Four thousand infantrymen and one thousand Frey cavalrymen holding torches were standing guard on this unknown hill.
Another 2,800 soldiers formed into teams of five and ten, scattered everywhere to capture enemy soldiers climbing to higher ground.
For the people in Hejian, this may be the greatest result they have achieved in the war with the Western Region after repeated failures. The enemy's screams, calls for help, and curses were heard one after another, which made some castles and territories
The noble knights who had been robbed felt happy.
Not long after, Hosteen Frey dragged a middle-aged prisoner to the River King, Marquis Aenys, Count Lyman Darry and others.
"Stafford Lannister is yours, my lord."
The tall Sir Hosteen spoke in an unusually excited tone. Even with only the faint light of the torch, it was not difficult for others to see the proud look on his face.
This was the first victory in the first battle after the establishment of the Hejian Kingdom.
The captured Stafford, wearing a linen nightgown, glanced coldly around the river nobles, focusing his gaze on the face of the most handsome man.
"My cousin Lord Tywin will pay the ransom for me, to your satisfaction."
Arthur did not look at him, but asked Rosso Frey: "Davon is still in the Golden Tooth City, right?"
Stafford's son has been imprisoned in the abandoned mines of Golden Teeth City since he was captured.
"Yes, my lord."
"Dickon sent someone to send Stafford to Golden Tooth City so that their father and son could be reunited." Arthur ordered.
The first heavyweight prisoner had just been sent away, and the second one came immediately.
The second son of the Earl of Alan City, Knight Hugo Vance, brought Janos Bracken.
The uncle of King Hejian had a much better attitude.
"My nephew has lost weight recently, but is it because he works too much?" Genos forced a smile, "Although I am not very capable, I can still share your worries."
Arthur didn't dare to deal with him casually. There were many people loyal to Janos in the territory of Shili City. Moreover, this man had been kind to Arthur in the past, so there was no need to make things too tense.
"My lords, what do you think should be done with him?" King Hejian asked.
When Janos took Jaime away, Robb had not yet become king. Joffrey, who held the Iron Throne at that time, appointed his grandfather as Hand of the King. Under the rules of dual vassals, this behavior was not considered a rebellion.
It's just disgusting.
Some of the grumpier people advocated treason, and it was Genos's choice to be beheaded or become a member of the Night's Watch.
The sons of the Earl of Alan City advocated retaining Genos's noble status, and it was up to the King of Hejian to decide whether to demote him, reduce his title, or change his family castle.
Bald Aenys and the Freys also thought it would be better to retain their noble titles.
"It concerns your reputation for magnanimity," Marquis Frey said.
Arthur took a deep breath and said, "For the sake of so many people pleading for mercy, I will keep your noble status as long as you swear not to rebel again. Of course, the territory, the family castle, etc. will be settled slowly in the future."
A qualified monarch must show a touch of kindness while being tough.
"Your Majesty's decision is really wise!" Genos quickly changed his mind.
The whole night after that, soldiers were capturing prisoners.
At noon the next day, the leading generals summarized the number of prisoners and various military supplies.
Twenty-nine hundred soldiers from all over the West, 310 Bracken soldiers under Janos; enough weapons to arm 7,000 people, mainly half-handed swords, one-handed bucklers, tower shields, and spears
Nearly 7,000 pieces of water-soaked armor, mainly mail and breast plate armor, enough for the enemy to eat for a month, about two to three hundred thousand kilograms of wheat, potatoes, pumpkins and other items, most of which were also flooded.
In addition, two to three hundred war horses were collected. Since most of the enemies were newly recruited peasant troops, the proportion of cavalry was surprisingly low. These war horses should be used by the nobles and knights of the Western Region.
The remaining tents, pots, and tableware were countless. After being salvaged, they were handed over to Rosso Frey, who was in charge of the logistics.
Flooded wheat needs to be dried immediately, otherwise it will become moldy and become inedible.
And this Hejian army had to move eastward immediately, firstly to guard against the attack of the Lion-Flower Alliance, and secondly to find Tommen and break up the Rose Family and the Lion Family, so they couldn't stay.
Therefore, Arthur ordered the flooded wheat to be distributed to dozens of nearby villages to slightly enrich the farmers' food reserves.
As for potatoes, pumpkins, soybeans, etc., they were taken away by the army as rations.
After Janos surrendered, the captured Bracken soldiers also surrendered, bringing Arthur's strength to eight thousand one hundred men.
Many of the remaining Westerners were willing to fight for the King of the River, but Arthur did not dare to take them to fight in the king's territory, so he sent a team of people to send 2,900 Western captives not far away from here.
The distant Pink City territory.
The Earl of Clermont is rebuilding his castle, and when he needs manpower, these people will come in handy.
Without wasting any time, after lunch, the army headed east.
…
During the few days he stayed in Shitang Town, Arthur sent dozens of small teams of cavalry to give orders to the lords everywhere, ordering them to appease the people, crack down on bandits, restore order in the countryside as soon as possible, and at the same time provide rations for farmers who were running out of food.
Let them rush to the vicinity of Heron Town.
He had previously ordered the establishment of a temporary residence in the north of Heron Town. Later, after seeing how many refugees had lost their houses, he changed his mind.
There are about 30,000 refugee farmers in Harrenhal itself, plus the 40,000 to 50,000 people who came here, enough to build a large city.
Therefore, Arthur ordered to build a large town directly with work-for-relief. Of course, labor-intensive buildings such as city walls were not built, and they were mainly built based on the winter market outside Winterfell.
The process of digging gold from the Golden Tooth City and then taking it to Pentos and other places to buy food has already begun. The lords of the Riverlands will also provide some food to Harrenhal, where Sansa Stark is now coordinating the peace process.
Manage all parties involved.
The Starks are one of the most prestigious families in the mainland. Although Rickard did not mix with the southern nobles before, when people mention them, only the Lannister family in the west and the Arryn family in the valley can be compared.
.
In addition, some river nobles had sworn allegiance to Sansa's brother before, which gave her a high status in the hearts of some house governors, making her the perfect person to coordinate the work of all parties.
Since the intensity of the war has dropped a lot, farmers from the royal territory who had previously fled to the Reach returned in large numbers, which allowed the River Kingdom to begin to regain some vitality.
During the few days of marching eastward, small lords and wealthy knights joined the Hejian Army from time to time with a few or more than a dozen people, including Tristan Legg from Willow City and Karel from Traveling City.
Vance also brought 500 soldiers each to join the battle. By the time Arthur led his army to Sow's Corner, he already had 10,000 soldiers.
The current situation on the mainland is different again.
King Balon of the Iron Islands died inexplicably in Pike City. It was said that he fell to his death. Then the ironmen held a kingselection meeting, claiming that they could lead the ironmen to ride on the dragon and plunder Euron of the entire world.
Greyjoy was successfully elected as the new King of the Iron Islands.
A new king also appeared in the Stormlands. He claimed to be Aegon VI, the eldest son of Prince Rhaegar. He had the same king title as the missing Tommen and Stannis who occupied King's Landing. He was a powerful mercenary group.
Support him.
With the addition of Arthur, the King of the River, a new Five Kings pattern was born.
Similar to the previous game of Game of Thrones, among the five kings, three kings still claim to be the masters of the Iron Throne, and the other two kings look like they can make up the number.
In countless castles in the Seven Realms, the attitude of the governors and nobles towards the new five kings has been expressed through military formations, while in the countryside and towns, farmers, carpenters, tailors, bards and other groups have their own opinions.
In places not affected by the war, the common people mostly support the two deer kings. Tommen and his nominal uncle Stannis each have supporters. Some people think that Stannis, who is unkind and abides by the law, is better as king.
Some people think that Tommen, who believes in the Seven Gods, is more suitable.
In war-torn areas, civilians have more favorable comments about the two "Dragon Kings".
After all, the most recent Targaryen king was Aerys II, who kept the Seven Realms at peace for twenty-one years until the usurpers started a war.
…
Sow Point Tower Castle Hall.
A dozen leading nobles crowded into this rather small room, debating where to go next.
"Sir Kevan sent 20,000 Riverbend men to attack us. According to the scouts' report, there should be only 15,000 armored and armed soldiers, and the rest are servants and handymen. We have now entered the territory of the Harvard family.
It’s a day’s ride from us.”
Count Karel Vance, who was in charge of the scout cavalry, introduced the enemy's situation to everyone.
The lord of Sow Corner is Roger Hogg, and his allegiance is to the Harvard family of the royal family.
The family's territory is mostly low mountains and hills, which are not very suitable for cavalry combat. This is very beneficial to the Hejian people who have many infantry and few cavalry.
"Who leads the troops?" Arthur was very concerned about this question.
A 15,000-strong army led by a famous general and a 15,000-strong army commanded by a mediocre general are two different concepts.
"Gods bless us, the leader of the army is none other than Lord Mace Tyrell, Lord of the Reach, lifelong enemy of the famous Storm's End in the Seven Realms." Kalel joked.
Since the Lord of the Reach led his troops to attack Storm's End Castle twice, but only besieged it without attacking it, some people despised the Duke of Mace's military command strength.
After all, in both sieges, the strength of the Hebang Army was more than 60,000, while the defenders were less than 1,000.
"What is the composition of the soldiers? Which families are they from?" Arthur asked.
Some families in the Reach have a bit of a bad relationship with Lord Tyrell's family, so maybe we can start here.
As long as you dance well with the hoe, you don't have to worry about digging corners.
Kalel recalled: "The scouts said there were flags such as a golden rose, a burning white tower, three oak leaves on a gold background, a golden tree, and three wasp's nests. It seems that the enemy came from Tyrell, Hightower, and Orcs.
Hutt, Rowan, Bisbury and other families."
Among the Reach troops heading north, Tyrell sent out 10,000 men, Hightower and Redwyne each sent out 5,000 men. Redwyne had another 5,000 men fighting at sea, but Hightower left behind 5,000 men.
The people were stationed in the old town of the territory, and the Bisbury, Bullway, Cuy and other families under their names were allowed to lead their troops to participate in the war.
Since the fifteen thousand enemy soldiers come from so many families, there must be some from each family.
"Rowan and Oakheart? These two families have a shortcut to victory."
These two good news surprised Arthur very much.
Previously, two knights, Egilon Oakheart and Thaos Rowan, secretly came together to observe Arthur's dragon, Alduin.
Although the two middle-aged knights were intimidated by the dragon, they hesitated before leaving and did not further discuss the possibility of cooperation.
Arthur guessed that maybe Alduin's size had not reached their expectations, so the two knights who were obviously entrusted by the family governor just watched for a while and then left.
But this is just enough to make an article:
Divorce plan!
There is a ready-made name to give as a return gift to the families to which the two knights belong.
After all, a dragon-bone corrugated steel dagger can be considered a great gift, so there is no reason why Arthur should accept this gift in vain.
King Hejian took out the dagger tied on the inside of his calf and explained its origin to everyone.
Bald Inis asked curiously: "Do you want to send it back? What does this have to do with the war situation?"
"Of course not." Arthur explained to the leading nobles, "What would the Duke of Metz think if I sent people to deliver letters and gifts to two great nobles in the river?"
The Duke of Metz is a little clever, but not much.
According to his thinking, he might really think that his vassals are in collusion with the "Long Family".
After all, during the Usurper's War, the people of the River actually besieged Storm's End for half a year for the Targaryens, and they truly belonged to the loyal Targaryens.
Marquis Inis touched his bald head and said, "Even if Earl Rowan doesn't have any thoughts, in the eyes of Duke Metz, it's a bit abnormal."
The leading nobles discussed among themselves and thought that this method was too clever.
"Even if the letters written by you and Count Rowan are irrelevant, it is enough to make the Duke of Metz suspicious." Surprise appeared on Dickon's serious face, "This is the first time I have seen this done."
The most important thing in a divorce plan is to stir up people's hearts.
As long as Lord Inflatable Fish becomes suspicious, even if Earl Rowan can prove his innocence, it will not eliminate the estrangement between the two families.
The Golden Tree City and the Ancient Oak City have a total of seven or eight thousand troops. If they can really separate each other properly, the Duke of Metz's army will be assigned here.
Just do it.
On the one hand, Arthur ordered six or seven powerful knights such as Hosteen Frey, Simon Frey, Ronald Vance, and Hugo Vance to each lead a team of cavalry to the king's territory.
The hunt for the missing Tommen in the North.
On the other hand, the River King sent Count Tristan Legg to the camp near Harvard City to give a return gift to the two nobles Matus Rowan and Countess Egwene Oakheart, as well as
Two ambiguous letters.
In order to arouse the suspicion of the inflatable fish as much as possible, Arthur also specially asked Tristan to go in the middle of the night, but also wanted the Tyrell soldiers to notice that a river man had come to the tent of Lord Rowan and Lady Egwene.
That night, the two nobles received the return gift and letter from the King of Hejian.
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