"Lady Stark's Long Night Castle has not been attacked, and Arya is safe and sound in Houguan Town, and will urge them to return home on your behalf when I return to the land. Without much hesitation, Egg replied, "Only Brother Bran, who is now a member of the Night's Watch, has now gone south with the army, but since the war is not yet over, I cannot let him return home to save his family for the time being, and I ask Lord Stark's forgiveness." ”

Swearing allegiance to the queen is simple and all you need to do is it, but when it comes time to send troops to fight for her, problems arise.

When the back is leaning, it becomes a "solid backing", and when it turns around, it becomes the first "obstacle". Iger turned his attention from the north to prepare to go south, and the first thing he had to face was the northern border, which was separated between the land grant and the six southern kingdoms.

Whether it was purely self-interest, tradition, ethics, or rules, there was no reason for the North to support or allow the Night's Watch to throw the Great Wall and join the Queen's side in the war. If the Starks decide to prevent Iger from fulfilling his promise to the Queen, it will be to rely on Big Brother's influence and the network of connections he has built up in the course of his long-term funding of the Night's Watch to override or even remove him from power, or to obstruct or intercept his troops when they go south, or to go north to take his lair and base camp after he leaves with his troops......

Relying on the excellent geographical location and size advantage separating the land grant from the south, there are countless ways to disrupt Egger and prevent him from joining this grand card game.

......

Ostensibly, Catelyn, Arya, and Bran, who happened to be in the land grant, were held hostage to force the Starks to cooperate...... It seems to be the most advantageous and straightforward thing to do, but if we don't talk about whether or not it will make the Starks buy in, and even if they could, Iger wouldn't be able to take this option.

Public opinion is just a gust of wind for some people, but for others it is the foundation of life. Unfortunately, Egger, an outsider, is closer to the latter between the two—the Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch is neither predestined nor automatically inherited by tradition, but is "voted" by the Night's Watch soldiers.

Iger does have considerable strength, but a considerable part of this strength is supported by image - for a long time, he has always played a positive role, relying on this image to strengthen his control over the legion and land grants, relying on this image to obtain outside blood transfusion support - even if he pledges allegiance to the queen and breaks the rules of neutrality and becomes a traitor, at least there are good excuses such as "a promise of gold" and "walking the word" as a fig leaf, even if it is not universally supported, at least it can be understood and acquiesced by most people......

However, as soon as he began to rely on "hostage-taking", a means that would not be recognized in any time or place, he instantly changed from an "opposition" to a "terrorist". The collapse of the character caused by this change in nature is often complete and devastating, no matter how many good deeds and even heroic feats he has done for the benefit of the country and the people, he will not be remembered, everyone will only say: Look, the fox's tail is finally revealed!

At that time, not to mention the mountain clans who should theoretically obey the orders of the northern realm and the Cypriot foreigners who are not interested in the internal affairs of the Seven Kingdoms at all, even the queen, who originally favored him, may change her attitude and be wary of him.

His character is questioned, and he can't make Houguan Town operate normally and output war weapons with generational level advantages, how long can he continue to swagger under the queen with only that bit of military and political knowledge at the level of popular science that is not necessarily in line with Westeros's native environment?

Since he didn't plan to use his brains on the members of the Stark family, he naturally made friends happily and didn't hesitate at all.

Seeing Egger's quick reply, Robb breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly noticed the details of the second half of his sentence: "The war is not over yet?" ”

"A few moments ago, several small single-digit groups of enemies took advantage of the darkness of the night and burrowed into the wolf forest under the cover of a large number of ghouls. Although I have sent people to pursue, the sky is dark and the terrain in the forest is complicated, so I may not be able to catch up. In addition, there are suspected remnants of the enemy outside the Fortress, although I have an appointment with the Queen, but after all, I am the Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch first, and then her supporters - before sending troops to fight for the Iron Throne for the Queen, I will first organize a large-scale operation to go north to the Fortress, through this expedition to at least sweep away all the remnants of the Ghost Forest, completely remove the threat of the Strangers, and then fulfill the agreement with the Queen. ”

(That's a nice thing to say.) ）

Robb's face twitched—Egger's awe-inspiring appearance of "putting the duties of the night watchman first" made him unable to answer for a while.

"Before this expedition, I demand that the North return all Dragon Crystal weapons, collect the saltpeter that has been boiled, and deliver it to the Night's Watch Legion. Iger didn't wait for Robb to answer, and the next thing was the main thing: "When this last expedition is completed and returns to the Grant, I hope that the North will provide an appropriate amount of food and grass and armaments, and allow the Night's Watch to go south via King's Road and reach the south through the Castle of Carlin Bay to complete the promised return to the Queen." ”

"Give way to the road, provide food, grass and armaments, and support the Night's Watch in their rebellion south?" the Earl of New Severn immediately sneered, "Why don't you just ask the North to also swear allegiance to the Queen, and go south with you to fight King Stannis!"

"It would be better if it could be so natural, but unfortunately I know that it is impossible for you to agree to it, so I simply don't mention it. "Don't be in a hurry to reply, Lord Stark - you'll have plenty of time to investigate through various sources before the Night's Watch expedition is over. After everything is clarified, calm down and think about the question: Is it too much for the Queen to save the North from the warplane and one of the three precious dragons attacking King's Landing, and so much of a show of favor and sacrifice in exchange for the North to remain neutral and provide a small amount of assistance in this war?"

......

Is it excessive? Not excessively.

But Robb is the guardian of the North, the supreme ruler north of Neck and the Duke of Winterfell, a great lord who controls nearly one-third of the Seven Kingdoms, not some knight and knight who is happy to take revenge - he can't think about things with emotion and intuition, but has to analyze the interests and think about the long term. Not to mention, the queen had never come to him to talk about the conditions before, and Robb did not bear any moral pressure in this matter!

His mind was racing, and the Guardian of the North thought quickly.

Robb was born out of a typical political marriage that was designed to ensure stability in the anti-Targaryen "deer, wolf, osprey" grand alliance. With such a background and growing up in Winterfell under King Robert Baratheon, Robb really couldn't shake the instinctive perception that the Targaryens were enemies. But on the other hand, he is a young man with a flexible brain and a strong ability to accept new things...... It is true that the queen lost a dragon in this battle to protect the soldiers of the North, and if the mother and sister did return to Winterfell safely, and the investigation revealed that the Night's Watch did not deliberately release water during the alien invasion, then should she let Egger help the queen of the Targaryen family?

The first time there was a conflict between preconceived notions and emotional factors, and the pain he had suffered in the previous battle made him unable to concentrate and think, Robb, who was already a little lacking in judgment, could not make a choice at all.

Fortunately, Iger also said that he didn't have to rush to reply.

Long Jing and what kind of "saltpeter" can only be used to deal with strange ghosts and dead people, it is impossible to use them to help the queen fight the world, if the night watchman really wants to go out of the fortress for an expedition, it is completely reasonable to give them. However, when Egger put all his mind on the expedition to the north, he calmly investigated the true course of this battle between humans and ghosts, and gathered the lords to hold a meeting to jointly decide the role that the northern territory should play in the next continental power struggle.

"Long Jing and saltpeter, I will order them to be mobilized and sent to Houguan Town as soon as possible. After some careful consideration, Robb stared at Iger and made a decision, "But whether or not to break with convention and tradition and acquiesce to the Night's Watch in the internal conflict of the Seven Kingdoms is a matter of interest to the entire North, and I can't decide it alone, it must be decided by all the nobles of the North." ”

Iger made a faint look of disappointment on his face, but he was laughing wildly in his heart: this condition seems excessive, but in fact, it is all smoke bombs, just to cover the saltpeter that is quietly juxtaposed with Long Jing in front and pretends to be "harmless to humans and animals".

He succeeded, and Robb didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. The cautious early start on the protection of secrets has finally paid off.

＊＊＊

Among the three major raw materials for gunpowder, sulfur and carbon can be obtained anywhere, but nitrate is always the one that is most demanded and the most troublesome to obtain.

More than a month ago, Bachelor reminded Iger in King's Landing that in addition to the two long-term ways of finding nitrate ore and improving the nitrate production process, they can actually use the method of large-scale nitrate boiling to quickly obtain a certain amount of saltpeter in a short period of time for a period of time. After being awakened by him and bringing him back to the land gift, Kobain taught the simple nitrate boiling technique to the inhabitants of many castles and winter towns in the north through field training, so that they could use their own hands to contribute to the frontline night watchmen in the cold winter of idleness.

The nitrate boiled out by the people of the north was bought by the night watchman at the price - through this mutually beneficial way, Iger was able to turn most of the northern realm into his own boiling ground, and in one fell swoop avoided the embarrassment of transporting and ruling the nitrate that could only come from King's Landing.

However, as wonderful as the plan was, there was a fatal problem: the land grant, as a barren land that could not achieve resource self-sufficiency, had long been extracted from Dragonstone Island for sulphur and saltpeter from all over the south...... The introduction of such large-scale resources inevitably requires contact with external personnel, and it is impossible to hide from people who want to know. In the preparation stage, it is good to say, when the invasion of the strange spirits is repelled and preparations are begun to fight for the dragon queen, what is the name of the night watchman...... What about asking the North to continue to send sensitive resources such as "weapons raw materials" to itself?

Iger's plan for this was to keep it secret from the outset, laying the foundation for "strategic foolishness" as early as possible, so as not to worry about it too much when it came to the end.

In order to keep the gunpowder secret, in addition to setting up the live explosion test site in a remote place, he also asked the technical department to announce from the beginning that "saltpeter" is an additive used to speed up the melting of obsidian and enhance the lethality of the aliens when casting dragon crystal weapons, and the powder that makes them explode is made of charcoal, sulfur, and wildfire that has been "air-dried and ground into powder by special treatment".

True and false, false and real...... It is difficult to hide from professional spies who are interested in probing, but it is more than enough to deceive Robb Stark, a tenacious feudal nobleman!

......

It would be best if Robb could find out in good conscience that he would voluntarily agree to his own set of conditions to facilitate and support the Night's Watch in the south to support the Queen, but if he finally refused, he would soon find that with the Night's Watch having a large amount of gunpowder in hand, the matter was not up to him at all!

＊＊＊

"Thank you for being reasonable, Master Stark. Egger regained a little politeness - saltpeter is stable, but this is only verbal stability, only when it is really in his hands, he is qualified to lift the table, "Then, I wish you a speedy recovery, there are still some things to deal with in the future, so I will take my leave first." ”

No matter how much influence the North had over the land grant and the Great Wall, the de jure facts remained the same: the land grant was an independent administrative district on par with the North, and the Night's Watch Commander-in-Chief was never a subordinate to the Guardian of the North. From today onwards, he will still maintain a minimum of politeness, but he will never continue to pretend to be a grandson again!

Without waiting for Robb to make a statement, Iger waved his hand and turned around with a group of guards to leave the meeting place. In the moment he turned his head, he saw Luce Burton, standing diagonally behind Robb, who had not said a word throughout the showdown—although they had only looked at each other for a moment, he still clearly confirmed one thing: the Earl of the Castle of the Terror, staring meaningfully at him with eyes that shone with a faint torch.

——