Chapter 75: A Letter from the Wall
A collective sharp intake of breath filled the room. Even Tyrion looked at the speaker as if he'd seen a ghost. Hey, giving a reward was agreed upon early on, but shouldn't a major decision like this be discussed beforehand?
Tyrion suppressed the urge to object right then and there, waiting until they were outside to voice his skepticism. "Egger, that's ten percent! I'm not against using incentives to retain talent, but have you thought about how much investment we'll have to keep pumping in to scale this factory up? You didn't set any conditions; you just handed those siblings a tenth with a clap of your hands. Heaven knows how massive that ten percent will grow to be! Even if the girl Nina is adorable, you didn't have to go that far. If you want a girl, I can find you one tonight. Judging by the way she looks at you with worship, it wouldn't be a problem to have her if you put in a little effort—you didn't need to impulsively promise a tenth of the business."
"Nina is going to be my master's wife?" Arya only caught the latter half of the sentence. She had no idea why the topic had shifted so fast and looked utterly bewildered. "Don't the Night's Watch swear never to take a wife?"
"What kind of nonsense is this?" Egger snapped out of the "leadership speech" trance, realizing he might have been riding too high on the excitement and failed to hit the brakes. But spoken words are like spilled water—impossible to retrieve. He apologized repeatedly to Tyrion and quickly offered an explanation: "Don't panic. It was just a verbal statement with no signed agreement; there's room for adjustment. How about this: when the time comes, we define it as ten percent of the profits from this specific papermaking plant—the workshop in the courtyard we just saw. Any future expansions don't count, nor does it involve the subsequent industrial chain. And step back—if the paper produced isn't sold externally for a certain period but is only supplied to our own printing house, don't we still control the pricing and the profit margins?"
"If you intentionally price it too low, they aren't fools; won't they look for other options?" Tyrion thought for a moment and accepted the first proposal. "Fine... if it's only a portion of this one workshop, then even giving them half wouldn't be too much. Let's settle on that."
"Mhm... actually, what does it matter if we give a little more? We're playing the game of money, and in this game, the last thing we should lack is sharing interests with the direct participants. Once the factory grows, we can distribute dividends to the siblings in the form of bonds. That way, they get the benefits, but most of the cash remains within our capital chain. Isn't that a win-win?"
"But what if they take the bonds and exchange them directly for cash?"
"Then we give them the cash readily, of course. The most important thing in finance is credit. Don't worry about who takes the money away; as long as we ensure the pool of money in our hands remains sufficient, that's enough. Once credit is solidified, those who took money out will eventually deposit it back," Egger said. "Once usable paper is born, we can start preparing for expansion. During that process, remember to seek partnerships with the wealthy and powerful Great Houses or major merchants in King's Landing and the Crownlands. Don't think about monopolizing the profits. The Lannister name is famous, but a powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake. The best way to stop others from stealing your business is to turn the threats into partners."
"Forming an 'interest community'—it's not the first time you've said it. Do I look that stupid?" Tyrion seemed to be in a good mood. "'Borrowing money' and attracting investment for a collaborative project is much more appealing than Night's Watch bonds that have nothing behind them. I'm currently considering whether to open another investment-type credit project."
...
For Tyrion, a core member of House Lannister, this yet-to-be-formed interest community was likely just the difference between earning a bit more or a bit less. For Egger, however, it would be a shortcut to gradually contacting the upper-class resource holders... squeezing his way in to occupy a seat and fighting for a voice and influence.
With Arya and her Stark guard present, the two were very conservative when exchanging ideas. Whenever they touched upon core secrets, they consciously shifted the topic.
"That small house over there is the printing office I've prepared. Want to take a look?"
"Sure, let's go."
Thus, the group visited Tyrion's printing factory. Since the paper issue hadn't been solved yet, the so-called printing factory was currently just a rented space where two engravers lived and worked... Here, Egger saw the already carved bond printing plates and the ongoing carving of the contents of The Seven-Pointed Star.
"Have you contacted the Faith yet?" Egger asked.
"Not yet. If the Faith doesn't want it, I'll just sell it myself. You think there's no market for cheap copies of The Seven-Pointed Star? That would be a miracle."
"You never know. What if the Faith declares that printed bibles are impious, a desecration of the gods, or something..."
"Pah." Tyrion spat on the ground. "To hell with their piety. If it comes to that, I'll stuff a solid gold statue of the Seven into the High Septon's hands; that'll guarantee he opens his mouth. If that still doesn't work, he's cutting off Tyrion Lannister's path to wealth—I'll kill him!"
"Good, good!" Arya cheered loudly and excitedly. "If he's dead, everyone can believe in the Old Gods together!"
"You little rascal, you've got it all calculated!"
"Don't lead the child astray." Egger rolled his eyes at Tyrion's feigned ferocity. "Just print it. I'll support you to the fullest anyway."
Jokes aside, Egger's concerns weren't without reason. While a massive influx of printed Seven-Pointed Stars into the populace would boost the Faith's influence in the short term, in the long run, it would have a negative impact on the Faith's ability to control the people. The reason was simple: the bible was generally only readable by middle-to-high-ranking clergy; low-level missionaries and ordinary believers had to rely entirely on a priest's interpretation of the scriptures and doctrines. Once printed versions became widespread, anyone who was literate could read and interpret the contents for themselves. It would become difficult for the Faith and the priests to maintain their interests through lies and fallacies. Combined with the role of other books in popularizing knowledge, Westeros would soon face a massive religious reformation.
But he didn't voice these thoughts or predictions. He could think of this not because he was brilliant, but because history served as a mirror. The people of the Faith of the Seven didn't necessarily have this god-level predictive ability or strategic vision. Besides, any future changes had little to do with him: let the religious situation in King's Landing and the Seven Kingdoms turn upside down—his priority now was to earn money for the Night's Watch and himself. Let Tyrion handle it. After the suppression by Maegor the Cruel, the Faith of the Seven's power in Westeros was nowhere near as absolute as Christianity's in Europe. Even if the Faith eventually realized the danger of printing, would they dare to roast a Lannister, or even oppose the massive interest groups that might have formed by then?
Block printing had essentially no technical difficulty. Egger didn't find an opportunity to give grand directions and earn more worshipful gazes, so he instead explained the principle of movable type to Tyrion and the two craftsmen. After some discussion, they ultimately abandoned this more advanced technology. The reasons were a bit complex: carving letters into small blocks, spending effort on arrangement, padding, proofreading, and then printing... these steps placed extremely high demands on raw material selection, the skill of the engravers, and the proficiency and knowledge level of the printers. Not to mention the subsequent categorical management...
Given the current low level of light and heavy industry, manual production of movable type was inefficient and easily led to uneven letter sizes and stroke thicknesses. Combined with the potential for messy typesetting or horizontal/inverted letters during the printing process, the end result would likely be spending a lot of money to produce an effect less beautiful and tidy than block printing. Furthermore—whether it was calendars or The Seven-Pointed Star—they contained numerous illustrations and charts, which meant movable type offered little advantage.
At this stage, his goal was to complete primitive accumulation and dig out his first pot of gold as quickly as possible by printing high-demand items. He needed reliability and stability, not advanced technology that sounded impressive but was difficult to implement.
Tyrion was shocked by the concept of movable type, yet he felt regret that his business couldn't immediately adopt this advanced technology. He sighed helplessly.
"Don't sigh; this technology will come in handy one day," Egger comforted him. "Once our capital is abundant, you can print all those scientific and literary books you dream of. By then, movable type will have its place."
"Mhm, we'll talk about it then. Right now, the most important thing is making money."
The two adults had been busy with business all day, while Arya, the carefree girl, had run around enjoying the sights and having her eyes opened. As the sky grew dark, at the urging of her guard, the girl reluctantly said goodbye to her master and the Imp and returned to the Red Keep with her bodyguard.
Egger and Tyrion subsequently returned to the inn. They dismounted and handed the reins to the inn's stablehand, ready to end the busy day.
Walking inside, they were met by the attendant Jakken, who had already closed the office and was waiting in the inn lobby. "Egger, someone came from the Red Keep. They delivered a letter for you—it seems to be from Castle Black."
A letter from Castle Black? Egger took the roll of parchment with the black wax seal and frowned as he opened it. It was still early for the agreed-upon second batch of supplies; what good news could a letter at this time possibly bring?
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