The king on the Great Wall

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Chapter 390 The Little Counselor Myrcella

A pair of master and apprentice walked and fought, and soon found Myrcella who had just returned from her brother's place.

The little princess is still well-behaved, sensible, and exquisite. She expressed her gratitude to Iger the first time she saw him—sincerely.Although she had received Iger's promise before, she did not expect that the commander-in-chief of the night watchman would keep the matter of her troubled princess in mind so much. After setting off for East China Sea Watch and boarding the ship to go south, someone followed the order and found a kitten for her brother Tommen. It was a healthy, beautiful, weaned kitten that was easy to feed.

Although the Stark family is also good to her, it feels quite different to be "taken care of by the way" and "respected and taken to heart".

After talking about adjusting the room to let the two girls live in the same room, they talked about the dilemma Iger was facing in the casual chat on the way back together.

"Severe penalties must be imposed on defections that openly violate orders, otherwise it will be difficult for adults to manage the gifted land in the future." The little princess said earnestly, "But if the methods are too cruel, it is easy to provoke backlash. I recorded in the history I have seen many similar stories in the book: the king executed the rebellious or disrespectful nobles, and the nobles’ families and heirs expressed their obedience to the treatment at the time, but they secretly held grudges, continued to obey others, and even participated in conspiracy behind the scenes. In the midst of the turmoil, you once again stand against the king. Your lord is now the king of the land grant, so you must pay special attention to methods and means when dealing with this kind of matter."

"The metaphor of the king is not appropriate, but indeed, this is exactly my concern." Iger nodded in agreement, and then deliberately glanced at Arya, the meaning could not be more clear: look at other people's children, don't think about it all day play.

Miss Stark was instantly upset by this stare, and immediately expressed her opinion: "It would be better to just kill the son, and then split up his subjects and assign them to other tribes for management. Solve the problem from the root , haven’t you used this trick before?”

Myrcella shook her head: "Cutting weeds and rooting out sounds like a pleasure, and it is indeed the safest... But Mr. Iger is now facing his own subjects, not enemies. It cannot be generalized. The Commander established a school for education and management, rather than simply being placed under house arrest. The children sent by these new land-grant families must not only take them as hostages, but also hope to influence their thoughts and gain their loyalty. Now he has to consider not only the thoughts of that child, but also the impact of his actions on them. The impact on the image in the eyes of these children and all land-grant residents. "A classmate was executed because of his father's mistake" will make all the children of the people outside the Great Wall have the impression that the commander-in-chief is cruel and ruthless. If the adults leave from the beginning It's okay to take a tough line, but your "pro-savage faction" attribute has been deeply ingrained in the eyes of everyone. If your words, deeds and work style are inconsistent, you will not only bear a bad reputation of being moody and unstable, but also attract the night watchmen. The contempt and ridicule of the opponents who opposed the acceptance of the savages. The result of dissatisfaction at both ends is worse than doing things impartially and only killing the leader."

Arya could only roughly understand this passage, but she could feel that Myrcella's words were well-founded and well-organized, and she was even more unconvinced when she felt that she was being compared in front of her master: "Then tell me, what should my master do now?"

"Hmm..." Myrcella's little doll-like face made a serious expression of thought, revealing an unexpectedly cute feeling.After a while, she had an idea: "Isn't your lord the commander-in-chief of the night watchman? He obviously has a ready-made solution, why not use it?"

After being reminded by this, Arya immediately thought of it, and hurriedly shouted out: "Ah! Let that leader wear black! Send him to the most dangerous front line of the Grand Canyon!"

"That's right. If he dies in the battle against the White Walkers, everyone will be happy. As long as he is honored fairly, no one can hold a grudge against Lord Iger for a soldier who died in battle... Even if he has been safe and sound, Staying with the night watchman will not pose any threat to adults."

Hey!

Iger raised his eyebrows. He also thought of this idea, but what he didn't expect was that a 12-year-old girl could come up with a proposal that coincided with his thoughtful thoughts in less than a minute. The same plan... This is nothing. What really surprised him was that Myrcella was able to see the purpose behind the establishment of the school, analyze the disadvantages and advantages of doing this and that, and the most powerful thing—— He thought of a way, but deliberately reminded Arya to let her answer first, so as not to make the former too stupid by showing off all the time... making the relationship between the "sisters" rigid.

Arya, who is not stupid, was compared and almost crushed. This operation cannot be summed up in terms of ice and snow intelligence!

For the first time, Iger looked at Myrcella with interest without looking a girl in the eye.

It was different from what the little princess thought: his previous politeness and friendliness were not so much that he took her affairs to heart, but rather the basic politeness and trustworthiness that modern people have long been accustomed to.But it was only then that he really began to face up to this former little princess who was both talented, courageous and wise.

But Myrcella's idea was not finished yet.

"Also, my lord, you can still proceed according to the previous plan: let the child decide how to deal with his father first, and see his attitude. If he begs you to let his father live, you will pretend to be embarrassed." Introducing a 'compromise plan', agreeing to let his father put on black clothes to avoid death for atonement, not only implemented the original plan, but also gained favor and loyalty in vain, wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone?"

"This... really belongs to you."

She was only a little interested before, but now Iger hardly knows how to praise her.

This kind of trick already has a written name in the world where Iger originally came from, it is called imperial power.As a huge discipline and art, its content is even more complicated and all-encompassing than "The Prince". It is easy to say, but it is another matter to skillfully apply it in real life...Myrcella is a little girl, how can she Will be so proficient in this kind of thing?Is it because she is in a particularly good state today and seems full of wit, or is it that her IQ, EQ and knowledge are so high and rich, but there is no place and opportunity to play in the original plot?

Now, Iger has a stable, high-execution, and loyal subordinate under his command. What he lacks is knowledge, knowledge of Westeros, and the ability to make suggestions for himself, providing another way of thinking to avoid the situation The counselor that appeared.After transmigrating into this world, Iger has already mastered the lower identities to fool the status class and the people above him, but now, he has gradually lost the opportunity to use this skill, and the reversed above control Next, he has very little experience.

This is another brand new field, if Myrcella's level and wisdom in this area are so high... then it is the help that I lack!

Iger sighed.Even if Myrcella's behavior today is no accident, she is still a girl, Cersei and Jaime's child—just like she is not qualified to advise Arya's marriage arrangements: as Catelyn Tully's nominal The actual hostage of his adopted daughter, because of emotion and reason, Iger has no position or reason to ask her to come over and put her by his side.

Pity.

***

In the following days, Iger took Arya to wander around Houguan Town as promised—of course, he didn’t deliberately make time to play with her, but he needed to regain control of his territory after leaving for a period of time. A lot of final preparation work also needs to be personally supervised and guided.Anyway, I must run around, and the time wasted by bringing one more person while doing these tasks is limited, but it can not only relieve Miss Stark's boredom, but also make her feel that she is concerned and valued.

No way, the girl's unintentional statement of the truth earlier made Iger a little uneasy: he did accept her as an apprentice at first because he regarded her as a quick channel to inquire about news.But—it is true that the essence of the human world is py trading and mutual utilization, but most of the time, it is still necessary to cover up with some glamorous things such as feelings, loyalty, etc., in order to make things warmer and more acceptable... … Arya grew up slowly, became sensible, and was no longer as easy to fool as she was when she was a child. Iger now dare not casually leave her aside and ignore her.In case one day she feels that she is used up and abandoned - a friend who turns his face can cause much more damage than an enemy.

What was different from the past was that now, when he had the opportunity, he would also bring Myrcella along.This little princess has shown extraordinary intelligence. Although I don't know what it is useful for, there is nothing wrong with brushing her favorability.

Iger first inspected the crowded residential areas in the outer city and the piles of tents outside the city wall, and responded to the rumor that he was "afraid that the ghosts would run away" by speaking personally.Among them, he especially went to visit and observe the giant who was temporarily settled outside the city wall.

The residences of these big guys are actually not too far from Houguan Town, but considering their slow action and slow temper, Iger still included them in the "first batch of asylum seekers" when arranging the plan-that is, they should Immediately set off to retreat to the group in Houguan Town.Even under such circumstances, the speed of these lazy big men still exceeded his expectations: from the habitat to Houguan Township, which was less than a hundred miles away, they took ten days to arrive, almost They didn't go there when the false alarm happened, and they really killed the guide who was in charge of leading the way.

Considering the size and strength of the giants, once they clashed with people inside the crowded city walls, it would cause too much damage, so Yam temporarily placed them in the wilderness outside the city gates.These big men aroused Arya's great interest, but despite the girl's strong demands, Iger still refused her desire to get close to the giants - to touch the giants.

……

Then there is the preparation of the big killer in the industrial area: Under Iger's waking up, Cobain found out the correct purification plan for "salt nitrate" in almost half a day.Under the vertical command of the headquarters, the entire industrial area, except that the iron smelting department still provides the production and repair of conventional weapons and equipment, and the foundry workshop assigned to Tob Mott is also responsible for recasting the Dark Sister, so it is retained. Most of the weapon research and experimentation work was stopped—the vacated space, equipment and personnel were all put into the purification of salty nitrate and the assembly of dragon crystal bombs.

Although Dragonstone Island was occupied and blocked by Daenerys, the Night Watchman temporarily lost the source of obsidian and brimstone, but fortunately, the previous hoard was sufficient.Bombs are being produced at an average rate of dozens per day, but... As the ultimate trump card, these big killers have already been mature models that have undergone numerous real-explosion tests and improvements in the secret proving ground. Take a look and take a look, but you don't want to play with them just to make them happy.

In stark contrast to the continuous production of balls, there are a large number of flame-out copper smelting furnaces with different sizes, thicknesses and thicknesses, and piles of open-ended tubes: the casting department has successfully solved the problem after difficult research. Overcoming the difficulty of molding, the cannon-shaped bronze wares were cast. The distance from copper tubes to cannons is only a matter of further improvement in material and control of precision and power. But obviously, at this most critical juncture, Iger cannot take the precious Gunpowder will be tested for shooting weapons again—unless the Night King waits another half a year on the opposite side of the Grand Canyon, the artillery will be put into actual combat, mostly after the battle.

……

The Grand Canyon and Seal Bay still send back information for help every day, and the preparation of the big killer is done step by step, with no mistakes or surprises... In this full-scale battle-like atmosphere, the casting of "Bright Messenger" has also gone smoothly. Noisily set foot on the right track.

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Chapter 391 Legendary Arrow

Despite the hype, Tob Mott was really the first time to cast a real Valyrian steel sword-and Iger just regarded casting arrows as a leisurely game, and it didn't matter if it didn't work. On the contrary: casting things is his King's Landing The first blacksmith's profession and career, he couldn't tolerate such a big failure on his glamorous resume.Recasting the Dark Sisters will be an opportunity that he will never encounter again in his life. As a real executive, he is more nervous than the sword holder in terms of tension.Neibao was busy because of the lack of rooms, but he decided to go all out, so as soon as he arrived in Houguan Town, he took his apprentices to move into the No. [-] Foundry Workshop with the most complete facilities, and even slept there at night. I have never used the guest room that Yam vacated on purpose.

It took half a day to make sure that the required tools and equipment were all available, and to start the furnace to familiarize itself with the performance of the fire. It took another day and a half to successfully recast the small tile steel lump he brought into several arrowheads. One day, Tob Mott found Iger and claimed that he was "ready" and took the Dark Sister from him.

Such a rare and extraordinary sword, of course Iger had to send someone to watch it so as not to be dropped, but in the end it was an extraordinary person who carried out this task: Melissa who insisted from the beginning that "the dark sister is the sword of prophecy" Zhuo offered to supervise the whole casting process.

Ten workers responsible for maintaining the flames and cooperating with the recasting brought their bedding into the No. [-] foundry workshop. Firelight and hot air leaked through the cracks in the door and small windows, and the white smoke from the chimney on the roof never stopped day and night.After more than ten hours of closed work, the tall apprentice boy with muscular arms and chest came and knocked on Iger's door, telling him that the arrows he ordered had been cast.

……

It's not exciting, but there is indeed a bit of anticipation.Iger quickly called Arya and her little princess sisters to the foundry outside the inner castle.

It was not without reason that we chose to start work yesterday afternoon: so arranged, the most critical recasting and shaping phases would be postponed until late at night - the quiet winter night in Houcrown Town, which ensures the casters can concentrate , not affected by external factors.

At least that's how Tob Mott explained it to the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.

Melisandre expressed no objection to this—as long as the magic power in her body or necklace was sufficient, she could not eat, drink, or sleep, and she didn't even need to go to the toilet. For her, there was no difference between day and night.Although she didn't take her eyes off the melting and casting process for a moment, she still looked radiant and radiant, but Master Tob Mott, who had worked all night, showed exhaustion that couldn't be concealed on her face... …But he looked full of pride and a sense of accomplishment. Just one look at his expression made Iger guess that the recasting should have achieved commendable results.

"I recast your sword into 71 arrowheads, my lord." The blacksmith said proudly with his chin raised, and pushed a wooden box on the countertop towards Iger, "except for the iron juice that was stuck in the pot at the end and can't be poured out." , failed to cast the No.70 two arrowheads, the loss rate is almost zero, you can check and even weigh it at will!"

If you don't look carefully, it's easy to see the pile of things in the box as a large handful of iron nails, but in fact they are dozens of arrowheads neatly stacked together.They are shimmering under the light of the flickering fire and candlelight in the room, with faint red and black ripples flowing, even a layman can know that they are not common objects.

Iger glanced at the red-robed woman, saw that she had no expression, understood what the other party said was true, and nodded with a smile on his face: "Very well, the process went smoothly?"

"It's not bad, but there's no need to hide it from you: in fact, it didn't go as smoothly as expected." Tobu didn't bother to brag, "The process of melting the sword took a little longer than expected. The one you provided, my lord The sword seems to be slightly different from the tile steel I bought. I increased the firepower and used a higher temperature to melt it. In addition, Ms. Melisandre used some fire spells to help in the final stage of pouring and forming. Let the one-time forming rate reach 100%, without any rework."

"It's more than that." The red-robed girl said coldly, "The spells and magic crystals you prepared are all ordinary items from the rotten street. Recasting ordinary tile steel is enough, but Longgang... If I didn't maintain it in the second half of the spell, I don't know how much precious magic power has to be dissipated."

The blacksmith showed embarrassment, nodded and said: "Yes, you have worked hard."

Looking at the expressions of the two of them, Iger can probably guess the ins and outs of the matter: people like Melisandre have no reason to lie to claim credit for themselves, and most of what they say is true.It's a pity that Tob Mott, as a mortal, might not be able to notice the difference in the concentration of magic power contained in dragon steel and ordinary tile steel... I have some doubts about what the witch said, but I dare not confront a real person Only the Priest of the King of Light of magic would admit to such insincere words.

"It's good when it's done, let's not talk about those twists and turns." Iger was in a good mood and didn't have time to think about these details.He picked up an arrowhead and looked at it carefully: it was about five centimeters long and tapered, with a cold light shining on the ridgeline and the tip, and a longer needle-like thing was attached to the back of the buttocks, so thin, It is almost unbearable to make people suspect that the hand can be broken...Of course, the scene where it breaks only exists in the imagination, this is extremely strong Valyrian steel, the palm of the hand is hard, let alone break If it is broken or bent, even the deformation is so subtle that it is difficult to detect, and when it relaxes, it becomes a straight arrow again.

"My lord, when explaining the details, you asked me to give priority to penetration, and to cast as many as possible while ensuring the lethality. When I designed the arrowhead, I took all your requirements into consideration." Taub Also picked up one, and introduced it to the former boastfully, "If you want to divide it into as many parts as possible, it means that the weight of each arrowhead should be as light as possible... and at the same time, the penetrability must be guaranteed. Among several designs, the triangular pointed cone and back collar were finally chosen."

……

Iger did explain these two requirements, and the motivation behind them is actually very simple: wanting to cast more copies is nothing more than hoping to have more opportunities to shoot the Night King at the most critical moment.And the requirement to put penetrability first, the reason is even more simple - Longsteel's killing of the aliens relies on the magic power of the fire attribute in it rather than physical destruction, and the arrowhead does not need to make any complicated blood tanks Or barbs, as long as they can shoot through the armor or cover of the White Walkers at the most critical moment, and pierce into their bodies!

He lowered his head and carefully observed the arrow in his hand, and found that Tobu had indeed implemented his request in place, nodded and approved the other party's explanation, and waited for him to continue.

"The triangular pointed cone is both penetrating and simple in structure and saves materials. It didn't take much trouble to make this choice. However, I took some time to choose the connection method between the arrowhead and the arrow shaft: the connection method is nothing more than two There are two types, hole type and collar type. The popular explanation is that one is that there is a hole in the arrowhead, and the shaft of the arrow is inserted into the arrowhead, and the other is that there is a needle-shaped tail behind the arrowhead, and the arrowhead is inserted into the shaft." The leader was willing to listen to his own explanation of the details, and the blacksmith seemed to be in high spirits, "Generally speaking, the hole type obviously saves material compared with the collar type, but the thickest part of the triangular pointed cone is similar to a normal arrow shaft. Make a hole in the back that can be inserted into the arrow shaft, and the entire structure of the arrow will have to be redesigned. Either destroy the smooth shape, or grow thicker and add a butt...In the end, the material consumption will increase instead, not to mention the precision of the hole type. After some trade-offs, I finally chose the collar style... And after taking this step, I thought about the combination plan, that is: the arrowhead is Valyrian steel, but the arrow collar is made of iron or copper, etc. Other metals are used instead to save material. Unfortunately, practical experience tells me that there is no other metal that can be well integrated with tile steel. If you want the arrowhead to be strong and durable, you must form it in one piece, and the whole body is made of Valyrian steel. "

"A single arrowhead, there are so many ways!" Arya was amazed, and picked up an arrowhead to measure it carefully—of course, she couldn't see anything, only knew that it was Wagang, and My family's sword Hanbing is just the same expensive material, "Master, can you give me one, I can hang it around my neck as a talisman, or plug it into my hair as a hairpin! Father's Hanbing is still in the hands of Margaret's family, I'll be the only Stark with Valyrian steel weapons then."

"Ice is in the hands of Tyrell's family? Did they ask to return the sword?" Iger really doesn't know about this, but think about it, the two families are still in a state of war, and they probably can't agree, "Wait The war is over, it’s okay to give you and Maeve one each, now, these arrowheads must be used by the warriors fighting against the White Walkers.”

"I can also shoot arrows, and I can shoot very well. Sir Rodrik has said that there are not many girls in the Seven Kingdoms who are better at archery than me!"

"Uh——" Iger was at a loss for words. He really hadn't tested Arya's archery skills. There were not many girls in the Seven Kingdoms who were better at archery than her—what kind of level is this?While thinking about countermeasures, he quietly snatched the arrowhead that Arya grabbed and put it back into the box, "Well, if you have a chance, let me see your archery skills. Ghosts have your share too, okay?"

"Okay, don't go back on your word!"

Here, the master and apprentice had a small discussion.On the other side, the arrow maker swallowed, and there are still a lot of details to talk about: "That's right, although the thing is small, there are many ways! See, miss, the thickness of the arrow collar is also a big question— ——If it is made of ordinary materials, such a thin arrow collar is definitely not enough, and the arrow will definitely break when it hits something... Fortunately, this is tile steel. There is a minimum strength. Right now, there is only one last problem with the tile-steel arrowhead, which is that it is too light compared to iron. In order to ensure that the center of gravity of the whole arrow does not move too far, I have also thought of a solution——Next Cast some small copper rings and hoop them at the front of the special arrow shafts for tile-steel arrows, which can not only increase the weight, but also strengthen the connection between the arrow and the arrow shaft!"

"Okay, Master Mott." Iger smiled and interrupted the blacksmith's eloquent detailed explanation, "You did a good job, 71 arrows, one-fifth is fourteen and one-fifth, as In recognition of your hard work and sweat, you can take fifteen of them after the war is over. If you want to return to King’s Landing as soon as possible to continue managing the blacksmith shop... The night watchmen are currently in a tight boat, but I will arrange for a car to see you off immediately, and If you want to wait to get paid by yourself in the land-grant, please also master to exchange more experience with our night watchman craftsmen about casting and forging during the stay in the land-grant. Get the highest level of salary for technicians!"

After all, without waiting for this to complete a major goal of life and appear a little smug... or the tongue-in-cheek blacksmith responded, Iger turned his head and looked at the guards following him: "Seal this box of arrowheads and take them away, and bring them back to you." In my room, besides, send an order—” 71 dragon steel arrows, this number exceeded Iger’s estimate, how to distribute these arrows is a question worthy of careful consideration, but for a moment, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind , "The order goes on - a simple archery competition will be held in Guan Town tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and the top-ranked archery masters will be rewarded. Join me in the decisive battle to hunt down the aliens with the 'Lightbringer' and get the supreme prize." A chance to be honored and be remembered in history!"

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Chapter 392 Creating a Myth

Iger doesn't believe in any prophecies, but this doesn't affect many other people's beliefs.Instead of being a silly cynic who regards these people who believe in prophecy as fools and despises them, Iger is more willing to do something useful and try to use this "belief".

This is why he named the reforged set of arrows "Lightbringer" instead of "Egger's Arrow" or "Night Watchman's Arrow".It's not because he thinks the name is cool, and it's cool to steal the copyright of the prophecy...but because using this name makes it easy for people to subconsciously recognize that the owner of the arrow is the hero who will save mankind in the prophecy.In this way, naturally, the ready-made influence of that well-known prophecy can be easily used for oneself, greatly enhancing the confidence of the land-grant army and civilians in winning.

71 arrows, Iger named them "Lightbringer 71", "Lightbringer [-]"... until "Lightbringer [-]", in order to identify the authenticity and distinguish each other when necessary in the future.

However, if you want to take advantage of the momentum, of course it is not simply to engrave the name and number on the shaft of the arrow.He also wanted to spread the news, not to mention the whole world, but at least let people in the Land Grant and the Northern Territory know that the Lightbringer had appeared.

And in this world of low-level communication means and slow information transfer, think about how to let a large number of residents, not just the class that masters the crow, know and recognize an event. Is there any good way?

There really is: a martial arts tournament.

A new member of the direct descendant of a big family wants to announce the birth of a new member. A lord chooses the legal heir and hopes that the rest of the people will witness it. Where is the overlord wanting to show off his wealth or show off his power when he is bored... or even which nobleman wants to What kind of conspiracy or rebellion is going to be planned... In short, as a social activity that everyone knows, the martial arts tournament in this era is a combination of "military exercises" and "press conferences" in the modern world. "It's just a form, an excuse, an addition, not an end.It's really at its core: the host brings a bunch of people together with a message.

Just like the contest held by Robert when Ed went to King's Landing: the reason why it was called "the Prime Minister's Tournament" by countless people was not because the prime minister wanted or paid for this contest, but because It is because the theme of this tournament is to convey an important political signal: King Robert has chosen Duke Stark to be his next Prime Minister, and other people with ideas can rest.

……

Right now, the land-grant, especially the situation at the forefront of the canyon, is tense, and it is obviously not suitable to call back people to hold a real tournament.However, Houguan Town and the nearest Castle Black have gathered more than one-third of the soldiers and civilians of the entire land-grant, and holding a simple archery competition here is enough to make the birth of "Lightbringer" The news spread widely, which greatly enhanced the overall fighting confidence of the land-grant humans.

What's interesting is that even when Iger had already come up with a good idea in a flash of inspiration, Messey was able to give him a few more tricks.

***

"71 arrows, this number can't go up or down." The little princess frowned seriously on the way back, and whispered, "You might as well declare to the outside world that you have cast 77 arrows. It is very sacred, and it will surely make many believers enjoy being the propagandist of your story for free. Didn’t the master blacksmith make a few arrow samples with the tile steel material he brought with him, and you can buy six of them as’ After colluding with him from Lightbringer 72' to 'Lightbringer 77', we gathered enough arrows. If you put gold on the shaft of the arrow to improve its appearance, there must be countless people flocking to it."

Iger winked at her. At first, he only regarded Misai as a troubled little baby who needed to be loved, but now he realized that her ability to come up with ideas is quite top-notch, and her expression when thinking is even more surprisingly attractive: "Good proposal , but after all, not all of them are believers of the Seven Gods, I can't make up a lie, just to please this group of people."

"You can make the story longer, add other factors, and take into account the feelings of people of various beliefs." Misai thought for a while, and immediately came up with a new trick, "You have to know that people always believe what they want to believe For example, if you declare to the outside world that you forged 77 Lightbringers with the help of a priest of the Lord of Light, in this story, whether it is a believer of the Seven Gods or a follower of R'hllor, they can find their own The desired focus and the elements that are enough to be publicized everywhere..."

"And us northerners! We believe in the old gods!"

Arya stomped anxiously on the side, almost yelling: This is my master, why are you flirting with him all day long?

"Hmm... I'm sorry, I almost forgot." Misai hurriedly apologized, and lowered his head for a while to ponder, "Then add some elements about the old gods, what is there in the beliefs of the people in the northern border and the people of the new land?" recognized as sacred?"

"Heart tree!" Arya replied eagerly, she felt threatened: if she didn't show some cleverness to attract attention, she would soon be compared in front of the master and become a stupid girl who could only wield knives and swords , "We can say at the beginning of the story that the master found the sword in front of a heart tree! Anyway, the sword was given to you by Bran, and I can just talk to him!"

"It makes sense." Messey agreed, "We can say that in a heart tree that was split by lightning or burned by fire, Lord Egg pulled out the unknown Valyrian steel sword, Then the destroyed weirwood gave him a dream to reforge the sword into Lightbringer!"

……

Iger originally just listened to the discussion of the two little girls for fun, but as the details of the story continued to be completed and the content became thicker, his face gradually became serious and the more he listened, the more reliable he felt: This, isn’t it just making up a story? Myth?

He found a mysterious sword stuck in a huge heart tree, melted it and recast it into 77 arrows with the help of a priest of the Lord of Light, and named it the Lightbringer.In addition, he had already decided before: No matter how the Night King's army was repelled in the end, the Night Watchman would announce to the public that it was the "Lightbringer" who shot and killed the Night King and ended the war...

All of these, finally pieced together, is a believer of the old gods, the red gods, or the seven gods, or even people who don’t believe in gods and just heard the prophecy, can find what they want from it and are willing to spread it. A story that generates enormous public opinion power!

As long as it can be spread all over the world, after thousands of years, some people will definitely regard this story as a part of orthodox mythology, extract words from it, analyze details, and try to restore the truth that cannot be restored!

"Hmph, boring." Melisandre snorted coldly, scoffing at such wantonly fabricated stories and blasphemy.Although she occasionally uses some false appearances and rhetoric to achieve her goals, there is one principle that cannot be broken: never collude with or conspire with anyone other than the high-level priest to act, so as not to damage her sense of mystery and power. "Just make it up, don't put my name in it, I have never participated in your discussion, and I have never heard a single word."

After finishing speaking, the red-robed woman walked away and went straight back to her room.

……

"Leave her alone, she won't talk nonsense about informants. This idea is very interesting and has the value of further improvement and implementation." Iger smiled casually, turned his head and ordered several confidant guards not to spread what they heard , "It's getting late now, you two girls, come to my room after dinner. Let's revise and polish this story together. While the archery competition is being held, we will spread this new myth in various ways." go out."

Chapter 393 Archery Competition

The first day of the archery competition is the registration and preliminary competition, mainly to let the information pass and ferment, to ensure that those who want to participate will not miss the opportunity because of uninformed information-bring a copper coin fee to the registration office, and shoot Take a few arrows to prove that you can use a bow. Even if you successfully sign up and pass the preliminary competition, the threshold is so low that you will not be rejected.After finishing the preliminary competition, those who want to practice on the field can stay for a while, but those who don't want to, can just go back to hide in the house and sleep.

On the second day, the competition officially opened: the venue was held in a huge open space that was originally used as an ore and coal storage yard in the industrial area of ​​the outer city.The original purpose of this place is doomed to be extremely empty and simple: there are no tents connected together, no shiny armor and tall horses covered with gold and silver, no countless nobles, knights, and bright and clear animals fluttering in the wind. Flags... Except for a circle of fences that were originally there to prevent residents from climbing over to steal coal at will, there is only half a circle of simple benches that were made temporarily with wooden strips yesterday.

This is probably the most shabby tournament ever recorded in the history of the Seven Kingdoms, but it is indeed unprecedented for the land-grants who have been in no-man's land for a long time and for the mountain clans and new land-grants who have never seen a tournament. event.The difficult conditions and the threat of the ghosts made everyone physically and mentally exhausted these days. When an event was finally held that could make people temporarily forget their sorrows, people's enthusiasm and enthusiasm exceeded Iger's imagination—although for Order considerations have already announced that only relatives and friends of the contestants can enter the stadium to watch the game, but the guards have no means of identifying whether the contestants have relatives or friends participating... Not to mention: In a sense, only one person from a tribe can participate , the rest are all relatives and friends.

Under the novelty and spared no efforts in publicity, the number of people who came to watch the game was not shabby: thousands of people surrounded the stadium to the brim, and the fixed benches could only seat more than a hundred people, and the rest of the audience either stood or stood. Bring your own seat.There was a lot of voices and the atmosphere was quite warm.

In sharp contrast to the bare arena, there is a conspicuous high platform on the edge: it is not a VIP seat for the high-level members of the night watchman, but a display booth - more than two meters above the ground, with a canvas roof and a windshield side plank wall.On the small but strong platform is a long wooden frame, on which 77 "Light Messenger" that have been assembled on top-grade arrow shafts and treated with gold coating are neatly arranged vertically, facing The auditorium is shining under the light of the torch—there are a whole dozen soldiers guarding under the display stand.Paired with legends and anecdotes about its origin and tortuous casting process, it is mysterious and full of epic sense, and anyone will take a second look after watching the game.

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The content of the competition is only one item of archery. Due to insufficient conditions, there are no horseback shooting and moving targets... The rules are quite simple: take the same number of arrows at the same distance and shoot the same size target, and the number of hits on the target after shooting one tube More wins.The top 77 will receive cash rewards, and the top ten will win the qualification to use the Lightbringer to hunt the White Walkers in the final battle. Naturally, the top three will receive the most lucrative rewards: they will not only get the right to use, but also be able to compete in the [-] bright lights. Choose one of the emissaries and take it home as your personal property as a family heirloom!

Of course, the premise of fulfillment is naturally still "after this war is over".

There are not many heroic heroes in the ballad, men and women, big and small, and contestants in all kinds of costumes crowded the arena: the most of them are naturally the mountain clans wrapped in various styles and colors of animal furs and the newly gifted land folks... …they are less interested in honor and publicity, and mostly come for bonuses and the legendary dragonsteel arrows that restrain the White Walkers; the second most are black clothes and black armor, from the logistics department, or simply the real Night's Watch At the request of Iger, even Jon Snow of Castle Black sent several archery masters from the Legion to support the field; finally, the most conspicuous and most likely to participate in the competition— — Nothing more than a group of guest contestants: Beric Dondarrion and his party, who came to the land with Iger and squatted in the room for a few days, naturally would not miss this opportunity to relieve boredom. They put on their most gorgeous red dresses The red and green land swaggered through the city, and even brazenly announced that the champion was none other than their sharpshooter Angai; on the other hand, a small group of guards from Winterfell also signed up, as being selected to accompany their wife The young ladies are the elite who go out, they are naturally the best soldiers in the northern border... However, compared to serious competitions, their more important task is to take care of their own young lady.

That's right, despite Arya's strong insistence, Iger allowed... No, it should be said that he couldn't find any excuse to prohibit her from participating: because this archery competition allows anyone to sign up--new gift to the local people There are also thirteen and fourteen-year-olds or female contestants such as Jon Snow's rumored lover Ygritte.Since there was no reason to stop them, all they could do was to remind those Winterfell soldiers to fulfill their duties.

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