"What the hell have you done, master!"

Arya hurried into Egger's room and dragged the man out of breath to tell the whistle. Although she was still young, she could tell from the tone of discussion between her brother and several vassals that they were very dissatisfied with some of the actions that their master had secretly carried out, and this matter was not trivial and careless.

After a few minutes of listening to Arya's live broadcast of human flesh, Egger frowned, keenly aware of the anomaly - things seemed to be a little different from what he imagined: "Are you sure, that's what your brother said?"

"Are you doubting my mind?" the girl crossed her hips in dissatisfaction, "though I sometimes ...... Well...... It's a little careless, but as long as it's something I want to remember, I can't be mistaken!"

There was little room for thought, and less than a minute after Arya relayed the discussion of the nobles in the room to Egger, the Stark guards arrived outside the house and knocked on the door to tell him that the Guardian of the North had been invited.

"Wait until I'm gone before you go out, lest people see that you've tipped me off. Egg pushed Arya aside and hid her, and after saying this, he went out without further delay, and walked towards Duke Stark's bedroom and conference hall led by the gray-robed soldiers.

＊＊＊

That mysterious visitor was Jon Royce, who was supposed to be trapped in Castle Black by the Land-Granting Army—a madman who had taken a long detour from outside the Wall, risked his life, and appeared here unexpectedly—just to send a message to his own detriment?

Iger had to admit that he had calculated everything, but he still couldn't do it after all.

However, if this is the only one, he is not too frightened. The military operation of thousands of men, he had only planned to drag on for a day, and he did not intend to hide it completely, in fact, he had already planned the way back and explained his actions on the day he gave the order—the incident happened a few days earlier than expected, although it was bad, but it was not a surprise.

But Arya's recount of Robb's discussion with the nobles of the North aroused his alarm.

It was a small accident that Luce Bolton spoke for himself again, and this time it was not as simple as courting himself in front of himself - defending himself so justifiably in a sudden situation that had not been passed at all beforehand was something that a very strong political ally would do, and this was obviously not the kind of relationship between himself and Lao Peel.

Egger didn't know what this guy was thinking for the time being, and could only think for the time being that this was really a sympathy between smart people. But if his cheap apprentice didn't add fuel and vinegar, Robb's statement was quite interesting: "Ability is important, but humility, loyalty, and a sense of honor are also indispensable." ”

If you don't think about it, it's easy to dismiss it as an ordinary politician's cliché, but once you analyze it in depth, you can find a lot out of it.

"Ability is important", this sentence subconsciously affirms his ability, which means that Iger's efforts to demonstrate ability have borne fruit. And "humility, loyalty, and a sense of honor are also indispensable...... Nothing to mention such abstract things as humility and honor, the "loyalty" in the middle is the key - Robb's sentence, translated as: what he did this time was a problem with his attitude, and he made military moves without everyone making the ruler of the north feel uneasy, doubting whether he could remain loyal after becoming commander-in-chief.

When I was deploying the land-grant mutiny, I was thinking about "how to make the operation flawless" and "how to ensure that the tactical objectives were achieved...... Even when planning the way back and the rhetoric of the incident, they are thinking about how to quibble, how to take responsibility and deal with the aftermath, so as to minimize the impact on themselves and the big chess in the land grant......

The idea of "ability first" in pre-modern society is so ingrained in his mind that even after living in this world for several years, he has not completely reversed it.

Before running for commander-in-chief, as an officer, there is naturally no problem in attaching importance to ability. But this time, things changed: the Night's Watch "Commander-in-Chief" was only one level higher than "Chief", but it was a rank without a higher superior, and it was no longer an inconsequential position. Commanding the garrison of the Great Wall, managing the land grant, serving for life once elected, and not accepting impeachment make it more like a "lord of a party" than a "position".

In addition to the fact that he cannot be hereditary, the Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch is to some extent a "Duke of Gifted Land" - but the population resources of the fiefdom are far below the other Seven Kingdoms, and even the Iron Islands and Dragonstone and the Narrow Sea Islands.

All things considered, the Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch was more like a great vassal of the Northern Guard, or the one who was far away from the Emperor and could not be sent at will.

In this age of feudal lords, this important position of the ruling party must not be based on personal preference, because they know each other better, or their sister is closer to them, or Iger is "competent enough to be competent"...... Make a hasty decision. In order to secure their position, the upper echelons of rulers often preferred to be appointed by more ordinary, if not incompetent, people - just as King Robert knew that Genos Schlint was a bastard, but still wanted to protect him.

To use a vulgar but apt analogy, the Night's Watch Commander is not a poisonous insect that can kill people in one blow, but a loyal dog who cares over the home - and if the watchdog is too smart and unruly, the owner has to worry about whether he is suspected of luring a wolf into the house.

Iger did not grow up in the circle of aristocracy, and the road to entrepreneurship and ascension since leaving the Great Wall was difficult, and in the second half of the year, he did not have the guidance of an insider like Tyrion Lannister who understood everything, so he went astray and made a mistake in this seemingly inconspicuous, but in fact crucial point.

If it weren't for today's flash of inspiration for Arya to explore the thoughts and concepts of Robb and the others, she would have confidently walked in front of the nobles of the North according to the original preparation, and according to the planned rhetoric, just like the Iron People were "pirates" and the Wild People were "new land-givers", through the usual means of strong words, distorted facts, and referring to the deer as horses, relying on cleverness and eloquence to get by...... Maybe Robb can't do what he does today, but in the long run, it's definitely self-defeating, and he doesn't realize it when he walks into the pit, and he doesn't know how to plant it in the end!

Less than 100 meters from his room to the main fort, Egg quickly thought about the situation and finally made a judgment - to abandon all the arguments he had thought of.

Ability and ability, I have shown too much, it's time to perform something else. Today, instead of talking about the Confucianism, he wants to pretend to be an honest man who does bad things with good intentions, and a loyal and reliable commander-in-chief of the Night's Watch Legion.

＊＊＊

Ice Scar City was so big that the two of them quickly entered the main castle as they walked. At this time, the kitchen was bringing a steaming breakfast, and the hall was filled with soldiers from the north in armor and with swords, so crowded that it was hard to put their feet in. Egger followed the Stark guards who led the way through the crowd, and as he passed a table full of soldiers, someone bumped into him and slipped a note into Egger's hand.

Turning his head, he saw that the soldiers on the breastplate were embroidered with skinned portraits, and it was not clear who the person who stuffed the note was, but the identity of the main messenger was revealed.

Iger didn't say anything, but continued silently, and when he walked around the front hall and entered the living quarters, he quietly opened the note in his hand and glanced at it, taking advantage of the corner where no one was paying attention.

It's a very simple line.

"Don't talk about it, tell the truth. ”

......

Hey.

Iger quietly crumpled the note into a ball and stuffed it into his pocket, and things got more and more interesting.

He thought that it was a fluke that he relied on Arya's first-hand information to notice something was wrong at the last moment, but he didn't expect that even if there was no news from the girl, there would still be other people to remind him.

Although this note was not a blessing in disguise, it confirmed that his guess a moment ago was not over-interpreted, which made him more confident in the conversation that was going to be there...... Whether you admit it or not, you owe it to yourself.

Arriving at his destination, entering the door, and bypassing the partition wall, he stood before the princes of the North.

Just as he was wondering why the old skinning was not there, someone pushed the door behind him, and the last missing person of the delegation walked back with a nonchalant face, apologized to everyone, and sat back in his place.

Obviously, in order to arrange for his subordinates to report to him, Luce Burton was not even afraid of trouble and risk, and found excuses such as going to the toilet for a while—at this time, even Egger began to wonder if he had had a lifelong friendship with Old Skin, but only lost his memory for some reason...... Forgot?

"Egger. Robb stared at the black-clothed officer standing in the center of the room with a solemn face, and after a long while, he continued: "You have done a lot of things in the past two days. ”

According to the original plan, Egger would pretend to be stupid at this time, and wait for Robb to continue to ask before he would see the move...... But this time, he chose a different reaction.

Egg sighed, putting on a tired and helpless look: "It's not that I've done a lot of things, but there are too many things that have happened, and I have made a lot of bad things when I deal with them one by one." ”

Seeing that he frankly admitted, Robb didn't want to talk nonsense anymore, so he had to look at the door and ask the truth: "Explain - those actions you did in Castle Black." Did you send troops to surround it and forbid everyone inside the fortress to leave?"

"It is true. Egger nodded: "I originally planned to tell you the truth, but considering that there are already a lot of things to deal with during this inspection of the Great Wall, so as not to make you too tired. I decided to deal with it separately and report the results later. ”

"Bothered?" Rickard Karstark laughed, "Thank you for your concern, Chief Logistics Officer." We old men haven't been that busy yet, so why don't you explain it now—the reason why you sent people to turn weapons on their sworn brothers, and restrict their freedom. ”

"Good. Iger nodded: "Not long ago, there was a small unrest in Castle Black, and someone intended to assassinate the former king of the surrendered Cypriots, Mance Red, in order to force the new land-grantees to rebel and completely destroy the foundation of the land-grant resettlement plan...... Fortunately, my men discovered and stopped it in time, but they didn't succeed - the Guardian should have known about it. Later, I received news that the loan that the former Commander-in-Chief, Lord Mormont, had applied for from the Iron Vault was about to arrive at Castle Black...... This large amount of grain is the most crucial part of the land grant to feed tens of thousands of residents and soldiers, and if my opponents use their brains to do so, the slightest mistake will have unimaginable consequences. ”

"I've heard of it, but the grain sent by the iron vault must be to the East China Sea, why did you send troops to besiege Castle Black?"

It seems that they don't know what happened to Donghaiwang yet. Iger said secretly in his heart, but his face was straight: "Because, the person who wanted to do something to Mance Red in Castle Black before was Carter Pike, the commander of the East Sea Lookout, and I am now busy leading the adults to inspect the Great Wall, and I have no time to deal with his various guns and arrows. In order not to be taken advantage of to spoil the big thing, he took strong measures to prevent him from returning to Donghai Wang, so as to ensure that he could not use the tricks on that batch of grain. ”

......

Iger concealed the identity of his opponent at the beginning, only saying that it was "a small group of people" who wanted to threaten Mance Red, because he was afraid that the identity of the other party would change Robb's judgment of the nature of the incident, but now that he has decided to tell the truth, he naturally has no reservations. This kind of bamboo tube poured beans without omission, but it made Robb, who was originally going to question and beat him violently, confused his thinking, and the rhythm slowed down.

Yes, after the "League of the Righteous" was exterminated by King Robert, all the princes of the Valley led by him were exiled to the Great Wall and sent to the East China Sea, and it was normal for Carter Pike to be hostile to Egger with such a group. It seems that Jon Royce's complaint is also due to personal emotional factors, and it is not entirely true.

It's just that......

While Robb Stark was thinking and the rest of the nobles were silent, Ruce Bolton shook his head dissatisfiedly: "You want to make sure that there are no problems with the food from Braavos, it's understandable. But there are so many ways to do it, and you end up choosing the most inappropriate way to deal with it—send troops to surround Castle Black and prevent Carter Pike from returning to the East China Sea?

"I realized that something was wrong at the time, but after all, I was born as a Ranger and had no experience in dealing with this kind of affairs. It is necessary to come up with a solution as soon as possible, but also not to delay the arrangement of the inspection matters at hand...... Somehow, this idea popped into my head. At that time, he didn't think much about it at all, he just thought that leaving Carter Pike in Castle Black would not only make him unable to threaten the king of the outside world, but also impossible to run to the East China Sea to look at the loan food, killing two birds with one stone. ”

After Egger finished explaining with a look of chagrin, there were no other voices in the room for the time being, and the old peeler shook his head regretfully: "Two wins with one stone? Yes, it is true that there are two wins, but at the same time, what kind of trouble has your behavior caused to the black-clothed brothers who are surrounded by you in the black castle, and what kind of perception and impression has everyone had on you, have you considered it? This kind of emotional negative effect far exceeds the previous 'two gains', which is more than worth the loss!"

......

seems to be criticizing himself, but in fact, he is shifting the focus and solving the siege for himself!

Iger quickly realized this, and quickly answered: "What Lord Bolton said is very true, but the mistake has been made, and I bear all the responsibility for this incident. All the consequences are now borne by me alone. ”

Iger gave everything honestly, with a serious expression and a sincere attitude, but after all he had reservations—everything Luce Bolton had said he had taken into account the moment he made his decision. In addition to the "two wins" to prevent Carter Pike from getting into trouble, the most important purpose is to show his muscles through this large-scale deployment of troops, to deter and conquer some vacillating night watch voters, and to try to make a final decision.

And counting this, this mutiny is a triple victory, even if it gives people the feeling of arrogance and domineering, it will never outweigh the losses.

Of course, even if the general policy today was to tell the truth, Iger would not confide in that last point—obviously, this was not what the nobles of the North wanted to hear.

Karstark was a little confused, what the hell was he doing? A menacing question, why did the wrongdoer take the rhythm away when he readily admitted and confessed?

The old nobleman noticed the abnormality, but he couldn't understand how this change happened unconsciously, and it took a long time to realize that it had nothing to do with the old skin: "Luce Burton, what are you doing with him, you want to fool this matter as soon as you sing and harmonize?

The named Earl of the Castle of Terror naturally did not accept this accusation, and immediately confronted him-for-tat: "Lord Karstark's words are a bit strange, the chief logistics officer has explained the cause of the incident, admitting that the misconsideration led to the mistake, what we should do now is to solve the problem and think about minimizing the impact of the mistake." How can blaming improve the status quo?"

——