Dareon walked up to a thin southern soldier. The other soldier was so nervous that even the Spear in his hand was trembling slightly. Dareon stretched out his hand, adjusted the angle of the soldier's spear, and lowered the tip of the spear a few inches.
"You are now in the North, where fear is more deadly than cold."
Although Dareon's voice was not loud, it was enough for everyone around him to hear clearly, and he said, "The enemy you are facing will not give you time to think, nor will he show mercy just because you are wearing ill-fitting clothes."
"What I want you to remember now is not the fancy Swordsmanship, but how to maintain the balance of your body in the extreme cold, and how to still deliver a fatal blow when your vision is blurred by ice and snow."
With that said, he turned around and faced all the recruits, and then continued in a serious tone, "From today on, I want you to forget the habits you had when fighting in the south. Here, only living is the ultimate goal. I will always supervise your training until every one of you can gain a firm foothold on Wall's Ice Wall."
Viserys They had no intention of stepping forward to interfere. Instead, they stood high up and watched the slightly chaotic training with cold eyes.
Daenerys stood beside him, looking at the clumsy figures below, and whispered, "Older Brother, these southerners can't even hold a sword steady here, can they really be expected to stop Others? I think instead of wasting time with them here, it is better to recruit more the North teams. Time is the most precious now."
Viserys's eyes stayed on Training Ground, watching the southern soldier who was scolded by Dareon trying his best to adjust his breathing and trying to hold Spear in his hand again.
"The North's team is indeed brave and good at fighting, Dany, but you have to understand that loyalty comes at a price, especially when this loyalty is based on the previous glory of the the North nobles."
Viserys spoke slowly and said, "If we recruit soldiers under Lord the North on a large scale now, it will not only consume our Iron Throne's already tense prestige in the minds of the North civilians, but also make those lords feel that Targaryen's power cannot be separated from their support. Once the war is over, these lords will become a new hidden danger."
He turned his head, looked at Daenerys's purple eyes full of doubts, and continued, "These prisoners from the south are different. They are the remnants of the Usurper lineage. They have lost their honor and even their freedom. They are abandoned by society."
"For them, Castle Black is not a place of exile, but their only way to survive now. They have no retreat and no family to rely on. The only opportunity they can seize to continue living is the Night's Watch status we have given them now. They have no choice but to be loyal to the king."
"And this kind of loyalty that bursts out of despair is often purer and stronger than those alliances based on interests. Even as long as the war is over and the king issues new appointments, they will have the opportunity to go south and become an army unique to Iron Throne. What we are going to build now is such an army."
"We House Targaryen now rule Westeros, relying only on our Dragon and the two armies brought from Essos, but sooner or later that army will return to Essos, and although Dragon is strong, it cannot defend every castle for us."
"What we need is an army that can truly take root in this land. These southern prisoners are the best choice. For people like them, loyalty Iron Throne is also the best choice."
"I understand, Older Brother." Daenerys turned his head and looked at Viserys's deep purple eyes, his heart full of admiration.
At this moment, a warning sound of Horn suddenly came from the top of Wall, and then a burst of rapid horse hoofbeats came from the direction of the cave entrance from Castle Black to Beyond the Wall, breaking the warm atmosphere of Viserys and the two of them.
Several Night's Watch members rushed in on horseback with panicked expressions. The leader was none other than Night's Watch who had followed Beric Dondarrion to inspect Beyond the Wall. Senior Rangers, Jarman Buckwell, and the rest are Viserys and the Rangers they saw before at Caste's Castle.
At this time, those Rangers were all panting, with some lingering panic on their faces. It was not until they saw the familiar Castle Black scene in front of them that they breathed a sigh of relief, but the anxiety in their eyes had not completely subsided.
When Jarman Buckwell saw Viserys and the others on the Castle Black city wall, he directly reined in the reins. The war horse under him was breathing heavy white air, and his front hooves were uneasily pawing at the frozen soil.
Jarman almost rolled off the horse. His legs were a little stiff from the long ride and the extreme cold. He staggered several steps before he managed to stand still.
"Viserys Your Majesty, Daenerys Princess."
Jarman's voice sounded a little hoarse, with obvious vibrato, but he still tried to straighten his back, saluted respectfully to the two people at the top, and said, "We... our Black Brothers found traces of the Wights army on the edge of Haunted Forest."
The gentleness on Viserys's face instantly converged, and he expanded the scope of his mental exploration, but except for a few scattered Wightss, there were no other Wightss at all.
He let go of Daenerys's hand, came to Jarman, and said, "Tell me slowly, what happened? And where is your Beric First Ranger?"
Jarman swallowed and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, we were originally led by Lord Beric. According to your previous instructions, we first went to Caste's fortress to inform the Black Brotherss there to withdraw Wall."
"However, just one day after we set out, we met a Rangers team that escaped from Caste's fortress on the road. They said that just the night before, Caste's fortress was suddenly overwhelmed by an army of Wights. However, the target of those Wights was not Night's Watch, they were just passing by the fortress."
"Beric Dondarrion asked me to take this team back to Wall to report the situation. He took the remaining Rangers to Caste's fortress to see if there was any chance to rescue the other Black Brothers, and at the same time, he was waiting for an opportunity to find out more information about the Wights legion."
"Moreover, we have obviously never encountered a Wights on this journey before, but we encountered it several times on the way back today. If it weren't for the small number of them and the fact that we all prepared Dragonglass weapons, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to return to the Wall safely."
"As for other situations, I don't know much. I'd better let the Black Brothers who evacuated from Caste's fortress report to His Majesty."