Chapter 318 Siege and Magic
There was originally a port town outside Haijiang City, but it had been destroyed by the war.
Under the dark sky, the ruins of the town built around the castle are dilapidated and desolate, but there are densely packed tents stationed here.
The endless tents belong to the Targaryen army. They are dense but not messy. They look very neat. However, if you look closely, you can faintly find that the difference is very obvious.
The Unsullied army wearing leather helmets is well-trained and much more orderly than ordinary soldiers. An ordinary army composed of slaves or peasants can also be well-disciplined. The Dothraki are very tight-knit and do not mix with others. , the most chaotic thing is the mercenaries in the military camp. Not only do they have different skin colors and races, but they also wear various clothes. From time to time, regular soldiers pass by, and most of them look at them with contempt.
At the core of the military camp, a gorgeous tent stood quietly, surrounded by a large number of guards. No one could approach it at will, so naturally no one would notice that a meeting was taking place in the tent.
"Still unable to use the curse?" A steady voice sounded from him, seemingly one of the leaders of the army.
"This castle may be protected by magic." Someone answered sideways.
"It's not this castle, but the people in this castle. I heard that the people of Kohor retreated in a hurry because someone inside threatened them."
"What kind of threat could make all Qohor run away?"
"Who knows, they won't tell me no matter how much I ask."
"A bunch of cowards and traitors!"
"..."
"We can only attack by force."
"Isn't the plague method also good?"
"It didn't work."
…
Outside this camp, close to the edge of the encirclement line, a large number of soldiers are busy around several tall trebuchets, and with the dry sound of the trebuchets operating, rotten and green corpses are being He was constantly being thrown into the towering castle that stood on the rocks on the coastline not far away.
Most of the castles in Westeros are very solidly built. Once built specifically to defend against the Ironborn, Seaside City, which faced more wars than other castles, was naturally extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack. Even if the number of enemies besieging the city was more than ten times greater than the defenders, the castle would not be seen for a while. captured.
What makes the Targaryens even more worried is that the Ironborn have a firm control over the sea and can bring reinforcements and supplies from the Iron Islands at any time. However, because they are deep into Westeros and have no ships available, they are unable to stop this attack. point.
As a result, the menacing Targaryen actually fell into a stalemate with this small castle. The siege lasted for a week, but there was no effect, but they suffered a lot of damage.
However, the Targaryens have no plans to evacuate. If they don't leave Seaside City for a day, they won't be able to completely let go. At the same time, the shrinking front line also gives them sufficient defense to prevent the Iron Throne from taking the opportunity to counterattack.
Haijiang City is a hard nut to crack, but no matter how hard it is to crack, it will eventually be cracked. There is a huge disparity in strength between the two sides. They believe that the castle will return to their hands sooner or later.
…
In fact, the Ironborn do not believe that they can continue to defend Seaside City forever——
Occupying the sea can provide supplies at any time, but the Iron Islands are already poor, and they cannot afford to fight a war of attrition. At the same time, no matter how strong the castle is, it will always be in ruins if it encounters continuous damage.
However, although they did not think that they could hold on for a long time, the Ironmen thought that they could withdraw from the battlefield at any time relying on the sea, so they did not care how long their isolated city could hold on.
…
At this time, Renly was still in Seaside City, but he had completely different ideas from the ironborn here because he received a letter from the Iron Throne.
The letter stated that the West would transport supplies by sea and land to support the Ironborn, and would also transport a large number of soldiers.
Outside of Seaside City, the Riverland's own army and the army in the valley will launch a full-scale counterattack at some point. The Iron Throne army will encircle Hejian from the south, Seaside City and the West from the west, and the valley from the east. The land was cleared of Targaryens.
Looking at the detailed plan in this letter, Renly sat behind the desk and pondered.
There are four battlefields in Westeros at this time, one is the naval battle in the East Sea, the second is the war in the Riverlands, the third is the tug-of-war in the north, and the last one is the southern sea of Westeros, the Qing Pavilion The conflict between the Island and Volantis.
The naval battle in the East China Sea was mainly to harass the supply ships of the nine Free Trade Cities, led by Stannis. Due to the disparity in strength between the fleets of the two sides, large-scale attacks were impossible.
The naval battle in the South China Sea was stalemate. The Qingting Island navy was powerful, and the River Bend army continued to support them. Therefore, even if the enemy was Volantis, the strongest among the nine free trade city-states, they did not do anything to them.
The war in the north revolves around the swamp of Carlin Bay. The enemy's purpose is to prevent the northern army from going south to participate in the war.
The most important battlefield is the Riverlands. As long as the war here is won, it means that this Targaryen invasion will inevitably end in failure.
Now, the Iron Throne is preparing to take advantage of this opportunity to launch a full-scale counterattack.
"The final battle?"
Muttering, Renly put away the letter and looked out the window not far away.
Being in the bell tower of the castle, the position is very high. From here, one can see the densely packed tents outside the city, as well as the large number of soldiers flowing continuously in the gaps between the tents.
Faint shouts continued to sound, which was the enemy's training slogan.
Will the outcome be decided in one battle, or will the stalemate continue? Or will the enemy take advantage of the situation to counterattack and cause a large-scale defeat?
Renly could not be sure of the outcome of the upcoming counterattack, but he believed that the Targaryens were destined to fail.
There was no other reason. After uniting, their strength was not weak, and the enemy was an alien invader across a sea, and they had no advantage at all.
This difference could not be seen in a short period of time, but it would become more and more obvious over time.
What's more, the enemy's internal situation did not seem to be very stable...
Thinking about the intelligence he had just obtained, Renly was thoughtful.
"How did you do it?" Rhaenys, who delivered the intelligence, did not leave at this time, but sat on the desk beside Renly, her slender legs swinging, her little face full of curiosity.
"What did you do?"
"To prevent this place from being harassed by foreign magic." The girl reminded him.
"Of course I have my own way." Renly answered simply.
"What way?"
"A useful way, you won't understand even if I tell you."
This made the other party curl his lips, but he did not continue to ask.
Renly smiled at this.
He actually didn't expect that he would have the ability to resist the magic outside, or he actually didn't expect that the scepter in his hand would have this ability.
In fact, before the siege began, he had expected that the enemy would use magic to attack the city. Renly was prepared to resist the enemy's magic tricks by means of the Seven Gods' deal, but when the siege began, he suddenly found that no matter whether it was curses, shadows, or any other sneaky means, they could not get close to the Sea Border City.
It was not that the city had any special defenses, nor was it that the deal of the Seven Gods took effect, but the scepter, or the faith power of the Ironmen in the Sea Border City.
The large number of Ironmen gathered together, plus the special scepter in his hand, vaguely formed a unique position that was invulnerable to all evil, and excluded forces other than the Drowned God from entering.
This repulsion was silent, but Renly could vaguely feel it. At the same time, he also glimpsed some of the connections between the gods and magic in this world.
Gods are the existence formed by the gathering of many human wills, and magic seems to be a special power formed by the huge will of gods to distort and pry the real world.
This made Renly think deeply. If his will was as strong as that of a god, then could he distort the world without relying on external forces, or cast magic on his own?
