Chương 52: News from Beyond the Wall
"Is this true?" Jon asked looking towards his former brother of the Night's Watch, Eddison Tollett. The rest of the room consisting of the Mountain clan chiefs and Skagos Island lords as well as envoys from House Mormont, House Forrester (those that had escaped the Ironborn in time), House Glover, House Umber and Karstark all of which looked shocked by the news they had been told.
Why wouldn't they be?
Things were already bad here in the North as they were.
The Ironborn still numbered near ten thousand strong and controlled nearly the entirety of the western shore.
The Bolton-Dustin alliance had seven thousand men and firmly entrenched in the centre of the North.
They, those loyal to House Stark and King Robb meanwhile were spread out. Jon in the North with no more than two thousand men split between Deepwood Motte and Mormont Keep. Then there was Lord Mallister in the south with near six thousand men at Moat Cailin. And while they had near four thousand additional troops scattered at the various castles on the North, he'd need to be careful on not weakening the garrisons too much.
Jon knew that out of him and Lord Mallister, he was in the weakest position and was by far the most inexperienced military commander. If it came down to it, both Ironborn and the Bolton-Dustin alliance would turn to take him out before dealing with either each other or Lord Mallister.
Now on top of all that there was rumoured to be a horde of one hundred thousand Wildlings marching on the Wall led by former Ranger of the Night's Watch, Mance Rayder. All in all, things were seemingly only getting worse and worse.
"Lord Commander, Joer Mormont was injured quite severely when he led three hundred men beyond the Wall. Only fourteen returned, and he fears that if the Wildlings attack with our forces weakened, the Night's Watch will be lost." Eddison said firmly.
"Even if that is true, we are stuck in a war against the Greyjoy's and a civil war against the Bolton's and the Dustin's." Owen scoffed. "Where do you suggest we pull our troops from exactly?"
His words were met with nods and other indications of agreement from those in the room.
"See to it that, Eddison is given food, ale and a nice bed to rest in," Jon said to the guards who nodded their head and escorted Eddison out of the room.
As soon as the door closed behind the guards, silence filled the room. Many looking to one another questioningly as to what they would and could do now. Jon himself was equally as worried, a horde of Wildlings coming south was the last thing they needed.
"Mors, how many men can the Last Hearth provide without weakening the garrison?" Jon asked the castellan of the Last Hearth.
"About eight hundred, milord."
"And you, Arnold?" Jon turned to the current castellan of Karhold.
"Around a similar number," Arnold grunted out.
Jon didn't even need to ask as he turned to Alysane Mormont, the castellan Mormont's Keep. "I can provide two hundred men, milord. We suffered heavy casualties in defending our home."
"Very well, with my own three hundred men, that will bring us to over two thousand men. I'll lead those men to the Wall and bolster the defences of the Night's Watch." Jon informed, earning a few grunts of discontent.
It was not difficult to understand, two thousand men was a lot, but against a hundred thousand it would be nothing. "Is that wise?" Arnold asked. "They'll be just sent to the slaughter. It would be best to save those troops and use them to bolster our offensive against the Ironborn and Bolton's."
"Perhaps." Jon nodded his head. "But if the Wildlings take the Wall, we will have a horde of a hundred thousand marching south. No matter what progress we make in beating back our enemies, we will just be leaving our rear exposed. At least on the Wall, we have a chance of drastically reducing their numbers making it easier to deal with them."
And as Jon thought on it, an idea came to mind.
"I want a raven sent to the King." The Maester of Deepwood Motte bowed. "Inform him of the situation here and ask him if he would be willing to offer land to the Wildlings and a place to live in return for their aid in retaking the North."
There were a few outraged cries from the gathered men here. Each of them had dealt with Wildlings that managed to sneak beyond the Wall and they had a poor opinion of the Free Folk.
"Castellans, please." Jon implored. "If we were to link up with Lord Mallister, aye we would have the advantage. But we are not, our forces are split in two and we are the weakest of the two forces. However, if the reports are true and Mance Rayder is marching south with a horde of a hundred thousand, then why not use that to our advantage?"
The castellans didn't look particularly happy about this arrangement, though a few did look to begrudgingly understand what Jon was getting at. While leading men was not his strong suit, he had improved, and Jon was sure that the decision he was making was for the best.
Why sacrifice hundreds only to make no progress. When they could invite tens of thousands to fight for them.
'And if the Wildlings do betray us, they'll be too weakened after fighting the Ironborn and the Bolton's to be much of a threat.' Cold and callous his thought maybe, but he knew that he needed to think like that to win.
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