For most of the year, it was impossible to build pontoon bridges over the deep and swift Blackwater Rush. However, in the current winter season, the upper tributaries were largely frozen, causing the water level and current to drop significantly, making operations that were usually difficult possible.
Three medium-sized ships first pulled ropes across the Blackwater Rush. Using these three ropes as a base, a large number of small boats and even simple wooden rafts fitted with inflated skins, which were temporarily built from nearby materials, were connected one after another. They were kept at proper intervals with tightened ropes, and planks were either nailed or tied on, finally forming a narrow bridge deck that could only accommodate one or two people side by side. After the main structure was roughly completed, a heavy iron anchor was dropped into the center of the river with the help of free-moving ships to secure the middle section of the bridge, preventing it from swaying with the current and affecting stability.
The three pontoon bridges spanning the Blackwater Rush were spaced twenty to thirty meters apart, forming a crossing position less than one hundred meters wide.
It was clear that the army from the Gift had made thorough preparations. The construction of the pontoon bridges proceeded in an orderly manner. During the entire process, the Golden Company also sent men forward to interfere, but several ships loaded with archers were always nearby to cover the engineers. As soon as Golden Company mercenaries appeared on the riverbank or in the exposed riverbed, they were immediately targeted by a rain of arrows.
The Golden Company also had archers, but Strickland did not dare send them forward to return fire. The fate of the Riverlands army's siege camp was the best warning. He had no doubt that if he deployed troops onto the riverbank, they would immediately draw bombardment from that strange iron-ball weapon.
After weighing his options, he simply stopped sending men to die and allowed the three pontoon bridges to be completed.
Rather than trying to prevent the enemy from crossing, it would be better to launch a charge when they were halfway across and drive them into the water. That would not only crush their attempt to cross and pursue, but it might even be reported as a great victory.
Although Strickland was a finance officer by origin and not a warrior, he had commanded the mercenary company for many years. He understood basic military principles such as attacking when the enemy was halfway across.
...
The horn signaling the crossing echoed through the air and gradually faded. At the same time, the booming sounds that had been constant earlier also ceased. Strickland was not naive enough to believe the enemy had run out of powder and shells. They had most likely reloaded the weapon and aimed it at the riverbank where he was positioned, ready to unleash its power again the moment his blocking force appeared.
Although the range of that new weapon was great, it was most effective against dense formations. Strickland had already devised a countermeasure, disperse and attack in waves.
Whether waiting or charging, each hundred-man company would keep its distance from the others and assault the enemy vanguard from multiple directions. As long as they did not suffer excessive losses during the advance, once the fighting turned into close combat, it would be impossible for the iron balls to bombard the beachhead indiscriminately.
Under the watchful eyes of countless men peering from behind the riverbank, the black-clad army that had stood in formation in the cold wind for an hour finally moved. At their commander's shouted orders and gestures, they divided into three columns and jogged onto the three pontoon bridges in orderly fashion.
Even as battle began, the Gift army's command could be described in one word, steady.
To prevent too many men from crowding the bridges and placing excessive strain on the makeshift structures, and to avoid chaos or soldiers being pushed into the water, they gave up on allowing two ranks to cross side by side and permitted only single-file passage. While this increased safety, it reduced the crossing speed by nearly half, giving the defenders more time to respond and a larger window to attack.
Excellent, Strickland thought, raising his spyglass again to observe the crossing army and assess their equipment and formation for the coming battle.
Through the lenses, the scene two hundred meters away was drawn close. Strickland noticed that the first three columns crossing were composed entirely of tall and sturdy soldiers, each carrying a massive shield, as large as a door panel and nearly as tall as a man, capable of completely concealing a person when planted upright.
The first troops to land would face the defenders' assault, so sending shield-bearers was understandable. However, when Strickland adjusted the angle of his spyglass slightly, he noticed a detail. Those soldiers carrying the great shields did not appear to carry weapons.
Large shields were usually paired with spears, effective against both infantry and cavalry, or sometimes with swords, depending on the commander's strategy. Yet Strickland looked from one man to another and could see no long shafts or even short blades. Instead, each of them had two large round iron balls hanging from their bodies, tied together with rope and slung over their shoulders, swinging back and forth as they crossed the bridge. They were especially conspicuous.
If solid, such iron balls might weigh as much as half a man for two of them. Were they some kind of new meteor hammer, or...
The thought flashed through his mind, but there was no time to ponder it. He shifted his focus from the men already crossing to those waiting to board the bridge and found something even stranger. The second wave behind the shield-bearers each carried a long spear, but they too had two large round balls hanging around their necks. Moreover, every two or three men carried a torch.
In broad daylight, what were they doing with torches?
Strickland felt uneasy, but the enemy was crossing in orderly fashion and stepping onto the ground he defended. The speed of events left no room for hesitation.
"Fohua," he shouted, turning around. "Bring the elephants forward and send them in with the first wave."
"Understood!"
Shield-bearers with tower shields that could cover a man entirely and lock together into a shield wall were difficult opponents. The enemy's intention in sending them first was clearly to seize and hold the beachhead, buying time for the troops behind. If delayed long enough for the main force of the Gift army to cross, then under pressure from cannons ahead and dragons above, the Golden Company, already reduced in strength, would struggle to gain any advantage.
Ordinary weapons were ineffective against a shield wall, and most siege engines had been taken away by the retreating Riverlands forces. Fortunately, the Golden Company still had war elephants.
These were the rarest yet most powerful troops in the entire company. Whether facing the unyielding Unsullied or a surging Dothraki khalasar, formations would break under a charge from armored elephants. If not for their enormous appetite, the difficulty of maintaining them in large numbers, their limited endurance for long campaigns, and their relatively slow speed, Strickland would have replaced the cavalry entirely with war elephants long ago.
At their peak before crossing the Narrow Sea, the Golden Company had nearly thirty war elephants. Sea transport, battle losses, and illness from the unfamiliar climate had taken a heavy toll. Now fewer than ten remained.
Yet even a single elephant was the best tool for tearing apart a shield wall.
When the Golden Company's war elephants, draped in golden cloth and fitted with blades on their tusks, were led forward behind the riverbank, roughly one hundred enemy soldiers had already reached the southern bank and begun forming a semicircular defensive line around the southern end of the pontoon bridges. This was still short of the ideal moment of attacking when halfway across, but it would take several minutes to move from the riverbank to the enemy's position. Strickland did not dare delay further and ordered an immediate charge.
The Golden Company banner, previously lowered to avoid drawing artillery fire, was raised once more. Ten hundred-man companies rose from their positions and advanced over the riverbank. One thousand fully armed mercenaries, together with seven war elephants, charged toward the Gift army vanguard, which had not yet secured its footing, shouting as drums thundered behind them.
(To be continued.)