Game of Thrones: The Road to Pirate King

Chapter 457 The Dothraki - Siege Warfare

The brief silence in the council chamber was broken by Lisa's cool voice. Her gaze swept across the city wall, and her tone was calm and resolute: "The defenses of the triple gates have withstood the test of a thousand years; they cannot breach them."

Standing in the shadows, the sorcerer Paiya Boli added in his distinctive, subtly echoing voice, his blue lips appearing particularly eerie against his pale skin: "The Dothraki are the masters of the grasslands, but they are not adept at sieges. Their bravery is futile against strong walls."

Alves Daniels, the leader of the "Regretful Ones," leaned forward slightly, his voice low and direct, offering the most effective solution: "In that case, should we send someone to deal with Zhekokao? Without a leader, the army will fall into chaos."

"No need," Euron immediately rejected, coldly saying, "Let them come. We will kill them beneath the city walls, when their self-righteous bravery has reached its peak—not by assassination, but by absolute force, in front of the entire Karasa."

His words sent chills down the spines of the wealthy merchants of Qarth present, but also ignited a fire in the eyes of the Ironborn generals. This was not only a defensive battle, but also a battle to establish their authority.

Seeing that Euron and Lisa had made up their minds, their unwavering decisiveness inspired everyone present.

Now that the decision to fight has been made, the thoughts of retreating and compromising must be completely abandoned.

More importantly, Euron's past astonishing martial prowess and glorious achievements—riding dragons, conquering Thunder Island, and sailing to Assassin—acted like a shot in the arm, giving the previously bewildered merchants immense confidence. They realized that this lord of sea beasts was not arrogant; his confidence stemmed from absolute strength.

After weighing the pros and cons, the attitudes of the wealthy merchants underwent a complete change.

They no longer hesitated to part with their private property, handing over their carefully trained private soldiers, as well as the camel cavalry and fine horses that had once symbolized wealth and status, all to be commanded and directed by the Iron People officers under Eulenmor.

The numerous private slaves owned by the wealthy merchants also came in handy at this moment. They were organized into a huge logistics team, like hardworking worker ants, chanting slogans as they continuously transported piles of stones, bundles of arrows, barrels of flammable oil, and other defensive supplies to the high city walls.

In the blink of an eye, Qarth transformed from a commercial metropolis into a sophisticated and efficient war machine. Everyone was caught up in this machine, working frantically towards the same goal: to defend the city and repel the enemy.

Unexpectedly, after this emergency cobbling together of private soldiers from various chambers of commerce, the original city defense forces, and the core members of the Iron People, a sizable city defense force was actually formed.

When the final figures were presented, even Euron and Lisa were slightly surprised.

This hastily assembled army numbered a staggering six thousand! Their training levels may have varied, but their defense of the city made them a force to be reckoned with.

What's even more surprising is its mobility:

A camel cavalry force of eight hundred men, these behemoths clad in magnificent armor treasured by the merchant guild, though long out of battle, still charged with terrifying force.

There were also a thousand light cavalrymen, mainly composed of guild guards and hired knights, with excellent horses, suitable for raids and harassment in the open areas below the city walls.

The formation of this team proves that Qarth, a commercial city, can also unleash astonishing war potential in the face of crisis.

The Dothraki were not adept at siege warfare; the vast grasslands were their true battlefield. They rarely expended effort in attacking cities, preferring instead to use their mobility to plunder open fields and caravans.

But this does not mean they were completely ignorant about sieges.

For thousands of years, they have been in constant conflict with the so-called "stone house" civilization, and have accumulated their own set of barbaric but effective experiences. They know how to smoke out hiding rats, how to use simple giant logs to smash weak door latches, and how to spread fear like a plague, so that despair can disintegrate defenses from within.

Otherwise, simply by galloping across the plains, they could not pose a long-term threat to those living peacefully in the "stone houses," much less make them tremble with fear and obediently offer the gifts they demanded.

The next day, as the first rays of sunlight pierced the black tiles atop Qarth, the war was abruptly launched.

The siege has begun.

The Dothraki unleashed several captured catapults, hurling massive stones at the towering walls of Qarth with a deafening roar, attempting to breach the millennia-old fortifications. Stone fragments and dust flew everywhere.

Tens of thousands of Dothraki warriors surged towards the base of the wall like a raging tide. They were lightly armed and unarmored, relying solely on their astonishing agility and ferocity to swiftly scale the erected ladders. Using pure bravery and overwhelming numbers, they charged wave after wave against the walls, their Arak scimitars gleaming with a bloodthirsty light.

The battle raged most fiercely at the most crucial city gate. The Dothraki concentrated their strength, frantically pounding the heavy gate with their sturdy, makeshift battering rams. The gate groaned in agony, but the Dothraki also had to endure the brutal onslaught of dense arrows and splattered oil from the defenders atop the walls; every loud bang was accompanied by a bloody, mangled death.

On this day, the triple walls of Qarth faced a severe test.

As the first boulder crashed into the outer red sandstone wall with a destructive roar, shattering fragments that rained down like blood, Qarth's defensive system, under Euron's calm command, began to operate like a sophisticated war machine.

High behind the city walls, heavy ballistae operated by the Ironborn roared, their specially crafted giant arrows slicing through the air with pinpoint accuracy towards the clumsy catapults and their operators. Simultaneously, archers from various merchant guilds and Ironborn longbowmen lined up behind the parapets, ready to unleash a volley at command. The arrows were not indiscriminately rained down, but rather in three waves, forming a continuous rain of death that covered the charging path in front of the walls and around the siege ladders, significantly slowing the Dothraki's advance.

Where breaches were smashed in the city walls or crenellations were destroyed, the private slaves provided by the wealthy merchants, braving arrows and rubble, and protected by a small number of soldiers, frantically filled and reinforced the breaches with sandbags, wooden palisades, and even bricks and stones obtained from demolishing nearby houses, ensuring that the defenses would not be easily torn apart.

As the Dothraki lightly armed warriors swarmed up the siege ladders like ants, the defenders met them with a variety of weapons. The strong Ironborn and mercenaries used long poles with iron forks at the top to brace against the top of the ladders, shouting in unison as they pushed them off the wall, watching as they and the enemies above them fell backward and crashed off the wall.

Scalding hot oil and viscous asphalt poured down from the crenellations of the wall, flowing down the ladders and the city walls. Following closely behind were ignited rockets. Instantly, flames leaped violently along the oil, turning the ladders into staircases of fire. The Dothraki clinging to them screamed in agony as they plummeted into burning infernos.

Heavy logs, thick timbers studded with iron nails, and huge stones were lifted by the defenders and hurled down towards the area where the ladders were most concentrated and the crowds were most surging. These heavy objects rolled and bounced along the sloping walls, creating a terrifying crushing effect, with the sounds of bones cracking and screams of agony filling the air.

The bravest Dothraki warriors always managed to charge to the top of the walls, defying death. Then, the Ironborn elite, clad in heavy armor and wielding battle axes and broadswords, would advance. Forming small battle formations of three, they would use shields to parry the slashing Arachnids and counterattack with their heavy weapons. The narrow space on the walls severely limited the Dothraki's agility, and they were often felled after a few fierce clangs of metal. Meanwhile, the local defenders of Qarth would flank them with spears, thrusting any newly emerged enemies off the walls.

The Dothraki, using makeshift battering rams crafted from thick tree trunks, were repeatedly rammed by the suicide squad against the heavy, bronze-inlaid outer city gate. The gate trembled violently with each crash, and dust rained down.

The defenders had already set up special sluice gates on the city wall above the city gate, from which boiling hot oil and huge stones were poured directly onto the heads of the enemy soldiers who were ramming the city gate. This attack from directly above was unstoppable and extremely deadly. Soon, charred and smoking corpses piled up at the city gate, and the ground became slippery and scorching hot.

The towers on both sides of the city gate and the adjacent sections of the city wall were densely populated with archers and crossbowmen, who were focused on sniping the Dothraki who were operating the ramming hammer and their guards, in an attempt to fundamentally thwart the attack.

The entire Qarth wall, from top to bottom, has been transformed into a highly efficient slaughterhouse.

The Dothraki's bravery came at a terrible cost in the face of the defenders' comprehensive and brutal defenses. The air was thick with the smells of blood, burning, and gunpowder, and the sounds of fighting, screams, and war drums mingled together to create a hellish symphony.