Capítulo 37: Reunion and Reform
After Artys arrived at Runestone following his swift victory over his enemies, it took only a few more days for most of the Vale Lords to arrive for the meeting, those who were most reluctant before moving quickly after 'finding out' about the army's annihilation and the death of Gerold Grafton.
Currently, everyone was gathered in the great hall of Runestone Castle. Artys spoke, after he had distributed the evidence against Lysa and the lords had heard the testimony of Lord Redfort and my uncle Nestor Royce.
"As you can see Sirs, for some time now my grandfather Jon Arryn had found out about Lysa Tully's infidelity and her true parentage. He was preparing to announce Lysa's crimes openly and preparing to become her heir, unfortunately he passed away before that, which was most likely Lysa's doing to cover up her crimes."
I'll let everyone think that Lysa killed Jon to cover up her infidelity, which only benefits me.
"Now, with my grandfather's unfortunate death, I am by right of blood and my grandfather's will; Jon Arryn, the new Head of House Arryn and High Lord of the Vale. Does anyone have any objections?"
All the Lords decided to swear allegiance to me, apart from those who were already my allies, the others present were basically neutral and with all the evidence and suspicion of my grandfather's murder, in addition to my reputation as a military and administrative genius, it made make your choice easy. The only oppositions I should have were from Houses Grafton, Corbray and Linderlyn who have already been eliminated. With my rule over the Vale assured the meeting proceeded.
"My Lord, what shall we do about Lysa Tully? When her crimes are exposed, it will tarnish House Tully's reputation, which may even cause conflict between the Vale and the Riverlands." Lord Redfort spoke.
"As you have certainly seen, the Royce lands have undergone great changes of late; our harvests were more plentiful than ever, we developed new methods of making steel, and with that we were able to build this magnificent city, a great port and shipyard. I want to spread this abundance to the entire Valley with just a few conditions, but for that to happen, we must not enter into conflicts with other realms in the near future and only focus on our internal development. That's why I plan to leave Lysa Tully prisoner in the Eyrie, only later will we publicize her crimes and my ascension to High Lord, from now on, the City of Runestone will be the new capital of the Vale."
Everyone was happy when I said I would share House Royce's development methods, and most agreed with my plan to delay the announcement of Lysa's crimes. But soon someone asked about the conditions I said there would be.
"Milord, what would be the conditions you mentioned?" Well, and here comes the part they won't like.
He would have to completely overhaul the military structure now that he was in charge of the Vale into a single cohesive force, he would have to directly inform them that he would be removing their feudal rights to form their own armies. This was a decision he knew he would have to make soon to fully modernize the Vale's forces and bring them under his direct control, but he knew it would be a bitter pill to swallow for the Lords; after all, he was essentially revoking his right to defend his own land with his own armies.
So Artys made his shocking declaration to the Lords who had just sworn allegiance to him.
"The condition is that you will no longer be able to form your own armies, and instead there will be a single, cohesive, standing army under the control of the High Lord."
That said, the room resounded with the protests of dozens of gentlemen. The knights were especially outraged by this decree, as by doing away with the feudal traditions of the military, Artys was essentially depriving them of their purpose in life.
Eventually, Artys slammed his fist down on the armrest, which instantly quieted the room before he started talking further.
"This condition is irrevocable, but you are free to voice any concerns you may have one at a time in a civil manner!"
An old knight was the first to approach Artys and voice his concerns.
"I am a knight, like my father before me, and his father before him. What shall I do now that I can no longer fight for my Lord?"
Artys smiled at the man, for he knew his concerns very well and had already prepared an answer to such a question.
"I am certain that your wartime experience is needed within the ranks of my army, and as such, I will offer you a place among its ranks. As long as you complete the necessary training, you will be given a position as a commissioned officer. From there, you can progress through the ranks based on your skill."
Though the man wanted to protest further, he realized that Artys would not budge, and as such, responded to Artys' words.
"I'll take that into consideration."
Afterwards, the man returned to the crowd, where a Lord stood up and expressed his opinion on the matter.
"If the Army is entirely under your command, who will protect my borders?"
Artys once again smiled at the man as he expressed how the military would function going forward.
"Forts will be built in each region to ensure adequate defense. These forts will be manned by a garrison of soldiers who are under the command of the Army. These garrisons will also be in charge of law enforcement until such time as a self-sufficient and forceful dedicated police force is established in the region."
Artys not only planned to undermine his abilities to raise his armies, but also to establish garrisons in his territory, which were manned by soldiers loyal only to him. This was considered absolutely unacceptable by most Vale Lords.
However, the Lords had no choice but to accept these terms; Artys led them all to a demonstration of the power of their weapons and with a brief testimony from Lyonel Corbray about what happened to Heart's Home, they were left terrified and speechless to witness such a shocking display of power; it was something they would never forget in their lives. Now, they were all aware of the reason for how quickly Artys defeated Lord Grafton's army, which was far greater than any of them could muster in the same time. They knew that if they decided to rebel, they wouldn't even be safe in their castles.
Afterwards, Artys took some more questions from the lords. By the time the convention ended, Artys had received the assent of all the Lords to the Military Reforms in Law, thus dealing a deathblow to the old feudal system, which he was coming closer and closer to completely replacing it. For now, what put the nobles' minds at ease was that they still had access to their land and therefore could live a luxurious lifestyle without having to worry about dying in war. They could leave it to the common people and those foolish enough to glorify such a thing.
If they had known that Artys was engineering land reforms that would completely strip them of their ownership of these vast tracts of land and redistribute it to the public and private sectors, they would have tried to skin him alive then and there. Fortunately for Artys, these bitter old men did not know that their feudal authority would soon collapse completely upon them. Their roles as nobles would soon become little more than a ceremonial title passed down through the entire family.
Of course, to ensure there wasn't an all-out rebellion, Artys was thinking of ways to appease the nobles and retain some degree of their wealth. However, that was a discussion for another time. By now, Artys had successfully enacted his military reforms and would be incorporating all knights, men-at-arms and other professional soldiers into the ranks of what would one day become known as the Royal Army.
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