Chapter 144

Adeleisweir said there were two thousand garrison troops outside Longxi City, but in the repeated charges Mei Yi felt the total number of soldiers might be just over a thousand, and the cavalry even fewer, possibly only slightly more than her own.

Following the location of the cavalry camp, they broke through several stables, but the warhorses inside were not as many as imagined, basically exposing the cavalry's numbers.

The cavalry were few, and the small clans that had gathered were likewise few.

The viscount-family banners she saw in the camp were quite limited.

She could only distinguish the banners of three small clans: the Red Pine banner of the Painred family, the three red coyote cavalry of the Trentis family, and the blue stream hunter Stokes holding a long fork.

She also saw a white eagle with halted wings flag and a grass-fork flag on a yellow background, but she did not know which families they belonged to; aside from these, she saw no other clan banners.

The territory of the Stream Lands is vast, far more than just five small clans; she absolutely did not believe that only five clans had answered Earl Rodrik's summons.

Where are the rest? Winterfell can hold three thousand soldiers, with even more people living inside the city, but that would become extremely crowded and would require reusing all derelict buildings. The size of Longxi City before her eyes appears to be only about half that of Winterfell, maybe a bit more—could it possibly hide several thousand people inside?

Mei Yi stared at the tightly closed gate, knowing that a cautious person, upon encountering such a change and such a defeat, would never rashly open the gate to release the city's soldiers for a field battle with the enemy. At least before she finished this mopping-up operation, she need not worry about Earl Lesweir.

Old people are always slow and cautious. Someone like Earl Rodrik, who accidentally obtained the earldom, is probably especially so.

At least she felt the earl currently lacked the courage to leave the city.

She wanted to gather the warriors, ready to retreat or attack at any moment. This stream land is an excellent place to train cavalry, and she needs warhorses.

She wanted the furry dog to help her round up the warhorses, but the furry dog completely failed to meet her expectations; it was trampling a corpse, feasting heartily, showing no interest whatsoever in the chaotic battlefield. It was nothing like Grey Wind, a creature adapted to and born for the battlefield.

Each of the several wolves had its own personality.

Riding her warhorse across the broad plains before Longxi City, she drove off the defeated soldiers, but many had already jumped into the moat, and some had hidden in the dense woods of the hills.

She ran back and forth across the battlefield, gathering the scattered cavalry.

If Earl Rodrik were emboldened by their laxity and ordered the orderly cavalry within the city to launch a pursuit against her, the balance of attack and defense would shift, and in her unprepared state she would not want that situation to arise.

Moreover, the North has never lacked impulsive, reckless youths.

Who knows how much authority Earl Rodrik has delegated to his sons?

If her information is correct, Earl Rodrik's three sons are all adults; the eldest son Rogerleisweir seems to have married a certain girl from the Finglin's Finger; the second son Rickardleisweir is only slightly younger than Roger and married a daughter of the Bolton family; the youngest son Lucasleisweir is about twenty years old and still unmarried, he was one of the marriage candidates Lord Adeleisweir initially recommended to her, so she has some impression of him.

"This boy is handsome, clever, and quite skilled at horsemanship and swordsmanship, though he is extremely impulsive and willful, like a wild horse, much like his two brothers; I believe you can certainly tame him..." She recalled Lord Adeleisweir's comment, but Lord Adeleisweir ultimately removed his name from the list. "Because his status is too low," but Mei Yi thought this was probably Lady Catherine's meaning, as the Stream Lands are too close to them.

"Where are the rest? Sound the muster horn!" Mei Yi scanned the rear of her own force; there were a few more warhorses following behind, but the soldiers were fewer by over ten.

Most likely, misfortune outweighs fortune.

There was some movement on the city tower; Mei Yi glanced up at the battlements.

On the left side of the city wall's watchtower hung a scarlet flayed-man flag, while at the opposite tower flew the black horse flag of the Stream Lands, streaming in the cold wind atop the city tower.

Beneath the flags, crowds of people milled about, as if several important figures had ascended. Too far away to see clearly, she paid little heed and simply stopped bothering to watch.

She had won a complete victory outside the city; now the battle was over, she felt no joy, though few in number, she also felt no worry. The only problem was that her offensive had pushed her to this situation—retreating would be of little use, while advancing lacked any definite yet achievable somewhat grand objective.

At present, this is merely searching for tactics amid movement, confirming the strategy of this southern advance during tactical execution—putting the cart before the horse, that's what it means.

But she is the commander of an army, and she has the duty to display full confidence and composure.

"Cavalry, maintain the attack formation." Mei Yi gave the order to the cavalry behind her; she did not need to raise her voice much for it to reach their ears.

"The cowards on the battlements have finally woken up." Yet they had not slept at all from last night until now—except for the Adeleisweirs whom they had awakened.

Mei Yi felt that the overall structure of Longxi City was much like that of Twin Rivers City, aside from there not being two cities; otherwise they looked quite similar, with almost identical moats that draw river water directly around and then flow back; they also both have huge iron chains dragging a drawbridge, as well as a wide barbican and crenellations spaced like sawteeth.

In terms of its own defenses, it is evidently not inferior to Winterfell.

And at this moment she could not possibly replicate the siege method used at Twin Rivers City.

It is daytime now, making a close sneak attack impossible, and she also does not have many more siege troops than the defenders.

Capturing Twin Rivers City came with special conditions. At that time she swiftly took Calin Bay, then pressed on without pause, leaving Twin Rivers City utterly unprepared, so its garrison then numbered only a pitiful three or four hundred; moreover, when she approached, she still had time to leisurely construct trebuchets.

"Lord Adeleisweir, what do you have now?" Mei Yi asked Adeleisweir.

His complexion was terrible at this moment; Mei Yi hoped he was not considering becoming a prisoner again, nor how to return to the Bolton camp.

"I don't know." His red hair tousled by the cold wind, "You said you could try… to trick open the gate."

Hopefully he didn't mean right now.

"I think Earl Rodrik won't fall for it, and even if we take the castle without dealing with the outer soldiers, it would be useless"—that's insincere—"otherwise, even if we took the castle, those now besieged would become us." That's an even bigger lie.

"Your Highness, you're truly optimistic." Adeleisweir said irritably, "All you lead is merely a lone force of two hundred cavalry; I see, if you don't retreat quickly, you'll soon be encircled by Bolton reinforcements from all directions." He gazed at the scattered corpses and blood on the battlefield, "An outside victory changes nothing of the current situation."

"Heh, aren't you retreating together?"

Mei Yi gave a light laugh; for now there was no need to tell him that likely six or seven hundred cavalry had already marched south from Borderlinetown along Longxi Lake.

"Of course I am." He replied helplessly.

"Hey!" Kongqi Kongdun shouted angrily at him, "Just a sleepy bug on the battlefield!"

Adeleisweir glared at Kongqi Kongdun, his hand already resting on the sword at his leg.

"Lord Kongqi, don't be so fierce; you can't possibly scare our Lord Adeleisweir away." Mei Yi glanced at the gate and chuckled, "Finding people in the Stream Lands who can still remain loyal to the Starks is no simple matter. Haven't you noticed? We fly the Stark banner, yet no one has come forward, head in hands, to surrender to us."

Kongqi glanced at Mei Yi and then fell silent.

The officers might all be blaming her for her rashness and poor strategy, but the soldiers were still exhilarated by the splendid, thorough victory.

After a long silence, Luo Fu drew near to Mei Yi and whispered, as if hiding his worry: "Your Highness, why don't we first withdraw back to Winterfell?"

"Heh, that's not possible." Mei Yi gave a light laugh, showing a mocking expression, having made up her mind: "Since we've come here, let's go scout their pastures and grasslands; you see, we can first drive the game out of the forests, then hunt slowly."

They are cavalry; the retreat route is guarded by Mandle, safe and secure, with no rear worries; the advance route offers them speed and vision, unlikely to fall into traps or nets, and to encircle cavalry on the vast plains is a fantasy—in short, there is no worry either ahead or behind.

With no danger, why not use the active to move the passive?

Perhaps Earl Rodrik's sons could now consider being a bit more impulsive. She is just in need of taming a wild horse.

If her memory serves, she could also find inspiration in some histories—she has fully sufficient conditions to engage the enemy in a mobile war on this broad plain.

The only problem is that her enemy is time, and time is controlled by the Boltons.