The king on the Great Wall

Iger hadn't been woken up by a nightmare for a long time. He lay in the sweaty bed and thought for a while, realizing that this was not the future he wanted.

After all, I am a person with independent will, not an NPC who follows simple logical statements, can use money to gain favorability, and relies on data to determine behavior. So what if I gave myself 100 million golden dragons?

I do owe others favors, but whether or not to repay them, and in what way, is not a matter of my own thoughts?If there is no way to get rid of the shackles of the night watchman's identity without bringing them a catastrophe while protecting the Stark family, then what if he will be the commander-in-chief of the night watchman army for the rest of his life?

No matter how low the bottom line is, there must be one.

-

Chapter 331 The Legendary Retirement

The process of thinking before and after was the most painful. After making a decision in his heart, Iger relaxed a lot. He forced himself to forget the emotional impact of Roose Bolton's hints on him, and devoted himself to the current work first.

This is quite easy to do when the opponent is a White Walker.

This time I went south to borrow money from the northern princes. Iger’s expected goal was 3 to 5 gold dragons, but in the end I found that I was not the first commander-in-chief who came to ask for money as soon as he took office. There is a psychological price, and there is no room for bargaining at all. You can only get as much as you give.

From the mouths of a bunch of families other than Bolton, he picked out a total of about [-] golden dragons, but with the [-] borrowed by the old peeling, the total was unexpectedly close to the minimum goal—and among them More than half of it still needs to be repaid.

The promise of funding has been obtained, but no one will bring so much money to the battlefield. Next, Iger has to send his men to bring tokens to the cities of various families to withdraw money... Apart from money, Robb, the lord of the northern border, is not bad. Reliably and proactively provided manpower support - he notified the entire territory north of the Neck that he ruled, and ordered the idle masonry, carpenters and other craftsmen to gather in Winterfell, preparing to go north to support the construction of the west coast military port.

There is no shortage of land-grant labor, but there are almost no skilled masters... The participation of this group of people will greatly help the overall quality of Iger's manpower, and it will also greatly save him the cost of searching and hiring talents .Robb attaches so much importance to the construction of the military port, which is quite useful to Iger.After thinking about it, he planned to take a trip to Winterfell, get the "donation" from the Stark family and receive this group of professionals, and then return to Houguan Town together.It can be regarded as respect for the guardians of the northern border, and by the way, he also showed his attitude of attaching importance to technical talents.

***

With the construction and development of the land-grant, Houguan Town, as its core, communicated more and more frequently with all aspects of the south, and Winterfell, located on the King's Road, inevitably became an important transit point. At both ends, there are employees of the Night Watchman Industry who are on business trips passing by and temporarily staying.

It stands to reason that uninvited but frequent guests are often unwelcome, but under Robb's instructions, Winterfell dare not neglect at all.In addition to increasing the number of servants to ensure that there are no delays, there are even designated rooms in the guest room building for the staff of the Night Watch Legion who come and go.

At this moment, Iger was on the sidelines of the school field in front of the guest room building, breathing fresh air while observing the drill of the left-behind soldiers in the center of the field.

Although he really wanted to quietly take the money and take the craftsmen and leave, it's a pity that the castle is so big, it's really hard to hide the news of his visit from the second lady.

Sure enough, after standing there for a while, Arya excitedly ran over to him.

"Master, master!"

Although his scalp was numb, Iger still put on an expression of a kind elder, thinking that he was Arya who came to see her specially, and Myrcella who was following her—no, it should be called Maeve now Nod.

"Master." Arya took him by the arm without hesitation: "Maeve said she wanted to ask how her two brothers were doing on the Great Wall, but she was too embarrassed to come alone, so I accompanied her. "

"They're not on the Great Wall." Iger smiled gently at the former princess of the Baratheon Dynasty, "but in Houguan Town, far away from the front line, in the school I ran for the land-grant residents, as a night watchman" 'Land-grant students——Of course, the position is to take care of them, but they are actually studying. I asked the teacher to take extra care. Given their foundation and foundation of bachelor's education, most of them will be very relaxed."

"My lord said so, I am relieved, thank you so much—"

"I told you, my master will definitely take good care of your brother. As long as Joffrey doesn't think he's a prince and bullies others... Hmph." Arya interrupted Mia hastily Saila's words, and then the excitement on her face quickly turned into annoyance for some reason: "Master, it will be my No.13 name day soon!"

Naming day is the birthday in the concept of Westeros.Iger was a little surprised, and quickly made an apologetic expression: "Oh, that's right...too bad, I didn't prepare a gift for you."

"Ah bah, who wants your gift!" Arya stomped her feet resentfully: "That Harry is here and said he wants to spend name day with me!"

"Which Harry?" Iger was at a loss, it couldn't be Harry Potter.

Iger's question immediately revealed that he didn't care about his own affairs at all, which annoyed the girl.Arya shook Iger's arm that was being pulled by her angrily, and even pinched him: "Harold Hutton! The heir of my cousin Robert Arryn, everyone calls him 'Heir Harry' Oh, it's my fiancé!"

Oh, it turned out to be the case.Iger suddenly realized that it wasn't because he had a bad memory, but that this person had nothing to do with him, so there was no need to remember it.

No wonder Mrs. Caitlin specially sent someone to Houguan Town to urge the girl to go home a few weeks ago. It turned out that the son-in-law came to see the person: "Why, is he so eager to marry you? In the northern border, at what age can you get married? ?”

"I don't know, it seems that there is no rule." Arya cried sadly, "Anyway, 13 years old is fine, what should I do, I don't want to get married yet."

"Probably not, Harry probably just came to see you at the request of the elders of the family—to start cultivating feelings." Myrcella, who was following Arya, comforted in a low voice: "The 13-year-old has indeed reached the recognized The minimum age for marriage, but under normal circumstances, only when the man's power is far stronger than the woman's family, or both parties are eager to confirm the alliance through this marriage, will they marry so early. In the case of Arya, at least 16 years old Before, the Hatton family didn't dare to rush."

……

After all, Myrcella was born as a princess, so she understands the rules of this noble game quite well.

The reason why the Stark family arranged Arya's marriage is because the current lord of the valley, Robert Arryn, the Duke of the Eagle's Nest City, is a poor child with epilepsy, in extremely poor health, and may leave heirs at any time He died before—and among the surviving nobles of the Valley, "Heir Harry" became the first heir to the Eagle's Nest City because his grandmother's surname was Ayrin.

But Robert Arryn is still alive and well, and he is the cousin of the Duke of Winterfell. The alliance between the North and the Valley is natural and strong in terms of blood and politics. Confirming the alliance relationship" is obviously not satisfied-Arya's marriage contract, to put it bluntly, is just an insurance that needs to be activated in the worst case.

As a medium-sized family that is not ranked high in the valley, the Hatton family cannot be called a "powerful man" in a marriage with a powerful lord family like Stark. Naturally, they are not qualified to decide the date of marriage. Looking at his own bride, she had to take the opportunity of celebrating her name day to come all the way here.

……

"Do you hear me? Pray for your little cousin. As long as he is alive, no one will rush you before the age of 16, so why panic?" She held her arm: "Your fiancé—who, isn't he afraid that seeing you like this, being jealous will be bad for you in the future?"

"It's still on the road, and it will take two days to arrive." Arya clings to Iger's side sullenly: "But I just don't want to get married, not now, not at the age of 16, and never."

"What nonsense are you talking about? Is this something you want or not?" Iger sighed helplessly, and remembered Roose Bolton's hint again.The status of the Stark family is being coveted. Arya, as the second lady, is still full of naive thoughts and does not want to fulfill her obligation as a noble lady to stabilize the family status. This is really...

"Master, help me find a way to call off the marriage."

Pfft, the legendary divorce?Famous scene!

This familiar word caused Iger to have a series of strange associations in an instant. Fortunately, under his strong reason, he quickly gathered his thoughts and glared at the girl: "What are you thinking about? Can marriage be canceled at will? Even Yes, what can I say as the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch?"

"Nothing can trouble you, what's so terrible about helping your most obedient disciple get divorced!" Arya squirmed, twisting her body and rubbing against him: "Oh, I don't care, anyway, you have to give I'll think of a way, at least...at least three!"

Hey, yes, I am only your apprentice, the most obedient, the most beautiful, the cutest, the best, there is no competitor anyway, why don't you just say whatever you want?Iger has a huge head, and he will give outsiders the impression that he can solve any problem, not because he is really good, but because he never does things that he is not sure about.

But to help the younger sister who guards the north to withdraw from the engagement?This tm is not a matter of "how sure you are" at all, it is simply impossible to start!

"Don't make trouble!"

"I'm going to make a fuss!" Arya, who seemed to have grasped at straws, of course refused, "If you don't give me three ideas today, I won't leave here, and I'll crawl into your bed at night!"

Oh my god, Iger wailed in his heart, why does this brat dare to talk nonsense, but there are others listening here!I really should have left Deepwood Castle and returned directly to Houguan Town. Who can handle the matter of getting money and receiving people in Winter City!

"Okay, okay, I'll give you an idea!" Arya really dared to sneak into her bed at night, Iger didn't doubt this at all, and was afraid that the crazy girl would reveal the fact that the two slept together. Hurry up and give in. "You let go first."

"Hmm." The girl let go as she said, and stood there happily looking at him, complacent, probably because she thought: As long as it was Iger's idea, it would be 100% effective.

……

The enemy was in front of him, but he had to deal with Roose Bolton, who had an evil heart, and he had to think about how to help a noble girl get divorced. Life was so absurd.Iger secretly decided: as long as there are no knives in the sky, he will set off for Houguan Town as soon as Winterfell opens tomorrow morning, and send his subordinates to handle the matter here.

The headache was a headache, but he still started to think seriously, trying to come up with three plans to deal with the business as soon as possible - get rid of this little she-wolf first, and let the day pass by.

-

Chapter 332 The Legendary Retirement

So, in Westeros, under what circumstances can a marriage contract be canceled?

Iger never thought that theoretically he should not marry a wife or have children, but before he got rid of his identity as a night watchman, he would have to think about this kind of nonsense that has nothing to do with the whole game of chess... He has a lot of love for the people in the world of ice and fire. Marriage rules are poorly understood.Fortunately, I don’t know if it’s because I get along well with Arya, or because Iger is grateful to Iger for taking care of my brother, but Myrcella on the side is eager to help, not only taking the initiative to join the discussion, but even actively providing suggestions.

***

The cancellation of a marriage contract can be divided into two categories, active and passive.

One of the two parties to the marriage contract voluntarily proposes to cancel the marriage contract, and obtains the approval of the authoritative department - the church, and publicizes the result, which is the so-called divorce in the usual sense.

There are many examples, Iger is more impressed by the situation of Joffrey and Sansa in the original plot: after the Battle of the Blackwater River, the Lannister family needs to form an alliance with the Tyrell family to maintain their rule, so the imperial council voluntarily passed the And proposed to cancel the marriage contract between Lannister and the Stark family, and let Joffrey marry Margaery instead.At that time, the church was still under the control of the royal power, and agreeing to the dissolution of the marriage contract was of course just a formality, and all the procedures were naturally completed without any hindrance.

But right now, it is not the managers of the two families who want to divorce, but the personal wish of the little girl Arya.The road of officially retiring the marriage is obviously not feasible, so it can only go sideways.

……

What is the so-called side door or passive divorce?

Due to some special circumstances, the marriage contract "naturally expires".

What are the special circumstances mentioned here?

1. One party dies.There is no doubt about this, of course Iger will not persuade Arya to commit suicide, then...

"If you find a way to kill your fiancé, you don't have to worry about getting married."

"What." Arya jumped up. "I want to get divorced! It's not about becoming a widow and a murderer, that doesn't count!"

"Hey, hey, I'm just giving you an idea. It's up to you whether you adopt it or not." Naturally, Iger doesn't bargain with the girl. It doesn't matter if this one doesn't count or that one. It won't be until the year of the monkey to make up three ideas? "Whether you admit it or not, this is indeed a way to satisfy your wish of 'not getting married'."

"But if this one dies, there will be another one. Should I kill them one by one? You're cheating!"

"Okay, since you are unwilling to adopt this plan, let's skip it and think about the second one."

Regardless of the girl's reaction, she talked to herself, and one-third of it was forcibly achieved.

2. Myrcella mentioned: converting to religion and declaring abstinence.

There are many examples, typical ones are Baylor I who is fanatical about religion, Lancel Lannister in the original plot line, etc...

But this plan faces a problem: people in the north generally believe in the old gods, and the teachings of the old gods never include abstinence.And if Arya went to a big city in the south, such as King's Landing, to ask the bishop to convert and become a nun in order to retire... Most likely, her mother would send someone to chase her back and break her leg halfway.

"You can cultivate a good relationship with your fiancé, and then influence him with faith, let him voluntarily dedicate himself and convert to the Seven Gods."

"Are you trying to think of a way? I don't even believe in the Seven Gods!" Arya stared at Iger angrily, "Even if you believe me, do you think I have the ability?"

"Practice if you don't have the skills, use half of your enthusiasm for practicing sword skills and riding skills to practice eloquence, it will definitely be handy."

"Actually, you don't have to convert to the Seven Gods." Myrcella, who was standing by the side, said at this time, "Isn't it true that night watchmen can't get married? Lord Iger happens to be the commander-in-chief. If a circular is issued to call on the nobles of the northern border and the valley Join the Legion and seek honor..."

"Look, Maeve is younger than you, and her mind is much more flexible than yours." Iger nodded approvingly: "The Night Watch Corps just needs such a noble-born, educated and trained young man. I will post such a post later. Announcement, the rest is up to you.”

This idea is feasible in theory. In fact, when the Night Watchman was first established and the threat of the White Walkers had not disappeared, there were indeed a large number of people of noble origin who would choose to wear black clothes for honor.However, no matter when and where, there are very few examples of the first-line heir joining the Night Watchman. Most of them are low-priority heirs who will never have the chance to inherit the territory and title, or simply illegitimate children.

Iger has never heard of any normal duke-level heir who would take the initiative to join the Night Watchman—for nobles, even if the sky falls, inheritance is the most important thing.

Of course, Arya couldn't figure out the secrets of these night watchmen right away. She sullenly said, "Well, let me try, there are more."

3. One party to the marriage contract has a de facto marriage with another person.

In the laws of Westeros, "marriage" is unconditionally higher than "marriage contract". As long as the union of a man and a woman is voluntary, and is presided over and witnessed by monks, a de facto marriage will be formed.In this case, other engagements between the two parties to anyone are naturally invalid - the famous example is of course Robb Stark and Jeyne Westerling in an alternate timeline: after Young Wolf insisted on marrying a After marrying the daughter of a declining nobleman in the West, his engagement with the Frey family automatically expires without notice.

This one made Iger see some feasibility.

"You said you hated that Harry because he had an illegitimate child?"

"That's right, I heard there's more than one!" Arya complained angrily, "It's disgusting!"

"Disgusting is disgusting, but at least it shows that he is very smart, not the kind of idiot who would get dizzy because of love, but an old driver who can distinguish the difference between carnal enjoyment and marriage..."

"What does Musky mean?"

"That's what it means to be a vagabond." Iger was not interrupted, "Smart people like this climbed up the big tree of the Stark house—unless King Stannis agrees with the princess again, it is absolutely impossible." If you don’t dare, you won’t get dizzy, and let you not marry someone else. Then you can only find a way from yourself, you find someone you like—and reach a de facto marriage with him.”

"Ah? It's so troublesome, but I don't want to get married, not with anyone!"

Iger ignored her naive fantasies and continued on his own: "Remember, it must be 'marriage'. It's useless to just 'female'! The boy you finally pick must have a certain status And family background, definitely not the kind of small role that your brother can kick aside without hesitation - it is best to choose from the northern, river, valley and crown princes. As long as they are loyal to Stannis The king's is your brother's ally and supporter, once you reach a de facto marriage, no matter how angry your brother and mother are, they can't deny it."

The reason why I want to emphasize it is because there are many counterexamples, including the big villain and good friend Iger once personally dealt with, Littlefinger Petyr Baelish, and the little devil Tyrion Lannister.

When Littlefinger was young, he took away Lysa Tully's virginity and made the latter's belly bigger. Unfortunately, because the two did not love each other, they did not try to create a marriage fact. The end result was naturally expelled by the old Duke Tully. Home, and from then on began the path of distortion and madness.

And the story of Tyrion and the peasant girl?They not only went to bed, but also held a wedding ceremony under the witness of monks.Although the conditions were simple, the procedure was not bad, and a true de facto marriage was completed.It's a pity that the ending is - when Duke Tywin got angry, he called the girl directly and said that she was a female branch girl, and asked his guards to take turns to go to her. In this world, who would stand up for a peasant girl?

Powerful nobles can directly deny the validity of the marriage of their heirs or vassals. If they do not have a certain level of strength or the protection of equal or higher nobles such as the king, they will be dismantled even if they actually get married, let alone sleeping.

Arya frowned and hummed in pain: "Why is it so complicated?"

"Actually, there are other ways, similar ideas." Myrcella said again kindly: "When I was young, someone told me the story of a noble lady—she fell in love with her sister's fiancé when she was a girl. One night when I visited Zijia City, I suddenly walked into his room by 'wrong way'." The little princess's snowy and pink cheeks suddenly flushed, "Then the next day, she became her own. Originally, the fiancée of the future brother-in-law, and in order to cover up her growing belly, the two families hurriedly held the wedding."

"What a bitch, who is this?" Arya showed a disgusted expression, "But my sister doesn't have a fiancé, even if she does, I...I can't crawl into his bed in the middle of the night."

"Hasn't Sansa chosen a new marriage partner yet?" Iger was a little puzzled, but after thinking about it, Joffrey had only joined the Night's Watch for less than a year. style. "Maeve's meaning is not to ask you to climb someone's bed, but to provide a possible reference: raw rice and cooked rice. If you can find a way to match your fiancé and your sister Sansa, let them love each other It is difficult to restrain oneself from doing inappropriate things... For the Hutton family, Sansa is also named Stark, and even the eldest daughter; but for your family, in order to cover up the scandal, Sansa can only Make the wrong mistake and marry your sister to him instead."

Arya tilted her head and thought about the possibility of doing this carefully. Although it is still a bit troublesome-at least it is much easier than going to other noble heirs to marry secretly: "Well... it may be successful, Shan Shake is much prettier than me, if I give that Harry a chance, he will definitely be tempted!"

"There are no ugly women, only lazy women." Iger raised his arm and rubbed Arya's haystack-like hair. As the girl gradually developed into a young girl, the height difference between the two kept shrinking. He rarely did this now. Some actions are against harmony: "Don't tell me that you don't comb your hair when you go out, because you want your fiancé to see your ugly appearance and want to divorce? How can I come here, don't dress neatly , don’t come to see the master!”

"I'm so happy to hear that you're here."

Iger withdrew his hand: "Okay, you want three ideas, and now I have given you four, so you are satisfied."

Not very satisfied, and the fourth one was obviously made by Myrcella.Arya pursed her lips, rolled her eyeballs a few times, and finally decided to try the last solution first, and if it really doesn't work... let's talk.

"Hmm, I'm satisfied for now. But master, Winterfell is really boring, why don't you stay with me for two days, after my name day is over, you can take me to Houguan Town, okay?"

Is the land grant so attractive?If I hadn't managed to drive Littlefinger away, and your elder brother had met his current sister-in-law first, you would have been unable to return home at this time, and now you are in the midst of blessings and don't know your blessings. You find the warmest and safest place boring.

Iger rolled his eyes, restrained himself and blurted out a thoughtful sentence: "Houguan Town is the front line compared to Winterfell, and there are dangers everywhere. Do you think it's fun? Stop thinking about it, stay here and listen to your brother. And mother, don’t annoy the nuns, I will definitely welcome you when they allow you to come to give the land again.”

"They will never allow me to go to the land grant again!" Arya grabbed his arm and shook it again: "You don't know how much effort I put in to get Robb to agree to take me on a tour of the Great Wall last time." My goodness!"

"How come, listen, I have an idea... Do you still remember the big heart tree under the Long Night Fort, I plan to build it into a pilgrimage site, open to all descendants of the ancestors who believe in the old gods." Iger said casually : "You behaved obediently in Winterfell, and you will definitely have the opportunity to go to the Great Wall with your family to worship the old gods in the future. Then I will take you to see more interesting things, okay?"

"really?"

"When did I lie to you!"

It was true, of course, that the Pilgrim's Inns at the Nightfort and Queenstown were even being built... but not so that the Second Lady Stark would have a reason to frequent the Land Grant.Far away is to lay the foundation for possible future Great Wall tourism projects; near... firstly, it is a labor relief, and secondly—as a believer in the old gods, if someone really comes to see the luminous heart tree and make a wish to the old gods, it must be done. Honor some incense money, shall we?In this era, those who can travel far are either rich or expensive, and maybe they can rely on this to make a small sum of money to subsidize the land-grant economy.

In order to raise money to develop the military industry, the managers of the land grants have really racked their brains.