Chapter 345: War Preparations and a Key Signal
Before traveling south to King's Landing with Tyrion, Egger had been a bona fide soldier of the Night's Watch—he had stood watch atop the Wall, patrolled the Haunted Forest, and even hacked away at Others.
He thought he knew the meaning of cold, but reality dealt him a stinging blow, making him realize firsthand why even Northerners distinguished between winter and summer.
After the great storm that hit while Robb Stark was inspecting the Wall passed, the Gift maintained a period of relatively good weather. But this so-called good merely meant that no snow fell, the wind wasn't strong enough to knock a man over, and the sun occasionally made an appearance.
The temperature, however, after a brief and minor rebound, continued its relentless descent.
When he first crossed over, Castle Black had been cold, but it only fluctuated around the freezing point. In the wilderness away from the Ice Wall, one could still feel a trace of warmth while bathing in the sunlight on a lucky day. Even during the coldest nights, it was only minus five to eight degrees; while the wind could make a sentry's teeth chatter, an extra blanket made it manageable.
A basin of hot water thrown upward would freeze before hitting the ground. Maintaining a normal bonfire in the open air became an extravagance; one either had to build a shelter to trap the heat or massive bonfires mixed with tar. The moment one stepped outside, the chill would dive into the fibers of fur and clothing like a living thing; no matter how thick the layers, one could not stay outdoors for long. A single squad on night watch became an impossible arrangement—to ensure no one froze to death, a commander had to arrange at least three rotating shifts. Accompanying this cold was the Milkwater at the bottom of the Gorge, which was gradually losing its function as a barrier due to the ice, and the increasingly difficult anti-freeze work at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, which soon became a 24-hour crisis.
Egger found it somewhat shameful that as the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and the supreme commander of humanity's front line against the dead, he didn't want to step out of his room before even seeing a shadow of the enemy.
Of course, not wanting to go out and not actually going out were two different things. With great power comes great responsibility; though he felt like a frozen dog, he could not show the slightest sign of slackness. Gritting his teeth, Egger maintained regular inspections and guidance to ensure his strategic arrangements were correctly implemented, handling every administrative matter in the Gift and at the Wall immediately to avoid delays. He led by example, serving as a steadfast model for his men.
In stark contrast to the bone-chilling cold was the fiery atmosphere of production and war preparation across the Gift and along the Wall.
Construction proceeded at full throttle. The patrol transit station Canyon Watch on the south bank of the Gorge and Ice Bay Port at the river's mouth were completed and put into use. Craftsmen from various industries recruited from the North, the Riverlands, and even the Crownlands gathered alongside young men eager to learn trades under Egger's direction. They began sourcing high-quality timber, discussing tonnage and structure, and officially commenced the preparation for the Northern West Coast Fleet.
In terms of military preparation, Egger held a strong hand: the Night's Watch was already a standing army with a decent level of training. After Denys Mallister pledged his loyalty and Cotter Pyke yielded, the new Lord Commander achieved high control over the entire Order. Although the Logistics Department's direct armed forces were fewer in number, they were of higher quality and loyalty, lacking only a bit of combat experience.
Additionally, a massive training program targeting all residents of the Gift was launched as planned. Whether they were the original Gift dwellers along the Wall, mountain clansmen, or newcomers from beyond the Wall, all were adapted to the cold. Accustomed to surviving in harsh environments, they were fierce and far stronger than they appeared. With Egger, the Chief Logistics Officer, in power, improved rations and proper exercise quickly turned them from gaunt to healthy—forming a pool of soldiers superior to the peasantry anywhere else in the Seven Kingdoms. They only required basic discipline and drill before being integrated into the Logistics Department's sophisticated officer system to quickly form a powerful force.
The progress of militarization was not entirely smooth: the training was mandatory for everyone who met the criteria. This meant that, unlike recruiting temporary workers or soldiers, the participants were not all volunteers. Many had never interacted with the Logistics Department, and the double-edged sword of their fierce nature became apparent. While the new residents were aggressive and wolf-like, they were naturally more defiant than the peasants of the Seven Kingdoms. Those who had long ago submitted to the Northern mountain clans were manageable, but the former Free Folk from beyond the Wall had a natural aversion to concepts like discipline and obedience, which to them sounded like unfreedom or kneeling. While they didn't dare riot openly, a significant portion adopted a passive attitude of non-violent non-cooperation.
These troublemakers were as stubborn as they were tough, often coming from the larger tribes. Good words, beatings, or solitary confinement (which had little deterrent effect in this weather) were insufficient. Egger, out of caution, hesitated to issue drastic orders, causing the initial progress of the military training to stall—until a logistics officer from King's Landing proposed a creative solution: divide the recruits into groups and add a collective pay dock to the punishments for those resisting discipline, using the forfeited wages as a reward for the groups making the fastest progress.
Egger never imagined that such a low-level method as fining would have such an astonishing effect. Those troublemakers who ignored scoldings and glared back at lashes were quickly made as obedient as puppies by their own teammates, who refused to lose money on their account. The instructors didn't even have to play the bad cop; the problem was solved internally. It was truly a sight to behold.
While the training was being successfully rolled out, Nina—who had recently come north to consult on strategy—sent a letter reporting the progress of her work in the south. She had successfully met with Tyrion Lannister in Lannisport and, without even contacting Lord Tywin, managed to secure a loan of 40,000 gold dragons. Though there was interest, considering the Westerlands were still in post-war reconstruction and the 40,000 was in cash, it was a gesture of priceless friendship.
This was major news. Advancing technology is like building a skyscraper; the current technology of the world of Ice and Fire was like a row of single-story houses—decent compared to sleeping in the open, but practical artillery sits at the height of the third floor.
To put thermal weapons on the battlefield, one cannot build castles in the air. Egger had to use money to reinforce the first floor and build the second floor at his own expense before reaching for the ultimate goal. Doing this independently without state support was far more difficult than imagined. The money donated by Northern nobles had been mostly spent, and the rest was tied up in various budgets. Without the infusion from the Lannister bank, Egger might have had to give up the idea of a monopoly on thermal weapons and invite Robb to tour the firearms factory to officially join the partnership.
After all, while the temptation to be the first to own an ultimate weapon was strong, delaying its birth due to personal greed—thereby causing humanity to lose the war of life and death—would be a cardinal sin.
Now, with a new fund for support, Egger could continue building his second floor.
The large-scale production of gunpowder was a key technology on that second floor. Regarding saltpeter, a vital source, Nina followed Egger's instructions in the south: she first spent heavily in the Crownlands and Riverlands to gather several jars to send back to the Wall, temporarily easing the shortage of experimental gunpowder. Then, she funded exploration teams to find saltpeter mines within King Stannis's territory while opening a new experimental base in the King's Landing industrial park, gathering inventors who had already collaborated with the Night's Watch to research methods of producing saltpeter.
Splendid. A capable helper is a capable helper. In his reply, Egger issued an order: from now on, the Night's Watch industries no longer needed to send profits to the Gift; instead, everything was to be invested in the mining or production of saltpeter. A two-pronged approach to crack this key technology as quickly as possible. He had a feeling that whatever he gave to Nina, she would handle well... he hoped it wasn't an illusion.
If a young girl could be so reliable, Egger couldn't let his side falter. Also on the "second floor" was the prerequisite technology for cannon production: the ability to cast "non-solid objects with sufficient strength."
Following the discovery of copper and tin, iron ore was finally dug out from the hills of the Gift. As the second most abundant metal element in the earth's crust, iron ore exploration shouldn't have been too difficult. Unfortunately, the quality of the first iron ore found in the Gift was hardly commendable—it was so poor that smiths who forged cold weapons shook their heads. It could only be used to produce ordinary tools for the construction teams; swords and daggers still had to be bought or donated. As for cannons, which required even higher material standards, they would likely have to rely on bronze for now.
Casting copper coins laid the foundation for metallurgy—this was first-floor technology, and simply moving it from the south to the Gift was no problem. But casting hollow spherical shells for explosive bombs greatly tested the casting skills and problem-solving abilities of the Gift's craftsmen. Explosive bombs didn't need to withstand the stress of a cannon launch yet, so the performance requirements were lower; theoretically, it was just a metal jar. However, it was different from a simple container: the wall thickness had to be moderate and perfectly uniform to maximize the blast, and the body had to be strong enough to survive the entire process of being thrown and landing without breaking. The technical department worked day and night, and Egger frequently visited the workshops to offer constructive suggestions. After dozens of days of failure, they finally raised the mold precision to the required standard, matured the process, and began mass production for live detonation tests at the proving grounds.
The technology of precisely casting metal containers according to specifications would be a valuable foundation for casting cannons in the future. Step by step, the progress bar for thermal weapon development crawled slowly from 1% to 10%. Though the goal was still far off, it finally gave people hope.
It had become Egger's habit to take a daily tour of the industrial zone outside the inner city. On this day, after finishing lunch, he put on his coat and prepared to go out for some cold air as usual. He pushed open the door, only to be met by the rookery manager of Queenscrown.
"My Lord, a letter from the Nightfort."
Egger nodded, took the scroll, smoothed it out, and immediately turned solemn.
A key juncture in the War of Ice and Fire, the ultimate warning signal he had waited for so long... had finally arrived. Brandon Stark, missing for months, had reappeared within the well that hid the Black Gate beneath the Nightfort.
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