Chapter 218
2021-01-06
Chapter 218 Night's Watch ConferenceWhere Igor was interrogated as a deserter, the Night's Watch of all generations is here In the hall where the meeting was held, another Night's Watch meeting was held urgently. The situation is different from any previous entry into this room: this time, Igor sat behind the raised platform at the front, the second position to the left of Commander Mormont, symbolizing the Legion relay Lord Commander, Chief Ranger. In the fifth-in-command seat behind the , the affairs officer and the craftsman, for the first time, the aloof and remote looked down at the other officers and soldiers of Castle Black, who were all black.
Some of the Lords Declarant nobles and Knights, who were sent to Wall by Robert after Vale's revolt, were also present, of noble birth, and now mostly in mid-ranking positions in the Rangers...but in this kind of plenary meeting, too. Only sit obediently and honestly at the long table below. They may hate Igor to gnash the teeth, but they can't get the chief logistics officer who is far above them... This is completely different from being in King's Landing - "The power of potential enemies adds up to It's not as good as oneself, the situation is completely under the control of oneself", which is wonderful.
"I fully understand what happened to Castle Black while I was away, and thank you brothers for holding on to our base camp during the absence of the Rangers." Mormont cleared his throat and said, "Calling this In this meeting, in addition to praising the participants in this battle, there is also an important topic-about how we should deal with the follow-up attack of the wildling."
…
"The Chief Logistics Officer brought two cans of Wildfire from Castle Black a few days ago, and it has achieved amazing results in defense. If this substance can be supplied in sufficient quantities...wildling can't be close to the Wall half step at all." The Chief Affairs Officer turned his head. said.
The artisan agrees: "If the Wildfire is gone, a sufficient amount of pitch and lamp oil will have a similar effect."
"Bowyn, Osell, you're off topic. Maester Aemon coughed and shook his head. "When Commander Mormont said 'follow the wildling', he meant defending the entire Wall, not just the gate of Castle Black."
Mormont Nodding, affirming the explanation of the blind Maester: "The sharp-eyed people should have found out, I didn't bring back all the Rangers that I brought to Eastwatch. Why? Because before and after Castle Black was attacked, Eastwatch also suffered a lot of wildling attacks. . . more than Castle Black has encountered... Fortunately, our harbour stronghold has been built as a stone wall several decades ago to defend against sea attacks, with fortifications as support, and no simultaneous attacks from the north of the wall. Relying on the fighting of all brothers and the active attack of the Rangers, we repelled the attackers, but also paid a dozen casualties. In order to consolidate Eastwatch's defense, I left twenty Rangers there, only Bring back half of them. Jeremy Lake, let's report on Castle Black's defense to the west."
"There are wildlings all over the place, Harma with the dog head in Deep Lake, jingle shirts. Appeared in Nightfort, Weeper appeared in Icescar City, and there were wildlings along the Wall... They climbed near Queensgate for a while, and smashed the Greyguard wall for a while... But every time we arrived and went to the city, they ran away immediately, second day Re-active elsewhere." Jeremy said: "Fortunately, the defenders of Shadow Tower carried out your order and did not leave without AWOL, otherwise the west end of the Wall may have been lost... Mance's purpose was to spread our strength, and he almost succeeded. It's over."
Wall, under Mormont's command, survived the wildling's first round with caution, but Old Bear didn't take it easy: "That's basically what happened along Wall, and now we're completely Stuck in a rut, the number of enemies crossing the Wall into the land grant is likely outnumbered by members of the Night's Watch Legion, just because of training level and equipment is not yet a direct threat to us. They are roaming the land grant and we don't I can ignore it, but I can't stop it...Night's Watch not only protects the land, but also guards the Wall. As the masters of this land, we are so tight that we dare not send patrols on the site of oneself in the south of the wall. . If we can't find a solution, our watch will probably end before this winter comes. ”
“Night's Watch alone is powerless to solve the current predicament. said Igor. "We must ask the King and the Duke of Winterfell for help. The war in the south is over, and King Stannis will surely go north to help." "
"I have released all the crows that I can send, but the bad news came back - Storm's End was captured by an unidentified army sneak attack, and the occupiers raised the True Dragon flag of the previous dynasty, Known as the son of Rhaegar. As a member of Targaryen, Maester Aemon's tone could not hear the slightest fluctuation: "Reach has already recognized its identity and formed an alliance with it. I am afraid that King Stannis will choose to lead the army south and conquer his own fort. "
...
Damn, what the hell is going on? Igor's heart skipped a beat, another completely unplanned change, back in Wall for a few days, he's already I have a general understanding of the situation of Night's Watch - the more than 200 elites sent by the expedition without the Rangers did make Wall's defense situation a lot easier, but it only allowed the Night's Watch to last a few more days. Without foreign aid, this A war of 1000 against 100,000 will inevitably end in the wildling breakthrough Wall and enter the North. In that case, some plans and plans of oneself will be meaningless, and it will be completely useless!
"As for the princes of the North, it's not like they can't draw any manpower. "
"Now is the last autumn harvest before winter. Even if there are people, I'm afraid it will all be used to harvest the crops. How can we support us!" "
It's really terrible, the reason why oneself still chooses to go north to Castle Black after Stannis won King's Landing is because wildling is a huge and unowned human resource... These days, he often landed Looking up at Haunted Forest from the top of the Wall, in the eyes of countless Night's Watch colleagues, the "enemy" covering the mountains and plains, in his eyes, is the cheapest and most accessible labor force in the world.
However, these guys can Not a little kitty obedient and obedient, oneself beckons with the hand, showing friendliness and then throwing himself under his command, to conquer wildling, the key step is to first defeat it with overwhelming military superiority, and then slowly tame...
Stannis, who failed to enter the Lord's presence, can say such righteous words as "I should save the country and win the throne", and really put the declaration into practice... But now this man is concerned. The common Baratheon successfully sat on the Iron Throne, but because of various reasons such as "reaction to the outside world must be done first", he was unable to come to North to support?
Can you please stop being so ironic!
The plot is out of control Later side effects always appear at the most unpredictable moment, Igor felt like asking for trouble, gritted his teeth and continued to ask: "What about Lord Eddard Stark, he is the guardian of North, it is impossible to ignore the safety of oneself's site? ? "
"The North army is following Stannis south to Storm's End. The crow has wings, but the northerners don't. Even if they come back immediately after the war, they won't be able to reach the Wall in a month, and I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on to that." Long. ”
The latest news from Maester Aemon disrupted all of Igor's plans, and he frowned, puzzled over how to break the game.
…
Jon stood up from below: "We should negotiate with the wildlings, make a deal with them - Night's Watch opens the door to let them in, and they obey our laws. We have a common enemy, and in the coming winter, Wall needs the strength of every living being. "
"Put the wildling into the Wall?" Without a second pause, the voice of disapproval sounded immediately: "Lord Snow, I think you were dazed by that wildling woman whore!" "
Jon ignored his old rival's question, but looked directly towards the top executives of Night's Watch sitting at the front of the hall: "Commander Mormont, we captured a few people who attacked Castle Black alive a few days ago. Wildling, one of whom was interrogated and persuaded, agreed to confess to Mance's plan to attack Wall, but she would only do so in public. "
"'She'? What am I saying! I'm afraid it's not persuasion, it's sleeping clothes..."
Mormont patted the table, interrupting the sarcasm of a few Night's Watch who couldn't stand Jon: "Enough, bring that wildling up here. . ”
＊＊＊
The house was crowded with hundreds of people and there was still a lot of noise. Jon stood up and left the hall. After ten minutes, he brought back the man who was locked in shackles and handcuffs. The female wildling.
Everyone looks at the female wildling.
Ygritte is not as beautiful as the actors in the television drama, she has an ordinary round face and a lion nose , her eyes are widely spaced, and her teeth are not well-aligned. Her fiery red hair and those pretty blue-gray eyes barely add a bit to her... Even so, in Castle Black, who doesn't see women all the year round, she looks so handsome. Despite being worth more than the prostitutes in Mole's Town, she still managed to arouse the sexual interest of many Night's Watch guys.
Mormont looked at the captive for a while and asked, "Miss wildling...what's your name? name? "
"Ygritte." "
"Very well, Ygritte, is it true that Jon said you were willing to confess to Mance Rayder's plan to attack Wall?" "
"That's right. "
"You want to say it in public, now that almost everyone at Castle Black is here, let's get started." "
...
(The situation is not quite right.) Igor, who was observing Ygritte, quickly noticed the abnormality. He thought that Jon and Ygritte were special They are destined to know each other, so the oneself "don't know anything" can easily persuade the latter to provide Mance Rayder's attack plan... But looking at the expression of this wildling girl, where is there a half "confession" look?
If I had to describe it, Ygritte was more like a revolutionary martyr facing the reactionaries at the moment, standing on the execution ground, determined to be generous and arrogant.
If I hadn't known that it was impossible , Igor almost suspected that Ygritte was about to detonate the bomb on her body in the next second, and perished with the Night's Watch executives...so that her wildling companions could pass the Wall smoothly.
...
Ygritte looked around the room and confirmed that most of the Night's Watches were here, and then raised her head proudly and said, "Kneelers, you can't keep the Wall, if I were you, I would quickly open the city gates, take off the black clothed and surrender to Mance for a chance to live. "
Mormont waved his hand to stop the commotion of his subordinates, staring at Ygritte with a displeased expression: "I remember you came to confess Mance Rayder's attack plan, if you say nonsense, go back to the ice cell Go inside, but this time, we won't give you the fur. "
The threat seems to take effect, Ygritte paused, clearly swallowing what she was going to say.
"I have to admit, you crows are more capable than expected. much more. After deliberately breathing heavily to show disdain, the female wildling returned to the topic: "However, don't think that you can stop the freedmen. You are too few and we are too many. This time our attack on Castle Black was just a test, and Mance Rayder told us before he left...if this attack fails, he will not try again in vain, but will send ten thousand people to the sea to the east, in There, make rafts through the Bay of Seals, and attack Eastwatch from behind; send ten thousand people to the west to climb over the Gorge lightly, and attack the Shadow Tower from the south, and the remaining centaurs and mammoths will go to those fortresses that you have abandoned, ten thousand people. Several locations were started at the same time, digging through the blocked city gate and passing the Wall easily. At that time, even if you can fight ten times again, you will be overwhelmed by our crowd! "
"Half of those ten thousand will drown in the Bay of Seals, and half of the other will fall to the bottom of the Gorge." "
Ygritte snort disdainfully to this: "I don't really know how to count, but adding the two halves that survive, we can still have 10,000 people crossing the Wall and appearing behind you." "
"It's a good plan, if it's really implemented efficiently, we can't stop it." Mormont wasn't irritated at all: "Then why don't you just start?" With your numbers, attacking Castle Black while digging walls and mass overruns in various places, there is no pressure at all. ”
“Mance hopes that you can consciously lose to the enemy, so that you can send someone to negotiate on your own initiative!” "Ygritte said contemptuously: "In exchange, King-Beyond-the-Wall guarantees the safety of all the crow's lives... I know it's unlikely, but I suggest you think about it carefully, and if you have an idea, I can speak on your behalf ——"
"Talk about your mother's sentence! "Smith Noye roared immediately, suddenly stood up and poured a glass of water at the female wildling: "As long as we have a brother alive, the wildling will never be able to pass the Wall and set foot on our land!" "
"Your land? Ygritte dodged the water and screamed: "The free people have lived here for generations, and you suddenly came and built a wall to keep us out, and then claimed that the south of the wall is your land!" Isn't this a robber or what? "
"Shut up!" "Igor returned to reality from his musings, and angrily made an official call, interrupting the quarrel before more people roared.
No wonder Ygritte agreed so readily, she simply Not confessing to Mance's offensive plan, but demonstrating! Sadly, the wildlings have arrogance this time around. The idea of negotiating with them and trying to win them over was oneself in Jon's head at first, but was jeered Gritt was so excited that he couldn't put it on the agenda.
In fact, with Stannis not going north to support, Igor should think more about how to hold the Wall rather than conquer it. wildling: "Ygritte, I have some questions for you...why are you camping so close to Wall, does it have something to do with the Others? "
"We call it the White Walkers." Ygritte readily admitted, "Yes, the Freedmen camped close to Wall because we found that the closer the White Walkers were to Wall, the weaker they were. So far, they have not been recorded in the Wall one league, and even rarely appear with the living dead. "
Another guess came true, and Igor couldn't help but feel fortunate: oneself was able to kill the Others, was it also credited with "the battle location is very close to the Wall"?
" Let me guess, the reason why you don't take the digging wall is because there is simply too little time. Igor stared at Ygritte and said, "The bottom of the Wall is more than a hundred feet thick and contains a stone base. You must first find the gate that is blocked by Night's Watch, and then you can dig." The passages where the stones are stacked and watered are as solid as the whole stone after freezing, and it will take a lot of time even if you are allowed to dig. During the period, as long as the Night's Watch is slightly disturbed, the construction period will be delayed indefinitely. But as winter comes, the Others are getting stronger and stronger, and soon, they will be strong enough to ignore Wall's influence, and by then, even if you stick to Wall, you can't stop them from rushing into the camp Big kill, special kill, am I right? "
Ygritte was at a loss for words, staring at Igor for a while, snorted: "You don't understand anything, crow." "
"Yeah, I don't know anything, but I can see that time is on Night's Watch's side, even though you are far more numerous than us." Igor snapped his fingers feigning ease: "If there's no other valuable information to offer, take her along to withdraw, Jon." ”
——
[big chapter, made up for yesterday’s]
(end of this chapter)