GOT: Chapter 387/388

Chapter 387: A False Alarm (Part 2)

After hearing this news, Aegor felt both relieved and troubled.

What he was glad about was this. Fortunately, the enemy did not know that he, the highest commander on the human side, had ventured away from the front line some time ago, leaving the Gift in a temporary state of leaderless vacuum. If they had taken the opportunity to launch a full-scale attack instead of playing tricks, they would likely already have broken through the Great Gorge, destroyed the Gift, and would be on their way south to Winterfell, destroying the Seven Kingdoms.

And what troubled him was this. While calling these movements of the wights tricks, in reality, the Night King had clearly recognized and utilized the advantage of his army being sleepless, tireless, and fearless of death, specifically devising tricky tactics that were difficult for the human defenders to counter, making it hard to find a way to break them.

The reason Aegor insisted on setting up a defense line despite knowing the Great Gorge was difficult to hold was, in addition to what was mentioned before, providing warning time for tens of thousands of residents of the Gift and preventing the enemy from quietly bypassing the Wall to directly attack the North to the south. Another important factor was using the Great Gorge, a natural barrier no less formidable than the Wall, to achieve as favorable a casualty ratio as possible, exchanging fewer lives for more, and depleting the enemy's strength.

The Night's Watch has one town and twenty castles, which sounds like a lot, but at least a third of them are dilapidated with little defensive capability. If the White Walkers attack by bypassing the Wall, Aegor would find it difficult even to cram all forty thousand soldiers and civilians behind the walls, and the advantage of numbers and ample preparation could not be utilized at all. Conversely, sending ten thousand of them, armed with nearly half of the Gift's Dragonglass weapons and Wildfire, to the Great Gorge, and relying on the geographical advantage no less formidable than the Wall, if the Night King truly led the army of the dead in a human wave tactic to force a crossing, even if they could break through the defense in one go, they would have to sacrifice at least five figures of wights under the power of Wildfire.

Depleting a quarter to a third of the enemy's forces in one battle would significantly reduce the pressure when the Night's Watch subsequently fights them in the Gift.

But now, the Night King not only did not attack directly as Aegor had anticipated, he also employed this method of small-scale nighttime harassment, consuming the morale and war preparations of the human side, like cutting meat with a dull knife, slowly grinding down this defense line that Aegor had meticulously prepared.

Sending hundreds or thousands of soldiers to climb over the Great Gorge and cross the frozen Milkwater River to their deaths at the feet of the defenders every night is a tactic that normal armies would never use, because the impact on their own morale is far greater than the trouble caused to the defenders. But the wights have no concept of morale at all, nor are they afraid of fatigue or injury. They cross the river at night to destroy the weirwood trees on the southern wall of the Great Gorge right under the defenders' noses. If the defenders want to eliminate them all in the dark, they will inevitably consume a lot of war preparations. If they ignore them, psychological tension is secondary. The fear is the wolf is coming scenario repeating day after day. If the defenders in a certain place lower their guard on some day, and the enemy happens to turn a feint into a full-scale attack, then a major disaster would occur.

"The most important thing now is to assess the enemy's intentions. Are the White Walkers truly so wary of the weirwood trees that they will not cross the Great Gorge until they are all cleared, or is destroying the forest just a cover, and their main goal is to use attrition warfare to deplete our energy and war preparations?" Aegor regained his composure, tapped the table, and forcibly steered the topic from the false alarm back to serious military discussion. "Besides this, we also need to consider a third possibility. Is the enemy using a feint, attempting to tie down the main defense force of the Gift in the Great Gorge, while the main body bypasses the Wall elsewhere to launch a sneak attack?"

Jarman nodded. "We had this suspicion, so the day before yesterday, we put Lord Stark's warning aside and risked sending wargs to scout the north side of the Wall. The result was that the hawk controlled by the warg responsible for the Great Gorge section did not return, and the person also went mad. He is currently under house arrest in the Shadow Tower. According to other wargs, with luck, he might recover, but we do not know how long it will take."

It is quite difficult for a warg to obtain a controllable bird of prey, so we have lost one. Hopefully, the person is alright.

Aegor sighed. "Good, this way we at least know that the Night King is still across the Great Gorge. Stop sending wargs to the other side of the Great Gorge to lose birds. Aerial reconnaissance along the Wall can continue. Although it carries the risk of losing wargs, at this critical juncture, it is not the time to quibble over these things."

"Understood, I will immediately relay this order to the castles along the Wall."

Aegor's idea was simple. Unless the Night King would act alone, separated from the army of wights, wherever a warg was lost, he would be there. As long as aerial reconnaissance was ongoing, an army of the dead numbering in the tens of thousands could not silently move to other places to launch a surprise attack. And once the wargs responsible for a section of the Wall also suffered losses of birds, that would at least prove that the defenders in that section needed to significantly increase their vigilance.

"The troop strength on the other side of the Great Gorge has reached my expected limit. The narrow and rugged trails along the cliffs make it impossible to deploy more troops. The Wall can block the penetration of the cold god's power to the south. Protecting it has a higher priority than the gains or losses of individual towns. Regardless of how the commanders of the Shadow Tower and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea exaggerate the urgency of the situation, absolutely no basic garrison forces are to be withdrawn from along the Wall for reinforcement, lest there be gaps in the wall-top defense. Besides holding this bottom line, in other aspects, all departments of the Gift are to do their utmost to meet all demands of the front-line commanders." Aegor took a deep breath. "Alright, is there anything else that needs to be discussed now?"

"Yes." Yam hesitated after glancing at his two colleagues before speaking. "That night of the false alarm, after the beacon in the Great Gorge was lit, the Gift immediately entered the highest state of alert you arranged, but many incidents occurred during this process, and many problems were exposed. In the outer district of Crowntown that night, there was a riot, several brawls, and at least half a dozen cases of rape. Robberies were countless, and some people even tried to attack the inner keep under the cover of darkness. After we caught the ringleader, he admitted that they wanted to rescue the King-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder, whom we had under house arrest, so he could replace you, who had fled from the front, to command this war against the dead. The most absurd thing was, someone even drowned in the small lake in the center of Crowntown. No, to be precise, they froze to death. We could not determine if he was forced into the ice hole or if he thought hiding under the frozen lake surface would allow him to escape the White Walkers' slaughter."

"Similar situations occurred at many castles along the Wall, but Crowntown was the most severe because of its large population." Jarman Buckwell interjected with a grim expression. "That night of the false alarm, none of us were killed by the White Walkers or wights, but the internal chaos resulted in double-digit casualties. After dawn the next day, we pursued accountability, and in Crowntown alone, we hanged more than a dozen people who caused trouble. Many of the culprits admitted that they believed the rumor that the commander had abandoned the Wall and fled, thought we had no hope of winning this war, and acted recklessly out of despair."

"Have you caught the people spreading the rumors?"

"No, my lord. This is different from ordinary slander and malicious defamation. The rumor was not fabricated by a specific person but evolved from associations triggered by the fact that you left Crowntown. It is impossible to trace and impossible to catch the culprit. More accurately, if we really wanted to pursue it, we would have to deal with a lot of people."

"There was also a small tribe assigned to live south of Crowntown that directly violated the Night's Watch's operational plan requirements. When the beacon was lit, they directly abandoned their encampment and fled south along the King's Road, preparing to escape the Gift and seek refuge in warmer places. They did not even think about how a large group of over a hundred people, including women and children, could pass through the North without being noticed. If I had not personally led the cavalry to chase them back the next day, I am afraid they would have died by the swords of the Umbers' army before even seeing the White Walkers. Their deaths would be no loss, but this mismanagement would most likely be blamed on you, my lord, by the North." Jarman said coldly. "The leader of this tribe has been thrown into the dungeon. How to deal with him awaits your decision, my lord."

(To be continued.)

Chapter 388: A False Alarm (Part 3)

Do not be fooled by how fluent and confident Aegor was when introducing the Gift battle plan to Beric Dondarrion. Only when facing the test of real combat could Aegor be jolted out of the feeling that he was managing and ruling a group of ordinary residents.

The New Gift People came from beyond the Wall, growing up in an environment lacking legal and moral education. They were never kind or rational individuals. Previously, the Night's Watch had forcibly suppressed trouble by using a stick and carrot approach, making an example of others, and distributing them to various parts of the Gift according to tribes to avoid mutual contact. But as the battle situation changed and they had to be gathered again, a small portion of these former beyond-the-Wall people quickly seized the opportunity to prove to the outside world how foolish and wicked people can be.

Spreading unconfirmed rumors detrimental to morale within Crowntown, the capital of the Gift that accommodated and protected them. Committing evil deeds when the White Walkers' attack alarm sounded. Even fleeing south illegally into the North's territory to court death. Are these things that a person with a brain could do?

Aegor had considered the rumors and their impact that his absence during the battle might cause when he left half a month ago, but he had no choice. Announcing openly that he was going south to King's Landing to handle matters was better than sneaking away. He could certainly greet the core commanders present and say he would be away for a few days, asking them not to publicize it, but if he did that, the lower-level residents would not have a chance to know he had left. However, once one or some of these crucial managers in front of him started overthinking, the consequences would only be more severe.

If Aegor had been here when this false alarm occurred, the number of people daring to cause trouble would definitely have been few. In other words, the trouble caused by these recently hanged people was quite related to his departure. However, this matter did not make him feel any guilt that he had caused their deaths. Just as anyone who is harassed on the road should not first be blamed for wearing too little or going out too often, many things are related to each other, but that does not mean one should bear responsibility. Clear logic is paramount anytime, anywhere.

Not only did he not blame himself, he even felt a sense of relief. This false alarm was not entirely a bad outcome. At least it exposed a lot of hidden problems in advance. If these pests were not dealt with early and were allowed to hide until the real decisive battle to act up, the consequences would only be worse.

Leaving aside other things, just this small tribe that rebelled against the plan and defected, what if they ran away when the White Walkers really attacked? Crowntown would definitely not have time to send troops to pursue and retrieve them.

Now, he finally could not escape the fate that those in power must face sooner or later and had to make a difficult choice.

Hundreds of people, their mistake was just escaping, not rebelling. They were not soldiers, so military law was naturally out of the question. Facing the pursuing troops led by Jarman Buckwell, they did not resist but obediently followed back to Crowntown. This was completely different from the situation of the Tur tribe, who killed Commander Mormont and resisted arrest with arms. Aegor could not kill them all, he could only deal with the leaders.

And when dealing with the leaders, he had to consider how to handle the aftermath after the disposition.

This felt like a king facing rebellious nobles. Killing them was not good, not killing them was not good either. No wonder the Night's Watch, this strange exile organization, still had soil for existence after the White Walkers disappeared.

Aegor had no experience being a king, and at this moment, he was also a bit indecisive, but in front of his subordinates, he absolutely could not show weakness. After thinking for a moment, he could only play for time.

"This tribe, they have hostages given to Crowntown, right?"

"Yes, a twelve-year-old boy, he has been secured."

"Tell this child that his family chose to abandon him at the most dangerous time," Aegor said, putting on a confident look. "Give him one night to think. Bring him to see me tomorrow, and he will answer in person how he himself wishes me to deal with his father."

"Yes, my lord."

Saying it was giving the child a night to consider, was it not also giving himself a night to weigh the pros and cons? Aegor's heart settled, and he quickly felt a vague idea forming. He showed a mysterious smile and nodded approvingly. "That you few could still control the situation when such a big mess occurred proves you are indeed the capable officers I selected and trust. But now is not the time to discuss merits and rewards. Keep up the hard work, let us overcome this difficulty together, and we will surely write a chapter in history that belongs to us."

"Thank you for your praise, my lord. Your timely return is the best counterattack against the rumors. At least the resistance to our work will be much less from now on." The exhausted Humfrey forced out a hint of gratitude and shrugged helplessly. "But there are still some matters I need to ask for your instructions on. After the beacons were lit, the last batch of refugee tribes from the surrounding villages swarmed in, and many of them refused to leave once they entered Crowntown's walls. But a false alarm is a false alarm. To maintain order within the town and restore production, we had to forcibly expel them. This did not go smoothly at first. In the end, Ser Jarman Buckwell transferred several hundred people from Castle Black to help suppress them, and only then, in coordination with the Crownland Guard, did we successfully ask the residents who were not in an emergency state to leave Crowntown without bloodshed. But now they are camping outside the walls and have become a new destabilizing factor. How should we deal with this? Please give us your instructions, my lord."

Crowntown is not just a simple town. In its initial design and construction, it considered a series of future tasks such as housing, industrial production, and wartime defense and refuge. Among these, for housing, Crowntown can ensure normal operation while accommodating five thousand people.

The subtext of the above sentence is this. If normal operation is not considered, it can actually accommodate more people, and this is also the main reason why Aegor divided the alert level into three tiers and the refugee residents into two batches.

The first batch of refugee residents were mostly allocated to places relatively far from the fortresses when they passed through the Wall initially. In case of an emergency, there would be no time to transfer, so they had to move into various fortresses, including Crowntown, in advance. Among them, about three to four thousand were allocated to Crowntown according to the plan. Adding the fixed residents of the town, although the residential area would seem a bit crowded due to being at full capacity, the industrial area could still operate as usual.

But besides the residential area, Crowntown's outer city also has functional areas. The latter includes schools, hospitals, commercial districts, and squares. In addition, there are large areas of land for the Logistics Department to conduct experiments and manufacture various weapons beyond the era, such as Dragonglass weapon production, metal smelting, and casting, which constitute the industrial area. Once the White Walkers' attack alarm is sounded, and the latter batch of refugee residents who are closer to Crowntown and can arrive within a day also arrive, the total number of people within the city walls will instantly approach ten thousand. At this time, all functional departments except the hospital and production experiments in the industrial area will be completely stopped. The large amount of vacated space and buildings will be used to accommodate the second batch of several thousand refugees who are beyond the design capacity.

Because of the false alarm, the latter batch of refugee tribes arrived at Crowntown early. But the industrial area could not be shut down early if the White Walkers had not attacked. After all, the mass production of Dragonglass Bombs, the recasting of Dark Sister, and its magnificent transformation into Lightbringer still depended on the metal smelting and casting area. Therefore, the only remaining option was to first keep the last batch of refugees outside the gates and prioritize ensuring the normal operation within Crowntown.

"Sending them home is easy, but I am afraid they will waste this trip in vain and then dawdle during the next alarm, wasting time to take refuge, get caught by the White Walkers, and become part of the army of the dead." Aegor stroked his stubbled chin, then shook his head after a moment's thought. "Never mind. Draft a notice tomorrow. Tribes whose residences are within ten miles will be forcibly repatriated, but they will be compensated for the hardship of traveling back and forth. As for the rest whose settlements are a bit further away, if they really do not want to go back, let them stay outside the city walls. Arrange armed personnel for management and patrol, and they are not allowed to pitch tents within a hundred meters of the gate. At the same time, provide one free meal daily during the refuge period, which can be considered as appeasing their dissatisfaction for making the trip in vain."

"Okay." Since the leader has spoken, let us deal with it this way. Crowntown has over a thousand Night's Watch soldiers, more than enough to maintain order. Yam nodded and spoke up, "There is one last thing, my lord. I know it is inappropriate to trouble you with these trivial matters at this crucial juncture of the great battle, but I still have to report the situation to you. There are not enough rooms in Crowntown's Inner Keep. Just now at the city gate, you asked me to arrange single rooms for both the Lord of Black Harbour and the blacksmith from King's Landing. In fact, I did not have that many empty rooms on hand at the time, but to avoid making the situation too awkward, I had my room vacated first to accommodate the guests. Tonight, I will make do with staying in the Crownland Guard soldiers' barracks. We can barely manage for now, but when the industrial area is shut down under the high alert state and the technical backbone is withdrawn into the Inner Keep, it will be another round of new trouble. So I would like to ask for instructions on integrating and resetting the arrangement of existing rooms to free up the necessary amount of spare rooms as much as possible."

"Do not go to the soldiers' barracks, you can come and sleep with me tonight, Yam," Humfrey offered. "But remember to bring your bedding and pillow."

"I can also give up my room," Arya, who was sitting in the corner as she was not qualified to attend the meeting, also interjected abruptly, her tone quite righteous. "I can share a room with Master. If that is still not enough, it is okay to squeeze and sleep together, it is not like... cough, cough."

"Do not come up with crazy ideas, were you asked!" Aegor was startled, but fortunately, everyone else present just took the girl's words as a joke and did not take them seriously.

Why are you everywhere? He turned back and glared fiercely at Arya, and only after seeing her stick out her tongue and admit fault did he turn back to continue discussing the current problem. "Alright, Yam, stay in a room with Humfrey for now. For the detailed accommodation arrangements, I will make a decision after researching the specific situation and will notify you separately then."

(To be continued.)