4 Bringing the Big guns to a Sword Fight.
Chapter 4: Bringing the Big guns to a Sword Fight.
Time skip: today.
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(The following text was transcribed from the personal journal of Lloyd Frontera, aka Joffrey Baratheon, detailing his experiences during his time spent fostering in the Reach)
The year is 293 A.C. The Greyjoy Rebellion is about to happen! This is my chance to convince my father, to let me help build up his kingdom. All I need to do is build the world's first cannon! Buwahahaha!
"Why are you laughing at me again?" asked Samwell Tarly with a worried expression.
"Nothing, did you review our plans?" Said Joffrey.
"Aye!" said Samwell without any excitement. "Quite a long list you got." Will you burn through all the money you earn with those... "Joseon heaters" you build for the folk in Old Town?
Like in his last life, the korean heaters are a big sucess. A world like westeros, where winters can take years to fade is the perfect market to sell house-wide heaters in the first place. He and Samwell dug most of the base before paid hands helped putting up cobblestone foundations and walls of wood and plaster made of hydrated lime.
Ususally people would find a crown prince digging holes like a smallfolk weird. But after using his shovel to defeat that bully knight, no one dares questioning the prince's "special training".
By the way, speaking about training.
"It was for a good cause," Joffrey said nonchalantly. "And your training?"
"Lord Hightower was impressed with how strong I became. You know, that night when you stole dragon bone powder from the citadel made me think you were mad. But now that I've learned how to manipulate this "mana," you told me, "I feel like I'm stronger than a half dozen men."
Somehow Samwell Tarly has developed a Mana Core in his heart. It was a risky business, but Joffrey deduced that, if this body can develop abilities like in the "Iron Bloodied Warrior" novel. What about other people's bodies? His first option was Sandor as he kinda reminded Joffrey of his buddy Xavier.
But Samwell was more young and more amenable. 'You work with you have in hands, I guess?'
"Shush, that's nothing; too bad I used all the dragon bones we got with you." Said prince Joffrey lazily. "It would be great to have more help with all the heavy lifting we're about to do."
His principal objective when he poured mana into Samwell Tarly was not to make him a warrior but to test if he could cultivate more superhuman workers for his plan.
He was a very lazy prince and wanted to delegate as much work as he could.
Samwell Tarly didn't seem to care much about his own power. He cared about the money he earned from the contracts (to buy even more books) and how he could grow his knowledge. which made Joffrey laugh in joy.
But now, the plan!
"Firstly, we need copper, tin, and a big forge." Joffrey began explaining, "The normal forges used to make castle steel will not suffice."
copper is easy to acquire, the Westerlands exports tons of the matterials. Tin on the other hand... It was mostly an Essosi export, procured east, in Dothraki controlled territories. Braavos and Myr where important trade hubs of the metal, but Joffrey got no ship to buy that far.
luckily it was Samwell who came with a solution.
They heard from one of the Old Town smallfolk about the local "silver trading" Guild. A bunch of thugs who, in exchange of influence and a monopoly in certain metal prices, acted as the local moneylenders. "Silver" was just one of their trades, they make money mostly by speculation and manipulating poor fools with gambling debts or a penchant for alcoholism. Not that Lloyd really cared.
Seems like they managed to prey on a Northern merchant who, due bad weather, failed to deliver a assortment of products for a big supply bid from the Citadel. They of course offered to "cover" the debt of the merchant in exchange of a promissory over her ship, a balsa converted as merchant vessel. Said promissory came with unreasonable interest rates for repayment of said debt.
In other words, a scan. To give the poor ship captain a line of hope before sucking her dry and taking her means of living.
Joffrey remembered these kind of "moneylenders" from his last life. The same kind of idiots who preyed in the Count of Frontera Estate's goodwill.
So Joffrey did the most sensible thing. He took the Hound and made a "visit" to their lair... I mean, their office by the docks. He channeled his mana on his feet and break their front doors with a sturdy kick that send the thick doorframe flying.
Their "security" was formed by a bunch of ex sellswords and despicable cutthroat goons that stood no chance to Clegane's superior swordmanship. After he cut down the first one and almost gelded the second the rest of the thugs dropped their weapons and gently guided Joffrey to their's boss office.
All it took was a bunch of punches from Sandor and the moneylenders accepted "willingly" to sell the former debts of the merchant for Joffrey in exchange for a new promissory with fairer interest rate for paying the debt. Joffrey got no money or intention to pay said debt too soon anyways. But what these idiots would do? Sue the Crown Prince of Westeros for not paying in time? Ask his fosterer lord Layton Hightower for legal liquidation of his assets? pft!
After that same day, Joffrey acquired a ship and the undying gratitude from the saved merchant, who managed to acquire Joffrey's needed metals and other matterials for his experiences. Mostly Saltpeter from Dorne and Brimstone (aka Sulphur) from Dragonstone. By the way, the name of said Merchant is Greystark, let's hope that will not be a problem in the future.
I mean, Greystark is a perfectly normal northern name, right?
right?
...
Well.
They stored the assorted matterials in Joffrey's "laboratory", a vacated house formerly used as stable, them blacksmith in the Hightower's Estate, but abandoned to disrepair after they changed the blacksmith forgers to a newer bigger by the time of the Dance of the Dragons years ago.
It was time to build his Cannons!
Joffrey then looked directly at Samwell and said, "I guess I will have to count on you and the other boys for helping me build Westeros' first automated hammer device and a bagpipe blast furnace." Haha!"
"Oh, that device that feeds fresh air to the furnaces automatically?" "Count on me! "We can build it with a couple screws and tanned hide," said Samwell, excited.
"We will also need a lot more of iron, which I found out they mine near the wall." This is good news since it means Joffrey merchants will have no problems getting to the north and procuring the materials needed there. Also, it's closer to Castle Black, so Joffrey can go straight from The Wall to Winterfell without having to go through Riverlands.
"Why the wall?" "Isn't iron cheaper in the Iron Islands or the West Indies?" Samwell asked, confused.
"Oh, yes, but in the near future the market for these places will be temporarily closed, he he." Joffrey chuckled at his own joke. "So, I thought that when I get to Winterfell, I will send a messenger to my father, the King of the Iron Throne, to offer the use of Castle Black and the Wall as a base of operations for my new project."
"What project?" Samwell couldn't help but ask.
"Oh, you'll see."
I will not just build this fortress in the Andalos, though; I will also make sure it has an awesome name: New York!
The hard part will be convincing the wildlings—er, I mean the freefolk—to go to Essos with me. Lucky for me, I know exactly when and where Mance Rayder will be visiting Winterfell in the future.
But now, we must build the forge where we will cast our first bronze cannon. The city of Norvos in Essos has the best bronze casters in Planetos.
And I am lucky to have a rescued Essosi ex-slave who worked in bell-making. Said ex-slave, who is a maester here in the Citadel. Lucky me!
Let's begin building it:
First, we need a mold in clay; then, we melt the copper and tin to make bronze. We cast the bronze into the mold slowly so it will form no bubbles inside the mold. Then, we pull it out of the mold with care and the help of our mana's super-strength. Finally, we take the iron rods out and place them inside the boring wheel. This way we can bore its main hole. Thanks to Samwell's big mass, this giant hamster wheel works wonders! Ha ha. The poor Tarly boy alse can use the exercise. He's kinda fat you know?
Next, we make the bronze balls.
First, we must make a mold in clay; then, we melt the copper and tin to make bronze. We the bronze into the mold of our first cannon balls!
Now is the hard part: in order to remove the balls from the molds without damage, we must pull the bronze slowly from its top to the back.
We use the furnace to melt the lead that will be the next balls we will cast (lead is heavier and makes more damage). After that, we take the culverine out of the furnace and pour it into the mold to create the second cannon.
We need more than one prototype before we begin putting them in our boat. Let's call the first one the First Cannon, shall we?
