Chapter 81 War Start
The sun is hot and the heat is overwhelming.
A long and winding army is gathering towards Starfall City. Looking down from a high altitude, it looks like countless ants returning to their nests.
The falcon hovered over the towering castle for a long time, and finally flapped its wings to the west, skimming over the barren sand plains and rugged mountains, and swooped down towards the seaside pier.
In the wooden house, Samwell opened his eyes, rubbed his slightly sore brows, and walked out.
As soon as she opened the door, she saw Natalie staring curiously and timidly at the falcon parked on the roof.
"Hey!" Samwell said suddenly, causing Natalie to tremble in fright.
She turned her head, stared wide-eyed, and said angrily, "You scared me!"
Samwell asked with a smile: "What are you doing sneakily?"
Natalie glanced at the falcon on the roof again, hesitated for a moment, and finally said:
"So you also have a bird."
Why does this sound so strange...
"yes."
"Tell you a secret." Natalie took a few steps closer and said mysteriously, "I have one too."
Samwell suppressed a smile: "Really? You also have birds?"
"Yes." Natalie nodded, "But my bird is not as big as yours."
Pfft!
Samwell finally couldn't help laughing.
"What are you laughing at?" Natalie was a little puzzled, "Do you want to see my bird?"
"Okay, okay." Samwell laughed even more.
Natalie pouted, seemed a little unhappy, and turned her head: "Hmph! I won't show it to you!"
Samwell put away his smile, stepped forward to ruffle the little girl's hair, and ran away decisively before she got angry.
There are several supply ships docking at the pier.
"Ucha!" Samwell beckoned to the young savage who had just disembarked, "Come here."
Ucha quickly trotted over and saluted:
"Lord Caesar, what orders do you have?"
"I haven't been back these days, how is Yingzui Islet doing now?"
"Everything is fine. My brother-in-law is leading everyone to rebuild the wooden house. He said that it will take another month for the territory to return to its previous appearance."
"Where's the castle?"
"The castle is being renovated by Lord Vido. I don't know the specific situation..."
Samwell nodded, but did not embarrass him, and asked instead: "Is there enough food and supplies?"
"Enough. We have stored a lot before, and my brother-in-law has sent people to Yangwu City, and a batch of new supplies should be delivered soon."
"Have you received a letter or seen anyone in the territory recently?"
"Not really."
"Okay, go get busy."
"Yes, my lord."
Samwell looked at the back of Ucha leaving, and sighed secretly.
The expected support has not been available, which inevitably makes him a little anxious.
The Dornishmen on the opposite side are gathering more and more, and Samwell has already seen the banners of other families besides the Dane family. Obviously, Arianne can mobilize far more power than he imagined.
Although the opponent has not yet launched an attack, Samwell feels that this day may not be far away.
If Hewan didn't send reinforcements, it would be impossible for him to hold the pier.
Not only the pier, but Yingzui Island should not be defended either.
Arianne Martell, an ambitious woman, will not give up easily.
The previous fire attack tactics against Urik Shad will definitely not work anymore, because all the brandy is exhausted.
Unless he can create a real "wildfire".
But according to Maester Coburn, the creation of a real wildfire is not only extremely time-consuming, but also expensive.
No wonder only the royal family has the ability to mass-produce in the original book.
"Lord Caesar, Lord Caesar!" A voice interrupted Samwell's contemplation.
"What's the matter?" Samwell recognized that the other party was Todd's new servant, who seemed to be called Hal.
Hal trotted to Samwell, took a breath, and said:
"Master Todd asked me to tell you that the vanguard of the Dornishmen has arrived and may attack at any time."
Samwell was shocked, and hurriedly followed Hal to the front line.
Coming to the ridge where the first line of defense was, Samwell looked down through the wooden fence.
Sure enough, a group of Dornish soldiers gathered on the wasteland below, estimated to be six or seven hundred.
This should only be the vanguard. Samwell looked up and could vaguely see follow-up troops coming from the direction of Starfall City.
It seems that the Dornish people are indeed preparing to attack on a large scale.
Actually, with the help of Falcon's eyes, he had already seen a large number of troops gathering in Starfall City, so he was not surprised by this.
Through Hawkeye, it is known that the number of Dorne troops in Starfall City is probably almost 15,000 to 6,000 at this time.
After all, Dorne and Hewan have a thousand-year feud, and now he, a knight of the Riverbend, actually leads an army to the land of Dorne. It is no wonder that the Dornish people, who have always been xenophobic, are furious.
Even so, Samwell was a little surprised by the charisma of the princess of Dorne.
Familiar with the plot, he certainly knew that Prince Doran did not actually intend to pass on the position to Arianne, but had other arrangements for her.
But the lords of Dorne were of course unaware of this. In their eyes, Arianne was still the first heir to Prince Doran, the future Queen of Dorne.
But nearly 20,000 people... just to seize a pier is too exaggerated.
Obviously, the Dorne princess's ambition is far more than just a pier.
This crazy woman is probably trying to take this opportunity to invade the river bay!
Samwell has more headaches
Seeing that Dorn's army is gathering more and more, and his side has a total of 600 troops, and most of them are recruits...
Fortunately, he had decisively occupied the dominant terrain and built fortifications, otherwise Samwell would have already escaped by boat.
But even if he occupies a favorable location, the situation is not optimistic, and his soldiers are not Spartans, so it is impossible to fight a hundred with one.
So, Samwell can only look forward to the reinforcements in the river bend.
If the reinforcements do not come for a long time, then no matter how unwilling he is, he can only run away.
At that time, Hewan probably would have no face to go back. If he went, he would have to obediently be a dog to the Tyrell family. If this is the case, Samwell felt that he might as well go to the other side of the narrow sea to join Longma.
The Dornish did not launch an attack immediately, but waited patiently for the arrival of follow-up troops.
As evening approached, nearly 20,000 Dornish troops had densely covered the wasteland, and they couldn't see the edge at a glance, which made one's scalp tingle.
Princess Arianne seems to deliberately want to show her full strength to the enemy, so as to break the fighting spirit of the people in the river bay.
However, the effect is not very obvious.
After a series of miraculous victories before, the soldiers of Yingzui Island have already had a kind of blind trust and worship for Samwell.
In their view, there is no enemy in the world that their lord cannot defeat.
However, what they don't know is that the invincible Lord Caesar is also panicking now.
But in order to stabilize the morale of the army, Samwell still put on a confident look.
"It's just a group of farmers who just put down their hoes..." Samwell pointed to the Dornishmen at the foot of the mountain, and was about to taunt and boost morale, but was interrupted by a dull sound of a horn.
Under the afterglow of the setting sun, they saw a small team of four to five hundred people from the Dornish army formation, approaching the defense line of the Hewan people.
The Dornish soldiers in the front row are holding huge oaken shields, followed by spearmen and machetes, and the last row is archers.
They all wore leather armor uniformly, marching neatly and orderly, with high fighting spirit, like an elite soldier.
So the word "farmer" that Samwell was about to ridicule could only be held back in embarrassment.
He took a deep breath, suppressed all distracting thoughts in his heart, and ordered in a calm and calm tone:
"Blow the horn! Meet the enemy!"
(end of this chapter)