Chapter 226: A Wall of Bronze and Iron
News arrived from the west: Mance Rayder's general offensive had officially begun. The Wildlings were crossing the Gorge in increasing numbers and doubling back to assault Westbridge Watch, attempting to seize and repair the Bridge of Skulls—the span across the Great Ravine that the Night's Watch had long ago severed. Ser Denys Mallister led the Shadow Tower garrison in repelling several assaults, but the defenders sustained significant casualties. Consequently, Commander Mormont dispatched another hundred men from Castle Black to reinforce them.
But there was good news as well. When Ygritte had publicly announced Mance's plan to the Watch, she undoubtedly believed that with numbers a hundred times greater than the Crows, even a transparent strategy would triumph. She and Mance could never have anticipated that a freak among the Watch—someone who usually wasn't even part of the Wall's high command—would return to the front lines at the critical moment and devise a way to forcibly break the deadlock.
With several counter-strategies implemented simultaneously, the chronic manpower shortage was finally, temporarily, alleviated. When Egger first crossed into this world, the Gift was home to some seven or eight thousand ordinary residents scattered along the Wall, providing nearly half of the Order's provisions. As Wildling raids, pillaging, and slaughter intensified, these residents either died or fled south, leaving barely over two thousand. Now, Lord Commander Mormont moved all of them into the fortified Night's Watch outposts. While these commoners lacked the combat prowess to face Wildling raiders in the open, they were perfectly capable of assisting in defense from behind walls or performing repair and construction work.
With these helpers available, the Night's Watch's own soldiers were freed up for more flexible deployment.
...
Furthermore, the clansmen were more efficient than expected. By the time Egger finished arranging matters at Queenscrown and returned to the Wall with a few ordinary prisoners from the Winterfell dungeons, the Flint clan's vanguard had already emerged from the mountains and reached Castle Black.
It was true that the Wulls were the largest clan in the North, but since half their members had to stay behind to guard the fishing villages along the Bay of Ice, the Flints actually provided the most people to support the Watch in the Gift. According to their agreement, the first group of settlers was stationed at the Nightfort, dozens of miles west of Castle Black.
The Nightfort was the traditional seat of the Night's Watch. When first completed, it could hold ten thousand men, though in truth it had never been even half-full—a classic product of the First Men's overreaction to the White Walker invasion. It wasn't until two hundred years ago, when the Watch declined so far they could no longer maintain such a massive fortress, that it was finally abandoned in favor of Castle Black at the end of the Kingsroad.
The largest fortress on the Wall for the clan providing the most people—it was a perfect match.
The abandoned structures required significant cleaning and repair to be habitable. Fortunately, a fortress built for ten thousand provided more than enough salvaged materials to house one thousand. Mormont dispatched ten builders to assist, and the first fortress garrisoned by reinforcements was officially established.
Egger paid Old Flint fifty gold dragons as a starting fund to ensure their smooth settlement. in the North, where prices and living standards were generally low, this was a small fortune. Castle Black held various supplies sufficient to sustain a thousand men for a year; Mormont agreed to sell these goods on the condition that Egger promised to replenish the stock later. The clansmen could use their coin at Castle Black to exchange for anything they needed. Egger had already negotiated the pricing with Mormont and the stewards to ensure it wasn't so high as to be unbearable, yet not so low as to encourage reselling.
"A hundred men for the Gorge likely won't be enough. I intend to recruit paid labor from the clansmen and Gift residents settling along the Wall," Egger said. "After brief training, we can use them to fill the ranks at the Shadow Tower and Westbridge Watch to ensure the Bridge of Skulls is impregnable. Meanwhile, if that Wildling woman spoke the truth, Mance will likely send men to dig holes and climb the Wall all along its length. We must restore sentries and patrols atop the Wall as soon as possible."
"To restore patrols, we first have to clear the paths. We don't have enough builders; it won't be possible in the short term."
"The Lord Commander and I have already made arrangements. The incoming clans will be prioritized for several fortresses: Stonedoor, the Nightfort, Sable Hall, and Hoarfrost Hill. This ensures a group of people is stationed every few dozen miles along the entire line," Egger explained. "Each clan will be responsible for the top of the Wall at their assigned fortress and the surrounding sectors. I will recruit builder assistants, sentries, and patrols from among them. We aim to achieve seamless defense along the top of the Wall as quickly as possible, ensuring every inch is watched. No matter where the Wildlings try to climb or tunnel, someone will be there to react immediately."
"Do the clansmen have the discipline and self-awareness to complete the tasks you assign?" Ser Jaremy Rykker questioned. "If you send them up to stand guard or patrol, I fear they'll just find a corner to crawl into and sleep under their blankets."
"It's highly likely. Therefore, we will station Night's Watch brothers at every fortress held by clansmen to supervise and manage them. A few builders, stewards, and rangers to lead the shifts... each fortress only needs ten to twenty brothers to manage several hundred clansmen. Once the walls are built, the entire Wall will be like a fortification of bronze and iron, leaving any Wildling who tries to bite it with a mouth full of blood."
"And what guarantees that they will obey the brothers we send?"
"Money. The clansmen who go up to repair the roads, stand watch, or patrol will be paid. I'm still studying the exact amounts, but this is undoubtedly the most efficient method. Anyone who doesn't follow orders? Fine, get back down to the fort and live on your basic allowance. There are plenty of others willing to work. My agreement with the clan chiefs is to ensure no one starves. They will soon find that if they don't help at all, 'guaranteed not to starve' means exactly that, literally."
"Why is it always money, money, money?" the Lord Steward complained. "Is there no other way?"
"Forgive my merchant's mindset. If Lord Bowen has another way, I am all ears."
"If all this money is coming from the logistics department, then technically, we have no grounds to object," the steward fell silent, but Mormont spoke up: "My concern is... the background of our black brothers is messy. If they are stationed in forts with clansmen, away from the supervision of their officers, I fear they might lead the way in laziness, or even turn to embezzlement and corruption..."
Over thirty percent of the current Watch members were criminals, and of the remaining seventy percent, most joined out of desperation to survive. In terms of poor troop quality, there was likely no army in Westeros worse than the Night's Watch. Mormont's concern was well-founded.
"We can only do our best to pick volunteers and those of noble birth to prioritize as commanders for the newly opened forts." Voluntary enlistment and noble birth didn't guarantee high character, but it was a far better starting point than picking from criminals. "Furthermore, I will station a staff member from the Night's Watch industries at each fort to manage payroll and the sale of goods, while also serving as a covert supervisor of the fortress's defensive diligence."
The money was Egger's, so he naturally faced no objection to having his own people manage it. In this matter, he wasn't entirely motivated by selfishness: every member of the industries who followed him north, aside from basic soldiers, was educated enough to handle accounts. Most importantly: they were paid a salary that was undeniably high for this era. With high pay to foster integrity, Egger didn't believe his people would bother scheming over copper pennies with the clansmen.
"One more question. This management style works for the clansmen, but what about the original Gift residents?" the Chief Builder asked. "Many are helping me build and maintain the walls of Castle Black. If they find out the clansmen are getting paid while they only get fed and work for free, what if they object?"
"Then pay them a wage as well."
"Can the logistics department support that?"
"It can't, but we can offset it by canceling the free meals. The clansmen are outside reinforcements; it's our duty to sustain them. But the Gift residents were always meant to support the Watch. Now that we aren't asking them to farm, they're unwilling to do a bit of work?" Egger shrugged. "If they want a wage, fine, but from then on, no more free meals—they buy their food with their pay. In the end, the pressure on the Watch doesn't increase much."
After a silence in the Lord Commander's solar, the First Ranger voiced his worry: "Burning money is certainly the best way to solve an emergency, but no matter how cheap the clansmen and Gift folk are, multiplied by the numbers and time, it's no small sum. It's well and good if Lord Egger can handle it. My greater fear is another impact—if the clansmen and residents get paid for patrolling and sentry duty, how will the rangers and other brothers, whose actual job this is, feel? I understand and admire the Chief Logistics Officer's desire to build a consumer system to manage reinforcements, but if the brothers see outsiders and those meant to support them happily spending money on things they want, how do we handle the resulting resentment or jealousy?"
"Then give them a wage too," Egger shrugged. There were only a few hundred brothers in total; adding them wouldn't be a huge burden. He could just bring in a few fewer clans to solve it.
"No. Men of the Night's Watch expecting payment for fulfilling their duties? What would that look like?" For the first time, Mormont decisively vetoed Egger's suggestion. "Sworn brothers cannot be involved, or the Order will cease to be an Order. At most, if the resentment grows, we can gradually increase the stipends for personal use. Castle Black will bear that expense ourselves. We are poor, but the Order still has a small reserve."
The brief briefing concluded there. Hope was finally visible for the defense of the Wall. The blueprint for a wall of bronze and iron had been drawn, but it was not yet built. Only when all the contacted clans were in place, every fort protected by walls, and every section of the Wall guarded by dedicated men, would the situation be considered stable.
Everyone was busy, and the one under the most pressure was Egger. The stability of the Wall's defense was bought at the cost of taking a large population out of production. As more reinforcements arrived, the number of people the Watch needed to feed would only grow. Castle Black's stores could feed a thousand people for nearly two years, but once that thousand became ten thousand... no matter how cheap or unsophisticated those ten thousand were, it was a massive burden. Now, that burden fell entirely on logistics.
This was the ultimate opportunity to claim credit. Helping the Night's Watch weather such a storm would bring honor, influence, and authority in droves—but only if the man who took the job could endure the weight.
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