Chapter 19: You'll Know Later

At this moment, Arthur, who was being kept in mind by Daren, was ferrying across the river with five hundred borrowed soldiers.

One passing cargo ship, and three small boats under the name of the main Bracken house.

Last night, after dark, they arrived at a ferry on the Red Fork and set up camp.

Coincidentally, a cargo ship traveling between King's Landing and the Riverlands was docked at the ferry, and its hold was only half full.

If these goods were cleared out, it would be enough to squeeze in three hundred and sixty soldiers.

And on the south bank, there were quite a few small cargo boats belonging to Stone Hedge—usually used for consolidating various handicrafts and ferrying people—that could be summoned over.

While the main force rested, Andrew sent men to search for boats along the south bank, eventually finding three larger ones that could carry the remaining one hundred and forty-three people across the river.

Crossing the river directly could save time and allow the soldiers to conserve their strength.

If they were to take five hundred soldiers around to that bridge in the west and then head east along the riverbank, it might take an extra day.

This would be very disadvantageous for Arthur.

Blackwood House might send more soldiers to retrieve their heir to the earldom.

Fortunately, their Raventree Hall was near the Red Fork, and it would take time for a large number of infantry to arrive.

Compared to the Westerlands, the Riverlands had more powerful lords, and each house was of equal strength, so the Tully family could not unify the Riverlands.

The fish house could not afford to support too many cavalry units.

Even the liege lord family did not have a large amount of cavalry, so how could the vassals under them have any?

According to Arthur's plan, after using the main house's troops to drive away the hundred-plus soldiers outside the family castle this time, he would take Brynden Blackwood all the way west along the Red Fork to Riverrun.

Furthermore, he would preserve the evidence of them posing as bandits and have Edmure preside over justice for Arthur.

For the eldest son of a dignified second-tier noble to pose as a bandit—if word got out, it would make people in big places like King's Landing and Oldtown laugh to death.

Presumably, Lord Tytos could not afford to lose that much face.

At that time, it would most likely be handled privately.

Lord Tytos would give Arthur a hush-money payment so that this embarrassing affair would not spread.

This was also the optimal solution Arthur could think of at the moment.

When it came down to it, his own power was still too small.

If Arthur had one thousand soldiers, even if Brynden were given ten times the courage, he would not dare to play like this.

"What beautiful scenery," Andrew squeezed to Arthur's side and said toward the calm surface of the Red Fork.

"It's a pity it won't be beautiful for many more days," Arthur also sighed somewhat.

Right at the confluence of the lower Red Fork and the Trident, there was a well-known Inn at the Crossroads.

It was precisely there that Lady Catelyn Stark, after revealing her identity, gathered a group of passing minor Riverland lords and family soldiers to kidnap Tyrion Lannister.

This matter, along with her later releasing Jaime Lannister, could be ranked as the two most brain-dead actions of Aunt Cat.

Because her nickname was Cat, she was called Aunt Cat.

The act of kidnapping the Imp instantly ignited the fury of Lord Tywin.

Even though Robert was still alive at this time, Tywin had already gathered tens of thousands of troops from the Westerlands, stationed them south of the Riverlands along the Golden Road, eyeing them covetously, and simultaneously dispatched The Mountain, Gregor Clegane, to pillage the vast, flat region from the Red Fork to the Gods Eye.

Arthur vaguely remembered that three Bracken soldiers also responded to Catelyn's call and followed the party kidnapping the Imp to the Vale.

And what was fatal was that this party was attacked by the Mountain Clans, and all three Bracken soldiers died one after another.

And the mercenary Bronn was also among them.

After arriving at the Eyrie, the summer residence of the liege lord of the Vale, Aunt Cat did not give those who accompanied her sufficient rewards.

Catelyn's sister, the current controller of the Vale, Lysa Arryn, also did not show any appreciation.

The "lucky" Bronn defected right then and there, helping the Imp win the Trial by Combat.

After this, the two left the Eyrie, subdued the Mountain Clans on the road, and led them to reach the main army of the Lannister family.

Subsequently, the Imp, Bronn, and the Mountain Clansmen served as the vanguard, engaging the sixteen thousand infantry of the North led by Roose Bolton.

If Aunt Cat hadn't kidnapped the Imp, perhaps these things wouldn't have happened.

Of course, after King Robert died, things would definitely become chaotic, but the alliance between the Riverlands and the North had no fundamental conflict with the Lannister family and should not have come to blows.

The ones who should have truly fought were the Westerlands supporting Joffrey, the Dragonstone of Stannis, and the Stormlands of Renly.

Because these three houses all claimed to be King of the Seven Kingdoms, while House Stark only claimed to be King in the North.

"Your words imply something; could you be more specific?" Andrew asked, puzzled.

"I prophesy that war is about to break out in the Riverlands," Arthur suddenly felt he should play the mystic.

He knew the vast majority of the subsequent plot; as long as he could get a few things right, it would be easy for him to be regarded as a true god walking on earth.

This was a business with ten thousand times the profit—ah, no, it was making money with zero capital.

One must know that in the Game of Thrones world, there was no shortage of nobles who would stir up strange things to revive magic.

The fanaticism of nobles toward magic and prophecy was something commoners could not imagine.

For example, Aegon V burned Duncan Targaryen and Duncan the Small, as well as many courtiers, at Summerhall on the border of the Stormlands and Dorne, just to hatch a Dragon Egg using Black Magic.

Duncan Targaryen was a famous Knight, and Duncan the Small was the Crown Prince of Aegon V.

Or take the familiar Queen Cersei—a famous beauty of the Seven Kingdoms, not the square-faced, sallow-skinned middle-aged woman in the show—who received three prophecies from a witch with her best friend when she was young.

To cover up these three prophecies, Cersei killed her best friend, but the prophecies still came true.

It is worth mentioning that the granddaughter of that witch was the nurse whom Robb Stark later fell in love with.

As long as Arthur reasonably utilized his understanding of Game of Thrones, being a mystic would be no problem at all.

Andrew was very surprised, "Why would you think so? House Blackwood and we have looked at each other with disdain for thousands of years, but we still haven't been able to wipe each other out. From a historical perspective, this incident is just a minor matter."

Arthur chuckled; it turned out Andrew thought the war he prophesied was the dispute between the two houses of Bracken and Blackwood.

That was too small-minded.

He shook his head in disagreement, "It's not that. In a dream, I saw a great noble lady kidnap the son of a liege lord, which led to a great war between two kingdoms, and furthermore, I clearly saw three Bracken soldiers die in this kidnapping case."

The most important thing about playing the mystic is to be vague yet have a very strong sense of direction.

This description looks clear enough in hindsight, but right now it is a hazy painting.

"Do you often have dreams?" Andrew was even more confused; the kidnapping of a liege lord's son was a major event.

Furthermore, within the Seven Kingdoms, there are not many liege lords' sons who can reach the Riverlands, and counting them up, only Edmure comes often.

Arthur smiled mysteriously, "Believe it or not, you will know in about two or three months."

PS: The prequel to Ice and Fire is so hard to chew through; I spent all day reading it and almost got dizzy from all the different people with the same names.

Seeking recommendation votes and monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)