Chapter 113 Siege of Riverrun

Standing on the towering city wall of Riverrun, Lord Tytos Blackwood looked at the arrogant Lannister army outside the city, his frown showing no sign of relaxing.

As the intersection of the Red Fork River and the Tumblestone River, Riverrun is a triangular castle in the standard sense. A trench in the southwest was filled with water before the Lannister siege.

Jaime Lannister led 12,000 men to surround Riverrun's remnant army in Riverrun, but he was helpless against the city wall.

The Lannister army organized five attacks, but faced with the rapid moat under the city wall of Riverrun, the Lannister army had to row across the river first.

Before the boat reached the city, it was used as a target by the bows and arrows or rocks on the city. The speed in the river was definitely not as fast as that of people on land, and the river was fast, so if the attack was blocked, it would be impossible to advance or retreat.

After five sieges, Lannister suffered nearly a thousand casualties. In Riverrun, the number was estimated to be just over a hundred, and the exchange ratio reached nine to one.

Jaime Lannister is not a fool. In view of this situation, he stopped this continuous behavior of giving away people, chose a long siege, and tried to order Edmure Tully to open the gate of Riverrun.

But it is a pity that Lord Tytos Blackwood is very clear-headed. If he listens to Edmure at this time, it is estimated that the entire Tully family will be destroyed, and they, the nobles of the Riverlands who resisted Lannister, will also be destroyed. Also implicated.

Therefore, under his strict defense, the Lannister army was under the city, and he led thousands of defeated troops inside the city. The two sides had been facing off for more than half a month.

As for food, Earl Tytos Blackwood is not too worried about it. Riverrun's food reserves are sufficient, and it will be no problem to delay for more than half a year. After more than half a year, who will lose and win in this war will definitely be known.

He now places all his hopes on the Northern Army heading south. He is very aware of the combat effectiveness of the Northern Army, but sitting in Nanchou City, he does not know when the Northern Army will arrive.

Jaime Lannister sent archers to block the raven messages from Riverrun.

After losing a dozen ravens, Lord Tytos Blackwood gave up on spreading his message.

Now, he could only wait for the Northern Legion's divine soldiers to descend from heaven. After all, they had lost two games in a row and had lost the initiative on the battlefield.

…

After interrogating the pleading hapless man, Ser Brynden wiped his neck cleanly until he was dead and the wound on his leg was still bleeding.

"Bury it and take care of it." He gave the order dullly. Ser Brynden leaned against the tree trunk with a sullen expression on his face, looking towards the direction of Riverrun, thinking quietly.

The situation reported by the Lannister prisoner was a bit ominous. He knew that his family's army had failed twice in succession. He also knew that Edmure had been captured and the family castle was besieged.

In his opinion, there was nothing the Kingslayer could do against the city wall. Having grown up in Riverrun, he knew very well what kind of castle Riverrun was.

But now it seems that the Kingslayer has never given up on capturing it, and even tied up Edmure to assist in the siege, which made the morale of the Tully family defenders on the city even lower.

According to the prisoners, they privately believed that Riverrun would not be able to hold on for long.

Although he still had enough confidence in the defense capabilities of his castle, Sir Brynden could not help but become more worried.

No one knows how long his brother, Lord Hoster Tully, can hold out. If he goes to see the Seven Gods during the Lannister siege, Riverrun might really be lost.

He didn't know who was in charge in the city, but no matter who it was, they didn't have the prestige of Lord Hoster Tully to command the heroes. It would be really unacceptable if Riverrun fell due to civil strife.

No, we must find out the situation of the Lannister army camp in Riverrun as soon as possible, and then return to Clay Manderly immediately. There is not much time left for us.

Thinking of this, Sir Blackfish stood up and joined the procession of burying the bodies and dealing with traces. A group of ten people quickly restored the scene to its original state. No one could tell that three unlucky guys had died here.

"Let's continue south and see how these Lannisters are causing trouble in Riverrun."

Ser Brynden gave an order and mounted the war horse brought out of the forest. He clamped the horse's belly and the horse neighed and led him quickly southward.

Behind him, the other scouts followed quickly.

…

Farther north, Clay's more than five thousand cavalry were still stationed near Raventree City. The owner of this moss-covered ancient castle was Lord Tytos Blackwood, who guarded Riverrun.

What is very interesting is that this castle in the south is still under the belief of the old gods. Most of the people in the city, including the owners of the castle, the Blackwood family, are devout believers in the old gods.

Although Clay himself has a flexible choice of beliefs, he can clearly feel that everyone in Crowstree City has a good impression of the Northern Army. When he saw the Northern Flag appearing, he automatically opened the gate.

Even though most of the army in the city was taken to Riverrun by the family owner, Lord Tytos Blackwood, the acting city lord of the Blackwood family still gathered an army of two hundred people to join Clay's army.

Clay understood their feelings. After all, the family leader was being besieged by the Lannister in Riverrun. It was impossible for them not to be anxious.

But as the commander of the cavalry regiment, he could only refuse their joining and ask them to strictly guard Crowtree City. This place was on Clay's only way back to the north. Once the war didn't go well, whether he was returning north to replenish troops and supplies, Or anything else, Crowtree City is very important.

Clay has two plans for how to lift the siege of Riverrun.

First, if Riverrun can resist, Clay is inclined to drag it until the ironborn land at Lannister Port, forcing Tywin Lannister to order his good son to lead an army to return for reinforcements.

From Riverrun to the West, the fastest way is to follow the River Road, pass through the Golden Teeth City, and return to the west of the West Mountains, which is the essence of the entire West.

Once this plan is determined, Clay will send people to continue to harass the Lannister supply lines, try to cut off their supply of materials, and then ambush them in advance on their only way back to the west to overwhelm them in one fell swoop.

This plan is a relatively safe one. Clay has five thousand cavalry in his hands, which is much more mobile than Jaime Lannister's mixed army.

If he spreads all these people out, he will cut off Jaime Lannister's supply line. Even if the Kingslayer has 12,000 men, he will not be able to protect such a long logistics line. After all, he still has a Riverrun is to be besieged.

The wolves want to capture their prey, and they will not pounce on it and bite off the prey's neck. Clay wants to give enough blood to Lannister, the golden-haired lion, before launching a general attack.

This is the safest method, because with this method, Jaime Lannister can only be on the defensive.

Again, he has a pure cavalry lineup here, and the Riverlands is still half of his home field. The Kingslayer not only has to take care of himself, but also has to be on guard against the thousands of mourning soldiers in Riverrun City at all times.

He has 12,000 men scattered in three directions. If he withdraws a few people, Riverrun will concentrate all its forces in one direction to fight against the larger number.

As long as they are defeated all the way, the battle of the Regicide will be unwinnable.

The second method is that if Riverrun cannot withstand the news of the Ironborn invasion, Clay will use Robb Stark's response plan. In summary, a small force deceives all the enemy's cavalry, and then in one fell swoop Annihilate it.

In the first stage of the war, all the enemy's mobile power must be destroyed first, and the remaining infantry will be the meat on the chopping board.

In the second stage, before the enemy could make any reaction, the cavalry regiment quickly attacked the three Lannister camps under Riverrun City at top speed. These military camps were all infantry and could not withstand the frontal charge of the cavalry.

Originally, Robb Stark's offensive ended at this stage. Because he did not have enough troops, he let thousands of people in a large camp escape and fled back to the West.

Later, with these people as the core, the Lannister Army was formed again. After all, these people were veterans who had been on the battlefield.

But Clay has his own third phase.

He told himself that he must beat Lord Tywin until it hurts so much that all the Seven Kingdoms would remember the name Clay Manderly through this battle.

Therefore, he did not intend to let any of the twelve thousand Lannister soldiers escape.

This third stage is to chase them north and keep them all in the Riverlands before they flee to Golden Teeth City.

…

Carefully along the way, the team led by Sir Brynden finally reached a location within five miles of the north bank of the Tengshi River. From this distance, standing at a slightly higher place, one could already see the lights of Riverrun.

It was already quite dangerous here. The North Camp of the Lannister siege army was very close to them, and the shouts of soldiers coming and going could be faintly heard.

This is the widest place near Riverrun, so the largest number of Lannister troops are stationed here. Sir Brynden, who often mixes with the army, judged the approximate number after scanning the huge Lannister army camp several times. .

"There are at least five thousand people here."

The scouts next to Ser Brynden nodded, obviously agreeing with the old sergeant's judgment. Although they knew that the Lannisters were outnumbered, seeing them actually put a lot of psychological pressure on them.

"We are all wearing Lannister armor now. We are trying to find a way to cross the river and have a look. This camp is on the plains and is not dangerous to defend. The same cannot be said for other places."

Yes, their team dared to go so deep into the Lannister army because of their "lion skin".

Along the way, at least twenty unlucky people met them. In addition to turning into corpses, they also contributed their own armor and equipment to them.

In such a huge gathering of troops, no one knows anyone, and this armor is the best disguise.

The team arrived at the ferry and handed the war horses to the manager of the ferry. With the armor on their bodies, they crossed the Tengshi River smoothly.

Looking at Riverrun on the front left, located at the confluence of the two rivers, Brynden Tully breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the city wall was complete and the flags were not messed up at all. It seemed that the defensive strength was still sufficient.

I don't know what the situation is like inside. I haven't seen my brother for so many years. I don't know if I can hold on until I can see him.

Perhaps due to the blessing of the Seven Gods, Sir Brynden went around the three camps and was only questioned twice, both of which were fooled by Sir Brynden's superb deception experience.

By the time they returned to the north bank of the Tengshi River, the sun was setting and dusk was approaching.

Ten people gathered together to share what they had seen and heard in the Lannister camp.

"The Lannister army should have plenty of food and grass, and their logistics line should not be under any threat."

Someone spoke first. This person’s focus was on food. Obviously, after the complete defeat of the Riverlands army, there was no longer any military force other than Lannister in the distance from the Golden Teeth to the front line of Riverrun. exists.

No, I have to say that there are still some. Ser Brynden thought of the four personal guards who had just left his team not long ago. If he was not mistaken, these four people were probably heading for the Lannister logistics line.

"They are all very relaxed. I heard a lot of people saying that the Tullys are hiding in their turtle shells and don't dare to come out at all."

"Well, I heard that too. This shows that they are not prepared to be attacked at any time!"

A scout added, and others nodded. Obviously, this kind of statement is quite popular in the Lannister military camp.

"I made a rough estimate. Among the three camps, the one on the north bank is the largest with more than 5,000 people. The one in the southwest is the least with about 3,000 people. The remaining 4,000 people are in the large camp in the southeast."

Ser Brynden spoke at this time. He had been paying attention to the personnel, garrison status and other information of these large camps, and he also roughly estimated the number of Lannister cavalry in Riverrun.

There are at most two thousand people, definitely less than three thousand. I don't know anything else. The number of horses can tell the problem.

Therefore, the Lannister army seemed to have 12,000 troops, but in fact it was indeed weak. The largest military camp was built on the open north bank plain, separated from the other two camps by a rushing river.

This means that once the North Bank Camp is attacked, relying on the transportation capacity of the dozens of broken boats at the ferry, as long as their cavalry moves more quickly on the North Bank, their North Bank Camp will be disrupted before the Lannister reinforcements arrive.

Once a camp is breached, the siege of Riverrun will be lifted, because the Lannister does not have that many troops to continue the siege.

In an instant, several plans flashed through the old knight's mind, but the ultimate goal of these plans was to expel the Lannister Army.

Little did he know that his commander Clay Mandler had been rushing to annihilate these 12,000 people from the beginning.

"Okay, everyone, remember your news. Now, let's go north and tell our commanders these important news. Boys, let's go!"

Horse hooves were flying, and the scout team, armed with first-hand information on the battlefield, quickly headed north in the direction of the camp.