Chapter 92: Self-Recommendation

"Two thousand five hundred men—is that all Earl Bracken brought this time? If you give them all to Arthur, doesn't that mean your house isn't sending a single person to defend Riverrun? My lord is only severely ill, not... you know, dead yet. Do not forget the oath you swore," said Desmond, the Master-at-arms of Riverrun.

Although he was on familiar terms with Arthur, his oath was sworn to House Tully, and in a situation where most of the Riverlands lords were present, he knew exactly whose side he should be taking.

"Exactly. It is impossible for your house not to send a single person to defend Riverrun. You must leave a portion of the two thousand five hundred men you have," Edmure also voiced his thoughts.

Earl Bracken was Arthur's kinsman; if he insisted on splitting his forces, Edmure could not restrain him, but he could at least make him leave some men behind.

"Who said I was giving all the men here to my nephew?" Janos remained calm and collected; he even had the leisure to take a sip of ale.

"There are still one thousand men at Stone Hedge under Hendry. I will have those men and the one thousand five hundred at Riverrun follow Arthur. Another one thousand will stay here with me to guard my liege lord."

Originally, the main Bracken force had three thousand five hundred men. Over three hundred had fallen in the conflict at Raventree Hall nearly three months ago, but the numbers were quickly replenished.

When Tywin gathered his army, Earl Janos had already been summoning the able-bodied farmers from his lands, so Stone Hedge currently had eight hundred peasant soldiers undergoing intensive training.

Because some of Edmure's methods did not sit well with Earl Bracken, he had not disclosed the full situation of his house to the Tullys.

"There is just one condition. With these two thousand five hundred men in hand, Arthur, you must help me hold Stone Hedge," Janos turned his aged face toward his nephew.

"The farmers on the land are like crops; you harvest one batch, and after the next Long Summer, several more will grow. Let the Western Lands Army ravage them as they please. But there is only one Stone Hedge. Our ancestors passed it down to me, and it cannot be destroyed on my watch. Therefore, you must help me protect Stone Hedge."

"I will send word to Hendry. Once you appear at Stone Hedge, you will replace him as Castellan."

After Janos rambled on for a long time, Arthur finally understood his meaning.

It turned out his condition for lending the troops was that Arthur must protect Stone Hedge.

【Task: Defend Stone Hedge】

In any case, Tywin was still attacking Wayfarer's Rest. Once he learned that both of his sons had been captured, he would calm down for a period to consider his next move.

The situation at Stone Hedge was not yet very dangerous.

"Fine, no problem at all." Arthur liked capable distant uncles. "The one thousand two hundred from Pinkmaiden and the two thousand five hundred from Stone Hedge—that is enough. If only there were some cavalry, I could lead the troops to kill my way to Tywin's tent and let the arrogant Warden of the West see the ferocity of us Riverlanders."

"That won't do. You cannot take all the forces from Pinkmaiden," Edmure still insisted on his view of defending Riverrun first.

He insisted that Pinkmaiden leave behind a portion of its soldiers, otherwise he would tell his father about House Piper's actions to let the true liege lord of the Riverlands deal with the disobedient vassal.

Earl Clement was helpless and left six hundred men at Riverrun, only allowing Arthur to take six hundred.

Arthur was quite angered by Edmure's actions, but since this man was the only able-bodied male of the liege House Tully, he could not push back too hard.

Regarding the issue of cavalry, House Mallister of Seagard and House Vance of Yalan Cheng, who were on good terms with Janos, were willing to provide their cavalry to Arthur.

But this was again opposed by Edmure.

His reasoning was that the cavalry of the Riverlands was already pitifully scarce, and it was impossible to let Arthur take a portion of them away.

Furthermore, in his view, defending Harrenhal only required infantry, not cavalry.

Arthur and he had a clear disagreement on this issue, and both sides had many nobles chiming in, but every time Edmure brought up his father to hold the floor, the voices supporting Arthur diminished significantly.

After arguing for a long time, the problem remained unsolved, but it was time for a meal.

Thus, everyone agreed to eat first and continue the discussion in the afternoon.

The lunch at House Tully was worthy of their status as a liege family; the rare foie gras was served in small individual dishes, and the main course was roasted tender steak, accompanied by golden-fried Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Xiaoyu, enough to whet anyone's appetite.

However, before the meal, Arthur was pushed out of the castle hall by Patrick of Seagard and others, then taken to a bathhouse to be scrubbed clean.

Because he truly stank.

The contents of Jaime's mount's stomach had spilled all over his Plate Armor and his body. After the battle, there had only been time for a simple rinse, and the congealed blood in the crevices had fermented for several days, becoming sour and foul.

If not for the fact that everyone's focus during the morning's military strategy meeting was not on the smell, Arthur would have long been pressured by the cleanliness-loving nobles to go take a bath.

After washing up and putting on a linen robe provided by a servant—he didn't know whose it was—Arthur walked into the hall to have lunch with everyone.

"Where is The Mountain's head?" Janos asked from the side.

"It's hanging on my saddle. It should be stinking by now, too." After bathing, Arthur realized how foul he had smelled earlier, so he didn't want to bring up the rotting, stinking head of The Mountain.

"You shouldn't have been so careless," Janos reminded him in a low voice.

"You should have pickled The Mountain's head early on and hung it in a conspicuous place on your horse. During the discussion this morning, you should have displayed it to this group of people first. That way, the nobles whose lands were raided by The Mountain on the south bank of the Red Fork would mostly support you."

He offered his nephew some guidance.

Arthur thought about it, and he was right.

The lords of the Riverlands all hated The Mountain to the bone; by killing him, he had invisibly gained a batch of allies.

After whispering his thanks to Janos, Arthur wolfed down two mouthfuls of food and went out to instruct the servants of Riverrun to pickle The Mountain's head.

……

In the afternoon, The Mountain's head indeed played its part.

House Vance of Yalan Cheng clearly and unequivocally stated they would lend their cavalry to Arthur.

Their kinsman, the Jiaodu of House Vance at Wayfarer's Rest, Karel, made the same decision.

Although the cavalry from these two houses only totaled four hundred men, the attitude was enough to influence others.

Earl Jason Mallister of Seagard, under the influence of the two houses and the encouragement of his son Patrick, also lent out four hundred cavalrymen.

This made Edmure very dissatisfied; anyone could see that this heir to Riverrun was preparing to bring up his father again.

Arthur knew when to stop; three thousand one hundred infantry and eight hundred cavalry were enough.

Riverrun still had over seventeen thousand men remaining. Although they were evenly matched in strength with the Western Lands Army detachment from Golden Tooth, considering the advantage of the terrain, the war situation on the western front of the Riverlands should be quite stable.

As long as Edmure didn't come to micromanage or give blind commands.

"There is one more problem. Since you are prepared to fight the Western Lands detachment at Riverrun first, there is no one to command the two major regions of the Hedong Diqu and around the Gods Eye. I recommend myself to take on this role until you are free to lead the army across the Red Fork," Arthur volunteered.

The Red Fork originates from the Golden Tooth mountains, flows north for half its length, then flows east until it merges into the Trident.

Therefore, Pinkmaiden, Wayfarer's Rest, Stoney Sept, and Stone Hedge, located on the east side of the upper reaches of the Red Fork, can be described as the Hedong Diqu.

And the area around the Gods Eye, from south to north including Yalan Cheng, Willow Wood, Harrenhal, Darry, and Sow's Horn, is the lake region.

As for Maidenpool and the coast of Crab Bay further east, they were simply too far away; Tywin could not possibly reach there in the early stages.

At the moment, except for Lady Whent, the five earls of the Hedong Diqu and the lake region were all at Riverrun; without Edmure's permission, it was inconvenient for them to leave.

Therefore, neither region had any powerful figures to preside over the war, nor were there heavy troops guarding each castle.

"That is no problem." Edmure did not want to fight the main force of Tywin's lion house in the Hedong Diqu during the early stages, so he agreed readily.

"I will have the nobles of the Nan'an present send ravens to their own castles; their smallfolk and the soldiers on their lands will cooperate with your operations."

The matter was decided just like that.

Then, Arthur and some others prepared to leave Riverrun.

The members of the King's Landing Law Enforcement Team had already become wanted criminals, so the Stormlands man Lord Beric, the Myr man Thoros of Myr, and the guards of House Stark from The North decided to go to the Hedong Diqu to protect the farmers from the harm of the Western Lands Army.

Marq Piper, Raymond Darry, and a few others followed Arthur eastward.

The eldest son of Seagard, Patrick, also clamored to go, so he joined the force to defend Harrenhal.

To save time, the route eastward had to be by water.

It was just that all the larger boats around Riverrun added together were only just enough to send one thousand five hundred people eastward.

Considering that Tywin's vanguard cavalry had already passed Stone Hedge, and there was still some distance from the Red Fork to Harrenhal.

Therefore, Arthur decided to set off with the cavalry first, marching rapidly to rescue Lady Whent and her castle.

The Riverlands were very short on horses, so the cavalry had no pack horses to assist in marching and carrying goods, thus there were only eight hundred warhorses.

"Let all the warhorses board the large ships; it doesn't matter if it's a bit crowded. Horses can sleep standing up; we only need to bring enough fodder."

"The soldiers will board the small boats first and switch when they find larger ships downstream."

Arthur instructed thus.

Consequently, the nearby farmers who had been conscripted searched again, and even canoes that could only carry two or three people were found; finally, the necessary transport was gathered.

Everything was ready, and Edmure and the Riverlands lords remaining at Riverrun came out to see them off. At the ferry, they watched as Arthur led eight hundred men and eight hundred horses, crowded onto over a hundred large ships and small boats, sailing downstream.

As for the two thousand one hundred infantry at Riverrun, the ships that would return later were 【blocked/interrupted】 by the lower reaches of the Red Fork.

Regarding matters already agreed upon, Edmure would not object.

A day and a half later, Red Mill Riverbank Village ferry.

"Show The Mountain's head to all the Nan'an farmers," Arthur instructed the Steward Amber.

Passing through his own lands, he had brought people to deliver this stinking, pickled giant head.

This would make many displaced farmers pledge their hearts to Arthur.

"As you command." Amber went immediately to arrange this.

"My lord, a total of one thousand one hundred men have been selected to form the New Army..." Dickon Tarly reported on the training situation of the small soldiers.

From his words, Arthur learned that there were currently over twenty-five thousand refugees on his lands.

Of course, the noble lands along the entire north bank of the Red Fork had seen an increase in people, and a large number of refugees were heading north, pouring continuously toward the peaceful north bank.

"Alright, you continue training. In a few days, these ships will take you to Harrenhal. By then, I will rebuild the entire military system. You will then use new training methods for different branches of the service."

Dickon nodded, then realized something was wrong.

"Go to Harrenhal? Isn't that Duke Tywin's next target? Wouldn't it be very dangerous for the new recruits to train in that vicinity?"

Arthur smiled, "Do you know how big Harrenhal is? The castle's Hall of a Hundred Hearths is enough for these people to train in; it is very safe in there."

Ignoring the somewhat bewildered Dickon, Arthur gave the group a round of instructions before boarding the ship again to follow the main force downstream.

They had to arrive at Harrenhal before the Western Lands Army's cavalry.

PS: Seeking recommendation votes and monthly tickets.

(End of chapter)