Game of Thrones: Kings in the North

Chapter 149 Custer's Fortress
In White Tree Village, a total of 268 wildlings declared their allegiance to Ed and the Stark family of Winterfell in front of the Heart Tree in exchange for Winterfell's asylum. All of them were women, children and old people.

Helen Pike, in her sea-green hunting suit over chain mail, whispered into Ed's ear.

"Master Ed, you should take all these women as salt concubines. Look here, many women have children, which proves that they are fertile and prolific. If you accept them as salt concubines, you can give birth to many Strong boy."

Ed shook his head, "There are no salt concubines in the north, don't you claim to be my salt concubine? With an iron bitch as a salt concubine, I don't need other women."

Helen Pike smiled like a fox, "You have finally given me a title. The boys here can be taken as slave labor. In the Iron Islands, captives are salt concubines and slave labor."

There are only a few rocky islands in the Iron Islands, and there is very little arable land, but the Iron Islands can stand in the sea of ​​​​the setting sun for thousands of years. workers, salt concubine system.

Due to their heavy reliance on plunder, the Iron Islands men had a high death rate in battle. For the sake of population development, the ironmen would take female captives of childbearing age as salt concubines, and male captives as slave labor.Normally, a man can have multiple salt concubines, but only one rock wife. The rock wife must be a free person from the Iron Islands. Salt concubines usually come from women plundered during raids.

In the Iron Islands, the number of salt concubines is a reflection of a man's ability and status.This salt concubine system, where the weak prey on the strong, has led to many powerful fighters having many salt concubines, and the blood of the strong can be passed down more.The iron people believe that it is precisely because of the salt concubine system that the iron people have maintained their strong folk customs for thousands of years.

Slave labor provided the ironmen with labor for mining, shipbuilding, farming, and boating.Many people confuse the slave labor of the Iron Islands with the slaves of the Free Trade Cities, but in fact the two are fundamentally different.First of all, slave labor cannot be bought and sold, but slaves can be bought and sold at will like commodities.

Furthermore, in the Free Trade Cities, the descendants of slaves are still slaves, while the descendants of slave workers in the Iron Islands are ironmen freemen. The children of slave workers can grow up normally with their parents, and when they grow up, they are trained to be blacksmiths according to their specialties. Sailor, fisherman or shipbuilder etc.

The descendants of slave labor can even rank among nobles in the Iron Islands. For example, the Cauder family is the descendant of slave labor and salt concubines.

In fact, a part of Aide’s heart agrees with the slave labor and salt concubine system. If this system is also implemented in the northern border, the northern border may usher in more population growth, and slave labor can also provide a lot of cheap labor.

Winterfell is in the land-grant and the military camps on the Great Wall. Many criminals rely on farming and working in the military camps to atone for their crimes. They are actually no different from slave labor.

Ed raised his voice, and said to the savages in front of him: "You claim to be free people, and you value freedom above everything else. You have all sworn sacred oaths before the old gods. If you do something illegal, you will lose your freedom, work like slave labor to atone for your sins, and in serious cases, you may even be executed.”

"The free folk and the people of the North are all descendants of the ancestors, and they are all favored by the old gods. I hope you will remember today's oath. Winter is coming, and the Stark family is your only hope. You are loyal to Winterfell , Winterfell protects you."

The savages looked at Ed with indifferent and blank eyes. Ed sent two hundred cavalry to escort these people to Castle Black. These savages would be escorted to Winterfell by the Winterfell soldiers in the military camp to settle in Winterfell.

Theon smiled lightly, "Lord Ed, what's the use of these savages swearing to the weirwood heart tree? If you're lucky, one out of a hundred people can keep the oath."

These words made the female wild woman Osha very angry, "The free people live a hard life in the ice and snow outside the Great Wall. The gods are our spiritual sustenance. The free people are very devout to the old gods. We value the gifts issued under the heart tree. oath."

Theon said with a smirk: "Mance Rayder, the king beyond the wall, also swore an oath when he was the night watchman. Even if the king beyond the wall is an oath-breaker, how much is the oath of Chameleon and other lice-covered savages worth? Woolen cloth?"

Jon Snow on the side was a little angry, "These are just old people, women and children, and they are not Mance Rayder who broke his oath. We hold a sharp sword in our hands and fight bloody battles to help those innocent old people and children , women, help the weak, otherwise what's the point of fighting?"

Theon raised his head, "Wrong, history will only remember the strong, wars are for conquest, conquer with iron and fire, and write history with blood. Who cares about women, children and old men who are dying?"

Jon glared at Theon, and Theon had a smirk on his face. Ed waved his hand and said, "Have you two quarreled enough? Jon, you go with Laresa to protect the sisters of the nurses, Theon, you go Take care of the horses."

Theon hummed a ditty and left. Jon suppressed his anger and left with Laresa.

Bunyan came over, "Ed, Jon is more like you after all, he understands your hard work."

The northern soldiers emptied the grain, food and ale in Baishu Village, and found some valuable animal skins and amber. Afterwards, the northern and night watchmen continued to march north.

Xiong Lao rode on his horse, looking at the eagle in the distant sky, "We will arrive at Custer's Fortress in a few days."

Robb was surprised when he heard this, "There is a fort beyond the Wall? Is it the stronghold of the wildlings?"

Bunyan smiled and said, "Robb, the fortress of the wildlings beyond the Wall is different from the Northland, you will know it when you see it."

Two days later, the army arrived at the legendary Custer's fortress.Theon, Jon, Robb, and Helen Pike laughed when they saw the fort.

This is just a hut built of mud, located on a hillside, surrounded by earth embankments, used as a courtyard wall, and there is a small gate in the southwest of the small courtyard.

"Many farmer's yards in Wintershire are better than this," concluded Robb.

Bunyan smiled, "Caster's Fortress was named after the Rangers of the Night Watch. Don't underestimate this unremarkable courtyard. When many Rangers patrol outside the Great Wall, they count on Custer's Fortress to return to the Great Wall alive. .”

Robb, Jon, Theon and others all stopped smiling, and Jon frowned and said, "Uncle, why?"

"Because of the patrols outside the Great Wall, it is common for the rangers to eat up all the food." Bunyan told Jon, "In the surrounding settlements, many wildlings hate the rangers. They would like to kill the rangers, let alone lend a helping hand. Custer A foul-tempered wildling, he is a friend of the Night's Watch, and in his halls the Night's Watch may have food and ale."

Jon stroked his chin, "So Craster is a good guy."

"Caster is not a good man." The ranger Sauron Smallwood rode past. "The night watchman often gave him some gifts, such as axes, shovels, etc., so he was willing to help the rangers. If there is no benefit Ketu, do you think this old thing will help the Rangers? Speaking of which, Custer has a blood relationship with your Stark family in Winterfell!"

Both Jon and Robb looked shocked, and Robb said: "Caster is a wild man, what does it have to do with the Stark family?"

Soren Smallwood smiled and said nothing, Bunyan said: "Caster's father is a ranger, his name is Tom Stark, but he is not the Stark of Winterfell, but the barren grave." Stark of Tun, when I joined the night watchman, Tom Stark had been dead for many years, and the old men in the night watchman all said that Custer was Tom Stark's son, I don't think it's wrong."

Ed was also surprised by this.When Ed attended the wedding of Ballet and Ferran in the Barren Hall, he met some Starks from the Barrens. They were no different from ordinary people. Some Starks from the Barrens were responsible for guarding the The tomb of the First Ancestor King of the Barren Tomb, a branch of Stark, has various legends about the White Walkers, the First Ancestor King, and the Barren Tomb King.

On the way, the ranger once quietly told Ed that Custer had more than a dozen wives, and that he would put the newborn baby boy in the snow during a blizzard and sacrifice it to the cold god.It is rumored that the white-skinned, icy white ghosts will brave the heavy snow to take away the crying baby boy, so that Custer's fortress can be safe and sound when the white ghosts attack.

Custer is actually the illegitimate son of Stark in the Barren Mounds, so he sacrificed the baby boy to the White Walker, which is most likely related to the legend of the White Walkers in the Barren Mounds. It is said that the powerful Necromancer can transfer the soul of the sacrificed boy to the White Walker. , Transformed into the White Walker in the ice coffin. Although this legend has not been confirmed, it explains how the White Walker reproduces.

Ed knew well that the threat of the savages was far less than that of the White Walkers in this expedition.Regarding the information about the ghosts, Ed has too little knowledge. Custer sacrificed his own son to the cold god for many years, so he must know the ghosts very well.

Thinking of this, Ed had a plan in mind.

In the yard, a young and thin girl was feeding the rabbits. Seeing so many cavalrymen, she ran into the hall screaming.

After a while, Castor came out holding a sharp axe.He was a grey-haired old man with thick arms, a brisk walk, a flat nose and drooping lips twisted into negatives, giving him a sinister look.

A dozen or so women huddled behind the animal skin curtains and window sills, looking at the northern border and the night watchman cavalry army with horrified eyes.

Craster frowned. Obviously, he saw thousands of horsemen and foot soldiers for the first time. He saw Old Mormont the Bear, Bunyan.

"You stinky crows, what are you doing with so many people at my house?"

Old Xiong smiled and said, "Caster, we have no malicious intentions, we just stopped by to see our old friend."

Custer's eyes stayed on the direwolf emblem on Ed's breastplate, and then met Ed's eyes.

"You are the Duke Ed in the legend? You and Bunyan really look alike! You brought the northern army here, are you going to attack Mance Rayder?"

Ed nodded slightly, "Caster, I have heard many rangers talk about you. You are one of the few savages who are willing to cooperate with the night watchman. If you can provide us with some information on the savages, I have a gift for you."

"Don't do this." Castor held the ax on his shoulder, "Mance Rayder sent someone to find me, and I drove him away. The savages in the nearby villages all left, and some went to Frostfang, and some to the Haunted Forest, who knows? I'm no fool if they were willing to die with Mance Rayder."

Ed leaned forward on his horseback, "I have often heard the rangers talk about the famous Fort Custer these days. Now that I have arrived at your door, can you let me go in and have a seat?"

Castor snorted softly, "My hall can only hold a few dozen people at most. There are so many of you, it can't fit. Rangers are my friends, what are you people from the north?"

Robb opened his mouth to curse, but Ed stopped him, "Caster, I heard that your father is a Stark?"

"Maybe, my mother told me back then that his name was Tom Stark, and he came from the Wasteland." Custer stroked his snow-white beard, "I've only seen him a few times."

"Look, we might still be relatives!" Ed approached, "Don't worry, we'll just go in with a dozen people, and we won't eat anything from you, and won't drink a sip of water from you, let's talk about Mance Rayder matter."

If he ate Custer's bread and salt, Ed would be a guest in Custer's hall, and neither the host nor the guest could do anything against each other, otherwise it would be a violation of the sacred guest's rights.Anyone who violates the guest's rights will be cursed by the gods forever.

Bunyan offered a scythe.Sickles are not worth much in the south of the Great Wall, but in the north where there is a lack of blacksmiths, they are also in high demand. Custer accepted the gift with satisfaction.

"Okay, come in! Don't have too many people!"

Custer turned around and entered the hall, Ed began to pick people, Syrio Forel, guard Dawson, Domeric, Jon, Bunyan, Old Bear, Helen and others, got the chance to enter Custer Fortress .

In the dim hall, an old wooden table was set up, the air smelled of mildew, the fragrance of ice and snow roses, and the smell of bedding in the bedroom on the second floor. The bedroom on the second floor was connected to the hall on the first floor by an old staircase. A dozen of Castor's wives, some standing at the far end of the first floor, some on the bedroom stairs on the second floor, peeped down.

There was only one chair at the north end of the hall, and Custer was sitting there, while Ed, Old Xiong and others could only stand.

"Quickly ask if you have any questions! I'll see off the guests after asking." Custer said carelessly.

Ed straightened the collar of his ermine robe, "Is it true that the White Walkers came from the Land of Eternal Winter and constantly harassed the wildlings?"

Clearly taken aback, Castor stood up and glared at Ed.

"Are you crazy? Didn't you agree to only ask about Mance Rayder? Why did you ask about the White Walker? I am a god-worshiping person. In my hall, mentioning the White Walker is not allowed. matter."

Ed looked at some young women around him, "Are these your wives? Or your daughters? Your hall is full of women, where are the boys?"

Bunyan and Old Bear Mormont were all surprised, and Old Bear Mormont whispered to Ed: "Lord Ed, Custer is a wild man, the law ends at the Great Wall, and beyond the Great Wall is a place of lawlessness. What do you care about these things? We should still respect the customs of the savages, after all, the gods they serve are much crueler than ours."

"Yes, Ed, Custer is a friend of the Night's Watch." Bunyan agreed.

Custer blushed and glared at Ed, "Get out, I don't welcome you!"

"Wolf King! Help me!" A haggard, thin girl rushed out, her belly was bulging, she was obviously pregnant, and she knelt in front of Ed.

"My name is Gilly, and I'm pregnant. It's okay if I give birth to a girl. If I give birth to a boy, Custer will give the boy to the cold god. Those strange ghosts will come when it snows, grab them and cry in the snow. The baby boy, the women in the family know!"

"You bitch!" Custer grabbed Gilly by the hair and threw her to the ground. Gilly was crying loudly. The two women rushed down and tried to rescue Gilly, but Custer punched and kicked her. Knocked down.

Jon went up to try to save Gilly, but was kicked by Custer. The old man was as strong as an old tree root and possessed savage strength. Robb rushed forward, but was also knocked to the ground by Custer.

Craster grabbed the axe, Ed whistled, and the direwolf and the sun appeared immediately.

"Ah!" Custer screamed, his wrist was bitten by the direwolf Nocturnal, and the ax fell to the ground. When he struggled to get up, the assassin sword of the water dancer Syrio Forel and the giant sword of the guardian Dawson were gone. Pressed against Castor's throat.

(End of this chapter)