Bab 153: Who owns Casterly Rock
Harrenhal, Flowstone Court.
Reachers with noble titles, including captives, were brought to see the much larger Alduin.
Compared with half a year ago, the thorns on its back are sharper. From a distance, it seems to be covered with a layer of dark iron armor.
Arthur's own perception was that Alduin's size had changed from a goose at birth to an adult alligator.
Although he was still in his infancy, his growth rate was already terrifying. In the next few decades, Alduin would go through adolescence and youth, and his growth in size during these two periods was still astonishing.
Even if the dragon reaches adulthood, it will grow slowly until it dies.
Alduin's juvenile size, coupled with its tail that is half longer than its body length, and its wings that have spread out to five meters, already exerts considerable pressure when hovering above the crowd.
Among the crowd of onlookers, there were frightened cowards from time to time.
"Seven Gods, is this really a dragon for a few months?"
"Its dragging tail looks more like a steel whip. I really want to know what it would be like to insert it into the butthole."
"You can give it a try if you want. I guess the Dragon Holder would be happy to exchange it for the loyalty of a viscount family."
"Looking at what you said, not even a giant can withstand such a behemoth."
Everyone was talking about it.
When they heard that the Dragon Holder had a young dragon, most of the riverside nobles didn't take it seriously, thinking that a crossbow arrow could kill the dragon.
But when Alduin really flew in front of them, these well-informed house governors had to admit that they were ignorant.
The performance of the Duke of Metz was worse than that of his vassals. At Arthur's signal, Alduin once flew half a meter above the head of the Lord of the River Bend.
This made the Inflatable Fish so frightened that he bent his legs and shrank his neck, and hid behind him. Fortunately, the people from the Riverside took care of his face and allowed him to squeeze behind the crowd smoothly.
"What do you think, adults?" Arthur waved and let Alduin's claws fall on his shoulders. This was done to enhance the visual impact.
Fortunately, he is quite strong and can withstand a dragon standing on him.
If in another year or two, the positions of both parties will have to change.
Everyone knew that this was a question to the Lord of the River Bend, so they all stopped talking and let out the Duke of Metz who was hiding behind the crowd.
The belated Mr. Inflatable Fish was stunned for a long time before he replied:
"If I had seen this dragon two and a half months ago, I would have led the entire Reach to support you, but I have already betrothed my daughter to His Majesty Tommen, and my son Loras will also marry King Cersei The Queen Mother is your wife. You also know that the faith of the Seven Gods does not allow regrets, even if the marriage contract has not been sworn, it cannot be violated, so..."
His title for the King of Hejian has changed, and he has become respectful in his words.
To regret a marriage is to break an oath. The culture of knights is based on the belief in the Seven Gods, so the people of the River Bend take this very seriously.
"What do I mean by this?" Arthur smiled softly, then lifted Alduin up to let him fly away, and then walked to the Duke of Metz.
"I have conclusive evidence that Tommen is dead, so Margaery doesn't have to abide by this engagement. And it is said that Cersei persuaded Loras to become the Kingsguard. I don't need to explain what this means, right? What's your best choice? The two oaths you care about cannot be fulfilled because of the interference of the Lannisters. The responsibility lies with them, not on your side."
While marching north, Arthur was also paying close attention to the situation in King's Landing, so he learned about Cersei's appointment of the Knight of Flowers as the Kingsguard.
Cersei, who thought she was as smart as her father Tywin, thought this would allow her to escape her engagement to Loras, but this just freed the Tyrell family from the psychological burden of breaking their oath.
Although the intelligence said that the people from the River Bend were given three seats in the Imperial Council.
But Arthur can afford this condition.
There was not even a single person in the royal meeting of the King of Hejian.
The Duke of Mace looked at Arthur's handsome face, "To be honest, you do have the temperament and appearance of a Targaryen, and you have the right to inherit the Iron Throne, but the whereabouts of the entire Reach is not up to me. I have to listen to everything. Only after the opinions of the lords, house governors and landed knights are satisfied and the majority of them are satisfied can a decision be made on behalf of the people of the River Bend."
He talks useless nonsense.
The head of the Rose House is Olenna Tyrell, Queen of Thorns, also known as Olenna Redwyne. Mace's wife is from the Hightower family. Lord Redwine Paxter is Mace's cousin and brother-in-law.
With this level of kinship, the three first-line families in the Reach formed a team and had an overwhelming advantage over the second- and third-line families who were fighting alone.
So all the Rose Family needs to do is make the decision and the other Riverbend families obey.
Arthur knew that the price he offered was too low, and he waved everyone away.
"The people from Hejian will leave with the guests, and I will have a few words with the Guardian of the South alone."
After the irrelevant people were gone, he took the Duke of Metz to the bear pit in the center of the castle, and then started talking.
"In the final analysis, what you want is the position of queen and as many seats on the royal council as possible. I can give you no less than Cersei and Tywin."
Throughout the history of war in Westeros, the only example of defeating more with less was during Aegon's Conquests. The rest were all about building relationships with the major nobles, and then allowing the number of families and troops in one's own camp to far exceed that of the enemy.
Therefore, if he can win over the powerful Reach, Arthur's strength will be greatly enhanced, and he will not be far from the Iron Throne.
Duke Mace frowned, "I heard that you are planning to marry Miss Sansa Stark. Then the position of the queen..."
This Arthur has already thought of an excuse.
"I believe in the Valyrian god, and having more wives is not considered blasphemy."
Lord Inflatable Fish stared straight at Arthur, who was a head taller than him, and said after a long time: "But my daughter is a devout believer of the Seven Gods, and she can only marry one husband."
"No problem!" Arthur spread his hands, "After Margaery marries me, I will only have her husband. It will not violate her beliefs. For the sake of the peace of the kingdom, it will not violate my beliefs to marry more wives. Think carefully about whether this is true."
The Duke of Metz looked confused and blinked for a long time.
"I have to discuss it with my mother before deciding. Before that, I don't think the Riverbend people will be your enemies."
Arthur helplessly held his forehead, "You are in your forties or fifties, can't you even make the decision on this little thing?"
He is completely convinced by Mummy's boy Mace.
The two discussed for a long time and finally came to a specific agreement.
After the Queen of Thorns agrees to fall to Arthur, the River King must immediately declare his claim to the Iron Throne, change his title to King of the Andals, the First Men, and the Rhoynar, and marry Margaery as his queen. Before that, Arthur had to ensure that Mace's life was safe and he had a decent life.
It was not possible to win over all the people from the River in a short time, so Arthur ordered people to find a room for the Duke of Metz that fit his status. After imprisoning him, he began to deal with some trivial matters of farmers outside the city in Hundred Furnaces Hall.
The petitions of the subjects could easily trigger the system's tasks, so the blue light curtain lit up three times in a short period of time.
[Let every farmer in Heron Town have a cotton robe for the winter]
[Build a Seven Sacred Temple]
[Expel the ghosts wandering outside the city]
The first two tasks are easy to do. King Hejian can complete them by giving them orders.
The third task is interesting.
Arthur recruited Hailey, the mercenary Bill, and others who were responsible for ordering the refugee farmers. After getting to know them carefully, he found out what was going on.
After he ordered the oversized weirwood tree in Harrenhal to be transplanted, a forest witch appeared outside the city.
Because the tree was so big that existing ships could not transport it to Thousand Faces Island, the tree was placed somewhere outside the city, with the forest witches surrounding it.
She had been wandering near a high mountain in the Riverlands, a place called the Noble Heart, and she was also called the ghost of the Noble Heart.
The peasants were ignorant and thought that the strange-looking old witch was a bad omen, so they asked the nobles to expel her.
Arthur happily accepted the petition, then led a group of soldiers out of the city and went directly to the forest witch.
…
King's Landing, Prime Minister's Tower in the Red Keep, small conference room.
Cersei was alone looking out the window at the sea view. At her feet, the fake Tommen was sitting on the ground, holding a piece of candy and licking it wildly.
The gray-haired Kevan walked in quickly, and the little devil behind him had to jog to keep up with his uncle.
After the two Lannisters entered, the guarding Kingsguards Meryn Tran and Balon Swann walked out and closed the heavy door.
"What big thing happened when you called us here in such a hurry?"
Tyrion was sweating profusely from trotting all the way, and he gasped and asked his sister.
Cersei turned her head and handed the note in her hand to her uncle Kevan with a cold face.
As for the little devil, he walked to the closet by the wall and stood on tiptoes to get a cup.
Kevan's expression immediately changed after reading it. He was about to tell his nephew, but saw Tyrion struggling, so he walked to his nephew and took the wine glass that was out of Tyrion's reach.
"Your father, my brother, Lord Tywin, passed away."
The little devil who took the wine bottle from the table was stunned for a moment, and then continued to pour the wine himself.
"I'm a little sad. Please allow me to use wine to cover up my unspeakable feelings."
As he spoke, he raised his glass and drank it down.
Tyrion's mood was indeed indescribable, but it was probably not sadness.
Cersei looked at her brother with disgust. If her uncle hadn't been there, she would have made a sarcastic comment.
Kevan did not care about his nephew's behavior. After thinking for a moment, he said: "The letter said that my brother left Casterly Rock and the West to Jaime, but the rivermen captured him, and there was no one in charge of Casterly Rock." So I have to go back immediately, to prepare for my brother's funeral, and to temporarily establish order in the Western Territory."
Tyrion was shocked when he heard this. He walked to his uncle, jumped up, took the note, and read it carefully.
"Impossible, this is impossible. Jaime is a member of the Kingsguard and cannot inherit private property. I am the legitimate heir to the West and Casterly Rock."
Tyrion has been the sole heir to Casterly Rock since his brother was taken into white robes by Mad King Aerys II, and he has always regarded Casterly Rock and the Westerlands as his own.
When Tywin asked Tommen to order Jaime to be removed from the Kingsguard status, the little devil felt bad, but because there was no precedent before, he didn't take it to heart.
"Since the establishment of the Kingsguard, there has been no precedent for withdrawing, so Jaime still cannot inherit the Westerland and Casterly Rock. They are mine, mine!"
The little devil held the wine glass and waved his little hands to express his anger.
"Who says there is no precedent?" Cersei's voice also became angry. "My son Joff once fired the old and frail Barristan. The wise and brave Joff reformed the corrupt system, so there is no problem with Ser Jaime's inheritance rights."
This is a confusing account.
In theory, the oaths of the Kingsguard and the Night's Watch are the top sacred oaths, and once they are made, they cannot be repented.
But since King Joffrey the Great drove away Ser Barristan, there have been two or three incidents of the king ordering the oath to be changed.
In the general concept, the king is one level lower than the gods, but because the king is the person with the greatest secular power, the oath change by the king's order can also be considered a matter, which creates a conflict.
In general practice, this matter must be determined after consultation between the great nobles and the bishops.
But now the Seven Kingdoms are in turmoil and there is no condition to hold such a meeting, so the parties involved have to make their own choices.
Tyrion took a deep breath, "You know best how much Jaime longs to be a knight. Wearing a white robe is his lifelong dream, so I think he should choose whether to be a Kingsguard or inherit Casterly Rock."
He and his brother have a good relationship, so they have revealed their feelings to each other.
The little devil knows that Jaime will never want that stone city, and he has been established as the heir of Casterly Rock and the West before, so Jaime will not compete with him.
If Jaime is allowed to choose, Casterly Rock will probably still belong to Tyrion.
"This matter must be based on the inheritance law, and you can't do whatever you want." Since it was the ancestral system reformed by her son Joffrey, Cersei tried her best to protect this.
She turned to her uncle Kevan again, "Please go to the Westerly. Although the alliance between the Rivermen and us has been temporarily preserved, the situation is still very dangerous, so I won't go."
Kevan is used to obeying the command of his brother Tywin, and now he is used to listening to his niece.
He nodded and said, "It's afternoon now. I will handle all the military affairs and major events in King's Landing from tonight to tomorrow morning. I will set off for the Westerly around tomorrow afternoon. I won't waste time."
Although Stannis fled the capital in a panic, he quickly gained a foothold on the south bank of the Blackwater River with the support of the Stormland nobles.
He even sent a cavalry to attack the grain transport convoy of the Rivermen in the Royal Forest, which made the food supply in King's Landing unstable again.
Kevan was about to walk out of the door of the small conference room, but suddenly stopped and asked Cersei:
"The Tully family's territory is famous for its richness, but it is extremely small, so Randyll is a little worried about the land. This time Garlan got Brightwater City, which made him very unhappy. I think he can lead the army to recapture Duskendale, Rosby, Crow's Rest and other northern areas, and then grant him a piece of land in the name of military merit. What do you think?"
"You can handle these things. I believe in my uncle's ability." Cersei had no objection to his proposal.
After Kevan left, the siblings started to stare at each other, until Tyrion couldn't help but roared in a low voice:
"I saved this kingdom for you. Without me, our alliance with the Rivermen would have been broken half a month ago."
It was Tyrion who did it all by himself, so he thought he saved his sister Cersei and stabilized the Lion and Flower Alliance.
"But not many people know about this." Cersei looked at her brother with colder eyes.
Tyrion said vigilantly: "There are still a few people, Ser Fran and the guards of Lannisport..."
"Do you think I'm that stupid? They have sunk into Blackwater Bay. Now you and I are the only ones who know this secret."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
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