King of The Wall

2021-01-06

Chapter 579 The Boring Riverlands Wars

The "reputable" Frey Marquess has a few big wishes in life.

Among them, let their bloodline spread to every corner of the Seven Kingdoms, which has been roughly completed through the marriage tactic; and the improvement of the Frey family's "upstart" image has also been achieved through cooperation with Robb Stark, The marriage of old-fashioned aristocrats such as Roose Bolton has begun to go on the right track; only the last one, before a large gang of black clothed soldiers Divine Weapon suddenly appeared in the city, has not been realized at all.

That is, to get rid of the aggrieved status quo of being overwhelmed by the Tully family, and to take the family's political status to a new level.

The second condition given by Igor can be said to have scratched the itch of old Marquess, so that Walder Frey, who originally only planned to provide some food and grass in exchange for safety, did not plan to go to the muddy water at all. Heart trembling, finally made an impulsive decision to step in.

After waiting for about two hours in the cold wind that was obviously damp in the Riverlands, the gate of the Twins City opened, and Robb Stark, who went to the negotiation, rode back, bringing the Frey family's change of status and agreed. Good news for joining.

The Red Dragon flag, symbolizing Targaryen, was quickly planted on the walls of the two twin fortresses. Land-grant forwards holding the black flag quickly poured into the castle to take over the cross-river passage. The land-grant-North coalition grandiose They arrived at the south bank through the stone bridge, and stationed on the spot for a short rest for half a day and one night.

The Frey family is worthy of being the lord with the most powerful family property in the Three Rivers Basin. For Igor's light-hearted promise that he didn't know where to start, he not only took out the amount of materials provided by House Bolton, but also In an instant, thousands of infantrymen were mobilized to join the coalition and fight for the Queen.

As a result, the number of people Igor can move has risen to 8,000. At the same time as the army assembled the team on the south bank of Green Fork, countless Ravens in the castle also flew to the other six countries except North with the transcribed "Twins City Declaration"... After a short period of free time, Igor was finally able to A few things that have been thought out for a long time, but have never had time to do, have been put into practice.

The first is: it is publicly announced that the salaries of land-grant army soldiers will be doubled.

For a long time, the salaries of land-grant workers and servicemen have been kept at a very low level. Of course, Igor bullied the mountain clan and the people beyond the wall had no concept of money. The wartime supply system in which the land itself is not open to marketization and does not consider profit is also a key factor. The income matches the price, and everyone's life can be lived completely. But now the situation is different. After joining forces with North and entering the South, the soldiers gradually began to contact information from the outside world, and they began to have to interact directly with the skyrocketing prices in the war in the South. In this case, if the original The level of military pay, but not only requires soldiers to fight but also requires them to do nothing to the common people. Igor estimates that oneself will face more betrayals soon.

Even if the military pay is doubled, it is still at a lower level, but Igor can understand the gameplay of "three and four", he has decided: to increase the remaining pay and release it slowly in a way to defeat the reward—— Double it first, and then increase it a little with each victory. In this way, the financial pressure will not increase suddenly, and the soldiers can intuitively experience the tangible benefits brought by winning to themselves, and they will be more interested in "fighting for the Queen." There are bright and good prospects for this matter, and good morale can always be maintained.

Then is to rectify the army, reform the framework of the command system, adjust and streamline the establishment, and separate the chief officer and aide-deputy-the former is responsible for receiving orders from superiors and commanding the troops under the jurisdiction, while the latter deals exclusively with soldiers and functions. Similar to the "commissar" in the Chinese army before crossing or the "Cleric" in the western army. In Winterfell, the land-grant army kitchen was unconsciously infiltrated by Varys people, which really made Igor break into a cold sweat. He realized that oneself until now was too superstitious about the deterrent power of his own hero image, and neglected to pay attention to the soldiers' psychological state and thinking trends. .

Humans are not machines, they will always be unsatisfied and constantly have new ideas and expectations. If the system does not give the people below a channel to express their demands, then the people who have no other way will come to it in other ways. Trying to realize the desire of oneself, the response can be summed up in one word: blocking is worse than slack - even if the requirements of the soldiers cannot be met quickly, at least there is a chance to draw a big cake and flicker, and delay the outbreak of conflicts.

The last one is to prepare for the formation of an independent Intelligence Section.

The people inside and outside the Wall are sparsely populated, and all information has to be investigated, and the living will not cheat oneself in the war with Others, so the land grant has never had a full-time Intelligence Section, and the related work has long been a Ranger. It is going on with the Queenscrown patrols, but going south to conquer the Seven Kingdoms is a fight with people, different needs, naturally need different methods and personnel to deal with.

In the short term, the so-called Intelligence Section will be an empty shell, but a thousand-mile journey begins with the first step, and for anything beneficial, it's better to start late than never.

 …

After we settled down, the army continued south for the second stop in the Three Rivers watershed.

Seagard is not an ordinary noble castle, but a war fortress built to defend against the Ironmen invasion. The lords of this place, the Mallister family, are completely incomparable to the Frey family in terms of wealth, but the opposite is true in terms of bravery and fighting skills. Not the Seagard family.

This is the family that brought up Ser Denys Mallister, a long history, you let me win, they value fame and shame, a solid city wall, rich defensive experience and the cold of winter give them Confidence in the confrontation - After Igor died heroically in the coexistence and death of the Shadow Tower commander Denys and the fortress, he once asked someone to send a "Lightbringer" to his family to express his condolences and affirmation to the hero's family. He wanted to rely on it. This layer of relationship is close to persuading Seagard to change his flag. Who wants to have a hot face and a cold butt: Uncle and Night's Watch, who have not seen each other for 40 years, have a little relationship with Igor. Sen Mallister count not only closed the door and did not let the negotiators in, but also loudly declared Daenerys is Mad King evil remnants on the wall, Igor West is a shameful rebel and treason, and only Stannis Baratheon is the real Seven Kingdoms the legitimate monarch.

In this regard, Igor didn't say a word of nonsense, and directly ordered the launch of the artillery to start the strikes city gate.

The artillerymen, who had been itching for a long time, finally got the chance to play. In the rumble of cannons, not only did the North and Frey family troops who were watching the battle experience an unprecedented shock, but the Mallister family was "out of reach" (family). slang) pride was also blasted to smithereens. After several rounds of salvos shattered the gate and the attached city wall on the verge of collapse, Igor commanded the combined North and Frey forces to take an offensive stance and issue an ultimatum.

After all, cannonballs are tougher than mouths, and the nobles of this era are not at all enlightened. Under the savage formidable power of gunpowder, he finally bent his knees, quickly raised the White Banner, and surrendered to the coalition forces.

Igor does not intend to target the families of the martyrs who fought against Others, but someone has to pay for the previous rhetoric and the gunpowder consumed by the Land Granters. After a round of consultations, the final decision was made: The original patriarch Jason Mallister counts to abdicate to his son, and goes to the Wall under the escort of House Stark personnel to put on black clothed, and then develop the beyond the wall territory to atone for his sins; Seagard pays a large amount of food and armament as war reparations, and the North soldiers Remains the escrow castle until the end of the war and returns it to his successor, Patrick Mallister.

Finish the wealthiest Frey family, gnaw the hardest Mallister, and the next Three Rivers river basin marches smoothly to a no-man's land: House Blackwood in Raventree City, House Blackwood in Stone Hedge City are all Looking down at the wind, the beauty set has already "taken off my pants and poked my ass" when the army arrived (Harvey's original words, because the town took the initiative to hang up the Red Dragon flag); and Bolton on the South Road also heard good news News: The Dreadfort not only successfully captured the town of Harroway count, coerced and subdued the Saltpans guard Knight, but also easily occupied the almost unguarded Harrenhal; then count the Mooton family in Maidenpool, the only one in the Harroyal War. Standing in the middle of the Riverlands family who supported Mad King's side, the Queen resolutely joined the Targaryen side as soon as she landed...

On average, it took less than a day to subdue one place, and the coalition crossed Red Fork and went west along River Road. By the time Riverrun descended, the Red Dragon flag had been hoisted on half of the Three Rivers. Faced with an invasion from a completely unexpected direction - the north, the Tullys, the nominal rulers, had no time to do anything, and became almost general without an army. In the end, under the presence of Robb's nephew, Igor used the same words of Igor to fool Frey-promise that the Tully family "will not lose their status as the guardian of the Riverlands" after the war... The Trout family is again after 20 years. Join the House Targaryen banner.

Conquering a puddle of mud won't give Igor a sense of accomplishment, in fact, most of the credit for conquering one of the Seven Kingdoms in just a week goes to Robb - because the Tullys are too Because of the weak chickens, most of the Riverlands nobles actually used House Stark as their spiritual leader and the weather vane of the team. When they saw the banner of the wolf running in the siege army, it was a devastating blow to the morale of most Riverlands nobles.

All the enemies on the back have surrendered, the grain transportation route is unobstructed, and the strategic goal of the 1st Stage is almost fully achieved. According to the original plan, Igor should turn east at this time, and follow the River Road to the Crownlands, and Daenerys The confluence of the Unsullied army surrounded King's Landing. But what started all the nobles with the army was - after Igor stopped under the Riverrun for one night, the next morning actually ordered: the army continued westward and headed for the Golden Tooth, the gateway fortress of the Westerlands to the Riverlands.

"Sir, this is completely inconsistent with your previous plan." Even Robb, who had been silent for a long time, finally couldn't help but questioned, "The coalition forces are less than 10,000 people, to storm the Westerlands, even if there are With the benefits of gunpowder, I'm afraid it will be very difficult!"

"Don't worry." Igor smiled and reassured, "This trip to Golden Tooth is not for combat, just let you accompany me... Just a meeting with an old friend."

——

(end of this chapter)