Chapter 203 Unfinished request for help

"Lord Clay, yes, this is the body of our northern cavalry... Judging from the style of the fragments of the robe, it should be from the Karstark family."

This was on the King's Road near the middle of the Mingyue Mountains, and what stopped the Mandalay family cavalry commanded by Clay were the bodies of five men and horses lying dead on the roadside.

The forward scouts recognized it at a glance. The shape of the broken armor on this soldier was the mail armor most commonly used in the north. They died here, which made the scouts with keen sense of smell on the battlefield suddenly realize that something serious was going on.

So, they separated into a small group and continued southward to check whether any enemy troops were ambushing them ahead. The remaining people immediately returned to their headquarters and reported to their commander Clay Manderly.

Upon hearing the news, Clay immediately realized something was wrong. It was normal for cavalry to die in battle. Now that the entire Seven Kingdoms were at war, it was normal for five people to die. It was not a stressful thing.

But the problem is, they died in the wrong place.

This is the eastern part of the Riverlands. Theoretically, it is still quite far away from the frontline of the confrontation around Harrenhal. It is impossible for the cavalry to be intercepted and killed here.

For some reason, Clay suddenly thought of Arya Stark, who had disappeared and was still not found, and a strong sense of uneasiness enveloped him.

"Order! All cavalry immediately deploy, stop marching, go down the King's Road, and advance slowly along the plain. In addition, send out scouts. I want to know all the situations within fifty miles around."

This time, Clay brought all the cavalry from the Mandalay family, and their ability to execute his orders was stronger than the cavalry he commanded throughout the North.

After the order was issued, the originally long marching column immediately stopped. Amid the shouts of the officers and the low sound of horns, the Mandalay family's cavalry formed a neat square formation, with the heavy cavalry directly in front, ensuring the first wave. offensive capabilities.

In this way, Clay slowly moved forward with his troops. All the troops knew what happened, and each one began to prepare for battle.

They were all veterans who had been on the battlefield, and no one panicked. They believed that they could defeat anyone who dared to stop them.

After marching about three miles, Clay saw the bodies of the northern troops discovered by the scouts.

Frowning, Clay dismounted his horse. Immediately, a row of heavy cavalry formed a steel wall around Clay, using their bodies to block possible attacks from any direction.

With his demon-hunting senses fully activated that he had not used for a long time, Clay squatted next to the corpse and carefully examined every detail of the deceased:

"Blood was spraying onto the road on the north side. Someone cut his carotid artery."

"The smell is still very strong, and death will definitely not take more than two days."

"Judging from the direction in which he jumped and the direction in which the horse fell to death, he should have been riding north when he died."

Obscure messages were constantly fed back to Clay's brain, allowing him to analyze what happened here two days ago at high speed.

"He was shot from his horse with an arrow. He fell to the ground. He stood up and tried to escape, but was wiped on the neck by the cavalry who caught up behind him."

"Hmm... that's right, it's the Winter Sun emblem of Karstark. This is not a scout. I don't remember that there were any Karstarks among the scouts arranged. They should have been hunted down all the way."

"Hey...what is this? A bloody letter?"

Clay took out a letter with partially dried blood from the lining of the body lying on the ground.

He didn't understand why the attackers didn't seize the letter. Judging from the horse hoof marks at the scene, there were only the footprints of the dead Northern soldier, and no one else's.

In other words, this was to kill the person and then leave. The attacker's purpose was just to kill and had no interest in caring about what was on the person. None of the cavalry's most valuable equipment, armor and weapons, was taken away.

Unfolding the paper, Clay frowned and read the contents carefully. He squatted on the spot in a daze and didn't speak for a long time.

"Clay...what's wrong with you? What was that?"

Sir Malone, who came with him this time, had just arrived from the rear. As soon as he arrived, he saw the scene in front of him.

The old knight dismounted and came to Clay. His gray eyebrows knitted together and he asked in a low voice:

Clay sighed, weakly handed the note in his hand to Sir Malone, and said lightly in a tone that he didn't know how to describe:

"We...I'm afraid we're in big trouble."

Sir Malone opened the note. The handwriting on it was very sloppy, and there were obvious signs of shaking at the beginning of each word. It was obvious that the person who wrote this letter was in an extremely nervous state at the time.

The content of the letter was not long, only a few sentences, but its content made Sir Malone, a veteran on the battlefield, instantly turn pale:

"Tell Clay that the Vale rebelled. I was attacked and most of the army was routed. I led the remaining troops to break out to Harrenhal and are now besieged by Tywin Lannister's army."

"All the ravens at Harrenhal have been shot. Tell Clay to defend the Twins and never let the traitors capture Moat Cailin."

"This is an order! Don't come to save me. I'm trapped."

The letter was signed with a familiar wolf head emblem. Sir Malone knew that it was Robb Stark's personal mark.

He finally understood why Clay said he was in big trouble here. How could this be big trouble? It was like a bolt from the blue!

Seemingly thinking of something, he rummaged through the other corpses, and sure enough, he found exactly the same letter.

This is... a saturated message delivery. No matter how many people die, as long as one person can reach Twin River City, it will be considered a success. However...

It was already clear that Robb Stark was so eager for revenge that he did not stay at the Twins for too long and led his army straight towards King's Landing along the King's Road.

But the proud young wolf king didn't even realize that in the sky, a falcon he thought was close to him had begun to swoop down towards him.

So, somewhere unknown, Robb Stark's unprepared army was attacked by the Valemen sitting in the first cavalry group of the Seven Kingdoms. In the chaos, the army collapsed.

After that, Robb Stark led the remaining troops to break through and entered Harrenhal, the southern gate of the Riverlands. With the towering city wall, he temporarily stopped the pursuers. However, unexpectedly, Tywin Lannister of King's Landing suddenly withdrew. , surrounded him.

"Clay, is this...all over?"

Sir Malone's voice was a little out of tune. In his opinion, this war almost wiped out most of the active forces in the North. For the sparsely populated North, this was almost fatal.

What responded to him was Clay's voice, which was as cold as chewing ice cubes:

"I don't know. It's just such a letter and there is too little information. Robb Stark's infantry must have been defeated. It was calculated by someone unintentionally. It was the heavy cavalry that beat the infantry. It's a damn thing if they can win."

"What I want to know now is, where is the battlefield? The cavalry I sent later may have collapsed, but they are cavalry and can always escape a lot. But now, where are the people?"

Looking at Sir Malone who was stunned on the spot, his palms trembling a little, Clay did not expect him to answer his question. This question could not be answered by anyone following him.

"Order, the whole army is on the move. Let's go north and return to Twin River City first."

"Yes, go back first, Twin River City cannot be lost, King Robert..."

"What the hell! He knows nothing about commanding an army! If I don't save him, he will be completely surrounded by Tywin and die in the big graveyard at Harrenhal. By then, the genius of the North will really collapse! "

Clay suddenly cursed, feeling still unsatisfied, and continued to output to His Majesty King Robb Stark, whom he should have the utmost respect for:

"He is a commander like a stupid pig, full of personal heroism. He thinks he can drag Tywin to Harrenhal and live his dream! Such a great situation, let this fool give it to me Clean!"

The soldiers around looked at me and I looked at you. They didn't know why their young master suddenly became angry, but from what he meant, it seemed that he was scolding King Rob.

The soldiers looked at each other and understood the meaning in their eyes. Everyone understood the meaning. Today, everyone heard nothing, yes, nothing!

Sir Malone, who had come back to his senses at this time, realized that he had made a mistake just now. He didn't care about the shame and asked directly:

"Clay, with just a few of us, it is definitely impossible to rescue Robb Stark from the hands of the Valemen and the Old Lion!"

"I know! So, I want to go back to the Twins and cross the river! Go to Riverrun, where our other God of War, Lord Edmure Tully, has been raising soldiers for several months."

Clay got on the horse, his tone seemed to be filled with ice:

"The Tully family and the Stark family are basically in a relationship where both prosper and suffer. If the Starks are finished, will they be able to recover? Now, we can only rely on them."