The king on the Great Wall

Page 180

***

Roose Bolton returned to the horse, beckoned to his entourage and guards, and led a group of followers onto their mounts. After nodding to Varys, he turned around and returned on the same road without hesitation.The strength of the snow and the wind neither increased nor decreased. In the ice crystals that were blown all over the sky by the air current, their backs were soon gradually covered by white and disappeared from sight.

"Okay, let's go back."

After standing there for a while watching the guests leave, Varys also greeted the escorting Unsullied, turned and walked towards the castle.

Frankly speaking, Varys has no ill feeling towards the wolf family, and even has a little respect and liking for it. After all... If everyone in the world is as decent and simple-minded as the Starks, then a conspirator like himself is living in heaven up.This time, the reason why they will help the Bolton family to make plans to subvert Stark is just because: it is better to get the second best than nothing.With the sudden attack of the land-grant army and the high probability of bankruptcy of the queen's southward return plan, he urgently needs an effective stop loss plan-and taking advantage of the trend to gain influence on the northern border is the most attractive option.

When it comes to the influence of taking this piece of land that accounts for one-third of the Seven Kingdoms, two cold and regrettable facts are placed in front of the octospider: [-]. The original chief family, no matter how upright or upright or Simple-minded, the independence and widespread love and support brought about by their "orthodoxy", doomed them not to look at outsiders and only need to make decisions based on their own interests, and it takes a lot of energy to control them.[-]. Right now, Petyr Baelish, my biggest enemy in the queen's court, has a much stronger relationship with the Stark family than myself. If the wolf family is not eliminated, one of the seven kingdoms in the north will inevitably Will become a helper to others and a stumbling block to oneself.

There are two reasons, just one of which is enough to make people want to kill, and both of them...then it is the most beneficial choice for me to kill the boss and support the second.

Roose Bolton is the partner and elder brother who came to the door. No matter how cunning and capable this guy is, he will have to face hostility and opposition from the rest of the Stark family after he replaces the Stark family - the position is unstable , which means that he needs the support of external forces, and after accepting the support of external forces, he will inevitably need to repay in other forms.The change of ownership in the Northern Territory not only turned it into its own political resources, but also reduced its threat to the new dynasty in the future through turbulent and chaotic ways—whether the king is Daenerys or Aegon, it can be said that Kill two birds with one stone!

……

After going through his mind to confirm that there was no logical problem in his hasty choice, Varys withdrew his thoughts about the northern border, and turned his brainpower to another more important thing—reflection.

Is it really accidental bad luck that the plan goes awry, or is it the inevitable result of something going wrong?

Whether it is the queen's sudden strike not long ago, dove the historic meeting with Prince Aegon, or the upcoming variable southward return plan, the root cause of the two "accidents" is the cause of the two "accidents", The whole thread of development and outcome is so clearly defined that it seems unquestionable.But digging a little deeper, the first valuable self-reflection results quickly surfaced.

The Queen attaches great importance to that guy named Iger, and Varys has already realized this. Apart from the fact that the content in the "The Monarch" he presented is really inspiring and appealing to Daenerys, there is actually another A very important factor - as a monarch, Daenerys probably feels that there is still a lack of some figures in her camp who can stand on the stage.

Members of the Queen's Court so far: Petyr Baelish, Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Varys, Chief of Intelligence, Gray Worm, Commander of the Unsullied and Free Folk Legions, Admiral Grole, and other officials in charge of the rest A few things, etc... Among them, Littlefinger's reputation in Westeros has long been rotten; "Octospider" is obviously not a good reputation; the Unsullied as a former slave with limbs is even more disgusting to the residents of the Seven Kingdoms ; the rest are either foreigners or unknown people... Daenerys also left her favorite Dario Naharis in Meereen instead of bringing it back to Westeros, isn't it because of growing mature Her political savvy made her realize clearly: a handsome mercenary leader who is good at bed can't help him take back the Seven Kingdoms, but his concubine status will damage her image as a queen?

Compared with this group of messy people, the White Ghost Killer, the commander-in-chief of the Great Wall garrison, the founder of the Night Watchman industry, the hero who led the black shirts to fight against wildlings and ghouls... Iger Weiss, who has gathered so many images in one body Special, obviously much more on the stage.

[I want to fight for a positive person to support the scene and prove that I am not a bad person.There is nothing wrong with the idea, it's just that there is a little bit of indiscrimination. 】——This is Varys' initial judgment on Daenerys' emphasis on the night watchman.But now, after arriving at the Great Wall and the Land-Gift by boat for a while, after personally observing and talking face-to-face with the Night Watchmen soldiers, and witnessing the land-grant army crossing the border to surprise Winterfell today... After regaining consciousness and thinking carefully, he was surprised Surprisingly, I discovered that many descriptions of this foreign commander-in-chief in the rumors were not fictional or exaggerated.

The queen is probably more sober and assertive than I imagined. Such a strong man with strong ideas and courage, a strong soldier in his hand and a flexible mind is indeed worthy of her favor and fighting for it at any cost!

Then I continued to dig out relevant information centered on Iger West, and the second result came to my mind: my game of chess started to go wrong, and it seemed that it started when this night watchman came to King's Landing.

Could it be that this guy was playing tricks from beginning to end?

Varys shook his head, throwing this idea out of his mind - it doesn't make sense, Iger was just a soldier of the night watchman at the time, and he had no reason or ability to interfere with his plan. Instead of guessing suspiciously and randomly, it's better to continue looking for problems from himself , See if there is anything wrong with your performance during this time.

Reflections still quickly yielded results: I have been too eager for success in the past few months, either persuading Daenerys to marry Aegon to achieve the ultimate goal once and for all, or competing with Littlefinger for the right to be in front of the Queen. Discourse weight, but ignores other external variables and the emergence of potential opponents.When the commander-in-chief successfully wins Winterfell and the Northern Territory as a nomination certificate before officially joining the Queen's command, he is afraid that he will instantly become one of the people who are most close to and respected by Daenerys.At that time, according to the Queen's consistent importance and trust in this person, the situation in the imperial meeting may change from "two strong contenders" to "three-legged confrontation" in an instant!

And the more talented people around the queen, the more her reliance on herself as the minister of intelligence and her desire for support from Prince Aegon and his golden group will be diluted and weakened!The difficulty of controlling her will also rise sharply, and I will be farther and farther away from achieving my ultimate goal!

Suddenly realizing this, Varys broke out in a cold sweat, and immediately forced himself to calm down and think about the countermeasures: how sure is he of being able to win over this dark horse that is about to squeeze into the Queen's court?

Judging from the political inclination shown in that "The Monarch", Iger and I are probably not the same people; and looking at the interpersonal relationship and social circle, the probability of becoming friends with each other is not high; and then analyzing the characters' personalities based on the existing information , this smart and strong guy probably won't be able to fool around...

From this point of view, there is also a third reason for him to deal with the Stark family.

Those who are difficult to win over must be weakened—only if Iger's plan to conquer the northern border for Daenerys fails, can his ability and weight in the eyes of the Queen be reduced; in addition to reducing his own threat, he may also I have to think of some way to alienate and provoke the relationship between him and Littlefinger, and prevent these two "friends of the Stark family" from coming together to deal with me... Only in this way can I ensure that the maintenance of the situation will not run counter to my expectations and go.

It was clear what was to be done, but he felt rather badly: for, again, he seemed to be scrambling to deal with the unexpected.

"Damn!"

Complaining in a low voice that no one could hear, Varys walked into the opened gate of Last Hearth City without looking back, with a sullen face, and went to report to Daenerys... The Bolton family took the initiative to surrender. information.

-

Chapter 506 Spear and Shield

Inside the cold and thick granite walls, Winterfell has entered a state of intense preparations that has not been seen for many years.

This ancient castle, which has served as the capital of the northern border for many years, is said to have been built by "Fortress Builder" Brandon with the help of giants. According to historical records, it has been surrounded and attacked by most of the old families in the northern border, and has never fallen... But, This impressive record cannot reassure the city defenders at this moment, because what they are about to face is also an enemy that has never appeared in recorded history.

The night watchmen rebelled, and the savages also crossed the Great Wall...Similar things are rare in terms of frequency, but as long as you are willing to expand the time span and make macro statistics, they all happened more than once or twice.But this time, for the first time in thousands of years: the commander-in-chief of the Night Watch Corps led the wildlings who used to live outside the Great Wall, crossed the border between the land-grant and the northern border, and passed the original northern barrier of Winterfell—it was no longer in the northern border. The last hearth city leader in the hands of the people, drove straight in, and came to the hinterland of the northern border aggressively!

On one side is a strong city that has not fallen through the ages, and on the other side is the first commander-in-chief of the Night Watch who repelled the White Walkers in history, and a powerful figure second only to Azor Ahai in the hearts of people in the North.The sharpest spear stabs the strongest shield, who will have the last laugh?No one dares to make random predictions, but what is certain is that the defenders are about to usher in a tough battle.

***

Under the fire, the temperature inside the main castle hall was much warmer than outside. Robb Stark was standing with Sir Rodrik and Clay Seven, facing the battle to restore the northern terrain. Sand table, discussing with a dignified expression how to deal with the engulfing night watchman rebellion.

Originally, there would be fewer people attending the meeting, but fortunately, Seven City is less than half a day away from Winterfell, and the new city lord brought people here immediately after receiving the call from Winterfell, so he arrived here before dark yesterday , joined the castle defenders, and became the only reinforcement that arrived before the enemy.

Not long ago, this hall was full of princes from all walks of life who came from all over the world to participate in the battle against the White Walkers but missed the Battle of Long Lake one step too late. Their thousands of troops stationed outside the city made Lindong The city seems to be in a sea of ​​tents.But in order to save food, and at the same time want to paralyze Iger and fool him to carry out the "expedition outside the Great Wall" as usual, Robb Stark announced at that time that he agreed to remain neutral, ordered the end of the state of war, and held several meetings with the princes After confirming the plan to subvert the land grant, a large number of troops were sent home.

At that time, Robb was quite proud of "being able to solve the matter with as little bloodshed as possible". Now it seems that this decision simply responded to the phrase "being clever is wronged by cleverness"-I wanted to let Iger relax his vigilance. , In fact, he is the real idiot whose vigilance has been let down.The so-called expedition beyond the Great Wall was probably a complete scam from the very beginning, and I... was naively waiting for it to really start until the day before yesterday!

……

"It's too late, it's too fast." Clay Seven didn't know the annoyance in Robb's heart at the moment. He looked at the map carefully, measured it with his hands for a while, and then said his conclusion, "After the scouts find the whereabouts of the rebels, we need to Only by returning to the nearest outpost with a crow cage can you use the raven, and it will take half a day for the raven to fly to Winterfell... That is to say: when you receive the information from the front line, my lord, the land-grant army has already rushed back in reality. It's been a day's journey."

"According to some clues, it can be judged that the rebels should have set off from Houguan Town in the early morning four days ago, and they were able to enter our security range in just two days, which shows that the marching speed of the troops led by Iger is quite fast. And if we can maintain this speed all the way..." The young Earl of Seven City picked up the chess piece that symbolized the land-grant army, and moved it to a point between Crown Town and Winterfell: "The enemy has probably already Halfway through the journey, there are only three days left before us—or even shorter!”

Robb's hand on the edge of the table clenched his fist, then loosened it again: "How far has the production of the dragon hunting crossbow progressed?"

"Start to do it." Rodrik shrugged helplessly, "King Stannis can send out blueprints when King's Landing is blocked, which is already at the limit. Without the guidance of experts who have designed or manufactured real objects, then A few craftsmen whose heads are made of wood, it took a long time to understand the blueprints, and optimistically, it will take a week or two."

This is just an optimistic estimate, in fact, it will be difficult for a month...Of course, the old jazz never imagined that the person who knows the best dragon hunting crossbow in the world is in the midst of the "Night Watch Rebels", traveling at a speed of dozens of miles a day. He rushed towards Winterfell.

"Didn't it mean that the remaining two dragons haven't healed yet? It should be in time." Earl Seven asked anxiously. The Dragon Hunting Crossbow of Winterfell appeared above his head before the assembly was completed, so it was better to surrender honestly.

"Will the Tallharts' army arrive in time?" Robb sighed and asked another question with a serious face.

This is the second closest to him, and the only remaining vassal who may arrive before the rebels approach the city.

"The theoretical time required from Torrhen's Square City to Winterfell is also three days." Clay Seven, as an authentic northerner, naturally knows these data clearly, "but this assumes that Earl Tallhar On the premise of leaving immediately after receiving your message. But in fact... Raven may have an accident, it takes time to assemble the army, and the most obvious difference: the road between Torrhen's Square City and Winterfell City, neither After repairs, no one was arranged to remove the snow.”

The hall fell silent, and the three people in front of the map table were all generals who could act alone.They have experienced countless wars, and they have all seen many cases of "attacking them by surprise". After discovering the traces of the enemy in advance, it is still too late to make an effective response. This is really embarrassing to the extreme!

This kind of advance of thousands of miles ahead of the times and the in-depth attack of a lone army was taken by another person. The few people present must have been drinking and eating meat, while organizing the tactical arrangement of closing the door and beating dogs, laughing and saying that this is coming. die.But, by chance, it was Igger West, the commander-in-chief of the night watchman, an old friend and defender of the northerners, who came back. For some reason—they all felt a strange and indescribable vague sense of fear and powerlessness haunting their hearts .

"This bastard." The head coach of Winterfell said with a livid face, "Back then he repaired the traffic arteries between the land grant and the northern border, shortening the travel time between Houguan Town and Winterfell from two weeks to one week. At that time, I am afraid that I have already begun to prepare for this day! Maybe even the Last Hearth City..."

"Well, don't talk about that," Robb interrupted the old ser.Building roads is for rebellion?This is too far-fetched, you know - when Iger offered to repair the northern section of the King's Road for free, he was not the commander-in-chief of the night watchman.As for the second half of the sentence, he probably knew what the old man was trying to say: Maybe even the final capture of Hearth City by the dead was part of Iger's plan, and even the White Walker was just a pawn in the traitor's hands.

This is a bit too demonizing the opponent, anyway, he doesn't believe it.

Of course, believe it or not, it is a fact that the night watchmen have set off a rebellion now. As the target of the rebellion and the first to bear the brunt, Robb will naturally not be so bored as to defend the enemy. How many soldiers are there in total?"

When the master asked, Rodrik had no choice but to give up attacking the enemy, and quickly gave an answer: "I personally led people, and urgently recruited young and strong from the surrounding winter towns. There are more than a hundred people, and now there are nearly a thousand fully equipped warriors in the castle, and there are hundreds of people who can help with farm tools and sticks."

"Severn City could have sent more people, but when I received the letter yesterday, I didn't know that the rebels were still three days away from Winterfell. I thought the situation was urgent, so I appointed the acting city lord to let him continue to recruit soldiers. Good elites came to support directly!" Thinking that Robb thought there were too few people, Clay Seven hurriedly explained: "If this is not enough, Seven City still has time to gather another 500 people!"

"No need, Seven City needs to be guarded by people! Besides, to guard the castle, it is always enough to have enough people, not more is better." Probably because he found that the atmosphere was a bit heavy, Rodrik was determined to boost the prince's spirit. Fighting spirit, "With all due respect to Lord Robb, with the two-story high wall of Winterfell, let alone that Iger only brought a few thousand people, even if it is multiplied by ten times, before the food in the castle is exhausted-he will not I want to step in half a step!"

"That's right." Earl Seven also realized this, and also raised his voice, "One thousand elites versus five thousand savages, this kind of quantitative comparison, even Seven City can rest easy, let alone a city with double walls. Dong! Let's just hold on and wait until the armies of the other adults come together to break the siege, so that Iger can't escape with his wings!"

Judging from the numbers, the odds of winning this war are indeed great, but Robb has a little understanding of Iger's temper and character, and has also seen the various magical methods used by the Night Watchman against the ghoul army.It was hard for him to imagine that such an opponent, who never did anything uncertain, would foolishly lead thousands of people to Winterfell to smash down the two granite walls of his house.One thousand defenders is indeed enough for Winterfell to stand firm until next year under the regular attack, but deep down in his heart, he couldn't help worrying: Is that guy who used to be his friend ready to deal with Winterfell? The ways and means of the city?

"The people who made the crossbow rushed to work all night, and put all the helpful people they could find nearby into this work. Give what you want, the sooner the better! Also, send another letter to Earl Taulha, calling He doesn't want to lead the army straight to Winterfell, first discuss with other adults the time and place to meet up..."

The guard outside the door suddenly knocked on the door and reported loudly: "Lord Robb, Maester Luwin is asking to see him, saying that there is important news from the Dreadfort!"

-

Chapter 507 Countermeasures

Leaning on the railing on the second floor of the guest room, Arya looked down at the busy Winterfell.

She had hoped that this was a nightmare, but unfortunately she was still in it when she woke up.

All the gates were open, and the residents who had taken refuge poured in. Soldiers wearing various armors rushed to arrange defenses. In the open space where the castle's standing army usually practiced, countless men, women and children had already followed a certain order under command. Unload luggage with distribution, set up tents for settlement...

It's winter, and there are tens of thousands of people living in winter shelters outside the city wall to resist the severe cold.When the news of the land-grant rebels going south suddenly came, everyone's first reaction was to squeeze into the castle for refuge, but the Stark family's city couldn't accommodate so many people, so the defenders ordered the residents to take refuge after consulting the lord. Distinguishing arrangements: Most of those who can walk will be evacuated to the direction of Seven City and Torun Square City, and these two families will find other ways to arrange; while those who are not suitable for long-distance travel may be able to contribute to city defense Young adults and skilled workers were guided into the castle to live temporarily.

In order to allow as many residents as possible to enter the city to escape the war, the guards made the best use of every inch of space in the castle. Even the sons and daughters of the Stark family temporarily gave up their private bedrooms at the request of their brother Robb. , and instead squeezed into a room with brothers and sisters...

However, compared to the annoyance and anguish of being forced to share a bed with Sansa, Second Miss felt more indescribable anger and humiliation at the moment.

A few weeks ago in Houguan Town, when she heard that Iger had bowed to the mad king's daughter, she was so angry that she swore that she would never speak to that liar again in her life.But the momentary anger came and went quickly. After returning safely to Winterfell, and then calm and boring for a few days, Arya quickly defended the other party in her mind: Maybe she misunderstood the master, he was It was a play of swearing allegiance to trick the mad king's daughter into riding a dragon to deal with the dead.When the war is over, he will do what he promised himself at the beginning: kick the Mad King's daughter away, and continue to be his commander-in-chief of the Night Watch, a loyal guard of the Seven Kingdoms, and a reliable friend of the Stark family.

In the little girl's strange brain, she had even thought about it in advance-how to pretend to accept Iger's apology and explanation reluctantly when the two meet next time, and finally choose to forgive him and return to the relationship with him. good.As the price, he must be asked to immediately find a way to help him dissolve the engagement, and let him become the first female night watchman... Well, he must also take him to travel around the world!

……

Arya never imagined that she didn't wait for any of the scenarios in her imagination to come true. Instead, she waited for the news that Iger led the savage army to announce the rebellion and went straight to Winterfell!

Unlike Robb, the coach of Winterfell, Clay Seven... what these men think is different, she didn't think about "how to defend Winterfell", "how to deal with possible dragon", "how to suppress this night watchman rebellion" and so on.The first thought that popped into Arya's mind was: Iger, all these years of kindness, protection, and companionship to me...was it all fake love, all he pretended to get to where he is today?

Is it true that I am annoying, but because I am Miss Stark, I have the qualification to be deceived by the people around me?So when a woman with a higher status and higher value appears, will I become the one who is really kicked away?

The friend she made in King's Landing, Margaery Tyrell, eventually poisoned her father; now, the closest man in her life besides her father and brother also set off a rebellion against the Stark family.Could it be... I was born destined to bring disaster to my family?

My mind was full of random thoughts, and Arya, who felt that she had been abandoned and made a broom star, became more and more aggrieved, and a warm liquid couldn't help but burst out of her eye sockets.

Blinking hard, Arya made up her mind to hold back.She is Miss Stark, one of the best female swordsmen in the Seven Kingdoms... She will fight back with weapons instead of tears to those who dare to deceive and hurt herself.Next time you see that guy, make sure to let him know how sharp and sharp the Needle is!

After another sniff, she saw Maester Luwin hurrying from his tower across the school grounds towards the main keep.

Could it be that something new happened?

Iger is still dozens of miles away, although she can't wait to stab him dozens of times with the bayonet, but in fact she has nothing to do right now... After thinking about it, Arya left the railing and ran downstairs , Sa Yazi ran tens of meters and caught up with the bachelor.

"Master Luwin, any news from the north?"

She wished the bachelor told her that the previous alarm was just a misunderstanding, and Iger was still serving as his commander-in-chief at the Great Wall, but the old man looked back at her and shook his head: "It's not news from the north, it's from the east." face."

"What is it?"

Master Luwin shook his head: "Arya, at a time like this, a good boy should go back to his room and stay there instead of running around. There are so many people in the castle right now, it's not very safe."

"I want to help!"

The old man shook his head and stopped preaching to the girl. He just climbed up the steps into the main castle and walked up to the guards.

The old bachelor has served Winterfell for more than 20 years, and every young man in this castle has been watched by him, so although the two guards reached out to stop him, they still explained in a friendly tone: "Master Luwin, Several adults are discussing the war in the hall and ordered no interruptions."

"I have important news from the Dreadfort, something to do with the war."

The maester in charge of Raven of Winterfell said there was important news, so there must be important news. The guard didn't doubt it at all. He turned around and knocked on the door with his fists: "Lord Robb, Maester Luwin asked to see him. Important news from the Dreadfort!"

Robb's permission to enter quickly came from behind the door. The guards opened the door for the maester, and Arya nimbly squeezed Luwin's arm and got in together.

"Arya, what are you doing here?"

"I... come here to listen to what you have to say, and promise not to interrupt."

Robb frowned and looked at the little sister, but he didn't bother to pursue her untimely appearance, so he turned his attention back to the bachelor - after nodding to him, he asked without nonsense: "Good news, or bad news? "

"Lord Bolton wrote to say that the patrols he sent had also detected the movement of the Land Grant Army... Besides, he was sure that the Queen and her two dragons were still in Last Hearth and that the Dreadfort The assembly of the Dragon Hunting Crossbow is nearly complete, and it will be put into actual combat in a few days, please allow him to launch an attack on the Hearth City after completing the preparations, and wipe out the Queen and her dragons."! ! !

Everyone in front of the map table straightened their backs and stared at Luwin with wide eyes.

Robb also took the note from the maester in disbelief, reread it himself, and the anguish of being helpless a moment ago was swept away: "Bolton said that he would gather three thousand soldiers in a few days and lead four to five Set up a dragon-hunting crossbow and go north to surprise Last Hearth City, eradicating the mad king's daughter in one fell swoop!"

"real or fake?"

"No way?"

Two voices of astonishment came, and Sir Rodrik, who was in charge of supervising the manufacturing progress of the Dragon Hunting Crossbow in Winterfell, was the first to be in disbelief: "The blueprint has only arrived in a few days, how could it be made?"

"Perhaps the Dreadfort originally had ballistas. It is much faster to modify the base and sights to have anti-air capabilities than to start from scratch. I don't doubt this." Clay Seven shook his head disapprovingly: "If the Dreadfort can quickly gather [-] elite soldiers and some dragon hunting crossbows, and bring them to Winterfell to defend the lord, wouldn't it be a serious matter? Why take the risk to deal with the mad king's daughter?"

"I think so too." Maester Luwin agreed with Sir Seven's opinion, and turned to ask the castellan, "Should I write to Lord Bolton now, ordering him to join forces with the Karstarks and rush to Winterfell?"

Robb read the letter paper over and over twice to make sure he read it correctly, and then handed it to Clay Seven for him to look at. He crossed his arms and thought carefully for a while, then shook his head.

"My lords, my father once taught me that being a lord is like being a father, and treating every subject as a child." He said slowly with reverence and reminiscence in his eyes, "Whether it's a farmer in the field, a castle Whether it’s the servants serving me or the soldiers fighting for me, I will do everything I can to protect them like my own children.”

"Compared to defeating the rebels and destroying the traitors to relieve the resentment and anger of being betrayed, I would rather think about how to better protect my people?" After a small circle, Robb returned to the topic, "And now, everyone—if the Dreadfort can really produce the dragon hunting crossbow in a short period of time, he will go to deal with the mad king's daughter and his dragon, which is the way to fundamentally solve the problem." He pointed at the map. Pointing to the location of Winterfell: "The rebel army has just won two big victories. It is the time when the morale and combat effectiveness are at their peak. If all the armies gather here to break the siege, even if they win, there will be a lot of hard work and bloodshed. Exterminated, there will still be a queen and her dragons who will come to avenge their subordinates."

He swiped his finger across the map and pointed to the location of the last Hearth City: "And directly destroying the loyal targets of the rebel army is the end of the war!"

"That's two dragons and hundreds of Unsullied, and there's a castle to rely on. How can a surprise attack succeed?" Robb's big argument didn't convince everyone. Clay Sai Wen disagrees with this, "The Northern Territory is still at war with the Iron Islands. The forces of the Glover, Flint, and Dustin families are restrained on the west coast, and there are only tens of thousands of spare troops available. Yu, if the [-] elite of the Bolton family are lost under the flames of the dragon, behind us... it will be difficult to gather an army capable of defeating the rebels head-on!"

People in the north always like to claim that they can fight ten against one... This kind of arrogance is based on the fact that the northern army really often defeats troops that are more than their own.But this time, in the face of the land-grant army led by Iger, no one in the room dared to mention this again—they all agreed that to defeat [-] enemies from the farther north, they must need more than this number of elites army.

Rodrik also nodded solemnly: "Yes, what if Bolton's surprise attack on Last Hearth City fails?"

This question got to the point. Robb Stark looked at Arya, who was looking at him with wide eyes, and at the other three loyal subordinates with serious faces. After a long silence, he spoke again. : "Master Bolton's personality is not gregarious, but he has always been reliable in his work. I believe...he must have enough confidence to propose this plan. However, if his risky attempt still fails regrettably, then, for Bei Considering the overall interests of the environment and the safety of millions of people, it seems that I can only follow the example of my ancestor Toren Stark—bow to reality and the Queen, and recognize her as the legal ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, and the Night Watchmen directly belong to her gone."

The room fell silent. After Daenerys rode a dragon to participate in the Battle of Long Lake, the resistance to her Targaryen status in the northern border had already been reduced a lot. The reason why Robb refused to directly admit his orthodoxy was because It is not in her own interest to stand in line to fight for the Iron Throne. In fact, there is a large part of the reason: she did not come directly to negotiate with herself, but first secretly wooed Iger, who was supposed to be the gatekeeper of the North, so that He just couldn't get off the stage.

However, if it turns out that resistance has no way out, then following the established precedent and surrendering to the Queen who saved the North and the Seven Kingdoms, it does not seem to be so resisting that it is completely unacceptable.

Speaking of this, Clay Seven, Ser Rodrik, and Maester Luwin could not raise any objections.Robb's decision is actually a major concession, a declaration that "he is willing to put the interests of his vassals above his own face".And this plan essentially transfers the losses and risks that Winterfell was unable to deal with in the surprise attack to the Bolton family. If the old skinning surprise queen succeeds, then Iger will lose the reason and confidence to fight; if it doesn't work, die The most important thing is Bolton, the unlovable guy, and Robb Stark will be the second "King of Surrender" in the North...

People are selfish. For the northern princes, where can they find such a good thing that they will not lose themselves anyway?

"Since this is the case, then our response plan has to be changed a lot." Seven Clay is loyal to the Stark family, and he will not hesitate to sacrifice his life to defend Winterfell, but the two years of fighting There are already enough battles, and the hawkish point of view has long since lost its soil: "We still have to be prepared to guard the castle, but when the land-grant army approaches the city, you can send people to negotiate with Iger every day, delaying time for Lord Bolton's plan creates opportunities. Anyway, regardless of whether there is good news or bad news, the negotiations will definitely come to fruition!"

Arya blinked at the side. Although she didn't understand why the adults seemed to have negotiated everything in a few words, she at least understood one thing: the mad king's daughter that she didn't kill, now has Earl Bolton who is more important. The powerful guy led the army to encircle and suppress; that damned guy Iger came to surprise Winterfell in a threatening manner, this time he was about to run into big trouble.