Chapter 514

Chapter 514

2021-01-06

Chapter 514 quick sword cuts through tangled hemp (Part 1)
In the cold wind, Winterfell ended his suffering Another day of rebel siege.

The snowfall that has lasted for a few days has stopped, but the snow on the ground and the clouds in the sky will not disappear immediately. There are rays of light that absorb sound and block the stars and moon. After the sun sets between Heaven and Earth, that is called A sound of silence and darkness of the night. However, although the environment affected the performance of hearing and vision, the guards on the city wall were not very worried.

Standing on Winterfell's nearly 100-foot-high outer wall, the sentinel's vigilance outside the city does not depend on sound; as for the lack of moonlight, it is not a big problem: the land-grant rebels were born out of Night's Watch , the clothing is almost all pitch black, and the field surrounding the castle is just covered with snow - although the moonlight through the clouds is so weak that you can't see your fingers, it is enough to illuminate the snow field, in the strong contrast of black and white Even if the besiegers moved slightly, the traces would be as obvious as ink dripping on white paper, and it would be difficult to ignore.

......

"Igor is a son of a bitch, and he doesn't even know that disaster is imminent. He is probably sleeping with some wildling bitch hu hu." Joe Er moved his right hand, which was about to freeze, and said to his companion who was about to fall asleep, "Listen to Gaflen, who went out of the city with the 'negotiation team', in order to keep Igor unaware of the abnormality, Rodrik Ser not only spent more time discussing the details of the agreement with him today, but also made some small concessions on some key points. The rebel leader really thought he had taken advantage and was happy to keep them in command The ministry is drinking!"

"My friends who have been to the land-grant told me that Igor was hanging out with a red robe witch from Asshai, not a wildling bitch." He muttered happily, "Also—don't gossip with me, stay on duty. As long as Lord Bolton's army doesn't arrive for a day, the threat won't be lifted!"

"Yes, yes, threats. It's not over yet." Small talk is distracting, so you just go to bed? This idiot even shouted to catch the thief! Joel rolled his eyes, didn't pierce his companions, but continued to nagging: "Hey, by the way, how are you and your future father-in-law talk, when will you be able to marry Lisa home... so When I think about it, it seems that I haven't seen their father and daughter in the castle for a few days?"

"Evacuated to Castle Cerwyn." Feeling that the sleepiness was disturbed, Yagao did not continue to doze off. "That old man, relying on oneself's daughter is the most beautiful girl in Xueman Village, her eyes will grow to the top of her head, while talking about marriage with me, she is still unwilling to think about whether she can find someone with better conditions. I hate me for this, as if I, the dignified Winterfell guard, even wronged his daughter! Hmph, if I got married earlier, wouldn't it be possible to hide in Winterfell as a family member? Why bother walking on the snow for several dozen? Li Lu escaped to Castle Cerwyn!"

"Ai, I told you long ago that the old man is not dissatisfied with your conditions, just waiting for you to show that he is 'father-in-law' It's just an attitude. If someone else taught you to please the father-in-law and you wouldn't listen, how could there be so many twists and turns?"

"I married his daughter, not him, why? Being looked down on and trying to please him in a low voice?! This time, I must let this stinky temper know that not everyone is afraid that he will let him!"

"Hey, come on, if you are willing to do good things, then You can grind it." Joel pretended to comfort, but he shook his head and chuckled in his heart: he is really a stunner, beware of an orphan, "Hold on, don't be false, after this battle is over, with the reward and qualifications of guarding the winter's meritorious service , I must ask you to stop!"

"humph." Yagao didn't hear the ridicule and sarcasm in his companion's words at all, twitched his lips, "Better don't let me hear it, She hooked up with other bastards when she took refuge in Castle Cerwyn, otherwise..."

...

The single guard's cruel words are not finished, except for thinking "no" In addition to what should be followed, the main reason is that the sudden unexpected situation attracted attention: everything was normal outside the city wall, but in a completely unexpected direction - somewhere in the pitch-black castle behind you, A group of deep green flames suddenly lit up in the night, and the tongue of the liquid fuel ignited by a match ignited the hay and wood. , After a few breaths, it turned into a flame of three or four meters high.

With the sudden fire, screams also cut through the quiet night sky.

"Hey, it's on fire!"

It's on fire, which is rare for Winterfell where most of the buildings are made of stone, but it's the castle that catches the fire One of the few wooden buildings inside the stables. However, strange but strange, the guards who were familiar with the castle environment did not panic because of this. As permanent residents, they knew that the stables were located in the southwest corner of the school grounds, close to the granite inner wall, and there were no more wooden structures around. , and it is also far away from any houses that are hoarding winter supplies or inhabited... Even if the fire gets out of control, at most, the stable itself will be burned, and no further damage will be caused.

Well, no more damage - this conclusion is usually true, but not at this time.

It is different from normal: at this moment, there are three or four thousand people in Winterfell, and the nearby residents who have taken refuge in the city have set up tents and blankets and covered the city wall. The place - which naturally will not miss the largest and most conspicuous emptiness of the school grounds. The steward who arranged the construction of the camp did reserve an isolation zone between the stables and the refugee camp, so this accident was not likely to cause the tragedy of burning the company, but the planners obviously did not take into account: there are also "guests" in the stables .

As the fire grew bigger, it burned through the walls and spread into the stables. The bright flames and the pressing—no, the high temperature that forced the horses quickly made the horses who were concerned about them quickly became frantic and violent. When the sturdy warhorse took the lead in jumping over the fence and slamming into the gate to rush out of the fire sea under the instinct of survival, the school field soon became a pot of porridge with a neighing sound: no one died in the fire sea, but there were countless tents under the impact of the horses that were running away. Being knocked down and torn apart, a large number of refugee residents who had just woken up had been knocked down or trampled over by sturdy livestock before they could react to what happened.

Cries and cries, the sound of the collapse caused by the flames engulfing the corner of the stables... The original silence of the night has been completely torn to shreds, and the complete chain of disaster has just been pulled.

The casualties caused by the horses escaping from the stables and smashing into the refugee camp were insignificant, and the fear and confusion caused were truly terrifying. Many people who were still asleep a moment ago were frightened by the crying and screaming, and the fans were confused. I wanted to ask what happened, but no one answered, I turned around in my head, and finally took the safest way I could think of: escape.

No matter what happens, it's never wrong to stay out of danger!
This idea has no problem with the logic, but it ignores one point: the confusion caused by the herd effect is far more dangerous than the accident itself in many cases!
The first one, the second person started to flee, and soon led ten or twenty people, and this number expanded to dozens or hundreds at a faster rate... In the end, a game was not serious but the time it happened Small fires in just the right place turned into panic tsunamis. In this wave of people, the child could not find the mother, the husband and wife were washed away by the crowd, and even the reserve soldiers who were rushing to put out the fire from the distant guard room with buckets were also confronted. The flow of fleeing people came to be crowded...

It was necessary to gather people to frighten the horses, and to divide people to rescue the wounded. More soldiers had to be dispatched to maintain order and evacuate the crowd so that the firefighting team had to To be able to enter the venue smoothly, the small accident that could have been settled by ten people, after experiencing a mysterious development and dazzling strange evolution, finally turned into a game that even a hundred people could not solve. of chaos.

......

"Fuck! Isn't it just the stables that caught fire, how could it be like this?" The whole process of the incident fell into the eyes of the sentries on the fence, Joel was stunned, and then immediately became vigilant: "Agao, did you hear any noise just now, could it be an incendiary bomb thrown in by the trebuchets from the rebels outside the city. They are planning to attack while the chaos?"

"Impossible! The inner wall of Winterfell is a hundred feet high. If it was an incendiary bomb thrown in from outside the city, since it could pass such a high wall, it should have fallen closer to the middle of the castle. How could it be possible to set the stable next to the city wall that is sheltered by it on fire?" Yagao has limited understanding of the world, but his spatial imagination and estimation and judgment ability are quite good: "I think it should be some fool who is feeding the night grass to the horse. Turned over the oil lamp... Forget it, don't think about where the fire came from, I want to know more, do we people who are on duty at night need to help?"

"It shouldn't be necessary, if we also go to put out the fire, we will A rebel army took the opportunity to attack the city..."

This discussion did not last long, tonight's duty chief and the messengers from the main castle have appeared on the city wall in time, and began to solve the sentinel's problems. Confuse.

"Don't look like you've never seen a fire! Stick to your oneself post, don't look at it again, don't discuss it, and don't leave without permission!"

"Robb Your Excellency ordered that the sentinels on the walls do not need to be involved in firefighting, they should be vigilant and keep vigilance, he has already arranged for another manpower to deal with the fire!"

Two loud scoldings and a few firm and clear instructions were instantly suppressed. The commotion and doubts of the soldiers on the city wall. The chaos caused by the fire in the stables is indeed bad, but it will never change the incombustible chemical properties of granite. As for the residents who are running away, they are all loyal subjects of House Stark in the last ages, and there are absolutely no spies and spies among them. The wooden sheds were burnt down and there was no follow-up fuel, and the people running around were tired and sober, and the stampede incident would naturally end.

Compared to a trifling stable, the perfection and stability of the castle's overall defense system, ensuring that the rebels outside the city have no chance to take advantage of it, is a more important mission.

Careful and sophisticated choice, Robb's situational judgment and command ability at the tactical level can be seen from this. It's a pity that sometimes, some things can change the outcome without the parties making correct judgments and responses.

The sentries on the inner and outer city walls successively withdrew their gazes from the castle under the command and orders of the superiors, no longer looking at the burning stables and the chaotic school grounds, but continued to put in dull vigilance Not long after work, in a few flashes, a loud bang suddenly sounded under their feet and ears!

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(end of this chapter)