The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 260 Official Opening

As the cold air from the north moved south again, the climate in the south became increasingly dry and cold. The third hundred years after Aegon's conquest was coming to an end. In the past few months, countless small battles had broken out between Hugo and Daenerys's army.

Both sides won and lost, and before the final battle even began, many people had already paid the price of their lives.

In this confrontation, the two armies gradually received manpower and supplies, and the armies of both sides were moving closer to Bitterbridge from other areas. In the Westerlands, the invading River Reach troops withdrew completely, and Tyrion's army followed them; in the Stormlands, Stannis had already gained an overwhelming advantage, driving the Targaryen faction headed by the Connington family out of the large territory; in the Vale, the local chaos had subsided. As the young Duke Robert Arryn was forced to go south by Petyr Baelish, Hugo appointed Harold Hutton, also known as "the heir Harry", to serve as the previous generation's administrative officer after Duke Arryn returned, and appointed him as the Guardian of the Valley; and south of Bitterbridge, the Florent family, who were close to Stannis and Hugo, had been firmly suppressed by the reorganized Tyrell, and it was said that Brightwater was also in danger. Hugo was unable to do anything about it, so he could only order the Lannisport fleet to take some troops south to find an opportunity to rescue the Florent family back to the north.

On the Narrow Sea, since both sides lacked naval advantages - the kingdom's fleet taken over by Hugo was severely damaged, and Daenerys's fleet was of questionable quality after a large expansion - they did not try to block the waterway of the Narrow Sea, but only used the Stepstones as the boundary and continuously transported their forces from the east to the west.

In short, as troops and supplies continued to arrive, the moment of the decisive battle was getting closer and closer. Everyone felt the tense atmosphere in the air and was preparing for war in their own way. Of course, exactly when the battle would start was still unknown, and even the leaders of both sides did not know when to start the battle: such a huge battlefield was full of all kinds of unknown and sudden situations, and even the most experienced generals did not dare to easily draw conclusions about the battlefield and the situation.

Looking around, the military camps between the two armies stretched for more than ten miles along the wilderness on both sides of the Mande River. The facilities built by each side could accommodate an army of more than 100,000 people, not to mention the accompanying personnel who came after hearing the news. With so many people and animals coming suddenly, sanitation problems immediately emerged. Within a few days, the main stream of the Mande River near the army became a stinking river in the literal sense. The two armies had to go to tributaries and streams far away from the main river to fetch water for the army, which also became an important reason for the continuous small-scale battles in the surrounding area; however, despite the hard work of the logistics teams on both sides, the problem of water shortage still affected many soldiers, and some of them were so thirsty that they risked drinking the water of the Mande River, which in turn caused some epidemics to spread in the military camp.

For this reason, after listening to the complaints of their troops, Hugo and Daenerys made the same choice. They improved the camp and concentrated their most important elite troops there. As for the other troops, they were divided into princes, thousand-man teams, and hundred-man teams, and were dispersed in villages, farms, and other strongholds near their camps. Therefore, under such objective conditions, the battle lines of both sides gradually became jagged and complicated, and outpost battles and raids occurred from time to time. Sometimes, a slightly larger farm, a valley with clean water, or even a flat land suitable for horse grazing could attract soldiers from both armies to fight for at all costs.

It was a new tactic for the world, based on a large army that had never existed until a dozen years earlier; first explored by Robert and his men beneath the walls of Volantis, then perfected in the endless border wars of Upper and Lower Lorn, and finally proven in the Rebellion against the White Walkers that it could be used on a large scale. And now, humans were using it in the great wars between their own people.

There were times when Hugo suddenly thought of several great men that only he knew. One of them was very familiar to him, a short man standing under the eagle flag. "How far is the world today from his time?" Hugo couldn't help but think. However, the Regent quickly stopped thinking: Although the current battle has some similarities with the era of this great man, such as the long battle line that is very different from the past, and the two sides will focus on repeatedly fighting for some key strongholds, but in more aspects, it is still a typical medieval era. Those scattered armies still have to gather in the decisive battle, and the soldiers have to rely on their own bravery to fight bravely on the front line - most importantly, this world has no gunpowder weapons.

As the war progressed, the day of the decisive battle finally arrived.

The battle for the ruins of the Bitterbridge Sept has never stopped, and the scale of the battle here has become larger and larger as time goes by. Although the Sept had been destroyed by dragon flames before, its ruins still have several intact walls and broken towers. In addition, it is near the Rose Avenue and not far from the main forces of the two armies. It has been tacitly regarded as an important support point in the decisive battle. Therefore, when the Battle of Bitterbridge ended, Daenerys immediately sent a team of elite soldiers to garrison in the ruins and occupied many farms near it.

In the initial conflict, although the temple was close to the front line, due to the strongholds of the guards and its relatively backward position, few troops could raid here. After the initial vigilance, the defenders of the temple gradually relaxed, and some soldiers were even transferred to other more urgent places.

However, it was under such circumstances that, on a night of heavy rain, a hundred-man team composed of veterans and devout believers quietly bypassed those frontier strongholds and reached the foot of the Bitter Bridge Cathedral. They easily drove away those lax defenders and captured the ruins of the cathedral.

The loss of Bitterbridge Sept brought shame to the general in charge of this section of the battle line. He began to work on retaking the sept in the early morning of the next day, and the nearby Targaryen troops also came to his aid. In the eyes of many people, this Westeros army was small in number, and the credit of retaking the sept was within reach. He must seize this opportunity to show his ability to the queen. Right now, there are too many troops gathered under Daenerys, and if he wants to obtain wealth and land, he must work hard and have outstanding performance.

However, these people underestimated the fighting power of the Western army and the determination of the other side to retake the Bitterbridge Sept. When the Westerosi people in the rear saw the seven-pointed star flag flying on the ruins of the spire in the early morning, they immediately gathered their forces and began to attack the farms on the road leading to the spire. Their reaction speed was much faster than that of the Targaryen army on the opposite side. As the road was opened, when the Targaryen army began to attack the spire, the spire's garrison also increased from a hundred to thousands of people. In the end, they failed to retake the spire.

Naturally, the movement in the temple attracted the queen, and after noticing that someone had driven such a big nail into the front, she immediately sent troops to the front to assist the friendly forces who were preparing to retake the temple. As a large number of mobile troops from both sides were deployed to this area, anyone with a strategic mindset realized the role of the ruins of the Bitter Bridge. This was already a key point that could change the situation on the entire front.

As a result, Targaryen invested more troops here, and Hugo also sent a lot of support. The troops of both sides gathered more and more near the temple. However, after a series of fierce battles, the sacred seven-pointed star flag was still flying in the temple.

At this point, the top generals on both sides realized what was going to happen next. The opportunity they had been waiting for had arrived.

"Hail to Lord Hugo!"

Wearing the dazzling armor, Hugo rode past a group of advancing spearmen. Seeing the heroic figure of the God-favored One, the soldiers immediately began to cheer. Many of them saw Hugo for the first time. The great man who had only existed in poems and stories appeared before them. These people could not help but get excited. If it weren't for the upcoming battle and the whip in the officer's hand, they would probably run over to surround the God-favored One and ask for his blessing.

Hearing the soldiers' cheers, Hugo turned around and waved to the crowd, then continued to move forward. Naturally, his gaze and waving made many newcomers think that the God-favored Ones were paying attention to them, which boosted their morale.

Hugo walked through teams of soldiers and knights wearing various armors and cloaks and came to his main camp, where he would command the entire battle. Long before Hugo arrived, his servants and guards had already done a lot of defensive work. They built a perfect position, arranged crossbows and anti-arrow shields, dug trenches to avoid dragon flames when necessary, and stored a lot of water in barrels and pools nearby - Hugo has always cherished his life, even if he doesn't cherish his life sometimes, he still has to think about the foundation he has laid; now facing the giant dragon that controls the sky, he naturally has to be cautious, even if he has made a lot of preparations before, but these arrangements are still necessary.

"What's the current situation?" Hugo asked as he dismounted from his horse. Someone immediately took the reins of his warhorse.

In front of Hugo, a grand battlefield was unfolding. Armies gathered under various emblems and arrived at the designated battle positions. Various accents were heard from both sides of the Narrow Sea, including the officers' rebukes and insults. If there was anything in common among them, it would probably be the seven-pointed star flag flying overhead.

The spontaneously assembled followers of the Seven Gods were an important part of Hugo's army. They were scattered throughout the army and filled the gaps between the armies. These people were once just civilians, but for the sake of their faith and homeland, they chose to take up arms and fight. Seeing this, Hugo sent officers to train them, and also generously distributed weapons and armor to them. They were the inventory accumulated by the kingdom over the years. Since then, the combat effectiveness of these militias has also increased significantly, and they will not collapse at the touch of a button.

As the surrounding troops continued to gather, the army assembled on this battlefield had far exceeded 100,000 people - this was the maximum number that Hugo could independently command with his personal ability. Even Hugo's generals could not be sure of the exact number, and could only roughly estimate it to be between 180,000 and 210,000. Thanks to the continuous influx of Westeros people, this army was already larger than any previous war.

As the number of troops increased, the army was also plagued by problems of bloat and inefficiency. With such a huge scale, Hugo's personal command ability alone could no longer control the overall situation in a timely manner. Therefore, Hugo focused his energy on the central army and the reserve, and entrusted the battles on both wings entirely to his generals, giving them the power to make their own decisions. Although such a choice would also bring many problems, Hugo had no choice but to choose the lesser of two evils.

Looking around, the battle line of the army stretched out in the wilderness near the riverbank. In front of Hugo was the central army, whose main body was warriors from Andals. These were the most elite and reliable troops under Hugo's command. They had experienced many battles under his leadership. The Andals were happy to fight for Hugo, even the slippery mountain Andal nobles, who were now looking forward to performing again in front of the God's Favored One.

In this war, many Andals picked up some ancient customs again. They were like the Andal warriors who crossed the Westeros, engraved or painted the emblems of the seven-pointed star and the double-edged axe on their bodies; in the past, the ancestors of the Andals conquered Westeros with these emblems, and compressed the living space of the ancestors to the snowy land in the north. In the eyes of these people, they will conquer this continent again, just like their relatives or ancestors who went to Westeros thousands of years ago. In addition, the Tyroshi warriors under Stannis can also be regarded as part of the central army. They have about tens of thousands of people. The main force connects Hugo and the armies of the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms. Another part of them is handed over to Hugo as a reserve. The Red God Cult Army is also looking forward to showing itself on the battlefield, so that they can spread the faith of R'hllor in the kingdom more smoothly.

Continuing to look to the right, the right wing of the army was made up of the Westeros lords who supported Hugo, including the Freys, Lannisters, Boltons, and the royal nobles... For this decisive battle, these people have put all the strength they can into, and knights and squires are as common here as ordinary soldiers; the lords understood that this battle would determine the political situation in Westeros for the next hundred or even thousand years, so they all invested a lot of money, and the patriarchs and core members of each family came to the battlefield to supervise the battle, including many of Hugo's old friends and comrades-in-arms, and they all planned to fight for Hugo.

However, due to the complex origins of the troops, the battle formation on this wing was not as tight as in other directions. Soldiers and knights were mostly divided into princely families. Some were strong, some were weak, some were experienced, and some were inexperienced in warfare... It was hard to say how well they cooperated with each other.

The biggest problem here is that the princes attach too much importance to their own armies. When Hugo asked them to transfer the command of the knights to himself, many families refused, with the reasons of protecting the infantry and facilitating command. The ideas of these princes are understandable. After all, the friendly forces nearby may not be reliable. The troops under their command are their own subjects and their own capital. Although there will inevitably be sacrifices in war, they must be valuable, rather than being dragged down by friendly forces.

Hugo understood these princes, but as the commander-in-chief of the battle, he had to consider a higher dimension than them. The right wing of the army was not stable to begin with, and the most convenient solution at the moment was to integrate the cavalry of all the princes and arrange them on the flanks and rear of the battle line. This would prevent Daenerys's cavalry from surrounding the right wing, and if the infantry on the right wing collapsed, the cavalry could also serve as a reserve to withstand the enemy's advance - the knights of the Seven Kingdoms might be unruly and disregard discipline, but their combat effectiveness was indeed good, and Robert's record of using thousands of knights to break through the army of Volantis was still vivid in their minds.

Similarly, from another perspective, in this unprecedentedly large battlefield, no matter how powerful the knights' combat effectiveness is, if they cannot gather into a cluster to attack, they will be like sand falling into a lake, and may not even make a splash; the choice of the princes is like smashing a sharp blade into iron filings. Regardless of whether this sharp blade can hurt the enemy, it is definitely impossible to rely on the iron filings to defend themselves.

Because of this, Hugo could not ignore the problem on the right wing. He still managed to persuade some princes to transfer the command of some knights to himself. In this way, although the right wing was still relatively weak, it had a small reserve force in the rear for emergency use. Before more reserves arrived, it should be able to temporarily prevent the collapse of the situation.

As for the left wing of the army, the army here is composed of soldiers from the Kingdom's eastern territories and eastern allies, from local families to city-state allies, from affiliated alliances to city militias, the sources are all-encompassing. These people are not very enthusiastic about the western war, and they come here more for the benefits promised by the God's Blessed before the war. Therefore, these people are not only in high spirits, but also well prepared. For example, Norvos and Qohor have sent out their best troops. Their arrival has made the left wing of the army as stable as an iron barrel. Many of them were arranged by Hugo near the main camp as part of the reserve.

In general, although the huge size made the army bloated, the morale of the army was still very high. This was not only because of Hugo's reputation as an invincible God-favored one, but also because of the giant dragon-hunting crossbow standing in their formation and pointing at the sky. The whole army had a clear understanding of the power of the giant crossbow within a few months. Even a giant dragon that was powerful enough to destroy thousands of troops would fall from the sky if hit by this thing.

Then, Hugo's gaze passed over the fuse that started the war, the ruins of the temple where a fierce battle was taking place, and looked at Daenerys's line.

In Daenerys's center army, Hugo saw the famous eunuch warriors called the Unsullied. They were guarding a giant dragon with milky white scales. This dragon was naturally the unlucky one that was shot by the dragon hunting crossbow.

But now it seems that except for being unable to fly, the dragon is in good condition. It is still feasting in front of the battlefield, swallowing large amounts of flesh and blood prepared by the military servants. It seems that Daenerys still wants to make the most of this dragon.

As far as it stands now, this thing is still quite useful. We can see that the morale of the dragon's enemy troops is obviously higher. This is not surprising. For so many years, dragons have been the representatives of the most powerful force in this world.

Apart from these eunuchs and the dragon, the queen's central army is composed of a large number of infantrymen wearing oriental armor. According to the information Hugo has collected during this period, most of them are slaves liberated by Daenerys or oriental upstarts who have risen with the queen. These people wear armor and clothing that is a mixture of Westeros and Slave Bay styles. There is also a group of people with shaved heads, who look quite funny. It can be seen that they want to be close to their master, but they look out of place no matter how you look at them. The effect of the fusion of the two styles is not very good.

However, this did not affect their morale. Many people shouted "Long live the Queen" in front of the battle, and some called her mother. These people were able to break free from their shackles and achieve class leap because of Daenerys. Therefore, even though the Queen had to lead a long expedition this time, they all had a strong desire to fight and looked forward to showing themselves in front of the Dragon Queen.

The main body of the Queen's army's left wing is composed of Dothraki and Jugsnai, and many Westeros knights can be seen in the distance. As for the grassland cavalry, although the centaurs are now all wearing armor, Hugo does not think their combat effectiveness has improved much:
From the information available, apart from the tribes descended from Balborg and Drogo, the other Dothraki tribes are still a group of undisciplined beasts. Although Daenerys has been trying to restrain them, the effect is not very good. Apart from their bellicosity and numerical advantage, these tribes are useless. In comparison, those zebra talents need more attention... Hugo must admit the threat of the Jogsnai. In the long struggle with the south, these grassland fighters have a lot of experience in organization and tactics. Some of them have joined Drogo's conquest group before. They are much more reliable than the centaurs - in all aspects - so Hugo attaches great importance to these zebras.

For the same reason, Hugo immediately saw through Daenerys's plan. She probably wanted to use these cavalry to disperse the Westeros nobles on her right wing. The main force among them should be the zebras and western knights, and those centaurs would rush to the front line to pave the way for the former two, which could be regarded as "waste utilization".

As for Daenerys' right wing, it was mainly people from the River Reach and Dorne, with a small number of knights on the side as cover. It seemed that the Inflatable Fish and the Prince had used all the forces they could mobilize. Looking around, Hugo saw many coats of arms of the descendants of the Gardener King, and many flags of Dorne nobles. In the center of the right wing, Clinton's griffin flag was very eye-catching. In general, although there has been a long-standing feud between the River Reach and Dorne, it seems that at this moment, both sides have chosen to temporarily abandon those previous conflicts - this is not surprising, everyone is clear about what the current situation represents, which is enough for them to let go of those past conflicts; what's more, the queen has specially selected a third party to command the right wing, trying to balance the two sides as much as possible so that no one can suppress the other.

Seeing this, Hugo could only say that the girl did have some experience in leading troops in battle: using a third party to mediate the relationship between the conflicting parties and arranging the people of Westeros to fight against the people of Essos. These were all measures against drugging, and could indeed solve many morale problems.

Petyr's Myr army did not appear. Considering the situation on the battle line and the terrain nearby, Hugo inferred that his army should have been arranged as a reserve by the queen and should now be hiding behind the battle line, especially behind a hill.

Littlefinger has a lot of cavalry from the valley, and the Myr army is also very good at fighting. This is a force that needs to be vigilant. If it cooperates with the countless cavalry on the left wing, the right wing of the army will be under tremendous pressure.

"Eddie, our right wing has a serious problem. If the queen on the other side hadn't been watching us from the sky, I would have placed all the army's reserves here." Hugo said to his captain of the guards, "In your opinion, how is the Norfoss reserve commanded by 'Iron Arm'? If there is no problem, I plan to arrange for them to slowly follow the Red God Army. If the right wing really collapses, they can immediately turn to surprise the grassland barbarians."

"Sir, I think their fighting capacity is fine, and so is their commander." Eddie elaborated on his opinion. "This Redding is not young anymore, but he is still very energetic. He is also good at marching and fighting in the field. I remember that he almost rushed to Linhai more than ten years ago... Generally speaking, unless the leader of the monks agrees to let Milo come here to command the battle, he is the second best candidate - as for the first one, he is now commanding the troops on the left wing of the army."

"That's good. Since you think he can do it, then he is a trustworthy general." Hugo made his final arrangements. "... As soon as we see the Norfoss blocking the enemy's momentum to continue the attack, we and the cavalry of Qohor will immediately move out to attack the enemy's flank and rear. The remaining reserve troops will follow the cavalry's trajectory and press forward together. The queen on the opposite side wants to hit us with an uppercut. How can we do that? It's rude not to reciprocate. We have to hit her back."

After saying that, Hugo looked back at the battlefield that was ready to go. In this wilderness near the river bank, a silent area seemed to have formed between the two armies. There were no insects chirping, let alone birds singing. Life near here was about to pass away at a rapid speed. For this reason, even wild beasts did not dare to approach here - they could also sense the dangerous atmosphere, and they did not have the courage to approach this place even in the dark.

"However, all of this is just speculation at the moment. No matter what kind of arrangements Daenerys has made, everything can only be verified on the battlefield." Looking at the line in the distance, Hugo thought, "I hope my preparations are all appropriate."

(End of this chapter)