*
Three days later, Riverlands, The Twins.
On the vast plains outside The Twins, the army of the Northern Allied Forces stood in neat formation, preparing to launch an assault on the riverside castle.
The real Twins was not like the bridge and two bridgeheads depicted in some poorly finished TV series; the wealthy House Frey had established walls around the two bridgeheads.
Furthermore, they had diverted water from the Green Fork to serve as a moat. It could be said that taking this castle would truly require a great deal of effort.
When Jon's army of thirty thousand appeared on the battlefield, it was impossible for the people of House Frey not to panic, especially Stevron Frey, who was in charge of the military deployment. If he hadn't believed in the height and thickness of the walls, he might have retreated to the Water Tower long ago.
Yet, every time Stevron Frey looked out over the city, he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread, for the army before him was truly terrifying.
At the very front of the army were rows of knights clad in heavy armor. The heraldic banners of the Vale—runes on shields, seagulls, longbows, broken tillers, eagles, and bells—all indicated that nearly every house in the Vale had come here.
Behind these knights were the Northern cavalry, wielding various weapons. Though their equipment was not as luxurious as that of the knights of the Vale, their numbers were vast.
The warhorses beneath them were constantly neighing, as if they were impatient to charge into the battlefield.
Of course, that would not happen yet, but the scene of ten thousand horses falling silent still struck fear into the hearts of Stevron Frey and his brothers.
Behind the knights were rows of light infantry armed with shields and spears. After several rounds of combat, this force had begun to transform into a formidable army.
"What is that?"
Upon seeing the massive siege ladders at the rear of the troops, Stevron Frey let out a cry of alarm.
To deal with the high walls and moat of The Twins, Jon had specifically ordered his Alchemists to create these special siege ladders.
These siege ladders were somewhat of a combination between a siege tower and a ladder carriage, discarding the tower-like structure and leaving only four massive pillars.
The ladders themselves were of an inclined telescopic design. When the siege ladder reached the edge of the moat, the ladder would be extended bit by bit onto the city walls.
Jon had designed these siege ladders based on the extension ladders from the Blue Star. The Alchemists and Maesters of this world had already surpassed the medieval period of the Blue Star in the study of such things.
If it weren't for the fact that gunpowder could not be synthesized here, Jon estimated there would be a high probability of firelocks appearing in this world.
Seeing the situation in The Twins, a smile played across Jon's lips. That morning, he had sent an envoy to demand their surrender, but House Frey had offered no response, infuriating Ramsay to the point where he almost sought out the Frey prisoners to vent his anger.
After receiving support from House Lannister, House Frey had directly extended its reach to the upper reaches of the Blue Fork and the Green Fork.
The surrounding minor nobles had essentially been annexed by them. The reason Lord Tywin allowed them to act this way was to have them withstand the pressure from the North and the Vale.
"Attack!"
At Jon's command, the siege units, serving as the vanguard of the assault, quickly sprang into action.
The soldiers moved swiftly, slowly pushing the pre-assembled catapults into their designated positions. Under their expert operation, these catapults began to rain suppressive fire upon the city walls.
These catapults were specifically brought out by Jon from the Myr munitions factory. They were all meticulously prepared siege engines, each having undergone rigorous testing and calibration to ensure they could exert maximum power in war.
Holding the power of the Kingdom of the Three Daughters, Jon would naturally not resort to throwing human lives at the walls. He knew the cruelty and ruthlessness of war, and since these people were the foundation of his future rule over the Seven Kingdoms, he would not easily expend them in such meaningless siege battles.
Because of this, Jon, deeply influenced by Blue Star thinking, decided to adopt modern warfare tactics, utilizing fire coverage.
He understood that only through dense suppressive fire could he effectively neutralize the enemy's counterattacks and reduce his own losses.
Though The Twins had high and thick walls, under this dense rain of stones, they wouldn't even be able to lift their heads.
Jon looked coldly at the House Frey soldiers on the walls, knowing they were trapped. In his view, there was no such thing as an absolute defense in this world.
Once, Harrenhal, known as the "King of Castles," had supposedly accounted for every possible attack, yet its creator, Harren the Black, never imagined the attack would come from the sky.
Therefore, the design of The Twins held little meaning to Jon. When he had enough soldiers and catapults, no amount of wall would matter.
The assault of over 100 catapults was truly terrifying. Each launch was like pouring a rain of stones onto the walls, leaving the House Frey soldiers shivering behind their battlements with their oak shields raised.
The House Frey soldiers on the walls felt an unprecedented fear under this horrific attack. They had never experienced such dense bombardment; though the impact of each stone wasn't overwhelming on its own,
the House Frey soldiers couldn't withstand their sheer number. A few soldiers, overconfident in their bravery, tried to retaliate with crossbows, but as soon as they moved their shields, the stones smashed into them, leaving them bloodied and broken.
Thus, facing such an attack, they could only hide behind the battlements, using their shields to protect their heads, praying for the disaster to end quickly.
However, Jon gave them no room to breathe. On one hand, he directed the soldiers to continue throwing stones, steadily increasing the range and intensity of the fire coverage.
On the other hand, the siege ladders that had been prepared for so long were slowly being pushed toward the moat by the soldiers.
Unlike the Blue Star, this world possessed many special types of wood. On the Summer Isles, there was a high-quality ebony known for its excellent flexibility and corrosion resistance, making it perfect for building siege engines.
The Alchemist who first proposed this theory had been mocked by those around him for wasting precious materials, as ebony was highly sought after and valuable in this world.
Jon had obtained so much ebony solely because he had abolished slavery in the Three Sisters and frequently sent fleets to strike at the Volantis slave-hunting parties.
Consequently, the black-skinned natives of the Summer Isles were very supportive of Jon's trade requests, providing many special goods and resources under the most favorable terms.
Under the suppression of these high-quality catapults, the attack continued relentlessly, and the House Frey soldiers on the walls were exhausted by the constant bombardment.
Jon's troops, however, were in high spirits, knowing victory was in sight. Under the soldiers' operation, the ladders began to extend toward the city walls.
Bang... Bang... Bang...
As the ladders equipped with grappling hooks fell, a series of crashing sounds echoed from the walls.
Following the descent of the ladders, Jon's soldiers began to climb upward. Although ebony was very flexible, issues could arise if too many people were on it at once, so most soldiers crawled forward.
With the appearance of these soldiers, the bombardment of the walls gradually ceased; under these circumstances, Jon could not continue the catapult assault.
"Charge!"
As the shouts of the Northern Allied Forces rose, the House Frey soldiers on the walls realized the walls had been breached. By the time they reacted, it was already too late.
The vanguard soldiers under Jon were almost all system-class soldiers. Their strength was inherently formidable, and after seizing several points on the wall, the House Frey soldiers were simply unable to resist.
Due to Jon's fire suppression strategy, the House Frey soldiers had been unable to organize an effective defense, and conventional defensive weapons could not even be brought onto the walls.
"Charge!"
Clad in scale armor and wielding a massive double-edged axe, Ramsay Bolton, bolstered by system power at Level 10, was like a meat grinder on the battlefield.
The weapon he held was an A-grade axe-type battleaxe, its attack power and weight second only to the Silver Axe.
In Ramsay's wake, a large area was cleared as countless Frey family soldiers and knights died at his hands.
At this critical moment, the Freys within the towers and gatehouses showed a different reaction.
"My dear brothers, now is the time to fight for our home! We possess power beyond measure, and any who dare invade our home shall be ground to dust beneath this great strength!"
At Stevron Frey's cry, all the Freys who had consumed the potion underwent a strange transformation. Their skin gradually turned blue-green, and veins began to bulge one by one beneath that eerie skin.
Under the influence of this power, their flesh twisted and surged, and in just a few short minutes, these men transformed into beings resembling bodybuilders.
"The slaughter has begun!"
As the transformation of the Freys occurred, Ganev, who was traveling south in a carriage, spoke these words as if sensing something.
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