Chapter 85: The Situation

At the intersection of the Blackwater River, which flows from northwest to southeast, and the Golden Road, which stretches from east to west, an inn is operating at full capacity to receive guests.

Here, Arthur obtained the information he wanted, but was also confused by even more rumors.

Combining his knowledge of the Game of Thrones plot with the rumors from mercenaries in the inn heading for the Westerlands, he deduced the general movements of the Riverlands and Tywin's army.

After the Lannisters received news that Tyrion Lannister had been kidnapped, Jaime, anxious to protect his brother in King's Landing, first confronted Duke Eddard; after the lion house's soldiers injured Eddard during the incident, Jaime fled back to Casterly Rock.

Duke Tywin directly summoned his army and then split his forces into two routes.

One route, consisting of House Lannister soldiers and a small number of elite vassal house soldiers, totaling about 20,000 men, was under Tywin's direct command; they set out from Casterly Rock, marched east along the Golden Road, then headed north near Deep Den, and stationed troops near Hornvale.

Hornvale is the seat of House Brax of the Westerlands, situated among the great mountains of the Gold Tooth, near the source of the Red Fork.

Should the situation change, Tywin could enter the Hedong Diqu, the heartland of the Riverlands, from the narrow valley between the south bank of the Red Fork and the Gold Tooth, and then attack east to capture Harrenhal.

The other route, consisting of soldiers from various vassal houses of the Westerlands, Sworn Knights, Landed Knights, mercenaries, and others, totaling about 15,000 men, was led by Jaime; they set out from Casterly Rock, followed the River Road, and marched toward Golden Tooth via Sarsfield and other places.

Lady Stark made the first move, but it was the Westerlands that held the military initiative.

And the Riverlands' response was somewhat completely lacking in strategy.

Edmure first sent 4,000 soldiers from two earldoms—House Piper of Pinkmaiden and House Vance of Wayfarer's Rest—to press near Golden Tooth, attempting to block the River Road and prevent the Westerlands' army from entering their own territory from there.

This left the Riverlands between Hornvale and Pinkmaiden without heavy troops guarding it, effectively opening their own gates for Tywin's main Westerlands force to ravage.

Afterward, the young and inexperienced Edmure summoned most of the vassal house soldiers and the entire force of his own House Tully to Riverrun.

The three thousand-plus men of House Blackwood of Raventree Hall, the three thousand-plus men of the main branch of House Bracken of Stone Hedge, the fifteen hundred-plus men of House Mallister of Seagard, the one thousand-plus men of Vance of Atranta, the one thousand-plus men of House Lynderly of Willow Wood...

Every earl and higher-ranking noble in the entire Riverlands, except for House Frey of The Twins who continued to sit on the fence, the Mootons of Maidenpool in the east who didn't arrive because the distance was too great, and House Whent who truly had no troops, all who could come had arrived.

As for viscountcies, baronies, Landed Knights, and so on, they were countless, all gathering near Riverrun according to Edmure's orders.

Currently, 25,000 to 30,000 troops have gathered near Riverrun, the western gateway of the Riverlands, leaving the east bank of the Red Fork basically empty.

Consequently, Lord Tywin saw the opportunity and countered, sending The Mountain to lead a small force of over a hundred men to harass and pillage the Hedong Diqu, forcing these nobles to rush back to their own territories, thereby dispersing the troops at Riverrun.

This left the peasants of the entire Riverlands in a state of panic, not knowing what to do.

Regarding King's Landing, Robert went to the Kingswood to hunt; if there are no surprises, he will be seriously injured by a boar's charge according to the sequence of events, and then die.

Duke Eddard is willing but powerless; he only brought fifty men to King's Landing and cannot influence the dispute between the Riverlands and the Westerlands at all.

As for the rest, The Vale and The Reach have not made much movement, and the great lords are preparing to watch the show.

After receiving a Silver Stag as a reward from Arthur, the inn's stable boy said:

"I dare say, The Mountain has already reached the vicinity of the Gods Eye."

The Gods Eye is the largest lake in Westeros, and its vastness far exceeds what ordinary people can imagine.

According to Arthur's experience, only the legendary Yunmeng Marsh in Asia and the Great Lakes in North America can compare to it.

Whether The Mountain is on the east or west side of the Gods Eye is a big problem; if he runs to the wrong side, about a week of time will be wasted.

So Arthur shouted to the diners in the shop: "A Silver Stag for a piece of information, who else knows the accurate whereabouts of The Mountain?"

Under the charm of money, many people who were not good with words immediately became talkative.

"My lord, I am from House Lynderly of Willow Wood; The Mountain appeared on our lands five days ago and burned four or five villages. Hundreds of people—men, women, children, and the elderly—were all killed by them, and not a single copper coin was left behind."

"I am from Yalan Cheng; two days ago The Mountain ransacked my village. My relatives and friends didn't escape, and I imagine they have already..."

Before this person could finish speaking, he had already started to cry.

People from other places, upon hearing this, angrily rebuked: "What are the nobles of the Riverlands doing? They have the sole responsibility of protecting the people; do they not even want to fulfill that anymore?"

"This Lord Bracken, I am from Pinkmaiden; The Mountain was there nine days ago."

"God-damned Mountain, the dispute between House Lannister and Stark, why must it harm us commoners?"

Everyone began to speak one after another, many of whom were victims themselves.

From their words, Arthur gradually mapped out The Mountain's activity trajectory.

He set out from Tywin's main army at Hornvale, entered the Riverlands along the valley of the Red Fork, killed his way north through the territory of Pinkmaiden, and then headed south to ravage the two earldoms of Willow Wood and Yalan Cheng.

Then The Mountain bypassed the south side of the Gods Eye and headed to the east side of the Gods Eye.

After tossing a dozen Silver Stags to this group of people, Arthur nodded and said:

"Very good, your information is very useful. I am going to hunt down The Mountain now. You can also help me spread the word: say that Arthur Bracken, Lord of Red Mill, will protect all commoners who come to his territory."

Then, he led his men out of the inn and summoned all the important figures in the caravan.

"Dickon, you help lead the caravan straight north to my territory, Red Mill. My servant Meidan will lead the way. The 161 men recruited from The Reach are under your command. Once you arrive, train the new recruits at full throttle."

"Anguy, you also follow Dickon north. Take your thirteen Spearmen; after arriving at my territory, you are responsible for training the archers, and the Spearmen are responsible for training the newly recruited militia in using spears."

"Vargo, you select thirty or forty elite fighters from the Brave Companions. We are going to do something on the east side of the Gods Eye. The remaining members of the Brave Companions will form small squads of three or four and go to all the rural villages in the Riverlands north of the Blackwater River and south of the Red Fork to show them that Arthur of Red Mill will protect them, and have the peasants move north as soon as possible."

Since most members of the Brave Companions have horses, Arthur sent them to carry out the task of promoting himself.

When the time comes to gather the hundreds of thousands of refugees in the Hedong Diqu, Arthur's strength will expand significantly.

One must know that in 192 AD, Cao Cao took the ownerless Yanzhou and accepted the surrender of the 300,000 Qingzhou Yellow Turbans and a million refugees, only then standing out among the many warlords to become a hegemon of the Central Plains.

"War is about to break out, and everyone must execute my orders without a single error. Now, get moving."

Vargo and Dickon had no objections; one was doing it for money, and the other was immersed in the novelty of running away from home.

Anguy and the thirteen Dornish Spearmen, however, had a change in demeanor.

They walked together to Arthur and knelt on one knee.

"My lord, The Mountain killed our Dornish Princess Elia Martell and her children. This is the shame of all us Dornishmen. We beg to follow you to hunt down The Mountain and avenge the murdered Princess and her children."

In the final stages of the Usurper's War fifteen years ago, Tywin led his army to capture King's Landing; to provide a pledge of loyalty to Robert of the rebel army, he had The Mountain kill Prince Rhaegar's wife, Princess Elia of Dorne.

Arthur hadn't expected this.

After pondering for a moment, he made a decision:

"Then you fourteen shall follow me. The Mountain has committed unforgivable sins; I will certainly bring justice to Elia and her children, as well as the hundreds and thousands of Riverlands peasants."

"Men act, and the gods in heaven watch. I will be the one to deliver his retribution to him."

With no further issues, Dickon led the team north, the remaining members of the Brave Companions went to recruit refugees for Arthur, and the core members followed Arthur with the Dornishmen as they set out to the east.

After four days of pursuing the trail of burned villages and fleeing refugees, Arthur and his men finally caught up to The Mountain and his subordinates.

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(End of this chapter)