Chapter 172: The Chaotic World Situation

Harrenhal, Hall of a Hundred Hearths.

Previously, the Riverlands Army had captured five thousand Reach camp followers and over four thousand soldiers near Hafo; these people were kept behind to repair the castle and its walls.

After the Reachmen proclaimed Arthur I, the soldiers of House Tyrell and their loyalist houses were released, but the camp followers continued to maintain the castle; their work included restoring the Hall of a Hundred Hearths to the style in which "Harren the Black" had originally built it.

Under the "encouragement" of soldiers wielding whips, the Reach camp followers did a truly good job; the stone floor of the Hall of a Hundred Hearths could now reflect light, and when the nobles gathered, all thirty-plus fireplaces could function, letting the firewood crackle and pop as it burned.

The nobles who had remained at Harrenhal for Arthur I's first wedding were all gathered together, watching Duke Mace Tyrell's passionate speech.

"... After sixteen years of chaos, House Targaryen has finally arrived at its loyal King's Landing..."

Originally, Arthur had prepared to march south to King's Landing immediately, hold the wedding quickly, and then take the Westerlands and the Stormlands, but Mace insisted on first using the captives from Golden Tooth and Riverrun to trade back the Reach nobles held by "Adam the Oarman."

His reason was that when his daughter Margaery married, she could not be without the witness of these vassals.

Furthermore, Mace prepared to hold a grand coronation ceremony for his son-in-law the King before the wedding, and wanted to have Alduin fly a few circles around the capital so that all the honored guests and commoners would know that the legitimate Targaryen had returned.

Arthur had originally refused; the royal family did not have much money, and although he had tens of thousands of Gold Dragons saved at Highgarden, they were meant to be used to arm the royal standing army.

But in order to have Arthur I's legitimacy recognized by the world, Mace was determined to hold a grand event, and promised that Highgarden and the Reach nobles would jointly bear the majority of the costs for the coronation ceremony and the wedding.

Since he wasn't paying for everything out of his own pocket anyway, the King reluctantly agreed.

At this moment, Arthur sat on the throne on the high platform, whispering with Sansa, who was sitting in a chair to the side, about Duke Mace Tyrell's behavior.

"According to this Lord Tyrell's vision, your second wedding is far too extravagant and wasteful!" Sansa remarked from the bottom of her heart.

After Lady Stoneheart had enlightened her for a night, the Lady of Stark was no longer resistant to her husband's second marriage.

Although Sansa might privately show a side of displeasure, in such a public setting with many people, she still pretended to be intimate with her husband.

According to what the Lady of Stark said when she and Arthur bickered, she was the Lady of Harrenhal, would be the Lady of Riverrun in the future, and possibly even the Lady of Winterfell, so how could she take a mere little girl from the Reach seriously.

At the time of Arthur's first wedding, the Blackfish Brynden Tully had not managed to attend, but he had arrived later and presented Sansa with an expensive jewelry tiara, though he had not given Arthur a gift.

Arthur had already left by then, so the Blackfish had quietly laid the truth out for his great-niece: his nephew Edmure would not survive this winter; after Edmure died, the nominal master of Riverrun would be the widowed Lady Roslin, and after Roslin, it would be Sansa or Sansa's heirs who inherited Riverrun.

Regarding the order of succession, Ser Blackfish promised that the sworn knights and soldiers of House Tully would only accept his arrangements, and the people of House Frey would have no way to interfere.

Sansa's relationship with her husband was actually closer than the Blackfish had imagined, and she had picked a suitable time to tell Arthur about this point.

Because she had land and a castle in her own name, Sansa felt she was a cut above Margaery, viewed this marriage with a calm heart, and sometimes even found the Rose family, who were preparing to make such a big fuss, ridiculous.

Looking at the spittle-flying Duke Mace, the Lady of Stark once again said with disdain: "It's as if his family has never produced a queen before; they want the whole Seven Kingdoms to know about holding a wedding. Who knows how much grain this wasted money could buy, or how many children could be given new clothes!"

After managing the affairs of Harrenhal for a period of time, she had a very clear understanding of money, grain, linen clothing, and other civilian goods, so she looked down upon such money-squandering behavior.

"This really is the first queen their family has produced." Arthur began to tell Sansa the background of the Rose family.

The Tyrells were the hereditary stewards of the Gardener Kings of the Reach; after the Conquest, Aegon I granted Highgarden to Harlan Tyrell and had the family serve as the liege lords of the Reach.

In the nearly two hundred years since then, the Rose family's decrees did not leave Highgarden, and the Reachmen held the Hightowers in highest esteem; around two hundred years after the Conquest, the Tyrells began to have influence over the Reach, until Olenna Redwyne married into Highgarden and facilitated the alliance of the three houses: Hightower, Redwyne, and Tyrell.

"In three hundred years, there haven't been many families that have produced a queen; letting his daughter become queen can be counted as one of Mace's heart-diseases," Arthur summarized.

Although the Queen of Thorns' ambition went far beyond this, with the Lannisters as a precedent, they might make a big fuss over the succession of the next king.

But Arthur had a way to defeat the enemy to avoid this situation:

Since they were the Dragon King family, the Crown Prince at least had to tame a dragon!

Therefore, he was not very worried about the matter of establishing an heir in the future, and would let the Rose family be happy (as the suckers) for a dozen years or so first.

"... Therefore, Arthur Targaryen I is the legitimate master of the Iron Throne, Protector of the Realm, and King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men~"

"My daughter, Margaery Targaryen, is his legitimate wife, the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms~"

Duke Mace almost roared these two sentences out.

Even though they were not yet married, he had already changed his daughter's surname to Targaryen.

Arthur was deeply convinced that he was rehearsing, and when the coronation ceremony arrived, Lord Tyrell would have to do this all over again.

In front of all the Jiaodu of the Reach who were present.

Just as the nobles were appreciating Duke Mace's performance, Lord William Mooton walked quickly toward the high platform.

"Your Grace, our cooperative Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Zongdu in Pentos has sent some bad news."

After bowing and saluting, he handed the slip of paper in his hand to Podrick Payne, who had come to meet him.

The latter presented it to the King with both hands.

Arthur opened the slip of paper, and Sansa leaned her face over to look along with her husband.

"... Tyrion Lannister's ransom... the election in Volantis... the plea for help from Myr... the wavering of Pentos..."

After reading the brief Common Tongue on the slip, Arthur muttered to himself: "What kind of terrible things are these!"

With a wave of his hand, he had Lord Mooton, who was already informed, tell all four pieces of news to the vassals.

William Mooton first bowed and saluted, then turned to relay these matters to the group of nobles.

The first matter was naturally the news about Tyrion Lannister; he had been gotten hold of by the Pentos Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Zongdu Narnia Jaskis, who demanded that the Western Continent send fifty thousand old Gold Dragons to cover Tyrion Lannister's protection expenses and room and board.

Once the lords of Westeros paid the money, Narnia would return this famous dwarf.

"This Narnia must be mistaken, we are currently at war with the Lannisters."

"How can there be a king paying a ransom for a traitor and a rebel?"

Numerous nobles expressed their positions one after another; these people were primarily Riverlands nobles, and they couldn't wait to kill the members of the Lion family, so how could they agree to pay a "ransom" for Tyrion Lannister.

"Quiet!" Arthur first shouted to stop the vassals' discussion, and then stated his own thoughts.

"The false king's decree for Kingsguard Jaime to take off his white cloak does not conform to the laws of the kingdom, so I intend to send Jaime Lannister to the Wall to serve in the Night's Watch. Then Tyrion is the legitimate heir to Casterly Rock; although Kevan and the other Westerners have rebelled, Tyrion has not yet stated his position, so we can listen to his opinion first. As for the fifty thousand Gold Dragons, let House Tyrell advance the payment for now, and once we take the Westerlands, we will take an equivalent value and reasonable interest from Casterly Rock to repay them in full."

The Kingsguard was a Targaryen tradition, and Arthur intended to do everything according to the rules of the last three hundred years; the King could not order a white-cloaked knight or a member of the Night's Watch to abandon their status.

As for Tyrion, he was a smart man and knew how to choose.

Arthur kept him, firstly for his administrative talent, and secondly to prepare for the capture of Casterly Rock.

That rock castle hidden between giant stones and gold mines was known as the one that never falls, and its fame had even reached the Blue Star of Arthur's previous life.

For instance, on a certain Q&A site, there was a well-known user with the ID "Casterly Rock Never Falls," and because they could often unearth all kinds of bizarre comments from netizens, "Casterly Hall" was also called the Director of the Q&A Site Toilet.

In Arthur's previous life, he often found amusement in the Director's updates, and he called it "going to the office to handle business."

Back to the main topic.

After the two armies attack, Kevan and the Westerlands Army will likely hold Casterly Rock, and this is where Tyrion needs to play his part.

Tyrion Lannister once oversaw the improvement of the sewage system in Casterly Rock and can find a secret path to lead soldiers into the city.

"Very well, I will make the lions who always pay their debts pay enough interest." After the King's son-in-law spoke, Mace Tyrell was very willing to do this.

The first matter was passed just like that.

Lord William Mooton continued to announce the second matter: "According to reliable intelligence, Volantis is about to hold an election for Magisters, and the situation of two Elephants and one Tiger is likely to be broken. Among the current Magisters, only one, Dophas Panymion, has not indicated his stance; the other two Magisters have already declared their hostility toward the Dragon Queen Daenerys. If Dophas fails to be re-elected, Volantis will likely launch a great war again, simultaneously attacking the Three Daughters and Daenerys, the Prince of Slaver's Bay."

Lord Mooton, the representative of the Dragon Party family, has already referred to Daenerys Stormborn as a Prince.

The second matter was much trickier.

Volantis is known as the eldest daughter of the Valyrian Freehold, the Queen of the Rhoyne, and the master of the Summer Sea. Its port is the most prosperous in the known world; the center of global maritime trade is here. Trade goods such as silk from Yi Ti, spices from Qarth, and female slaves from Slaver's Bay can only be sold to the West through here.

This city-state has the most powerful land forces among the Free Cities; even in peacetime, it maintains a standing army of one hundred thousand Jiu Nulvbing—known to outsiders as the Tiger Cloaks.

Speaking of this, one must introduce the comparison between the military forces of the Free Cities and Westeros.

In the entire known world, according to morale and organizational level, all armies can be divided into four tiers (this is not a ranking of combat capability).

The first tier is the famous Unsullied, positioned as light infantry, equipped with breastplates, shields, spears, and spiked helmets.

This group of slave soldiers was born in Astapor, castrated from a young age, and then fed special drugs to ensure normal physical development.

They know not what pain or fear is, and they obey orders absolutely.

The reason the Unsullied are ranked in the first tier is that they can accept a ninety-nine percent combat casualty rate.

That is to say, in a field battle, even after one hundred Unsullied are reduced to one, they can still continue to fight for their master.

The most glorious record of the Unsullied known is three thousand Unsullied holding off an attack by fifty thousand Dothraki.

The only thing that can match them in morale is the army of Wights commanded by the Others.

The Ironborn of the Iron Islands are slightly inferior.

The second tier is the main professional armies of the first and second-tier families of Westeros, generally heavy infantry and heavy cavalry in full armor, commanded by nobles and Sworn Knights.

Their equipment may be the best in the world, but they cannot ignore pain and the death of their companions beside them.

In field battles, provided the general has not fallen and the lord has not been killed or captured, the main armies of first and second-tier families can accept a sixty to seventy percent combat casualty rate; soldiers of some wealthy families can do even better, fighting until only the last few dozen remain before fleeing.

After the lord is captured or the general is killed, this tier of army can accept at most a fifty percent combat casualty rate; after that, they surrender or flee as the situation dictates.

The third tier consists of the ragtag armies of the first and second-tier families of the Western Continent (mainly conscripted trained farmers), as well as the soldiers of third, fourth, and fifth-tier families and most Landed Knights. Their equipment is inferior to the second tier, and their morale and combat effectiveness are far worse.

In a single battle, after the general is killed, if only twenty to thirty percent of their companions are seriously injured or killed, the soldiers will rout and flee.

The North and Dorne are not included in this; regardless of family size or the quality of their equipment, the morale of their soldiers is very high.

The fourth tier is the Tiger Cloaks of Volantis.

As slaves, a considerable portion of them have been castrated.

In terms of equipment, the upper limit of the Tiger Cloaks is the heavy cavalry of Westeros, and the lower limit is the screaming warriors of the Dothraki—only one weapon, no armor, and no warhorse.

Their morale is also far inferior; in field battles, as long as five to ten percent of the soldiers are seriously injured or killed, the entire army will rout.

But what is annoying is that these Jiu Nulvbing have been indoctrinated from childhood with the idea that they cannot survive without their masters; therefore, after a rout, most Jiu Nulvbing can return to the officers—who are Free Folk of Volantis—and reorganize for the next battle.

They are like cockroaches that cannot be killed.

Of course, the complexity of troop types in this world far exceeds this, and the above classification is only valid for field battles; special situations such as boarding actions in naval battles and siege warfare are not included.

Although the morale of the Volantis Jiu Nulvbing is poor and their combat capability is not outstanding, they win by having an extremely large number of soldiers.

The city-state usually has three Magisters: two Elephants and one Tiger; the Elephant Party advocates conquering the world through trade, while the Tiger Party advocates conquering the world through force.

After Daenerys publicly stated that she would abolish Jiu Nulvzhi and took action against cities like Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen, the Free Folk of Volantis prepared to elect the hardline Tiger Party to power.

By then, all of Volantis might field two or three hundred thousand Jiu Nulvbing to attack Free Cities like Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh, and actively participate in the Golden Company's slave-catching operations. Of course, they will collude even more with forces like Yunkai and New Ghis to send troops to attack Daenerys, who is stationed in Meereen.

"If nothing unexpected happens, Illyrio has likely already gone to Volantis to seek an alliance; we must be prepared to fight them."

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(End of chapter)