Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 234: Great Wall Defense

"I dreamed that the king came, and he rode his dragon. There were many soldiers with him, and black banners with red dragons flew from the King's Tower, the Lance Tower, and Harding Tower. From every building. Maester Aemon, King Viserys must be here soon, mustn't he?"

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

Maester Aemon couldn't see, but he could feel the power in the black-clad brother's hands disappearing little by little. The brother had lost too much blood and had a high fever, so his hope of survival was slim.

Maester Aemon comforted him, "Sadin, the king will be here when you get better." His cloudy eyes could not see anything, but his mottled hands were still steady. He poked Clydas's bandaged wound with his fingers. The brother's wound had been cleaned with scalding red wine, and the festering flesh had been cut out with a red-hot iron tool, and the wound was bandaged with maggots. Maester Aemon had done everything he could, and he could only leave it to fate. The effect of the poppy milk was still there, so Maester Aemon asked Clydas to get the sleeping wine from the medicine box and feed it to the injured, "Come, drink it."

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

Maester Aemon walked out the door, the cold wind sobering him up. From here, he could hear the flames of the beacon tower on Weather Hill crackling, which made Maester Aemon feel at ease.

To comfort the defenders, Maester Aemon sent several more ravens south for help when Castle Black was surrounded, but Maester Aemon knew that everyone was counting on the one that would go to Dragonstone.

But Master Aemon knew that the journey from the Wall to Dragonstone was long, and even if the ravens arrived successfully, the reinforcements would not arrive so quickly. The reinforcements they could count on would not come from the south, but from the east. The ship that set out from Dragonstone to the Wall was said to carry thousands of knights and mercenaries, as well as three hundred new Night's Watchmen led by Stannis. Calculating the time, if the journey was smooth, they should soon reach Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.

Mance Rayder's attack was sudden and methodical.

Before the Rangers led by Commander Mormont returned to Castle Black, news came from the Shadow Tower that a large number of wildlings appeared in the direction of the Grand Canyon. Denys Mallister of the Shadow Tower sent a letter asking for help, and Bowen Marsh, the acting lord of Castle Black, led the few main Night's Watchmen of Castle Black to support them.

It was not until the Night's Watch brothers who returned from Craster's Keep brought back the tragic news that the Rangers were almost completely wiped out, Commander Mormont was missing and his life or death was unknown, and the remaining Night's Watch had a conflict at Craster's Keep, several Night's Watch launched a mutiny, and only less than a dozen brothers escaped. The remaining garrisons of Castle Black realized that something serious had happened.

And as Jon Snow, who was undercover as a wildling, brought back news, it was finally proved that the defenders of Castle Black had fallen into Mance Rayder's trap of luring the enemy away from the mountain.

When all the information was combined, anyone with a little military literacy could easily figure out that the Grand Canyon, located at the westernmost part of the Great Wall, was easy to defend but difficult to attack. Despite its name, it was still a canyon, where tens of thousands of troops could not be deployed, and Mance Rayder could not take advantage of his military strength, so he could not attack from the west.

But it was too late. Chief Steward Bowen Marsh had already 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.

And now is the time when the Black Castle is most defenseless. There are less than a hundred real brothers in black left, plus more than a hundred villagers who have been summoned for refuge from nearby villages. These villagers are old and young, and only one-third of them may participate in the guard during the short training.

Funny enough, the largest force in Castle Black now is the soldiers made of straw, which was suggested by Maester Aemon.

The trousers, shirts and cloaks in the storeroom were taken out and arranged. Now there were scarecrows in every tower and half of the windows. They were covered with black cloaks, and a spear was stuffed in each soldier's hand and a crossbow was mounted under his arm. It was as if the Black Castle had been multiplied several times out of thin air.

The black brothers had hoped that the Thenns who had sneaked into the south of the Wall would give up their attack after seeing this, and that Mance Rayder north of the Wall would be afraid to move forward after seeing this.

But Mance Rayder attacked anyway.

The Thenns who had climbed over the cliffs of the Wall were in the south, and Mance's wildling army was in the north. The defenders of Castle Black and the villagers who came to take refuge were trapped in Castle Black, with no way out.

I believe that when anyone sees the Black Castle for the first time, they will wonder why this fortress without walls is called a castle?

This is actually the key to the Night's Watch's thousands of years of heritage. The Night's Watch fortresses face south without any defense 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 is in the north, and there is the Great Wall facing north.

In this way, even if some tyrannical lunatics or ambitious people tried to cause chaos, the lords and kings of the seven southern countries could easily attack them and take their heads off.

And now, the wildlings have crossed the Great Wall and are coming from the south, and they can easily bring endless pressure to the defenders of Castle Black.

Even though the barbarian army that crossed the Great Wall only had 150 people.

In fact, the wildlings launched a tentative attack before Mance Rayder's army appeared. These wildlings, armed with axes, bows and arrows, and spears, and carrying bronze and leather shields, once broke into the fortress and occupied the kitchen, hall and stable.

Fortunately, the wildlings were not familiar with the terrain of Castle Black, so the Night's Watch had emptied the armory early and transported it to the towers and warehouses on the Great Wall, and then stayed near the gates of the Great Wall, defending only the sturdy towers and gates. The King's Tower, the Spear Tower, and the Guard Tower echoed each other, occupying the advantageous terrain on the back of the Great Wall, overlooking the gates and the parade grounds.

Fortunately, there are not many wild men crossing the Great Wall, otherwise they could easily destroy the high towers after occupying some low buildings.

As mentioned earlier, the Great Wall was undefended to the south, leaving the towers with almost no arrow holes or killing holes facing the south, and defense could only be carried out on the tower tops and a few tower windows, with little effect.

There were only 150 wildlings in the south. If there was a team of well-equipped rangers, they could have wiped them out and eliminated the threat. But now there were only the old, weak, sick, and boys in training left in the Black Castle, and there were very few horses, so they could only defend.

During the battle, the wildlings burned the kitchen, the hall, the stable, the vegetable garden, the crow's nest and a tower. The black ashes, bloodstains and large pieces of ice crystals that had fallen off the walls have not been cleaned up to this day. Only the bodies of those who died there were pushed out and burned together.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the wildlings who crossed the Great Wall had no way to contact Mance Rayder who was isolated outside the Great Wall. Their attack was earlier than Mance Rayder's, and they dared not come again after being defeated by the defenders. I don't know if they are hiding in an abandoned village or round tower in the south.

But unfortunately, before the defenders could be happy for long, Mance Rayder's wildling army had already arrived at the Wall.

In fact, Maester Aemon sent many ravens to every castle in the North for help, even to the Knights' Territory. Because Maester Aemon knew that King Viserys of Dragonstone had written letters to the lords of the North, asking them to support the true guardian of the North to rescue the Wall. The black birds, with words of pleading and honor, went to the Umbers and Boltons, to Seven, Torrhen's Square, Carhor, Deepwood Motte, Bear Island, Old City, Widow's Watch, White Harbor, Barrowton and Streamlands, and even to the Riddles, the Burleys, the Norrys, the Harkleighs and the Wulls in the remote mountains for help.

But only Xiongdao replied, expressing that he was unable to help.

It was noon, but the cold wind on the Wall was still biting. Maester Aemon, supported by Clydas, took the iron cage to the top of the Wall. The black-clad men paced on the tower, reporting what they saw to each other across the courtyard. Among them were even most of the women in Mole's Village patrolling the Wall with crossbows - it was said that two prostitutes from Mole's Village killed several wildlings with crossbows during the last attack of the wildlings, so they were arranged in the killing cave forty feet high.

Maester Aemon stood by the wall, feeling the cool breeze against his wrinkled face. The wind blew from the north and smelled of ash and blood. He could not see it, but he could hear the endless thumping in the distance. It was the sound of Mance's wildling army felling trees, and every loud thump in the haunted forest meant that a great sentinel tree had fallen.

They were building tilted plank-style shelters out of logs with wheels.

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

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

This means that the next attack will be more dangerous.

When the crossbows could not kill the wildlings, it meant that they could get close to the Great Wall and shoot arrows at the windows and towers of the Great Wall from the cover. There were so many wildlings that even if only one arrow out of a hundred hit the target, it would still be a great threat to the defenders, and the wildlings could use the cover to kill their way into the city gate. Although the city gate had been blocked, there was only a layer of iron fence and a layer of gravel and ice, which was far from enough to stop the wildling army.

"Master Aemon." Clydas handed Maester Aemon a cup of hot soup and some bread dipped in honey. Although the shed on the top of the wall was narrow, an area was separated to serve as a temporary kitchen, allowing the chefs to use hot meals to provide some comfort to the defenders who had been crammed in the warm shed for more than ten days.

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

The crow's nest had been burned down, and even if a raven flew back, it might not be able to find a place to stay. But Master Aemon still asked tirelessly every day, hoping for some encouraging news.

"Ah, I envy Alyn. Every time I ventured out to look, I could see him sleeping soundly below the city." A black brother who was taking a shift came down from the newly raised iron cage, holding his sword belt and making a bitter joke, "I always have trouble sleeping in such a noisy environment. Yesterday, I was about to fall asleep in a daze, and a tree was chopped down outside and woke me up. I suspect Mance Rayder wants to tire me to death so that I can't sleep well."

"If you sleep under the city like Erin, no one can wake you up." The other man replied tiredly.

The Alyn they were talking about was an archer who was unfortunately shot by an arrow in the previous battle. His body fell from the top of the city wall to the foot of the Great Wall, and his posture looked like a lazy man sleeping soundly. And a joke in hell is always better than remembering the dead brother, so everyone began to replace his former nickname with "Sleeping Alyn" which was first heard from someone unknown. After noon, the horn of Mance's camp blew.

Mance's army paused for several days and finally began the formal attack.

The savage camps in the north became busy, with columns of smoke rising from countless campfires.

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 wild men. The wild men's formation was very scattered at first, but they gathered naturally after approaching the city wall.

Behind the wooden planks were savage warriors wearing armor made of bronze, animal skins, horns and bones. They were holding crude wooden spears and swords, preparing to charge from the rear. Further behind them were cavalry units composed of mammoths and horses - this cavalry played a more suppressive and deterrent role during the siege.

At this time, the guards on the Great Wall blew two long horns. The other night guards who were on duty were awakened and came to their guard positions.

"Oh my god, it's huge!"

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

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

If that thing wasn't destroyed before the gate was breached, a hundred wildlings could easily hack open the outer door of the black cold tunnel where Castle Black's gate was located, and then clear away the rubble and ice. The iron bars would be no match for the hammering and banging.

I watched as that thing was gradually pushed onto the battlefield and slowly followed the attacking barbarian troops.

"Ready the crossbows! Ready the slingshots! Everyone else, take your positions, and get your rockets ready!"

The order came from Jon Snow, the Lord Commander's steward, who was elected commander by his brothers when Castle Black was leaderless.

The arrows fired by the crossbows and the broken stones fired by the slings did not cause much damage. The barbarians' bunkers had already approached a certain range, and archers began to look out from the gaps and shoot arrows from behind the bunkers.

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

"Oil!"

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

"Rocket, fire!"

Immediately afterwards, a hail of rockets hit the bunker, and the flammable tung oil instantly ignited flames on the savages' bunker.

Soon, the savages behind the front bunker began to riot.

The first row of wildlings abandoned their cover and began to flee to the rear, but the defenders of the Great Wall threw a rain 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 purpose. The team composed of cavalry and mammoths began to attack, and the wildlings in the front row could only move forward and could not retreat under the pincer attack.

The battlefield is always full of surprises. An arrow from one of the defenders hit a mammoth's eye, and then several rockets hit its body.

The mammoth was obviously not suitable for use in sieges, and the giant went crazy from the pain, and was also on fire, wailing and charging around. Behind it were all its own kind, and it couldn't retreat, so it kept running forward.

More arrows were fired at the maddened giant.

The defenders wanted to aim their crossbows at it, but were stopped in time. The giant charged forward, dispersing the barbarian army.

It was not until the savages also began to attack her that the mammoth fell to the ground wailing, but its horrific wails echoed throughout the battlefield, frightening the savages 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 the two giants and countless savages hiding inside.

The defenders of the Great Wall seemed to be well prepared.

"Barrel!"

Seven hundred feet up, on top of the wall, Jon Snow shouted as he came running up the steps.

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

With the cooperation of the brothers in black, four large barrels were pushed to the edge of the city 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 even louder collisions and the sound of wood breaking, and shouts and screams were heard from below the city.

“Don’t stop!”

As four large barrels were pushed down.

"They retreated!"

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

Cheers rang out. The savages' attack ended here, leaving behind hundreds of savage corpses and the corpses of two giants, and scrambled 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 looked like it was about to rain or snow heavily.

People who have never been outside the Great Wall cheered: "Great! As long as it snows heavily, the wildlings' attack will slow down. It would be best if they were all frozen to death!"

But the rangers who had experienced battles outside the Great Wall before all had pale faces 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."

(End of this chapter)