บท 16: Entry Twelve
Date: 298 After Landing, Winter
Peg,
It's funny. Before I arrived here, before I was given the Super-soldier serum, before I the war in Europe began all I wanted to do was help others. Looking back, I see how hopeless I once was. How could I help others when I couldn't even help myself? Now I have this gift, I'm in a land where the people fight with swords and sings songs of the "Mountainbreaker" or the "Warrior-made-flesh", and instead of sitting back and trying to find a small corner of the world to settle down and relax in all I can do is continue helping others. I continue to fight for those who can't defend themselves…
I guess I will always be fighting.
Well, it's been a few weeks since my last journal update, so I guess I should catch you up.
It's going to be easy to maintain peace with the Lannisters. At least for the foreseeable future. Tywin and his army reached Kings Landing just before the combined Baratheon/Tyrell alliance arrived and began their assault on the Capital. From the reports I've read the conflict turned into a large mess after something called "wildfire," a volatile liquid that can burn for a long time on any surface, was launched from catapults towards Stannis Baratheon's fleet as well as Renly's ground forces. From all accounts Renly was killed by one of the wildfire explosions, and Stannis was forced to salvage what remained of his fleet. But it wasn't a total loss as nearly a quarter of Tywins men were killed when some of the wildfire pots broke and caused a massive fire in the city. Maybe a fifth of the city's population is either dead or homeless. As it is, the assault has settled into a long siege.
I tried to advise King Stark to offer an olive branch to King Stannis, offering him assistance in exchange for accepting the North as a free and independent realm, but Stannis only replied that we were trying to rip the Kingdom in half and that after he dealt with the Lannisters he would turn his attention to the North. I don't like threats, but apparently neither does King Stark. After we got that threat we spent days discussing ways to fend off an attack from the South, and eventually decided we needed to permanently man Moat Cailin. A garrison of just fifty archers would be enough to hold off thousands and buy time for nearby reinforcements to arrive. Especially as we establish a series of signal towers. But we still need to secure the Riverlands and keep any such attack from getting so far. I have some ideas, but it will take some time to set in place. Luckily the siege in Kings Landing will buy us plenty of time, but as the Starks are fond of saying, "Winter is Coming."
So, in order to help secure the Riverlands I have been working closely with the builders here in Riverrun to design and build a medieval version of the PT-boat. 130 feet long, 20 feet wide, and drafts only 8 ft, it can carry 43 men, including the rowers, up and down the Redfork and Blackwater rivers, as well as the God's Eye river. I had to prove to the shipbuilders that a boat covered in steel could float if it was designed properly, mostly through trial and error since I'm not a shipbuilder, but once the first one was in the water they believed me. Had to drag what I could remember of buoyancy and displacement from High School from the back of my mind, but it was there. Think I may have caused a few of the shipwrights to have a panic attack, but they grasped the idea with two hands and refuse to let go. Anyway, the boat is like a sea-based version of a tank, with a layer of steel protecting the archers on the inside while they load and fire upon enemy forces.
My PT-boats also carry a modified version of the crossbow that launches heavy darts up to a mile away. Using modern mechanical advantage I was able to improve the design so it only takes a minute to load and arm the weapon. I had it placed at the front of the boat like it was a 20mm gun, attached a swivel and steel guards to protect the shooter. I'm calling them "ballista" for lack of a better name.
Speaking of crossbows, I worked with an armory in Riverrun to make a more efficient crossbow, with push-lever and ratchet drawing mechanisms to speed load time and draw strength, but after thinking about it I decided to only make enough for me and the Commandos. As much as I would love to arm every man in the North and Riverlands with such a weapon, I'm afraid of it falling in the hands of the enemy. When I finally get a chance to settle down, I'll make sure to make passing out these weapons to the people a priority.
Anyway, we are going to build fifty of these PT boats and set them to patrol the Riverlands waterways. They will make excellent area-denial weapons, and force any would-be invaders to swing north. That leaves only two ways to assault the interior of the Riverlands, and both of them require assaulting a castle. From the west, Golden Tooth. From the East, Harrenhal. With Golden Tooth soon to be fully garrisoned, that just leaves the monster of Harrenhal…which is a problem. The castle far, far too big to garrison effectively, and too expensive to maintain. But I do have an idea.
The God's Eye, a massive lake the castle sits next to, has an island in the center called the "Isle of Faces." I've been told that the weirwoods at its center can't be touched, or the immediate ring of trees around them, but there should still be enough wood on the island as well as nearby to build a suitable military fort here. It could be used to supply ammunition to the fleet of PT boats, as well as Harrenhal. We could then attach several ballista to each of the castles massive towers, as well as along the edge of the walls. With this, Harrenhal doesn't need a massive garrison, just a few hundred to man the ballista and keep the gates closed.
But all of this requires a standing army. Even if only a few thousand in total, we are talking about a standing, well-trained, professional military force. I can train these men, but rather than drawing from the existing system of Knights and Infantry I would prefer to take common men between the ages of 16 and 20, so I don't have to overwrite what they already learned. 3 Gold Dragons a year should be enough pay, but that leaves us with the question of how to pay them.
One option would be Lord Wyman of House Manderly whom controls White Harbor, the North's only true city and major port. He has offered to build new mints to produce coinage for the new Kingdom of the North. I think this will work long-term, but we need this army now. I will have to talk to King Stark about this more, but in the meantime we need to start raising a force. The first ten PT's will be ready for use in a few months, so that is how long I have to turn them into soldiers.
What do you think Peg? Good ideas?
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