parentshiftbook Chapter 36 March
Chapter 36 March
Lynn felt somewhat ashamed that he hadn't considered this point; in fact, clans didn't trust each other.
In their view, the threat comes not only from the dead, but also from the living who were once their enemies.
Lynn had no choice but to convene another assembly of all the chiefs. He first sacrificed ten sheep, and then made everyone swear an oath in the name of the gods and ancestors, promising not to harm one another while the army that had gone to the Wall was gone.
Having resolved the morale issue, he still needed to leave enough men to guard against attacks from the White Walkers. No one knew how many undead soldiers the White Walkers had, and there weren't many details to refer to in the ancient legends that defeated them.
Finally, Lynn also had to worry about the relocation of the remaining troops.
He had to do this because he had similar experience before. The previous expedition of a thousand men was fraught with problems, let alone now that there were nearly one hundred thousand men. The difficulty of the march would undoubtedly increase exponentially.
Mans didn't know what to do about it. In the past, he had always let the savages act freely in various independent small units, so Lynn had no choice but to take matters into his own hands.
But Lynn soon realized that his attempt was futile.
Without an equal number of Thane people to use as a force to suppress them, Lynn was unable to persuade these stubborn free men.
His original plan was for women to lead the children in front, the elderly in the middle, and the able-bodied men to be responsible for the supplies and bring up the rear, which would undoubtedly make the journey much faster.
But without exception, the free people all refused to leave their families, wanting only to keep their limited property and family.
However, the simultaneous migration of so many people without any order is a disaster in itself, especially since there are no roads in the border areas. Even a small congestion could cause the entire group to stop for several hours.
The large procession would be burdened by herds of livestock, the elderly, children, and various carts and supplies, and heavy snow would further slow down the process.
With no better option, Lynn could only organize additional manpower to follow behind the Great Wall Expeditionary Force in building bridges and paving roads, and, to the best of his ability, create a road suitable for large groups of people and sleds to travel.
This measure is expected to increase the speed of subsequent teams by about half, provided they are willing to implement it seriously.
After doing all this, Lynn rode his horse along the banks of the Milk River to catch up with the Thames people who had set off earlier.
Compared to the previously scattered savage groups, the reorganized Theon warriors not only formed a well-organized formation, but their speed also increased significantly.
They were all dressed in leather armor inlaid with copper plates, wearing distinctive bronze helmets, and carrying square leather-covered wooden shields painted with simple star patterns, looking like elite heavy infantry.
Leading the Thane were the giants, while the clan soldiers responsible for logistics and supplies had set off a day earlier. Based on the distance and speed, they should have already approached the Fist of the First Men.
The giants sat on the backs of mammoths, swaying gently. They rode in single file, some carrying huge wooden bows, others carrying stone hammers made from tree trunks, looking incredibly intimidating.
As Lynn rode past them, several giants uttered a series of incomprehensible grunts.
The giants' ancient language is different from ordinary ancient language; it is more ancient, concise, and difficult to understand, and only a few free people can communicate with them.
Lynn didn't bother to understand what they were saying; instead, he quickly caught up with the leading group.
Leading the way were the cavalry and raiders of the Homare the Houndhead, who would be the first to reach the Wall to harass and distract the Night's Watch. Kuna and Lyanna were among them.
However, the mission of the mother and daughter was not to fight, but to head south immediately after taking the Wall to Last Hearth to convey Lynn's goodwill and terms of cooperation.
That is the castle closest to the Great Wall, and it was also Kuna's childhood home. Recently, raiders have learned that the current acting lord of the castle is Kuna's father, "Crow Eater" Morse.
When Lynn rejoined the group, he was relieved to find that Colin was still alive.
Instead of being torn to pieces by the raiders, he ended up far off the edge of the group, riding a small dwarf donkey. God knows how he managed to train the stubborn dwarf donkey to be obedient; they usually don't accept riding and are only used to pull carts or sleds.
Colin was still wearing his blood-stained black clothes, his face was pale and haggard, the wound on his neck seemed to have been torn open again by the jolting, and his intact leg would occasionally drag on the ground due to weakness, making him look very pitiful.
But he was also very tenacious. If this injury had been on Lynn, he wouldn't have been able to get out of bed for at least a year or two. But Colin just climbed onto the donkey and followed him.
He neither surrendered to Lynn nor showed hostility towards the savages; he simply observed the group in silence.
The raiders naturally kept their distance from him.
The provocation was pointless. Duan Zhang completely ignored them, and they dared not kill him, because he was a prisoner obtained by the "Son of the Star" in exchange for forty military merits, so they simply chose to ignore him.
Jon rode on the other side of the group. He wanted to talk to Colin, but he was afraid of giving himself away. At this moment, he was unaware that his disguise had already been seen through.
After confirming that Colin was alright, Lynn rode over to Tormund's side. Among the group, only he and Mance were skilled at communicating with giants.
But now that Mance is gone, he has taken advantage of his former skills as a Shadow Tower Ranger and led his men out to scout ahead.
Lynn imitated the giant's deep voice and repeated the few incomprehensible words he had just heard, asking Tormund what they meant.
Tormund burst into laughter after hearing this.
"They want to see your 'Messenger of Light'!"
He tilted his head back, took a swig of wine, and continued:
"Because the giants weren't there the night you wielded the Burning Sword, and Mans' tent couldn't hold them all. Logically, the 'Guardian's Hall' should have been built much earlier. It's a pity that such a fine building, no worse than my Red Hall, has to be demolished after only a short time."
Tormund shook his head as he spoke, seemingly lamenting the Guardian Hall, or perhaps reminiscing about his Red Hall.
"By the way, the giants were talking to you but you ignored them; they'll be heartbroken!"
Lynn was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected that the legendary, ferocious giant would be so emotionally sensitive.
So he asked Mond to help explain that he had left in a hurry because he couldn't understand and had something urgent to attend to.
Tormund did as instructed.
After a while, he rode back to Lynn's side, satisfied, indicating that the matter had been completed.
So Lynn and Tormund started chatting, and the two soon got to their respective titles.
"Your titles are almost more than mine now."
Tormund counted on his fingers, muttering to himself.
"I'm still a few short of catching up with you."
Lynn glanced at him sideways:
"Tormond, the Titan Slayer, you really killed a Titan?"
"Oh, is that even a lie? Why would you doubt a strong man like me?"
Tormund spoke loudly, but there was no sign of displeasure at being questioned on his face.
"That happened in winter. I was just a little kid back then, and little boys are all a bit silly. I ran too far, and my horse died. Then we were hit by a blizzard."
A real blizzard, not this kind of flour-dusting weather.
Ha! I knew I'd freeze to death before the storm subsided, so I found a sleeping giant, cut open her belly, and crawled inside. She was indeed warm inside, but the stench almost killed me.
Worst of all, she woke up in the spring and mistook me for her child, breastfeeding me for three whole months before I could find a way to escape.
Haha! But sometimes I really miss the taste of giant milk.
"She breastfed you, how could you kill her?"
"Of course I didn't kill her—you absolutely mustn't tell anyone that. Tormund the Giant Slayer sounds much better than Tormund the Giant Baby, right?"
Lynn couldn't help but laugh after hearing that.