After Witte's explanation, the people who hold the highest power in the Seven Kingdoms finally understood what the White Walkers were. Once the White Walkers went to war with humans, all life would be devastated. Everyone's conversation began to turn to how to deal with the White Walkers. The Duke of Mace also
I took out the map of the Seven Kingdoms and laid it out on the table for everyone’s reference.
Varys: "Don't we still have the Great Wall of Despair? Duke Werther also said that the Great Wall of Despair is a magical creation, and these undead creatures will turn into ashes once they touch the Great Wall!"
Witte: "Because it is a magical creation, the magic power of all the Great Walls also has an upper limit. As far as I know, the magic circle at the bottom of the Great Wall has been operating for thousands of years, and the source of magic power should be absorbing free magic power from the air. No matter how powerful the magic is,
No creation can withstand long-term consumption. Once the magic power of the Great Wall is exhausted, it will collapse. The ghouls don't need to eat and sleep. They can't break the Great Wall in one day. What about one month? Two months?"
Robert looked irritated: "The intelligence is blank, and the outside of the Great Wall is not suitable for human survival. Can we really just let it develop and then passively defend?"
The king asked everyone present, and they all looked at Werther at the same time.
Werther spread his hands: "This is a war between life and death, and it is inevitable for every living person! Our ancestors fought with the White Walkers, but they did not wipe them out. Now the White Walkers have been accumulating for a long time and are coming back. They are coming south to attack us.
Said it might be an opportunity to completely eliminate them!"
Duke of Metz: "Total annihilation?"
Werther asked: "Does the Duke of Metz want to keep the White Walkers for the New Year?"
Mace quickly waved his hand: "That's not what I meant, I meant to say that we can really completely eliminate the White Walkers?"
"They are all magical creatures. Even powerful dragons can be exterminated, let alone the White Walkers! The White Walkers are very powerful individually, but they reproduce slowly. Humans reproduce quickly and are quick-thinking. It should be said that humans and White Walkers each have their own advantages!" Witte said.
I say this to give everyone confidence, but actually I feel very unsure.
The White Walkers are so good at hiding that if they leave two of them in the north when their army goes south, they will be able to regain their power in a few hundred years.
The White Walkers can hide at the bottom of a frozen lake or dig a hole to bury themselves. Coupled with the thick ice and snow cover, this requires a large number of magicians to conduct a carpet search using detecting undead magic. But that is the North, and it is harsh.
If you are not careful in the weather, all mages will freeze to death there. This is not a bad situation, but if a White Walker jumps into the sea with a stone and hides on the seabed hundreds of meters deep, how can you find it?
"Then the entire Northern Territory will become a battlefield! Ed alone cannot defeat the White Walkers." Robert looked at the map and then stood up and pointed at Witte: "Witt, you are the chief mage of the Seven Kingdoms, and so are the White Walkers.
Magical creatures, now they are about to cause a war. I now officially order that, except for the war command authority, all matters related to the White Walkers will be your responsibility. All documents will be compiled by you and come to me for signature. Renly, you will be my deputy."<
/p>
The magician took the lead in solving magical matters, and other ministers had no objections. Robert, who had just contracted a serious illness, really didn't have the time to deal with these troublesome things now, so he felt more at ease with Werther sharing the burden.
In essence, Werther has always been promoting the defense against White Walkers. Now that Robert has made a formal appointment at the Royal Council, and also listed the defense against White Walkers as a war preparation level, he will receive more support.
Witte: "Okay, let's continue the analysis."
"I listen to Werther." Renly would not object.
"According to the prediction of the school city, this winter will be very long and very cold, which will pave the way for the White Walkers to move south." Witte pointed to the narrowest place in the middle of Westeros continent: "It is expected that in two years the entire north
The whole border will be covered with ice and snow, and the snow line is always south of the Neck. The peaks of the valley will also be covered with ice and snow. The Riverlands, the Westerlands and the Kings Ridge will also become very cold. If there is strong wind and cooling weather, the Reach will be covered with ice and snow.
There is a chance of snow in both the and stormy areas."
The people present were either from great nobles, knights or officials. They were all people who were separated from the bottom level of production, dedicated to management and martial arts. They did not understand the underlying meaning of what Witte said. Only Renly was the first to react. p>
"North of the King's Territory, a large amount of land will not be cultivated, and the south of the King's Ridge will only be able to grow one or two seasons from two to three seasons a year! People in many places can only make a living by hunting, at most once.
There will be a large decrease in prey every year, and many people will starve to death!"
Everyone shuddered when they heard what Renly said. There are ghosts in the north about to go south, and now there is a great famine!
Wirth: "As long as it is not a White Walker, there is a way to solve the famine caused by winter."
Robert had never thought about the problem of famine, so he simply said: "Tell me about it!"
Witte: "A large number of cash crops are now grown in the Stormlands and Reachlands in the south. Converting part of the fields to food can greatly alleviate the food shortage problem."
"Impossible!" The Duke of Metz immediately refused.
This time it’s not that the Duke of Metz is speaking carelessly, but that almost all the nobles in the Seven Kingdoms think this way, including Robert and Renly.
The Seven Kingdoms implement a feudal system. The land belongs to each duke, and they are allocated to each earl. The earl can manage it himself or enfeoff it to his knights or knights again.
According to legal regulations that have existed for thousands of years, farmers pay taxes on agricultural products or money to landowners, and the earl pays it to the duke, who then pays it to the treasury, and so on. The basic land and population are considered private property, and anyone can
No one can dictate their own private property. The lord can plant whatever he wants, even if the king orders it!
Unless there is a major change, this deep-rooted pattern is almost unshakable. Any attempt to touch other people's private property will be hostile to all nobles, and may even lead to the use of force.
Werther's Stepstone Islands were also affected by this and were slow to develop. He had several feudal earls and knights, all of whom relied on their families to support their money and population. Werther also only received support from the Stormlands and King's Ridge. Back then, Renly only dared to
He launched a call to let the lords below to recruit their own people and did not dare to force recruitment. That is to say, the Stormland has developed too fast in the past ten years and the fertility rate is too high. There is a large demand for immigrants. In addition to Robert's financial support, there are very few immigrants from the royal territory.
, and Werther has to catch the criminals in King's Landing and send them to the army. And Werther wants to have no population in other areas.
Then now is your chance.
Werther was not annoyed, and still said with a smile: "When have I ever made my friends around me suffer? Duke of Metz, don't worry, let me explain to you."
While the grand maester was away, Aerys called a member of the Kingsguard to sit at the conference table and take notes. Aerys understood that what Witte had said would definitely be communicated to other nobles.
Witte looked at Duke Metz: "Take your industry as an example. About one-third of the land in Highgarden and the Reach is planted with food, and two-thirds are planted with cash crops, such as sugar cane, cocoa, flowers, etc. These
Who do you sell the final products made from the crops to?"
The Duke of Metz thought for a while: "Nobles and commoners."
Witte knew that he didn't want to share such business secrets, but his business was all guided by Witte, and he also had industrial relations with the Stormlands. He knew everything about him. After excluding the costs, the income from the civilian class could just support a large number of people.
For industrial groups, the real profits come from the consumption of the aristocratic class.
Witte continued: "If the common people starve to death, then the nobles will have no taxes, and they will become impoverished. Who will your products be sold to then?"
Metz smiled: "When a noble falls, a new noble will take over his land."
Wirth: "Then what does this new aristocrat rely on to farm the land for him?"
Mace: "The new nobles will bring a group of people over."
Witte: "The land here has been covered with snow and cannot be planted, and people will starve to death."
"This..." The Duke of Metz wanted to say that he relied on cows, and cows also needed people to control them, but weren't people already starving to death, so he took the words back.
"Winter is coming! The best commodity in this cold winter is food! The nobles can only buy food to feed their subjects, and the subjects cannot farm the land. They can help the lord fight or accept employment from other lords. They turn in money to
Nobles, they can survive through this cycle."
Werther knocked on the table:
"The profit from food is definitely not as high as that of high-end goods, but as long as people are alive, there will definitely be demand when they recover. The king will also issue a mandatory order. In addition to increasing reasonable shipping costs, the price of food cannot be driven up. Although you can earn less by growing food,
But you will gain a good reputation and good popularity in the future, so why worry about not making a lot of money when summer comes!"
"Yeah!" Robert nodded, not sure if he understood.
"I agree with Witte's proposal. I won't go back to Tyrosh this time. I will gather the vassals of the Stormlands for a meeting and ask them to switch to growing food." Renly was the first to express his support, and Witte asked Lan
Nod in greeting.
In fact, most of the storm lands are mountains and hills, and the hillsides are covered with fruit trees. There is not much arable land. Most of the industries of various lords are agricultural product processing, handicrafts and metal manufacturing. Most of the raw materials for agricultural products come from the Reach, and the sales locations are also east and west.
Half and half of the continent. Renly said it in vain, purely to support Werther.
Witte thought about Mace again and said: "The weather is getting colder and colder now. You have to wear two pieces of clothing when going shopping in King's Landing. In two years, the north will be covered with snow. Will the rich nobles still buy luxury goods? They will only
Buy food so that your 'property' does not starve to death."
Robert also spoke at this time: "Don't forget that we still have to face the White Walkers! If people from the Seven Kingdoms are going to die, they must die on the battlefield fighting the White Walkers, not starve to death on the roadside!" p>
"I understand. If you make less, just make less. I will summon vassals like Duke Renly did." Mace reluctantly accepted this condition.
Seeing that the Duke of Metz agreed, Werther did not continue to put pressure on the Reach. The change of agricultural products was not something that could be done immediately. However, Werther planned to talk to Little Rose Margaery after returning to Tyrosh and ask her to go to the Reach.
The Duke of Metz made up his mind.
"Based on the food output of the Reach and Stormlands, it is estimated that it cannot feed so many people in the Seven Kingdoms." Varys looked at Witte and motioned for Witte to tell him how to solve the other part of the food problem.
Witte: "Tyroshi recently acquired a large area of land in the disputed land, and Westeros suffered a severe cold, so I decided to rent the land at the annual rent of one silver stag per hectare!"
"Lease? One hectare of land, one silver deer for one year?" The Duke of Metz opened his mouth and couldn't close it.
Wallis smiled: "Don't be surprised. It's all wasteland, and it takes some effort to cultivate it. One hectare is fifteen acres, and only one silver deer a year is equivalent to giving it away."
Witte has done a lot of money-losing business. For example, he lost a lot of money by pouring glasses from Volantis to selling them in King's Landing. People in this era advocate violence, and most wine glasses are made of wood or metal. When drinking, they can
It makes a loud bang on the table and can hit people on the head, making the glass look useless.
It is impossible to give away land for free. Witte continued: "It means that the cost of pioneering is taken into account. In addition, the taxes paid to me can be reduced but not exempted. Because I have to pay two taxes, the rent I set is very high."
Cheap."
The Duke of Metz thought about it and leaned forward to ask Werther: "What is the specific rent law?"
Witte: "There are a large number of landless people in the north, so I decided to give the lease rights to the nobles in the north, the riverlands and the valley. The first contract is for five years, the first renewal is for three years, and then every year
The lease can be renewed once for a maximum total of ten years. If I entrust the land during this period, the tax will be collected by the new lord."
Duke Mace was unhappy to hear that it was only for northerners. He wanted Renly to ask Werther with him, but Renly ignored him, so Mace had to ask himself: "Why not rent to southerners? We can afford it."
Money!"
"I rent out land to provide livelihoods for people who lose their land in the winter in the north, not to make money!" Witte said righteously.
Almost all the current vassals of the Stone Step Islands are from the south, and they will be followed by a large number of immigrants from their hometowns. If we continue to introduce southerners, once the population exceeds a certain critical point, these immigrants will inevitably form a group. The power of the south is too great and it is not conducive to
The Reign of Werther.
The people on the Stepstone Islands immigrated from all over the world. Witte needs to balance the population from each area. There are people from all over the Eastern Continent, so the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros cannot only have men. In the future, perhaps due to cultural customs and education
Different places have different levels of affluence achieved by immigrants, which will affect their fertility rate, but at present Witte can still manage it.
"The land is yours. As long as it does not violate the laws of the seven countries, it is up to you to decide which home you choose to rent to and to whom. I will help you make a certificate in the name of the king and help you send the news to the people in the north.
"Robert also knew that Werther was trying to recruit people again. As long as he was not asked to pay, he would help his brother as much as he could.
The people who come to rent the land are the northern nobles, and the people who come to farm the land are also the subjects of the northern nobles. When the lease period is up, they will go back.
Werther can't have any of these people. What Werther really wants is the children these people gave birth to in the disputed land! There are no entertainment activities these days. People are created at dusk. How many people can be born in ten years?
?By the time the lease ends, the oldest child will be around ten years old, which can already be regarded as a productive force in this era.
As for the nobles who say that the child belongs to them, how can they run away after coming? At that time, Witte can produce a bunch of birth and life certificates to make it clear that the child is a Tyroshi from birth to death!<