to strong behind the siege refugees, and a group of about two hundred cavalrymen quickly approached them under the trout flag.
Tear, tear!
ah!
!
Most of the siege refugees who were farmers had no intention of organizing a defensive formation when faced with the Tully family's cavalry. They were easily broken up by the two hundred cavalry, and were continuously hacked and killed.
"Run away!"
Being attacked by a regular cavalry team, the morale of this group of siege refugees, who had been so high just now, suddenly fell to the bottom and they began to flee in all directions.
A bloody scene involving more than 200 people chasing more than 1,000 people was immediately staged outside the town.
On land, it is impossible for humans to outrun war horses. These fleeing refugees are being harvested like leeks.
Until one of the refugees jumped into the Trident River as if suddenly enlightened. After that, these fleeing refugees threw themselves into the water to escape like dumplings.
Da da da!
When there was no one alive except the Tully family cavalry outside the town, Lord Tytos, accompanied by more than a dozen personal guards, arrived at the gate of the town, which was piled with corpses.
Squeak!
The gate of the town opened from the inside, and the new Baron Root walked out with a long sword. As soon as he saw Count Tytos, he immediately saluted respectfully and said: "Thank you Lord Tytos for coming to the rescue, these damn refugees are all crazy!
"
"Yes! They are all crazy! All the towns east of the Trident River have been occupied by them, and all the nobles in these territories have been killed by them.
They now began to advance from east to west, but they did not dare to touch the fortified Harrenhal, so they targeted towns with weak defenses.
Alas, the whole riverlands are in danger again!"
When Count Tytos heard this, he shook his head and sighed and told the information he knew.
"Ah? How dare you kill a noble? These lowly refugees deserve to die!
But, Lord Tytos, are these refugees really so powerful that they put the entire Riverlands in danger?
Well, their combat power is very weak. I just participated in the battle and killed several enemies."
Baron Root was shocked when he heard the information from Count Tytos. After cursing, he asked with some confusion.
"Today, not only your town was attacked by refugees, but the surrounding Nutun, Hewan Village and other places were also attacked. The reason why I only brought two hundred cavalry to rescue was because I divided my troops to rescue many places at the same time.
According to the information reported by the reconnaissance cavalry, at least tens of thousands of refugees poured into the vicinity of the crossroads. They captured some prisoners and learned that these tens of thousands of refugees were only troops responsible for investigation.
Oh, a reconnaissance force of tens of thousands of people!
No matter how weak their individual combat power is, they will become very powerful when their numbers reach a certain level.
Moreover, they are led by the Brotherhood Without Banners who can capture the Demon Mountain alive!"
Upon hearing this, Earl Tytos turned his head and stared at the east, and replied quietly.
…
Nvquan Town is located in the lower reaches of the Three Forks River Basin, close to Crab Bay. There is a busy port here, so it is considered a large-scale town.
But at this time, tens of thousands of refugees were crowding around the town of Maiden Springs. They craned their necks to look at the two- to three-meter-high wooden platform built in the center of the town.
On the wooden platform, Berry and Thoros stood solemnly, with a row of noble prisoners tied to the campfire beside them. Around the wooden platform, thousands of members of the Brotherhood Without Flags were struggling to maintain the basic order of the town.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Berry loudly announced the crimes of these noble prisoners who had been captured from the surrounding villages and towns of Maidenpool.
After the crime was announced, the two of them walked off the platform and asked the waiting brotherhood members to light the fire.
ah!
!
In an instant, the greased wooden platform burst into flames, and the row of noble prisoners were sacrificed to the Lord of Light amidst pitiful screams.
May the Lord of Light forgive your sins!
Looking at the captive nobles who had turned into human torches, Berry muttered in his mind before turning around and leaving through the passage that the refugees had voluntarily given up.
Originally, after the sacrifice, there were steps to allocate the farmland of these noble territories to the refugees who had committed meritorious service, but Berry did not want to take care of these matters and left them directly to Soros.
After the attack on Maiden Springs, Soros took the lead in allocating fields once. This time he should be familiar with the process and doesn't need to worry too much.
After Berry returned to the castle that once belonged to the Mouton family in Maidenpool, he directly found Magiro who was praying.
"Brother Magiro, your prediction is indeed very accurate. We followed your suggestion and started an uprising from the east side of the Riverlands, and happened to encounter this group of poor civilians who were forcibly driven away from King's Landing.
Now, some civilians who have made meritorious service in the battle have obtained their own fields. Should we continue to move to the west?"
Having re-established his great goal, Berry has become more and more devout in his belief in the Lord of Light. At the same time, he has also begun to trust Magiro, who has the same belief.
After all, Magiro's accurate prophecy was most likely the Lord of Light's guidance to them. Therefore, as soon as he returned, Berry wanted to consult his opinion on the next step.
"Of course, we will sacrifice all the guilty nobles in the Riverlands to the Lord of Light!
Robb Stark is gathering an army to garrison in Highgarden in the Riverlands, and is about to fight the Lannister army. Our occupation of the Riverlands will be equivalent to cutting off his retreat.
At that time, if he divides his troops from the Western Region to rescue the Riverlands, then we will take the opportunity to eliminate his reinforcements.
If he has been entangled with the Lannister army, then after we occupy the Riverlands, we will turn to the west and attack the Lannister army in front and back."
After hearing this, Magiro ended his prayer and spoke out the action plan he had thought about.
"The Lannister army? They are also a group of sinful nobles. We want to fight with them?"
When Barry heard Lannister's name, he immediately frowned with an expression of disgust.
"Yes, the demon servants are too powerful now.
We must put aside our hatred for the time being and unite all our forces to fight against him. After Robb Stark is purified, Lannister will also be the target of our sacrifice!"
Seeing Berry's fierce reaction, Magiro's heart immediately skipped a beat. Then he immediately used a reason that put the overall situation first.
Magiro actually accepted Tywin's suggestion and went to the Riverlands to find the Brotherhood Without Banners.
But Tywin knew in his heart that if he let the Brotherhood Without Banners know that he wanted to form an alliance against Robb, there was a high possibility that they would be flatly rejected.
Combined with the intelligence of the prisoners of the Brotherhood Without Banners who were captured at Harrenhal, Tywin specifically asked Magiro to use the Lord of Light's faith as the main factor to persuade him.
"Okay! This is what we have to do in order to eliminate the minions of the Cold God. However, after Robb Stark is purified, the next target of sacrifice is Lannister!"
Berry thought carefully, then gritted his teeth and expressed his decision.
"Of course! Brother Berry, what you said is also my idea!"
Hearing Berry's words, Magiro breathed a sigh of relief. To him, Lannister's life or death was of no concern.
His first goal now is to purify Robb Stark, whom he identifies as a servant of the devil. His second goal is to spread the faith of the Lord of Light.
"Well, Robb Stark's main force is in the West and the Riverlands, and there won't be too many troops left in the Riverlands. I have dispatched a reconnaissance force in advance, and it should not take long for relevant information to be available.
Brother Magiro, I once heard Thoros say that the Lord of Light has many followers in Essos. How do you manage them?
Because there are so many civilians who have joined us recently, some bad things have happened, and I already feel like I can't control them."
In fact, Berry had already decided on the next action plan in his mind, and he came to consult Magiro just to get his approval.
After saying the first thing, Berry immediately told Maggio the second thing.
“In the Temple of the Lord of Light in Volantis, there are not only the monks who spread the faith, but also the holy warriors of the Lord of Light known as the ‘Hands of Holy Fire’.
Most of these large numbers of civilians previously believed in the so-called Seven Gods. In addition to strengthening the spread of their beliefs, we must also have the hands of the Holy Fire to make them abide by the corresponding rules.
Civilians who believe in the Lord of Light and obey our guidance will be given priority in allocating fields and food. Civilians who reject the Lord of Light or do not abide by our rules will be allowed to choose by themselves, join or leave!
Those members of the Brotherhood who have devout faith can serve as hands of the Holy Fire and uphold these rules of ours.
Brothers Berry, our ultimate goal is to let them understand that we are all slaves of the Lord of Light and can dedicate everything to the Lord of Light at any time!
And after devoting ourselves to the Lord of Light, our souls will forever remain in the Lord of Light’s Kingdom of God, which is full of light, hope, and freedom!”
"The First Cause of All Realms"
Magiro was worthy of being the most capable red-robed monk under the Supreme Priest. When he was teaching Berry, his face was solemn and solemn, and his whole person seemed to be enveloped in a halo.
"I understand. I will discuss it with Soros later. Brother Magiro, please preach more for them during this time!"
"Don't worry, I will."
After leaving Magiro's room, Berry thought seriously about what Magiro had just said.
When he came to the door of his room, he found that Cobain, who had rarely been seen recently, was waiting for him with a smile on his face.
Berry walked up quickly, and before he asked, he heard Coburn say in a somewhat excited tone: "Lord Berry, I have made a new breakthrough in my recent research!"
…
The Reach, Highgarden.
A few kilometers outside the northern city wall, the originally scorched land was completely occupied by densely packed tents. This huge scale seemed to have formed a tent town overnight outside the High Court.
If you look closely, you can see that these tents are divided into grid-shaped areas of similar size by rows of wooden fences. They look relatively neat and concise.
This is the refugee resettlement area created according to Robb's wishes. Some of the tents in it are trophies left over from the Highgarden War, and some are used tents provided by the Tyrell family.
These wooden fences were also made from the siege equipment left behind by the joint siege army during the previous Highgarden War, as well as the wood resources they collected.
After the meeting in the council hall yesterday, the High Court officials who received the order recruited workers in exchange for food.
Thanks to the huge labor force that came to our doorstep, it took less than half a day to build a resettlement area divided into thirty-six small areas.
Each of these small areas can accommodate about 2,000 people, which means that the total refugee resettlement area can accommodate about 70,000 people.
Of course, it is impossible for all the refugees with a total number of hundreds of thousands to enter the resettlement areas at once.
Robb's original plan was to first select some of the refugees and move them to the vicinity of Golden Tree City, where he would then start experimenting with terraced fields.
After success, follow this familiar pattern to screen and transfer the remaining refugees.
Therefore, the refugees who were unable to enter the resettlement area could only build their own tents according to the position order of the high court captured soldiers.
Most of the refugees who were expelled from King's Landing brought their belongings with them, while a small number of refugees who did not have tents found a place to sleep with their clothes on.
Fortunately, the Long Summer has just ended, and the climate in the Reach is still warm and suitable. Otherwise, at least some of the refugees would freeze to death just in this early stage of screening refugees.
"ah!"
Rick yawned while twisting his somewhat stiff body, and walked out of a dilapidated tent with a sleepy look on his face.
Yesterday, according to the order of arrangement, Rick was originally unable to enter the resettlement area. Moreover, he hurriedly blended into the refugees and naturally did not bring any tents or other things.
So, seeing that he was about to sleep outdoors, Rick used his money ability to find a group of bullies among the refugees and exchanged a hundred silver deer for a place to enter the resettlement area.
As long as the number is large enough, even among the refugees there are smart people. This business opportunity of controlling the number of people entering the resettlement area was a temporary idea of this bully team yesterday.
While they were ingratiating themselves with the captured soldiers in High Court, they were secretly preaching that if they entered the resettlement area first, they would be able to enter High Court first, thereby squeezing the last of the refugees' carefully hidden property.
Who is allowed into the resettlement area makes no difference to these Highgarden captive soldiers. Therefore, they turn a blind eye after accepting the benefits of the bully team.
Back to business!
After Rick checked in under a fictitious identity yesterday, he was placed in male housing area 13.
Well, this very special statement was what he saw on the wooden sign erected in front of the resettlement area.
It's still early in the morning, and the resettlement area with nearly 2,000 people is already very busy. Most of the refugees are crowded near the gate of the resettlement area.
Because the captured soldiers of High Court told them yesterday that if High Court wanted to announce the work, they would convene at the gate.
Rick came here so early to wait for work, naturally not to get food. He wanted to take the opportunity of work to see if it was possible to obtain important information from the High Court.
These idle refugees waited until the sun was almost in the middle of the sky before a group of Highgarden captive soldiers hurried to the gate of their resettlement area.
"Today we need to summon a hundred strong people with experience in reclaiming wasteland. If you are willing, you don't need to speak, you just need to raise your hand, and we will naturally select them!"
After opening the door to the resettlement area, as soon as the leader of the high court captive soldiers finished speaking, thousands of dark-skinned arms were raised high.
It was not surprising that Highgarden captured the soldiers in this situation. Their eyes quickly scanned the refugees for selection.
The refugees are basically those who have not eaten enough, so most of the more than a thousand men are short and thin.
Those with strong bodies are very conspicuous, and the quota of one hundred people will soon be selected.
As an excellent investigator, Rick's body is flexible and agile enough, but his height and strength are not outstanding.
Therefore, he was not chosen initially when he was captured by Highgarden.
After all the tall refugees had been selected, in order to make up for the few remaining places, the taller ones were selected among the shorter ones.
"The last one is... you!"
When the last spot was selected, the captive soldier from Highgarden wandered his eyes several times over Rick and a refugee next to him, and finally pointed at Rick and said.
"Thank you, sir!"
When Rick heard this, he immediately answered with a smile on his face.
The refugee next to Rick showed an indignant look on his face, and then he gritted his teeth and said loudly: "Sir, I happened to see this person jump into the resettlement area yesterday because he was given a silver deer.
Moreover, the skin on his palms is so delicate that he doesn’t look like someone who works in the fields.”
After hearing what the refugee said, the captured soldier from Highgarden showed no expression on his face. I wonder if he had also received benefits from the bully team.
"Hmph, I remember you. I'll kill you when I come back!"
Seeing that there was no accident in his work, Rick stared at the refugee with a trace of cruelty in his eyes. At the same time, he whispered something to him and walked towards the gate of the resettlement area.
"Made, are you trying to steal my job and threaten me? I can't go, and you don't want to go either!"
When the refugee heard Rick's threatening words, the negative emotions in his heart suddenly exploded.
He directly reached out and grabbed the back collar of the shabby linen shirt that Rick wore for disguise, and then pulled hard backwards, trying to drag Rick to the ground.
Tear!
The poor-quality shabby clothes that Rick was wearing were torn apart very easily, exposing most of his back.
court death!
Rick's clothes were torn, but he didn't feel any cold feeling behind his back. His anger instantly rose in his heart.
He suddenly turned around and saw the refugee looking blankly at the pieces of Rick's clothes in his hand. The other refugees around him were staring at him with fear on their faces.
"Ah! He is an unclean person!"
"Grey, gray, greyscale! He has greyscale!"
"Quick, get away from him, greyscale is extremely contagious!"
Within a few seconds, the crowd who reacted suddenly burst into panic and screams. Then, the more than a thousand refugees suddenly fled in panic like ants in a frying pan.
It was only then that the captive soldiers of Highgarden behind Rick turned around and saw his naked back clearly.
Only the back of his torn clothes revealed a large piece of skin covered with black and gray spotted scales. From a distance, Rick seemed to be wearing a piece of stone scale armor.
"Quick, close the door and blow the horn!"
The leader of the captured soldiers in Highgarden also reacted after the refugees exploded. He hurriedly directed his team to close the gate of the resettlement area and blow the horn.
Peng!
Woo!
The door to the male No. 13 housing area was closed heavily, and at the same time, the horn hanging on the side of the door was blown by the captured soldiers of Highgarden.
Bang bang bang!
"Ah! Let us out!"
Many refugees gathered at the gate and kept beating the wooden gate of the resettlement area, trying to escape from this resettlement area where they began to feel very comfortable.
This group of highgarden captured soldiers were armed with short sticks and severely hit the hands of the refugees who were trying to push open the door.
In fact, faced with the extremely terrifying greyscale disease spread among the people, these high courts wanted to escape.
There is no way!
If the refugees are controlled now, they can still survive. If they escape, they will definitely be buried in the belly of the wolf.
Ouch!
Sure enough, upon hearing the sound of the horn, the Wolf Guard, who was responsible for roaming the area, soon arrived with a large number of captured soldiers from Highgarden.
They surrounded the No. 13 resettlement area and mercilessly beat back the refugees who tried to escape by pushing them onto the wooden fence.
Near the gate of the 13th resettlement area, Rick was still standing alone. He reached out and stroked the stone-hard scales on his back, with a desperate expression on his face.
No, no way! How could I be infected with greyscale?
I heard that this disease is contagious through contact. Why would I let people touch my back casually...
In despair, Rick first thought about the strange feeling on his back that he had felt in the past few days. Then he suddenly thought of the last time someone touched his back in King's Landing.
…
King's Landing, Meeting Hall of the Prime Minister's Tower.
Hoo, ho!
Grand Maester Pycelle, who was old and frail and hunched over, seemed to be panting loudly from climbing too many steps in the Tower of the Hand.
"Pycelle, there are only two of us here, stop your current performance!"
Tywin, who was sitting on a high-backed bench and writing something with a quill pen, did not even raise his head and directly spoke to Grand Maester Pycelle in a serious tone.
"First of all, Mr. Prime Minister, what do you mean by this?"
Hearing Tywin's words, Pycelle's body stiffened, and then he asked with an excuse.
"Hey, do you think I'm really stupid enough to believe that you look old because of your poor acting skills?"
"Huh, sometimes I feel that my acting skills are very poor. But at that time, I was always facing a wise man like you!"
Seeing Tywin's unusually sure tone, Grand Maester Pycelle slowly straightened his back and answered him without any stuttering.
"I don't think you came here just to praise me alone!"
When Tywin heard this, he didn't pause in his writing movements and spoke in a natural tone.
"Your Majesty Prime Minister, the technician who was used to cultivate gray plague has been petrified and died. Calculating the time, the spy should have entered the outbreak period."
Upon hearing this, Pycelle immediately told what he wanted to report on his trip.
"Well, I just want to know one thing now, is this gray blight really as severe as you say?"
After hearing Pycelle's report, Tywin slowly put down the quill in his hand, looked up into his eyes and asked.
"Please rest assured, Prime Minister, I can guarantee this with my own life!
Gray blight is a malignant variant of gray scale disease. It is extremely contagious and I have seen its terrifying destructive power with my own eyes!"
Hearing this, Pycelle nodded directly to Tywin in reply, and then continued with a recalling expression on his face,
"That was more than fifty years ago. I happened to be studying in the city at that time, and the gray blight that came from nowhere spread and broke out in Old Town.
After the Gray Blight broke out, maesters throughout the city assisted the Hightowers in controlling the disease.
But even so, the Gray Blight still claimed the lives of nearly 200,000 people in Old Town and three-quarters of the city's maesters.
After the epidemic subsided, I was asked to assist a maester in his research on gray blight.
Maybe he wanted to conduct academic research on his own at that time! So he secretly kept a few gray blight materials.
Unexpectedly, now is the time to get rid of the most troublesome enemy for the Prime Minister!"
"Hmph, if Gray Blight can really have the effect you said, my reward will definitely not disappoint you.
A Lannister always pays his debts!"
How could Tywin, who was as human as a spirit, not understand what Pycelle was saying? He hummed and said he would reward him generously, then continued to ask,
"However, since the Citadel has studied gray blight decades ago, are there any other ways to solve it now?"
Hearing Tywin's words, Pycelle shook his head with a confident smile and said:
"Hehe, the Academy only researched that 'people who have suffered from gray scale and survived can be immune to gray plague'.
Therefore, there is no solution to Gray Blight. Once infected, death is inevitable.
With so many refugees acting as a source of disease spread, and Highgarden not having that many knowledgeable maesters to help control the disease.