"How do you feel about returning to your hometown?"
Lord Titus·Peake, who wrote a special letter to instruct Tie Zhongtou on how to cause trouble for Highgarden, the Commander-in-Chief of the Four-Border Allied Forces and the Grand Marshal of the Southern Expeditionary Army, is asking his guard captain.
"No special feeling."
He followed the example of Earl and shrugged. Captain Wenda was riding White Horse, accompanied by him. He had no interest in revisiting his old place.
"Back then, Kingswood Brotherhood only had a total of two to three hundred people, but now, I am in the midst of a huge army that is a hundred times larger——"
Wenda feels that the gap is too big and there is nothing to compare or miss.
Moreover, she no longer has to whisper.
In the emerging House Baratheon, even if someone knows that Lady White Eagle was once "White Stag" in Kingswood, it is no longer a big problem.
The 25,000-strong Southern Expeditionary Army is like a long dragon, about to pass through Kingswood, which spans Stormlands and Crownlands.
Although Wenda's words imply that it was just a small fight in the past, this Kingswood is not a small one.
There are only three forests of this size in the entire continent.
The other two places are Rainwood of Stormlands and Wolfswood of distant the North.
The North is very large, and Wolfswood is also very large. The latter also belongs to the territory directly under the jurisdiction of Winterfell, which is almost equal to the sum of Kingswood and Rainwood. It can only be said that the land directly under House Stark is definitely the largest area among all the duke families.
Duke Winterfell just came to see Commander Titus and told him that he would pass through Kingswood later, and he planned to leave the team lightly.
Master Ti has already prepared for the heavy responsibility. He just reminds Ned to take more people with him when he leaves this time----
After Eddard·Stark leaves, the authority of the commander-in-chief Titus will also increase to the maximum.
At that time, if he wants to hit the Reach people, he will hit the Reach people, if he wants to hit Dornish, he will hit Dornish, if he wants to hit Summer Islanders, he will hit Summer Islanders----Of course, this is a joke, black Earl does not engage in racial discrimination.
Their military strength may be said to be small, but it may be said to be large, but it is indeed not large.
Starpike's troops are still mainly composed of 3,000 people from his own family plus Whitegrove. There are also 1,000 people from Ringlet, 1,000 people from Glen City, and 1,000 hunters from Horn Hill.
They participated in many battles and experienced large and small battles. As long as they survived, the new recruits were trained into veterans.
In addition, according to Lord Earl's care, several companies have been selecting "innocent" soldiers from among the prisoners to supplement them, and have always maintained a full strength of 6,000 people.
Under the command of the four frontier lords of Stormlands, they have four thousand elite soldiers whose actual combat ability is second only to that of Starpike.
In order to guard against Dornish who was on the side of the royalists at that time, none of the four families used all their strength, and each of them retained a lot of troops in their hometowns.
This time returning with the team to the south, they also shoulder the important task of continuing to defend Boneway, Hongtuwang, Prince's Pass, and Dorne.
After Eddard leaves the the North army of more than 13,000 people, Titus will take over the highest command, and the specific combat generals will be served by the North nobles such as Bolton of the Dreadfort and Karstark of Karhold.
Except for House Manderly's White Harbor and the North, few people believe in Seven.
Therefore, there are very few "knights" who have been anointed with holy oil in their army.
But this does not mean that the number of cavalry they brought out this time was small.
The North's war customs are actually similar to Andals's knightly tradition. The heavy cavalry of the the North people plays almost the same role as the southern knights on the frontal battlefield.
They are often mistaken for knights by southerners. In fact, they just have different names.
The North's soldiers have always been known for their proficiency in fighting. Although they are small in number, they can often create miracles on the battlefield where they can defeat more with less.
This is not because First Men's race or bloodline has given them any special combat power, but because the difficult living environment has created the the North people's tenacity.
Their endurance, perseverance in the face of war, and tolerance to pain are far superior to those of the South.
Of course, this southerner does not include the 1,500 canyon knights Hand of the King supported Commander Ti.
As the vanguard of the southern expedition, they were clearing a path in the forest in front of the team.
The knight's attendants had already put on light leather armor, picked up their bows and arrows, spread wine in a fan shape, and acted as ranger scouts far ahead, spying on the outermost perimeter of the army.
The soldiers of Canyon Knight and Dornish Marches are existences that make the commander worry-free. Once a clear order is given, they will give high-quality military feedback and complete the commander's mission beautifully.
When the Southern Expedition Army led by Titus finally left Kingswood and officially entered Stormlands, the strength of 25,000 troops began to approach 30,000.
This is because after crossing Kingswood, on the way south, the noble garrison from the north of Stormlands continued to join the army.
Lord Grandison of All Vision City once fought for the royal family of Targaryen in the battle of Summerhall. After being defeated by Robert I, he became a loyal vassal of Theon of Baila again. Unfortunately, he was injured in the previous battle of Battle of the Trident and could not be treated, and unfortunately died.
The successor lord of the Granderson family and "Greybeard" of All Seeing City was the first to come with troops.
This person's name is Hugh Hammer Granderson. He is a handsome old man with a gray beard and a pair of sleepy eyes.
Their family's emblem is a black Sleeping Lion, and their motto is "Don't wake me up!". A more elegant translation is "Don't disturb my sleep."
The members of the Granderson family are very lethargic, but in fact, they belong to the most powerful family in the northern part of Stormlands.
With the Granderson family taking the lead, nobles such as Buckler of Coppergate City and Errol of Hay Hall also followed suit.
They were afraid that they would miss too many battles and not make due contributions to the establishment of the new dynasty, and would be blamed by Robert·Bailah Theon I who was riding on Iron Throne, so they all sent out a lot of soldiers.
For example, Wenda's father, Cavron Earl of the Fawn Hall, did not mess around, after all, his territory was close to Dornish Marches.
He was also joined by Robert·Baila Theon after being defeated in the battle of Summerhall.
Later, in the battle of the Cider Hall, he almost died in the battle to save Robert I - if he followed the original trajectory of the parallel world, he would have really died without the near miss.
-Randyll·Tarly will use Heartsbane to cut off his head after killing him and present it to King Aerys.
Now Fawn Hall Earl is not dead, and still stays in his hometown to guard against Dornish in the south.
In short, the attitude of this group of lords has changed drastically compared to when Mace·Tyrell first led the Reach people to fight.
It seems that as the coalition forces stepped into Crownlands, Robert took over King's Landing, and got on the Iron Throne inside Red Keep, everything was different----
Titus did not despise these Stormlands nobles who joined later, but happily accepted them into the group and put them all under the command of "Greybeard" Hugh Hammer Granderson, who played an exemplary role.
He chatted with the handsome old guy from the Granderson family for a long time and knew that this man was a capable person.
When Titus's troops drove along Kingsroad to the north of Storm's End, Fellwood's soldiers, led by "Silver Axe" Fair, who captain Wenda said was "the fastest at surrender", joined this seemingly southern expedition.
The strength of the Southern Expeditionary Army officially exceeded 30,000.
The people who should be nervous have been replaced by the Reach army directly south of the Southern Expeditionary Army, located under the Storm's End city wall, which has been attacking for a long time without success----
Mace·Tyrell You can't advance forward, you can't retreat, so let's fight - if you don't have the confidence, take the initiative to apologize and surrender on your knees - but I feel like I can't let go of this shame.
For a time, Lord of Highgarden, Warden of the South, Dornish Marches guardians, High Steward of the Reach and House Tyrell patriarchs were in a dilemma------
And far away Highgarden.
Known as the "real owner of Highgarden", the difficulties encountered by Mrs. "Queen of Thorns" Olenna·Redwyne are no less difficult than those of his stupid son.
Highgarden The sun is still shining brightly, and the roses in the garden are in full bloom.
However, in the Main Keep conference hall protected by triple high walls, the atmosphere was as solemn as iron.
Lady Olenna is sitting on the main seat, her silver hair is combed meticulously, and her velvet dress is embroidered with pale golden vine patterns.
She was short in stature and slightly stooped. She was holding a gold-wired wooden crutch inlaid with two-color agate in her right hand, and her fingertips were unconsciously rubbing the wood-carved rose at the head of the stick.
To outsiders, she is just an old woman who is over fifty and has limited mobility, but those who are familiar with her and Highgarden know that beneath this pretending to be fragile, Seven Kingdoms's sharpest "thorn" is hidden.
"Shield Islands is finished? I mean----all four families are finished?"
Olenna's voice is not high-pitched, with a bit of hoarseness unique to the elderly, but the words are clear and there is no panic at all.
She tilted her head slightly, as if she was half-deaf as rumored, and needed to listen carefully to the answer below.
There is looming bad news from the west:
Shield Islands's defense lines all collapsed, and Iron Islands's King Colum brought his huge fleet to Highgarden!
Highgarden Manager Garth·Tyrell's forehead was covered with cold sweat. "Yes, madam. Shield Islands's armed fleet was completely wiped out, and the two of the four lords who were responsible for the battle - actually ran back to the island -"
"Ha!"
Hearing this, Lady Olenna sneered accurately, obviously she has a very good ear.
Garth·Tyrell served two generations of Lord of Highgarden, Ross Tyrell and Mace·Tyrell, the latter even had to call him "uncle".
But the pressure brought by the two dukes on him was not as great as that of the "Queen of Thorns" above.
The other party can call him "fat Garth" and interrupt him at will, but he dare not follow suit casually.
After hearing "Highgarden The Real Mistress" sneer and remain silent, Garth dared to continue speaking. =
"----Koren·Greyjoy's Iron Fleet has driven along Mander River into the hinterland of the Reach, heading straight for Highgarden----It is expected to arrive at the port area outside the city one day----"
The other Highgarden subordinates in the conference hall instantly exploded----
Granderson, the Black Lion of All Seeing City: