Aegor had actually wanted to make Valyrian steel into bullets, bomb fragments, cluster bombs, and similar weapons, but the technology was not yet developed, and the enemy would not give him enough time to research and perfect it.

What was more, Valyrian steel’s ability to kill White Walkers relied on the fire magic within it. If it was cast into N pieces, the magic contained in each piece would naturally become one-Nth of the whole. Aegor had reason to believe that White Walkers also varied in strength, and the idea that a needle-sized dragonsteel shard could instantly kill the Night King sounded unreliable. Each “Lightbringer” had to maintain a minimum size to ensure it was lethal even to the Night King.

Therefore, arrows were the safest choice for now.

“Harvey, call the Nightfort’s raven cage keeper to my room, I have a task to assign.”

Using the name of the oracle, Melisandre finally stopped opposing Aegor’s decision. After telling her not to disturb Bran immediately, Aegor parted ways with her, returned to his room, and soon received the Nightfort’s acting Maester. The Citadel had only been willing to send one official Maester to the Night’s Watch, who was still on his way. However, communication between the twenty castles under his command that already had raven nests could not be delayed.

…

Aegor sent Bran Stark’s decision to join the Night’s Watch to Winterfell. At the same time, he ordered the Night’s Watch Industry’s King’s Landing branch to find and hire the artisan living in the Seven Kingdoms who could reforge Valyrian steel.

Issuing these two orders did not require much thought, but the next one took effort. Although the Gift now had a considerable population, there were not many who could be called soldiers. The militiamen, most of whom came from the Free Folk, did not receive full military pay and were mostly unwilling to leave their families and tribes for long military service. Aegor carefully reviewed the rosters several times, planned and calculated, before finally selecting two tribes with larger populations and relatively compliant attitudes from dozens of them. Providing compensation, he arranged for them to relocate as a whole to Ice Canyon Port and the Shadow Tower, increasing the troops on the Great Gorge defense line to five thousand. This was a targeted arrangement made after learning of the enemy’s latest movements from Bran.

“Don’t leave yet, there are additional instructions for Denys Mallister.” After some hesitation, Aegor decided to add one last order.

To minimize losses, he had long ago persuaded the Old Commander to halt patrols Beyond the Wall. But now that the enemy was right under their noses, it would be foolish to only consider the safety of patrols while putting everyone else in the dangerous position of being completely unaware of the battlefield situation.

It was time to take some necessary risks.

“Have the Westwatch-by-the-Bridge garrison conduct a controlled opening of Skull Bridge. When weather conditions are favorable, send patrols across the bridge to scout the Yuliang Wood north of the Great Gorge as deeply as possible. They must depart and return the same day. The depth of the patrol is to be judged by the team themselves, ensuring their safety as much as possible. The most important point: make absolutely sure that if something happens, the bridge can be cut off immediately.”

…

The latest orders from the Nine Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Commander were quickly carried by ravens to Crowtown and the Shadow Tower. After being received and processed, they were taken by fast riders to the locations of execution.

Large-scale personnel movements began, urgent yet orderly. A year after the Wall was closed, the Shadow Tower rangers led by Colin the Disfigured were finally about to cross Skull Bridge and begin their long-awaited patrols Beyond the Wall once again.

This was not the only significant change. While the Gift and the castles along the Wall were bustling, the North’s external maritime conflict, centered around Ice Canyon Port, flared up in Ice Bay for the first time since Aegon’s Conquest.

—

The cold sea wind, heavy with moisture, battered the sailors of the North’s navy, reborn after hundreds of years. The warship Charging Wolf sailed out of port once again.

Shipbuilding was not high technology, after all. With the full support of manpower and materials from White Harbor and Bear Island, the first warship from the Ice Canyon Port shipyard was successfully launched shortly after the fortress was completed, thanks to the personal efforts of master artisans, and was quickly fully crewed.

The sailors and captains came from White Harbor and Bear Island, the only two places in the North where people were familiar with ships and the sea. The combat personnel were a joint force of Northmen soldiers and Night’s Watch members who did not get seasick. In principle, all ships built at Ice Canyon Port belonged to the North’s navy, and personnel from the Gift were hired to provide services. But out of gratitude for Aegor providing the site, and considering the threat of the White Walkers to the Seven Kingdoms, when needed the ships could also be temporarily lent to the Night’s Watch to cooperate in the defense of the Wall.

This was a single-masted sailing ship with two decks, nearly a hundred feet long, a smaller type among warships. Compared to its counterparts elsewhere in Westeros, it had some subtle modifications. The height of the fore and aft castles was lowered as much as possible to reduce the impact of strong winds in Ice Bay. The extra masts and sails on the fore and aft castles were abandoned, and instead, a wooden turntable was built at the top center of each, with a small torsion catapult installed, allowing it to attack enemies approaching from any direction. Fewer full-time rowers were equipped to accommodate more soldiers, sacrificing some maneuverability for increased stability, combat power, and firepower.

The Iron Islands would not sprout legs and run away, and what the North wanted was not to compete with the Ironborn in shipbuilding or to fight a large-scale naval war for control of the Sunset Sea. Robb Stark’s hope was to land on the enemy’s home ground and deal a decisive blow to the Ironborn by relying on the advantage of the land army, just as King Robert and his father’s generation had done when suppressing the Greyjoy rebellion.

The Iron Islands were small and sparsely populated, with no strategic depth. Once landed upon, they had no power to resist. Robb’s plan was very feasible. With different goals, speed and maneuverability were naturally given lower priority in the design and production of the ships.

Compared to counterweight catapults, the advantage of torsion catapults was their lighter weight and smaller footprint, while their disadvantages were slightly lower efficiency and durability. However, given that the projectiles they needed to fire did not rely on weight and speed for lethality, they were sufficient. Apart from a few minor modifications and innovations, this type of warship itself did not have much technology beyond its time. Its only clear advantage was that it was equipped with highly effective incendiary projectiles made from improved wildfire.

…

The technology was mature, and the labor force abundant. At present, the speed of shipbuilding was determined by how quickly qualified ship timber could be found, collected, processed from various parts of the North and the Gift, and transported to the shipyard. As the first and currently only warship of the North’s fleet, the Charging Wolf had only truly sailed twice. The first time was for sea trials and performance verification after launching, and the second time was a symbolic reconnaissance north along the coast for crew familiarization. After that, it remained in port, waiting for more ships to be launched and fitted out.

Today, however, was the warship’s third voyage, and its first true mission. After successfully evading Ironborn reconnaissance for several months, Ice Canyon Port, which had completed its fortress and put its shipyard into operation, was finally discovered by the enemy.

Establishing the naval base within the Night’s Watch territory at the northernmost point of the west coast not only concealed it from destruction before it was completed and self-sufficient, but also reduced war costs, freeing up many of the North’s elite soldiers to protect towns and castles scattered throughout the Wolfswood, the Riverlands, and the First Men’s barrows, and even assist allies in the Riverlands.

It would have been best if this situation could have been maintained quietly until the fleet was built and ready to counterattack the Iron Islands. However, the first objectives had already been achieved, and even if exposed, the strong walls, fortress, and large number of Gift troops stationed there gave the garrison confidence to deal with the threat of the Iron Fleet.

Of course, having confidence to deal with the threat was one thing, but allowing enemy warships to come and go freely within sight of the port, scouting and provoking, was another matter entirely. Logically, Ice Canyon Port, as a “neutral” Night’s Watch stronghold, should not attack first before the Ironborn did. But the fact that the Night’s Watch and the North were allied was widely known throughout the Seven Kingdoms, and pretending to be innocent while waiting for the enemy to attack was meaningless.

For this reason, the newly appointed commander of the North’s navy, Maege Mormont, ordered the fleet’s only warship to leave port and drive away the two Ironborn ships lingering nearby.

The enemy warships were only two of the most common Ironborn longships. Like oversized rowboats, they were long, narrow, and light, built for speed and flexibility. They could usually only handle simple tasks such as transporting Ironborn for shore raids, swarming enemy ships, and boarding with numbers.

Although the Charging Wolf was only a single-masted sailing warship, it was not something two longships could handle. This was the most direct reason why Lady Mormont dared to personally command and sail out with a single ship to drive them away.

With its bow slicing through the cold waters of Ice Bay, the Charging Wolf cut through the waves toward the two Ironborn ships. As expected, the Ironborn did not hesitate, turning their rowers around and instantly switching ends, rowing away toward the open sea.

The incendiary projectiles were not heavy, and even light catapults could throw them three or four hundred meters. However, land tests showed that this type of equipment was only accurate within two hundred meters, and considering the wind and waves, further closing the distance was necessary. Agile and fast oared ships like the Ironborn longships, if at full speed, could leave the Charging Wolf out of sight in just over ten minutes. Although wildfire projectiles were relatively abundant, they could not be wasted recklessly. The North’s navy did not intend to catch up to or sink the enemy, they only aimed to drive them out of Ice Canyon Port’s sight so that they could not freely scout or provoke. The enemy might be able to harass back and forth with their maneuverability, but considering the longships’ small size and inability to carry large supplies, Ice Canyon Port, located a thousand miles from the Iron Islands, was not afraid of them playing psychological warfare.

However, the two longships did not flee at full speed. Instead, they moved slowly, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, chasing and being chased, always keeping the Charging Wolf at the edge of their range.

After following them for a while, the navigator became highly alert. He picked up the ship’s only Myrish lens, one of the few in all of Ice Canyon Port, and carefully observed the sea fog ahead.

After a long while, he put down the lens and shouted loudly, “Lady Mormont, there seem to be ship silhouettes in the sea fog ahead. It might be a trap. Would you like to take a look?”

Maege Mormont was a short but strong gray-haired woman. She had become the head of Bear Island after Jeor Mormont’s son Jorah was convicted and fled overseas, gaining prestige and respect by restoring the family’s honor and cleaning up the mess her nephew left behind. She was also chosen as commander of the North’s navy because most members of House Manderly, another Northern house contributing to the naval base, were obese and had difficulty moving. She also served as captain of the first launched warship.

The armored Lady Commander walked to the bow, carrying a spiked mace, and shook her head, refusing the lens offered by the first mate. “My eyes aren’t good, and we’ve chased them far enough. Slow down, turn around, and return to Ice Canyon Port.”

The order was quickly relayed to the crew. The single-masted sailing ship slowly decelerated and turned under the combined action of the rudder and oars, shouting slogans as it began to return to port against the wind.

Responding to the Charging Wolf’s cautious choice were the enemy longships, which instantly braked and turned back to give chase, sounding their piercing war horns across the water.

(To be continued.)

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep