Chapter 7: Crabbe Longbow
King's Landing, in the Red Keep.
Tyrion Lannister's golden curly hair covered his forehead. He wore soft clothes embroidered with a roaring lion. He was just over a meter tall, with a large head, a small body, and a prominent forehead, and he walked with an unusual gait.
"Heh, big brother, didn't you notice me? Where are you going? Did my beloved elder sister appoint you as her personal messenger?"
Jaime Lannister shrugged and slowed his pace.
Tyrion Lannister caught up with Jaime. "Jaime, you should learn to approach me first. My most important role for House Lannister is to stand beside you, a constant reminder of your towering stature."
Jaime sighed helplessly. "Alright, you win. I'll come clean. I am indeed delivering a letter."
Tyrion immediately put on a smiling face. "My lonely sister, finally couldn't resist taking a lover, could she? Quickly, let me see."
Jaime's mouth twitched. He held up the letter. "Unfortunately, it's already sealed with wax."
Jaime's hand, clutching the letter, moved, dodging Tyrion's jumping hands as he tried to snatch it. "It's not a secret. I can tell you the contents."
"Oh? It seems I guessed wrong."
"Hmph. Don't always think the worst of Cersei. You two are brother and sister."
"Haha! Am I to expect my dear sister to kiss my little face? Not unless the Seven are napping."
"Tyrion, you must not be disrespectful to the Seven Gods."
"The old Seven Gods won't care what I say."
Tyrion slapped Jaime's thigh. "Tell me."
"It's a young lord from Crackclaw Point. Cersei intends to bring him along for the royal hunt."
"That's truly surprising news. My elder sister seems to be in a very good mood?"
"The young lord sent the letter himself. The boy is a born flatterer."
"Haha, Jaime, you seem to dislike this young lord. Are you afraid he'll steal our sister's affection away from her dear brother?"
"It's rare for you two to agree. I'm not that petty. Young people should focus their energy on swordsmanship, not flattery."
"Isn't that just perfect, Jaime? As a member of the Kingsguard, you can take this opportunity to teach him a proper lesson and aid in his development."
Tyrion paused, then added, "Big brother, Crackclaw Point is a godsforsaken place. You are a Lannister; you will never understand what it feels like to lack money. When you can't even fill your stomach, who has the heart to practice swordsmanship? The houses of Crackclaw Point have a tradition of pledging loyalty directly to the crown. You could say it's their ancestral trade."
"Big brother, this is a good thing. At least the young lord isn't stupid. He knows House Lannister has money, doesn't he?"
Jaime felt a bit exasperated. "You two have all the logic on your side. I'm just good at running errands."
...
...
Three days later, the sky was a brilliant, cloudless blue.
The Whispers, inside the fletcher's workshop.
Glyn picked up a completed longbow, about two meters long, from the wooden workbench. He drew the string to test the pull… approximately 110 to 120 pounds.
To survive, most of the smallfolk in the Crabbe lands had to both farm and hunt, so most of them could use a bow. This draw weight could serve as an entry point, making it easy to adapt to.
Coupled with systematic training, the long-term plan was to add longbows with draw weights of 130 pounds, 150 pounds, and more.
The longbow was modeled after the English longbow from his previous life's memories. The manufacturing process was relatively simple, and its range was considerable.
[Hunting within the territory is an important means of survival. There is consistent demand, so bow-making materials are stored year-round.]
"My lord, I can now make three of these a day."
"Me too!"
"Me too."
...
The ones who answered Glyn were the woodworkers. Their profession had always been fletching; there were about ten of them.
Glyn's original plan was to divide the longbow manufacturing process into several parts, establishing a simplified assembly line to increase efficiency.
Glyn later reconsidered. The first difficulty was the lack of suitable supervisors. Without effective oversight and management, quality and efficiency would likely decline simultaneously.
The demand for longbows would not increase dramatically in the short term, and the current production speed could meet the requirements. Therefore, he decided to let them continue using their traditional methods for now. The craftsmen gathered together where the production speed of others could be seen at a glance. This created a competitive environment, which was a small step forward.
Glyn reminded himself not to overreach, to take things one step at a time. Taking too large a stride could easily lead to a pulled muscle.
Overall, Glyn was satisfied. He casually picked up a few more longbows to test them, then gave some instructions regarding the details.
Glyn announced to the crowd that the longbows would be named Crabbe Longbows.
...
...
Ser Pyle, whose reputation in the territory was renowned, quickly completed his task.
The 100-man Scouting Corps had already begun simple formation training.
Most of the soldiers in the Scouting Corps came from hunting backgrounds, bringing their own bows, arrows, and shortswords.
This aligned perfectly with Glyn's plan: the standard-issue weapons for the Scouting Corps would be shortbows and shortswords.
Glyn's definition of the Scouting Corps was lightly armored mountain infantry, with their main tasks being reconnaissance and scouting.
Because the practical soldiers of the Scouting Corps brought their own weapons, it greatly eased the burden on the armory of The Whispers, which was not particularly well-stocked.
Other aspects were fine, but Glyn found that the arrows brought by the hunters were substandard. Most were self-made, and their quality was inconsistent.
The arrowheads lacked sufficient killing power. Therefore, the main task of the blacksmiths in The Whispers was now to focus their efforts on manufacturing high-quality arrowheads.
Glyn felt as though his work was never done.
First, helmets were another problem.
There certainly weren't any spare helmets in the armory. The 200 household guards of the Crabbe territory had only been fully equipped after turning the armory upside down.
Glyn thought of the headscarves popular among pirates.
The storeroom had plenty of grey linen cloth. He had it cut to the size of towels, which could be wrapped around the head and tied tightly, serving as temporary military caps.
With 100 men uniformly wearing grey linen headscarves, they began to look a bit like a regular army.
[Scouting Corps Cohesion +1.]
Next was armor.
In the future, Glyn's goal was for all members of the Scouting Corps to be equipped with standardized chainmail layered with leather armor.
For now, that goal was too far off.
The storerooms of The Whispers had plenty of leather, but almost all of it was soft. There was only a small amount of hard leather.
The main material used for making leather armor was hard leather.
To ensure every soldier in the Scouting Corps had basic protection, Glyn mobilized all the idle people in the castle to make leather armor together.
Time was tight, so details and aesthetics had to be sacrificed for now.
Cut, punch holes, thread the straps—a simple suit of leather armor was complete.
Aemparoa's Thorn Legion could not be ignored either. As a lord, he could not favor one group over the other.
However, using the original method, the amount of hard leather would definitely not be enough.
Glyn considered for a moment, then made his decision: the new style of leather armor for the Crabbe lands would eliminate the backplate, retaining only the front piece to protect the chest and abdomen. This way, about twice as much armor could be produced, barely enough to equip the Thorn Legion.
Did the back not need protection?
If you always face the enemy, is there any need to worry about your back?
Glyn's house words were temporarily extended with one more line: Never Turn Your Back.
(end of chapter)