Chapter 290

The cold wind howled between the forests below Terror Fort; when the sun set to the high opposite side of Terror Fort, he clearly felt cold, so he pulled his cloak tight.

After chatting with himself for a while, Dajiasi began directing soldiers to move the supplies taken from Terror Fort onto wagons, transporting them along the deeply rutted road to distant places; a few scholars occasionally tallied the wagons, then handed the documents in hand to Dajiasi for signature confirmation.

Qiongen regretted that he was still a step late.

As he led the Winterfell cavalry of Sir Luodelike, the mountain clan warriors, and the wildling army south along the King's Road, he encountered Frey soldiers who had crossed the White Blade River ravaging north of Winterfell.

Frankly, blocking the southern Frey army in the forests, streams, and roads of the North was far too easy.

His forces held the advantage, and the Freys were nowhere near as familiar with the northern reaches of Winterfell as he was. After leading the northern troops south, he immediately contacted the nearby small families; after a few days of tracking, driving them off, and probing, he easily lured the Freys into a valley and, with a night raid, slaughtered or captured all of the Frey soldiers.

The northern families, especially the soldiers directly belonging to the Stark house—whose kin suffered the greatest losses in the Red Wedding—did not obey Qiongen; after killing the captives, they sent him only two heads, telling him to bring them to his sister as a gift.

Does she still need such a gift?

He could have returned to Winterfell, taken command of its defenses, and marched south to oppose the rebel Qiongsifenlin army, but he brought a great host of free folk tribes; if the restraint failed, these savages could wreak severe havoc in the heart of the North, a consequence he could not bear, so he ignored Sir Luodelike's advice, brought his troops back, and began to face off against the Lannister army.

At this point, the army that followed him north consisted only of a small portion of mountain clan warriors and a force made up of free folk clans; although the free folk had taken Frey equipment, in battle they were still far inferior to the Lannister regulars.

After several battles, the Lannister army almost leisurely withdrew from Hearth Hall, easily broke through their blockade and encirclement, and gathered at Karhold.

Had it not been for the North, the Lannister army would not have seized some opportunities he deemed viable, and Qiongen thought that this band of savages and mountain clans banded together might have suffered even greater losses.

They might be plenty brave and fearless, but as Lord Eddard would say, an undisciplined army has no strength.

The subsequent events turned into a siege. If Karhold's garrison numbered only over a hundred, he might still try a storm, but when Karhold held over a thousand enemies, storming became the least likely option among all choices.

To avoid a counter‑raid during the siege, he ordered the troops to withdraw half a day's march and garrison in the various abandoned estates.

He knew the true battlefield was not Karhold but Terror Fort.

What came after was far more complicated.

The Tyrell soldiers were redeemed one after another, reportedly shipped out from White Harbor by boat; Qiongen almost immediately sent the news to Karhold, yet the Lannisters did not believe it.

At that time Qiongen led a portion of his soldiers from the siege of Karhold toward Terror Fort.

He expected to meet Meiyi at Terror Fort, but upon arrival the battle there had already ended, and word came from Karhold that the Lannister army besieging the castle had burned it down; under cover of night they escaped aboard the ships sent by sea bearing the Iron Throne.

To this day he remains unsure whether Karhold's burning was the Lannisters' doing or the result of free folk pillaging; he hopes it was the Lannisters.

In any case, Karhold has become a ruin; restoring it to a worthwhile castle would require tremendous effort to rebuild. Whether Earl Kashitake has the ability to restore it is truly a question.

Given the current state of Karstark lands laid waste, he must rely on the free folk's strength—if, in Winterfell, Qiongen could still meet him, he would advise Earl Kashitake to marry his sister to Thenn's Sigorn to win Thenn's support.

Compared to other free folk, the Sen en ren at least understand law and rules, are willing to respect the lord; just this point already makes them stronger than all other clans. Moreover, they are very skilled in metal smelting; given the opportunity, we believe they can transition from smelting bronze to producing iron.

But whether the proud Kashitake earl will agree to this marriage is really hard to say.

More importantly, he is uncertain about Mei yi's feelings and her possible arrangements for the free folk. If An bo and Kashitake lack the ability to secure peace for her in the northeast, she is very likely to directly deprive them of their castles and lands, and use the entire northeast to settle the free folk clans.

Two places are enough to accommodate all the free folk. But this will surely cause conflict between the local families and these free folk; moreover, if she establishes the capital on the east coast, the disobedient free folk will always be a direct threat to the new capital……

In short, settling the free folk is a huge problem.

He also isn't sure what Mei yi thinks about the free folk not kneeling.

He is eager to communicate with their sister about the free folk settlement issue as soon as possible, lest the free folk who have taken the castles become accustomed to the strongholds belonging to An bo, Kashitake, and their vassal families and be unwilling to move out……

This is a headache-inducing problem.

According to his statistics, nearly fifty thousand free folk have passed through the Great Wall, and among these free folk there are at least thirty-seven clans of various sizes. While at the Great Wall, he spent enormous effort to conduct a superficial and rough investigation of each clan.

At that time his time was too tight, the problems too many, he could only do this much.

According to a rough estimate, only seven clans have populations over three thousand, with the Sen en ren and the "White Mask" Moluona clan being the largest; the remaining families may have only a few hundred to a thousand people——the giants altogether number only ninety-seven, once again dwindling compared to the hundreds he saw outside the Great Wall.

He rejected Mei yi's suggestion, choosing not to lead the giants southward, but instead arranging all the giants in Ice Trace City, signaling everyone not to disturb them……Perhaps they are the last remnants of giants in this world, and they have no need to further participate in the harsh struggle of human society.

Indeed harsh.

When he was in Man silede's tent, the king of the lands beyond said his subjects numbered one hundred thousand; if so, there are still not fewer than the free folk who entered the Great Wall missing.

He does not know the fate of these people, nor how many more will die on the road of defeat and flight.

He can no longer attend to these people.

After arranging the free folk, he tries to bring the clan leaders and their important children close to him, whether you say they are hostages sent by the clan leaders or his attendants.

Moreover, he also selected warriors from all the clans, designing eight banners for them by pairing various beasts beyond the Great Wall with the heart tree: boar, wildcat, ice wolf, snow bear, mammoth, giant camel deer, eagle, and giant. He hopes the thirty-seven different clans can coalesce into eight groups, making command and management easier.

The Sen en ren without hesitation chose the ice wolf, while Tuomengde chose the giant for his own clan. Moluona took the eagle, and Daiweiyin's coastal clan chose the snow bear.

He found that the new totem made the originally aloof clans seem a little closer, and Qiongen did his utmost to let them decide their internal affairs under the new banner.

This matter wasn't as simple as imagined. Some clans weren't as united as imagined; often brothers would develop disagreements and conflicts, choosing to go under different banners… that's another story.

Warriors from the same clan had been separated, yet their relatives left at the Wall remained mixed together…

He placed the women, children, and too-young children of the free folk clans in castles along the Wall; the larger clans would each occupy a castle, while the smaller ones would share with clans that had no conflicts.

He arranged things as thoroughly as possible, but the extra work was staggering to think about; he simply lacked enough qualified civil officials.

As for the clan leaders who followed him beside him, aside from Tormund—who liked the pairing of giants and heart trees—the others were merely aloof toward him.

He didn't know how Mance Rayder had subdued them and eventually been accepted as their king, but if defeating them one by one were required to become their leader, that would be great; they could just go challenge his sister at Winterfell.

Among these clan leaders, those at his side were Saan, Dingdong Shan, Sorren, Haka, Davin, Ygren, the Raven, and Morna, each also having other names or nicknames. Their heirs—or the children you might call hostages—were taken to Winterfell by Ser Rodrik.

Besides these people, there were also some solitary wanderers he considered extremely dangerous, whom he tried to keep close as much as possible—including Borroq, who could shapechange into a huge boar, and the free-woman prickly briar who could shapechange into a shadow cat.

The two skinchangers aren't fond of interacting with people, but once you truly get close, you find they're actually more amiable than others; he doesn't know if it's because he himself is also a skinchanger. In any case, now when White Spirit encounters that boar and mountain cat, they no longer eagerly try to outdo each other, which makes him feel relieved.

Besides these two helpers, many mountain clan warriors gathered around him: Kerrinoruo, who didn't want to follow Laila back to his clan; the Ridel clan had a pair of brothers, Blanden and Yimeng, around whom gathered many youths unwilling to return to their clan, riding the mountain clan's long-haired horses, seemingly forming their own special cavalry unit; the Hakelai clan had Xiaoruokade, who was far too young, constantly competing with Tormund's son Daiwen for the position of attendant beside him; the Bolaili clan had the brothers Qionsi and Luosu; the Note clan had Bulan and Aiwen, two close friends.

However, the person he most wanted to keep by his side was still Sam, but like the other Night's Watch brothers, he remained at the Wall. Perhaps only when his sister could one day confirm her order in a proper capacity would he leave the Wall.

"Are these all the grain seized from the castles?" Tormund pointed at a line of wagons, "Where will these people take the grain?"

"Most will be sent to White Harbor, then shipped by boat and wagon to the entire North." Qiongen turned to Tormund and said, "Not only grain, but also furs, weapons, and armor."

"Including the Wall?"

"What?" He was a bit puzzled, but when he realized what Tormund really meant, he firmly replied, "Maybe it will go to the Wall, maybe not, but it will definitely go to the mountain clans."

"No maybes; we're helping your sister fight, and it's not free."

"Even the Wall's passage isn't free."

I thought we were already friends, no need to talk about this. Tuomengde burst out laughing, then quickly put on a serious face, "You need to watch out for the Hai Chai and Lie Ya; if they know the cart holds food, especially armor and weapons, they'll likely lose control of their hands and feet—damn it, outside the Great Wall they are the tribe that loves looting the most; what's more, now they fly the wild boar and wildcat flags, and these two beasts are the greediest."

His expression and tone made Qiongen feel amused.

They'd better not. I'll tell them that the supplies their tribe can receive along the Wall are tied to their contributions in the south; if they cause trouble, their relatives will go hungry.

These guys have their own livelihoods; why would they care about relatives? Do you think everyone is as honorable as I, Tuomengde?

My sister is no different.

Ha, there's always your share. What do we do next? Go south to loot grain? If we'd known the castle had so many good things, we shouldn't have raided the villages. Hey, your sister is the biggest bandit—not only does she loot people's food and weapons, but even the castle……such a fine castle, she'd have to knock it down piece by piece." He muttered, savoring the words, "That woman must be terrifying……"

Say what you will! But she surely keeps her word; since she promised to allocate land and castles for you in the North, she will definitely be able to do it.

She's your older sister, not mine! And my older sister used to bully me the worst; only after she was kidnapped did my good days begin… I really worry about her—could she still be hidden in the snow, her eyes glowing blue, waiting for the day we meet again?

Qiongen sighed.

Tuomengde, you just need to know that the swords and furs to be sent to the mountain tribes were signed and delivered yesterday. As long as she promised it, she will surely do it… you must believe her.

Is she an old god?" He didn't really mean to understand, but he hesitated a bit before speaking, "How will she deal with Mansileide?"

He broke his oath and led the free folk in an invasion of the North… I can't think of any reason she would pardon him.

I'm also a free folk; didn't she pardon you as well?

You're different; he was originally a Night's Watch man, he broke his oath…

Weren't you originally a Night's Watch man too? What's more, the Night's Watch no longer exists." He sighed, "Mans is a capable fighter; if your sister could keep him, he'd surely be useful.

I don't know." Qiongen spoke glumly.

How can you not know anything?" He stared at him.