Now, the fire in the reed marsh had mostly extinguished, but the surrounding tens of miles were enveloped in thick smoke, and the Blackwood Family warriors' physical condition had been severely affected by the smoke and fire.
Even the Blackwood Family knights had to return to the upwind side to breathe fresh air after each charge.
It was conceivable that under these circumstances, it was already very commendable that four or five hundred Blackwood Family warriors could still persevere until now.
The Blackwood Family warriors who went on this expedition were all elites of the family, which allowed them to quickly escape from the initial chaos and passive situation.
Under the leadership of the family knights led by Harold Blinken, they formed a shield wall and stubbornly resisted the repeated charges of the Blackwood Family knights.
However, the fire and thick smoke had greatly weakened their bodies, and coupled with the fact that the Blinken Family knights had lost their warhorses, their casualties continued to increase with each charge from the Blackwood Family knights.
Fortunately, another team of elite knights had already covered Zos as he broke through towards Harold Town.
Facing the Blackwood Family's formidable hundred-man team, the dozens of Frey Family crossbowmen wisely chose to hide in the remaining few reed marshes.
Because the main road and nearby safe areas were firmly guarded by the Blinkon warriors holding shields, if Earl Blackwood wanted to pursue, he would have to pass through the still-sparking reed marshes, which was too dangerous, so he had no choice but to let them leave.
However, the Frey Family crossbowmen, hidden in the reeds, secretly fired cold arrows and took out dozens of unarmored Blinken Family elites; if Zos Blinkon hadn't been wearing plate armor, he probably wouldn't have escaped his fate.
Earl Blackwood was quite satisfied with the current results; the Blackwood Family had not achieved such a brilliant victory in the battles between the two families for a long time.
Looking at the continuously falling Blinken Family warriors, Earl Blackwood felt an indescribable exhilaration.
He rode on his tall horse, longbow in hand, and each shot he fired claimed the life of a Blinken Family knight.
Meanwhile, Marquis Frey had his servants and ordinary soldiers quickly confiscate the Blinken Family's supplies and packhorses.
Because the Blinken Family's supply unit was positioned further back, although it was also affected by the fire, the losses were not severe.
The few hundred soldiers and servants guarding the supplies were not elites to begin with, so they couldn't withstand the surging momentum of the Frey Family's elites.
Nearly a hundred of them were quickly cut down, and the remaining two hundred or so were all captured.
The armor that the warriors had discarded by the roadside due to the fire, though still hot to the touch, was quickly collected.
After all, the Blinken Family's armor was quite well-made, each piece worth several gold dragons.
There were at least a hundred intact plate armors and several hundred chainmails by the roadside, worth over a thousand gold dragons.
Marquis Frey, who was already skilled at careful calculation, naturally wouldn't let them go.
And according to the rules of Westeros, if the Blinken Family wanted to ransom these prisoners of war, they would have to spend a considerable sum of gold dragons, especially for those noble scions who came to gain experience, whose ransoms were even higher.
So all these prisoners of war were tied together with ropes by the Frey Family soldiers and driven, along with the supply packhorses, quickly towards High Heart.
Dona and her sisters had been using their birds to monitor the surrounding situation.
"My Lord Marquis, Earl Reyes and his forces are preparing to cross the river."
Marquis Frey had a portion of his family's knights set off first with the supplies and prisoners of war.
Dona also had one of her sisters ride an Ao dog to guide them.
Because there were quite a few noble forces roaming the Riverlands now, it was hard to guarantee that none of them were in cahoots with Earl Reyes and his forces.
Marquis Frey spurred his horse to the side of Earl Blackwood, who was still fully engaged in battle, and said,
"Reyes and his forces have already started crossing the river; it will probably take them another hour to reach here.
I've already sent the supply unit and infantry ahead."
"We must also retreat in half an hour!"
"Why retreat?"
Earl Blackwood had already been consumed by the thrill of battle and was unwilling to withdraw just like that.
"Now, the Blinken Family forces are all but gone, and we have more troops than Reyes and his forces.
This is a good opportunity to eliminate them all at once."
"My Lord Earl, know when to stop! How many hostile forces are roaming the Riverlands right now?
Even if you eliminate all of Reyes and his forces, how many men do you think we'll have left?"
"At that point, any random family that appears could wipe us out!"
"And look at how many casualties your men have suffered."
Under the cover of their shield formation, the Blinken Family warriors had gradually begun to organize a counterattack and had already killed nearly two hundred Blackwood Family warriors.
"Damn it!"
Earl Blackwood fiercely shot his last arrow into the Blinken Family's ranks, then ordered his herald to command the family's infantry to begin retreating.
Nearly a hundred knights from the Frey Family and Blackwood Family remained to cover the rear.
Within the Blinkon shield square, Ser Harold, suppressing the discomfort in his throat, loudly encouraged morale.
"Hold on, everyone! My Lord Earl and his forces will surely rush over as soon as they see the fire.
That will be our moment to counterattack.
Remember your pain and anger, and when the time comes, return what we are suffering now a thousand, ten thousand times over to the Blackwood and Frey Families!"
"Brothers... Ah~"
"Gurgle~"
A sharp arrow pierced precisely through Harold's throat.
Blood instantly gushed from his throat and mouth.
His fury and high spirits instantly turned into shock and unwillingness, and then he fell with a thud.
"Lord Harold~"
The Blinken Family's chief instructor, a knight famous throughout the Seven Kingdoms, Harold Blinken, who had achieved brilliant results in many tourneys, thus met his end in the muddy reed marsh.
However, Earl Blackwood, in the distance, did not yet know that his angry shot had directly taken down a big fish from the Blinken Family.
After all the family's infantry had completely moved away from the reed marsh, Earl Blackwood and Marquis Frey, along with nearly a hundred knights, also began to retreat.
Seeing them leave, the Blinken Family forces quickly rushed to the upwind position, breathing in large gulps of fresh air.
However, many people were coughing non-stop due to inhaling too much thick smoke.
Immediately after, from the mud of the reed marsh, figures like mud gourds slowly climbed out one by one.
After the tragic death of Chief Instructor Harold, another person named Illyc Blinkon took over the leadership of the Blinkon forces.
The final count showed that over seven hundred people had survived this ambush.
Adding the family elites who escaped with Zos Blinkon, there were already eight hundred people.
Thus, the Blinken Family suffered over 500 fatalities and 200 prisoners in this engagement.
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