Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon

"I dreamed that the king was coming, riding a dragon. There were countless soldiers, and the red dragon flag on a black background was flying on the top of every building in the King's Tower, the Spear Tower, and the Harding Tower. Master Aemon, King Viserys must be arriving soon, isn't he?"

The wounded man was in a daze. He held Maester Aemon's hand tightly, his lips were chapped, but his eyes were shining.

Maester Aemon could not see it, but he could feel the power in the hands of the man in black disappearing little by little. The brother had lost too much blood and had a high fever. His hope of survival was slim.

Maester Aemon comforted him: "Sadine, when you get better, the king will be here." His cloudy eyes were blind, but his mottled hands were still steady. He poked the wound tied by Clydas with his fingers. The brother's wound had been cleaned with scalded red wine, the festered flesh had been cut out with a red-hot iron tool, and maggots had been wrapped in the wound before it was bandaged. Master Aemon has done everything he can, and he can only resign himself to fate. The medicinal power of poppy milk is still there. Master Aemon asked Clydas to get sleeping wine from the medicine box and feed it to the injured, "Here. , drink it.”

After dealing with the last wounded person, Master Aemon's forehead was already covered with sweat.

Maester Aemon walked out, the cold wind sobering him up. Here, he could hear the crackling flames of Fengyungang's beacon tower, which made Master Aemon feel at ease.

In order to comfort the defenders, Master Aemon sent several messenger crows south to seek help when Castle Black was surrounded. But Maester Aemon knew that the one everyone was counting on was the one heading to Dragonstone.

But Master Aemon also knew that the distance from the Great Wall to Dragonstone was long, and even if the Messenger Crow successfully arrived, the reinforcements would not be able to arrive so quickly. The reinforcements they could count on would not come from the south, but from the east. The ship that set off from Dragonstone to the Great Wall was said to have brought thousands of knights and mercenaries, as well as three hundred new Night's Watchmen headed by Stannis. Calculating the time, if the journey is smooth, we should arrive at Eastwatch soon.

Mance Rayder's attack was sudden and methodical.

Before the ranger brothers led by Commander Mormont returned to Castle Black, news came from the direction of the Shadow Tower that a large number of wildlings had appeared in the direction of the Grand Canyon. Dennis Mallister of the Shadow Tower wrote to ask for help, and Bowen Marsh, the acting lord of Castle Black, took Castle Black's few main Night Watchmen to support him.

Until the brothers of the Night's Watch came back from Craster's Keep and brought back the bad news that the rangers were almost completely wiped out. Commander Mormont was missing and his life or death was unknown. The remaining Night's Watch clashed in Craster's Keep. Several Night's Watchmen launched a rebellion. After the mutiny, less than a dozen brothers escaped. Only then did the remaining guards at Castle Black realize that something serious had happened.

And as Jon Snow, the undercover wildling, brought back the news, it was finally proved that the defenders of Castle Black had fallen into Mance Rayder's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain.

When all the intelligence is combined, anyone with some military literacy can easily figure it out. The Grand Canyon located in the west of the Great Wall is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Although it is called the Grand Canyon, it is still a canyon. Thousands of troops cannot spread out. Mance Rayder cannot exert his strength advantage there, so it is impossible to attack from the west.

But it was too late to discover this. Chief Officer Bowen Marsh had fallen into the trap and set out with the main force of the Night's Watch to attack the wildling raiders at the Shadow Tower.

But now is the time when the defense of Castle Black is at its most empty. There are less than a hundred real brothers in black left, plus more than a hundred villagers who have been summoned from nearby villages to take refuge. Of these villagers, there are old and young, and only one-third of them are. Persons may be briefly trained to participate in guarding.

It's funny to say that the largest number of troops in Castle Black now are soldiers made of straw based on Maester Aemon's idea.

The trousers, coats and cloaks in the storage room were all taken out and arranged. Now there are straw soldiers in every tower and half of the windows. They are covered with black cloaks, and each straw soldier is stuffed with a spear. The crossbow on the arm base seems to have increased the power of Castle Black several times out of thin air.

The brothers in black originally hoped that the Thenns who had sneaked into the south of the Great Wall would give up the attack after seeing it, and that Mance Rayder who was north of the Great Wall would be afraid after seeing it.

But Mance Rayder attacked anyway.

The Thenns who climbed over the cliffs of the Great Wall were in the south, and Mance's barbarian army was in the north. The defenders of Castle Black and the villagers who came to take refuge were besieged in Castle Black, and were in a dilemma.

When anyone sees Castle Black for the first time, they will probably wonder why this fortress without walls is called a castle.

This is actually the key to the legacy of the Night's Watch that has lasted for thousands of years. The fortresses of the Night's Watch were undefended in the south because the Night's Watch swore to be impartial and not to intervene in any disputes within the territory. The only enemy of the Night's Watch was in the north, and there was the Great Wall to the north.

In this way, even if some tyrannical lunatics or careerists try to cause trouble, the lords and kings of the seven southern kingdoms can easily attack and take their heads.

But now, the savages crossed the Great Wall and came from the south, easily putting endless pressure on the defenders of Castle Black.

Even though this savage force that crossed the Great Wall only had 150 people.

In fact, the wildlings had launched a tentative attack before Mance Rayder's army appeared. Armed with axes, bows, arrows, and spears, and carrying shields made of bronze and leather, they once broke into the fortress and occupied the kitchen, Hall and stables.

Fortunately, the savages were not familiar with the terrain of Castle Black. The night watchmen emptied the armory early and transported it to the towers and warehouses on the Great Wall. Then they stood near the gates of the Great Wall, guarding only the strong towers and gates. The three towers, King's Tower, Spear Tower and Guard Tower, echo each other and occupy the favorable terrain on the back of the Great Wall, overlooking the city gate and school grounds.

Fortunately, there were not many savages who crossed the Great Wall, otherwise they could easily destroy the higher towers after occupying some low buildings.

As mentioned before, the Great Wall is undefended to the south, leaving the tower with almost no arrow openings and killing holes to the south. Defense can only be carried out on the top of the tower and a few tower windows, with little effect.

There are only one hundred and fifty savages in the south. If there is a team of well-equipped rangers, they can sweep them away and eliminate the threat. But now there are only the old, the weak, the sick and the boys who are still in training in Castle Black. There are also very few horses, so they can only defend.

During the battle, the savages burned down the kitchen, hall, stables, vegetable garden, crow's nest and a tower. The black ash, bloodstains and large ice crystals that fell off the walls have not been cleaned up yet. Only the bodies that died there have been pushed out. Burn together.

The only good thing is that the savages who crossed the Great Wall had no way to get in touch with Mance Rayder, who was isolated outside the Great Wall. They attacked earlier than Mance Rayder, and they did not dare to come back after being defeated by the defenders. I wonder if he is hiding in some abandoned village or round tower in the south.

But it's a pity. Before the defenders could be happy for long, Mance Rayder's wildling army had arrived at the Great Wall.

In fact, Maester Aemon sent many crows to every castle in the north to ask for help, even the knights had messenger crows sent to them. Because Maester Aemon knew that King Viserys of Dragonstone had written letters to all the princes in the north, asking them to support the true guardian of the north and save the Great Wall. The black bird, carrying words of supplication and honor, went to the Houses of Amber and Bolton, to Severn City, Tollon Square, Cahor City, Deepwood Castle, Bear Island, the Ancient City, Widow's Hope, and White Harbor. , Barrow Village and Brookland, and even went to the Riddle family, the Burley family, the Nory family, the Harclay family and the Wall family in remote mountainous areas for help.

But only Xiongdao replied, expressing his helplessness.

It was noon at this time, but the cold wind on the Great Wall was still biting. With the support of Clydas, Maester Aemon rode up to the top of the Great Wall in an iron cage. People in black paced on the tower, reporting to each other what they saw across the courtyard. There are even most of the women from Mole Village patrolling the Great Wall with crossbows - I heard that two prostitutes from Mole Village killed several savages with crossbows during the last attack by the savages, so they were placed there. The killing hole forty feet up.

Maester Aemon stood by the wall, feeling the cold wind blowing across his wrinkled cheeks. The wind blowing from the north smelled of ashes and blood. He couldn't see it, but he could hear the endless "dong-dong" sound in the distance. That was the sound of Mance's wildling army cutting down trees. Whenever there was a loud noise in the Haunted Forest, it meant that a large sentinel tree had fallen.

They were building bunkers out of logs, leaning plank style bunkers on wheels.

After the first round of raids failed, Mance calmed down. Or according to Jon Snow, that round of attacks was an attempt by Mance to convince the wildling tribes under his command and make them realize how difficult it was to attack the Great Wall, so that the leaders of the wildling tribes would listen to Mance and, according to Mans Si's request to attack the city.

It sounds like Mance is indeed different from the savages. As a former Night Watchman, he has sufficient knowledge of the Great Wall.

This means that the next attack will be more dangerous.

When the crossbows cannot kill the savages, it means they can approach the Great Wall and rely on the cover of the bunker to shoot arrows at the windows and tower defenders of the Great Wall. There were so many savages that even if a hundred arrows hit only one, it would be a great threat to the defenders, and the savages could use the cover to attack the city gate. Although the city gate has been sealed, there is only a layer of iron fences and a layer of gravel and ice, which is far from enough to stop the savage army.

"Master Aemon." Clydas handed Maester Aemon a cup of hot soup and bread dipped in honey. The shed on the top of the Great Wall was narrow, but an area was still separated to serve as a temporary kitchen. The chef provided some comfort with hot meals to the defenders who had been huddled in the greenhouse for more than ten days.

Even though Master Aemon had no appetite, he still ate bread with the hot soup to replenish his strength. The noise heard in the city was so noisy that Master Aemon had to ask loudly: "Clydas, has the Crow's Nest received the letter?"

The crow's nest has been burned down, and even if the messenger crow flies back, it may not be able to find a place to stay. But Master Aemon still kept asking questions every day, hoping to get some encouraging news.

"Ah, I really envy Aelin. Every time I risk my head to look, I can see him sleeping soundly below the city." A brother in black clothes who came on shift came down from the iron cage that had just been raised, holding on to his sword belt and said With a bitter joke, "I never sleep well in such a noisy environment. Yesterday, when I was about to fall asleep, a tree fell down outside and woke me up. I suspect Mance Rayder wanted to It exhausts me to death and prevents me from sleeping."

"If you want to sleep below the city like Aelin, no one can wake you up." The other person replied tiredly.

The Aelin they talked about was an archer. Unfortunately, he was shot by an arrow in the previous battle. His body fell from the top of the city to the foot of the Great Wall. His posture looked like a lazy man sleeping soundly. And a joke from hell is better than remembering your dead brother, so everyone began to replace his former nickname with "Sleeping Aelin" who first heard it from someone unknown.

After noon, the horn blew in the camp on Mance's side.

Mance's army stopped for several days and finally began to attack formally.

The wildling camp in the north became busy, and countless bonfires rose with columns of smoke.

Dozens of tilted wooden boards with wheels were pushed to the open space outside the city. The width of the boards was enough to cover five wildlings. The wildlings' formation was very scattered at first, but they gathered naturally after approaching the city wall.

Behind the wooden board formation were wildlings wearing armor made of bronze, animal skin, animal horns and bones. They held crude wooden spears and swords and prepared to charge in the rear. Behind them, there was a cavalry composed of mammoths and horses - this cavalry played a more deterrent role in the siege.

At this time, the defenders on the Great Wall side blew two long horns. The other night watchmen who were on duty at night were awakened and came to the guard position.

"My God, it's so big!"

"That's the tortoise shield Jon Snow mentioned. Damn, it doesn't look like a tortoise at all. Turtles don't have hair or wheels."

At the back of Mance's army, a huge wooden frame with eight large wheels and a dome was pushed out. It looked like an upside-down ship, with only front and back openings. Two giants stood beside it. That thing was undoubtedly what Mance used to attack the city gate. It could at least bring a hundred wildlings into the city gate intact.

If it wasn't destroyed before the gate was breached, a hundred wildlings could easily split the outer door of the black tunnel where the Black Castle gate was located, and then clear the gravel and ice. The iron railings couldn't stop the hammering and knocking.

Watching that thing being gradually pushed onto the battlefield, it slowly followed the attacking wildling troops.

"Catapults ready! Slings ready! Everyone else, take your positions, rockets ready!"

This order came from Jon Snow, the commander-in-chief's clerk, who was elected commander by his brothers when Castle Black was leaderless.

The arrows fired by the catapults and the gravel and stones fired by the catapults did not cause much damage. The wildlings' bunkers had already approached a certain range, and archers began to poke out from the gaps and shoot arrows from behind the bunkers.

The rain of arrows from the Wall guards also flew towards the wildlings like hail.

"Oil!"

As the order was issued, oil cans were thrown out from the windows and tops of the towers of the defenders.

"Rockets, fire!"

Immediately afterwards, a round of rockets hit the bunkers, and the flammable tung oil instantly ignited flames on the wildlings' bunkers.

Soon, the wildlings behind the front bunkers were in chaos.

The first row of wildlings abandoned the bunkers and began to flee to the rear, and the Wall defenders threw a round of arrows at the right time, easily harvesting their lives. The wildlings had poor discipline and were prone to collapse in a crisis, but Mance seemed to have been prepared. The cavalry he placed in the rear was used for this. The team composed of cavalry and mammoths began to attack. The wildlings in the front could only move forward and could not retreat under the pincer attack.

The battlefield was always full of surprises. I don’t know which defender’s arrow hit a mammoth’s eye, and then several rockets hit its body.

Mammoths are obviously not suitable for siege. The giant was mad in pain, and it was ignited, wailing and rushing around. Behind it were all the same kind, and it couldn’t retreat, so it kept running forward.

More arrows were shot at the crazy giant.

The defenders wanted to aim the crossbow at it, but were stopped in time. The giant rushed and scattered the wildling army.

It was not until the wildlings also began to attack her that the mammoth wailed and fell to the ground, but the horrible wailing resounded throughout the battlefield, frightening the wildlings and inspiring the defenders.

But the cheers did not last long.

"It's coming!"

With a cry of surprise, the huge tortoise shield was pushed closer to the city gate by two giants and the wildlings who had hidden countless people inside.

The defenders of the Great Wall seemed to have been prepared.

"Barrel!"

At the top of the wall 700 feet above, Jon Snow ran up the stairs and shouted loudly.

Next to the greenhouse, twelve short and fat oak barrels were lined up, filled with gravel and water. At the Great Wall, it only took half a day for the water to freeze solid. This thing was thought up by Jon Snow. Originally, the black brothers usually used these barrels filled with gravel to pave the passages on the Great Wall for walking and stability.

With the cooperation of the black brothers, four large barrels were pushed to the side of the wall and stood in place.

With a loud shout: "That thing has arrived!"

There was a loud "bang" and the wooden barrel collided with the city wall, followed by a louder collision and the sound of wood breaking, and shouts and screams came from the city.

"Don't stop!"

As the four barrels were pushed down.

"They retreated!"

"The giant is dead! The giant is dead!"

Cheers rang out. The attack of the wildlings ended here, leaving behind hundreds of wildling corpses and two giant corpses, scrambling to flee back to the camp.

The defenders thought that today's battle was over.

But at night, the Great Wall was suddenly covered with dark clouds, and it was about to rain or snow.

People who had never been outside the Great Wall cheered: "Great, as long as it snows, the attack of the wildlings will slow down, and it would be best to freeze them all to death!"

But the rangers who had experienced the battle outside the Great Wall before were all pale and frowned.

Melancholy Eddie looked at the cheering brothers, sighed deeply, and couldn't help asking: "Brothers, do you know what is more difficult to deal with than giants and mammoths?" He asked himself and answered, "It is the resurrected giants and mammoths."