Go north

The next morning, Arthur followed one of the stewards of the Rose family to the armory to select the weapons and armor promised by the Duke of Metz.

Lord Inflatable Fish said very domineeringly last night that he could choose whatever he wanted, but his steward was very fussy.

He only let Arthur pick fifty sets of plate armor, and the remaining two hundred and fifty sets were all chain mail.

This may be that the King of Hell is easy to see, but the little devil is hard to deal with!

The lord of the Red Mill did not bother with him. After selecting the armor, he selected the weapons, all of which were a combination of half-handed swords and one-handed small round shields.

After selecting, the steward had them loaded on the ox cart and sent to the ferry town.

This still satisfied Arthur.

The price was affordable, fifty sets of plate armor, two hundred and fifty sets of chain mail, and three hundred sets of weapons, a total of two thousand four hundred and sixty-five gold dragons.

When he checked the account with the Duke of Metz, he waved his hand and wiped off the zero of sixty-five gold dragons.

The 2,100 gold royals from the Arbor Island had been settled by the Rose family and the steward of Earl Paxter.

In terms of money, Duke Mace was still very reliable and did not make things difficult for Arthur.

Arthur now had 53,500 gold royals in the Rose family. He thought about the situation and decided to take out 1,500 and keep the rest in Highgarden.

Anyway, with the strength of Highgarden and the alliance of Hightower and Redwyne, no one in the entire continent would touch them. It was very safe and reliable to keep them here.

It was second only to the reliability of the Iron Bank in the eastern Essos continent.

Moreover, during the War of the Five Kings, no money was needed for major events, and the troops at hand were relied on. For minor events, it depended on Arthur's mood and he could reward his subordinates who did a good job.

In the afternoon, he went to the ferry town to select the mercenaries who arrived one after another with the leaders of the Blood Troupe, such as Wager and Ange.

Today is much better. It is estimated that 70 to 80 people were organized by the mayor in the center of the town, waiting for the visit of Arthur, the financial sponsor.

"Master, choose me, choose me, choose me."

"I can kill the Mountain by myself. You must choose me, sir."

"The Mountain should kill you. This man is full of dirty words. You can tell he is a scoundrel. I am different. I will do whatever you tell me to do."

"This group of people are no good. They can't go to the battlefield. You should find someone like me who has his own bow and armor."

Before Arthur walked in, the mercenaries had already started to promote themselves.

The stuttering leader Wager was very familiar with this situation. He asked a backbone of the Blood Opera Troupe to come forward and shout twice, and the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

Arthur knew that he had no experience in selecting mercenaries, so he asked Wager and Ange to take charge of this matter. He sat on the chair that the mayor had brought to urge the two to work.

Nearly two hours passed in a flash, and mercenaries arrived one after another during this period.

Wager and Ange finally selected 63 people.

Most of them bring their own armor, mainly chain mail and plate armor, and their weapons are mainly bows and arrows and hand-and-half swords.

There are actually very few mercenaries who use spears like the Dornish.

Most of the salaries are between 15 gold royals and 20.

The price that Varg negotiated for his entire mercenary group was only 20 gold royals per person. He couldn't let this group of scattered soldiers get more than his own people.

Those who were not selected also received two silver deer. In this process, Varg made a lot of efforts. He drove out those who fished in troubled waters directly.

[Sixty-three River Bay Infantrymen joined your team]

After paying the deposit, the blue light screen indicated their joining.

…

The morning before departure was almost the same as yesterday.

Maybe the news spread, and the number of mercenaries who arrived was a little more than yesterday.

In the center of the ferry town, after nearly three hours of selection, eighty-seven available ones were finally selected.

According to Ange, except for facing the Mountain, this group of people can fight on the battlefield, burn villages and collect taxes just like the family soldiers.

After all, Westeros has been at peace for nearly ten years, and there are very few jobs for mercenaries, so this business is still quite competitive.

Those who can be picked are all available.

[Eighty-seven River Bay Infantrymen join your team]

The convoy that the mayor found is also ready. Six hundred sets of armor and weapons are placed on more than twenty ox carts, and the rest of the carts are full of food.

It takes two to three weeks to go north to the riverlands, and it is not possible without enough food.

After everyone had lunch, Arthur ordered to set off.

This time, in addition to the urgently needed armor and weapons, we also found 161 mercenaries with combat experience in Highgarden, which is still a good deal.

Six days later, beside the Bitter Bridge.

"Lord Arthur, I am here as promised." Dickon, wearing silver plate armor, caught up with Arthur and others who were waiting here with two followers.

Arthur noticed that the two followers were wearing chain mail, carrying bows, holding half swords on their waists, and wearing the robes of the walking hunters of the Tully family.

It is rumored that the family motto of the Horn Hill family is "Strive for the First on the Battlefield". From these two followers, it can be seen that this family is really martial and warlike.

When the two sides approached, Dickon's serious face actually showed a hint of liveliness.

"Where is your caravan?" Dickon asked after reining in his horse.

Arthur did not waste time, and after motioning him and the two followers to continue on their way, he said: "Let's set off first."

In fact, because the mercenaries in the Reach were all infantry and the speed of the oxcart caravan was extremely slow, the time consumed was much longer than Arthur expected.

It took them six days on the Rose Avenue to reach the Bitter Bridge.

Then, Arthur let the caravan go first, and he took Ange and a few others to wait for Dickon.

Half a day later, the young man from the Tully family came to the appointment.

Arriving at the Bitter Bridge, they had only walked one-third of the way north. Next, they had to go straight north to the Golden Road, and then cross the Blackwater River to enter the scope of the Riverlands.

At that time, Arthur could learn about the movements of King's Landing, the Westerly Army, and the small forces of the Mountain from the people on the Golden Road.

"Look, what am I holding?" Dickon was a little excited, and rode to Arthur's side and raised his sword to him.

Arthur took it, weighed it twice, and felt that the big sword was unexpectedly light.

"This is the Vulcan Steel Sword, the one in your family..."

"Broken Heart." Dickon shouted excitedly, "It's called Broken Heart, my father's sword, and also the sword of each generation of the head of our Tully family. I stole it. From now on, it will accompany me on adventures on the mainland."

"Hey, this is really..." Arthur smiled and shook his head, and couldn't think of an adjective to accurately describe this behavior.

According to the original plot, after Dicken's elder brother Sam returned to his home, he also stole the "Broken Heart" and left home.

These two brothers are of the same lineage.

I just don't know what treasure Sam, who is still on guard at the Wall, will steal from his father when he returns home.

After throwing the Broken Heart back to Dicken, Arthur stopped talking and rushed with everyone.

Seven days later, a convoy of nearly 300 people arrived at the junction of the Golden Avenue and the Blackwater River.

Here, Arthur finally got timely information.

The little devil Tyrion Lannister has indeed been captured and taken away by Catelyn Stark. It is rumored that Duke Tywin was furious. After receiving the information, he decided to summon his vassals and troops on the spot to teach Lady Stark and her relatives a lesson.

The Tully family in the riverlands was unwilling to be slaughtered. Edmure summoned a large number of vassals and their troops in the name of his father and assembled near Riverrun and Tenderstone River upstream of the Red Fork River.

The two families were on the verge of a fight and were ready to start.