Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 255: He who backstabs others will be backstabbed
Roose Bolton actually didn't want to fight this battle.

He wanted to delay until deep winter, until the White Walkers promoted by the Targaryen King posed a threat to the Wall, or even moved south. He wanted to buy enough time to threaten, force, bribe, and kill the lords of the North, and formally bring the entire North under Bolton's command before his Targaryen dragon arrived in the North.

In this way, Roose Bolton felt that even if King Viserys came in person riding a dragon, Bolton could still secure the title of Guardian of the North by dragging out the situation.

In fact, since returning to the North, Luce has been carrying out his plan.

Let Ramsay marry "Arya Stark", first win over Leswell and Dustin, then use the Frey hostages and the power he has created to coerce the Manderly and Umber families, bribe the Karstark family, and after dealing with several big nobles in the North, everything will be ready to kill a group of fence-sitting people with thunderous means, and win over a group of weak people with land grants and titles.
However, the situation changed faster than Roose Bolton could imagine, and he had no time to start planning. The "Arya" sent by the Lannisters in King's Landing was considered a fake, and Roose hoped to enter a stalemate with the Targaryens, and thought that the Lannister Westerland, which he thought could last at least one to two years, was breached in just a few months.
too fast.

Now, within just a few months of Roose Bolton's taking the position of Guardian of the North, the Targaryens and Starks had completely disrupted his plans for the North, and even the Bolton-Dustin-Lyswell alliance, which the Bolton family relied on as its cornerstone, was facing a threat.

The encounter with the Targaryen representatives took place a year earlier than expected.

Choosing to take over the position of guardian of the North means that the Bolton family can only advance, not retreat, and cannot retreat. Taking even half a step back will lead to a bottomless abyss and eternal damnation.

So, now that the situation was forced, Bolton's thoughts quickly changed.

He needs to be faster, harder, and more aggressive.

It is necessary to quickly eliminate the threat to Dustin and Lacewell, quickly defeat the anti-Bolton alliance formed by the reckless Aegon Targaryen, and then directly carry out a large-scale cleansing in the western part of the North with troops before the real Targaryen King takes action. Eliminate the second person who can represent the North and talk to the Targaryen King besides himself. Use the cruel and cold blood and the skin of opponents to make the North have only one voice before the Targaryen arrives.

The Bolton family ruled the Dreadfort not with tenderness but with terror and cruelty. These days, Roose wanted to "wrap power with etiquette to maximize its effectiveness", but it was clear that the current situation required the Bolton family's consistent cruelty to make people fearful and obtain "harmonious land and quiet people".

Roose Bolton knew very well that his future and the future of the Bolton family depended on the next battle.

Although this was a situation achieved by Aegon's coalition through strategy and means, the final winner will ultimately fall on the winner on the battlefield.

Roose Bolton had already found out the composition of Aegon's coalition forces, including mercenaries, Vale soldiers, small northern lords, and even Ironborn. Despite being such a "rabble", Roose did not underestimate them. He believed that he had cut off the coalition's supply line and wanted to wait for Manderlay to go north to join forces and form a superior force. But Dustin and Lacewell were in a hurry, especially after the news came that Lacewell had been defeated across the Fever River.

After all, Luce's own family does not have enough troops and has not established prestige in the North, so the voices of his allies will force him to make some decisions that he has to make.

In a sense, Roose's current situation is somewhat similar to that of Robb Stark when he had just summoned the Northern lords. In this situation, he must use a victory on the battlefield to demonstrate his political value as the guardian of the North.

dong dong dong-

Wuwuwu——

The rumbling sound of drums and horns echoed across the fields of ancient tombs.

Roose Bolton rode a tall horse to the observation tower of the central army. He was not the typical tall and strong knight in the North that people had a stereotype of. He had no beard and a pale complexion. What was worth noting was his strange eyes that were surprisingly pale and as cold as the cold lake water. Because he usually sucked blood with leeches, coupled with those frost-like cold eyes, he looked like an emotionless inhuman.

"Push the sacrificial objects out of here," he said.

Luce always spoke softly, never raising his voice, but the listeners had to pay close attention.

Everyone is afraid of him.

More than sixty fresh corpses that were skinned alive, pierced by spears and hung on the arrow shields, and even dripping with blood, were pushed out from Lus's main army formation and placed in the first row of the infantry array.

These skinless corpses exuded an unpleasant bloody smell and looked horrible in shape.

Luce's headquarters had two thousand men this time, and one thousand cavalrymen lined up around Luce's central army. It was as quiet as death, and even the horses did not make any breathing sounds.

On his left wing were his own thousand spearmen, who, together with half of the infantry brought to Winterfell by Lacewell, formed a large shield and spear array, and cooperated with a part of Lacewell cavalry to form a semi-mobile cavalry and infantry mixed force to resist the seemingly threatening Knights of the Vale. On his right wing were troops provided by the Dustin family and some nobles around Winterfell who nominally defected to the Bolton family, such as the Seven family and the Conton family.

Roose Bolton did not trust these men, so he placed them in the front, and behind them were five hundred Frey soldiers who were responsible for supervising the army and would kill anyone who retreated.

The 500 cavalrymen of the Karstark family and the 500 cavalrymen of Roose were the vanguard of the center. Roose and the remaining 500 cavalrymen served as the reserve and commander of the center army, waiting for an opportunity to move.

This was a seemingly evenly matched battle.

A light snow fell last night on the battlefield where the decisive battle took place. Now the field filled with soldiers had not been trampled by horses. The white snow covered the yellow dead grass like fine salt.

The troops of both sides were still some distance away, marching in an orderly formation and very slowly.

In order to compete for the position within the archery range, the front-line ranging troops were galloping on horseback.

"stop!"

When the two sides were only 500 steps apart, the two armies stopped tacitly.

Suddenly, the cold wind became murderous.

"arrow!"

The strongest archer fired his arrow, and it landed in the center of the battlefield.

"Enter!"

Then once again, the troops continued their slow, depressing advance toward each other.

This was a field battle where both sides put their entire armies into action. Although both sides had only 4,000 or 5,000 men, not 10,000, the array was very long. At least it was not a distance where a loud man could shout from the middle of the array and both wings could easily hear and respond immediately.

A battle formation of this scale requires special knights and standard-bearers responsible for delivering messages, and the sound of horns and drums is the signal for the entire army to attack.

"The whole army is ready!"

The signal from the center was conveyed by the riders and flag bearers, and the drummers and trumpeters of each unit immediately responded and prepared.

When the frontline commanders, centurions, and decurions heard the trumpet and drum sounds, they began to command their men with their loud voices: "All troops, get ready!"

The two sides have already trash-talked each other when they scheduled the fight.

When the main formation attacks, everything that needs to be said has been said before the troops are dispatched, and the detailed adjustments and arrangements during the approach process are also adjusted and prepared as we get closer to the enemy step by step.

So next.

Only the battlefield can decide the victory.

Aegon, Ser Jon, and his confidants were in the center of the formation, and they could even see the flayed men pushing out from Roose's army.

But he was not afraid. Instead, he felt his blood boiling and was excited because of the tranquility before the fight on the battlefield.

Four hundred steps.

The heavy cavalry began to speed up, the infantry struck their shields with swords, and the archers put arrows on their bowstrings.

If someone were to watch from above, they would see that the long marching array gradually formed a bulge in the long array as the central vanguard cavalry array accelerated, like a bow that was gradually being drawn. As the bulge gradually took shape, the drawn bow turned into sharp arrows, sword tips, and spearheads.

Three hundred steps.

This is the distance that the Blood Crow Duke led the Raven Guard to shoot Daemon Blackfyre on the battlefield. However, no one in the modern era can replicate the longbow troops of the Blood Crow Duke. Here, the longest attack distance of the archers can only be estimated to be 150 steps.

As the distance gets closer.

The sound of the heavy cavalry's hooves was like thunder, causing mountains to collapse and the earth to crack.

War drums beat wildly, horns sounded through the sky, and the heavy cavalry was determined to move forward.

If Viserys were to fight this battle, without dragons, he might use the heavy cavalry as a diversionary force, allowing the infantry to engage in close combat on the battlefield first. This is because when the heavy cavalry joins the battle formation, they can sweep across with thunderous force, gain a local advantage, and then expand the advantage with mobility.

However, this strategy often requires one's own troops to be obedient, tenacious, and willing to serve as bait for the heavy cavalry.

But the fact is, the coalition forces put together by Aegon were not trustworthy. They lacked mutual trust and had not been well-coordinated. It was very difficult to coordinate effectively and allow the heavy cavalry to play a normal role.

Therefore, at this time, it was undoubtedly relatively correct for Aegon to use his cavalry as a spearhead, because as long as he and his troops could achieve results on the front line, the morale of their side would continue to rise, and they might even be able to defeat the enemy with one blow.

Of course Luce saw the charge of the heavy cavalry, but at this time he was still following his familiar way of fighting, mobilizing the shield soldiers, crossbowmen, and spearmen who would normally engage the enemy to quickly fill the first array, letting them risk their lives to block the first wave of the heavy cavalry's charge, and then strike back and use his own cavalry units to attack the enemy's array whose momentum had slowed down.

It should be said that Luce's response was very straight and steady.

Unfortunately, Roose missed one point. He didn't expect that the enemy was here to fight for his life. The enemy's fighting method was the same as Rhaegar and Robert's, that is, relying on personal courage, leading fearless warriors to directly attack the enemy's center, directly king against king, general against general, and fight to the death with the enemy chief.

This tactic was the simplest, most dangerous, but also the most profitable tactic in the era of cold weapons.

Robert relied on this skill to unite the rebel alliance that had just been assembled. Think about it, when Robert was defeated at Storm's End, he only brought a small group of soldiers to the north to find the Stark and Tully coalition. How did he become a real leader in such a short time instead of being sidelined by the princes and becoming a banner and decoration?

Just risking your life.

Two hundred steps.

The cavalry was ready. What Aegon needed to do next was the simplest yet most difficult tactic in the cold weapon era, leading his troops to charge into battle.

One hundred and fifty steps.

A rain of arrows flew out from the enemy's formation, hurled and smashed into the formation like hail.

Both the men and the horses were wearing armor, and the longbowmen's attacks were unable to stop the cavalry that had already formed a force.

Although some people were unlucky and were shot in the horse's hooves, fell off their horses, and were trampled into meat paste by friendly troops.

One hundred steps.

The enemy's second salvo arrived.

Aegon's helmet and visor obscured most of his vision, but he could already see straight ahead, through the gaps between the knights and horses that surrounded and protected him, he could see the shield wall of the Bolton army in front of him.

When heavy cavalry charged the shield wall, it was bound to be a head-on clash of hammer and anvil.

Even heavily armored knights could suffer heavy casualties.

However, crossing this shield wall and rushing through this infantry phalanx is Roose Bolton's center army, the flag of House Bolton, and Roose Bolton himself!
Fifty steps.

Another volley fell into the cavalry.

Aegon heard the wind and raised his hands to stop it.

With a ding, a feathered arrow pierced the thick woolen coat outside his arm armor. The North was cold, and the knights had to wear three layers inside and outside: a silk wool lining, a chain mail, a plate armor, a woolen coat outside, and a shawl.

The feather arrow was stuck in the woolen coat, not penetrating the flesh, but it couldn't be removed.

This is the battlefield!

Aegon could already smell murder and blood in the air.

Aegon's ears fell silent for a moment. He saw Casper, his standard-bearer, holding high the Targaryen flag with a red dragon on a black background. The red and black battle flag fluttered in the wind, as if three dragons were dancing beside him. He saw Ser Jon and Franklyn on his other side, holding their swords high, white mist puffing out of their visors. Not far away, there were Tristan Rivers and the Peake brothers.
They are descendants of the exiles of the Golden Company. They followed Aegon to restore their family honor and return to Westeros.

No one looked back.

No one will look back.

"For the Targaryens!"

Finally, the battle began.

Steel and flesh collided blindly, and the heavy cavalry swarmed forward, like a huge battering ram, slamming into Bolton's shield wall.

The spears tore at each other, and some people were pulled off their horses by the hooks that extended from the shield wall. Some people's horses were pierced by spears on their unarmored front legs, and both the people and horses flew to the ground.

Blood and mud instantly stained the snowy grass, turning it bloody and covered in mud.

The heavy knights in the first row quickly tore open a gap. Aegon saw a brave cavalryman pierce the chests of two enemies wearing studded leather armor with a lance, lift the two off the ground, and then the lance broke. The knight let out a shocking howl, like a demon.

Another man raised a long-handled battle axe, and using the inertia of his horse, swung the axe at a shield soldier, actually splitting the man in half from the head.

The bloodiness and cruelty of the battlefield are just like this. In just a moment, everything you see becomes hell.
Aegon was in the second array, right in the center of the tip of the wedge-shaped cavalry formation.

The bravest warriors of the Golden Company led the way for him, and the bravest warriors of the Golden Company walked with him.

As the wedge-shaped spearheads advanced, Aegon could feel his horse stepping on something that was not solid.

It's a person, it's a corpse.

The enemy's shield array was torn apart in an instant.

As Aegon's horse passed by, a pale old Bolton soldier tried to escape, and he swung his sword. Taking advantage of the momentum of the horse, the sword hit the man's head. In an instant, the man's head and body were separated, and hot blood spurted out of his broken neck, but his feet did not stop, and he still ran three or four steps before falling down.

This time, the impact of the collision caused by the swing was not purely due to strength, which made his shoulders tense for a moment and even a little numb.

But he still had enough strength, and he quickly adjusted himself and continued to chop at the other person.

Steel collided with steel, making a long, sharp scream, the rolling hooves and sharp sword blades merged into a fire, axes and maces flew, and broken limbs and blood were everywhere. Aegon even saw his standard bearer Casper pierce several people's chests with the spear head of the red dragon flag.

They continued to advance while hacking and killing with all their might.

As he continued to hack and kill, Aegon felt that his horse was gradually slowing down, but the torn shield phalanx was still endless.

A short spear was suddenly thrown from the side and hit Aegon's horse.

Fortunately, the armor that fell on the horse did not cause any harm to the horse.

Jon and Franklyn flew past him, slashing at each enemy as they passed.

They created a space for Aegon to continue to use his horse's power. Aegon squeezed the horse's belly with both feet, and the spurs on his feet kicked the horse's buttocks. The horse under him started to move again.

He could feel the horse's hooves occasionally tripping over the corpses and slipping, but he squeezed the horse's belly and spurred it on to continue charging regardless.

Their troops' spears, swords and horses must rest temporarily in the open space after piercing the enemy's formation.

The knights behind had caught up, their horses not slowing down, passing Aegon and continuing to serve as the sharp chisel of the wedge.

This "battering ram" will not stop until the last cavalryman is dead!
Aegon continued to ride his horse to catch up and join the battle. When he came into contact with the enemy again, he spurred his horse to knock down an archer and cut off the man's arm from shoulder to armpit. Then a knight behind him pierced the man's visor with a spear, giving him a quick death.

Killing the archers meant that Bolton's first formation used to block the cavalry had been broken through.

At this time, Aegon heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the front. Bolton seemed to have realized that this cavalry came with the purpose of beheading, and he reacted quickly and urged the cavalry to start the attack.

However, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry led by Aegon and the speed of the defeat of the shield phalanx obviously exceeded Bolton's expectations. The shield array did not stop the heavy cavalry as expected, and Aegon, Jon, and Franklyn could be considered to have successfully completed the first phase of the combat mission. They successfully broke through the enemy's formation and tore open a passage leading directly to Bolton's center.

The reason why the wedge formation is the most commonly used formation for cavalry is that the soldiers responsible for acting as spearheads do not always charge as spearheads throughout a battle. They can rely on the mobility and impact of heavy cavalry to create conditions for exchanging formation tips and charging alternately in a short period of time after breaking through the enemy formation.

"There's Roose Bolton's banner!"

"Charge there with your whole army!"

Aegon caught up with Ser Jon and Franklyn's team, which had been separated from him by an accident.

Without even the time to say another word, he immediately rode his horse and charged towards where Roose Bolton was.

He squeezed his legs against the horse's belly and galloped forward. This was a life-and-death battlefield. There was no time for nonsense. He had to either catch up immediately or be left behind.

Jon walked alongside him this time.

Because this round of charge, the enemy is obviously also a main force, unlike the shield phalanx just now. The heavy cavalry will not be easily injured by the infantry unless they fall off their horses, and Jon knows that Aegon has learned some kind of "magic" from the king to locate the position by sound and maintain physical strength, so when Aegon accidentally got out of touch just now, Jon was not worried at all and did not care.

But this time is different. This is a collision between the main cavalry forces. The battle will be more intense and more dangerous.

The battle was fair. In front of the field of ancestors' tombs, neither side set up horse pits. The use of chevaux de frise and stakes was a real head-on clash, knife against knife, armor against armor.

The sound of horse hooves rumbling and the faint sound of bugles and war drums in the distance were inspiring.

Being on the battlefield, Aegon had no time and no way of knowing what the fighting was like on other battlefields. He only knew that under the tactics he had arranged, victory would be decided here. As long as he won, he could turn the situation around in an instant even if other places were defeated.

He didn't have time to think carefully, the sound of horse hooves was getting closer and closer, boom, boom, boom, as if responding to his heartbeat.

In an instant, from the gaps in the cavalry formation, he saw the enemy appear in front of him, and they were charging in unison.

The bloody banners of House Bolton were everywhere, fluttering in the wind and tumbling over long poles.

Soon, Aegon saw the largest and most exquisite banner in the battle array. Bolton's cavalry standard-bearer raised it high and let it fly in the wind.

His heart was excited, and a breath of white air came out from his visor. He shouted: "Wherever the Bolton flag is, we will bring blood and fire there, and kill!"

“Roar! Roar!”

There was a horrifying crash, the front army had already met the enemy, Franklyn shouted and rushed forward from Aegon, followed by five good fighters. Aegon was not to be outdone, and he rode up to follow, and more riders followed.

The snowflakes raised by the horses' hooves were filled with foam and the smell of blood.

In front of him, he saw Targaryen riders and Bolton riders fighting in a melee. The heavy cavalry on both sides engaged in battle, and half of the horses in the first row fell down in the collision. Some of the riders who fell down rushed forward, and were pierced through the chest by the powerful inertia of the spears, dying on the spot, while others continued to climb up and fight wantonly in the battlefield that had become a river of blood.

Amid the shouts and cries of killing, not only the people but also the horses went mad. The mad horses leaped into the enemy's formation, and the riders on them engaged in a melee.

This is not the real use of cavalry on the battlefield, but because of Aegon's decapitation tactics, Bolton had to go forward. What else could he do, run away? At this time, only flags could be seen on the battlefield, representing Bolton's flag. If he did not move forward, as long as he retreated, it would lead to unimaginable consequences.

Aegon's mount was stabbed in the hind leg by a fallen Bolton rider, and it slowed to a halt, rearing up and kicking back with its horseshoe.

One of Bolton's heavily armored knights groaned and fell to the ground instantly. Someone behind him immediately came to Aegon's rescue and trampled on him with horse hooves, causing the knight to spit blood and die.

"over there!"

When Aegon saw Bolton's flag, he ignored everything around him, continued to squeeze his horse's belly, stabbed his spurs into the horse's buttocks, and attacked towards Bolton's flag.

This was the most correct approach to a decapitation battle, king against king, general against general. Aegon's standard-bearer waving the military flag was undoubtedly warning the chaotic battlefield where he was.

Countless enemy troops rushed over, and countless of our own troops followed one after another to clear the way for Aegon and create a gap for the charge.

Aegon knew he couldn't stop.

Jon Connington and Franklyn's best riders responded quickly, gathering together with Aegon at their center.

The friendly forces continued to push outward, creating space for them to charge directly to the enemy chief.

Aegon rushed straight towards the direction of Bolton's flag.

As they charged into the enemy formation, the space for charging became smaller and smaller, and the battlefield soon shrunk to a few feet around their mounts. Several riders wearing the insignia of House Karstark charged at the decapitated cavalry with lances, trying to resist, but Aegon shouted and used all his strength.

A strong cold wind blew up on the battlefield for no reason, causing the flags to flutter. A large amount of blood, fine snow, and mud were blown by the strange cold wind onto the visors and horses of the Karstark riders who were trying to resist this fierce team of riders.

The cold wind blew all kinds of small flying objects into the eyes of the men and horses.

This made them unable to open their eyes to fight the enemy for a moment, and in this short moment, the team carrying Aegon continued to charge passed by, carrying horses, swords and axes, and instantly killed several people.

Following the same method, Aegon and this elite force continued to move forward.

The changes here quickly attracted the attention of the chaotic battlefield.

People couldn't see clearly what was happening. They could only see that the cavalry carrying Aegon's banner were unstoppable on the battlefield, killing anyone who stood in their way. There was not a single knight in Bolton's army that could stop their attack.

Roose Bolton was not the kind of general who would lead a charge, so when he saw the terrifying cavalry carrying the Targaryen banner getting closer and closer to him, the Lord Roose of the North felt fear.

"Archery!"

he ordered.

Among his guards were horse archers. Although the dozen arrows did not form a rain of arrows, the distance was short, so the heavy bows still worked, and a Targaryen rider fell off his horse.

But these cavalrymen who were carrying out the beheading continued to charge towards Luce, and no one cared about the knight who had fallen from his horse.

At this moment, Roose thought of Robert Baratheon.

Having fought alongside Robert, Roose Bolton had witnessed this kind of desperate fighting.
but why?
Luce couldn't understand.

He looked at the Targaryen flag. What deep hatred did he, Roose Bolton, have against the Targaryens? Since Aegon was the son of Rhaegar, he should have been so ruthless to the Baratheons, the Starks, and the Lannisters. Why did Roose Bolton have to bear such pressure?
"Your Excellency the Duke!" someone finally whispered, "The enemy is coming and is unstoppable. What should we do?"

Luce looked at the knight who was asking the question. He was one of his guards. Facing such terrible offensive and momentum of the enemy, Luce saw fear in his eyes.

This fear even outweighed the fear of Luce.

"Roose Bolton, surrender and you won't be killed!"

At this moment, Luce could even hear the enemy's shouting, clearly audible.

A knight sat high on his armored warhorse, both man and horse looking like a giant, swinging his long-handled axe in a wild circle.

"Surrender or die!" the knight declared, his axe spinning faster and faster.

Then, a young and clear voice shouted: "Roose Bolton, do you dare to fight?"

The standard-bearer of the huge Targaryen banner was right next to the armored rider who spoke. That was undoubtedly "Son of Rhaegar", Aegon Targaryen.

For a moment, Luce felt his hands go numb and his vision blurry.

The calmness that Luce had maintained because of the leeches sucking too much blood was shaken, his heart fell, and the armor wrapped in the woolen clothes seemed to become cold. A chill pressed against his skin.

The enemy was getting closer and closer. Fifty steps, forty steps.

Although the horses' momentum had slowed down, no one on our side could resist their approaching footsteps.

The bloody smell of fighting was already approaching Luce's nose.

He tightened his grip on the horse's reins.

I unconsciously tightened my grip on the horse's belly.

The horse neighed shrilly and leaped up on its front legs.

Luce came back to his senses, his head in the mask tingling. He wanted to charge, but his hands and feet were cold, and his throat was so tight that he could hardly speak.

"Retreat!" he managed to squeeze out the sound.

"What?" The person next to him couldn't hear his soft voice and came closer.

"Retreat," Luce said a second time, his breath filled with pain.

The subordinates who finally heard clearly immediately shouted: "Retreat!"

"retreat!"

With the sound of retreat.

Luce turned his horse around and galloped back without looking back.

In an instant, the riders who were trying to hold back Aegon and his men were shocked, and those who reacted started to grab their horses and gallop away.

In the era of cold weapons, the phrase "a crushing defeat" was not an exaggeration. As Roose's banner retreated, the stalemate on the cavalry battlefield collapsed in an instant, and the soldiers of the Bolton Army almost threw away their armor and fled.

Those who still had horses urged them on and chased after Bolton's flag. Those who didn't have horses either seized horses or abandoned their weapons and fled in the chaos of the battle.

If Bolton's flag could continue to remain there, even if the flag did not move, it would be able to stabilize the stalemate.

However, with Aegon and the elite of the Golden Company fighting bravely and their strange and unstoppable deterrence, Roose was unable to maintain the situation.

This is what war was like in the cold weapon era. It just looked like the Targaryen flag was approaching and the Bolton flag was retreating.

Maybe someone will ask, "Why not just step back, avoid the limelight, and change your command position? What are the consequences?"

The reason why beheading the general and capturing the flag is the primary merit is that most people on the battlefield can only see the flag.

As the head coach's flag, any action is related to the overall situation.

Now the commander-in-chief's flag is retreating as the enemy general approaches. What else can it mean except that the commander of the central army was defeated in the confrontation?
The only thing to be thankful for was that the coach’s flag was not captured, and the flag was still guiding the direction of retreat.

As for whether you can keep up, it depends on your ability.

Seeing Roose Bolton retreating, Aegon, who was already approaching, was about to strike back and give chase.

But Jon Connington, a veteran of the battlefield, stopped Aegon and said, "Although Bolton has retreated, his bannermen and knights are still chasing him. This shows that although Bolton was defeated because our troops dared not confront him directly, his deterrent power is still enough to make his riders follow him. We can chase him, but we should not chase him too far, and we should not chase him to the point where our troops are disconnected."

Having said that, Aegon is now at the forefront of the battle and the situation is actually out of control.

Despite Jon Connington's wise words, Aegon could only restrain the few hundred riders on his side.

A little further away on the battlefield, and even further away on the left and right wings, it was already a mess, with the defeated Roose coalition forces running around in panic, and the pursuing Aegon coalition forces chasing them in panic.

Especially the troops in the Valley, who had a large number of cavalry and were facing a mixed cavalry and infantry force of Bolton's army. Seeing the enemy being defeated, they were relatively lazy at first, but as soon as they saw the opportunity to beat the enemy down, they immediately put all their efforts into chasing and intercepting the defeated Bolton army.

Generally speaking, in the era of cold weapons, the time when the greatest results could be achieved was when pursuing the defeated troops.

Aegon actually had no control over the situation. Even if he was sitting in the central camp at this time, he could not control it.

So in this head-on battle, the actual contact lasted only about half an hour, while the pursuit lasted the entire morning.

It was not until the Vale cavalry became disconnected and pursued too deep, and were ambushed by Roose Bolton's retreating troops who had regrouped at some point five miles away from the battlefield, that the Vale's pursuing troops were gathered together to guard against possible enemy counterattacks.

Aegon's main force was heavy cavalry, and they only chased the enemy two leagues before they were no longer able to carry out a large-scale pursuit.

They could only change their equipment on the spot and follow Bolton's main force at a distance as light cavalry to ensure that they would not turn the tables or turn around to encircle the pursuers on both wings.

The Ancestral Tombs is a vast field from which you can see far into the distance.

Just as the pursuit was about to turn into watching Bolton return, suddenly, dense swarms of soldiers and horses emerged from the top of the distant hills.

Wuwuwu——

Bolton's gradually forming rout was blowing its trumpets.

The trumpeters of Aegon's coalition were also blowing their trumpets.

This was undoubtedly an unexpected enemy.

It is speculated that it should be reinforcements from Winterfell, or the army of House Manderly heading north.

As this unexpected army appeared in sight.

Both the fleeing Bolton army and the pursuing Aegon coalition stopped at the same time.

Aegon urged the trumpeters and signalmen to quickly gather the pursuit troops. Judging from the enemy's distance, they needed to gather quickly. Whether the enemy was a friend or foe, whether they retreated or fought, there was still room for maneuver.

He still had Greyjoy's reserve troops that had not yet been deployed to the battle, and he had to contact Asha Greyjoy as soon as possible to prevent any accidents.

Just as Aegon was worried and hurriedly gathering his troops.

Aegon was found by an unexpected person amidst the chaos.

No one expected that it was the messenger that Aegon had sent to unite the Manderly family, who was rumored to have been imprisoned and sent to Winterfell.

And as soon as he saw the emissary and the Manderlay knight he brought back.

There is no need to say who that army in the distance is and what its purpose is.

This means that Roose Bolton will face a fatal backstab from House Manderly.

No matter how smart Roose Bolton is, he is destined not to return to Winterfell.

I just wonder if Roose at this moment will remember the night when he backstabbed Robb Stark.

(End of this chapter)