Chapter 159: The Wrath of the Wolf King

In the command room within the ruins of the ringfort on the Fist of the First Men, Eddard looked at the map of Beyond the Wall drawn by the Rangers, which was marked with the locations of nearby villages.

"Many wildlings from nearby villages have joined Mance Rayder's wildling army. Some villages are empty, but some still have old men, women, and children left behind. Starting tomorrow, in groups of one hundred cavalry, attack the wildling villages. Send the captured wildlings directly to the Fist of the First Men, then transport them in batches through Castle Black to Queenscrown."

The Old Bear was somewhat puzzled, "Lord Eddard, what is the use of capturing so many wildling prisoners? Lord Eddard's food storage plan has filled the ice cells of the Wall with grain, and the North has plenty of food, but feeding so many useless mouths is a waste after all!"

These were not useless mouths; they were the labor force that the vast and sparsely populated North lacked. Eddard planned to use these wildlings to open up more manors and create more wealth; these plans could not be shared with the officers of the Night's Watch.

Eddard said, "Only by abducting the wildlings will we enrage Mance's wildling army, forcing Mance to lead the wildling army south to fight us in a decisive battle."

Helen Pyke revealed an evil smile, "Lord Eddard, when it comes to abducting women and children, who has more say than the Ironborn? Among the Ironborn, who has more say than I, the Iron Bitch? If we send these wildlings directly to Eastwatch, I believe slave traders will offer a high price. Wildling slave women can sell for a good price in the brothels of Lys, and other slaves can be sent to Tyrosh and Myr, or even Volantis."

The Night's Watch officers were clearly shocked. The Old Bear frowned and said, "Selling slaves is an illegal act. My son Jorah was forced into exile in the Free Cities for years because he sold poachers to slave traders, which provoked the wrath of Duke Eddard. Is the North going to openly engage in the business of selling slaves?"

Eddard looked at Helen with annoyance; the Iron Bitch always spoke without regard for the occasion. Eddard smiled and said, "Lord Mormont, this is just something Helen said off the cuff. I will never allow such a vile practice as slave trading in the North."

However, in his heart, Eddard highly favored the bondman system. He planned to implement a policy in the North in the future where criminals would be sentenced to slavery, becoming bondmen to redeem their crimes through labor, while bondmen who performed well would have the hope of gaining their freedom.

Mance Rayder, The Weeper, Tormund, Harma Dogshead, the Lord of Bones, and Varamyr—these people had angered Eddard, and they had awakened the wrath of the sleeping wolf!

Eddard looked at the map, "When we go to destroy the wildling villages, we are not allowed to kill the innocent indiscriminately. Capture the wildlings, empty their granaries, and take away valuable items to serve as military rations. Anything that cannot be carried must be burned, especially houses and farmland; they must be burned."

Robb frowned and said, "Father, if we do this, it will enrage the wildlings and enrage Mance Rayder. The wildlings might execute the prisoners. Fellan, Jory, and Wull the Barrel are all in Mance Rayder's hands."

"Mance Rayder and his wildling leaders are hoping we think this way," Eddard told Robb. "If the wildlings want to kill the prisoners, they can do so at any time. You must make the enemy feel that nothing can threaten you; only then will you have no weaknesses and be able to seize the initiative in the war."

Jon said sadly, "But in this way, many wildlings will lose the homes they have lived in for generations. Their food will be taken away, their fertile fields will be burned, and their situation will become even more difficult. They will starve to death."

"I am sorry, but we are at war and cannot consider the feelings of the commoners. This is the game of thrones; commoners are destined to be cannon fodder." Womanish mercy would only get one killed. It was a pity that Robb and Jon could not understand this point; Eddard hoped they could learn it in the future.

"We are not exterminating the wildlings; they can choose to surrender," Eddard explained. "As long as they surrender, I am willing to let the wildlings cross the Wall and become subjects of the North. The Gift and Winterfell have plenty of fertile black soil, and I can provide land for them to farm. The harvests there will certainly be much better than Beyond the Wall."

The gloom in Jon's eyes vanished, and he agreed, "The wildlings are descendants of the First Men, just like the people of the North. Father, I am very happy that you allow the wildlings to live in the North. This is a good idea."

"Heh heh! This idea is terrible," Ser Jeremy Lake let out a donkey-like laugh. "Wildlings are all uncivilized savages. Once they arrive in the North, they will only rob and plunder, and they might even attack the Wall! The other nobles of the Seven Kingdoms will oppose the wildlings moving to the North."

Eddard said coldly, "I am the one who decides in the North. Do I need to remind you that King Robert is my brother-in-arms?"

Ser Jeremy wisely shut his mouth.

Benjen said with some concern, "In the Haunted Forest and the Frostfangs, there are beasts of skinchangers. When we go to destroy the wildling villages, we might encounter attacks from skinchangers."

The direwolf Night-Walker and Sun were right by Eddard's side; it was time to let them show their prowess.

"My direwolves will deal with the skinchangers," Eddard stroked the head of the direwolf Night-Walker. "Skinchangers are the trump card in the hands of the wildlings, but skinchangers also have weaknesses. When a skinchanger is controlling an animal, their whites roll up, and they are in a state of distraction. Their physical bodies are very fragile."

"If the animal controlled by a skinchanger suffers a critical hit, the skinchanger's soul will be knocked out of the body of the beast it is controlling. Some skinchangers will experience spasms, symptoms similar to a seizure, and the beast will lose control and crash about blindly. At this moment, any soldier can easily kill the skinchanger."

The Old Bear, Benjen, Jon, Robb, Ser Jeremy, and Ser Ottyn Wythers all looked at Eddard with bewildered expressions. The group fell into a long silence. The Old Bear cleared his throat, "Lord Eddard, sometimes I really feel that you are as knowledgeable as Maester Aemon. Where did you learn this knowledge about skinchangers?"

Because I am a skinchanger. I merge with the direwolf Night-Walker in the wolf dream, tasting the flesh and blood of prey, blood and fear. Eddard clearly could not tell them the truth, so he had to lie, "I saw this knowledge in an ancient book about skinchangers."

If Maester Luwin of Winterfell or Maester Aemon of Castle Black were present, they might have asked which book it was, and Eddard's lie would have risked being exposed. However, now that Maester Aemon and Maester Luwin were not around, no one could question Eddard's explanation.

Night's Watch officer Ser Ottyn Wythers scratched his ear, "Lord Eddard, although I don't understand your explanation, it sounds very impressive. You listed a bunch of weaknesses of skinchangers, but you overlooked one point: the Rangers and the Northern cavalry fear the beasts controlled by the skinchangers, not the skinchangers themselves."

"The weaknesses of the skinchangers are the weaknesses of the beasts; they are one and the same," Eddard told the group. "What animals fear, beasts will fear, and skinchangers fear as well."

Eddard looked around, meeting everyone's eyes, "Who can tell me what wild beasts in the wilderness fear?"

"Fire!" Robb answered first, "In the wilderness, as long as people light a fire, wild beasts dare not approach."

"Correct," Eddard announced. "Starting from today, when the cavalry goes on an expedition, whether it is day or night, they must be equipped with torches. If a skinchanger attacks, whether it is a wild boar, a terrorbird, a saber-toothed tiger, or a snow bear, you can't go wrong with throwing a torch."

Benjen nodded slightly, "If the wildling rumors are true, in some places Beyond the Wall, we might encounter wights with bright blue eyes, and wights also fear fire. Torches can deal with both wights and skinchangers; it kills two birds with one stone."

Eddard reminded them, "Be careful to distinguish between Others and wights. Wights are corpses formed after people die and are resurrected by the Others. The Others are an undead species with milky-white skin and blue eyes that burn coldly. Wights fear fire, but the Others do not. The bane of the Others is obsidian weapons and dragon steel, which is Valyrian steel."

Valyrian steel swords are very rare. Since the Doom of Valyria, the technology for steel swords was lost for a time. Now, only the great smiths of Qohor possess the technology to forge Valyrian steel. Since ancient times, there have been no more than a few thousand Valyrian steel swords, and the entire Westeros family has no more than two hundred.

Only ancient noble families possess Valyrian steel swords, and many families have lost their ancestral Valyrian steel swords, such as House Lannister.

The Old Bear took out the Mormont Clan's ancestral Valyrian sword, Longclaw. The hilt was made in the shape of a bear, and the eyes were red garnets.

"The Mormont Clan's Valyrian sword has been passed down for thousands of years and has never slain any Others. Perhaps these old bones of mine can set a precedent!"

Eddard possessed the Stark family's Valyrian steel sword, Ice. Eddard believed that in the future, there would certainly be Others who would become souls under the blade of Ice.

Eddard said, "Tomorrow, the Rangers and the Northern cavalry will destroy the wildling villages. I hope the wildling villages will be scorched earth everywhere. Everyone, go and prepare!"

Helen was extremely excited, "I used to raid by ship; this is my first time raiding inland. Just thinking about it is exciting."

After the meeting ended, the officers of the Night's Watch legion left one after another, leaving only Robb and Jon in the room.

Robb scratched the base of the direwolf's ear, "Father, I thought the army was going to march north to rescue Fellan, Jory, and Wull the Barrel! I didn't expect it to just be raiding wildling villages."

"I believe that as long as Mance Rayder has a brain, he will keep Fellan, Jory, and Wull the Barrel to negotiate with me." Eddard believed Mance would not kill noble hostages, but those wildling leaders were another matter. Harma Dogshead, The Weeper, and the Lord of Bones were each more notorious and cruel than the last.

"Do not underestimate those wildlings scattered in small villages; they will ultimately determine the direction of the war," Eddard told the children. "Most of the wildling villages are concentrated in the south of Beyond the Wall, where it is slightly warmer, but Mance's base camp is in the upper reaches of the Milkwater. This is a very clever strategy, because in this way, the Night's Watch and the North must make a long-distance raid to wipe out Mance's main force, and the supply lines will be very long."

"However, because of this, many wildlings have to abandon the villages they have lived in for generations. Wildlings are natural Free Folk. When they see the smoke of war in their homeland, they will certainly hope that Mance leads the wildling army south. If Mance refuses, he will offend the wildlings. The wildlings elected Mance Rayder, and they can just as easily abandon him. At that time, the scales of victory will tilt toward our army."

Jon frowned, "That may be so, but the Horn of Winter is always a threat. What if Mance Rayder sends a wildling squad with the Horn of Winter to the foot of the Wall and blows the horn?"

Eddard smiled, "The Wall is seven hundred feet high and one hundred leagues long. If Mance Rayder is determined to blow the Horn of Winter, no one can stop him. But I think that even if Mance found the real Horn of Winter, he might not necessarily use it to blow down the Wall."

Jon was a bit confused, "Then why did the wildlings work so hard to find the Horn of Winter? According to the report brought back by the Night's Watch Rangers, Mance Rayder mobilized at least ten thousand wildlings to open countless graves in the Frostfangs valley before they found the Horn of Winter."

Eddard said calmly, "Mance may have obtained the horn, but no one knows if the Horn of Winter is real unless someone tries it themselves. I analyze that Mance getting the so-called Horn of Winter is nothing more than wanting to increase his bargaining chips."

Robb looked at Eddard, "Father, today at the meeting, when you announced the plan to burn wildling villages, abduct wildlings, and burn farmland, you were like a different person."

"These actions are indeed barbaric, but my goal is to send the wildlings south of the Wall," Eddard explained. "My goal is to let the wildlings stay away from the cold and barren Beyond the Wall, away from the threat of the Others, and let the wildling women, children, the elderly, and the young and strong move to the North to settle. Sometimes it is not important what we do, but why we do it."

Jon nodded, "Father, this is truly an act of benevolence. If we negotiate openly and honestly with the wildlings, Mance might lead his tens of thousands of wildlings to lay down their weapons and follow us directly to the North."

Eddard shook his head, "This is impossible. The wildlings will think they have the upper hand. The wildlings have captured three of our army's noble commanders in succession at the Giant's Stair, the Haunted Forest, and the Milkwater; they cannot agree to a ceasefire. Mance is the King-Beyond-the-Wall, and his rule is fragile. Any decision he makes must consider the opinions of the leaders. The tribal leaders cannot stop fighting when they have the upper hand."

"The best way to end a war is to do everything possible to crush the enemy and force them to submit; in this way, the enemy will accept our terms."

Robb said, "Father, is using torches to deal with skinchangers really effective? I believe no one would be willing to use torches against Night-Walker or Sun, right?"

"This requires the test of actual combat." Eddard looked at the map; he knew that the wildling skinchangers were hiding somewhere on the map. "We have to hunt down the wildling skinchangers. In the jungle of beasts, if you are not the hunter, you can only be the prey."

The next day, Helen Pyke led a team of cavalry to raid the villages to the north.

"In the past, Fellan always mocked me for not being able to ride a horse. Now he has become a prisoner, but I can ride a horse and raid freely. I can also be considered half a scout!"

Eddard instructed, "You are not allowed to kill the innocent indiscriminately. Remember to grab a few more women and children."

Helen cast a flirtatious glance, "Lord Eddard, do you want a Salt Wife that much? To think you would teach pirates to pillage, aren't you being too impatient? Rest assured, I will certainly help you capture more beauties."

"Whether it's plump young matrons or pure virgins, just wait, Lord Eddard. Catelyn Stark won't know anyway; perhaps you can produce a bunch of little Snows. I will also carry out Lord Eddard's orders to burn the villages and farmlands."

On this day, a total of twenty cavalry squads were dispatched, each with one hundred riders; standing on the Fist of the First Men and looking out, there was thick smoke everywhere, and the farmlands, the small boats by the river, and the wooden huts of the Wildlings were all burning.

Because the vast majority of the young and able-bodied had answered the call of Mance Rayder, there were very few young people left in the villages, only some old, weak, women, and children; these women, children, and elderly had no power to resist at all.

Some spearwives attempted to resist, but they were quickly subdued. They could only curse the Wolf King of Winterfell and let the soldiers tie them with ropes and escort them to the Fist of the First Men.

(End of this chapter)