According to Officer Stark, when the coalition forces discovered that the fire had started, there were not many casualties, but Lord Bolton sent a lot of people to rescue military supplies and logistics, and the King's Landing defenders attacked again.
Therefore, under Lord Bolton's order, 2,500 Stark soldiers, more than 1,000 soldiers from various river families, and more than 600 soldiers from the Northern Streams, the White Knife River, the Horwood family, the Severn family, etc. Soldiers from smaller families formed an interception line and sniped at the enemy, who numbered about seven thousand.
Another part of the Qohor mercenaries did not receive orders from Arthur himself, so they withdrew directly and did not participate in the interception according to Bolton's orders.
When Arthur arrived, there were only about 800 people left on the interception line, including more than 500 Stark soldiers, more than 200 soldiers from various river families, and more than 120 soldiers from small families in the north. .
Fortunately, most of the golden robes were recently recruited civilians, so the Northerners killed 2,780 enemies at the cost of more than 3,300 people, which was a pretty good performance.
But the worst thing is that basically all the nobles responsible for participating in the interception died in the battle, such as Raymond Darry of the Riverlands, Earl Meech Severn, Earl Harris Horwood of the North, and Kahor City. Harion Karstark was captured on the spot.
When the family soldiers are very loyal to their lord, the death of these nobles can seriously affect the soldiers' position.
For example, in the original book, after Count Karstark was beheaded, the Kahor City soldiers on the western front dispersed on the spot, and the Kahor City infantry on the eastern front directly defected to Roose Bolton after the news came.
"Where's Patrick from Haijiang City?" he asked.
"The young master was called away by Lord Bolton because he had something important to do." A Seaside City soldier answered.
"This old thing!" Arthur cursed angrily.
It seemed that he also knew that the person who blocked the enemy's attack had a low chance of surviving, so he called Patrick away to give face to the Mallister family.
After most of the earldoms on the south bank of the Red Fork River were largely ignored by the people of the West, the status of Seaside City in the Riverlands suddenly rose, which is why Bolton made such an appearance.
Roose Bolton is fully responsible for how the battle ended tonight.
Lord Leech may not have secretly communicated with King's Landing, but he must have the intention of consuming the power of the Wolf family and the pro-Wolf family.
Originally, the Fish-Wolf Alliance had a smooth start. If the Eastern Front captured King's Landing in one fell swoop, and Robb from the Western Front attacked the West, then without Robb having any intention of taking the Iron Throne, the war between the Fish-Wolf and the Lion Family would basically be over. it's over.
What remains is Stannis and Renly of the Lion and Deer families fighting for the Iron Throne.
But in tonight's battle, Lord Leech sent a wave of kills to King's Landing, which caused heavy losses to the Eastern Front Allied Forces.
According to Roose Bolton's approach, even if the coalition forces have the strength to capture King's Landing, he can send a wave of kills and flee.
To reduce the advantage of the Fish-Wolf Alliance and take advantage of the opportunity to preserve its own strength, this is what Mr. Leech wants to do most right now.
If the war started normally, Arthur could still influence Roose Bolton's decision-making through Sansa, but in this emergency situation, he was powerless.
After all, he is not the commander of the coalition forces, nor is he from the north.
It means catching Lord Leech's mistake, and then asking Sansa to unite with the northern nobles to depose Roose Bolton as commander. The new commander must be a northern noble.
The nobles on the eastern front and the northern border are generally not as smart as the Great Jon on the western front.
"Bring the wounded who can still move, let's go find the main force."
After the soldiers rested for a while, Arthur ordered.
After walking westward along the Blackwater River for almost two leagues, it was almost after dawn that they arrived at the temporary camp of the coalition forces.
Most of the soldiers had no tents and could only lie on the flat ground to rest. Dozens of monks and bachelors accompanying the army were bandaging the burned soldiers.
Fortunately, dozens of oxcarts carrying military rations were brought out, so there was no food crisis for the time being.
Arthur let the soldiers he brought with him rest on their own, and asked the Qohor mercenaries who retreated first to protect Joffrey, who was still unconscious, before walking straight to the tent area.
…
"Arthur, you came just in time." Robert Glover immediately discovered Bracken covered in blood. "We are discussing where to go next."
"We lost four to five thousand men in this battle, and nearly two thousand soldiers were burned. We can't take King's Landing, but fortunately we have captured the little devil and Robert's illegitimate son Gendry. We can Consider exchanging these two for Lord Ed's remains and his tile-steel sword Hanbing, and then we can lead troops to West Hejian, or go north to capture Dusk Valley City."
Robert introduced the initial idea of the Northerners to Arthur.
Arthur glanced at Tyrion lying in the corner of the tent. His face was wrapped with a bandage. He looked injured and was unconscious.
"It's funny, when we found him, he was being hunted by Ser Mandon Moore of the Kingsguard, but we were his saviors." Lord Herman Talha added.
He didn't say what happened to Moore, but he thought he went to see the Seven Gods.
The fat man Willis Manderly chuckled and said: "It seems that his nephew or his elder sister wants him to die."
The little devil was not Arthur's focus for the time being. He asked in confusion: "Why do you know that Gendry is Robert's illegitimate son?"
"Lord Bolton said that." Patrick, who was alive and well, replied.
He is the only river noble left in the coalition except the Frey family and Arthur.
Arthur looked at Bolton, who said slowly and methodically: "You made such a big fuss to find Gendry, so I naturally have to check his identity. According to the recollections of the common people in the royal territory outside the city, around the time when Gendry fled King's Landing, Joffrey sent the gold cloaks to kill many children, suspected to be the illegitimate children of the late King Robert. So Gendry's identity is very obvious."
"But Gendry is my man." Arthur looked around but couldn't find him. "I won't agree to you exchanging him for Ice, not to mention that Ice should have been sent to Tywin at this moment, not in King's Landing."
The Lannister family originally had a steel sword "Light Howl", which was later lost by a certain King of Casterly Rock, so the Lion family no longer had a steel sword.
And Tywin, who was dedicated to revitalizing the family, had always wanted to get a steel sword, but no one sold it.
Because it is a symbol of the family's long history and ancient bloodline.
Moreover, the Valyrian steel sword has another characteristic, which is that it can only be divided, not combined, so it also cuts off the way of melting a few small Valyrian steel daggers into a big sword.
So getting a Valyrian steel sword has become one of Lord Tywin's worries.
After the coup in King's Landing, Cersei, who knew her father's mind, would naturally send the ice she got to Tywin.
Lord Bolton nodded, "Since Ice may not be in King's Landing, we don't have to be so cruel. After all, Joffrey will definitely kill him after sending him back."
"But you must not stop the little devil. Lord Eddard's corpse is the two reasons why we came to King's Landing, and the other is the two Miss Starks. Since Miss Sansa is very sure that Miss Arya has escaped from King's Landing, we can report to His Majesty Robb as long as we take the remains."
Lord Bolton saw that Arthur's face was not very good, so he talked for a long time, just to make this amazing Bracken agree to this.
Arthur looked at the little devil who had not yet woken up, and suddenly remembered that he intended to escape last night.
When Jaime was still a member of the Kingsguard, Tyrion was the first heir to Casterly Rock and the next Warden of the West.
And Jaime and his uncle Kevan and other Lannisters were actually quite good to Tyrion, so the little devil was still loyal to the Lion family.
When Tyrion was completely disheartened by his sister and father, he might really run away from home.
"Okay, I agree to exchange Tyrion for Lord Eddard's body."
If nothing unexpected happens, Arthur will have to take Joffrey to the south to find Jules and dragon eggs to prepare to hatch dragons.
When he goes north from the Kingsguard, he will find a way to get the little devil out.
Zhuge Liang had to capture and release Meng Huo seven times to surrender. Arthur thought he didn't have Zhuge Liang's charm, so he didn't rush to tie the little devil to his chariot.
At this moment, a Bolton officer rushed in, walked quickly to his lord, and whispered a few words in his ear.
Lord Leech's face changed slightly after hearing the news.
"You kidnapped Joffrey?"
Bracken admitted frankly, "Yes. Since he violated the rules and ordered the killing of Lord Eddard, I have to kidnap him first to avenge Lord Stark."
According to the customs of the Seven Kingdoms, even the most heinous people have the right to choose to wear black clothes and go to the Wall to be a night watchman, not to mention Lord Stark who failed in the coup.
So Joffrey really has a way to die.
When the northerners heard this, they were immediately excited.
Several lower-ranking northern nobles such as Rona Stout shouted on the spot that they would kill Joffrey and avenge Lord Eddard.
Others such as Willis Manderly and Robert Glover even came to Arthur and praised him for doing a good job.
Although these people did not say it explicitly, they seemed to be ready to go out and stab Joffrey a few times.
Seeing that the situation was not right, Arthur said loudly: "Don't rush to kill him, he is still useful to me."
Bolton also poured cold water on him at the right time, "That's right, we haven't exchanged the body of Lord Eddard yet, there is no need to make a mortal enemy with Cersei first."
It is no secret that Cersei loves her three children. Many nobles know it.
Since Cersei is the actual ruler of King's Landing, she will definitely fight to the death with the Wolf Alliance after she learns of Joffrey's death.
And Robb's request is not to compete with the Lion family for the Iron Throne, so Roose Bolton feels that it is not easy for him to deal with Joffrey. He has to communicate with Robb and listen to the king's orders.
Many northern nobles began to calm down under the comfort of the two, but there are still many people who want to kill Joffrey.
"In this case, we can first exchange the body for the little devil, and then take Joffrey to the north calmly, and then let His Majesty Robb deal with him." Lord Leech suggested.
After all, Joffrey was captured by Arthur, and Bolton would not dare to make a decision without his consent.
"Let's exchange the body first." Arthur waved his hand, "I have other uses for Joffrey."
So Lord Herman Tallhart took the little devil and a hundred soldiers to the outside of King's Landing, ready to exchange the body of their king.
The rest of the people continued to discuss the next move.
Arthur took the opportunity to slip out and found Sansa.
"Do you know where Arry is?"
In daily conversations, he always called Arya "Arry" to prevent leaking the truth.
Sansa was in her tent, sewing a piece of clothing, and suddenly saw Arthur, covered in blood, rushing in.
She first asked with concern: "Why did you get so much blood, are you injured?"
Then he answered Arthur's question, "I don't know where Arya is. Since the fire started and the rivermen were sent to intercept the gold cloaks, your camp has been in chaos. I sent people to look for her, but I couldn't find her."
"I'm not injured. This is the blood of the enemy." Arthur thought for a while, "Gendry should know something about Arya. I'll go to him first to ask."
So he came out again and saw the tied Gendry where the Bolton soldiers gathered.
"Let him go."
Arthur ordered the Bolton soldiers.
An officer wearing chain mail stood up and said, "This won't do. We only listen to the orders of my lord."
Arthur glanced at him coldly, and the man immediately admitted his weakness.
"Let him go, let him go, since it's what Lord Arthur said, then it's my master's order."
Not to mention Arthur's blood, the giant hammer in his hand is enough to intimidate the soldiers.
After Gendry was untied, he stretched his muscles and walked to Arthur to thank him.
"My lord, thank you so much."
Arthur took him back to where the mercenaries gathered, and asked as they walked: "After the fire started last night, which direction did Ali go? Do you remember?"
Gendry obviously remembered it very clearly, and immediately replied: "After the fire started, your soldiers were sent by Lord Bolton to intercept the enemy, and the camp was in chaos. After I got dressed, I wanted to find Ali and Hot Pie to escape from the sea of fire. But the dire wolf was still in the cage, so Ali ran to save the beast. Hot Pie and I were very afraid of it, and the fire burned again, so we left first."
"Later I heard wolves howling from the north, so Ali and the wolf should have walked north along the King's Road."
Arthur nodded, indicating that he understood.
Since they were walking north along the King's Road, there was no need to worry.
During the march of the Eastern Front, the coalition forces eliminated the nobles of the kings along the way, and then left some people to guard those small castles.
So the area near this road is under the control of the coalition forces, and Arya and the direwolf will be safe.
At this moment, Arya, who was worried about Arthur, was just relieved, but suddenly saw her Nymeria running north.
"I know you are anxious to go back to see your wolf cubs, but there is no need to be so anxious."
Arya muttered as she caught up.
The talent that comes with the wolf bloodline is the wolf spirit.
That is, in the dream, sneak into the wolf's sight, and even control the wolf's actions.
When Arya was in King's Landing, she dreamed that this mother wolf had a secret meeting with a gray wolf in the riverlands and gave birth to a litter of wolf cubs.
So she knew Nymeria's little secret, but did not tell others.
In the grove behind Arya, a rider wearing plate armor and a dog-shaped helmet appeared quietly.
It was Sandor Clegane.