Severn was less than a day's journey from Winter, but it took Robb Stark days to bring back the nobles of the North who had gathered there. It took so long, not because he deliberately delayed, but because he really couldn't get up quickly.

The first question is how to speak.

Winterfell's bombed-out gates could be seen by hundreds of people, and Robb couldn't follow Egger's example and tell nonsense...... Claims to have been "persuaded" by the commander-in-chief of the Night's Watch. Since he can't hide the fact that his castle was attacked by the land-giving army and he was forced to be loyal to the queen, it is difficult to convince the vassals to support the queen under the premise of "not being sincere in his own heart".

Daenerys Targaryen is the Mad King bloodline, a representative of the restoration of the old dynasty, with a lot of brutal and terrifying rumors - this series of identity background is bad, but after all, there are more normal people in this world than white-eyed wolves, accompanied by her dragon riding in the Battle of Long Lake, the story of saving the northern army from the brink of destruction spreads, and her image in the eyes of northerners has quickly changed from demon to normal, and the dragon she lost in battle has brought it a lot of sympathy points...... With the passage of time, the Queen's prestige in the North has long since unconsciously floated above zero.

But whether it is a black turn or a road turn to a fan, the earth-shaking turnaround of favorability cannot bypass a more realistic core issue: interests.

Because the gain was completely disproportionate to the gain, the Northerners refused to go south when they returned home to join Stannis Baratheon's war with Prince Aegon the Younger and the Riverlands...... In the same way, if you overthrow Erlu sitting on the Iron Throne and send a dragon up, what can you get in the north?

There is no shortage of land north of the neck; the population has as few mouths to feed in the winter, the better; grain is a good thing, but if it were not for the autumn harvest season, the expedition may consume more than it can be grabbed; even the gold and silver treasures that everyone loves, when they responded to Robert's call to invade the western frontier a few years ago, they had already robbed a lot of them, and now there are still a lot left...... As for the joy of victory and the sense of honor and other ethereal things, this group of big men and coarse people who do not even advocate chivalry are not uncommon.

To sum it up: not only do the people of the North not have a strong will and need for war, on the contrary, after repeated wars and devastation, and are in the passive defense of the Iron Islands, everyone now only hopes to live a dull life of their wives and children on the hot kang head of their own acres and threes of land - even if the temptation to impress them on weekdays is completely unable to persuade them to raise troops at this point in time.

......

The young wolf lord was beaten to the ground by the night watchman, and he even had much less confidence to talk to his vassals, and he tried his best to get the nobles to reluctantly accept the fact that "the north has nominally allegiance to the queen", but wanted to further persuade them to bring their army back to Winterfell to support the queen's southern expedition, so he immediately hit a wall: even if Daenerys, Egger and others had promised all the chips they had promised, they could not impress any of them.

His wife and daughter, his own mother and siblings are all in the hands of others, Robb can't and doesn't dare to return empty-handed, no way, he can only be ruthless, and take out the reward that the queen originally promised to the Stark family, and be prepared to help the queen fight the world for free without taking a penny, and have the right to spend money and contribute to buy peace.

But it's not enough!

Robb is really at a loss now...... He was able to rely on his father's prestige in the early days of his succession, and after his debut, he quickly made a name for himself and his influence, and he fought and won successive battles for several years.

The old man gave him two suggestions:

Lower your stature, correct your mentality, don't hold a meeting to try to order the princes, but calm down and think about it overnight, analyze the needs of each family and the personality of the patriarch of the family individually, formulate plans separately, and communicate in the form of private visits, equal communication, and half-negotiation and half-request;

2. Give up illusions and stop thinking with the interests of the family as the starting point. In the context of the Stark family's mistake and defeat in the confrontation, keeping the family's inheritance and the position of guardian of the north is the overriding priority, and if necessary, he must heed to eliminate the disaster - since the benefits promised by the queen are still so close to impressing the five nobles, then he has to cut the meat from the Stark family itself to make up for the last gap.

The last sentence of Lu Wen's exhortation to Robb was this: "If you lose face, you can pick it up again, if you have lost money and food, you can earn it again, and if you divide the land, you can reclaim it...... Only if the people are gone, there will be nothing!"

With no other idea, Robb gritted his teeth and took the advice, and after a short break from the meeting, he began to visit in person, one by one.

Overdrawing the authority of the feudal king, owing favors for help, and even staking the marriage arrangements of Rickon and Sansa, the young wolf lord struggled to ...... the five nobles gathered in Severn City Four of them agreed to lead their troops to fight for the queen.

It took two days to straighten out the position and attitude, send away the oil and salt and insist on holding high the anti-Targaryen banner, and the Northern Coalition Army, which returned to Robb's command, also carried out a personnel reduction: these thousands of people were originally assembled to relieve the siege of Winterfell, and at that time they were thinking about the defense of the homeland, so they could naturally ignore the logistics and how many people were pulled to make up the number, but if they wanted to follow Daenerys south to conquer the Seven Kingdoms in the winter, then whether it was the supply of food and grass, Morale and combat strength or the sowing labor required after the beginning of spring should be taken into account, and careful calculations should be made.

It took a day to calculate the logistical needs and repatriate some of the old and weak, and another day for the army to march on the road...... The situation is sensitive, in order to avoid rushing out of the city at the time of dark to put Daenerys in the embarrassment of "whether to put it in the castle or not", and to prevent the coalition army from having a misunderstanding with the land-giver army outside the city when they camp for the night or being seized by Luce Bolton to create an incident, Robb also deliberately slowed down the march, and controlled the army to arrive at the destination the next morning after the departure - Lang Lang Qiankun, which was calm and safe.

Everything was so just right. Five families bringing back four may not have been a perfect outcome, but it was definitely enough to give the queen a deal in exchange for apparent control of Winterfell and free the family from house arrest. Outside the tall walls of Winterfell, however, what awaits Robb Stark, who returns from his ordeal, full of relaxation and anticipation, is a sudden start.

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"What!" He glared at the black-clothed rider blocking the way in front of him, "Winterfell is my home! It was your commander-in-chief who forced me to persuade the princes, and it was your commander-in-chief who told me to bring back as much as I could, why did I finally complete the task, but I was not allowed to get close!?"

"It's hard to explain the specific situation, anyway, the northern army is not allowed to come close to Winterfell's field of vision, and crossing the line is considered a threat, and the consequences are at your own risk!" 258

"At your own risk?" Madame Balballet walked out of the crowd, she was dressed in black, from her hood to her ankles, she did not wear any gold and silver jewelry, as one of the few noblewomen in charge, not only was she imposing, but even her mind was more determined and sharp than that of ordinary men, "I bet on a silver deer, you bastard boy is a dog fighting people, with Lord Robb now that he can't help your master, he also wants to knock some oil and water out of the wolf...... Listen, what you are looking at is the guardian of the northern border, even if you are unlucky, it is not something that a small character like you can bully! Today, we have passed this road, I am curious, how will the commander-in-chief of your family react when he hears that a small soldier under his command dares to stop the northern princes who have come to surrender to the queen?"

If the person who stood in the way was really a self-assertive little soldier, he would definitely be frightened and flee after listening to this loud announcement, but the fact is that the rider not only did not show panic, but also shook his head with a wry smile: "The warning has been brought, if the adults still insist on going their own way, I will naturally not be able to stop it, but it is still the same sentence - the consequences are at your own risk." ”

After that, the black-clothed soldier didn't talk much nonsense, turned his horse's head and prepared to leave without hesitation.

Madame Balballet secretly said that something was wrong, and hurriedly glanced at Lu Wen on the side.

"My lord, wait a minute!" the old bachelor understood, and hurriedly played the white face, stopped the comer in a slightly lacking voice, dragged the old and injured body, stepped on the snow, and ran more than ten meters with great difficulty, and rushed to the black-clothed soldier horse.

"A little money, take it to buy wine to warm up. Panting, Levin stuffed a small money bag into the arms of the black-clad rider and said with a smile: "Madame Ballet is joking, don't take it seriously." But with all due respect, it's strange that the Lord of Winterfell is not allowed to approach Winterfell, and even if it's inconvenient to explain the specific situation, you have to give us a letter, right? ”

The black-clothed soldier pursed his lips disdainfully, and wanted to refuse sternly, but subconsciously weighed the weight of the money bag, but was stunned.

This feel...... This weight!

He tore open the pouch with his free hand and looked inside, immediately restraining the urge to throw it back into the old bachelor's face.

"Something happened in the city, martial law is ongoing, and outsiders are not allowed to approach. While quietly retracting the money bag into his arms, the black-clothed rider replied with a sigh of regret, saying that it was three words, which was really two words.

"What's wrong?" Lu Wen's face showed nervousness, and he felt out a golden dragon again, and forced it to the rider to endure the pain, "That's Lord Robb's home, you must tell me about it!"

The feeling of exchanging two months' military salary in one sentence is really too shocking, and the key is that this is not a secret that endangers the safety of the land-giving army! The rider put away the golden dragon again, and even his face was much gentler...... You have to know that Lord Robb's family can't get rid of suspicion either. ”

This really frightened Lu Wen, and he didn't hesitate to take out the last golden dragon and stuff it: "How could this happen? Isn't the castle completely taken over by the commander-in-chief's people, and the ladies and ladies don't have the ability to poison at all!

"The Prime Minister and the Chief of Intelligence are dead, Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief...... It is said that he is still alive, but if he is really fine, even if he is sitting and lying down, he should show his face to calm the army's heart, right? However, ......" The rider frowned, and suddenly realized that he had unconsciously said too much, and quickly stopped: "In short, master, please persuade a few adults over there, don't do anything impulsive at this juncture!"

......

The black-clothed rider slapped his horse and left, but Master Luwen suppressed his fear, quickly turned around and relayed what he heard to the group behind him, and immediately blew up the nobles.

"Poisoned?" Robb's face changed drastically, he wouldn't feel the slightest distress if any of the three died, but the trouble with this matter was the Stark family...... To be precise, his mother and younger siblings are the biggest suspects in poisoning!

"How could this have happened?" Count Tauha looked at Robb in disbelief, "Your Excellency, from what you know about your family and your subordinates, who among them has the ability and courage to do this?"

Maester Luwen answered the question: "It's impossible, I'm the only one in Winterfell who knows a little bit about poison, and no one else knows anything, let alone ...... The kitchen has been completely taken over by the land giveaways and the Queen's people, and even if I wanted to, I wouldn't have any chance to touch the drinks and dishes!"

"Then it wasn't the hands of the people of the North, but only we knew it in our own hearts, and she wouldn't believe it if we told the Queen. Earl Leswell stroked his beard and worried, "How can this be good, can we find a way to save Robb's family?"

"What are you thinking, father!" Madame de Balballet immediately interrupted the wrong direction of the discussion, although she was the daughter of the former, but at the moment she represented the married Dustin family, but it was long gone of his control, "Now that something has just happened in the city, it is the time of the highest vigilance, and we are acting rashly at this time, don't we tell the queen that 'the poison is ours'?" After unequivocally reproaching her father, the countess looked at Robb: "My lord, I am only here to ask you one question: Do you have a way to deal with the queen's two dragons?"

Half-forced, Robb's oath of allegiance to Daenerys was serious—at least for the time being, how could he sneak around and prepare a way to deal with the dragon?

Holding the reins in one hand and pressing the hilt of the sword with the other, Robb's body trembled for a while, and he admitted through gritted teeth: "No." ”

"Then the matter is very simple, you are not in a position to decide the direction of the situation now, so you must not fall into the trap of caring and chaotic feelings!" Madame de Balballet said solemnly, "The only thing we can do now is to turn around and return to the makeshift camp where we set out in the morning, garrison the troops at a distance that does not make the queen feel threatened, send someone to explain the situation to the city and show no hostility, and wait for the matter to be resolved." Your family is in a terrible situation, and we can understand your anxiety, but adults must be awake - no action at this moment will save them, it will only push them into an even more dangerous abyss!"

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