Casterly Rock exudes a sense of oppression that no ordinary castle can match. Perched atop a rocky hill on the shores of the Sunset Sea, the entire castle blends seamlessly with the hill, resembling a colossal statue.
To escape the war, the towns around Casterly Rock are deserted, but that means nothing to this castle that will never fall. Thousands of faces have lived on this land, and the sun has cast its rays into the Sunset Sea millions of times, from east to west.
Casterly Rock is like the fulcrum of all of this.
However, even in the face of this colossal, statue-like castle, someone opened a noose, attempting to pull it down.
Jon's 20,000-strong army had been at Casterly Rock for over half a month. This sudden, swift attack, like a black tiger tearing out the heart, meant Tywin's southern army couldn't return for the time being. In fact, the southern army was still unaware of Dao's presence. Jon's army's arrival at Casterly Rock, coupled with Tywin's ravens being completely intercepted, allowed Jon to more calmly devise his siege plan.
Twenty thousand troops, working in conjunction with earthworks, had already surrounded Casterly Rock. Today, the call to attack seemed to have awakened this statue that had been sleeping for millennia.
When Jon ordered the Soldiers to use heavy shield wagons, which were over three meters tall, as cover, each wagon required about five horses to drive.
Jon had over three hundred of these shield vehicles prepared.
Each shield vehicle was followed by about twenty soldiers. Under the cover of the shield vehicles, they slowly approached Casterly Rock.
From an overhead view, these heavy shield vehicles resemble giant tortoises, slowly and steadily crawling forward.
"What is that?"
"Who knows where Dao is? Let's wait for orders."
Casterly Rock Soldiers had never seen such a strange siege weapon before, but some veterans with battlefield experience could roughly estimate what it was used for.
"My lord, that Bastard is trying to get close to our castle using this thing!" Adam said from the side.
Tywin held up his binoculars without saying a word, his face still devoid of any smile.
Since the car is made of wood, it would be great if he also had a Wildfire.
Jon burned his brother to death with wildfire, and he wanted to take revenge with wildfire as well.
"Command the Soldiers to ignite the arrows before firing," Tywin said coldly to Dao.
Casterly Rock has a well-stocked arsenal, including viscous grease specifically for igniting arrows.
Each archer had a brazier lit beside them, and after lighting their arrows, they awaited their commander's orders.
The shield carts were still advancing, but a few arrows with bright yellow fletchings had already been fired. They were measuring the distance.
These arrows with bright yellow fletching marked a dotted line below the city. When the shield carts rolled over these dotted lines, it meant they had entered their killing range.
The Soldiers behind the shield wagon naturally understood this as well.
"pull""
At the officer's command, the archers of Casterly Rock drew their bows, producing a sickening creaking sound.
"put!!!"
Arrows rained down on the shield carts like locusts, but the Soldiers behind them did not catch fire as expected. It turned out that they had already been covered with a thick layer of wet mud.
Arrows rained down on the shield carts like hail, greatly reducing the casualties among the Soldiers.
Tywin was unconcerned by what he saw, because Casterly Rock's methods went far beyond that.
Soon, the defenders of Casterly Rock showed the attacking army why the city was said to be invincible.
A dozen catapults simultaneously launched hundreds of head-sized projectiles, which covered the slowly advancing shield cart. Although most of the projectiles missed, those that hit the shield cart showed considerable power.
The projectiles fired from the catapults tore horribly into the shields, and sunlight shone through the cracks onto the faces of the Soldiers who were pushing the shields, illuminating their terrified pupils. The Soldiers saw that some projectiles even embedded themselves directly into the shields.
Besides the fixed catapults, Jon also witnessed the terrifyingly long crossbows. When the shield carts approached the city walls, the arrows fired from the crossbows almost pierced through the shield carts, revealing sharp arrowheads that gleamed coldly.
It was for this reason that Jon did not allow Tyrell's archer units to provide fire support for the shield wagon units; those giant crossbows were simply too terrifying.
If we continue with the conventional formation, our archers will not be able to inflict enough damage on the defenders of Casterly Rock, and we will only lose lives in vain.
"Eighty feet to go! Keep pushing!"
The officer who gave the order came from the Riverlands and was one of the first Riverlands militia to join Jon's forces. They had traveled from King's Landing, eastward, to Casterly Rock.
Along the way, I didn't see a single unburned farmland, a single unlooted house, or a single unraped girl.
The Riverlands people harbor a deep-seated hatred for the West.
Meanwhile, in Jon's army, clashes occasionally broke out between the Riverlands militia who had joined early on and the Western Frontier soldiers he had recruited.
Even though Jon had already given the Dragon Cave a sufficiently impactful and brutal trial."
Jon knew the best way for Dao to deal with Tywin was to find him, hold a trial for him, and then kill him to quell the divisions within the army.
Otherwise, we can only rely on time to slowly wear it down.
After all, when the Riverlands ' army invaded the western border, if it weren't for Jon's violent deterrence, they would have also turned their swords on innocent people.
"Quickly! Keep pushing!"
"Push! Push!"
The shield vehicles, which had been slightly delayed, accelerated again and sped toward their target, but the second wave of projectiles soon arrived with a whoosh.
Because the shield wagons were closer to the castle, the projectiles and crossbow bolts were more concentrated. Half of the dozens of shield wagons that advanced suffered varying degrees of damage, and two shield wagons were even blasted open, killing or injuring a large number of the soldiers behind them.
"Keep pushing! Forty feet left!"
"Advance! Advance!"
"Woo"
The officers roared, the bugles urged them on, and the shield carts sped up again.
Fortunately, because of its proximity to the castle, Casterly Rock's catapults are difficult to aim, and even the giant crossbows require more time to adjust their direction and aim.
Taking advantage of this opening, the Soldiers charged out from behind the shield carts, shields in hand, and stormed the low wall in front.
The Western Soldiers on the low wall remained fierce. Tywin told them that Jon was going to lead the Riverlands army to kill them all. Out of fear and resentment, and of course, mainly because they showed no mercy to ranged projectiles like arrows and javelins, they had already inflicted considerable casualties before Jon's army even got close.
So the other shield carts that could still be advanced moved as close as possible, stopping only when they hit the wall.
With relatively sufficient troops, they stormed the low wall, but they had no intention of occupying it. Their real target was the well and spring behind the wall.
The rotting carcasses of sheep, already decaying and infested with maggots, were thrown into the well, and then the army quickly withdrew.
"How foolish, sir! It seems this bastard doesn't know that our main source of water actually comes from rainfall." Adam found this very amusing.
After confirming that Jon had gone to such great lengths just for a few wells, Tywin breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, ever since this unknown bastard made his move, he has always been elusive and unpredictable, even to the point of "turning the rotten into the miraculous".
Casterly Rock, incredibly sturdy!
Adam Lannister.
"Sir." Adam's face lit up with joy. Ever since Tywin's legalization, he had really enjoyed being called by his full name.
"Go to that little bastard's camp tonight and give me a couple of messages."
" Go to Jon's military camp?!" Adam's heart skipped a beat, and he felt inexplicably afraid.
What if Jon gets angry and kills him because his daytime attack didn't go well?
But there was no way around it; I was in Casterly Rock now, and I couldn't disobey Tywin.
"Yes, sir."
On the other side, in Jon's camp, many nobles and officers felt their scalps tingle. They had never seen a castle with such tight defenses. Even the low walls, less than seven feet high, required such a heavy price to attack, let alone the entire Casterly Rock.
The Soldiers who retreated were somewhat dejected, feeling frustrated by such an insurmountable barrier.
The atmosphere in Jon's tent wasn't good either.
Jon may have unique skills in field operations, but Casterly Rock is no ordinary fortress; if you can't take it, you can't take it.
" Lord Jon, perhaps we could try Wildfire? " Brynden suggested.
Before Jon could object, Loras chimed in impatiently, "Use wildfire? You'd have to be able to hit Tywin with it first. Besides, you might be able to burn ships and people with wildfire, but what about burning stones?"
"Loras!" Garlan whispered a reminder to Dao, telling Loras to be more polite.
However, Brynden didn't believe Qi, because he knew Dao "Loras is ostensibly talking about himself, but he's actually trying to dissuade Jon from this," Jon said.
He was hoping Jon would be at his wit's end, feel ashamed, and ask House Tyrell to annul the engagement, so his sister wouldn't have to give herself to a bastard.
Of course, it's impossible to break off an engagement; it's absolutely impossible for me to do so in this lifetime.
Jon knew that if Dao wanted the West to quickly recover Origin Qi, Highgarden's help was absolutely essential, and only Margaery could provide that help.
Golden Finger is a superpower, and so is the power of money!
Jon ignored Loras's provocation. After all, he was only seventeen years old, and having learned his lesson, he had become much more sensible. At least now, a single glance from Jon would immediately silence him.
" Ser Brynden, I can still use Wildfire, but not on offense."
When do you plan to use it?
Before Jon could answer, Robb Frey came into the tent and reported to Jon and the others: "Sir, Tywin has sent someone who wants to see you."
"Let him come."