King of The Wall

2021-01-06

Chapter 360 End of the Marathon
Night's Watch witnessing the shocking scene of "Ghost Sea Logging" The patrolmen fled back to the West Bridge, and Denys Mallister, who was informed of the situation, decisively ordered the Bridge of Skulls to be re-blocked.

The patrol on the north side of Gorge started and ended in a hurry. It became the order that Igor issued after taking office with the least number of executions (one time) and the shortest duration (half a day), but the speed and efficiency of getting feedback was as high as The one that can't be added.

The Shadow Tower Commander jumped the ranks to stop the Lord Commander's order, which is of course not procedurally wrong, but the right decision is the right decision. Igor would never doubt that a patrol led by an experienced veteran like Qhorin Halfhand himself would lie about the military - ordering the re-opening of the patrol beyond the wall was "to win more warning and preparation for the final battle with the risk of a small number of people. time", rather than "send troops to the Night King", and since we know that there is no time left, we should stop decisively.

Under the command of oneself, the land grant has already made preparations to deal with this battle, but how far is it from "doing it well"? At the moment when the army of the dead came across Gorge, could Night's Watch stop it?

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This news completely overwhelmed the festivities brought by the miraculous victory of "Bay of Ice". Although he didn't want to bureaucratically hold meetings all day, the stakes were high, and Igor had to reconvene the Chief-In-Charge of the land-grant divisions he could reach for a final discussion.

His first question by name was the logistics supervisor related to infrastructure construction: "How is the progress of the deep repair work along the canyon patrol route?"

Having done his homework, Humfrey answered immediately : "It has been basically completed, and two horses can ride together safely. Apart from being on the mountainside, the width is limited, and the height of the terrain cannot be changed in a short time by manpower. The road itself is flat and smooth, and can catch up with the The condition of the top of the Wall."

"Very good, speed up the accumulation of Wildfire and Dragonglass weapons in Canyon View. Also, increase the density of Torches and temporary storage for supplies between the transit fortress and Ice Gap Harbor and Shadow Tower. Scale... The effect I want is: Rangers patrol lightly, and wherever in Gorge they see signs of a ghoul army crossing, they can immediately signal and acquire Wildfire and Dragonglass weapons on the spot, making the first Wave defense." Igor solemnly repeated oneself's expectations, "Then, the nearest reinforcements also set off with as few weapons as possible, quickly arrived at the place where the signal for help was sent, and also relied on the materials obtained nearby to provide support first, and after stabilizing the front line, Wait for the logistics to deliver more weapons."

"This is the ideal solution, but . Disapprovingly, "If everyone has the training level of Night's Watch or Queenscrown Guard, that's fine, but such a quality is built up by time, money, and the daily training of officers, and it's difficult to achieve it quickly."

...

That's true.

Since the former Lord Commander Jeor Mormont took office, all Night's Watch have lived a fairly regular militarized life under the management of Commander Mormont. Although limited by the quality of the troops, the battle strength was uneven, but the training level and discipline were uneven. Definitely a top spot in Westeros. And the new army brought by Igor from King's Landing—the group of basic officers who are now called "Queenscrown Guards", also had a clean family background and good conduct, and had at least half a year of full-time training and training before going north to work. The final selection...

And these are qualities that the land-grant militias born out of mountain clans and wildlings do not have, and there is no way to make up for them in the short term.

"If you have any comments, feel free to mention. This may be the last battle meeting before the war where discussions are allowed. Go out of this door today, and then just fully operate and implement the established plan without changing the layout. ."

"Then I'll mention it." Warner Buckwell, who was born in the Crownlands aristocracy, is not as cautious as Yam, Humfrey and other commoners who Igor personally promoted to the management. "I think the dead are not afraid of death. Gorge's natural danger has no psychological deterrent effect on the enemy. Such a long front is only guarded by a few thousand people, and it is impossible to defend it. Instead of investing a lot of manpower and material resources to maintain dispersion, it is better to simply give up and shrink the personnel to each strong fortress. Take it easy."

"Impossible!" Jon, who came from Castle Black, immediately spoke out, sternly opposed, "Warner Ser has never fought the dead, and the concept is still at the level of fighting the living. The duty of Night's Watch is to stop the threat from beyond the wall, without even trying to defend it, what's the point of being black clothed on us? Besides, the dead don't eat, so you don't need to worry about the logistics line being cut off, the Wall and the land grant itself There is no value for contention, and if the Others cross the canyon and head straight for the North regardless of Night's Watch's many fortresses, wouldn't it make countless residents face the dangers that should be borne by us without any defense?"

That the debate has arisen so quickly is the result of divided positions. There are three main sources of management grassroots that Igor can use and trust: the original Night's Watch team in the Mormont era, especially Jon and his friends, a small number of civilian followers brought by oneself from the King's Landing Industrial Park, and a small number of civilian followers. Less was banished to Wall's "New Night's Watch" after Stannis won the throne for supporting Renly Baratheon's claim to the throne.

Almost half of the officers in the old-fashioned Night's Watch are from North, of course, they want to perform their duties; while the employees of the industry are obedient with their wages, and Igor can go wherever they want; only the Crownlands nobles faction People... Rather than guarding the Seven Kingdoms, they want to keep the Night's Watch and the land-grant state of being strong and strong. In the future, they can use this to push Igor to the stage of power and use him as a fulcrum to fight for their deprived status and interests - this is Igor When I won the support of these people, I gave them a big cake by hinting.

Fortunately, Igor temporarily has enough control over land grants, both soft and hard.

...

"Are you sure the enemy will attack from the Gorge, why not mobilize more troops?" Much lower volume than the two Night's Watches, which are diametrically opposed - ya Mu suggested softly, "As far as I know, the land grant has thousands more troops to mobilize."

The communications officer immediately interjected: "Cotter Pyke came to report that the de-icing over Eastwatch is getting worse. It's getting harder and harder, and it has gradually changed from 'looking for ice removal' to 'taking the right time to take turns to rest', and I'm afraid we need to add manpower."

Igor coughed: "Eastwatch is short of manpower. There are other arrangements, which will be discussed later. It is true that there are still some troops that can be mobilized in the land grant, but what Jon said just now is wrong: Wall is of strategic value to Others - I don't have time to explain the specific reasons now, everyone just needs to You know, Nightfort is the key. Others will definitely want to attack and destroy the giant Heart Tree under it, thereby destroying the Magic woven inside the Wall, making it lose its function of shielding the power of Cold God. We can basically confirm that the enemy's main attack direction is in Gorge, But I can also guarantee this: if we really leave no room for deploying the full force in the Gorge, the enemy will end up somewhere else. Put one third of the combatants in an area that is less than one-tenth the length of the entire line It's already the limit... Elsewhere, especially Eastwatch, we still have to guard it, and it has to be heavily guarded."

Igor had to explain to this core group of subordinates the reasons for all deployments of oneself and In order to avoid any doubts and mistakes made by these high-level executives in the execution: "And Warner, you are thinking about the problem purely from the perspective of viewing an ordinary war. You said that 'natural danger' is no threat to the dead. True to the living, but in the blink of an eye, the 'dead' is not an ordinary army. If we don't take the initiative to engage in combat, they will never be attrition with the march, but will roll more and more... It ravaged the land grant and even North, and finally turned around five, six, seven, eight, or even a dozen times, and then turned around and easily eliminated us!"

Warner twitched his lips: "We provided North with a lot of obsidian weapons at low prices. , they should know how to use it."

Jon didn't hesitate for a second: "How much is that? We don't have enough people, and we only have Wildfire, the most restrained ghoul!"

Igor clapped the table to forcibly interrupt their quarrel: "Defending at Gorge is more than a rigid attempt to perform the duties of Night's Watch. If we abandon this place, the enemy is likely to be at our end. One night without even noticing it, we sneaked across the canyon and entered the land grant, killing us on the bed without any precautions... And once we defended, the terrain of the canyon helped, even if we couldn't stop it, At least kill enough enemies to weaken the ghoul army. More importantly - the start of the canyon defense battle will provide a warning to the entire land grant and even all residents of North, giving people enough time to stop field work and evacuate to within the wall! He looked around all the Night's Watch, land granting middle and senior management attending the meeting, and made sure everyone was listening, "Therefore, my vision for the Gorge line of defense must be fully and completely realized, and this is not open to discussion! "

Warner did not intend to raise a bar with his superiors, he shrugged: "Okay, obey the commander's decision. However, if the training level and quality are not up to expectations, it is an unavoidable problem. I propose to organize a field exercise to test the reaction speed of the defenders along the Gorge immediately. Use this last little time to practice as much proficiency as you can. How much proficiency. "

"This proposal is okay, start to arrange it, start today, and must have it day and night. ”

……

No one has too many objections or suggestions. In the following time, not only did everyone quickly discuss a set of practical and practical conditions that can be cut into actual combat at any time The exercise plan also added more detailed arrangements: for example, several tribes settled in the eastern part of the land grant were also moved to Eastwatch, several fortresses in poor condition along the Wall were determined to be directly abandoned during the war, and they would move slowly. The inconvenient Giant brought out the Queenscrown Wall in advance, lied about the military situation in good faith - issued an alert to the Seven Kingdoms, especially the North, that the ghouls were already attacking Gorge, etc... If the Weirwood forest inside and outside Gorge is counted as part of the defense, it seems It's not a lie either.

After a long but heavy and fulfilling meeting, some of Igor's most trusted and respected officials went their separate ways with their respective missions. The Night King is north of the Wall. The years-long ultra-marathon is finally coming to an end, and what Igor has to do now is not to become the spoils of this amazing perseverance.

Igor gets some fresh air and walks to oneself's place Go, and it didn't take long to see Melisandre standing by the door, who was obviously waiting for oneself, looked towards her and walked towards her.

Before she could think about what to say, the witch shook her head lightly and said: " We do have some things to talk about, but now is probably not the time, you need to get ready - meet Lady Stark. ”

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(end of this chapter)