The last rays of twilight fell.
Only a faint white light remained as a transition to night, casting dim shadows over Rising Stone Town.
Rising Stone Town was preparing for rest.
From the wooden houses and stone towers in the town, black, grey, and thin white smoke curled upwards, drifting and merging imperceptibly with the dimming sky.
After a busy day, the soldiers and residents were about to enjoy their final meal.
Outside the town, the bonfires and human activity were equally lively.
Clearly, the Reach army, ten times the number of the town's residents, had not all squeezed into the town.
Besides the troops quartered in the town's civilian houses and those garrisoned in the castle, about ten thousand men were camped in the open around Rising Stone Town. This prevented the town from becoming too crowded and also served as a useful defense and lookout.
Initially, not many people paid attention to the lookout duty.
As a detached force, from the commander Ser Jon Fossoway down to the subordinate Ser, everyone understood that they were not the main players in this war.
Rising Stone Town would likely remain peaceful.
This situation brought a secret sigh of relief to some cowards, but it left many deeply disappointed.
How did it turn out this way?
When they were summoned by their Liege Lord to raise arms, everyone thought this would be another epic war, with a massive army pressing down, a grand and tragic decisive battle.
No one thought they wouldn't be on the stage.
But to everyone's surprise, the enemy's actions were always illogical.
Lord Tywin summoned a large army but remained stationary in the Westerlands. Highgarden had to leave Lord Rowan's troops at Old Oak to guard against the Westerlands.
Here in King's Landing, King Joffrey first acted capriciously, ignoring the war and taking almost no countermeasures. Then he suddenly set sail with the Royal Fleet, abandoning King's Landing. And for what? To attack Storm's End?!
King Renly chose to go along with this wild punch. So the large army at Bitterbridge split in two.
Lord Mace and Lord Tarly led the most elite thirty thousand men east to join the battlefield in the Stormlands, with a high possibility of ending the war in one fell swoop.
Their own thirty thousand men were stationed in the rear.
Indeed, the threat from King's Landing had not completely disappeared, and someone was needed to guard against enemies from the north and protect the supply lines.
Indeed, intelligence from the north also needed to be gathered.
But ultimately, the center of the war was now Storm's End to the east, and the ink that would be written in the history books in the future would heavily favor Storm's End, and heroes and achievements would be born there.
While here in Rising Stone Town, perhaps nothing would happen. It would start abruptly and end peacefully.
Which ambitious warrior would be willing to accept this?
Fortunately, the army had only been in Rising Stone Town for a little over a week, and wine, liquor, games, and prostitutes were still enough to comfort the soul and dispel boredom.
Ser Jon Fossoway also put a lot of effort into regulating the atmosphere, resolving conflicts, and assigning tasks, ensuring the army maintained a certain level of discipline and combat effectiveness while avoiding further discontent.
Except for those who were sent out, the main body of soldiers remaining in Rising Stone Town all had tasks to prevent idleness and laxity, but they were not burdensome.
During the day, some patrolled, some slept soundly, some played games, some played music, and some consorted with prostitutes.
At night, some were on guard duty, some gambled with their stakes, some lay awake all night, some consorted with prostitutes, and had affairs with the town's maidens or married women.
Rising Stone Town passed a few days like this, peacefully yet disorderly.
Until the first group of scouts returned.
The intelligence work on King's Landing had been effective. This was not surprising.
Although the north was enemy territory and merchants and travelers had disappeared due to the war, making communication increasingly inconvenient.
But Rising Stone Town was, after all, only a two-day ride from King's Landing.
Even if only military scouts and riders were sent out to reconnoiter, King's Landing could not be completely hidden.
Rising Stone Town thus learned a lot.
However, the news suddenly made Rising Stone Town serious, even causing considerable panic. If Ser Jon Fossoway had not detected it in time and sealed off the news, who knows what greater chaos might have ensued.
When the situation finally calmed down, the officers exchanged information in a private meeting.
The latest intelligence was from three days ago.
King's Landing's fleet was once again freely cruising in the Blackwater River. The main warships occupied all the ports and bridges that could be used by a large army, and smaller vessels had even sailed to shallower and narrower sections of the river further upstream.
The exact number of warships was difficult to determine.
But according to the scouts, it was at least a scale similar to the Royal Fleet, and they were operated skillfully, with no major mistakes such as running aground or getting stuck discovered.
The officers couldn't help but discuss among themselves, finding it hard to believe.
Where did so many skilled sailors come from? Operating hundreds of ships would require thousands, even tens of thousands of people. They couldn't all have been trained recently, could they?
The scouts actually said that this was indeed the case.
Although they couldn't sneak into the city, they had heard the truth and seen the reality in the port.
Mature merchant ships and warships were receiving large batches of new apprentices from within the city, with dedicated personnel responsible for teaching skills, testing, and determining whether the apprentices were ready to graduate.
The strange thing was that although the instructors didn't speak much, the apprentices learned extremely quickly and made few mistakes.
In short, the fact is that many newcomers who knew nothing could transform into qualified junior crew members in just a few days, and with experienced veterans, they could operate ships.
And these newcomers would continue to grow, catching up to their masters at an unimaginable speed.
The officers couldn't help but fall silent.
They had thought that the scale of sailors would be the greatest limitation of the Royal Fleet. But now...
What could defeat this fleet?
This single piece of news was dangerous enough. But the information reported by the scouts wasn't over; it was just the beginning.
The "Holy City" passionately described by countless people, the "Miracles" witnessed with their own eyes—regrown limbs, the Iron Bank emissary arriving at King's Landing Port with great fanfare, claiming to congratulate King Joffrey on his coronation, the inexplicable battles, victories, and "Ship Cannons" mentioned by people...
The officers had never felt so uneasy.
Although they couldn't see clearly, the enemy was undoubtedly more dangerous and terrifying. The known threats mixed with unknown speculations were particularly frightening and chilling.
Rising Stone Town thus greatly strengthened its patrols, sentries, and scouts, making vigilance and defense the top priority.
Fortunately, so far, everything was calm.
But in reality, not being discovered doesn't mean not existing.
People still habitually believed that sentries and scouts would always make a sound, whether alive or dead. However, this time was different.
The "Eyes" sent out by Rising Stone Town died very quietly.
Rising Stone Town didn't know that above the silent land under the gray sky, a silent army and their warhorses were hidden.
Just on the other side of the hill.
Countless eyes were quietly spying on this undefended, gradually settling Rising Stone Town to the west.
Rising Stone Town, it had suffered through wars.
Two major battles were named after this town of the Fossoway family.
During the "Dance of the Dragons," at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, the entire town, and the chastity of all women, it earned the name "First Battle of Rising Stone Town."
Thousands of lives, three Dragonriders, and three Dragons were exchanged for the "Second Battle of Rising Stone Town."
It had been ravaged.
Now it had been rebuilt, but it once again welcomed the stationing of troops.
Looking at the blurred shadow of Rising Stone Town, the fully recovered "Littlefinger" twirled his mustache and smiled wantonly, "Today, it should be the Third Battle of Rising Stone Town."
Chaos! Subversion!!
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