Chapter 235

Chapter 235

2021-01-06

Chapter 235 Defeat of the Southern Expedition and Relief at the Encirclement

Storm's End itself is a huge tower, surrounded by 100 feet High, 40 feet thick... The seaside side is even surrounded by an outer city wall that is twice as thick.

This is the strongest castle up and down the Seven Kingdoms. Like Casterly Rock and Eyrie, it has never been breached frontally. Taking advantage of the chaotic moment when Renly was dead and the Stormlands princes were headless looking for a way out, the Golden Corps relied on deceptive sneak attack to capture Storm's End, but this is not normal. Any other way to take it...

Stannis, however, has lived here for over a decade, and even used it as a basis for defending the world-famous "Siege of Storm's End", and is familiar with Every brick, every stone, every grass and every tree in this castle. He is confident that he can take it easily, show oneself as the new king's strength and authority, and even overwhelm the Seven Kingdoms.

But it wasn't as easy as Stannis realized when he actually attacked the castle. Legend has it that Magic is woven into the city wall of Storm's End. Unfortunately, this Magic does not seem to be made thin and brittle because the siege fighter was born and grew up here, and its legal owner makes the city wall thin and brittle. Stannis's business when he was defending this place has now become an obstacle preventing him from winning the war: this fortified city, which was originally a famous continent, was rebuilt and repaired by him during the War of the Reavers. loopholes.

After more than ten years, Stannis finally had to be oneself to experience the taste of gnawing on this hard bone.

 …

No loopholes are not the same as invulnerability. Stannis knows which direction to attack will make it difficult for the defenders to pour defensive firepower, and where the city wall is low and easy. Climbing, which door is the easiest to break through... Although Storm's End is difficult to attack, as long as he is given time to prepare calmly, it will only be a matter of time before a series of targeted siege weapons are constructed and assembled, and it will only be a matter of time before he takes it home.

But many changes made his wishful thinking fail.

First, Dorne's army - led by Red Viper Oberyn Martell, marched north in blatant disregard of orders, approached as far as a dozen or more li from Storm's End before stopping to camp, and refused to advance. Come to the face to explain this deployment. Although he did not take the initiative to provoke or attack, this obvious hostility forced Stannis to assign a large number of people to guard and guard, which greatly slowed down the progress of the siege.

Next came the North Army, who had their third encounter with the Reach Army west of Bronzegate. This time, Randyll Tarly brought the Reach Goblin along the Roseroad at a moderate pace, and Robb Stark was no longer able to repel the opponent like in the previous two battles in Westerlands and King's Landing. day. The North army fought a hard battle in the First Stage since its dispatch, and suffered a small loss due to the inferior number of troops. They were forced to retreat to Bronzegate, relying on the castle to continue to block the Reach army from approaching Storm's End.

What's more troubling is that the news of the Ironmen's invasion and raiding of the North also came at this time... The hearts of the northern soldiers were floating, and everyone was thinking about returning, and the fighting intent dropped sharply.

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The situation was compounded by an empty treasury - every day of the war he had to pay his soldiers. The pressure on the funds did ease after the severe punishment of Crownlands and Stormlands princes who betrayed oneself and a large ransom from Tywin Lannister last month, but a month later, the money is almost spent again .

Stannis sat in the tent, staring at the table full of bad news, feeling overwhelmed by the weight of reality. He began to regret having driven Melisandre away. This damn woman, keep on saying that oneself is the chosen one, Prince that was Promised, the True Lord of Seven Kingdoms... But when oneself bewitched to believe it, and even commits murder kin on impulse, but doesn't help Oneself firmly established the country, but forced oneself to go north to deal with wildling.

What's worse, at the moment when oneself needed the help of transcendent power the most, she just walked away, slapped her ass and ran to the Wall... Oneself did let her leave on impulse that day, but it was true. I didn't say let her run that far!

Want to summon her back? But if you do that, where is the man's face and the king's dignity?

I was thinking, more troubles came to my door.

"Your Majesty, the messenger of the Iron Vault asks to see you."

Stannis' face turned ashen: "I'm here to ask for a debt again...don't see it!"

Barristan, who was standing by the side, couldn't stand it any longer: "Your Majesty, you can see everyone, but you can't see the iron vault... In case they take this offense to mean that you intend to deny the debt, and turn to other people who are willing to admit the debt. The Seven Kingdoms will never have peace!"

"Should I be afraid of these bankers across the Narrow Sea?"

"Your Majesty, we all know Your courage is the best of the Seven Kingdoms." Onion Knight Davos understood Stannis' temper, and hurriedly said: "But you don't need to take pointless adventures to prove it... The best thing to do is to summon the emissary of the Iron Vault, Declare that you admit the debt, and explain to him that you are currently experiencing difficulties with insufficient funds. Just make a statement, you don't need to pay half Golden Dragon...you can drag this difficulty over."

Stannis understands that the two high-ranking ministers are offering loyal and upright advice, but he just can't get enough of it: Robert, who has earned unprecedented personal prestige by borrowing money to spread his wealth, has turned the Seven Kingdoms into a mess. After oneself took over, there is no Golden Dragon in the treasury, but it is not fair to pay the appalling huge debt for oneself's lavish brother!
There is no such thing as fairness in the world, the throne that should belong to oneself, isn't it still recaptured by war and evil means? Stannis quickly straightened his thoughts, sorted out his appearance, and said with a stern face: "Take that guy Call in."

...

A new Kingsguard turned and left the tent, soon bringing in a stranger.

"Your Majesty, clerk at the Iron Vault, Curtis Lane." The Braavos man who entered the door self-introduced: "I came here to visit Your Majesty to discuss the debt between you and the Iron Vault. "

"Ha - the debt problem. Yeah, I didn't get half of it from the Iron Vault, but I owe you millions of Golden Dragons as soon as we meet, you call it the 'debt problem'!" "

"Two,154,621 Golden Dragon to be exact, which is the amount in case Iron Throne defaulted in the last repayment cycle..." Ke Thies added: "The debt belongs to Iron Throne and whoever sits on the throne has to pay it, and we trust Stannis Your Majesty to be sensible and understand that. Now, we would like your explanation on the default in the last repayment cycle."

"Well, the explanation is - now I'm burning money to fight, and I can't get a penny out." Stannis wasn't interested in the exact numbers at all, two million and two hundred thousand, What's the difference now: "The debt belongs to Iron Throne? Very well, Barristan, take this honorable messenger back to King's Landing, and take Iron Throne out of the throne room and ship it to Braavos."

...

What's going on? The intelligence revealed that Stannis Baratheon was a serious, almost boring man, and it would be a shame not to mention him. Curtis twisted his fingers, realizing that oneself might have come by accident and bumped into each other's anger. Lingya's mouth was completely out of action when caught off guard, and it took a few seconds before he spoke again: "Your Majesty, what we mean when we say 'debt belongs to Iron Throne' - debt belongs to the rightful ruler of Westeros. If you just said, yes Refuse to admit that oneself is King Robert's rightful heir?"

"It's just a joke, Mr. Curtis, I'm sure you understand the concept of humor." Davos hurriedly interjected, "King Stannis is King Robert's rightful heir, he admits his brother's debt, but we can't afford to pay it back until we wipe out the false king who occupies Storm's End."

...

(I Is it the rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, it's your turn to make comments on the moneylenders?) Stannis's heart lit up, but Davos's intervention calmed him down a bit. It's not what the king should do to speak quickly. He breathed deeply and swallowed the words that came into his mouth: "Okay, don't babble, I admit the debt, but I ask for a deferral of repayment. At the same time, I hope Apply for a new loan to address the underpayment I'm currently experiencing."

"The fee for deferring your repayment is not low, Your Majesty If you decide to apply, I will contact you later. Your Master of Coin will negotiate and handle." Curtis lowered his head: "As for the new loan, please forgive me - according to the latest risk assessment of Westeros by Iron Vault, the loan risk has seriously exceeded the standard. Before the end of this winter, I will No longer authorized to issue loans of any kind to any faction in Westeros."

"Risk assessment, exceeding the standard." Is it because of wildling, or that damn ghoul? These new words made Stannis even more unhappy: "In short, I'm forcing me to pay back the money first, but I won't provide any assistance? Then what's the benefit to oneself by admitting this debt?"

"The benefit is that ——The iron vault will provide protection and intelligence services other than money." Curtis replied: "As for the new loan, it is not absolutely impossible to obtain. If you insist, you can fulfill the repayment obligation in the next repayment cycle, here On the basis of a higher level staff to try to apply."

"Provide protection and intelligence services? What does this mean, if I don't pay back, my safety will not be guaranteed; Intelligence, I can't win the war?" Stannis felt threatened and finally annoyed: "I have my Kingsguard and the Minister of Intelligence, no need for the 'protection' and 'intelligence service' of the Iron Vault! Now you've got a response, I Acknowledging the debt, but paying it back until I have it!"

"No threat, Your Majesty, please forgive me if I offended you." Curtis bowed respectfully: "You I have understood the attitude of , I will go back to King's Landing next, and go through the application and procedures for deferment of repayment with your Master of Coin. But out of courtesy and the right to know, I must inform Your Majesty that deferral of repayment will cause serious problems In the long run, it will be harmful and useless..."

Stannis grabbed the water glass on the table, and almost couldn't help but imitated his brother's appearance and smashed people with objects: "Let's make money? Go away, Get out as you want! Now—out of my sight, I'm going to discuss something else with my dignitaries!"

After the banker left, Davos sighed, continuing to Stannis Report: "Your Majesty, the ransom that Duke Tywin paid us is also about to be exhausted, and Robb Stark has written for the third time, requesting to return to the North to quell the Ironmen rebellion... Eddard Stark has insisted on your rightful kingship. Die, now North is half occupied by the Ironmen, and we are about to be unable to supply the soldiers' salaries. The subordinate's opinion is that it is better to return to King's Landing to rest and take a breath before thinking about quelling the rebellion?"

"Retreat first? Then allow the man who calls himself Aegon VI to stand in Storm's End, where I was born, and pose a greater threat to my rule?"

"Your Majesty, except Raven In addition to the request above... Robb Stark also sent someone to send another secret letter, marked it can only be opened by you. The letter is here, please check it with Your Majesty eye. ”

The advantage of marking the letter in person and sending someone instead of Raven to deliver the letter is that the risk of possible leakage is reduced. And at this juncture, it is obviously not good news, Stannis took it with a sullen face and sealed it with fire paint The letter, opened and read.

A half-minute later, he crumpled the letter and threw it into the stove.

As Barristan and Davos watched, Stannis spoke. "The general idea is that, whether I agree or not, the North army will withdraw from the battlefield in five days, and return north to deal with the Ironmen. ”

The tents were quiet.

The North army, rallied to Iron Throne's call twice in a year, has overdone its duty to protect the king...he's saying hello It is not against any of the laws of the Seven Kingdoms to leave the battlefield afterward, even if the king is impossible to force them to stay and continue to fight.

There is no turning back, and Robb Stark wrote this secret letter to prevent the leakage of information. With the defeat of the Wang army, benevolence and righteousness have been exhausted.

Stannis has blue veins on his forehead, and he understands: oneself has no choice. Without the nearly 20,000 North army, the Reach army that has lost its containment, whether it is advancing eastward to relieve Storm's End , or go north to threaten King's Landing, oneself can't stop it. He can only rely on Crownlands, Riverlands and Vale armies to gain the absolute upper hand in the confrontation with Reach and Dorne armies plus a Golden Corps, when the time comes let alone attack Storm's End, even getting out of Stormlands and back to King's Landing is a problem.

“Your Majesty. Barristan looked at the silent king, knowing that he had to say something to prevent Stannis from thinking: "The inability to protect the territory of the bannermen under his command is the greatest shame of the monarch. Robb, as the new North guardian, is completely understandable, not determined to betray. you. The departure of the North army will inevitably affect the fighting will of the Riverlands and Vale armies... Rather than openly disbanding after five days, and then being defeated in a flank, it is better to take advantage of the North army before leaving and the armies of all countries still united and obeying your command. With a decent exit from the battlefield, Xu Tu made a plan. "

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"No matter how graceful you are when you exit the battlefield, failure is an irrefutable fact. "

Stannis isn't the type of person who can't accept the truth, and Davos shrugged. "Your Majesty, it's just an unsolicited loss." The Three Kingdoms of the North and the Crownlands are still under your control, half of the Stormlands and most of the Stormlands nobles are still loyal to you, you are the recognized king of the Seven Kingdoms, and you have failed capital, why bother with such words? "

"Wait, who said that quitting the battlefield must be a failure?" Barristan disagrees: "Why don't we just go with the flow and help House Stark stabilize North, and then claim that we're out of the field because we want to divert the target and put down the Iron Islands House Greyjoy rebellion first?" When Kraken is overthrown, House Stark will appreciate Your Majesty's attention and support, and will definitely support you against the pseudo-dragons launched by Reach and the Golden Group! "

"But we can't really put down the House Greyjoy rebellion." Davos questioned: "Once we send our troops to the west coast, Reach and Dorne will have to hold that 'Aegon VI' into King's Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms and a few small broken islands standing in the sunset sea. Heavy, presumably needless to say. "

......

"Wait...you two, be quiet. Listening to the conversation between Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and Hand of the King, Stannis suddenly had some thoughts, and his expression changed from gloomy to decisive: "Barristan reminded me, who said that if you can't get Storm's End back, you will fail?" Since the North army is going to return north to save the family in five days... Then why can't I use the last five days to make a big article? "

"Your Majesty mean?" "

"I just reflected on it carefully. For a long time before, we all fell into a misunderstanding - House Targaryen was the Royal Family, when someone came out to make trouble under his name , you must destroy him first. "Stannis slowly said: "But calm down and think about it, who ruled that?" What am I in a hurry? Targaryen's former allies are Reach and Dorne... Now, the two he can win are my enemies, and among the remaining five kingdoms, the four kingdoms are the alliance that overthrew the True Dragon Dynasty, and it is impossible to fall to him, and the remaining The next House Lannister also has a deep hatred with Targaryen... Even if I let the so-called Aegon stay in Westeros, he will not be able to win more allies and become stronger! "

Davos seemed to understand what Stannis meant: "So..."

"I don't need to fight Storm's End at all, but to deal with the pseudo-dragon allies first!" Stannis was a little chagrined why oneself didn't figure this out until Robb Stark decided to go north: "If only I'd beat Reach and Dorne to the point where I couldn't get any more troops, and then I'd go back and deal with this so-called Aegon VI..."

"That's right, Your Majesty! Take the last five days to make an essay..." Barristan also understood what the king said, and cheered up: "We can leave a group of suspects to continue to surround Storm's End, and the main force will quietly withdraw, see Can we sneak attack on Randyll Tarly or Oberyn Martell by surprise, no matter which one of them is hit hard, then evacuate or go back to the other, the initiative is completely in our hands!”

"That's right, it's a pity that I figured this out too late." Stannis gnashing teeth said: "Dorne has been confronting our army all the time. I'm afraid it won't be easy to sneak attack, so we can only choose Reach army. We immediately If you leave and march quickly, you will be able to circle to the west of Bronzegate in two days, and attack the North Army on both sides, and you will be able to smash the enemy army!"

——

[Da Zhang, make up for yesterday , in addition, owe thirteen updates]

(end of this chapter)