Game of Thrones: Joffrey the Chosen

"I want to go too."

Joffrey lifted his visor and took a breath.

Having been cooped up inside for so long, sweat streamed down his forehead and down his temples, stinging his eyes.

James immediately agreed.

"The Hound brags all the time that he killed someone when he was twelve. You've grown so big, it's time for you to go out and show your skills."

But Ed was somewhat unhappy.

"Your Majesty, it is enough that you have boosted our morale from the city walls."

"Going out of the city to meet the enemy will inevitably involve some risks."

Joffrey didn't think so.

"Leaving the city is indeed dangerous." He took off his gloves and wiped the sweat from his face. "But what will the garrison think if I don't go?"

"It is our duty to defend the city at the risk of our lives."

"But what about going out of the city to meet the enemy? It's for the king's unseen and intangible glory."

He clenched his fist, feeling the warm, damp touch.

"I'll hide in the city, and they'll say after the war that we won."

"But if I stand in front of them, they will say that it was King Joffrey who led them to victory."

Ed pursed his lips.

"Besides, isn't Robb the same?" Joffrey brought up his brother, "He's only two years older than me, and he's already led armies into battle, twice at that."

"From Winterfell to the Vale, and then a few months later, from Winterfell to King's Landing."

"The Starks don't have many people like that, do they?"

Ed was silent for a moment, then finally nodded.

"Then I want to go too." A voice came from below.

The little devil sneaked onto the city wall.

He was dressed in fine red heavy armor and held a double-edged steel battle axe in his arms.

Now it was James's turn to be unhappy.

"Tyrion, what are you doing getting involved?" He gestured dramatically up and down, "Has the situation deteriorated to the point where even my little brother has to go into battle?"

"If someone bends down, you can't even reach them on horseback. Or are you trying to chop off their knees?"

The little devil made a funny face.

"His Majesty has gone, so of course others should go." He gripped the axe blade and slammed the handle heavily onto the ground.

"If I, a dwarf, go, won't everyone else be even more eager to go?"

……

At the king's gates, warhorses snorted and pawed the ground restlessly with their hooves.

"Horse, you'd better bring me back safely." Joffrey patted its neck and stuffed an apple into its mouth.

He could sense that the horse was just as nervous as he was.

She cherishes her life just like him.

This is a three-year-old stallion, a nameday gift Robert gave him three years ago.

His name is Ma (马).

Joffrey was terrible at naming things; all the good names he could think of had already been taken, and he didn't want to waste his brainpower on them.

Similarly, the white deer is called a deer.

Once the war is over and we have time, we'll have to train that deer properly.

In the future, when I go out to war, I can ride it to the front of the battle and the enemy's morale will collapse by half.

That said, compared to the lowly soldiers who couldn't even get armor, the horses were treated ridiculously well.

It was clad in fine chainmail, with steel neck guards and face shields, and the edges of its soft leather saddle were gilded.

"All team up!"

Ed's voice echoed beneath the city gates.

There are over a thousand surviving members of the Golden Robe and veterans, plus the mercenaries who slacked off for half the day, and the new recruits who have only been training for a short time.

They managed to assemble a fighting force, albeit with great difficulty.

Joffrey glanced at the faces.

Some were nervous, some were numb, and some simply acted like it was none of their business.

Robb's reinforcements also decreased from the initial 30,000 to 20,000.

Then there's the current two thousand.

He selected the most elite knights during the march, and mobilized all the horses, one man and three horses, traveling day and night.

The march from the Trident to King's Landing normally takes seven or eight days.

He only took two days.

I must say, driving on the Kingsroad in Westeros is fast.

But the cost is obvious: many people have fallen behind along the way.

Robb's reinforcements were exhausted and had just fought a fierce battle in the north of the city, so they needed a short rest.

Red Crab was also very shrewd. Under the pretext of helping to guard the fleet and prisoners, he only sent his eldest son and half of the soldiers to assist in the battle.

But time waits for no one.

Joffrey needs to join in while Stannis and Renly are still locked in battle, adding fuel to the fire in the chaotic situation.

But looking into the soldiers' eyes and listening to their conversation, Joffrey realized...

They don't seem to want to fight.

"What?! They're going out of the city to meet the enemy? So those people weren't our reinforcements!"

"Then what's the point of going out? Let them fight it out, wouldn't it be better to just watch the show?"

"Exactly, it's much safer inside the walls."

Joffrey listened and kept it in mind.

It's pointless to reason with these people, and talking about defending the city from the enemy is just empty rhetoric.

They don't understand, and they don't care.

But they knew that staying in the city was safe, while going out might mean death.

Forcing him out would certainly work, but Joffrey didn't want to do that.

Although these men were a bunch of lousy soldiers, they were the strongest army that King's Landing could muster, directly under his command.

He needs to take them out and put them to a real test in blood and fire.

not to mention.

Joffrey himself also needed this experience.

"You bunch of cowards."

The little devil climbed onto an empty wooden crate at some point and looked down at the whispering soldiers.

"Even I, a half-human, a little demon monkey, dare to go out of the city to meet the enemy."

"You perfectly healthy people, with all four limbs intact, are cowering here in fear?"

The knights lowered their heads.

But most soldiers just watched, their eyes showing no emotion.

Joffrey spurred his horse forward.

The warhorses trotted along, and the soldiers quickly parted to the sides, creating a crooked passage.

He took off his helmet, revealing his young face.

"Gentlemen, I understand your thoughts."

"The men are fighting amongst themselves here, and it's you lowly soldiers who are getting hurt and dying. What does it matter to you who wins and who loses?"

"I won't say who's right or wrong, or who started this fight."

"It's no use."

Joffrey raised his hand and pointed outside the city.

"But listen carefully."

"Those two outside the city, Stannis and Renly, are my two uncles."

"They broke in to take my life, and to take the lives of us men."

"At the same time, they want the entire city dead!"

"You know better than I what will happen after the city falls. Looting money, looting food, looting women. Your homes, your wives, your parents, your children."

Joffrey drew his sword and pointed it high into the sky.

"I'm not asking you to shout 'Long live Joffrey,' nor am I asking you to shout 'Long live King's Landing.'"

"I left the city for my own sake."

"I want you to do this too, for your own sake."

"Follow me!"

"Follow me!"

"Drive those bastards outside the city who want to burn, kill, and loot into the river! Drive them out of our land!"

Joffrey suddenly spurred the horse's belly.

Horses trampled through the water accumulated under the city gate, rushed up the city wall, and leaped out of the assault port.

After a moment of silence.

Behind him, footsteps thundered and horses' hooves roared.

"Aaaaaah—!"

I don't know who was the first to shout it out.

There was fear and tension in that voice, but more than anything, there was a kind of reckless madness.

Then came the second, the third, the tenth, the hundredth, and the thousandth.

"Aaaaaah—!"