On the banks of the Trident.

"The Iron Folk have captured Winterfell?"

Duke Eddard Stark looked at the messenger in disbelief.

"Yes, sir."

"How did the Iron People take the castle? What about Robb? ”

"At that time, Lord Robb heard Theon Greyjoy say that the Iron People intended to attack Carlin Bay, and led his army to support, but was not in the city. However, upon receiving the news of the fall of Winterfell, Lord Robb realized that he had been deceived. And he guessed that the Iron People were able to attack the city so quickly, probably because of Theon's internal response. ”

"Theon......" Duke Ed muttered the name of his adopted son, his eyes flashing with sadness and anger.

After a long while, he asked again, "How many people are there in the Iron Min?" ”

"At first, there were nearly two thousand people, but then a group was withdrawn, and it is estimated that there are less than five hundred people left in Winterfell now."

"Iron people evacuated a batch? But there is still a batch left? ”

"Yes."

Duke Ed frowned, in his opinion, after the Iron People captured Winterfell, there were no more than two options, either grab a handful and retreat, or stick to it and wait for help.

What does it mean to be both withdrawn and not cleared now?

But at this time, he couldn't think much about it, after all, his wife and children were all in the city, and Duke Ed was anxious.

He immediately asked the family knights to reorganize the army and prepare to personally lead three thousand soldiers and horses back to the rescue.

But before leaving, he had to arrange for someone to take command of the Three Realms Alliance in his place.

After thinking for a moment, Duke Ed said to his attendant:

"Go and get Earl Luce Burton, Countess Anya Weywood, and Earl Jason Mellister."

"Yes."

The squire was ordered to leave, and first came to the camp with the pink skinning man flag fluttering—

It was the camp where the troops of Fort Terror were located.

The current lord of the Castle of Terror is Lord Luce Bolton, known as "Lord Leech" because of his penchant for sucking his own blood from leeches.

When the attendant found "Lord Leech", he was lying naked on the bed, his pale chest crawling with leeches, and these soft and waxy insects were gradually turning shiny pink.

The attendant endured the fear and uneasiness in his heart, and said cautiously, "Lord Luce, Lord Eddard, please come and go. ”

"Okay." The Count of Luce's tone was so light that one had to listen carefully.

He motioned for the bachelor to take the leech from his body, and took the coat from the servant's hand to cover the pale body without a trace of blood.

The attendant didn't dare to stay longer, and hurriedly left after passing the order.

The Earl of Luce drank a glass of red wine unhurriedly before getting up and heading to the Chinese barracks.

"Lord Eddard, are you looking for me?"

"Yes. Sit down, and someone will come later. Duke Ed said.

Truth be told, if there was a better option, Duke Ed did not want to hand over the command of the army to Luce Burton at all.

But Count Jon Amber is too reckless, Count Wiman Mandalay is so fat that he can't even ride a horse, Count Rickard Karstark is too old, he contracted a fever during his previous expedition to Dorne, and has returned to Cahoe City early to recuperate, and the other northern nobles do not have enough prestige.

Although Duke Ed did not like this person, he had to admit that Count Luce was the most suitable candidate for commander in terms of means and prestige, and only this person could suppress the northern princes after he left.

Of course, in order to counterbalance this person, Duke Ed also found a leader from each of the nobles of the Riverlands and the Stormlands.

After waiting for a while, Lady Anya and Count Jason also arrived.

Only then did Duke Ed speak:

"I have just received news that Winterfell has been overrun by the Iron People, and I am going to take three thousand men back to drive them away. During my absence, the Three Realms Army was placed under your command. ”

"Thank you for your trust." Count Luce leaned over slightly, and then asked, "Are your family all right?" ”

"It's not clear yet." Duke Ed felt a pang in his heart at the thought of this.

He couldn't imagine what it would be like if the enemy did go on a killing spree in Winterfell, so he could only pray to the Old Gods that Theon Greyjoy would still remember more than a decade of nurturing.

"Is it enough for you to bring back only 3,000 men? Do you want to bring more people? Mrs. Anya asked.

"No, I don't. Most of the Iron Folk have withdrawn, and fighting in the north, we naturally have an advantage. ”

"Indeed, I've received similar news that the Iron Folk have suddenly evacuated the North, perhaps because Baron finally found that there was nothing to grab there." Earl Jason said that his domain was on the front lines against the Iron Min.

"Just in case, I'll let the Horror Fortress send troops to help you." Count Luce proposed, "The Bolton family can still muster an army of about a thousand, and I will write to my bastard son, Rams Snow, and ask him to cooperate with you in retaking Winterfell." ”

"Okay." This time, Duke Eddard did not refuse the kindness of the Castle of Terror, "The Starks will remember the help from the Bolton family. ”

"You're welcome. This is what we should do. Earl Luce said. There were no wrinkles on his face, no expression in sight, no anger or joy.

Duke Ed paused, and then admonished: "During my absence, you are in charge of military affairs together, remember that as long as you hold the camp, you don't need to take the initiative to attack, and don't pay attention to the lion's provocation, everything will be said when I come back." ”

The three of them nodded in response.

After a brief meeting, the Earl of Luce returned to his camp.

As soon as he entered the tent, he called for his attendants and asked them to serve him and put on his armor:

"Ready, I'm going hunting in the woods."

"Your Excellency, you'd better bring more men." "I've heard of wolves in the woods," suggested the attendant, "and they even broke into the camp last night and killed a horse. ”

"I'm going to hunt wolves. They were so noisy that I couldn't sleep. "It is said that in the north, when the wolves roamed around in packs of hundreds, they were not afraid of people, not even mammoths. What a horrible and terrible thing. ”

"Bad times breed bad things." The old bachelor on the side said.

"Are these times bad?" Count Luce asked.

"Isn't it? Westeros is in the dust, there are already three kings, and maybe there will be more in the future. ”

"Only one king is bad." There was a glimmer in Count Luce's cold, pale eyes, "Three is much more interesting. ”

He fastened the button of his cloak and said to the Bachelor:

"Send a letter to my dear Lady Vada and say that I can't wait to have a child with her."

"Yes, sir."

"By the way, remember to let the Raven fly to Twin River City, not the Horror Castle. My wife went to visit her grandfather. ”

"Okay." The Bachelor knew that Count Luce had just married the granddaughter of Marquis Wade Frey, Lord of the Twin Cities.

When the two families were married, the Marquis de Walce asked the Earl of Luce to choose one of his many granddaughters as his wife, and promised to give the bride a silver equivalent weight as a dowry, so the Count of Luce chose the fattest Madame Vada of the Frey family.

The Lady Vada looked like a pink ball, and she didn't look very good.

But she did bring a handsome dowry to the Earl of Luce.

It seems that she will also bring a new heir to the Earl of Luce.

——————————

The Shield Islands, located at the mouth of the Mandeb River and west of the High Court, have long been a "shield" to prevent maritime enemies from invading the Mandeb River Basin.

Along the jagged coastline of these islands, watchtowers have been set up, and the "old man with a gray beard" in the tower keeps watch in keeping an ancient tradition. When they spot a ship of unknown origin at sea, they light a beacon in the lighthouse to send a message of danger.

Asta has been a "gray-bearded man" for more than forty years, and this watchtower has almost become his second home.

Today, as usual, he went to the watchtower, changed shifts with his companions, and then cooked oatmeal, not forgetting to keep an eye on the situation at sea from time to time.

After being a "gray-bearded old man" for so many years, Asta knows the waters he is responsible for, and he knows every ship that passes by, even if he doesn't look at the flags flying on the ships, he can tell which family they belong to, or even which captain is at the helm, just by looking at the appearance of the ships.

Of course, Asta knew that the most important thing to watch out for was pirates.

But since the brutal suppression of the Iron Islands ten years ago, the Shield Islands have lost sight of those damned Iron Folk longships.

Asta has been battling the smugglers in recent years.

However, I heard that the Iron Islands have been restless again recently.

Although the Iron Folk have now gone to the north to plunder, who knows if they will come to Riverbend one day.

You must know that compared with the barren north, the rich river bay has always been very "favored" by the iron people.

So in recent days, Asta has been extra vigilant.

The oatmeal was cooked, and Asta was about to enjoy breakfast when he heard footsteps on the spiral staircase.

He leaned out and looked down, and saw a tall knight in armor walking up step by step, with three leaf-like tattoos on the cloak behind him.

He is a knight of the Oakhut family.

When the man came up, Asta hurriedly got up and saluted, and said with a smile:

"Sir Torgan, why are you here?"

"You know me?" Sir Torgan was a little surprised.

"Yes, I saw you three years ago when you married the daughter of the Earl of Chester."

The Earl of Chester is the lord of Green Shield Island.

Sir Togan nodded, and stood in front of the lookout, "Did you find anything unusual?" ”

"No, no." Asta smiled and said, "If there's anything out of the ordinary, I'll light a beacon fire." ”

"Well, be vigilant." "The Iron Folk have evacuated the North, and I suspect they will most likely go south," Ser Togan reminded. ”

Asta was a little curious as to why the knight of the Oakhet family was suddenly so concerned about the situation in the Shield Islands.

Although this person is married to the daughter of the Earl of Green Shield Island, he usually lives in Ancient Oak City and rarely comes to the island.

Asta could only be attributed to Sir Torgan's fear of the sudden appearance of the Iron People, who went up the river and raided the heart of the bend along the El-Mandeb River.

"Okay, Lord Togan, don't worry, I'll keep an eye on the sea at all times."

Sir Torgen nodded in satisfaction, and turned as if preparing to go downstairs.

Asta leaned down again to salute, but as soon as he looked down, he saw a flash of light on the ground.

The old man looked up in surprise, and saw that the knight on the opposite side actually drew his long sword, and the sword body reflected the sunlight, dazzling, and deadly.

Whoop –

Until he was stabbed in the chest with a sword, Asta still couldn't understand why Ser Togan wanted to kill him.

The old man who fell to the ground did not see that outside the lookout, longships suddenly appeared on the sea level.

The inky black flag fluttered in the wind, and the coat of arms of the golden sea monster was faintly visible on it.

(End of chapter)