Chapter 131: Robb's Last Decree

For the Northmen, tonight may be the most desperate moment since they marched south.

The first surprise came from the failure of the night raid.

Having been schooled many times by the Northmen and their direwolves, plus the painful lesson Tywin himself learned from being severely wounded in a night raid, the Westerners were well-prepared in this regard.

The night raid did not have the expected effect; in the extremely neat and well-laid-out camp built by the House of the Lion, the vast majority of the infantry were already prepared for battle.

Since the enemy was prepared, the night raid no longer held much significance, so Robb ordered a retreat.

The second surprise came from the heavy cavalry legion behind them.

A full four thousand armored heavy cavalrymen of the Lion House struck from behind the Fish-Wolf Coalition, throwing the coalition's ranks into complete disarray.

Fortunately, there were many fierce and brave warriors among the Northmen, coupled with the die-hard loyalists drawn by the Young Wolf's unique charisma, so the rear battle line did not turn into a one-sided slaughter.

However, the situation was not optimistic; the Lion infantry had already begun to rely on their numerical advantage to encircle from both flanks, and if they did not carve out a bloody path, it was feared that these ten thousand-plus men would be finished here.

Roose Bolton, who was serving as the reserve commander, sent men to request to lead troops to break out.

The Young Wolf made a prompt decision, ordering the Bolton unit, whose command structure was stable and not entangled in the chaotic fighting, to break out toward the east, while his own soldiers also withdrew toward the east.

The third surprise happened then.

The three men sent by Bolton were actually assassins; they cut down several guards and noble commanders surrounding Robb.

These men were all noble scions of the North and the Riverlands, including Dacey Mormont, Wendel Manderly, Lucas Blackwood, and others.

Fortunately, the direwolf Grey Wind bit one assassin to death, and the remaining two were also surrounded and killed by the crowd.

The situation on the battlefield became even worse; the Bolton army turned traitor and began attacking the soldiers who remained loyal to the King in the North.

Thus, an encirclement from the north, south, and east began to form, with Casterly Rock, a massive stone castle, to the west.

At this critical juncture, Northern nobles like Maege Mormont, Owen Norrey, and Robin Flint urged King Robb to lead men to break out toward the northeast first.

That was the boundary between the Lion House heavy cavalry legion and the Bolton army; because the two armies were not yet very familiar with each other, a small gap had been left to prevent friendly fire.

"I am a man meant for kingship; how can I abandon my soldiers?" the Young Wolf shouted at his vassals.

He ordered everyone to take the soldiers and break out first, while he and fifteen hundred Stark cavalrymen stayed behind to cover the retreat.

Even though he had been king for only a short time, Robb had still established his prestige, so everyone reluctantly took the soldiers and retreated first.

The slaughter in the dark night continued, and the Stark cavalry covering the retreat suffered heavy casualties.

Fortunately, Robb had many capable and loyal men under his command who kept the battle line stable, including his uncle Brynden Tully, the legendary Knight Blackfish.

Riverrun Protector Hoster and Blackfish had always been at odds; during one argument, Duke Tully accused his brother of being the "black sheep of the Tully family," and Sir Brynden laughed and said it should be the Blackfish, so he changed his sigil and banner to the pattern of a black fish.

After the Usurper's War, Blackfish followed his niece to the Vale and was appointed Knight of the Bloody Gate by Jon Arryn. Fifteen years later, after Lysa refused to send troops to fight for her own kin, Blackfish accompanied Catelyn Stark north to White Harbor and joined Robb's army near there, commanding scouts and reconnaissance riders for him.

Upon learning that he had failed to scout the true movements of the Lion House cavalry, Blackfish, who already cherished his kin, felt even more ashamed toward Robb, so he led his hundred-plus men and charged in like a madman to rescue his grand-nephew.

After some noble commanders withdrew their soldiers from the encirclement, they brought their swift-moving riders back in to fight alongside their king.

It was just that the reputation of the Lion House heavy cavalry was not mere boasting.

They launched charges several times and clung tightly to the coalition's battle line, causing heavy losses to the coalition's cavalry.

And Robb and the other command centers were their primary targets; the heavy cavalry identified them by that giant grey wolf.

Where the wolf was, the "pretender king" was there.

Duke Tywin had already issued an order: whoever cut off Robb's head would be rewarded with ten thousand Gold Dragons, and whoever cut off the direwolf's head would be rewarded with five thousand Gold Dragons; the Iron Throne would also bestow a corresponding noble title.

This greatly boosted the morale of all the Western soldiers; for a common soldier, such a large sum of Gold Dragons meant they would have family wealth that could be passed down, and a noble title could allow one to rise to the top in a single step.

In the fierce fighting, Grey Wind was pierced by several iron tips of lances and fell to the ground with a whimper.

The injury of the direwolf left Robb, whose spirit was closely linked to it, feeling restless as well.

In order to take his partner away, the Young Wolf dismounted, attempting to get the giant wolf to stand up on its own.

The enemy seized the fleeting opportunity, and a Lion House centurion used a mace to land a blow on the iron-helmeted head of the "pretender king."

This made Robb unable to stand, and Blackfish and other knights immediately dismounted, guarding the Young Wolf in a circle.

The Lion House cavalry, attacking again, swarmed forward, their lances thrusting into the plate-mail and bucklers of this group.

The coalition warriors suffered many casualties as a result, and the speed of the retreat dropped sharply.

Added to the dim night, the scene was chaotic to the extreme.

Arthur, the Great and Smalljon, Rona Stout, and others arrived on the battlefield at this time.

Although this army was small in number, it thrust into the Western infantry from behind, which caused a portion of the Western soldiers to fall into disorder.

Arthur and the others managed to fight their way through the entire Lion House camp, and then found Robb and the others, who were surrounded by the Lion House cavalry.

This kind of crowded battlefield was exactly where a giant hammer excelled; with one swing of his hammer, Arthur could leave a heavy cavalryman with shattered armor and flesh flying.

Before long, he had led men to fight their way in.

"Quickly mount up and slip away; my Red Hare is big enough, and I will be responsible for taking the direwolf."

Blackfish picked up his grand-nephew, Arthur hoisted the massive Grey Wind onto the giant red horse, and this group retreated.

Dozens of capable nobles cleared the way, the remaining Stark cavalry followed, and they fought their way out from the northeast side of the encirclement.

The Bolton unit, which was mostly infantry, and the red cloaks on the south side were easy to shake off, but the highly mobile Lion House cavalry pursued relentlessly, and the fighting continued until dawn.

Most of the coalition infantry who had escaped first were also killed by the Lion House cavalry, and by the time they completely broke away from the battlefield, there were only about two thousand soldiers left gathered around Robb.

Blackfish and other generals advocated retreating along the River Road, but were stopped by Robb, who was not in good condition.

The King in the North and the Trident called most of the nobles to his side and said slowly: "Under the witness of the gods in heaven and all you lords, I appoint Jon Stark as my heir, to inherit the title of King in the North and the Trident in the future, as well as Winterfell and the direct lands of the Starks... *cough cough*..."

This decree was easy to understand; it was a time of chaos, Sansa and Arya were not suited to be lords, Bran was crippled, and Rickon was still young; only the "adult" Jon was suitable to take charge of the Stark family.

Although it was unlikely to do so under the standard succession law, the king had the prerogative to legitimize a bastard and could also designate his own heir.

After the Young Wolf coughed up two mouthfuls of blood, he began to instruct his subordinates again: "Joffrey's life has paid for my father's life, and Tywin's severe injury has been exchanged for my uncle Edmure's severe injury; we and the Lion House are even. The losses in this battle are too heavy; you should retreat to the Riverlands and just hold your own territories; do not go to war with the lions again."

His helmet was deformed, showing that the injury he sustained was not light.

"Who is Arthur Bracken?" Robb asked softly again.

Arthur, having been called, stepped forward.

"Not bad, you have a noble appearance. I heard you killed Joffrey, which can be considered avenging my father; Stone Hedge is yours now, Lord Bracken."

This statement was actually somewhat problematic; how could the vengeance of a kinsman be delegated to another?

But considering that the enemy Joffrey was indeed dead, and House Stark no longer had the strength to launch a major offensive against House Lannister, this vengeance could only be considered settled.

"I considered myself good to Roose Bolton, but his betrayal leaves me unsettled. My life is on his account; whoever kills him for me will be considered to have avenged me."

Bolton's betrayal filled many Northmen with righteous indignation, and the Young Wolf's final testament only intensified this hatred.

Many bellicose Northern nobles spoke up one after another, declaring that they were irreconcilable with Bolton House.

After roughly settling his affairs, Robb ordered a retreat.

The army of over two thousand men retreated along the River Road to Golden Tooth; halfway there, the severely wounded Robb went to meet his father in the heavens, and the direwolf Grey Wind followed shortly after.

This caused the morale of the entire army to plummet.

But the issue of morale was not the main point; the situation across the entire continent was beginning to become obscure once again.

News from the east reported that Stannis had already captured King's Landing.

Benefiting from the Fish-Wolf Coalition on the eastern front consuming a portion of the wildfire reserves and reducing the number of defenders in King's Landing to three or five thousand, the now-wiser Stannis launched a fierce assault during the day and took the Iron Throne he desired in one go.

Cersei and the others, knowing they were outmatched, first let a large number of commoners out of the city to disrupt the rhythm of Er Lu's army's attack.

Although Er Lu was cold and ungrateful, he would not attack commoners, so Cersei took her two children and the courtiers, under the protection of more than two thousand Gold Cloaks, and took advantage of the chaos to rush out of the besieged King's Landing, heading toward the north.

If nothing unexpected happens, Tommen and Cersei and the others are currently avoiding the war in Duskendale.

The news from the south likewise did not make the Riverlanders and Northmen happy.

The Reach had indeed bet on the winning combination of the Lannisters and the Crownlands.

Slightly different from the original plot, without Tywin overseeing the battle, Mace Tyrell, who had regained military power, led sixty thousand soldiers and twenty thousand servants, merchants, circus members, and others to march east, going to surround Storm's End, which was loyal to Stannis—after Stannis used Shadow Magic to kill the Castellan Penrose, the castle surrendered to Er Lu.

Interestingly, upon learning that the Ironborn had moved north to occupy the North, a portion of the Redwyne fleet guarding the coast of the Reach, led by Lord Paxter Redwyne, crossed the Summer Sea, joined up with the remaining longships, and began to besiege Storm's End.

As Mace Tyrell's cousin and brother-in-law, Paxter had already besieged Storm's End once with Mace sixteen years ago.

The Lord of Inflated Fish and Lord Redwyne were extremely similar in some respects; both believed that they could force the defenders to surrender through long-term siege, digging tunnels, and chiseling through walls—they did exactly that sixteen years ago, and the result was just eating and drinking on the public dime for over half a year—to trade for a victory with less bloodshed.

"It is rumored that twenty carts of grain are transported from the Reach to outside Storm's End every day; it is already larger than a normal town, and it looks like Mace Tyrell is prepared for a long-term war."

In the great hall of the main keep of Golden Tooth, Karyl Vance said to the crowd.

After he was rescued, he had remained in Golden Tooth, and thus learned of many rumors.

"Is there any movement from Dorne?" Arthur asked the well-informed man.

Dorne and the Reach had been enemies for generations, and House Martell had a grudge against the Lion family; the Lion-Flower Alliance could be said to have maxed out the hatred for the Dornishmen.

"There is no news from Dorne, and the Vale is also quiet," Karel said.

Now that Robb was dead, the greatest bond that held the Fish-Wolf Alliance together had vanished.

The unbreakable alliance had already begun to shatter from head to toe.

The atmosphere in the great hall suddenly fell silent, and most of the people were thinking about how to proceed.

After a long while, the reckless and crude Greatjon Umber spoke first on behalf of the Northmen: "Ever since Lord Rickard Stark listened to that damned Maester and executed the plan to march south, the entire North has not gained much; House Stark has already lost two pairs of fathers and sons, and we cannot afford to die anymore. Therefore, I believe the Northmen should go home, and you Riverlanders can figure it out yourselves!"

Rickard Stark was Eddard's father; that generation of Starks had experienced the strife of wolves and only Rickard remained.

Without brothers to assist him, Rickard began to trust the Winterfell Maester Vylis Flowers, who proposed a southern strategy to actively expand the influence of House Stark south of the Neck, so Duke Rickard began to marry into southern families, and Lyanna was betrothed to the heir of the Stormlands, Robert Baratheon.

Driven by fate, Lyanna became the fuse for the Usurper's War, and Duke Rickard and his eldest son Brandon lost their lives in King's Landing.

As if it were a cycle, sixteen years later, Eddard also lost his life in front of the Great Sept of Baelor in King's Landing, and his eldest son also died in the south.

This stance received the support of the vast majority of Northern nobles, and Rona Stout and others even shouted that they wanted to slaughter that Frey, Olyvar.

Fortunately, Smalljon Umber was somewhat familiar with Olyvar and stopped the impulsiveness of his companions from the eastern front.

Moreover, they had seized a lot of gold in Golden Tooth that had not yet been minted into the style of Gold Dragon coins; roughly estimated, it was worth nearly one hundred thousand Gold Dragon coins.

This was enough to satisfy the Northern nobles.

By locking down Moat Cailin and White Harbor, the North would truly be an independent kingdom, and because White Harbor was opposite Braavos, the Northmen did not really need trade by land.

The Riverlanders, however, were silent; the Northern nobles and soldiers were thinking of going home, and they naturally could not stop them.

But once the allies left, relying on the Riverlanders alone, they were afraid they could not fight against the already merged Lion-Flower Alliance.

Even the generous Robert had once reduced the old-line Earl of the eastern Riverlands, House Darry, to a Viscount, and Tywin was much tougher than Robert.

Not to mention Stannis, who now occupied King's Landing.

This cold and ungrateful man, famous throughout the Seven Kingdoms, could even cut off the fingers of his most capable subordinate, the Onion Knight; for the "traitors" who had supported Robb, he would likely either behead them or exile them to the Wall to serve as Night's Watch.

At the thought of becoming brothers with murderers, oath-breakers, and rapists, and perhaps being able to write a book titled "My Years as a Wight at the Wall" after death, these pampered nobles felt a chill run down their spines.

The crowd began to think about their retreat.

It would take time to make a decision, so the meeting that day ended hastily.

At night, Lord Tristan Lygge of Willow Wood quietly slipped into the room of Lord Clement Piper.

The latter was lying on a wooden bed, staring at the ceiling in a daze; after glancing at who had entered, he continued his previous action.

"Why are you still not thinking about defecting to a new power?" Tristan slipped to the bedside and asked in a low voice.

"Tommen or Stannis, pick either one; anyway, I'm not following House Tully." Clement was still grieving for his son's death and had no heart to consider these matters.

"One is Tywin in power, and you and I will likely only have the territory of a Viscount or Baron left; the other is directly fatal. Can't you put some heart into it?" Tristan said, frustrated by his lack of ambition.

"Then do you have any better options?" Clement still had an indifferent look.

"How about the Dragon King Arthur?" Lygge suggested.

Upon hearing this unfamiliar term, Clement slowly sat up, "Is it Arthur Bracken? I heard he has a dragon, but why is he called the Dragon King?"

"Let's not play dumb," Tristan moved over a wooden stool, sat down, and said, "Besides the Targaryens, who can make dragons reappear in the world?"

Clement pondered for a moment, "Then he is... Rhaegar's bastard?"

After the Valyrian civilization perished, only the Targaryens and their bastards could ride dragons, and only those with the blood of the Dragon family could be close to dragons.

Now that a dragon had appeared openly in Harrenhal, the fact that its master was a Targaryen was already quite certain.

The Mad King Aerys II stayed holed up in the Red Keep and would not go out, so only Prince Rhaegar could possibly have left behind a Bastard in the provinces.

"You have finally grasped the point." Tristan moved his wooden stool closer to the bed and whispered: "Arthur is now about twenty-two, which means he was born around 277, so his mother would have conceived him around 276; Prince Rhaegar was born in 259, making him about sixteen or seventeen at the time, so it matches up."

Clement shook his head, "Age doesn't prove anything; do his movements match up?"

Lygge said with full confidence, "Naturally, in 276 Conquest Era, to celebrate the birth of Prince Viserys, Lannisport held a grand Tourney; Rhaegar should have passed through the Riverlands at that time, doesn't that match up?"

Although Clement felt this point was quite far-fetched, the appearance of the dragon made him believe it seven or eight parts.

"Fine, let's assume he is a member of House Targaryen with a dragon, but are there enough people supporting him? Won't he be besieged by several major powers because he has a dragon?"

Count Lygge counted on his fingers, "Starting from the east, the Mooton Family of Maidenpool are Dragon Party; the Darry family are Dragon Party; the Whent family of Harrenhal are Dragon Party, and he himself is the administrator of Harrenhal; our Willow Wood is Dragon Party; Stone Hedge is in his hands; that leaves only three counts on the south bank of the Riverlands."

Due to the three hundred years of management by House Targaryen, the great nobles of the entire eastern Riverlands were basically loyalists to House Targaryen, and the lesser nobles followed the great nobles, so there was not much of a problem.

Clement took up the conversation, "Karel Vance of Wayfarer's Rest was saved by him, so he will likely support him too; the Vance family of Yalan Cheng are relatives of Karel, so they will likely follow suit; plus my Pinkmaiden territory, the entire southern Riverlands will be united."

Tristan said, "Raventree Hall has been getting very close to the Tully family recently, so they likely won't follow him; Seagard has the factor of Patrick, which is already very certain. As for the Frey family, they will definitely throw their lot in with the Lannister family, but they are in the north and separated by a large river, so we don't need to worry about them."

The two looked at each other, both feeling that this path was viable.

"Not to mention that the Dragon King's character is excellent; it is rumored that he treats his subjects like friends and is called Arthur the Justice and Arthur the Brave; I imagine he and we will get along very happily," Count Lygge said.

After gaining a deeper understanding of Arthur, he discovered that this person was simply a carbon copy of the true dragon Rhaegar.

Clement nodded, "Even if our military strength is insufficient now, each family can still pull out one or two thousand peasant soldiers, adding up to ten or twenty thousand; this is more than ten times what it was during Aegon the Conqueror, and when his dragon grows up, wouldn't that mean..."

"House Targaryen returns to the Iron Throne, and by then we can also enter the court and become honored guests of the Red Keep." Tristan had already begun to look forward to the future.

Although the Tully family bet on the right side during the Usurper's War, other than marrying off two daughters and Jiaodu Hoster ending up with a body full of injuries, the Trout family did not gain any tangible benefits.

The treatment of the nobles throughout the Riverlands was not even as good as it was before the war.

At the very least, the several counts of the eastern Riverlands were treated as confidants of House Targaryen back then, but under the Baratheon Dynasty, not a single great noble in the Riverlands was treated as a confidant by House Baratheon.

The two became interested and began to plan how to persuade the Dragon King to declare independence.

PS: Seeking recommendation votes and guaranteed monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)