Ever since duke kregen witnessed the legendary Children of the Forest at Deepwood Motte, he issued a ducal order to the northern lords on the day he returned to Winterfell.
He mandatorily required each northern family to assign one-tenth of their strength to garrison the collapsed section of The Wall.
This was because he deeply feared the legend of the dead that had been passed down through the Stark Family for generations.
Since the Children of the Forest were real, there was a high possibility that this legend of the dead was also real.
Of course, since it was not a war summons, the food and supplies for these nearly four thousand Northern Soldiers from various families were all provided by the Stark Family.
Fortunately, he had rendered a great service to the new king by saving Prince Joffrey on his trip south and coincidentally learning of Aemond's whereabouts.
If not for the continuous supply of grain from King's Landing over the past six months,
Winterfell itself would probably not have enough to eat, let alone have surplus grain to support this temporarily summoned northern army.
Because Black Castle was destroyed, the newly built temporary wooden stronghold could only accommodate half of the Night's Watch.
So this northern army and the remaining half of the Night's Watch were stationed in Mole's Town, about a kilometer away from the temporary wooden stronghold.
Surprisingly, with the arrival of this northern army and the Night's Watch, Mole's Town became at least twice as prosperous as before.
Especially the red light district in Mole's Town that specifically served the Night's Watch, the number of skilled female workers inside increased by three to five times.
I heard that a large portion of these women came all the way from Winterfell.
Today, due to the blizzard, the sky had already darkened in the early afternoon.
So those idle Northern Soldiers and the Night's Watch on rotation went to the red light district early to seek pleasure.
Woo!!!
While Mole's Town was filled with singing and revelry, and cannons were firing, a long horn sound that could be heard throughout the entire village rang out.
This horn sound, unique to the Night's Watch, was very easy to distinguish, so the Night's Watch and Northern Soldiers in Mole's Town simultaneously stopped what they were doing.
In the great hall, a table of Night's Watch and Northern Soldiers who happened to know each other were drinking inferior ale.
One of the Northern Soldiers asked with a hiccup: "Hiccup, brother, I heard that the horn sounds of the Night's Watch have special meanings.
What does this mean? It shouldn't be to gather you back, right?"
"Yes, our horn sounds do have meanings, but they don't mean to gather soldiers.
This horn sound represents the return of a comrade.
But it's a bit strange, ever since The Wall collapsed, no rangers have gone Beyond the Wall to scout!
Never mind, it's not my turn today anyway, drink, drink!"
The Night's Watch member tilted his head and replied a few words, then raised his cup to continue toasting.
Woo!!!
As soon as he finished speaking, the second horn sound rang out again.
Thump!
The Night's Watch member immediately put down his wine cup with a serious expression, hurriedly tidied his armor and the long sword placed beside him, and said: "Not good!
Two horn sounds mean a wildling attack, everyone hurry up and move.
The Wall has collapsed, and that temporary wooden stronghold alone definitely can't stop the wildlings."
Seeing this, the Northern Soldiers also immediately dropped the wine cups in their hands and began to act.
However, they were full of excitement, because ever since the new king's system of rewarding military achievements spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms,
the soldiers of every noble family yearned to achieve great military feats and receive rewards.
duke kregen's rewards were certainly not as generous as king Jacaerys's, but for these penniless foot soldiers, even the smallest reward was enough for them to eat for several years.
Woo!!!
Just as they left their seats and prepared to leave the great hall, the long horn sound rang out again.
"Three sounds? Hey, what does three horn sounds mean?
Does it mean more wildlings, more military achievements?"
The Northern Soldiers immediately asked their Night's Watch friend upon hearing the sound.
Clang!
But the Night's Watch member, with a blank expression, softly fell back into his seat, and his whole body began to tremble.
After repeated questioning from others, he suddenly shouted: "Others... others, three horn sounds mean others attack!
Impossible, impossible, I must be dreaming right now.
Quickly wake me up from this nightmare!"
After saying that, the Night's Watch member fiercely slapped himself across the face, the powerful slap causing blood to flow from the corner of his mouth.
This scene was not only happening in this hall, but after the initial panic subsided.
Most of the Night's Watch and Northern Soldiers felt that the horn sound was wrong, and they were imagining that perhaps because the wildling attack was too sudden,
the Night's Watch member who blew the horn was too nervous, so he blew an extra sound.
A distance of one kilometer usually takes about five minutes for an average person to run.
But today, due to the blizzard, these thousands of reinforcements from Mole's Town would take at least ten minutes.
On The Wall of the temporary stronghold at the collapsed section of The Wall, the new Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Ma Kor Kaswei, was observing the front with a telescope, his face ashen.
He saw figures, like marionettes, braving the blizzard and slowly approaching them with unwavering steps.
A small portion of these figures were also wearing the black robes of the Night's Watch, but the vast majority were dressed as wildlings, or were simply naked.
If it were just these humanoid enemies, Lord Commander Ma Kor would not have shown such an expression.
The most crucial point was that there were many pale white skeletons walking towards them in the front.
It was already very clear, these were not humans, but the legends of the Night's Watch, or the others mentioned in scary ghost stories!
"Others, it really is others!"
"My god! The number is too great, it's impossible to count."
"It's over, The Wall has collapsed, how can this temporary stronghold possibly stop them?
How about we retreat south on horseback!
Last Hearth, no, only the towering walls of Winterfell can stop them!"
Beside Lord Commander Ma Kor, Night's Watch officers and rangers were observing with telescopes and discussing loudly.
These telescopes were brought back by Jacaerys's Conqueror Fleet from Myr.
When he previously rewarded duke kregen with grain supplies, he also sent these telescopes, which were considered military equipment, to Winterfell.
However, duke kregen, who was focused on defending The Wall, immediately gave them to the Night's Watch.
It was precisely because of this, otherwise in this blizzard with very poor visibility, the White Walker Army might only have been discovered when they reached the temporary stronghold.
Lord Commander Ma Kor was able to hold such a high position, naturally because he had extraordinary qualities.
He forced himself to appear calm and issued an order: "Have the brothers in the stronghold immediately set up defensive positions.
Prepare all the braziers, oil, and all the fire-resistant materials.
Oh, and take out all one hundred Exploding Fruits that your majesty Jacaerys gave us from the warehouse.
The reinforcements from Mole's Town will arrive in ten minutes at most, we must hold this stronghold!"
Seeing that Lord Commander Ma Kor seemed to genuinely want to fight these legendary monsters, the Night's Watch officers and rangers immediately stood rooted to the spot like wooden figures.
Seeing this, Lord Commander Ma Kor immediately shouted angrily: "My orders have already been given, what are you still standing here for?
Hurry up and act, dereliction of duty, desertion in the face of the enemy, death without mercy!"
"Uh, yes, Lord Commander!"
Lord Commander Ma Kor's assertiveness worked, and the Night's Watch officers and rangers immediately acted according to his previous orders.
There is strength in numbers, it only took three or four minutes.
Braziers were burning fiercely on The Walls of the temporary stronghold, and flammable materials, including oil, were piled up nearby.
The White Walker Army, which had previously spread horizontally outside The Wall like an ocean, began to run with this temporary stronghold as the center.
If viewed from above, they were forming a beer bottle formation, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom.
And the Night's Watch's temporary stronghold was at the mouth of this beer bottle.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Hundreds of oil-soaked arrows were shot into the ocean of the charging White Walker Army.
There was no need to aim, it was easy to hit a ghoul with every shot.
Hundreds of burning corpses fell to the ground, fire was indeed one of the ghoul's weaknesses.
But it seemed to be of no use at all, compared to the White Walker Army counted in tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands.
Losing a few hundred ghouls had absolutely no impact.
However, whether it was useful or not was one thing, and whether they should fight was another.
After several rounds of arrows from the Night's Watch, the White Walker Army, which had lost over a thousand ghouls, had reached the breach.
Crack, crack!
The ocean-like White Walker Army rushed to the base of the temporary stronghold's wall, the ghouls in the front lay directly on the ground to form a base,
while the ghouls in the back piled up on top of them, forming a slanting staircase of bones outside the temporary stronghold's wall in the manner of a human pyramid.
Gulp!
Rip!
Without any obstruction, the ghouls in the back immediately rushed up. On the front row of The Wall, the Night's Watch soldiers holding flaming spears swallowed nervously.
Then, when the first batch of ghouls climbed up, they raised their flaming spears high and thrust them down.
Crash!
The ghouls struck by the flaming spears were either directly pierced into a pile of scattered bones by the powerful force, or turned into a burning corpse and fell from the bone staircase.
After several rounds of thrusts, the Night's Watch in the front gradually stopped being nervous and mechanically used their weapons to kill the ghouls climbing onto The Wall.
They seemed to realize that ghouls only looked terrifying, but their actual combat power was not strong.
The flaming spears in their hands were completely their weakness, it was much simpler than killing wildlings.
With their flaming weapons, the Night's Watch, numbering only a few hundred, managed to temporarily stop the White Walker Army of tens of thousands.
But after only a few minutes, these Night's Watch felt as if days had passed.
The soldiers who previously felt that the White Walker Army was not much to worry about now began to experience their terror.
The number of the White Walkers seemed endless, and they were fearless of death, completely unaware of fatigue.
But after continuously thrusting their flaming spears, the Night's Watch soldiers' arms began to ache and go numb, becoming increasingly difficult to lift.
Although Lord Commander Ma Kor noticed something was wrong, he immediately had the Night's Watch waiting in the back replace the soldiers in the front, allowing them to rest before replacing them again.
But the density and attack intensity of the White Walkers were too high, not only these Night's Watch holding flaming spears, but even the Night's Watch archers shooting arrows were struggling to cope.
At this point, Lord Commander Ma Kor knew he could no longer hold back.
He ordered the Night's Watch soldiers he had specifically kept by his side to start throwing Exploding Fruits.
Boom boom boom!
Exploding Fruits trailing blue flames continuously exploded on the bone staircase.
Ghouls were blown into pieces by the force of the explosion, and scattered limbs and skeletons flew everywhere, looking like a fireworks display of bones.
During the process of using Exploding Fruits to buy time, Night's Watch and Northern Soldiers began to arrive from Mole's Town and joined this battle of life and death.
After that, the previous process was repeated. As long as their side became too tired and their formation became scattered, they would use Exploding Fruits to destroy the bone staircase and delay time.
Lord Commander Ma Kor's tactic temporarily worked, but in a prolonged battle against the White Walker Army, the living would always be the losing side.
Time slowly passed, and the sky had long since become completely dark.
After several hours of prolonged fighting, the bones and corpses piled up below the temporary stronghold had already reached the same height as The Wall.
Now the White Walkers did not need to pile up bone staircases anymore, they could just charge up directly.
And as time went on, the Night's Watch soldiers began to make more and more mistakes.
In this battle of life and death, as soon as a living person made a mistake, they would immediately be killed by the ghouls taking advantage of the opportunity, with no chance of survival.
As the Exploding Fruits were depleted, the temporary stronghold's defense line was already on the verge of collapse, and could break at any moment.
Bang bang bang!
When the corpses and bones piled up below The Wall were solid enough, the attacking ocean of others suddenly split apart.
Two huge corpse bears heavily trampled on these remains, charging into the Night's Watch's formation.
After knocking away the soldiers in the front row, the corpse bears charged into the Night's Watch's formation and continuously clawed and bit.
Although they only rampaged for a very short time before being surrounded and set on fire by over a dozen Night's Watch with flaming spears.
But the already precarious formation began to collapse with this breach as the center.
And once the Night's Watch's defensive formation broke, a large number of ghoul soldiers charged onto the temporary stronghold's wall.
The Night's Watch and Northern Soldiers who were fighting bravely in the front were submerged by the ghoul ocean within a few breaths.
Seeing this, Lord Commander Ma Kor said nothing and directly led a few Night's Watch brothers to flee towards the highest tower of the temporary stronghold.
Screams and wails continuously echoed in the temporary stronghold, but soon fell silent.
After these thousands of Night's Watch and Northern Soldiers fell, they were resurrected by a mysterious force.
Lord Commander Ma Kor stumbled to the highest tower, which turned out to be a temporary ravenry.
Seeing the elderly Night's Watch scholar still slowly writing letters, he walked up and snatched the quill pen, then quickly wrote the remaining raven letters.
During this process, ghouls chased them to the top of the tower.
But the Night's Watch brothers, holding flaming spears, formed a line with their bodies to block the ghouls.
After quickly writing and sealing the letters, Lord Commander Ma Kor and the Night's Watch scholar opened the raven cage and let all the ravens fly out.
Some of these ravens flew towards Winterfell, and some flew towards King's Landing.
Immediately after doing this, the tower's defense line also collapsed, and Lord Commander Ma Kor and the Night's Watch scholar were instantly hacked to death by the ghouls surging onto the tower.
The wildling army, the Children of the Forest, and the Black Crow Green Seer did not even need to act, and the Night's Watch and four thousand Northern Soldiers were completely annihilated.
Without dragons, perhaps the White Walkers alone could wipe out the entire Westeros!