The king on the Great Wall

The last stronghold of the Baratheon Dynasty, King Stannis, the first defender of the Seven Kingdoms, personally arranged the defense line of King's Landing that was brewing... The line of defense at the Riverside Gate that he was in charge of cleared away both the River Bend and the Iron Islands like the Queen's army was chopping melons and vegetables. To help the spectators, I finally looked back on the early morning when the general offensive was launched, the first round of charges on the city wall by the siege troops, and less than an hour after the horn sounded, they were ruthlessly smashed through, making the opponent invincible. One more addition, the myth of the return of the Targaryen king is even more convincing!

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Chapter 619 The Destruction of the Stag

There was a buzzing in his head, and the ability to think was not preserved. When he was caught off guard, the significance of having a plan in advance appeared: Although he was stunned by the enemy's onslaught, Bywater was still driven by instinct. He reacted quickly and sent out a signal the moment the city gate was blown up, ordering the soldiers to evacuate from the city wall.

Split up along the predetermined route, rely on layers of barricades to delay time, gradually retreat along Mud Road, Hook Lane, and Linhe Road, drag the enemy into street fighting, and fight for the reserve troops led by the king in the center of the city and other defenders to rush to the battlefield or Time to withdraw into the Red Fort...

The plan was drawn up in great detail, but the execution was a mess.

The reason is simple: Stannis is a good commander, but his army is not the Unsullied.

The training level and combat literacy of the defenders of King's Landing may not be low, but the determination to resist and the will to fight have already been consumed by the long siege and the wartime rationing system. After a big victory, it was completely wiped out.

The warlord appointed by the king had already fallen in the huge explosion that broke the city, and the attack vanguard who entered the city also brought the strange weapon called "Bomb"...

In addition to the real difficulty of "unbeatable", there is an even bigger shadow hanging over everyone's minds: since Linhe Gate is still broken by the destructive offensive despite a firm counterattack, the other six gates are stronger and thicker. And who can guarantee that they will not encounter higher offensive intensity?As a big city, King's Landing is easy to attack and difficult to defend, and the internal terrain is extremely complicated. If they resisted too tenaciously in the street fighting and accidentally made themselves a prominent part, and finally lost the opportunity to withdraw into the Red Fort, wouldn't it be wronged? to the extreme?

You think so, he thinks so, I think so too... It seems reasonable that the tactical retreat turned into a rout.

He retreated all the way in a daze, and Bywater, who was no longer young, had reached his limit both psychologically and physically. At this moment, facing countless pairs of expectant eyes, he realized that these children should not be allowed to fight for a fight. It is meaningless to persevere in a lost war.

Collaborating with the enemy and rebelling is naturally despised, but it is reasonable to surrender if you can't defeat it. Giving up resistance and becoming a prisoner may be the best choice at the moment.

Seeing the hesitation on Bywater's face, the subordinate who made the suggestion immediately knew there was something to be done, looked around immediately, and asked loudly, "Who has the white cloth on him?"

No objection means acquiescence, the captain bowed his head and remained silent, and the soldiers immediately rushed to help—one found a wooden stick, the other took off the cloth clothes under the armor, and made a flustered face in a panic. His banner—not quite as white, but so different from Stannis's flaming heart and stag banner, that one can tell what it means at a glance, and that's enough!

Just when a group of soldiers were ready to raise their flags and surrender when the enemy came after them again, the ground began to tremble slightly, and a dull sound of horseshoes came along the stone slab from behind.

After the enemy circled around, or...

"Damn it, put away the white flag!"

The soldiers hurriedly put away their things, and within half a minute of hiding them, a large group of red-clothed and red-armored knights holding high red flags led hundreds of infantry to emerge from the corner of the back street, and quickly approached. The remnants of the Mud Gate Guard.Just as Bywater was about to ask the other party why he came, he found that the leader was King Stannis.

"I came here as soon as I received the call for help. How long did it take me to retreat here?" Stannis reined in his horse in front of Bywater, scolded him with a livid face, and recognized his identity, "Jeslin ? Tell me, which army broke through the gate, and how many have already entered the city?"

Bywater immediately straightened his back and quickly answered: "Look at the flag, the Dornish army is in the majority, with a small number of night watchmen mixed in. I don't know how many have entered the city!"

Erlu glanced around and frowned, "Where's Justin Marseille?"

"Sir Marseille was behind the door when the enemy broke through. He is now missing and probably fell into the enemy's hands!"

The warlord disappeared, but the general under surveillance was safe and sound. Even if a soldier subordinate to the king testified that what the latter said was true, it was too suspicious.

The air was suddenly quiet, and after a few seconds, the sullen Stannis spoke again: "That's all! Now I'll give you a chance to commit crimes and make meritorious deeds. Lead the way and find a road that can avoid the main force of the enemy's troops entering the city and reach Linhe Gate directly." route!"

Avoid the enemy's main force entering the city?

Bywater looked up in surprise.

Didn't Stannis come to drive back the enemy and seal the gap at the Riverside Gate?

With doubts, he looked behind Stannis out of the corner of his eye, and astonishment and as expected - he saw the figures of his family members.

***

No one in the world wanted to keep King's Landing more than Stannis.

This is not only the last position of the Baratheon Dynasty, but also his only remaining symbol of orthodoxy and legitimacy.

Regrettably, after the entire army of the Royal Fleet was wiped out in the First Battle of Heishuiwan, its fall has become inevitable.

That naval battle was a dangerous move for him to gamble on the fate of the country. Daenerys and his family were not the only ones who put a large number of elites on the warship. Stannis also made a similar arrangement: after learning that the Iron Fleet arrived at Blackwater Bay, He gave up his plan to recall more than 2000 soldiers from the navy to the city to fill the defenders, and even posted more than a thousand in reverse, allowing the repeatedly reduced royal fleet to achieve short-term full staffing-only to be able to serve in the Gulf War. Daenerys' fleet was completely wiped out, desperately opening a gap in the inevitable situation she faced.

Who would have imagined that the final result would be: the enemy won an incredible victory with one against two?

Seeing the huge fleet of the Ironborn who obviously still had an absolute advantage, they didn't dare to flee and evacuate from the battlefield frantically, and threw their bravely fighting royal fleet to the remaining Targaryen navy and two dragons to wantonly slaughter, Stannis I really want to spit out a mouthful of old blood and yell "Ironborn mistaken me!"

Not only did Daenerys's navy's expectation of being wiped out fail to come true, but even the second-best goal of making the former lose control of the sea in Blackwater Bay failed. It is even more difficult to come all the way.

In this unsolvable situation, if you still want to forcibly defend, there is only one ending: being blocked in the Red Fort, and finally defeated by that weird weapon that can explode violently.

More than 20 years ago, Princess Elia of Dorne and her children were raped and killed by Gregor Clegane and Amory Lodge in the Red Castle. If you rigidly try to stick to the last moment, then wait for yourself The wives and daughters will suffer the same fate.

For a subjugated king, death in battle might be the best ending, and his own death is not a pity, but Celine is innocent, and she should not pay the price with her life for her stupidity and bad luck.

For the safety of his daughter and the continuation of the bloodline of the Baratheon family, Stannis made a decision so bold and abnormal that he could hardly think of it, let alone the enemy.

Abandon the Red Keep, use the entire city and the Iron Throne as bait to cover your own breakout...and a massive counterattack!

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Chapter 620 The Destruction of the Stag

Compared with the two shocking battles that took place on land and sea in the past two weeks, the process of attacking and defending King's Landing City is quite unspectacular.

As the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, the structure and topography of this city is no secret; and after a long siege, the layout and weak points of the city defenses have been clearly understood; the morale of the attacking side is at its peak, but the defenders are at the bottom... in the back When the looming threat and sense of oppression in the river bend and the western region have not completely dissipated, a protracted war is obviously not the first choice.

"No foreplay, take it away in one wave" - ​​this is the program and principles formulated by the Queen for this battle.

The Unsullied who had been filled into the fleet a few days ago had no time to return to their original positions, so they simply rested at sea for a day and then landed from the ruined former Royal Fleet military port on the shore to attack the Iron Gate.In this way, more than [-] siege troops entered the battlefield at the same time to maximize their superiority in strength. They launched a general attack from both land and sea and from all directions at the same time. Then suddenly he clenched his fingers and punched hard - carried out a surprise blast on the weak point of the city gate, breaking through the city in one fell swoop.

Simple and mindless but effective tactics.

Among the seven gates, Linhe Gate, Gods Gate, and Giant Dragon Gate fell down in the first round of blasting. The steel gate miraculously survived the damage of gunpowder because of its recent repairs, and the remaining three gates relied on the defenders to fight. The demolition team was successfully prevented from approaching, but morale collapsed due to the absence of reinforcements and the delay in the king's follow-up orders. After hearing the news of the city's destruction, they either fled or surrendered.

The military function of the city is limited, and once the gate is broken, it can basically be declared lost. Daenerys wants to be the ruler of Westeros, so it is naturally strictly forbidden to kill prisoners, rob, or rape women. "Maintaining military discipline" is difficult for any wolves who have joined the flock. Fortunately, she has the Unsullied: this group of soldiers who have no natural desires of men and have undergone strict slave training. 100% execute all the instructions of the master... It is a natural candidate for the military police and order maintenance forces.

Under the siege of these eunuch soldiers, the troops of the Seventh Route marched in with flames, smoke, shouts and rumbles, and went straight to the three highlands in the city and the key core of the Red Fort.

The expected tenacious resistance did not appear, only sporadic roadblocks blocked by fire. The intensity of the battle reached its peak in the initial siege stage and then quickly fell back to almost zero. The troops entering the city advanced in an orderly manner while putting out the fire , Gathering surrendered soldiers and prisoners along the way, the imagined tragic scene of fierce bloody battle and corpses strewn across the field is nowhere to be found, and the workload of soldiers rescuing property is far more than fighting.

While the capital of the Seven Kingdoms quietly changed hands, a small group of reverse undercurrents was rapidly surging in the south of the city.

An elite troop of nearly a thousand people broke out from the Linhe Gate, went up against the current along the north bank of the Heishui River, passed through the once bustling and now desolate fish market, and rushed towards the city two miles away with an unstoppable momentum. Night Watchman Industrial Park.The siege army has poured into the city from the broken gate, and whether it is the eagle controlled by the skinchanger or Daenerys riding the dragon, all attention is on the imaginary battleground of the Red Castle Surroundings... Although a small group of troops along the way noticed the movement of this reverse troop, it was impossible to report directly to the command without instant communication.

Under the influence of a series of practical reasons and a little bit of luck, the last fire led by Stannis went all the way to a place far away from the industrial park, before being discovered by the patrolling scouts and reported to the commander. Commander on the Western Front here.

***

Iger was surprised, really.

He didn't expect that even if he stayed in the camp obediently, Stannis would insist on running across half the city to give him the first prize.

Is Tie Hanhan knowing that the industrial park will become the largest firearms factory in the Seven Kingdoms in the future, so he wants to destroy it when he dies; or is he simply hating himself, a despicable night watchman, so he would rather give up the Red Castle and come to fight with himself ?

He doesn't know and doesn't care.

"Strive to plan and prepare for all possibilities", this is Iger's code of conduct, and under the guidance of this code, the seemingly coincidental but inevitable ending was born: although he did not expect that Stannis would He came out of the city without defending the Red Castle, and was indeed surprised by his desperate counterattack, but he was not caught off guard at all.

Most of the land-grant army is currently fully armed and resting in place in the Night Watchman Industrial Park, waiting for the time that will most likely not appear—the time when they need to be used.

As the western base camp of the siege troops, the industrial park would definitely not leave the camp empty if it was not necessary. Between the Queen's "Meereen Army" and his own land-grant army, Iger finally chose to send the former to attack the city. City, and left the latter in the camp as a reserve team... In addition to the idea of ​​preserving strength, there is actually a very helpless reason: even his master has no confidence in the wildlings he raised.

When he was under his nose, he could rely on prestige and personality worship to calm down the scene easily, but once he let go of the rein and let these guys out of the cage, since he didn't intend to personally participate in the siege and street fighting, he couldn't guarantee that the gang would The bastard can do it without looting.

Instead of taking the risk of making things look ugly, it's better not to let them play. Anyway, as the supreme commander of the Western Front, he commanded the soldiers of any family to attack the city, and the credit for the final fall on his head was similar.

And it was this originally random decision that turned into a wonderful move that made the opponent desperate.

"Command, prepare to fight!"

In the sound of the assembly horn, the three thousand black-clothed legions straightened their helmets and raised their flags in a panic, ready to meet the enemy's battle of trapped beasts.

"Report to the commander-in-chief! The enemy did not attack the industrial park, but went straight to the shore, and has now occupied the pier!"

"Capture the pier?"

The pier is outside the wall, and because it has no military value, it is almost unguarded. It is normal for it to fall in an instant, but... Egg muttered in doubt, and then suddenly realized: Stannis' goal is not the Night's Watch Industrial Park, but to escape across the river!

After the Royal Navy destroyed the Iron Fleet and fled, the entire area around King's Landing, except for the Queen's Fleet that was attacking the Eastern Front of King's Landing, only the commercial wharf that was originally used by the Night Watchman Industry to load and unload goods remained, and there were ships that could only carry people across the river!

Although he didn't really want to take personal risks when the victory was already decided, but at this moment the enemy chieftain was right in front of him, he couldn't find any reason to avoid the battle passively and let the opponent flee under his nose.

Patting the tile-steel armor on his body, Iger took the helmet he handed over and put it on his head: "He can't run away, the whole army is assembled, attack with me!"

Half a mile away, Stannis, who had just repelled the dock guards and was currently covering his wife and daughter boarding the river, turned his head and saw the Land Grant Army approaching like a black cloud in the distance, and sighed, realizing that after all Can't escape this disaster.

"Jeslin, I will give you another task." Before getting on the horse, he called the guard captain of the Linhe Gate, lowered his voice to ensure that as few people as possible could hear, "Take your men aboard, If I win this battle, I will come back with an empty boat to pick up people after landing, and retreat to the stormy land with me. But if I can't win, then don't run away, take the queen and princess, right here...surrender to the night watchman. "

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Chapter 621

"A sad and worthless curtain call."

Sitting on horseback and calmly watching the soldiers deal with the wounded, carry the dead and gather the prisoners, Iger made a conclusion about the battle in his heart.

Stannis had the opportunity to let the soldiers leave cover and retreat to the south bank of the Blackwater River, but in the end he followed Xiang Yu who refused to cross the river and chose to stay and fight to the death.

Under the leadership of Stannis, the last deer family army he personally led fought bravely and honorably. That wave of indomitable charges that went straight to Aiger even made him regain the sense of crisis in fighting the ghosts.

It's a pity that there are too few of them.

With less than a quarter of the troops, head-to-head with a tiger and wolf army on the plain—not only just passed the army of ghouls, but also just beat the golden group to death, the result is: even without artillery and explosives With the support of the bombardment, the small red ball was still like a piece of charcoal thrown into the pond, and it was swallowed up by the black shirt army in an instant, and it would die or fall, and it couldn't even get close to Iger.

Some captives pointed out that Stannis' body was easily found.Although they have no concept of the "king", even the people outside the Great Wall can understand that they have just killed the "chieftain of the largest hostile tribe" on the entire continent.Arguing over who deserved the most credit and who gave him the last knife almost caused a fight between the two teams. It wasn't until Iger led his bodyguards and rode close without making a sound, that the group who felt that they couldn't take advantage of it turned their heads angrily to search for other spoils.

He ordered that insulting and destroying the remains of the enemy was prohibited, but otherwise he did not spoil the soldiers too much.The sun had just crossed the center line in the sky and began to dip as they watched them jubilantly lift a dead man off the field - the short-lived Baratheon Dynasty, on its last day, didn't even see the sun set.

……

According to the reports of the scouts, two small boats carrying members of the suspected false king's family successfully crossed the river and fled to the opposite bank under the cover of combat.This is bad news, but Iger is not too worried: After the two-deer war, the golden group invasion and the long winter, even if Stannis' wife and daughter managed to escape back to the Stormlands, there would no longer exist. There are still powerful nobles who are capable of raising the Bucks Banner again.

Compared with nervousness, he is more entangled at the moment.

What to do with Stannis' survivors?

This was supposed to be something the Queen needed to consider, but Iger didn't even mention the suggestion in order not to get angry.

Who would have thought that now that Stannis failed to lead his troops to break through the siege, it suddenly became his burden.

If you want to express your loyalty to relieve the queen's worries, the best way is naturally to do what Tywin did to Rhaegar's wife and children: create an "accident" tragedy and present the corpse to the queen, so that the monarch can rest assured after doing the dirty work At the same time, completely eliminate a threat to the new dynasty.

However, it is Daenerys Targaryen who has a blood debt to pay, he Agger West and the Baratheon family have no feud, killing Stannis in a face-to-face battle is one thing, But it would be very damaging to character and prestige to attack unarmed orphans and widows.

Of course, even if he had to bite the bullet out of his incomparable loyalty to the queen, he could still send reliable personnel to catch up with him quietly, creating a disappearance without a corpse or disguising the scene as the work of bandits and robbers.That's a good idea, but then another problem arises: his men don't have the white gloves they need to do the dirty work.

Roose Bolton and Warner Bookwell, one is the Earl of Dreadfort, and the other is a sinner who betrayed Stannis and supported Renly and was exiled. They are both cruel and decisive, but the former is more than a hundred miles north The people from the Western Territory and the Valley sent troops to follow the queen's back, and the latter led an army into the city to attack the Red Castle.

Tell the people outside the Great Wall to chase after them—it’s okay to kill people, but if they do things cleanly and beautifully, no one can see the fault, and they have to keep their mouths shut afterwards and don’t go around bragging about “killing a queen and princess”. sky.

And call the Dornishmen for help?Most of them will be very happy to go out, but because they also belong to the aristocratic class, if there is no great benefit, this group of people will definitely bring the target back alive and throw the problem back to themselves.

Iger sighed and was distressed, but he heard a distant shout in his ears. He looked up and unexpectedly found that the two small boats that had fled to the opposite bank an hour ago returned inexplicably.

He led the guards to rush there, and at the dock where the ship had been surrounded by soldiers, Iger suddenly saw a familiar figure among the golden robes who disembarked one after another.

"My lord commander, Jacelyn Bywater, together with Queen Selyse, Princess Celine, and the remaining guards of the Riverside Gate, surrender to you." A gray-haired old man knelt down halfway, and put the sword with its sheath on Aiger Come forward, "please abide by chivalry and the convention of belligerence, and keep us safe."

***

Grass!

Looking at the old guy who once helped him, and the mother and daughter who hugged behind him and shivered because of fear or anger, knelt in front of him, Iger cursed secretly in his heart.

That dead-headed Erlu suddenly became cunning again at this moment! ?

Bywater the Iron Hand is not the kind of thing that would sell the owner for glory, which shows that his surrender is definitely an order from a higher person.

And this also means that Stannis was not stupid at all to abandon the Red Keep and come out to die.His idea from the very beginning was not to break through or kill himself, but to take his wife and daughter away from the Red Castle... that dangerous place that would be captured by Daenerys sooner or later, and send it to a place that has no blood enmity with him. Come in your own hands!

(Now you don't have to worry about what to do.)

What would have happened if—Princess Elia and her children secretly escaped from Maegor's Tower and surrendered to Tywin Lannister before the troops of the Western Territory entered the Red Keep?

The answer is obvious: no matter how angry the old lion who loves feathers is, he can only bite his teeth and swallow it, pretending to be with Eddard Stark, Horst Tully, Jon Connington and other great nobles. They argued hard and did everything possible to protect their mother, son, and daughter at the expense of offending Robert.

Stannis used his own death to eliminate the greatest threat to Daenerys's legitimacy, and then used this surrender led by his former benefactor and friends in broad daylight under the eyes of everyone - exchanging his life for his life, successfully forcing himself to With no choice but to protect his widow and daughter from Daenerys' wrathful vengeance!

……

Annoyed at being used, Iger dismounted helplessly and quickly helped the old knight who had surrendered. After accepting the surrender, comforting him a little and ordering proper containment and care, he waved his hand and gave another order: "Take the two ladies Miss He, let's go into the city now, to the Red Castle!"

The mastermind is dead, and he has nowhere to vent his anger, but at least he can do something to stop the loss.

Looking at the resolute resistance shown by the defenders of King's Landing in the first wave of attack and defense of the city wall, Stannis most likely did not explain his plan to the defenders.And this also means: if the defenders of the Red Castle don't know where Stannis is going, they are likely to still insist on resisting and waiting for him to withdraw.

If this is the case, then I can at least use the existence of the queen and princess to persuade them to surrender and reduce the unnecessary casualties of the queen's army.