Ice and Fire: Conquering the World Starting from the Wall

After the tenth campfire was lit, more torches slowly appeared on the Great Wall, but they looked messy and helpless, clearly indicating that the guards lacked manpower and, more importantly, effective command.

Mans' strategy was successful, and Colin's estimates were accurate. Under these circumstances, Lynn found it hard to imagine how the Night's Watch would defend Castle Black.

As time went by, the surrounding forests were gradually cleared away by the free people. Some of the woods were used as fuel to keep the campfire burning, while others were made into all sorts of strange things.

Lynn couldn't figure out their purpose, and only after asking Mans did he learn that they were just to let the Night's Watch see what they were doing, so that they wouldn't let their guard down, and had no practical use.

More than a dozen huge bonfires burned for most of the night, illuminating the entire ice wall with a golden glow, the reflected light clearly visible from ten miles away.

Every so often, the freemen would launch a fake charge, pushing crudely made battering rams toward the city gates, and several times those rams would fall apart on their own halfway there.

Occasionally, some harmless rockets were fired from the Wall, but more often the Night's Watch used catapults to launch counterattacks, causing more than a dozen casualties among the Free People.

The giants weren't idle either; they blew the black horn that Mans had originally intended to use as a substitute for the "Winter Horn," disturbing everyone's peace.

The horn's sound was extremely deep; if one got too close to it, it could even cause dizziness and nausea.

Lynn was relieved that it wasn't the real Winter's Horn, because the Wall showed no signs of collapsing.

As night fell, Mans ordered a halt to the attack, and everyone except the sentries returned to camp to rest.

The following period was the darkest hour before dawn, and also the time when the Great Wall guards were most exhausted, both physically and mentally, after being on edge for so long.

The wolf era is approaching.

Things were progressing more smoothly than Lynn and his team had imagined.

About two hours later, faint sounds of fighting and shouting could be heard from above the Great Wall, but they only lasted for a short while before ending.

As the man with the broken hand had predicted, Black Castle had few guards.

Lynn later learned that there were fewer than fifty of them, nominally under the command of Sir Stau Winton.

He was the last knight in the city, but the problem was that Sir Vinton had been a ranger for eighty years and had lost both his strength and wisdom.

It is said that once he fell asleep while eating dinner and almost drowned himself in pea soup.

Therefore, the actual commander of the Night's Watch is Donald Noy, the one-armed weapon maker of Castle Black.

He was tall, strong, tenacious, and experienced, and claimed to be the most difficult disabled person to deal with in the world.

Unfortunately, he was directing the installation of new catapults and pitch barrels on the city wall at the time, and it wasn't until Casa and his men captured the crow's nest, armory, storeroom, and inner city gate that he received the news and hurriedly rushed down.

Donald Noy was too hasty; perhaps he hadn't anticipated the savages' attack would be so swift.

In short, he made a mistake by choosing to support the city from below using a winch-pulled iron cage instead of walking up the wooden stairs.

This would certainly be faster, but the result was that he and six other Night's Watchmen were all trapped in the iron cage with spears by the Thane warriors waiting below, and were powerless to resist.

The last commander was captured alive, and the remaining Night's Watch collapsed and surrendered one after another.

They were all elderly, weak, sick, or disabled, as well as boys still in training. The able-bodied men had been taken away by Acting Commander-in-Chief Bowen Marsh to support Iceborn City and Shadow Tower.

When the thick, one-foot-thick old oak door at the outermost layer of the Great Wall Tunnel slowly opened, it was still pitch black.

Kasa greeted the conquerors of the Wall behind the door with a gaunt, white-haired, blind old man. Lynn knew without a doubt that he was Aemon Targaryen, the maester of Castle Black.

Because of Blood Raven, Lynn had a good impression of the old man and even considered coming to the Great Wall to seek refuge with him when he first transmigrated.

Lynn rode forward, followed by Kuna and her daughter, the man with the severed hand, and then the Thane infantry lined up in formation.

Mans and Hamma the Dog did not follow; they stayed behind to clear roads and build camps in preparation for the coming army of the Free People.

He also kept the dragon with him. This was the first time that Bloodstained had left Lynn's side. Fortunately, it was quite obedient.

"Sir Aemon," Lynn dismounted and approached the old man, "I hope the warriors did not frighten you."

"Taking over the crow's nest first is a wise choice."

The old man blinked his eyes, which were full of white film, and commented.

"Your soldiers were very friendly and didn't make things difficult for this old man. Of course, I didn't have time to release the ravens for help, or even write a letter."

Aemon said frankly:

"In fact, even if we wrote, it wouldn't have made any difference. We wrote to all the kings and princes for help a long time ago, but no one responded."

"Sir, it's too cold in here. Let's go inside and talk."

Lynn offered his suggestion, though he was unsure of the other party's intentions.

"I heard you have a dragon?"

Imon suddenly asked bluntly.

Lynn looked at Casa, who shook his head to indicate that it wasn't him who said it.

Eamon seemed to notice Lynn's actions and explained:

"It was someone who came back from Caster Fortress who told me that the news of the dragon reached Caster, but he obviously didn't believe it."

There was no point in hiding it, so Lynn nodded and said:

"Yes, a red dragon, from the dragon egg next to Duke Bloodraven."

As Lynn spoke, she took off the "Dark Sisters" from her waist and handed it to Eamon.

"The Great Wall does indeed possess magic; dragons cannot cross it. Perhaps you will be able to see it after we take Donghaiwang."

Oh, by the way, it's called "The Crying Star."

With trembling hands, Aemon stroked the hilt of the Dark Sisters' sword, a sword that had been passed down through his family for many years and had witnessed countless Targaryen triumphs and demises.

He pondered for a long time before returning the sword to Lynn.

"I am now Aemon, no longer a Targaryen. A maester must swear an oath, and when he puts on the chain, he has already renounced his original family name."

Aemon suppressed the emotions hidden in his words, raised his head, and slowly said:

"Then, shall I address you as 'Your Majesty'? Or 'Guardian of the Realm'?"

"He is the 'Guardian of all living beings in Westeros'."

Casa corrected him in a deep voice from behind.

"Okay, okay, I've wasted too much time. People always become more long-winded as they get older."

As Aemon slowly turned around, he said:

"The duty of a scholar is to serve. I am bound by an oath to advise whoever commands the Great Wall, but I must at least know for whom I am serving."

When they entered the tunnel under the Great Wall, they found it was even colder inside than outside, with ice walls pressing down from all sides, the chill penetrating to the bone.

The entire massive Great Wall was overhead, and they felt as if they were wandering through the esophagus of an ice dragon, with tunnel after tunnel winding through the tunnels.

The base of the Great Wall is about 300 feet thick, or about 90 meters, but the winding tunnels are as long as 200 meters. Every so often there is a huge steel fence with a killing hole above it.

If human lives were to be used to fill the gaps, not to mention how to break through that thick outer door exposed to arrows, spears, and oil, these iron bars and killing holes alone could take hundreds or thousands of lives.

The defenders didn't even need many men; a few dozen spearmen and archers would be enough to hold the line.