Like the spiral of civilization, all stories seem to have some twists and turns. Mormont's accidental death made the human defenders at the forefront of this life-and-death battle hesitate for several months without making a big move. If there is anything to be thankful for, it is that almost every side in this campaign has maintained a bottom-line view of the big picture and restraint - the human side has "not moved forward, at least it has not regressed due to excessive infighting".

Now, it's finally back on track...... On Egger's orbit, to be exact. If you think about the good with your optimism and think about it yourself, you may be able to play the game more thoroughly than if you stand behind others.

......

Iger asked Carter Peck to "get permission to return to the East Sea" in order to wait for the arrival of the loan from the Iron Vault, and the purpose was not complicated: to make the last possible variable a definite amount out of prudence.

Nearly twenty days after receiving an unofficial reminder from the Iron Vault, the much-anticipated convoy of grain finally arrived at the Night's Watch Harbor without any problems. With Houguan Town mobilizing hundreds of people stationed in Donghaiwang early, the scene was steady, and the entire grain unloading process was extremely smooth. In just a few days, all the inhabitants of the donated land, worth tens of thousands of gold dragons, were removed from the ship after they let go of the food for dozens of days, and soon under the push of the horses, they were quickly transferred to the newly opened fortress "Beacon Tower", which was fully supported by the reformist night watchman and the mountain people and half of the opposition under the command of Egger, and could be transported to Houguan Town only when the weather improved.

At this point, the transfer of power at the top of the land grant has finally come to an end, and no one in the open or in the dark has no way to do anything bad. After sending someone to tell Carter that he could go back to his post, Iger packed his bags and rushed to Houguan Town, which was in ruins a year ago, but is now the only town in the land grant, and has been successfully upgraded to the new night watch.

In a fortress full of his own people, the first was not a native, the first was not elected in the place where the election was held, and the first was not on the Great Wall after taking office...... The Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch will remotely command the entire Grant and do everything possible to establish the northernmost part of the Seven Kingdoms into the tenth largest region of Westeros after the Seven Kingdoms, the Iron Islands, and the Narrow Sea Islands.

＊＊＊

It's good to be ambitious, but the reality is skinny. The inability to produce food may seem like the biggest obstacle to Iger forming an independent force, but the fact that the land grant is now facing is that it does not "produce nothing but food", but "nothing at all".

In fact, it has not been able to carry out any activities that can be called "production": so far, all the operations of the land-granting inhabitants and the entire Night's Watch Legion have been carried out by the blood transfusion of the Night's Watch industry and the princes of the North, and the so-called work has been all about laying the foundation, building and arming the army......

Of course, these things have to be done, but the problem is that they don't create wealth, generate benefits, and don't make sure that a system continues to work.

The Night's Watch can and should be out of production, but not land grants!

The Iron Vault granted a loan of 100,000 gold dragons to the night watchman, which seemed to be a huge amount, but it was evenly distributed among the 40,000 people who gave the land, which is about two and a half gold dragons per person...... At a time when food prices are only getting higher and higher, even if they are optimistic, they can only guarantee the continuous supply of food from the donated land. As for developing it into the Tenth Sector of Westeros, and facing and surviving the next alien invasion on its own without hurting its vitality...... The funds, tools, weapons, armor and other things needed for this big game of chess will definitely not even be able to make a splash by relying on the monthly income of the night watchman industry.

In order to convince the Brethren in Black, who were forced to open the warehouse of Castle Black and contribute strategic reserves to enrich the land grant circulation market, to believe in Egger's orders, instead of resisting or even hostile to the new commander-in-chief as in the original plot, Iger must lead his people to think "open source".

In layman's terms, he, the commander-in-chief, not only has to command the defenders of the Great Wall to confront the strange ghosts, but also has to lead everyone to get rich like some technical and knowledge-based cadres who went to the countryside in the original world.

＊＊＊

The roads had been repaired and the land had been granted enough to be fertile, but winter had already arrived, and agricultural ideas such as planting and raising could be skipped, so Iger turned his attention to selling manpower and resources.

Manpower, now the land is given to people waiting for work, and as soon as Iger took office, he ordered the night watchmen who walked all over the country to pay attention to the areas or activities that needed manpower. It's just that in this era of backward productivity and cheap human life, it's not just the new land-granting people who have nothing to do. The sale of cheap labor was mostly a beautiful dream, and Iger made other arrangements.

He wrote to King's Landing's Night's Watch Industries, ordering the obsidian mines of Dragonstone to speed up mining and begin gradually transporting raw ore to the Great Wall - polishing dragon crystal products was a non-technical task, so why hire workers in King's Landing instead of letting them do it, given that so many new landgoers were idle?

Obsidian can be used as a weapon to defend against the Wraiths, and scraps from the corners can be crafted into other goods that can be sold to the North and across the Narrow Sea...... As long as you put some effort into promoting the evil warding effect of Dragon Crystal and the restraint effect on human natural enemies, at least there will be no situation where no one cares.

It sounds ideal, but obsidian is a natural glass that is not only produced on Dragonstone, and Iger has heard of several obsidian mines in Essos only if he knows about it, but it has not been mined on a large scale due to supply and demand - even if some magical marketing tricks are used to make obsidian popular on both sides of the Narrow Sea, the obsidian of Dragonstone is not too competitive.

Not to mention, this thing was not dug from a land grant, but from King Stannis's backyard, Dragonstone, and the Iron Throne is now tax-free because the Night's Watch industry is not yet fat enough to make a monarch coveted...... But if you really expect this product to be eaten for a lifetime, whether it can be achieved is not to mention, first of all, it violates the prudent principle of "egg cage".

Obsidian should be a source of income, but it can't support the whole burden, and it's not a long-term solution, so think about other ways...... It's easy for Iger to think of minerals.

What is lacking in a backward world is not metal ore, but finished metal, and it is impossible to make money selling ore directly. So, the idea of smelting in the land grant naturally entered Egger's mind.

Whatever the reason, the land grant must achieve a certain degree of self-sufficiency in the "metal" category.

If you have a surplus, it is of course best to sell it for a profit, but if you can't, it is impossible to spend more money for your own use than to buy it from the outside world.

Egger has always been a one-step-eater-by-two character, and he certainly didn't devote all his energy to the Great Wall during the long election that lasted for months, and let the family business of Houguan Town go unnoticed...... Masters with relevant knowledge of smelting have been invited from the south, and the rest of the preparations are ready, so that they can start directly when it is confirmed that the land grant resettlement plan will not be stopped.

"Our surveyors have rushed to various places to look for mineral deposits, but it is difficult to find minerals in the plains, and the mountain roads are completely non-existent, and the transportation is inconvenient and the weather is not good, so it will take a little time to explore. Mayor Yam reported the progress of the project to Iger: "But the mountain people who work in Houguan have inadvertently told us that there are open-pit copper and coal mines in the mountains where they live...... I went to find the leaders of these clans, and they confirmed this and agreed that we should mine it. As long as we guarantee that the workers needed in the smelting process will be hired from their clans first. ”

"It's not too much to ask...... But what is the quality and scale of the copper mine, is it easy to mine, and how far is the location from the grant land?"

"Judging from the accounts of the mountain people, they only used the natural copper on the surface of the copper ore, and occasionally threw a little copper ore into the fire to 'smelt' it when they were making a fire for cooking, and made some ornaments, small objects and other things. The quality and scale of the entire copper mine can only be known when our master has seen it, but it is estimated that the mining is not difficult, and the location is not far from the donated land, which is less than 100 miles southwest of Houguan Town. ”

"Hmm...... Copper is more expensive than iron, but if it were to come in handy, I would prefer to find iron ore. However, there is no urgency in this matter, the principle of smelting copper and iron is similar after all, since there are ready-made copper mines, it is the most important thing to practice this first, so that the donors can master the process steps of large-scale smelting first. After a brief thought, Iger decisively ordered: "Don't stop the search for other deposits, especially iron ore, but first get the copper smelted and show me...... As soon as possible. ”

"Understood. Yamm nodded.

"Let's go, take me to see how the other lines I've planned are going. ”

——