Chapter 174 The border is in danger

The morning star was hanging in the sky, and under the stars, a huge and towering city wall rose into the mist. The wooden towers and stone towers built close to the ice wall formed a black fortress.

This castle has an appropriate name, "Black Castle."

Black Castle is a fortress with a long history and the headquarters of the Night's Watch. It is as dark as the night.

Several towering towers can be seen from outside the castle. If Cole were here, he could name them one by one.

Commander's Tower, where the commanders of the Night's Watch live.

King's Tower, this tower is where the brothers of the Night's Watch entertain guests. It is named after the king, but the king has not been to the Wall for at least a hundred years.

Spear Tower, the tallest tower on the Wall, although it is only one-third of the height of the Wall.

There are some complex passages underground in Black Castle, which are called "wormways" by the Night's Watch. The wormways connect the towers. On a snowy day, the snow on the ground was so thick that it was impossible to pass on the road, so they could only walk in the worm tunnel.

Before Cole left, the castle had already looked withered. Castle Black had the largest number of Night's Watch on the Wall, but it was only 500 people.

At this time, the figures in Castle Black were even sparser.

Because of the disappearance of Chief Ranger Benjen Stark and a series of reasons, Jeor Mormont, the 997th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, launched an investigation called the "Ranger Expedition", and he took 300 Night's Watch brothers with him.

Only 50 Oath Keepers returned to Castle Black on this expedition. At the Fist of the First Men outside the Wall, the Night's Watch expeditionary force was attacked by wights and suffered heavy losses.

Old Bear led 50 brothers to break out and retreat to Craster's Fortress.

Here, the Night's Watch had another battle between the Oath Keepers and the Betrayer, and Lord Commander Mormont died at the hands of the Oath Breaker.

Although this battle was nothing compared to the losses in the battle in the south. But for the sparsely staffed Night's Watch, this Ranger patrol almost made them lose all their well-trained combat power.

And it was during this crisis that the long-missing Jon Snow brought worse news to the Night's Watch. The King Beyond the Wall "Mance Rayder" led a wildling army of 10,000 people to cross the Wall.

And there was also an elite wildling who had already bypassed and climbed over the Wall and was on the south side of the wall.

The frontal attacking army was just a cover for the wildlings outside the Wall. The wildlings attacked various sections of the castle everywhere, forcing the Night's Watch to disperse their forces on the Wall. What they wanted was to weaken the defense of the Black Castle, the base camp.

Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall, was once a man of the Night's Watch, but later broke his oath and betrayed the Night's Watch. He was a child raised by the Night's Watch like Cole, but Cole's identity was Valyrian blood, while he was wildling blood.

Mance was a loyal member of the Night's Watch until he was injured during a patrol and was rescued by a wildling woman. During his recovery, the wildling woman repaired Mance's torn cloak with red cloth. After returning to the Wall, the commander of the Night's Watch asked Mance to change into a uniform black cloak. This insignificant infringement on personal freedom made Mance abandon the Night's Watch and live with the wildlings as his heart desires.

He gained great influence among the wildlings, and in times of crisis, he also used his influence to unite the wildlings who advocate individualism.

Castle Black fell into a freezing point because of the news brought back by Jon Snow.

Vicky is helping the weapon master. Master Donal Noye is a good craftsman. Although he has only one arm, it is enough for him to lift the hammer.

"Master Noye, do you think the king will bring people to the Wall to help us?" Vicky danced with the hammer, and Master Noye helped him clamp the iron ingot with pliers.

"When forging iron, you must be careful." The weapon master told him.

Although Viggie was a little clumsy, he had the patience to swing the hammer thousands of times.

Viggie shut his mouth obediently, and the voice of Master Noy's teaching was in his ears.

When the last hammer fell, the weapon master was quite satisfied and put the forged long sword into the water to cool it down.

Viggie exhaled a foul breath and wiped the sweat on his head.

"The maester has sent ravens to various castles in the Seven Kingdoms. You don't have to worry about these things. From the day we swore to join the Night's Watch, we have already given our lives to this Great Wall."

Viggie nodded silently.

He stayed in the armory until the work was finished.

After leaving the armory, he walked towards the Crow's Nest, where the ravens roosted and where Maester Aemon rested.

The injured Jon Snow was recovering here.

"Jon." He pushed the door open and saw Jon staring at the top of the tower in a trance. ,

Jon Snow turned around, "Vicky?"

The short blacksmith's apprentice smiled, "How do you feel?" Vicky looked at Jon's leg injury.

His face was a little pale, and he showed a bloodless smile, "Except for being unable to move, everything else is fine."

"It's really great that you can come back, I thought..." Vicky stood beside him and saw that the corners of his lips were a little chapped, so he asked, "Do you need me to get you a glass of water?"

Snow nodded gently, "Thank you."

Vicky handed the water to his mouth.

"Outside, how is it?" He asked with some concern.

"The guards have been told to pay attention to the south, and the maester has sent more than a dozen ravens to the south."

"Did they send them to Winterfell?" He accidentally pulled the wound, and a trace of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Yes." Vig took the cup away, "And some were sent to King's Landing and Storm's End."

"Master Noye told me that the south is not what we thought, Jon." Vig continued. Master Noye liked to drink after forging weapons, and then tell Vig some news he knew.

"I know, the maester told me." He also knew that Theon Greyjoy was in Eastwatch.

He was not worthy of being a Night's Watch, Jon's heart immediately cried out. But he soon realized that the Night's Watch was recruiting people like him.

They must have known that Jon would not forgive this traitor, so they sent him to Greywater Watch.

But when Theon came, the Night's Watch actually thought Jon was dead.

"Is anyone coming?" Jon asked, thinking in his heart: Have the lords and kings of the Seven Kingdoms forgotten us long ago? Has my father forgotten this place too?

Viggy shook his head, "No. The king did not come, and no ravens flew from the south."

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[The border is in danger. Please do your best to help the Night's Watch defend Castle Black. ]

At this time, Eddard Stark was sitting in front of a chair in the hall, looking at the news brought by the raven.