The king on the Great Wall

……

Since it wasn't too long ago, Arya's cut hair still hasn't grown back long enough to be braided, but it's enough to make it easy to tell that she's a girl.This is good news for Iger-life is already so hard, and in this case, being clingy to a little girl is much better than being annoyed by a tomboy.

In addition to her hair, Arya has obviously grown taller. Not only has her height reached Iger's chest, but her figure is no longer as thin as a matchstick when she first saw her. With the clear and obvious female features, What followed was a corresponding increase in weight... Being held by her arm, Iger felt like a big sandbag was wrapped around his arm.

After running away from home last time and being taken back to Winterfell for a month, Arya was obviously bored, and she managed to catch someone who could talk, chatting non-stop.After Iger was entangled for a long time, he finally waited for the guard who had reported back: "Master Iger, Lord Robb, please go to the study to meet him."

Iger breathed a sigh of relief, and finally got rid of the bear boy: "Well, great... Arya, I really want to have a good chat with you for a while, but now I really have something to talk to your brother about, you Can you do me a favor and go back to your room without the nun or anyone looking around for you?"

"No." Arya rejected Iger's proposal without even thinking about it, and even started dragging him to the city lord's study: "Let's go, I'll go there with you, and I haven't talked to Robb for a long time."

-

Chapter 268 Study Talk

Winterfell is Arya's home, and it's not easy for Egger to tell Miss Stark where to go and where not to go in the home city of the Stark family, so the girl can only let the girl follow him to the city lord's study.

Once in the house, he realized that Robb was not alone, and his mother, Lady Caitlin, was also there.

Eddard Stark's widow looked at her daughter with reproachful eyes: "Arya, why are you here?"

"Robb has been busy here and there as soon as he comes back. I want to talk to him." Seeing that something was wrong, Arya quickly dropped Igger and ran to her brother's side, and soon made the new Duke Stark's expression soft. Come down——like his father, he dotes on his sister very much, it is difficult to put on a straight face, and naturally he has nothing to do with her.

"Sit down, Iger." Caitlin said softly, but she couldn't hide the worry on her brows. She waited until the night watchman sat down in the chair she was pointing at before continuing to speak: "First of all, thank you for your support for the stability and peace of the northern border." Peaceful efforts, but please forgive me - as a mother, I just want to find out the whereabouts of my son Bran Stark as soon as possible. Not long ago, the Night's Watch sent a letter saying that he had been found, and Winterfell heard the news Immediately arranged for someone to pick it up, but when the person sent out came back, they said that the child had disappeared again, and there seemed to be something going on inside the Night Watch Corps, so no one could tell the exact situation... I couldn't go north in person in the midst of the chaos. Investigate, you are the chief logistics officer, you must know the real situation of the Great Wall defenders better than most night watchmen, can you explain, what is going on?"

"No problem, ma'am." Iger nodded, and after explaining to Arya in detail, he recounted it in full.

In the incident of Bran's departure, if there is any responsibility for the night watchman, it is nothing more than "not watching the child after stopping it".Fortunately, Iger had already kept his mind on it. During this period, he had never been to the Long Night Fort at all, and he had never seen Bran even once. It can be said that it has little to do with this matter.

It has nothing to do with it, so it's not a guilty conscience, let alone cover up or shirk responsibility for anyone, just say what you know.Questions were answered, and the conversation went fairly smoothly.

……

"It turns out that something happened when Commander Mormont was going to pick up Bran?" Maester Aemon did not mention these small details in the report letter sent to Winterfell after Mormont's accident, and Caitlin only knew: "I'm sorry for causing trouble to the brothers in black. My mother can't shirk responsibility for such a thing when the Great Wall is in crisis. But out of selfishness, I still want to ask if anyone on the Great Wall knows Where is my son? If the situation permits, can you spare some men to search Bran again in the Grant?"

"After the unfortunate death of Commander Mormont, the Night's Watch and the land grant fell into command chaos, followed by a food crisis to feed the reinforcements of the mountain clans and the new land grant people... In this messy situation, there is really no People want to investigate this matter. I apologize to my wife for this, and when this matter is settled and the situation eases, I will personally preside over the investigation."

"Mother, all the troops from the north have returned, and we now have sufficient manpower. In a few days, I will personally lead people north to investigate Bran's whereabouts, and I will definitely bring him back."

Robb is going north himself! ?Iger was a little stunned by this unexpected joy. He dug a big hole and planned to use Stark's "potential" for himself. The most critical part of it was to persuade him to go north with him. When he found Mrs. Caitlin present, he was chased and asked about Bran's situation, which made him almost forget his words...

The funny thing is: before he mentioned it, Robb took the initiative to get into the pit.

Just imagine: leading troops south to expel the ironborn, and returning victorious a month later, with the new guardian of the north behind him.In the face of this fact, no matter how Robb expresses his position, it will be understood that he—that is, the northern border—supports his own policies.Add operations on this basis, and the comeback is just around the corner!

……

"Me too!" Arya interrupted.God knows whether she cares more about her brother or wants to go out to breathe more. Of course, there is no need to speculate maliciously-after all, these two points do not conflict.

"It's not to play, what can you do?" Robb gave his sister a serious look, then looked up at Caitlin: "Mother, leave it to me to find Bran. You can relax for now and trust your son once. .Next, I want to talk to Iger about other things, why don't you take Arya back first... more things, we can talk about it at dinner?"

This is a son's request to his mother, but it is also a tactful order from the Guardian of the North to his family members. Although he is full of worries and uneasiness, he still wants to chase after Iger to continue asking, but in front of outsiders, Caitlin still understands the principle of putting the overall situation first. Saved the face of the eldest son who was already a king.

She stood up and waved to Arya: "Go, come back with me."

To her mother, especially one who was depressed, Arya didn't dare to play with her temper like she did to Septa Mordane. She obediently stood up from Robb, stuck her tongue out at him as she passed by Iger, and left the study.

***

There were only two men left in the room. Obviously, the previous conversation was just an interlude, and then... it was time for the official meeting between the Guardians of the North and the Chief Logistics Officer of the Night Watch.

"The night watchman put tens of thousands of wildlings into the Great Wall." Robb watched his mother and sister leave the study and closed the door, put away the expressions of his submissive son and kind brother, and only looked at him with a serious expression when the room became quiet again. Iger: "I know that Commander Jeor Mormont ordered the implementation of this plan, but some sources said: All this is actually planned and promoted by you behind the scenes. After the death of Old Bear, you are still working hard to maintain the gift. The operation of the land resettlement plan... Is what I said true?"

(Rob is not as ignorant of what happened to the land grant as Iger thought before, and even the degree of understanding is beyond expectations. Where did he get the news?)

Aiger was a little surprised, but he didn't panic: "Yes, it's completely true."

When granting the land, he could use the order of the former commander Mormont as a shield to prevent those conservative candidates from terminating the resettlement plan in advance.But in front of Robb, he couldn't use the same trick to fool the other party, but he had to express his position and take things up—not for anything else, just because he went south this time to gain support from the young man in front of him .

"Commander Mormont and I worked together to formulate a comprehensive set of new land-grant laws to manage the wildlings who were put on the Wall, and at the same time took a series of targeted measures to ensure that they could not threaten the Night's Watch. The safety of the northern border. Supplemented by the financial resources of the night watchman industry and a complete social management system..."

"But none of this stopped Mr. Xiong from being stoned to death by some savages."

Facts are always the most powerful weapon. Iger never thought that Robb would have such a mean and sharp side, and the rhythm of deceiving people was interrupted immediately: "This... was an accident. The perpetrator and the group that protected him, They were all severely punished."

"I've heard that the Mormonts are satisfied with what happened afterwards." Robb shook his head, "As for the accident... If the Old Bear doesn't introduce the wildlings to the Wall, the original land-grants and mountain clans will retaliate He, the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, throws stones? That's sophistry."

This is indeed a sophistry, and Iger quickly collected his emotions and stabilized the situation that was disturbed by the insertion of Arya and Caitlin: "But——"

Robb raised his hand and interrupted Iger's words: "I appreciate you and your people coming from the land-grant and fighting to drive out the Ironmen, but it is impossible to support everything you do because of this. After all, the North is not just me. I have to be responsible to everyone, first of all my vassals. And the fact is—almost all the nobles held firm objections after hearing the news. The internal decision of the people is to calm them down for the time being... This is just a stopgap measure. In the end, the night watchman or you have to give me an explanation, and I will give the northerners another guarantee so that they will not go to the night watchman. trouble."

-

Chapter 269 Study Talk

The other party's unambiguous attitude made Iger focus.Fortunately—although it looks menacing and sounds aggressive, Little Stark's words actually reveal an important message: Robb is not firmly opposed to the land-grant resettlement plan, and everything is still up for grabs.

"First of all, apologies to Commander Mormont and I for acting without permission. It would have been ill-advised to have put the Outer Wallers directly on the Wall without consulting the Lords of the North, especially the Guardians. But the truth is, the army of the dead was in hot pursuit. There is no time for us to inform the northern princes and discuss with the living people who fled south." When the wildlings attacked the Great Wall, the ironmen were also invading the northern border.In this case, even if Mormont spread the word and asked for opinions, Egger doubted whether the nobles would be willing to participate: "If you make a decision one step later, countless people will be killed outside the Great Wall and transformed into ghouls— —Let the Night Watchman and the North face tens of thousands more non-human opponents in the foreseeable future." Iger finally brought up this statement. "I remember that Commander Mormont should have put a ghoul on a carriage tour around the whole of the North. You must have seen that thing. It's not a fiction."

"No one said it was a fiction. This is a somewhat convincing reason. The Night Watchmen are indeed facing enemies that ordinary people can't imagine. This has already increased the upper limit of tolerance for you in the northern border." Robb curled his lips: "But I don't think that thing has the wisdom and ability to cross the Great Wall... As for the thinking and magical ghosts you mentioned in your report, no one has seen them before, so they can't be taken into consideration."

"I've seen it and killed one. During my business trip to King's Landing, the rangers killed another one. If you don't believe me, you can call your half-brother Jon Snow to ask... This is a loyal and reliable young man, and you have known him longer than anyone, and you should know him."

"I know him. In fact, I don't need Jon, I am willing to believe you." Robb shrugged at Iger: "But even if the ghosts really exist? There are tens of millions of people in the Seven Kingdoms. I don't believe it, but without these tens of thousands of savages... we will lose in the war against the dead?"

"There are tens of millions of people in the Seven Kingdoms, but what are these tens of millions of people doing? Engaging in one after another, throwing energy and resources into one after another due to palace scandals, battles for the throne In the war caused by it! At this moment when the long night is approaching, what we need is to concentrate our energy and resources, and be prepared to deal with natural enemies!" Iger became slightly excited: "1 land-grant citizens who are fully prepared for war are more powerful than 1000 million People from the Seven Kingdoms who don’t put their minds on business matters are more effective! And I am confident——under my leadership, the new land-grant people will become the former!”

"Personal opinions don't matter, let me be frank - you, just a foreigner from some place we've never heard of; and Jon, my father's bastard son. Regarding the important matter of the enemy's savages entering the life of the land grant, your confidence and guarantee are of no trustworthy value to the northern princes, I mean... meaningless."

Quite a long sentence, simply put: In this social structure of feudal lords, neither Egger nor anyone in the Night Watch Legion is qualified to make relevant guarantees to the northern princes; and Robb has just sat on his seat. The position he is in does not have prestige and ability to overcome all opinions.

It doesn't sound very nice, but it's the truth.Iger frowned, and suddenly realized where the problem was: "Wait a minute, I think we need to reorganize our thinking... Otherwise, we can only talk about chickens and ducks to continue the conversation, and we will never get to the point."

Robb made a gesture of agreement, then fell back, leaning back in the chair and quietly waiting for Iger to speak again.

***

The night watchman calmed down and quickly forced himself into a state of efficient thinking.

During the whole process of going south from the Great Wall, solving the ironman invasion problem and returning north, he had already thought about how to persuade Robb Stark not to immediately oppose the land grant resettlement plan, and go north with himself to start the next step .But just now I was pestered by Arya, and after I entered the study, I was interrupted by Caitlin who didn't expect to meet in advance, and I heard Robb say "I will take people north by myself" without thinking about it. This sentence……

The conversation in the study today did not start in the way Iger expected, and even an important goal was achieved without waiting for him to make a move.A series of unexpected factors made the situation chaotic like a bug in the plot of a game. After returning to the Great Wall from King's Landing, he hadn't shown his skills for a long time and his skills were a little rusty. He almost forgot how to fool those who are more powerful than himself people.

But it doesn't matter, just like cycling and swimming, the ability to analyze interests and adopt correct coping strategies is hard to forget once mastered.The relatively good personal relationship between Robb Stark and Iger makes the situation remedial. What he has to do now is to quickly bring up his original plan from memory, find out where the problem is, and make corrections based on the changes in the situation .

***

After a while, Iger cleared his mind.

"What is the duty of the night watchman?" He re-opened, "I will make a conclusion based on my own understanding, that is - to serve as a buffer between the outside of the Great Wall and the inside of the Great Wall, to ensure the safety of the Seven Kingdoms, especially the northern border .”

Robb frowned, thought for a while, and found nothing wrong: "Yes, that's it."

"But there has never been any law or provision stipulating how the Night Watchman should do this, just like there has never been any document showing that the Great Wall was built to stop wildlings..."

"Wait a minute, if you mean to say, 'As long as nothing happens in the North, I don't care what the Night's Watch does.' Then the discussion is back to square one - me, or the Northman, questioning the wildlings' ability to keep their own , and fear for our own safety. Most importantly, we have the ability and intention to intervene."

"I know what you mean, and you said it just now: you are responsible for everyone. Please allow me to summarize your meaning again according to my understanding-you said responsible, you are responsible for the safety of everyone in the North 'Responsible. The demands of the guardians of the North and the responsibilities of the Night Watchmen meet at this point, that is: the safety of the North." Iger's mind cleared up: "In other words, what we just conducted about 'letting the foreigners into the customs Discussions such as "correctness" and "should this be done" are simply unnecessary and put the cart before the horse. What should be done now is not to argue about right or wrong, but to judge whether the people from outside the Great Wall who were put into the Great Wall will threaten the northern border— — if so, come up with and act on a solution!"

"That's right, that's exactly what I meant." Robb raised his eyebrows, "That's what I said... You give me an explanation, and I give the people in the northern border a guarantee. You summed it up very well, so what are you going to do? Give me this explanation?"

"I can't give it."

"what?"

"I can't sit here, just talk to the Guardians of the North to believe that the tens of thousands of strangers that the Night Watchmen put into the Great Wall can't threaten the North - this is an impossible task." Iger shrugged. Shrugged: "Even if it is possible, I think this is a very irresponsible behavior. We should not rely on words...to decide the fate of tens of thousands of people."

"So?" This time it was Robb's turn to be a little confused.

"I've always believed that it's better to see once than to hear a hundred times. To judge whether the people outside the Great Wall will threaten the northern border, there is no better way than to walk among them... face to face, understand their life and psychological state... ?"

……

"In my capacity as the Chief Logistics Officer of the Night Watch, I formally extend an invitation to the Guardians of the North. I hope that Lord Stark will show his face -- condescend to come to the land-grant and personally inspect the progress and status of the resettlement plan."

When Egger set off from Houguan Town to go south, his ultimate goal was very clear: to try to bring Robb Stark back to the North, and tricked him to the land grant for a visit, and through his arrival to create a "Northern Guardian Support" The false appearance of the land-grant resettlement plan... After the other party first proposed that he would take the initiative to go north to the Great Wall, the plan was in chaos for a while. Robb was right to let the wildlings pass the Wall.

It is human nature to throw blame and try to prove that you are doing the right thing, and it is also a survival instinct to make progress.But this time, the added goal itself is difficult to achieve, if a miracle happens, Robb believes that the wildlings will not threaten the northern border, so he gives up going north to investigate personally, and will completely destroy the follow-up plan at once.

When it's time to take advantage of the victory and pursue it, you should pursue it boldly, and when it's time to stop when it's good, you should focus on the overall situation.

……

Robb was confused by the rapid change of the topic, but it was not difficult to answer when he had already decided to go north to find his brother: "Well...well, I accept the invitation."

-

Chapter 270 Hot Potato...

"The land gift is waiting for your visit." Iger felt relieved. Although the itinerary was set, he couldn't just let Robb go to the land gift. Before that, he needed a period of preparation time.Before crossing over, Iger denounced all the preparations for the leader's inspection as formalism. Who would have thought that one day he would become the person he once hated: "But there are still some things that I went south because of insufficient supplies, and ended up fighting all the way , I haven't got half a grain of food yet... Please allow my people to station outside the city for a short time. After I assign tasks to my subordinates and send them to various places to buy food and grass, I will go north. You just came back from the south, presumably We also need to stay in Winterfell for a while to deal with family and state affairs."

"Two days." Robb agreed bluntly. "There are indeed many things to be dealt with, but my brother's whereabouts, life and death are uncertain. 'Finding him' is the top priority. In two days, we are leaving north."

"No problem." He knew from his tone that there was nothing to discuss.

"Besides me, I will also invite Glover, Amber, Karstark, and Bolton, the four families closest to the land-grant, to go together to decide this important matter concerning the northern border, especially their safety. .”

"This..." Iger was stunned for a moment. Among the four families, only Glover and Amber had a little friendship with him. Originally, it was only Robb who had to deal with unexpectedly. Who would have thought that there would be five people now.The addition of the other four will greatly increase the variables in my plan to take advantage of the situation, and I have to send the news to Houguan Town as soon as possible. "As a lord, it's really admirable to think about his vassals in such a way. If that's the case, then I'll leave first..."

"Okay, even you are talking nonsense. Continue to sit down, we are done talking about the wildlings. Next, I have a few things, to be precise, a few people I want to hand over to you or the night watchman. "Rob waved his hand, stopping Iger who had stood up and was about to leave: "Joffrey, Tommen, and their sister Messiah are now in Winterfell. Although there is no suspense about their origins, King Robert is dying. The former will wanted to keep them alive. So, my father planned the future for the three children: the two boys had to 'volunteer' to join the Night's Watch, while the girl changed her name, was adopted by Winterfell, and will be married to Sansa and Arya grew up together."

"I'm going to bring the two boys back to the Great Wall this time?" Iger had been greeted a few months ago, so he wasn't surprised. "The night watchman has no right to refuse. I'm just worried...whether the Kingslayer and his two sons are reunited on the Great Wall in this way, whether he will regard it as a deliberate humiliation, and then do something impulsive."

"As long as any kingslayer has a little brain, he should know that this is protecting those two children!" Robb replied firmly: "Take a step back, even if this is deliberately humiliating him, so what? How old is Jaime Lannister when the dragon kills the people of Westeros, forcing the people of Westeros to recognize their family's chaotic privileges? The moment he gets involved with his sister, he should be ready to be ruled by the world Prepare for human humiliation!"

After a pause, Robb also remembered that it was not Jaime Lannister who was sitting opposite him, and his tone eased: "Even if the kingslayer really wants to do something because of this, how to get rid of him is also the responsibility of the Night Watchman." I'm sure...you won't let me down."

……

No one wants to accept the hot potato, but accepting those "cannot be killed and difficult to deal with" characters is one of the tasks of the Night Watchman Legion, let alone at this threshold of asking for others.Iger shrugged: "My lord trusts me so much, I will try my best to deal with this matter."

"Take care of them. It doesn't matter whether the Night Watch Corps raises two idlers or plans to train them into real Night Watch men. The key is not to let them fall into the hands of people with ulterior motives and bring even greater disasters to the Seven Kingdoms." .”

Iger nodded. Of course he knew what the so-called greater disaster was. If nothing else, if Joffrey was held in Tywin Lannister's hands, and the Western Territory recovered from the devastation of the war... Following History After Tanis, Aegon, and Euron the Crow's Eye, Westeros will almost certainly have another king.

There are so many troubles, Iger frowned, but looking at it from another angle, while Robb throws troubles to the night watchman, he must give compensation or preferential treatment in other things... The Stark family has always been honest, take advantage of this Make up for the mentality, and you can try to get more benefits.

"Wait...sit down, there's more!" Robb raised his hand to beckon, and once again stopped Iger, who was about to leave and was in a hurry to prepare for the northern nobles' visit to the land grant: "You were here not long ago. Didn't Deepwood Motte capture Asha Greyjoy without thinking of something?"

"Think of something."

Iger didn't understand what Robb meant for a while, what should I think of?Asha is indeed a woman full of wild beauty, but let alone thinking about the land grant resettlement plan, even if he didn't...he couldn't do anything to this sea monster's daughter.The lawful instinct and gender concept brought about by the growing environment are one factor. On the other hand, he is also convinced that a man who dares to rape a woman like Asha, even if he succeeds for the first time, will be stabbed by a woman with scissors sooner or later die in bed.

When Robb saw that Iger didn't understand his suggestion, and didn't continue to play charades, he gave a hint: "Your beautiful captive has a younger brother."

"Oh... yes." Iger opened his mouth, his eyebrows were the same, realizing that more trouble was coming to him.

"During the previous battle against the Western Territory, Theon proposed to send him back to the Iron Islands, and persuaded his father Balon Greyjoy to send troops to participate...but because the war was going well, I finally refused." Robb continued to explain the matter After: "That is to say, when the Lord of the Iron Islands sent his brother and daughter to attack the North, his son was still in my hands."

Theon Greyjoy is a hostage, and even calling him "adopted son" will not change the essence of the matter.And the function of the hostage is to make the other party be cautious at critical moments, but what if the other party ignores the existence of the hostage?

Hostages are useless.

Iger can guess everything that happened next: With Robb Stark's character, it is unlikely that he would order the execution of the adoptive brothers who grew up together, especially if it was not the fault of Theon.

"Everyone told me that I should end his life myself." Robb began to explain without waiting for Iger's opinion: "But after thinking about it, according to the laws of Westeros...Theon He is the number one heir to the position of Seastone. Whether it is his sister or any uncle, if he wants to secure his position, he must first get rid of Theon, a confidant. Why not save his life first, so that he can threaten the ruler of the Iron Islands in the future? "

"But once he puts on black clothes, he will automatically lose this function." Iger shrugged, almost wanting to ask Robb to admit that he simply didn't want to kill and adopt his brother, but in the end he gave up.

Robb was noncommittal about this, probably because Iger also developed the face and ability to tell lies with his eyes open: "Make sure he is alive, don't let his crazy uncle send someone to kill him secretly, other than that, treat him as a Ordinary night watchmen use it."

Iger sighed, guaranteed that he was alive?With the God of Cold and his servants in the north of the Great Wall, the human beings in the south fighting together, and a bunch of lunatic ironmen overseas, which "ordinary night watchman" dares to claim to be absolutely safe?

"I try my best, but I don't give any guarantees."

Theon is not Bran, and Robb can't ask for more from him...but this time Iger didn't rush to leave and leave. He stood up and sat down twice, and he sat patiently in the chair and looked at Robb. In case he suddenly called himself to wait a moment.

It seems that there is nothing else, the two just looked at each other for a few seconds, until Iger was about to say goodbye again, and Robb Stark spoke again: "Iger, whether it is Commander Mormont or me, With a lot of trust in your mind, do you think... am I doing something wrong in this matter?"

Do you mean not killing Theon?Iger made an indifferent expression: "It's our duty to kill him, and it's our duty not to kill him... Judging from Theon's growth process, social circle, and resources that can be mobilized, now that we have repelled the Ironmen , he is alive and poses almost zero threat to the northern border. I can’t talk about right or wrong, I’m just talking about my feelings as a night watchman. At this time when the army of the dead is coming, what the Great Wall needs is available manpower and combat supplies, not One troublesome character after another is stuffed in for various reasons."

Chapter 271 Difficult choices

The Great Wall of Desperation was supposed to be a strong shield to protect mankind and the front line against extinction, but at some point, everyone subconsciously began to treat it as a trash can, stuffing one trouble after another into the Night Watch Corps... Robb There is no malice towards the defenders of the Great Wall, but looking back, I have to admit that this is really the case.

Suddenly discovering this point, Rao has strengthened his leadership aura, and the young guardian of the northern border felt a little ashamed: "This problem does exist, but I guarantee that the northern border will always be the solid backing of the night watchman army."

What Robb said must be the truth, but there is no shortage of truth in this world, what is lacking is practical action.And since the Northern Territory was the first to be protected by the Night Watchman Corps, Iger couldn't say how grateful he was - he also expressed his thanks on behalf of the Night Watchman Corps in official words, and then continued to stare at the other party.

……