Seagard, the main castle, the Raven's Nest.
"The Ironmen from the Iron Islands have disappeared, and I am now trapped in Seagard.
Please bring the Riverrun army as quickly as possible to reinforce us.
When the time comes, we will attack the enemy from both sides, and then there will be no obstacles to retaking the Riverlands!"
Aemon Tully dictated the content of the letter, and the Scholar of Seagard, who had previously surrendered, immediately wrote it down on a small piece of paper.
Seeing that Aemon Tully was no longer speaking, the Scholar of Seagard turned around, tucked the paper into the ankle of a raven, and then released it.
Flap, flap!
The black raven immediately flapped its wings and flew towards Riverrun.
Aemon Tully watched the raven disappear into the sky in an instant, calculating the time of the reinforcements' arrival in his mind.
At the speed of a raven, it would only take half a day to fly from Seagard to Riverrun.
And a large number of soldiers conscripted by House Tully had already gathered in Riverrun, and upon receiving the letter, they would immediately march at the fastest possible speed.
It would take about five and a half days to wait for reinforcements.
But Aemon Tully knew it couldn't be calculated that way; his uncle, who had been appointed acting Lord, had always been cautious and would likely hold a pre-war meeting first.
Adding to that, it would be impossible to march at the fastest speed every day, so he estimated that the reinforcements would arrive in about seven days.
Fortunately, the House Blackwood soldiers outside the city had not taken the opportunity to launch a strong attack before; Aemon Tully had now rearranged the city's defenses, and in his opinion, it could hold for at least one or two months.
As for why Earl Samwell didn't pursue the victory, Aemon Tully guessed that either the other party was cherishing his feathers and didn't want too many of his House Blackwood soldiers to be sacrificed.
Or he was brewing some conspiracy, preparing to break the city in one fell swoop.
Just as Aemon Tully was racking his brain thinking about how to hold out for another week, several House Blackwood scouts outside Seagard who were specifically watching the sky immediately turned around and reported it.
In the following days, the House Blackwood soldiers did not continue their strong attack on Seagard, completely adopting the appearance of preparing for a protracted war.
But House Blackwood had such capital; after all, the rearmost area of their camp was filled with transport carriages carrying supplies.
Looking at this setup, the supplies on these transport carriages could last for at least half a year.
Time flew by, and soon six days had passed.
In the early morning of the seventh day, a dark group of figures, under the cover of night, quietly approached the House Blackwood encampment.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Bang, bang, bang!
Suddenly, more than a dozen arrows flashing with cold light shot out from the darkness, and the several soldiers standing guard near the gate of the House Blackwood camp were instantly struck by arrows and fell to the ground.
"Charge!!!"
"Kill them all!"
Roars of anger sounded along with the arrows, and two to three thousand House Tully soldiers wearing trout-scale armor shouted and charged towards the House Blackwood camp with weapons in hand.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A rain of arrows shot out horizontally from the House Blackwood camp, instantly felling a large number of House Tully soldiers who were almost at the camp.
However, the current distance was only enough for two rounds of arrows at most, and two rounds of arrows were clearly not enough to kill all of the two to three thousand House Tully soldiers who had launched the surprise attack.
And the guards of Seagard also heard and saw the battle here; Aemon Tully directly ordered his soldiers to open the simple wooden fence outside Seagard.
Then, taking the lead, he led his soldiers, who had been assembled in advance, and charged towards the House Blackwood camp from the other side.
If one were to look from the sky at this moment, they would find that the House Blackwood soldiers were like meat filling, about to be enclosed by the dumpling skin.
Woo, charge!
The House Blackwood archers had just finished shooting their second arrow when the shouting House Tully soldiers rushed into the camp.
A bloody melee thus began!
Inside the camp, House Blackwood soldiers and House Tully soldiers were fighting each other.
Rip, rip!
The result was not the expected back-and-forth battle between the two sides.
Except for the group of archers protected in the very center of the camp, the other House Blackwood soldiers were easily slaughtered by the House Tully soldiers, a completely one-sided battle!
If these House Tully soldiers had participated in the previous battle, they would have immediately recognized that this group of so-called House Blackwood soldiers were actually slave soldiers from Essos.
And Earl Samwell had always used these slave soldiers as bait.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Suddenly, from a low hill on the left side of the House Blackwood camp, hundreds of thousands of specially made burning arrows flew out.
These burning arrows, like fireflies filling the sky, flew towards the camp in a blanket attack.
Thud, thud, thud, crackle!
The arrowheads of these rockets were specially made, causing great lethality when shot into flesh and blood.
It could be clearly seen that many rockets, after killing House Tully soldiers or slave soldiers, directly ignited these corpses, which burned fiercely.
However, the main purpose of this batch of burning arrows was not to kill the enemy!
Rather, it was for the transport carriages deliberately placed everywhere outside the House Blackwood camp.
After the rockets hit these transport carriages, they quickly ignited, illuminating the entire battlefield as if it were daytime.
Rumble!
The sound of a thousand horses galloping echoed from the low hill on the left.
The House Tully soldiers who had been attacked by the rockets immediately realized they had fallen into a trap.
Their Commander decisively shouted loudly: "Everyone, listen up! The latter half of the soldiers turn around and deal with the enemy cavalry, the rest continue to charge!"
As the Commander of the House Tully soldiers loudly conveyed his orders, their army instantly split into two parts,
One part continued to charge the House Blackwood camp, while the other part remained in place, gripping their weapons tightly and turning to await the enemy cavalry behind them.
Rumble!
As the enemy cavalry rapidly approached, in the blazing firelight of the burning transport carriages around, the House Tully soldiers clearly saw the attire of this group of cavalry.
But unexpectedly, at the forefront of these thousands of attacking cavalry was a group of heavy cavalry whose warhorses were even armored.
"Run! Quickly run into the camp!"
The Commander of the House Tully family was experienced and knew the terror of heavy cavalry, and immediately lost all will to fight.
He only heard him shouting loudly, taking the lead and turning to flee into the House Blackwood camp.
However, turning your back and running in front of the heavy cavalry who had already charged and approached was even more foolish than facing them.
Bang, bang, bang!
The nearly five hundred heavy cavalry at the front, using the bright firelight, charged directly into the fleeing House Tully soldiers, instantly heavily knocking down the House Tully soldiers running at the back.
These House Tully soldiers who fell to the ground had no time to struggle and get up before they were trampled by an unknown number of hooves, directly crushing them into a soft mass of corpses.
Rip, rip!
The lances of the heavy cavalry continuously stabbed the House Tully soldiers; these House Tully soldiers, usually fierce and cruel, were now completely lambs fleeing for their lives.
Behind the five hundred heavy cavalry, there were also five hundred light cavalry.
They were seen following the bloody path carved out by the heavy cavalry, constantly harvesting the lives of the House Tully soldiers.
The House Tully soldiers outside the House Blackwood camp scattered in panic, while the House Tully soldiers who had rushed into the camp continued to fight.
The House Tully soldiers from the Botley castle were approaching the camp.
On the low hill on the left side of the House Blackwood camp, Earl Samwell, mounted on a warhorse, looked down at the extremely chaotic battlefield.
With a face full of smiles, he praised his personal guard: "Your Majesty is truly prescient; this tactic of besieging a point to strike at reinforcements that he taught me is truly effective!"
"Hehe, my Lord Earl, you have achieved the military feat of annihilating House Tully.
Dragon God Crowned will surely not treat you unfairly afterwards; after all, that is how the Frey Family rose before!"
"These matters are not for consideration now.
Since the fish are already in the net, blow the horn and notify everyone to close the net!"
The personal guard heard Earl Samwell's order, nodded in agreement, and immediately blew the dark horn in his hand.
Woo!
The melodious sound of the horn rang out, and two to three thousand elite infantry hidden in the darkness of the House Blackwood camp,
Quickly formed a circular military formation surrounding the entire camp, marching with neat steps, and closing in on the camp.
The first to come into contact with this group of elite infantry were the outermost House Tully soldiers led by Aemon Tully, who had attacked from the direction of Seagard.
He thought that these encircling Winterfell infantry were as vulnerable as the House Blackwood slave soldiers today.
Therefore, he directly led his soldiers, who were significantly fewer in number, to turn around and meet the attack.
Hiss!
This group of elite infantry formed a neat military formation, with shield soldiers in the front providing defense, and the pikemen behind them attacking.
With just one coordinated pike thrust, dozens to hundreds of these House Tully soldiers, who had no time to dodge, were pierced with blood holes all over their bodies.
Aemon Tully, realizing something was wrong, immediately led a portion of his confidantes to flee towards the center of the camp.
Kill!!!
Nearly a thousand cavalrymen rode back and forth outside the camp, slashing and killing, while the three thousand infantry surrounding the camp efficiently harvested the lives of the House Tully soldiers with their pikes.
In the light of the fierce flames tonight, the blood appeared even redder!
The Commander who successfully rushed into the House Blackwood camp survived the enemy cavalry's charge.
But if things continued like this, their House Tully army, which had launched the night attack, would surely be annihilated.
Fortunately, this time Riverrun had come out in full force; they were just the vanguard!
Woo woo woo!
A series of horn calls with completely different rhythms and frequencies sounded, and then were quickly relayed to two or three kilometers away from Seagard.
This was the valley section between Seagard and Stony Sept.
This valley section, being sandwiched between two large mountain ranges, was low and narrow, allowing only four or five warhorses to pass side by side.
The main force of the Riverrun cavalry, led by Aemon Tully's uncle, Toman Tully, was hidden outside the valley section.
Upon hearing the sound of the horn, Toman immediately issued the order for the entire army to attack.
Bang, bang, bang!
Crash, crash!
But this group of Riverrun cavalry had just entered the valley section when they were startled by the loud noise from above and reined in their horses to stop.
They looked up at the source of the sound and saw large plumes of orange-red flames rising from the top of the valley behind them.
A large amount of shattered rocks fell down with a crash, directly blocking the valley road behind them.
The last dozen or so cavalrymen in the Riverrun cavalry formation, unable to dodge in time, were directly buried under these rocks, along with their horses.
Simultaneously with the sound of the explosion, dense enemy figures appeared on the mountains on both sides.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Clang, clang!
Countless arrows rained down from above like a downpour. There were also many logs and rolling stones pushed down by the enemy on the mountains on both sides.
Ah! Ah!
These more than three thousand Riverrun cavalrymen immediately fell into chaos, with people constantly being struck by arrows and falling from their horses.
And the logs as thick as pillars and the rolling stones the size of washbasins rolling down from the mountain crushed both men and horses to death, breaking bones and killing people.
"It's an ambush! Those who want to live, charge forward with me! Hurry and break out!"
There was no time to think about the problem of him hiding here with a large army for so long without discovering the enemy.
Toman, who had been ambushed, roared with all his might and drew his long sword, charging towards the valley exit which was close at hand.
At the valley exit, thousands of elite pikemen, armed to the teeth, were waiting with a forest of sharp long spears.
Behind the pikemen legion, there were also thousands of archers who had been resting and recuperating.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The archer legion saw the Riverrun cavalry enter the attack range and immediately drew their bows and shot.
Clang, clang, clang!
Most of the arrows were deflected by the excellent armor of the Riverrun cavalry, making a series of crisp collision sounds.
But there were also some unlucky ones whose horses were hit by arrows, and they immediately fell to the ground with their horses.
They had no time to get up and were directly trampled into a bloody mess by the other Riverrun cavalry behind them.
At the speed of the Riverrun cavalry's frantic charge, the archer legion only fired two volleys, and they were already close to charging the pikemen legion.
The first rank of Riverrun cavalry, just before charging into the pikemen legion, had pale faces and were full of despair.
But in this kind of large-scale group charge, even if they were unwilling, they could only charge in like moths to a flame.
Splish, splish!
The front rank of Riverrun cavalry were directly pierced like sieves by the forest of sharp long spears, men and horses together.
These Riverrun cavalry did not die immediately; they were seen hanging on the long spears, struggling with their hands, trying to remove the spears that had penetrated their bodies.
But as they lost a large amount of blood, their eyes began to lose focus, and they gradually became true corpses.
Pikemen were originally the natural nemesis of cavalry, and they also had the geographical advantage of occupying the valley exit.
No matter how brave and fearless the Riverrun cavalry were, they were useless.
As rank after rank of Riverrun cavalry turned into corpses, gradually individual Riverrun cavalry began shouting words of surrender.
Toman, located in the middle of the Riverrun formation, heard this and immediately ordered the disciplinary squad to go and execute those who were surrendering on the battlefield.
But the valley exit was already piled high with House Tully cavalry, and it could originally only accommodate four or five warhorses.
Without the timely intervention of the disciplinary squad, what was originally only scattered cavalry surrendering turned into a large-scale surrender and cessation of fighting.
Some of the Riverrun cavalry even began to attack Toman and his disciplinary squad in order to atone for their crimes and compete for the first merit in this battle.
Regardless of the battle at Seagard or the valley section, the outcome was predetermined.
This battle was bound to end with the victory of the combined forces of the many lords under the Iron Throne, and the new civil unrest in the Seven Kingdoms was thus easily resolved! (End of this chapter)