The armies of Winterfell are gathered.

Inside and outside the wall, inside and outside the castle, dozens or hundreds of flags of various patterns hunted and displayed in the cold wind...... The soldiers were noisy, coming and going, exchanging information and goods with the inhabitants of the winter town outside the city walls, and there was a lot of crowding, I don't know how many people there were.

Even with heavy casualties in the final battle to stop the Wraiths, this was still the most complete gathering of armies and nobles since the withdrawal of troops from Storm's End in the North.

Needless to say, the nobles who fought alongside Robb Stark and survived from Long Lake are self-explanatory, but there are also half of the families...... Ten days ago, after receiving the alarm of the Great Wall and the general mobilization order of the feudal monarch, he hurriedly gathered soldiers and hurried to come, but because of the distance from the Great Wall, he finally approached the wolf forest or rushed to the bottom of Winterfell along the King's Avenue in the snow and cold wind, but what he waited for was the news that "the war has ended victoriously".

But no one ran in vain: while the original reason for summoning the princes was no longer valid, the young Guardian of the North was about to convene a council of lords to discuss the "pledge of allegiance to the Targaryens by the Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch". As a result, the armies that had returned to nearly 10,000 after the convergence, and who had planned to rush to the last Hearthplace to assemble and march north to the Great Wall to fight the Wraiths, stayed in and around Winterfell, waiting for their lords to discuss the final strategy.

......

"Damn Iger West!"

Earl Carstark's loud voice was audible even through the walls of the castle, just as Iger feared - he pretended to be moved back to Kahoe City, but as soon as he left the last Hearth, he turned around, crossed the Last River, bypassed the Lonely Mountain, and passed in the direction of the Castle of Terror...... After a long circle, he arrived in Winterfell, and at this moment roared angrily at the assembly of lords who had almost all the people.

"It's just a watchdog in the North, who dares to lick the soles of the Mad Queen's boots without making a sound, turn around and bite his master!" "If Iger had rules, no brained Northerner would use such a nasty term to describe the Night's Watch Commander-in-Chief in public, but right now, the old Karstark who had just been forced to give up a castle in his hands by the former with a dragon was obviously furious and almost non-existent:" If you don't teach him a hard lesson this time, so that he knows that the sky is high and the earth is thick, the fire in the backyard of the northern border will not be extinguished in the future!"

"Ahem!"

Robb was still wearing a sling on one arm because he had been wounded in the Battle of Long Lake, and he sat in his chair and coughed to hide his embarrassment and interrupt the old man's words, "Lord Rickard, you also said that Egger was the last fireplace requisitioned on the grounds of 'finding a place for the dragon to recuperate', and although the threat was bad, there is a way to say it. Yesterday he sent a message from the crow and the messenger, saying that when the dragon's injuries healed, the castle would be returned to the north. ”

This is an internal discussion between the nobles of the North, and there is no need to be rigid about whether the words are appropriate or not, and Robb, as the moderator, should not speak for the protagonist of the discussion...... However, there was not only a northern nobleman in the room at this moment, but also a night watchman dressed in black, his illegitimate brother Jon Snow. If you don't acquiesce to Earl Karstark's angry words that "the Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch is the Watchdog of the North", then what are the other Night's Watch under Egger, bitch?

After the land-grant army captured the last of the Hearth, they sent several groups of Night's Watch to various parts of the North to receive the saltpeter and dragon crystal weapons that had been agreed upon, but whether it was intentional or not, Jon Snow was appointed by Egg to bring people to Winterfell and the neighboring city of Severn on a mission.

As a three- or four-year-old Night's Watch soldier and Commander of Castle Black, Jon knew more about the Wall and the Land Grant than anyone else in the room, and Robb trusted Jon when he grew up with his bastard brother, half-Stark, and authentic Northerners. This complex and confusing relationship is the reason why Robb sent someone to call Jon in, leading to the current comical situation in the house where "the meeting to discuss the position of the night watchman is in attendance".

However, in addition to learning from Jon, Robb summoned his bastard brothers here for another reason: now that the threat of the Alien is almost gone, the first requirement for the Night's Watch Commander in the North has changed from "capable" to "faithful and reliable", and for the Guardian of the North, his own family is undoubtedly the best choice. Bran has limited mobility and is often incompetent...... If the final result was to remove Egg, Jon would be Robb's next Commander of the Night's Watch.

With such considerations, he couldn't let Stark say anything.

"Jon, the work of collecting dragon crystals and saltpeter has been arranged, right?" Robb didn't hesitate to lead the meeting after speaking, "I've ordered the residents of Winterfell and Severn to cooperate with the Night's Watch to load the dragon crystal and saltpeter, so you don't need to worry about the mission not being completed. Now tell you what you have in your hands...... News about the relationship between Iger and Daenerys Targaryen. ”

"Hmm. Jon nodded, "The Commander-in-Chief himself didn't disclose this information, even most of the Night's Watch were unaware of the news of the Queen's Dragonrider coming to Crown Town. However, there was no pre-emptive detection...... It does not prevent you from guessing what happened by piecing together the news that circulated among the brothers afterwards. The Commander-in-Chief had sailed from across the Sunset Sea to the west of Westeros, but Essos was to the east—I don't think they had seen each other before, and the only possible starting point for a relationship was Dragonstone. Jon said with a solemn expression, "The Commander-in-Chief traveled south a few months ago to ask King Stannis for help and bring back some saltpeter from King's Landing. According to the sailors who went up to the East Sea on the Blackbird, the ship was intercepted by a Targaryen warship flying the three-headed dragon flag as it entered Blackwater Bay and brought back to Dragonstone Naval Harbor, and the commander entered the castle to meet the queen who occupied the area......"

"So, these two guys hooked up on Dragonstone?" concluded one nobleman.

Jon didn't like the speaker's insulting tone, but he didn't want to argue with a northern nobleman in this room, so he could only pretend not to hear: "The first time the queen came to the land with three dragons was a few days before the strange ghost attacked, and the invasion of Donghaiwang and the Grand Canyon was on the night when she took the dragon out of Houguan Town, which is really a coincidence!" But after the dead people had completed a series of lightning-like surprise attacks along the Great Wall, and then for some reason suddenly turned the direction of the attack to Houguan Town, but ran into a wall, so after heading south, the queen returned to Houguan Town with the dragon in the early morning when all the armed forces of the land were assembled to prepare for the pursuit, and then participated in the entire march and pursuit process after that. In terms of timing, the Queen almost flew back to King's Landing and then turned back to assist the Night's Watch. In the next battle of Changhu, many adults here participated in person, so I don't think I need to say more...... I'll just make my own guess: the Commander-in-Chief went south to ask King Stannis for help, but informed Queen Daenerys of the crisis the Great Wall was going on, and the Queen found that the situation was exactly what the Commander-in-Chief said when she rode north, so she made an agreement with him that the dragon would help him in the battle when the demons attacked, and fulfilled this promise a few days later. ”

......

I thought that Robb Stark had let his bastard brother dressed in black attend the meeting because he was looking for an "internal response" so that he could overthrow the current commander-in-chief of the Night's Watch, how could he listen to a few paragraphs...... Jon is talking about Egg and the Mad King's daughter all the time?

The northern princes in the room looked at each other for a moment, and after a moment of silence, they began to whisper to each other.

"Oh, yes. Jon probably remembered something, and quickly added: "I vouch for honor and character, on the day of the Battle of Long Lake, we were on the road at full speed all day except for eating, and we didn't stop even a second after arriving at the battlefield and immediately joined the battle, and we had no intention of 'waiting for the strangers and the north to be defeated and then picked up'!"

"Bastard has the honor and personality of a fart!" Rickard Karstark roared angrily, "So according to you, Egger West is a good commander who thinks about fighting the Strangers, and the Mad King's daughter is a good queen who thinks about the people of the North and the Seven Kingdoms?

Jon said in his heart, angered by the other party's offense, but fortunately he resisted the urge to resist with perseverance, and said nothing with a straight face.

"Recard, it's too much. Earl Glover reminded him unhappily that it is human nature not to see bastards, but anyone with eyes for Robb's closeness and trust in Jon can see how the old man Karstark is so open-mouthed?"

Ricard also realized that what he said was inappropriate, but he was the patriarch of one of the largest families in the North, and he was old, so it was naturally impossible for him to apologize to an illegitimate child, so he could only change the subject stiffly: "I'm just telling the truth! Yes, it's a good thing that Egger and the dragon of the Mad King's daughter defeated the stranger together." But it is the duty of the night watchman to deal with the strangers, and secondly, it is ...... That bullshit queen didn't we ask her to help, thinking that with a merit and kindness, we can take the land of our northerners? Without her dragon, we northerners can destroy those ghosts by ourselves!"

This was a majestic sentence that no one would object to, but it was a pity that Rickard forgot a few points: first, the Karstark family did not make it in time to participate in the Battle of Long Lake; second, the losses of the northern army in this battle were quite heavy; third, the people here were different from Egger, they were born into the nobility, and they had been taught by their father and bachelor to fight and defend every inch of land and every benefit long before they learned to speak and walk. They can understand Ricard's anger at being forced by the dragon to give up the last of Hearth, but most likely they will only sneer or gloat rather than share the hatred.

After all, most of the nobles of the North are unlikely to benefit much from the fall of the Amber family.

"You're right. The new Lord of Severn, who had lost his father and several relatives in the bloody battle that night, said in a mocking tone, "Then please send troops north to destroy the last few strange ghosts that escaped!"

Clay Severn did yell at Egger on the night of the bloody battle at Long Lake because he suspected that the night watchman deliberately released water, but there was no information barrier between the north and the land grant to prevent everyone from understanding the situation, and more than a week after the end of the war, everyone had basically learned everything they should know and could know, and they knew that the night watchman's losses in the battle against the strangers far exceeded that of the north, and they were very angry at this moment...... Although it is not yet inclined to Egger, it is barely able to achieve objective neutrality.

"You!" Ricard blushed at this ridicule, and tried to fight back with his seniority, but he didn't come up with any punch lines for a while, so he could only spit out a few words in a row, and then shouted to himself, "Send troops, send troops, but if Lord Robb orders to lead the army north to quell the rebellion of the Night's Watch, my Kastark family will be the vanguard and move forward!"

"Put down the Night's Watch rebellion?" said Wyman Mandalay with a smile on his belly, "Isn't this undecided, I heard that Lady Catelyn Stark and her little sister are both guests at the Wall, and I wonder if these two are safe at the moment and will be able to return to Winterfell without incident?"

"The Commander-in-Chief has sent someone to inform Arya and Lady Stark to return to Winterfell as soon as possible. Jon replied without hesitation, he didn't think Egg would detain his little sister at all...... If this really happens, he doesn't need these old men from the north here, he himself will go to the commander-in-chief for trouble first. "They will be able to go home soon. ”

......

Robb scratched his face with his uninjured hand, a little troubled and confused.

(No wonder Egger dared to send Jon to Winterfell to collect dragon crystals and saltpeter!)

He thought that he would learn about the internal situation of the night watchman from the half-brother of the night watch, so that he could know himself and the enemy, and by the way, he was called to the meeting as the next commander-in-chief, so why did he appear to be loyal to Egger? Could it be that the loyalty of the night watch to Iger was really so high, and he generally agreed with his behavior of "bowing to the queen...... Are you ungrateful?

"Well, Jon, I believe what you say, and the Night's Watch probably has nothing to blame in this war against the strangers. Robb frowned, hesitated for a moment, and then asked in a different way, "But, after all, the Night's Watch swore neutrality and did not participate in the internal affairs of the Seven Kingdoms, and Iger has now broken this oath and sworn allegiance to the Mad King's daughter on his own initiative, what do you think about this matter?"

——

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