Chapter 227
2021-01-06
Chapter 227 Copper Wall Iron BastionNews from the west of the Wall, Mance Rayder's all-out attack has been Announcing the start, the wildling intensified across the Gorge and turned back to attack the West Bridge, trying to seize and repair the Bridge of Skulls across the Gorge, which had been blocked by the Night's Watch... Ser Denys Mallister led the Shadow Tower defenders to repel several A wildling attack, but the defenders suffered heavy casualties, Mormont sent another hundred men from Castle Black to support.
But there is good news, Ygritte must have thought that Mance's attack plan was announced to Night's Watch in public that day: With a hundred times the number of crows, Yang Conspiracy can also win, she and Mance absolutely did not expect ...a freak in Night's Watch, who is not even at the top of Wall, but he returned to the front line in an emergency, and he just came up with a way to force the game.
With the implementation of several countermeasures at the same time, the shortage of manpower has finally been alleviated temporarily: when Igor first crossed into this world, there were seven or eight thousand ordinary residents living in the land grant, distributed in the Along the Wall, nearly half of the supplies of Night's Watch Legion are provided. As the wildling invaded the wall and looted and slaughtered, these residents died, and the south fled south, leaving only about 2,000 people left... Now, Commander Mormont has migrated all the more than 2,000 residents to the nearest place where the defenders are stationed. Night's Watch stronghold. These ordinary person battle strengths are not enough to fight wildling over the wall, but there is no problem hiding in the wall to assist the defense, or to do some repairs and construction work as ordered.
With these helpers, Night's Watch's own troops can be mobilized more freely.
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In addition, the efficiency of the clan people was also higher than expected. When Igor arranged a lot of follow-up matters in Queenscrown, he took a few ordinary prisoners in the Winterfell dungeon with him. Back at Wall, the Flint clan's migratory advance party had already made their way out of the mountains to Castle Black.
The largest clan in the North is the Wol clan, but since they need half of their members to stay in the fishing villages along the Bay of Ice, the Flint clan has the largest number of people who can move in to support Night's Watch. . According to the previous agreement, the first occupants were placed in Nightfort, several dozen li west of Castle Black.
Nightfort is a traditional Night's Watch home base that could accommodate up to 10,000 people when it was first built, but it never actually filled more than half the space, a typical "First Men vs Others" The product of the invasion overreaction", it was not until two hundred years ago that Night's Watch declined so much that it could no longer maintain such a huge fortress, and it was finally abandoned, and Castle Black at the end of Kingsroad was used as its new headquarters.
The largest fortress along the Wall, it could not be more suitable for the clan that will occupy the largest number of people.
The abandoned building complex needs a lot of maintenance and repairs to live in. Fortunately, the fortress that could accommodate 10,000 people has been demolished and repaired for a thousand people to live in, and the materials are sufficient. Mormont sent ten craftsmen to assist, and the first fortress with reinforcements was settled.
Igor paid the old Flint fifty Golden Dragons to make sure they settled down smoothly, which is a lot of money in North where prices and living standards are generally lower...Castle Black hoarded There were enough supplies for a thousand Night's Watches to live for a year, and Mormont agreed to sell these things on the condition that Igor guaranteed that the inventory would be replenished in the future. The clans can use the money to exchange Castle Black for any item they want. Igor has negotiated with Mormont and the clerk on the pricing of all the goods to ensure that it is neither too high to bear nor too low to make people think of reselling.
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"For Gorge, 100 people might not be enough. I plan to recruit people for compensation from the clansmen and land-grant people who have been stationed along the Wall. After a simple training Fill in Shadow Tower and West Bridge to make sure the Bridge of Skulls is safe." Igor said: "Meanwhile, if what the wildling woman said is true, Mance will probably send people along the Wall to dig holes and climb walls everywhere, Wall. The guards and patrols on the top should also be restored as soon as possible.”
“If you want to resume patrols, you must first clear the road again. There are not enough craftsmen, and I may not be able to restore them in a short time.”
"Lord Commander and I have already arranged that the clans that will be stationed will be assigned to several fortresses such as Stone Gate, Nightfort, Sable Hall, Torches, etc., so that there will be a group of people stationed every several dozen li along the Wall. Igor said: "And the top of the Wall in these fortresses and the surrounding areas will be in charge of the assigned clan... I will recruit craftsmen's assistants, sentries and patrols from them, and strive to achieve defense-free along the top of the Wall as soon as possible. No matter where the wildling climbs the wall or drills a hole, someone will immediately take countermeasures.”
“The clan people have such discipline and self-consciousness to complete the Are you assigned a mission?" Jeremy questioned: "You let them go to the city to watch or patrol, just in case they find a corner and go to sleep wrapped in a blanket."
"It's very possible, so , we will arrange Night's Watch to supervise and manage each fortress where the clan people are stationed. One or two craftsmen and service officers, and a number of rangers are used to lead the duty in shifts... Each fortress only needs to send ten to twenty Night's Watch, manage hundreds of clans and people, after building the wall, you can make the whole wall like a Copper Wall Iron Bastion, so that the wildlings who come to eat will be full of blood."
"Take what? To ensure that the wildlings obey the management of the Night's Watch we sent?"
"Qianbei, the clansmen who go to the city to participate in the repair of the road on the top of the wall, send guards and patrol along the way, can get paid, what kind of decision is there? I am studying the amount, but this is undoubtedly the most efficient method. Whoever disobeys the management... Well, let's go to the fortress on the ground to eat the living expenses, some people are willing to do it. What I agreed with the clan leaders is to guarantee that there will be no People starve to death, and they quickly discover that 'guaranteed not to starve' really means literally if they do nothing to help."
"Why is everything money, money, money? "The Chief Service Officer complained: "Is there no other way. "
"Forgive my businessman thinking, if Lord Bowen has other options, I'm all ears." "
"If the money is all from the logistics department, we have no right to object." The affairs officer didn't speak any more, but Mormont spoke up: "What I'm worried about is...the origins of the black clothed brothers are inherently chaotic. If they enter the fortress where the clan people live, they leave the supervisor's supervision and take the lead in being lazy. Enjoyment, even corruption..."
At present, more than 30% of Night's Watch members are criminals, and more than half of the remaining 70% join because of desperation... On the poor quality of the rebels, Westeros is afraid that there is nothing An army can be worse than the Night's Watch, Mormont's concerns are justified.
"We can only try to select those who volunteer to join, and those with noble backgrounds will give priority to the commanders of the newly opened fortresses.
" . "Voluntary participation and aristocratic background do not mean that the personality is more noble, but at least it is much better than picking from criminals: "Also, I will send a staff member of the Night's Watch industry to each fortress to manage salary and life. By the way, they secretly supervise the defense seriousness of each fortress. ”
The money is from Igor, and of course he has no objection if he wants oneself to be in charge, and in this matter, he is not entirely selfish: follow his northward industry The members, except for the basic soldiers, are basically educated, at least able to settle accounts... The most important thing is: receiving a salary that is definitely high in this era. High salary and cheap, holding hundreds of Silver Stags Salary, Igor really doesn't believe that oneself people will toss those coins with the clan people.
"There is another problem. What about the people? "The chief craftsman asked: "Many land-grant residents are helping me build and maintain the walls of Castle Black. What if they find that the clans can get paid, but they just manage the meals and work for free. What should I do? "
"It's the same salary. ”
“Can the logistics department support it? "
"It can't be supported, but it can be offset by cancelling the meal. The clan people are foreign aid, and they should be supported, but the land-grant people should have supported the Night's Watch. Igor shrugged: "I want to get the same salary, but from now on I don't care about food, I pay for it... This way, the pressure on Night's Watch does not increase much. "
After a moment of silence in the Lord Commander's office, the Chief Ranger expressed his concern: "While burning money like this is the best way to relieve anxiety, the clan people and land-grantors will not No matter how cheap it is, multiplied by the number of people and time, it is not a small amount. It is naturally good for Lord Igor to balance it. But what I'm more afraid of is another effect - if the clan people and land grantors are paid to assist in patrolling and sentrying, what will the Rangers and other Night's Watches who are doing their job see? The chief logistics officer wants to establish a consumption system to manage and arrange foreign aid. I fully understand and admire it, but in the future, brothers will watch the outsider and the land-grant people who should have raised oneself happily and spend money to buy what they want to buy. How to deal with dissatisfaction or jealousy? "
"Then pay them wages too." "Igor shrugged. Night's Watch only has a few hundred in total, so it's not too much of a burden to add it. If you pull a few clans, everything will be solved.
"No, Night's Watch still wants to get paid for performing its duties. , into what system? "Mormont decisively rejected Igor's proposal for the first time: "Swear that the brother can't be involved, or Legion will not be Legion." At worst, when the dissatisfaction of the brothers grows, gradually increase the allowance for petty use, this cost is borne by Castle Black oneself, although poor, Legion still has a little savings. "
This is the end of a brief briefing session, and Wall's defense has gradually seen hope. The blueprint for the Copper Wall Iron Bastion has been drawn, but after all, it has not yet been built, and only when all the clans contacted are in place. , each fortress is guarded by a wall, and each section of the Wall is guarded by a special person, so the situation can be called stable.
Everyone is busy, and Igor is the one who is most stressed. The stability of the Wall defense is based on a large number of At the expense of the residents being out of production, with the continuous introduction of follow-up foreign aid, Night's Watch will need to support more and more people. Castle Black's storage can support one thousand people for nearly two years, and once one thousand becomes ten thousand... ...even if these 10,000 people are cheap and never seen in the world, it is a huge pressure, and now, the pressure is all on the logistics.
This is the best opportunity to compete for credit, helping Night's Watch overcomes these difficulties, honor, influence, right to speak, everything will come in droves, but the premise is: those who take this life can survive.
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(end of this chapter)