Chapter 158: The Great Change at King's Landing

Sir Symond Templeton's words greatly delighted Arthur, yet he still cautiously asked for the reason.

"The North has suffered a crushing defeat; that brainless Greatjon led the main army into Ramsay Bolton's ambush..."

The old knight explained every detail of the situation.

It turned out that this army was indeed dispatched by Lady Lysa's order; it was rumored that the list of houses to go to war was decided by Littlefinger.

Because Petyr Baelish had repeatedly interfered in the military and political affairs of the Vale, and had even held Lady Lysa and Robert hostage to command the lords of the Vale, many great nobles were extremely dissatisfied with him.

Consequently, Bronze Yohn contacted five or six prominent great houses of the Vale, brought soldiers to the Moon Door, and prepared to find a way to kill Littlefinger and restore the spirit of the Vale.

To protect himself, Lord Baelish agreed to the Lannisters' request to send troops, had Lady Lysa dispatch this army, and simultaneously appointed Lyn Corbray as the commander.

"To be honest, we of the Vale do not support the Lannisters or you; whoever sits on the Iron Chair makes little difference to us. Everyone originally intended to just march to the Bloody Gate and put on a show, not to truly fight you. But with the North in distress, we no longer have the heart to waste time with you and Littlefinger..."

The old knight was very forthright and spoke his mind completely.

Arthur had Podrick and other irrelevant people leave, leaving only Hugo Vance in the tent.

Only then did he ask: "How is the situation in the North?"

His understanding of the situation in the North was still stuck at the point where the House Stark forces had taken Moat Cailin and both sides were standing off across the Kingsroad.

Sir Symond Templeton then introduced the situation in the North to Arthur once more.

To stabilize the front, Ramsay Bolton led a large army north, preparing to occupy Winterfell and Cerwyn, and then completely cut off the House Stark forces.

Harrion Karstark, the heir to Karhold, was captured by the Lannisters and later fell into Stannis's hands, so the cadet branch member Arnolf Karstark prepared to seize the position of Jiaodu and the territory, defecting to the Warden of the North, House Bolton.

In this way, if these two central cities fell into the hands of the Bolton army, then White Harbor, Hornwood, Widow's Watch, Long Lake, and other southeastern regions loyal to House Stark would be completely cut off from Deepwood Motte, Torrhen's Square, Bear Island, and the Last Hearth.

Greatjon, who oversaw military affairs, was a bit simple-minded, but his subordinates were clever, so the House Stark forces also moved north; both sides fought over Cerwyn, and in the end, Greatjon led his army to take the castle.

Unexpectedly, Ramsay Bolton, who had occupied Cerwyn first, had left a contingency. After the House Stark forces moved into the castle, a great fire broke out that night, the army fell into chaos, and the Bolton army seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

"Smalljon was killed in battle, Greatjon was captured, and Wendel Manderly was burned to a crisp because he was too fat to run. One of Greatjon's uncles defected to House Bolton, while another retreated to Hornwood with some soldiers. Most of the remaining leading nobles are missing, and it is estimated they fared no better. If we in the Vale do not send troops now, I fear the North will truly change hands. A man as upright and noble as Lord Eddard Stark is the very model for us knights of the Vale, and Lord Yohn..."

The old knight said a great deal, finally making the situation in the North clear.

After the great victory at Cerwyn, the coalition of House Bolton and House Dustin had no rivals; perhaps White Harbor still had the financial resources to raise another army, and with the warships Lord Manderly had prepared long ago, they might truly be able to harass the areas occupied by the Bolton army along the White Knife.

But that would be limited to harassment; Manderly's forces could no longer threaten House Bolton's rule in the center of the North.

And because Duke Eddard exceptionally revered the Vale's code of conduct, "As High as Honor," coupled with their kinship, powerful figures of the Vale like Bronze Yohn and Symond Templeton had always regarded House Stark as their own.

Now that Eddard was dead, Lady Catelyn had disappeared, and their children were either dead or missing, on the surface, the only remaining weak woman of the main line of House Stark was Sansa, so the knights of the Vale felt it was time for them, the elders, to step in and uphold justice for House Stark.

Upon learning of the change in the North, Symond Templeton and the others wanted to lead their troops back, but Lyn Corbray had been obstructing them, which made the Vale men, including the old knight, begin to doubt Lyn's stance.

Later, Bronze Yohn sent conclusive evidence of Littlefinger bribing Lyn Corbray and ordered the old knight and others to find a way to strip Lyn of his command and lead the troops back to the Vale.

Symond Templeton and the others strictly adhered to the knightly code and could not find an opportunity to act internally, so a clever knight from the Hunter family of Longbow Hall came up with this method.

"Once you kill Lyn Corbray, we will take the opportunity to retreat, join forces with the Royce, Waynwood, Redfort, and Wayn families, then set sail from Gulltown, go to White Harbor first, and then go straight into the heart of the North along the White Knife to kill that oath-breaker Ramsay Bolton and avenge Robb."

Listening to the old knight's tone, he truly wanted to have a go at House Bolton.

"And what about Littlefinger?" Arthur asked.

Sir Symond Templeton waved his hand dismissively, "You don't need to worry about that. The Keeper of the Moon Door and High Steward of the Vale, Nestor Royce, has a much closer relationship with Lord Yohn than he does with Littlefinger."

The Moon Door was also a castle of House Arryn, but it was only inhabited in winter, because at that time, white snow covered the Mountains of the Moon, and food and daily necessities could not be delivered to the Eyrie located on the mountain peak.

During the fourteen years that the former Jiaodu of the Eyrie, Jon Arryn, served as Robert's Hand of the King, it was this High Steward of the Vale, Nestor Royce, who managed the Moon Door and the Eyrie.

So in actual practice, Nestor might really be able to have servants or kitchen maids secretly kill Littlefinger.

Arthur nodded and did not ask about this again.

The people of the Vale were a bit stubborn, but their brains were indeed more than a grade better than that bunch of nobles in the North.

"Then how should I cooperate with you?" Although Arthur claimed to trust the old knight implicitly, he still kept his guard up in his heart.

After all, one must always be on guard against others.

"Lyn is extremely vain, and he has a short temper and acts without consideration. If you challenge him to a duel and belittle him a few times, and we flatter him while standing by his side, back and forth, it will surely make Lyn fight you. With your combat power, taking him down will be easy."

Sir Symond Templeton stated the strategy the Vale men had agreed upon.

It sounded fine; the time and place had not yet been set, and the Riverlands King also had the initiative.

After discussing for a long time, Arthur took advantage of the night to send the old knight and his few attendants away.

For this Vale army, the Riverlands King had gained another way to respond.

If things truly went as the old knight said, he would fight Lyn and then wait for the Vale forces to retreat.

If anything went slightly wrong, he would proceed according to the original plan; after all, flammable materials like sesame oil, kapok, and dry firewood had been collected, and Alduin, who could light the fire, was also by his side.

King's Landing.

Although it was late autumn, the sky was high and clear, without a single cloud.

The day the Queen of Thorns had chosen to meet Tommen had arrived, and the entire King's Landing had a different atmosphere.

A large number of King's Landing citizens crowded the alleys and streets near Aegon's High Hill, preparing to watch the excitement, which made even normal travel much more difficult.

On the road from the Tyrell residence halfway up Aegon's High Hill to the Red Keep in the east, elite soldiers of the Reach in full armor held spears, swords, shields, and other weapons, lining up in two rows, trying hard to keep the road clear.

At the entrance of House Tyrell.

Margaery was dressed beautifully and was the first to sit in the second sedan chair, while her third brother, Sir Loras, rode his horse beside the chair.

The Queen of Thorns was still secretly conferring with her grandson Garlan.

"How did you handle the situation at the Shield Islands?"

Garlan replied: "Uncle Paxter wanted to attend this formal court audience, so he sent his son Horas to lead a portion of the longships back to reinforce. After today, I will lead a large army back to reinforce, first to expel the Ironborn, and second to take Brightwater Keep."

Olenna thought for a moment, "Let Paxter's other son, that little fellow Hobber, stay on his family's warship; he should not enter the Throne Room today."

"Understood, I will send someone to notify my uncle right away."

Garlan casually summoned one of his own officers and sent him to inform Lord Redwyne of this matter.

The Queen of Thorns glanced again at the commoners who were as numerous as ants on the distant street, frowning as she said: "Why are there so many commoners, even blocking the road."

Garlan glanced casually, "It's no big deal. We have four hundred fully armored warriors in the Throne Room, many of whom are highly skilled Knights; we aren't afraid of the lions playing any tricks. Besides, after discussing it with Cersei, she agreed to let more of our soldiers in. Now there are a full six thousand Reachmen in the city, and I've bribed the guards at both gates. With me staying in the Battalion, what else could go wrong?"

Lady Olenna, wearing a square headdress, asked in a low voice, "Has there been any movement inside the Red Keep?"

"I bribed some maids, but didn't hear of any major actions, only that Varys has gone missing for no reason, causing Cersei to once again thoroughly search every cellar and secret passage in the Red Keep." Garlan also lowered his voice.

The Queen of Thorns blinked her small eyes, thought for a good while, and finally set her mind at ease, slowly moving onto her litter.

"If only your father were here too. Well, enough about that fool, you go to the Battalion." Through the window of the litter, she ordered her second grandson to leave the city.

After Garlan bowed, he had an Attendant lead his mount over, exchanged greetings with his younger brother and sister, and led a group of Cavalry toward the King's Gate in the west.

Given the congestion near Aegon's High Hill, those on horseback couldn't hope to leave the city during the day.

The Queen of Thorns pulled down the shutter of the window, and the male servants carrying the litter started moving immediately.

The procession of House Tyrell moved grandly toward the Red Keep; outside the Throne Room, they would join the lords and Knights of The Reach to enter and pay respects to King Tommen Baratheon.

Near the King's Gate, Hobber, who was on horseback, finally caught up to his cousin Garlan, "It's one thing to not let Horas participate, but why not let me either? The ships are full of foul-smelling sailors and soldiers; there's no fun in that."

Because the area near the Mud Gate was so crowded that it was impossible to leave the city, Hobber had led his men on a wide detour from the King's Gate in the west.

Garlan rode over to his cousin's side and placated him, "It's fine, just hold out for this one day. When Margaery and Tommen marry, you can have your fill of fun."

"I'm afraid I won't live to see that day. The Shield Islands have fallen, and it is precisely the time when our family's warships are needed to fight the Ironborn. Father is about to take up the post of Master of Ships for the kingdom and cannot get away, so it can only be me leading the family soldiers back."

There are many castles along the coast of The Reach; Bandallon, Blackcrown, Three Towers, Oldtown, and even Highgarden at the mouth of the Mander River need warships for defense. Once King's Landing is temporarily stable, some Reach lords will bring troops back to reinforce.

"We'll discuss this later. In any case, I will definitely go back; whether you go back depends on Grandmother's arrangements."

Garlan said casually.

After the two cousins exchanged some views on the situation of the continent, they parted ways outside the city gate, each taking their Attendants in different directions.

Red Keep, Throne Room.

Several hundred commoners were squeezed into the corridor outside the Throne Room, making the path forward for the nobles very difficult.

Lady Olenna Tyrell, with a calm expression, walked slowly into the Throne Room, with Margaery holding her arm and following beside her.

Loras and several selected Knights of The Reach followed behind the Queen of Thorns; they had to both verify the authenticity of Tommen and protect the two ladies.

A large number of Reach nobles and Knights wearing Iron Armor followed behind the members of their liege family; they held their swords in one hand and their iron helmets in the other, looking as if they were going to the battlefield.

To the surprise of the Reachmen, the King and the Queen Regent did not arrive late, but were sitting directly on the Iron Throne, waiting for the vassals to enter.

To be precise, the elaborately dressed Queen Regent Cersei was holding the King, sitting on the Iron Throne, with two remaining members of the Kingsguard standing in front of the dais, and dozens of lion-house soldiers surrounding the King.

After carefully examining the appearance and hair color of "Tommen," Loras whispered to his grandmother, "It all matches. I haven't looked at Tommen closely before, but I remember his features."

Cersei, holding Lyle Lann, watched the Knight of Flowers whispering in Olenna's ear and nervously clenched her hands.

This child looked extremely similar to her son Tommen, and his hair color was also golden, only his age and height were slightly off.

Therefore, she had brought Lyle over in advance to avoid exposing the major issue of height during the movement.

But fortunately, it only needed to be covered up for this short while; in ten minutes or so, everything would be over.

It took a long time for three or four hundred lordly Knights, plus some nobles from the Crownlands and the Westerlands, just to get into formation.

Just as the Queen of Thorns and the Reachmen were about to begin, several crossbow bolts were suddenly shot in from outside the corridor, landing squarely on the dais of the Iron Throne.

Facing this situation, the well-prepared Queen Regent shouted sharply, "Assassins! Protect the King! Protect the King!"

Kingsguard Meryn Trant also shouted, "Quickly, get the King out first!"

The entire Throne Room fell into chaos; the screams of the ladies and the roars of the soldiers were suddenly jumbled together.

Because they did not know where the assassins were, the lion-house soldiers acting as the royal guard began to slash wildly into the crowd, which made the scene even more chaotic.

Loras hurriedly took the close Reach Knights to protect his grandmother by his side.

Lady Olenna, well-protected by her grandson, took a steady look and saw that Cersei and the King had already disappeared.

For some reason, this old woman who had seen it all suddenly felt that something was wrong.

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(End of this chapter)