Chapter 284
2021-01-06
Chapter 284 A new way to goIn a dark cellar, you can't detect the change of the sky, but the time actually It's getting late, and there's not much time left to vote for Castle Black Night's Watch.
There are over two hundred votes left, and if no choice has been made at dinner, the owner of those votes will be considered abstaining - in which case Yohn Royce may vote with over five hundred Vote over the "2/3/2022" line to win Lord Commander in an alternative way.
Igor didn't want to rush all the way back to Castle Black, spit out a meal and offended the conservative leaders to death, but lost the fight because of lack of time.
He stopped arguing with Ser Mallister, approached Robb, and led them out of the lobby on the grounds of showing them Castle Black and settling in, leaving the venue for the voting to take place.
As soon as you see it.
I have already said what I have to say, and what I can do is too late to do it before sunset... The rest, I will leave it to Jon and Sam, who have been in Castle Black all the time. As long as oneself leaves the hall, no matter what the bosses say or do, if they don't face the face and get no response, they will turn into the barking of a defeated dog, and they will never erase or even overwhelm the impression and influence left by oneself's barking in public. .
＊＊＊
Robb went to the top of the Wall first.
The existence of ghouls is a well-known fact in North, but the shock of seeing the lone one in a wooden cage and placed on the carriage by Commander Mormont across the railing... ...and visiting the top of the Ice Wall, overlooking the ruins of the battlefield where the ghouls first attacked The Wall in the last ages, is simply impossible to compare.
The active ghoul was summoned by Others and returned to Haunted Forest early, and most of them are now chasing and killing the only living people in Haunted Forest. Although the north of the Wall is extremely cold, the climate is much drier than the south. A few fine snows failed to completely cover the traces of the war. The corpses burned black by Wildfire and fuel oil are dotted in the snow under the corner of the wall. One after Another trace of normal or distorted human form, the wooden fence originally built by Night's Watch to temporarily contain wildlings was completely turned into scorched ashes under the dual action of fire and magic, but the remaining traces even mixed with layers of thin snow. The mud still showed an obvious dark color, and looking down from the top of the Wall, it seemed that some huge presence had marked the entrance with a huge ink dot outside the passage through the ice wall, reminding the attackers where the gate was.
...
This is Robb's first time back at the Wall.
The shock of witnessing the greatest creation of mankind and the touch of seeing the traces of Life and Death Battle superimposed, the effect is far stronger than one plus one.
In the last ages, no North Guardian has ever faced such a situation. "Unprecedented crisis", in this brief moment, suddenly changed from a sentimental and public cliché to a real challenge at hand. The family language of House Stark also changed from a motto reminding family members to maintain a sense of crisis at this moment to an objective description of reality.
"It really is... winter is coming." Robb's eyes became serious, he realized that Igor had reported to him before, without exaggeration or alarmism, the actual situation may be more than oneself imagined before. Worse.
"No, my lord, winter has come." Igor shook his head: "Beyond the wall before we catch ghouls alive and show them to the king and Seven Kingdoms nobles to prove the crisis is coming. They have been fighting these ghosts for maybe more than a year... They have gone through the whole process of dead people from in small groups to thousands of people, and they are very familiar with how to deal with dead people. So, when organized When they were in a group, even the Others only dared to attack after dark. But the day when the ghouls attacked the city in a big way was the day when the last group surrendered to the wildling and entered the city. Our enemies are very smart and understand that when humans have a way to retreat, they will They would lose the will to resist and just run for their lives. They took advantage of the right time to attack, and almost rushed into the tunnel through Castle Black with the fleeing and defeated beyond the wall people. It continues to develop."
"I've heard about this, it seems...that the clan that attacked Commander Mormont had members locked out of the walls by iron gates."
Igor nod: "I'm sorry for their loss of relatives, but that's not the reason why they violated the land-grant laws and caused us great trouble. I've ordered that the remaining members be detained that day as well. The clans outside the iron gates are on guard and monitoring to make sure they don't threaten the stability of the land grant again."
That's fine, Robb nods, holding the railing over the edge of the Wall, looking like Will be blown down at any time by the strong wind Arya pulled back.
The girl looked worried: "Is there anyone else outside the wall?"
"Theoretically, there are thousands to 10,000 wildlings who choose not to believe King-Beyond-the -Wall and Night's Watch, broke away from the army and went to find their own way."
"Aren't they dead?"
"Maybe, but people have to The choice of oneself is responsible."
......
The fate of tens of thousands of people is summed up in such a light sentence. Arya is protected by countless people and does not often come into contact with the cruelty of this real world. After listening to the silence for a while, he murmured: "Can't the following people be sent to collect the bodies of those people?"
"Yes, but considering that the Others have a Magic that can freeze steel, a few gates are not safe. After the last living person passed the Wall, we closed the channel entrance." Igor He answered frankly, not only answering the girl's question, but also expressing his position to Robb again: "I am a realistic person, and I care more than those who have died tragically outside the wall, or who may still be struggling if they refuse to surrender. The people who are still alive inside the wall. The weather is cold, and the corpse will not rot and cause disease or stench. In this case, compared to collecting the corpses of the enemy and allies under the wall outside the wall, I think Night's Watch is behind all the policies, The protection of the Wall, the protection of our Night's Watch brother and the land-grant residents...and the safety of North should be the number one priority."
He thought for a while, then added, "Commander Mormont also recognizes me. That idea, so we have the land-grant resettlement program, and the loan contract with Braavos...and even a series of arrangements along the Wall."
If someone other than oneself becomes the Lord Commander, these The long-term arrangement for defending North is likely to be overhauled or even overturned... This is too revealing. It is best to let Robb oneself realize this.
"That's great, tell me more about the other defense arrangements you've made along the Wall."
＊＊＊
To Night's As far as Watch is concerned, the North Guardian is the real king. Although I was extremely apprehensive about the private relationship between Igor and House Stark, I learned early from the letter from Winterfell that the Chief Affairs Officer of the Northern Tour and other senior Castle Black executives were still ready to receive the entire group...Leading Robb to bring Castle After Black walked around and settled hundreds of people with the help of Bowen Marsh and Orsel and the others, the results of the vote finally came out.
First place went to Yohn Royce with 584 votes, second place went to Warner Buckwell with 210 votes and third place went to Igor West with 160 votes Thirteen votes.
Dozens of votes were not cast in the end and were considered abstentions.
Warner Buckwell's over 200 votes all came from staunch supporters of the reformists. These people either really want reform or are related to Igor's interests, so naturally there is no need to mention it... And Igor The more than 100 votes of oneself are the neutral watchers he won after he appeared. As for Yohn Royce's nearly 600 votes, almost all came from Igor's return to Castle Black. He directly won nearly 450 votes in the morning, and then won a large number of Castle Black at an average speed of 20 to 30 votes per hour. Soldier support...everything pointed to his imminent selection as Lord Commander, but this good rhythm was cut short when Igor showed up unexpectedly in time and publicly questioned the abilities of him and the two commanders who supported him.
Yohn didn't take his best chance to win, and with Igor's high-profile announcement of his candidacy - predictably tomorrow, even if both commanders still support Yohn Royce, he won't be able to win again select. On the contrary, Igor will definitely get more votes than today.
The plan to stop the Lord Commander from being born has not gone bankrupt thanks to several coincidences and efforts, but there is still a long way to go. After cleaning up Robb's entire group and settling in thoroughly, Igor returned to the tower where oneself lived, and called all the key figures and think tanks in his camp to discuss the follow-up plan. The discussion continued until late at night... The details were determined s arrangement.
The last one to leave was Sam. Before he left, he provided Igor with some supplementary details. When the broad back of Little Fatty disappeared from view, Igor was facing the cold Castle Black night sky. He let out a long breath and turned back to the house.
......
Before closing the door, a female voice suddenly sounded: "Master Chief Logistics Officer, your meeting is finally over."
Igor Holding the door, he raised his eyebrows unexpectedly: "Ms. Melisandre? Uh... good evening."
It feels a little strange to say good evening, it's already midnight, it's time to say good night.
Red WomanN nodded in greeting, then shrugged, "Let's talk here?"
"Oh, please come in."ight's Watch hurriedly moved out of the door.
The woman laughed, tucked the hem of her red robe, gracefully crossed the threshold, and entered the hot, manly room.
In the middle of the night, a male and a female together alone ... Igor's mind was confused for a few seconds before closing the door.
He's not afraid of gossip.
Melisandre was not polite at all. When Igor turned around, she was already sitting in the chair opposite oneself's desk.
What is she doing here? Igor was a little confused for a while, but he walked back to the table as usual and sat down again.
"Ms. Melisandre, how's your injury the other day?"
The ice spear that Others threw to kill her only scratched the skin, but with a It hurt Melisandre in a way Igor couldn't understand, so much so that she didn't reappear long after she was sent back to the room, so Igor asked.
"Thanks to the Lord, it's all right." Melisandre smiled softly, looking very good, "speaking of which, Lord, you really saved my life that day, but I didn't. Until you left Castle Black and headed south, you didn't express your gratitude in person, I'm rude, please bear with me."
"Seriously, Ms. Melisandre has a magical power and her heart against the enemy of mankind, you are here. Castle Black is a blessing to all Night's Watches, whoever chooses to save you."
It's really weird that a man and a woman are alone in a room late at night, but they're just saying some nutritious clichés. Probably aware of this as well, Melisandre sneered: "Okay, speaking of which, the logistics officer and I should be old friends, don't be so businesslike, can't you just be casual."
Igor doesn't know anything about Melisandre's origins, but the age-enigmatic woman appears to be in her mid-twenties and thirties, fully mature but not yet aging. And she knows very well how to show the charm of mature women, her demeanor and speech are charming but not slutty, and she is decent but full of charm.
is it possible that, she is here tonight with oneself...Igor knows that is impossible, but honestly, in a boring place like Wall, a normal man is in the same room with such a woman late at night, It's hard not to have an idea.
He pressed Qi Nian and smiled: "Since you said that, then I will not be seen outside - it's so late, what can I do for you?"
"Lord Logistics Officer scolded the two commanders in the cellar in the afternoon, which is really admirable. However, you are so happy to scold you like that. The two commanders, Ser Mallister and Lord Cotter, are absolutely impossible to vote again. I voted for you, just now I noticed that there was a long meeting in this room, I wonder if you and your friends can discuss the next steps?"
In terms of pure motivation , There are few people in the world who can be more free of distractions than the believers of Red God. Melisandre is concerned with Wall affairs, which is normal.
It stands to reason that Igor should not tell outsiders what he just discussed with his supporters, but considering that the witch in front of him is likely to suspect that oneself is the Child of Prophecy, she should not do anything against oneself. thing.
"Tomorrow, Warner Buckwell will drop out of the election, and the votes that belonged to him will go to me... so I would be conservatively estimated to get between four and five hundred votes. Even if two One of the commanders succeeded in persuading the other party to support oneself, and I'm pretty sure that this person is still not selected."
"From what I have observed in Castle Black these days, what you assume is the situation It's hard to happen, the length of time the grievances between the two commanders have accumulated, I'm afraid it's not younger than your age, it's impossible for them to turn to support the other person because of your presence." Melisandre: "But what I want to ask is, that After that? The Night's Watch Legion has been slow to choose the Lord Commander. With no leader, the Wall defense is in a very rigid and dangerous state... It is fortunate that the enemy did not take the opportunity to attack during this period, but this is not a long-term solution. You have to take the Lord Commander quickly, for everyone!"
is "You have to take the Lord Commander quickly", not "Someone has to take the Lord Commander quickly. Take it down", Igor stared at Melisandre with interest, wondering when the witch became a supporter of oneself, nodded, and continued to talk about his next plan.
"I'm hoping that either of the two commanders will suddenly wake up and vote for me, but that's unlikely. Right now, the first thing I'm counting on is that Robb Stark agrees to all of them along the Wall. The general election of the fortresses can expand my advantage a little, but unfortunately I can't go to Shadow Tower and Eastwatch to scold their commanders one by one... Therefore, the people who will vote for me in these two fortresses are not different. There would be too many. So, I was prepared to have 400 votes that I would never get."
"The one-person-vote proposal is likely to be accepted, but there is no reason for Stark to change to get 2.
"Reverse thinking." Igor smiled mysteriously: "Get 2/3/2022 votes. , isn't it 'suppressing the votes that don't vote for oneself below one third'? We can do this by reducing the number of opponents, but there is actually another way to go - increasing The total number of people who have the right to vote, make the proportion of these four hundred votes smaller!”
——
(end of this chapter)