The king on the Great Wall

***

It's good to be ambitious, but reality is skinny.The inability to produce food on its own seems to be the biggest obstacle for Iger to form an independent force, but the fact that the land grant is now facing is that it does not "produce no food", but "produce nothing".

In fact, it has not been able to carry out any activities that can be called "production": so far, all operations of all land-grant residents and the entire Night Watch Corps have been carried out by blood transfusions from the Night Watch industry and the northern princes, And the so-called work is all about laying the foundation, building, and preparing for war...

Of course these things have to be done, but the problem is that this does not create wealth, produce benefits, and there is no way to ensure the continuous operation of a system.

The Night's Watch could and should have had no production, but the Land Grant could not!

The Iron Bank approved a loan of 4 golden dragons to the night watchman. This amount seems huge, but it is evenly divided among the [-] people who have donated the land, which is about two and a half golden dragons per person... The price of food will only Now that the price is getting higher and higher, even if the forecast is optimistic, it can only guarantee the land grant and continuous food supply.As for developing it into the tenth district of Westeros, and independently facing and surviving the next White Walker invasion without much damage... the funds, tools, and weapons needed for this big game , armor, etc., relying on the monthly income of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the night watchman industry, it is absolutely impossible to even spend a splash.

If the brothers in black who are forced to open the warehouse of Castle Black and contribute their strategic reserves to enrich the land-grant circulation market are convinced by Iger's orders, instead of being resistant or even hostile to the new commander-in-chief like in the original plot, Iger must lead his people We think "open source".

In layman's terms, as the commander-in-chief, he not only has to command the Great Wall defenders to confront the aliens, but also has to lead everyone to become rich like some technical and knowledge-based cadres who went to the countryside in the original world.

***

The road has been repaired, and the land granted is fertile enough. Unfortunately, winter has come, and agricultural-related ideas such as planting and breeding can be skipped directly, so Iger turned his attention to selling manpower and resources.

Manpower, now there are plenty of land-grants who are waiting to do the work. As soon as Iger took office, he ordered the night watchman Lang Ya who traveled all over the place to pay attention to the areas or activities that needed manpower.It's just—in this era of backward productivity and cheap human life, it's not just the newly granted land residents who have nothing to do.Selling cheap labor was probably just a dream, and Iger made other arrangements.

He wrote to the Night Watchman Industry in King's Landing, ordering the obsidian mine on Dragonstone Island to speed up mining, and began to gradually transport the raw ore to the Great Wall--polishing dragon crystal products is a matter of little technical content, since so many new Why should the land-grants hire laborers in King's Landing when they are idle, and not let them do it?

The obsidian made into weapons can be used as a defense against the Others, and the scraps and corners can also be made into other commodities, which can be sold to the northern border and even across the narrow sea... just spend some time promoting the evil effect of dragon crystal and its effect on human beings. The restraint effect of natural enemies, at least there will be no situation where no one cares about it.

It sounds ideal, but obsidian, a natural glass, is not only produced in Dragonstone Island after all. As far as Iger knows, I have heard of several obsidian mining areas in Essos, but there has been no large-scale production due to supply and demand. Mining - Even if obsidian is popularized on both sides of the narrow sea by some magical marketing methods, the obsidian of Dragonstone Island is not very competitive.

Not to mention, this thing was dug up not from a land grant, but from King Stannis' backyard - Dragonstone Island. The Iron Throne does not collect taxes now because the night watchman industry is not fat enough to make a king of a country The degree of envy and covetousness... But if you really expect this product to be eaten for a lifetime, let's not mention whether it can be realized, first of all, it violates the cautious principle of "separating eggs into cages".

Obsidian should be able to become a source of income, but it can't support the whole burden, nor is it a long-term solution, and then think about other ways... Iger can easily think of minerals.

What is lacking in the backward world is not metal mines, but finished metals, and there is no way to make money by selling ores directly.Therefore, the idea of ​​carrying out smelting in the land-grant naturally entered Iger's mind.

Regardless of the considerations, the land grant must achieve a certain degree of self-sufficiency in terms of "metals".

It is of course best if there is surplus to sell for a profit. If not, it is absolutely impossible to use it for yourself than to buy it from outside.

Iger has always been a character who takes one step and thinks twice. Of course, he did not devote all his energy to the Great Wall during the long election that lasted for several months and let Houguan Town's family business go unnoticed... A master who has the knowledge of smelting They have already been invited from the south, and the rest of the preparations are in place, and they can start directly after it is confirmed that the land-grant resettlement plan will not be suspended.

"Our surveyors have rushed to various places to search for mineral deposits, but there are few mineral deposits in the plains, and the mountain roads do not exist at all. The traffic is inconvenient and the weather is bad. The exploration may take some time." Mayor Yam reported the project to Iger Progress of the plan: "However, the mountain people working in Houguan Town inadvertently told us that there are open-pit copper mines and coal mines in the mountains where they live... I went to find the leaders of these clans, and they confirmed this. Agree with us to mine and use it. As long as we guarantee: the workers needed in the smelting process will be hired from their clan first."

"The requirements are not too much...but the copper mine? What is the quality and scale? Is it easy to mine? How far is the location from the land grant?"

"Judging from the narratives of the mountain people, they only used the natural copper on the surface of the copper ore, and occasionally threw a little copper ore into the fire to 'smelt' some of the fire when cooking, to make some accessories, Small objects and the like. The quality and scale of the entire copper mine will not be known until our master has seen it, but mining is probably not difficult, and the location is not far from the gifted land, which is less than a hundred miles southwest of Houguan Town."

"Well... Although copper is more expensive than iron, I still hope to find iron ore if I want to use it. But there is no rush, the principle of smelting copper and iron is similar after all. Since there is a ready-made copper ore, I will take it first. This practice is the most important thing for the land-grant people to master the process steps of large-scale smelting." After a brief thought, Iger ordered decisively: "Don't stop looking for other mineral deposits, especially iron ore, but start copper smelting first. Show me... ASAP."

"Understood." Yam nodded.

"Come on, take me to see how the other lines I planned are going."

-

Chapter 318 "Rear Crown City"

Houguan Town, as a gathering place for land-grant materials, population and various activities, is changing every day. Compared with the last time I left here, it is quite different.

The most obvious difference is the gradual formation of the "outer city".

……

The name "Crown Town" in the common language of Westeros actually only means "Crown". It originally only refers to the tower where Queen Alysanne Targaryen lived when she visited the land-grant. It is the small village where it is located... As for the word "town" in the back, it is purely made up by people who know it is a place name when they are thinking.

The first wall surrounds the ruins of the original small village by the lake to form a castle-like structure, protecting the core buildings such as the internal material and weapon warehouses, stables, soldier staff quarters and multi-purpose halls.The rule of "only internal personnel" to enter and exit here will never be changed, but as the resettlement plan continues to advance and the population of Houguan town gathers and stays continues to increase, the open space outside the castle wall will soon become crowded and chaotic , the difficulty of management has greatly increased...

At this time, it was time to start the second step of Iger's construction of his base camp: he would use the castle built on the site of the original Houguan Town as the core, and begin to expand this stronghold—expand the castle into a town, so that Houguan Town and even The name Houguancheng has become worthy of the name.

***

After careful planning, construction began on the expansion.The previous road-building army regrouped and cleared away all the temporary tents and earth nests that spread around the city wall and were as chaotic as a slum, and built neatly built buildings made of earth, wood, stone, etc. A bungalow made of different materials.

These houses will be the residences of the first batch of "houguancheng citizens".

To obtain this status, there are two ways: either work hard for N years, save a large sum of money and buy a house to obtain citizen status; After making credit, you can obtain the right of residence ranging from several years to permanent in the form of rewards-you only need to pay a symbolic low rent, and you can live in the assigned house until the expiration of the term or you voluntarily move out.

The first batch of new residents has been born: among the mountain people and newly-granted land people who had been conscripted to participate in the battle to expel the ironmen from Aegon's south - the injured and the families of the dead, as well as those who made military exploits or were active in the battle, Basically, they have obtained the right of residence ranging from one to ten years.

As soon as the residential area was built, it was immediately allocated to these heroes in order of priority.

In addition to the background purpose of finding something to do for idlers, this method can also fill the new residential area while ensuring the quality and loyalty of the first batch of post-Crown City residents to the greatest extent.In addition, the ever-increasing gap in living standards caused by distribution according to contributions... can also increase the labor enthusiasm of the land-grant residents, and unknowingly weaken and reduce the influence of the original tribal leaders outside the Great Wall:

Those who work for Iger and make meritorious service can move out of the dilapidated small villages scattered in the land grant, and come to the bustling outer city of Houguan Town, which is easy to find job opportunities, to enjoy convenience and services.This kind of tangible interest is the strongest ruling tool. If the original tribal chiefs dare to obstruct it, they will violate the land-grant law. If they ignore it, they will soon find out: Iger’s influence on his tribe members , will soon surpass themselves.

When the chiefs of Houguan Town select workers, they must choose those young and strong with strong bodies and flexible minds. No matter which world they go to and at any time... such "the backbone of the ethnic group" and the "pillar" must be the family members. Or a component with a higher voice in society.In the case of tight resources and unable to meet everyone's needs, Iger chose the most efficient method: slightly tilted in the allocation, first to win over those who are most likely to "have ideas and implement them", and ensure his rule in the land grant Be stable, and then make plans later.

……

Although the residential area is quite spectacular, one building after another, the contiguous area is actually repetitive and monotonous, and there is really nothing to see.Iger nodded and motioned to go to the functional area close to the inner city.

Schools, hospitals, business districts, and squares... Although the sparrow is small and complete, there are basically all the functional buildings that should be there or are under construction here.

The so-called business district is naturally the expansion and displacement of a street outside the gate of the original Houguan Town.The hospital is slightly larger than the rest of the surrounding buildings, double-storey, and has already been built, only enough doctors are needed to settle in... But the school has already started operation early.

Hundreds of children from the ruling families of the newly donated land tribes, ranging from eight or nine years old to teenagers, were divided into two classes, big and small, and had begun to receive basic education including reading, writing, and arithmetic in the common language.

This is a very rare scene, not to mention the land-grant residents, even the entire Seven Kingdoms, it is not common for such a group of people to gather together for teaching activities.

In this world with irregular seasons, the development of the cultural field must unconditionally make way for "other things related to survival". "Education" has always been a special treatment that only some people can enjoy.The lord-level nobles who own castles have bachelors who serve themselves to enlighten their descendants and successors, while those slightly less well-behaved knights or shabby settlers, as well as more common people, can only hope to be selected into the "church." " or "Learning City", have the opportunity to get rid of the fate of running around all day for survival and get in touch with more knowledge.

Convincing the outright outcasts of the new land-grants that "sit down and learn to count and read and write is as important as working and exercising your body" is troublesome business.Fortunately, the savages handed over the hostages as agreed upon passing through the Great Wall.Mormont's original plan was to let these children be the "officers" of the night watchmen in Castle Black, that is, attendants and nannies, to take care of them and cultivate their feelings through getting along day and night, but Egger had other ideas.

Many of the children of these higher-class families among the wildlings would become voices in the tribe in the future.Anyway, the night watchmen have to spend food to feed the hostages, and also spend time to slowly assimilate the new land residents by influencing the next generation of the savages, so why not just do two things together—directly use these "protons" as gifts The first batch of students in the local school integrated the operation of win over and brainwashing into their daily teaching, and carried it out subtly?

It is easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but difficult to go from extravagant to frugal.Over time, these protons who have studied and understood the "civilized world", are familiar with the life in Houguan City, get used to or accepted the culture of the Seven Kingdoms, and have been instilled with a bunch of Iger's own values ​​and ideas have returned to the tribe, even if they are not themselves Fanatical supporters of China's Communist Party, at least they will not be roadblocks and opponents.

……

By creating an environment where hard work and loyalty can be exchanged for a better life faster, Iger will gradually expand his influence among the new land-grants at the bottom.And by brainwashing the children of those tribal leaders, Iger will also be able to quietly send his voice and ideas to the upper echelons of the former Outer Great Wall.

With such a two-pronged approach, as long as there is enough time, the people outside the Great Wall will be completely assimilated into land-grant residents.

……

The biggest difficulty in opening a school is that there are not enough "teachers". It will take time for the newly opened fortress to be recognized by the school city and send bachelors to settle in, and one person cannot take on such a heavy responsibility... Not to mention, it is impossible for Iger to hand over such a thing to To foreign forces whose details are unknown and which cannot be controlled.

Therefore, this task is temporarily taken up by the civilian staff of the Night Watchman Industry, and King's Landing will soon send more people to relieve the pressure of this shortage of manpower.It doesn't matter if you don't have experience, as you teach and explore all the way, there will always be a teaching plan suitable for this place.

***

The "students" stared at the Commander-in-Chief of the Night Watch, who they regarded as the new "King of the Great Wall" and walked into the classroom with mixed expressions of curiosity and awe, and stood at the front.

……

"Hello, future owners of the land-grant." Iger nodded and smiled at the children, and spoke. "You heard me right. I called you the future owners of the land-grant. This is not a joke. But the identity of the owner is not destined at birth, but depends on you to fight for it."

"Being able to be sent to the night watchmen as hostages shows that your parents are the leaders or actual stewards of the tribes, leading a group of people. But they are not the masters of the land grant, no intention to offend, but the fact is——your parents , It’s just a group of soldiers who can’t survive outside the Great Wall, relying on surrender and handing over their children in exchange for the qualification to pass the Great Wall, everything is in the hands of the night watchmen.” Iger pointed in the direction of the inner city of Houguan Town: “ There! The people there are the real owners of the land-grant. Where does your tribe live, what can you eat in the next month, what area is allowed to move around, what you can and cannot do, the next step of the land-grant The price of goods and the level of labor wages...everything that people can decide is determined by the people inside that high wall!"

"And if you want to enter that high wall and become one of the actual owners of the land-grant, the quickest way is in front of you: study hard, learn what your teacher teaches, what I hope you know. Master, Understand, understand how the world inside the Great Wall works, and you will be qualified to enter that high wall."

……

Iger looked around the room before continuing.

"There must be children who will say, what's the use of learning these things, I still have brothers and sisters, my parents can still have children, my tribe only recognizes the strongest and bravest warriors as leaders... When I finish this mess When things returned to the tribe, the position in the hearts of parents and tribe members has long been taken by other people!"

He shrugged: "It's a reasonable idea, and I can only make one promise about this - all children who study hard and can be recognized by me or the teachers I send, you will never be alone! Behind you, stand by me ——The person who holds all the powers of the land-grant and can affect the fate of every new land-grant citizen. I will never let it go —- studied in my school, uses the same language as me, and has a common Good children with ideals and goals become outcasts and marginalized people of their respective tribes. I don’t care what customs your tribe has outside the Great Wall, but when you enter the land-grant, you are the new land-grant people, and the rules are up to me Let's decide!"

……

Of course, Iger didn't expect this call to get applause or applause. He came here today on the way and didn't make much preparation.It was only on a temporary basis that I decided to spread this out in advance—and this remark probably left most of the "savage protons" in a daze.

But if the smart ones among them lie on the bed after the end of the day and think about it, they will probably understand what Iger wants to express.

He drew a big pie for the students in the school, and told them in a barely concealed way: as the commander-in-chief of the night watchman, he will definitely intervene in the power structure within the newly-given land tribe in the future, and—— For those who were sent to Houguan Town as hostages, learned the culture of the Seven Kingdoms, and could at least roughly understand their own ambitions and aspirations.

Even if it is a king, it is absolutely impossible to directly parachute unrelated personnel to become chiefs and managers of those new land-grant tribes, but if they support and appoint a specific child of the original leader to take over, the resistance they will encounter will be small. much.

This bait is much bigger than the reward and punishment mechanism originally established in the school to coax children... I can understand that I can't resist its temptation, but if I think about it a few times, I don't know what Iger is talking about, that is, A rotten tree is not worth the effort to cultivate at all.

It will take at least three or two years for a leisurely move in the middle of a busy schedule to see results, but Iger is now the commander-in-chief of the Night Watch, and it's time to think about everything in the long run.

The so-called general trend was formed by playing chess step by step.

……

Because he complained that he threw himself at the Long Nightfort before and ran back to Castle Black to take up his post, Arya, who caught up after the snow was slightly lighter, was not happy, seeing such a big change in Houcrown Town along the way. Not sent.Walking out of the school, Iger, who saw that she was not in high spirits, smiled and patted her on the shoulder: "Look, there are so many of your peers here, maybe you can make friends from them."

"I don't care who I make friends with."

"Okay, okay, I don't care... But can you stop putting on a straight face? Didn't Sir Rodrik promise you to stay in Houguan Town for a few days before going home." Iger smiled nonchalantly: "Let's go , take you to see something interesting."

-

Chapter 319 Industrial Zone and Gunpowder

At the outermost edge of the planned outer city, separated from other areas by a two-meter-high wall, it is an industrial area that operates independently.

A large pile of earthen kilns or furnaces of various shapes and sizes filled the field of vision.

Iger comes from a modern world where civilization is highly developed and social division of labor has been extremely detailed. Therefore, even though he is engaged in work related to metal materials, he does not know much about the most original step of "smelting"... Fortunately, although the world of ice and fire is backward, it is not primitive after all. Society, such a simple operation as the reduction of metal from ore, has long been mastered and improved to a good degree.As long as there are some experienced craftsmen, the smelting area can be commanded and established.

The team that went to explore the origin of the ore in the mountains has not yet returned, but a small part of the "industrial zone" of Houguancheng has already started: in addition to ore, the production of the largest amount of material required for smelting-charcoal.

The craftsmen in the world of ice and fire have already summed up the experience that the products obtained by charcoal metallurgy are of higher quality. Therefore, before the official start of work, this preparatory work has already supported countless new land-grant residents: the land-grant is not like the wolf forest or the ghost forest. The forest is so large that it needs to be marked on the map, but there is a small forest here, there is a small forest scattered here and there.In the case of fewer people, although the wood is completely sufficient, it is quite troublesome to collect.

The measure taken by the people in charge of Houguan Town is to issue a "wood collection order" to let idlers everywhere collect firewood and send it to Houguan Town, where the recipients weigh and classify according to dryness and wood type Convert it into money and pay for it...Compared with other formal recruitment and work, this work is tiring and less profitable, but fortunately, men, women and children can participate in the battle, which allows Houguan Town not to worry about wood, and can justifiably It is a good thing to feed many people.

After the wood is in place, the workers will go to battle and sort them according to length, thickness and thickness, build tall hollow firewood piles one by one, stick clay on the outside to form an earthen kiln...the inside will be ignited and fired.Stuffed kiln flameout method - when the fire burns to a certain extent, all openings are blocked, after the flame is turned off and cooled naturally, the outer layer of clay is planed, and the finished black charcoal is inside.

Simple and repetitive operations, the most time-consuming step is waiting... But there is nothing else in the land grant, the most important thing is space.After sealing a charcoal pile, the workers can immediately go to another open space to repeat the above steps. It is for this reason that the scene of many large earthen kilns in front of them is formed.

There are workers coming and going everywhere, using simple carts to transport firewood and burnt charcoal back and forth.In addition to these front-line workers, there are also a small number of commanding and supervisory personnel who are quite conspicuous, and even some mountain folk hawkers who came to deliver meals. It was hot, and there was even a faint smell of food.

This is by no means a performance for Iger. The division of labor and cooperation are carried out so smoothly and naturally that one can fully believe that once the copper ore arrives, this place will immediately turn into an industrial behemoth that spits out metal.

"My lord, this is the burnt charcoal." It stands to reason that the smelted copper should be displayed, but unfortunately there is no such thing, Yam had to take a piece of black charcoal and hand it to Iger.

"Yeah." Burning charcoal to warm Iger is no problem, as for distinguishing the quality and quality of charcoal?That would be too much to think of him, he pretended to rub the black light mass in his hands, he nodded, and changed the subject: "Look, this is much better than firewood, peat or coal. This is what you use to keep warm in your room at night."

Arya gave him a blank look: "Tch, this is so interesting!"

"Hehe, indeed, this is not interesting." Iger nodded: "Please come to the master who is in charge of smelting and casting, and take me to see it."

……

Coincidentally, probably because Yam's family used to manage mines for Lannister and his contacts were all in the western region, this craftsman who is proficient in everything from smelting to casting and forging was also invited from Lannisport.He looks like he is in his forties or fifties, with bronze skin and a strong figure, he looks like he is in this line of work.

Iger greeted him, and after asking about relevant preparations and specific information, he regretted and found out with ease that the world has not lagged behind in metallurgy to the point where he, a layman, can give advice or improve.

"After the copper is smelted, what do you plan to do with it?" the craftsman asked casually, "Although copper is still worth a little money, it is now in turmoil, and what is in short supply is good steel for weapons... and the land you donated is also far away." The south is too far away, and you can’t make much money by transporting things there and selling them. But if I can find tin mines, I can help you get some bronze, which is not much worse than iron.”

"If you can find tin mines, that would be the best, but the purchase cost would be too high." Iger shook his head: "This matter can be done slowly. I plan to use the first batch of smelted copper to mint coins. After all, Coins have no requirements on the toughness and hardness of the material."

"What? Indeed, pure copper can also be minted." The craftsman's eyes widened: "But it's not a matter of material, minting coins... But the king's approval is required, have you obtained permission?"

"Not yet, but I will settle this matter myself. Only copper coins are minted here, and the name is called tokens. It is mainly used to distribute labor remuneration and allowances to land-grant residents and night watchmen. Regardless of the outflow of land-grant, the value It is set to be equal to copper points... In this case, how much copper is needed for each copper coin, mold making and casting, can you figure it out?"

"I have to admit, I've never made such a small copper product." The ease on the questioner's face disappeared, and he shook his head depressedly: "But it shouldn't be difficult, after all, it's just that thing. You give me enough tools And time, a few more trials will always succeed.”

After a pause, he continued to ask: "Then... what patterns and characters will be printed on the so-called 'token'? Does the night watchman have a coat of arms, or whose face is it?"

If you really want to print someone's face on the coin, it must be Iger's own, but that kind of arrogant and rebellious thing, just think about it, it can't be true: "This, you and the person in charge of the logistics department Let's discuss it, just show me the final plan, everything is simple and easy to cast. Anyway, we only mint copper coins, and we still use silver stags and golden dragons, it doesn't matter."

"Yeah, I got it."

"One more thing, Master." Iger lowered his figure, "I invited you here at a high price to give us land, not only because I want you to help us get the smelting done. When you are free, you have to use the Skills, teach us a lot of apprentices and helpers assigned to you—you can rest assured that our people will never go to the south to compete with you for jobs, but if you teach them, the rewards I will give you here will definitely last your entire life Enough."

The craftsman from the Western Territory looked at Iger unexpectedly, thinking that the legendary White Ghost Killer seemed to have a lot of ideas... But he naturally couldn't answer such a profound request in one go, and just nodded without commenting.

Iger didn't expect to let others pass on his life skills just by talking about it. As long as he is given enough money, he is not afraid that he will not do anything at all... Besides, now that he is on his own territory, if he is really ignorant and soft, he can come hard Well.

After chatting for a while, Iger bid farewell to everyone and left the industrial area. Through the gates, streets, and wooden bridges of the inner city, he came to the small island in the middle of the pocket lake, where he placed the pyromancers he abducted from King's Landing.

……

If there is any knowledge that can help him gain a big advantage in this world just at the level of popular science, it is gunpowder.For this reason, he began to reserve and brew talents and technologies early on... Two years after he got to know and use various means to recruit this group of fire magicians, he finally managed to "control an obedient force that is completely his own" and can Start to gradually push this big killer onto the stage of history, without worrying that it will immediately become someone else's pocket.

The Pyromancers have been in the land grant for nearly two years, and they have been enjoying the highest level of treatment in Houguan Town. They have gradually gotten used to the climate here, and they are no longer full of complaints and want to leave.In addition to deploying and storing wildfire all day long, they have also started preparations for making gunpowder according to Iger's secret instructions.

Entering this tower surrounded by water and with the highest level of security and secrecy in Houguan Town, in a chemical laboratory-like room filled with various bottles and jars, Iger met several pyromancers whom he had not seen for a long time.

After enjoying the preferential treatment and respect in Houguan Town for a long enough time, these alchemists who lived like mice after the fall of the Targaryen Dynasty regained some color and confidence, and two of them even grew their hair back.

"Several wise men, good afternoon." Iger greeted with a smile: "Please prepare the things, are you done?"