The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 544: Escape

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*

Euron waved his spiked club and shouted, "Flank the tower from the left and right!"

The city's streets and alleys were interconnected; if the main street was blocked, one could detour through the side streets and alleys.

Thus, the Ironborn and pirates split up to encircle the stone tower.

Julie and Anguy, with their high vantage point, could see clearly. Not wanting to engage in a prolonged fight, they slipped behind the stone tower, slid down the ropes, jumped off when they were one story high, landed on the horses below, and the two of them rode their steeds straight towards the east gate.

By the time Euron's warriors had flanked the tower, Julie and Anguy were already far away.

Euron led his army to the Lord Auden's main castle, encountering no further resistance along the way. The main castle had been completely abandoned. Euron searched every room, overturning chests and cabinets. Lord Auden's valuables had not been taken, indicating that he had fled in haste and was truly gone, not just retreating.

If it were a retreat, Auden would have taken his valuables with him, without a doubt.

Euron's vanguard had already captured the city lord's main castle, while at the western harbor docks, pirates and Ironborn were continuously jumping ashore, shouting as they surged into the city.

Since Lord Auden had not complied with Prime Minister Kevan's orders, Euron no longer held back and ordered the entire city to be plundered.

The Ironborn and pirates combined had a force exceeding one hundred thousand, the most powerful naval fleet in the history of Westeros, without exception.

Victarion had led three hundred warships to raid the Reach for military supplies, leaving Euron with a force of around seventy thousand.

With Euron's order, the looting of the entire city began.

*

Outside the east gate, the Mountain rode on Red Smoke, followed by a thousand elite cavalry.

Captain of the Guard Alyn led a hundred sworn swords; Captain of the Guard Joffrey Foote led a hundred elite Foote knights; Headsman Dunsen led a hundred riders; Sweetmouth Raff led a hundred riders; the artist Polliver led a hundred riders; Soros Qoherys, chieftain of Crackclaw Point's swamps, led two hundred heavy cavalry; Ser Leo Lefford led two hundred heavy cavalry; Julie Clegane led a hundred mounted archers; Anguy Clegane led a hundred mounted archers.

The Mountain was in the center, with his generals lined up on either side. Behind the generals were hundred-man square formations, maintaining absolute silence.

These were the absolute elite of the Mountain's three thousand-plus cavalry, each man worth ten, and all fearless of death.

The entire city was in chaos, with shouts and clamor, while outside the east gate, a silent thousand-man cavalry regiment was arrayed.

In the distance, the great lords of the Westerlands were retreating with their family warriors. When they reached a safe distance, they all stopped and looked back in unison.

The entire Westerlands, at its peak, had a force of about seventy thousand, including the militia. The regular army of the nobles was sixty thousand, with about thirty thousand professional soldiers. Euron's navy, however, numbered seventy thousand, with over seven hundred warships, like a dark cloud descending from the sky, filling the entire harbor. Outside the harbor, there were still hundreds of warships unable to enter.

The power of Euron was unbelievable.

But this was the reality, and it was Euron's confidence to enter the royal palace.

Seventy thousand sailors, though not skilled in land warfare, had a strength that terrified the Westerlands nobles upon learning the truth.

Seven hundred warships!

A total force of over a thousand warships!

The Royal Navy, at its strongest, had only a hundred or so ships. Euron had ten times the advantage of the Royal Navy at its peak. His strongest Iron Fleet, led by his brother Victarion, was attacking the Reach.

The first pirates and Ironborn to appear at the east gate were the vanguard pursuing Big Chiswyck.

An Ironborn looked out from the wide-open east gate and was shocked to see the very organized cavalry outside. He quickly told his comrade, who also looked and was equally astonished.

The enemy cavalry was not crowding at the east gate, but was about a foot soldier's charge distance away... They saw a strange horse burning like a flame, with a short, red, sharp horn on its head. Riding the strange horse was a giant, wearing a huge flat-topped iron helmet, clad in black, shiny plate armor, with his visor down, revealing a narrow slit.

The giant's aura was like a mountain, staring motionlessly at the pirates and Ironborn in the city gate. His hands were empty, and the hilt of a giant sword protruded diagonally from above his right shoulder.

The Mountain!

The famous Mountain!

The invincible Mountain!

Beside the Mountain, a standard bearer held a flag, the pattern on the flag being Red Smoke and the Ice Sword!

A centurion received the news and rushed over. Outside the east gate, the Mountain and his cavalry formation stood motionless.

The centurion was a fierce bandit, and he was awed by the Mountain's might. Not daring to attack, he ordered his subordinates. More centurions heard that the Mountain was blocking the road outside the east gate, presumably to prevent them from leaving the city to pursue the Lannister's people and nobles.

Several centurions led their warriors to the east gate. The Mountain and his cavalry remained motionless, as if they were sculptures. The centurions looked at each other. They were battle-hardened, brave, and cruel, but seeing the Mountain's horse and man, so mighty and unparalleled, they were all intimidated and dared not launch an attack.

"Quickly report to King Euron," a centurion ordered his guard.

*

Euron Greyjoy, after winning the Seastone Chair at the Kingsmoot, declared the Iron Islands independent and proclaimed himself King of the Iron Islands. This was somewhat similar to the Martell family of Dorne's 'King'. Although they were loyal to the Red Keep and vassals of the Red Keep's royal family, they still retained the title of 'Prince', their daughters were princesses, and their sons were princes. Taxation, military, and economy were all independent.

Euron also hoped to be like the Martell Prince of Dorne, both King of the Iron Islands and able to enter the Red Keep's royal family, becoming a Hand of the King of the Seven Kingdoms, and then plotting even greater goals.

The Iron Islands consisted of five major island groups. The only thing on the islands that could be turned into money was the iron ore on Great Wyk. - In fact, all five island groups of the Iron Islands had iron ore. On Great and Little Pyke, where the Greyjoy family lived, there were bottomless iron ore caves everywhere. In thousands of years of history, the iron ore on the five island groups had been almost completely mined. Currently, only the mountains of Great Wyk still contained rich iron ore deposits.

Iron ore was one of the resources that the Mountain never forgot.

*

While Euron was rummaging through Lord Auden's main castle, he received a report that the Mountain was blocking the road outside the east gate, preventing the legion from rushing out to pursue and kill the soldiers and civilians fleeing the city. Upon hearing that the Mountain was personally leading troops to cover the retreat, Euron was overjoyed and issued an order for all his soldiers to head towards the east gate.

Euron knew that his forces were invincible at sea, and on land, his previous military might was also unparalleled. Pirates and Ironborn were skilled in naval warfare, but a considerable portion of the pirates were mercenaries, true veterans who had been tempered in both naval and land battles. As for the Ironborn, they were natural-born geniuses in both naval and land warfare. Raiding did not only happen at sea; for the Ironborn, more battles took place on land.

From a young age, the Ironborn began raiding and fighting. During the Seven Kingdoms' peaceful times, they could not land and raid coastal castles, so they sailed to the sea to raid island nations, and to the Narrow Sea to raid the coastal towns of the Free Trade Cities. Many major battles took place on land.

Euron knew his advantage: numerical superiority. His pirates and Ironborn were not a rabble, but an elite force.

*

A messenger rode to the harbor, ordering the archers on the ships to quickly rush to the east gate.

Since the Mountain was blocking the east gate with heavy cavalry, they would first shoot with arrows. Once the enemy's formation loosened and their morale weakened, Euron would launch a full-scale infantry assault.

It seemed like a simple arrangement, but it was the most direct and effective tactic.

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line; in dazzling boxing, the jab is the simplest and most effective; in swordsmanship, a straight thrust to break armor is the most powerful!

Euron had not studied any military tactics, but he would use simple methods that even children knew to achieve victory.

Perhaps, this might be somewhat in line with the essence of 'a heavy sword has no edge, great skill requires no artifice'!

The archers on the warships rushed to the east gate as quickly as possible. Euron rode slowly on horseback. By the time the archers had crossed the entire city and arrived at the battlefield, Euron had slowly arrived.

It was not uncommon for pirate leaders to keep a few horses on their warships. Once they landed, the leaders and centurions also had horses to ride, so they would not be outdone.

After Euron landed, a groom specially led a horse for him.

Euron ordered the archers to all go to the city walls, line up, nock their arrows, and await his command. He rode his steed slowly to the east gate and saw the Mountain, as burly as a mountain, and his famous Red Smoke.

Euron and his horse slowly exited the city gate, with his guards following closely. Before the two armies, facing the Mountain from afar, Euron and his warhorse showed no aura at all.

Boom boom boom!

Boom boom boom!

Euron's archers were quickly climbing the east gate city walls, row by row, column by column, quickly spreading out on the long city wall.

Deploying archers on the city walls, this tactic alone made the Mountain look at Euron with new eyes. Euron was much smarter than the tribal leaders of the Mountains of the Moon and Crackclaw Point. He was also very patient, not relying on his numerical superiority to swarm up in a chaotic melee.

That kind of proactive street brawl was exactly what the Mountain wanted.

Euron's military literacy was undoubtedly high, although this only proved the foolishness and blindness of the Drowned God.

The Mountain shouted: "Centurions Julie and Anguy, you two lead your mounted archers to cover the retreat, the rest of the generals, lead your men to retreat with me!"

Julie and Anguy agreed in unison.

Dunsen really wanted to charge and kill the enemy, and this was the sentiment of all the soldiers: "Lord Mountain, I request to lead my hundred riders to charge first and blunt the Ironborn's spirit."

The Mountain snorted coldly, tapped Red Smoke's left leg, Red Smoke turned its head to the right, its hooves clattering, drawing an arc and galloping towards the coastal road. Dunsen had ten thousand reasons to be unwilling, but he had no choice but to follow closely.

Euron's archers had not yet arrived, and the Mountain's cavalry had already moved away, with only two teams of mounted archers slowly retreating.

It was impossible for infantry to pursue cavalry. Euron's few warhorses could not be called cavalry, they were merely tools for Euron and his guards to travel.

Euron's archers were still continuously climbing the city walls. Julie and Anguy led the mounted archers to retreat slowly. Euron had seen Julie and Anguy's divine arrows, and he was an ambitious man, never willing to put himself at risk. He pointed his spiked club forward, this was the order to attack.

The Ironborn and pirates shouted in unison, surging towards Julie and Anguy's two hundred riders, like the tide of the sea.

Euron wanted to use the sea of people tactic to kill these two hundred mounted archers, especially the two divine arrow generals.

Euron had a special aversion to archers. Such divine archers could take the life of a general from ten thousand troops with just one arrow. His own life was very precious, and he could not be ambushed by divine archers. The safest strategy was naturally to kill the divine arrow generals.

The Ironborn and pirates charged forward like a tide, they unloaded the small round shields on their backs, shouted, and pounced forward.

Two hundred bows fired together, puff puff puff, puff puff puff, the Ironborn and pirates fell one after another.

The mounted archer elite, every man shot without fail!

Euron laughed loudly, the deaths of his men had no impact on him.

He was a very generous leader, a great king, very generous with money, and also very generous with the lives of his soldiers.

Those who rushed to the front could only blame their bad luck, this was war damage.

Euron ordered the messengers to urge the warriors to continue to move forward.

Euron had a lot of money and a lot of people. Now was not the time to give out generous bounties, now was the time to let the warriors pile up and kill the enemy.

Shu shu shu!

Arrows rained down densely, and the screams of the Ironborn and pirates rose and fell.

"Attack! Attack! Attack!" Euron waved his spiked club frantically.

He had to kill these two teams of mounted archers completely. As for how many of his own warriors died, Euron didn't care at all. After he ascended the Seastone Chair, he used a lot of money to integrate all the Ironborn, now it was time for the Ironborn and pirates to pay back.

The fearless Ironborn and pirates encountered heavy casualties during the charge, which caused their momentum to stall!

"Shields! Shields! All shield-bearers, charge forward for me!" Euron roared in anger, roaring hoarsely on horseback.

If it were not for his fear of the enemy's divine arrow generals, Euron Greyjoy would definitely have rushed out. He cherished his life, but he was also very brave in battle. His bravery, generosity, cruelty, and strategy made him the largest pirate group in the Sunset Sea, the Narrow Sea, the Summer Sea, and many other oceans. His strength was so great that he could easily destroy a large number of island nations.

Threatening hundreds of small island nations in the sea to pay tribute was Euron's secret to making a fortune.

In Euron's roar, more Ironborn pirates rushed up. The rain of arrows continued, but the effect was quickly weakening, because more and more Ironborn and pirates were charging with shields, effectively offsetting the threat of the arrows.

The Ironborn and pirates quickly approached Julie and Anguy's mounted archers.

"Retreat! Retreat all!" Anguy shouted.

He and Julie took the lead and whipped their horses into a frenzy.

The two hundred mounted archers shouted and followed their generals to escape with all their might.

The honor of knights, the glory of warriors, all turned into the motivation to escape, hurrying like stray dogs, busily like fish slipping through the net. The sound of whips exploded in the air, the spurs kicked the warhorses' bellies until they were bloody, and in the blink of an eye, the two hundred mounted archers howled away, chasing after the Mountain's cavalry regiment that had escaped earlier.

Euron watched in stunned silence!

Although he was cruel and ruthless, he had never done this before, and he was also the first time he had seen such a shameless escape with even the slightest disadvantage on the battlefield.

The sound of horses' hooves rose like a rainstorm, and in the blink of an eye, the mounted archers howled away, leaving behind two trails of dust.

The ironborn and pirates surged forward with the speed of a raging tide, reaching their maximum velocity. However, due to the inherent disadvantage of two legs versus four, they were forced to gradually slow down, their curses and foul language erupting in a deafening roar.

In the distance, the Western infantry and Clegane infantry were fleeing madly for their lives.

Ser Gregor had fled before the might of Euron's forces without even engaging in battle. If Euron's army seized the opportunity to pursue, they would likely be overtaken in due time.

Chiswyck's swordsmen and shieldbearers, the Clegane and Westerland spearmen, the infantry of House Osgrey, the infantry of Stalkerton, the infantry and cavalry of Cornfield, the mixed cavalry and infantry forces of Casterly Rock... none dared to be left behind, and they scattered in all directions with every ounce of strength they could muster... As long as they stayed ahead of the others, they wouldn't have to worry about being caught by Euron's legion.

The sheer number of Euron's warriors and the strength of his forces were a sight the Westerlanders and Ser Gregor's soldiers had never witnessed before.

Ser Gregor was covering the rear to ensure the safe retreat of the Western nobles, but after running a certain distance, these people actually slowed down and stopped to watch Ser Gregor fight Euron, instead of prioritizing their escape!

It wasn't until they saw Ser Gregor fleeing on horseback without a single kill that the Westerland soldiers, who had hoped to witness a battle, were frightened out of their wits. The soldiers turned and fled for their lives, their speed truly resembling that of startled rabbits, displaying the shameless demeanor of stray dogs.

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