Before heading south to King’s Landing with Tyrion, Aegor was a proper Night’s Watch soldier. He had stood guard atop the Wall, patrolled the Haunted Forest, and even cut down White Walkers.

He thought he knew what cold was, but reality slapped him hard, making him realize firsthand why the Northmen also had a concept of summer and winter.

After the great storm that Robb Stark encountered while inspecting the Wall passed, the Gift maintained good weather for a long time. But this so-called good weather simply meant that it did not snow, the wind was not strong enough to blow people over, and occasionally the sun could still be seen.

The temperature, however, after a slight rebound, continued to drop without hesitation.

When he first arrived, Castle Black was cold, but it only fluctuated around freezing. In the wilderness a bit farther from the Wall, if you were lucky enough to bask in the sun during the day, you could still feel a hint of warmth. Even during the coldest nights, it was only five to eight degrees below freezing. Although a strong wind could make the night sentries’ teeth chatter, wrapping an extra blanket made it not so terrifying.

That was a gentle, almost beautiful memory. Now, the true winter in the Northmen’s conception had arrived, and Aegor, born and raised in the water towns of the south, finally understood what soul-crushing cold meant.

A basin of hot water thrown upward would freeze upon hitting the ground. Maintaining a normal bonfire in the open had become a luxury. Either you had to build a heat-retaining shelter before lighting the fire, or increase the size of the bonfire or mix in tar. As soon as a person left indoors, the cold seemed to come alive, drilling madly through the pores of fur and the fibers of clothing. No matter how many layers you wore, you could not stay outside for long. A single group on night duty had become an impossible arrangement. To ensure no one froze to death, the commander had to arrange at least three shifts to rotate. Accompanying the cold was the Milkwater River at the bottom of the Great Gorge, which was gradually losing its isolating function due to freezing, and the anti-freezing work in the Bay of Seals at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, which had become increasingly difficult and soon urgent, requiring constant vigilance day and night.

Aegor was ashamed to discover that as the Night’s Watch commander, the highest commander on the front line against the dead, he had not even seen the enemy’s shadow yet, but was already so frozen he did not even want to leave his room.

Of course, not wanting to go out and not going out are different things. With greater power comes greater responsibility. Although he was frozen like a dog, he absolutely could not show any slackness. Gritting his teeth, Aegor insisted on regular inspections and guidance to ensure his strategic arrangements were correctly implemented, handling every political matter that occurred in the Gift and on the Wall immediately to avoid delays. Leading by example, he set a good precedent.

In stark contrast to the bone-chilling cold was the fervent atmosphere of production and preparation for war throughout the Gift and along the Wall.

—

Construction was in full swing, with the patrol transit station Gorge Lookout on the south bank of the Great Gorge and Ice Canyon Port at the estuary successively completed and put into use. Artisans from various industries recruited from the North, the Riverlands, and even the Crownlands, plus the young people preparing to learn trades as instructed by Aegor, gathered together and began to search for quality timber, discuss tonnage levels and structures, and formally start planning the establishment of the North’s Westerlands Fleet.

In terms of military preparation, Aegor held a good hand. The Night’s Watch itself was a standing army with decent training. After Denys Mallister defected and Cotter Pyke also yielded, the new commander achieved a high degree of control over the entire legion. Although the armed forces directly under the Logistics Department were slightly fewer in number, they were of better quality and higher loyalty, lacking only a little practical combat experience.

In addition, large-scale training targeting all residents of the Gift was carried out as planned. Whether they were the original Grey Area citizens distributed along the Wall, the Mountain Clans, or the Free Folk from beyond the Wall, they were all adapted to the cold climate. Accustomed to surviving in harsh environments, their folk customs were fierce, and they were much stronger and more vigorous than they appeared. As Aegor, the Chief Logistics Officer, took power, improved food and proper exercise quickly transformed them from sallow and thin to healthy and full. This was a higher-quality source of soldiers than any farmer in the Seven Kingdoms. Only basic discipline training and drills were needed, and after being integrated into the complete and advanced officer system of the Logistics Department guards, a strong army could be rapidly formed.

…

Military progress was not smooth sailing. The training was mandatory, and everyone who met the conditions had to participate. This meant, unlike recruiting temporary workers or soldiers, not all participants voluntarily gathered for training, and many had never been in contact with the Night’s Watch Logistics Department. The dual nature of their fierce folk customs was revealed at this time. While the new residents were fierce and wolf-like, they were naturally also more unruly than the farmers throughout the Seven Kingdoms. Among them, those who had already submitted to the North’s Mountain Clans were relatively easy to manage, while those who called themselves Free Folk from beyond the Wall had a natural resistance to things like discipline and obedience, which they immediately associated with lack of freedom and kneeling. Although they did not dare openly cause trouble, a considerable portion adopted a non-violent, uncooperative attitude during training.

These troublemakers were not only stubborn but also hard-headed, and often came from larger tribes. Whether it was gentle persuasion, beating and physical punishment, or being locked in a small dark room, the deterrent was quite insufficient in this terrible weather. Aegor, out of caution, was slow to give instructions on training, which led to the initial military training not going smoothly, until later, a Logistics Department officer from King’s Landing proposed an unconventional solution. Divide each batch of trained militia into several groups, and add deducting the entire group’s military pay to the punishments for those who passively resisted disciplinary training, awarding the confiscated portion as a reward to other groups with faster training progress.

Aegor never thought that such a low-level way of dealing with problems as fines would have such surprisingly effective results. Those troublemakers who were indifferent to scolding and met whipping with angry glares quickly became as obedient as puppies under the lessons of other group members who did not want to lose money. The Logistics Department instructors did not even need to play the bad cop. The problems were resolved internally, which was truly dumbfounding.

While the training was gradually being successfully promoted and implemented, Nina, who had recently come north to personally request strategic guidance, also sent a letter reporting on the progress of her work returning to the south. She had successfully met with Tyrion Lannister in Lannisport and, without any contact with Lord Tywin, successfully applied for a loan of forty thousand golden dragons. Although there was interest, considering that the Westerlands were still in post-war reconstruction and these forty thousand were cash, it was already priceless in terms of goodwill.

This was a significant piece of good news. Climbing the technology tree is like building a tall building. The existing technology in the world of ice and fire is like a row of bungalows. Although it is decent compared to sleeping in the open and thatched huts, unfortunately, practical artillery is at the height of a three-story building.

To truly put thermal weapons into battle, building castles in the air will not work. Aegor must first raise money to reinforce the first floor, then build the second floor at his own expense, and only then can he reach the final goal. Doing this independently without the support of a state was much more difficult than imagined. The money donated by the northern nobles was quickly spent, and the rest was all occupied by various budgets. Without the injection of funds from the Lannister Bank, Aegor might have had to abandon the idea of monopolizing thermal weapons and invite Robb to visit the firearms factory, asking him to formally join.

After all, although the temptation of being the first to possess a great weapon is strong, if the birth of such an excellent weapon is delayed due to personal selfishness, and consequently humanity suffers a defeat or even a crushing defeat in a life-or-death battle, that would be a great sin.

Now, with a new fund supporting him, Aegor could continue building his second floor, which he had already started.

The large-scale production of powder is one of the important technologies on the second floor, and as a major source of nitrate, Nina also took some actions in the south as instructed by Aegor. First, she spent a large sum to collect several jars in the Crownlands and Riverlands and transport them back to the Wall, temporarily solving the urgent need for powder for experiments. Then, she invested in forming an exploration team to search for nitrate mines within the territory controlled by King Stannis, and simultaneously established a new experimental base in the King’s Landing Industrial Park, gathering a large number of inventors who had already cooperated with the Night’s Watch Industry to begin researching methods of producing nitrate.

Very good, a capable assistant is a capable assistant. In his reply, Aegor issued an order. From now on, the Night’s Watch Industry no longer needs to transfer profits to the Gift, but instead should invest all of it in the mining or production of nitrate. With a two-pronged approach, they should conquer this key technology as soon as possible. He had a premonition that Nina could always handle the things he entrusted to her. He hoped this was not an illusion.

If a young girl could handle things so reliably, Aegor himself certainly could not drop the ball. Also on the second floor was the prerequisite technology for producing cannons, the ability to cast non-solid objects that meet the required strength.

Following the discovery of copper and tin, iron ore was finally dug up among the hills of the Gift. After all, it is the second most abundant metal element in the earth’s crust, and the exploration of iron ore should not have been too difficult. But unfortunately, the quality of the first iron ore discovered in the Gift was truly not worth mentioning, so poor that even the masters who cast and forged cold weapons shook their heads. It could only be used to produce some ordinary tools, distributed to the construction team workers for use, and even swords and knives still had to rely on donations and purchases for now. As for cannons, which require more materials, they would mostly still have to rely on bronze for now.

Casting copper coins was the foundation for smelting, which is a first-floor technology, and simply moving it from the south to the Gift was naturally not a problem. But casting hollow spherical shells for explosive projectiles would greatly test the casting skills and problem-solving abilities of the artisans in the Gift. Explosive projectiles temporarily do not consider withstanding the overload of cannon firing, so the performance requirements are lower, theoretically just a metal container. But it is different from a simple container. The wall thickness must be moderate and completely uniform to maximize the explosive power, and the body strength must be guaranteed not to break during the entire process of throwing and landing. The technical department conducted experiments day and night, and Aegor frequently visited the workshops to offer constructive suggestions. After dozens of days of failure and restarting, the mold accuracy was finally improved to the required standard, and the process was ultimately matured and fixed, beginning mass production and sending them to the testing ground for live explosion tests.

The technology of precisely casting metal containers according to requirements would be a valuable foundation for casting cannons in the future. Step by step, the research and development progress bar for projectile thermal weapon technology slowly climbed from 1 percent to 10 percent. Although the realization was still far away, it at least gave people hope.

Inspecting the Industrial Park outside the inner city had now become Aegor’s habit. This day, after finishing lunch, he put on his coat, intending to go out for some cold air as usual. Pushing open the door, he was met by the raven master from Queenscrown.

“My lord, a letter from Nightfort.”

Aegor nodded, took the scroll, smoothed it out, and immediately became solemn.

A key node in the War of Ice and Fire, the ultimate alert signal he had been waiting for, had finally arrived. Brandon Stark, who had been missing for several months, reappeared in the well beneath Nightfort that concealed the Black Gate.

(To be continued.)

***

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep