Chapter 336: Step by Step
Egger needed a testing ground to conduct practical assessments and improvements on the bombs. His original plan was to have Nina scout for a suitable location outside the Gift. Although the Iron Bank had only eight observers stationed at the Wall and Queenscrown, according to the loan agreement, they were entitled to move freely within the jurisdiction of the Night's Watch.
Driven by a personal desire he couldn't quite articulate yet, Egger hoped to maintain exclusive possession of thermal weaponry as his trump card for as long as possible. This required exceptional secrecy.
The Ironborn harassment of the North gave him an inspiration. He had no authority to stop outsiders from approaching the nineteen forts along the Wall or Queenscrown, but Ice Canyon Port was a secret military harbor being built for the North. He had every reason to fortify it heavily and openly bar any unauthorized personnel.
To the outside world, he would use the protection of Northern military secrets as an excuse to keep irrelevant parties away from the Bay of Ice. Internally, he would use the development of wildfire-infused White Walker Killers as a cover to mask the constant sound of explosions from the testing ground. Finally, by exercising a degree of personal control over the technicians, he could ensure that even if the existence of gunpowder leaked, he would maintain an absolute advantage in technical specifics for a significant period.
The testing ground would be established in the mountains about ten miles east of the port, ensuring that no matter how the Ironborn bypassed or launched a land raid on the harbor, they wouldn't accidentally discover this vital research base.
Beyond the testing ground, another important reason prompted Egger to make this trip personally. There were shadow plans that couldn't be put on paper, and he needed to explain them clearly in person to the commander he had chosen for Ice Canyon Port. The funds raised from the Northern lords—even including Roose Bolton's unexpected ten thousand gold dragons—were far below expectations. To compensate, he had secured Robb Stark's promise to "reimburse all port construction costs."
Tech-rushing was a bottomless pit; no amount of money would ever feel like enough. Egger was determined to cast aside his pride and use Robb's promise to make a significant profit.
Since it was a reimbursement, he couldn't simply ask for whatever amount he wanted. Even without formal receipts, there had to be documented line items. With craftsmen and technicians coming from outside the Gift, Egger finally decided to pad the accounts through weapon consumption and garrison payroll.
[Weapon Consumption]: The Northern navy would use the solidified, aged wildfire Egger had brought from King's Landing as a naval weapon against the Iron Fleet. This terrifying substance, even when passivated, was far more potent than ordinary oil, though it was less effective against the Others than newly made liquid wildfire. Egger decided to recycle this waste by equipping the Northern navy with it, throwing in a usage manual for the firebombs.
When he had cleared those unwanted, dangerous substances from the basements of the Alchemists' Guild in King's Landing, Egger hadn't paid a copper beyond labor costs. Now, selling them to the North, they were far from free. He would set a reasonable price and profit from every jar sold.
[Garrison Payroll]: Egger planned to build Ice Canyon Port into the largest Night's Watch outpost after Queenscrown, with hundreds of staff and over a thousand guards. The numbers wouldn't be fake, but the personnel wouldn't actually be trained veterans; they would be temporarily recruited mountain clansmen and New Gift residents. Egger decided to designate Ice Canyon Port as a rotational training base for the residents of the Gift. Each batch of recruits, led by a few officers, would undergo training while fulfilling the duties of the port's garrison.
Here was the catch: on the reimbursement forms, these rotational recruits were soldiers. And soldiers required a payroll. As port defenders, they fell into a reimbursable category. By setting a price slightly cheaper than what the Northerners paid for their own levies and inflating the head-count, he could bill for an extra hundred or so gold dragons every month.
In this way, the expenses for the military training of the Gift's residents would essentially be covered by the North. Less spent by the Gift meant more profit for Egger. He hoped to squeeze out enough funds this way to finance the upgrades for military technology.
Under the threat of the Others, a nation in arms was only the starting point. Training and arming the entire population of the Gift had long been on the agenda. The reason he had waited several months after letting the wildlings through the Wall was simply to allow for a transition period.
If he had launched rotational training the moment the New Gift residents arrived, forcing the few remaining able-bodied men to leave their families for training at a Night's Watch site, it likely would have driven half the tribes to rebellion or a southward flight to raid the North, lighting fires of war everywhere.
Now, things were different. The social operation of earning a living through labor had been in place long enough to take root in people's minds. The work of weakening tribal chiefs' prestige and influence had also been proceeding step-by-step for several months. With the bloody precedent of the Thistle tribe's elimination as a deterrent and the various benefits and promises from the Logistics Department as a carrot, the two-pronged approach worked. Although the tribal leaders harbored grievances, none dared to openly obstruct the process.
If the process of turning the "free folk" into citizens of the Gift was like boiling a frog in lukewarm water, Egger estimated they were already seventy or eighty percent cooked. The threat of the Others meant he could wait no longer. It was time to start training them, rather than living in fear of a backlash.
Egger's plan was to have more than half of the adults in the Gift achieve the following Three Basics:
Basic Command Training: Able to understand simple Common Tongue instructions and execute them correctly.Basic Physical Training: Ensuring good physical condition and endurance.Basic Familiarity with Standard Equipment: Understanding the properties of Dragonglass and how to use various incendiary weapons.
The goal of the rotational training was not to turn everyone in the Gift into elite veterans—not only was that unlikely, but having elite troops in every tribe would threaten Queenscrown's rule.
The need for weapons and physical fitness went without saying. After two years of battling the Others under Mance Rayder and the bloody assault on the Wall, the Free Folk's warriors were largely gone, leaving only emaciated and timid survivors. The Logistics Department would pile on resources to get them fed and strong as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the rugged patrol route along the Great Canyon provided a ready-made cross-country training ground. With full bellies and a set amount of exercise, even a starving ghost could quickly recover to a respectable state.
As for discipline... it doesn't necessarily make a man brave, but it significantly increases a unit's ability to withstand casualties and execute orders. An undisciplined force might break if one man in a hundred dies—or simply if the Others appear in sight—or they might descend into a chaotic mess on the battlefield that cannot be mobilized. Such conditions often turn what should be helpful reinforcements into a panicked liability.
Egger's requirements were not high: as long as the residents of the Gift could more or less execute the contingency plans and follow orders without adding to the chaos when the final battle arrived, it would be enough. As for how to actually defeat the Others and win the war, that was his responsibility as the leader.
Everything was being laid out step-by-step, waiting for the ultimate challenge to arrive.
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