The explosive shell is a type of ammunition that can be loaded into a barrel and fired. Whether it uses a time-delay fuse or an impact fuse, the principle itself is not complicated. The difficulty lies in ensuring that it remains stable and reliable after withstanding the high temperatures and immense overload of the firing process. This clearly requires repeated testing and improvement, so the research has temporarily stalled at this stage.
But if one thinks in reverse, what if thermal firing is simply abandoned?
The impact-fuse shells already developed by the research institute would likely cause widespread barrel explosions or misfires if loaded into a cannon. However, if carried into the air by a dragon and dropped, they immediately become qualified aerial bombs. Aside from the dragon's limited carrying capacity of only a hundred jin due to physical strength, the combination of magical creatures and science means they now have "bombers" hundreds of years ahead of time.
Even without a spyglass, one could see thick plumes of smoke and dust rising high behind the river embankment on the opposite bank, stirred up by the bombing. To avoid the bombardment, the soldiers of the Golden Company hid along the embankment, forming a long snake-like formation. The two dragons only needed to fly along this line and drop bombs. It was difficult even to miss.
Aegor did not expect these mere bombs to happen to destroy the Golden Company's command post, but the result was clear. The large golden battle flags and the several thousand figures that had originally emerged from behind the embankment, preparing to launch a full assault at any cost, froze under the series of explosions. Only after a long while did they move again. Instead of charging toward the riverbank to sweep away the Gift Army, they quietly retreated, disappearing from the sight of those on the north bank.
The Golden Company retreated.
Their defeat was not undeserved.
It could be said that, aside from personally entering the battlefield to kill enemies, Aegor had used every trump card he possessed. He had even taken out half-finished products and thrown them into battle. The Gift Army treated the Golden Company as if they were White Walkers, but unfortunately for them, the Golden Company was not as resilient as the White Walkers.
The reason Aegor had used all his major moves without holding anything back, regardless of cost, was that this operation to drive away the southern army was not as simple as it appeared. They were not only confronting the southern army across the river, but also maintaining the siege of King's Landing, effectively facing enemies on two fronts.
With Stannis watching from within the city, waiting for the situation to shift, if too much strength and morale were tied up in the river battle, they would risk the city's garrison sallying out to counterattack. As the saying goes, the longer the night, the more dreams. In this battle, they not only had to win, but they had to win decisively and cleanly, to deter all sides.
The Golden Company had fought battles in both favorable and unfavorable situations. They were so well trained that even their retreat was swift and decisive, without disorder. Aegor could not pursue them. Although his defensive strength was formidable, it had a major weakness that could not be corrected in the short term, a lack of sufficient cavalry. By the time his entire army crossed the Blackwater Rush, rested, and set out again, the enemy was already several miles away.
But another army awaited them to the south. More than ten thousand Dornish spearmen had remained inactive during the hours-long bombardment. Only after the main force of the Reach retreated did they calmly march out of their camp, perfectly blocking the retreat path of the Golden Company, which was withdrawing without panic.
It was a net cast from heaven and earth.
The Golden Company, now desperate, fought to break through. Even when the black battle flags of the Gift Army appeared behind them, they could not escape. If the army of the Reach ahead had not realized something was wrong and dispatched Lord Randyll Tarly and his son with cavalry to rescue them, this once-dominant mercenary force of the Narrow Sea might have been annihilated on the Blackwater Rush.
After a chaotic and bloody battle, fewer than three thousand soldiers of the Golden Company managed to escape. They were so shaken that they had no courage to turn back and fight again. After the Gift and Dorne armies joined forces, they continued the pursuit. Without cavalry, their speed was not great, but they still caught up to unit after unit of the Reach's forces transporting grain and supplies. After easily cutting their way forward for more than ten miles, leaving behind corpses and fallen banners, the army of the Reach finally came to its senses and ordered a retreat without supplies, traveling light.
As dusk fell, facing a retreating enemy still tightly grouped and numbering thirty to forty thousand, Daenerys's army did not pursue recklessly. They returned to the siege camp with a large quantity of supplies that the enemy had conveniently packed for them, took over the riverside camp that had belonged to the enemy that morning, and began dividing the spoils, celebrating their victory, and discussing their next move.
This great battle on the Blackwater Rush, between gold and black, ended in a complete victory for the Gift Army and Daenerys's side. This victory not only drove away the threat lurking beside them on the King's Landing battlefield, but also allowed Daenerys's army to seize nearly all of the southern army's vast stores of grain, supplies, and siege engines. With such astonishing material support, the upcoming siege of King's Landing has lost all suspense. Aegor plans to divide the Dornish army into two parts, one half stationed along the north bank of the Blackwater Rush to prevent further harassment from the south, and the other half joining the siege.
Thirty thousand well-equipped elite troops, on land and in the air, besieging a large city defended by no more than ten thousand men, one that is easy to attack and hard to defend, this battle can be won no matter how it is fought. Yet against the backdrop of laughter and celebration outside the tent, the atmosphere in the large council chamber within Blackwall Keep was somewhat somber.
...
Daenerys brought not only two assisting dragons from Rosby, but also unpleasant news. The night before last, a warship from the Dragonstone fleet disappeared while patrolling the southeastern waters of Blackwater Bay. It was not until the next day that two men managed to return to the military port in a small boat. Even these two lucky survivors had their tongues cut out and were covered in blood, unable to speak. It took the port garrison commander a long time to piece together what had happened. The missing ship had been surrounded by a large number of unfamiliar vessels, boarded by force, and seized. The two who returned had not escaped, they had been deliberately released.
From their description, the mysterious fleet that suddenly appeared could only be the Iron Fleet, which had been raiding the western coast of the North months ago. Euron Greyjoy's marriage proposal to Daenerys had failed, and it seemed he had turned resentment into action, sailing his entire fleet around half of Westeros to the waters outside the Blackwater Rush to cause trouble for her.
"What do they want?" Robb asked in confusion. "Did the returning soldiers bring a letter or message? After sailing all the way from the other side of the Seven Kingdoms, they must want something. It cannot be that they are fighting for Stannis, can it?"
Discussing how to deal with those he once served made the Young Wolf uneasy. But standing on the winning side was always better than defeat. Since he was here, he would make the best of it. He had remained quiet throughout the march south, but now he was trying to integrate into Daenerys's camp.
"What do they want?" Aegor shook his head. "He even attacked Ice Canyon Port during the White Walkers' invasion, traveling thousands of miles north. Did he gain anything from that? He does not necessarily have a clear objective. It is also possible that he has tasted the benefits of chaos across the Seven Kingdoms and now does not want any single power in Westeros to win easily. Stannis may not even know he has arrived, and even if he does, they may not reach any agreement. Through certain channels, I have some understanding of the Iron Fleet's strength, roughly eighty to ninety sailing warships and three to four hundred longships of various types. Assuming Euron has deployed his entire force, what I want to know now is the strength of Your Grace's fleet at Dragonstone, and whether it can simultaneously deal with the Iron Fleet and Stannis's royal fleet?"
(To be continued.)
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