King of The Wall

2021-01-06

Chapter 335 Gorge

Being a ruler is not easy, especially if you control land grants A place where the composition of personnel is complex and there are many problems in various aspects. Except for the employees of the Night's Watch industry recruited by Igor from the south, who are loyal to him, almost all the current residents of the land grant have a lot of criticism against him:
Night's Watch and the original land-grant residents, there are many people Still insist on opposing the resettlement plan led by Igor, believing that it is unreasonable to accept wildling as grant land: it not only brings instability to the land grant and North, but also dilutes the welfare and living standard that "oneself people" can enjoy ——Never consider that these benefits are not created by the land grant itself but come from the Night's Watch industry. And his move of Night's Watch headquarters from Castle Black to Queenscrown has won oneself such as "Lord Commander who doesn't keep the Wall", "Lord Commander who dare not go back to Castle Black" and many other obvious nicknames without praise. .

The mountain clan who had come to assist Wall's defense had to cooperate and obey Igor's command and arrangement, but they were also full of complaints in private: except for the "guaranteed support" and a Stone wants to go beyond the wall. As invited guests and foreign aid, the wildlings, who were originally hostile, quickly enjoy almost the same treatment and management as them as soon as they donate land. This so-called "fairness" that gives them the same legal status and salary level, which greatly reduces their sense of superiority, is an "unfairness" to them.

As for the largest number of new land grantors, from dozens of tribes, there are more problems. The wise ones among them have begun to realize that Igor's willingness to accept them is all about cheap labor - a life settled in a fixed place and protected and supported by Night's Watch is stable and safe, but when workers exchange labor for survival resources, it is more Nomadic, gathering, and hunting outside the Wall is boring and a lot harder. They were not only dissatisfied with being forced to become "Kneelers", but also annoyed by the constant interference and interference in the internal affairs of the clan... They even remembered the old and sick people who Mance Rayder sacrificed to pass the Wall, and began to complain about the people who led them to avoid the Others. Former King-Beyond-the-Wall.

In a word, Yara Grejoy is far more than a person who is full and pushes a lot. Human nature will never be satisfied.

Although the overall happiness of land-grant residents has been at a low point, under the diligent supply of the logistics department and the deterrence of the Night's Watch armed forces, the "red line" of this small social distancing turmoil still has a long way to go distance. Igor deeply understands how unrealistic it is to quickly win the support of the people after a few reforms, as in many stories, without the backing of cheats and massive family property.

In this regard, his countermeasure is to stay awake at all times: the actual situation of the land grant determines that oneself cannot satisfy everyone and win their love. Don't expect anything you can't get - oneself is now a chess player, and everyone in the land grant is a chess piece. Win this game against Others before being eligible to consider the others.

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Explorers from the construction department have conducted a series of surveys and surveys along the coast where Gorge merges into the Bay of Ice, and have selected the location of the port stronghold— —Igor had no plans to inspect before the start of construction, but because the first generation of the Dragonglass bomb was ready for actual testing, he temporarily decided to change the schedule: while the North craftsmen were still gathering in Winterfell and had not yet headed north, hurry up. Hurry back and set foot on the newly opened patrol route on the edge of the Gorge for yourself. If possible, the test site for thermal weapons should also be determined as soon as possible.

After he was elected as Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and completed his successor ceremony, he headed north for the first time and returned to the Wall. After passing Castle Black, he went west along the foot of the ice wall, and stayed overnight at Shadow Tower to discuss the status of Night's Watch with Denys Mallister. After a cordial discussion and an exchange of opinions on the future direction of Legion, we set off to the west in the early morning of the next day... Accompanied by Qhorin Halfhand, the deputy conductor of Shadow Tower, after passing the small fortress of the West Bridge, set foot on the never set foot To the west of the passing Wall, within the wall there is only one segment of the area that is not separated by the Wall.

Igor has to honestly admit that Gorge is not what he imagined - before seeing it in person, the picture in his mind was actually closer to the Great Rift Valley in East Africa that he saw on the Internet before crossing. Typical aerial landscape: On the endless Great Plains, a crack formed by geological tectonic movement runs through the earth and extends to the end of the horizon, as if it was split by Heavenly God with giant axe, deep and steep, like a giant ditch. ...

But what? Gorge was not formed by the movement of plates. It was originally just a crack or depression between the two peaks in the southern part of the Frostfangs mountain range. Due to the erosion and erosion of Milkwater, the riverbed gradually deepened, and the rock formations on both sides of the slope lost their support and continuously collapsed, forming a confrontation cliff that was almost a cliff. . There is a river below, and the two sides are steep and steep slopes. The real appearance of Gorge reminds Igor of the Three Gorges formed when the Yangtze River flowed through Chongqing in his previous life.

The key difference between a canyon and a rift is that it is not flat on both sides, the northern edge is the southern slope of a series of mountains, and the southern edge is the northern slope of another series of mountains. Igor originally ordered patrols along the route, and the route that Night's Watch, who executes the mission, is going to take is actually a path on the mountainside next to the cliff.

And what Igor saw today was dozens of patrols stepping on the cleaned route.

It's not good to ride horses here, everyone walks, Igor goes out to look under the cliff from time to time, but fortunately: Frostfangs rock is not as hard as Wushan, and the slopes on both sides of the canyon are not 90 degrees. So exaggerated... The potholes are ups and downs, and there are even vegetation coverage. Even if you miss, you will not fall directly to the bottom of the valley and become muddy.

But even so, it really doesn't look like a human can climb. Igor remembered the first encounter with the Others three years ago: after leaving Waymar Royce to run, two terrified minions had a discussion at Wall's feet about the future, and this guy Gary offered to take him around Wall , crossed Gorge from the west, returned within the wall, and then fled to the south. If Others hadn't chased after him, Igor would have almost agreed.

But when I saw Gorge with my own eyes, Igor was glad that I didn't really run away with Gary: Milkwater's water flow is far less than that of the Yangtze River, and it's easy to cross the river, but climb up? God knows how to climb!
No wonder Mance Rayder would rather attack Wall than take a detour... For the living, this is indeed a natural danger as reliable as Wall.

"Isn't there a better way?"

"If you mean the road to the military port of the Gorge estuary, go over this hill, and there is a Bay a few miles south of us. The road leading to the land-grant trod by the clansmen along the coast of the Ice." Qhorin Halfhand shrugged and replied, "But your order, my lord, is to 'patrol the south side of Gorge', and if we take that road, we won't be able to see it. The situation in the Gorge...Isn't that equivalent to patrolling under the Wall's feet, and someone is climbing the wall and can't see it?"

Igor nominates, it is easy to do if there is a road, if you want to repair it in this place A mountain road that allows large-scale teams to go to the mouth of the canyon to build a military port, it can't be done in half a year.

"Gorge's ability to prevent wildling, I can see it." Relieving one concern, he appeared another: "But, Others and dead people are not afraid of falling, if they don't care about the steep slope, it is difficult to climb Forcibly pass through, even if the patrols find it in time, I am afraid that it will be difficult to mobilize reinforcements to defend.”

The Wall is an ice wall wrapped around a giant Weirwood. The ten-meter-wide, straight Great Way has better "road conditions" than most of the real roads in the Seven Kingdoms, and can even be passed by cavalry troops. Once the patrolling on it finds that the enemy is climbing the wall, whether it is blowing a horn or putting a fire beacon, the defenders near the fortress can quickly rush to the rescue after receiving the signal, taking advantage of the advantage of the ice wall to condescend, and carry out an amazing advantage. Defensive battle...

But Gorge...passes through here from the opposite cliff to the bottom of the valley, crosses the river and then climbs again. The difficulty of crossing is comparable to climbing The Wall, but the road is so narrow Going south, even if the patrols detect the enemy and send out a signal, it is difficult for the defenders in Shadow Tower, West Bridge View or the new stronghold of the Gorge estuary in the future to reach the alarm point before the enemy successfully climbs.

Does patrolling only serve as an early warning?

"My lord's concern is justified, but the situation is not so bad... West Bridge is more than twenty leagues away from the Bay of Ice, but it is as dangerous and difficult as the section we are walking on. It is only ten leagues long, and the width of the Milkwater will increase rapidly near the sea entrance to the west, and the road on the south side of the canyon will also become easier to travel."

"Easy to travel, it is also a mountain road." Igor brows Tightly frowns sighed: "It seems that in addition to the naval port on the coast, it is necessary to build a transfer station in the middle of the Gorge, and stock up some Wildfire, Dragonglass arrows and other armaments in order to deal with unexpected situations."

"This is the safest way." Qhorin Halfhand is actually a conservative who opposes the acceptance of wildling, but at this moment he has no doubts about the seriousness of Igor's words. In the last ages, the strength of Night's Watch continued to decline, and the number of strongholds it was stationed continued to decrease, but after this guy suddenly appeared, not only the original nineteen were activated one after another, but the Lord Commander was selected even more powerfully: I decided to add one more later. , After a while, I decided to add another one... and I did it without any ambiguity. This kind of lavishness and decisiveness made it impossible for people to accept it. "But the situation may not be as bad as adults think... Our soldiers have found some interesting situations during dozens of patrols."

"Interesting? I'm not in the mood to hear any anecdotes right now. ."

"Not an anecdote." Qhorin shook his head: "After Nightfort was reactivated last year, it wasn't that a glowing Heart Tree was found under the Wall, which led to the idea that 'Wall magic power comes from Weirwood'. Guess what? Coincidentally, we accidentally discovered that at the bottom and two slopes of Gorge, there is the most amazing Weirwood forest in Westeros."

——

(end of this chapter)

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