When morning came and the sun had not yet appeared on the far eastern horizon, Gao Yuan and Benjen Stark set off on the road to Winterfell on the horses provided by the Night's Watch.

Ever since they walked out of Castle Black, the scattered snowflakes falling in the sky quickly disappeared. Although the road under their feet was called the King's Road, it was actually just the road that ran from Storm's End in the south to Castle Black in the north.

It is just an extension of the two thousand-mile King's Road.

From the north of Winterfell, there are only dilapidated dirt roads left on this avenue. When the rain comes, even horses can't pass on the muddy roads.

Starting from the northern end of King's Road, when they arrived at Houguan Town, the first town south of the Great Wall, Gao Yuan couldn't help but turn his head and look in the direction of the desperate Great Wall behind him.

At this moment, almost all of the Great Wall was displayed in front of Gao Yuan. The huge thing that originally towered into the clouds, as if the sky and the earth were split into two parts, now in Gao Yuan's eyes, it has turned into a huge mountain range spanning the northern horizon.

No matter how far away you are from it, you can never see the end of the Great Wall as far as you can see. The last time you saw such a magnificent landscape from a high distance was when you looked back at the misty mountains that cut through the north and south of Middle-earth.

hour.

Although the Misty Mountains look more majestic in comparison, the Misty Mountains were forged by the divine power of Vera Aoli, and it is not known how much time that Vera spent on them.

The Great Wall of Despair was built by humans on the continent of Westeros. It only took a few centuries to build an existence comparable to the creation of the gods with human power.

"The Great Wall of Despair will not disappear just because you don't look at it for a while. It has always stood there for thousands of years, guarding the people south of the Great Wall until the end of the world."

Benjen Stark, who was walking with Gao Yuan, looked at Gao Yuan who was staring at the Great Wall and joked: "If you want, you can come to the Great Wall at any time, and we may even have the opportunity to become brothers of the Night's Watch."

Gao Yuan withdrew his gaze from the Great Wall, rolled his eyes at the chief ranger beside him, and said: "Nothing is eternal. No matter how great and indestructible the Great Wall once was, it will eventually collapse one day. Time is of this world."

The most terrifying enemy in history.”

"I have no intention of joining the Night Watch, and I don't think anyone in this world can force me to become a Night Watchman."

Benjen Stark pretended to be a little disappointed and said: "That is such a pity. Lord Commander Mormont and I both believe that you will be an excellent Night's Watch if you join us."

The two people traveling together did not stop to rest in Houguan Town, but chose to continue on their way. The exchanges between the two people on the way were very pleasant. Gao Yuan, who was unfamiliar with the place, gradually became familiar with him under the introduction of Benyan Stark.

I have a preliminary understanding of the geographical environment and family distribution of the entire northern border.

During this period, Gao Yuan also heard many names that he was very familiar with from the mouth of the chief ranger, such as Lonely Mountain, Long Lake and Oak Shield Fortress.

The Lonely Mountain is the current territory of the Bolton family, that is, the family with the skinned man as their family crest, and their castle is the Dreadfort; the Long Lake is a long and narrow lake that the two will pass through on their next journey; and

Oak Shield Fortress is another Night's Watch fortress not far east of Castle Black. It has been abandoned for many years.

When Mr. Martin, the original author of A Song of Ice and Fire, wrote this book, he paid tribute to the names and places of Hobbits in many classic fantasy stories. This is why Gao Yuan felt familiar with it. Perhaps

The languages ​​used in the two worlds are different, but in the ears of Gao Yuan who has a translation system, they have the same meaning.

Ever since the two left the confines of Houguan Town, the scenery along the King's Road has been changing. The snow-covered wasteland gradually disappeared and was replaced by green forests and grasslands. From the moment he set foot on this land, Ben

Only then did Young Stark recall that Westeros was still in the midst of a long summer.

While passing through the City of Last Hearth, the territory of the Umber family, the vassal guardian of the North, Benjen Stark told Gao Yuan that the Umber family and the Stark family jointly defeated Redbeard, the king beyond the wall and crossed the Great Wall to the south.

Raymond's story.

When talking about the rise, this member of the Stark family, who is proud of his family history, also told the story of the current guardian of the North who he admires - Eddard Stark.

In his words, Gao Yuan finally understood why Benjen Stark chose to put on black clothes and join the Night's Watch shortly after the end of the Reaver War and Eddard Stark's triumphant return to Winterfell.

Because, now this seemingly serious and mature chief ranger, Benjen Stark, is actually his brother and a loyal fan of Eddard Stark.

The reason why he admires Eddard Stark so much is not only because Eddard joined forces with his brother Robert Baratheon to overthrow the Mad King's rule during the Reaver War. There is also Eddard's role in

On the border of Dorne, the reason why he defeated Arthur Dayne, the "Sword of Dawn" alone.

So when the victorious Eddard Stark returned to Winterfell, he felt that he was not as good as the respected Eddard Stark, so he voluntarily withdrew from the competition for the family heir and chose to put on black clothes and join the Night's Watch.

After hearing Benjen Stark boasting about the Guardian of the North, Gao Yuan gradually became interested in Eddard Stark, who had received a lunch box in the first season.

Even though Gao Yuan already knew about this character from the original work, often when you are facing a real person with flesh and blood, it is best to learn from the words of a familiar person or experience in person what kind of person the other person is.

"What kind of person is your guardian brother in the north, Ed Stark?" Gao Yuan asked curiously.

When he saw that Gao Yuan was interested in his idol and brother, Benjen Stark immediately started talking non-stop.

"My brother Eddard Stark is a typical Northerner who doesn't stick to red tape." Benyan Stark grinned, "But that was when he became the Warden of the North and Winterfell.

It was a matter of the past as the Duke of the City, but now he is the ruler of the entire northern territory after all, so he has to abide by some basic etiquette and taboos."

"Our Stark family has the blood of our ancestors flowing in our bodies. Although the old gods did not set as many red tapes for our ancestors as the Seven Gods, with the tacit understanding of all our ancestors, we have a set of rules unique to the North.

, and ancient rules passed down from generation to generation.”

"And Ed Stark is the most persistent, fair and strict lord among all the lords in the North who abides by and implements these long traditions."

Gao Yuan nodded thoughtfully: "It sounds like a lord who pays more attention to tradition. If he can be absolutely fair and strict, he will surely be respected and supported by many northern families."

Benyan Stark heard Gao Yuan's evaluation and patted Gao Yuan's shoulder happily: "This is also true. Ed is indeed supported by most families in the North."

"most?"

Gao Yuan didn't know much about these contents that were not mentioned in the original work or were just skipped, so he was a little confused. The Stark family, which had ruled the North for thousands of years, actually had some people who did not obey its rule.

Family exists.

"For example, the Bolton family I mentioned to you before. They are one of the oldest, most powerful and notorious nobles in the North. They were also the biggest enemies of the Stark family, and they were once the biggest enemies in the North.

The biggest competitor for the title of King.”

"Even in history, the Bolton family has defeated us several times. They were also one of the northern nobles who finally surrendered to our Stark family. But that was a few centuries ago. In recent centuries,

The Boltons have always been loyal to the Starks."

"But Ed once mentioned to me that the members of the Bolton family are actually still evil-minded. For thousands of years, every patriarch of the Stark family will remind their successors to be careful of the ambitions of the Bolton family."

Benjen Stark explained sadly.

The Stark family has controlled the North for thousands of years, so the leaders of the Stark family know their nobles very well, and Gao Yuan also fully agrees with their concerns and precautions against the Bolton family.

Facts also proved that their worries were not wrong. In the subsequent War of the Five Kings, Lord Roose Bolton, who had secretly preserved his strength for a long time, decided that Robb Stark's attempt to become king had failed and met with Stark.

After the decline of the Gram family, they immediately chose to stand on the side of the winner.

Roose Bolton and the Frey family, combined with the old Lannister lion Tywin, planned the famous and infamous Blood Wedding, overthrowing the rule of the Stark family's King of the North in one fell swoop, and

His own family assumed the position of guardian of the North.

Gao Yuan and Benjen Stark's trip south to Winterfell was very smooth. After all, the Seven Kingdoms are still in a very peaceful period, and the North is also the place with the least disputes among the Seven Kingdoms. Robert Baratheon

It has not been long since King En ascended the throne, and everything seems to be slowly developing for the better.

But no one knows that under this seemingly prosperous peace, in fact, the undercurrent has never stopped flowing, especially in King's Landing, which is far away in the royal territory. The overt and covert struggles of several forces have begun to take shape, but currently everyone is

It's just that I didn't show my face openly.

On their way south, Gao Yuan and Benjen Stark did not encounter any accidents except for the occasional encounter and interception of a group of sneaky savages who were suspected of climbing over the Great Wall.

The group of people wearing animal skin coats didn't even have a decent sword or bow and arrow in their hands. They were all dirty as if they hadn't showered in months, and most of them were women and children.

Even though Benjen Stark had almost confirmed that they were wildlings who had crossed the Great Wall and came to the south, he probably couldn't bear to raise his sword towards those women and children who looked very miserable.

For these free people who were called savages by the people south of the Great Wall, Gao Yuan had no idea of ​​embarrassment for them.

He was neither a night watchman nor one of those Northerners who were wary of the wildlings and hated them to the core. Why would he kill those who had nothing to do with him, unless they were some extremely vicious gangsters.

Even if Benjen Stark wanted to attack these innocent people, Gao Yuan might even stop him.

Perhaps Gao Yuan could choose to stand by and do nothing in the face of those heinous guys, or even help Benjen Stark deal with them. But looking at the trembling women and children in front of him, Gao Yuan would not let them die in front of him.

Even if the group of people in front of them are indeed free people from the north of the Great Wall, now they are just a group of poor people who want to take their children and families to escape to the warm south.

Benjen Stark, who did not want to cause trouble, let these suspected wildlings go after warning them not to kill, burn, and plunder in the south.

Before leaving, he even pointed them in the direction of Wolf Forest, which is a large forest on the northwest coast of the North. There is only one Glover family, and many of their people live in Wolf Forest.

Hunters rarely go into the deep forests to search for poachers and savages.

The savages, who were afraid of Bunyan's black robe, immediately ran into the dense forest beside the King's Road after receiving the permission to leave, and soon disappeared into the shadow of the forest.

As Gao Yuan and Benjen Stark gradually approached Winterfell, the road on the King's Road gradually became wider, and there was a lively scene everywhere.

More and more farms and villages appeared on both sides of the King's Road, and more and more traveling merchants and local people came and went. Even many houses built of bluestone and wood gradually appeared. They were distributed in twos and threes on both sides.

On the plain.

At this time, more than a week had passed since they left Castle Black, which was many days later than Benyan's expected arrival time at Winterfell.

It was not easy for Gao Yuan and others to walk on this journey. Light rain or heavy rain would suddenly appear at any time, which would always make the King's Avenue muddy and slow down their pace.

Continuing along the King's Road, after they passed through a dense forest, they finally saw the capital of the North, the ancestral castle and center of power of the Stark family - Winterfell.

Winterfell is not actually a city. It is different from the various architectural facilities in King's Landing. In fact, it is more like the castle in King's Landing - the Red Keep.

This is a complex and huge castle covering an area of ​​several acres. It is mainly used to provide residence, protection, troop storage, food storage and weaponry storage for the Stark family. It mainly consists of two to three thick walls and a castle at the door.

It is composed of winter refuge towns.

It is said that Winterfell was built by the famous "City Builder" Brandon with the help of giants more than 8,000 years ago, which is older than most castles in Westeros.

.

Although it is not the largest in the Seven Kingdoms, it can be regarded as the most luxurious castle in the North, and it was built by the famous "Fort Builder" Brandon, which makes it even more famous.

Compared with the entire Westeros continent, it is second only to the Red Keep in King's Landing.

Of course, we cannot compare it with the Great Wall of Despair, another building built by the famous "city builder". Both are not comparable in terms of scale and construction time.

But it also has its own special features that are different from the Great Wall. Winterfell itself is built around an ancient godswood and a hot spring. There is also a weirwood in the godswood, which is south of the Great Wall.

There's only one left.
Chapter completed!