Chapter 341 Deadly Battle at the Great Wall Node

Clay and Bran Stark's decision not to send troops for the time being reached the Great Wall.

This is disappointing news for the entire Night's Watch.

But Jeor Mormont was not surprised at all.

To be honest, in his opinion, from the perspective of Winterfell, stabilizing himself is the best choice.

There are only three walnuts and two dates in the north, and the family is not very rich. If they are all wiped out, the war situation will be completely ruined.

Everyone understands this.

However, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch, Jeor Mormont has his own responsibility, and doing everything he can to seek help is what he should do.

As for whether Winterfell would give it or not, that was not something he could control.

I saw the letter and noticed that Clay and Bran Stark specifically mentioned the weirwood trees guarding the Wall.

This was not the first time Jeor Mormont had seen similar reminders.

The commander of the Night's Watch is experienced and knows very well that there must be a deep meaning in Winterfell's repeated emphasis on this matter.

I just don’t understand.

But it doesn't matter, I don't understand, it's best to just do it now.

He wasn't sure how good the ten-year-old Bran Stark was, but he still knew Clay Manderly.

This letter with the Mandalay family wax seal shows that this is also what Clay Manderly meant.

In this case, you might as well give it a try.

Although he now has no idea what his enemy is.

"Somebody come!"

Jeor Mormont shouted.

Jon Snow, whose room was just outside the door, suddenly opened the door and came in.

He knew that the commander-in-chief had a new order to convey.

Just listen to Jeor Mormont's instructions:

"Order Ser Alliser Thorne to lead a hundred men and establish a defense line for me at the Oath Tree."

The so-called Tree of Oath is the place where new members of the Night's Watch need to perform an oath ceremony when they join the Legion.

Jon Snow was stunned.

It wasn't that he was being negligent. In fact, in his opinion, this order without beginning or end was somewhat inappropriate.

He knew very well that he was just a low-key attendant.

But growing up in the Stark family, there is still no lack of common sense in fighting.

He also vaguely knew that an enemy was coming from the south.

Although this seemed to him to be a very difficult thing to understand.

But based on this matter, he knew very well that there was no solid wall to rely on in the south direction of Castle Black.

Because the original intention of establishing the Night Watch Legion was simply to face the savages in the north.

They never thought that an army would attack them from the south.

Which nobleman out of his mind would attack the "Kingdom Shield" which is composed entirely of professional soldiers?

But now, the southern defense line, which only has wooden walls, looks extremely weak.

At this time, Commander-in-Chief Jeor Mormont actually ordered Ser Alliser Thorne to lead a hundred men out and establish a defense line under the helpless weirwood trees.

Jon Snow really couldn't understand the logic of this order.

His expression was very complicated, and he hesitated for a long time before tentatively saying:

"My lord, is it a little bit to send Ser Alliser Thorne to such a frozen and snowy place to garrison..."

He wanted to say that it was a little thoughtless, but then he felt that it was inappropriate to say so.

After thinking about it for a long time, I didn't know what words I should use to describe the unreasonableness of this order.

Jeor Mormont looked at the boy in front of him, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

But now, he had no time to explain to his attendants the reason for this.

The enemy will launch an attack from the wind and snow at any time. Before that, every minute and every second is extremely precious.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Night Watch simply ignored his subordinates' quibbles and continued:

"Order all Ranger Captains to come to my place for a meeting in half an hour. Now, stop standing here. I know what I am doing. Do what you have to do, Jon."

The tone was not harsh, but Jon Snow could hear an inexplicable sense of crisis.

He put aside the thoughts in his mind, nodded to the commander-in-chief, and immediately left.

Lord Commander Jeor Mormont's orders went exactly where they were meant to go.

Half an hour later.

In the command tower of Castle Black, the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch met all his generals, or in other words, the captains responsible for commanding each squad of Rangers.

This is the core team of the Night's Watch's external armed forces.

Without this group of people, it would be impossible for Jeor Mormont, as commander-in-chief, to directly give orders to every soldier.

The captains were confused.

After all, at the end of this isolated world, it is not easy to get news from the outside.

"Commander-in-Chief, you called us here for something?"

someone asked.

All eyes were focused on Jeor Mormont in the middle.

The elderly commander-in-chief still had a straight back. He looked at his captains and said in a deep voice:

"I order that from now on, the Night Watch Legion will enter a state of full combat readiness."

"I called you here just to tell you, boys, that the good and comfortable days are over."

"The Night's Watch Legion is about to face the test before the last Dawn Era."

“We’re unfortunate enough to have this happen to us, and we’re also lucky enough to have this happen to us.”

"The long night is approaching, and our watch is not over yet."

Although I don’t quite understand the basis for what the Commander-in-Chief said.

But everyone's expressions became solemn.

Because they knew that their commander-in-chief was not joking.

For more than ten years, this old man from the Mormont family has never been serious about major matters.

So, is war really coming?

"I think you all noticed that Ser Alliser Thorne is not here."

"Yes, because I have sent him under the Oath Tree to build a new line of defense."

"Don't look at me, I don't know who the enemy is or where they come from."

"But all the information tells me that they do exist, and I sent Benjen Stark, your chief, to encounter them before."

Commander-in-Chief Jeor Mormont’s voice was a little low:

"Unfortunately, six of our sworn brothers have died at their hands."

"They're out there, right now, heading toward us."

"Winterfell can't help us for the time being, so now, we have to rely on ourselves."

After the words fell, there was a deathly silence.

The captains left, no one questioning, no one impassioned.

The wind and snow on the Great Wall and watching day after day had long extinguished their enthusiasm.

If the Commander-in-Chief said so, that's what they did.

With the Great Wall at our back, it’s just a fight to the death in the wind and snow, no big deal.

…

The speed of the Wild Hunt army was faster than the night watchers expected.

Due to the non-stop blizzard, the King's Avenue has long been buried under thick snow.

Moreover, because Castle Black did not have enough troops, it adopted a defensive strategy.

Therefore, at the request of Commander-in-Chief Jeor Mormont, all the civilians of Mole Village moved to Castle Black.

In this case, the front line of the Wild Hunt army appeared under Castle Black without any hindrance.

The battle first broke out on the snowy field outside the city.

A team of four rangers was attacked by the Wild Hunting Dogs.

But because of Benjen Stark's letter, the Legion was informed of the existence of this thing.

Therefore, after the initial panic, the elite rangers quickly reacted, drew out their swords, and started fighting.

Semi-magical creations like the Wild Hunting Dog can still cause a lot of damage from steel swords.

Soon, the rangers discovered that the combat effectiveness of this thing was not much different from that of direwolves when the numbers were equal.

Eventually, the encounter ended before the knights of the Wild Hunt arrived.

Of the five hounds that attacked, four died and one escaped, while the rangers paid the price with a war horse and a knight seriously injured.

The other living rangers brought the injured soldiers back to Castle Black, which was not too far away.

Thanks to Maester Aemon's efforts, the man's life was saved, but he had to stay in bed for a long time.

In this upcoming battle, we are already in a de facto state of attrition.

Before he could share his experience in dealing with these enemies, Alliser Thorne's Oath Tree stronghold was attacked.

…

"Young men, hold on! They are not much stronger than us. Hold on to the swords in your hands!"

The disheveled Alliser Thorne kicked down a Wild Hunt soldier who was holding a knife and was about to chop him down, and took the time to shout to the other warriors on the battlefield.

There were only a hundred of them, but he knew very well that Castle Black itself didn't have many either.

This was the maximum amount of troops Lord Commander Jeor Mormont could give him.

He didn't know whether he should hate the old guy for sending him to this dangerous place, or whether he should admire the old guy's foresight.

At first, he did feel that he was stationed here.

Surrounding a weirwood tree, which he did not consider sacred at all, was simply too full to do anything.

Doesn't this mean that he and a hundred of his brothers will freeze to death in this place with no shelter except trees?

However, after he had a face-to-face encounter with the Wild Hunt's army, he realized that the old guy's arrangement was absolutely correct.

This is where these guys come!

The other party obviously didn't expect that he would be stationed here.

Although their faces were wrapped in ferocious black skull masks, Sir Alliser Thorne could clearly feel the shock from these guys.

That being the case, what else is there to say?

Draw your sword!

I swear to stay here!

The day-in and day-out training worked.

These former thieves, robbers, etc., all have individual abilities that are not inferior at all when facing the Wild Hunt warriors.

The long swords and steel knives of both sides clanged together.

The three warriors spontaneously formed a group and began to form a formation to fight against these enemies from afar.

Even if there are wild hunting dogs on the side, conducting various raids.

The exchange ratio between the two sides is also close to one to one.

Although both sides had faced opponents weaker than themselves in the past few days, it was obvious that the Wild Hunt army had fought too many battles against the wind.

Facing such a tenacious opponent, their intimidation tactics failed to work.

The battle continues.

After receiving the news, Commander-in-Chief Mormont made a decisive decision at this time and sent out the last mobile force in his hands, led by his squire, but a qualified warrior Jon Snow, to quickly support the battlefield of Oath Tree. go.

Further south on the battlefield, Eredin, the King of the Wild Hunt, was standing between his right-hand men Caranthil and Ilerith, surveying the battlefield that was devouring his people.

"The natives here clearly learned their lesson and knew we would be the first to capture their node."

Eredin said.

Although their faces were not visible, the expressions on Illerith and Caranthir's faces were not very good.

They knew very well that Eredin must be in a bad mood now.

Because this kind of tough battle is what they try their best to avoid.

Otherwise, they will not be able to conquer the world even if they die.

"I'll take my cavalry and crush them."

Picking up his shield and carrying the warhammer as tall as a man on his shoulders, Illerith seemed to be stating an objective fact.

After glancing at Caranthir, he strode away directly.

A moment later, the Wild Hunt cavalry arrayed on the south side of the battlefield made a harsh sound and joined the battlefield.

The armor of their war horses was covered with a layer of blue ice crystals.

That is the power of white frost.

In the past days, they relied on this power and were invincible.

They figured today would be no different.

They did arrive on the battlefield and added an important weight to the tragic battle.

However, just as the balance tipped for a moment, reinforcements from the Black Castle Night Watch arrived.

The same goes for cavalry.

Roar, roar, and move forward indomitably.

Illerith immediately ordered the cavalry to abandon the enemy in front of them and fight with all their strength against the supporting cavalry.

Jon Snow knew at just one glance that these guys were out-and-out "human beings."

If that's the case, why are you still cowardly?

The distance was very close, so the cavalry from both sides collided hard before long.

The war horses whined in pain, with broken bones and tendons.

No one is afraid of this kind of battle, where the cavalry from both sides face off against each other, and the casualties are very heavy.

In just a few breaths, the places where they intersected were piled up like mountains of corpses.

When they met each other, both sides became red-eyed.

The Wild Hunt army was hoping to overwhelm its opponents in one fell swoop so as to reduce its own casualties. However, this time it was better, but instead it caused its own cavalry to fall into a bitter battle.

The night watchers also realized that their opponents were absolutely tough.

They are the oldest standing army in Westeros.

Every day's work is to train, and train tirelessly.

Even a cook in the kitchen can kill a savage without a meat cleaver and pick up a long sword.

They have always believed that the Night's Watch Legion's oath not to interfere in the affairs of the Seven Kingdoms was an extremely correct thing.

Otherwise, in their heyday.

Tens of thousands of standing soldiers with abundant martial virtues have long since marched across the northern border, crossed the Neck, and swept into the south.

You know, the vast majority of soldiers now are farmers with little systematic training.

Now, they met their match.

The people on the opposite side were no worse than them at all.

Moreover, their armor is obviously of better quality.

It's just that the other side cherishes their lives more than they do, and they don't dare to trade their lives for their lives.

The battle lasted from morning until dusk.

It was obviously just a battle of a thousand people, but it felt like a battle involving ten thousand people.

In the end, Alliser Thorne, along with the seriously injured Jon Snow, and more than forty remaining Night's Watchmen, slowly evacuated this bloody battlefield.

There is no point in holding on any longer.

It's not worth paying all the money here.

The frightened Wild Hunt army did not pursue it.

Both sides retreated in tacit agreement.

No one paid attention to the weirwood whose trunk had long been stained red with blood.