Chapter 106: Besieging Highgarden

A/N: Hey guys,

Here's today's first chapter.

For every two new pàtreons, I will upload one more chapter the next day.

Thanks for your support.

Thanks, Elrath for becoming my Pàtreon.

You can read up to 25 advanced chapters on my pàtreon.

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Enjoy.

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Ten minutes later, the messenger delivered the message to Edward, who, in return, ordered to spread the rumors to stop the fighting. Although his army was more trained and with his tactics, he was sure he would win with low casualties, it was better to stop the battle, at this point, since Edward wanted to prevent any unnecessary losses to his army.

Due to the army's perfect organization, it did not take long for the news to reach both fighting sides. With Edward's men cheering, The Reach's army started to feel down. Some of them even tried to abandon everything and run.

An hour later, everything was settled down. Edward's side was able to achieve the best results in this battle. The whole fighting thing continued for nearly six hours. During this time, Edward's army killed about six thousand men and injured another eight between light and serious injuries. They also captured another eight thousand while the rest managed to escape.

Edward's side also had some casualties here, with about one thousand deaths and three thousand injuries. The result was perfect due to the strategy, war chariots, and the earlier capture of Mace Tyrell and Randyll Tarly.

Edward did not want to let his men rest at the moment as they still had a lot to finish. He led the able ones to take down Ashford. The city should be without enough defense at the moment since most of the city guards joined The Reach's army.

After sieging the town for two days, they were finally able to take it down. Edward decided to let his men rest for two days before moving from here. The coming battles would take a long time since most castles and towns would hide inside, turning the wars into sieges instead.

'Ned Stark should have reached the North by now. It would take him about a month to call all his banners and march south. Till they deal with the old fox, Hoster Tully, it would take them another month. After a month, I should send Robert to the Reach to meet Ned. I do not know if the battle of bells will happen since I changed much. I better focus on the Reach for now. If it still happens, I should make a pincer attack on Jon.' Thought Edward as he remembered the exact situation during the rebellion. With his interference, he did not know if some battles would take place.

During the next one and a half months, Edward continued to launch his attacks on the Reach. All of Edward's predictions came true. Ned took only a month to gather his bannermen and reach the Twins, where the old fox, Hoster Tully, only allowed Ned to pass after he agreed to marry Catylen Tully and Jon Arryn to marry Lysa Arryn.

The old fox wanted to use this situation to his side. He even wanted to wed his daughter Lysa to Edward after hearing about what he did in the Reach. Edward only sent him simple sentences. The exact content of the letter was like this. 'Fuck off. I dare you to send something like that to me again. I would discard everything and march to Riverrun and kill you and all your family.' Edward had hated this man. Yeah, the old fox was using his mind well enough to form relationships with other houses, but he was way too shameless, even more than Tywin.

When Hoster received Edward's letter, he was angry by the brat's arrogant attitude, but he was afraid at the same time. In the last month, every house in Westeros had heard of what Edward did in The Reach, and since Hoster Tully could master a powerful army like The Reach, he could shut up and eat up the insult. He decided to marry his daughter Lysa to Jon Arryn instead. Jon was a calm and wise old man, not a brat like Edward. Jon was not aggressive like Edward.

Edward felt that he got liberated after he started the rebellion. He was treating everyone with respect while hiding his arrogant attitude, but everything was fine at the moment. After the rebellion, no one would have the ability to threaten his life.

During the one and half months, Edward launched an attack on Cider Hall. He besieged the town for two and half weeks before he managed to take it down. House Fossoway of Cider Hall protected The town's castle, and they had about two thousand men. They could even defend the town's castle for a year against ten thousand men. Since the town's castle was well-fortified, Edward could only besiege the castle till he found a breakthrough.

And after two weeks, he managed to do so with low casualties. Threatening to kill Mace Tyrell was of no use as Lord Fossoway refused even when Mace pleaded to him. Every night, Edward would walk around the castle with his men to observe the town's castle from time to time. He wanted to see if he could find any weaknesses. He managed to find one. The location was where the walls were the highest. Only two guards would roam the area. It seemed they depended on the high walls in this area too much.

Edward managed to come up with a plan where he would send his best athletic men. They would use strong arrows as ladders and climb the castle walls at night. And he delayed it till the night when the moon could not light the sky. His men would depend on the enemy's torches. It was the same tactic used in the movie 'Prince Of Persia.'.

Before the sun could rise, Edward had already taken the castle and executed Lord Fossoway and hang his head in front of the gates. Although this battle took too long, Edward did not lose any soldiers in this battle.

After this point, Edward shifted his eyes towards Highgarden. It was finally time to besiege this castle. Knowing the Tyrell could gather up to another ten thousand men, and with the help of house Hightower, they could raise another ten or fifteen thousand, Edward decided to use their precious heir.

Mace Tyrell was the only eligible heir to House Tyrell, and if he died, then their line would end with it so Edward could finally put him to use. Although he would not take Highgarden as taking the castle would cause many problems to himself before the others, he would ask for outrageous demands. Without mentioning the Reach's Lords, the other lords would never allow him to take all the lands that belonged to a great house. Plus, Edward did not need to take all The Reach at the moment. He was already satisfied with the lands he decided to take. It was more than a third of The Reach's Land.

So Edward besieged Highgarden three days after Cinder Hall's fall and prevented any reinforcement from the Tyrell to the other houses he sent his men to take their castle. Edward waited for his men in Highgarden. The first to finish was Stannis this time. He managed to take Tumbleton in three and half weeks. When Edward received the news, he ordered Stannis to fortify the town as they would have to defend against an attack from the crown very soon. Edward would depend on Stannis's five thousand men and the three thousand men from the Shadow Legion Company.