Chapter 443

2021-01-06

Chapter 443 Long Lake Bloody Battle (Part 1)
Under the dark sky without the stars and the moon, the North Army The camp was brightly lit, and there were soldiers running around and silhouettes they brought up.

The lightly loaded cavalry reconnaissance team heading north, the spooky crow constantly flying in to deliver the letter with precision to Robb's hands - both brought the same information: the ghoul army was ten miles north of the Great Way before dark , according to normal speed, will reach their hastily constructed temporary position before midnight.

The North army is lucky, they are about to face an army whose number has been weakened to one tenth at its peak, and the magic power of the Others has been almost exhausted, which can be called "an army". arrow at the end of its flight" enemies; but at the same time, they are also about to be the first in this war - on level ground with ghouls without Wildfire, bombs, Dragonsteel weapons and fortifications Human troops engaged.

In the afternoon, the Tallhart family troops also came to join the army from the rear, and the total strength of the North Army reached 7,000. Fragile fences and barricades built from freshly felled trees and shoveled snowdrifts all day, and a handful of incendiary weapons like Dragonglass and kerosene tar -- all they have right now.

The enemy was described by the scouts..."Densely packed a large group of Kuroshio."

The torches and oil lamps brought with the army were taken without hesitation. When I came out, the rays of light illuminated the entire defense line, but after all, it failed to penetrate the heavy snow and shoot into the darkness outside the camp. The soldiers grabbed their bows and arrows and lances and stood behind the low wooden wall facing the north, quietly waiting for the final battle to come.

The nobles immediately assembled and brought their soldiers north after receiving the order. Could it be that they participated in the Westerlands lion slaughter, the Renly Baratheon remnants, the Reach land, the Golden Corps, and even not long ago. The best of the best in the Ironmen battle. But at this moment, under the icy darkness, the stories told by the old people many years ago that can make little children scream and big children have nightmares continue to emerge before them: White Walkers in the woods, icy shadows, riding Huge spiders chase hot-blooded human hunters...

The fear buried deep in the Soul churned up, no matter how brave and experienced and knowledgeable Warrior was, it was inevitable that he would shiver coldly because of tension and cold.

 …

The Ravens were the first to stir, they flapped their wings and made a frantic noise, and over time even started to hit the crow cage, a pair of people who wished to dismantle the cage and fly away Looking crazy, the manager tried to appease them with minced meat and corn, but was pecked through the cage and gloves, so he had to give up and let them toss.

Then came the dogs, and each family more or less habitually brought some war dogs for chasing and hunting to supplement combat readiness, especially the hounds that House Bolton brought from Fort Dread. - At first they just huddled together with their tails tucked into a ball and whimpered in fear, but soon they became manic as if infected by Raven's fluttering in the cage. Yelling, desperately trying to break free from the rope and flee south. The trainer didn't even hold on to one of them when dealing with the situation, and let several escaped with the dog leash and quickly disappeared into the dark night.

In the end, people barely ended their mess by tying all the dogs to stakes that were driven deep into the permafrost.

But even when held firmly, the beasts roared and whined, pulling the leash so loudly that the soldiers cursed.

The snow is getting bigger and bigger, the soldiers have to add kerosene and block the falling snow to maintain the flames in the iron basin and on the torch, and some impatient nobles begin to question whether the ghouls are Drill into Wolfswood and bypass their camp. After waiting in awe for an hour or two that exceeded expectations, the enemy finally appeared in the sentinel's field of vision.

Because there is no commanding height advantage of a solid wall, the oncoming ghoul sea is not a black tide in the eyes of the North soldiers on the low sentry tower, but a thick black line, as if suddenly Growing out of the dark horizon in the distance, kicking the snow and rushing towards them, it took only a few minutes from the sound of the siren to the moment they were in sight.

Crows chirping, dogs barking, horses neighing, as well as the cold air and low exclamations of the soldiers around them—all sounds seemed to be far away after being weakened by the heavy snow, but the next second, the whistle The loud order of the front-line commander on the tower brought everyone back to reality from the trance.

"The enemy has arrived," roared the voice as loud as a bell. "Draw arrows, set fires, and build bows!"

Hundreds of feathered arrows were removed from hundreds of quivers He pulled it out from the middle, leaned into the flames, lit the tarpaulin wrapped around the front end, and hooked up hundreds of bowstrings.

"My God...how many are there?"

"Don't talk nonsense, hold on, don't panic!" Hong Zhong's voice said again, "Okay, hold on... Wait for my order... draw the bow!" The taut bow made a creaking sound, the tail feathers of the rocket were pulled to the ears of the archer, and the bright rays of light at the front made them completely unable to see the outside world, and they could only determine those things by feeling They were rushing towards the camp through the heavy snow through a low wall, their arms trembling with fear and fighting spirit. "Wait a minute!" The commander's voice emphasized again, and after the archers opened their bows for two seconds, finally—"Let go!"

Hundreds of feathered arrows with flaming light shot out, crossing the short distance. The wall flew into the air, and then smashed into the ghoul tide like a Starfall, and the naked eye visibly slowed the enemy a shot.

"Light up again, build the bow! Let it go!"

Another sound of sou sou's arrows.

"Change Dragonglass arrows! Infantrymen come forward, prepare!"

After two rounds of rockets, the Kuroshio rushed to the wooden wall, and the archers had no time to wait for the rockets to heat up and shoot out. Started using the small number of obsidian weapons that Night's Watch provided early on. Under the attack, some ghouls stumbled and fell, and some burst into flames, but the huge number advantage made them not need to worry about losses. After another round of Dragonglass arrow rain, the corpse sea finally arrived. After the low fence made of ice and wood, the roar began to really impact the defense line of the North soldiers.

Because of the rush of time, the North soldiers impossible to build the wall strong and tall, they just sharpened one end of the newly felled tree and nailed it into the frozen soil as much as possible, and then shoveled as much ice and snow behind the wall as possible. Slap firmly as a support. It was a wooden fence rather than a wall, and beyond this fence, the soldiers also followed the instructions of Night's Watch to clear the snow, and paved the narrow with the demolished carriage, barrels and even tent materials. of the isolation tape and doused with kerosene. The dense rockets quickly ignited it and formed a raging wall of flames, giving the soldiers in the barracks a sense of security.

 …

Relying on the combat guidance sent by Night's Watch with the crow, Robb Stark also made a simple tactic for his battle.

The spiked stakes and low walls forcibly created favorable terrain on both sides of the Kingsroad in Pingchuan, which could delay the enemy's offensive. The archers could take the opportunity to project arrows for the first batch of kills, and a flame barrier It can also effectively kill the enemies who are blocked in piles outside the wall; then arrange the infantry to line up behind the wall to harvest the enemies who rush through the flames and climb over the wall, while the cavalry and reserves patrol back and forth with torches, ready to deal with any enemy. Enemies rushing through the line of defense.

A discerning person should see it here: Robb is trying to replicate Night's Watch's mature tactics of relying on fortresses to defend against ghouls in this wilderness by Long Lake.

There is no problem with its ideas and tactical arrangements, and Others, who have a serious lack of magic power, no longer cast spells to extinguish the flames like they attack Queenscrown... But the difficulty of the no-fuck suit is: the flame isolation belt made of ordinary materials , in terms of firepower, scale and span, it can't compare with the fire sea annihilation area carefully prepared by Night's Watch, and the single-layer low wall or wooden fence hastily built with wood, ice and snow can't match the number of points along the Wall. In the months of time, the high and thick walls made of stone strips and frozen soil were compared, and the limited number of Dragonglass weapons made it even worse.

A little bit here, a little bit there... In the end, what appeared in the battle was a world-wide difference in comprehensive effects.

And their opponents?
Emotionless ghouls are not demoralized by losing a series of battles, nor are they afraid of spikes, bumps from barricades, and burning flames without being sentient. There are still more than 10,000 ghouls arranged on the narrow front, and the density and attack intensity are not intuitively different from those of 100,000 or 1 million: they are just covering the mountains and plains. Under the manipulator's determination to fight to the death, the ghouls strung up the pickets with their flesh, filled the low wall with their bodies, and relied on you to press me and me to step on you. Within minutes, he began to climb over or overthrow the wooden fences in sections, and poured into the camp like walking on the ground.

The archer retreated behind the shield and spearmen, and continued to shoot arrows to kill the enemy, while Robb Stark, who was in charge of the battle, raised the torch in his hand high and shouted at the soldiers: "Soldiers, follow along. I fight to stop these monsters, long live North!"

"Long live North!"

Hundreds of thousands formed side by side in the chorus of mountain cry out and sea howl The soldiers of the array met the ghouls who squeezed past the spiked stakes, rushed through the flames, and tore down the fence.

"Kill!"

"Damn, why is there a bear? Lance - help! Ah!"

The roar of the fighting, the scream of the injured The muffled sound of weapons colliding with flesh instantly spread throughout the makeshift camp. The participants in this battle are the elites of North, the ever-victorious division that ran rampant throughout the Westeros under the leadership of Robb, and the iron army who can still play imposing manner even in the face of ambush. Even in the absence of sufficient Dragonglass weapons, they developed and arranged alternative tactics: fend off and control the ghouls with shield hands and Lancers, and then kill the enemy by those armed with torch or Dragonglass weapons.

The ideal and correct tactics, and the soldier's combat literacy are also sufficient to execute efficiently and accurately, but the battle is not a matter of one side after all. In actual combat, the situation is often not carried out as expected: the ghouls go forward one after another, and the impact of life and death can often knock down the shield hand; and even if Lancer pierces the ghoul with a weapon, the ghoul can still seem Walked straight along the barrel of the gun without incident, scratching the soldier's surprised face and breaking his underprotected neck; as for the flame, it was indeed a powerful weapon to destroy the enemy, but it didn't work fast enough, and it was everywhere. The ghoul is still fighting with the North soldiers despite the fire on his body. Although human beings are not restrained by flames, they have no resistance to the high temperature burns...

The panic and nervousness of fighting the ghoul for the first time, restraint The serious shortage of weapons... Subjectively and objectively, there are a lot of unfavorable factors, which cannot be filled by morale and bravery. The array keeps retreating with the advance of the enemy. The battle did not turn the tide in the slightest. A few minutes after the battle, the collapse had not yet appeared, but the experience accumulated through dozens of battles had clearly told Robb that he had no chance of winning this battle.

(How did Night's Watch repel such enemies and dare to chase them?)
"My lord, the Lord of the North cannot afford to lose, we stand here, please retreat to the back Go!"

"Shut up!" Robb didn't forget that oneself's last retreat cost him Direwolf Grey Wind, and he had to admit that he really should have retreated that time. But this time, facing a strange enemy completely different from the Ironmen, he retreated to the back at this moment, waiting for the ghouls to step over... No, when he was controlling the corpses of North's elite around him to go straight to the hinterland of Winterfell and North, he could Where to retreat to? "You have sworn allegiance to me, then you will fight to the death with me! Whoever dares to pull me off the battlefield today, the first thing I do when I go to the safety zone is to chop off his head!"

Feng Jun After issuing a declaration of a deadly fight to the end, the followers and soldiers plucked up their courage and shouted to fight back. Those who had not yet faced the ghouls lit tents, food and residual kerosene under the command of the commander, and the entire camp was full of flames... …Just as the North soldiers launched a counter-charge that looked at death but could not turn the tide, Robb also held the torch and crowded into the chaotic center of the battlefield against the trend, surrounded by allies, a thunderous roar suddenly sounded in the sky directly above the battlefield .

Before the first person could realize what had happened, a huge pillar of orange-red fire fell from in midair like a sword of Divine Punishment, and plunged straight into the corpse tide that had just crossed the wall. .

--

(end of this chapter)