When the army of savages led the giants through the Great Wall into the land, for a series of reasons, the night watchmen placed the big guys in a wooded area by the river, dozens of miles away in the northwest corner of Houguan Town...... Coincidentally, the location is just a few dozen miles south of Icemark City, so there is no need to go back to get there, and there is not much time wasted.

The subjective initiative of people is so strong, the speed at which the princes of the northern border, who are anxious to save their families, pack their luggage and go on the road can be described as amazing, and everyone is on the road not long after breakfast. Riding down the path where the new landgivers had given food to the giants, it took only half a day for the team to arrive at the small forest, which originally did not exist on the map and was now named the "Giant's Lair" because of the arrival of the new residents.

The snow had been falling since Robb arrived at Castle Black, and it was supposed to be a bad time to do it, but in fact, from far away, the group had seen what they were going to see, or the creatures—giants.

The reason is very simple, these big guys don't know how to build a house, no matter what the weather is, they just find a shelter from the wind, and then they are arrogant.

With their thick hair, large body size and the thick fat that comes with it, they are not afraid of the cold, and even when winter is on, they still live leisurely.

In the woods there were not only tall human figures, but also the cries and figures of the mammoths, the mounts of the giants, and most of the sheep and pigs that the savages drove into the Great Wall had been turned into meat products in the previous winter preparations, but the pets and mounts of these giants, the night watchman did not and did not dare to mention the slaughter.

Iger is indeed good at convincing others, but the giant's wisdom is not yet high enough to be reasoned with, not to mention that the mammoth, a powerful tame creature, may be of other use in the future.

The crowd dismounted outside the woods known as the giant's lair, and Egger sent a guide of the ancient language to call for them, while the patrol waited in place.

......

"I have heard that the giants drink blood, and drink blood porridge for breakfast, and can eat the whole bull in one meal. Morse Amber, who was particularly satisfied with the recovery of his daughter and grandson, stretched his body and casually asked, "How did you feed them?"

"Like most legends about them, this is another outright rumor...... Giants are vegetarians, and thoroughly vegetarian, their teeth and digestive systems can't handle meat, and they can't eat it if they want to. They were originally placed here because there was water and grass here, and they were also in the heart of the land grant, which was convenient for various human settlements to deliver vegetables and other food to the giants. Iger opened his mouth to introduce the group, "In general, giants are relatively gentle creatures...... Of course, mildness only means that they don't attack for no reason, it doesn't mean that they are not aggressive at all, and the reason why we stop here and don't enter their place of residence is to prevent accidents. There are hundreds of giants here, and we've been with them for a short time, so if we do something wrong and provoke them, it will be very bad. ”

"If you let so many giants pass through the Great Wall, aren't you worried that they will cause chaos and that the Night's Watch will not be able to control it?"

"Of course, I'm worried that when we let the giants pass, they were two or three at a time, and we didn't dare to be careless at all, but after dealing with them for a while and getting to know them well, we found out that the giants were not as terrifying as we imagined. Iger stretched out his hand and pointed to a giant in the woods not far away, following the guide in the direction where everyone was staying: "Look, giant, is it smaller than you expected?"

A hundred meters away, the guide sent out was returning with a giant. He was about 1.7 meters tall, and the massive humanoid creature next to him was about twice as tall as him, and the difference between the two was uncomfortable...... Still, most people have to admit that the giants are much smaller than they think.

In myths or legends, giants are probably the kind of beings who are "ten or even tens of meters tall, can destroy a castle alone, can swallow a living person in one bite, are strong, wild, and can even fight the gods...... But the one walking towards them in front of them is nearly three meters five tall - amazing, but it is only compared to ordinary people, and it cannot produce the impact of the Great Wall of Desperation that makes people almost suffocate at first sight. It walked slowly, and it didn't have the effect that the ground was shaking like in the TV series.

Robb looked at the approaching giants from a distance, estimated them, and came to the conclusion that as long as a few elite soldiers with long weapons were definitely able to deal with him.

"It's really not as expected, the giants are all this size?"

"This is supposed to be the newly elected leader of the giants, the previous one, who was killed by the Night's Watch during the attack on Castle Black. Egg replied, "Like the wolf, the leader of the giants must be the strongest of the group, and naturally most of them will be the largest, and the rest of the giants will only be about the same or smaller than him, with few exceptions." ”

"Hmm......" Robb nodded, "You've recruited the wildlings as new landgivers, so have you ever thought of training the giants to work or fight for the Night's Watch?"

Sure enough, I asked about this, a normal thought. Egger had expected it and nodded: "Of course I thought about it, but there are many problems with this...... Well, I'll explain that to adults later. ”

It wasn't that Egger was deliberately selling off, but during the conversation, the giant had already walked in front of everyone, and under the vigilant gaze of the noble soldiers in the north, he knelt down on one knee a few meters away, and said in a loud and deep voice like rolling thunder: "Kneel...... Facing the North...... of the Lord. ”

"Wow-" Arya almost screamed with excitement, "I...... Can I touch him!"

"Don't even think about it. Robb glared at his sister warningly, then at Egger, "Didn't you say that giants don't know the lingua franca?"

"We taught them a small number of lingua franca words. Iger explained, in fact, the giant commander in front of him would only say this one sentence. It took a lot of effort to give the giants such a simple task by themselves, according to the translator and guide. "They speak the old language on the north side of the Great Wall. ”

At such a close distance, everyone was finally able to observe this creature that had only been heard in stories before: the difference between the giant and the imagination was far more than the size of the body, and the appearance of the giant was not the "big human" that everyone had previously imagined. Their arms were long, almost down to their knees, and there was not a single piece of cloth or hides on their bodies, but instead they had unbelievably long hair, dense and long, as if they had "long hair" all over their bodies.

Not only is the body different from that of a human, but the giant's appearance is also strange: the head is not on the shoulders, but protrudes forward, as if it can never be lifted, and is in two planes with the torso. Their faces are large and flat, with two extremely small eyes narrowed into a line, and folds of flesh in the middle.

It's not so much a giant human as a giant orangutan.

"Hmm, hello, nice to meet you, King of the Giants. Robb said to the giant with some regret on his face, and after the guide had translated this sentence to the giant, the big guy got up again, and stood silently aside, also looking at a large number of small dots from the south.

"I don't have to translate what I'm going to say to him. Iger instructed the guide, before returning to the topic that had just been interrupted: "It sounds wonderful to tame giants to work or fight for us, but there are three problems, one from the giant's level of intelligence, physical fitness and athleticism, and cost for money. ”

Everyone stared at the sample in front of them while pressing the hilt of their swords, while silently listening to the Night Watch officer's explanation.

"The first point should be seen that giants do not have human-level intelligence, they have neither a place to live nor to wear clothes, and it is difficult for them to accept orders and tasks that are too complicated, except for some simple manual work. When they are quiet, they seem to be able to think and communicate just like us, but when they get angry or lose their minds, they are completely beasts. ”

"They can even talk, how stupid can they be?"

"That's right, this first question is the least important one. Iger nodded in acknowledging the questioner's suspicions, and moved on to the second point: "To explain the next question, we must first explain a concept: the multiplier relationship between body shape and strength and weight. The exact calculation process will not be discussed here, but only the conclusions, and only the results under the ideal situation: the same shape of the creature will be twice as tall and long, and the cross-sectional area of the muscles - in layman's terms, the arms and legs will be four times thicker, and the volume and weight will be eight times greater. Take the giant leader in front of me, who is about twice as tall as me, and if we were of the same size, he would have four times my strength and eight times my weight. I think all of you know what this means. ”

The calculation of area and volume is too complicated to explain to the princes of the northern realm, and most of them do not understand mathematical language such as square and power...... But life experience has taught them that what Iger is saying is not nonsense. The bright-witted man has already understood what he is trying to say, while the dull man is still raising the bar.

"But the giant's arms and legs are more than four times as thick as yours. ”

"Of course, if the giant were really my size, he wouldn't even be able to stand up—the larger the creature, the greater the ratio of limbs to torso. The giant leader in front of us is about five or six times the thickness of my limbs, and his arms and legs are also weighty, which means that he is supporting and operating more than ten times my weight with less than ten times my strength. They struggled to move empty-handed, and if he were given a steel weapon or tool of his size, he would probably not even be able to pick it up. ”

"I see. You're trying to say that the giant has to devote a large part of his strength to supporting his own body, and there is not much room for movement - he is not as powerful as we think. Robb nodded: "But he still has more strength than us, isn't that enough?"

It's not that simple, and when a creature grows in size, the problem goes far beyond weight...... There is also the increase in the time required for nerve conduction signals, the increase in oxygen concentration, the inability of bones to easily support the body and the inability to perform intense exercise, and the epidermal heat dissipation mechanism that limits longevity......

Of course, it would be difficult for Iger to say the above in lingua franca, let alone make the nobles of the north understand. He could only explain the more understandable part, the result of the large size: "Indeed, the strength is still greater than ours. But giants have other shortcomings, such as poor eyesight and hearing, slow movements, and poor stamina. To let them work, it takes a lot of effort to command them, and lead them on the march to fight...... Don't look at the long legs of the giants, it is a great test for them to walk a mile in a row. If they are integrated into the army, the large army must be stopped and moved so that they do not fall behind...... The presence of giants on the battlefield may be a great shock to the enemy, but the effort required to achieve that step will far outweigh the benefits of throwing them into battle. ”

Count Karstark frowned and interjected, "Hey, boy, how do I feel that you are trying to make the giants useless, afraid that we will take them away?"

"My lord, you really wronged me. Iger smiled bitterly: "Well, I won't continue to talk about the shortcomings of giants...... Even with these shortcomings, the giant will still be a formidable combatant, assuming that one giant is equivalent to ten elite soldiers. But they are vegetarians, and obviously, grass is far less nutritious than grain and meat, and they need to eat frequently, and in order to feed them, they have to increase logistics...... Their endurance was extremely poor, and they couldn't carry the armor and weapons they needed by themselves, so they had to arrange for the baggage team to transport them. The problems that have come and gone have to be filled in by manpower, and with this manpower dedicated to serving the giants, why don't we just train more soldiers?"

Giants are not meant to work or fight, but Iger didn't make it up. As a non-predatory creature with few natural predators, giants were free to live with little effort before their ancestors set foot on the lands of Westeros. Without the need to hunt and the pressure to survive, how could it be possible to evolve into a hard-working tool creature or a powerful combat weapon for no reason?

Of course, this doesn't mean that the giants are nothing to be desired, such as simple strenuous work in a fixed location, or in siege or defense battles that don't require long journeys. No matter how bad it is, you can still drive the mammoth and help transport something.

But the reason why Iger doesn't want Robb to use the brains of giants is that in addition to the fact that they are really not as awesome as they think, there is also a more realistic factor: giants are usually honest and docile, but they are not slaves of humans. The reason why he obeyed Mance Rader before was because he also faced the threat of aliens. The king of the outside of the fortress took great pains to persuade them to surrender and settle down in the land grant, if the northerners took a few dozen and wanted to use them as cannon fodder, if something went wrong and injured their own people, it was not themselves who would bear the pressure?

He doesn't do thankless work.

......

Fortunately, Robb didn't mention it in the end.

He offered to see the giant for two purposes: first, to see if the creature had the ability to threaten the North, and second...... It is true that the idea of trying to throw them into the war in order to make up for the sparsely populated northern territory and the lack of combatants. But when I came to the scene, the so-called giant was actually such a primitive, dull, lazy, and slow vegetarian creature, and most of his thoughts were suddenly extinguished.

Carrying this kind of living treasure to the battlefield is a headache to think about, and it is really better to train more soldiers.

"I believe in you. Robb nodded, interrupting Karstark's questioning and questioning of Egger, and waved his hand: "Take care of these big guys, don't let them run around, if you scare or hurt the residents of the North, I can ask you." ”

Egg breathed a sigh of relief, "Of course, it's the duty of the night watchman. ”

After giving this command, the Lord of Winterfell looked at the big guy in front of him again and raised his voice: "King of Giants, I'm glad to see you today, in case a strange ghost attacks, I hope you will also do some effort to help us defend the northern frontier!"

The guide was naturally a clever man, and quickly translated the second half of Robb's words to the giant leader, and the big guy nodded slowly, muttering an ancient phrase to Robb, to the effect that he was also happy to know him or something.

Robb then beckoned to everyone, intending to continue their journey south to settle the Iron Folk invasion.

Of course, when he went to the battlefield, he obviously didn't plan to bring his little sister: "Sir Rodric, I will lead you to go directly south and rush to Shenlimburg to command the battle against the Iron People. You take ten good men and return to the Great Wall with Egger. When the snow stopped, follow the main road leading to Castle Black to Houguan Town, and send Arya back to Winterfell safely. ”

"Huh?" Arya pouted dissatisfiedly, "I'm going with you!"

Robb shook his head, put on a non-negotiable attitude, didn't even bother to say anything, and directly began to direct the soldiers of the Northern Patrol Group to get on their horses and hurry. It is still a few hundred miles away from the west coast of the northern border, and if you don't want to delay the war, you can't waste any time.

——