Strangers on the Same Bridge

Chapter 94 Strangers on the Same Bridge

Joffrey always felt that, in addition to the injury to his arm, James might have also been hit on the head.

He's been particularly paranoid lately, almost like someone with a mental illness.

Sometimes Joffrey even began to regret bringing Coburn into the picture.

I really should have had Paisell saw off Jaime's arm back then, to teach him a lesson.

Unfortunately, there were no great generals in the army, so he had to be the vanguard.

Jaime, being an outsider with no vested interests in the Vale, would be more likely to be courted by the lords.

Because the League of the Righteous is not a monolithic entity.

They formed an alliance to seek justice for Jon Arryn, who was murdered, to bring Lysa Tully to justice, and to take a share of the spoils.

After justice was served and the thousand-year-old Ailin family was wiped out, they set their sights on the legacy of the old lord.

The Eyrie is now in the hands of Harold Hatton, the son of Jon Snow's sister's daughter, whose bloodline is now quite diluted.

Mrs. Anya of the Weywood family invested early on, adopting him as her son and planning how to marry off one of her granddaughters to him.

The Royce family was also eager to make a move.

Everyone was staring at the white city atop that mountain.

Joffrey was also thinking about it.

However, what he wanted was a different stone.

Cersei was always around him, and every now and then she would come up with some stupid ideas, such as embroidering the Lannister lion on the other side of the royal coat of arms.

He endured it all and agreed with a smile.

He then made some minor modifications.

In public, he would not wear any Lannister-related symbols, and he rarely even wore red clothes.

To anyone looking at him, all they could see was Baratheon.

But in private meetings, he would revert to his Lannister style.

Especially when he was looking for Tywin, he kept praising the Westerlands, which made the old man treat him like his own grandson.

It's all for Casterly Rock.

Keke Rock City cannot be saved at the moment.

If reinforcements were to rush westward from Deephole, it would be exactly what Renly wanted.

His strategy was exactly the same as Ed's: to deploy a feint to the east while the real threat was aimed at the west.

Before the enemy situation was clear, the allied forces had to proceed cautiously.

The fighting force numbered 70,000, plus the accompanying artisans, laborers, and merchants, totaling hundreds of thousands of people.

The marching column could stretch for dozens or even hundreds of miles.

Worse still, the universally applicable plan of scavenging from the enemy was not feasible in the fertile North River Bay.

Because Tywin had already taken it once.

So after discovering that the force attacking Deep City was only a feint, Joffrey weighed his options and decided to revert to his original plan.

Move to a different place.

Renly marched north to attack the Rail Hall, threatening Casterly Rock.

Joffrey then marched south to attack Goldtrees and threaten Highgarden.

The two armies were facing each other across the river.

Since 70,000 people couldn't all be crammed together, after some reassignment, Joffrey made the following arrangement:

Edmure led three thousand men to take over the city of Deep; Jaime led the Vale army as the vanguard to intercept the enemy forces retreating from there.

Eddard led the armies of the Riverlands and the North to besiege the City of Goldtrees.

Joffrey, along with the troops from King's Landing and the Royal Territories, was responsible for covering the rear, protecting supply lines, and providing flexible support.

At the same time, they slowly moved towards the direction of the Bitter Bridge to intercept enemy troops that might come from the Stormy Lands.

Theoretically speaking, no one should come to hit him.

So Joffrey comfortably set up camp, waiting for news of victory from the front.

"Report—!"

"Your Majesty, an enemy force has been spotted in the west!"

"Finally, we've shaken off the little devil king's pursuers."

Count Matus Rowan reined in his horse, looked back at the few hundred remaining soldiers behind him, and then at the shimmering Mande River in the distance. He finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He regretted it, regretted not listening to Lord Renly and Earl Rendall.

The days when Tywin Lannister blocked me in Goldentree were incredibly frustrating.

He could only watch helplessly as those mad dogs burned, killed, and looted his territory, turning villages and castles to ashes.

But Tyrell's army was slow to assemble, waiting for Hightoar and Redwyn's forces to arrive before daring to set out to rescue them.

Despite having nearly twice the manpower, he was still intimidated by Tywin's fearsome reputation and dared not launch an attack.

Fortunately, Lord Renly arrived from the Stormlands in time and defeated Tywin in a single battle, leaving him routed.

But after that, he neither pressed his advantage nor returned to rescue Storm's End.

Earl Randy analyzed the situation and said that if they went to rescue him, they would fall into Ed's trap.

Matus didn't believe it at the time.

Scouts reported that the little devil king's army of 100,000 had gathered in King's Landing and would not begin their southward march until the pontoon bridge was completed.

"Lord Matus, you may take your men north," Landau said, "as long as you're not afraid to die."

So Lord Renly gave him seven thousand men and issued a bluffing order to intimidate Tywin.

Tywin abandoned the city and fled.

However, after capturing Deep Valley, Matus did not follow the order to evacuate that very night.

Driven by a desire for revenge, he ordered his soldiers to loot for a full day and night, leaving the city and its surroundings completely clean.

Then the scouts reported back.

The little devil king's army of 100,000 seemed to be under a spell, advancing westward to a nearby location at some unknown time, and even silently crossing the Blackwater River.

At that moment, Matus felt as if he had fallen into the seventh level of hell.

Abandon all spoils and retreat immediately!

But where could the soldiers get the things they'd stuffed into their waistbands?

They ran for three whole days, but were eventually caught.

The cavalry that arrived were from the valley; their sturdy mountain horses formed a moving wall.

They were flying the Roaring Lion Flag.

The infamous tyrant has come to seek revenge!

Matus had no intention of resisting; he abandoned his army and secretly slipped away with his private troops.

After hiding for several days, more bad news came from the south.

Golden Tree City is besieged again!

This time it was Eddard Stark, another Hand of the King with a distinguished military record and an even larger army.

run.

But there are enemy troops to the south and enemy troops to the north.

Even on the river to the west, the little devil king's boat was floating.

The only way is eastward.

Go to Bitter Bridge and retreat to East River Bay.

However, this would completely sever all contact with Lord Renly.

With tears in his eyes, Matus bid farewell to the city of Golden Tree, where he had lived for decades. He carefully slipped through the gaps in the enemy lines and hurried eastward, covered in dust.

After a legendary escape, he finally reached his destination.

"Lord Renly will win!" Matus encouraged the dejected knights.

"It doesn't matter if your castle is lost, Golden Tree City still has several hundred garrison troops."

"Highgarden has an army of thousands. Once Lord Renly conquers Casterly Rock, the gold there will be enough to build a new castle for each of you!"

And mine too.

He silently added a sentence in his mind.

Suddenly, dust rose from the north, and a military unit came into view.

Matus was so frightened he almost fell off his horse.

Has the Bridge of Bitterness already been occupied by the little devil king?

But after he could see the flag fluttering in the wind, he breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Crowned Bucks.

"The reinforcements from Stormlands have arrived." Matus smiled broadly at the knights.

"Everyone, dismount quickly and go welcome them!"