章 182: The Eve of the Wedding
Red Keep, outside the Godswood.
This is a forest of elms, alders and poplars, connected to the garden of the Red Keep, overlooking the mouth of the Blackwater River.
Although it is called the Godswood, there are no fish beams in it. The big oak in the middle of the forest serves as the heart tree, and its branches are covered with smokeberry vines.
At this moment, dozens of selected nobles and some of the remaining River Bay Knights are having an archery competition outside the Godswood. Five human-shaped targets stand at the edge of the woods, and the archers show their skills in turn.
Only the champion will get a reward. According to Ange Bracken, the captain of the Royal Guard, the reward is most likely a pair of dragon skin gloves.
Gloves made from the shed skin of Alduin, the only dragon in Westeros.
Any knowledgeable noble should know that dragons are good things. The dragon bones have a very high iron content, and the dragon bone bows made of them are even better bows; dragon skin is extremely tough and ordinary bows and arrows cannot penetrate it.
Dragon leather gloves are one thing, and the attention of the king and courtiers is another.
Arthur I, wearing black dragon leather armor, and several courtiers and nobles are sitting on a wooden platform, pointing fingers at the contestants.
This is enough to make these young people excited.
Anguy, the sharpshooter who has been given the surname Bracken, stands beside the platform and analyzes the strength of the contestants for the king and the nobles.
"The longbow used by Leon of the Ward family is the most common longbow in the six northern realms. Judging from his body shape and posture, he should be a trained archer."
Anguy is a Dornishman, so he naturally calls the other six kingdoms the North.
The longbow in his mouth is made of a whole piece of wood nearly 6 feet long. If the archer pulls the bowstring to his chin or ear, it can generate nearly 100 pounds of tension, enough to shoot the arrow 250 yards away, and then it can still penetrate the enemy's clothes at this distance.
Arthur nodded and said loudly: "This Leon is good. You can ask him if he wants to join the Royal Guard."
The royal military force is composed of the Kingsguard guarding Maegor's Tower as the first layer, the Royal Guard guarding the Red Castle as the second layer, and the third layer is the King's Landing Garrison, who are also responsible for maintaining order in the capital.
Limited by the size of the Red Castle, whether it is the Targaryen Dynasty or Robert's short-lived Dynasty, the number of Royal Guards is only maintained between 500 and 1,000.
According to Arthur's idea, the Royal Guard formed this time will have 700 soldiers, which is just enough to defend the Red Castle.
Among these 700 people, the 100 Stark infantry brought by Sansa can be included.
Earlier in Harrenhal, Duke Mace selected 150 elite cavalry from the 4,000 soldiers who were released, saying that they were personal guards for himself and his daughter who was about to become the queen.
According to the rules of the previous dynasty, the Prime Minister can keep fifty soldiers in the Red Castle, and half of the remaining one hundred were allowed by Arthur to stay as Margaery's guards.
These fifty people must naturally be incorporated into the Royal Guards for unified management.
The other half filled the King's Landing Garrison, who were well-equipped and neat, and could serve as a guard of honor when necessary.
Among the one thousand people brought by Dickon, Arthur selected two hundred and fifty soldiers of level three and above as Royal Guards.
In other words, there are still three hundred places left in the Royal Guards.
According to convention, some second sons of minor nobles and illegitimate children of large families will join this guard, so Arthur I ordered people to organize this archery competition to select people from it.
According to his idea, the remaining three hundred people must be crossbowmen, and after a round of arrow rain, any enemy will be shot into a hedgehog.
The flesh of the Three-Eyed Raven, the Duke of Blood Raven, once formed a guard composed entirely of archers: the Raven's Tooth Guard.
The Raven's Teeth had a brilliant record. Daemon Blackfyre, one of the initiators of the Blackfyre Rebellion, died under the rain of arrows from the Raven's Teeth.
Arthur did not dare to say that his guards could have the strength of the Raven's Teeth, but he still wanted to set a high standard.
If you seek the best, you will get the middle; if you seek the middle, you will get the worst.
So he appointed the sharpshooter Anguy as the captain of the Royal Guard and asked him to be responsible for training all the Royal Guard soldiers.
As for Leon, who had just been favored by the king, his family of Ward was one of the small vassal families of Harrenhal.
The late Lady of the River had a sworn knight named Weri Ward, but now no one knows where he is. He may have died on the battlefield. The Ward family has a branch of rich relatives who are the owners of the Beauty Market.
Born in the Riverlands and the family is a vassal of Sansa, Arthur can use it with confidence.
The king's voice is not small, so naturally there are people with good intentions who spread this to the ears of the person concerned.
Being praised by the king, Leon was naturally overjoyed. Before the game was over, he had already held his head high, looking like a winner.
The people around him had no objection to his appearance, but cast envious eyes.
In the minds of these young people, being chosen by the king is already a great honor.
In Arthur's previous life, it was the kind of ancestral tomb built on the crater of a volcano.
The king was very satisfied with the reaction of this group of people. He wanted them to feel close to the king and have an honor.
The so-called honor is just a means for the superior ruler to stimulate the potential of his subordinates.
The archery competition was still going on, but Arthur didn't have much interest in watching it. He turned his head and asked, "What is the proportion of archers in your family army?"
Inis Frey, Orton Mareways, Tristan Ryger, Dickon Tarly and others talked about it and answered the king's doubts.
"My family is a standard cavalry team with permanent archers, that is, a knight leads 134 cavalrymen, 105 attendants, 19 horse archers, a trumpeter, and a farrier."
The bald Inis replied.
The horses of the horse archers only assist the soldiers in moving, not that they can shoot arrows on horseback.
The Earl of Riverland, Orton Marewes, also told his family's situation:
"Long Table Hall is a little different from the Twins. Our archers are concentrated in the infantry group, generally divided into hundred-man teams. As for the most expensive cavalry, there are generally 90 riders and 90 attendants. Their main weapons are lances. The remaining 18 are horse crossbowmen, with a knight commander and a trumpeter as assistants."
There is no farrier in this family's cavalry team. It may be that his family is rich and has a unified logistics team in the army.
Arthur asked curiously: "What kind of crossbow is it? Crossbow?"
According to his understanding of the world of Game of Thrones, the crossbows that are widely equipped in the army can only be crossbows.
A crossbow is also called a crossbow. It is a short device used to shoot crossbow arrows. The crossbow is attached with a so-called crossbow mechanism. The structure of the crossbow mechanism can help the shooter to wind the arrow. The reason for this structure is that it is particularly laborious to wind such a short string. The winding mechanism may be in the form of a winch or a crank.
In addition, Myr produces several types of winch crossbows, and the top ones can shoot three arrows at a time.
But the Myr triple crossbow is very expensive and can only be a toy for nobles, not suitable for military use.
"Yes, the army generally uses crossbows." Bald Inis answered.
The other two earls nodded in agreement, but there was still a trace of contempt for Lord Frey in their eyes.
"What is the cost?" Arthur always wanted to build an elite crossbow army, so he was very concerned about this issue.
This time, the bald man was speechless. He was stunned for a long time and said embarrassedly: "I really haven't paid attention to it. The craftsmen in the Twins can produce it themselves, so I think the cost is not very high."
Dickon gave a reference price.
"I remember it should be between 150 and 280 silver deer! If the craftsmen under my name can produce it, it can be even cheaper." said the heir of Tarly.
Arthur nodded, thinking that this price was really acceptable.
When the legendary knight Duncan the Tall, a set of "plain and unpretentious" armor, including mail, throat guard, neck guard, and iron helmet, cost 750 silver deer plus a bunch of sundries, roughly equivalent to 800 silver deer.
That is nearly four gold dragons.
Mail is enough as armor for crossbowmen, plus the cost of crossbows, the initial armament is only five or six old gold dragons.
Of course, the power of the crossbow has to be increased.
There are quite a few maesters who can improve the bed crossbow. Arthur thinks that a group of maesters can be gathered to study and create a cheap capstan crossbow.
The power is about a thousand pounds.
According to Arthur's memory, the power of this thousand-pound capstan crossbow is roughly between the waist-drawn crossbow, the crossbow with a kick and the winch crossbow in the previous life, and the maximum range of the latter three crossbows is between 300 and 700 steps.
One step of the Tang system is five feet, that is, meters, 300 steps, that is, meters, and the farthest 700 steps, that is, 1,059 meters, that is a miracle that can only be created by a giant crossbow of the bed crossbow level.
In any case, the requirements for the use of crossbows are much lower than those of archers, and high accuracy is enough, and the speed of forming an army can also be much faster.
"Dicken is responsible for finding some reliable carpenters to go to Maester Coben to discuss how to make a low-cost, powerful, and large crossbow suitable for single-person carrying. In addition, the bed crossbow must also be improved. The more powerful the better, it will be used in future wars."
Arthur ordered Dicken on the side.
But the heir of Tully obviously has his own ideas.
"Your Majesty, can I follow Baron Swann's army to the Wall? I want to see my brother Samwell." Dickon did not refuse the king's order, but made another request.
Arthur I was stunned for a moment, then nodded in agreement, "What a touching brotherhood, let's do it after my wedding. As for finding a craftsman to improve the crossbow, let Earl Tristan Legge be responsible."
The lord of Willowwood City who was called agreed on the spot.
The king thought for a while, and suddenly said, "By the way, Dickon, I have an important task for you."
If he went north to see Fatty Sam, he would definitely be able to touch the Horn of Winter.
According to rumors, this horn can blow away the magic of the Wall and cause it to collapse.
Although the Horn of Winter has not been put into practice, the Wall cannot withstand a test, so the horn must be in the hands of a living person.
Arthur felt that this should be the most suitable opportunity to take back the Horn of Winter.
He motioned Dickon to lean his ear over, and then whispered, "Your brother has a horn in his hand. You are responsible for taking it and bringing it back to me."
Samwell was very kind. His brother would come to see him, so he should give him a gift.
Dickon was puzzled, but he still agreed.
In order to give him motivation for this important matter, Arthur also took out an insurance.
"If you bring back the Horn of Winter, I will give you the Lady of Loneliness as a reward."
Since Lord Randyll Tarly reunited with his son who had run away from home for more than a year, his Valyrian steel sword "Broken Heart" was taken back by the Lord Justice.
Dickon had always wanted to wear a Valyrian steel sword, so he naturally felt uncomfortable now.
As for Arthur himself, after conquering the Westerlands and Casterly Rock, the Stark family sword "Ice" will be in his hands.
Queen Sansa didn't know that Bran and Rickon were alive, and most of the North was still in the hands of the Boltons and their vassal forces, so Arthur didn't say it clearly.
Therefore, Queen Stark should not object to her husband inheriting the sword of Lord Eddard.
Lady Hollow is thinner than the half-hand sword, and Arthur is uncomfortable using it. The two-handed sword "Ice" is more suitable for him.
Dickon's eyes lit up when he heard it.
"I will definitely live up to your majesty's trust."
The archery competition lasted until the afternoon. The champion was the second son of a small family in the River Bay, named Danla Fossoway, from the Green Apple family.
Even Anger praised his performance.
After the king asked him if he wanted to join the Royal Guard, Danla immediately agreed.
So Arthur gave him the rumored dragon skin gloves.
"This is made of Alduin's shed skin. There are only a few pairs in the world. Now I give it to you as a gift for the archery champion." The king said.
Podrick, who was serving on the side, brought the prepared tray to Danla Fosoway, who excitedly picked up the dragon skin gloves and kissed them.
This is something from a dragon!
A group of young people around were also very jealous. If the king and the princes and courtiers had not walked far away, they would have squeezed to Danla to touch the dragon's skin on the spot.
On the way, Marquis Inys, who followed the king back to the council hall, flattered: "Your Majesty, do you have more dragon skin gloves? Can you give me a pair?"
Arthur glanced back at him with amusement, "How can there be more? Dragons don't specialize in producing dragon skin."
Alduin made a set of leather armor from the skin he shed outside Harrenhal, and now he is wearing it on Arthur.
The remaining scraps were used to make three pairs of dragon leather gloves. One pair was used by the king himself, one pair was just given as a reward, and the last pair was kept by Arthur.
But this Marquis Frey was still quite greedy, and Arthur I had to appease him.
"If your family can make a contribution of some size, I will see if I can make you a pair of dragon leather gloves when Alduin sheds his skin next time."
Innis' eyes lit up immediately, and he asked excitedly: "What is a contribution of some size? Please tell me, Your Majesty."
The king hadn't thought about it yet, so he could only perfunctorily reply: "Let's talk about it when we meet."
In the meeting hall, several river land family heads who had gradually arrived were waiting to see the king. They were here to attend the second king's wedding that was about to be reported.
After Arthur discussed with the Queen of Thorns, the latter thought that since the Seven Archbishops would not be needed for the coronation and the Seven Monks would not be needed for the oath-taking ceremony, the wedding and coronation ceremony of King Arthur I and Queen Margaery could be combined into one, which would be more decent.
Although only three-tenths of the cost was used, Arthur was naturally happy to accept it because he had to save the money to build an army. The wedding was decided, and the Duke of Mace and Randyll Tarly would take care of it.
After the date was determined, more and more nobles arrived, ready to attend the king's wedding and take the opportunity to swear allegiance.
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