Chapter 234
2021-01-06
Chapter 234 Long-term food stampsDrag two wildlings with minor injuries out of the cell and feed them After telling them the message they needed to convey, the Night's Watch let them down from the Wall... The prisoner who had been locked up for many days was so excited about being freed, he quickly left the gondola when he reached the ground, and ran away quickly. Disappeared in the vast Haunted Forest.
With the three Night's Watch strongholds and the seven newly activated fortresses restored to a manned state and the construction of walls, the defenses of Gorge and Wall were finally integrated, the frequency and scale of battles remained, and casualties occurred everyday all. But the hope of the wildlings crossing the Wall and entering the land grant is getting slimmer and slimmer. Through the birds and beasts controlled by the Skinchanger, the people beyond the wall can indeed grasp the distribution and movements of the Wall defenders at any time. The highest quality scouts are matched to the worst equipped and most undisciplined main force on the world...
Mance Rayder is nothing but a Night's Watch deserter, bringing together a hundred freedmen tribes Coming to Wall's feet is already the limit of his ability, he exhausted one's limited abilities, and can no longer make up a force to break through this highly guarded line of defense, where there are guards and patrols everywhere.
As long as the news that the Night's Watches are willing to negotiate is sent to the "King-Beyond-the-Wall", no matter how suspicious or reluctant he is, he has to take over the olive branch. and respond.
The initiative is all in the hands of Night's Watch.
…
Recruits brought in by Melisandre and his followers soon joined the regiment and were quickly assigned to various departments. So far, Igor doesn't have any subordinates in the "logistics department" other than Alliser Thorne, a nasty guy who is called the representative in King's Landing, but is actually completely overridden. Probably feeling sorry for this, so when he opened his mouth to ask Mormont, Old Bear readily assigned Humfrey Hisham to the logistics department.
At this point, Igor finally has a real subordinate within the system. He appointed Humfrey as "Queenscrown Chief Logistics Officer", working with "Mayor" Yam, responsible for the construction of the land-grant trading market Perfect, share the pressure of the latter.
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After a few days of work, Igor finally arrived at the long-awaited messenger of the Iron Vault.
The three Braavos, escorted by a squad of fully armed Rangers down to Castle Black, rode in through the newly built gate and dismounted in the middle of the courtyard.
"Three gentlemen, welcome to Night's Watch base camp, Castle Black." Igor took the initiative to meet him: "The Chief Logistics Officer of Night's Watch, next to me, is Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jeor Mormont."
The first of the three Braavos, a tall, thin man as tall as a bamboo pole and wearing a purple felt hat spoke up: "Tycho Nestoris, these two are my guards. I came to help the Night's Watch under the order of the Iron Vault." He took off his hat and bowed, "Thanks to the two adults and the Night's Watch brothers for the hospitality and escort, I hope it will not cause any trouble."
"Of course not. , sir, you're welcome." Mormont said with a smile, or at least the words were sincere: "Do you want to come in now for hot soup and meals, or to visit the top of the Wall? The Wall is at Castle Black level off the ground. The biggest, overlooking the Haunted Forest here, the scenery is unique and unmatched in the world."
"There is no doubt... but overlooking the Haunted Forest, we have already experienced it at Eastwatch, and look at it from a higher place dozens of feet. It doesn't make much sense. After a day of pommel horse fatigue, I prefer a warm and quiet room to talk about the purpose of our trip."
Mormont smiled knowingly: "Understood, then go My study. Jon...go to the kitchen and get something to eat and some mulled wine."
…
The fire in the fireplace has subsided a lot, but the house It was still much warmer inside than outside, and the Old Bear's crow greeted them by shouting "Corn!" and the crowd hung up their capes and coats and took their seats around the Lord Commander's desk.
Igor waited for the guest to sit down and said, "It's a coincidence, just a few days ago, I planned to go to Braavos in person to apply for a loan from the Iron Vault to tide over the difficulties. Send three people to visit... Ladies and gentlemen, why are you here?"
"I don't dare to call you lords, we are just the staff of the Iron Vault." be that as it may, but Tycho held his head proudly. , he does have this qualification. "We're here for a very clear purpose, the great characters of Braavos heard about the trouble Wall was facing and instructed the Iron Vault to help as much as they could - we're going to provide Night's Watch with an interest-free loan to help Wall's defenders through it. Difficulties."
Igor and Mormont looked at each other, both of them a little confused: this is too funny, the Iron Vault may have received intelligence from Jaqen H'ghar about the appearance of ghouls, worried that the Others will invade the Seven Kingdoms As a result, the loan to Iron Throne cannot be recovered, so it is understandable to be willing to help... but it is a bank after all, so it rushed to the door and said "I want to lend you money without paying interest"...
It's too enthusiastic and proactive.
This is illogical... Igor wasted a bunch of manuscripts by the other party's words. He didn't know how to answer. After thinking about it, one thing suddenly emerged from his memory: Jaqen said to oneself that day. Before saying goodbye and leaving, he promised to pay a ransom to oneself, and said that it would be delivered within a few months. Is this loan that was delivered to the door and the part of the interest waived, the ransom promised by the Faceless Men that day? ?
If this guess is true, then the influence of the high-level Faceless Men on the forces of Braavos is far beyond expectations. Igor looked at the three in front of him and wondered: Is one of them Jaqen H'ghar with a new face?
"With conditions, of course, we are asking to pledge the Night's Watch property and dispatch observers within Night's Watch's control to ensure that the loan is used to defend the Wall... Also, if you're going to buy from outside Westeros Braavos must be given priority when purchasing supplies locally."
Is it the purpose of the Iron Vault to infiltrate Westeros with land grants? Or use this loan as a breakthrough point to create an opportunity to annex the Night's Watch industry? Igor wondered, with Stannis sitting on the Iron Throne, neither of which seemed likely to be successful.
After thinking about it for a while, Igor decided to put his doubts behind him - when the Wall logistics supply chain is about to break, and the lives of thousands of people are a big problem, can oneself still be completely invisible? Doubt, the charcoal in the snow that refuses to come to your door?
Instead of fantasizing about it, it's better to think about some more tangible benefits: "It's a reasonable request, but we also have some small expectations - Wall is currently under manpower, and there are very few people who can do things independently. We hope that the Iron Vault The loan can be issued directly in the form of food aid."
The Braavos raised their eyebrows unexpectedly: "The logistics officer means that the iron treasury will arrange for someone to buy food for you, and hire a boat to transport it. Ship it to the Wall?"
"It would be great if that's the case."
Tycho laughed: "I heard that the chief logistics officer will seize all available people and people. Opportunity, now that I see it, it really does."
Igor shrugs, taking this as a compliment to oneself: "You agree?"
"I was ordered to allow Helping Night's Watch as much as possible, everything is negotiable...but we have to agree on all the details, okay?"
"Of course."
"Very well, let's get started. Get me something to drink first, I'm so thirsty."
Out of respect, Igor pretended that Mormont was the owner of the place, and pulled him over and Negotiating with the Iron Vault Emissary in his presence...
But in reality, Old Bear is completely silent about the contract. Igor and Tycho spent two or three hours laying out a clause and negotiating the details. By the time the final result came out, and Commander Igor and Commander Mormont both signed the contract drafted by Tycho, Jon Snow, who was accompanying him, had his legs numb.
The Iron Vault will provide a loan with a total cap of 100,000 Golden Dragon, and will be responsible for converting this amount into grain and transporting it to Wall, but the price will be based on the real-time grain price of Braavos on the day the ship docked at Eastwatch shall prevail, and at the same time...all expenses incurred in the process, including Chief-In-Charge wages, vessel employment costs, losses and compensation in the event of an accidental sinking...will be fully charged to Night's Watch account, namely- this One hundred thousand Golden Dragon.
Night's Watch will have twenty years to pay off the loan after this winter.
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"Are you sure about this... That guy named Tycho even told us clearly that after all the expenses were converted, we were equivalent to using two grains purchased from North. We can get food at twice the price.” After sending the messenger of the iron vault out of the house and placing it in place, Mormont asked in an uncertain tone: “That is to say, we will probably get food worth 50,000 Golden Dragon in the end, but we owe it all at once. They are 100,000...the so-called interest-free, simply is a good name, they played a little trick and took the interest in other ways!"
It looks like a scam, but As the head of the Night's Watch industry, Igor, who is familiar with the money-making process, knows that the Iron Vault is not blackhearted at all in this transaction, and is sincerely helping: "They are businessmen, and it is impossible to count on them for any benefit. No... Get food worth 50,000 Golden Dragon but owe 100,000. At first glance, it is really disturbing, but the truth is - directly give us 100,000 Golden Dragon and let us operate oneself, and we may not be able to buy Braavos. So much food is provided to us. The most important thing is that we just signed and got this, and even if we pay the price, it will be at least twenty years later!"
"Well, anyway In the end, the Night's Watch property was used as collateral." Mormont shrugged: "I'm probably dead at that time... Forget it, I don't care, whatever you come up with, you can mess with it, I have no problem."
"Thanks for your support, sir," Igor said sincerely.
......
Walking out of the room where I stayed for a long time, the scene in Castle Black was the same as usual, but in Igor's eyes, it had completely changed, and he really has no turning back now. . There are countless people in the world who have offended the king and live at ease, but no one can go back and escape punishment after reaching an agreement with the Iron Vault.
Until he signed the contract just now, he had the opportunity to quietly monetize the Night's Watch industry as much as possible, and then fled to the other side of the narrow sea with the money he had made to live in seclusion, away from the piles on The Wall. Break things, live a comfortable and comfortable life of a rich man... But driven by something that can be called ambition or self-motivation, oneself has made the opposite choice.
He is like a gambler who has won money and wants to try to win something bigger, and now, he has all the chips that oneself has won before - the Night's Watch industry and current status, all back. on the table.
place your bets and hands off the table, he has no time to regret or hesitate, and Igor's expression becomes firm: the long-term supply of grain has been settled, the first shipment of grain at Braavos arrives Before Eastwatch, it's time to think about how to get the food for next month and the next month from wildling.
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(end of this chapter)