In Cliff Rock, all the servants are busy preparing for Jenny and the Mountain's wedding, while in Earl Gavin's study, a rather 'unique' military conference is being held.
What makes him unique is that there were two people who shouldn't have attended this conscription military conference: Count Leo Leford of Gold Tooth City and Count Damon Marbran of Branded City.
Damon Marbran's severed hand had been treated, and the wound was healing at an unusually rapid pace. This secretly surprised Maester Assa, but pleased Count Gavin and Count Leo. Count Damon's mood also shifted from frustration and resentment to cold arrogance, and his speech became sharp and sarcastic.
The Mountain invited Count Leo and Count Damon to participate in his recruitment plan. One count readily agreed, while the other nodded with a disdainful look.
In Cliffrock, all the knights captured by the Mountain overnight have been released, including Ser Adam Marbran of Branded City. All the families have returned the Westerling lands. Earl Damon has not left because of his severed hand; he needs Maester Assa's medical expertise.
In this world, once a wound becomes infected and festers, there is only one path: death!
There is no anti-inflammatory ointment in this world. After the scholars have done everything they can, whether this person's wound will become infected and fester will be decided by an even more remarkable doctor: the Seven Gods.
Count Damon's severed hand had been bleeding profusely. When the bleeding was stopped, Maester Assa's healing abilities became apparent, and Count Damon's wound healed at an unusually fast pace. This surprised Count Leo, Count Damon, Count Gavin, and others who had been injured before.
So Count Damon stayed and received further treatment from Maester Assa in Cliff Rock.
In fact, Maester Assa himself was also surprised and did not understand why Sir Damon's wounds healed so quickly.
The Mountain treated Counts Leo and Damon with great respect and kindness, as if no unpleasantness had ever occurred between them, and Count Damon's severed hand seemed to have nothing to do with the Mountain.
So, The Mountain is going to build a thousand-strong infantry legion on his father-in-law's territory. The first step, of course, is to recruit soldiers. The Mountain invited Count Leo and Count Damon to participate, saying that the two counts are both very capable military generals and the Mountain wants to hear their opinions.
Count Damon was naturally very pleased.
He had incurred the wrath of the Mountain and the Westerling family, and if Branded City were to seek revenge in the future, he knew that the enemy's military strength would only benefit him and not harm him.
Count Leo was the only guest invited by the Mountain to attend his family wedding. He had nothing else to do anyway, and the wedding wasn't until five days later. Since the Mountain had invited him, he was happy to come.
Count Gavin initially disagreed with having Leo and Damon attend the meeting, but when he faced the Mountain's enormous form, he found himself unable to speak, so Count Gavin nodded.
The training of the garrison and guards of Cliffrock, and the conscription of the Westerling family, were all orchestrated by the Mountain. Lord Gavin and Lady Sybil were unwilling to engage in such large-scale conscription, for a simple reason: money!
Maintaining an army requires money!
Raising even one soldier is not easy.
Food, clothing, daily necessities; weapons, armor, training, and military pay—everything costs money.
The Westerling family already found it difficult to support 180 professional soldiers, let alone suddenly adding 1,000 infantry.
Fortunately, it was infantry; if it were cavalry, the cost would have been even more staggering.
In peacetime, apart from the four major families and a few large noble families who maintain thousands of soldiers, the rest of the nobles do not maintain professional soldiers except for necessary guards.
Because every subject is a soldier of the nobles.
The people were sent to earn money, work, mine, farm, hunt, or fish, supporting themselves and, in turn, the nobles' armies. In times of trouble, a single conscription order would compel these people to bring their own weapons and fight. This not only saved the nobles a great deal of money but also generated substantial tax revenue for them.
Releasing troops into the wilderness and allowing the people to be self-sufficient is indeed a good thing, especially for nobles like Westerlings whose fortunes have declined. There is only one drawback to doing so: when it comes to actual warfare, the fighting strength of the assembled soldiers cannot compare with that of professional legions. Many such legions are very prone to collapse once their general or centurion is killed, or even if they are slightly defeated.
Professional legions are different. In well-trained professional legions, if a general is killed in battle, a lieutenant will immediately take his place; if a lieutenant is killed, a centurion will be immediately elected to continue leading the group. Even when fleeing for their lives, unlike the militia, someone from the scattered ranks will be elected as a leader to lead a group to continue their escape.
A snake cannot function without a head, and an army cannot be disciplined without a general!
However, it is also unacceptable for a snake to have only a head and no body, or for an army to have only a general and no soldiers.
Within the Westerling family, the Mountain cannot consist solely of generals without soldiers; soldiers and generals must train, live, grow, and professionalize together.
Because, within a short period of one year, war will break out mercilessly.
In the previous story, Cliffrock would have been easily captured by Robb Stark's army in the North. But this time, Cliffrock will bring the war to someone else's home.
As for money, what could be a faster way to earn income than privately minting coins?
When the country is in chaos, civil war breaks out, and various families fight each other, who will care whether the golden dragon you pull out is privately forged or issued by the state?
The nation's financial system will not collapse due to war, because gold, silver, and brass have always been the hard currencies of this country. Whether in the thousands of years of history, the three hundred years of Targaryen rule in recent times, or the current sixteen years of Robert Baratheon's rule, gold, silver, and bronze have always been the hard currencies of this continent.
The same is true for the continent of Essos, which lies across the Narrow Sea.
Having gold in hand means that whether it's a round golden dragon or different gold coins minted by various countries and ethnic groups across the narrow sea, as long as it's made of gold, it's the hardest currency that can circulate freely and smoothly.
The Mountain spread a map of Cliffrock's territory on his desk and began examining the population, families, and male-to-female ratios region by region. He discovered a crucial issue: the inhabitants of lands mortgaged or sold to neighboring nobles were wealthier, more numerous, and had higher birth rates than those in the territories ruled by the Westerling family themselves. Furthermore, the number of households had increased by about two hundred.
Because of the high birth rate, the population has increased.
The original estimate of 1,300 households has now increased to more than 1,500 households.
In this sense, although the nobles bought the Westerling family's lands at very low prices, these lands appreciated in value when they returned them.
This is a more covert form of 'legal income' than directly extorting nobles, but it also shows that the Westerling family doesn't help their subjects enough, or rather, because of their decline, they completely neglect them, leaving them to fend for themselves, just like the Mountain did with his subjects in the past. Aside from collecting taxes, they offered no other assistance.
This won't do!
The war will break out next March and continue for a very long time, year after year. Such a long war will require the people to provide a lot of taxes to support the war effort.
Therefore, while conscripting soldiers, we also need to consider the well-being of the people. Only by enriching the people can we build a strong army.
In this damned era of semi-pastoralism and semi-agriculture, nobles had to bring their own food and all necessities when they went to war. Their commoner soldiers, on the other hand, had to provide their own swords and armor. If the commoners were poor and couldn't even afford decent weapons, their army would naturally be very weak.
Without a doubt, while conscripting soldiers, we must also find ways to enrich the people; this is of utmost urgency!
But how can we enrich the people?
This is a problem that has plagued the Westerling family for generations!
No solution!
However, the Demon Mountain, which came from a civilization several levels higher, gained wisdom and inspiration for solving problems from the precious soil of Eastern Chinese history and culture.
He had thought about enriching the people and strengthening the military before he came. It's difficult for those who don't know how, but not difficult for those who do!
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P.S.: Thank you 'The Early Bird Loves' for the post, thank you!
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