2,289Chapter 60: Act 2: Chapter 7
Seventh day, Tenth Moon, 252 AC (+65 days)
I stood on the scaffolding, looking down on the workers below, as I surveyed the castle build site. The lower-most floor of the castle, such as the food cellar and other basement rooms, had all had their concrete floors poured and dried, and work on the walls and foundation had begun. The forms were being put up, and I watched as the people below me scurried about.
I could see Master Builder Jon under his tent, writing at his desk, as he delegated tasks to his subordinates. Thankfully, summer had arrived, and we were now able to pour the concrete without fear of it dropping below freezing and damaging the concrete. Some of the workers were hammering together the forms for the concrete, others were bringing in materials, and some were doing other various bits of prep work.
Ropes strained as goods were lowered into the pit via rope and pulley that was harnessed to draft oxen, as we still lacked horses for a lot of work. Donovar sent a few of Lord Stark's men-at-arms that were on loan to me along with a few trusted villagers to buy horses from the Ryswell's, and I hoped that they would return soon.
The entire scene before me was incredible to watch. I had seen construction work before, back on Earth, but there were few of the tell-tale signs of work being done. Sure, there was lots of noise, but not the same kind of noise. There were no motors, electric saws, or even radios. It was like what I would imagine an Amish worksite to be, though I had never seen one personally.
Regardless, it was an interesting sight, one which also highlighted some of our lack of knowledge and experience. For instance, I knew how to make and pour concrete on a small scale, but this was my first large project. The forms we were making for the walls were huge and heavily reinforced, hopefully overmuch, as I had no knowledge of what type of strength the forms needed. I'm sure there was a formula somewhere back on Earth, but that did little for me now. There was also the matter of ensuring a good finish. When you poured a floor, it was easy to finish the surface so that it would be smooth and aesthetically pleasing, but I was unsure of how to do that with the foundations since it was vertical and would be hidden behind the forms. It was for that reason I was contemplating using a stone façade on the castle walls, both to give it a more traditional look as well as to hide any imperfections.
Master Builder Jon was interested in the properties of the material since it was different than the traditional mortar of the North, but he was in unchartered territories, and neither of us knew how to test the limits of the concrete. I could remember terms like pre-stressed concrete, but I had no idea what that actually meant. Construction had never been my forte, so I was disappointed, but not overly so.
On the other hand, the farming program was going excellently, and Koryn was planning to give me an update in a few days. My latest thoughts about that had been on fertilizer, specifically an industrial production of the various kinds. I didn't have any sources for mineral potash, so I needed to rely more on wood ash for potassium deficiencies, which worked nicely with a more industrial process. I also hoped to set up an industry that would buy the waste of the slaughtered animals in the growing Redbridge and turn it into both bone meal, which was an excellent source of phosphorous, as well as blood meal, which was good for nitrogen deficiencies.
Hydrated lime is also an excellent tool for pest control, as it can be sprayed over plants and is easily washed off. It would also provide another product for my, hopefully, growing mining industry. Koryn was already teaching people how to use fertilizer, as well as make it on a small scale, but it was my job to try and create an industry.
Tylan was also a huge help, in that he was currently doing some extensive land surveys for me, along with learning from Master Builder Jon, so that I could start to divvy up land for new settlers. My basic plan, for now, was to have farms running along the same river I was located on, and spread out northwards, which would allow Redbridge to grow eastwards in the land between the two rivers. I had settled on either handing out 40 acres of prime land to each family, or 60 acres of poorer land. The 40-acre parcels would contain good soil, good terrain, and other characteristics that would contribute to an excellent crop yield. The 60-acre parcels, on the other hand, would have a poorer soil quality, possibly more rocky or hilly, that would be good for pasture for livestock with some good land for crops. Theoretically, I could increase the land size based on even poorer land, but that was not something I needed to consider just yet.
This land size was too much for any one family to manage without the proper tools, so I had drafted a plan for distributing my tools over this past winter. I planned to introduce co-ops for farmers to enable them to purchase equipment. I planned to introduce the concept for five families to come together to loan out equipment, payable in harvested goods at the beginning, and work to pay down that debt together. I didn't really think I had any way to create a legal framework to encourage this like the US government might have done, but since I would be in charge of judging any issues, I believed I can work around that.
Simple contracts for the five families would allow them to create a co-op, which would recognize each family's responsibilities as well as benefits. This would also highlight how any changes can be made to each co-op, for example, if one family decided to purchase more farmland and needed increased use of the equipment. This would give me a framework for making any decisions in cases brought before me and set the stage for expansion for possible supply co-ops years down the line.
I figured that the co-ops could probably stand to be larger, but since my equipment industry was still in the baby stages, I didn't want to have supply issues and have multiple families have their harvests ruined waiting on parts. This would also allow co-ops to lease their equipment in turn to other cooperatives and earn income.
I was trying my best to create some sort of legal framework for me to judge any legal cases that got brought forward, since thankfully, there hadn't been any, yet. King Jaehaerys I created the first unified code of law, and though I had read through it while I had been in Winterfell, I found it to be very lacking. It set some limits upon Lord Stark's and my powers but was very vague and freeing in others. Maester Erwyn had told me that the King had made the code of law in order to unify the laws in the land, rather than champion any reform. For example, slavery had the same punishment across Westeros, and King Jaehaerys had used what most of the Kingdoms had used before to move forward. Some of the Kingdoms had either stricter or more lenient penalties already in place, but this was normalized and unified the punishment.
So, with the lack of a more comprehensive framework I was putting together piecemeal ideas to help my rule. One of these was branding. I was debating with myself and Nyra about whether it would be a good idea to create a centralized branding database of sorts. Branding cattle would help with reducing any rustling, and with any legal cases brought forward in identifying stolen cattle. The main problem was resources, in that I didn't have any to spare just yet to create an additional bureaucratic function. Back on Earth, I had also always been opposed to big government, sticking their noses in everything. Now that I was the government, did I really want to have an additional function? Wasn't I supposed to be the change I wanted to see in the world? Yet, I couldn't help but recognize the benefits of the program. I would have preferred more participation from my people, but they didn't really see the need for them to be involved.
Another issue was the cost of such a service. Should I charge for such a service? If I was doing work, or delegating that work to someone else, it should earn money. But the government really shouldn't be profiting off of people.
It was impossible to ignore how much I had changed in this new world, and how little of Earth applied to Westeros. I knew, in my heart, that I would end up creating the database because it was such a huge benefit to the people and myself, but it still chaffed something in me. I had spoken to Ryden about it, as part of my lessons to him, and he was quite enthusiastic about it. It spoke well of him, but it also highlighted to me, that the world that shaped him is so much different than the world that shaped me. He would not have the same internal conflicts that I had, but I suppose that would have happened regardless, as everyone is different.
Still, it was hope for the future. And the future was always coming, whether it be in the form of the apprentices that I had sent out to the Manderlys and the Mormonts, or to the Mormont sailors who were here teaching Donovar about fighting on the water. Things moved on, and new issues arose. I was teaching my son to think for himself, and with that knowledge and ability, the future looked bright.