The king on the Great Wall

"West", this surname was chosen after some consideration at Tyrion's request, and the dwarf told him: Westerosi people value surnames very much, and Iger wants to bear the name of the night watchman's logistics officer In King’s Landing, raising funds from the middle and upper class, if you can’t even achieve the minimum “name and surname”, it will give those nobles and rich people a great sense of insecurity, and virtually add resistance to the fund-raising plan-he must not only have a surname , it is best to choose one that is sufficiently localized so that people will not feel disobedient after hearing it.

Tyrion didn't give many opinions in the whole plan, but each of them was quite useful. After thinking about it, Iger agreed with his idea.So, after obtaining a name of unknown meaning and suspected to be homonymous with "egg" from the farmer who caught him, Iger finally made his own decision on the surname.

"West", homonymous with the English word "Western", implies that he is from the west of the Sunset Sea. Although the common language of Westeros is quite different from English, this surname is at least older than Iger Zhang and Iger Lee. A name like that is much more normal... He doesn't want to explain to every customer that he is from "Cai Na" and is a foreigner, so his surname is different.This argument works well for getting Tyrion and Arya's attention, but it's the opposite when it comes to borrowing money from these guys in King's Landing who have long lost their thirst for knowledge and curiosity.

I hope that this local surname can make up for some disadvantages that I am different from the locals in appearance and seem out of place.

***

Fill out what needs to be filled out and sign what needs to be signed.Iger took out the seal that he and Tyrion had made two days ago from the bag that Jack brought back, pressed the ink pad that had been prepared on the desk, and stamped it firmly on the front of the bond: Tyrion's personal seal is quite satisfactory, it is his own His first and last name, while Egger stamped it with the words "Night Watchman Logistics Department". In addition, there is a circle of zigzag lines on the outer edge of the seal that he specially requested to imitate the crenels on the edge of the city wall. It is very eye-catching and recognizable.

The three put their fingerprints on the bottom of the bond, and Iger wrote the password on the blank space of the bond and dripped melted wax to cover it, and then pressed it with fresh wax...raised it to his mouth and blew, so far, the world's first A valid Night's Watch bond, and it's done.

……

On this small piece of paper, there are three levels of anti-counterfeiting: low, medium and high:

"Low-level anti-counterfeiting" refers to the high-grade parchment used for the bond itself, the content copied and filled in by Tyrion, and the signatures and seals of several people.As the game gets bigger and bigger, the bonds get more and more, and the difficulty of counterfeiting is obviously the lowest.

"Medium-level anti-counterfeiting" is Iger's original cipher wax anti-counterfeiting seal. The wax seal is extremely viscous and will be tightly attached to the parchment after cooling and forming. The Great Wall pattern printed on it is itself a low-strength anti-counterfeiting.And the so-called "password" covered by this layer of wax paint is actually Iger copying the borrower, date and amount in Chinese. This is a unique string of characters that will never be repeated. The "password book" is in Iger's mind. He is the only one in the world who can distinguish true from false.Even if the people of Westeros who do not understand Chinese forcibly peel off the wax paint or melt it with high temperature to see the content below, they will definitely not be able to deduce the password on one bond from the password on another bond—although it is not as good as Fingerprints have high anti-counterfeiting reliability, but adding an anti-counterfeiting mark that is more difficult to forge at a lower cost can also discourage many whimsical attempts to forge bonds.

As for "high-level anti-counterfeiting", it is naturally the fingerprint itself.In this era of Westeros, it is almost impossible to forge fingerprints. If Iger is not in the office one day in the future, the employees he hires only need to confirm whether the fingerprints are real, even if the password under the wax paint cannot be read. It doesn't matter.

Of course, there is the last insurance, which is the bond sale records kept in the office. After all, magic and extraordinary power exist in this world. With fake bonds, at most one or two loans can be taken away, and it is absolutely impossible to take away a large amount of money that Iger has never borrowed.

As James asked his attendants to bring the money bag and throw it on the table, the first step of Iger's deception in this world was to step out.

After paying the "hush money", James probably felt at ease, his tense face relaxed a lot, and his tone was not so aggressive.After chatting for a while, he found an excuse to leave and left the office with a few attendants.

……

"You let me cheat my own people, and this is how I cheated."

"Well, your brother is naturally willing to support you, but he is not my ideal target audience. Your Lannister family is too rich. Growing up in this environment, James doesn't feel money at all. He himself I said—he doesn’t know what it’s like to be short of money.” Iger shook his head, “So, although he came to buy bonds because of you, he would never recommend our bonds to people around him, and what I need , it is precisely the kind of person whose family is a little low but not rich enough to have no sense of money, who comes for our rate of return and interest, and can bring me more clients. What I need is a 'greedy person', and Not a 'donor', you know what I mean?"

"Understood, I happened to meet James when I was returning to the city, so I dragged him here." Tyrion quickly understood the problem, and frowned: "I didn't think carefully."

"It's okay, isn't it that our funds have increased by 4 Golden Dragons... 29 Silver Deer... [-] Bronze Stars? It's still the highest quality-the kind that doesn't need to be rushed to pay back in the short term. Iger didn't want to accuse his benefactor and partner too much, so he made a cold joke that only people who can count can keep up, and then changed the subject: "How about it, you went to find the paper-making boy today, what was the result?" "

"Well... let me say admiration first." A smile appeared on Tyrion's pondering face: "You are so good at predicting things, that young man made paper by smashing the raw materials and soaking them in water."

"Great." Iger breathed a sigh of relief, narrowed his eyes, and quickly made a major decision: "The [-]% monthly interest rate originally mentioned is too low. When you attract people to buy bonds, you should combine the actual situation Make appropriate improvements, how much is up to you to decide.”

"I still want to improve? It's already 17.00% a year!"

"If you just want to maintain a stable capital chain, 17.00% is too high." Madoff cheated Americans for 10 years with a 20% rate of return, and eventually collapsed, Iger thought, "But the situation is different now, the new paper The birth of .com is a foregone conclusion, as long as the operation is done properly, the next thing we have to do - the money we can earn is far more than 17.00%."

"What are you talking about!" Arya yelled dissatisfiedly after sitting for a long time.She could understand every word the adults said, but she couldn't understand it at all.

The next content can no longer be heard by this girl. Iger resorted to groping, rubbed the girl's head, and said with a smile: "Come here today, go back with the guard who sent you here, see you tomorrow."

"But it's still early after dark, I have nothing to do when I go back!"

"You have nothing to do, but the master is busy. Be obedient. Go back and look through the clothes you brought from Winterfell, and study how to dress yourself up. Come here tomorrow wearing more beautiful new clothes, and I will tell you the story of survival in the wilderness."

"Hmm... okay." Iger wanted to quickly draw closer to Arya. Why didn't Arya want to behave better in front of the new swordsmanship teacher?The man's actions reminded the girl of her illegitimate brother, Jon. She pouted, feeling sad for a while, and finally decided not to make trouble: "Then I'll go back, I have to tell more stories tomorrow, and there is still class time, can't you?" Shorter than today!"

-

Chapter 72 True Rumors

Arya left, and only the bond issuing duo was left in the room. Iger glanced at Tyrion and asked, "How did you arrange for the paper inventor?"

"Well, things are a little more complicated than you think. It is not one person who tries to make paper, but a family that weaves for a living. More precisely, it is a pair of brothers and sisters who are the youngest in this family." The little devil said, "My younger sister found that after using the cloth for a long time, there were always small pieces of paper-like residue, so she had a whim, boiled a piece of cloth in water, smashed it, and then dried it in the water. Made a whole piece of paper."

"This is really a strange woman." Iger said with interest, "Then, she and her brother tried to make paper with other materials?"

"Well, although the paper is made, it is not so much paper, but more like hardened cloth. To be honest... the quality is too bad to wipe your butt. In addition, the woven cloth is not enough to make clothes for money to support the family How can you use it to make a lot of paper?" Tyrion continued: "The weaving and clothing industries have not been doing well recently, and they can barely support themselves. Although their family does not object, they don't have much material resources to support them. They made new inventions, so my brother approached a paper merchant to sell his creation, borrowed some money to improve the technology, but was rejected, and finally...we picked it up."

It turns out that it's not that the working people in the world of ice and fire don't use their brains, but that inventions and creations are stifled by short-sighted resource masters!

"You brought him back?"

"Well, I told them not to worry about weaving. The whole family moved to the city. I rented a big yard for them in a place with low land prices. I will bear all the expenses of eating, drinking and papermaking. They just need to get out of it as soon as possible. Useful paper."

"Well, that's it, pretty good."

"What is the non-disclosure agreement you mentioned?"

"It's not a magical new thing, it's just an agreement. Make it clear to him...she and her family that we will support his family, reimburse him for all his experiment expenses, and there will be a bonus after the usable paper is successfully developed. .But after the breakthrough in papermaking, it must not be leaked or find another funder. It can only serve our plan. Otherwise, the Lannister family, the Night Watchman Legion, and even the Prime Minister will hold them accountable."

"It's such an exaggeration, but how should the Night Watch Corps and I hold him accountable? As for the Prime Minister, he might not care about it."

"A commoner, show him the certificate signed and stamped by the commander-in-chief of the night watchman and the prime minister, and you, a celebrity, can't you scare him?" It seems that there is no such thing as a patent in this world. Iger thought about it and shrugged. Shrugged: "Of course, the best way is to feed our inventors enough so that they don't have two minds. First, provide equipment and utensils to the brothers and sisters, and make a batch of paper as soon as possible. I'll take a look at the rest. Decide."

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Tyrion nodded: "Aren't you going back to the hotel today? I think your office has nothing to do for the time being."

"There is still some trivial work, you go first, I will go back later. Don't go to bed too early, we have to discuss recruitment at night."

"it is good."

"It's agreed that you will manage the funds, so take the money with you."

"Ah."

……

Iger sent Arya, Tyrion and their attendants away, and there was only one person left in the Night Watchman's office.It was almost dusk, and he had to do something important after dark.He lacks helpers, but for this matter, no matter how many subordinates or employees he has, he is not at ease letting others do it.

It was still summer, and the sky was getting dark very slowly. Iger waited for the time to get dark slowly.After having dinner in a small restaurant not far from the garrison camp, and sitting in the office for a while, it was finally pitch black outside.

It's about time.

He left the office, closed and locked the door of the office like an ordinary businessman who closed late, turned on his horse, and started walking along the road to the Albatross Hotel.Of course, there are no street lights in Junlin City, and this area is not like Silk Street where you can do "business" after nightfall. The businesses on both sides have already closed, and there are almost no pedestrians on the street. Iger is sitting on the horse, tilting his head slightly. Make sure there are no more living things within a radius of tens of meters.

Then, he quietly reached into the bag, took out a small rolled up note and put it beside him, took a breath, and let go of his hand.

In the quiet night, the rolled-up note slipped from the man's palm, rolled along the horse's back, rubbed against the horse's hair a few times, and fell to the ground in a whirl, and was just stepped over by Iger's mount With a kick from his hind hoof, he flew half a meter lightly, and rolled to a corner of the stone road.Silently, a carrier of rumors melted into the darkness, and no one knew its origin.

Iger deliberately took a long way around without encountering the night watchman's golden robe, and carefully dropped a small note every few tens of meters like a bomber dropped a bomb. Doing this dozens of times, all the inventory made last night was gone. Throw it away.

The content in the note is very simple, it tells a simple but shocking story in the voice of a young lord in the canyon.

***

[My name is Hugh, and I have been a servant of the late Prime Minister Jon Arryn for many years. When someone sees this note, I must be dead.

A few months ago, I inadvertently found out about an affair between Lord Jon's wife, Lysa Tully, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Petyr Baelish.Madam Lysa threatened me not to tell anyone about this matter, otherwise I would be decapitated, and Lord Baelish promised me that as long as I don't talk nonsense, I will get endless glory and wealth.

In a combination of fear and greed, I did not immediately tell my grown-up what I had discovered...until he suddenly "fell sick" and died.

Lord Jon is old, and it seems quite normal to fall ill, but after paying attention, I found that the frequency of meeting between the man and woman has increased before and after the death of Lord Jon.This makes me suspect that Littlefinger may have ordered Lysa to poison Lord Jon.

I have no evidence. Although I was crowned a knight as Lord Baelish promised, I still feel a little uneasy in my heart. Here, it is probably still an ant that can be crushed to death.

So I wrote down what I knew and gave it to a reliable friend. If one day I die unexpectedly, it must be murdered by Littlefinger's tricks, and my death proves that Lord Jon's death was definitely not natural.I am a small person, my hesitation killed a noble man, my life is worthless, but the truth must be revealed to the world, and the sinner must be punished. 】

***

After the matter is done, next, I only hope that it will not rain in the past two days, and that a few of these notes will fall into the hands of literate and good people.

……

Because of his humble status, Sir Hugh's death did not cause shock and investigation, but the mystery of his death is no less confusing than Bran's assassination - Iger learned through chatting with Jack that his travels did not cause this valley. A change in the fate of the young man, the newly promoted knight was pierced through the throat by the latter's spear in a contest with Sir Gregor Clegane a few days before he arrived in King's Landing, and died on the spot.

There are a lot of questions here: Did someone cheat in the draw that determines the order of the tournament players?If so, did Gregor receive the order to kill the other party?If so, who did this order come from, and what is its purpose?Does Sir Hugh really know some secrets, or is it just to confuse Ed's sight?

Even Iger doesn't know anything about these questions, but these are not important. I am not looking for the truth now, but I hope this note can bring trouble to the enemy.

The story on the note is pretty much made up, except for the cause of Jon's death, but rumors have an interesting quality: when part of it is true, people automatically believe the rest as well.Whether Lysa and Littlefinger cheated on King's Landing, whether Hugh really knew something he shouldn't, or even whether his death was just a coincidence - doesn't matter.As long as it is true that Lysa and Littlefinger knew each other well since they were young, it is true that Jon Arryn suddenly died of illness, and it is true that Ser Hugh died in the tournament...then this note is enough for the accused to drink a pot up.

What's even better is that Littlefinger has also publicized that he took the virgin of the second sister of the Tully family, which makes the content of the gossip part of this note more convincing... I don't know the young man who used it as bragging capital and complacent Baelish, will you regret your youth and stupidity someday?

Littlefinger can disrupt the situation wantonly in King's Landing. Smart mind is certainly one aspect, but the more important and fundamental point is the "contempt" of most people - he was born in a down-and-out little noble family on the Five Fingers Peninsula. What kind of force, running a brothel that a decent person despises, and not showing much ambition... Although many "big shots" communicate with him on the surface as equals, and even rely on his financial management ability, they despise him in the bottom of their hearts and even subconsciously , This is the most important factor for him to be successfully used as a shit-stirring stick and set off a bloody storm in the Seven Kingdoms.

But now that someone who knows him and plans to deal with him has come to King's Landing, his days... are coming to an end.

-

Chapter 73

What made Iger a little speechless was that he was racking his brains and slapping Littlefinger behind his back, but the latter sent someone to send a hundred gold dragons "National Defense Appropriation" the next morning after he dropped the rumor note... This contrast is overwhelming. I feel a little like being a villain myself.

Of course, he didn't feel any guilt because of this: even if you don't mention the personal qualities and actions of Baelish, a shit-stirring stick, and just discuss the facts, the money himself has no psychological burden: although the hundred gold dragons It may come directly from Littlefinger's personal pocket, but in the end he will use his position to count it into the national treasury's arrears, and it will be repaid by this, the next, the next, or even the new king after the change of dynasty—unless that The new ruler can be strong enough to win and stabilize the country with his own strength under the dual resistance of refusing to repay the Iron Bank loan and the debt owed by the Lannister family. The underlying "taxpayers" will bear the burden.

The defenders of the Great Wall fought against hundreds of thousands of savages and human natural enemies in the north of the northern border, defending all humans in Westeros, but the protected people even had a hundred golden dragons, all of them were in Ed Stark. How ironic that it was only passively brought out under the "care" of the boss!

……

One hundred gold dragons, delivered directly to the Night Watch Corps, are only enough to feed all members for about a month, and that is without counting weapon consumption or paying death benefits.But in the hands of Iger, it is enough to make the newly established Night Watchman Office a lot of money, and it has successfully gained a firm foothold...

In addition, the hundred golden dragons are not proceeds from the sale of bonds, but a special appropriation from the Prime Minister to the Night Watch Office, which completely belongs to the Night Watch Corps logically and legally.This is a sum of "public funds", and in the eyes of the Prime Minister, Iger happens to be on a "business trip"... So, as the person in charge of the Night Watch Office, he can use the money in an open and aboveboard manner without submitting it to the submitter as agreed. Leon kept it, let alone use it to repay the debt of favor he owed.

With this first sum of funds that can be used safely, Iger finally got rid of the days when he only had a handful of silver stags in his pocket and a good meal was a psychological burden.

……

In fact, he has basically mastered the common language and characters of Westeros, but due to a series of considerations - mainly because he is afraid of being recognized by the handwriting on the rumor note - he concealed this from everyone, even in the In front of Tyrion, he also deliberately pretended to be able to hear and speak, but still had difficulty reading, especially writing.

In this case, in the night watchman's office and the entire fundraising plan, Tyrion himself took the pen for almost all places where writing was required except for signatures.Posted the notices of recruitment, conscription and call for funding written by the little devil at the door, taught Arya a little sword skills, and was telling "adventure stories", and the customized signboard was finally delivered.

Several workers worked together to install the wooden plaque above the door, and the Night Watchman's office finally had a face, and all internal organs were ready for opening.On the painted black background, a row of large gold characters "Night Watch Office" gleamed in the sun-among the colorful signboards all over the street, which were rarely used in black due to custom , which is surprisingly conspicuous.

***

Iger didn’t know how effective the rumors were, and he didn’t dare to ask or investigate; the pretentious conscription and material collection work had already begun, and the first treasure that was bet—the first batch of samples of the papermaking brothers and sisters hadn’t been produced yet. , he doesn’t know anything about it, he can’t do it himself, he can only wait for the result; the obsidian mine on Dragonstone Island has started, and the mine boss and his son introduced by Tyrion should be reliable... After recruiting someone who can manage the office for him Before, it seemed that Iger could only open the door on time every day like going to work, waiting for Tyrion to bring in bond buyers and active donors and volunteers who probably would not appear, and waiting for the situation to ferment and change on its own.

A while ago, he was as busy as a ghost, and when he was suddenly free, Iger began to feel grateful that he agreed to Arya's request to learn swords.Otherwise, he really didn't know what to do in this sudden vacuum with nothing to do.

……

Open the door, wait for Arya to come, spend most of the day together, and then close the door and go back to the inn to sleep. After two days of repetition, Tyrion brought in the first real bond buyer, Sir Lake.This nobleman who was born in a royal realm obviously lacks interest in the specific information of the bond. He came here purely to save face for the Lannister family. After figuring out the interest he could get, he happily bought a minimum of one hundred Jin Long left with the bonds in his pocket.

Tyrion's rate of return for the first guest was three times what the two had originally negotiated, but not outrageous for a fundraising scheme that might have found its way.

The first purchaser was sent away, but Tyrion did not leave: "The first batch of samples came out, let Jack help you look at the store... er, the office, go and see now?"

"Come out?" Iger was immediately refreshed when he heard the words: "Let's go! Arya, you and..."

"I won't go back! Where are you and the little devil going, take me with you!"

"Well..." Iger looked at Tyrion, and seeing that he didn't object, he shrugged and compromised: "Yes, let's go."

***

Arya, who was born in the ruling family of the North, is a cunning and clever girl. She is noble and always energetic. She has a boldness and self-satisfaction that ordinary girls don't have at all.In just a few days, under Iger's deliberate induction, she has become close to him as if they have known each other for many years, and she can't get rid of it like brown sugar.

On the step of trapping Arya, Iger actually didn't bother at all: To be honest, what this girl likes is neither Syrio Forel, the chief swordsman under Aquaman, nor himself, the logistics officer of the Night Watchman. Iger West, but her "swordsmanship instructor" and "partner".To put it bluntly, with this girl's temperament of not picking and rejecting friends, anyone can become her friend as long as she practices swords with her and talks to her—and I just rely on my understanding of her. And a bunch of adventure stories in their stomachs, which greatly accelerated the speed of establishing friendship with each other.

In addition to pampering and satisfying her request, Iger did not forget to build up his majesty and please the girl's father by the way: he set a rule for Arya—to learn swordsmanship, she must be well-dressed and behaved.Iger learned from the guards of Stark's house that Ed was very satisfied with the changes in his little daughter in the past two days, and accordingly, he tacitly allowed Arya to go out every day.

***

Paper making is not a shady secret, especially the people of the Stark family cannot be anyone's commercial spies, even if Arya and her guards tell Ed what they have seen and heard, it will not harm themselves and Tyrion Interests.Without much hesitation, Iger took the girl and the guards responsible for taking her to and from school, and set off with Tyrion.

The cheap house that Tyrion mentioned before was in the northwest corner of King’s Landing City. After riding around for 10 minutes, they arrived at the first papermaking workshop in King’s Landing that didn’t use animal skins as raw materials.

-

Chapter 74 Money is not a problem

Here, Iger met the paper-making brothers and sisters... well, it’s not good to give people nicknames casually, to be precise, they are brothers and sisters Neil and Nina from Rosby City.

That's right, they don't have surnames, they are "brothers and sisters Neil and Nina of Rosby City", Tyrion told Iger that most people in Westeros don't have surnames, and they usually use the son of xx, daughter of xx or where they come from xxx to introduce myself.Even if civilians give themselves a surname, it is generally useless and ineffective. Only people with "status" like Iger will be recognized for giving themselves a surname-no one else talks about it, at least those who bought the night watchman bond will remember it And recognized Iger's surname.

The elder brother of the two siblings looks ordinary, but he is about the same height and shape as Iger. Obviously, the family conditions can not be hungry since he was a child; and the younger sister Nina, just looking at each other caught Iger’s attention—not because of how many Beauty, but because of her eyes.

The girl's eyes are crystal clear, as transparent as a pool of spring water, and there are clever lights flickering between glances. Iger suddenly felt where he had seen these eyes. After thinking about it, he quickly understood where this sense of familiarity came from— ——This is the eyes that have been educated and have seen a certain amount of world so that they are free from ignorance, and have not been oppressed by life to extinguish all dreams, but also have curiosity and desire to explore the world, and are full of hope for the future!

Before transmigrating, the eyes of people around me had such a light more or less, but after transmigrating, this kind of eyes has become extremely rare. The trace can only be found in the eyes.In stark contrast is the indescribable numbness and sluggishness in the eyes of most people-if you have seen photos of Qing Dynasty civilians taken by Western powers before and after the Opium War, you know what it feels like.This is the look when a person's whole mind and body are devoted to surviving and feeding themselves, without any hope for the future.

Some people can tell whether the other party is a nobleman or a commoner at a glance, precisely because of this look, or temperament!

It's really weird that this kind of temperament appears in a commoner in this world.For a moment, Iger thought that Nina in front of him was also a time traveler—after finally looking away, the night watchman was shocked by her youth again: she was petite, with fair and tender skin, and a little baby fat on her face. She is clearly a girl who is only a few years older than Arya!

***

"My lord?" The girl's crisp and soft voice called Iger back from his trance, "The first batch of samples you asked for has been made. At the request of Lord Tyrion, we only use the original method for the time being. Changes, just wait for your observation and guidance."

He nodded and wanted to tell the other party that he was not an adult as usual, but after thinking about it, it was unnecessary: ​​"Well, lead the way."

The elder brother Neil seemed not good at words, so Nina led a group of people to visit the workshop, and while walking, she introduced them clearly and fluently to the tools, equipment and processing methods used in each process... After a round, they came to to the final finished product.