Chapter 174 The River Bend Woman in the Desert
The death of the Dorne woman did not cause any disturbance.
During war, life is always the most disregarded.
What's more, his men are all Riverbend people and Valley people, the two groups that hate the Dornish people the most.
Let them take pity on a Dorne daughter-in-law, it would be more reliable to let a spring spring up in the desert of Dorne.
After capturing the sentry tower, Samwell did not continue to march, but let the troops rest on the spot.
This time he was carrying out the rear raiding mission, his strategy was just one word—
Gou, oh no, be steady!
The Dornish people's rear is not that easy to penetrate. Don't look at the small size of the Dornish army. It's because the land of Dornish is poor and limited by food supplies, they can't support a large number of full-time troops.
However, the people of Dorne are tough and extremely xenophobic. When facing the invasion of foreign enemies, it can be said that almost all the people are soldiers.
The previous Dorne branch daughter is a good example.
Under such circumstances, Samwell and his cavalry squad that went deep into the rear could easily fall into the "ocean of people's war."
Have to be careful, be careful.
So Samwell intends to let the remaining nine cavalry squads first attract the attention of the Dornish people and mobilize the Dornish people, and then he will look for the right time to lead the army to attack.
On the ninth day of staying in the sentry tower, Samwell found that he could no longer continue to be stable.
Because they found a Dorne sentry who came to check the situation. Although this person had been intercepted and killed by Samwell's troops, the Kogel family would definitely know that something went wrong when they saw that the sentry had not returned.
They were "Voldemort" for nine days, and they were finally exposed.
This time was earlier than Samwell expected, but during this time, the remaining nine cavalry squads should have attracted the attention of many Dornish troops.
So, Samwell gave an order, and two hundred cavalry galloped, smoke and dust rose everywhere, and soon left the sentry tower behind, and plunged into the vast desert.
People who come to the Dorn Sand Sea for the first time can feel its magnificence and majesty.
But I have really stayed in this sea of sand for a long time, and I probably will never want to come back in this life.
Because its beauty is monotonous and boring, there is really nothing but yellow sand.
The wind in the sand sea is very violent, often rolling up the yellow sand all over the sky. If there is a sandstorm, the scene will be even more terrifying, covering the sky and blocking out the sun, as if the end of the world is coming.
However, the most deadly thing in the desert is actually the lack of water.
Fortunately, Samwell brought Lucas Dane this time. The native Dorne knight knew this area well and knew the approximate location of every water source.
But even so, getting water is always dangerous, because there are Dornish soldiers at every source of water.
In the vast sea of sand, it is actually not easy to meet a water source. Under the leadership of Lucas, Samwell ran for three days before finally finding one.
Samwell first asked the Falcon to do some aerial reconnaissance, and found a small village with hundreds of people near the water source, but there were not many Dornish soldiers inside, only thirty or forty.
This amount is not a threat at all.
Samwell decisively gave the order to attack.
The cavalrymen got on their horses one by one, lined up skillfully in several rows, slowly relaxed the reins, kicked and kicked the horse's belly, ran faster and faster towards the village, and finally entered the state of charge.
The sound of horseshoes sounded densely, and finally became one, dull as thunder, and breathtaking.
Samwell rushed to the front of the queue without a doubt, the wind whistling in his ears.
Earl Randall taught his cavalry the first rule of combat, which is to lead by example.
Only when the coach rushes first, the people behind will move forward bravely.
Fortunately, Samwell's personal force is strong enough, so he didn't make an honorable sacrifice in the Starfall City last time.
The opponent this time was completely incomparable to the last time, so Samwell looked relaxed, didn't even pull out the giant sword behind his back, just swung his warhammer and rushed into the village first.
Brother Dickon Tarly screamed excitedly, and charged after Samwell, as if his wish for many years had finally been fulfilled.
By this time, the Dorne village had already exploded.
Without the protection of the castle, so few Dornish soldiers in the village did not dare to resist the charge of the cavalry at all, and most of them dispersed in a crowd. Some of them either hid in the villagers' homes, or found the horses and fled.
In fact, Samwell did not forget to send people to block the enemy's escape route, but the problem is that in the vast desert, it is difficult for the word "total annihilation" to appear perfectly.
What's more, he only has two hundred cavalry under his command, how could he block all escape routes.
But except for a few fish that slipped through the net, the battle in the village ended neatly. With Samwell as the arrow, the formation of cavalry swept across, cutting down the Dornish soldiers with weapons one by one under their horses.
Just one face-to-face, and the Dornish people collapsed.
While Samwell was drinking the cool well water, the chasing cavalry came back and reported that the two Dornishmen had escaped.
Samwell didn't care, anyway, their cavalry had been exposed, and there was no need to deliberately hide their whereabouts. Unless he was determined to slaughter all the civilians in this village, the news would definitely be leaked.
He asked the soldiers to fill up the kettles, and when he was about to leave here as soon as possible, he saw his attendant Katu walking over with a woman in messy clothes.
"My lord, we found a river bend woman."
"The woman in the river bend?" Samwell was taken aback for a moment.
"My lord, my name is Shalia, and I am a soldier of the Qifeng Mercenary Corps." The woman introduced herself.
She looked to be in her twenties, tall and strong, with slender legs, her eyes were close together, and her long brown hair was scattered over her shoulders in a mess.
"Flagwind Mercenary Group." Samwell seemed to have heard this name before, "Is it the mercenary group in Old Town?"
"Yes, my lord." Shalia nodded quickly, "I am from Old Town. I was hired by a Dornish merchant to **** a batch of supplies from Old Town to Sandstone City half a year ago. The war broke out. The Dornishmen held us back and did not allow us to return to the Reach. We had to escape. Unfortunately, we were caught halfway. In the end, my comrades were all killed, and I was killed by them..."
Looking at the disheveled appearance of the woman and the bruises on her exposed skin, Samwell already guessed why the Dornish people wanted to leave her alone.
"My lord! Can you take me away? I can fight for you!"
Samwell was a little embarrassed: "We have to carry out a mission, a very dangerous mission."
"I'm not afraid!" Shalia gritted her teeth, "And I've long wanted to avenge my friends!"
Samwell still shook his head: "I can give you some dry food and fresh water, and even a good horse. You can go west by yourself to Starfall City. The lord there will remain neutral in this war and will not embarrass you."
Shalia said angrily: "Master, do you think that I am a woman, so I cannot fight for you?"
Samwell was silent.
This is the default.
Shalia snorted softly and said:
"My lord, my father is a mercenary, and my mother is a daughter-in-law. They are not married, so I am an illegitimate daughter. My father came to me when I was an adult, hoping that I would go with him, but my mother refused. My father always Slapped her to cry, then threw the long sword in front of me, and asked me whether I would choose his long sword or my mother's tears.
I chose the longsword. "
Shalia pursed her lips with a determined expression: "My lord, I am not a woman who can only cry. Please give me a long sword and let me fight for you!"
Brother Dickon couldn't help persuading after hearing this: "Brother, let's accept her. Otherwise, she might not be able to get out of this sea of sand alone."
Samwell took a deep look at the woman in front of him, finally nodded and said:
"Yes. But if you die here, we may not be able to send your bones back to Oldtown."
Shalia smiled indifferently: "As long as I can kill a few more Dornish people, I am willing to die in this desert."
"Okay." Samwell turned to his younger brother, "You give up a horse to this lady."
"Okay." Dickon agreed very simply, and immediately took Shalia to lead the horse.
Samwell did not stay here for a long time, and when the soldiers were replenished, he ordered to continue to set off.
In the next few days, they encountered another Dorne village on the march, and entered the village to "supply" as usual.
However, Samwell has never found a trace of the Dorne food delivery team.
It stands to reason that now that the two armies of the Iron Throne are heading south from Prince's Pass and Bone Road respectively, the Dornish people must set up heavy defenses in Tianji City and Yronwood City.
In this way, food supplies need to be delivered to these two cities from other places.
Maybe it’s because the sand sea is too vast. If you don’t know where the Dornish people’s logistics and supply routes are, it’s really not easy to meet them by chance.
Before Samwell fantasized that he could always obtain high-altitude vision with his own falcon, but now he finds that this idea is not realistic.
Falcons can't adapt to the climate in the desert, and often after flying for a while, they sluggishly huddle under Samwell's cloak to avoid the scorching sun.
Samwell didn't dare to force the falcon to overload, so he only let the falcon fly for reconnaissance when necessary, and most of the rest of the time still relied on the scattered sentinel riders to obtain peripheral vision.
For several days, this cavalry squad wandered around Shashi City, coming and going like the wind, never staying in one place for too long.
But even so, the Dorne army caught up with their tails.
"It should be a cavalry." Lucas said his guess, "otherwise it would be impossible to keep up with our pace."
"I'm curious how they followed up." Samwell's eyes flickered.
He released the falcon several times but failed to find the other party's figure, only saw a few traces left by the other party.
Lucas thought for a while and explained: "I don't think it's strange. Although the sand sea is vast and boundless, there are only a few fixed places for water sources. As long as the Dornish people follow this, they can determine our position. Even judge my marching route in advance."
Samwell frowned and fell silent.
(end of this chapter)