Chapter 166: Monarch Descends Upon the Endgame

The wealth of House Redwyne ranks in the top five among all families on the Western Continent, so the equipment of their soldiers is far superior to that of the Riverlands soldiers.

Specifically, while most Riverlands soldiers still use pot helms and chainmail draped over their faces to block damage, these Redwyne elite soldiers have already switched to bascinet helmets, commonly known as pig-faced helms.

This is a full-coverage iron helmet; apart from the eyes, there is almost no part of the head exposed.

The hound-faced helmet worn by The Hound, Sandor Clegane, is a typical bascinet, only the pointed visor has been fashioned into the shape of a dog.

As for their bodies, the Redwyne soldiers are even more comprehensively protected; their breastplates, greaves, thigh plates, and arm guards are all made of plate armor, with only the joints covered by more flexible chainmail.

This level of defense is already quite exaggerated for the common soldiers Arthur has seen, but compared to the main force of the Lannister soldiers, it is still a notch inferior.

The helmets worn by these Lannister soldiers only reveal their eyes and mouths, but to allow the soldiers to adapt to combat in more situations, the visor of the lion-shaped half-helmet is designed to open from both the left and right, and it has a fixed latch when fully opened.

On a battlefield with such poor lighting, the lion-shaped half-helmet is very advantageous; they can fight with the visor open, whereas while the Redwyne soldiers' visors can also be opened, they easily slide down during combat, obstructing their vision again.

The battle throughout the Red Keep has entered a mode of close-quarters street fighting, with both sides contending back and forth around the Throne Room and the adjacent Great Council Chamber.

When the Riverlands King led his men charging into the Throne Room, this was the scene he witnessed.

"Cersei is dead, and Randyll Tarly is about to lead his army in; what are you still holding on for?" Arthur shouted after killing a Lannister soldier with a vertical slash.

To shake the enemy's morale, the Riverlands King ordered his own soldiers to spread the news that ten thousand Reach Army troops were about to storm the Red Keep.

At the same time, Arthur led the slaughter himself, with nearly twenty powerful warriors guarding his flanks, breaking the front line all the way to the garden outside the Throne Room.

The path from the Throne Room to the garden was already cramped and narrow, and this breakthrough by Arthur quickly allowed the Redwyne soldiers to reoccupy the entire hall.

It was just that the space in the garden was wider, and the number of Lannister soldiers was high, so the two sides were once again deadlocked.

But under the dual blow of the Queen Regent being dead and the Reach Army being about to enter the city, the Lannister soldiers finally began to panic.

The professional soldiers that Taiwen Laoye had spent so many Gold Dragons to train in his lifetime were naturally no joke; several platoon captains immediately organized their formations.

"Hold the line!"

"Don't rush in!"

Once these Lannister soldiers formed a tight phalanx, several men immediately went to scout the situation at the north and south towers and the main gate of the Red Keep.

Arthur and the Redwyne soldiers stood on the steps at the exit of the Throne Room, confronting the enemy from a superior position.

Taking advantage of the brief lull in the fighting, the Riverlands King ordered for Ser Velo Quy to be summoned.

"Where are the Reach nobles? Have they been rescued?"

The helmet Velo wore was similar to the armet helmet on Arthur's head, which is commonly worn by nobles; its characteristic is that it basically covers the head and neck completely, but one cannot shake their head while wearing it.

Thus, Ser Velo lifted his visor and sighed, "Our great nobles and lesser lords are with these soldiers garrisoned in the Red Keep; not a single noble has been rescued."

Arthur thought for a moment and asked, "Is your Jiaodu of the Quy family also in the enemy's hands?"

He vaguely remembered that several vassals under the Hightower name had gone north with the Tyrells, including the Quy family of Cider Hall, the Mullendore family of Gao Di Cheng, the Bulwer family of Blackcrown, and the Beech family of Honeygrove.

Among these more powerful Viscount families, except for Valen Beech who was in his hands, the remaining Jiaodu had all been rounded up by Cersei in King's Landing.

"I believe so, but I do not have exact information," Ser Velo replied.

"It's fine, don't worry," Arthur patted his shoulder, "We have a large number of Western Continent noble captives in our hands; we can always trade for them."

He had the Kingslayer Jaime, Daven, Stafford, and several other Lannister members in his hands, plus there were some minor Western Continent nobles in Golden Tooth, and even three or four Western Continent count-level Jiaodu and first heirs in Riverrun; he didn't have to worry about not having captives to trade.

After half a day, these Lannister soldiers finally had a reaction.

A platoon captain stepped out from the crowd and shouted, "We want the complete remains of Her Majesty Cersei and His Majesty Tommen; you may designate two counts to exchange."

Because Cersei's head had already been displayed, the Western Continent men believed she was dead. With the Reach Army outside and House Lannister having no powerful figure to clean up the mess, they had no need to hold King's Landing.

It was understandable that the Lannister soldiers wanted the complete remains, but the demand for the fake Tommen was something Arthur didn't quite understand.

After thinking it over carefully, the Riverlands King understood a little.

Perhaps the Lannister commander who proposed the prisoner exchange also knew that this Tommen was a bit off, so he only wanted to use two counts to trade back Cersei and her "child."

"Go call Loras and Hobber, and bring Levi Lann as well; let Loras decide which two counts to trade back."

Because he was not very familiar with the Reach nobles, Arthur did not trade people randomly.

A Redwyne soldier received the order and returned to the Tower of the Hand to call for them.

A few minutes later, the two called for arrived with the child.

"I advocate for trading back Count Paxter Redwyne."

Loras did not hesitate; he wanted to trade back his uncle.

"Can do," Arthur agreed to this, "Who else?"

After Hobber and Loras exchanged a glance, the former said, "Count Bryan Fossoway."

The Riverlands King thought for a while before remembering that this was the lord of Cider Hall, also known as the Red Apple family.

"This is your Garlan's father-in-law, right?" Arthur asked.

Loras replied awkwardly, "Yes."

To avoid suspicion, the two of them had each named the hostage the other wanted most, but upon closer inspection, both counts were actually core relatives of the Tyrells.

Arthur did not want to trade like this, so he declined, saying, "They are all your relatives; what would the other Reach Jiaodu think? Hmm... how about this: swap Count Clane Fossoway for the head of the Mariweisi Jiazu—what was his name again?"

The Riverlands King vaguely remembered that during the time of the Mad King, the Mariweisi Jiazu had produced a Hand of the King who served before Jon Connington.

Therefore, this family was relatively loyal to Arthur, who had dragons.

"Count Aurane Waters," Hobber replied.

Loras was helpless and complied with Arthur's method of exchange.

A dozen minutes later, the prisoner exchange between the two sides was completed, and the Lannister soldiers gradually withdrew from the garden of the Red Keep.

Around daybreak, the Lannister soldiers in King's Landing retreated, and the Reach Army led by Randyll Tarly began to take over the capital, which had changed hands three times.

Red Keep, Great Council Chamber.

This is the political hall located on the south side of the Throne Room, with a large round table where the Small Council usually meets.

Now, Arthur is discussing the next arrangements with several nobles.

After gaining the support of the Reachmen, his military strength expanded unprecedentedly, but there was also more to be done.

Due to the Queen of Thorns' persistence regarding the royal title, and because Arthur was certain they did not care about the clarity of the lineage, Arthur decided to formally declare his claim to the Iron Throne on an auspicious day, while simultaneously changing his royal title to King of the First Men, the Andals, and the Rhoynar, commonly known as the King of the Seven Kingdoms.

But this was only one aspect; military and political affairs were equally important.

Previously, a Reach Army had been sent to the south bank of the Blackwater River to enter the Stormlands and fight against Stannis's soldiers; the commander of this army was the Kingsguard Balon Swann.

The Swann family were the lords of Stonehelm, and their family lands were located near the Yulin north of the Dorne Sea; it could be said that this family was the most powerful in the Stormlands besides the Baratheon family.

Ser Balon Swann was the second son of Lord Gillian Swann, and he could be considered a good Knight who valued honor, bravery, and loyalty; his own martial arts and archery were also not bad, and at the Tourney of Lord Eddard Stark, he had achieved a good result of second place in the archery competition, second only to the marksman Anguy.

Therefore, Loras suggested sending someone to persuade Balon Swann to surrender, and if that failed, to incite his subordinate Reach soldiers to riot.

"Well said, but who shall go?"

Arthur looked around and realized that among these Reach nobles, only Randyll Tarly was reliable; the rest were all duds.

But Lord Tarly had to command the troops and could not possibly do such low-level work as persuading a surrender.

"Your Grace, I propose Lord Mathos Rowan; he is well-loved by the smallfolk, and he is steady and wise, with outstanding capabilities." The semi-bald Randyll suggested this.

When he mentioned Mathos, Arthur finally remembered that it was time to resolve the matter of the Rowan family.

Previously, in order to take down Lord Mace Tyrell, he had incited a confrontation between the Rowan and Tyrell families, which caused the relationship between Goldengrove and Highgarden to plummet.

But now that the Reachmen had pledged their support to him, the relationship between the Rowan and Oakheart families and the Tyrells and other Reach families would be very awkward.

He couldn't just go in a circle, get on good terms with his future father-in-law Lord Mace Tyrell, and end up framing Mathos in the process.

"The Lord of Goldengrove is very loyal to me; I will take the time to discuss the ownership of his family lands with Lady Olenna. But in the matter of persuading Balon Swann to surrender, Mathos is indeed the most suitable."

This army was handled for the time being, but the other Reach Army also had to be put to use.

"Where is Garlan? Let him lead the army to block the Lannister army returning to the west, and let Lord Tarly lead the army in pursuit; let's completely scatter this Lion army first."

In order to seize King's Landing, Randyll had not sent soldiers to pursue the Westerlanders; now that the situation in the city was temporarily stable, they had the time to intercept and kill the Lion army.

Hobber replied: "Cousin is roughly at the intersection of the Lake River and the Golden Road; the Westerlanders have no way to cross the Blackwater River, so this place is blocked just right."

The Lake River is a tributary of the Blackwater River, named because its source is at the Gods Eye.

If the Lake River were wider, large ships could travel from King's Landing to Harrenhal.

"Send a letter to Garlan, telling him to lead the army to block the Lannister soldiers returning west; the soldiers here in King's Landing will follow."

Hobber noted this down and brought up another topic: "The Ironborn have already begun looting the west coast of the Reach, and many of the remaining nobles have sent letters for help; should we send an army back?"

Because the remaining nobles in the Reach were not clear about the previous situation in King's Landing, they sent a large number of letters for help via ravens.

"Soon, once we defeat the Lion army, most of the Reach soldiers will be able to return for reinforcements," Arthur reassured.

King's Landing was full of Reach soldiers; he decided to let some Reach soldiers return south in the name of expelling the Ironborn, and then bring in a unit of his own troops.

Moreover, there was still a dispute over the ownership of Brightwater Keep and that lordship; he had not yet discussed this with the Queen of Thorns.

At the same time, it was time to establish the Small Council, and the plans for the Kingsguard, the Royal Guard, and the Great Crownlands should also be put on the agenda.

At the round table in the council chamber, this nascent kingdom was rapidly resolving most of its troubles, but a greater crisis was about to arrive.

The Stormlands, Griffin's Roost.

This was a standard lord-level castle, which originally belonged to Jon Connington; after he was stripped of his family castle and lands by the Mad King Aerys II, Griffin's Roost was granted to Ronald Connington, and later inherited by Roland Connington.

In the castle hall, the Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Zongdu of Pentos, Illyrio, was discussing the war with several Golden Company commanders and deputy commanders, as well as the inconspicuous Aegon VI.

"King's Landing has changed masters again; it used to be a lion in deer skin, now it's a rose in dragon skin," a deputy commander of the Golden Company, Quinn, introduced to his companions.

Because the new master of the Iron Throne basically had no base of his own in King's Landing, the vast majority of the leaders of the Seven Kingdoms believed that the Dragonrider was being manipulated by the Reachmen.

"Our situation is very dangerous; the Dragonrider is likely the biggest beneficiary of this war. Given his circumstances, the four kingdoms have already been taken; we might as well grab what we can and run."

Quinn believed they should capture a group of Stormlands peasants as slaves and then return to the eastern continent; after all, they were a mercenary company, not family soldiers fighting for the power of lords.

"Some contracts are written in ink, others are written in blood; supporting Aegon VI to become the King of the Seven Kingdoms is our established goal." The fat Illyrio waved his hand irritably, as if he could drive away his troubles this way.

However, the senior members of the Golden Company were not very optimistic about the current situation; in order to boost morale, the cheese-monger decided to throw out a few pieces of good news.

"You don't have to be so pessimistic; we have friends in King's Landing, and there are many of them. They are enough to pry open the gap between the Dragonrider and the Reachmen, just as the Dragonrider pried open the gap between the lions and the roses. Moreover, several Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Zongdu of Pentos also want to participate in the big business of slave trading; they will send us more mercenaries. The trap to capture Stannis has already been set, and the Stormlands will soon be ours."

Stormborn Daenerys Targaryen had caused a stir in Slaver's Bay, leaving behind several smoking city-states; only Meereen was still operating normally, but the Meereen controlled by Daenerys did not allow slavery, which almost interrupted the slave trade.

Jon Connington listened to the fat man's words and felt more and more that something was wrong.

"We are letting His Grace Aegon VI ascend the throne again, not letting Westeros become a feeding ground for slave traders; I will never accept the behavior of mercenaries looting large numbers of peasants."

In the Battle of the Bells, this young Hand of the King, in order to protect the commoners from harm, did not choose to set fire to Stoney Sept.

Lord Tywin had once evaluated this person: killing innocent men, women, and children was too dishonorable for him, so he decided to kill Robert himself to win the war.

Illyrio looked at Jon Connington coldly, feeling that this person was too stubborn. "I have decided to send you to find Daenerys; her Unsullied and mercenaries are useful to us."

This person had already expressed his opposition to looting peasants as slaves many times, so Illyrio prepared to send him away for a period of time.

(End of this chapter)