King of The Wall

2021-01-06

Chapter 92 The Message Race
The next morning, Igor and Tyrion get up early, take Eddard The certificate signed by Stark and the letter of appointment provided by Mormont quickly started the first frenzy after entering this world.

The Night's Watch office is closed in the morning for the first time since its inception: all the office staff, including Jaqen, went with their elders to the Street of Steel in King's Landing and the port of Blackwater Rush just outside the city - to make purchases .

The mission of the followers is simple: carry the money and protect it.

Several "Night's Watch" with black clothed and weapons, plus two fully armed House Lannister guards in dark red armor, and a dwarf that few people in the city don't know, Well, with such a strange and intimidating combination, someone in King's Landing has the guts to think about it.

They brought out half of the total amount of funds, more than a thousand Golden Dragon, and found several big businessmen with the most abundant supplies when the sun rose, and bought the equivalent to the value of the money. Food and armament nearly ten times the amount of cash: enough food for the entire Night's Watch Legion for several months, hundreds of horses, steel swords, bows and arrows enough to arm 70 or 80 people to their teeth in minutes...

Not only did the two negotiate the price, but they also paid a tenth of the purchase price on the spot as a deposit at a price slightly higher than the market price. The requirement is: sign an agreement.

It is stipulated in the agreement that these materials must be counted as soon as possible and concentrated in the port warehouse, and shipped to Eastwatch within two weeks. After arriving at the Wall and delivering it to Night's Watch, the delivery person then went to the Night's Watch office in King's Landing to ask for the remaining 90% of the payment by virtue of the receipt certificate obtained from Eastwatch Night's Watch Legion.

The liquidated damages for both parties are one-tenth of the total payment, which is the same as the deposit amount.

Simply put, if Igor suddenly decides not to use the shipment, he will lose all the deposit he has paid, which is equivalent to the owner of the shipment, and if the owner of the shipment is shipping If you suddenly decide to terminate the transaction before the goods, you need to return double the deposit.

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It seems reasonable terms, and the price is not a problem, but in fact: Igor's funds can't pay the remaining 90% of the purchase price. In the form of paying a small price for big rewards in return, he obtained "temporary ownership" of the food and forage armaments worth ten times the deposit and five times the worth of the Night's Watch office.

Wait until the news of the drastic change in Vale came to the ears of these merchants through various channels, the prices of these grain and armament will inevitably rise, and Tyrion can analyze the development direction of the situation, those who make a living from it Of course, the businessmen of 2008 also analyzed that it was at most a half-beat slower. Before Robert summons the Seven Kingdoms army north to the Vale of Arryn, the price of food supplies will increase by far more than 10%.

What Igor and Tyrion want to earn is not the increased price difference, but the liquidated damages.

The reason is very simple, earning liquidated damages is risk-free, but trying to earn the difference is a thorn in the teeth, which is extremely dangerous. A big supplier who can provide so much food and grass supplies, even if he has no title, he must have a background behind him. Igor wants to rely on the Prime Minister's document, and if he can't get the remaining 90% of the payment, he will keep it in the hands of the owner. The things in it are resold to subsequent buyers at a higher price. This leap-forward operation is fundamentally impossible to achieve.

The trade fair is frozen. If the deposit is the money of Igor and Tyrion oneself, and the two are not afraid of death, then they can agree on a higher liquidated damage ratio and spend it with the owner for greater benefits. , but in fact, as creditors come to the door to demand redemption of bonds, the capital chain will quickly complete the tension-break these two steps, and then everything will be over.

Taking the initiative to make concessions, accepting liquidated damages and becoming the "victim" of the other party's treachery, it seems that he has given up the bulk of his interests, but in fact he has already made a lot of money. The best thing is that he avoided it. Follow-up possible accusations and troubles - things have never been in our hands, and Night's Watch is also a victim of rising prices of food, grass and armaments. How can you make money from war?
Don't forget who the current Prime Minister is, pedantic and pedantic Eddard Stark, who wants to help Robert manage the Seven Kingdoms, will never sit back and watch this counterinsurgency war against Vale turn into a carnival of armaments and forage merchants extracting Iron Throne's wealth, waiting for the price gouging people to finish the money, sanctions It may have fallen from the sky.

After that, it is the "background" behind these businessmen and the future king's father-in-law, the current Hand of the King's wrench stage. It can be imagined: with Robert still alive, Ed is actually invincible, whether this strong dragon can suppress the local tyrant, how much this northern man will eventually make to King's Landing local interest groups and the market itself Compromise: How much the suppliers are allowed to raise...it's up to him and the King's Landing aristocrats to open strife and veiled struggle.

No matter who wins or loses, the Night's Watch industry has already received the liquidated damages at that time, repaid the debts required for redemption, and with the advantage of being the first to obtain information, it has survived the fund-raising business venture. The most dangerous starting test, set foot on the bright Great Way of expansion and development!
……

The above are the ideas of Igor and Tyrion. In the plan, these steps are likely to be completed slowly in a few days to a week. After the goods are ready to be shipped to The Wall, oneself, the chief logistics officer, may have to find some excuses to delay - after all, once the ship sets off, oneself will have to worry about the remaining 90% of the payment.

…

But in reality, it all went by at an alarming rate.

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Igor is not alone in the Imperial court.

Since the news of the civil unrest in Vale was sent to King's Landing by the party who initiated the mutiny, Varys's intelligence network did spread all over the Seven Kingdoms, but this change happened too suddenly, his "little bird" Although with no opportunity, it failed to outperform Runestone's raven in flight speed.

So, this upheaval was first learned by Pycelle Maester, who was in charge of the Ravens, from the Lords Declarant's official manifesto letter, and the second person to be informed was Queen Cersei, but this political zero point. The old lady didn't think and didn't think about whether this matter would have anything to do with her - and then Varys, but this big eunuch's cooperation and support object is far across the narrow sea, and he didn't plan on Iron Throne. There is no way to make war money in King's Landing... The fourth person to get the news was the Hand of the King, and when he called a royal meeting and notified Robert, the news finally spread to the remaining ministers and the king. .

Finally, it's all the spies in the Red Keep with their ears pricked up.

These spies will try to secretly pass the news to the masters of oneself. When the masters realize what the civil unrest means, they will send people to the market and inform the businessmen of the oneself interest group to keep the Priced goods.

Each of these steps takes time: the ear and inner response of interest groups in the palace, as well as the errands to pass information, are generally maids, servants and the like, and these low-status people, in and out of Red Keep is strictly controlled, and you can only pass through the gate at a fixed time in the morning and evening.

Even if you get out of the gate, you still have to find ways to send the information to the masters, but the masters are impossible to stay in a fixed place all day waiting for the eyes and ears of the oneself to send the information-in this place without a phone. In this era, it takes too much time to pass information.

What about Arya? She overheard father Ed's discussions with his staff about the civil unrest in Vale at lunch and the exact time of the emergency congress in the afternoon. After that, the girl followed her guards out of the Red Keep and rode all the way to the Night's Watch office as usual, met with Igor, hehe haha and chatted a few words. Before the sword technique class started, she coquettishly told this information as a story. Igor listen.

The thought in the girl's head was simple: Igor kept telling her adventure stories, and in return, such hot and interesting news as "oneself's aunt he had never met was besieged by Eyrie", naturally also. To immediately tell the master.

In this thrilling information transfer race, Littlefinger, who was more likely to be the winner, was placed under house arrest in the Red Keep's Master of Coin residence because of the rumor... So, Igor was so confused, Luckily and by necessity, he became the sprint champion.

The purchase is complete, Sun is overhead, and Igor and Tyrion are back in the office. By noon, all the things on the market that might be of use in the war stopped being sold out with clearly marked prices, and before sunset, the first six hundred Golden Dragon's principal plus a penalty for breach of contract had been sent to the Night's Watch office. Put it on Igor's table, and the person who brought in the money also brought a message from their master to Igor and Tyrion: next time you have inside information, you can cooperate and don't play such tricks.

Looking at the large bag of gold coins on the table, Igor and Tyrion were both lost in thought.

The Chief Logistics Officer of Night's Watch was in a cold sweat and was terrified: if there was no first-hand information from Arya this time, wouldn't oneself's business in Westeros have not yet started... it was stillborn? !
The dwarf of House Lannister frowned thought a little deeper: If even Royal Family residences like the Red Keep are so riddled with information confidentiality, is the peace and stability of the Seven Kingdoms a complete illusion?
——

My colleague has a very important mission, which is to fix bugs in the original work. This is a world where Magic exists, so this operation is not difficult to carry out. If there is any problem, it will be pushed to Just go with Magic.

But there is a pit that is so big that I can't stand it: in the Prime Minister's Tourney, the winner of the jousting right away will be awarded 40,000 Golden Dragon, and the second place will be awarded 20,000 Golden Dragon. The team close combat winner will be awarded 20,000 Golden Dragon, and the archery winner will be awarded 10,000 Golden Dragon.

……

Sorry, this can no longer be described as outrageous. After a detailed review of the information and analysis, I have determined that these bonuses have shrunk to 1% of the original amount. More appropriate.

The specific judgment process cannot be written here, but here is the conclusion: In the world of Ice and Fire, the Golden Dragon is a rather huge monetary unit. Forty thousand Golden Dragon, you can imagine it is more than one billion RMB (or RMB before the reform and opening up when materials were quite scarce), which is equivalent to one tenth of the annual tax of Crownlands, can equip the entire North's cavalry, and can support the Night's Watch Legion for more than ten years, can pay the salary of all soldiers of King's Landing garrison for 2~3 years or pay their boss to make Ed's counter 6~7 times.

It seems that the original author is a liberal arts student and admits that oneself's currency setting is unreasonable (the original said that Hound drank all the 40,000 Golden Dragon drinks, did he drink the 82-year-old Lafite?) In this case, let's not talk about it, please forget the existence of the 40,000 Golden Dragons. The Tourney winner's bonus fluctuates between tens to hundreds, which is a reasonable state.