Dominate the Game of Thrones with Mount and Blade

Chapter 142 The New Five Kings

The Hill of Stone Hall.

Four thousand infantrymen holding torches and one thousand Frey cavalrymen were on full alert, guarding this nameless hill.

Another two thousand eight hundred soldiers formed teams of five and ten, scattered everywhere, capturing the enemy troops climbing up.

For the Rivermen, this may be the greatest achievement in the war with the Westerlands after repeated failures. The enemy's exclamations, cries for help, and curses were heard one after another, which made some noble knights whose castles and territories were looted feel happy.

Not long after, Hosteen Frey dragged a middle-aged captive to the River King, Marquis Aenys, Earl Lyman Darry and others.

"Staver Lannister is yours, Your Majesty."

The tall Sir Hosteen's tone was extremely excited. Even with only the faint light of the torch, it was not difficult for others to see the proud expression on his face.

This was the first achievement of the first battle after the establishment of the River Kingdom.

The captured Stafford, wearing a linen nightgown, glanced coldly at the River nobles and stopped at the face of the most handsome man.

"My cousin, Lord Tywin, will pay the ransom for me, and I guarantee you will be satisfied."

Arthur did not look at him, but asked Rosso Frey: "Is Davon still in the Golden Tooth?"

Stafford's son has been imprisoned in the abandoned mine in the Golden Tooth since he was captured.

"Yes, my majesty."

"Dicken sent Stafford to the Golden Tooth so that the father and son can reunite." Arthur ordered.

The first heavyweight captive was just sent away, and the second one came immediately.

The second son of the Earl of Arran City, Knight Hugo Vance, brought Janos Bracken.

The uncle of the River King was much better.

"My nephew has lost weight recently, but is it because he has worked too hard?" Janos forced a smile, "Although I am not very capable, I can share your worries."

Arthur dared not deal with him casually, because there were many people loyal to Janos in the territory of Stonehedge City. And this man had been good to Arthur before, so there was no need to make things too awkward.

"My Lords, how do you think he should be dealt with?" The River King asked.

When Janos took Jaime away, Robb had not yet become king. At that time, Joffrey, who had the Iron Throne, appointed his grandfather as the King's Hand. Under the rule of dual vassalage, this behavior was not considered rebellion, but just disgusting.

Some people with bad tempers advocated that it should be counted as treason, and Janos could choose to be beheaded or serve as a night watchman.

The sons of the Earl of Arran City advocated retaining Janos's noble status, and the River King would decide whether to reduce the title, reduce the fief, or change the family castle.

Bald Aenys and the Freys also thought it would be better to retain the noble title.

"It's about your reputation for magnanimity," said Lord Frey.

Arthur took a deep breath, "For the sake of so many people pleading for you, 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 bit of mercy while being tough.

"Your Majesty's decision is really wise!" Genos changed his words quickly.

The whole night after that, the soldiers were capturing prisoners.

At noon the next day, the generals summarized the number of prisoners and various military supplies.

Two thousand nine hundred soldiers from all over the Westerlands, three hundred and ten Bracken soldiers under Genos; weapons enough to arm seven thousand people, mainly half-handed swords, one-handed small round shields, tower shields, and spears; nearly seven thousand sets of water-soaked armor, mainly mail and breastplates; enough food for the enemy for a month, about two or three hundred thousand kilograms of wheat, potatoes, pumpkins, etc., most of which were also flooded.

In addition, two or three hundred war horses were collected. Since most of the enemies were newly recruited peasants, the proportion of cavalry was surprisingly low. These war horses should be used by the nobles and knights in the West.

The remaining tents, pots, and tableware were too numerous to count. After being salvaged, they were handed over to Rosso Frey, who was in charge of logistics and baggage.

The flooded wheat needed to be dried immediately, otherwise it would be moldy and inedible.

And this river army had to move east immediately, first to guard against the attack of the Lion and Flower Coalition, and second to find Tommen and break up the Rose and Lion families, so they could not 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, which brought Arthur's strength to 8,100 people.

Many of the remaining Westerlands were willing to fight for the King of Rivers, but Arthur did not dare to take them to the King's Territory to fight, so he sent a team of people to send 2,900 Westerlands captives to the Red Powder City Territory not far away.

Earl Clermont was rebuilding his family castle, and he needed manpower at the right time, so these people would come in handy.

Without wasting time, after lunch, the army headed east.

…

During the few days he stayed in Stone Hall Town, Arthur sent dozens of cavalry squads to order the lords of various places, ordering them to appease the people, fight against bandits, restore rural order as soon as possible, and provide rations for farmers who were running out of food so that they could rush to the vicinity of Heron Town.

Previously, he had ordered the establishment of a temporary residence in the north of Heron Town, but later, after seeing how many refugees had lost their houses, this idea changed.

There are about 30,000 refugee farmers in Harrenhal, plus the 40,000 to 50,000 people who came, enough to build a big city.

Therefore, Arthur ordered to build a big town directly with work instead of relief. Of course, labor-intensive buildings such as city walls were not built, and they were mainly built according to the winter market outside Winterfell.

The work of digging gold from the Golden Tooth and buying food in Pentos and other places has begun. The lords of the riverlands will also provide some food to Harrenhal. Sansa Stark is now there to coordinate and manage people from all parties.

Stark is one of the most prestigious families on the continent. Although he didn't mix with the southern nobles before Rickard, when people mentioned it, only the Lannisters in the West and the Arryns in the Vale could be compared.

In addition, some river nobles had sworn allegiance to Sansa's brother before, which made her very popular in the hearts of some family heads, and it was perfect for her to coordinate all parties.

As the intensity of the war has decreased a lot, the peasants who had fled to the Reach and the Crownland have returned in large numbers, which has allowed the River Kingdom to recover some vitality.

During the days of marching eastward, from time to time, small lords and wealthy knights joined the River Army with a few or a dozen people. Tristan Ryger of Willowwood and Carel Vance of Travelers' Rest also brought 500 soldiers each to join the war. When Arthur led his army to Sowhorn, 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, and it is said that he fell to his death. Then the Ironmen held a king selection meeting, and Euron Greyjoy, who claimed that he could lead the Ironmen to ride on dragons and plunder the whole world, 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, and a powerful mercenary group supported him.

With Arthur, the King of the Riverlands, a new five-king structure was born.

As in the previous game of thrones, among the five kings, three still claimed to be the masters of the Iron Throne, and the other two kings seemed to be just making up the numbers.

In the countless castles of the Seven Realms, the attitudes of the family heads and nobles towards the new five kings have been expressed through military positions, while in the countryside and towns, farmers, carpenters, tailors, bards and other groups have their own opinions.

In places not affected by the war, most civilians support the two deer kings. Tommen and his nominal uncle Stannis each have their supporters. Some people think that Stannis, who is ruthless and law-abiding, is a good king, while others think that Tommen, who believes in the Seven Gods, is more suitable.

In areas tormented by war, civilians have more favorable comments on the two "dragon kings".

After all, the most recent Targaryen king is Aerys II, who kept the Seven Realms peaceful for twenty-one years until the usurpers started the war.

…

The Hall of the Sow's Corner Tower.

A dozen nobles who led troops crowded into this rather small room, arguing about where to go next.

"Sir Kevan sent 20,000 Rivermen to attack us. According to the scouts' report, there should be only 15,000 soldiers wearing armor and carrying weapons, and the rest are servants and errand boys. They have now entered the territory of the Harvard family, a day's ride from us."

Earl Carlell Vance, who was in charge of scouts and reconnaissance cavalry, introduced the enemy's situation to everyone.

The lord of Sow Horn was Roger Hogg, and the object of his loyalty was the Harvard family of the king's territory.

The family's territory was mostly low mountains and hills, which were not very suitable for cavalry combat, which was very beneficial to the Rivermen who had more infantry and fewer cavalry.

"Who led the troops?" Arthur was very concerned about this question.

Fifteen thousand troops led by a famous general and fifteen thousand troops commanded by a mediocre person are two different concepts.

"May the gods bless us, the commander of the troops is the Lord of the Riverland, the lifelong enemy of the famous Storm's End in the Seven Realms, Duke Mace Tyrell." Carlell joked.

Since the Lord of the Reach led his army to attack Storm's End twice, but only surrounded it without attacking, some people despised the Duke of Mace's military command ability.

After all, in both sieges, the Reach Army had more than 60,000 soldiers, while the garrison had less than 1,000 soldiers.

"What are the soldiers made up of? Which families are they from?" Arthur asked.

Some families in the Reach have a bad relationship with the Lord Tyrell family, so maybe we can start from there.

As long as you wield the hoe well, you don't have to worry about not being able to dig into the corner.

Kalil recalled and said, "Scouts said there were flags such as the Golden Rose, the Burning White Tower, three oak leaves with a golden base, the Golden Tree, and three wasp nests. It seems that the enemy came from the Tyrell, Hightower, Oakheart, Rowan, and Beesbury families."

In the River Bay Army heading north, Tyrell sent out 10,000 people, Hightower and Redwyne each sent out 5,000 people, and Redwyne had another 5,000 people fighting at sea. Hightower left 5,000 of his own people stationed in the old town of the territory, and let the Beesbury, Bulwer, Kui and other families under his name lead the army to participate in the war.

Since 15,000 enemy soldiers came from so many families, it must be that some of each family came.

"Rowan and Oakheart? These two families have a shortcut to victory."

The two good news surprised Arthur very much.

Before that, the two knights, Agilon Oakheart and Saeus Rowan, came secretly to observe Arthur's dragon, Alduin.

Although the two middle-aged knights were frightened by the dragon, they hesitated when leaving and did not further discuss the possibility of cooperation.

Arthur guessed that it might be that Alduin's size had not yet reached their expectations, so the two knights who were obviously entrusted by the head of the family just observed and slipped away.

But this is just right for an article:

Dissension plan!

There is a ready-made name, and the two knights' families are given gifts in return.

After all, the dragon bone tile steel dagger can be regarded as a valuable gift, and it doesn't make sense for Arthur to accept this gift for nothing.

The King of Hejian took out the dagger tied to the inside of the calf armor 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, "If I send someone to send letters and gifts to the two great nobles of the river bay, what will the Duke of Metz think?"

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 "Dragon Family".

After all, during the War of the Usurper, the Rivermen actually besieged Storm's End for Targaryen for half a year, and they were truly loyal to Targaryen.

Marquis Aenys touched his bald head, "Even if Earl Rowan didn't have any intentions, he was a little abnormal in the eyes of Duke Mace."

The leading nobles discussed with each other and thought that this method was really brilliant.

"Even if the words in your letter to Earl Rowan were irrelevant, it was enough to make Duke Mace suspicious." Dickon's serious face showed surprise, "This is the first time I've seen this done."

The most important thing about the alienation plan is to provoke people's hearts.

As long as Lord Inflatable Fish is suspicious, even if Earl Rowan can prove his innocence, it will not eliminate the estrangement between the two families.

The two cities of Golden Tree and Ancient Oak have a total of 7,000 to 8,000 troops. If they can really alienate each other properly, the Duke Mace's army will be handed over here.

Do it as soon as you say it.

On the one hand, Arthur ordered Hosteen Frey, Simon Frey, Ronald Vance, Hugo Vance and six or seven other knights with strong military power to lead a team of cavalry to the northern part of the king's territory to hunt down the missing Tommen.

On the other hand, the River King sent Earl Tristan Ryger to the camp near Harvard City to send a return gift and two ambiguous letters to the two nobles, Martius Rowan and Countess Egwene Oakheart.

In order to arouse the suspicion of the inflatable fish as much as possible, Arthur also deliberately asked Tristan to go in the middle of the night, but he also wanted the Tyrell soldiers to notice that the Rivermen had run into the tents of Earl Rowan and Lady Egwene.

That night, the two nobles received the return gift and letter from the River King.

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