Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 278: No War in King's Landing

When he saw that the White Walker troops were insufficient in number and had crossed Harrenhal and penetrated deep into the heart of the crown territory, Jaime made a prompt decision and summoned the entire army to retreat towards King's Landing.

Strategically speaking, this decision was very correct, similar to the decision made by Jaime's father, Lord Tywin, who fled directly after hearing that Jaime was defeated in the Battle of the Whispering Wood. He ran from the Red Fork for three days and three nights to Harrenhal.

After discovering that the White Walker army bypassed Harrenhal, it is easy to judge the two most obvious changes in the battlefield situation: first, Harrenhal has become a salient of the Lannister-controlled kingland. Even if the White Walker army does not attack in a short time, it will become an isolated place in a short time, and there is no way to expect reinforcements from anywhere; second, King's Landing has become a more dangerous area than Harrenhal, and the White Walker army may choose to attack King's Landing first after having enough troops.

It was a gamble to risk the long night and cold to retreat from Harrenhal at this time, because the only battlefield information Jaime and his men had obtained was that one scout reconnaissance. Apart from that, they knew nothing about the situation in the river areas further north.

At this time, choosing to leave Harrenhal with its tall walls and towers and enter the snowy plains was a very risky military act.

But after Jaime made his suggestion, Ser Adam and Peckton, the two most important commanders in Jaime's army, soon smelled the danger. They were veterans who followed Tywin and had good ability to read and judge battlefield information. The White Walker troops who entered the crown chose to avoid fighting, which meant that they did not or could not gather enough troops to deal with the defenders of Harrenhal.

If they were to retreat to King's Landing now, the White Walker troops would most likely not be able to react in time. The White Walkers had already entered the Crownlands, and the division of troops to Harrenhal had actually lost its strategic significance as the first barrier for King's Landing, except for dispersing the troops.

After all, this army was an old army that had attacked Bailige with Tywin during the War of the Six Kings, and they had rich experience in strategic transfer. After confirming the information, the army immediately assembled and began to retreat towards King's Landing.

As for Harrenhal, the only person left is Ser Bonifer, who is currently stationed at Harrenhal on behalf of Petyr Baelish - although he has already suspected of siding with Targaryen and giving up the Lannister title.

After Jaime's troops left, only Bonifer and his 100-man Crusade, as well as several hundred civilians from the villages and towns around Harrenhal, were left in Harrenhal.

If James knew the troop deployment and tactical intentions of both sides, his judgment would undoubtedly be correct.

But Jaime may never know how terrifying the White Walkers' ability to coordinate combat is, and his action completely disrupted the White Walkers' deployment in the Riverlands and the King's Territory.

A human army of 4,000 people with horses chose to march out of the city.

This is like a fisherman throwing bait into the water, which instantly becomes the most delicious bait in the eyes of the river and the king's army of white walkers.

All the White Walker mobile forces within dozens of leagues around Harrenhal were attracted by this bait.

In the north, even the White Walker cavalry troops far away in the Beauty Market, who only found some animals and no living people in several villages and towns around, gave up their original plan to go west to meet up with the troops in Stonehenge and Witch Swamp. They turned south and drove their dead horses and ice spider mounts at full speed, along with a large group of corpse lizard lions, corpse sheep and corpse wolves transformed from the Neck Swamp, in pursuit to the south.

In the northeast, the White Walker vanguard, which had just slaughtered and converted bandits and civilians who disobeyed the royal orders in the town of Earl Harroway, Saltpan Town, and the Trident Port on the Silent Island, gave up the plan to continue searching for living things along the coast, and quickly assembled a fast-moving force, crossing the Trident and heading south.

In the southeast, the fastest and most rapid White Walker advance team had just started slaughtering in the fishing towns and scattered wild villages outside Maiden Spring. After the commander received the news, he immediately gave up the plan to gather the existing forces to besiege Maiden Spring and immediately turned his mobile forces around.

As the White Walker commander, with blue fire in his eyes, issued an order, hundreds of blood-stained wolves, wild dogs, and long-horned deer with human intestines hanging from their antlers immediately put down their slaughtering work and ran towards the southwest. Their intention was obvious, to block this human cavalry unit on the King's Road.

A single move can have a far-reaching impact on the entire body. Jaime had not yet realized that his order to retreat had made his troops the leader of the train that attracted the attention of all the White Walker mobile forces.

The long night and cold winter are no match for the summer. Even this cavalry unit with rich experience in transfer could not do what they did when they followed Lord Tywin from the Red Fork to capture Harrenhal in the early stage of the War of the Six Kings.

After all, Jaime was not as ruthless as Tywin. You know, when Tywin heard the news of the defeat in the Whispering Wood, he did not waste a moment, even if his horses died or his men were lost on the way, he would rush from the Red Fork to Harrenhal as fast as possible.

Why? Because when Tywin heard about the battle in the Whispering Wood, he immediately guessed the possibility of the Northern Army advancing east and west. If he could not occupy Harrenhal before the Northern Army, not only would the Northern Army have a bridgehead, but it would also form a siege against Tywin's 20,000 troops. Tywin's judgment was undoubtedly correct. He fought hard to enter Harrenhal before Roose Bolton, successfully preventing the Northern Army from attacking on two fronts and trapping him in the middle of the river. Only then did he have the opportunity to calmly use his "Raven Tactics" to rebel against Roose Bolton. It was precisely because of the obstruction in the east that the experienced Roose Bolton judged that even if the Young Wolf Robb won consecutive victories on the Western Front, he had missed the opportunity and could not gain momentum, so he chose to betray.

But Jaime only had so few men now, and he was reluctant to let his troops and horses suffer non-combat casualties.

So when the troops were rushing along without encountering any obstacles, and the men and horses were exhausted, he decided to let the troops stop and rest in an abandoned village. They lit a fire to keep warm, ate dry food, and fed the horses with hay, so that both the men and horses could rest for a while and catch their breath before continuing to rush back to King's Landing.

And when they set out again after resting, and there still seemed to be no danger, they arrived at the fork in the road to Deer Horn Castle, approaching the Sow Horn Hogg family and the nearby Ward family territory, an accident happened.

"Report, no fire was seen in the tower fortress of the Ward family in the east."

"Report, no fire was seen in the tower fortress of the Hogg family ahead."

The Hogg family and the Ward family are both wealthy knight families in the royal domain. They do not have castles with towers like the great nobles, but only tower forts with eight-foot-thick walls that are more typical of ordinary knights. The only thing worth mentioning is that their emblems are three pink pigs for the Hogg family and three white porcupines for the Ward family.

The only thing their castle had to offer was its good location, right near the King's Road. But the two armies were small, and even with the wealthy knights in the king's domain, the family could only muster a few soldiers, a few crossbowmen, and twenty or thirty peasants with pitchforks as weapons.

Ever since he discovered that the White Walker army bypassed Harrenhal, Jaime guessed that this small family with sparse military strength would encounter an unexpected disaster.

Jaime felt inexplicably sad. Although this was due to the lack of attention paid by the lords of the royal domain to the threat of the White Walkers, the reason was also Cersei's blockade of the news. She refused to order the lords under her jurisdiction to gather in the big castle like the Targaryen jurisdiction did - because Cersei was worried that the gathered lords would oppose her and stop supplying materials to King's Landing.

James asked, "Where is the Harvard family's castle?"

Arriving at Sow Corner means that it is only a day's journey from King's Landing.

The Harvard family that Jaime asked about is the noble family that governs this area of ​​the royal domain. The city of Harvard is located on a small hill not far from the King's Road. Generally speaking, one can get a general view of the castle from the King's Road.

The scout replied, "Sir, the weather is bad and we can't see clearly."

James looked at the sky. Although dark clouds covered the sky, he could still see the lights of the castle in the distance. "Bad weather?"

"There's a heavy fog on the hills over there in Harvard."

James felt bad: "Fog?"

"Yes."

James gave the order: "Inform Adam to lead 500 cavalrymen in a group, wear armor and go to Sow Corner to find out if the road is clear. If there is no threat, resume the rapid march formation. Also, have the rest of the troops slow down, and let the baggage troops go to the center of the army. If there is any abnormality, the entire army will immediately put on armor."

In order to save horsepower, cavalry on a forced march would only wear mail armor with a lining instead of full armor, and the armor would be placed in the mule and horse team responsible for baggage. Mules and horses have strong endurance, and there is no need to spare horsepower during a forced march. If one dies, they will be replaced.

If the cavalry were to march quickly while fully armed, the horses would not be able to endure the exhaustion of the march before the people themselves, and would foam at the mouth and die of exhaustion on the spot.

Under James's order, the marching team quickly made adjustments.

As Sir Adam and his five hundred riders went ahead to explore the way, Jaime soon learned that they were encountering the worst situation.

Adam led his troops to approach Sow Corner, and the scattered scouts soon discovered that there were several waves of scattered blue-eyed zombies stalking the cavalry from afar. There were very few zombies, only a few or a dozen in each wave.

They did not attack, but only watched from afar. When Adam sent out cavalry to test them, they would run away. When the tempting cavalry returned, they would be on the conspicuous hillside again.

They just stared at the cavalry unit with their cold blue eyes.

It seems that they are scouts of the zombie army observing the enemy situation.

The tower fortresses of the Hogg family and the Ward family did not respond to Adam's torch signals, which meant that the two fortresses were most likely captured by the White Walker army.

Now, the problem was placed before Jaime. He had to make a gamble, betting on whether the road back to King's Landing had been surrounded and ambushed by the White Walker army, betting on whether the White Walker army's current actions were a trick to confuse the enemy, slowing down his march to buy time for the pursuers behind, or both possibilities, with pursuers behind and blockades in front.

The night was long without any day or night. They had traveled all the way from Harrenhal to here. If you calculated the time, they had only stopped to rest three times in three days and three nights. Jaime knew very well that the troops were exhausted.

Jaime received very little information about the battlefield, so he had no way of knowing that if he did not rest for a moment and marched quickly despite suffering non-combat casualties, he could return to King's Landing before the White Walker army surrounded and intercepted him.

But because of the three rest stops, although no one was left behind and no one and their horses died of exhaustion, they were still one day away from King's Landing.

The mount under him was panting white air, and James couldn't help but bend down and touch the horse's mane inside the windproof hood.

At this point, Jaime knew that there was no way he could ensure that all the cavalry returned safely to King's Landing.

He withdrew his hand from the horse's mane and gave a cold order: "Quickly notify the entire army, every 500 cavalry will be a group, everyone immediately put on armor and prepare for battle. As for the horses, don't wear armor." James paused, and said sternly, "After the entire army is ready, no matter what is ahead, wait for my order, head towards King's Landing, and advance at full speed."

The messenger couldn't help but confirm: "Sir, the horse is not wearing armor?"

"Yes." Jaime stood up straight on his mount, his eyes sharp. "Also, notify the baggage train to abandon all the baggage, including the horses' armor. Give the extra horses to Ser Piketon, and let him take a group of two horses and leave the road immediately, go around God's Eye Lake and rush to King's Landing to let the garrison troops go out of the city to meet them."

This order meant that James judged that they would definitely be intercepted.

The order was issued quickly.

Soon, James's judgment was verified. Adam's 500-man cavalry, which was approaching Sow Horn, encountered a tentative attack from the corpse ghosts.

The attack on Adam's 500 cavalrymen was launched by hundreds of wolves transformed into zombies. These zombie wolves were like a pack of wolves hunting, running freely outside the range of the cavalry archers' arrows, outflanking and harassing. They blocked the cavalry's way and did not attack directly, but just kept running and chasing to create momentum, intimidating the cavalry's horses from both wings and the front.

The horses obviously didn't like the smell of the corpses and were showing signs of panic, so the riders had to distract themselves and pull on the reins to maintain their formation.

What is incredible is that the White Walkers' pack of zombies used the most disgusting tactical pulling for cavalry.

Adam's wedge-shaped formation was moving at a speed of twenty yards, and the wolves in front, on the left, and on the right were pulling at the same speed. From time to time, one or several wolves would suddenly approach from the pulling distance, causing the cavalry to fire rockets in counterattack.

Yet almost every arrow shot in motion will miss.

This made Sir Adam, who had experienced countless battles, feel genuinely uneasy.

At a certain point, the wolves suddenly accelerated, and the wolves on the left and right wings began to gradually move away from Adam's team.

There were only dozens of wolves left in front, still running on the King's Road like the leaders of Adam's cavalry.

Soon, the rumbling sound of horse hooves came from behind.

Adam realized that it was James who led the team and followed.

Sure enough, James and his team quickly caught up with Adam. James, with a dozen messengers and his attendants, caught up with the front army from behind.

After informing each other of the situation, they saw that they were getting closer and closer to the tower fortress of the Hogg family in Sow Corner. In the dark night ahead, the wolves were still pulling like a guide. James immediately ordered the front army to leave the main road and go around the field to the right of the Hogg family tower fortress through Sow Corner. James was deeply impressed by this place. He clearly remembered that there was a vast wheat field on the right side of the tower fortress, so there was no need to worry about any unknown pits behind the snow.

Now that the corpse ghost has appeared, he is worried that there may be unexpected traps and ambushes on the road ahead.

As Jaime's order was issued, the cavalry troops that had been advancing at a steady speed on the King's Road immediately turned around, leaving the King's Road and stepping onto the snow-covered fields.

This sudden change in direction made the wolves that had been pulling ahead at a certain distance suddenly stunned, and then they immediately turned around and bared their fangs at the corner where Jaime led the team away from the King's Road.

The battle is about to break out.

As the wolves on Kingsroad turned back to charge, hundreds of thousands of shadows emerged from the darkness in the shadow of the Hogg family castle. There were giant elks, long-horned sheep, wild boars, shadow mountain cats and tigers, and finally humans and strange pale creatures riding dead horses.

These all-encompassing animal armies, like animal migration, are undoubtedly the fastest mobile forces of the White Walker vanguard.

The White Walker commander had strong tactical qualities. He did not choose to attack Jaime's vanguard, but led his troops straight to where Jaime's troops turned, forming a cavalry waist between the King's Road and the fields.

Their intention was very clear, which was to cut off James' cavalry formation in the middle.

If it was a battle between humans, concentrating their strength to attack the waist of the cavalry would easily cause the cavalry to respond and encircle them. But they still chose to do so, so their big intentions were almost obvious.

The purpose of this army of White Walkers is to stop this cavalry, even if the whole army is wiped out, they must hold back this cavalry team.

"Damn it."

The entire enemy army was charging towards the waist, and it was a big problem for the James front army, which had already left the attack zone, to choose to return to rescue or not.

Intellectually speaking, the commander has already guessed the enemy's intentions and should be ruthless and cut off his tail.

But James couldn't do it.

This group of cavalrymen were the last of the Lannister family. Jaime didn't want to think about why they were willing to obey his orders, but if he had to sell half of his riders here to survive, Jaime would rather die in battle here.

Without a moment's hesitation, James let out a roar that resounded through the night sky: "All troops, listen up! Follow me! Make a detour! Return for reinforcements! Cover the rear!"

Sir Adam responded immediately: "Roar! Roar! Roar!"

The army shouted as they charged: "Woo-woo!"

When James heard the army's response, a smile appeared on his lips. He squeezed his horse's belly, took the lead, and led the cavalry to make a huge arc on the snow-covered wheat field.

He had only one hand, but he still used his left hand to tuck the lance under his right armpit on horseback and wrap the lance with his golden palm.

At the waist of the long line of cavalry, the two attacked groups of 500 cavalry each had already grappled with the zombies rushing towards them. Most of these zombies were four-limbed animals, and they were extremely fast, and they were rushing to attack and cause chaos. They were scattered in groups, so the knights did not cause many casualties in the first two rounds of oil tank throwing and wildfire in close combat.

The sudden attack prevented these people from changing direction in time, and they were intercepted from the flank. The zombie tide took advantage of a brief gap and rushed into the army formation, causing great chaos to the horses and personnel.

For a moment, the two cavalry units were unable to use their tactics at all and could only engage in battle passively.

This tide of animal corpses brought a certain shock to the Lannister cavalry, who had no real experience in fighting against a tide of corpses.

The wolves attacked the horses instead of the humans. Even the horned deer and sheep had a chilling blue light in their eyes and thrust their sharp horns into the flesh of the horses. The wild boars and large animals, shadow mountain cats, and bears posed a more serious impact on the battle formation.

This group of zombies seemed to be very clear about the significance of horses to cavalry, and they were well aware of the principle of shooting the horse first before shooting the person.

For a moment, the human cavalry, under the impact of this tide of corpses, charged and killed, the neighing of horses and the screams of humans were endless. It seemed that the cavalry formation was about to be cut in half.

Of course, the riders fought back, throwing oil cans and wildfire bottles, creating walls and circles of fire in an attempt to create room for reaction.

However, these zombies seemed to be very experienced in dealing with these methods. They would look at the landing point and direction of the thrown objects and avoid them with incredible mobility. Even if they were ignited, only a small part of them would be damaged. What's more, the ignited animals would rush directly towards the cavalry. Although they could not cause any casualties, they would seriously break up the cavalry's formation and cause the riders' mounts to collide with each other because of the fear of fire.

It was not until many riders fell off their horses and were torn apart and slaughtered by the zombies that they finally realized that this way of fighting was completely different from that of human troops.

These corpse killers are extremely powerful. In addition to fire, they can still use their hands and feet to attack even if their limbs are cut off by swords, or they are cut in half by swords, or their skulls and bones are smashed by hammers.

The only thing that can make them lose their fighting power is fire, only fire.

In the chaos, there were still riders who could not distinguish between White Walkers and Wights. Finding that swords were useless, they drew the obsidian spears and short blades obtained from the Targaryen army from their waists to attack the Wights.

The battlefield was in chaos, and the flames and wildfires thrown randomly by the riders ignited both the zombies and their companions.

In just a moment, the cavalry formation, which had no time to speed up, showed signs of collapse.

Fortunately, Jaime chose to look back, otherwise the cavalry formation at the bee waist would have shown signs of fleeing in all directions, and the rear army would have had the urge to make a larger arc and run at full speed towards King's Landing.

The commander of the troops was able to maintain the situation only after confirming that James had left the enemy's front army and chose to return for support. The rear army immediately responded, using the cavalry's most familiar front and rear pincer attack tactics to counter-encircle the zombie tide from two directions.

James's vanguard of 1,000 cavalry and the rear and center army's tail of more than 2,000 cavalry began to counter-encircle a battlefield 300 steps long and 150 steps wide formed by the two attacked troops in the middle.

As the charge approached, Jaime's army finally had their first encounter with the real White Walkers under the cover of night: "Those riding on the dead horses and spiders are White Walkers! They want to escape!"

"Prepare the flames!"

"Prepare your spears!"

Someone shouted immediately.

However, this group of White Walkers riding on giant ice-blue spiders and corpse horses did not choose to confront Jaime head-on. After they found that Jaime was surrounded from the front and back, they began to consciously advance in one direction.

Obviously, in their view, when the cavalry vanguard turned around and chose to fight, their tactics had already been effective.

Soon, Jaime also quickly realized the difference between the White Walker army and the human army. It seemed that the White Walker cavalry of the commander retreated when they saw the situation was not good, but the zombies did not retreat. The White Walker army would not be like the human army, which would be defeated on a large scale because of the commander's escape. They were not afraid of death, but would desperately kill all living things in front of them.

The riders of Jaime's group who tried to chase the White Walkers were soon blocked by the wights.

The commander of the White Walker army also reacted quickly. When he discovered that the human riders were outflanking him, not only did he not suffer a large-scale rout or retreat, but he launched a more frantic charge into the melee battlefield in the middle of the field.

Any commander with battlefield experience can instantly understand the zombie tide's intention: "They want to break through the encirclement from the front!"

When human armies face cavalry outflanking tactics, they often lose morale and disintegrate due to the threat of being surrounded and annihilated. However, there has always been a most straightforward countermeasure to this cavalry outflanking tactic, but almost no one can do it.

That is, to break through directly from the center of the stalemate.

In this way, the cavalry on both wings would be blocked by their own troops and the corpses on the battlefield, and would not be able to pursue and annihilate the enemy forces that broke through the front.

If humans were to carry out this tactic, it would require great courage, and they would have to be mentally prepared to suffer more than half of their troops being killed or wounded, with the wounded being simply abandoned.

But the army of the White Walkers has no concerns like humans. They are just wights, so if they die, they die. If they are lost, they are lost.

No matter how many times others told Jaime, only when he fought the White Walker army himself did he realize that the enemy's army was not only different from that of human armies, but also the tactics and organization they used were very different from those of humans.

A cruel thing on the battlefield is that understanding the enemy's intentions does not bring about any change in the situation.

The small group of White Walkers left the battlefield, and the tide of zombies surged towards the center.

James's front and rear armies could only catch the tail of the zombie tide that was deliberately left behind to block the attack.

The opponent also understands the gecko's tactic of cutting off its tail.

In order to eliminate these tails, the encircling troops could only use fire, but the fire blocked the speed of squeezing the encirclement inwards.

As a result, many corpses managed to break through the formation, break through the battlefield from the front, and pull away the pursuers.

What surprised and disturbed James even more was that these zombies that broke through the front and pulled away the pursuers saw that no cavalry chose to pursue them in the chaotic front battlefield, so they slowly slowed down.

He turned his head and cast a watchful look at the battlefield, as if he would launch a second wave of attack on the cavalry formation here at any time.

The zombie tide had clearly lost more than half of its soldiers, with only a few hundred remaining, but they didn't care at all and just stared at the human army.

This brief encounter made Jaime and the Lannister cavalry truly understand why the Targaryen army repeatedly warned them to defend the castle and not to fight outside the city unless necessary.

Their enemy is an army that is fearless, unafraid, undefeated, and made up of resurrected corpses.

Although James eliminated the risk of the cavalry formation being cut off, the encirclement tactics were in vain. He was about to assign some personnel to guard and integrate the cavalry for orderly withdrawal.

Unexpectedly, the situation has inevitably shifted towards a more dangerous situation.

Suddenly, one of the cavalrymen who had just gathered together turned back to look at where they came from, and shouted in surprise: "What is that?"

James' heartbeat paused and he looked up, only to see a blizzard heading towards them from the direction they had come from.

They have already encountered the blocking zombie tide, and those are, as expected, the pursuing zombie tide.

There was no time to react: "Retreat quickly, the entire army towards Junlin, retreat at full speed."

Some people couldn't help but ask: "What about the wounded?"

On the battlefield, there were many soldiers who fell off their horses and were injured, and there were also many soldiers who had injured their limbs but did not lose their combat effectiveness but had lost their mounts.

Adam Marbrand gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice, "Ser Jaime, I will stay with the brothers who have lost their mounts to cover your retreat."

[It should be me who stays. ]

A wave of heart-wrenching grief welled up in James' heart.

But before James could answer, Ser Adam began to gather his men: "Those who are willing to stay behind me, please raise your swords."

silence.

"Those who are willing to cover for their comrades, please raise your swords."

Occasionally, some people raised their swords.

"In the stories and legends of the West, there are so many brave warriors who are not afraid of death. Are they extinct now?"

Another man raised his sword.

"Okay, that's enough. Brothers, comrades, Adam of House Marbrand thanks you for your trust in me." Adam looked at Jaime, "Ser Jaime, please return to King's Landing and ask the best bard to compose a ballad for us that will be passed down to future generations."

James' facial muscles in his visor were twitching and trembling.

He wanted to say something, but he could only pretend: "Qiao Simin, sword."

The squire rode forward and presented Jaime's sword.

"Adam, this is the late king's Valyrian steel sword." For the sake of morale, Jaime could not say Joffrey's name. "Take it. I will wait for you to return it in King's Landing."

"Yes."

Separation on the battlefield is always short-lived.

Jaime hardened his heart and ordered a full-speed retreat towards King's Landing. He gritted his teeth and did not look back.

Adam only recruited more than a hundred people, together with more than a hundred wounded who knew they were beyond saving and riders who had lost their horses, to form the rear guard team.

Adam used these two hundred people to set up a defensive formation with infantry and cavalry interlaced on the road, ready to fight.

The tail of Jaime's cavalry was less than half a league away when the snow curtain of the blizzard was already approaching.

The previous tide of corpses had caused the deaths of hundreds of comrades and the casualties of hundreds of horses. Due to the urgency of the retreat, they only had time to burn a part of the corpses with wildfires, and there was no time to deal with more corpses on the battlefield.

The dead horses and dead people that were not affected by the flames slowly got up as if they had just woken up from a nap in a pool of blood.

Although I was mentally prepared, seeing this horrifying scene still made me feel terrified.

The wind was cold and the snow was blowing. Adam pulled out Joffrey's "Widow's Wail" facing the sky covered with snow.

The last section of the road is particularly difficult.

Jaime led the remaining 3,000 cavalrymen and fled at full speed. People kept falling behind, horses kept foaming at the mouth and falling dead on the side of the road. The knights on horseback were either knocked off the road by the riders behind them, or had to abandon their helmets and armor and run for their lives towards King's Landing.

They were clearly not a defeated army, yet they were fleeing like one.

Jaime began to doubt whether his decision was right or wrong. If he had stayed in Harrenhal, would the army have ended up in this situation?

He did not have a God's perspective, and had no way of knowing that even if he stayed in Harrenhal, he would sooner or later be overwhelmed by the zombies that were transformed into sufficient manpower because of his isolation and helplessness. He also had no idea which step he had made wrong that led to the current situation.

He could only run.

Jaime had never felt that the journey to King's Landing would be so long.

His mount was breathing heavily, and the white air was an inch long.

James knew it was reaching its limit.

But he pressed on, pulling at the reins and pumping the spurs.

Finally, a heart-wrenching cry came from the horse's mouth, and the horse staggered, throwing him heavily off its back.

He rolled on the ground several times.

The sound of horse hooves approached. He raised his head and looked back. Of the thousands of cavalrymen, only a dozen or so followed the first echelon. He looked at his mount again. He was foaming at the mouth and his eyes were rolling back. It was obvious that he was dead.

His attendant, Jossamine, whizzed past him, and Jossamine pulled the horse to stop. As soon as he stopped, the horse, which seemed to be full of energy, bent its front hooves, fell to the ground, and spit out blood.

Jossamine ignored the horse and came up to James: "My lord, are you okay?"

James had no intention of answering. He raised his head and looked back. Further behind him, a blizzard was slowly engulfing the lagging troops at the rear, swallowing the torchbearers' flames into the dark night.

He asked the air: "Am I wrong?"

Qiao Simin was speechless: "Sir?"

Suddenly, a distant horn sounded from the direction of King's Landing.

Jaime stood up in despair and looked in that direction. In the dark night, he saw countless flames coming from the direction of King's Landing.

The reinforcement troops from King's Landing have arrived.

Cersei had sent someone.

Someone shouted: "Reinforcements are here!"

Seeing a chance to survive, they began to run even faster.

soon.

The support team found James.

Sadly, not Cersei’s people, but Warrior Sons.

The leader of the team was a tall monk. When he saw James, he sneered and said, "Sir James, so many good horses, are you just going to waste them on running away?"

Also accompanying the team was Jaime's cousin Lancel. When Jaime saw him, he ignored the tall septon and asked Lancel directly, "Did Cersei send you?"

Lancel was silent.

The tall septon continued to taunt, "Queen Cersei strictly forbids anyone from leaving the city to help. If the captain hadn't thought you might be in danger, we wouldn't have come. What drove you so desperately, was it the blizzard?"

James finally looked at him, "Yes, it was the blizzard."

"Haha, that's ridiculous. You might as well flee to King's Landing. Let you Lannisters see the courage and fighting power of our warrior sons." The tall monk was about to go to the rear to engage in battle with only a group of infantrymen.

James looked at him. "If you have grease, quickly set up traps and defensive positions here. After picking up our scattered troops, you can immediately retreat back. Don't take risks—"

The tall monk was very unhappy with James's appearance and interrupted him unreasonably: "It is not your turn to tell the Warrior's Son what to do!"

James looked at Lancel helplessly.

The tall monk ignored James and led his troops to the rear.

Jaime watched as the warrior sons gathered up the discarded armor of the fleeing Lannisters. "You have no idea what you are getting into," he cried. "Stop his folly and get yourself killed, Lancel!"

"I'm sorry, James. I'm just responsible for picking you up. That monk is very hostile to the nobles. I have no more power to speak to you than you do."

James looked at the fanatical cult soldiers passing by them with hatred and couldn't help cursing, "Seven levels of hell! Lancel, they are going to die!"

Some warrior's son who was passing by spat in James' direction: "Bah! Coward!"

James gnashed his teeth in anger, but felt sad and helpless. He looked at Lancel: "Stop them!"

Lancel shook his head. "Let me help you back to King's Landing, Jaime."

Jaime cursed: "Oh, fuck King's Landing, these people are doing stupid things!"

When Jaime saw them, he was reminded of himself at Harrenhal a few days ago, knowing nothing about the enemy but full of confidence. He really wanted to slap these ignorant guys in the face to wake them up.

At this time, a Lannister knight passed by and waved to Jaime: "Ser Jaime, don't worry about these idiots, run! The zombies are coming! The Targaryen army is right, only if we defend the city will we have a chance, only if we defend the city will we have a chance."

As he spoke, the knight looked away from James with blank eyes.

It was not until this moment that James clearly realized that the fighting power and terror displayed by the wights in the previous encounter had brought the morale of his trusted army to an unprecedented low.

And before long, this group of self-righteous warrior sons will meet the same fate.

Just one big hour later.

The Lannister fleeing soldiers and the Warrior's Sons fleeing soldiers poured into the gates of King's Landing together.

An army of nearly 10,000 White Walkers, who originally had no siege plan, followed and arrived at the gates of King's Landing.

In fact, Jaime may never know that the number of this complex White Walker army is only close to ten thousand, not quite ten thousand.

However, it was this zombie horde, which was considered to be weak in strength among the White Walker army, that accidentally cut off the northern supply line and external channels of King's Landing due to Jaime Harrenhal's retreat.

For a time, the whole city of Junlin was shaken and people were in panic.

When the legend became reality, no one could help but believe it. After the long night, the White Walkers really came.

And the people of King's Landing never disappoint. The pressure brought by the White Walkers did not unite the citizens of King's Landing. Instead, the pressure was quickly transferred internally. Some people began to incite the people to attack the southern passage of King's Landing that was not besieged and the checkpoints set up by Cersei.

They were going to flee south of King's Landing to the Targaryen territory.

This move quickly triggered a riot within King's Landing.

For a time, before the White Walkers attacked the city, humans themselves had already set King's Landing in flames.

Cersei was also stubborn enough and refused to open the city gates to let them pass, so as expected, bloodshed broke out in King's Landing. The guards from the gold cloaks and the royal court quickly implemented military control on the city gates and issued an order of "kill without mercy" to anyone who tried to break through the gates.

While King's Landing was in chaos and in disarray before the battle even began, the tide of zombies outside the city that was unable to capture King's Landing only stayed in the northern part of King's Landing for half a day and disappeared without a trace after a sudden snowstorm ended.

Everything seemed to be calm again.

However, after this scare, one can't help but wonder, who else in King's Landing can sleep peacefully during the long night?
(End of this chapter)