#69Chapter 69 Return to Winterfell
Robb did not stay in Barrow Hall for too long.
More than 5,000 Ironborn prisoners were sent to Moat Cailin, where Stevron Frey took over.
All 53 warships were stationed at the Fever River, and soldiers from the Stream and Barrow Hall were responsible for guarding them.
In addition, Robb also issued a call for White Harbor to let people familiar with warships and maritime affairs come to manage it.
White Harbor is the only port city in the North. Robb's navy is still in its infancy and needs professionals to take charge.
After arranging the follow-up of the Battle of the Fever River, Robb led the wolf riders north to prepare for a trip to Winterfell.
The members of the Stark family have been separated for too long. These family members are also an important helper to Robb's rule. The blood connection between family members far exceeds the interest connection between other vassals and themselves.
"Winter is coming."
On the way back, Robb saw that the snow on the King's Road seemed to be thicker than when he left, and knew that the long winter of Westeros was coming.
Little Jon rode on Robb's left, also a little melancholy: "Your Majesty, winter is coming, and many people in the North will starve to death again."
The winter in the North is very hard to endure. In the past, when winter came, the area around Winterfell would be crowded with people from all over the North.
They did not have enough ability to resist the cold winter, so they came to the territory of the Stark family to ask for protection. Here, they might freeze to death, or they might survive this cold winter.
The Stark family is like this, hoarding supplies in the summer, and when winter comes, they will lead the people of the North through more than 8,000 years of long years, and survive one cold winter after another.
So the feelings and loyalty of the people of the North to the Stark family cannot be compared or understood by other places.
Robb glanced at the snow: "This winter won't be so hard to endure."
Daisy Mormont, on Robb's right, also said with emotion: "I heard that when the cold winter came in the North, Stark would lead the men of the North to the south to fight. Their purpose was to die in the south and save food in the North."
Little Jon laughed: "We went south this year, but not to die in the battle. We also robbed a lot of food from the Lannister family."
Robb shook his head: "The West alone can't support the people of the North to survive this winter, and we are still fighting, and the consumption of food is an astronomical figure."
So now the marriage with Highgarden is very important.
Highgarden is much richer than the North. It and the Stormlands can supply the food and grass needed for the 100,000-strong army.
If you can get the support of Highgarden, plus the supplies of the riverlands you control, and the materials robbed from the West, you can support Robb to launch foreign wars and feed the people of the North to survive the winter.
But there is still a problem: if we can unite with Highgarden, how can we deliver the food from Highgarden to the North?
Let alone the North, there are two hostile duchies between the Riverlands and Highgarden. If we take the King's Road, we are basically delivering supplies to the other side.
So Robb chose to lay out the sea route. Now the West Sea of Westeros is all under the control of the Iron Islands.
The Iron Islands are Robb's main goal now.
Unite with Highgarden, conquer the Iron Islands, and transport the food.
Robb must do these two things before the supplies in his hands are eaten up.
The first thing, Catelyn is doing, and Robb is also doing it.
Although on the surface it is Catelyn and Highgarden who are negotiating the marriage, Robb knows that the Highgarden family just wants to be the queen's family. They don't care who is the king. What they care about is that the person must be the king.
So Robb's record and the territory he controls are the bargaining chips on Catelyn's negotiation table.
Battle of the Whispering Wood, Battle of Riverrun, Sweep the Riverlands, Battle of the Fever River.
These five battles allowed Robb to completely conquer the Riverlands and integrate the families in the North who were dissatisfied with Stark.
His Majesty Robb's reputation was at its peak, and his reputation swept across the entire continent.
After Renly's death, Highgarden could only choose one between himself and Joffrey.
At that time, it would depend on Catelyn's diplomatic means.
The second thing was to take over the Iron Islands. This matter was not only related to Highgarden's food and grass, but also to Robb's subsequent institutional reforms, so it could only be done by Robb himself.
Now Robb needed to train a qualified navy, mobilize food and grass from all over the country, and improve the morale of the soldiers.
'Three months, take over the Iron Islands within three months. '
Robb calculated in his mind, this time should be enough.
Going to Winterfell now is to make preliminary preparations for attacking the Iron Islands.
——
The cavalry advances very quickly, and there are not many people, so there are not so many burdens.
It took Robb only one-third of the time he had when he set out to see the walls of Winterfell again.
Unlike the bustling scene when he set out, Winterfell at this time was a little lonely.
On the walls, there were two lonely flags.
They were the Stark direwolf flag and the blue-green white mermaid flag of the Manderly family in White Harbor.
The news of Robb's return was spread back to Winterfell early, and all the members of the Stark family came to the city gate to welcome their eldest brother.
When Sansa Stark saw her eldest brother coming back, she dismounted and ran into his arms, crying: "Robb...father...Arya..."
She called her father and sister's names over and over again. Everything in King's Landing seemed like a nightmare. Even if she returned to Winterfell, she would see Joffrey's ugly smile in her dream.
The scene of her father being beheaded appeared in her mind from time to time, and she was only a fourteen-year-old child.
But in Winterfell, she only had her younger brothers, and her younger brothers were in fear all the time. Even if the news of Robb's victory came back, they were still frightened.
They were afraid that the next news would be that Robb was defeated and would never come back like his father.
Now that she saw her eldest brother, Sansa finally didn't have to pretend to be strong, and cried unscrupulously in her brother's arms.
Robb gently patted Sansa's back to comfort her emotions.
"I haven't seen you for a year, and you have grown so tall. Girls really grow faster than boys at this time."
Sansa cried and her nose was red: "I lost Arya..."
She used to hate her sister who only knew how to wield swords and guns and didn't learn needlework well.
But after staying in King's Landing for a while and experiencing all kinds of dark power struggles, she finally realized that only family is the most important.
They even thought about marrying her to the Little Devil!
If it weren't for Robb's gift and the Little Devil's strong opposition, she might have become a member of the Lannister family!
Robb smiled and comforted: "What are you worried about? I know you don't like to hear it, but Arya is much smarter than you. She doesn't need me to redeem her. She can escape by herself. I guess she will meet us soon."