Located at the confluence of the Tumblestone and Red Fork rivers, Riverrun was established by Lord Acer Tully during the Andal invasion and has been the ancestral castle of House Tully for thousands of years.
Riverrun is a strong, triangular castle that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
To the north and east, the castle is bordered by the confluence of the Tumblestone and Red Fork rivers, forming a natural defense system.
To the southwest of Riverrun, there is a large, man-made, 'C' shaped moat.
When Riverrun is attacked, activating the sluice gates can flood the entire moat with water from the rivers on either side, turning the castle into an independent island, surrounded on three sides by water, making it completely impregnable.
Furthermore, Riverrun has sandstone walls rising from the water, with battlements on the walls featuring merlons and arrow slits, and the towers' firepower can cover the opposite bank.
There is also an inner keep within the castle.
Under normal circumstances, Riverrun's supplies can sustain men and horses for up to two years.
And most of the time, a garrison of more than 200 men is redundant for Riverrun.
Therefore, when Toman Tully went to rescue Aemon Tully, he took almost ninety percent of Riverrun's forces with him.
But as mentioned earlier, let alone the seven or eight hundred soldiers remaining in Riverrun now, even with only two hundred men, it would still be enough to defend for one or two years.
Of course, this refers to the normal situation of attacking a city with soldiers.
After Earl Samwell led the allied forces of the Seven Kingdoms' lords to take Seagard, he bound the captured Aemon Tully and Toman Tully hand and foot.
He then displayed them in front of Riverrun's only southwestern gate, demanding that the opposing side surrender the city voluntarily, or he would execute them in public.
Grover Tully is the current Duke of Riverrun (though King Jacaerys has actually demoted him to Marquess, which is what they call themselves).
This Duke of Riverrun is an old man who has been bedridden for many years, which is why he couldn't even control his own grandson before.
But after the other Tullys were gone, this Duke of Riverrun regained power.
And he is a stubborn man, very firm in his principles.
Previously, he insisted on pledging loyalty to the Green Party, and now he insists on not surrendering voluntarily.
"Tsk tsk tsk, I remember your House Tully's words are 'Family, Duty, Honor'.
Family is placed first, but now the only two heirs to the enemy attack have been captured, and you still refuse to surrender.
It seems that old trout intends to adopt an heir from a collateral branch.
Alright then!
Do you prefer beheading or hanging?"
Earl Samwell stood before Aemon and Toman, speaking with a mocking expression.
As soon as he finished speaking, Toman, who appeared mature and steady, burst into tears and begged for mercy repeatedly.
Aemon, on the other hand, stared intently at Earl Samwell with a cold expression, completely devoid of fear.
He is indeed a talent!
Even in that situation, Aemon had led his remaining soldiers to make a desperate stand for a long time.
Seeing that he was in a desperate situation, he had intended to commit suicide with his sword to avoid torture and torment.
But several soldiers beside him suddenly rebelled, directly capturing the defenseless Aemon and then presenting him to Earl Samwell.
After watching for a while, Aemon slowly said, "Without the Targaryen dragons, you cannot capture Riverrun.
If you attack the city by force, your army will suffer heavy losses.
Earl Samwell, you have now set a trap and ambushed my uncle, and you have retaken Seagard, which is a great achievement.
But if you suffer too many losses at Riverrun, the best outcome is that your merits and demerits cancel each other out, and the worst case is that you will be severely punished.
So, let's make a deal?
I will go into the city and persuade my grandfather to surrender the city, and you, on behalf of King Jacaerys, will allow our House Tully to atone for our sins with compensation!"
"Hahaha!"
Hearing Aemon's proposal, Earl Samwell immediately burst into laughter.
Seeing this, Aemon frowned, and a feeling of foreboding instantly arose in his heart.
"That's a good deal, but unfortunately, you don't seem to realize the seriousness of betraying King Jaehaerys.
Do you think I would be foolish enough to attack this ancient fortress city without even bringing siege engines?
No, I'm going to destroy Riverrun today, so that if your House Tully doesn't surrender, you will die!"
"Damn it, what are you thinking!!!"
Seeing that Earl Samwell didn't seem to be joking, Aemon immediately shouted excitedly.
But Earl Samwell just said to him lightly, 'You stay here and watch!'
He then led a team consisting of cavalry and logistics transport units towards the upper reaches of the Tumblestone River diagonally opposite Riverrun.
...
"Hurry up, move faster!"
Around noon that day, Earl Samwell led this force to an open area in the upper reaches of the Tumblestone River.
Under the command of Earl Samwell, these nearly three hundred soldiers immediately cut down the surrounding trees and built small bamboo rafts in the open space.
This type of small bamboo raft is simple to build, so it didn't take long to build more than twenty of them.
Then, they carried these twenty-odd small bamboo rafts by hand and threw them into the river, and the operation to destroy Riverrun officially began.
"Boat, be careful, there are boats on the Tumblestone River!"
A soldier on the walls of Riverrun, upon seeing the twenty small bamboo rafts, immediately shouted a warning to the others.
Addar Tully, the Commander of the Riverrun garrison, who had been temporarily appointed by Duke Grover, heard the sound and immediately ran quickly to the right side of the city wall.
He saw the twenty-odd small bamboo rafts and the soldiers standing on them.
He immediately pondered what these people were trying to do.
Our water gates and drainage pipes in Riverrun are already blocked, what are they trying to do?
No, I can't just watch like this, I have to do something!
Watching the small bamboo rafts on the Tumblestone River quickly move towards the northern city wall with the current, a thought flashed through Addar's mind.
He immediately turned to the messenger beside him and ordered, "Order everyone to maintain the highest state of alert.
I will now take two hundred men to the water gate to see the situation.
If they begin a formal assault on the city, immediately send someone to inform me."
"Yes, sir!"
After instructing his deputy, Addar selected two hundred soldiers from his House Blackwood and hurried with them towards the stairs to the water gate below the northern city wall.
In Duke Grover's chambers, four tall and strong guards stood watch inside and outside the room.
A male servant carrying hot water and a towel chatted with the two guards at the door before stepping into the room.
This male servant placed the basin in the corner of the room and prepared to perform the daily afternoon routine of wiping Duke Grover's body.
House Tully, whether it's some kind of invisible genetic disease or not...
Duke Grover in the Blood Dragon Dance era is exactly the same as Duke Hoster in the War of Five Kings era.
But the difference is that the former is clear-minded and has a strong sense of self.
While the latter is completely in the late stage of Alzheimer's disease, with confused consciousness and often causing embarrassment.
Rumble, rumble...
Creak, creak!
Suddenly, a series of huge explosions sounded, and the entire main keep began to shake violently.
Huge cracks, like centipedes, constantly spread and widened along the walls.
"Quickly protect the Duke!"
The two guards in the Duke's room were the first to react, immediately shouting loudly and rushing towards the goose down bed in the room.
Crash!
Bang! Bang!
One of the guards had only run two steps when the top floor of the Duke's room began to collapse, and a small pile of head-sized stones fell down, very coincidentally landing heavily on the head of this guard, burying him.
At the same time, the top floor at the entrance of the Duke's room also collapsed, directly blocking the entire doorway.
"What are you still standing there for? Come and help me carry the Duke, we'll go down the spiral staircase on the balcony!"
The other guard rushed to the goose down bed, found the door blocked by collapsed stones, and since the other guards could not enter the room, he immediately shouted loudly at the male servant who was still standing there in a daze.
This male servant, who had been scared senseless, was startled awake by his voice and immediately stepped forward to help Duke Grover up from the goose down bed and walk towards the room's balcony.
Clang! Bang!
Just as they were walking on the shaking ground and about to reach the balcony, the entire main keep suddenly dropped violently, causing them to instantly lose their balance.
The floor of the Duke's room, which had been shaking but level, suddenly tilted to the left.
At the same time, a strip of stone the thickness of an adult's thigh collapsed from the top floor, falling towards the unstable Duke Grover and the two others.
Since Addar had selected his family soldiers and then walked down the western city wall to reach the northern city wall, it had taken a considerable amount of time.
Therefore, when he had just arrived at the northern city wall where the main keep was located, and before he could descend the stairs to the water gate, he heard a series of huge explosions.
Subsequently, he watched in shock as this ancient main keep, which had stood in the Riverlands for thousands of years, was rapidly covered in countless cracks on its surface.
And the starting point of the deepest and largest of these cracks was precisely at the location of the water gate that had been blocked in advance.
Bang bang bang!
After a brief pause in the explosions, a large amount of stone fragments from the main keep began to fall down.
"Quickly retreat, the main keep is about to collapse!"
Addar, who had reacted, immediately waved his hands vigorously towards the rear, shouting loudly to all the family soldiers around him.
Subsequently, Addar and his group immediately ran in a panic towards the southern city wall.
Clang!
A violent sound came, and a large amount of smoke and dust, accompanied by fine gravel, enveloped Addar and his group who were running.
"Cough, cough!"
After a few minutes, Addar, who had finally run out of the smoke and dust, coughed violently, constantly spitting out the fine sand that had choked him.
Looking at the main keep, which seemed to have collapsed, obscured by layers of smoke and dust, Addar had only one thought at this moment: We are finished!
Since Aemon is the first in line to inherit the title of Duke of Riverrun, if Duke Grover dies, then Aemon will automatically become the new Duke, and at this moment, both he and Toman are in the hands of Earl Samwell.
If he ordered the soldiers defending Riverrun to open the gates and surrender, even if Addar wanted to fight to the death, he would be powerless to prevent the soldiers defending Riverrun from obeying their liege's command to surrender.
"Lord Addar, the main keep is still there, it's still there!"
As the smoke and dust gradually dissipated, a family soldier from the side was the first to see the massive main keep behind the smoke and dust, and excitedly shouted to Addar, who was already sitting on the ground in despair with his head bowed.
Hearing his voice, Addar immediately raised his head, his eyes wide, staring intently at what was directly in front of him.
Although the entire main keep had not completely collapsed, it was already deformed and twisted, no longer resembling its former majestic appearance.
At this moment, the towers on both the left and right sides of the main keep had directly collapsed diagonally towards the center, and the middle part of the main keep had already broken in half and sunk into the water gate, which was originally an underground space.
Therefore, the shape of the main keep that Addar saw from the front now looked like a crumpled castle roughly in the shape of a 'V', pieced together by a child.
The point where Earl Samwell triggered the Wildfire explosion this time was at the water gate location directly below the center of the main keep.
Since the most important characteristic of Wildfire is its ability to burn most substances to ashes, its explosive power is not as strong as that of high explosives from the previous world.
The thick walls and the weight of Riverrun's main keep, built from solid rock mixed with mortar and other materials, provided extremely strong defense.
Therefore, the entire main keep did not explode directly into the sky as Earl Samwell had planned, but instead turned into the current state of being on the verge of collapsing.
"Quick, while you have the chance, go and rescue Duke Grover!"
Addar, who had reacted, immediately pointed to the main keep and issued orders to his family soldiers.
The reason Addar's hope was rekindled was that the Duke of Riverrun's room was not built in the center of the main keep, but on the left side of the main keep, where he could both see the Tumblestone River and observe the western city wall.
Nearly two hundred family soldiers heard the command and immediately ran towards the left side of the main keep, where the spiral staircase was not damaged.
Seeing the stones collapsing from above, the male servant subconsciously hugged Duke Grover tightly in his arms, lowered his head, closed his eyes, and waited for death to arrive.
"Pfft, quickly take the Duke out.
I can't hold on much longer!"
A rain of blood-sweetened droplets fell on his face, and then the male servant heard the voice of the guard in his ear.
He opened his eyes and saw the tall and strong guard supporting the stone strip, the thickness of an adult's thigh, with his shoulders and hands, while shouting at him with blood spilling from his mouth: "Go quickly!"
Upon hearing this, the male servant immediately turned over and carried Duke Grover, who was completely unaware of what was happening, on his back, and with effort, pulled himself along the edge of the balcony, which was already tilting to the left, towards the spiral staircase.
"Lord Hoster, I can only protect you until today!"
Looking at Duke Grover and the other person gradually disappearing from his sight, the tall guard, whose breath had given out, felt the stone on his shoulder becoming heavier and heavier, and his hands becoming weaker and weaker.
If once isn't enough, then do it a second time!
I must blow up Riverrun!
This was the thought in Earl Samwell's mind.
The reason he was so eager to achieve merit was that he deeply felt the trust of King Jaehaerys and wanted to resolve the internal rebellion for His Majesty as soon as possible.
And the effect of the second explosion was much more powerful than the first.
Because this time, they had also put all the Exploding Fruits left by Jacaerys inside.
Bang bang bang!
Rumble, rumble!
Accompanied by the second round of huge explosions, Riverrun, this ancient city that had been built for thousands of years, was destroyed like this!
(End of this chapter)