Kapitel 34: Prussians Prussians Prussians

I said 1 or 2, here is the second one, I almost finished this chapter yesterday so don't worry, I am still studying almost 8 hours a day.

Survey, about lothar in essos, i have 2 options,#1 lothar makes a butchery in essos(many chapters about torture and bloody battles or 2# lothar seeks to generate a crusader state in essos in the service of his king(his government will be very cruel against the heathens).

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Jon Arryn POV

the Teutonic knights work fast, in a matter of minutes they had lowered their lord's taxes and now my men were counting it to make a balance and verify that what he had paid corresponded with what we had received.

I with the Master of the coin we stayed until late at night counting the money, after about 6 hours we decided to leave it for the day and continue in the morning, since in the afternoon of that day the king had to make audience with the petitioners.

The next day I found the pleasant news that Charles had directed his knights to stand guard in the city, unfortunately the capital does not have enough golden cloaks to guard it and must depend on the men of other houses that inhabit the city and that 1000 men had joined the guard duties were always well appreciated.

To the first light of the sun I dedicated myself to make the balance of the accounting books of the Prussians, I must say who made them has a beautiful calligraphy, enough convenient to understand them, it made me remember the words of lord Hohenzollern when we touched this subject

taxes are sacred

these books were perfect without errors or erasures, much better than others that have fallen into my hands.

For the next hour, I was contemplating the books verifying errors and looking for inconsistencies, to my surprise they were correct, nothing was missing, and Lord Hohenzollern had documented up to his last transaction, if only the other lords of the seven kingdoms would be so interested in governing.

If we only look at the amount of taxes paid by each paramount lord we can say that house Lannister is no longer the richest of the seven kingdoms, it is quite sure that Tywin is not going to be happy with this news.

My thoughts were interrupted when Varys entered my chamber of work.

''my lord hand, I see you are still in good humor''Varys said in his serene voice.

''why should I be angry Varys, as far as I know, Robert has done nothing to reprove'' I said with a serious tone.

''well therein lies my presence lord hand, it seems King Robert has done something that will make you quite angry'' Varys said giving a small smile

''don't tell me he got a servant girl pregnant'' I said with concern.

''I would say this is rather worse, as Robert conducted personal negotiations with a Prussian diplomat, while drinking with ser Charles'' Varys said pointing to my desk.

Quickly, I grabbed some documents that were among the few that had Robert's signature that I had to file, it was the typical Prussian contract written in German and common tongue

I skipped all the legal precepts of the Prussians and went straight to the content of the contract to the part that was written in the common tongue and began to read

(King Robert hands over to the House Hohenzollern the logging rights in the kingswood)

What? Robert handed over the logging rights to the forest for free, what happens if the Prussians cut it down completely, if they turn it into the king'splains?

Already a little upset, I took the following contract and again went straight to the contents

(King Robert buys from House Hohenzollern 100 war galleys at the price of 800 golden dragons for each ship, the ships will be delivered within 3 moons after the contract is signed)

Robert spent, 80,000 golden dragons without consulting anyone, Stannis will be furious now that Robert decided to set aside his royal arsenal management for a contract with the Prussian arsenal and what the hell with the extremely short times, they can handle such a large amount of orders even Braavos would have problems with that order.

I had already started to get a headache, damn when this happened how no one stopped him or sent him to me, but now all this was legal, Robert had signed them and several people saw them.

I will have to have a serious talk with Robert about this, I am going to have to renegotiate the contracts with lord Hohenzollern to keep them from producing too much damage to the kingswood

''where is Robert, it's about time we took audience with the small folks'' I said angrily.

''well my lord hand, here is the other problem, the king has a hangover like he has never seen before, he had a drinking contest with Charles and to say he lost was an understatement, Charles was as if nothing had happened, but the king passed out from so much drinking that he must have been carried by all his knights to bed and now no one seems to have the ability to get him out of there'' Varys said showing me his hands

I couldn't believe my ears, I warned Robert several times that he had to look good for the hearing, it's once a month, and he decides to have a drinking competition with one of our guests.

''I'm going to see if I can get Robert out of bed, or I'll have to settle the hearings alone'' I said with much annoyance to Varys.

''You will have a long day, my lord hand, as there are many requests today'' Varys said as he looked me in the eyes.

''How many requests do we have today,'' I asked as I ran my hand over my forehead.

''127 so far'' Varys said with his serene tone.

''in the valley with luck I have to solve 15 a month, why do people in the capital have so many problems'' I said as I stood up.

''You could try copying the Prussian legal system, it's very popular with the small folks because of how quickly they resolve disputes'' Varys said as he walked me over to see Robert.

''how?, doesn't Lord Hohenzollern listen to the hearings'', I said incredulously.

''He does, but only the extremely serious cases that cannot be solved by one of his judges, the rest are solved by a group of judges in fixed places in their cantons and another group that goes from village to village looking to solve the problems between small folks and even with nobles in the south'' Varys said.

''Wow, even in that they are efficient, is there anything to worry about in the reach?'', I asked.

''only that the Maesters have not yet chosen a Maester to Lord Hohenzollern, and it seems they want to prolong as long as possible the election of the Lord Hohenzollern's Maester'', he said with concern.

''Do you think this could escalate into a conflict?'' I said worriedly.

''I am not certain, the Prussians are unpredictable, besides it is impossible to bring a spy into the walls of Neu Danzig, no one who enters that city comes out alive, the problem will be generated because Lord Hohenzollern does not need a Maester, he has his own knights of knowledge, the engineers, and he has many, it is likely that when the Maester stop ''trying'' to humiliate Lord Hohenzollern, he will reject the Maester and a conflict will occur'' Varys said worried.

''Lord Hohenzollern has a tendency to attract problems,'' I said as I knocked on Robert's door.

I knocked on the door a few times, but there was no answer, then I knocked a few times louder.

''LET ME SLEEP, YOUR KING HAS A HEADACHE'' shouted Robert.

Quickly, I went into the bedroom to get him out of the room.

''ROBERT by the seven I warned you most of the week that today was an important day''I said to Robert angrily.

Robert was covering his head from the pain he must be in from drinking so much.

''Jon... I... sorry... I didn't think much, I was.... so happy with the gift.... Charles brought me that I forgot... today's''said Robert almost whispering.

''it's always the same with you Robert either it's the alcohol or it's the women, you can't at once think about the kingdom, you are the king, you can't live a decadent life, you must be an example for everyone''I said looking at Robert

Robert didn't answer and just stared at the floor

''wash yourself, get dressed, and I will wait for you in the throne room, we must settle the audiences'' I said while rubbing my nose with my hand.

Every day that passed Robert found a way to disappoint me, Robert may not be a good king, at least I will do my best, so the kingdom can survive to Robert's heir

already in the throne room, I took my seat on the right side of the iron throne and slowly some nobles and the grand Maester pycelle who knows the laws of the kingdom by memory arrived.

After 20 minutes Robert appeared presentable with a big book, I was curious, Robert had not touched a book since I taught him when he was under my protection.

The cover of the book was badly made, but it clearly said book of laws, I was surprised and happy with this, Robert seemed to be interested in the laws.

Robert sat on the throne and began to read the book like a hawk, he was genuinely interested in the reading.

The first to go in were the direct requests to the crown, as they were the quickest to solve

the first request was about the pirates who were stalking the waters of trade with essos and that the crown should try to subdue the pirates again in the steptons.

We don't have the ships to do such an operation, Stannis said that 3 more years the fleet would be rebuilt, but with the new contract lord Hohenzollern says that in 3 moons we will have the ships ready, it could be a chance to reassure the merchants

but Robert was still concentrating on the book and didn't answer, so I had to intervene

''the crown is rebuilding the royal fleet when the fleet is at full strength we will plan an intervention against the pirates'' I said to the merchant who gave the request.

There were several requests from lords in the area who could not pay this year's taxes because they were affected by the war, as near the end of the war some lords plundered as much as they could from the lords around the capital area

we yielded a little, reducing the taxes by 20%, but no more they condemned their lands for supporting the mad king

the other most common request was again from the merchants they wanted the crown to build new roads and update the road network with the Prussian types of roads which makes transportation more expeditious and comfortable, as they are not jumping over potholes

I don't know how much it will cost us, but it won't be cheap because there are thousands of kilometers that should be rebuilt.

The crown will try to negotiate with the Prussians for an expansion of the road system,'' I told the merchant, ''

Then came the more common request to fix the capital's sewage system, but this is something we can't solve without the plans and with the lack of workers willing to go and clean the knee-deep tunnels covered in feces, according to the few who have entered.

Finally, we move on to the trials, nothing to worry about, the typical monetary conflict between noble merchants, some problem with the disappearance of pigs, some unpaid marriages dowries, nothing serious luckily

but Robert didn't participate in this part either, he still didn't take his eyes off the book, but well, if he really has a taste for law in the future he could participate, and it should have been me with the help of grand maester pycelle to solve all the problems.

After 5 hours we had dispatched all the minor conflicts and those that required more proof will be left for another day when almost everyone left the room Robert was still reading accompanied with a glass of liquor that his cup bearer had brought him.

Finally, I looked at the book, the book of laws of the seven kingdoms is not so thick, I remember it well and that's when I approached the king to see what he was reading.

(the Teutonic knights readied their lances in preparation for the hard combat that awaited them against the forces of the Russian Tsar, who was trying to conquer the Prussian possessions in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania).

The knights formed into position and charged)

Robert noticed that I was also reading and closed it.

''Charles gave it to me, it would be a pity if I didn't read it'' said Robert, laughing a little nervously.

''ROBERT..... forget it, I'm going to get on with my work''I said as I returned defeated to my room.

all this time he was reading a knight story, he had pasted a cover of the law book, I will finish with my duties, I already want to sleep to forget this day, I was tired of hearing about the Teutons and the Prussians all day long.

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