Take the ride to dominate the game

Chapter 178 The Eve Of The Wedding
The Red Keep, outside the godswood.

It is a grove of elm, alder and aspen trees that adjoins the gardens of the Red Castle and overlooks the Blackwater Estuary.

It is said to be a godswood forest, but there are no weirwoods in it. The big oak in the middle of the forest is used as a heart tree, and its branches are covered with smokeberry vines.

At this moment, dozens of selected noble children and some of the remaining river bend knights are having an archery competition outside the godswood forest. Five human-shaped archery targets stand on the edge of the forest, and the archers show off their skills one by one.

Only the champion has a reward. According to Angai Bracken, captain of the royal guard, the reward is most likely a pair of dragon leather gloves.

Gloves made from the molted skin of Alduin, the only remaining dragon in Westeros.

Any knowledgeable nobleman should know that the whole body of a giant dragon is a good thing. The keel contains extremely high iron content, and the keel bow made of it is even more excellent; the dragon skin is extremely tough, and ordinary bows and arrows cannot penetrate it.

Dragonhide gloves are one thing, having the attention of the king and courtiers is another.

Arthur I, who was wearing black dragon leather armor, was sitting on a wooden platform with several courtiers and nobles, pointing fingers at the contestants.

This is enough to make this group of young people excited.

The sharpshooter Angai, who had been given the surname Bracken, stood beside the high platform, analyzing the strength of the contestants for the king and the nobles.

"This Li Ang of the Ward family is using the most common longbow in the Six Northern Realms. Judging from his size and posture, he should be a trained archer."

Angai was a Dornishman, so he naturally called the other six kingdoms the North.

The longbow in his mouth is made of a whole piece of wood nearly 6 feet long. If the archer pulls the bowstring to his chin or ear, it can generate a tension of nearly 250 pounds, which is enough to shoot the arrow [-] yards away. , and can still penetrate the clothing of enemies at this distance.

Arthur nodded, and said loudly: "This Li Ang is not bad, you can ask him if he wants to join the royal guard."

Among the military forces of the royal family, the Kingsguard Guard in Maegor's Tower is the first tier, the Royal Guard in the Red Keep is the second tier, and the third tier is the King's Landing Garrison. They are also responsible for maintaining order in the capital. .

Limited to the size of the Red Castle, whether it is the Targaryen dynasty or Robert's short-lived dynasty, the number of royal guards is only maintained at between 500 and 1000.

According to Arthur's vision, the royal guard formed this time would only have [-] soldiers, just enough to defend the Red Castle.

Among the 700 people, the [-] Stark infantry brought by Sansa can be incorporated.

When he was in Harrenhal earlier, the Duke of Metz selected 150 elite cavalry from the [-] released soldiers, saying that they were serving as personal guards for himself and the daughter who was about to become the queen.

According to the rules of the previous dynasty, the prime minister could keep fifty soldiers in the Red Castle, and half of the remaining 100 were allowed by Arthur to serve as Margaery's guards.

Naturally, these 50 people will also be incorporated into the Royal Guards so that they can be under unified jurisdiction.

The other half filled the King's Landing Garrison, well equipped and well equipped to serve as a guard of honor if necessary.

Among the 1000 people brought by Dickon, Arthur selected 250 soldiers of the third rank and above as royal guards.

In other words, there are still [-] places left in the royal guard.

According to the usual practice, the second sons of minor nobles and illegitimate sons of big families would join this guard, so Arthur I ordered people to organize this archery competition and prepared to select people from among them.

According to his vision, the remaining 300 people had to be crossbowmen. After a round of arrow rain, all enemies would be shot into hedgehogs.

The body of the Three-Eyed Raven, the Duke of Blood Raven, once formed a guard team full of archers: the Raven Tooth Guard.

The Raven's Tooth Guard's record is quite brilliant. One of the initiators of the Blackfyre Rebellion, Damon Blackfyre, died under the Raven's Tooth Guard's arrow rain.

Arthur didn't dare to say that his guards could have the strength of the Crow's Tooth Guard, but he still wanted to set a high standard.

Seek to be in the middle, and seek to be in the middle.

So he appointed the sharpshooter Angai as the captain of the royal guard and made him responsible for training all the soldiers of the royal guard.

As for Li Ang, who had just been favored by the king, the Ward family he came from was one of the small vassal families of Harrenhal.

The late Mrs. He'an had a sworn knight named Werley Ward, but now he doesn't know where he is, and he may have died on the battlefield.There is a rich relative branch of the Ward family, who is the owner of the beauty market.

Born in Riverland, and his family is Sansa's vassals, Arthur can use it with confidence.

The king's voice was not low, so it was natural that someone with good deeds would pass the words to the ears of the person concerned.

Li Ang, who was praised by the king, was naturally overjoyed. Before the game was over, he had already held his head high and looked like a winner.

The people around him didn't object to his appearance, but cast envious eyes instead.

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

In the words of Arthur's previous life, it was the kind where the ancestral grave was built on the crater.

The king was very satisfied with the reaction of this group of people, and what he wanted was to make them feel close and honorable to the king.

The so-called honor is just a means for the superior ruler to stimulate the potential of his subordinates.

The archery competition was still going on, but Arthur lost much interest in watching it. He turned his head and asked, "What is the percentage of archers in your family army?"

Aenys Frey, Orton Merryweather, Tristan Rigg, Dickon Tarly and others chattered and answered the king's doubts.

"My family is a standard cavalry team that has permanent archers. One knight leads 130 four cavalry, one hundred and five attendants, and nineteen horse archers, one trumpeter, and one farrier."

Bald Innes replied.

The horses of mounted archers only assist the soldiers to move, not that they can shoot arrows on the horses.

Earl Orton Merryweather of the Reach also told about his own situation:
"The Hall of the Long Table is a bit different from the City of the Twins. Our archers are concentrated in the infantry group, which is generally divided into centuries. As for the most expensive cavalry, there are usually ninety riders with ninety attendants. Their main weapons are all It is cavalry, and the remaining 18 people are cavalry crossbowmen, with a knight commander and a trumpeter to assist."

There is no farrier in the cavalry team of this family. It may be that his family is rich and powerful, and there is a unified logistics team in the army.

Arthur asked curiously, "What kind of crossbow is it? A crossbow?"

According to his understanding of the world of Game of Thrones, the crossbows that are widely deployed in the army can only be crossbows.

A crossbow is also called a crossbow. It uses a shorter device for projecting crossbow arrows. The crossbow is attached with a so-called crossbow. The structure of the crossbow can help the archer complete the winding. The reason why this structure is needed is because it is so short. String winding is extremely laborious.The winding mechanism may be in the form of a winch, or in the form of a crank.

In addition, there are several kinds of capstan crossbows produced by Myr, and the top one can shoot three arrows at a time.

However, the Mir triple crossbow was expensive and could only be a toy for the nobles, not suitable for use by the army.

"Yes, crossbows are generally used in the army." The bald-headed Innis quickly replied.

The other two earls nodded in agreement, but there was still a trace of contempt for Lord Frey in their eyes.

"How about the cost?" Arthur always wanted to build an elite army of crossbowmen, so he was very concerned about this issue.

This time the bald head couldn't speak anymore. He was stunned for a long time, and said awkwardly: "I really haven't paid attention to it. The craftsmen in Twin River City can produce it by themselves, so the cost is not very high."

Instead, Deacon gave a reference price.

"I remember it should be between 150 silver deer and 280 silver deer! If the craftsmen under my name can produce it, it can be cheaper." Tully's heir said.

Arthur nodded, feeling that the price was really acceptable.

When the legendary knight was tall Duncan, a set of "unpretentious" armor, including mail armor, throat guard, neck guard, and iron helmet, cost 750 silver deer plus a bunch of sundries, roughly equivalent to [-] pieces silver stag.

That is nearly four golden dragons.

The mail armor is enough for the crossbowman's armor, plus the cost of the crossbow, only five or six old gold dragons are needed for initial arming.

Of course, the power of the crossbow has to be great.

There are quite a few bachelors who can improve the bed crossbow, and Arthur thinks that a group of bachelors can be summoned to research and create a cheap capstan crossbow.

The power is about a thousand pounds.

According to Arthur's memory, the power of this thousand-pound winch crossbow was roughly between that of the waist-stretching crossbow, kick-stretching crossbow and winch crossbow in his previous life, and the limit range of the latter three crossbows was between [-] and [-] steps.

One step in the Tang Dynasty is five feet, which is 450 meters, three hundred steps is 59 [-] meters, and the farthest is [-] steps, which is [-] meters. A miracle created.

In any case, the requirements for the use of crossbows are much smaller than those of archers, as long as the accuracy is high, the speed of forming an army can be much faster.

"Dickon is in charge of finding some reliable carpenters and Bachelor of Science, and discusses how to make a low-cost, powerful crossbow that is suitable for one person to carry. In addition, the bed crossbow should also be improved, the more powerful the better. , it will be useful in future wars.”

Arthur ordered to Dickon who was beside him.

But the Tully heir apparently has ideas of his own.

"Your Majesty, can I go to the Great Wall with Balon Swann's army, I want to see my brother Samwell." Dickon did not refuse the king's order, but made another request.

King Arthur I was stunned for a moment, and nodded in agreement, "What an emotional brotherhood, it will be after my wedding. As for finding craftsmen to improve the crossbow, let Earl Tristan Leger be in charge."

The lord of Willow City who was called agreed on the spot.

The king thought for a while, then suddenly said, "By the way, Dickon, I have an important task for you."

If he went north to meet Fat Sam, he would be able to touch the Horn of Winter.

Rumor has it that this horn can blow off the magic of the Great Wall and cause it to collapse.

Although the Horn of Winter has never been practiced, the Great Wall of Impossibility cannot withstand a test, so this horn must be in the hands of living people.

Arthur felt that this time should be the most suitable opportunity to take back the Horn of Winter.

He motioned Dickon to put his ear closer, and then said in a low voice, "Your brother has a horn in his hand. You are responsible for coming here, and then bring it back to me."

Samwell was very kind, and his brother went to see him, and he should give him a gift.

Dickon was puzzled, but he still agreed.

In order to keep him motivated, Arthur also bought an insurance policy.

"You bring back the Horn of Winter, and I will reward you with Ms. Kong Ji."

Since Lord Randyll Tarly reunited with his son who had been away for more than a year, his Valyrian steel sword "Broken Heart" was taken back by the Minister of Justice.

And Dickon has always wanted to wear a tile-steel sword, but now he naturally feels uncomfortable.

As for Arthur himself, after capturing the West and Casterly Rock, the Stark family's sword "Ice" will be in his hands.

Queen Sansa didn't know the news of Bran and Rickon's survival, and most of the northern territory was still in the hands of the Bolton family and their vassal forces, so Arthur didn't say it clearly.

Therefore, Queen Stark should not object to her husband inheriting the sword from Duke Ed.

Ms. Kongji is slender and slender than the half-handed sword. Arthur is uncomfortable to use, and the two-handed sword "Ice" is more suitable for him.

When Dickon heard this, his eyes lit up.

"I will definitely live up to His Majesty's entrustment."

The archery competition went on into the afternoon, and the champion was Dana Fossoway, the second son of a small Riverbend family, from the Green Apple family.

Even An Gai praised his achievements.

After the king asked him if he wanted to join the royal guard, Dana immediately agreed.

So Arthur gave him the rumored dragonhide gloves.

"This is made of Alduin's molted skin. There are not many pairs in the whole world. Now I give it to you as a gift from the champion of the archery competition." The king said.

Podrick, who was serving at the side, brought the prepared tray to Dana Fossoway, who excitedly picked up the dragon leather glove and kissed it.

This is something on the dragon!
A group of young people around were also very jealous. If the king and the princes and courtiers hadn't gone far, they would have squeezed into Dan's side to touch the dragon's skin on the spot.

On the way, Marquis Ines, who followed the king back to the meeting hall, said flatteringly, "Your Majesty, do you have more dragon leather gloves? Can you reward me with a pair?"

Arthur glanced back at him amusedly, "How much more can there be? Dragons are not specialized in producing dragon skins."

Alduin made a set of leather armor out of the skin he shed outside Harrenhal, and he is wearing it on Arthur now.

From the remaining leftovers, three pairs of dragon leather gloves were made, one pair was used by the king himself, one pair was just rewarded, and the last pair of Arthur was going to be pressed at the bottom of the box, and it was not taken out unless it had to be put away.

But this Marquess of Frey is still relatively greedy, and Arthur I has to appease him.

"If your family makes a moderate contribution, I'll see if I can make you a pair of dragonhide gloves when Alduin sheds his skin next time."

Immediately, Innis's eyes lit up, and he asked excitedly, "What is not a big or small contribution? Please make it clear, Your Majesty."

The king didn't think it through yet, so he could only reply perfunctorily, "Let's talk about it later."

In the meeting hall, the family governors of Hejian who arrived gradually were waiting to meet the king. They came to attend the second king's wedding that was about to be reported.

After Arthur discussed with the Queen of Thorns, the latter believed that since the archbishop of the Seven Gods was not required to be crowned, and the monks of the Seven Gods were not required to preside over the oath ceremony, the wedding and coronation ceremony of Arthur I and Queen Margaery could be combined into one. One, it will be more decent when the time comes.

Although it only cost three-tenths of the cost, Arthur, who wanted to keep the money to build the army, was naturally willing to accept it. The wedding was decided in this way, and the details were arranged by Duke Mace and Randall Tarly.

After the date was fixed, more and more nobles arrived, preparing to attend the king's wedding and taking the opportunity to swear allegiance.

(End of this chapter)