Chapter 109: The Battle for the Ferry Defense

Like most of the Riverlands, the fief of House Root was primarily plains, interspersed with a few small hills.

To the south of the small town and the ferry, it was an almost boundless plain. As far as the eye could see, aside from the Kingsroad stretching straight to the south, there was nothing but farmland and scattered trees.

Arthur, accompanied by Tyrion Lannister, Raymond, Patrick, Locke, Hosteen Frey, Robett Glover, and others, climbed a small hill south of the town to survey the surrounding land.

Baron Charles Root pointed beneath his feet and said, "This might be the highest mountain in my domain, if it can even be called a mountain."

Tyrion pointed to the south. "Based on my understanding of House Lannister, once they learn of the disastrous defeat on the western front, a heavy unit will surely rush here to block the ferry and strike hard while the North Army is still finding its footing."

During the journey here, Arthur had already roughly explained the current situation to Tyrion.

However, he did not explicitly state the specific troop distribution of the North Army, telling him only that a large force would be marching south from the Kingsroad.

This bit of information was enough for the Imp to play his part as a military advisor.

"And the most famous heavy unit of the Lion House is their heavy cavalry legion, which numbers as many as five thousand," Patrick added.

He was now single-mindedly determined to achieve great things with his idol Arthur, so he followed him wherever he went.

"Correct," Tyrion nodded. "So as long as you hold off this wave of attacks until the North Army arrives as reinforcements, you will no longer be at a disadvantage in numbers compared to the enemy."

"The best way to deal with heavy cavalry is to break their charge, or simply prevent them from charging at all."

He stood before the group and drew a semicircle with his small hand. "We can dig a trench in the open space in front of this hill to stop the cavalry's charge. Once they realize their horses cannot cross it, they will have no choice but to dismount and fight us."

Tywin's army was still near Harrenhal, and it would take them another two or three days to march north, which was enough time to set up defensive fortifications here.

Arthur recalled the time outside Stone Hedge when he and dozens of cavalrymen had charged into a trap set by the enemy.

"A trench is a bit small-minded. We can mobilize the nearby civilians to dig dozens of pits, fill them with spikes and sharp stones, and guarantee that even armored cavalry and warhorses will lose half their lives if they fall in," he said to the group.

Among the many heads present, only Raymond and Robett Glover had sharp minds.

The two nodded in agreement, and Raymond added, "The loose soil dug out can also be piled on the inner side to form an earthen mound, so our soldiers can strike the enemy from a higher position."

Robett, wearing a deep red cloak, described the whole idea in more detail: "If we dig deep pits and set traps everywhere, the workload will be too great. We can dig traps directly south of this hill and dig shallower trenches on the east and west sides; in short, we must make it impossible for the enemy cavalry to charge through."

The group discussed it and felt this arrangement was feasible.

"We can gather nearly a thousand men and women from the vicinity who are capable of manual labor, plus our eighteen hundred soldiers, which is enough to complete this project before the enemy arrives," Baron Root said.

Recently, due to the outbreak of war, many people had fled his domain; otherwise, he could have gathered even more.

"Then let's begin. Tyrion, you are responsible for planning the locations of the traps and trenches, as well as how to pile the excavated soil. Mr. Glover, please take responsibility for protecting Tyrion," Arthur ordered.

Having read various books and possessing a vast amount of knowledge, Tyrion could fully serve as a half-Maester. House Root could not afford a Maester, so the Imp had to be in charge of overseeing the defensive engineering.

But he was not entirely one of their own, so Arthur had Robett Glover supervise him under the guise of protection to prevent Tyrion from playing any tricks.

Robett, holding his head high, met Arthur's gaze and understood what this Bracken meant.

"If there are no problems, then let's begin."

The group then returned to the town and began to mobilize the commoners and soldiers to work.

Cavalry were sent out to summon nearby farmers, while the soldiers took off their armor, preparing for a full day of labor.

Although the plan was comprehensive, there were many difficulties in implementing it.

The most troublesome issue was that there were not enough hoes and shovels in the Root family's fief.

The newly appointed military advisor offered his own suggestion: "When I was marching south with the Mountain Clans, I encountered many refugees. They might have farm tools in their possession. If you can find a way to get them, hoes and shovels will no longer be a problem."

Crossing the Trident to seek refuge was indeed the choice of quite a few farmers, so there were far more civilians gathered on the north bank than usual.

Arthur suddenly remembered that he still had a parchment stamped by Duke Hoster. At the time, Lord Tully had provided it so that the Riverlands nobles pursuing The Mountain could obtain some convenience; later, it was handed to him by Raymond and the others who had gone to King's Landing to submit evidence.

In the current situation, it would come in handy.

Arthur had his servant Meidan retrieve the parchment and gave it to Charles Root and Hosteen Frey, telling them to go to the north bank to obtain farm tools and, if possible, bring back some people to help with the work.

The Frey family's domain was along the Green Fork, and the Root family was also considered an influential noble family in the vicinity, so the two were well-suited for the task.

An hour later, the tense but orderly construction of the defensive fortifications officially began.

The seven or eight hundred farmers and over a thousand soldiers who had been summoned began digging at the designated trap sites, but because tools were scarce, three or four people often had to share one hoe or shovel.

To be fair, one person would work for half an hour, and then another would take a turn.

This caused the progress to be very slow.

When not working, some optimistic farmers began humming rustic folk tunes, and then the mercenaries followed suit, roaring out bold songs from Essos.

The hometown of these mercenaries, Qohor, was located at the junction of the Free Cities and the Dothraki Sea, where wars often broke out, and the area was also where the Rhoyne bandits were most dense, so the local customs were quite fierce and brave.

Reflected in their songs, it was just shouting at the top of their lungs.

This formed a sharp contrast with the light and enthusiastic tunes of the Riverlands.

Fortunately, the singing did not affect the progress of the project.

In the afternoon, the two nobles who had gone to the north bank brought back nearly a thousand tools and more than three hundred farmers.

This immediately brought the construction site to life, and by nightfall, the general shape of the entire trap complex and the trenches had emerged.

Of course, to prevent the defensive fortifications from being scouted by small enemy units, Arthur also dispatched a dozen four-to-five-man cavalry squads to operate within a range of ten leagues to the south to drive away the Westerlands scouts.

After dinner, the farmers and soldiers crowded onto the flat ground around the town, spread some hay, and began to sleep and rest. Although the long summer was coming to an end, the temperature was still warm, so sleeping in the open was not impossible.

Although there were some tents, there were not enough for these nearly three thousand people.

The following two days were much the same.

On the morning of the fourth day, the entire project was largely completed.

The cavalry that had been sent south to drive away the Westerlands scouts were also called back; before the traps were fully set, they had to pass through the trap zone to avoid falling into the pits they had dug themselves.

Afterward, simple camouflage covered the surfaces of dozens of traps.

After the work was finished, most of the farmers and the Root family's smallfolk were sent to the north bank; the coming battle would be fierce, and there was no need for them, lacking armor and weapons, to wade into this flood.

That afternoon, several thousand Westerlands cavalrymen, wearing crimson cloaks and black ring mail, finally appeared within a few leagues to the south.

Upon receiving the news, the Riverlands Coalition gathered together, preparing to defend against the enemy at the hill and on the east and west sides.

There were 500 soldiers from various Riverlands houses brought by Arthur, 600 soldiers from the Mooton family, over 500 from the Mountain Clans, over 200 Qohor Mercenaries, and 47 soldiers from the Root family, totaling 1,892 combatants.

The armor they wore and the banners they flew were a motley mix: plate armor, chainmail, iron plate armor, brigandine, bronze rune plate armor, etc., along with Arthur's Golden Horse Saber Flag, Patrick's Purple Field Silver Eagle Flag, Raymond's Brown Black Farmer Flag, the quartered flags of the two Vance houses, the Root family's Two-Headed Horse Flag, and the Red Salmon Flag of Maidenpool.

Even the learned and knowledgeable Tyrion had to admit that if he hadn't spent the last few days getting familiar with this group, he wouldn't have been able to recognize all these banners at once.

The banners and armor of the Westerlands Army, which was slowly charging toward the north, were much more uniform.

They were all Lannister Roaring Lion Flags, and one could tell at a glance whether the armor belonged to heavy cavalry or light cavalry.

Nearly five thousand Westerlands cavalry launched an attack toward the small hill and the Riverlands Coalition on both sides; the rumbling sound of hooves made the earth begin to tremble.

Holding a miniature sword, Tyrion's legs trembled slightly: "Who could have imagined that I, a captive, would actually have to face my own cavalry army?"

Although he had once felt proud of the Lannister heavy cavalry, at this moment he deeply resented his father for creating such a powerful army.

Arthur, standing beside him, replied: "Relax, by my side, you will be very safe."

His purpose in keeping Tyrion by his side was to protect him.

The Imp looked up and finally saw the Golden Guan Dao in Arthur's hand.

"Looking at this battered blade of yours, I feel like I'm not far from meeting the gods in heaven; does a Greatsword full of notches really cut people more smoothly?" he questioned.

The blade of the Golden Guan Dao in Arthur's hand had become an irregular serrated shape, so naturally, it did not look very sharp.

"Not very smooth, but it's enough to hack someone to death," Arthur swung the handy weapon fiercely, "Actually, I've always used it as a blunt weapon."

Because the blade was not very sharp, Arthur needed to use more force when hacking people, which made his opponents die more painfully.

Of course, if the blade were rusty, that would be even more to Arthur's taste.

One strike, and even if one were lucky enough not to die on the spot, they would get an infection; considering the standards of the Maesters and the army surgeons, that was probably equivalent to death.

Tyrion shook his head, feeling that he should find an opportunity to reveal his identity to the Western Lands Army on the opposite side.

The Imp immediately overturned this thought; given his height, how could the Western Lands Army soldiers who saw him not recognize who he was?

Although he had participated in building the defensive fortifications, he also knew that if his own cavalry disregarded their lives and were determined to charge over, the traps and trenches wouldn't hold them for long.

The final decisive battle would surely be a crowded melee.

Tyrion thought vaguely, racking his brains but unable to figure out how to escape the schemer beside him under these circumstances.

"Sigh!" He sighed in a low voice, feeling sad that his life was not his own to command.

Arthur looked down at this Lannister, knowing that his heart had not turned and that he was still thinking of escaping to the Western Lands Army side.

"No need to sigh, my friend; in this battle, I will surely keep you safe."

After pacifying the Imp, Arthur ordered a bundle of Lances to be brought to him.

During the night raid on the camp, he had struck Tywin with a thrown sword while the latter was fleeing on horseback, which gave him confidence in his throwing ability, so he had practiced throwing Javelins quite a bit over the past few days.

Since there were no Javelins made specifically for him, he could only use the most common Lances to throw.

When the enemy charged to a distance of forty or fifty paces, Arthur used all his strength to throw the first Lance.

Under the gaze of thousands of people, this spear flew like a sharp arrow released from a string, traveled a considerable distance, and pierced into the neck of some unlucky Western Lands soldier.

Ordinary foot soldiers did not have the gorgets of the noble lords; their necks were only protected by a layer of Chainmail, so they could not really defend against a thrust.

But this unlucky Western Lands cavalryman only attracted attention for a few short breaths, because the cavalry in the front row began to fall into the dug-out traps.

Tyrion looked at the Western Lands cavalry falling into the traps he had directed the construction of, and couldn't help but feel a wave of regret.

These were cavalrymen his own family had spent a great deal of money to train; the cost of the hundreds of warhorses that had just fallen into the pits was something a family below the rank of Count could never afford.

Fortunately, the Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Jinzi spent by Duke Tywin was well-placed; after only a brief period of chaos, the momentum of the Western Lands cavalry charge came to an abrupt halt.

Several officers directed the Lion House cavalry in front of the traps to retreat and organized a rescue for the comrades who had fallen into the traps.

It was a pity that the Riverlands Coalition did not have a large number of archers and Crossbowmen, otherwise, they could have taken advantage of this opportunity to deal the enemy a heavy blow.

Arthur looked down and asked: "Brother Tyrion, have you recognized who is leading your family's troops? Let me see the demeanor of the Lion House general."

The Imp squinted his eyes and recognized that the person leading the troops was none other than his cousin, Daven Lannister.

At the moment, Daven was surrounded by dozens of dismounted Lion House officers and heavy cavalry, studying the situation of the traps and trenches around the hill.

He was just about to point it out to Arthur when he suddenly remembered that throw from earlier.

If he pointed him out, his cousin's life would be forfeit.

"Hey, I've spent a long time at Casterly Rock, and I'm not very familiar with these low-level officers," Tyrion said.

Patrick, who was beside Arthur, guessed the enemy commander: "It's the person surrounded by that group of cavalry in the middle; it's likely Daven, with the iconic golden long hair and golden beard of the Lannister family, it can't be wrong."

He had been responsible for the defense of the Harrenhal city gates for a period of time, so he had dealt with many Lion House spies and knew the characteristics of the new enemy commander.

Arthur took an interested look at the somewhat guilty-looking Tyrion, then picked up a Lance, aimed at the target, and threw it fiercely.

It was just that when the enemy was not moving, the effect was not as good as before.

A heavy cavalryman used his heavy-armor-covered body to catch the spear, saving the commander from death.

Afterward, Arthur's several attempts were all neutralized by the Lion House soldiers using Cavalry Shields and their heavy-armored bodies.

This also enraged Daven and the Lion House officers; after probing the trap area, the dismounted heavy cavalry launched an attack from the trenches on both sides.

The battle became visibly intense.

"Hosteen, you take the Mountain Clans to the east side to strengthen the defense; I will go to the west side with the mercenaries," Arthur ordered.

According to Patrick, this Hosteen was the most capable Frey, and likely a powerful combat force among the top-tier Knights of Westeros; Arthur felt quite at ease sending him to the Dong Xian.

"No problem, watch me stab the assholes of the Lannister soldiers!" This tall Frey drew his Greatsword, turned around with his men, and headed to the east side.

Arthur himself also took more than two hundred Qohor Mercenaries to the west side.

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(End of chapter)