Chapter 172 Outside the City

"Damn, these Lannisters are so stubborn. How long will this King's Landing fight last?"

At night, outside King's Landing, in the center of the besieging army, a large group of nobles from the Riverlands and Stormlands stayed in a luxurious and spacious tent, chattering and discussing the current war situation.

The person who just spoke was Lord Matus Rowan of Golden Tree City. This powerful nobleman in the River Bend had been leading an attack on King's Landing, which was defended by Lannister, for the better part of a month.

But the problem is, this city is not only the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, it is also the largest fortress of the Seven Kingdoms. Targaryen has ruled the Seven Kingdoms for nearly three hundred years and has been spending money to build this capital of the Seven Kingdoms.

The thick city wall built over hundreds of years, coupled with the personal command of Tywin, a battlefield veteran, and more than 20,000 Lannister troops, managed to make such a large King's Landing city defense line watertight.

Renly's nearly 100,000 troops, after suffering thousands of casualties, were still helpless against the city.

Today, after hundreds more casualties, King Renly Baratheon I ordered the offensive to be suspended.

Because, after some statistics, he found that even if the kill data reported by all the leading nobles were tripled, the exchange ratio between Renly's army and Tywin had reached an astonishing five to one.

If this is the result, Renly realizes that his offensive in the past few days, which seems to be vast, is actually equivalent to using his own life to tickle Lannister.

Renly could allow his warriors to be defeated by others on the battlefield. No one could win all the time, but he couldn't stand such an act that was tantamount to death. In his opinion, this was stupidity!

After holding a grand banquet full of barbecue and wine as usual, the king summoned his vassals in his tent to discuss the next plan of action.

"We have to find a way. We can no longer play games with Tywin so stupidly. King's Landing is his home court now. If we continue like this, we may be able to capture King's Landing, but the blood of us people will have to be shed dry."

Renly bit into a green apple. He was tired of the roasted venison just now, and now he wanted to nibble on a tender fruit to relieve his tiredness.

Therefore, when he spoke, his voice was a little slurred because his mouth was full of unchewed apple pulp.

"Yes, Your Majesty, Tywin Lannister's ability to command soldiers is still very strong, and we have to admit that Tywin's army is better at fighting than our army."

Randyll Tarly, Earl of Horn Hill, spoke, but his words immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of many nobles present, and someone immediately shouted:

"Lord Randyll, what do you mean by this? Is Tywin's army that powerful? Not long ago, more than 10,000 Kingslayers were wiped out by a young boy named Clay Manderly in the north. ”

"That's right, Your Majesty, Earl Randyll must be timid. If it doesn't work, it would be us. Our Stormlands warriors can't help but want to rush into King's Landing and chop off the old lion's head."

Renly didn't say anything about these words. Although he knew that Landao was right, he still didn't like saying it so bluntly.

Renly has always been a person with a sense of superiority. As a pampered brother of the king, he has never suffered any setbacks since he was a child. Except for always being frustrated by his second brother Stannis, everyone who sees him is respectful. There are plus.

After reaching adulthood, he successfully became the Kingdom's Minister of Justice. At the same time, as the Duke of Storm's End, his status in the Seven Kingdoms can be said to be higher than that of his second brother, the owner of Dragonstone Island.

Even if his brother Robert died suddenly and Eddard Stark in the North refused his request for an alliance, he could still find an opportunity and make a decisive decision to escape from King's Landing, return there, gather the power of the Stormlands and the Riverlands, and directly pull An army of 100,000 people was raised.

Let me ask, who among the Seven Kingdoms has everything as smooth as Renly's?

But now, Renly's confident army of 100,000 people was firmly blocked by a city wall. Moreover, Renly tried to hit the wall repeatedly, and his forehead was bleeding.

Renly couldn't swallow this breath, so he tried to use other methods to open the gate of King's Landing with smaller casualties, just like what Lannister did to Targaryen more than ten years ago.

Renly didn't pay too much attention to the words of these nobles, because he knew very well Randyll Tarly's ability to lead troops. This was a man who could bring his brother a complete defeat in the Usurper's War, and he also How could he be a coward?

"Then tell me, Lord Landau, why the Lannister was as fragile as a piece of paper under the offensive of the northerners, but became so strong in King's Landing. I don't think my warriors are better than the northerners. Difference."

"No doubt offensive, my lord, it seems to me that we are now sieging the city, and when we first came here, our footing was not stable, allowing Gregor Clegane and his men to sneak attack our siege equipment. "

"Without them, the long ladder we hastily made would be of little use against such a high city wall. You all have watched the battle in the past two days with your eyes."

After listening to Randyll Tarly's words, Renly patted the table impatiently:

"Count Tully, you didn't answer my question. Even if it's a siege, why is there such a big gap between the two wars?"

Faced with the king's question, Randyll Tully sighed. He originally didn't want to talk about this matter, but when the king mentioned it and refused to let him go, he had no choice.

"Your Majesty, I have to say that the people of the North, led by that boy Clay Manderly, have indeed shown better combat effectiveness than us. Don't refute me. Sirs, put you in the same position. How can you defeat more than 10,000 Lannister troops head-on?"

Seeing the nobles of both realms who were blushing, still thinking about arguing, and obviously unconvinced, Randyll Tully gave the last blow coldly:

"Don't tell me that you can do it. Remember, Clay Manderly only has 6,000 men at most, not even one-tenth of our army. Moreover, what kind of equipment do the Northerners have? You don’t know the level?”

"So, I have carefully reviewed this war many times, and I have come to the conclusion that no matter who it is, Clay Mandler may not be able to fight it as well as Clay Mandler. If it were me, I ask myself: If we can’t do it, there will be such a big result.”

With a few words, the nobles who were screaming just now were silenced. They could suspect Randyll Tarly of other things, but only on the military aspect, none of them dared to argue with Randyll Tarly. .

The man who almost captured Robert alive can tell you whether he was fierce or not.

The tent was quiet for a long time, and then Renly, who was sitting on the main seat, let out a long sigh and said helplessly:

"This is why I was not in a hurry before, but now I am so anxious to lead you to attack the city of King's Landing."

"Ed Stark has always been my brother's die-hard supporter of the throne. In the original plan, I thought that the wolf and the lion would bite each other, and both sides should be injured. But I didn't expect that the wolf directly took away the little boy. The lion forced the old lion to submit, and the war between them ended too quickly."

"So, I'm worried that if Ed Stark continues to support my brother and join him in flanking attacks from the northeast and capture King's Landing before us, by then, he will sit on the Iron Throne. We are surrounded by troops who are accustomed to fighting, but we are very passive."

"But Your Majesty, Eddard Stark is dead, and the news from Winterfell cannot be wrong."

A noble from the Reach carefully reminded Renly, but Renly just nodded. He had obviously known the news for a long time. He spread his hands and said even more helplessly:

"But the problem is, who knows what Eddard Stark's good son will choose. It's better for him to stay in Winterfell and not move. After I deal with these rebels, he comes to King's Landing and bends the knee to me, and I will still seal him. He protects the North."

"But, I'm worried about what if this kid gets hot-headed and puts a golden crown on his head? You all know that the title King of the North has always been retained in the history of the Stark family. Bar."

"Taking a step back, what should I do if this little wolf chooses to go south to get involved? Our entire army is concentrated here. Except for Lord Mace who is gathering soldiers in the rear, there are not many soldiers on Rose Avenue to set up defenses."

"Your Majesty, you are... too prepared for a rainy day. I think the Stark boy will probably stay in Winterfell. He will probably have to deal with the northern nobles who are watching him. And , the Mandalay family just mentioned, after they take over the Twins, they will become a big threat to the Stark family."

The speaker was Garland Tyrell, the second brother of the Knight of Flowers, and a relatively capable person in the Tyrell family. He had been silent until now, and then expressed his opinion aloud.

"I hope they don't delay our affairs anyway, and just don't cause us any trouble."

Renly stood up, and the nobles around him also stood up. They came to the center of the tent, on the simple sand table of King's Landing. Renly pointed to the city on the sand table and said:

"Now, let's not think about Stark's affairs, but first consider how to capture this city before my restless brother arrives in King's Landing."

Randyll Tully sighed. In fact, the best way to deal with King's Landing, a megacity with a population of hundreds of thousands, is to surround it without attacking, because over time, King's Landing's own material supplies will definitely not be enough.

Do you expect 20,000 Lannister troops and a few thousand gold robes to be able to control hundreds of thousands of hungry mobs in the city? That is simply impossible. By that time, as long as food is prepared on our side, the city will collapse on its own.

But now, time waits for no one. The rapidly ending war between the North and the West has completely disrupted Renly's plan. Renly still has no idea where Stannis will attack next.

This is the benefit of controlling the sea. The sea is a highway with no obstacles and extending in all directions. As long as the fleet is in Stannis's hands, he can fight wherever he wants. He is very free. The armies on land dare not follow his army. And mobilize.

But if he fortifies everything, even if he gives Renly 300,000 troops, he can't do it. The entire coast of the Stormlands Kingdom of Westeros, the Shield Islands in the River Bend, and the old town where the academy is located are all theoretically in history. Under Tanis's troops.

If Clay were to do this, just choosing one or two slightly influential castles to carry out a raid would make the entire stormtroopers in the river panic. They would not be able to fight this battle and would have to retreat to defend their homes.

However, who can guarantee that once this army is scattered, it can gather again? If he fails once, the blow to Renly's prestige will be fatal.

Therefore, Renly, who understands these things, is very anxious to capture King's Landing as soon as possible and sit on the Iron Throne in order to occupy the legitimacy of the entire kingdom. But now, after the bloody battle of King's Landing, his attack has been blocked, which makes him even more worried. .

"Your Majesty, under the current situation, we don't have a good chance to break the city, but we absolutely can't fight like before. My suggestion is to select a group of elite soldiers from our army."

"After that, we moved these troops out of our army camp and hid them."

"Next, our army will carry out uninterrupted attacks on the Lannister from morning to day, making them exhausted without rest, giving full play to our advantage of having more soldiers."

"When they are completely exhausted, our army will choose one night to launch a fierce attack on the city gates in several directions, giving them enough pressure to force them to mobilize the defenders of the remaining city gates. Then, our elite troops will launch an attack. Capture the city gate in one fell swoop.”

This is an interlocking plan, and at the same time, it is also a complete conspiracy, relying on the fact that the number of troops under Renly's command is large enough to dare to compete with the Lannister.

Renly is outside, so he doesn't have to set up defenses everywhere, so he has the advantage of mobility, which means he can choose a city gate to attack at any time, but Tywin can't, he is in the city.

Once a section of the city wall is breached by others, it is almost equivalent to the entire city wall being destroyed. Therefore, Tywin must distribute the more than 20,000 people he has around each city gate evenly.

Randyll Tarly's plan was to force Tywin to move some of the defenders away from their original garrison positions, leaving some of the city gates empty to facilitate their own breakthrough.

This is not to say that Randyll Tarly is only of this level, he only has so little time, and he has no siege weapons. It is difficult for a clever woman to make a building without straw. No matter how famous he is, he has no good way to deal with this situation.

In this regard, Randyll Tarly's performance is much better than that of a lot of guys who can only talk eloquently. These aristocratic gentlemen who talk about chivalry feel that they have such a large army in their hands. National reunification is just around the corner.

They also didn't think about it. If the number of troops can really solve all problems, then why is the Reach still the Reach and not the entire Seven Kingdoms?

Wine and women, over time, can really turn a person into a mess, I’m not kidding.