King of The Wall

2021-01-06

Chapter 144 A race against time

At the beginning, Commander Mormont decided to use the helper hired by oneself with the "serious Night's" Igor was also a little frustrated when oneself's infiltration plan was seen through when they were treated separately. But over time, the Night's Watch industry has exploded, and his thinking has begun to change.

Night's Watch Legion The hundreds of full-time professional soldiers are certainly a force not to be underestimated, but the quality of the soldiers is inferior, it is destined that only the Rangers in the black shirt army have "real professions". "Army" battle strength. Wouldn't it be better to have a clean, completely oneself, and better-founded force than to exert influence on such a group of people with mixed and complicated backgrounds?

Igor had already finalized the plan to find a place to establish oneself's first base in the land grant, but it was not until the 4,000 Golden Dragons were actually received a few days ago that he started with the confidence provided by sufficient funds. Start construction plans ahead of time. And the reason is not what the two Pyromancers said - it is exclusively for them to produce Wildfire. Instead, "providing a venue for the Pyromancers to produce Wildfire" is just one of many guise Igor's acquisition of Queenscrown.

Since Mormont intends to separate the forces of the Night's Watch Logistics Department from the orthodox Night's Watch, well, Igor beating somebody at their own game, let's just build a family with the Night's Watch Legion at first glance, but in fact There is no direct affiliation, and there is a force that looks good and can even stand against each other in the future!

Although I thought so in my heart, I absolutely can't say this kind of outrageous words directly - cut a piece of land out of the land grant and use it for the "logistics department" of Night's Watch that actually doesn't listen to orders. . If this is going to be launched, it is equivalent to a simple version of the Westeros nobility game. It is a big leap, but it needs to be done very carefully, and a bunch of positive managers must be used as cover.

Igor prepared three main items.

1. Since the Lord Commander said that the mercenaries in the logistics department must be trained in places other than Castle Black, there must be a place, right?
2. Just as the fooling Pyromancers said, it is impossible to send the Wildfire of King's Landing all the way to the Wall. It is more suitable to prepare Wildfire in a stable environment with low temperature and store and transport it than granting land. place?
3. A large amount of materials, especially food and grass and meat for improving meals, are in huge demand but have a shelf life... After Nina settles the account, she directly brings funds to purchase in North and then send it to Wall, which not only saves time, but also saves costs. Greatly reduced.

These three reasons all point to the same result - the Night's Watch Logistics Department needs one: a place that is both within the sphere of influence of Night's Watch and relatively close to North as a stronghold.

And Queenscrown, which is located just south of Castle Black, close to Kingsroad, and almost at the center of the land grant geometry, is the location that Igor finally chose. Since the distance from the east and west ends of the Wall is similar, starting from Queenscrown, whether it is to send troops to any place along the Wall for support, or to send the produced Wildfire, stored materials and forages to which stronghold... or even to any territory in the North, it is quite convenient!

This place has been abandoned, but Igor took a semi-lounging look here when he went south with Tyrion. The infrastructure such as construction roads is almost intact, which can save a lot of construction materials and labor costs. The most important thing is that "abandoned" also gives Mormont almost no reason to reject Igor's application - the logistics department, which continues to provide Wall with a lot of supplies, wants an abandoned village to settle in, even if he sees any clues Come on, can't you agree?

As Tyrion once said, this is conspiracy. Unless Mormont's brain suddenly twitches, and he has to fall out with oneself regardless of the overall situation, he can only watch oneself Igor West move forward a little bit according to the plan, and finally climb to the level where he can control his own destiny. height to go.

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"That's nice." The wise men of Harlem have witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties, and they can be considered experienced, but they won't be fooled by Igor's vision of the future, "Then What the side is like, we can only see it when we arrive. Even if I believe in the person of the chief logistics officer, you must first arrange the old fogeys of our Alchemist guild and the large group of apprentice assistants before we can agree. I'll listen to your arrangement!"

"Okay, if the Alchemist guild needs anything, please feel free to ask it. If I can help, I will definitely solve it!"

The one with money in his pocket Igor was full of confidence, but it wasn't until after listening to Harlem's old man's narration that he realized that things were more complicated than expected.

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The current situation of the Alchemist Guild is even worse than Night's Watch imagined. The group was devastated by the killing or disappearance of a large number of Pyromancers in the chaos that the Lannister Army tricked into opening the gates of King's Landing and ending the Targaryen Dynasty's rule. And after the war, Robert Baratheon ordered them to manage the large number of Wildfire hidden underground - this order is mandatory, which means that at the end of the war, a group of Pyromancer and his apprentices and assistants, There will never be a way to get out of this mess and watch over these dangerous flammable liquids until death.

you did good no reward, and you screwed up and lost your head.

There is nothing wrong with this arrangement itself, but the unreasonable part is that, as punishment, Robert did not give any money to the executors of this mission - this work is unpaid!

Alchemist is not an immortal cultivator capable of fasting. Of course, he has to eat, a huge guild, leaving that little family property after a looting by the Lannister army. In the Targaryen Dynasty, the Pyromancers and the people around them, who were very beautiful, have now been reduced to the point where every day all is worried about the fate of their livelihoods.

Those with agile brains and good connections run early disappeared without a trace, and the rest of the King's Landing locals have a large group of Old Guys who have no skills and can't run, so they can only have What to eat - a little younger apprentice helper or something, can find a part-time job at King's Landing to earn a little money, Pyromancers, they rely on occasional reselling Wildfire or something to make a living.

Igor also participated in such an illegal transaction once, speaking of which, even Tyrion knew the way by hearing about it, and Robert impossible, the Master of Whisperers Varys, knew nothing about it, just The king oneself has no money, and he can't take care of it much after losing money.

……

The so-called good placement naturally includes the two groups of people who stayed in King's Landing and those who went to the north to grant land. After a lot of "negotiations", Igor finally settled with the two. An old slicker negotiated everything.

Alchemist guild will fill all the cellars in King's Landing Wildfire for watering and walling, and Guan Family is arranged by Night's Watch Industry to work in the upcoming daily necessities and cosmetics workshops as much as possible. All the facilities and equipment in the guild hall were also cleaned up by Igor hired someone to be properly shipped to North.

In addition, Queenscrown had to build a new and reliable Wildfire workshop - those stone rooms that mimic the King's Landing Alchemist guild hall, buildings that automatically collapse and extinguish in the event of a fire, Pyromancers only in absolute safety. work under the circumstances.

And then, there are benefits... Robert ordered all the Pyromancers to work for the Night's Watch, but the Alchemist Guild is not a subordinate organization of the king's government after all, even if they obey the order, they have to make people run. Bar. This is simple. Igor directly copied the salary and reward mechanism of the grassroots leaders of the Night's Watch industry, and added a little bit to coax the two old men who had not lived a good life for more than ten years into a 180-degree turn.

In order to show his attitude and show his strength, Igor also asked the Pyromancers where they lived, and promised to send the first resettlement fee later.

After everything was done, and the two Pyromancers from aggressively were sent back happily, Igor made a rough estimate and cleaned up the mess of the Alchemist guild and pulled it to the land grant, even if the follow-up salary was not counted. For the bonus, at least hundreds of Golden Dragons must be smashed into it... The establishment of power has just begun, and Igor has experienced what it means to spend money like water.

After a while, the king's herald finally arrived at the door of the Night's Watch office.

...

"Igor West, on the order of King Robert, I have already greeted the Alchemist guild, and it is estimated that they will come to you soon. Report." The young Red Keep squire announced slightly proudly, completely unaware that the Pyromancers were running faster than him: "Also, I bring you a certificate signed and stamped by both the Prime Minister and the Master of Coin— You and your activities will be permanently exempt from tax in Westeros from now on. In addition, the Master of Coin asked me to pass on his friendly reminder that this order only exempts Iron Throne from tax obligations to the Seven Kingdoms outside the Crownlands, You may still have to pay some of the taxes that Dukes collect in other names."

"Understood, I understand. Little brother, hard work, this little money, go to buy some delicious food for the horse, everywhere today The summons, it's exhausted from running." Igor took the imperial edict and the tax-free certificate with a smile on his face, and stuffed a few Silver Coins into the young squire, "This thing is too timely, but the order of His Majesty is not. It's back, I don't know our king... When will the others return to King's Landing."

The messenger coughed and put away what was in his hand: "I can't tell you that, but Vale's side The matter has been resolved, and it will be within two or three days.”

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(end of this chapter)