Sword and Magic and Taxi

Braavos, the city where the Iron Treasury is located, is not on the main road to Westeros, but across the sea from it. This famous city of free trade is very rich, and the Iron Bank is its money bag. The kings of Westeros often borrowed money from the Iron Bank to tide over lean years or to upgrade their armaments. The Iron Bank's motto is No default, but they don't just need gold coins, they also accept various forms of repayment, from cattle, sheep, rice, noodles, and even slaves. With the city of trade at its back, these repayments can always be quickly realized and become huge profits for the Iron Bank.

The Iron Bank has no armed force, and if it encounters a king who defaults on repayment, it will immediately turn to support its enemies. If the king is too good, he will use money to create enemies to recoup his investment. Therefore, although it did not participate in the wars in Westeros, its power of money was also entangled with these successive wars.

The biggest debtor in Westeros is the royal family, namely Joffrey Baratheon. This is a troublesome king who combines stupidity, madness, cruelty and his own way. The Iron Bank has always had doubts about whether it can recover the royal family's loans.

So the Iron Bank did one thing. When one of Joffrey Baratheon's enemies, his uncle Stannis Baratheon, asked for a loan from the Iron Bank, the Iron Bank agreed and gave him a huge amount of money to arm himself and let him Able to bounce back from previous failures and charge for the throne again!

Zhao Mai didn't care who would become the king, but he had to pay attention to Stannis Baratheon, because after borrowing the money, he did not sail to the royal capital, but went north to the Great Wall of Despair! Stannis is a superstitious person and is very concerned about the advice of Melisandre, the Priestess of Fire around him. And when his beautiful red priestess and Prime Minister Davos Seaworth pointed out to him the terrible threat from the north at the same time, Stannis, who believed that he was the king and protector of Westeros, decided to take the throne first Put aside strife and go forth to save all your subjects.

Without Stannis's army, the Night's Watch would have been defeated by Mance Rayder's army of free folk, and none of the Night's Watch would have survived. Without the Night's Watch, the Wall is no longer a desperate situation, and the White Walkers can cross southward without any hindrance, and then sweep across the entire Westeros. If that happened, the world of Westeros would truly fall apart.

It only took Zhao Mai half a minute to figure out the relationship between all this, so the key question was Did Stannis get the money? He looked at Liu Su who was loaded into the ambulance and felt that he still had something to do. After asking him, he said to Zhong Jianbai: Director Zhong, does the hospital have a lamp that can be used to bask in the sun? I was freezing outside the wall before.

Zhong Jianbai paused for a moment, and then he understood what Zhao Mai meant: Yes, just go with Captain Liu. Do you bring your name tag? It doesn't matter if you don't, just stay with Captain Liu.

Hehe, thank you. Zhao Mai waved, and he also jumped into the ambulance with the flower pots on his back and sat down beside Zhao Mai honestly. Even though the doctor was very reluctant, there was no other way but to ask the driver to drive as soon as possible.

Liu Captain, how did you bring down the Iron Bank? Did Stannis borrow the money?

I don't understand economics at all. That's Zhong Chixiu's expertise. You don't have to ask Xu Yaning, she doesn't understand either. Although what Zhong Chixiu did is very sad, his ability is indeed very strong. I remember the bank went bankrupt. Stannis had just arrived in Braavos when the run occurred, so he probably didn't get the money.

That means he doesn't have the funds to form an army and can't go north to help the Night Watchmen resist the savages? Zhao Mai sighed: So, it's hopeless?

Once the Night's Watch is defeated, or Jon Snow is completely dead, it will be over. Liu Su moved his neck slightly, turned his head with difficulty to look at Zhao Mai: I didn't expect that world to be so unstable, and I I don’t understand what Zhong Chixiu did either. If you don’t know yourself or the enemy, you will be destroyed in every battle. This is a lesson!”

Is there any way to remedy this? Zhao Mai asked.

I don't know, and I don't recommend you go there again. If the world collapses, it's not always possible to evacuate. I know one person who didn't make it in time, and ended up being flattened together with a certain planet. This time, it was There are problems with the relevant ministries and commissions, so you will definitely be compensated. You don’t need to take risks anymore. And, thank you for saving us. Even if we don’t know what happened later, we know that if it weren’t for you, we would definitely Already abandoned.”

Actually, Zhong Chixiu has been asking me to send you back, and then lied that I had killed him, and then sent him to another world. He said that was the origin of magic and everything was possible. Do you know where that place is? ?”

Thank you. It makes me feel better to hear that he didn't plan to kill us in the end. Regarding the origin of magic, I have only heard rumors and no concrete information, but you can ask the old man. He squinted his eyes. He glanced at the doctor in the car.

understood. Zhao Mai snapped his fingers, and the doctor's eyes froze, his head tilted, and he fell asleep.

Strong! I now know that Zhong Chixiu must have been convinced by you. I have seen him interact with the Thousand-Faced Man and the wizard before, but I believed him when he said that it was an integral part of the plan. He is quite proud in his heart and can behave well. Surrender must mean you are convinced. Captain Liu lowered his voice and said: The public and reliable information is that some times and events are very critical to specific abilities and are protected. For example, the birth of the Three Pure Ones, such as the Lich War, For example, Conferred God and Journey to the West. These time periods are related to the old man, so no one can go without his approval, not even other transcendent people, do you understand?

I understand, self-protection mechanism is the basis.

Magic can be considered a powerful system of power, but where did magic originate from? Although we are in the East, there are many people who specialize in studying this. Later, it was discovered that although magic is powerful, there is no one like the old man. , which means that its origin is not protected by the transcendent, and it should be a place that can be reached. On the one hand, everyone thinks that it is possible for a transcendent to appear again in this branch of magic, so they are all fighting for it; on the other hand, some people are stubborn It is believed that the trio are transcendents in magic, so the so-called origins that can be found now are all lies.

I believe more in the latter. Because all transcendent beings are not bound by time. Even if they appear tens of thousands of years later, they actually existed tens of thousands of years ago. But this will form a kind of The paradox is that all transcendent beings have been and have been completely produced, and it is impossible for new ones to appear. I can’t understand it anyway. And the old man is very secretive about this issue. He just says that if he can’t understand it, he can’t understand it. He can’t give us explain.

Back to what I know, one time I went to see Zhong Chixiu. His room was open, so I went in. The origin of magic was studied by many people as a topic, and I saw a time and coordinates in his notes. . I know you can grab the order, so I can send you a request now, and you should receive it immediately. I will cancel it, but you can record it. By the way, I need some gold coins.

Zhao Mai took out his gold coins and stuffed them into Liu Su's palm, then quickly received the order and recorded an address. How could it be there? It's impossible, right? Zhao Mai was a little dazed, but Liu Su said that this was the most reliable thing he knew.

Zhong Chixiu is too obsessed, too paranoid, and has flaws in his behavior, but he is indeed smart. Oh, what a pity.