The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 166 Support and Integration

The Holy War Port, which was just an ordinary beach port when the expeditionary army landed, has now developed into one of the most important ports in the north of the New Seven Kingdoms.

The once simple tent camp has disappeared, replaced by island buildings. The sandy ground has also been hardened so that it no longer becomes a horrible sight when it rains. The church has invested a lot of resources in this port.

The final result is undoubtedly worthwhile. After the reconstruction, the population and cargo throughput of the Jihad Port have directly reached a new level, and it has truly become a port that can be compared with those old ports.

However, the large ship standing in the city was still preserved. It was the command center when Hugo and others first landed. They held meetings and decided strategies here. Now the ship has been transformed into a church of the Seven Gods and is also a holy place of the Seven Gods.

The seven-pointed star hanging high in the sky silently illustrates the sacredness of this place. On the hull, devout painters have painted scenes of the expedition. Every pilgrim who sees these scenes will involuntarily fall into an emotional climax.

Inside the ship, there are statues of the expedition's generals and heroes, and the altar of the Seven Gods stands above all else. Seven supreme beings proudly survey everything before them.

As always, except for the Stranger, the other six people had incense and candles in front of them - no one likes the Grim Reaper.

This is the first sacred place that devout pilgrims set foot on in the East. Therefore, it is always full of tourists. From time to time, you can see believers kneeling devoutly and participating in religious processions on the streets.

Around the big ship, there were vendors everywhere selling all kinds of trinkets and oriental specialties that were said to have divine powers. These things were originally available everywhere, but they were sold next to the holy land at three or four times the original price. Generally speaking, believers were always willing to buy - the authenticity of the holy objects next to the holy land should be higher.

There is a huge composite statue in the center of the port, which depicts the key figures and generals in the first expedition. Standing in the front is naturally Hugo, and the others follow closely behind him. As for in front of them, of course, there are the new seven countries that have not yet been conquered.

The sculptor who carved this statue took a long time to carve out this huge marble statue, and the final result proved that his efforts were completely worth it.

Surrounding this group of statues are various incense sticks and offerings, and you can always see devout believers kneeling in worship - after all, these are statues of the Seven Gods' wills on earth.

No one sells any "small items favored by God" here. Old Sparrow will not allow anyone to do anything that blasphemes Hugo's reputation under this group of sacred statues. Usually, this place is always full of soldiers who will expel and arrest the vendors at the first opportunity.

Merchants and pilgrims came here in an endless stream, goods from the East and the West also flowed here, and all kinds of people showed up here for profit. Even the Braavos and Ibbenese sometimes traded and negotiated here, and you could even see people coming from east of the Mountains of Bones. All kinds of nationalities made up a colorful picture on the streets of the Holy War Port.

For this reason, Jihad Port presents a scene of diversity and piety.

The most devout believers of the Seven Gods were extremely disgusted with the various kinds of people, even the pagans, who appeared in the Holy War Port. How could the holy land of the Seven Gods be filled with such people!
The continuous fermentation of this emotion led to a riot, a massacre of pagans in the port by devout believers. That day would have been an extremely ordinary day, but the pilgrims of the Seven Stars suddenly poured into the streets. They held sticks and began to beat and kill all the foreigners and pagans on the street without warning. The prosperous streets were suddenly covered with blood and death.

That incident had a very bad impact on the business environment of the Holy War Port. Although Old Sparrow led the city guards to stop the riot in time, dozens of merchants still died at the hands of the mob - and this news quickly spread on both sides of the Narrow Sea, directly leading to a sharp drop in the trade throughput of the Holy War Port.

The decline in trade directly affected Twin Star City and Hugo City, which prompted Hugo to personally intervene in the matter. He scolded Old Sparrow and then took action.

Since then, the city’s defense force has doubled, and such incidents have never happened again in Jihad Port. With the recovery of the business environment, it has now regained its former prosperity.

However, today, the prosperous main road of Jihad Port was blocked, which caused many people to complain. Normally, the city streets were not able to carry so many people, and now that the main road was blocked, the road was crowded with people.

Many people wanted to curse, but when they saw the seven-pointed star flag, they shut up - the flag belonged to Hugo Tollet. In the East, no one dared to curse him, and countless pilgrims regarded them as the incarnations of the Seven Gods.

The reason why Hugo came to the Holy War Port was very simple. He wanted to send an army to the Great Wall. After receiving information from the Great Wall that the wildlings were becoming more and more active, Hugo took out a capable force.

"Why, Lord Hugo, why should I go?"

In the modern military port of the Holy War Port with complete infrastructure, Hugo's relative Eddie Tollet was complaining to him. As Hugo's attendant, Eddie had been working with Hugo for a long time. He thought that his future was to become a knight and then be transferred to an important position as a garrison - after all, he was Hugo's relative.

But what he never expected was that, although he became a knight, the place Hugo wanted him to go was the freezing Great Wall, to help the Night's Watchmen.

Although he was able to lead a team of about a hundred knights, these knights were in the same situation as him, unlucky guys who were ordered to go to the Great Wall. Basically, everyone was full of complaints and dissatisfied with this decision.

For a young man with a promising future, it is indeed disgusting to let him go to the Great Wall. However, Hugo needs him to go to the Great Wall - since fate generally follows the original logic, he should more or less abide by it. Eddie used to be a member of the Night's Watch, and now he should lead a team to assist the Great Wall.

After all, in the original book, Eddie was the squire of the Lord who was killed by the White Walkers at the beginning. This strong connection made Hugo unable to resist the urge to send him over.

Moreover, he recently received news from Earl Graveson that a fight broke out between the Lannisters and Starks in King's Landing. Although no one died, the relationship between the Lannisters and Starks became tense. Afterwards, Jaime Lannister fled King's Landing with a group of his cronies and went to join his father.

This incident immediately made Westeros nervous. Although Jaime Lannister failed to do anything to Prime Minister Stark, Catelyn Tully kidnapped the dwarf son of Duke Tywin after all. Everyone knew that the Duke was a man who could be easily irritated. Everyone was looking forward to the actions of Casterly Rock.

More importantly, this incident undoubtedly shows that fate is still more or less following its original trajectory.

However, public opinion in Westeros simply believed that the situation was tense, and no one thought that a war would break out. As long as King Robert sat in King's Landing, no one dared to cause trouble - perhaps only Hugo knew that this pillar of Westeros might die soon.

"Eddie, this is not a hard job, this is an important mission." Hugo said earnestly, "This is the will of the Seven Gods. Look, Lord Bonifer is also going to lead his troops north, and behind him are the most elite knights of the Holy War Knights."

Bonifur Hattis, the leader of the Holy War Knights, was standing there with his back straight, as if accepting an invisible inspection. The same was true for the knights behind him, whose bodies were covered with the seven-pointed star.

These knights stood there so conspicuously that it was hard not to notice them, and the exemplary aura they exuded immediately affected those around them. Even the servants who passed by them could not help but straighten their backs.

As the first veteran of the expedition and the leader of the first knightly order in the East, Bonifer's Crusade Knights are strong in men and horses. The number of knight brothers has reached 300 - that is 500 knights and quasi-knights - and the number of civilian soldiers on the periphery, that is, half-brothers and gray-robed brothers has reached thousands.

Over the years, the Holy War Knights have been running around Essos, fighting on the front lines against pagans and slave owners, winning a good reputation and many territories - there are always pious lords who offer castles or villages to them, and the Knights themselves are also engaged in pioneering the front line. That is why many people are very puzzled about Bonifer going to the Wall, even within the group. Fighting pagans in the East is one thing, and going to the North to fight wildlings is another. The leader is wasting his bright future by doing this - His Majesty Robert is about to start another expedition, but he is going to the Wall to eat snow at this time.

In the end, only one-third of the knights were willing to follow him north. However, this also shows Bonifer's influence. Even if they were to do such "unreasonable" things, one-third of the knights would follow him.

Bonifer did not go north because of Hugo's orders. All along, those who Hugo sent to the Wall were devout believers who claimed to have received the calling of the Seven Gods and were going to serve at the Wall - to put it bluntly, the Seven Gods were organizing troops for the Night's Watch.

Therefore, when Bonifer told Hugo that he was inspired by the Seven Gods, Hugo understood that the Seven Gods could also receive information from the mortal world at any time and respond - this made Hugo feel more at ease. After all, it was a good thing to have a big brother over your head.

And Hugo's mention of Bonifer did shut Eddie up. Looking at the knight standing proudly over there, Eddie could not find an excuse to deal with Hugo.

Hugo also struck while the iron was hot and continued, "Don't worry, I'm not sending you to the Wall. You're just going to perform a mission. Once you've completed the mission, you can return. You can go wherever you want to go. I've already written a letter to Lord Commander Mormont. He will take good care of you."

"I just hope I don't freeze to death on the Great Wall, watching for eternity with a spear in hand." Eddie responded melancholy, still in low spirits.

Hugo didn't continue because he knew that Eddie had completely accepted the reality and now it was just some complaints, so let him complain.

Beside the two men, a team of volunteers were boarding the ship. These people were from the pilgrims, summoned by the Seven Gods. There were about three hundred of them. Hugo tried his best to arm these people, equipping them with the best weapons and equipment in the armory, but even so, they still looked like civilians - but at least they were so imposing that Hugo reminded him of Old Sparrow's sparrows.

Behind the volunteers were the prisoners who were escorted here. Hugo had gathered prisoners from Pentos and Andas in advance. Rather than having their hands and feet chopped off, these people were more willing to join the Night's Watch. There were five hundred of them in total - this was the largest group of prisoner soldiers sent by Hugo.

What is more important than manpower is all kinds of materials. Hugo knows very well how difficult the days ahead will be at the Great Wall, and all kinds of supplies must be fully stocked.

As the boarding horn sounded, almost everyone boarded the ship, and the fleet flying the seven-pointed star flag also left the port of the Holy War Port. Looking at the masts of the fleet going away, Hugo felt that the matter was over. After sending such a large number of people, and with the increased strength of the Night's Watch over the years, he didn't have to worry about that for the time being.

Next, he has to prepare for the great civil war that will engulf all of Westeros.

"Kanatier, how is that matter going?" Hugo called Black Blade out from among the subordinates and asked.

"Everything is going as planned, Lord Hugo." said Kanatir, whose hand was always on his famous black blade. The temperament of this Andal man has become more and more unpredictable over the years, and it is more and more in line with his current identity.

"The leaders of the Silver Hand Knights and the Flame Knights have expressed their loyalty to me, and I have successfully trapped them." Kanatiel's tone did not change much, but Hugo could still hear the pride in his voice. "As for the others, Old Sparrow has already persuaded Bishop Luchen. The Servants of the Stars will stand by us at the critical moment. With the Servants of the Stars on our side, other knight orders will not be a problem. Grechel's gold and silver have also successfully made some knight orders move closer to us."

"Okay, okay, this is really great." Hu Ge's joy was beyond words, but he quickly controlled his emotions, "However, we still have to be careful to keep it secret. This kind of thing can't be leaked."

"Of course, Lord Hugo," Kanatiel responded.

As for the Knights Templar, it must be said that Hugo never imagined that the Knights Templar would develop into what it is today, a group with thousands of knights and three or four times that number of armed sergeants.

This is just the surface. If these knights mobilize their family relationships, it is possible to mobilize tens of thousands of people in an instant.

However, the most important are the knights and sergeants, who are full-time soldiers, and they have more or less strict order and generally high cultural level - this military force is really important.

Hugo has been trying to win over this group all along, but in the past it was more for the purpose of maintaining stability. These knightly orders all had their headquarters in Andas, and it was too dangerous to have so many armed personnel moving around.

As for now, it is to prepare for the future civil war. Therefore, in order to ensure that the Knights of Andas are under control by then, he specifically ordered that any means can be used - and the result is also good.

Now the mountain Andals have completely knelt at his feet. If this force is under his control, Hugo is confident that he will become the strongest commander in the East in the first place to deal with the situation in the East which he does not know how will develop next.

Yes, he didn't know. He could still rely on the memories of his previous life to judge and predict the things in Westeros, but this was not the case with the East. You know, in the original book, the other side of the Narrow Sea was calm, and he had nothing to refer to for the future.

Therefore, he must hold on to power as much as possible. No matter what, having power in his hands means he won't panic.

"Tell my vassals to be ready for battle this year and not to deal with it because there may be a major war this year." Hugo gave further instructions, and Black Blade quickly took note.

However, after recording, he asked Hugo a question, "Lord Hugo, I know I shouldn't ask, but I'm really curious, why are you so sure that the Iron Throne will be in chaos?"

As the core of the Hugo Group and a person who has worked on the intelligence front for many years and has demonstrated great reliability and trustworthiness, Canatiel naturally knows some things that most people don't know, but that is also why he is so curious. The information he has collected shows at most that the situation will be tense in the future, but Lord Hugo is certain that a civil war will break out.

Although Hugo is the favored one of the Seven Gods and cannot be inferred by common sense, Kanatiel still has doubts. He is a rational person, so he wants to get a rational answer from Hugo.

"It's fate, my friend, fate." Hugo looked up at the sky, recalling the scene when he met the Seven Gods. His heart was filled with emotion. He really didn't expect things to turn out like this today.

"My friend, do you believe that there are greater powers in this world than mortals? They sing there, they build the fate of mankind there, and they also fight each other there using humans as pawns. So, Kanatiel, don't have any doubts, just follow my orders, and what I say will definitely happen."

"Yes, Lord Hugo." Canatiel did not get the answer he wanted, but looking at Hugo's expression, for some reason, he felt that the words of the person in front of him were very credible.

The emotions he felt now were the same as when he decided to follow Hugo while wandering in Westeros.

So, he didn't ask any more questions, and quietly retreated to continue Hu Ge's orders.

(End of this chapter)