Chapter 377

Chapter 377

2021-01-06

Chapter 377 Black Wall Fort

This feeling is so familiar, Igor thinks for a moment and realizes that oneself It was the second time I was surprised by this place: Back then, he was forcibly named as Night's Watch by King Robert, followed the army of the six countries to Vale, and when he returned to King's Landing, he was born out of nothing, as if it had fallen from the sky. The industrial park in the city was a big surprise. Who would have thought that time has changed, and it can be shocked again from the same place.

However, after calming down a bit and clearing his mind, Igor realized that the inner touch of oneself is actually exaggerated to a large extent: compared to the "real" shedding body, exchanging bones of the land grant, the industry The extent of the development and change of the park is actually not huge, but Igor was in the land grant during this period, and only saw the original appearance of the industrial park more than a year ago and the current grand situation - just like the parents who left home for work and suddenly came home to see Just like the left-behind children who haven’t seen him for many years: there is nothing magical about the growth of a child, but if you don’t witness the process and look directly at the result, you will feel that Heaven and Earth turning upside down have changed in him.

In other words, although the magnitude of changes in land grants is greater, it comes from patchwork loans and external aid and blood transfusions, which are piled up by resources. Once the war is over, the threat of Others is eliminated, the Iron Vault begins to collect payments, and Lannister begins to demand debts, and will soon face the pressure of collapse... And what happens here in the industrial park is truly sustainable and healthy development.

It's a pity that Night's Watch, a huge cash cow with luxuriant branches, is now less than half of the holding ratio (fortunately, it is still the largest shareholder and actual controller), and it is no longer completely the property of the Wall defenders. .

The arrival of the Blackbird quickly attracted the attention of the dock workers in the industrial park. The dark cloud of war has shrouded here, and the cargo ships that used to come and go in an endless stream are now gone. The battleship, as the only ship approaching docking at the moment, was soon successfully berthed into the port under the service of a chartered field. After asking the identity of the visitor, someone immediately ran to the dark castle to report the message. In a short while, Nina, who was in charge of the town day and night, rushed to the dock with a few people.

......

On the face of this little strong woman, there was an uncontrollable excitement and happiness in the accident: "Sir, are you able to predict? We are trying our best to do it. When I contacted you, it turned out that you came first!"

Igor nodded and asked with concern: "What about Raven? If I didn't get news from Winterfell by chance, I'm afraid the family property was burned by the Dragon Queen. I'm still in the dark."

"Ah..." Nina put away her excited expression, sighed, and led him to the castle while explaining, "It's really hard to say, the industrial park originally had five gifts that could only be sent by air. Raven in the land, two were killed by a disease in a small area not long ago, and the remaining three were when the Targaryen Queen suddenly appeared and captured Dragonstone... All of them were released to send new information about the collection or production progress of nitrate. There is news. The Red Keep in King's Landing may also have Raven flying Castle Black, but at this juncture, how dare we bother the King and borrow the Royal Family's Raven to pass the news of the Night's Watch industry?"

Raven, unique to the world of ice and fire, is a bird similar to a carrier pigeon, but far bigger, stronger, smarter, and resistant to raptor attacks. With the right method, it is easy to Train them to send letters back and forth between two places, and even orientate them in more than two fixed locations. But smart is smart, King's Landing is too far to grant land after all, and Night's Watch can't get the guidance and help of top Raven experts from Citadel, and can only rely on the private hire of apprentices and semi-professionals... Twenty years along the land grant and Wall The Raven flying back and forth between the big fortresses is enough, but the north-south "Raven line" between the industrial park and the land grant is still very few, and it can only send letters in one direction: this means that Nina is used to send letters to Igor. After the ravens fly to the land grant, the land grant must send someone to take them back to King's Landing all the way, in order to continue to use it next time, and vice versa.

And people can't fly between two places... A few ravens in a cage may seem like a lot, but when they are really used, they are often faced with several important information in a short period of time. The embarrassing situation of the one-way communication being interrupted for a short time after being released has not been returned to the cage. Once there is an accidental loss, the situation will become more serious.

As for the Raven in Red Keep, that is for the king to make announcements to the Seven Kingdoms, how can it be frequently used for business reporting by the unofficial organization of the Night's Watch industry?
Igor remembered that he had indeed received two or three progress reports from King's Landing within a few weeks, and they were all good news. Knowing that what Nina said was mostly true, he waved his hand to end the topic: "Forget it. , get in touch with the Citadel, put more Ravens on the agenda...what's up with the castle over there, ordered by King Stannis to protect the Night's Watch industry?"

"Oh...that Ah." Nina glanced at the dark castle-like building, "It has nothing to do with King Your Majesty, the industry is developing rapidly, and the precious assets, production materials and commercial or technical secrets that need to be protected are also becoming more and more. This is the plan passed by the majority of shareholders after a collective vote at an important meeting half a year ago: allocate funds from the expansion costs of the industry, build a high wall at the most critical position of the industrial park, surround the core departments and high-level warehouses, research to avoid threats such as bandits, rebels, etc. In order to indicate their identity, the project from the very beginning used dark materials as much as possible without increasing the cost, and black dyes or black cloth, black materials were used for insufficient areas. The flag makes up for it, and that's what you see in the end. It's not really a castle in itself, but now the surrounding residents and King's Landing people who rely on the industry to survive are more accustomed to calling it by the nickname - 'Black Wall Castle'."

"Black Wall Fort? It's really quite appropriate..."

Igor smiled knowingly and remembered: the industrial park he saw in Queenscrown a few months ago The report did mention the construction of the wall, and oneself wrote back and agreed. He thought it was a wall surrounding the entire industrial park, but didn't expect Nina to focus on taking care of the core area, and to build such a spectacular appearance, it is no wonder that the amount of funds was more than ordinary building walls. Much higher.

However, although the Night's Watch industry has a monthly income of thousands of Golden Dragon and a lot of funds granted by oneself to build the wall, it is absolutely impossible to build a complete castle. Although he instructed the industrial park to no longer transfer the funds to oneself, the purpose was to "concentrate on solving the problem of nitrate supply", not to engage in image projects. King's Landing has built such a large castle on its own initiative. How can there be any extra funds to collect nitrate and develop methods for producing nitrate?

Igor is uneasy, but the previous order was given face to face when Nina came to give the land, she absolutely knows what oneself means, impossible to make such a mistake of acting in a way that defeats one's purpose , guessing that there may be some hidden secrets, he did not directly question, but euphemistically raised his concerns: "This whole **** will require a lot of money, I did not approve such a large amount of money, and the extra Part of—no, it should be said, who made most of that?"

"No one made it, and that part doesn't exist at all. The 'Black Wall' did cost a lot to build. Money, a small amount of overspend than expected, but not as much as adults imagined... The specific reason, you will know when you see it when you go in."

......

The castle leaves the ship It was not far from the shore, and it was only a few steps away. Igor suppressed his urgency and took the entire group to follow Nina for a while, and finally approached the castle and entered it.

It soon became clear to Igor why Nina said she spent less money than oneself imagined: this dark fortress-like building is really just the "Black Wall" fort.

It's not as strong and majestic as it looks from afar: the almost pure black façade looks as tall as the King's Landing wall, but is actually quite thin—about three meters at the bottom and less than two meters at the top, After removing the thickness of the inner and outer battlements, it is just right for two people to walk side by side in the passages on the wall. Daily patrols and sentries are naturally no problem. It is more than enough to deal with refugees and bandits who do not have siege weapons. Can't stop.

In addition to this landmark wall, the interior of the castle is completely different from the military fortress: there are no tall and strong watchtowers, fortresses, school grounds and weapon depots, only one building. The prototype civil commercial and residential buildings can be vaguely seen: this one is the industrial management office, that one is the dormitory of the Security Department, and next to it is the Level 1 warehouse... Compared with before Igor left, it was only slightly reinforced and raised to increase It looks like a black copper wall iron bastion from the outside, but in fact, the material and use have not been changed, and it can't stand the war at all.

Think about it too, King Stannis was also devastated by the continuous war, and his pockets were empty. He didn't ask the Night's Watch industry to ask for money. Although a little disappointed, that's fine... If Iron Throne really invested in building a castle to protect the Night's Watch industry, then Igor really doesn't know how to cut ties with the Stag Family camp and maintain neutrality.

"Originally, Earl Buckwell suggested that we should also set up dragon hunting crossbows as densely as King's Landing on the wall to prevent the Dragon Queen from attacking, but I considered that this is simply a provocation and declaration of war. , contrary to the purpose of Night's Watch's neutrality, and finally rejected this proposal, and separated the production of dragon hunting crossbows as much as possible and moved them to King's Landing." Nina took Igor from the nearest stairs to the top of the wall, arms He stretched out his pointed finger towards the new industrial park that covered almost the entire field of vision outside the wall, "Not only that, we also worked overtime to smear the roofs of the buildings in the entire sub-industrial park area with black and gray... Let the Dragon Queen clearly distinguish the Night's Watch industry from King's Landing when looking down from the back of the dragon in the sky, so as to avoid accidental injury."

"you did good."

Igor nodded approvingly that even if he remote-controlled the Night's Watch industry, he couldn't do more. If she really wants to destroy the industrial park, Daenerys doesn't even need to use dragons, her army can do it with no difficulty... Although the discipline of this semi-modern army of the Night's Watch Logistics and Security Department is good, it has no actual combat baptism after all. And there are only a few hundred people. He is not arrogant enough to think that a single military blind can beat Unsullied with just a few hundred people. That kind of iron army that is not afraid of death, no matter how much preparation the Night's Watch industry makes, no matter how strong the fortifications are built... Even if the first generation of hot weapons is installed, it is difficult to stop.

Although they did not communicate with each other, Nina made the correct judgment and command based on rationality: instead of embezzling the funds that should have been invested in climbing technology, she spent a lot of money to prepare for a fight that should not be fought. In a war that is impossible to win, it is better to spend a small price to strengthen one's "neutrality" identification, so as to avoid conflicts as much as possible, hide one's strengths and bide his time, and accumulate energy for more important careers.

"Black Wall Fort" is actually a huge neutral statement, telling the Daenerys side: this is Night's Watch's estate, every injustice has its perpetrator, and you have to take revenge on King's Landing.

That's right, this kind of behavior is called "avoiding war" in a good way, and "cowardly" in a bad way. And even if it sounds good, it makes people feel aggrieved. Why doesn't Igor want to punch the Night King, kick the Dragonmother, and stomp outside King's Landing so that Stannis will hand Iron Throne over? But reality is not YY after all. Even if there are advanced concepts and knowledge advantages of modern people, it will take time to convert them into real strength.

Nina, who was praised, did not show a complacent expression: "Thank you for the praise, but there is only so much we can do here. Although we also want to send someone to express our position to Dragon Queen, but I I don't have this qualification, and our shareholders..."

Of course Igor understands that no matter how much Nina is trusted by oneself and respected and supported by the executives of the Night's Watch industry, she is just a commoner girl with no identity. , status and popularity, it's impossible to get Daenerys to go to Dragonstone. And those "investors" are either rich or expensive. Unfortunately, the Crownlands aristocracy, at least for now, are all bannermen and supporters of Stannis, and with the tough and cautious personality of this Stag Family's Old Second, it is impossible for oneself to become one. Betrayed again and again without realizing it.

"That's why I'm here." Igor comforted Nina and said, "Don't worry, I've already greeted Dragon Queen, and it's mostly fine." He glanced at the Black Wall Fort beside him. Melisandre, who lacks interest, actually didn't get an affirmative answer from Daenerys to oneself's request, but at this juncture, impossible said something dejected in front of his subordinates, and he could only believe that Red Woman and her magic buddy were reliable, "Okay, Visiting the Black Wall Fort unhurried for a while, how did the nitrate thing... go on?"

On his trip south, in addition to seeing Dragonmother, his second purpose was to come for this thing. The first mission is naturally to collect and store the Night's Watch Logistics Department in the south and store it in the King's Landing Industrial Park. The tanners who could not be transported to the land-grant due to the traffic interruption due to the war brought back the land-grant in person. Take a look at the development progress and see if there is anything within oneself's power that can give you some pointers.

"Sir, wait a moment, the nitrification project has always been in charge of the vice president of Qyburn. I will send someone to call him and let him report the specific situation to you."

"Okay." Igor nods this chapter, suddenly stared wide-eyed in the next second, "Who? Who are you talking about?"

——

(end)

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