Landing my men onshore was a lot more easier than I expected, facing no resistance at all. We had landed no more than half a league south of Ten Towers and marched towards the castle, we didn't encounter any Ironborn soldiers along the way, it would seem that Rodrik Harlaw had withdrawn all of them within his castle. The march was slow, we needed to carry all of our equipment and the disassembled artillery, as well as all the food. We could've landed closer, the shore near the Ten Towers was flat, but I didn't want to risk a beach assault or getting harassed by archers on the castle walls.
We came across a few villages, none had tried to put up a fight, it didn't take a genius to know that a couple dozen unarmed people couldn't do much against an army. I decided to leave them alone, we had more than enough food for now and the Redwyne fleet would be dropping off a shipment of food and other resources within a week. Besides, I would like to keep relations with most of the local populace cordial, which is quite easy as many of the thralls see us as a liberating force.
We had set up camp just outside the range of their archers and artillery on the walls. I had set some of the men to dig ditches around our encampment, others were to build palisades and plant stakes in the ground. Cheval de frise's and caltrops were laid down as well, I didn't know if the Ironborn had any cavalry, but even then, they were still useful in stalling infantry.
I had introduced another invention that would help protect the camp: barbed wire. It was finicky when making it for the first time, but Jogg and his men had adjusted. The amount of barbed wire needed to encircle a camp of nearly 20,000 men was a lot, I had to use up quite a bit of my steel reserves to manufacture it. Transporting them wasn't hard, the wire was made in coils, meaning they were compact and posed a lesser danger to my men. I wasn't sure how effective it could be against someone in plate armour, it might nick them in their exposed areas. However, the Ironborn weren't known for wearing plate and they would be a whole lot more vulnerable.
I stressed the importance of hygiene in the camp, the last thing I wanted was to have my men catch ay diseases or illnesses. Proper toilets were made as were some wash basins, each soldier was also given a bar of soap each to last throughout the war, the soap was only made from lye and tallow, nothing fancy or expensive, making it easy to mass produce.
Once the camp was fully settled, I had ordered a few groups of sappers to begin the assembling of siege weaponry, most of the sappers were still busy building the fortifications. Due to the fact that the siege engines would have to be in range, the sappers used a large series of mantlets to build the engines under cover from enemy fire. Immediately, different siege weapons began to be built, trebuchets, ballistae and scorpions. I wasn't planning on trying to bring down a wall with trebuchets, that would take too long, they were there for their fear factor and intimidation. The ballistae and scorpions would be used to clear the ramparts of the castle walls, allowing my men to get close without the threat of rocks or boiling water to be thrown on them.
I had sent an emissary to the main gate of the castle in order to deliver my demands: total surrender and cooperation of everyone within the castle, full access to the Ten Towers and accommodation for my men, Rodrik Harlaw's help in peacefully subduing the other houses of Harlaw and finally, for him to swear loyalty to Robert Baratheon and renounce Balon Greyjoy. I got no response from the Ironborn, I was half expecting them to outright kill my messenger, hence why I did not go myself.
As soon as all the artillery was ready, I ordered them to fire. The sudden volley of bolts and rocks caught the defenders by surprise, a scant few were struck by the projectiles whilst most hit the wall or flew straight over. Two companies of arbalesters were firing on the walls, taking a shot whenever someone poked their head over the ramparts. They were tasked with preventing the enemy from returning fire and damaging the siege engines. The arbalesters would take shifts almost, switching with another two companies after a few hours.
I made no real effort in an attempt to breach the castle, I first wanted the camp to be properly fortified before committing to the siege. I didn't know if the defenders would try a sally or if a relieving force would attack us from behind, I had sent outriders to patrol the area and scout for any approaching armies.
"It's quite wasteful you know, we only have a limited amount of bolts." Gerion tells me as we both look at the Ten Towers. "The bolts can be easily replaced. They only fire when they have to, besides, they are too scared now to even stretch their legs, let alone fire back." I reply, the crossbowmen weren't constantly firing, they bided their time before having the right opportunity and in most cases, killing an Ironborn soldier.
"I want you to tell the mining team to get ready for tomorrow, I want them up just after the hour of the nightingale." I ordered Gerion, who nods his head before setting off to the sapper's camp.
The Ten Towers was very well-fortified. The main gate was built in such a fashion that trying to roll a battering ram up to it was just asking for the men pushing it to be shot down. The best method I had available to me was to breach the walls of the castle. Ladders could work, I had the numbers to overwhelm the enemy but it would be like sending my men to the slaughter. Siege towers were a good alternative but took too long to build and starving them out could last months with the castle having a harbour to fish from.
That was not to say that we weren't in the process of starving them out, I had managed to convince Paxter Redwyne to leave a handful of warships by the harbour of the Ten Towers to form a naval blockade whilst the rest of his fleet attacked the rest of the Harlaw ships near Volmark.
The best method I had was to try and sap the walls, mining underneath them and collapsing a part of it. It would limit the exposure of my men to the enemy until they were actually inside the castle walls. It was quite a long method, but quicker than building a siege tower, as well as the fact that the sappers mining underneath the walls would be former miners who used to work in Casterly Rock, highly skilled professionals who have been mining most of their lives. One method to counter sapping was for the besieged to mine tunnels as well and breach the enemies tunnels before destroying and rendering their tunnel useless. I wasn't too worried about that though, mainly because throughout all my lessons on history and warfare given by Maester Creylen or in books, sapping has never been mentioned, so I can infer that this sieging tactic has never been used or documented in this world.
"You should get some rest." Monty tells me, "You've been up all night and you will need to wake early again tomorrow." It was true, we had set sail from Seagard early in the morning, I couldn't get any sleep so I decided to stay awake.
I nod my head, "Yeah, that's probably for the best." It was late at night and the anticipation had died down. I went inside my tent and lied down on top of my bed, falling asleep.
~
"ATTACK!, ATTACK!."
"IRONBORN ARE HERE!..."
The screams and shouts by men wake me up, I didn't have time to question what was going on, getting up and pulling on a red gambeson and other armour that required little time to put on.
Orton bursts through my tent's entrance, "Cerion, the Ironborn have attacked the camp." He tells me, he didn't have any blood or signs of fighting on his armour so they probably haven't reached us yet.
"From where?" I ask, Orton quickly replies, "From the forest, I'm not sure if they came from the castle or not."
I nod and signal him to follow me. As I leave my tent, it was chaos, men were running around, horses were frightened by the louds sounds of fighting and shouting. I order the rest of the Lionguard to form a wall around me as we move towards the fighting.
The sounds of fighting start to die down as we got closer. We round the corner of a tent to come across an absolute bloodbath, Ironborn men laid in pools of their own blood and juices. I could spot a few of my men amongst the corpses but they numbered far less than the enemy. It was evident that they had tried to get across the defences, gangplanks were laid down over ditches and spikes, though that didn't mean that no one fell in. Bodies were pierced by wooden stakes, hovering just off the ground, looking like some gruesome sculpture. Some had obviously tried to get passed the barbed wire but had gotten caught them, archers atop the palisade had shot at them like fish in a barrel.
We could see that only a handful of them still survived, with only three fighting against my soldiers. "Take them alive!" I shout out to them. Immediately, men jumped out and started wrestling them to the floor, disarming them. "Take them away and have them treated, after that, give them to one of my agents, they'll find out what they know." I command one of my guards to do so. This could prove itself to be very beneficial