章 149: The new high sept
The peak period of influence of the Church of the Seven Gods was during the reign of King Maegor. At that time, the templar monks from all over the world contacted the small nobles and wealthy knights, setting off rebellions across the five realms.
After King Jaehaerys I of Renre came to power, he reconciled with the Hightowers and took the opportunity to elect an archbishop loyal to the royal family. The influence of the church began to decline.
After Baelor I, who was blessed by God, selected a mentally retarded stonemason and an eight-year-old child to serve as archbishops, and moved the bishops' residence to Baelor Cathedral, most of the archbishops and successive archbishops began to become dignitaries and frank people. A vassal of the Glian family.
Pious monks are often at the bottom. Many of them do not have a fixed church and travel between villages and towns where monks are needed. They are called beggar cults.
As for the royal family's attitude towards the church, it can be seen from the pattern above the Iron Throne.
During the Targaryen period, the throne room hung a pattern of three dragons. During Robert I's time, a stag of precious grass hung above the Iron Throne, which was a stag galloping among the grass.
During his short career as king, Emperor Joffrey once changed his father's precious grass stag into a weeping seven-pointed star.
Although the seven-pointed star can indeed represent the seven gods, to the seven gods, the weeping seven-pointed star is somewhat disrespectful.
After Stannis captured King's Landing, the pattern above the Iron Throne turned into a burning flame to represent Lohra, the Red God of Light.
Although the archbishops have fallen, many southern nobles who have undergone complete knight training still value the belief in the Seven Gods.
They anointed holy oil in the church and signed a marriage contract under the witness of the seven gods. Even the major events in life were witnessed by the seven gods and the gods in heaven.
Moreover, wars have been frequent recently, and the lords are busy fighting against hostile forces. The popularity of the responsible monks at the bottom is gradually rising.
Therefore, if the Archbishop can be re-elected, the nobles of the Stormlands feel that the king in front of them is still worth following.
Serious and anxious, Stannis slowly walked up the steps, walked to the iron chair, and sat down slowly.
"Do you have anyone to choose?" the blue-eyed king asked.
Although in most cases the archbishop is elected by a vote of the archbishops, in special times, the king can also order the appointment of an archbishop.
More than a dozen nobles looked at each other, and finally one person stood up.
Selwyn Tarth is the lord of Tarth Island, the largest island in the Stormlands, and he is also quite old.
Previously, when Renly was still alive, he had met the Onion Knight representing Stannis in a wood in his territory and refused to pledge his allegiance.
But after Renly's death, Earl of Tarth's attitude immediately changed 180 degrees and he took the initiative to turn to Stannis.
He stood up, walked forward, bowed to the king first, and replied: "Now is a turbulent period. The archbishop should have a high reputation and good health so that he can move among the people to bless and pray. I Nominate an Archbishop: Brother Lu Chen."
After hearing an unfamiliar name, Stannis asked again: "What is this person's age, family, and life story?"
Earl Selwyn Tarth said hurriedly: "Luchen Frey comes from the Frey family, the lord of the river crossing. He is now forty-five years old. He strictly abides by dogma and has a pretty good reputation."
The blue-eyed king glanced at the lord of Tas Island with disgust, "I heard that you change your wife every year. Isn't it a bit contrary to the teachings of the Seven Gods? What's more, this monk Lu Chen was born in the Frey family, and the family has successively supported Pseudo King Robb and Arthur, how could I appoint such people as High Septon?"
Although Erlu didn't stay in the storm land for a long time in the past ten years, he still heard some local anecdotes.
For example, Selwyn in front of me gets a new wife every year.
Since the oaths sworn during marriage are also sacred oaths and cannot be broken, unless one party dies, the other party cannot remarry. The fate of the former wife can be imagined.
It is said that Brienne the Beauty abides by the spirit of chivalry precisely because of her father's mischief.
Earl of Tarth blushed, "Your Majesty, one wife a year is still a rumor. I only have one child, Brienne..."
"Your Majesty." Seeing that the situation was developing beyond expectations, the Onion Knight hurriedly stepped forward to rescue him. "The monk has separated from his family. Frey's disobedient behavior has nothing to do with Brother Lu Chen. How could you, who has always been fair and strict, do this? What about wrongfully accusing him?"
"The current situation is turbulent. Because of the Fatty Archbishop, many people in King's Landing have complaints against you. You can use the re-election of the Archbishop to make them believe that His Majesty is an excellent king who is open-minded and can tolerate different beliefs. "
Stannis looked at his most trusted subordinate expressionlessly, and after a few breaths, he replied: "Then according to Earl Tarth's wishes, Brother Lu Chen will be the new archbishop. The specific ceremony will be carried out by Dever. Knight Si will take care of it and keep everything simple. Our attention is still on the rebels outside the city, so don't spend too much time on these things."
The Onion Knights who believed in the Seven Gods and the nobles of the Stormlands breathed a sigh of relief and praised Stannis repeatedly as a good king worthy of loyalty.
…
Harvard City.
The development of the situation was slightly different from what Arthur expected.
Under the attack of rumors of Tommen's death and the "betrayal" of his subordinate vassals, the mediocre Inflatable Fish began to be at a loss.
After seeing the letter with some time and place smeared out, the Duke of Metz, on the advice of several Oath Knights of the Rose House, prepared to place Count Matus Rowan under house arrest and sent Viscount Warren Bisbury to take over. Four thousand soldiers of the Luo Wan family.
But Matus was not an easy man. He refused to go to the Lord's camp and actively sent people to communicate with the Rose family, trying to prove that he was still a loyal minister of the Lord of the River Bay. At the same time, he asked the family soldiers to prepare for the possible riots and rebellions.
But these two points aroused the suspicion of the Inflatable Fish Lord. He also ordered the soldiers to prepare for battle and repeatedly asked Count Matus Rowan to go to the big tent to prove his innocence.
Under the mediation of Countess Ewen Oakheart and Viscount Valen Bisbury, Matus Rowan reluctantly agreed to go, but he had to bring a team of 200 people to protect him.
The Duke of Metz also agreed, so the two sides, who were heavily protected, began to argue bit by bit, trying to regain each other's trust.
After learning that the people of the River Bay were in chaos, but still not to the point of fighting, Arthur felt that he should add fuel to the fire.
So he led several highly skilled warriors such as Hosteen Frey, Locke Holt, Hugo Vance, Ronald Vance, and their most elite cavalry, and rushed directly into the River Bay military camp that was still in confrontation, and snatched the Duke of Metz.
Of course, during the battle, the King of Rivers specifically ordered several knights to shout loudly not to attack the Rowan soldiers.
Since most of the Rose family soldiers were on guard against the Rowan family, the operation went smoothly.
After that, more than 2,000 cavalrymen from the Rose family who were ready for battle came out to pursue, and the remaining soldiers captured Matus Rowan on the spot.
Seeing that the head of the family was captured, the Rowan soldiers immediately attacked the Rose family camp under the command of the Oath Knights and senior officers.
Several small lords who were on good terms with the Rowan family but loyal to the Lord tried to separate the two sides, but to no avail.
Quite a number of soldiers directly under the Rose family went to chase back their lords, and the remaining River Bay people were passively involved in the internal strife.
What happened next was just as the Rivermen had planned.
The territory of the Harvard family was mostly hills and low mountains, which were not suitable for cavalry operations - this was also the reason why the Duke of Metz had been dragging his feet on the attack - so the Rivermen, who were mostly infantry, actually had the advantage of terrain.
After leading the pursuing Rose cavalry into the encirclement, the two sides fought hard and the Rivermen finally defeated the army.
Then Arthur ordered the soldiers to rest for a short time and began to attack the River Bay military camp.
Similarly, he only attacked the Rose family and its subjects, and did not take any measures against the Rowan family and the River Bay family who fought to rescue Matus.
The Rowan family and the Oakheart family who supported Rowan had a total of 6,000 soldiers, and the armored warriors who fought for the Rose family totaled about 7,000, and the rest were all servants, while the Rivermen had a full 10,000 people, which put the Tyrell family, which has always been known for its strong military strength, at a disadvantage in terms of the number of soldiers for the first time.
After half a day of fierce fighting, more than 2,000 River Bay soldiers loyal to the Rose family died in battle, and the rest surrendered to the Rivermen and Rowan.
To show his sincerity, Arthur took the initiative to send someone to apologize to Count Matus, took the Duke of Metz's misunderstanding of him on himself, and tried to ask the Rowan family to join his side.
"When my dragon grows up, the territories south of the Golden Avenue and north of the River Bay will be under the name of Golden Tree City, and part of the territories of Bitter Bridge and Bumping Village will also be divided into Rowan's hands." This is the condition given by Arthur.
Originally, according to the King of River, the four earldoms in the area around the River Lake, as well as Maiden Spring City, Salt Field Town, Crab Peninsula and other places were to join the Great King's Territory, and the earldoms of Silver Mountain City and Deep Cave City in the eastern part of the Westland, as well as Golden Tree City, Bitter Bridge, Bumping Village in the north of the River Bay, Green Valley City, Harvest Hall, Hay Hall and other places in the west of Stormland were also considered.
In this way, the second-tier family of the River Reach, Golden Tree City, became one of the most powerful vassals in the Great King's Territory, and it was still worth winning over.
It was not the original intention of Matus Rowan to let his own soldiers besiege the barracks of the feudal family. He was a cautious person. But the impulse of the Oath Knights and senior officers was also for themselves, so the Lord of Golden Tree City accepted it.
The current situation is that even if the Rowan and Oakheart families returned to the outskirts of King's Landing with their troops, they would be besieged by Garlan and Loras, who had lost their fathers, and the River Reach lords who had lost their feudal lords.
So after weighing the pros and cons many times, this steady earl made a bold decision:
To surrender to Arthur Targaryen, the river king with dragons.
In his mouth, the surname of the river king has always been Targaryen.
Arthur had no objection to this, as long as the soldiers of the Rowan family fought for him.
After agreeing on the details, Rowan and Oakheart joined forces with the River Army and stationed near Harvard, waiting for the battle of King's Landing, which was about to come to an end.
...
At night, the central army tent.
The River King sat at the table, studying the military map with the troops marked on it, and Arianne held a candlestick for him.
Dicken and the cripple Lotho suddenly broke in.
"Your Majesty, there is good news and bad news."
Arthur looked at Dicken, "Let's talk about the bad news first."
Although the addition of Rowan and Oakheart increased his troops by nearly 5,000, the situation was still not optimistic.
Stannis had 20,000 people, and the Lion and Flower Alliance outside King's Landing still had 50,000 troops. It was said that the mercenary group under the name of Aegon VI in the south was the famous Golden Group, with a strength of 20,000.
Either side was stronger than him.
But the River King could still accept some situations because he had too much debt.
"Desmond Greer, the master of Riverrun, left our army with the soldiers of the Tully family. He took more than 400 people with him. It should be a direct order from Ser Blackfish."
In order to meet the attack of the Westlanders, Riverrun, controlled by Blackfish, provided 500 soldiers, but this does not mean that the Tully family recognizes Arthur, the self-reliant king of the river. It is purely because the hatred between the Tully family and the Lion family is more intense. big.
Moreover, during the Usurper's War, Duke Horst provided all the military food supplies, a quarter of the soldiers, and two beautiful daughters, but in exchange he only received a serious injury and did not even get a position in the Royal Council. , coupled with the fact that the Iron Throne supported the Western Region's "counter-rebellion" against the Riverlands in the early days of the War of Five Kings, so the Tully family was not very satisfied with Baratheon and Tommen.
Therefore, even though it had been three or four months since Robb died in the battle, Riverrun still claimed to be a vassal of the King of the North and the Three Rivers, not the other kings.
"How have we offended this upright old knight again?" Arthur asked in confusion.
The cripple Rosso said: "It should be that our good news made Ser Brynden Tully dissatisfied. A group of bandits attacked Earl Tatus Blackwood and his party who went to mobilize the people in the territory's village, and then my brother Jemo Si led a group of people to settle in Crowtree City to help defend against the bandits' attack. Because my family is your vassal, Sir Blackfish may have thought this was what you meant. As we all know, Blackwood and Bracken are natural enemies... "
In front of Dickon, Lotho changed his nephew Aegon the Blood to a bandit.
In fact, Aegon Bloody's current external identity is really that of a bandit.
Arthur stared at the cripple for a long time, making Frey feel uncomfortable, and then said:
"It's not a big deal. Because Edmure was seriously wounded by Kevan's order, and then forced to participate in the Red Fork River sniper battle, he was even more seriously injured by Tywin's soldiers. In addition, Robb also died at the hands of the Westerlands. , Ser Blackfish, who loves his nephew, has a hatred for the Lion family far more than us. There are only one or two thousand people in Riverrun at the moment. With Sansa's relationship, there is no need to worry about it for the time being. "
It is not yet known whether Edmure can leave any heirs, so even if Roslin controls the castle and territory as the Duchess of Riverrun, just like Lady Dustin in the North and Egwene Oakheart in the Reach, The lady is the same, but the heir to Riverrun after Roslin will still be Horst's eldest daughter Catelyn.
At present, it seems that Blackfish may let his grandniece Sansa inherit Riverrun and the territory.
So the Tully family is really not a big deal.
"By the way, how is Black Walder?" Arthur asked casually.
He still remembered the only remaining member of the lineage of old Walder's eldest son.
Rosso smiled even more awkwardly, "My nephew was working near the Blue Fork River and did not pursue Black Walder who fled to the east of the Green Fork River. We just sent a group of cavalry with average combat power to hunt him down. He fled to the Moon Mountains, and it seems that he is preparing to enter the valley and seek help from his relatives, the Royce family, to recapture the Twin River City."
"Which Royce? The one with Bronze Yohn?" the River King asked curiously.
"Yes, my father's first wife was from the Royce family of the Vale."
Due to the Frey family's huge family tree, they can be related to one-third of the nobles of the Seventh Realm.
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