Chapter 114 The lion cub trapping plan is launched!
"So, your suggestion is that we immediately rush south to Riverrun City and directly eat the five thousand people on the north bank of the Tengshi River. Am I understanding it correctly, my Sir?"
This is the Northern Legion camp near Crowtree City, where Clay waited for the scout team he sent to the south for reconnaissance.
According to Ser Brynden, Riverrun can survive for a while, but not for long.
Moreover, Edmure Tully's capture was always a big trouble. He was always being dragged to the city gates and asked to open the door. It could not be said that the old Lord Hoster Tully suddenly woke up one day and opened the door because of his love for his son.
Then I was stunned. If Riverrun was really lost, the Riverlands would not even have a leader. Wouldn't the Tully family's surrender be embarrassing to the Northern Legion fighting in the Riverlands?
According to the basic situation of Riverrun described by Sir Brynden, sure enough, due to irresistible terrain reasons, the Lannister army was forced to be divided into three, and they were blocked outside the three walls of Riverrun.
Because of two large rivers and a trench filled with water, from any point of view, the lions in these three camps were unable to support each other in time.
Therefore, Sir Brynden, who aimed to relieve the siege, suggested taking advantage of the cavalry to surprise them and launch a sudden attack at night to directly annihilate or disrupt the more than 5,000 people on the north bank.
After eating the biggest lump, the remaining two small lumps were no longer a problem.
In the military tent, all the nobles who followed the Clay Cavalry Corps southward were present. After listening to Sir Brynden's suggestion, they all showed expressions of approval.
"Yes, Sir's method is very good. We northerners are one to ten, and we have more than 5,000 cavalry. Isn't it easy to deal with these miscellaneous lions?"
The speaker was Earl Glover. He was a little excited. He poked the north bank of Riverrun with a stick and continued to express his views:
"This group of Lannister must have set up an offensive formation in order to besiege the city. All the food, grass and baggage, including horses, must be placed relatively far away from the battlefield, that is, further north."
"In other words, these weakest but most important things are actually placed under our noses. Once our soldiers come out, is there any reason not to win?"
His words won the support of many northern nobles. Many people tapped the table lightly to express their agreement. Everyone looked at Clay, their commander. As long as he nodded, everyone would immediately respond. Battalion prepares the army.
Clay knew that from the perspective of winning this battle and relieving the siege of Riverrun, Earl Glover and Ser Brynden, this method was absolutely reasonable.
12,000 people is a bit difficult to chew. My 5,000 cavalry attacking your 5,000 infantry is not a guaranteed win situation, but the problem is that this is war, and war is a continuation of politics.
If only everything in the world were that simple.
He organized his thoughts, raised his head, looked at the people whose faces were full of hope, shook his head, and expressed his opinion:
"Everyone, I agree with you, but I have a question, where is Ser Edmure Tully?"
"..."
All the nobles, look at me and I look at you. I don’t know what Clay wants to say.
"We found no place in the camp for Edmure to be held."
Ser Brynden shook his head in frustration. After all, they were his relatives, and he was a person with a strong sense of family values. Edmure was caught by Lannister. Although he was angry about it, he was more angry. Worry.
"That's it, sergeant. Let's assume that Edmure Tully is imprisoned in two camps further south. Then we will kill more than 5,000 people on the north shore at once. Looking at the overall battle situation, what's the point? "
Clay looked directly into Ser Brynden's eyes and continued:
"Remember what I told you in Haijiang City? We are now participating in a very dangerous bet. The opponent Lannister has many more golden dragons in his pocket than we do, and he also holds a weapon named Ai Demure Tully's bargaining chip."
"Jazz, if we want to win this bet, in addition to pulling out the last golden dragon from their pockets, do we also need to win this important bargaining chip?"
Clay's words immediately made the excited military tent audible. The northern nobles thought for a long time, but could not find a reason to refute Clay.
"Sigh...but we don't know where Edmure is."
The old knight sighed with an ugly face and stopped talking.
Clay didn't have time to say anything comforting, but said:
"We can't get the Edmure chip for the time being. That doesn't matter. Then can we grab a chip named Jaime Lannister from the Lannister? In this way, both parties will be equal. "
Clay's hand was firmly pointed at the location of Riverrun, and his voice was full of power:
"In this battle of ours, let's not talk about relieving the siege of Riverrun. Our goal should be to capture Lord Tywin's beloved King-slayer Jaime Lannister."
"Catch him. As long as Tywin Lannister cannot find Lord Eddard Stark in the east, we will be invincible in the war with Lannister."
"To put it bluntly, sergeant, the value of a regicide is probably much higher than that of your nephew Edmure. I think you understand what I mean."
The old knight struggled a little, but he understood that the commander in front of him, Clay Mandler, was absolutely right. The Riverlands were defeated twice in a row. In fact, in a short period of time, they no longer had much power in the war.
Therefore, two Edmures probably cannot be exchanged for the regicide Jaime Lannister. This is not a good thing to say, but it is absolutely correct.
After a long silence, Earl Severn asked:
"You are right, Master Clay. You are the commander, and we follow your will. Can you tell us what you think?"
Obviously, Clay's words convinced them all. If they couldn't catch Jaime Lannister in the battle at Riverrun, it would be equivalent to defeat, even if they wiped out more than 5,000 people on the north shore.
In this situation, Clay knew that the wolf pack tactic he originally designated was useless, but it didn't matter, he had another plan.
"Okay, let me tell you what I think. Since we are trying to catch the regicide, our appetite must be bigger. I want all of these 12,000 people!"
Clay ignored the shocked expressions on the nobles' faces and continued without hesitation:
"First step, Ser Brynden, you take three hundred men, put on the flags and armor of the princes of the Riverlands, and go to the vicinity of Riverrun again. Kill their scouts first. Kill as many as you can."
"Your purpose is to trick the regicide into sending out all his cavalry strength. The harder you kill, the more cavalry he will send out. The most important thing is to give him the feeling that he is not safe unless he eradicates you. .”
The old knight had already begun to try to follow Clay's thinking. When he heard Clay's request, he nodded to show that he fully understood.
"Second, I will lead all my lords to a set battlefield between Crowtree City and Riverrun City to ambush the Lannister cavalry force."
"It's up to you, my lords, to ensure that none of these Lannister bastards can return to Riverrun to report the news."
Clay's response was the thud of the adults tapping their breastplates with their hands.
Clay took a deep breath and revealed his third step plan:
"The third step is to annihilate the Lannister cavalry, and the Lannister will lose almost all mobility. At this time, Lord Glover, I want you to take a thousand cavalry and head southwest. Rapidly advance into the Golden Teeth City."
This order made everyone a little confused. Someone asked:
"Lord Clay, why are you going to Golden Tooth City? Lord Glover can't take down Golden Tooth City with a thousand men."
Clay waved his hand, signaling the other party to calm down.
"The remaining four thousand of us will attack the Lannister North Camp and the Southwestern Camp after wiping out all the Lannister cavalry, and completely tear them apart before they can react."
"Well... what about the four thousand people in the southeast?"
Ser Brynden already roughly understood what Clay was going to do, but in order to verify his guess, he still asked.
"Sir, we have killed two of their camps. What do you think the remaining four thousand people will do?"
"retreat."
"Where to retreat?"
Sure enough, I was right. The commander in front of me really had no intention of letting a Lannister return to the West.
At this time, Earl Glover, who was sent out, also reacted and blurted out:
"Golden Tooth City in the southwest!"
"Yes!" Clay knocked on the table.
"These four thousand defeated frightened birds will only have the idea of escaping back to the Golden Teeth City as soon as possible at this time. And you, Lord Earl, must use your lance and sword to send these Lannisters away and let them escape. Let’s express our thoughts in front of the gods!”
At this point, Clay's plan has been fully revealed. It is a web of death weaved for the twelve thousand Lannister army, and now Clay has planned to tie it to them.
This plan, from the very beginning, was based on the more than 5,000 highly mobile cavalry in Clay's hands. In fact, the core was a time difference.
In addition to the first step of luring the enemy, the other two steps, in the final analysis, rely on cavalry to run faster than infantry. After Clay eliminates all the Lannister's mobile power, the remaining infantry can only flee. They were eliminated one by one by the cavalry.
After Ke Lei finished speaking, the tent was quiet for a while, and then a huge cheer erupted. The sitting noble men slapped the table to express their inner approval.
No matter how stupid you are, you all know that this too young commander has already planned it in his heart.
Then they only need to follow the commander and implement his will.
"Lord Clay, I'm going to prepare now. Please tell me where you plan to ambush!"
Ser Brynden stood up suddenly, with some excitement on his face. In this legion, he was actually the most anxious. After all, the master of Riverrun was his brother.
For this location, Clay had a different choice than Robb Stark.
The Whispering Forest is located in the west of Beauty Collection, on the south bank of the Blue Fork River, a tributary of the Trident River, and to the north of Crowtree City where they are located.
On the way here, they passed by the Whispering Forest. Indeed, it was a good place to lay an ambush. There was a river valley near the Whispering Forest. Since the north exit was narrow, it was a semi-encircled structure.
But there was a problem. This place was too far away from the battlefield of Riverrun, more than a hundred miles away.
What kind of concept is this? It requires the cavalry to march at full speed day and night for two days to get there, and it is in the environment of the Great Plains.
In the Riverlands, a place with dense rivers, woods, swamps, and rivers will slow down the cavalry's march.
In other words, it would take at least three or four days for Jaime Lannister to chase him from Riverrun to the Whispering Forest Valley.
No matter what grudges or grudges there are, even with such a long distance, they can reach Twin River City.
What if Clay is still waiting for Jaime Lannister in the Whispering Forest, and suddenly the Kingslayer feels that he has been driven away, and turns around and goes back?
You can't use your own cavalry as bait to go back and seduce the regicide, right? I'm Clay Manderly, not Cersei Lannister, not that attractive to the Kingslayer.
Therefore, to be on the safe side, Clay chose to station himself at Crowtree City and set the battlefield ten miles south of Crowtree City, in a small valley named after a certain part of a woman by the locals in the Riverlands.
Clay changed its name to Virgin Valley, otherwise people who knew it would understand that they were discussing an ambush plan, and they would think that these unscrupulous nobles were talking about something colorful.
Clay personally led people to scout there. How should I put it? As soon as he entered that place, Clay reminded him of the location north of Twins City where his caravan was attacked, but the terrain was much enlarged.
"Right here, Ser Brynden. After you lead the Lannister cavalry, keep your horse speed and try to pass here in the evening or at night."
Clay pointed to the location on the map and said very seriously.
Sir Brynden glanced at the position, thought for a moment, and his eyes lit up. He already understood what Clay meant.
These days, there are no such things as flares, so they led the Lannister cavalry to run for a whole day, allowing them to pass here when they were tired and exhausted, and then make a sudden attack on their own.
Being in the dark will undoubtedly aggravate the fear of these Lannisters. In Clay's opinion, there are only five thousand people on his side, and one less one will die. As for the Lannister army, it will only be clean if all the Lannister troops are dead.
"Everyone, this is our first real battle against the Kingslayer. We have to let these people know how powerful our northerners are."
Clay assigned his deployment to the heads of every nobleman present. He stood high, waiting for work, and suddenly attacked in the darkness.
One thousand of the five thousand cavalrymen will block the entrance and exit, and the remaining four thousand will carry out a perfect killing in the dark.
"Let the Lannister understand that their cold winter has arrived..."
