Ice and Fire: Conquering the World Starting from the Wall

In addition to the aforementioned troops, Lynn also recruited some special units, including about a hundred Night Stalkers and several hundred Hardfoot Scouts.

The Night Stalkers are all lean and wiry. During the day, their overall combat strength is only average, but at night they become the most terrifying hunters.

There's no way around it, night vision is just too overpowered a talent.

In contrast to their mortal enemies, the Hard-footed people are characterized by their ability to endure hardship, their fearlessness of the cold, and their agility and speed.

Lynn equipped the Hardfoot people with "white masks" made of white antelopes domesticated by Morona's tribe, which were fast and agile.

While the tough-footed people riding antelopes may not be very good at fighting, they are excellent scouts and can carry out harassment missions in critical moments.

Hamma reorganized the cavalry, finding dozens of well-trained warhorses in the Black Castle stables to replenish the losses from previous battles.

To reward Hamma and her brother for their valiant fighting, Lynn generously provided forty sets of full knight's armor and sixty sets of half-body armor, as well as a corresponding number of horse armors, and assigned each of them two horses, one for riding and one for charging into battle.

Cavalry can be a lifesaver in critical moments, and Lynn knows this all too well, so he doesn't hesitate to invest in them.

If the Free People weren't so short of horses, he would have even considered giving each cavalryman a packhorse.

Plate armor, which was previously reserved for knights, is now openly worn by savages, many of which are even engraved with various noble coats of arms, making it look rather comical.

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After finishing several major tasks that would shape the future political landscape, Lynn was quite pleased with himself.

The events of this day were enough to lay the foundation for a new dynasty.

If we could capture Stannis alive, it would be perfect.

Lynn couldn't help but feel a little greedy.

He repeatedly considered Stannis's possible fate and then concluded:

Stannis either surrendered at the Wall or starved to death beyond the Great Wall due to lack of supplies.

The worst possible outcome is encountering the White Walkers and being overwhelmed by an army of the dead.

The only chance they could save themselves was Carter Parker's ships.

According to Tormund's letter (dictated by him and written down by Sam), no Night's Watchmen were seen in the Hardnham fleet.

But the Night's Watch ships were old and dilapidated, and could only carry a limited number of people. Even if Stannis abandoned all his warhorses, Carter Pike could only take away two or three hundred people at most in one trip.

Moreover, it's uncertain whether the two sides will even meet.

With this expectation, Lynn led the giants and their hundred-odd mammoths, all of Hammam's hundred cavalrymen, and his dragons eastward along the Wall toward Seawatch the next day.

The mammoth migration was finally on the agenda, and Lynn hoped that the Reese pirates' warships could withstand their weight.

According to Tormund's prior estimates, the captured fleet would arrive at Eastwatch tomorrow, and if the mammoths could move quickly, they would probably arrive the day after tomorrow.

Black Castle and Eastwatch are about 200 kilometers apart, and walking would seriously slow down the process, so this time the entire team was cavalry, without the special guard squad that would protect Lynn.

The combination of over a hundred giants and mammoths was quite intimidating, making Hammam's cavalry look like toys in comparison.

Unfortunately, the mammoths were too timid, and the giants didn't know how to train them.

Otherwise, if hundreds of armored elephant cavalrymen lined up and charged, no matter how many enemy troops they had, it would be useless, leaving the enemy with only one option: to turn around and run away.

At that moment, Lynn remembered the song "The Last Giant" that Ygritte and Tormund had sung when they marched into the Fist of the First Men.

Giants once roamed every corner of the world, but now only a few hundred remain.

No wonder Ygritte cried for her, and even Tormund couldn't help but wipe his eyes.

Under such circumstances, who could bear to force them to go to the battlefield?

Lynn sang the first line according to the tune she remembered:

"Aa ...

I am the last giant.

I have no companions~~~

The Hamma siblings walking beside him didn't even think twice before joining in the next line of the song; it had almost become an instinct for the free people.

Then the other cavalrymen joined in the singing; some were veterans, others were new recruits, all fully armored and with loud voices.

But when it comes to having a really loud voice, you have to look to the giants.

They sang this extremely ancient ballad in a more forceful tone, completely drowning out the voices of the dwarfs and even causing the towering ice walls beside them to shed ice shards.

Lynn quickly told everyone to move aside, fearing that a piece of ice on the Great Wall might crack and fall down, hitting someone.

When the giants' earth-shattering singing finally ended, Lynn felt his whole body buzzing from head to toe, and he deeply regretted starting the conversation.

But the giants seemed quite invigorated; instead of being saddened by the lyrics, they quickened their pace.

Hey! So what was Ygritte crying about?

Lynn, both amused and exasperated, spurred his horse to follow.

When a mammoth runs, the ground shakes and the ground trembles. It looks slow, and its speed is actually quite average.

But they are tall and have long legs, so one step of theirs can match three or four steps of a horse's, and their actual speed is not slow at all.

They jogged slowly for an hour until they reached the vicinity of the long bus depot before stopping.

As night fell, the group began to prepare to set up camp.

Because ice chips often fall on the Great Wall, they set up camp more than a hundred yards away from it.

Located between the Ghost Forest and the Ice Wall, this spot allows you to avoid the falling ice fragments from the Great Wall while still being able to observe the activity in the forest and have ample time to prepare for potential dangers.

The Bloodthirsty Beast can sleep close to the edge of the camp, which is the closest it can get to the Great Wall; it will resolutely refuse to get any closer.

Long ago, the Night Watchmen would go out every day with axes to cut down trees that crossed the border, never allowing the forest to extend to within half a mile north of the Wall, to prevent savages with ill intentions from sneaking up on them.

But since manpower became scarce, the Night's Watch has neglected its duties, and now the trees here have almost grown to the bottom of the ice wall.

As king, Lynn was naturally spared the hardship of night watch.

After having dinner with the cavalry, he lay down in his single tent to rest, and Qi Xue, as usual, lay cross-legged next to him.

Lynn was quite tired after riding a horse all day, so he quickly fell asleep.

Since he came into this world, he has lost almost all forms of entertainment, so he quickly developed the habit of going to bed early and getting up early, which has significantly improved his physical condition.

Around dawn, Lynn was awakened by a low, mournful growl.

It turns out to be Halke.

He reported from outside the tent that the sentries had spotted several warhorses in the forest.

Lynn immediately perked up.

Warhorses are easy to identify; they are usually castrated male horses.

To avoid instability caused by estrus, the military generally castrates non-stud stallions because geldings are docile, have good endurance, and are suitable for long marches and battles.

Beyond the Wall, the horses of the Free Men are never castrated, so it can be concluded that these horses either came from the Night's Watch or from Stannis's army.