Ice and Fire: Conquering the World Starting from the Wall

Chapter 19 Plan 1

"It seems we've reached our first consensus."

Mans said cheerfully:

"The oath of a kneeling man is like the wind. If the Seven Kingdoms sent all their oath-breakers to serve at the Wall, we would never be able to get there."

Lynn was persuaded by Mans, but this conflicted with Kuna's plan, so Lynn wanted to hear Mans's plan first.

If it's a war between the living and the dead, that's an easy choice. But when the living fight each other, and both sides are just trying to survive, it's truly a difficult situation.

He wanted to see if he could find a compromise.

After Lynn expressed his thoughts, Mance said directly:

"My plan is to send a team of elite raiders, along with Thern warriors, over the Wall, circle around to the back of Castle Black, and hide there, then establish positions at various outposts along the Wall..."

He pointed out several locations on the map, all situated at key passes along the Great Wall.

"...send people to harass them separately, and Black Castle will send some of its forces to support them."

"Once the forces at Castle Black are dispersed, the main army will launch a feint attack from the front to lure the remaining Night's Watch to the walls for defense. At this point, the forces that have circled around will launch a surprise attack on Castle Black, capture it, and open the gates."

"This way we can take the Great Wall with minimal losses."

"What if we fail? What did the previous kings of the frontier do?"

"Lynn asked."

"Okay, these are two issues, let's discuss them separately."

Mans cleared his throat, seemingly preparing for a long speech.

"First of all, I don't deny the possibility of failure. Most of the Night's Watch members are criminals and scum, but there are also many capable individuals. Unfortunately, they are too few, less than a thousand, while we have too many, covering the entire mountainside."

"We can continue the attack while sending men to build rafts across Seal Bay to launch a surprise attack on Eastview from the rear; or we can turn to attack Shadow Tower, I know the terrain there better than anyone else; we can also send countless men and mammoths to the abandoned fortress to dig through the city gates, with more than a dozen projects starting at the same time."

"But this would drag on for too long, and the Free People would bleed a lot. The guards of the Wall would cause some of that, the storms of Seal Bay would capsize many rafts, and the White Walkers would inflict ten times that much more damage."

You've seen them; as the days grow shorter and the nights colder, they grow stronger. They kill first, then drive the dead. The giants couldn't resist them, nor could the Thane, the Glacier Tribe, or the Hardfoot.

Lynn nodded; for the savages, this was indeed the best solution at the moment.

"Of course, there is also the simplest way, which is the legendary Winter Horn of Joman."

Lynn found some related content in Blood Raven's memories. Legend has it that the ancient king of the frontier, Joman, blew the winter horn to awaken the giants underground, and that horn could blow down the Great Wall.

"Unfortunately, we dug everywhere, opening dozens of tombs... the tombs of ancient kings and heroes, scattered throughout the Milky Way Valley. Countless shadows were released into the world of the living, yet we still couldn't find Joman's horn, the one that could only bring down the Wall!"

"Of course, legends aren't always true, but some people will always believe them. If things go wrong, they can be used to threaten the Night's Watch, so I found a fake one."

Mans pointed to the corner of the tent and said:

"Even if we find the real one, we can't boast about it, can we? Otherwise, the White Walkers will follow us."

Lynn looked in that direction, where a huge black war horn was placed.

The horn was enormous, with curved lines eight feet long and a wide opening, large enough to fit an entire leg inside.

If this thing came from a bison, then it would be the largest bison ever.

He initially thought it was inlaid with bronze, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was gold.

Ancient gold, engraved with runes, gradually faded to brown.

"We found it in the giant's tomb," Mance said, turning to Nemo. "Kid, remember not to tell anyone."

Lynn sat back in his chair, marveling that Mance had indeed considered everything.

"As for what the previous kings of the frontier did..." Mans took a sip of wine to moisten his throat: "The era of the Longhorn King and Joman is too ancient, and the records are very vague."

"Three thousand years ago, the brothers Jandal and Gorn led the Free People through ancient underground caverns, which contained hundreds of interconnected caves, unknown to the Night's Watch. Unfortunately, when they emerged, they were attacked by the wolves of Winterfell."

"It was a great battle. Gorn killed the King in the North, but his son picked up his father's banner, put on his father's crown, and turned the tables on Gorn."

"The sound of swords roused the ravens of Castle Black, who, dressed in black, rode out to attack the Free Men from all sides. To the south lay the King in the North, to the east the forces of House Umber, and to the north the Night's Watch; the Free Men were nearly wiped out."

"But Jandal didn't die. He fought his way out of the crows and led the remaining men back north. Wolves howled in pursuit, but couldn't catch up. Unfortunately, Jandal wasn't as familiar with the caves as Gorn; he took a wrong turn..."

"Then they went deeper and deeper, and when they tried to turn back, all they could see were rocks, and they couldn't see the sky. Soon the torches began to go out, one after another, until finally only darkness remained."

"No one has seen Jandal and his men again, but in the quiet of the night, you can hear their descendants crying at the foot of the mountain, still searching for their way home."

Lynn habitually stroked her chin:

"Is the passage leading to the Great Wall also lost forever?"

"Some people have searched, but went too deep and encountered the descendants of Jandal, who were always hungry. What else is there to eat in the darkness but flesh and blood?"

Mans said meaningfully.

Lynn couldn't tell if it was true or false, so he said, "I also remember 'The Bard' Bell and 'Redbeard' Raymond."

“Yes,” Mans continued, “they all climbed over the wall.”

"But climbing the wall is very helpless. The guards on the wall can use stones, spears and burning pitch barrels to deal with the climbers, and they can only cling to the ice wall for their lives."

"Sometimes the Great Wall seems to shake them off on its own, like a dog shaking off fleas."

Mans recalled the situation at the time:

"I have personally witnessed a block of ice shatter beneath the raiders, claiming the lives of several people. When patrolling the Shadow Tower, I often find mangled corpses beneath the ice walls."

"But if the free men were allowed to climb the Wall quietly, everything would be different. Given time, they could establish a base on the top of the Wall, build their own fortresses, and lower ropes and ladders to welcome thousands of their comrades."

"Unfortunately, this takes a lot of time and is not much faster than digging directly into the wall. It also requires a lot of extra ropes and furs."