Game of Thrones: Royal Game

Chapter 323 The defector of the Iron Bank

"Our Barryville family has been in decline for the past 200 years. Although we have no status as a keykeeper, we have no matching wealth. We are the marginal people of Braavos." Hominas Barrywell's sudden heart-to-heart speech stunned Xaro.

"The whole world knows that Braavosi hate slavery," Hominas continued, "but the Iron Bank never gave up on the idea of ​​making money from Volantis, Slaver's Bay, and Qarth, so they wanted to There is a way to get the best of both worlds, which is to leave the dirty work to less noble people."

"Your family can be traced back to" Xaro wanted to defend Hominas.

"The blood of the twenty-three Spoonkeepers can be traced back to the time of ancient Valyria," Hominas interrupted Xaro. family wealth.

Fifty-five years ago, my shrewd grandfather managed to stabilize the declining House of Barrywells, whose decline was finally stabilized by a military victory of the Myers in a disputed land. Brought him a huge debrief.

Using the money, his grandfather organized a trading fleet. In the next 10 years, he successfully opened up new markets in Slaver's Bay and Qarth, and sailed to the capital of Yidi, Yin, to meet the then Prince Bu. Hyun struck up a friendship.

After obtaining the trading qualifications for porcelain, silk and spices, our Barryville family quickly gained huge wealth, and for a time there was a gesture of resurgence, until "Hominas said and stopped.

"I think I know what happened later. It was the water battle in Yindu during the 'Rebellion of the Four Kings', right?" Seeing Hominas's expression, Xaro immediately remembered the event that had a huge impact on the entire Eastern world at that time. Things that have had a huge impact.

31 years ago, the No.16 emperor of the Yidi Azure Dynasty passed away.The second prince, Bu Xuan, who had already bribed the commander of the imperial guards, refused to mourn, and called the prince Bu Xuan back to the palace to kill him, and then succeeded him as the No.17 emperor of the Weilan Dynasty.Because of Bu Yu's improper position, the four princes of Yidi colluded with the fleet commander of Yindu to launch a rebellion. It is said that thousands of merchant ships moored in the port of Yindu at that time were destroyed by Chiyu.

If there was one event that could fatally affect the resurgent Barryville family, it would undoubtedly be that event.

"My grandfather's six galleons happened to be in the most intense position of the battle, and all of them were sunk in the exchange of fire between the fleets of the emperor and the rebels." Hominas nodded, "In addition, my grandfather was a friend of the original prince. He didn't dare to stay in Yindu any longer, so he fled Yidi overnight and returned to Braavos.

The six galleons, the goods on them, and the industries invested in Yindu disappeared overnight. This not only cost my grandfather most of his life in business, but also burdened the family with huge debts that could not be repaid.

The Iron Bank could have given us a hand easily. The debt, which is already a sky-high price for the Barrywell family, is actually nothing to the Iron Bank.But they not only strongly rejected grandfather's request, but also forced him to sell our family's last shares in the iron vault to pay off the debt.

In order to keep our family's title of keykeeper, my grandfather had to accept the plan proposed by the Iron Bank, and became the new representative of the Iron Bank in Slaver's Bay, making money for the Iron Bank despite the scolding of the people of Braavos.

He died in grief two years later, and my father took over his position and business, and then me.

Our family has cultivated in Slaver Bay for three generations, and in nearly 30 years, we have earned millions of fortunes for Braavos and the Iron Bank, but my sister." Hominas said and clenched her hands Fist, "My sister who married back to Braavos by tradition.

Less than a year after she returned to Braavos, she was only 17 years old when she was burned to death by a large number of people because of the crime of 'slave trader's accomplice'.

Noble Braavosi!Proud Braavosi!They are as shiny as the gold and silver we bring back, and the dirty ones are only those of us who make money in Slaver's Bay, only us"

"The look on your face scares me, my old friend." Xaro tapped his fingers on the table, "You look crazy right now."

"I've been crazy for a long time. Don't you know how much I want to resist the Iron Bank? You don't know how much I want to trample those high-ranking guys under my feet. But I dare not. There are many eyeliners of the Iron Bank around me. And the Iron Bank usually chooses to use the Faceless to deal with traitors." Hominas shook his head, "I can't do anything, I can only earn money for them honestly, and I don't even dare to take any of it for myself."

"So, what gave you such courage later on?"

"Before leaving General Erez zo Emud's tent, he gave me one last suggestion. He told me to visit Priest Celia one more time and have an open and honest talk with her. Maybe there will be unexpected gains. I thought the gain he was talking about was money, so although I went, I didn’t have any special hopes.” Hominas said with a serious tone, “But after I saw her, she asked me The first sentence turned out to be... do you want revenge?"

"How could she know about you?" Xaro was also surprised.

"That's why I especially despise the arrogance of you Qarth people. You are always self-righteous, and you never know your friends or your opponents." Hominas chuckled, "To be honest, I always At first, I was also shocked how she made my investigation so clear. Some things were easy to find out, and some things should have been kept secret. Later I found out that many people around me were bribed by her, many of them He was originally sent by the Iron Bank to monitor me."

"So... how did you answer her?"

"She didn't rush me to answer, but showed me one thing first, one." Hominas' tone dropped again, as if just mentioning that name was enough to scare him, "One was cut off A faceless man with hands and feet."

"How is it possible?! I've never heard of a faceless man losing his hand. As for the faceless man being captured, it's even more ridiculous."

"I am a Braavosian, and I know the horror of the Faceless Man better than you. When Braavos was in crisis for countless times in history, the crisis would be resolved as long as Aquaman threatened it with the Faceless Man. Even Those mighty Dragon Kings are also afraid of the Faceless Ones."

"Is it possible that the red-robed woman just randomly grabbed someone and told you that it was a Faceless Man?"

"No, she showed me the evidence, a bag of human skin masks. It's not the air-dried kind, but it has been preserved for a long time, but it is still as fresh as when it grows on the face. It is the magic of the God of Many Faces , only the Faceless can have this kind of thing. That is to say, the House of Black and White once sent the Faceless to assassinate Earl Darry or someone around him, but was caught by him in turn, you can understand Does that mean anything?"

"Yeah." Xaro responded softly with a nasal voice, and he finally understood why Hominas had to bet everything on Ian Darry.The reason why Hominas couldn't get rid of the control of the Iron Bank, and didn't even dare to make a little resistance, was that the Faceless Man was the one he feared the most.

"Celia promised me that as long as I am loyal to Earl Darry, they will guarantee that I will not be threatened by the faceless men, and let me take charge of the future National Bank of the new empire, and use the resources of the entire empire to support me to fight against the Iron Man. The vault fights. I actually didn't fully believe her promise, but I wanted to take a chance because there's no way I'd get a second chance otherwise.

So I followed Celia that night to visit Ian Darry, who was already the supreme commander of the Ghislian Army at that time, and knelt down to swear allegiance to him.Then I quickly used the power in my hands to mobilize all the resources of the Iron Bank in Slaver's Bay and nearby to put into Earl Darry's war preparations.

According to regulations, investments of more than 20 Jinhui coins must be approved by the headquarters of the Iron Bank, but considering that the ship from Meereen to Braavos will take 4 months without any problems, after the Iron Bank got the news, it responded again. It takes four months.In order to avoid missing the opportunity, the person in charge of each branch has the right to dispose of it, so even those eyeliners placed by my side by the Iron Bank are not qualified to stop me.

Although they will report to the keykeepers in power, it will take at least half a year before the person responsible from the Iron Bank arrives in Meereen. At that time, I will either be dead or I will no longer have to fear him up. "

"So," Xaro thought for a while, and finally asked, "you've been telling me so much since just now, what do you want to do? Simply share your story with me. No, secret, what you just said Those things are enough to be described as a secret. Come on, tell me this, what do you want me to do?"

"Please do me a favor." Hominas smiled.

"I can tell you clearly," Xaro frowned immediately, "I don't have your experience, and I don't have your hatred. I'm rich, richer than most people in the world, and I'm very Cherish everything now, I can't bet like you.

If your Lord Darry wins the war against Drogo, I'll do business with him, and if he loses, I'll do business with the new ruler of Slaver's Bay.What's more, if the city of Slaver's Bay is really completely destroyed by Mawang, then I will stop doing business in Slaver's Bay at worst. I still have a huge fleet and routes to all places in time. "

"Of course," Xaro also seemed to realize that his words were too absolute, and businessmen should not say too absolute words, so he added, "If it's something that doesn't have too much risk, I can still help you .”

"There is no risk-free thing in this world, look at them," Hominas glanced at the guests in the hall, "They are all doing the same thing as you, doing what they think is the least risky thing, no matter what Whether Master Darry wins or loses, they can all be winners.

Even... They are actually sure that Lord Darry will lose. After all, we paid a high price to hire all the ships moored in the three cities of Slaver's Bay to participate in the combat preparation transportation work.Even though we offered a very high price, less than one-third of the ships accepted our employment, and the remaining ships chose to stay in the ports of Meereen, Yunkai and Astapor ri, guess why? "

"I am worried that if I go to participate in the transportation work, I will miss the opportunity to loot the city after the defeat of the Ghis coalition forces. After all, in the pyramids of this city, there are accumulated slave trade accumulated by the Ghis nobles for hundreds of years. Ian Darry’s price for hiring ships to participate in transportation is indeed high, but compared to what they can grab from the pyramid, it’s just a drop in the bucket.” Of course Xaro knew the answer, he himself was Thought so, though he used the word 'they' and pulled himself out of it.

"So, they are not innocent of the fate they will face next, right?" Hominas also deliberately bit down on the word 'they'.

"What do you want to do?" Xaro suddenly had a bad feeling.

"How many ships of Qarth are there in the port of Meereen?" Hominas still did not answer Xaro's question.

"How would I know such a thing?" Xaro rolled his eyes.

"Well, I forgot that you are a high-ranking nobleman who has been in Slaver's Bay for a month, but he doesn't even know whether the finance minister here is a man or a woman." Hominas spread his hands, "Let me tell you, a total of 26 ships, of which 4 ships belong to you, 3 ships belong to others of the Thirteen Giants, 11 belong to the Tourmaline Brotherhood, 6 belong to the Ancient Spice Guild, and two belong to two independent sea merchants."

"How can you be so clear?"

"Just like Celia was able to find out about me back then, I can also find out about anything that happened in Meereen now, because the Meereen intelligence station under Earl Darry is also working for me now."

"It seems that you have gained a lot of trust?"

"It's absolute trust. Even after Celia went out with Earl Darry's army, she lost her job as Chancellor of the Exchequer to me. Is there anything strange about it? Not only did I provide them with a huge amount of gold coins and There are a large number of ships, and I have to rely on them if I want to survive the Faceless Ones, why do they not trust me?" Hominas paused, "Back to the point, these captains of Qarth have formed a Temporary alliance. Do you know about this?"

"I seem to have the impression that they invited me, but I declined." Xaro said after thinking about it for a while.

"Join them immediately, and then obtain the leadership of the temporary alliance. As the head of the thirteen giants, this is not difficult for you."

"No, why should I do this? I remember that I didn't promise you anything."

"You will agree. Later, Grazdan zo Eraz of the ruling coalition will come to this hall to announce something to everyone, and then you will naturally agree to my conditions. Remember, first get the The leadership of the Captain Qarth Alliance, come to me again, and I will tell you what to do next." After Hominas finished speaking, he got up and left.

(End of this chapter)