Game of Thrones: Kings in the North

Chapter 25 Borrowing money from the Iron Bank
After listening to Maester Luwin's suggestion, Ed murmured: "Going to King's Landing Robert's court and requesting the king's verdict is naturally one of the options. However, we lack evidence now."

Maester Luwin said: "Mikon told me that any skilled blacksmith can tell that the battleaxe and armor sent by Lord Roose Bolton are the work of the ironman blacksmith, and the pirates of the rock species even rode The longships of the Iron Islands, that's the proof."

Ed said helplessly: "King Balon will definitely argue that any port city in Westeros can buy weapons and armor crafted from the Iron Islands. As for the longships, the Iron Islands also sell a lot. Shipbuilding in other places It is not difficult to imitate the factory."

In Ed's plan, after the army of the North cleared the rock pirates who burned, killed, and looted on the east coast of the North, they would cross the sea and sweep Skagos Island. Once Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands was found out If there is any evidence of rock species, Ed will send a letter to King's Landing, requesting King Robert's verdict.

Ed is a close friend of Robert, and King Balon, the leader of the raiders of the Iron Islands, is a traitor who once launched a rebellion. Ed believes that Robert and the former Prime Minister Jon Arryn will clash with the Iron Islands in the north At that time, he supported himself, but went to King's Landing to sue without evidence, no matter how many friends Ed had in the court, it was useless.

Maester Luwin flicked the chains around his neck with his fingers, "If you want to find out the evidence, you must go deep into Skagos Island. Can the sea power in the north be able to do it? Even if Lord Ed doesn't ask Lao King Bob asks for a verdict, and you can also ask King Robert to send the royal fleet to help us wipe out the rock pirates."

"King Robert's second brother, Lord Stannis Baratheon, is now Lord of the Sea. He once broke the Iron Fleet on Fair Isle during the Balon Greyjoy Rebellion. Famous generals, the ironborn are still hard to compete with, but if King Robert sends Stannis to the north with the royal fleet, the Rockborn pirates will surely be defeated."

Ed thought for a while, "Forget it! Even if Robert is willing to help me, the ministers in his imperial meeting will object. The Royal Fleet protects the safety of the King's Landing royal family and hundreds of thousands of people. If the Royal Fleet goes north, The defense of King's Landing is empty, who knows if the pirates of the Stone Step Islands will move King's Landing's thoughts?"

In the imperial meeting, Ed had very few friends, except for Jon Arryn.According to Aide's understanding of Jon Arryn, even Jon Arryn would not agree to the royal fleet going north to help the northern border deal with rock pirates.

Jon Arryn's own fief, Arryn Valley, was plundered by the Alpine clan all the year round, and Jon Arryn only relied on the vassals of Arryn Arryn and Canyon Knights to suppress it. He never asked Robert to use the power of the Seven Kingdoms to wipe out gangster.

Even if all goes well, and Robert and Jon Arryn generously agree to the Royal Fleet going north to help in the war, exposing the internal troubles in the North to the court and the Seven Kingdoms will be extremely dangerous. The Ke family was unable to suppress the internal rebellion, causing some uninitiated conspirators to focus on Skagos Island and use rock species to deal with the northern border.

Ed ran his hand over Skagos Island on the map.

"Luwin, that's the end of the discussion. Now, let the ravens fly and order the vassals from all over the place to gather a large army and gather at Winterfell. The northern territory is too large, and the vassal's army must be summoned as soon as possible."

There is no turning back when the bow is fired, and Ed knows that once the raven sends the order of Winterfell, the bowmen of the Glover family and the Forest clan in Deepwood Castle, the horse archers of the Taurha family in Torrhen Square City, and the Les of the Stream The cavalry of Will's family, the cavalry and infantry of Barbaret Dustin, the widow of Barrowton, the Knights of White Harbor of Earl Wyman, the infantry of the Northern Mountain Clan, and the soldiers of Bear Island, will come from all over the north. Winterfell assembled.

Gathering a large army will undoubtedly affect the cultivation and agricultural production of various places, put a heavy burden on the people, and make the vassals complain, but Ed has no choice.If the rock species were allowed to wreak havoc, the agricultural production and economy on the east coast would suffer even greater damage, and once the rock species pirates spread to the White Harbor waters near Bite Bay, the economy of the entire northern border would suffer huge losses.

After Maester Luwin left, Ed called in the financial advisor Kral.

"If the Iron Bank is willing to lend us a loan, is 50 golden dragons enough?"

The sapphire ring on Klar's finger was shining, "Master Ed, why did you use the word 'if'? Do you have no confidence in me?"

Ed frowned, "Do you think the Iron Bank will definitely lend us money? There are no absolutes, 50 is a huge sum of money."

Krall smiled, "The Iron Bank makes money by lending money. Lord Eddard is the guardian of the North of the Seven Kingdoms, and the Stark family is the former king of the North. How could the Iron Bank be willing to refuse such an offer?" A quality client?"

Ed was a little relieved, "When the money is in place, the money will be used to expand the winter shelter town, build ships and fight against rock-species pirates. Do you think it's enough?"

Kral rubbed his chin, "Originally, this money was more than enough to expand the Winterfell Town and build a small fleet, but now we have to fight against the rock species. Lord Ed, I heard that the last time the Winterfell Town suppressed The rock species rebellion took three years, and once the war starts, any number of golden dragons may be lost. If Lord Ed is willing to borrow an extra 20 golden dragons, it will be safer."

Ed said: "In addition to the Iron Bank, I have decided to borrow [-] golden dragons from Earl Wyman of White Harbor. Krall, borrowing money from the Iron Bank has already put me at a huge risk, and it is impossible for me to borrow more money." I borrowed a penny from the Iron Bank."

Kral smiled, "Why not borrow money from King Robert of King's Landing? King Robert is also a customer of the Iron Bank and owes the Iron Bank a lot of money."

Ed said: "You said it yourself, King Robert is heavily in debt, ask him to borrow money?"

Krall said: "It's not a problem to ask King Robert to borrow one hundred and eighty thousand gold dragons. I heard that Robert would spend tens of thousands of gold dragons for a random martial arts tournament, not to mention the money he spent on prostitutes and feasts." That's right. Robert has the right mentality. Anyway, there is no difference between owed 100 million gold dragons and 500 million gold dragons. I can't afford it. I also heard that Robert promised to help an exiled prince in the Midsummer Islands restore his country and expedition to Midsummer Islands."

If Robert really had plans for an expedition to the Summer Isles, Ed could only call it crazy.The Seven Kingdoms couldn't even annex the stone-stepped islands at their doorstep. What would they do in the Midsummer Islands, where the people worshiped strange gods and lived tens of thousands of nautical miles away?Jon Arryn would definitely not let Robert mess around.

Ed said: "No matter how much Robert owes, anyway, I will not borrow money from the royal family. Klar, you have worked for the Iron Bank for many years. Let me ask you, when these Iron Bank emissaries communicate with customers, what exactly do they do?" How much bargaining power do they have? Or can they only lend out at the interest rate stipulated by the Iron Bank?"

Clare licked her lips, "Lord Ed means, can we bargain? Of course we can. When the messenger from the Iron Bank arrives in Winterfell, see how I will deal with him."

(End of this chapter)