A feeling of dread shot up from his tailbone to the top of his scalp, and Aegor finally understood the source of the Reachmen's unusually firm will to resist. It turned out they had a backup plan!
The warg's aerial reconnaissance had long since discovered a considerable number of enemy troops active on the north bank, but first, the Mander River's current was quite swift, and second, these soldiers made no moves to build bridges or cross the river... so he had only thought this was a blocking force meant to prevent him from crossing the river and escaping north, and had not taken them too seriously.
A massive army that could not cross the river was just for show, but if there was a large enough fleet of freshwater boats that could transport infantry to the river-facing base of the trapezoidal formation, drop off a batch of troops to seize the beachhead, and then immediately sail back to the north bank to pick up the next batch, then the troops on the opposite bank would become a continuous source of fresh forces that could be thrown into battle, and their significance would suddenly become immense.
The river-facing base of the trapezoidal formation was the longest side of the entire formation's battle line, and naturally also the weakest direction. Normally, this line would have two outer phalanxes plus two central phalanxes, a total of four large phalanxes, amounting to nearly ten thousand troops that could be mobilized and used. But now, the two central phalanxes had just been moved by him to the west line to support the infantry's frontal confrontation, briefly exposing a gap at the base of the trapezoid, and his remaining cards were surprisingly only the two thousand Gift Army main force serving as guards, and the remnants of the South Two Phalanx, who had just undergone a bloody infantry-cavalry confrontation and had only just been replaced by the Unsullied!
The combat strength of the Gift Army main force was beyond doubt, but they absolutely could not defend the riverbank line that was originally two phalanxes long, and the remnants who had just retreated could not be relied on too much... Fortunately, with the bird warg's cheat-like aerial reconnaissance perspective, the Western Expeditionary Army was able to detect the existence of that fleet while it was still several miles away.
He still had time to organize a response and find a way to defuse the crisis!
Aegor suppressed his tension, scanned the battlefield, and began quickly assessing the situation, searching for a way out of the predicament.
...
To the west, the roar of cannons continued, but the density was much lower this time. The cannons in the eastern half of the artillery positions were loaded with grapeshot and standing by according to orders, while the cannons in the western half switched to solid shot and began bombarding the dragon-hunting ballista positions behind the Reach infantry. The accuracy of the bombardment was unremarkable, but it significantly and effectively suppressed the enemy's momentum, stabilizing the morale and positions along the entire infantry engagement line.
Under the dual cover of explosive bombs and solid shot, two layers of six phalanxes, sandwiching a thin line of grenadier reserves, squeezed tightly together. Reinforcements began to orderly replace the original front-line troops who had been fighting fiercely for a while, and quickly turned the tide, pushing the Reach infantry back. It was true that three phalanxes were about to withdraw from combat and free up manpower here, but those who were rotated out needed rest, and judging by the situation, they would soon have to return to the front line to relieve pressure on their allies... As the most concentrated and crucial point of engagement on the entire battlefield, troops could not be withdrawn from here.
To the southwest, the Westerlands cavalry sent to meet the Golden Company cavalry passed by their opponents, and after a brief engagement, leaving behind double-digit casualties, they disengaged from each other and returned to their respective main formations. The imagined scene of "cavalry charging each other to fight to the death" did not occur. Aegor would not be naive enough to think the Westerlands cavalry were useless just because the intensity of the fighting was not high. "Driving away the enemy cavalry" was the task he had given. Although they had briefly completed their mission, they had not routed or annihilated the enemy, and still had to remain in the area to prevent the opponent from returning, lest a fatal weakness be created.
To the southeast, the Reach cavalry, having been repulsed in all three rounds of attacks, no longer had the courage or strength to organize a mass charge, both men and horses. But to Aegor's surprise, they did not withdraw from the battlefield. Instead, under the rallying and interception of the discipline squad led by Dickon Tarly, all the soldiers regrouped about three or four miles away. After removing the wounded and remnants lacking helmets and swords, they reorganized into about ten thousand combatants. One-third of the most elite among them remained as cavalry, while the remaining two-thirds simply dismounted and transformed into infantry.
Neither force made any rash moves. The dismounted infantry, holding a variety of hastily collected shields, formed a battle line and stood on the south side of the battlefield, advancing toward the Western Expeditionary Army at an extremely slow pace. The cavalry, on the other hand, quickly maneuvered to the east of the battlefield, hovering at the edge of the range of cannons and arrows... looking for the next opportunity to attack.
The Reachmen's intentions were so obvious they might as well have hung them up as a banner. Since attacking again would likely be repulsed by the Western Expeditionary Army, why not simply give up trying to seize credit and just maintain their presence and deterrence, preventing Aegor from withdrawing the troops used to defend against them and committing them to other fronts?
Several engagements had perfectly forced out most of the Western Expeditionary Army's reserves... Aegor scanned the battlefield and realized helplessly that he truly had no troops left to deploy.
Standing quietly in the center of the chaotic and noisy battlefield, swept by the gentle spring breeze of the Reach Plain's verdant fields, for a moment he could not tell whether he had successfully lured the enemy, or if his opponent had turned his plan against him.
The answer did not matter. Over twenty thousand people were waiting to win under his command!
"Gather the baggage train guards, kitchen soldiers, and everyone from the South Two Phalanx who can still hold a weapon, and bring them to me." He accepted reality and chose the final option. "Also, order the artillery positions to turn their grapeshot west and fire it all, then load solid shot, aim at the river surface to the north, calibrate yourselves, and prepare to engage the enemy ships!"
He truly had no troops to deploy, but he had firepower available. This order meant that the eastern and southern sides of the entire battlefield would no longer have artillery cover. This was a gamble, betting that the Unsullied deployed on the southern line and the last two phalanxes on the eastern line could, without artillery cover, withstand the Reach's flanking forces, which were twice their number, relying solely on primitive melee combat.
After giving the two brief orders, he briefly descended from the observation platform to the ground, climbed into the large four-wheeled carriage below, and then climbed back out before anyone could start suspecting that the Lord Commander had given up resisting and was preparing to die, standing back on top of the carriage.
The Reachmen had successfully cornered him. Now it was time for desperate measures.
The command post was only a short distance from the artillery positions, baggage train, and the resting place for the remnants. As the cannons began roaring and firing their third round of grapeshot, the last batch of soldiers he had summoned also gathered around him.
Two thousand Gift Army main force, two or three hundred baggage train soldiers and cooks, plus about five or six hundred Westerlands and Dornish archers who were largely unharmed after Garlan's heavy cavalry charge. This was all the strength he had left to counter the enemy's final trump card, at least he hoped this was the final trump card.
Aegor drew the steel sword from his waist and pointed downward.
"Soldiers, look at your feet!"
Only when all the soldiers, those who heard and those who did not, began to look down under the influence of word spreading, did he continue with his final pre-battle mobilization.
"This is the entire continent of Westeros, from the Land of Always Winter in the north to the Dorne desert in the south... the most fertile, the flattest, the most valuable land, bar none!"
"This land should belong to us, who defeated the White Walkers and saved humanity, and who raised our banners to support the true king! Not to that group of fat-brained, stubborn Reachmen who still try to support a false king and steal the fruits of victory!"
"However, today we came to take what belongs to us, but the traitors not only didn't surrender obediently and hand it over, they dared to resist!" He paused to take a deep breath before shouting, "Can we tolerate this?"
Standing on the land of the Reach and blaming the Reachmen for resisting instead of surrendering, such a boastful statement that completely ignored logic would likely be hard for any person of the Seven Kingdoms with a bit of shame to feel motivated by, but the Gift Army ate this up.
Coming from Beyond the Wall, they had no subconscious concept of "the Reach Plain belongs to the Reachmen" at all, and this victorious army, which had been watching the show in the center of the trapezoidal formation for a long time, was already itching for a fight.
"No!"
Against the backdrop of the noisy battlefield, a wave of not-so-uniform but incredibly fervent roars erupted, the soaring killing intent even infecting the several hundred assisting personnel who had been forcibly summoned and did not understand what was happening.
Aegor raised his left hand to quell the clamor, then swung his sword and pointed north with his arm.
"That's right! So now, let's go give those bastards a taste of their own medicine!"
(To be continued.)