"Thud."
The wooden door was violently pushed open, and a guard holding a torch shouted, "Who's there?!"
A short knife suddenly attacked from the side, plunging directly into his armpit, and when it was pulled out, it brought out a large amount of blood.
The House Norrey soldier, having succeeded, was about to retreat when a long spear extended from inside the door and pierced into his chest.
Coldness and pain quickly assailed him, followed by endless darkness.
However, before the guard could pull out the long spear, a battle-axe flew in with a whooshing sound, splitting his helmet and head directly in half, splattering blood and brains everywhere.
"Charge!"
"Kill them!!"
A Golden Tooth officer shouted, drawing his weapon, and the Golden Tooth guards rushed out of the tower.
At this moment, House Norrey soldiers hidden on the other side suddenly attacked, plunging short knives into the officer's neck, and then he too was stabbed to death by a flurry of spears.
"Follow me and charge!"
Jon Umber took a shield from his subordinate and charged forward, shouting loudly.
"Charge!" "Kill!"
The Umber Family elite, armed with battle-axes and shields, also followed their liege lord in the charge, with Owen Norrey leading his warriors close behind.
There was no other way; even elites, light-armored soldiers could only provide support in such a situation.
The shouts of battle, erupting from the city wall, instantly carried far away.
Earl Rickard, hidden in the forest, opened his eyes, and not far away, the cavalry of House Mormont and House Glover also began to prepare, galloping towards the base of the city wall.
As soon as the city gate opened, they would immediately charge in!
On the city wall.
Relying on his strength and formidable power, Jon Umber held his shield to protect his vital points, deflected three or four spear thrusts, and then, with a loud roar, charged into the midst of the guards.
The gleaming battle-axe arced in the air, directly cleaving into an enemy's neck, then was pulled out, and with another flash of cold light, the arm of another nearby enemy was severed.
Blood splattered all over him, but Greatjon laughed heartily, raising his battle-axe.
Behind him, the Umber Family warriors also charged up, protecting their liege lord closely, engaging the guards who were armed with long spears, short spears, and infantry kite shields.
Axe blades broke spear shafts, cut open ribs, smashed helmets and skulls, as screams and shouts rose and fell.
Spear tips pierced into thighs and necks, bringing out gushes of blood, as the guards desperately tried to block the enemy's advance.
Owen Norrey, following Greatjon, saw that this wave of enemies was firmly entangled, and he did not linger, but instead led his men to jump directly from the city wall onto the stairs below, then stepped over the fighting group and rushed towards the city gate.
Their main mission upon infiltrating the castle was to open the city gate, not to kill all the enemy soldiers.
Not a single second could be wasted!!
More than twenty people ran quickly along the city wall, and soon, they encountered a dozen neatly arranged guards who had already set up their kite shields and long spears.
Though few in number, they protected the rollers that controlled the city gate's iron portcullis behind them, their expressions calm, with a murderous intent mixed with numbness.
Owen Norrey stopped, looked at the well-equipped enemies before him, then glanced at the torchlight gradually approaching from inside the city, gritted his teeth, and whispered to Fager beside him, "You take the men and go around from the stairs, be quick!!"
Fager gestured, and a dozen people followed him down the nearby stairs.
"The rest of you, follow me!!"
Owen Norrey, holding a short knife, slowly approached the enemy with his men, attempting to test the enemy's attack range.
The twenty or so men around him all carried short knives, and none of them even wore leather armor; facing guards in chainmail with steel plates embedded in their chests, they simply could not engage in a head-on confrontation.
Their only advantage was that they outnumbered the enemy by twofold.
To hunt large but not agile prey, it's best to spread out and attack from different directions!!
"Swish."
Several points of cold light stabbed out directly; Owen Norrey, already prepared, quickly retreated and dodged, but his ear was still gashed with a large cut.
The intense pain, combined with the metallic smell of blood, excited him, and a bloodthirsty gleam appeared in his eyes.
At this moment, Fager and his men suddenly appeared on the other side; they had circled under the city gate, climbed back up the stairs, their knives still bloody, and their numbers reduced by two.
"Charge!!"
Owen Norrey roared, took two quick steps into the guards' attack range, rolled on the ground to dodge several incoming long spears, and directly slammed into a shield, but the enemy's formation remained unmoving.
He extended his short knife, thrusting it into the gap between the shields, directly cutting the ankles of two guards; blood instantly spurted out, and the enemies, after cries of pain, fell to the ground.
A dozen House Norrey soldiers also followed up, four of them were directly impaled by long spears, while the rest, some directly grabbed the long spears and wrestled with the enemies, and others wildly stabbed at the guards' faces with one hand.
Fager's men also charged from the other side, and after sacrificing a few lives, desperately closed in on the enemy.
Seeing the attack succeed, Owen Norrey was about to strike again when a short sword stabbed him in the chest; he felt a sharp pain in his chest, then a coldness spread through his body.
It was more terrifying than the winter winds in Wolfswood.
The Golden Tooth guard, seeing his long spear grasped by the enemy, decisively let go, drew his short sword, and then killed the nearest enemy.
"Owen!!"
Seeing the light fade from the eyes of the first heir of House Norrey, Mata shouted, directly raised a captured long spear and thrust it into the enemy's face, then rushed forward, his short knife slashing across the opponent's neck.
The Golden Tooth guards, already at a numerical disadvantage, quickly lost their lives in the pincer attack after their formation was broken by the enemy's sacrifice of lives.
On the not-so-narrow city wall, more than twenty bodies lay scattered.
"Mata! Open the portcullis, complete the mission!!"
"Everyone else, pick up the enemy's shields and weapons, and follow me, quickly!"
Fager picked up a short spear and shield from the ground, and with his men, blocked the other side of the city wall; in the darkness, a large cluster of torches was rapidly moving towards them.
These were Golden Tooth guards patrolling on the other side of the city wall; they had also heard the shouts.
Mata glanced at his deceased brother, wiped his eyes blurred with sweat and tears, and gritted his teeth as he began to turn the roller, and the iron portcullis spanning the city gate slowly began to rise.
"Charge!! Don't let them open the gate, for Frey! For Golden Tooth!!"
"Stop them, for Stark! For Winterfell!!!"
Just as the guards and Fager began to engage, Jon Umber charged over with twenty or thirty men, and without a word, collided with the enemy, his battle-axe fiercely hacking at the shields before him, and the iron portcullis finally reached its highest point.
Mata swung his short knife, cutting the ropes that controlled the drawbridge, and with a bang, the wide and heavy wooden planks fell across the moat.
Several House Norrey warriors jumped directly down through the murder holes in the compartments, and together lifted the heavy gate bolt, then with a creak, pushed the city gate open.
Outside the city, over seven hundred cavalry, already prepared, galloped in without pause, speeding along the relatively wide streets, killing everyone they saw, their long spears and battle-axes playing a symphony of death.
After receiving news of the attack on the east city wall, Aryssane Leyford, who had finally gathered a militia of two to three hundred men, had just emerged from the inner keep when she ran head-on into Earl Glover of Deepwood Motte, and the more than two hundred Northmen cavalry following him.
With just one charge, the militiamen either died or fled, and Aryssane Leyford knelt by the wall, offering her short sword with both hands.
This signified surrender.
Earl Glover instructed his attendant to accept the short sword, while he himself led his men into the inner keep, and piercing cries of anguish instantly erupted.
He needed to secure Golden Tooth's maester immediately.
Wendelin Hill, with a dozen attendants, galloped through the streets on horseback, and not far behind him, a large mass of dark figures followed, at least one hundred and fifty strong at a glance.
By now, he knew he had been tricked, but he couldn't believe in his wildest dreams how the enemy had appeared on the city wall so silently.
The mountains on both sides of Golden Tooth were towering and majestic, and the foothills were surrounded by lush forests; the cliffs around the castle were over a hundred meters high, and climbing up and then sneaking in required overcoming getting lost, wild beasts, rugged slopes, and omnipresent vegetation blocking the way.
Years ago, he had sent several teams of soldiers to try to enter the castle from both sides of the cliff, but they simply couldn't find a way.
For this, several soldiers had even lost their lives; when he found them, only their bones remained, having been eaten by wild beasts!!
"The enemy must have found a path I don't know about!!"
He secretly regretted it in his heart, but at this moment, the most important thing was to drive the enemy out of the castle.
As he galloped along, suddenly, the loud sound of hooves came from the street ahead.
A cavalryman holding a black bear banner came around the corner, followed by a dense mass of figures; Ser Wendelin had no time to think, he could only draw his long sword and shout, "Fight!! For the Earl!!"
Shouting, he charged forward on horseback.
Lady Maege had seen the opponent from afar by the torchlight; she swung her spiked morning star and met him, and after blocking a long sword attack with her shield.
She forcefully swung her club into his chest, knocking him off his horse.
The Bear Island cavalry behind her quickly followed up, instantly overwhelming Ser Wendelin's retainers, and then galloped without pause towards the fleeing guards.
On the other side, Earl Rickard, leading the House Karstark cavalry, had circled around from other streets.
Seeing that the battle had already begun, he and House Mormont executed a perfectly coordinated pincer attack from front and rear.
The Golden Tooth guards, who had no time to form a proper formation, instantly disintegrated after successive impacts, and apart from those who fled or surrendered, all others died in the streets.
Finally, the three cavalry forces merged, blocking the west city wall.
At this point, the guards who were resisting the attack from outside the city instantly became survivors on an isolated island, and not long after, they announced their surrender under the persuasion of Aryssane Leyford.
The west city gate was wide open.
Robb Stark's army all entered Golden Tooth, making the originally very spacious castle instantly crowded.
Afterward, it was about securing all major strategic points in the city, imprisoning captives in the dungeon, and allowing the tirelessly fighting soldiers to plunder spoils of war in the castle.
Only after completely controlling the city, Robb Stark, according to Northern customs, led many nobles to the godswood to pray to the Old Gods for the warriors who had died in this battle.
The Leyford Family ancestors were formed by the marriage of an Andal warlord and a First Men noblewoman, and thus, a large godswood with weirwood trees was preserved within the castle.
There were many dead, including Walder Frey's eldest son, Ser Stevron, the first heir of Twin River City.
He had died in bed after the Battle of the Oxcross due to severe injuries.
After the prayers were concluded, Robb Stark approached Eddard and whispered, "Eddard, a letter from Riverrun says that Earl Leo Leyford drowned when his horse suddenly went mad and fell into the river while crossing the Red Fork ford."
"After the war ends, do you intend to marry Aryssane Leyford? I think she is beautiful and unmarried. If you treat her well, you might be able to control this city more quickly."
After several battles, the relationship between Robb and Eddard had become much closer.
They were distant relatives, and the battlefield itself was a good place to foster friendship; they were also similar in age, and most importantly, Eddard had demonstrated his value!!
He was worthy of Robb Stark's friendship.
Now, when they spoke, they were no longer as serious as before.
At this moment, Eddard unceremoniously rolled his eyes, thinking, if you could order those Northern soldiers not to extort property from my future subjects, that might be more effective than marrying Aryssane Leyford.
However, no one would stop this from happening.
Not even Robb, the King of the North; no, even if Eddard Stark were alive, he couldn't issue such an order.
If he messed up, there would be a mutiny.
Eddard would not stop it either; after all, he would get a share of the spoils, which could be considered some compensation.
He shrugged and said, "Thank you for your majesty's concern. Let's discuss this matter after I officially become the Lord of Golden Tooth. Moreover, I don't think I need to rely on a woman to successfully control this city."
Regarding Golden Tooth, Eddard was quite satisfied after touring it.
The city walls were sturdy, there were many towers, and the facilities within the city were complete; the streets were wide, and thousands of residents lived there, maintaining the operation of the entire town.
Outside the city, there were many affiliated villages providing supplies and livestock to the garrison; the problem was that most of them were in the Westerlands, and after the war ended, he would have to quickly relocate the people to the Riverlands to prevent them from being plundered by the enemy if war broke out again.
Most importantly, the gold mines here had not dried up; they still had a very stable output every month.
Therefore, even though Golden Tooth was located between valleys, with little arable land around and not many subjects, the Leyford Family could still support three thousand infantry, plus five hundred cavalry and dozens of knights.
One should know that Eddard's cheap father, in response to Winterfell's summons, had only brought 2,000 infantry and 300 cavalry, leaving less than five hundred people at home.
Other Northern lords were mostly the same, some even worse than Karhold.
Robb Stark nodded upon hearing this, a look of realization on his face, "That's right, with your ability, controlling a Golden Tooth is naturally not difficult, but this matter needs to wait until after the war ends to be arranged. I apologize for making you wait."
Eddard said indifferently, "It's fine, it's only right."
During wartime, all conquered cities were generally managed by people dispatched by the king, and after the war, they would be distributed one by one according to merit.
This was a rule that Westeros had maintained for thousands of years.
There was no precedent for granting territory during wartime.
"Hmm, let's go. That old man Tywin is very close to us now. It's time to plan our operation and give him a grand welcome."
Mentioning the enemy, the smile on Robb's face quickly faded, replaced by a cold chill.