Dominate the Game of Thrones with Mount and Blade

Chapter 191 Guardian of Two Realms

The meeting in the commander's tent continued, but the king encountered a lot of trouble.

The nobles from all over the country, led by Garlan Tyrell, Alysanne Redford, and Kevan Lannis, clearly opposed the king's establishment of the Golden Tooth City as a direct royal territory.

"Your Majesty, this kind of thing has never happened before. It is equivalent to completely depriving the Redford family of their territory and removing their noble titles."

Tyrion also reminded him tactfully.

Before Arthur spoke, the Dragon Queen on the side couldn't help but said, "Doesn't the king even have this little power?"

Daenerys was rampant in the Slaver's Bay. She was used to being a crab. The Unsullied under her basically executed her orders 100%. Naturally, she was not used to her vassals speaking out against the king's proposal.

Garlan, the untitled Earl of Brightwater, taught the fake aunt and nephew a lesson:

"Your Majesty, power is not about what you can do, but what you cannot do. Responsibilities are equal to obligations. Even during the time of Aegon the Conqueror, he was unusually lenient to the surrendered nobles. Apart from kneeling, has King Torrhen Stark ever been harassed?"

He pointed at Lady Alysanne Redfort, a middle-aged woman who looked to be in her 40s. "According to the prevailing inheritance law, Lady Alysanne is the Lord of the Golden Tooth, and her descendants have the right of inheritance. If you marry the lady and then incorporate the Golden Tooth into the royal territory, we have no objection, but you want the territory on the one hand, and you want the members of the Redfort family to wander on the other hand, which is illegal. I think that in your kingdom, the property of any noble or civilian should be protected by law."

Not only the westerlies who were still captives, but even the River Bay nobles who had previously supported the king opposed this move.

The reason is very simple. The king can now deprive the lord of the Golden Tooth of his fiefdom without reason, and he can also seize the territories of other families in the future.

Once this precedent is set, it will be a disaster for families that are not strong but have more important territories.

Without even looking at it, Arthur knew that he did not want to marry an old Lady Redford again.

He glanced at Prince Oberyn, "Do you Dornish people think so too?"

In terms of these things, the Red Viper can represent Prince Doran and the attitude of the entire Dorne.

"In Dorne, we will not rob other people's property." Oberyn crossed his arms and said in a low voice.

Arthur I suddenly felt uncomfortable.

He had only drunk the wine of power for a while, and he had to taste the lees.

If the non-submission family is punished according to rebellion, other pro-king and neutral families will not have much objection, but if the king acts recklessly, the ruling class will let Arthur, who is the king for the first time, know what the prevailing rules are.

Even a powerful king like Jaehaerys I had to make peace with the church and the Hightower family in order to stabilize his rule. In the later period of his rule, he had to allow Otto Hightower and other nobles from the Oldtown to attend the imperial meeting.

If Arthur's kingdom was conquered bit by bit and then divided among his trusted subordinates promoted from the common people, he would not have to worry about the opinions of these nobles.

Because his legal principles were established by himself, not supported by the great nobles.

But this path does not work in Westeros. The common people in a territory basically submit to the same family for hundreds or thousands of years. Unless the lord is too cruel, he will not care about other nobles at all.

Don't think that the people of the territory don't care who rules him. Generally speaking, they are small groups that can be subdivided into infinite categories, such as craftsmen, stonemasons, farmers, craftsmen, millers, laundrywomen, farriers, linen workers, shepherds, etc. Many things in the noble territory can only be carried out by the people of the territory after the permission of the family head, such as hunting and shepherding in the woods.

Hunting without the permission of the lord will be called a poacher, and in the worst case, the lord may exile him to the Great Wall to be a brother of the Night's Watch.

It is because the nobles have taken all the power in the territory into their hands that the people feel that they have received the grace of the lord and remain loyal from generation to generation.

Robb Stark was supported as king by the nobles of the North, in addition to his combat ability, and he is the eldest son of Duke Eddard.

Identity, claim, and legal principle are what the nobles recognize.

Even if Arthur is a little cruel, overthrowing all the nobles, letting his men become earls in various places to rule and manage all the territories, there will be rounds of rebellion.

For example, the Starks of the North, the main branch of Winterfell, experienced the wolf dispute when Duke Rickard Stark was left alone, but the branches of the North are not all over the place, but there are still 1,800 people.

There is no shortage of people who look very similar to Eddard in the Northern army.

And the large number of Arryns in Gulltown, the Lion family branches in Lannister Harbor, various distant relatives, and the Tyrell branches around Highgarden are too numerous to count.

Once the main family dies, these large number of branch members immediately claim that they have the right of inheritance, and with the approval of the Seven Gods or the Old Gods, they begin to organize military rebellion.

Moreover, in the process of the king clearing out the neutral hostile families, the so-called Dragon Party families that previously supported Arthur may turn against them on the spot. What they want is a king from the Targaryen dynasty, not a spoiler who completely overturns the chessboard.

Arthur I looked around at these great nobles and said slowly: "How about this, I will appoint a confidant to marry Lady Alysanne, and then let him inherit the Golden Tooth City, is this okay?"

The Golden Tooth City must be in the hands of one's own people. Once the gold mine is obtained, the value of a single fortress and the nearby barren territory will be much smaller.

Tyrion, who didn't know when he picked up the wine glass, shouted loudly: "Let's drink to our wise King Arthur I!"

Then he drank the entire glass of wine.

Only Prince Oberon was drinking with him, and the remaining nobles discussed for several minutes before they agreed with the king's plan.

Arthur looked left and right, and the only person who could be considered reliable and who was between thirty and forty years old was Bernard Brun.

This is a knight from the Crab Claw Peninsula. He should not be married yet. He has performed very well in defending the dragon's lair and this time in capturing Casterly Rock City.

"Sir Bennard, Lady Alexa, will you two become husband and wife?"

Bren looked at the already old Alexa with disgust and reluctantly nodded in agreement.

He had no idea about Golden Tooth City, he only knew that it was a castle inside a mountain.

The matron of the Redford family, Alexa glanced at the strong knight assigned to her by the king. Although her face was pretending to be cold, her heart was filled with joy.

Isn’t this much better than old man Leo?

She said slowly: "Your Majesty, the Seven Gods will remember your kindness, and our Redford family will never betray you."

Although she still calls herself Redford, after the two get married, the family coat of arms and clan name may change. It is up to them to decide how to change it.

After solving the problems between Golden Tooth City and the earl-level nobles, the next step is to make arrangements for the Lannister family.

"Now that Ser Jaime has donned the white robe, Tyrion Lannister is the heir of Casterly Rock. I declare that from this moment on, Tyrion is the Duke of Casterly Rock and the Warden of House Lannister. The current House of Lannister All the territory and assets he owns will be inherited by him.”

Although the little devil was already half drunk, after hearing the king's appointment, his chest heaved violently and his face turned rosy.

With a smile on his face, it was obvious that he was also looking forward to this result.

But what the king said next made him stop laughing.

"Since Lord Tyrion really wants to provide me with financial advice, he has to live in King's Landing permanently. As for Casterly Rock, Stafford Lannister serves as the acting city lord. At the same time, Ser Stafford is in the West. He will serve as the guardian of the West. If necessary, he can summon the army of the West in my name to defend against the invading Ironborn."

Stafford is an extremely mediocre middle-aged knight. Apart from the fact that Tywin is his brother-in-law, he has no other bright spots. Regardless of whether he governs the territory, commanders or organizes armies, he has had a disappointing experience of failure. .

With such people managing Casterly Rock and the West, Arthur I felt much more at ease.

Tyrion wanted to say something, but when he raised his head and saw Bennard Brun next to him, he swallowed his words silently.

This Bren was always with him, and he was not very smart. If he annoyed the king, Sir Bennard might offer his own head to make the king happy.

No nobles came out to object to this. Although they also looked down on the dwarf Tyrion, he was indeed the heir to Casterly Rock, and the king had no problem handling it.

"Where is my Margaery? Let her come to me." When it came time to deal with the matter of seizing the title of the Riverbend and the Tyrell family, King Arthur I asked his wife to come to him.

Margaery, who was wearing a beige robe, stood up from the chair behind the king and walked around to the king.

After she brought it to his lips, Arthur told her his thoughts and let her make a decision first.

"How about Vilas becoming the lord and Garland becoming the guardian of the southern border?"

This is the significance of marriage. If Margaery supports it, then the king's handling of the Reach will also be supported by most families including Tyrell.

After all, there are only a few second-tier nobles like Florent who are focused on climbing the ladder and Randyll Tali who only wants territory.

Margery exhaled like a blue breath, "Everything is at your command, Your Majesty."

So far, her husband's way of dealing with things has been quite strong, so Margaery has packaged herself to be softer.

Arthur nodded and asked her to sit aside.

"The eldest son of Duke Mace Tyrell, Willas Tyrell inherits the title of Duke of Highgarden, inherits the territory of the Tyrell family, and inherits the title of Lord of the River Bend."

"Considering that Duke Willas himself has limited mobility, Garland Tyrell, Earl of Brightwater City, has been appointed as the guardian of the Southern Territory, responsible for resisting the Ironborn and stabilizing the Southern Territory."

In a certain tournament, Willas was knocked off his horse by the red viper Prince Oberon, broke a leg, and lived in a wheelchair ever since.

The Guardians of the Four Realms including East, West, South and North are actually honorary titles. In order to make the kingdom sound more formal, the Lord of the Riverbend usually adds the title of Guardian of the South. However, the one who can really summon the army is still the Lord of the Riverbend. .

The nobles of Dorne and the Stormlands, who were both in the south, ignored the Southern Guardian and directly followed the orders of the prince and lord.

Garland, who was wearing a square coat of arms, walked out of the crowd. After saying a lot of scene words, he knelt down on one knee and placed his sword across his knees.

Arthur stood up, took Garland's sword, tapped his left and right shoulders twice, and then returned the sword to him.

The people of the Riverbend have a popular knight culture, so they have to do a set of allegiance actions on such occasions.

After roughly finishing the punishment for the Western Region, the nobles below the earl level and the Western Region captives were invited out, leaving the higher-status family governors to start discussing the specific reward list.

Aegon Leville, Earl of Bitterbridge Lorent Carthwell and others who were captured by the westerlands demanded compensation of considerable value, but were stopped by Garlan and others.

"Aenys the Bald was the first to pledge allegiance to me. The Freys performed quite well in several wars, so this time they have to get three viscounts, all in Crakewood."

The king pointed to the southern part of the westerlands.

The specific idea of ​​this promotion is to let the Freys and the Tyrells of the River Reach be granted in the westerlands.

The westerlands are too far away from the original territories of the families to be granted. Maintaining the initial rule will inevitably consume more family strength, including garrisoned soldiers, newly appointed law officers, village chiefs, and town mayors.

And those who are not the Freys in the Riverlands and those who are more inclined to the Iron Throne in the River Reach will be granted in the River Reach, that is, near the original territory.

The Riverlands have long been broken up, and after a round of purges by Queen Mother Cersei, many families in the River Reach have been vacant, which is enough for rewards.

At the end of the discussion, when the reward list was almost finalized, Arthur suddenly remembered something.

Rowan and the Oakheart family were the first to support Arthur, who was still the King of the Riverlands at the time, but they offended the Duke of Mace because of this.

Lord Inflatable Fish may not care about this kind of thing, but Willas and Garlan may have a grudge in their hearts and make trouble for the two families in the future.

"I remember that the Steadfast Tower is under the name of a small family of the Rowan family, right?"

Sir Saeus, representing the Rowan family, replied: "Yes, Your Majesty. The tower is still in the abandoned stage."

The Steadfast Tower is located between the Golden Tree City and the Ancient Oak City. It is a tower under the name of the Osgrey family. The last head of the family was Eustace Osgrey. The family died out before and after the Blackfyre Rebellion. Eustace's second wife was named Rohanne Webber.

It is worth mentioning that Rohanne is nicknamed the Red Widow. Eustace is her fifth husband, and the last husband is Gerald Lannister, the heir of Casterly Rock.

And Gerold's third son, Duke Tytus, is the father of Duke Tywin, the famous Laughing Lion.

"Very good, is it not too much for the royal family to build a palace there?"

In order to enhance the influence on Dorne, the Targaryen dynasty once built Summerhall on the border of the Stormlands as the family's summer palace.

Now Summerhall has been destroyed, and Dorne's importance has slightly decreased, and the Reach is the focus of attention.

So Arthur I plans to build an Autumn Palace here to strengthen the influence on the surrounding families.

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