This feeling was so familiar that, with a little reflection, Aegor realized he had been surprised by this place for the second time. Back then, when King Robert forcibly appointed him as a Night's Watch accompanying the army and he followed the Six Kingdoms' grand host on the expedition to the Vale, upon returning to King's Landing he had been greatly surprised by the Industrial Park that had seemingly appeared out of thin air, built from nothing as if it had fallen from the sky. Who would have thought that after time had passed, he could still be shocked by the same place again.
However, after calming down and clearing his thoughts slightly, Aegor realized that his inner reaction was largely exaggerated. Compared to the true transformation of the Gift, the extent of the Industrial Park's development and changes was actually not huge. It was just that Aegor had been in the Gift during this period, only seeing the Industrial Park's appearance from over a year ago and its current prosperity, much like parents who work away from home suddenly seeing their children who stayed behind after many years. The child's growth itself is not miraculous, but if one does not witness the process and only sees the result directly, they will feel that a world-shaking change has occurred.
That said, although the extent of change in the Gift was greater, it came from piecing together loans and external aid, built up by resources. Once the war ends, the threat of the White Walkers diminishes, the Iron Bank begins to collect debts, and the Lannisters start demanding repayment, it will quickly face the pressure of collapse. Whereas here at the Industrial Park, what has happened is truly sustainable and healthy development.
It was just a pity that the Night's Watch now held less than half of the shares in this huge, flourishing money tree, fortunately still the largest shareholder and actual controller, and it was no longer entirely the property of the Night's Watch.
The arrival of the Blackbird quickly attracted the attention of the Industrial Park's dockworkers. The shadow of war had already enveloped this place. The endless stream of cargo ships that used to come and go were nowhere to be seen. The small warship Aegor was on, as the only vessel currently approaching the shore, quickly docked with service as if they had the place to themselves. After confirming the identity of the arrivals, someone immediately ran toward that dark castle to report. In no time, Nina, who managed the place day and night, hurried to the dock with a few people.
…
On the face of this capable little woman, surprise was mixed with irrepressible joy and relief. "Lord, can you see the future? We were trying everything to contact you, and you arrived first!"
Aegor nodded in greeting and asked with concern, "What about the ravens? If I had not accidentally received news from Winterfell, I might still be in the dark about the Dragon Queen burning our assets."
"Alas…" Nina put away her excited expression, sighed, and explained while leading him toward the castle. "It is really hard to explain. The Industrial Park originally had five ravens that could fly to the Gift. Not long ago, a small-scale epidemic killed two, and the remaining three were all sent out with new messages about the collection or production progress of saltpeter when that Targaryen queen suddenly appeared and captured Dragonstone. There might still be ravens in the Red Keep in King's Landing that can fly to Castle Black, but at this critical juncture of chaos and war, how dare we trouble the King and use the royal ravens to transmit news about the Night's Watch Industry?"
The ravens unique to the world of ice and fire are a type of bird similar to carrier pigeons, but much larger, stronger, smarter, and able to resist attacks from birds of prey. Using the correct methods, it is easy to train them to fly back and forth delivering messages between two places, or even to fly directionally between more than two fixed locations. But smart is smart, King's Landing to the Gift is too far, and the Night's Watch cannot get guidance and help from top raven experts from the Citadel, so they can only rely on apprentices and semi-professionals hired from the common folk. The ravens flying back and forth internally between the Gift and the twenty major strongholds along the Wall are already sufficient, but the North–South raven line between the Industrial Park and the Gift is still sparse and can only send messages in one direction. This means that the ravens Nina used to send messages to Aegor, after flying to the Gift, the Gift must send people a thousand miles to bring them back to King's Landing to be used again next time, and vice versa.
And people cannot fly back and forth between the two places. A cage with a few ravens might seem like a lot, but when actually used, there are often several important pieces of information in a short period, and all the ravens are sent out and are slow to return, leading to awkward situations where one-way communication is temporarily interrupted. If there are accidental losses, the situation becomes even more serious.
As for the ravens in the Red Keep, they are used by the King to issue announcements to the Seven Kingdoms. How could they be frequently used by the Night's Watch Industry, an unofficial organization, for commercial reporting?
Aegor remembered indeed receiving two or three progress reports from King's Landing within a few weeks recently, and all were good news, knowing that Nina's words were likely true. He waved his hand to end the topic. "Forget it, contact the Citadel more and put increasing the number of ravens on the agenda. What is going on with that castle over there? Did King Stannis order it built to protect the Night's Watch Industry?"
"Oh… that." Nina glanced at the dark, castle-like building. "It has nothing to do with His Majesty the King. With the rapid development of the industry, the valuable assets, raw materials, and commercial or technical secrets that need protection are also increasing. This was a plan approved by a collective vote of most shareholders at an important meeting half a year ago, allocate funds from the industry's expansion costs to build a high wall at the most crucial location in the Industrial Park, enclosing the core departments, high-level warehouses, and research institute, to protect against threats from, for example, bandits and rebels. To mark its identity, from the beginning of the project, dark-colored materials were used as much as possible without increasing costs, and where insufficient, black dye or black cloth and black flags were used to compensate. The result is what you see. It is not a castle itself, but the surrounding residents and people from King's Landing who rely on the industry to survive are more used to calling it by a nickname, 'Blackwall Keep.'"
"Blackwall Keep? That is quite a fitting name…"
Aegor smiled knowingly and also remembered, the Industrial Park report he saw in Crown Town a few months ago did mention the construction of this wall, and he had written back agreeing to it. He had originally thought it was a wall enclosing the entire Industrial Park, but he did not expect Nina to focus on the core area and build such a magnificent structure. No wonder he had felt at the time that the amount of funding was quite a bit higher than for ordinary wall construction.
However, although the Night's Watch Industry earns thousands of golden dragons per month, and the funds he approved for building the wall were also substantial, it was absolutely impossible to build a complete castle. Although he instructed the Industrial Park to no longer send funds to the Gift and keep them for their own use, the purpose was to concentrate efforts on solving the saltpeter supply problem, not to engage in image projects. King's Landing, however, took it upon themselves to build such a large castle. Where would there be extra funds to collect saltpeter and develop methods for producing it?
Aegor felt uneasy, but the previous order was given face to face when Nina came to the Gift. She absolutely knew his meaning and could not make such a completely misguided mistake. Guessing there might be some hidden reason, he did not directly question her but subtly brought up his concerns. "This whole setup must have cost a lot of money, right? I did not approve such a large sum. The extra part, no, I should say, who paid for the majority of it?"
"No one paid, and there is no such majority at all. The construction of Blackwall Keep did cost a lot of money, slightly exceeding the expected budget, but not as much as Lord imagined… You will know the specific reason once you go inside."
…
The castle was not far from where the ship docked, just a few steps away. Aegor suppressed his urgency, led his group, and followed Nina for another distance, finally approaching and entering the castle.
Soon, Aegor understood why Nina said the funds spent were nowhere near what he had imagined. This dark, fortress-like building was truly just a Black Wall keep.
It was not as solid and majestic as it looked from a distance. The almost pure black outer wall looked as high as the walls of King's Landing, but the actual thickness was quite slender, about three meters at the base, less than two meters at the top. Subtracting the thickness of the inner and outer battlements, the walkway on the wall was just wide enough for two people to walk side by side. It was fine for daily patrols and watch duty and more than sufficient for dealing with vagrants and bandits without siege weapons, but it would not hold up against siege weapons or a large army.
Aside from this landmark-like wall, the scene inside the castle was completely different from a military fortress. There were no tall and sturdy watchtowers, strongholds, training grounds, and armories, only rows of civilian, commercial, and residential buildings whose original forms were still vaguely discernible. This building was the industry management office, that building was the security department dormitory, next to it was the primary warehouse. Compared to before Aegor left, they had only been slightly reinforced and heightened to increase space, and from the outside, they looked like a solid black wall of bronze and iron, but in essence, the materials and uses had not been changed at all, and they simply could not withstand the ravages of war.
Come to think of it, King Stannis was also overwhelmed by continuous wars and had an empty pocket. Not asking the Night's Watch Industry for money was already extremely principled of him, so how could he possibly give money in return? Although slightly disappointed, this was also good. If the Iron Throne had indeed funded the construction of the castle to protect the Night's Watch Industry, then Aegor really would not know how to distance himself from the Stag's camp and maintain neutrality.
"Originally, Lord Buckwell suggested that we also densely set up Dragon Hunting Ballistas on the walls, just like in King's Landing, to guard against the Dragon Queen attacking on her dragon. But I considered that this would be a blatant provocation and declaration of war, violating the Night's Watch's principle of neutrality, and ultimately rejected this proposal. I also tried my best to separate the production of Dragon Hunting Ballistas and moved it within King's Landing." Nina led Aegor up to the top of the wall via the nearest stairs, extending her arm to point toward the new Industrial Park outside the wall, which almost filled the entire view. "Not only that, we also worked overtime to rush the construction, painting the roofs of the buildings within the entire area belonging to the Industrial Park black and gray, striving to make it clear to the Dragon Queen, when looking down from high in the sky on her dragon's back, to distinguish the Night's Watch Industry from King's Landing, so as to avoid accidental damage."
"Well done."
Aegor nodded approvingly. Even if he were remotely controlling the Night's Watch Industry, he could not do more. If she truly wanted to destroy the Industrial Park, Daenerys might not even need to use a dragon, her army could easily do it. Although the discipline of the Night's Watch Logistics Department's security force, this semi-new army, was good, they had not been baptized by actual combat and only numbered a few hundred. He was not arrogant enough to think that as a military layman, giving a few pointers and having a few hundred men could fight dozens and defeat the Unsullied. Against such an army unafraid of death, no matter how much preparation the Night's Watch Industry made, no matter how solid the fortifications they built, even if they were equipped with first-generation thermal weapons, it would be difficult to stop them.
Although they had not communicated, Nina had completely followed reason and made the correct judgment and command. Instead of misappropriating funds that should have been invested in climbing the technology tree and spending a large price to prepare for a war that should not be fought and could not be won, it was better to spend a small price to strengthen their neutral identity, so as to avoid conflict as much as possible, lie low, and build strength for a more important cause.
Blackwall Keep was actually a huge declaration of neutrality, telling Daenerys's side, this is the Night's Watch's territory and property, there is a head for every wrong and a debtor for every debt, if you want revenge, go to King's Landing.
That is right, this kind of behavior, to put it nicely, is called avoiding war. To put it harshly, it is called cowardice. And even the nice way of saying it feels stifling. How could Aegor not want to punch the Night King, kick the Dragon Mother, and stomp his foot outside King's Landing to scare Stannis into offering the Iron Throne? But reality is not fantasy. Even with the advanced ideas and knowledge advantages of modern people, turning them into real strength takes time.
Nina, who was praised, did not show a smug expression. "Thank you for the praise, Lord, but this is all we can do here. Although we also wanted to send someone to express our stance to the Dragon Queen, I do not have the qualifications, and as for our shareholders…"
Aegor naturally understood that no matter how much Nina was trusted by him and respected and supported by the Night's Watch Industry executives, she was just a commoner girl. Without identity, status, or fame, it would be impossible for Daenerys to receive her if she went to Dragonstone. As for those investors, they were either rich or noble, but unfortunately, the Crownlands nobles, at least currently, were all vassals and supporters of Stannis, and with the stubborn and cautious personality of the second Stag, it was impossible for him to be repeatedly betrayed without realizing it.
"That is why I came," Aegor comforted Nina. "Do not worry, I have already spoken to the Dragon Queen, and there will likely be no trouble." He glanced at Melisandre beside him, who showed little interest in Blackwall Keep. In fact, his request had not received a positive reply from Daenerys, but at this critical moment, he could not say discouraging words in front of his subordinates and could only trust the Red Priestess and her quack partner. "Alright, visiting Blackwall Keep is not urgent. What about the saltpeter… how is the progress?"
His trip south, besides meeting the Dragon Mother, had this item as the second biggest purpose. The primary task was naturally to personally bring back the saltpeter that the Night's Watch Logistics Department had collected and gathered in the south and stored in the King's Landing Industrial Park, which could not be transported to the Gift due to the disruption of traffic caused by the war. Since he was here, he could not come for nothing. He also wanted to see the research and development progress and see if there was anything he could do to help or give a little guidance.
"Please wait, Lord. Vice President Qyburn has always been in charge of the saltpeter project. I will send someone to call him right away and have him report the specific situation to you in person."
"Okay." Aegor nodded, and the next second his eyes suddenly widened. "Who? Who did you say?"
(To be continued.)
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