In the crunching axles, a motorcade of horse-drawn horses entered outside the broken gate, large and small, but all of them pressed white ruts on the cold ground where they passed, and the contents of the carriages were covered with thick snow cloths, and were guarded in the middle by the entourage like arch guards...... Everywhere they went, even the soldiers of the land-giving army who had just broken through the castle and made great achievements consciously avoided it and saluted with attention, and a solemn aura permeated for no reason.

The team slowly passed through the newly cleared east gate, drove past the open space in front of the guardhouse filled with people of all colors, and finally stopped under the arsenal.

Lifting the thick cloth, the escorts gathered around the carriage and began to carry the long sticks and short sticks, large barrels and small barrels—in short, all kinds of unrecognizable objects from the carriage and into the arsenal, and among them, the most attractive thing for the residents and captured soldiers was the strange object that was lifted by the cooperation of five or six men, using various tools such as slings and bars: a slightly thicker long cylindrical shape, a deep blue shiny metallic luster, and a dark hole with no bottom in sight, which bent the weight of the porters down......

No matter what the details, they are revealing an indescribable sense of oppression and power.

"Battering ram?" stood still, and the captives began to whisper guesses about the origin of the thing.

"Probably not, the door to the main fort is not thick, and if you want to build a battering ram to break it open, you can cut down a tree and solve the problem, but that thing looks like bronze. ”

"Could it be some kind of witchcraft prop? Didn't the doors on the east and north sides be destroyed last night with a 'boom', maybe it was the witch from Yaxia who used this thing!"

A group of people stood in the cold wind for a while, discussing how the rebels entered the city last night, and now this speculation, which was very close to the correct answer, suddenly made many people excited.

"That bastard is going to use this to attack the main fort?!" the bruised-faced Yagao was startled, he was on the city wall not far from the east gate when the demolition team launched the attack last night, and he still remembered the power of the explosion, the door of the main fort was not even half as thick and strong as the east gate, if he was also attacked to such a degree...... No one can survive within a few dozen feet!

He was loyal to the Stark family, and he became anxious.

"Hey, the door of the main castle is only a few feet thick, and it will break after a few hits, aren't you afraid of shaking the people inside to death with this!" "The guards of Winterfell in the past have now taught the enemy how to attack the main castle in order to protect their masters, it's strange to think about it, but this is not the case anymore, "Tell your commander: a living Stark is more valuable, let him not do stupid things!"

"I don't think I'm getting a stick, do I, shut up!"

The nearby guards raised their weapons to intimidate, trying to quiet the captives, but when Yagao called them this, the other captured soldiers had already come back to their senses: although they had lost the battle, the reason why they were willing to be driven to the open field as prisoners instead of resisting desperately was not only stunned by the combination of explosives bag + explosives, but also a large part of the reason was actually the restraint and gentleness shown by the occupying side: the land-granting army not only surrendered and did not kill as shouted in the slogan, but also did not burn and loot after taking control of the castle...... Fang Cai even boiled water on the school grounds and provided them with a simple breakfast.

The fears of the inhabitants and the defeated soldiers gradually subsided by these friendly measures, and they remembered that the Night's Watch had always been friendly with the North, and that the two sides had fought side by side, and that it was only reasonable not to be ruthless after victory.

But the little sense of security that had been born with it had finally been born burst like a bubble with the appearance of the strange bronze object just now, the weapon that was suspected to have broken the gate last night. The rebels inadvertently put on a posture of killing the wolf family and leaving no room for life, so that these people who were born as Stark's people can still be safe?

The unease and commotion spread like a ripple of water, and it was about to turn into a prisoner riot, but fortunately, the general of the land-grant army who was in charge of guarding it noticed the anomaly in time.

......

Leon was one of the first members of the Logistics Department's security team in King's Landing, serving as Egger's personal bodyguard during the week and as a mid-level officer during the war. He approached the source of the noise, frowned in the tone of his commander-in-chief, and asked loudly, "What is the noise here?"

"Sir...... This guy doesn't know what nerves to be, and shouts that the living Stark is the most valuable, tell the Commander-in-Chief not to do anything stupid. ”

"Hey, you're a steward, aren't you?" Regardless of his injuries, he squeezed to the front of the crowd and shouted at the comer: "Let me go to see your commander, there must be another way to solve this matter!"

"Huh?" The black-clothed officer looked at his subordinates and looked at the prisoners who were stirring up trouble, and his mind was running slightly, so he guessed the general situation, and after thinking about it again, he even came up with a solution.

He turned to the captives and waved his arms, "Everyone, please be quiet, I know you're worried about the safety of your friends and family in the main castle and the Starks, but I can assure you that the Commander-in-Chief made it clear at the battle meeting that no matter what happens, there will not be a single casualty in Winterfell today." For reasons of helplessness such as our position and ideals, we have briefly become enemies today, but for the sake of the old and new gods, the Night's Watch has never been stained on the 'keeping of words'!"

"After standing for a long time, I think you are already a little tired, and then we will disperse everyone according to their physical condition to the hall and the winter town outside the city to settle down, if all goes well, we will no longer be enemies before dark today!" The caller did not give others a chance to ask questions or refute the attack, and as soon as he finished controlling the scene for the time being, he waved his hand and motioned to the soldiers in charge of guarding the prisoners to disperse and transfer the prisoners, and then turned to Yagao, who had squeezed out of the crowd: " As for this friend, I happen to have something to go to the Commander-in-Chief, and if you have any good ideas or something you must say to him, come with me—bring him out. ”

The last sentence was addressed to the surrounding subordinate soldiers, and two Land-Giving soldiers walked into the captives and led Argao out of the crowd, who followed them out of the clearing with his head held high.

The commotion of the captives subsided with the pacification of Leon and the removal of the restless "catfish...... Their "spokesman" or "representative" was not led to meet the Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch as he had hoped, but was locked up alone in a small dark room far from the square.

The dangerous elements were isolated, the prisoners were divided into three parts and driven away from the main fort, and while the land-giving army outside the house was busy trying to stifle the threat of insurrection in the cradle, Egger West in the house was also seriously supervising the assembly of the artillery, waiting to witness the first roar of the weapon in actual combat.

＊＊＊

As the Stark's last self-protective barrier, the main fortress is not only made of solid granite, but also has a hidden structure in its layout: although it looks like an ordinary building standing in the middle of the city, it has only a shooting hole in the lower part but no windows, and only one entrance and exit around it, which is above the ground and not open to the square, but is connected to the arsenal next to the guardhouse by a closed bridge.

The advantages of this design are too numerous to explain in a short period of time, but the most important thing is that any enemy who invades and successfully enters Winterfell will not want to bypass the defenders and attack the main fortress directly to "decapitate" the Starks, but must first completely defeat the defenses and occupy the arsenal before posing a threat to the final goal.

Egger fulfilled the preconditions for attacking the fortress, but gave up the assault in order not to harm the Stark family and chose to surrender...... Unfortunately, his soldiers could not persuade him to open the gate of the main fort, but they put him in a big problem.

It stands to reason that he should personally show his eloquence at this time...... But the reality is that no matter how eloquent you are, you have to be willing to listen to the other side to be effective. In the case of the label of "chameleon", the former friendship has become a drag, and when Robb is in a coma and difficult to play, what he says is not only weightless, but also counterproductive. Time waits for no one, and even if he is helpless, he can only return to the artillery deterrence plan that he had already abandoned and take the road of physical persuasion.

Not long ago, Egger encountered a dream visit from Lahlo, and the goddess did not completely convince him of so many words in the dream, but after waking up, the "godsend" smashed all his doubts...... Was it the dragon scale that pierced the roof and shot into his body that made him wake up and figure it all out? Of course not, but the strength of this hand made Iger realize that he had to believe it even if he didn't believe it.

The truth is so cold: sometimes it is better to show strength than to explain and exhort.

＊＊＊

The first batch of artillery ready to be put into service was cast at that time, a total of ten were cast, three were scrapped, two of the remaining seven were left in Houguan Town for emergencies, and the remaining five were brought by Egg, who hastily launched the southern expedition in advance, as hole cards. Five, the figure looks shabby, but given the tight preparation time and the scarcity of qualified artillerymen, it was enough to satisfy him.

The purpose of the so-called "artillery deterrence" is naturally to deter rather than kill, and in this case, even five is greatly too much. Iger ordered only one of the doors to be moved into the arsenal, assembled on the spot, and arranged on the other side of the bridge facing the main fort gate.

The "Land Grant I" is a simple and original front-loading smoothbore gun, the gun is more than one meter long, and it is equipped with a spherical projectile that is not even the size of a fist, if you have to measure its caliber by the standards of the original world, it is probably between four and five pounds, not that Iger does not want a larger and more advanced style, but in the case of limited resources and time, the initial construction of the Land Grant Arsenal was the first to complete the verification and determine that it is reliable for the time being. It was a fact that the firepower was not strong enough, and this was the main reason why he was embarrassed to use this cannon as a deterrent when he was still outside the city before.

Of course, it's one thing to run out of firepower against the twin walls of Winterfell, and in front of the wooden gates of the main castle, the Land Grant I appears to be completely overpowered.

The walls and roof of the arsenal became the best cover, and the artillerymen did not even have to worry about the harassment of arrows from the enemy, and the members of the first artillery squad moved the gun mount and calmly aimed the barrel at the gate of the main fort forty meters away. Charge, feed, compress, puncture the packet and insert the lead...... After a series of simple but decent preparations, the squad leader told Iger: "Ready to launch." ”

"Launch. ”

Without much emotion, the gunner lit the fuse, and after a brief moment of burning, the first shot of the Night's Watch went south.

"Bang!"

The minimum charge brought a slightly crisp roar, and the muzzle and ignition spewed out two sparks at the same time, one large and one small, and the bronze tube slammed back with the gun carriage under the force of the recoil, and at the same time spat out black cannonballs, and flew with the afterimage towards the gate of the main fort not far away.

——