"Damn the Night's Watch—" Robert's face instantly turned even redder.
As the King, he had initially had a sudden whim to bring a "Night's Watch accompanying the army" because he was confident he could easily take Bloody Gate. Who knew the war would go poorly, and this unprecedentedly strange move instantly became a slap in his own face. It would have been fine if Aegon had honestly stayed hidden in the Buckwell army's tent, but he just had to jump out and offer advice—every second this man in black stayed in his sight felt like a slap in his face!
"How many times do I have to tell you people before you remember? They are rebels! Rebels! Rebels!" The King roared, grabbing the wine cup in front of him and slamming it on the table with each roar. After three roars of "rebels," the cup was already cracked, and the red wine, spilled or leaked, flowed down his hand and pooled on the table. Robert snorted, threw the cup to the ground where it shattered, and continued to roar while wiping his hand with a tablecloth: "I am putting down a rebellion! This is not an internal struggle of the Seven Kingdoms! Do you understand? Now, either hurry up and tell me your idea, or get out! And get me another cup!"
Aegon was startled, then realized the last sentence wasn't aimed at him. He finally understood what it meant to accompany a King as if accompanying a tiger, and what capriciousness was like. Even someone like him, who had seen many great Lords and was mentally prepared, was truly startled by Robert's outburst just now, almost unable to resist lowering his head to dodge the other party's wine cup. Fortunately, the other party only smashed it on the ground... Although they were both among the most powerful people in the Seven Kingdoms, not everyone was as reasonable and easy to talk to as Eddard Stark.
"Your Majesty, please calm down, I just wanted to confirm!" Facing such a tyrant, Aegon dared not be stubborn or put on airs. Anyway, he had already gotten the promise he wanted—important things must be said three times, and unexpectedly, even Robert understood this principle. He roared "rebels" three times in a row, which defined the nature of today's matter: his offering advice to the King to quell the rebellion was protecting the Kingdom's interests and did not violate the Night's Watch's discipline.
In principle, whether Aegon, as a "senior" officer of the Night's Watch and the "fifth-in-command" of the Night's Watch, had violated the Night's Watch's discipline, only Jeor Mormont in this world was qualified to judge. King Robert's words did not count. But the reality was: whoever had the bigger fist had the final say. Since the King had made such a pronouncement in public, Jeor Mormont would never dare to refute this "established fact."
***
Aegon looked around and saw Robb Stark nodding friendly at him. After returning a smile, he didn't delay anymore: "Where I come from, 'China', there is a place called Chuan Shu—surrounded by mountains on three sides, and a large river on the east that is impossible to cross, a natural barrier. Its strategic importance is no less than the Vale. For a long time, people wanting to enter from the north had to pass through a perilous pass called 'Sword Gate', which is far more difficult to defend and attack than Bloody Gate."
"Hmm, I know. And then someone broke through the Sword Gate you mentioned." The famous general from The Reach, the only person in Westeros who had defeated Robert on the battlefield—Randyll Tarly—interjected expressionlessly, "How did they do it?"
"Stop telling stories, just tell us the method!" Robert said impatiently.
Aegon felt a bit helpless. Couldn't these rough people be a little more patient? By not following the script, most of his carefully prepared draft was instantly rendered useless. What was he supposed to do?
During the Three Kingdoms period, when Wei raised an army to conquer Shu, a hundred thousand strong army was stationed at the entrance to Shu, unable to advance an inch for months against Sword Gate defended by Jiang Wei, and was about to retreat due to lack of supplies—how similar was this situation to the predicament Robert was currently in? Later, Deng Ai took the Yinping path to enter Shu, decisively defeated Zhuge Zhan at Mianzhu, captured Chengdu, and finally took down this old enemy.
A similar example is the Battle of Thermopylae. When Persia attacked Greece, facing the three hundred Spartans, they suffered five-figure casualties and still couldn't pass. How did they finally do it?
By taking a small path.
Since Robert didn't want to hear stories, Aegon had no choice but to skip this exciting storytelling phase and directly state the conclusion: "Leave a large number of conscripted soldiers outside Bloody Gate to tie down the defenders' attention, and send the most elite troops to enter via a small path. As for whether to go directly to the Eyrie to lift the siege, or to attack Bloody Gate from both inside and out, clear the gate, and then let the main army pass, that will be entirely up to Your Majesty."
...
"Hmph—"
"Hiss!"
The surrounding Lords and generals made sounds of disdain, some even snickering. Randyll Tarly spoke coldly: "This is indeed a good method, but I wonder, Chief Logistics Officer, do you know which small path leads into the Vale of Arryn?"
"I don't know. If I knew, then the rebels in the Vale would certainly know as well, and such a small path would be meaningless. What we need is a small path that the rebels in the Vale don't know about, or a freshly opened one."
"Easier said than done. Do you think the many armies that have attacked the Vale of Arryn over the past thousands of years, and all of us here, are fools? The Mountains of the Moon surrounding the Vale of Arryn stretch for hundreds or even thousands of miles. How much time will it take to cross mountains and find small paths here?" Randyll Tarly said disdainfully, "A month, two months, or half a year?! During this time, should our tens of thousands of troops go home to farm, or sit and wait at the entrance to the Vale? The Tyrells can indeed supply provisions, but what about travel expenses and military pay?"
"Lord Tarly, your question is valid." Aegon had long anticipated this question and had a solution: "If King Robert allows the few families in the Vale who did not participate in the rebellion to attend the war council, they will certainly tell Your Majesty: there are actually existing small paths into the Vale, and more than one. It's just that the High Mountain Clan who are familiar with and control these paths do not submit to the Eyrie or the Iron Throne, and outsiders unfamiliar with the Vale have been misled by the saying 'to enter the Vale, one must pass through Bloody Gate'—this saying should actually be 'to enter the Vale via the flat main road, one must pass through Bloody Gate'!"
A small blind spot in thinking, it takes no effort to pierce it. The key is how to utilize it after seeing through it—taking a small path is not something you can just do if you want to.
He paused, then revealed the final answer: "But if the goal is just to end the war, there's no need to necessarily take Bloody Gate. Therefore, the plan I propose is: the main army remains in place, continuing daily feigned attacks with siege engines and arrows. Send several thousand elites with a small amount of provisions into the Mountains of the Moon to encircle and suppress the High Mountain Clan. After coercing, enticing, and persuading them to surrender, have these people familiar with the terrain lead a surprise force into the Vale of Arryn, and the great task can be accomplished!"
"To avoid making the defenders suspicious, we'd best have these surprise troops disguise themselves as peasant soldiers being disbanded to go home and farm. First, they pretend to withdraw from the battlefield, but in reality, they detour into the Mountains of the Moon. The rebels would never dream that the people we left behind are all miscellaneous troops and new recruits just making up numbers, while the battle-hardened elites have actually left the main camp. By the time these people appear behind Bloody Gate, it will be too late!"
The plan sounds simple, but it actually incorporates a series of strategic and tactical ideas such as feigning an attack in the east while striking in the west, shedding the cicada's shell, stealing the beams and pillars and replacing them with rotten timbers, and crossing the sea under camouflage. Any modern person looking at this plan would find it obvious and simple. But to truly formulate it from scratch in this backward world, where there are no schools or military academies, where someone who can arrange troops is called a "commanding talent," and someone who dares to lead a charge is considered a "fierce general," it could be called divine foresight and brilliant calculation.
Could Aegon have military talent to come up with such a complete plan in just one day? But in reality, the Night's Watch, as early as the day they arrived outside Bloody Gate and found it so similar to Sword Gate, had already begun subconsciously thinking about the question of "how to break through it." By the time he realized this war was closely related to his own interests, looking back, he found that a solution was already prepared deep within his mind.
***
The tent fell silent. A minute ago, when Aegon said "enter via a small path," most people felt disdain and amusement. But now that he had provided a specific solution, who could still object?
A handsome and slender young attendant brought Robert a new wine cup and filled it with wine, but the King uncharacteristically didn't touch the cup again—he sat quietly behind the table, his thick fingers tapping the tabletop repeatedly, and even the flush on his face from drinking seemed to have faded slightly.
Robert genuinely wanted to be the first King in a thousand years to break through Bloody Gate. But with Petyr's defection, given the current financial state of the royal family, if they took it by force, they probably couldn't even afford the pensions for the fallen soldiers—he could still distinguish between the importance of his dream and the stability of his rule.
After about a minute of silence, he spoke: "What about you? Give me your opinions. Is the Otherslayer's idea feasible?"
"I think it's feasible. If he hadn't said it, how many people in this tent would remember that there are still unsubmissive High Mountain Clans in the Mountains of the Moon?" Randyll Tarly's tone was still stiff, but his attitude had done a complete 180-degree turn: "This is interesting, Lord Aegon Westerling—I heard people say you came from overseas and were captured and sent to The Wall as soon as you landed. How can you be so familiar with the situation in the Vale, even more so than us native Westerosis?"
"There's something called books, Lord," Aegon replied with a smile. He wouldn't tell them the book was called 'A Song of Ice and Fire', nor would he tell them the inspiration for his plan came from the history of the Celestial Dynasty and the Thirty-Six Stratagems: "There's also a saying, 'One can know the world without leaving their door'."
...
"Your Majesty, I also think it's feasible!" Robb Stark was the first to speak: "There are also many clan tribes in the North. The Karstarks and Ambers both have experience dealing with these wildlings. Moreover, the High Mountain Clan also have the blood of the First Men flowing in their veins and also worship the Old Gods. It will be easier for Northmen to go and persuade them to surrender than anyone else. I am willing to personally lead the North's elites to carry out this plan!"
"Dorne has many mountains, Your Majesty." Oberyn actually jumped in as well: "Most of my spearmen are not afraid of crossing mountains. As long as you give us a guide, they can also be useful!"
Since there was a feasible solution, the various houses naturally volunteered one after another. It wasn't that they had much confidence in the plan, but rather—no matter how difficult the Mountains of the Moon were to climb, it was still much better than being sent to storm Bloody Gate.
"Very well, Otherslayer... Next, we'll see if your idea works. If it succeeds, there will be great rewards. If it fails again, I'm afraid I'll have to swallow my pride and talk to those rebels." Robert uncharacteristically regained his composure. Not only did he speak much more softly, but he also conveniently shifted the responsibility onto Aegon, setting the stage for his possible future compromise: "Now, you may leave. The others stay and discuss the specific task assignments."
—