Chapter 97: I Can Still Fight (Bonus for Alliance Leader Zi Zhiyu)

For the Riverlands Army, the situation on the battlefield was very grim.

Five hundred Western Lands Heavy Cavalry were closing in from both sides, with nearly two thousand soldiers from various Western Lands houses following behind.

In front of the Riverlands Army lay unmapped traps, crossbowmen protected by axemen, and several hundred House Lannister soldiers.

And their commander was still buried in a pit, covered by others.

Fortunately, most of the infantry were Bracken household soldiers, so Stone Hedge counted as fighting on home turf.

Therefore, after the vanguard cavalry stopped, someone discovered the traces of the ground having been disturbed.

Thus, nearly two thousand four hundred Riverlands infantry from various houses halted before the trap zone.

"Quick, get them up first," commanded a Bracken officer named Andrew.

Previously, during the conflict between Arthur and Raventree Hall, it was he who led the five hundred soldiers Hendry had lent.

This time, he was also one of the infantry commanders for the allied troops.

The incident happened suddenly, so the Riverlands soldiers could only use polearms to pull the nobles and shield-bearers who had fallen into the pit out.

Other pits were difficult to handle, but Arthur's pit was quite easy.

People and horses were piled up to two-thirds the depth of the pit; a single axe of equal height was enough to pull the person on top out.

Some shield-bearers surrounded the pit, blocking the incoming crossbow bolts, while dozens of soldiers were responsible for pulling people up.

Patrick was shouting the loudest, so he was pulled out by the ordinary cavalrymen in the pit, then one person hugged from below and two pulled from the edge, finally getting the eldest son of Seagard out.

"Arthur is at the very bottom, get him out quickly, or he'll be crushed," he shouted.

"Get Lord Arthur out first, the enemy has already surrounded us from both sides, we need him to carve out a path," Andrew barked.

Marq Piper had also fallen into this pit; after being found from the bottom and pulled out, he stepped on a horse's neck and shouted: "What are you standing there for? Pull Arthur out first, then have a bunch of people jump down and fill the pit, wouldn't that get us out?"

This suggestion was a bit stupid, and Andrew, who was commanding from above, ignored it.

After the few people in the pit exchanged a few words with the buried Arthur, they located his position and, after a bit of effort, finally pulled him out from among the fallen horses and men.

Then, a few people formed a human ladder, allowing Arthur, who was holding his Golden Guan Dao, to climb up.

Although he was a bit dizzy from the fall, his freakish physical fitness and recovery ability allowed him to quickly adjust to a normal state.

As soon as he came up, Arthur saw a large mass of heavy cavalry surrounding them from both sides, and a massive crowd of infantry completing the encirclement in the rear.

Meanwhile, his own cavalry and infantry were mixed together, some pulling people out, others standing in disarray.

Patrick asked: "Arthur, how are you?"

"I can still fight!" Raising his signature Golden Guan Dao, Arthur shouted:

"Andrew, you are responsible for reorganizing the ranks, turn the rear into the front, move toward the north, do not lose your footing."

It was still unclear how many traps remained to the south, so the battlefield could only be set to the north.

"Follow me." Arthur raised his arm and strode toward the enemy.

A large group of Riverlands soldiers around him were led by Arthur toward the oncoming soldiers of the various Western Lands houses; the two walls of men slowly collided and then began to slaughter each other.

Although the Western Lands house soldiers maintained a certain formation, because they came from over a dozen houses, their combat coordination was on par with the Riverlands infantry.

On this battlefield, with a total of three thousand one hundred infantry and cavalry, the Western Lands Army only slightly outnumbered the Riverlands Army, so the fighting was very intense.

But the Golden Guan Dao, which flashed from time to time, could still catch the eyes of the Western Lands nobles.

"The Riverlanders got that Arthur out; the pit was dug too shallow," Adam Marbrand said with a tone of regret.

Count Shaliute cupped his hand over his eyes, staring closely at the battlefield, "He is truly fierce; to be thrown into a large pit and be able to fight the moment he comes out."

"We must move the crossbowmen to our front, otherwise we won't be able to stop that killing god," suggested Count Roland Crakehall of Oxcross.

Adam Marbrand agreed.

Thus, the crossbowmen and the axemen protecting them gathered with the personal guards of these Western Lands nobles.

"Ser Adam, we must pay attention to the other group of Riverlands soldiers," Count Lefford said, looking at the hill behind them. "The Bracken soldiers huddled in Stone Hedge have also rushed out from the North Gate; it looks like they are meeting reinforcements."

Adam Marbrand was reminded and noticed a large group of soldiers wearing gold-shield and red-horse surcoats pouring out of the North Gate of Stone Hedge on the hill.

"Perfect, let's have a decisive battle. We just need to ensure the interior of Stone Hedge remains intact."

He still had two thousand House Lannister infantry under his command, meant to deal with the Riverlands soldiers inside the castle.

After a messenger galloped around, this group of House Lannister soldiers also moved, and thus all the soldiers outside Stone Hedge were drawn into the battle.

After dozens of minutes of slaughter, Arthur hacked the last enemy in front of him to death.

He looked around and found that only a few hundred Western Lands house soldiers remained on the north side, and the House Lannister cavalry on the east and west sides were also dragged into the mud by the Riverlands infantry, crowding together and hacking at each other.

Of the two thousand seven hundred or so people brought, only a thousand or so remained, and they already had a numerical advantage on this battlefield.

And on the hill to the south, the garrison that poured out of Stone Hedge was fighting exceptionally hard.

Their numbers were only half that of the House Lannister soldiers, and their equipment was not as good as the wealthy House Lannister soldiers, so they were currently unable to hold on.

Arthur noticed that the leader of the Bracken soldiers on the hill was his distant cousin Hendry.

He was struggling to defend, fighting quite miserably.

Last time Arthur came to Stone Hedge to borrow troops, the impression this person gave him was that he was sissy and stingy.

But now that he had actually come out in person to lead troops to meet reinforcements, this slightly changed Arthur's impression of him.

On a flat piece of ground to the west of the hill battlefield stood dozens of banners and two or three hundred Western Lands soldiers.

It looked like the commanders and nobles of this group of Western Lands soldiers, along with their personal guards.

To capture the men, one must first capture the leader.

"Get a few good men, we are going to capture those Western Lands nobles."

Arthur shouted, then strode toward the west.

Raymond and a dozen Darry infantry, along with dozens of Bracken household infantry, responded to Arthur's call and followed him forward.

To bypass the trap zone, they circled around from the west.

Just right, Arthur chopped up another batch of Western Lands infantry and cavalry he encountered on the way.

At least thirty or forty Western Lands Army soldiers died on the road Arthur took to capture and kill the Western Lands nobles, which made the situation here even clearer.

The group of Riverlands Army soldiers following Arthur were all veterans; knowing that the Western Lands nobles had that earlier group of crossbowmen by their sides, they picked up Great Shields, Small Round Shields, and other defensive gear from the road, forming a circle to create a shield formation to protect Arthur, Raymond, and other high-ranking Riverlands nobles.

"Stop them!" Count Shaliute screamed.

The Riverlands assault team was only a few dozen paces away from them, which made this group of Western Lands nobles nervous as never before.

The person coming was the God of War who had stopped an army of ten thousand with one man and one horse outside Golden Tooth; if he were to kill with abandon, he might not even abide by the tradition of not killing high-ranking nobles.

Right now, the soldiers of each house were still in a decisive battle, and they could not easily abandon their own soldiers to slip away.

The commander, Adam Marbrand, was quite composed, calmly letting the crossbowmen fire a volley first.

But most of the crossbow bolts were caught by the shields.

The momentum of the Riverlands assault team was not affected.

Thus, the axemen protecting the crossbowmen were sent to intercept, with some of the Western Lands nobles' Personal Guards following behind.

After engaging in close-quarters combat, the shield formation was no longer necessary.

The Riverlands assault team and the Western Lands Army began to fight in pairs, and Arthur swung his Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Dadao and began to hack people down.

A few minutes later.

Count Lefford asked uncertainly, "How about we retreat?"

His voice trembled slightly; it was clear he was a bit afraid.

Adam Marbrand himself was also intimidated by the brave and invincible Arthur.

At a distance of a few dozen paces, these Western Lands nobles could already clearly see that the blade of Arthur's golden Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Dadao had been chipped from hacking.

Yet even so, this man could still manage to kill one person with every strike, showing the sheer force of his blows.

The Western Lands Army soldiers struck by his Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Dadao often had wounds not as smooth as those from axes or swords; flesh and bone fragments flew together, and brains and visceral chunks danced in unison.

They dared not imagine how painful it must be to die from such hacking.

"No rush, hold on a little longer." Adam Marbrand looked at the battle outside Stone Hedge and felt that his side still had the advantage.

There, the garrison led by Hendry was reduced to only thirty or forty percent, while the Lannister infantry still had about fifteen hundred left.

"I don't believe this Arthur has enough stamina to kill so many people without feeling any fatigue." Sir Adam believed in his judgment, "Once the Lannister infantry outside Stone Hedge are free, we can wear this man down until he surrenders."

"Well said." Count Shaliute expressed agreement, "It's just that when he does surrender, he won't get along with most of us, after all the blood he's seen."

The master of Silverhill spoke the truth; the Western Lands nobles present all had a large number of family soldiers killed by Arthur.

This caused their family strength to drop sharply; at this point in time, when the Long Summer was about to end and a great war had already broken out, this would be a fatal blow.

After all, the full name for nobles is "Armed Noble"; without professional soldiers who do not engage in production, a family's strength easily drops by a tier.

But if this man truly swore allegiance to their liege lord, Duke Tywin, they would have to grit their teeth and accept it.

Twenty minutes later.

Only a few dozen people remained by the side of the Western Lands nobles; most of the rest had died before them.

"Run, run, run, hurry and run." Count Lefford urged Adam to give the order in a continuous stream.

"Exactly, my Personal Guards are almost gone; if we don't slip away now, are we really waiting for him to kill us all?" Count Shaliute also agreed to leave.

"Messenger, have the soldiers retreat to the east." Adam looked at the battle on the north side and the Riverlands God of War who was still as fierce as a dragon or tiger before him, and finally decided to retreat.

Only about two hundred Lannister Cavalry remained on the north side, along with about four hundred family soldiers from various Western Lands houses.

Outside Stone Hedge, another large group of Bracken soldiers rushed out; although they were clearly new recruits, they still dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Lannister infantry.

This group of Western Lands nobles and their remaining Personal Guards were all riding horses, so they were quite efficient at slipping away.

Before Arthur could react, there were no mounted targets left in front of him.

There were no stray horses nearby for him to ride to chase the fleeing enemies.

So Arthur charged toward the Lannister soldiers outside the North Gate of Stone Hedge who had not yet managed to retreat from the fighting.

After another round of slaughter, the Western Lands Army soldiers who could escape did, and those who could not were either killed or knelt to surrender.

Stone Hedge Great Hall.

"Ouch, that fall into the pit nearly crushed me to death." Patrick sat on a chair and said to Arthur, who was observing his Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Dadao.

His idol was feeling heartbroken over the chipped blade.

After four major battles at Tumblestone, Golden Tooth, Harrentown, and Stone Hedge, the blade of this Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Dadao, forged by the great craftsman from Norvos—Tuobu—had become so dull that it was very strenuous to use.

Fortunately, the material structure was good; sharpening the blade again would suffice for a while.

"You had it easy; we were all wearing Plate Armor, so it didn't crush our ribs. The Shield-bearers in the front only wore Chainmail, so falling down was fatal enough, and the Cavalry behind us who fell down directly crushed a layer of people to death." Arthur said with some helplessness.

He also hadn't expected the enemy to dig traps, and he hadn't sent any scouts to investigate the battlefield situation.

This lesson in blood must be well remembered.

After the two chatted for a few more sentences, someone entered.

"The position of Castellan is yours." Hendry walked in front, first dropping this sentence, then beginning to report on the cleanup of the battlefield.

The entire Western Lands Army left behind 3,157 corpses, and there were 98 prisoners.

Of course, the prisoners here were all lightly wounded or unharmed; for those seriously wounded, a finishing blow was all that was needed.

The army Septons and Maesters who treated illnesses were rare items; it was impossible to treat the enemy.

As for the Riverlands Army, among those Arthur brought, 934 still had combat capability, and the seriously wounded were still being counted.

The Stone Hedge garrison lost over 700 veterans and over 200 new recruits.

In other words, the Riverlands Army exchanged the deaths of over 2,800 soldiers for the ascension of 3,157 Western Lands invaders.

This did not include the reduction in troop strength caused by the prisoners taken from the Western Lands Army.

Although the fact that Arthur hacked hundreds to death was a factor, it was still a great victory.

"You continue to be the Castellan; I still have to go back to defend Harrenhal." Arthur said.

He had already learned from a captive that Duke Tywin was leading the elite troops of the Lion House toward the ancestral castle of House Whent.

Although the enemy had over fourteen thousand men, Arthur could not afford to refuse the challenge.

Otherwise, the entire war situation on the Dong Xian of the Riverlands would collapse.

By then, it would be another brutal battle.

"Uncle said it's yours; it seems he thinks you are more reliable at defending the city, so I have no choice but to comply." On the matter of the Castellan, Hendry was relentless.

He did not want Arthur to lead troops to Harrenhal.

In front of Tywin's elite Lion House troops, these few men would just be going to their deaths.

It would be better to stay and guard Stone Hedge; at least this place could truly be defended.

"Fine then." Arthur did not want to entangle himself with him, "Since I am the Castellan, I order you to take the five hundred or so new recruits to guard Stone Hedge, and I will take everyone else."

Hendry was dumbfounded and wanted to say something more, but was stopped by Arthur raising his hand.

Adam Marbrand had suffered a crushing defeat and should not be coming to Stone Hedge again for a short time; this place was already safe.

Tywin had led his army into Willow Wood in the lake region, which was only five or six days' journey from Harrenhal, so he had to hurry back.

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(End of this chapter)