Game of Thrones: Lord of Winter

"Your Highness Shireen, I leave the tall Sir Duncan to you." Cole fully armed handed the wooden knight into the hands of the little princess. In the next few days, he had to receive his troops.

Shireen frowned, but nodded sensibly, and then took "Tall Duncan". She asked: "You will come back with father, right?"

"Of course, I am the guardian knight assigned to you by the king. Until the next knight comes to take over, my sword will protect you, just like the Kingsguard protects the king." Cole explained to him.

Saying goodbye to little Shireen, Cole walked to the camp outside the castle. He walked out of the dragon's giant mouth-like gate and walked down a winding road around a hill. Next to a small market-like village on the seaside, a military camp stood. There.

He will only return to the castle if there is military necessity. After all, he is now under Stannis's loyal army, and Stannis is his direct commander.

Noble flags can be seen everywhere in the military camp. At this time, Cole was also thinking about whether he should also get a family emblem, but what kind of family emblem should he make? I don’t dare to use the dragon, why not get a white bird?

Walking into the corridor of the military camp, he put aside the matter of his family crest for the time being. When a patrolling cavalry came up to question him, he made his identity clear. The sworn knight from Velaryon just looked at it with disdain. He glanced at him and pointed him in a direction.

Cole couldn't help but be disappointed when he saw his so-called men. There were more people than the messenger told him, but they were all fishermen and farmers with yellow faces and thin clothes. They had harpoons and wooden spears in their hands. There were about 200 of them. People, these are recruits temporarily recruited from around Dragonstone Island.

Compared with the private armies of noble men, these people are like lambs about to be sent to the slaughterhouse. Of course, no one has high hopes for them. Looking at the simple faces, Cole He sighed helplessly.

The soldiers he led were really getting worse every time. Although he was also a bad general, at least there were many people among the original Flame People who were good at recruiting and fighting. They could even form cavalry. And these people in front of them, except for Besides using it to build momentum and serve as cannon fodder, I really don’t know what else it can be used for.

"I am Cole. I was sent here to take over this team. Which of you is in charge?" Cole shouted in the lax crowd.

There was a dead silence. This group of people had been recruited by force. No one cared about them. No one even managed their meals these days. So someone caused trouble. As expected, that person's head was hanging on the Outside the camp.

"Okay, I need ten people now." He was going to repeat his old trick and divide the group of people into ten groups to control. "I don't know who is willing to work for me."

His words fell to the ground, but there was no big effect, and there was still no response from the surrounding people.

As expected, he was about to continue shouting, but then an unexpected voice came out. "Lord Knight, I...I am willing to do something for you."

Cole looked at him in surprise. He was a thin young man. He slowly squeezed out from the crowd with his thin hands. He was almost a head shorter than Cole. He was dressed in linen clothes full of dirt and his hair was messy. The eyes are not big, but they are very clear.

Cole smiled broadly, "What's your name?"

"Camilo." He replied timidly, not daring to raise his voice.

"Very well, Camilo, now you are my deputy, and I will pay you a silver deer a day until the end of the war," Cole looked around and then said loudly.

"Sir, I am also willing to serve you."

"My Lord Knight, I am willing too."

After hearing Cole's assurance to Camilo, the recruits instantly exploded.

They are farmers on Dragonstone Island. They all work in farming or fishing. Being recruited into the army is compulsory and unpaid. The lord only cares about their food, and now they don't even have food to eat. .

When this group of people is handed over to Cole, it will no longer be anyone's business. It is Cole's obligation to eat, drink, etc. He has to pay for it himself, and the salary offered to him by Dragonstone is three silver deer a day. , in fact, it is the price of three meals a day by aristocratic standards. Go to Stannis' treasurer every week to collect it.

Thinking of leading more than two hundred people, he estimated that he could get more money from the treasurer. It was not like he had done nothing during this period. At least he had become familiar with many people in Dragonstone Castle. The treasurer of the castle was a A bald and thin man who was addicted to alcohol, he often gathered with the chefs in the castle to drink secretly. Later, Cole joined them. Although he was not good at talking, he could drink and the fish he cooked was delicious.

I don't understand why Stannis would let an alcoholic manage his finances, but I guess he probably doesn't have many people who can read and do arithmetic.

After Cole appointed Camilo as his adjutant, he asked him to select ten people to compete for him. He stood aside and watched coldly. The look of his hands holding the sword and his cold eyes made the noisy recruits suddenly become distraught. Dare to make a sound.

Camilo was still hesitant at first, but Cole gave him a confirming look.

Ten people were quickly selected, presumably people who knew Camilo well, and Cole immediately announced that they would receive a daily salary of one bronze star.

Cole had to spend two silver deer every day to pay their salaries, but paying this price could gain the temporary loyalty of these eleven people.

Cole asked their names one by one.

Jose, Haidir

"Very good, now I appoint you as acting officers, each of you will be responsible for commanding 20 people, now go and select your men, if no one is selected, I will replace them." Cole ordered them.

The ten people who were originally immersed in the joy of being selected, suddenly ran to select people in a panic.

Soon the large number of recruits gathered together were divided into ten groups, and there were still dozens of recruits who were not selected, standing together, and Cole came to lead these people personally.

Camillo followed Cole as an adjutant. He took people to the castle to ask the treasurer for money. Anyway, now he was only responsible for working for Stannis, and His Majesty the King had to support this group of people himself.

The treasurer allocated him 20 gold royals, which was all Cole's military expenses in the future. As for how to spend it, it was Cole's own business. Whether to distribute it to his men, sell it for food, or buy armor himself, it was all up to Cole.

It was simply impossible to arm a hundred-man team with these. His task was probably to maintain the number of people and prevent them from running away, of course, when there was no battle.

The lords had many such peasant troops under their command. These people were never the main force of the war. Stannis's elite soldiers should be around 2,000, and the remaining thousands were almost all recruits and mercenaries, and even pirates and smugglers.

According to the budget, the total should be around 6,000.

Cole was not without tasks. He was responsible for patrolling an area of ​​the military camp.

He found a merchant in the military camp and bought a grain. It was estimated that the two hundred and forty-seven people would eat for ten days and a half months, which cost Cole ten gold royals. They were all coarse grains. This kind of grain was also very cheap during wartime. In many taverns and inns, it was used to feed pigs. However, Cole could not care so much. After all, his budget was so limited. Could it be that he had to give his men a lot of fish and meat?

After returning to his own territory, Cole did not distribute the food. He directly arranged the guy who summoned people the fastest to lead his troops to be responsible for logistics and cooking, which was also a kind of reward.

When the smoke from cooking rose and the rice and porridge were distributed to everyone, their faces showed satisfaction. They were recruited to serve as soldiers just to have a full meal. No one knew whether they could survive the battlefield, and even if they survived, they would just be sent back to continue farming and fishing.

Cole ate coarse grains with them, which was something all the recruits could not imagine. Even if the nobles went to war, they ate barbecue and drank fine wine, lived in a palace-like tent, and had beautiful official prostitutes as companions. They had never seen a knight eating such bad food.

"What? Are you surprised?" He looked at the astonished faces of the people around him and couldn't help asking. Cole was surrounded by Camillo and eleven others. They gathered around the fire. Because Cole had no tent, he also slept in the wasteland.

They were actually a little afraid of Cole. Camillo stammered, "It's a bit surprising that the Lord is willing to eat these things."

"I also want to eat barbecue and wine, but compared to these, I hope you can survive on the battlefield." Cole looked at the fire and said so.

This made everyone pause.

Cole planned to use the remaining gold dragons to buy armaments, at least weapons had to be equipped for them. A qualified iron sword was about 30 silver deer, of course, it was just the appearance, not sharp and beautiful. Ten gold dragons could only buy more than 70 swords, not to mention armor. Didn't you see that even the knights were not fully armored? Of course, they were all hired knights.

The mercenaries and hired knights were placed in another part of the camp. There were not a few of them, more than a thousand. They all provided their own swords and armor, which was considered a medium-level combat force in the army.

The superior combat force was composed of the standing army of the lords. For example, the wealthy Tywin had 4,000 personal troops, half cavalry and half infantry.

Stannis's own personal army also has 600 soldiers, all of whom are standing soldiers of Dragonstone. The personal soldiers will surround the lord, and you can tell by looking at their flags.

The tent in the center of the camp is where Stannis's personal army is, and the fluttering crown stag flag is raised high. Cole's camp is not far from Stannis. If someone wants to recruit them to carry goods and armor, then they can't refuse. After all, this is one of the few roles of new recruits.

The next day, Cole went to the blacksmith to buy iron swords. He only bought 20 iron swords, and he used the rest of the money to buy iron spears, which are actually wooden tips with some iron inlaid. This kind of weapon is very cheap, and Cole bought one for almost everyone.

During the camp, Cole took turns to send teams to fish. During the march of the army, the troops were often organized to hunt to increase military rations.

He asked everyone to do puncture training every morning. As for the others, he did not dare to ask for extravagant things, nor did he dare to over-train. He only asked them to understand military orders.

At noon, they were on their own. One group went fishing, one group cooked, and the rest helped carry the military equipment. Cole led the patrol himself, and he only kept 20 swordsmen with him. Cole would be stricter in training these people. They were all taller and stronger. Of course, they were just "short-statured generals". Cole provided most of the fish every day to them, and the rest was distributed to others.

It was useless to fight alone, so it was better to get a group of people to protect yourself. Cole thought so.