Chapter 171: The army starts
Chapter 171 The army starts
"The first army is composed of the armies of the princes in the northern border, the river bay, and the king's land. His majesty will personally command it. However, considering that your majesty is still young and has no military skills, the command of this army will be handed over to the king. Lord Eddard Stark."
Duke Ed was stunned for a moment when he heard the words, obviously he didn't expect that the old lion would hand over the heavy responsibility to himself.
Of course he would not refuse, so he stood up and bowed slightly to Duke Tywin.
Duke Tywin also nodded in return, and continued: "The first army will attack Dorne from the Prince's Pass and be responsible for the battlefield west of the Sulfur River."
"Yes." Duke Ed took the order and sat down.
"The second army is composed of the armies of the princes of the four lands of Hejian, Stormland, Valley, and Western Region. I will personally lead the army and go south along the bone road to attack the central and eastern regions of Dorne."
Hearing this, Samwell knew that these two armies were the main attack direction of this war.
Because the Crimson Mountains lie between them, Prince's Pass and Bone Road are the only two options to attack Dorne from north to south, but now there is actually a breakthrough point in the west of Dorne, Duke Tywin should not miss it.
"The Baron of Yingzuiyu."
At this moment, Samwell heard his name.
"Lord Tywin." He immediately stood up and saluted.
"I hope you can represent the Iron Throne to Starfall City and persuade Count Natalie to join the righteous side."
"Lord Tywin, Earl Natalie is the lord of Dorne after all, and rejecting the Martell family's recruitment is already the limit of what can be done."
Duke Tywin stared at Samwell with those shining golden eyes:
"Actually, my request is not high. I don't need her to make a clear statement, and I don't need to send troops from Starfall City. I just need her to allow our army to land in Starfall City."
Samwell thought for a while and asked, "How big is the army?"
"About 2,000 cavalry." Duke Tywin said, "This is my planned third route army. They will go deep into the hinterland of Dorne, harass and attack Dorne's rear towns, and cut off the supply line of the Dorne army."
Samwell pondered for a moment, thinking that the passage of an army of this size through Starfall City should not arouse a strong reaction from the local Dornish people. At worst, they chose to land secretly at night.
However, it is not his style to say yes.
"Lord Tywin, this is probably very difficult to do. After all, you know how xenophobic the Dornish people are. I am worried that your third army will be trapped in Starfall City. What's more, how will the supply of this army be solved? It can't be all about plundering the Dornishmen, can it?"
"I remember that Starfall City still owes a foreign debt of 70,000 golden dragons?" Duke Tywin asked.
"Yes." Samwell was overjoyed. Is the old lion planning to spend money?
quick! Kill me with money!
"You tell Earl Natalie that as long as she promises to let my army pass and secretly provide daily supplies, after the war, the 70,000 golden dragon Lannister family will help her pay back."
Samwell was overjoyed. You must know that the 70,000 golden dragons in Starfall City were owed to him.
But then, he thought that the debt was mortgaged by the giant sword [Dawn]. If Starfall City also requested the money, does that mean that the mortgage must be returned...
It's okay, 70,000 is just the principal, and there is interest.
Samwell was relieved, and immediately put on an extremely sincere expression: "Yes, Lord Tywin, I will write to Count Natalie about your conditions, and I believe she will definitely not refuse the call of justice."
Duke Tywin saw that the other party was so confident that he didn't go there in person just to write a letter, so he knew that the arrangement of this army should be no problem.
"The fourth army is the navy, composed of the Royal Fleet and the Arbor Island Fleet, under the unified command of Earl Paxter Redwyne. The goal is to control the Green Blood River and cut off the connection between the Dorne towns along the route."
"Yes, my lord." Earl Paxter stood up and took orders.
Samwell frowned, because he found that the commander of the navy was not the Sea Lord, Duke Stannis Baratheon—of course, the eldest brother of the former king was not present at all.
It seems that Duke Stannis has a lot of opinions on the Lannister family taking power.
But since Duke Stannis did not come, it is estimated that the Royal Fleet will not have a few ships to participate in the battle. The main force of the navy this time should still be the Qingting Island Fleet.
Now it seems that Duke Tywin's battle plan is basically the same as Daeron I's strategy of conquering Dorne back then, except that there are more cavalry who landed from Starfall City and went deep into the heart of Dorne to harass.
If all goes well, the Iron Throne should be able to replicate the success of the conquest war that year.
However, the difficulty in conquering Dorne has never been capturing the city, but how to make the people of Dorne kneel down and surrender.
"Unyielding, unyielding, unyielding."
This family language of the Martell family is an excellent portrayal of the character of the Dornish people.
With the troops assembled by the Iron Throne this time, it is really not too difficult to capture the town of Dorne. It is a big deal to use human lives. But the problem is that after the town is captured, the Dornish people will not surrender easily, they will flee to the mountains Continuing to resist in the jungles, jungles, and deserts, this kind of guerrilla warfare and security warfare is the most troublesome.
"The Conqueror" Aegon Targaryen brought three giant dragons and couldn't solve this problem. In the end, the Dornishmen attacked and killed a giant dragon and took away a wife.
Daeron I also captured all the towns of Dorne, but still could not prevent the people of Dorne from resisting. The guerrilla harassment of Dorne in three years caused the Iron Throne to lose 40,000 soldiers, and even the appointed governor was assassinated. In the end, Dorne There were riots throughout the territory, and the Iron Throne army had no choice but to withdraw.
Later, Daeron I was unwilling to fail, and once again assembled an army to make a comeback, but fell into the trap of the Dornishmen, and even lost his own life.
In the end, it was the successor "Blessed" Baelor I who walked barefoot on the bone road alone and jumped into the deep pit full of poisonous snakes, finally convinced the people of Dorne to believe in the sincerity of the Iron Throne, and finally through marriage. Dorn surrendered peacefully.
It can be seen from this that it is really not an easy task to lower the proud heads of the people in this land.
This is also the reason why Samwell, who obviously won the Battle of Starfall, wanted to push Natalie Dane to the position of Earl.
If he dares to take that position himself, expect to see the Dornish people continue to assassinate and rebel.
So don't look at the menacing Iron Throne this time, the outcome of this war is really hard to say.
If Duke Tywin dared to use the tough methods he used against the vassals of the Western Territory to deal with the Dornish people, he would be bloodied.
The bones of the nobles of Dorne are much harder than those of the nobles of the Western Region.
Afterwards, the meeting discussed the details of the battle. Samwell crossed his arms and watched coldly. In this war, the Iron Throne and Dorne don't care who wins or loses, he doesn't really care, as long as both sides bleed.
After the meeting, everyone dispersed.
Samwell wrote a letter to Natalie when he returned to the camp, writing down Duke Tywin's requirements and conditions, and at the same time giving his own suggestions.
Three days later, he received a reply. Of course, Natalie would not refuse his request.
When he informed Duke Tywin of the result, the lion of the Western Region officially issued an order to march on behalf of the king.
Thus, the four-way army officially launched.
Samwell's own Yingzui Island army followed the River Bend Army, under the unified command of Duke Ed, and he was arranged to follow the third cavalry to perform rear harassment tasks.
In fact, this task was also requested by Samwell himself, because if he followed the first army, there would be no benefit at all. They were all boring siege battles, and Samwell had no interest in participating.
If you follow the third cavalry to harass the rear, you will have a lot more freedom in tactics. Although it is more dangerous, he can be said to be the best single-soldier combat ability in Westeros. It is not difficult to escape without being trapped in the siege of the army.
With a falcon scouting from above, as long as Samwell is careful, he won't let himself be in a desperate situation.
It was the five hundred soldiers he left behind. Samwell was a little worried that if he was not there, they would be treated as cannon fodder by others.
He wanted to hand over these soldiers to his younger brother Dickon to take care of them, but Dickon also wanted to follow him to the rear to carry out harassment tactics.
In desperation, Samwell had to hand over his army to his uncle, Sir Aleken Florent.
The eldest son of Liangshui City is still quite influential in the River Bend Army. Samwell can rest assured that his army is entrusted to him.
The commander of the Third Route Army this time is Earl Yohn Royce from Runestone City in the valley.
This old man known as "Bronze Jon" is tall and has gray hair, but his thick palms and strong body are still not inferior to young people.
The Royce family is one of the most powerful and oldest families in the Valley, and its history can even be traced back to the distant Dawn Era. This family has many sets of bronze armor that have been handed down from ancient times. Strength, which can protect the knight inside from harm.
The title of "Bronze Jorn" actually comes from this.
Samwell was staring at the suit of armor worn by "Bronze Jon" at this moment, unable to move his eyes away.
Under the twilight of the morning sun, this bronze armor looked deep and introverted, but the densely engraved mysterious runes on it exuded a vast and mysterious atmosphere.
What a sweet baby!
I don’t know if the Royce family will sell it or not…
"Lord Caesar, the ship is coming, let's go." Earl Jorn didn't care about Samwell's staring gaze. It wasn't once or twice that his armor was noticed, and he could only be proud of it.
"Oh, okay." Samwell then calmed down and walked towards the big ship parked at the pier.
But when he came close and saw the name of the first ship clearly, he stopped in his tracks.
The Valiant Joffrey.
Samwell felt that the ship would sink sooner or later...
"Ahem, Lord Yon, I'll take the next boat." Saying that, Samwell ran away quickly.
But the name of the second boat made Samwell frowned even more—
Sweet Cersei.
This mother and son don't have any self-knowledge.
Fortunately, there are quite a lot of ships coming this time, there are seventeen ships, and Samwell still has a choice.
The third ship is called the Intrepid Robert.
Well, this is okay, even though Robert is dead, Samwell still feels that this boat is safer.
At least its name will not offend the gods.
After the 2,000 cavalry and 4,000 horses were all boarded, the 17 large ships raised their sails and slowly sailed into the Dorne Sea.
Heading towards the rising sun hanging high in the east.
Recommend a new book from a book friend:
(end of this chapter)