Chapter 254 Griffin's Nest Castle

Early the next morning, Earl Randall and Samwell each led an army and left Storm's End, one to the north and the other to the west.

Samwell led 4,000 infantry and 500 cavalry, all the way west along the bay, arrived at the eastern foot of the Crimson Mountains, then turned south, walked along the foot of the mountain for a day, and then saw the destination

Eagle's Nest Castle.

This castle is the territory of the Clinton family.

The Clinton family was also once a wealthy and powerful Stormland family, but now it has declined.

During the War of the Reavers, Earl Jon Connington was appointed by the "Mad King" Aerys as the Hand of the King, responsible for suppressing the rebellion of the fish, wolf, deer and eagle.

At that time, Robert Baratheon was defeated by Lando Tarly in Ashford, and fled north in a hurry. He hid in Stone Hall Town in the Riverlands to avoid the capture of the king's army, and at the same time waited for the support of the allies in the three northern territories.

Jon Connington besieged Shitang Town one step ahead of the northern rebels, and started searching. Seeing that the rebel support was about to arrive, someone once persuaded Earl Jon to set fire to Stonetang Town to force out Robert Baratheon , to write a sentence for this rebellion, but Earl Jon refused the proposal because he couldn't bear to hurt the innocent.

It was this benevolence that made Robert insist on waiting until the reinforcements arrived. For a while, the entire church in Shitang Town rang bells, and the rebels took this as a signal to cooperate internally and externally to defeat the king's army.

This "Battle of the Bell Ringing" is also regarded as an important turning point in the War of the Snatchers. Since then, the rebels have begun to gain the upper hand.

The "Mad King" decided that Earl Jon should be responsible for the failure of this battle, so he deprived the Conrington family of the title and fief, and exiled Jon Conrington to the other side of the narrow sea.

After the War of the Looters, Robert Baratheon ascended the Iron Throne, but returned Griffin's Nest to the Clinton family, but deprived him of his title of lord and most of his territories.

So, today's Clinton family has declined into a knight family.

As for the former Hand of the King, Jon Connington, he died of alcoholism on the continent of Essos after being exiled.

However, Samwell knew that this news was a rumor deliberately spread by "Octospider" Varys.

Jon Connington did not die, but a pseudonym Griffin, and is now serving the Golden Group, plotting to restore the Targaryen Dynasty.

Samwell looked at the castle in front of him, and couldn't help thinking, what would the Golden Group's attitude be if they learned that he had hatched a dragon?

cooperate? Or hostility?

Of course, none of this mattered until the Golden Group chose to cross the Narrow Sea to come to Westeros.

Griffin's Nest Castle is located on a towering dark red stone hill on the shore of Cape Wrath, surrounded by bays on three sides, and only has a passage into the city on the west side.

And this narrow passage is extremely unfavorable to the attacking party, because the attacker will be exposed to the attack of the circular towers on both sides of the castle gate.

But when the Riverbend army carried their shields and marched towards the gate of the castle along this passage, they did not encounter the expected violent blow.

The front of the gatehouse of the castle was neglected and there were already overgrown bushes. Under the cover of the dense bushes, the soldiers of Hewan sneaked until they were about a hundred paces away from the city gate. Only then did the defenders finally discover the existence of the enemy. .

The sound of the horn finally sounded at the top of the city, and then a burst of sparse arrows fell.

The soldiers of Hewan saw that their whereabouts were exposed, so they stopped hiding at all, accelerated and rushed over, and began to build ladders and climb up the city wall.

At the same time, dozens of Hewan soldiers rushed towards the city gate holding battering rams.

Boom! boom!

With just two impacts, the door, which was obviously in disrepair, was knocked open.

Samwell, who was riding a white dragon and watching the battle in mid-air, felt a little incredible.

Although the current Clinton family has long since faded away, this kind of performance is really too lame.

He even felt that it was a bit of a big deal for him to bring such a large army to attack the city.

"Long live the Griffin! Long live the Griffin!" The Clinton family's battle cry sounded from the top of the city, but it seemed weak.

And Samwell saw that there were only twenty or thirty defenders, and they were powerless to stop the army of the river bend from climbing.

Not to mention that the gates of the city have been smashed open, and more and more soldiers from the River Bend have rushed into the castle.

The battle lasted only ten minutes before it was declared over.

Samwell drove the white dragon to land on the top of the city, and ordered:

"Search the whole city and drive everyone into the yard. Unless they resist, don't kill people indiscriminately. Especially those from the Clinton family, bring them to me directly after you find them."

"yes."

Samwell walked into the castle hall, admired the Clinton family's famous gilded griffin throne, and then sat on it.

Too hard and too cold.

However, the Iron Throne is probably more uncomfortable than this chair.

Samwell felt that he could get used to it in advance.

While he was sitting on the griffin throne, admiring the tapestry and beast skulls hanging on the surrounding walls, the soldiers also brought the Clinton family over.

Only then did Samwell know that Sir Roland Connington, the current lord of Griffin's Nest Castle, was not in the city at all, but was detained in Dorne together with the main force of Griffin's Nest Castle.

Currently there are only fifty defenders in this castle, no wonder the siege was so easy just now.

There are only two members of the Clinton family in the city. They are Sir Roland's younger brother Raymond and younger sister Elinne, both of whom are underage.

Elene Clinton has fiery red hair, a thin figure, and a pretty face, but she is too timid, and she burst into tears after seeing Samwell:

"Don't kill me! Please! Don't kill me?"

Am I that scary?

Of course, Samwell would not kill two harmless children. In fact, this time he entered the Stormlands, he deliberately controlled his subordinates to minimize killings, so as not to leave a bad impression of bloodthirsty on the Stormland nobles.

Although Storm's End has not yet been conquered, Samwell has already begun to regard himself as the future master of this land.

"Okay, don't cry. As long as you are obedient, I won't kill you."

"Really?" Elene asked pitifully, but stopped crying.

"Really." Samwell waved at the soldiers, signaling them to take the two of them down, "But you will be wronged to stay in the bedroom during this time, don't wander around, someone will bring you food."

After dismissing the two little fellows of the Clinton family, Samwell sent people south to find the River Bend South Route Army to approach.

If Earl Rowan hasn't dealt with the southern princes in the storm, he can lead an army to help.

Three days later, the envoy returned, but did not bring the progress of the Southern Route Army, but brought back a bad news.

"Has Highgarden fallen?"

When Samwell heard the news, he was really confused.

"Yes, my lord, the Riverbend rebels and the Ironborn have captured Highgarden. I just met an envoy from the Riverbend at Crow's Nest Castle. He is about to chase the Southern Army. Lady Olenna has ordered the withdrawal of the troops. The command."

"The fall of Highgarden, how did Lady Olenna issue the order?"

"Mrs. Olenna was meeting Miss Margaery at Bitterbridge, so she escaped the disaster."

Hearing this, Samwell heaved a sigh of relief, at least the Tyrell family was not taken over by one pot, and the person he cared about the most was fine.

However, what happened in Gaoting at this time really made him feel depressed and helpless.

If the troops are withdrawn now, the achievements of the past few months will likely be wiped out.

Although they have captured most of the Stormlands, they still need time to digest the territory and subdue the hearts of the people. More importantly, Storm's End has not been captured yet!

As long as the core castle of the Stormlands is still in the hands of the Baratheon family, the hearts of the people in the Stormlands may relapse.

He also didn't have enough reason and confidence to make the nobles of the Stormlands pledge their allegiance to him.

But at this time, it is impossible for him not to withdraw his troops.

The Reach must not be chaotic. This is the foundation and bottom line of his struggle for Westeros.

Although it is not clear what exactly happened in High Court, Samwell's intuition should be that the deer party is playing tricks. Otherwise, without the inner ghost, it is impossible for High Court to fall so quickly.

Since this is the case, he must hurry back and stabilize the situation.

And this time, it was different from the last time when the blood was not seen.

Since the Deer Party didn't follow the rules first, it can't be blamed on him to take iron and blood measures to deal with it.

Having made up his mind, Samwell ordered the withdrawal of Griffin's Roost.

Before leaving, he found Todd Buddha Flower and ordered:

"I will leave you three hundred people to help me guard this castle."

Griffon's Roost is on the key road connecting the north and south of the Stormland, and Samwell will not give up easily.

"Yes, my lord."

"Also..." Samwell suddenly showed an ambiguous smile, "When you have time, you can have a good time with that little girl who loves to cry."

Todd froze for a moment, and immediately realized that Samwell was talking about Elene Clinton.

He naturally knew that this was implying that he would find a way to marry the first daughter of the Clinton family.

"I understand." Todd blushed slightly, but nodded in response.

Although he was nearly twenty years older than that girl, he also knew that this was an excellent opportunity for him to dominate.

Griffin's Nest Castle, even if it has declined now, it is not something the illegitimate son of the river bend can expect.

But now, the ancient castle seems within reach.

After the arrangements were made, Samwell led his army to the north and returned to Storm's End on the same road.

(end of this chapter)