The journey of film and television world is endless

#216 - Chapter 26: The Battle of King's Landing (Part 7)

The battle plunged into a fever pitch from the very beginning. In a mere 20 minutes, over ten thousand soldiers had crossed the river to participate in the siege. Countless soldiers surged towards the city walls, a dense, swarming mass, holding shields and carrying boats and long ladders.

Stannis had decided to capture King's Landing tonight, and he had already arranged the third wave of attack, which he would personally lead. The soldiers' morale was sky-high; it was visible even from the riverbank, as they had already reached the city walls.

Stannis ordered, "Order the fleet to approach the shore, use ranged weapons to suppress the defenders on the city walls, and have the heavy infantry prepare to cross the river. Pull the battering rams up to attack the River Gate."

The young Morffyd Velaryon accepted the order and set off. Since the Dance of the Dragons, the Velaryon family's power had declined to less than ten percent of what it once was. The Velaryons were also viewed with suspicion by later kings, especially after the dragons died out, and they lost their last function as a royal gene pool.

The entire family had been dormant for over a hundred years. Count Morffyd, in order to restore the family's glory, was an uncompromising warmonger. When he joined Stannis, he made his attitude clear: "If Your Majesty attacks King's Landing, I will lead the army at the forefront, without regret even if I die a hundred times. But if Your Majesty does not have the courage to fight and procrastinates, I will take the fleet back to Driftmark."

With Stannis's forces pushing hard, the defenders of King's Landing were beginning to falter. Stannis's army had more men, and they could take turns attacking during the siege. The defenders barely had time to rest; they were already exhausted, having been awakened from their sleep by the enemy's attack.

A moment of carelessness from the defending soldiers allowed the enemy to break through in multiple sections of the city walls. They were killed as they came up, and the soldiers fought together. Fortunately, King's Landing had many knightly lords who rushed to the city walls and used their powerful individual strength to kill the enemy soldiers who had climbed up.

The defense line barely stabilized. Tyrion had just caught his breath when he saw Stannis gathering more troops across the river. He cursed inwardly, "That damn dead-faced bastard, can't he let me get some replacements? Someone! Light the signal fires! Send a signal to Hekerys quickly!"

"Boom... Boom... Boom..." A series of orange-yellow fireworks soared into the sky, a total of seven stretching towards the west side of the city. Stannis glanced at them and went back to his business, not believing that the enemy had any way to turn the tables.

Blackwater Bay, located in the angle between the extension of Aegon's High Hill and the city walls, was right in the blind spot of the Iron Gate's defenders. The coast here was shallow, with reefs making it difficult for large ships to approach. During the day, children from the slums in the city would come out through the sewers to pick up seafood that washed ashore to fill their bellies; Arya had once sneaked out this way.

And at night, it became a paradise for smugglers and gangsters. Davos had spent the first thirty years of his life making a living here and knew it better than the road home. Today, he returned, turning his head to look behind him at the dark sea, where over a hundred small boats were densely packed.

Some skilled old sailors rowed quickly and steadily, carrying two thousand strong soldiers. To facilitate action, they wore only simple protective gear besides their weapons.

As they got closer to the coast, Davos felt increasingly uneasy for some reason. It was unusually quiet all around, but that was normal, as smugglers wouldn't be out during a war. But there weren't even any seabirds?

Then he smelled a pungent odor, different from the stench of garbage and feces in this area, which he could distinguish since he had grown up here. He noticed that the reflection on the water was also wrong. He quickly grabbed an oar and found a trace of green substance sticking to it. Suddenly, a name appeared in his mind: Wildfire!

He had seen Aerys use wildfire to burn people many times in his youth, and a deep fear spread throughout his body. Davos couldn't care about anything else and stood up, shouting loudly, "Retreat! Retreat quickly! This is a trap, get away from here!"

His sudden shout carried far in the quiet bay. Although the soldiers heard him, they reacted differently. Some followed the command and turned back, while others didn't react and continued to charge forward. Boats collided, people fell into the water, causing widespread chaos.

But it was too late. Davos saw bonfires lit on the rocks on the shore. He could vaguely see a figure lighting a rocket, drawing the bowstring, and a flame shot far away. The moment it touched the sea, a ghostly green flame ignited and spread rapidly across the surface of the water, illuminating the entire bay.

Only then did Davos see many wooden barrels tied to the reefs, with the plugs pulled out and green liquid flowing out. When the flame spread over, the barrels exploded, and the rising flames and shock waves instantly engulfed the nearby boats. Many people were torn apart before they could even scream. Countless people struggled painfully in the flames, which could not be extinguished even with water.

Davos shed tears of regret as the fire engulfed his boat.

The flames lit up a large area, and Tyrion had noticed it long ago. Due to the angle, Stannis's army couldn't see it clearly, and Tyrion didn't care whether it exposed their strategic intentions. Now, it was a gamble, and he was betting everything, Cersei, Joffrey, and his own life.

Fortunately, Ser Hekerys also acted immediately after receiving the signal. Sixty or so ships, large and small, sailed down the river with an indomitable momentum.

Stannis's army was prepared, and two squadrons of forty warships went to meet them. Soon, the people on the ships noticed something was wrong. There was no light on the other ships, as if there was no one on board! They crashed straight into them without dodging. Some that couldn't avoid it collided. More cleverly avoided them. They were surprised to find that these ships were constantly pouring a liquid into the river from the back. Just as someone wanted to go and see, they accidentally ignited it with the torch in their hand. Then, there was a violent explosion, and they knew nothing more. The strong explosive shock tore apart the surrounding ships and sprayed the flames everywhere, and the entire Blackwater River was burning.

The green flames spread through the river, flowing very quickly. The blocking fleet immediately disintegrated, and countless ships were torn apart by the explosions, while others struggled in the flames.

The wide river surface would not be immediately occupied by the flames. Some ships that reacted turned around and ran, but most of the ships couldn't outrun the water. They were caught up by the flowing flames, and once they were touched, they would burn quickly. Some of the King's Landing ships had their hulls burned through, which then caused explosions, further intensifying the reaction.

Stannis hoarsely commanded the soldiers, since the ships couldn't be saved, at least the soldiers had to get ashore as soon as possible. The ships in the rear immediately fled to the outer sea. In the chaos, the ships collided, and countless people fell into the water, but no one cared about their life or death at this time.

At this time, the northern Crookhorn Tower, still under the control of the Red Keep, began to tighten the river-blocking iron chain, blocking a third of the estuary with the iron chain.