Chapter 110: Finding Arya

The Ruby Ford is the only shallow crossing on the Trident where one can head south after the upper reaches of the Green Fork and the Three Rivers converge.

Marquess Roose Bolton, pale-skinned, bald, and clean-shaven, stood at this sole crossing, gazing toward the small town to the south.

He is the current lord of the Dreadfort, a great noble of The North, and the Marquess Jiaodu of House Bolton, the flayers.

In his forty-some years of life, aside from being calculating, cunning, and cold, what he is most famous for is his regular use of leeches to drain the "dirty blood" from his body.

Because of this, he is called the "Leech Lord."

Of course, some rumors cannot mask his capability as the Jiaodu of the second-greatest noble house in The North; compared to many of the "great wits" of The North like Greatjon Umber, Marquess Bolton is simply the perfect Commander for the eastern North Army.

If Rickard Karstark and Greatjon Umber, those two earls, had been allowed to lead the eastern North Army, I fear that in less than a month, Robb and his mother would be reunited with his sisters in King's Landing.

In a state of captivity.

Therefore, even though Robb did not fully trust the Leech Lord, he still let him lead the army south.

"My lord, all the boats have been assembled; each trip can take about three thousand men across to the south. The town's ferry landing is still in the hands of the Riverlanders; they fought fiercely all yesterday afternoon and through the night, and are waiting for our reinforcements," a House Bolton officer reported.

Innes Frey stood beside Marquess Bolton; as the Commander of the twenty-eight hundred infantry of House Frey, he possessed rich combat experience.

Thus, he requested of the Commander of the North-Riverlands eastern coalition: "Lord Bolton, please give the order to cross the river! The south side may not be able to hold on."

The dull-eyed Roose Bolton cast a cold glance at the third son of House Frey, "That is exactly the order I am about to give."

Then he turned to the group of high-ranking coalition officers behind him and said loudly: "To the south, the Lannister army is fighting our friends; I want you to cross this river and then defeat Tywin's soldiers."

"In order for House Stark to claim the glory of the first battle on the eastern front, I order three thousand Stark infantry to cross the river first and engage the Lannister army."

After Marquess Bolton finished speaking, the Stark officers, who had long been howling with impatience, naturally received the order and turned to reorganize their troops, preparing to board the boats for battle.

Afterwards, the Leech Lord arranged the order of the river crossing in batches.

The Northern nobles and the men of House Frey present were basically satisfied with Marquess Bolton's arrangement, so under their command, the remaining twelve thousand men formed over a dozen small squares according to their respective houses, waiting in order before the docks.

And the first batch of Stark infantry had already boarded fifty or sixty boats of various sizes to go and fight the Westerlands Army.

Two hours later, Marquess Bolton, who crossed south last, finally stepped onto the south bank. After mounting a large black horse, he and his Personal Guard headed toward the battlefield slightly to the south.

Even from a distance of over a hundred paces, the Leech Lord could still smell the thick scent of blood, which brought a trace of pleasure to him, a man who loved bloodletting.

After all, shedding other people's blood is still shedding blood.

"It seems these lads from the Riverlands are fighting quite well," he said to the many Northern nobles who came to greet him.

After the first two waves of Northern infantry arrived at the battlefield, the Riverlands-North coalition began a counterattack. After the third wave of over three thousand reinforcements arrived, the Lannister Cavalry retreated directly.

They left behind thousands of corpses and several hundred heavily wounded soldiers who could not flee on their own.

"Indeed," Earl Medger Cerwyn pointed to Arthur and the others who were still resting on the hill, "The ferocity of this Mr. Bracken is the greatest I have ever seen in my life. From what I saw, he alone could make a large swath of Western Lands Army soldiers avoid his Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Dadao."

This statement was not false; after fighting for a night and half a day, all the lion-house soldiers who were desperately attacking were avoiding the Riverlands war god who took away a comrade with every swing of that blade.

This left Arthur with much more leisure, so he had to chase after the lion-house soldiers to keep fighting.

Innes Frey said proudly to the many Northern nobles: "Arthur is a double champion at the Tourney. As for his combat strength, I don't think even my sixth brother is a match for him."

The Northern nobles did not pay much attention to the third son of House Frey and began chatting with those they were familiar with.

"Rumor has it he also has an astonishing giant hammer; that would be much more ferocious than this Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Dadao."

"I still think the Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Dadao is more ferocious. I heard that outside Golden Tooth, he split the Kingslayer's tall horse in two with one strike, frightening ten thousand Western Lands Army soldiers."

The crowd discussed Arthur's deeds, debating which weapon had greater lethality.

Roose Bolton did not join these muscular Northern nobles who only valued brute force; he rode his horse into the battlefield and began to console the soldiers sitting on the ground resting one by one.

For the Stark soldiers of the first wave of reinforcements, he did not stint on his praise at all.

Lord Robb will be proud of your achievements, was a phrase he kept on his lips.

When he encountered wounded Northern soldiers, he would also have the Maesters following him step forward to treat them, though it was of little use.

After all, the lightly wounded won't die, and the heavily wounded don't need saving.

The Leech Lord had his own soldiers, who had not participated in the battle, clean up the battlefield before summoning all the Riverlands and Northern nobles to discuss the next move.

In the hall of the Root family's circular fortress, these twenty or thirty people began to express their high opinions.

"I believe we should head directly south along the Kingsroad, strike into King's Landing, and rescue the Starks."

The speaker's tone was bold, but anyone with a discerning eye could hear the subtext of his words.

After all, King's Landing is much wealthier than The North; a single raid would be enough to double the wealth of all the Northern nobles present.

Earl Medger Cerwyn had a different view: "It would be better to head west along the River Road, first join forces with Lord Robb, and then plot to thoroughly crush Tywin's main force in the Westerlands."

This suggestion also had its merits; even adding all the troops from Riverrun and the western Riverlands, Robb's western coalition only numbered about ten thousand, which was still at a disadvantage against the lion-house main force near the Gods Eye and Harrenhal.

If this great army from the eastern front were added, at least in terms of numbers, the North-Riverlands coalition would have formed a not-insignificant advantage.

Roose Bolton scanned the circle, found Arthur, who was conversing with the men of House Frey, and asked: "I wonder what the opinion of the Riverlanders is; perhaps this Mr. Bracken or some Mr. Frey could speak."

The Riverlands soldiers under House Frey and Arthur totaled over four thousand, which was also a force on the eastern front that could not be ignored, so Marquess Bolton still asked for the opinion of the Riverlanders.

Arthur looked at the third and sixth sons of House Frey, and after confirming that both supported him, he said:

"My opinion is to strike directly at King's Landing. The houses of the Crownlands have always been weak; they cannot even muster an army of five thousand, and Tywin still has to consider Robb and the others attacking the Westerlands, so he cannot spare the strength to fight us in a decisive battle."

After a series of small battles including the defense of Stone Hedge, Harrentown, the ferry crossing, and the Hedong Diqu, Tywin's main force from the Westerlands was left with only a little over fourteen thousand men, and he could no longer split his forces to fight on two fronts.

Between the Crownlands and his home in the Westerlands, he could only protect one.

And with the three million population of the Westerlands versus the one million population of King's Landing and the Crownlands, Duke Tywin could still weigh that clearly.

The Leech Lord looked at Arthur and suddenly found this person agreeable.

Letting Robb lead the army to fight a decisive battle against Tywin while he took the eastern coalition to King's Landing to reap the fruits of victory was exactly what he wanted.

But this would make some Northerners oppose it, as they had come south specifically to deal with Tywin and the Western Lands Army.

He stood up, looked at the map on the long table for a long time, and then said: "How about this: we slowly head south along the Kingsroad, wait for the movements of the Westerlands main force and Lord Robb, and then make a decision. Staying here, military provisions and such are also a big problem."

In front of the Riverlanders, he did not say it explicitly, but the Northerners all knew where the military provisions came from.

The eastern front was not like the western Riverlands where Robb was; no great noble was willing to contribute their own grain as military provisions, so they could only forage locally.

Thus, most of the Northern nobles agreed to the strategy of moving south slowly.

It is currently morning; after studying the map, Marquess Bolton determined that the entire army would set out after lunch, arrive at a village by evening, and make camp in the vicinity.

……

Five days later, in the main tent of the North-Riverlands Coalition camp.

This army of over sixteen thousand men had already marched more than one hundred and twenty leagues south.

What was gratifying was that they had only encountered harassment from small detachments along the way.

And this was also the point that made some Northern nobles unhappy.

Because Tywin's main Western Lands Army was supposed to have gone to the western front to fight a decisive battle against their liege lord, Lord Robb.

Oh no, he should be called King Robb now.

The news that the Young Wolf had been proclaimed King in the North by "Greatjon Umber" and other Northern nobles within Riverrun had already reached the Dong Xian, here at the North-Riverlands Coalition.

Numerous nobles were summoned together by Roose Bolton once more to discuss the next move.

"The order from... King Robb is for us to help restore the lands of the many Riverlands nobles west of the Gods Eye and south of the Red Fork; after all, this is now part of his kingdom's territory."

Among the Riverlanders present, Raymond's Darry was on the south bank, but it had not suffered a destructive attack from the Western Lands Army.

As for Patrick and the Frey family, their lands were all north of the Red Fork, so there was no need to worry about their territories.

The rest, such as Ma Ke and Hendry, had been left at Harrenhal by Arthur, so they could not speak.

And the Northmen, besides their desire to fight the Lion family's soldiers, were also urgently thinking of going to the wealthy Western Lands and the Crownlands to make up for their own losses.

After all, most of the Northern farmers who had responded to the call in such a hurry had gone to assemble at Winterfell without even harvesting their own wheat.

Therefore, Medger Cerwyn, Robett Glover, Harwyn Hornwood, and Harrion Karstark all remained silent at this order.

The Stark family had three thousand infantrymen here, but because there were no important family members present, the officers in attendance simply looked at the commander in silence.

They would faithfully execute the order.

Arthur, surrounded by Riverlanders, thought about the plot of the original story; if there were no accidents, Lord Tywin would indeed lead his army back to reinforce the Western Lands.

It was just that he had been intercepted at the Red Fork by Edmure, who had unexpectedly displayed great prowess, preventing him from marching west to fight a decisive battle against Robb's army.

But now, the severely wounded Edmure clearly could not display his moment of glory.

Therefore, the main force of the Western Lands would have a death match with the ten thousand or so men led by Robb in the region where Riverrun was located.

Considering the Young Wolf had already won two victories, the outcome of this great battle was hard to say.

"I support marching south all the way to take King's Landing directly; this might attract some of Tywin's forces and relieve the pressure on the western front," Arthur said loudly.

These words catered to the wishes of Bolton and several major Northern nobles.

Once someone took the lead, more people began to speak.

"Exactly, Lord Arthur is right. If we march south and take King's Landing, Tywin will inevitably send some soldiers over, and then His Majesty will surely be able to defeat the remaining Western Lands Army."

"I heard that Tywin has summoned Adam Marbrand and others who were fighting in the Hedong Diqu, so there are very few Western Lands soldiers left in places like Pinkmaiden, Stoney Sept, and Acorn Norvos; the Riverlanders themselves can retake them."

"If we take King's Landing and bring back Lady Sansa and Lady Arya, the remains of Duke Eddard, and the Stark family's ancestral Valyrian Steel sword Ice, that would also be a great merit, and the King in the North will not make things difficult for us."

Everyone spoke their own reasons, but they were not convincing their companions; they were convincing themselves.

Seeing that Arthur, the leader of the Riverlanders, and the various great Northern nobles all shared the same thought, the Leech Lord pursed his lips and made up his mind.

"Then we shall fight all the way south, to the Blackwater River and King's Landing, to avenge Duke Eddard."

Lord Bolton stood up abruptly and shouted to boost morale.

On their way south from The Twins, the news that Joffrey had cut off Duke Eddard's head had already spread, which made many Northern nobles indignant.

Avenging their old liege lord became the best reason for this group to defy the new King in the North.

"Avenge the liege lord I swore to protect."

"March into King's Landing and capture Joffrey alive."

"Present the Iron Throne as a grand gift for the birth of the King in the North."

The crowd shouted chaotically, each expressing their own loyalty.

Once the strategy for the southern campaign was determined, the speed of the entire army increased sharply.

In just one day, they covered more than thirty leagues, approaching the east side of the Gods Eye, arriving roughly at the midpoint between the town of Lord Harren and Sow's Horn.

And Sow's Horn was the boundary between the Riverlands and the Crownlands near the Kingsroad.

Only after reaching there would the coalition encounter decent resistance and fighting.

Of course, Arthur, leading over a thousand men, had not forgotten one important matter.

And Arya Stark, who had escaped from King's Landing, this second daughter of Duke Eddard, should also be in the Riverlands on the east side of the Gods Eye at this moment.

According to the plot of the original story, Arya was taken out of King's Landing by Yoren of the Night's Watch, and Yoren himself was cruelly killed for refusing to let the Gold Cloaks find Arya. After that, Arya, the late King Robert's bastard Gendry, the bread boy Hot Pie, and others headed north and were captured in the Riverlands and taken to Harrenhal.

So, while the coalition marched south, he also dispatched over forty small detachments of three to five men each, composed of Riverlands Cavalry and Qohor Mercenaries, to search for Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, and the others.

Of course, to the Frey family and the many Northern nobles, Arthur's explanation was that it was to clear out the Western Lands' Spotting and small detachments.

After all, the Westerners were still harassing the Riverlands; although this reason was far-fetched, it was passable.

On the seventh night after crossing the ferry, in Roose Bolton's tent.

A Northern soldier with an extremely mediocre appearance said to Marquess Bolton in a low voice:

"I have found out the reason why Arthur sent so many people to search the surroundings. According to a certain Qohor Mercenary, the person Arthur wants to find is named Gendry, an apprentice to a Qohor master blacksmith named Tuobu. He is looking for him to forge weapons; after all, his large golden sword looks like it has become serrated."

This person was telling the truth; when Arthur gave instructions to his men, he was indeed telling them to find Gendry.

Because finding Gendry meant finding Arya, who was with him, and the short-statured Arya did not attract much attention.

Then this person added: "In addition, Tyrion does not have many restrictions in his camp. Should we secretly get him out and send him to Lord Tywin to earn a favor?"

After hearing this, the Leech Lord roared in a low voice: "Fool, does a blacksmith require such a big commotion, having two or three hundred people go look for him? This Gendry must have another identity. Go check quickly. Also, don't worry about Tyrion; I will seize the right moment."

The man received the order and withdrew to continue investigating the truth behind Arthur's search.

(End of chapter)