Fifty miles east of Harrenhal, beside the Kingsroad.
Randyll Tarly's sixty-thousand-strong army had set up camp here. The camp stretched endlessly, stretching as far as the eye could see.
From a high vantage point, the grey-white tents looked like a sudden growth of mushrooms on the ground, densely packed between the river and the woods.
Randyll Tarly personally supervised the camp layout.
He rode on horseback, from the eastern end of the camp to the western end, and from the southern end to the northern end. He inspected the position of every tent and confird the width of every path.
Considering that Luke could control fire, he demanded that all tents must have fire prevention asures. Safe distances must be maintained between tents, and the paths must be wide enough that if fire broke out, it would not spread rapidly to neighboring tents.
Every tent must station archers with arrows nocked and bowstrings drawn, ready at any mont to shoot at the figure flying down from the sky.
To win this battle, he had craftsn build giant crossbows and hide them inside the soldiers' tents.
He was imitating and learning from Tywin's tactics and lessons — taking the essence and discarding the dross.
Tywin Lannister's failure lay in giving Luke a chance to speak, in allowing that false king to display his thods before the formation.
He would not make the sa mistake!
Randyll Tarly had already ordered that the mont Luke appeared, no one was to give him a chance to speak. They would suppress him with firepower — either shoot him dead or drive him back!
They would absolutely not allow Luke to use any of his thods!
At the sa ti, he ordered all noble lords to hide their traces. There would be no "command tent" or "commander's tent" of any kind.
All commanders would hide among the ordinary soldiers' tents, making it impossible for Luke to decapitate them.
His own tent was in a corner at the easternmost edge, identical to the ordinary soldiers' tents. From the outside, there was no difference at all.
The Vale's thirty-thousand-strong army had stopped for three days at Saltpans, waiting until Randyll Tarly finished setting up camp before crossing the river.
Because the Vale nobles feared being attacked by Harrenhal's garrison while crossing the river. Those knights from the mountain valleys had a natural fear of the Riverlands' swamps and rivers!
However, their worries were unnecessary.
Harrenhal held firm and did not sally out, seemingly ignoring the movents of both armies.
Occasionally, soldiers could be seen walking on the walls, banners fluttering in the wind — that was all.
The Vale n occupied Lord Harroway's Town. The once-again abandoned town beca their command center.
Lord Royce planted his banner on the roof of the town hall. The blue-and-red runes-and-stones flag stood out strikingly in the morning light.
Thus, the two forces ford a pincer position, glaring covetously at Harrenhal.
Randyll Tarly had originally planned to secretly et with Lord Royce, the commander of the Vale army, to discuss the details of joint operations.
But he suddenly received terrible news from King's Landing and the Reach.
From King's Landing: the Queen of Thorns had died unexpectedly from illness.
Queen Regent Cersei and Hand of the King Mace Tyrell urged him to attack Harrenhal imdiately and take it at all costs!
The wording in the letter grew increasingly harsh, changing from "suggestion" to "demand," and from "demand" to "order."
From the Reach direction: the Reach nobles' attack on Crakehall Hall had ended in heavy defeat with disastrous losses.
The lords of Old Oak and Goldengrove had fled back to the Reach in disgrace.
Draco's ten-thousand-strong army was marching straight toward Highgarden along the coastal road.
To make matters worse, at this mont the Dornishn were also launching a large-scale invasion of the Reach.
Those Dornish cavalry poured out from the Prince's Pass or directly invaded the Reach through the lightly guarded Redwyne Strait, like a swarm of venomous snakes released from a cage — killing anyone they saw, burning any house they found.
Many noble lords had received pleas for help from their "ho territories."
The letters said their castles were under siege, their crops had been burned, and their families had been captured!
This was also why Lord Mace Tyrell demanded that he must fight quickly and decisively.
Even more terrifyingly, Randyll Tarly received a secret letter: House Redwyne had betrayed them. The Arbor fleet had already sailed north from Lannisport and would soon blockade Ironman's Bay and attack Pyke.
This string of news left Randyll Tarly thunderstruck.
His entire strategy had been thrown into chaos. He nearly forgot the plan he was supposed to discuss with the Vale army.
During the discussion of the siege plan, Randyll Tarly kept thinking whether this battle was still worth fighting.
If House Redwyne had truly betrayed them, then the Reach had already lost.
Draco's ten thousand n combined with the power of the Arbor could directly strike the undefended heart of the Reach from behind.
No matter how high Highgarden's walls were, they could not stop ten thousand elite soldiers from stabbing them in the back.
Lord Royce of Runestone in the Vale narrowed his eyes as he looked at Randyll Tarly and said leisurely, "Lord Tarly, what are you thinking about? You seem distracted the whole ti. In my view, with our combined forces approaching one hundred thousand, we can directly surround the entire Harrenhal and attack from multiple points. Harrenhal is too large — there will always be weaknesses. They only have thirty thousand n at most. They cannot defend it all."
Randyll Tarly nodded. "Lord Royce, I agree with your view. That false king is too mysterious. A prolonged battle is disadvantageous for us. I have already sent word to the Crownlands and Stormlands armies to attack the White Fork and draw the false king's attention for us."
Then ca the specific allocation of combat roles.
What was comical was that the lords from both sides actually started arguing over how to divide the Riverlands after the victory.
The Vale n said they had sent thirty thousand troops and should receive all the land east of the Trident.
The Reach n said they had sent sixty thousand troops and should receive all the core territories, including Harrenhal. So said it should be divided by troop numbers, so said by battle rits, so said they should divide after taking Harrenhal.
It turned out that the so-called discussion of the siege plan was actually about dividing the spoils.
The battle had not even begun, yet they were already discussing how to carve up the Riverlands.
Randyll Tarly felt a little dizzy.
The arrogant noble lords before him had all turned into fools.
So didn't even know how many towers Harrenhal had, yet they were arguing over which tower would belong to whom. So didn't even know which direction the White Fork was in, yet they were talking about building a trading post there. So had never even seen what Luke looked like, yet they were saying they would hang him from the walls after capturing him.
He had originally planned a siege and a war of attrition, but the situation was now critical, forcing him to launch a hasty attack… for fear that the Reach n's morale would collapse, or that the fools from the Vale would start fighting among themselves.
The Vale coalition appeared harmonious on the surface, but secretly they were also fighting for power and influence. Those lords looked at each other with dislike.
So complained that Lord Royce was ddling too much. So complained that a certain count had brought too few troops. Soone even complained that a certain viscount's banner was hung higher than his own…
It was truly ridiculous.
Randyll Tarly walked out of the tent. The night wind blew against his face, cold and sharp.
He looked toward Harrenhal. That cursed castle lood like a massive shadow in the darkness, crouching beside the God's Eye.
He suddenly rembered the letter from his son Samwell.
He had already burned that letter, but he rembered every word.
The letter said: Father, submit. His Grace is the true Son of the Seven Gods. No one can stop his footsteps to unify the realm. The nobles of the Reach are only making their final struggle. Do not perish with them.
He closed his eyes and forced those words out of his mind. Then he turned and walked back into the tent, spread out the map, and began planning tomorrow's attack route.
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