Chapter 181: Naval Defeat, Golden Siege
Essos, Myr
"How is this possible!"
Jack Antaryon's eyes were filled with disbelief, and his voice was nearly drowned out by the roaring flames.
On the surrounding sea, the once-mighty Allied Fleet had now become part of a sea of fire. Countless burning warships surrounded the Allied Fleet like a collar of flames.
Countless warships were consumed by fire, and thick smoke billowed. The light of the flames reflected off Jack Antaryon's angry and desperate face. His roars echoed across the battlefield, but they could not change the situation before him.
Those warships that were supposed to respond to his command had now turned into balls of fire, ruthlessly radiating terrifying heat to their surroundings.
The Allied soldiers were in a panic, fleeing in all directions. Their screams and wails intertwined, forming a tragic movement of this disaster.
Many stone-throwing ships were originally intended to play an important role as long-range fire support, but now they had become the source of the disaster.
These ships were loaded with a large amount of flammable materials. Once ignited by Jon's new fire ships, they would be like a string of firecrackers, triggering a series of explosions and fires.
Because the Allied Fleet received a left-turn command before the battle began—a command intended to evade enemy attacks—the fire ships closing in from all sides directly disrupted the operations of the ships on the left.
Many warships on the left collided with the warships behind them due to emergency maneuvers. Such collisions caused many ships to become entangled.
This situation maximized the lethality of the fire ships. Many warships that wouldn't have been set ablaze were directly subjected to the fire's assault because of these accidents.
Jon's new fire ships played a key role in this war. Their appearance completely shattered the Allied forces' combat deployment.
In particular, the grand encirclement tactic not only threw the enemy into extreme chaos but also left Jack Antaryon—a commander with little experience—helpless, unable to effectively organize a counterattack or a retreat command.
In this sea of fire and blood, Jack Antaryon could only watch helplessly as his fleet was destroyed. His heart was filled with powerlessness and anger, but even more so with incomprehension and shock at this sudden disaster.
Fortunately, the Myrish commander in charge of the fire ships, Odio, knew very well that they didn't have enough strength to fully consume this fleet. Therefore, he only performed a semi-circular encirclement, sniping at the Allied Fleet's assault by using offense as defense.
He stubbornly created a circle of fire on the sea. It was precisely because of this fire circle that the enemy was unable to continue their offensive or raids.
As the situation at sea gradually became clear, Trang Taip and his side were facing unprecedented pressure. Once the suppression of the wildfire bombs from the sea was gone, the fires within the city of Myr were brought under control.
However, the pressure on the walls did not lessen at all, because the enemy had already taken advantage of this time to push forward their siege engines.
Pulled by war elephants, ten massive siege towers were pushed right up. The walls of Myr were high and thick, so ordinary catapults and heavy trebuchets didn't do much damage to them. Furthermore, to prevent attacks from siege towers and ladders, the Myrish had dug a huge trench around the outer perimeter of the walls.
Therefore, in the early stages of the attack, the Golden Company's main task had been to send slaves to fill the outer trench. After spending a hundred years in Essos, these descendants of Westerosi nobles had begun to follow local customs and use slaves.
The daily needs of an army of ten thousand were basically borne by the slaves. In times of war, they were also used as cannon fodder and tools.
"Wooo..."
Accompanied by the blowing of offensive horns, the Golden Company soldiers, who were already poised for action, directly pushed the siege towers that had gradually approached the walls.
They were now within the attack range of the walls. If they continued like this, they would only be hit by the wall-mounted scorpions. Although war elephants were powerful, using them for a siege was too extravagant.
Soon, with everyone's joint efforts, the massive siege towers began to advance bit by bit. When they entered the original trench area, these siege towers actually came to a halt.
Immediately after, heavy stones were taken down from the siege towers by the soldiers. Although the soldiers on the walls continued to attack, under the protection of the Golden Company soldiers' shield walls, these soldiers still managed to fill the trench.
Crack...
Boom...
With the help of these stones, the Golden Company's siege towers quickly reached their designated positions, though in the process, four towers were still stuck in the trench due to foundation issues.
Accompanied by the sound of heavy objects landing on the walls, the Golden Company soldiers, who were already poised for action, roared and charged toward the walls.
"Fire!"
Following a roar, the Myrish soldiers, who were already prepared, directly fired the crossbows in their hands.
Swish swish swish...
Bang... Pfft...
Crossbow bolts carrying terrifying kinetic energy directly pierced through the armor of these Golden Company soldiers. The inner chainmail and gambesons simply could not withstand the bolts' attack.
The reason why "merit for being the first to scale the wall" was ranked so high was that those who first reached the enemy's walls were easily targeted by concentrated fire.
"Ah..."
"Help me!"
...Amidst the screams, the Golden Company soldiers hit by the bolts wailed and fell from the walls, with at least five or six bolts sticking out of their bodies.
The continuous attacks caused heavy losses to these soldiers, and many were even skewered like candied haws by the powerful scorpions.
After a volley, the Golden Company soldiers finally breathed a sigh of relief, but unfortunately, as soon as they stepped onto the walls, they directly encountered a dense shield formation.
The Maesters and Alchemists' Guild of Myr, after receiving special research grants from Jon, had begun to study all kinds of strange weapons and defenses.
It was precisely because of their unbridled imagination that many interesting weapons were developed, such as the current interlocking shields.
They were originally just individual bucklers, but with the help of slots and chains, these bucklers turned into a shield wall over three meters high. Once the shield wall was established, the soldiers behind only needed to thrust their spears out to turn the shield wall into something like a hedgehog.
Although this situation prevented the defending Myrish soldiers from using long-range attacks to snipe those Golden Company soldiers climbing the walls,
this did not stump them. These soldiers, under the command of their officers, quickly launched attacks against the Golden Company soldiers on the siege towers.
As long as their reinforcements were cut off, these Golden Company soldiers would be ground down bit by bit behind the shield wall. The defending commander, Iverson Niall, was a low-level officer from Myr whom Jon had promoted.
Despite holding the advantage, Iverson Niall never ordered the soldiers to push forward, because he wanted to use this opportunity to lure the Golden Company soldiers up bit by bit to wear them down.
As the Myrish soldiers gradually adapted, the battle on the walls entered a stalemate. They were like reefs, steadily resisting the Golden Company soldiers who came crashing in like waves.
"What should we do? Our offensive has been affected. It seems we can only use that!"
The young man posing as Prince Aegon Targaryen quickly spoke to Harry Strickland beside him.
"My Prince, our battering ram is still being assembled. If we don't prepare protection in advance, it simply won't work."
Seeing the young man's nervousness, Harry Strickland quickly spoke to comfort him.
"You have absolutely no need to worry. Our Golden Company warriors are battle-hardened veterans. This situation is only temporary. As long as our fleet continues to suppress the opponent, our boys can take this city bit by bit and present it to you!"
Just as Harry Strickland was full of excitement, a message struck him in the face like a slap.
"Our... our fleet encountered an enemy attack. Lord Jack Antaryon has retreated. We have lost our naval power!"
"You... what did you say!?"
Hearing the soldier's report, Harry Strickland roared out directly. His expression looked very agitated; it was unclear whether it was from anger or shame.
"Then, we must speed up our pace. If the enemy's reinforcements return, our situation will be affected, and the advantages we've gained will turn into disadvantages."
Realizing the problem, Harry Strickland quickly suggested to the young man claiming to be Prince Aegon Targaryen beside him.
"Faster... faster..."
With the siege command issued, a massive battering ram, as large as a modern bus from Earth, was pushed out by the slaves. The head of this battering ram was a massive iron diamond-shaped hammer.
Behind the battering ram was a large gear system capable of pulling this one-ton behemoth back. This thing was also a secret weapon prepared by the Golden Company this time, and they had spent a great deal of effort to transport it.
"Hurrah..."
With the appearance of this massive battering ram, the Golden Company soldiers also broke out into very excited cheers. The casualties from the siege were currently too high; as long as they broke through the enemy's gate, they would be able to achieve final victory.
The news of the fleet's retreat had not circulated among the Golden Company soldiers, so they still believed they were maintaining a state of suppression over Myr.
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