After dragging the two lightly wounded wildlings out of their cells, feeding them and telling them the message they needed to deliver, the Night's Watch lowered them from the Wall...... The prisoner, who had been imprisoned for many days, was so excited to regain his freedom that he quickly left the basket and ran away from the forest of ghosts when he reached the ground.

With the three Night's Watch strongholds, the seven newly opened fortresses restored to manned status and the construction of walls, the defense of the Grand Canyon and the Great Wall was finally integrated, the frequency and scale of battles were still maintained, casualties were generated every day, but the hope of the wildlings crossing the Great Wall and entering the land grant was becoming more and more slim - through the birds and beasts controlled by the shapeshifters, the Cypriot foreigners could indeed keep track of the distribution and movements of the Great Wall defenders at any time, but unfortunately: the highest quality scouts on this continent matched the most poorly equipped in the world. The most undisciplined main forces......

Mance Rader was nothing more than a night watchman deserter, and gathering a hundred tribes of freedmen to bring them to the foot of the Wall was already at the limit of his ability, and he was too skilled to muster a force to break through the high-security lines he faced, with people sentry and patrolling everywhere.

As long as the news of the willingness of the night watchmen to negotiate was delivered to the "king of the outside world", no matter how suspicious and reluctant he was, he would have to take the olive branch and respond.

The initiative is all in the hands of the night watchman.

......

The recruits brought by Melisandre and her followers were soon joined the regiment and were quickly assigned to various departments. So far, Egger has no subordinates in the "Logistics Department" except for Alyssa Thorne, a nasty guy who is called the representative in King's Landing, but is actually completely hollowed out. Probably because he was upset about this, so when he asked Mormont for someone, Elder Xiong readily assigned Humphrey Sheshan to the logistics department.

At this point, Iger finally had a real, in-system subordinate, and he appointed Humphrey as the "chief logistics officer of Houguan Town", cooperating with the "mayor" Yam, responsible for the construction and improvement of the land grant market, and sharing the pressure of the latter.

＊＊＊

After a few days of busy work, Iger finally waited for the long-awaited Iron Vault Emissary.

Escorted by a small group of heavily armed rangers to Castle Black, the three Brafosians rode in through the newly built gates and dismounted in the middle of the yard.

"Three gentlemen, welcome to the night watch, Castle Black. Iger took the initiative to greet him: "The chief logistics officer of the Lower Night's Watch, next to me, is the commander-in-chief of the Night's Watch, Jeo Mormont. ”

The leader of the three Braavos, a man as tall and thin as a bamboo pole and wearing a purple felt hat, spoke: "Tychu Nestos, these two are my guards. Under the orders of the Iron Vault, he came to help the night watch. He took off his hat and bowed, "Thank you to the two adults and the brothers of the Night's Watch for their hospitality and escort, and I hope there is no trouble." ”

"Of course not, sir, welcome. Mormont smiled and said, at least the words were true: "Your Excellency, do you want to go inside and enjoy hot soup and food, or visit the top of the Wall? ”

"There is no doubt about it...... But overlooking the Ghost Shadow Forest, we have already experienced it in Donghaiwang, and it really doesn't make much sense to look at it again from a place dozens of feet higher. After a long day of saddle horses, I prefer a warm and quiet room to talk about the purpose of our trip. ”

Mormont smiled knowingly: "Understood, then go to my study." Jon...... Go to the kitchen and get some food and some mulled wine. ”

......

The fire in the fireplace had subsided considerably, but the room was still much warmer than outside, and the old crow shouted "corn!" to welcome them, and everyone hung up their cloaks and coats and sat down around the commander-in-chief's desk.

Egger waited for the guests to sit down and then spoke: "Coincidentally, just a few days ago, I planned to go to Braavos in person to apply for a loan from the Iron Vault to tide over the difficulties, but I didn't expect the Iron Vault to send three people to take the initiative to visit...... Ladies and gentlemen, why are you here?"

"I don't dare to call us adults, we are just small clerks in the iron vault. Having said that, Taichu held his head proudly high, and he did have the qualifications. "We're here for a clear purpose, and the big men of Braavos, hearing of the troubles the Wall is facing, have instructed the Iron Vault to help in any way they can—we're going to provide the Night's Watch with an interest-free loan to help the Wall defenders through it. ”

Iger and Mormont glanced at each other, both of them a little confused: this is too funny, the Iron Vault may have gotten information about the appearance of the ghouls from Jakun Hegar, and is worried that the invasion of the Seven Kingdoms by the strangers will make the loan to the Iron Throne unrecoverable, so it is understandable that they are willing to help...... But it's a bank after all, so it rushes to the door and says, "I'm going to lend you money, I don't have to pay interest......

It's too enthusiastic.

It's illogical...... Iger was invalidated by the other party's words, and he didn't know how to answer it, and after thinking about it, something suddenly came to mind: Jia Kun promised to pay a ransom to himself before saying goodbye to himself that day, and said that he would definitely send it within a few months, and whether this loan that was voluntarily delivered to the door, and the part of the interest that was waived, was the ransom promised by the faceless man that day?

If this speculation is true, then the influence of the high-level faceless ones on the forces of Braavos is really far beyond expectations. Iger looked at the three people in front of him and wondered: could one of them be Jakun Hegar with a new face?

"Of course, there are also conditions, and we demand that the Night's Watch property be pledged and that observers be sent within the Night's Watch's control to ensure that the loan is used to defend the Wall...... Also, if you're buying supplies from outside of Westeros, you must prioritize Braavos. ”

Could it be that the purpose of the Iron Treasury was to use the land grant as a gap to infiltrate Westeros, or was it to use this loan as a breakthrough point to create an opportunity to annex the Night's Watch estate? Egger wondered, with Stannis on the Iron Throne, neither of them seemed to be easy to succeed.

After thinking about it for a while, Iger decided to put his suspicions behind him - at a time when the logistics supply chain of the Great Wall was about to break and the lives of thousands of people were in serious question, could he still refuse to send charcoal to the door for some completely lost doubts?

Rather than thinking about it, it is better to think about some more tangible benefits: "Very reasonable request, but we also have some small expectations - the Great Wall is currently short of manpower, and there are very few people who can do things on their own, and we hope that the Iron Treasury will issue loans directly in the form of food aid." ”

The Braavos raised their eyebrows in surprise: "What does the logistics officer mean - the Iron Vault will arrange for someone to buy food for you and hire a ship to transport it to the Great Wall?"

"It would be great if it could be like that. ”

Tai Chu laughed: "I heard that the chief logistics officer can seize all the people and opportunities that can be used, but now when I see it, it is indeed the case." ”

Iger shrugged, taking this as a compliment to himself: "You agreed?"

"I was given the order to provide as much help to the night watchmen as possible and that everything was negotiable...... However, we have to get all the details clear, no problem, right?"

"Of course. ”

"Very well, let's get started, get me something to drink first, I'm thirsty. ”

Out of respect, Iger assumed that Mormont was the master of the place, and brought him in and negotiated with the Iron Treasury Emissary in his presence......

But in fact, Xiong Lao couldn't talk about the contract at all. Egger and Tychu spent two or three hours working out a clause and working out the details. By the time the final results were in, and both Egg and Commander Mormont had signed the contract that had been drafted by Tychu, Jon Snow, who was accompanying him, was numb in his legs.

The Iron Vault will provide a loan with a total amount of up to 100,000 gold dragons, and will be responsible for converting this amount into grain and grass to be transported to the Great Wall, but the price will be based on the real-time grain price of Braavos on the day the ship docks in the East China Sea, and at the same time...... All expenses incurred in this process, including the salary of the person in charge, the cost of hiring the vessel, the loss and compensation in the event of an accidental wreck...... Write it all down to the Night's Watchman's account, that is, the hundred thousand golden dragons.

By the time this winter passes, the Night's Watch will have twenty years to pay off the loan.

＊＊＊

"Are you sure that's good...... The guy named Taichu even told us that when all the costs were converted, we were getting food at twice the price of buying grain from the North. After sending the messenger of the Iron Vault out of the house and setting them up, Mormont asked in an uncertain tone, "In other words, we will eventually get about 50,000 gold dragons worth of food, but we owe them 100,000 at once...... The so-called interest-free is simply a nice name, and they played a little trick and took the interest in other ways!"

It looks like a fraud, but as a member of the Night's Watch industry and familiar with the process of earning money, Egger knows that the Iron Vault is not black-hearted at all in this transaction, and is sincerely helping: "They are businessmen, and they can't expect them to benefit at all...... It is indeed troubling to get 50,000 gold dragons worth of grain but owe 100,000 at first glance, but the truth is that if you directly give us 100,000 gold dragons and let us operate them yourself, you may not be able to buy so much food that the Braavos people can provide us. The most important thing is that we just signed it and got it, and even if it costs us, it will be at least twenty years from now!"

"Well, it ended up being collateralized by the Night's Watch property anyway. Mormont shrugged: "I guess they were all dead by then...... Forget it, I don't care, what you come up with, you can toss it casually, I have no opinion. ”

"Thank you for your support. Iger said sincerely.

......

Walking out of the room where he had been staying for a long time, the scene in Castle Black was the same as usual, but in Egger's eyes, it had completely changed, and he really had no turning back now. There are countless people in the world who have offended the king and live freely, but no one can go back on the agreement with the Iron Treasury and escape punishment.

Until he signed the letter, he had the opportunity to quietly cash in as much as possible the Night's Watch property, and then escape to the other side of the Narrow Sea with the money to live in seclusion, away from the bunch of on this side of the desperate Great Wall, and live a comfortable and comfortable life as a rich man...... But driven by something that can be called ambition or self-motivation, he made the opposite choice.

Like a gambler who has won money, he wants to try to win something bigger, and now he has put all the chips he had already won—the Night's Watch industry and his current status—back on the table.

He didn't have time to regret or hesitate, and Egger's expression became firm: the long-term food supply had been settled, and before Braavos's first shipment of grain arrived in the East China Sea, it was time to consider how to get the food needed from the savages for the next month and the next month.

——