Night. Fort Crigonton. Restaurant.
Gregor put down his chopsticks and let out a small burp.
Chopsticks!
There were no chopsticks in this world. Nobles used gilded and silver-plated knives and forks, while in remote and backward places, the poor ate rice balls directly with their hands.
Gregor carved a pair of chopsticks specifically for himself.
In a restaurant with dozens of people, where cups, plates, knives, and forks clattered noisily, Gregor was the only one who used chopsticks in addition to knives and forks.
Gregor, Sweetmouth Ralph, Dunsen, Pollifer, Notebook, Julie, Thomas Mann, Maester Harry, and a middle-aged woman sat at one table. Sixty cavalrymen sat at a long table beside them. Outside the dining hall, the craftsmen and servants who had built the sanctuary sat at another table.
A lot has changed in Crigamburg in the past twenty days.
First came the recruitment of miners. Miners were essentially Clegane cavalry. But Gregor insisted on calling this unit miners because these men were cavalrymen on horseback, and when they dismounted, they were out mining.
Apart from the eleven native miners in the territory, the remaining forty-nine miners were freemen from Lannisport and miners from the Silverhall Mountains mines.
Gregor is not sending these sixty miners to mine now, but instead training their combat skills.
Clegane miners, on horseback they are soldiers, off horseback they are civilians.
With this mining corps in hand, Gregor also recruited over a hundred free laborers from Lannisport through a combination of coercion, deception, and intimidation. These laborers were divided into two groups: one group went to the nearby Silver Mountain Range to quarry stone, fell timber, and fire tiles to prepare building materials for the construction of Clegane Village; the other group of construction masters built the chapel to the west of Clegane Fort.
The sanctuary is connected by a gate that opens into the walls of Crigganburg.
The sanctuary was neither too big nor too small, of medium size, and could not compare to the sanctuaries in Casterly Rock and Lannisport, but it was still a complete sanctuary structure.
In a few more days, the roof of the church will be installed.
The faith in the Seven Gods is a good thing; it gives hope to those who have no hope; it gives a place to confide in those who have no friends; it gives courage to those who lack courage; and it gives loyalty to those who lack loyalty. Gregor liked to have his subjects and warriors swear allegiance before the Seven Gods.
Whether in Earth's civilization or this magical world, rituals are very important, and the underlying principles are the same. Wedding banquets, graduation parties, and official awarding of certificates in Earth's civilization are all forms of ritual. People need these things in their spiritual world.
The Church of the Seven Saints is a place where people can perform spiritual rituals.
After the church was built, the workers who had been collecting stones, cutting down trees, and firing roof tiles in the mountains were almost done with their work.
Gregor did not send anyone to the mountains to supervise the workers.
First, he paid the workers a considerable wage.
Secondly, he made the workers swear an oath before the statues of the Seven Gods to work hard before they went to work in the mountains.
Third, he set a time limit for the foreman, and if the task of collecting building materials was not completed within the specified time, he would cut off the foreman's hands and feet.
If the foreman dared to run away with the workers, he would hunt them down and kill their families.
Gregor received his first fortune from the Saloth family, a thousand golden dragons.
It would cost more than two hundred gold dragons to build a spacious and clean village of Clegane for eleven families and a sanctuary of moderate size.
Gregor paid six hundred gold dragons in one go to support a mining army of sixty men, which would continue to expand, and to purchase for them a wide variety of top-quality items in Lannisport, including armor, longswords, javelins, spears, shields, bows and arrows, warhorses, daggers, steel spikes, and other weapons.
The weapons, armor, and warhorses he purchased were the best available on the market.
He now only has a pitiful twenty-odd gold dragons left in his gold coin box.
A miner's monthly salary is one gold dragon, a very high wage for an ordinary soldier, three times the pay of other ordinary soldiers. After one month, Gregor will have to pay his soldiers at least sixty gold dragons.
The soldiers' daily food, clothing, housing, and transportation all cost money.
In just twenty days, Gregor felt the pressure growing stronger every day as he assembled a small mining corps, built an ordinary church, and mined some building materials.
Greg now deeply understands the proverb, "You don't know the cost of oil and rice until you're in charge of the household."
A thousand golden dragons were like a pebble thrown into a pond; after creating a few ripples, they quickly disappeared without a trace.
Once the stonemasons have finished quarrying the stone pit designated by Gregor and transported out the stone blocks, Gregor will lead his mining soldiers to dig diagonally into the Sharlott family's gold mine area from the stone pit, and begin mining the gold belonging to the Sharlott family.
The Silver Mountain Range is mostly owned by the Silver Hall Salot family, that's just too damn...enviable.
The first month's pay was due in ten days, but Gregor didn't have enough money. He was temporarily unable to pay the soldiers.
But there are still ten days left.
For a super thug, if there's no road in front of the car, he'll just climb it.
We need to settle Alan Saloor's family, who were brought over by Adoo Saloor today.
Alan Salomon's woman sat at the same table as Gregor and the others.
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Alan Saloth was a knight. His wife was entitled to sit with Gregor and the others. His seven-year-old son, however, sat with his grandparents at the craftsman's table outside.
"Mrs. Allen, do you know how your husband, Allen Salot, died?" Gregor said.
Everyone at the table stared at the knight's wife.
The woman opposite him lowered her head and remained silent.
"The strangulation poison your husband brought to kill me, mixed into golden wine, is more expensive than gold, diamonds, emeralds, and agate. Only Salot of the Silver Hall can afford it; your husband cannot."
The woman slowly raised her head; she was a very young woman, quite attractive. Her large eyes were brimming with tears.
"Allen's plan to poison me failed. To shirk responsibility and give an explanation to Lord Tywin of Casterly Rock, Sallow of the Silver Hall arrested your entire family and sent them to me to atone for their crimes. Madam, are you afraid of death?"
The woman shook her head firmly.
"And what about your son?"
Tears immediately streamed down the woman's face, her eyes revealing despair.
"My lord, spare my son! I'm willing to do anything for you... I can test poison for you, wash you, make your bed, clean your room, I'm willing to be your personal maid," the woman said, tears streaming silently down her face. She tried hard to control her emotions, but her body still trembled slightly.
The infamous Mountain was notorious for raping and murdering women, and his reputation was so great that it could cure a child's nighttime crying.
"Alright, I won't kill your youngest son. I'll take your whole family in, restore your free citizen status, and welcome your whole family to become members of Clegane Village."
"Thank you, sir!" The woman rose, knelt down, and kowtowed repeatedly. After only three kowtows, blood began to flow from her forehead.
This is the power of evil: being a little kind to others will bring you many times more gratitude.
"Madam, I have something I need you to do tonight," Gregor said.
"Yes, sir!" A flicker of fear crossed the woman's eyes, but her expression hardened.
Gregor could tell that the woman thought he would take her tonight, but for the sake of her family's survival, she quickly adjusted her mindset and chose to accept it resolutely.
Sweet-mouthed Ralph and the other animals chuckled lewdly.