Chapter 181: The Eve of the Wedding

The Red Keep, outside the Godswood.

This is a grove of elm, alder, and poplar trees, connected to the Red Keep's Huayuan, overlooking the mouth of the Blackwater River.

Though called a Godswood, it contains no Weirwood; a large oak in the center of the grove serves as the Heart Tree, its branches overgrown with smokeberry vines.

At this moment, dozens of selected young nobles and some of the few remaining Reach Knights are holding an archery competition outside the Godswood; five human-shaped targets stand at the edge of the woods, and the archers take turns demonstrating their skills.

Only the champion receives a prize, and according to the Kingsguard Commander Anguy Bracken, the prize is highly likely to be a pair of Dragon-skin Gloves.

Gloves made from the molted skin of Alduin, the only Dragon currently existing in Westeros.

Any knowledgeable noble should know that every part of a Dragon is a treasure; Dragonbone has an extremely high iron content, and bows made from it are peerless; Dragon-skin is incomparably tough, and ordinary arrows cannot pierce it.

The Dragon-skin Gloves are one thing, but the attention of the King and his courtiers is another.

Arthur I, wearing black Dragon-skin Armor, sits with several courtiers and high lords on a raised wooden platform, pointing at the competing contestants.

This is enough to make this group of young men incredibly excited.

The marksman Anguy, who has been granted the surname Bracken, stands beside the platform, analyzing the strength of the contestants for the King and the high lords.

"This Leon of House Wylde is using the longbow most common in the six northern kingdoms; judging by his physique and posture, he should be a trained archer."

Anguy is a Dornishmen, so he naturally calls the other six kingdoms the North.

The longbow in his mouth is made from a single piece of wood nearly 6 feet long; if an archer draws the bowstring to their chin or ear, it can generate nearly one hundred pounds of tension, enough to shoot an arrow two hundred and fifty yards away, and still pierce the clothing of an enemy at that distance.

Arthur nods and says loudly: "This Leon is good; you can ask him if he wants to join the Kingsguard."

Among the royal military forces, the Kingsguard stationed in Maegor's Holdfast are the first layer, the Kingsguard stationed in the Red Keep are the second layer, and the third layer is the King's Landing City Watch, who are also responsible for maintaining order in the capital.

Limited by the size of the Red Keep, whether it was the Targaryen Dynasty or Robert's short-lived dynasty, the size of the Kingsguard was only maintained between five hundred and one thousand men.

According to Arthur's plan, the Kingsguard being formed this time will have seven hundred soldiers, just enough to defend the Red Keep.

And among these seven hundred men, the one hundred Stark infantry brought by Sansa can be incorporated.

Previously at Harrenhal, Mace Tyrell selected one hundred and fifty elite Cavalry from the four thousand released soldiers, saying it was for his own protection and that of his daughter who is about to become Queen.

According to the rules of the previous dynasty, the Hand of the King could keep fifty soldiers in the Red Keep; of the remaining one hundred, half were permitted by Arthur to stay as Margaery's guards.

These fifty men must naturally also be incorporated into the Kingsguard for unified command.

The other half were filled into the King's Landing City Watch; their equipment is fine and uniform, and they can serve as a ceremonial guard when necessary.

And among the one thousand men brought by Dickon, Arthur selected two hundred and fifty soldiers of the third rank and above to be royal guards.

That is to say, there are still three hundred spots left in the Kingsguard.

By convention, younger sons of minor nobles and Bastards of great families would enter this guard, so Arthur I ordered this archery competition to be organized, preparing to select men from it.

According to his plan, the remaining three hundred must all be Crossbowmen; after a round of arrow rain, any enemy would be shot into a hedgehog.

The physical body of the Three-Eyed Crow, the Bloodraven, once formed a guard consisting entirely of archers: the Raven's Teeth.

The combat record of the Raven's Teeth was quite brilliant; Daemon Blackfyre, one of the initiators of the Blackfyre Rebellion, died under the arrow rain of the Raven's Teeth.

Arthur dares not say his guard can have the strength of the Raven's Teeth, but he still wants to set a high standard.

Seek the best, and you will get the middle; seek the middle, and you will get the worst.

Therefore, he appointed the marksman Anguy as the Commander of the Kingsguard and had him take charge of training all the Kingsguard soldiers.

As for Leon, who was just favored by the King, the House Wylde he comes from is one of the minor vassal families of Harrenhal.

The late Lady Whent had a Sworn Knight named Werry Wylde, but it is unknown where he is now; he may have died on the battlefield. House Wylde has a wealthy branch that is the master of Meiren Jishi.

Coming from the Riverlands, and his family being Sansa's vassals, Arthur can use him with confidence.

The King's voice was not small, so naturally, some busybody passed these words to the ears of the person concerned.

Leon, who was named and praised by the King, was naturally overjoyed; before the competition ended, he was already holding his head high, looking every bit the winner.

The people around him had no objections to the appearance he showed; instead, they cast envious glances.

In the minds of this group of young people, being chosen by the King is already a great honor.

In the words of Arthur's previous life, it is the kind where the ancestral grave is built on a volcano.

The King was very satisfied with the reaction of this group; what he wanted was the effect of making them feel that being close to the King is an honor.

So-called honor is merely a means for a superior ruler to stimulate the potential of their subordinates.

The archery competition continued, but Arthur no longer had much interest in watching; he turned his head and asked: "What is the proportion of archers in your family armies?"

Innes Frey, Aurane Waters, Tristan Rivers, Dickon Tarly, and others spoke all at once, answering the King's doubts.

"In my family, only standard Cavalry units have permanent archers; that is, one Knight leads one hundred and thirty-four Cavalry, one hundred and five Attendants, and nineteen mounted archers, one trumpeter, and one farrier."

The bald Innes replied.

The horses of the mounted archers are only to assist the soldiers in movement; it does not mean they can shoot arrows while on horseback.

Lord Aurane Waters of the Reach also stated his family's situation:

"Longtable and The Twins are a bit different. We concentrate archers in infantry groups, generally divided by hundreds. As for the most expensive Cavalry, generally ninety riders are paired with ninety Attendants; their main weapon is the Lance, and the remaining eighteen are mounted crossbowmen, plus one Knight Commander and one trumpeter to assist."

There is no farrier in this family's Cavalry unit; it is possible that his family is wealthy and has a unified logistics team in the army.

Arthur asked curiously: "What kind of crossbow? A crossbow?"

According to his understanding of the Game of Thrones world, the crossbows heavily equipped in the army can only be crossbows.

A crossbow, also called a cross-bow, uses a shorter device to project bolts; the crossbow is attached with a so-called trigger mechanism, the structure of which can help the archer complete the cocking; the reason this structure is needed is because cocking such a short string is exceptionally strenuous. The cocking mechanism may be a winch type or a crank type.

In addition, Myr specializes in several types of winch crossbows, the top of which can shoot three arrows at once.

But the Myrish Triple Crossbow is very expensive and can only be a toy for nobles, not suitable for military use.

"Yes, the ones used in the army are generally crossbows." The bald Innes answered first.

The other two lords nodded in agreement, but a trace of contempt for Folei Marquess still flashed in their eyes.

"How 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 couldn't speak; he was stunned for a while and said sheepishly: "I really haven't paid attention to it; the craftsmen in The Twins can produce them themselves, so I suppose the cost is not very high."

It was Dickon who gave a reference price.

"I recall it should be between one hundred and fifty Silver Stags and two hundred and eighty Silver Stags! If the craftsmen under one's own name can produce them, it can be even cheaper," the Tarly heir said.

Arthur nodded, feeling that this price was truly acceptable.

In the time of the legendary Knight Duncan the Tall, a "simple and unadorned" set of armor, including chainmail, a gorget, a neck guard, and an iron helm, would cost seven hundred and fifty Silver Stags plus a pile of sundries, roughly equivalent to eight hundred Silver Stags.

That is to say, nearly four Gold Dragons.

Chainmail is sufficient as armor for a crossbowman, and adding the cost of the crossbow, the initial arming would only cost five or six old Gold Dragons.

Of course, the power of the crossbow must be pushed to the maximum.

There are quite a few Maesters who can improve the ballista; Arthur felt he could summon a group of Maesters to research and create a cheap winch-driven crossbow.

The power should be set at around a thousand pounds.

According to Arthur's memory, the power of this thousand-pound class winch crossbow is roughly between the waist-drawn crossbow, the foot-drawn crossbow, and the winch-drawn crossbow of his past life, and the extreme range of the latter three types of crossbows is between three hundred paces and seven hundred paces.

By the Tang system, one pace is five feet, which is 1.514 meters; three hundred paces is 452.4 meters, and the furthest seven hundred paces is 1,059 meters—that would be a miracle that only a ballista-level giant crossbow could create.

Regardless, the requirements for using a crossbow are much lower than for an archer; as long as the accuracy is high, the speed of forming an army can also be much faster.

"Dickon, you are responsible for finding some reliable carpenters and going to see Maester Qyburn to discuss how to create a low-cost, high-power, and portable large crossbow. In addition, the ballista must also be improved; the more powerful, the better. It will be useful in future wars."

Arthur gave the order to Dickon, who was standing to the side.

But the Tarly heir clearly had his own ideas.

"Your Grace, can I follow Balon Swann's army to the Wall? I want to go see my brother Samwell." Dickon did not refuse the King's order, but he proposed another request.

Arthur I paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement, "What a touching display of brotherly love. Let it be after my wedding. As for the matter of finding craftsmen to improve the crossbows, let Lord Tristan Rivers be responsible."

The Lord of Willow Wood, who was called upon, agreed on the spot.

The King thought for a while and suddenly said, "By the way, Dickon, I have an important task to entrust to you."

If he went north to see Samwell, he would certainly be able to come into contact with the Horn of Winter.

According to rumors, this horn can blow down the magic of the Wall and cause it to collapse.

Although the Horn of Winter has never been tested, the Wall cannot withstand a single experiment, so this horn must be kept in the hands of the living.

Arthur felt that this should be the most suitable opportunity to recover the Horn of Winter.

He signaled for Dickon to lean his ear in, then whispered, "Your brother has a horn in his possession; you are responsible for getting it and bringing it back to me."

Samwell is very kind; if his own younger brother goes to see him, he should give him a gift.

Dickon was full of confusion, but he still agreed.

To give him motivation for this important matter, Arthur also added an insurance policy.

"If you bring the Horn of Winter back, I will bestow Lady Forlorn upon you."

Ever since Lord Randyll Tarly reunited with the son who had run away from home for over a year, his family's Valyrian Steel Sword "Heartsbane" had been taken back by the Master of Laws.

And Dickon had always wanted to carry a Valyrian Steel Sword, so naturally, he felt unsatisfied in his heart.

As for Arthur himself, after conquering the Westerlands and Casterly Rock, the Stark family's ancestral sword "Ice" would come into his hands.

Queen Sansa did not yet know the news that Bran and Rickon were alive, and most of the North was still in the hands of the Bolton family and their vassal forces, so Arthur did not state it clearly.

Therefore, Queen Stark should not object to her husband inheriting this sword of Duke Eddard.

Lady Forlorn is longer and thinner than a hand-and-a-half sword; Arthur is uncomfortable using it, so the two-handed greatsword "Ice" is more suitable for him.

Upon hearing this, light immediately appeared in Dickon's eyes.

"I will certainly not fail Your Grace's trust."

The archery competition continued until the afternoon; the champion was the second son of a minor house in the Reach, named Danwell Fossoway, from the Green Apple Fossoway family.

His performance even made Anguy click his tongue in praise.

After the King asked him if he wanted to join the Kingsguard, Danwell immediately agreed.

So Arthur bestowed upon him the rumored Dragon-skin Gloves.

"These were made from Alduin's molted skin; you won't find a few pairs in the whole world. Now I give them to you as a gift for being the archery champion," the King said as such.

Podrick, who was serving on the side, held the prepared tray in front of Danwell Fossoway, and the latter excitedly picked up the Dragon-skin Gloves and kissed them.

These are things from a Dragon!

The group of young people around were also very envious; if the King and the courtiers had not been far away, they could have squeezed to Danwell's side on the spot to touch the Dragon's skin.

On the way, Marquess Innes, who was following the King back to the council chamber, flattered him, "Your Grace, are there any more Dragon-skin Gloves? Could you bestow a pair upon me?"

Arthur looked back at him with amusement, "How could there be more? Dragons don't produce dragon skin specifically."

The skin that Alduin molted outside Harrenhal was only enough to make one set of leather armor, which is currently being worn by Arthur.

The remaining scraps were used to make three pairs of Dragon-skin Gloves: one for the King himself, one just bestowed upon someone, and the last pair Arthur intends to keep at the bottom of the chest, not to be taken out unless absolutely necessary.

But this Folei Marquess is still quite greedy, so Arthur I must appease him.

"If your family performs a merit that is neither too small nor too large, when Alduin molts again, I will see if I can make a pair of Dragon-skin Gloves for you."

Innes's eyes immediately lit up, and he asked excitedly, "What counts as a merit that is neither too small nor too large? Please, Your Grace, enlighten me."

The King had not thought it through yet and could only perfunctorily reply, "We'll talk about it when we encounter it."

In the council chamber, the several Jiaodu of the Riverlands who had arrived one after another were waiting to have an audience with the King; they had come to attend the upcoming second royal wedding.

After Arthur consulted with the Queen of Thorns, the latter believed that since there was no need for the High Septon to crown them, and the wedding did not require a Septon to preside over the oath ceremony, the grand wedding and coronation ceremony of Arthur I and Queen Margaery could be combined into one, and it could be held more decently at that time.

Although it only cost three-tenths of the expense, Arthur, who needed to save money to build an army, was naturally happy to accept. The grand wedding was thus decided, and the specifics would be handled by Mace Tyrell and Randyll Tarly.

After the date was set, more and more nobles arrived, preparing to attend the King's wedding and take the opportunity to swear allegiance.

(End of chapter)