September 6th, early morning.
The battle report from the Rising Stone Town Demonstration Battle had spread through the Light Screen network, and many individuals were qualified to view the compiled combat footage.
Theon Greyjoy was certainly not overlooked.
Demonstration Battle.
Theon silently chewed on this unfamiliar yet self-explanatory term.
Speaking of which, this was truly the first large-scale clash between King Joffrey's brand new military might and traditional armies.
Before this, Massey's Hook was a true Night Raid, with no lighting, no shouting, only Fire and death. The enemy army collapsed as expected, and the deserters were even more fragile.
The only thing to be learned from it was a fact already well known: Night Raids are indeed very useful.
And in the Stormlands, although many Castles were successively captured, these places were already incredibly weak themselves.
The main enemy forces were completely disoriented Inland.
Even the Guards of Storm's End were only one or two thousand people, and ordinary Castles generally had only dozens or a hundred Guards.
What growth could there be from attacking such places? It was completely without any technique.
At most, it required only three steps:
Shouting a show of force, volleying cannon fire, and Holy Shield charge.
Rising Stone Town was different.
No matter what, the enemy had thirty thousand people.
Unless something unexpected happened, the strength and scale of future enemies would at most not exceed twice that of this enemy, and could be considered targets of the same level.
It was only natural to use the experience of this battle to demonstrate and guide future operations.
Demonstration Battle.
Theon stared blankly at the most thrilling scene in the Light Screen footage, contemplating King Joffrey's true intentions.
Demonstrate what? Which part should be learned?
The pre-battle outpost clearing operation was very good. The enemy's "Eyes" were completely defenseless in front of the well-trained Scout teams and were quietly executed.
The new function of the Light Screen was very practical. Everyone in the army could see each other's positions and movements on the combat map, for coordinated combat and support. The conspicuous red enemy markers provided target guidance.
Of course, the enemy's red markers were sometimes not accurate or timely, especially in the darkness.
No one could be blamed for this.
After all, the Security Bureau responsible for updating the red light spot Information was hundreds of miles away in King's Landing.
There were only a little over a thousand internal Security Bureau personnel.
For this battle, they had already done their best to provide various types of intelligence, from terrain and fortifications to deployment and the enemy's main status and movements.
This was already a great achievement.
To ask them to collect detailed information on tens of thousands of enemies one by one, update markers in a timely manner, and not make mistakes, would be too unrealistic.
They should be satisfied.
Intelligence, equipment, obedience, communication, their side was already the only one in the world in all aspects. What else could a commander complain about?
The Blackfish would certainly not make a mistake.
The timing of his every command was just right. From stealth and starting the battle, to the subsequent charge, deterrence, advance and retreat, and accepting surrender, all orders perfectly achieved the desired outcome: receiving the Rebel Army and Rising Stone Town with the minimum cost.
Not a single Holy War Army soldier died. The ordinary Cavalry suffered only dozens of casualties, even though only a few hundred enemies died.
Everything went smoothly.
Until the sudden appearance of an unexpected and shocking scene that no one had foreseen.
Theon stared intently at this segment of the footage.
A new round of "Candles" soared upwards, illuminating countless faces on the ground, as well as a scattered dozen or so corpses that changed the course of the battle.
People's expressions were all wonderful.
Snickering, regret, grief and indignation, relief, despair, terror, madness, all sorts of emotions, difficult to discern.
The deep darkness flashed by.
After that, more corpses and slaughter were born.
Lord Fudley of Rising Stone Town was decapitated, the heir of the Shemo family pierced a dismounted Crownlands Cavalryman with a Longsword, Baron Caswell of Bitterbridge and the Valping Knight died in each other's arms, Lord Rockton shouted and charged towards the Cavalry's Spears...
The footage ended.
Only clear black and white text summarized on the Light Screen.
Theon saw it.
The text wrote about the experience and lessons of the battle, telling him to learn from successful examples and to be wary of and avoid painful defeats, such as the final unexpected event.
No one had thought of these things beforehand.
Nighttime lighting was not normal for people, but an extraordinary blessing, and no one dared to question why there was a gap of darkness in between. Couldn't it have been avoided by using a few more "Candles" and launching them earlier?
However, due to traditional warfare thinking and objective resource constraints, the reserves of flares were not abundant enough to be easily "wasted."
After all, a round of flares could only last for a dozen breaths in the sky before falling.
To ensure constant light throughout, the consumption of flares would likely double. This was something the armies of that time were unwilling to bear.
Compared to minor issues like lighting, people were more concerned with offense and defense.
But who could have imagined that in just a few brief intervals, their own casualties would almost double, casting a deep shadow over the surrender ceremony?
What's more, most of the dead were prominent figures.
With such a change occurring, the demonstration battle didn't seem to end perfectly, and the glorious victory was inevitably tainted with some flaws.
Even the text on the light screen seemed to convey a sense of regret.
Is that so? Theon had to wonder.
Compared to most people, having experienced the ups and downs of human relationships and being familiar with the darkness of the human heart, he couldn't help but think crookedly.
Was it really an accident?
After forming a preconceived notion, when he looked at the footage of this battle again, Theon could always discern more meaning from it.
The identities of the people who died at the end were very peculiar.
Half of the lords and sers from the Riverlands died, most of whom were friendly with the Tully family and had come to answer the King's summons only out of obedience to their liege lord's wishes.
Now they died in the darkness before victory?
The survivors' anger surged. The nobles of the Reach thus became the best targets for venting their frustration.
No family was left unscathed; the lords and heirs of Rising Stone Town, Smith's Dale, Circle City, and Evergreen Hall were all wiped out.
Yet the nobles of the Vale were safe and sound.
Although their positions at the time were relatively safe, it was too much of a coincidence.
Thinking this way, the arrangement itself, where the attacking vanguard was entirely composed of the allied forces of various kingdoms and the troops from King's Landing mostly held the rear, also became suspicious.
Moreover, it wasn't just the final change; there were many deaths in the darkness before that as well.
Wherever the cavalry went, the senior officers of the Reach would turn into corpses between two rounds of flares, some of whom had already laid down their weapons and surrendered. There were always figures of the Holy War Army beside the corpses!
Why release this kind of footage?! Is the King not afraid of people discovering the truth?!
Theon even indirectly asked Jon Snow, who was still spending time in Crow's Nest, to see how much anomaly this bastard had noticed.
That guy had certainly seen the footage as well.
However, on the light screen, the surprise on Jon Snow's face didn't seem like a pretense at all, as if he wasn't hearing a shocking secret but rather nonsensical jokes, completely without basis.
Theon quickly realized:
The footage Jon Snow saw was different from mine! He didn't see those assassinations!
Theon became even more convinced of his guess.
Demonstration battle?
The clear daylight from outside the porthole shone in.
Theon looked out at the distant sea. It is indeed a perfect demonstration battle. For Jon Snow, and for me too.
A curve protruded from the smooth sea surface.
The Arbor.
Theon was on the Fourth Fleet. The Arbor also had the even larger Arbor Fleet, which, of course, was now under the King's command.
They weren't far from the Iron Islands.
Theon's heart suddenly felt much heavier. Demonstration battle, what do I need to learn?
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