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Chapter 289: Captured Alive

Across the Narrow Sea...

Viserys, the despised spawn of the dragon that Robert Baratheon loathed most, the second prince of the exiled Targaryen dynasty, was celebrating his coming of age. A living adult male Targaryen heir posed a significant challenge to the Baratheon dynasty, and Robert wanted him dead, even if he had nothing.

But now, this heir of the Targaryen family was far from empty-handed.

Viserys commanded a formidable army and vast territories, rivaling two dukes of Westeros, excluding the North. He had a large population base, two main cities, and the wealthy city of Pentos, all eyeing the Iron Throne.

The pressure he exerted had spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms across the Narrow Sea, and almost everyone knew that a war between the new king and the old king was inevitable.

The Baratheon dynasty wasn't exactly popular, and its stability was mainly due to the fact that many nobles of the Seven Kingdoms had already offended the Targaryen family beyond the point of no return.

The four major families of the wolf, deer, fish, and hawk occupied half of the Seven Kingdoms. These were the main forces of the rebellion and were unforgivable.

Many other families had defected, even stabbing the Targaryens in the back, the Lannisters being the prime example.

There were many more unpleasant incidents that followed.

If Viserys ever crossed the Narrow Sea and reclaimed the Iron Throne, the Lannisters would inevitably face retribution.

By then, they could start thinking about where to flee.

However... Robert Baratheon was currently too preoccupied to worry about the news from across the Narrow Sea.

He was somewhat overwhelmed by the chaos in front of him.

The situation in the North was somewhat unique, mainly due to its sparse population and vast territory.

The North was vast, almost equivalent to the total area of the other six kingdoms, but despite its vastness, it was sparsely populated and couldn't compare to the prosperous South.

The North was full of vast wastelands, forests, and snow-capped mountains.

This sparse population and vast territory were perfect for the wildlings' hit-and-run tactics.

Moreover, the wildlings were excellent at surviving in the wilderness. Once they disappeared into the mountains or forests, the regular army couldn't find them, and if they pursued too deeply, they were likely to be ambushed.

And now, their troops were not sufficient.

A large part of them had been crushed to death when the Wall collapsed, and others were killed by the wildlings in the chaos of that night.

Soldiers couldn't find their commanders, and commanders couldn't find their soldiers.

After all, who could have expected such a massive Wall to collapse suddenly?

Robert and Eddard Stark, the two commanders, were in Mole's Town that night. Robert was drunk and frolicking with a naked woman.

And Lord Eddard had rushed back overnight to find their unreliable king.

However, at this moment, they suddenly received news of the Wall's collapse, and both were taken aback.

Then Robert sobered up and hurriedly followed Eddard back to Winterfell, gathering the defeated soldiers along the way.

But, people can't always be unlucky.

Boys who love to laugh won't have bad luck, and Robert, a big boy who loves to laugh, has always been lucky.

Once, Robert had escaped Jon Connington's pursuit by hiding under a woman's skirt.

And this time, they found the whereabouts of Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall.

...

Stannis didn't die on the night the Wall

collapsed, but he was genuinely shocked.

His somewhat balding head was bleeding from a stone hit, and then, under the desperate protection of his guards, he broke out of the encirclement and escaped from Castle Black.

Afterward, Stannis didn't return to Winterfell but led his guards on a roundabout route through the forest.

They fled in panic, lost in the dense forest.

However, at this moment...

Stannis and a few remaining guards discovered traces that seemed to belong to Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall.

Mance Rayder seemed to be hiding in this forest, secretly directing the wildlings to cause chaos. Upon discovering this, Stannis quietly left and then spent a long time finding his way back.

But at this time, Stannis still didn't return to Winterfell. Instead, he boldly led his guards to continue wandering, gathering some soldiers who had fled from the Battle of Castle Black.

Then, leading these remnants, he returned to that forest.

The Duke of Dragonstone, his head still bandaged, was ragged and emitting a strong stench.

But he was as resilient as a rock.

Stannis drew his sword, bravely leading his soldiers into the fray, personally charging at the front.

They broke into this wildling tribe hidden in the forest, and after a fierce battle, captured Mance Rayder alive.

When Mance Rayder was first captured, he was very calm, trying to hide his identity, but was exposed by a simple-minded subordinate's slip of the tongue.

Mance Rayder was indeed unlucky.

His proposal to divide and cause chaos, to exhaust the regular army, and to minimize the target to prevent the army of the Seven Kingdoms from targeting him, left him with only a little over three hundred wildlings.

However, Mance Rayder never expected that hundreds of thousands of wildlings would run around the North, and even the nimble ones were about to escape the North and enter the Riverlands.

But he was unlucky enough to be targeted and captured by Stannis.

Stannis didn't actually recognize Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall.

At that time, he was lying in the snow, deducing through some clues and calm inference that this might be the King-Beyond-the-Wall's hideout.

And if he didn't kill these people, it wouldn't be a loss, and it would make up for the defeat.

So Stannis went out to gather some remnants, and then boldly came back to kill.

After a fierce battle in the forest, only a dozen soldiers were left on Stannis's side.

The wildlings resisted fiercely, but they were either killed or captured alive.

Mance Rayder saw the situation was bad, couldn't run away, so he surrendered very neatly, and his disguise was also very good when he was first captured.

He disguised himself as a common wildling tribe leader, even voluntarily expressing his willingness to surrender to the regular army and help them hunt down other wildlings.

And at first, Stannis was fooled by Mance Rayder's exquisite acting.

He thought he hadn't captured the real King-Beyond-the-Wall and felt a bit disappointed.

But since he hadn't captured the King-Beyond-the-Wall and had caught a 'guide,' it wasn't a loss.

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