They still couldn't rest at night. Aegon and Tyrion squeezed into the room, and under the light of over a dozen candles, began to produce the world's first Night's Watch Bonds.
A stack of the highest-grade parchment available in King's Landing was placed by the table. After the two finalized the content of the bonds, they began working. Tyrion's appearance was not commendable, but his handwriting was quite beautiful. Aegon, who was used to computers before transmigrating, couldn't even write Chinese characters properly, let alone the script of Westeros. There was no choice; the task of writing the content for the first bond fell on his shoulders. The Dwarf copied from the draft, word by word, not daring to be sloppy in the slightest—heaven help him, he had never been so serious even when writing to his own father, Lord Tywin.
"Phew..." After finishing the first one, Tyrion carefully pinched the two corners of the paper, lifted it up, blew on it, and set it aside to dry. Then he picked up the second sheet and placed it in front of him. He had been back in King's Landing for a week and hadn't been to a brothel even once. He could hardly believe it himself... This feeling of finding something to do, of his heart no longer being empty, was truly wonderful.
Aegon sat opposite, deleting and modifying a draft full of text, unable to be satisfied. A bond was only so big, so it was naturally impossible to write all the agreements and rules on it. He planned to organize it and make a large poster-like notice to hang on the wall of the Night's Watch Office, explaining it to visitors as they read, which would be clearer.
"Just write a couple of them to get the idea across, then get some rest. The identical content on the bonds isn't the key; the signatures, seals, and subsequent anti-counterfeiting measures during signing are the key."
"That's true. I'll hire someone to do this tomorrow."
"Hire someone to copy the bonds? Why go through all that trouble? Just find a shop to print..." Aegon's words suddenly got stuck, because he realized he didn't know the word for 'print' in the Common Tongue of Westeros.
"What are you trying to say?"
Aegon tried hard but couldn't make Tyrion understand the meaning of printing. Finally, he had to use his ultimate move: "Let's put it this way, it's like taking the content of the bonds and making it into an extra-large stamp, and you just stamp it onto each sheet of paper."
"How clever! Why didn't I think of that!" Tyrion's eyes lit up. "Is this your technology too? People from China are truly smart. Sometimes I'm even glad we're separated by the Sunset Sea."
"Does Westeros not have this technology? How are your books made then?"
"Copied! There are people who specialize in that line of work, earning a bit of hard-earned money..." Tyrion replied without thinking, then immediately reacted, cold sweat instantly breaking out on his back. "Holy crap... Wait, something seems wrong!"
Aegon also understood at this moment why he didn't know how to say 'print' in the Westerosi language; it turned out that printing technology didn't exist in this world at all.
The two exchanged shocked glances: This was a business opportunity!
Aegon immediately had a more in-depth discussion with Tyrion about books and learned more information on the subject. In this era of Westeros, books were entirely hand-copied. Affected by factors such as the copier's handwriting neatness, the quantity and accuracy of the content, and the binding quality, the price of a book ranged from a few silver stags to several golden dragons. Some books, it was no exaggeration to say, were a luxury!
"Damn, is this why China is advanced and powerful?" Tyrion was a clever man. He immediately realized the advantage of printing for popularizing knowledge and culture. This would be a technology with a revolutionary impact on social development! "We can build a printing factory and make money by selling books, using the money you raised... No, there's no time! I'll front the money first. Let's get started as soon as possible!"
...
But Aegon shook his head. It wasn't that simple. With backward technology, printing wasn't necessarily low-cost. After painstakingly making a mold, if you only printed dozens or hundreds of books, it would be cheaper to hire someone to copy them. And if you printed many, the practical problem arose—who would buy them?
Tyrion was a cultured and intelligent man, and his desire for everyone to be educated and literate was understandable. But Aegon had to consider how to make the funds he obtained valuable so the game could continue and not turn into a real Ponzi scheme. He needed projects that were sure to make money, not printing a bunch of highbrow excellent literature or popular science works to make long-term contributions to the cultural development of Westeros.
Simply put—consider problems based on your position. He hadn't squeezed into the ruling class yet, so thinking about such great things was unnecessary worry.
After some thought, he quickly thought of several things that were social necessities, had huge markets, and whose printing costs would definitely be lower than hand-copying—such as calendars, the Holy Book of the Seven Gods, and easy-to-understand ghost stories suitable for all ages! He could cooperate with institutions and individuals like the church and bards to make the funds he had work for him!
The idea came so suddenly it caught him off guard. He immediately got excited, and with a flick of the quill in his hand, he fiercely crossed out an item on his original plan list.
"What did you cross out?"
"I originally planned to control the number of bonds issued, because without a way to truly make money generate money, the faster the scale of funds expanded, the more unsustainable the scam would be. But now that we have projects that can make money, this item is meaningless!" Aegon said, unable to contain his excitement. "What we're going to do with the first sum of money we get is very clear. Immediately start recruiting people with carving skills—we don't need those professional Masters from the carving shops in King's Landing; they're expensive and we can't afford them. Apprentices and those with some experience will do. Then contact paper merchants. We'll need a large, stable supply of cheap paper next. We have work to do."
"Oh, you originally planned to control the number of bonds issued? Are you really so confident that everyone will beg to lend you money?"
"If things go smoothly, I'll dare to raise the interest rate. By then, people who want to lend me money will queue from the Red Keep to the Gods Gate!" Aegon boasted confidently. "Let's stop here for today. Get a good rest tonight, and tomorrow we'll split up and each get down to serious business!"
***
In countless 'farming' novels, transmigrators can always quickly dig up their first pot of gold using the knowledge they possessed in their original world. But when it was Aegon's turn, he found out how difficult it was to turn knowledge into money—he knew the principle of internal combustion engines, knew generators produce electricity through magnetism, and even knew how airplanes and spacecraft fly. But what good were these damn high-tech things in this era and this world! Lots of people knew the principles, but who could actually make one? Forget making a finished product, with the materials and industrial level of Westeros, they couldn't even produce a single screw for an airplane.
Who would have thought that at this moment of helplessness, two casual sentences of chatting would actually let him discover a business opportunity? The backwardness of this world was far beyond his expectations. To make money in this world, he didn't need the level of knowledge he had previously thought of at all. Technologies and objects that were commonplace or even obsolete in everyday life were new things here!
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