Game of Thrones: Kings in the North

Chapter 159 Wrath of the Wolf King

In the command room in the ruins of the Ring Fort on the Fist of the First Men, Ed looked at the map outside the Great Wall drawn by the rangers, which marked the map of the nearby villages.

"The wildlings in many nearby villages have joined Mance Rayder's army of wildlings. Some villages are empty, but some villages still have old, weak, women and children staying. Starting tomorrow, a group of one hundred cavalry will attack The wildlings captured in the wildling village were sent directly to the Fist of the First Men, escorted in batches, passed through Castle Black, and sent to Houguan Town."

Old Xiong was a little puzzled, "Lord Ed, what's the use of capturing so many savage captives? Lord Ed's food reserve plan has filled the ice bank of the Impassable Great Wall with food, and there is enough food in the northern border. However, to feed such a What a useless mouth, it's a waste after all!"

These are not useless mouths, but a labor force that is lacking in the sparsely populated northern border.Ed plans to use these wildlings to open up more manors and create more wealth, and these plans cannot be shared with the Night's Watch officials.

Ed said: "Only taking the savages away will anger Mance's savage army and force Mance to lead the savage army south to fight us."

Helen Pike showed an evil smile, "Lord Ed, when it comes to kidnapping women and children, who has more say than the Ironborn? Among the Ironborn, who has more say than me, the iron bitch? If we put These wildlings, send directly to Eastwatch, I believe slave traders will give a high price, female wildling slaves can be sold for a good price in Lys brothel, other slaves can be sent to Tyrosh and Myr, and even Volanti S."

The officials of the night watchmen were obviously taken aback. Old Xiong frowned and said, "Slave trading is illegal. My son Jorah was angered by Duke Ed because he sold poachers to slave traders. He was forced to go into exile. It has been a trading city-state for many years. Is the northern border going to openly engage in slave trade?"

Ed gave Helen a sad look. The iron bitch always speaks regardless of the occasion. Ed smiled and said, "Lord Mormont, this is just what Helen said casually. I will never allow such things as slave trade in the northern border." Bad behavior."

However, Ed highly respects the slave labor system in his heart. He plans to implement a policy in the northern border in the future. All criminals will be confiscated as slaves and reduced to slave labor. They rely on selling their labor to redeem their sins. The slave workers who perform well may hope to be free.

Mance Rayder, The Wailer, Tormund, Harma the Doghead, Lord of Bones, Varamyr, these people have angered Eddard, they have awakened the wrath of the sleeping wolf!
Ed looked at the map, "When we destroy the savage villages, we are not allowed to kill innocent people indiscriminately, capture the savages, empty their granaries, take valuable items and use them as military rations, and burn everything that cannot be taken away, especially It's the houses, the farmland, it has to be burned."

Robb frowned and said: "Father, if you do this, you will anger the wildlings and anger Mance Rayder. The wildlings may execute the prisoners. Ferran, Jory and Big Barrel Wall are all in Mance Rayder. Reid's hands."

"Mance Rayder and his wildling leader, if we think so," Eddard told Robb. "If the wildlings want to kill a prisoner, they can kill them any time. Make the enemy feel that nothing can threaten you. That's all." Come, you have no weakness, and you can gain the initiative in the war."

Jon mourned: "However, many wildlings will lose their houses that have lived for generations, their food will be taken away, their good fields will be burned, the situation will be more difficult, and they will starve to death."

"I'm sorry, but we are at war and we can't take into account the feelings of civilians. This is the game of power, and civilians are destined to be cannon fodder." The benevolence of women will kill themselves, but it's a pity that Robb and Jon can't understand this, Ai De hopes that they can learn in the future.

"We are not killing all the wildlings. They can choose to surrender." Ed explained, "As long as they surrender, I am willing to let the wildlings pass through the Great Wall and become citizens of the North. There are fertile black lands in the Land Grant and Winterfell, and we The land can be provided for them to cultivate, and the harvest there must be much better than outside the Great Wall.”

The gloom in Jon's eyes disappeared, and he agreed, "The wildlings, like the people of the north, are descendants of the ancestors. Father, I am very happy that you allow the wildlings to live in the north. It is a good idea."

"Hey! This idea is terrible." Sir Jeremy Lake laughed like a donkey, "The wildlings are uncivilized savages. When they arrive in the northern border, they will only loot their homes, and they may even attack the Great Wall! The other nobles of the Seven Kingdoms will oppose the wildlings moving to the north."

Ed said coldly: "I have the final say on the northern border, I need to remind you, is King Robert my buddy?"

Sir Jeremy shut up tactfully.

Bunyan was a little worried and said: "Ghost Forest, Frost Fang, there are fierce beasts of the skin changer. When we go to destroy the village of the wildlings, we may encounter the attack of the skin changer."

The direwolves walk at night, and the sun is beside Ed, it's time for them to show their talents.

"My direwolf can deal with skinchangers." Ed stroked the direwolf's head, "Skinchangers are the ace in the hands of wildlings, but skinchangers also have weaknesses. The whites of their eyes will turn up, and they will be in a state of trance. Their bodies are very fragile.

"If the animal controlled by the skinchanger suffers a critical blow, the soul of the skinchanger will be knocked out of the beast's body, and some skinchangers will have convulsions and symptoms similar to epileptic seizures, and the beast will lose control Blind ramming, at which point any soldier could easily kill a skinchanger."

Old Xiong, Bunyan, Jon, Robb, Sir Jeremy, and Sir Odin Wellers all looked at Ed with bewildered eyes, and everyone fell into a long silence. Old Xiong cleared his throat , "Lord Ed, sometimes I really feel that you are as knowledgeable as Maester Aemon. Where did you learn this knowledge about skinchangers?"

Because I am a skinchanger, I bond with the direwolf Nocturnal in wolf dreams, tasting the flesh, blood and fear of my prey.Ed obviously couldn't tell everyone the truth, so Ed had to lie, "I learned this knowledge from an ancient book about skinchangers."

If Maester Luwin from Winterfell or Maester Aemon from Castle Black were around, they might ask which book it was, and Eddard's lies would be exposed.However, now that Maester Aemon and Maester Luwin are not around, no one can question Ed's explanation.

Sir Odin Willers, an official of the Night Watchman, scratched his ears, "Lord Ed, although I can't understand your explanation, it seems very powerful. You mentioned a lot of weaknesses of skinchangers, but, you It is overlooked that the rangers and the northern cavalry fear the beasts controlled by the skinchangers, not the skinchangers themselves."

"The weakness of the skinchanger is also the weakness of the beast. They are one." Ed told everyone, "What the animals are afraid of, the beast will be afraid of, and the shapechanger will also be afraid."

Ed looked around and met everyone's eyes, "Who can tell me what the beasts in the wild are afraid of?"

"Fire!" Robb answered first. "As long as people in the field light fire, wild animals dare not come near."

"The answer is correct." Ed announced, "From today onwards, when the cavalry go out, no matter day or night, they must be equipped with torches. If the skinchangers attack, blame him for being a wild boar, a moa, a saber-toothed tiger, a snow bear, Throwing the torch is right."

Bunyan nodded slightly, "If the savage's rumors are true, you may encounter blue-eyed ghouls in some places outside the Great Wall, and ghouls are also afraid of fire. Torches can deal with ghouls and skinchangers, killing two birds with one stone."

Ed reminded: "Pay attention to distinguishing between ghosts and ghosts. Ghouls are formed from corpses resurrected by ghosts after death. Ghosts are undead creatures with milky white skin and blue eyes that burn coldly." The ghouls are afraid of fire, but the White Walkers are not, and the White Walkers' nemesis is obsidian weapons and dragonsteel, which is Valyrian steel."

Valyrian steel swords are very rare. Since the destruction of Valyria, the technology of steel swords has been lost for a time. Now only the great blacksmiths of Quohor can master the forging technology of Valyrian steel.Since ancient times, there have been only a few thousand Valyrian steel swords, and the entire Westeros family has only more than 200.

Only the old nobles have Valyrian steel swords, and many families have lost their ancestral Valyrian steel swords, such as House Lannister.

The old bear took out the Valyrian sword longclaw, the ancestral Valyrian sword of the Mormont family. The hilt was made into the shape of a bear, and the eyes were red garnets.

"The Valyrian sword of the Mormont family has been passed down for thousands of years, and has never killed any other ghosts. Maybe my old bones can set this precedent!"

Ed owns the Valyrian steel sword Ice of the Stark family, and Ed believes that there will be strange ghosts in the future who will become the souls of Ice's sword.

Ed said: "Tomorrow, the rangers and the northern cavalry will destroy the savage's village. I hope that the savage's village will be covered with scorched earth. Get ready!"

Helen was very excited, "I used to plunder by boat, and this is the first time I robbed inland. Thinking about it, I'm still very excited."

After the meeting, the officials of the Night's Watch left one after another, leaving only Robb and Jon in the room.

Robb scratched the direwolf's ear, "Father, I thought the army was going north to rescue Ferran, Jory, and the big wine barrel! I didn't expect it was just to plunder the wildling village."

"I believe that as long as Mance Rayder has a brain, he will keep Ferran, Jory and Big Barrel Wall to negotiate with me." Ed believed that Mance would not kill noble hostages, but those wildling leaders would It’s hard to say, the dog-headed Harma, the Weeper, and the King of Bones are more notorious and cruel than the other.

"Don't underestimate the savages scattered in small villages, they will ultimately decide the direction of the war." Ed told the children, "Most of the savage villages are concentrated in the south beyond the Great Wall, where it is slightly warmer, but the base camp of Mance In the upper reaches of the Milk River, this is a very smart strategy, because in this way, if the Night Watchmen and the Northern Territory want to destroy the main force of Mance, they must travel a long distance, and the supply line will be very long."

"However, in this way, many wildlings will have to abandon the villages they have lived in for generations. Wildlings are born free people. When they see the smoke of their hometown, they will definitely hope that Mance will lead the army of wildlings to go south. If Mance refuses, he will Offended the savage. The savage recommended Mance Rayder, and he can also abandon him. At that time, the balance of victory will be tilted towards our army."

Jon frowned and said, "Having said that, the Horn of Winter is always a threat. What if Mance Rayder sent a wildling squad with the Horn of Winter to the Great Wall of Impassable to blow the horn?"

Ed smiled, "The Wall is seven hundred feet high and one hundred leagues long. If Mance Rayder is determined to sound the Horn of Winter, no one can stop him. But I think that even if Mance finds The real horn of winter may not be used to blow down the Great Wall."

Jon was a little confused, "Then what are the wildlings doing so hard to find the Horn of Winter? According to the report brought back by the night watchman rangers, Mance Rayder mobilized at least tens of thousands of wildlings and opened countless tomb, and found the Horn of Winter."

Ed said indifferently: "Mance may have obtained the Horn of Winter, but no one knows whether the Horn of Winter is real, unless someone tries it himself. My analysis shows that Mance obtained the so-called Horn of Winter just to increase the number of negotiations in his hands. chips."

Robb looked at Ed, "Father, when you announced your plan to burn the savage villages, kidnap the savages, and burn the farmland at the meeting today, you changed your mind."

"These actions are indeed barbaric, but my purpose is to send the savages to the south of the Great Wall." Ed explained. , children, old people, young adults, moving to the North and settling down. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what we do, it’s what we do.”

Jon nodded, "Father, this is really a benevolent act. If we negotiate with the wildlings openly, Mance might take tens of thousands of wildlings under his command, lay down their weapons, and follow us directly to the north."

Ed shook his head, "It's impossible. The wildlings will think they have the upper hand. The wildlings have captured three noble commanders of our army in Giant's Ladder, Ghost Forest and Milk River one after another. It is impossible to agree to a truce. Mance is the king beyond the wall. , His rule is very fragile, and any decision he makes must take into account the opinions of the chiefs, and it is impossible for the chiefs of the tribe to cease fighting when they have the upper hand."

"The best way to end a war is to do whatever it takes to crush the enemy and force him to submit, so that the enemy will accept our terms."

Robb said, "Father, is it really effective to use a torch against a skinchanger? I don't think anyone would use a torch against Nightcrawler or sunlight, would they?"

"This needs to be tested in actual combat." Ed looked at the map, and he knew that the wildling skinchanger was hidden somewhere on the map, "We have to hunt the wildling skinchanger, in the jungle of wild beasts, you are not a hunter , you can only be prey."

The next day, Helen Pike led a team of cavalry to plunder the village in the north.

"In the past, Ferran always laughed at me for not being able to ride a horse. Now that he's a prisoner, I can freely plunder on a horse. I'm half a scout!"

Ed warned: "You are not allowed to kill innocent people indiscriminately, remember to grab more women and children back."

Helen winked, "Master Ed, do you want concubines so much? You teach pirates to plunder, are you too impatient? Don't worry, I will help you catch more beauties."

"There are plump young women and pure virgins, Lord Ed, just wait, Mrs. Caitlin won't know anyway, maybe you can make a bunch of little snow. I will follow Lord Ed's order and burn the village and farmland."

On this day, a total of twenty cavalry teams were dispatched, each with one hundred cavalry. Standing on the Fist of the First Men, looking around, there was thick smoke everywhere. Farmland, boats by the river, and savage cabins were all burning. .

Since most of the young and middle-aged people responded to Mance Rayder's call, there were very few young people left in the village, only some old and weak women and children. These women, children, and the elderly were powerless to resist.

Some spearwives tried to resist, but were quickly overpowered.They could only curse the Wolf King of Winterfell, let the soldiers tie ropes for them, and lead them to the Fist of the First Men.

(End of this chapter)