Chapter 128: Taking a Beating

The wife of Luo Su Fo Lei is named Lai Ang Na Lai Fo De, and her maiden family is none other than the lordly house of Golden Tooth.

Although she is not a direct daughter of Lord Leo Lefford, she is a close relative within three generations, and they have maintained contact.

"I can use this connection to feign surrender, then open the city gate at night. Once we have an agreement, Lord Arthur can lead his troops in to attack," said Luo Su.

Arthur glanced at the man's ugly face, then turned to Qyburn, who was in charge of intelligence, and asked, "Where is the Lord of Golden Tooth right now?"

The reason Qyburn was put in charge of intelligence was his habit of recording things in a notebook, which made him far superior to most nobles.

The latter often relied only on impressions in their heads as intelligence, which sometimes delayed matters.

Qyburn flipped through his notebook and quickly replied, "Lord Leo Lefford died after falling into the river during the battle at the Red Fork led by Lord Edmure; his wife is said to be with Tywin's main force in the Westerlands."

"You see, your relative is not in Golden Tooth. The person in charge there now is named Daven Lannister. This man has golden hair and a golden beard, and is both brave and steady. He is one of the few talents of the younger generation of the Lion family, known as the Golden Lion. If you just defect like this, he will certainly be suspicious! Then he won't let your men near the gate, and the opportunity will be much smaller."

Arthur felt that defecting like this definitely wouldn't work.

"Could there be any other means?"

Luo Su touched the black mole on his face and said with dissatisfaction.

The gathered nobles were also curious about what better method the Commander had, and twenty-some pairs of eyes stared at Arthur.

"I can make this matter more credible."

Arthur looked Luo Su up and down again, feeling that a little more trickery could be applied to make this fake surrender more reliable.

"Look, you are a Frey whom most nobles look down upon, and your family snatched two marriage positions from House Stark, so haven't the Northmen developed a conflict with you? If the war goes poorly, someone will surely take their anger out on the Freys, and you happen to be short, ugly, and a cripple—isn't that a coincidence?"

The Frey family was already at the bottom of the noble hierarchy, and a Frey low in the line of succession was the bottom of the bottom; for someone like Luo Su, who had no advantages in stature or appearance, once he left The Twins, he feared no one would take him seriously.

Luo Su suddenly felt something was wrong, "So what do you mean?"

"If some arrogant Northman beats Luo Su up, and he, filled with resentment, defects to find his relative, wouldn't that seem much more reasonable?"

Arthur chuckled and said loudly to the crowd.

A Northman reacted immediately; Rona Stout stood up from a crude chair and repeatedly volunteered for the task.

"I can be of service. This is working for the King in the North; I wouldn't be tired even if I beat him ten times. Please, Lord Arthur, let me do this."

Great Jon also stood up and glared at Rona Stout with his slightly "clever" eyes, "With me here, how could it be your turn to serve King Robb? Please, let me do this kind of thankless task."

Luo Su was extremely reluctant, "Can we not beat me? Just wait until I sneak into Golden Tooth."

"Daven is no fool. It is settled. After we set up camp outside Golden Tooth, Lord Jon Amber will be responsible for the beating. Try to aim for the face so it looks miserable."

Arthur looked around and discussed the details of this bitter-flesh ruse before letting the exhausted troops disperse.

Two days later.

The simple Golden Tooth stood between cliffs on both sides; like The Twins, if one wanted to enter the Westerlands from the River Road, one had to pass through this castle.

But unlike the Freys, the local ruling House Leford did not get rich by collecting passage fees.

The source of the Lefords' wealth was the gold mines hidden in the mountains.

Although most of the gold mines near Golden Tooth belonged to House Lannister, House Leford, which participated in the management, could also get a share of the gold.

This made them both wealthy and gave them an unusual relationship with the Lion family.

The Lefords could be called the confidants of the Lannisters.

Due to the wartime, there were many Westerlands soldiers patrolling the walls.

Soon, someone discovered the large enemy force arriving from the north.

A captain of a hundred men took a rough look, "At least two thousand, less than half a league from us. They have no large siege equipment. It's a threat, but not a big one."

Before the Targaryens conquered Westeros, the Riverlands Kingdom and the Westerlands Kingdom had fought for four or five thousand years; Golden Tooth had basically never been taken by an attack from the Riverlands.

After the captain let his men continue patrolling, he personally took men to report the matter to the Lannister lord in charge.

Although there were scouts and such cavalry outside the city, they hadn't come into the city to report the enemy's arrival by the time the army was within a league of the city, so they had likely been wiped out.

After hurrying down from the North Gate wall, the captain took his men to the main keep where the Westerlands noble knights were.

"They dare to deploy under Golden Tooth with just this much strength? Could it be that Edmure has started leading the enemy forces in the Riverlands again?"

After hearing the report, Daven, wearing the black ring mail of the Lion family, curled his lip in disdain and told the captain to continue his duties.

"How should we respond?" asked a minor Westerlands noble.

Daven thought for a moment, "Calculating the time, this army should have come from the East Line. This part is all infantry; there might even be an old acquaintance of mine."

He looked at the Westerlands noble knights arriving one after another and announced his order: "We will hold inside the city; in any case, they cannot break in with their strength. If they want to bypass us via the mountain road, we will send cavalry to harass them along the River Road. In short, no hard fighting."

Robb's forces were constantly dwindling; as long as they gave the Westerlanders time, they could trap the Young Wolf in the mountains of the Westerlands.

Therefore, locking down the Westerlands was the top priority for fortresses like Golden Tooth.

The crowd received the order, and seeing there was no fight, they went back to rest.

In the next day or two, the enemy outside the city launched several probing attacks, including carrying a single-plank cart to ram the gate, but the defenders repelled these attacks with ease.

Although it was known that the enemy commander was the peerless fierce general Arthur Bracken, most of the nobles and soldiers in the city were relieved.

"I heard he was so impressive before, I thought he was how great, but it turns out he doesn't even know how to siege a city, only sending one or two hundred men to carry a cart to hammer the gate."

"He's just a brute. Besides being handsome, what other merits does he have?"

"Golden Tooth has never been taken from the north by Riverlanders. This brute's military vision isn't even as good as Edmure's."

"Exactly, the Little Trout at least only sent people to block the River Road, he didn't send people to die attacking the city."

Such discussions could be heard everywhere in the castle.

On the third day of the siege, an anecdote made Arthur a laughingstock in the mouths of the defenders again.

"Haven't you heard? The Northmen and Riverlanders outside are fighting. Several Riverlanders were tied to flagpoles and given several good whippings."

"More than heard, I saw it with my own eyes. Their camp is very sparse and not far from the North Gate. When they were beating them, the screams were clearly heard."

"He can't even manage his own men; this Arthur really is a brainless idiot."

This matter also reached the ears of Daven and other Westerlands nobles, which greatly increased their confidence in holding the castle.

At nightfall, twenty-some figures quietly crept to the North Gate.

"Open the gate quickly, I am the son-in-law of Lord Leford."

With so many people, the city guards and their captains dared not make a decision, so Daven was invited up to the North Gate.

The people outside the city were required to state their names and the houses they belonged to.

"House Frey, I am Rosso Frey, my wife is Lai Ang Na Lai Fo De, she is the cousin of Lord Leo."

The gold mines under the name of House Lannister are mainly distributed in Casterly Rock and Golden Tooth, and House Leford has always managed and guarded the nearby gold mines for the Lion family, so Daven also had to consider the thoughts of the local lord's family.

He ordered the Steward, the Maester, and others to come, and then identify on the city wall whether they were relatives of Lord Leo.

"That's right, it is indeed Master Rosso; his limp and the mole are very obvious."

Thus, the people outside the city were allowed to enter, though, of course, the garrison first made them drop their weapons.

After entering the city, except for Rosso and a few Freys, the remaining Personal Guards all had swords held to their necks, waiting for Rosso to give a reasonable explanation.

"It is like this..." Rosso then recounted the cause and effect in detail.

From the Frey family being even more despised by the Northmen after snatching Robb's betrothed, to the forces of the Cerwyn line beginning to target the Frey family extremely after the death of Lord Medger Cerwyn, and then to the Northmen, who were frustrated by the war and unable to perform meritorious deeds before the King in the North, mocking and ridiculing the Frey family, Rosso explained the relationships one by one.

"You also know that they have always looked down on Southerners, thinking that we who only know how to show off at the Tourney are softies, and we Freys are even more so the vermin and weasels in their mouths."

"Having been blocked here for these two days, the Northmen were dissatisfied with Arthur's command, but they took their anger out on us Freys. And because of my appearance and build, I was even more specifically cursed and humiliated by them."

"I talked back, and they attacked me in a group, tying me directly to a flagpole and beating me. Because there are many Northern nobles and they have a good relationship with the false king Robb, even Bracken dared not oppose them, letting me and several nephews be beaten for half a day, and they even beat me in front of my wife's family home."

"In a fit of anger, I brought several nephews and Attendants who were dissatisfied with the Northmen and defected to House Lannister. My second brother, Aemon Frey, is also in the Westerlands; he will vouch for me."

"My lords, please look." Rosso held the torch in his hand near his face so that the Westerners could see clearly how miserable he was.

This was a face that could not even be described by the word miserable; both small eyes were swollen like the bulging eyes of a frog, there was bruising everywhere from his forehead to his neck, his upper lip was still bleeding, and his nose was crooked.

After showing his miserable state, Rosso gritted his teeth and said: "I swear, I must kill Jon Umber who beat me. No, every time before he is beaten to death, I will have the Maester save him, and then beat him half to death again, repeating this a hundred times, only then will I be able to vent this anger of mine."

Although the surrender was fake, the tone of killing Great Jon could not have been more real.

Rosso could even recall the expression Great Jon had when he was acting out the scene.

Even though Lord Arthur ordered a play to be performed, Great Jon still vented his hatred for the Freys to his heart's content.

Daven and the other Western nobles were delighted in their hearts after hearing this.

Serves you right, who told you weasels not to join forces and ally with us.

Suppressing his laughter, Daven ordered people to release the Frey Attendants.

"Arrange rooms for these few, and have the Maester go treat Rosso's injuries."

Night was the time for rest, and after instructing the common-born soldiers to patrol the night well, Daven returned to his room in the main keep.

On the fourth day of the siege, Northmen outside the city cursed and challenged them, demanding they hand over the weasels who had fled in the night.

Rosso and the others then climbed the city gate, and they cursed back and forth for an entire morning; by noon, the throats of both sides were already hoarse from cursing.

This greatly increased the Westerlands Army's trust in the Freys.

After all, if it were acting, there wouldn't be that kind of spirit of cursing to the death and almost fighting for their lives.

The fourth night, at three or four in the morning.

When those sleeping were dead to the world and the patrolling soldiers were also drowsy, "Bloodthirsty" Aegon led men to launch a surprise attack on the North Gate and then opened the city gate.

Arthur, who had been prepared for a long time, was wearing bright silver Plate Armor, draped in the golden cloak gifted by Sansa, and led a Platoon of two hundred men to kill his way in, guarding the city gate, while the main force behind was rushing toward the North Gate; dressed and equipped, they were much faster than the half-asleep Westerlands Army.

However, the Westerlands Army was not to be trifled with; various alarm bells and war drums sounded loudly, most of the soldiers were awakened, and the night patrol soldiers had already put on their armor, so they came out to fight first.

The gate of Golden Tooth was a bit narrow, about four or five meters wide, and Arthur, with the dozen or so men in the front row, was already able to hold off the counter-attacking Westerners.

Seeing that the situation was still fine, Arthur shouted: "Bloodthirsty Aegon, you take a hundred-man unit to the city wall to ensure that their Trebuchet and Crossbowman cannot hit our men."

Aegon took the order and led a hundred-man unit of sword-and-shield soldiers from the Frey family to rush onto the city wall.

Unlike ordinary castles, every section of the city wall of fortresses like Golden Tooth, The Twins, and Harrenhal had several protrusions, firstly to facilitate Crossbowman shooting at the enemy's flanks and rear, and secondly to house small Trebuchet and the like.

If the Westerners were allowed to deploy on the city wall, the coalition forces still in the distance would suffer countless casualties during the charge.

And Arthur did not have many men under his command, so he dared not waste them at all.

Hundreds of people began to slaughter each other at the North Gate of Golden Tooth, and more and more of the Westerlands Army began to join the battlefield.

In front of the main keep, Daven, who had been awakened, was listening to his subordinate's report.

"The brute Arthur is leading men to guard the North Gate; his warhammer is truly terrifying. After one round of slaughter, the soldiers simply dare not step forward to fight."

"What about the gate tower? Has the gate tower fallen?" Daven asked.

"There are about a hundred Frey soldiers on the city wall, and the leader is one of those who surrendered yesterday. Our men are charging up."

If they were charging up, that meant there were not many Westerners left on the city wall.

Daven glanced at the Western noble Knight behind him, "Do you have the confidence to retake the North Gate from the brute?"

Everyone looked at each other, all hesitating and saying nothing.

"Great men, are you actually so frightened by one person that you can't even say a word?" The Golden Lion Daven shouted.

Amory Lorch had a special status, and at this moment, he plucked up the courage to suggest: "The North Gate is lost, and there is a large amount of gold in the city. It would be better to take the gold and retreat to Sarsfield before making other plans."

Daven glanced at this wild dog Lorch with disgust, but had to admit that this could be considered a relatively mature approach.

"People from the Leford and Serrett houses go to the grand vault and prepare to escort the gold away. The rest of you, starting from the North Gate, line up in units of two hundred and block the enemy in a staggered formation until the gold in the grand vault is completely transported away."

Daven ordered the noble Knight who led the troops.

Seeing that his words were accepted, Lorch tentatively said: "My loyalty to Duke Tywin is known to the world. I can go supervise the soldiers escorting the gold to prevent them from doing anything underhanded."

He himself had looted tens of thousands of Gold Dragon from the many small castles in the Riverlands, and now was the time to transport them away.

Moreover, he could do something on the road to get some of Taiwen Laoye's gold.

The gold in the grand vault of Golden Tooth had not been minted into the style of Gold Dragon coins, and if the account books were also destroyed in the war, there would be no way to trace where it went.

I see you just want to transport the gold you looted along with it! Daven saw through this person's thoughts at a glance.

He said tactfully: "You are the best fighter in the city, how can you go be a groom? The military merit of killing Arthur will be yours; hurry and take your men to fight at the North Gate."

"Everyone knows I possess the virtue of modesty, so let this great achievement go to others," Luo Qi demurred, "Besides, I still have some family property that needs to be moved, so I won't be going to the North Gate."

Seeing this man refuse to obey orders, Daven shouted, "Do you really think our House Lannister would embezzle your measly Gold Dragons? Today you must be the first to reach the North Gate, otherwise, you will be dealt with for disobeying military orders."

This was a matter of life and death, so Luo Qi hardened his stance; he stepped forward, and a dozen of his Personal Guard followed him, clearly signaling their defiance even without drawing their Dawn Sword.

However, there were more people supporting Daven; most of the nobles and over a hundred nearby Western Lands Army soldiers drew their swords on the spot, and dozens of crossbowmen aimed at Luo Qi and his group.

Luo Qi rolled his eyes twice, realized he couldn't gain any advantage in this situation, and immediately backed down.

"I am a loyal subject of House Lannister, how could I disobey orders? I will go to the North Gate to fight right now, but my Gold Dragons must be kept safe; the men around me can go to escort my Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Jinzi."

"No problem," Daven waved his hand, "Go quickly; if the movements at the main treasury are swift, you can retreat early as well."

The Golden Lion had already figured out how to make use of the Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Jinzi that Luo Qi had seized.

After Amory and most of the noble Knights who led troops to intercept the enemy had left with their men, Daven ordered again, "Sir Gareth Ke Lai Fu Dun, take a century to East Castle and kill all the Riverlands nobles in the chaos."

Gareth was a minor noble from Xian Nu Dao, far from the mainland, and therefore did not fear retaliation from the Riverlands; sending him to kill was most appropriate.

"Sir Daven, isn't this a bit inappropriate?" Gareth was a Viscount himself, and unlike wild dogs like Luo Qi and The Mountain, he had status and could not do this dirty work.

Moreover, not killing captured nobles was a common rule.

After all, no one could predict if they would be the next one captured; if this precedent were set, there was no telling if they would be the next to be killed.

"Tell the outside world they died in the chaos of war; go quickly, this is a matter of importance. If done well, my uncle, Duke Tywin, will reward you handsomely."

After brushing him off, Daven urged Gareth to get to work.

Seeing the Commander bring up his liege lord, Sir Ke Lai Fu Dun had no choice but to take his men to do this dark deed.

As for Daven himself, he took about five hundred Lannister soldiers to supervise the soldiers transporting the Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Jinzi.

PS: Seeking recommendation votes and monthly tickets.

(End of chapter)