"No one breaks the rules, my lord. Iger had already taken a plan for this, and he replied without hesitation: "The Night's Watch did not take part in the battle, and I was the only one who sent people south on this trip, and I swore that I did not take part in any battle, not even a weapon. ”

"Don't engage in this kind of word game, the land grant is the territory of the defenders of the Great Wall, and the people you brought are in the name of the land gift army, and everyone can see that the night watch is meddling. As for participating in battles, with your current status, it's not a normal thing not to participate in battles?"

"Allow me to explain the whole thing. Iger continued: "The garrisons of the Great Wall had to seek support from the north due to the fact that they had received wild people, the population of the land grants had increased dramatically, and there was a severe shortage of food. Not long ago, the Logistics Department organized a grain transport team, intending to go around the entire northern border to collect as much grain as possible...... As the party approaches the territory of the Glovers, they hear the news that Deepwoodburg has been overrun by a group of unidentified pirates. ”

"'Unidentified pirates'? that's what the Night's Watch call the Iron Folk invaders, interesting. Robb Stark tugged at his face, and suddenly realized how Iger was going to settle the matter: just as King Robert called the League of the Righteous a 'rebel', Iger wanted to give the Iron Folk a characterization that would help him explain his actions in order to legitimize the sending of troops. "Then you 'handily' recaptured the Deep Wood Fort, captured a bunch of captives alive, and after interrogation, it turned out that these pirates were members of the Greyjoy family - since you didn't know they were from the Greyjoy family beforehand, you didn't think you were meddling in the internal affairs of the Seven Kingdoms?"

"Suffice it to say that in my hometown, there is a saying that those who do not know are not guilty. But there is one more thing that must be added - the people of the Sai Wai people north of the Great Wall have migrated south on a large scale to escape the harsh winter and strange ghosts, and have arrived at the Great Wall a month ago, and at the same time they have launched an attack on the city gates. The Night's Watch legions, which were too numerous to resist, appealed to the mountain clans for support, and thousands of clansmen were invited to station along the Great Wall. Egg, who had seen through the routine, coughed awkwardly and stretched out a finger: "And in my grain transportation team, there are exactly a thousand clan warriors, and the task of attacking Shenlin Fort is basically undertaken by them. ”

"What do you mean, aren't these mountain clansmen also brought by you, the chief logistics officer of the night watch? ”

"The place where the hill clans live, legally part of the North. The clans were only invited by the Night's Watch to temporarily settle along the Wall...... Providing human support, they themselves did not wear black, but their residence had changed from the mountains to a land grant, and their allegiance was still to the Stark family. Egg replied, "As your people, isn't it only natural for you to see that your Deepwood Fort is occupied by a band of pirates......, and to intervene out of righteous indignation? Provide a little bit of military guidance and support. ”

The mountain clan people are their own people. Robb Stark did think of this after being reminded, and these so-called clansmen were actually savages living on the north side of the Great Wall...... Historically, the rulers of the North have adopted a policy of co-optation and pacification: they give their clan chiefs the same status as counts, and as long as these chieftains recognize the dominance of the Starks, they symbolically worship some special treasures, and send a few representatives to accompany them in wartime, so that they do not interfere much in their internal affairs.

These clans are nominally similar to Amber, the Karstarks, and the like, but they are far less closely related to the Stark than the actual earls and lords...... Never before had the rulers of the North commanded and mobilized clan warriors on such a large scale as Egger. Robb Stark, who hastily took over as Warden of the North after his father's death and had never personally traveled the territory of the Mountain Clans, all he knew about the Mountain Clans, which were nominally his own people, came from the dictation of his father, Eddard, and the elders of the close affiliated families.

......

Without a complete command system, it would have been difficult for the clansmen to march from their place of residence to the bottom of the Deep-Woods, let alone fight to the bottom of Baron Greyjoy's daughter.) ）

Egger or his subordinates must have been in full control. In this regard, Robb's heart was very bright, but he had to admit that these excuses made up by the night watchman were quite decent, he touched the short beard deliberately grown on his chin, and his stiff face gradually relaxed: "I see. ”

Seeing this, Egg hurriedly struck while the iron was hot: "So, the whole thing can be summed up - the people of the north spontaneously organized to drive out the invaders, and I, the night watchman, happened to appear in this place at the most critical time, was caught up in it, and became a 'night watchman' to receive prisoners." ”

Robb raised his head and stared at Egg seriously for a while, and finally couldn't help but bend the corners of his mouth: I haven't seen you for a few months, and this guy in front of me has grown up in making up nonsense.

This explanation may sound plausible, but it can only fool ordinary people...... As long as you have a little thinking ability and information source channels, you can't be fooled. Intuitively, Robb felt that Egger's bad behavior was inappropriate, but emotionally speaking, he really couldn't say anything more - the people of the other six countries could accuse Iger of misdeeds, but as a beneficiary, how could he stand on the same side as the former?

"Well, let's accept and admit your claim. Robb wasn't fooled, he knew that Egg was forcing an explanation, but so what, the North had benefited a lot from the bad rules of the Night's Watch, and now that he had an explanation to the outside world, it was enough. "I owe you a personal favor, but after all, you have violated the rules by doing something, don't talk about it everywhere. I will announce to the public that it was the Mountain Clansmen who helped me retake the Deep Forest Fort in the north. ”

"Of course, my trip is only to go south to purchase grain and grass materials from the northern princes, and I don't know anything else. ”

"Hmm. Robb was satisfied with Egger's answer and nodded. One of them opened his eyes and said nonsense, and the other turned a blind eye to the former's nonsense...... Thus, the most serious transgression of the night watch in thousands of years was thus lightly ignored in the past. "This place stinks to death, and it looks like I'm going to have to find a place to stay in the barracks north tonight, so I'll stop here for today. ”

What, that's the end? Egger was really at a loss for what to do, he still had a bunch of things to talk to Robb, ready to dig a pit and wait for the other party to jump, but the other side stepped on the edge of the pit, and suddenly stood still and didn't go forward?

"But my lord, about the plan for the capture and surrender of the Iron People, and the resettlement of the Cypriot foreigners......"

"The captives captured by the clansmen are up to the clansmen to decide what to do with them. Surrender troops, since they have proposed to put on black clothes, that is your business for the night watch. Robb turned and walked under the walls, and finally threw down a sentence: "I have a lot to talk to you about, about Bran, about the wildlings that you Night's Watch have put in...... But today is not a good time to talk about that. It's sweet to drive out the Iron Folk and win the battle to defend my homeland, but I still have a lot of work on my hands. Today and tomorrow, the army celebrates its victory at Carlin Bay before disbanding and returning to their homeland. I will also return to Winterfell immediately, and you will inevitably pass through Winterwinter when you return north to the Great Wall, and you will come to see me when the time comes. ”

Speaking of which, of course, Iger couldn't force Robb to finish the matter with him, and a few more days of preparation time was not a bad thing: "Okay." ”

——