Game of Thrones: Kings in the North

Chapter 19 Large-scale construction, widening financial resources
The first project that Ed asked Downs to be in charge of was the warehouse next to the pigsty, which was used for the storage of green fodder.

Architect Downs complained to Ed, "I came to the north to build castles, but you asked me to build pigpens and rabbit nests."

"Downs, the warehouse is just an appetizer, and there are big projects ahead."

So Ed took out the planning map of the winter resort town, which listed a series of projects such as barracks, stables, forges, breeding farms, large markets, breweries, and breeding farms.

Downs was amazed, "So many projects? Although there is no castle, these buildings are enough for me to use. Sir Ed, as for the barracks, I have a preliminary idea, we can set up a huge rock statue at the gate of the barracks , the image is the Stark ancestor wearing the crown of the King in the North, he holds the Valyrian greatsword "Ice" inherited from the Stark family, and the direwolf is next to him. As for the direwolf, we can use It is built of granite, and its eyes are decorated with red garnets."

Ed said: "Dance, I don't want these fancy things, what I want is practical. Your first project is the warehouse. The stables, and the brewery have already begun to lay the foundation. You finish it carefully, and I will put other projects I will hand it over to you one after another.”

According to Downs, most of his finished buildings are mansions and brothels on the other side of the narrow sea. Ed is willing to keep Downs, but he still wants to see his actual ability.

Downs summoned craftsmen and civilians to start building feed warehouses. As for the barracks, forging plant, stables, large market, brewery and other projects, Ed was in charge of them and started almost simultaneously.

Thousands of craftsmen and peasants, like ants on the earth, began to get busy in the winter shelter town.

Some of these skilled craftsmen were craftsmen and stonemasons summoned from the North, some came from the Vale of Arryn and King's Landing, and some came from the Riverlands.Ed asked Caitlin to ask for support from her father, Governor of the Riverlands, Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun, and Riverrun sent a group of 50 artisans.

Most of the peasants here are residents of the winter town. The housing project of the winter town has attracted more than 3 people to arrive one after another. They are allotted land and become tenant farmers under the protection of Winterfell.

Ed recruited these people to carry wood and stone and work with craftsmen, and their wages were offset by land rent.Under the direction of Downs, the trees were felled from the wolf forest and transported to the winter town.

The most indispensable thing in the northern border is wood. The vast wolf forest covers a large area of ​​land, but the collection and transportation of stone materials are not so convenient.

In Ed's plan, it was originally planned to collect stones from the territory of the northern mountain clan, but the mountain roads there were too narrow, many of them were small trails, and the transportation cost was high, and there were too few people in the mountain clan, so they had to give up.

The former Prime Minister Jon Arryn sent three shipments of stone materials from the valley. This is a generous gift, but it is still far from enough for the huge expansion project of the winter shelter town.

Ed had no choice but to choose other places to collect stones, and Ed set his sights on Sheep's Head Mountain.

Sheep's Head Mountain is a large mountainous area between White Harbor, Winterfell and Horwood City. Ed sent stonemasons and peasants into Sheep's Head Mountain to collect stones, and ordered White Harbor and Horwood City to requisition the peasants to cooperate in collecting stones.

Earl Wyman and Earl Horwood quickly responded to Duke Ed's order and sent people into Sheep's Head Mountain to collect stones.

Ed was worried that there was not enough stone, so he sent someone to send a letter to Roose Bolton, ordering Roose Bolton, the Earl of Dreadfort, to send people to collect the stone from the Lonely Mountain and transport it to Winterfell.In this way, stone materials are continuously transported from Gushan Mountain and Yangtou Mountain to the winter shelter town.

Walking in the winter town, seeing warehouses, barracks, forges piled up little by little, and wooden houses rising from the ground, Ed was in a good mood, but on the other hand, large-scale construction meant a lot of money was spent.

The salt produced in Yantun has begun to be sold continuously. Yantun on the west coast transports the salt to Winterfell, and after Winterfell settles with the lords, it is transferred to White Harbor for resale.The salt deposits on the east coast were transported to White Harbor for direct sale, and Earl Wyman would settle the settlement with the lords on the east coast, which would then be offset from White Harbor's taxes on Winterfell.

Yantun has provided Winterfell with considerable income, but the money is still a drop in the bucket for the project investment in expanding the winter shelter town. [-]% of Winterfell’s capital reserves have been lost, Vayon Poole warned Ed However, if the season suddenly turns cold and winter comes, it will be difficult for Winterfell to even have enough winter reserves, let alone support the people in the winter town.

The beehive project also made profits. The honey collected by the beehives of Deepwood Castle, the Mountain Clan, and the Wolfwood Tribe was transported to Winterfell. Winterfell itself is also a honey producing area. The honey was sold in White Harbor, and it was real when it came back. gold and silver.

The financial advisor, Kral, has adopted a series of policies to make money. He sent officials to every market in the winter resort town, collected management fees, and cracked down on the black market. He raised the tax rates for high-income people such as goldsmiths and winemakers, and Focus on checking the bills of brothels, casinos, taverns and other places, and found that tax evasion was punished three times, and the tax money collected tripled in a short time.

Kral also took aim at the inmates in the Wintershade dungeon.

After the population of the winter shelter city skyrocketed, the law and order declined, and thieves, poachers, and perverts were caught almost every day.Ed sent these people to the Great Wall at first, and put them in black clothes. Later, he felt that the night watchmen were too cheap, so he sent them to the military camp in Zengdi, where the prisoners were shackled to do hard work to atone for their sins.

However, recently, Thomas, who is in charge of increasing the military base, wrote in a letter saying that the military base is already overcrowded. Tomard has no room to accommodate new prisoners, and the food reserves in the military base are almost exhausted, so he had to ask the Night Watch Corps and Amber's family for help. .Old Bear Mormont was very greedy for the scum in the military camp, and he complained that Winterfell did not send prisoners to the Great Wall, but placed them in the Zengdi military camp.

In the study, Klar suggested to Ed.

"Duke Ed, since we are worried about money and the prisoners in the dungeon have to take care of their food, why don't we let these prisoners spend money to atone for their crimes?"

Ed refused straight away, "If we do this, wouldn't the kingdom's laws become a dead letter? Once this precedent is set, the rich and powerful will commit crimes without any scruples and do whatever they want."

Clare chuckled and said, "Duke Ed, I'm not referring to perverts, murderers, and other criminals who have committed such serious crimes. I'm referring to those who fight in pubs and brothels because of drunkenness, and some casinos. Fraudulent people, the crimes of this kind of people are minor, it is better to let them spend some money to redeem themselves. There are also poachers."

Ed said: "I sympathize with poachers. Many of them are poor people who cannot eat, but their crimes cannot be forgiven. If civilians go to wolf forests to hunt, large areas of land will be abandoned. Poaching itself is a crime. It is an infringement of the property rights of the nobles, and once Winterfell forgives the poachers, the nobles in the north will complain."

Krall said: "Lord Ed, I didn't say forgive them. How do you usually punish poachers?"

"Chop off a hand, or exile to the Wall and join the Night's Watch."

Claire curled her lips, "It's a terrible punishment! But after chopping off their hands, they become crippled, lose their labor power, and become a burden to the North. I have a suggestion, it's better to take these poachers, Punish them to become servants of Winterfell, they can hunt for Winterfell and slowly redeem themselves."

Ed frowned, "They say they are servants, but it sounds like they are no different from slaves. I warn you, it is illegal to engage in slave trade in the Seven Kingdoms."

Kral said: "It's not a slave, at most it's about the same as a slave labor in the Iron Islands. Slaves don't have the right to choose, we can let them choose for themselves, either chop their hands, go to the Great Wall, or be a slave in Winterfell, for Winterfell hunt."

Ed said: "Winterfell has no shortage of hunters."

"But it's not enough." Clare said, "Master Ed, there are deer, wild boar, wolf, roe deer, hare, so many prey in the wolf forest. Let's organize a huge hunting team and bring back the prey every day. A cafeteria and a tavern will be opened at the gate of Winter City, and more prey can be directly brought to the market to make money after being slaughtered. I believe that many people will come to take care of our business."

In the Seven Kingdoms, the nobles looked down on businessmen, let alone doing business, but as a time traveler, Ed was not the kind of rigid person who didn't know how to adapt, and he agreed to Krall's plan.

The poachers in the dungeon were willing to sell themselves as slaves in Winterfell in order to obtain forgiveness. After all, being a servant in Winterfell was much better than being a night watchman or chopping hands.

On the second day, Fran, the beast tamer of Winterfell, led a group of hunters who were former poachers, with more than 20 hounds, into the wolf forest and started hunting.That night, a carriage full of wild boars, roe deer, hares and pheasants returned to Winterfell.

A few days later, the Wolf's Canteen, the Wolf's Butcher Shop, and the Wolf's Tavern officially opened. Fresh prey became the signature dish. The price of the Wolf's Canteen is relatively cheap, suitable for the poor.The environment of the tavern is better and the consumption is higher, where you can buy mead and ale, and even Dornish red wine.

Ed looked at the crowd in the tavern and cafeteria, "I didn't expect that I, the majestic Duke of the North, would become a businessman and compete with the people for petty profits."

Krall laughed and said, "Lord Stark, only trickles can form rivers, and wealth always increases from less to more."

(End of this chapter)