Game of Thrones: Kings in the North

Chapter 86

On the table in the Great Hall of Winterfell, in order to welcome Duke Eddard’s triumphant return, Chef Gage prepared a sumptuous dinner. The servants served the meals. The table was filled with blueberry pancakes, lemon cake, beef bacon, and barley stew Beef, roast venison.

As Ed and Catelyn walked into the Great Hall, Sansa and Arya enjoyed lemon cake, and Bran ate a drumstick, listening to Theon brag about his feats at Frosthall.

"With only one bow and two arrows, I captured the Frost Hall of the Rock Seed castle. The Rock Seed warriors in the entire castle trembled in front of me, Theon Greyjoy. In the end, the Rock Seeds only Can open the gates and surrender."

Bran curled his lips, "Theon, you took down a castle by yourself, that's amazing! You look like the hero in the old Nan's story."

Sansa looked adoring, "It's like the knight in the ballad."

Robb held out his thumb, "Well done, Theon."

Facing everyone's praise, Theon smiled.

Arya frowned, "Is the castle of the rock species so weak?"

Domilik, the heir to the Dreadfort, laughed and said, "Theon did capture Frosthall, but Frosthall was just a dilapidated house on the second floor with a thatched roof. At that time, only a few old men and children stayed behind. Theon drew his bow and arrows." Shot and killed two old men, and the rock species in the castle saw the army from the north coming, so they had to surrender, that's all."

The smile on Theon's face disappeared, "Domilik, you are jealous! Anyway, I captured a castle, and you didn't!"

Domilik said indifferently: "I also killed several rock species on the battlefield and captured a few. Of course, the prisoners I captured were incomparable to Jon, who captured the heir of Driftwood Hall. "

Arya said excitedly, "That's Paulette Stern, right? He's the adopted son of Winterfell now. Jon, you're worthy of being my brother. You've done a good job."

Bran tore off a piece of lamb chops and handed it to Jon to congratulate. Sansa gave Jon a lemon cake as a compliment, and Jon smiled under the praise of his younger siblings.

Robb looked a little depressed, "Theon captured a castle, Domeric fought bravely, and Jon captured the nobles of the rock species. They all gained glory on the battlefield, and only I stayed at home."

Ed stretched out his hand to hold Robb's hand, "Rob, you have done a lot to help your mother manage the castle at home. One day, you will become an excellent general, but you must understand that military ability must be matched with political ability. Otherwise, it will be like the 'Little Dragon Lord' Daeron I, who conquered Dorne but was unable to rule Dorne, and eventually sacrificed tens of thousands of soldiers, all in vain."

Robb nodded thoughtfully.

After eating, Ed and Caitlin returned to the bedroom, which was warm and pleasant with hot springs flowing through the walls.

Ed took out a jar of golden dragon and handed it to Caitlin. Caitlin was as happy as a little girl when she saw the golden dragon.

"Where did the gold come from?"

Ed smiled, "The king of rocks who usurped the king was driven away by the northern army, and we emptied the vault of Abyss Castle. Winterfell brought back several boxes of golden dragons, silver stags, amber ornaments, and obsidian. After surrendering, we got a lot of money, tens of thousands of golden dragons."

Caitlin took the money jar, "But we are still heavily in debt. We owe 50 gold dragons to the Iron Bank, and [-] gold dragons to the Manderly family in White Harbor. The smugglers and black market merchants have driven up the price of salt. It's all your fault. We must promise to buy back the salt in Yantun at the market price, and as a result, we lost so much money in Winterfell, and the common people are complaining."

Ed said indifferently: "Smugglers and black market dealers are just temporarily helping us keep the coins. They are like fish in a pond, thinking they have eaten delicious bait, but they don't know they are hooked. Now, it's time to collect the net .”

That night, the Winterfell City Guards raided overnight and arrested dozens of salt smugglers, black market merchants, and money changers in the town of Winterfell, and found more than a dozen warehouses hiding salt.In the house of the money changer who smuggled salt, find a mountain of copper cents, copper plates, and silver stags.

The next morning, when these smugglers and black market merchants were shackled by Winterfell soldiers and driven through the downtown area of ​​Winterfell Town, people who had been complaining about the rise in the price of salt turned towards the smugglers and black market merchants. Cursing, throwing vegetable leaves and mud at them.

Outside the military barracks in the winter town, Ed publicly tried these unscrupulous businessmen, smugglers, and crowds of onlookers.

The black-hearted businessman and smuggler knelt in front of Ed, who was sitting on the high platform, guard Dawson and water dancer Syrio Forel stood by, Maester Luwin stood not far away, Ed raised his voice.

"You black-hearted bastards, hoarding, inflating the price of salt, defrauding Winterfell's money, and making the people suffer, I will not tolerate it! I declare that your property will be confiscated, and all your property will be confiscated by Winterfell! I want Sentence you to death!"

The surrounding people burst into cheers, shouting "Kill them! Execute the profiteers!"

Unscrupulous merchants and smugglers panicked. These people did not expect that reselling salt for profit would lead to death.

"Lord Ed, please spare me! I still have an old mother and children at home."

"Lord Ed, there was no rule that reselling salt would be a death penalty!"

"We don't dare any more."

Maester Luwin stroked his necklace, "Lord Ed, unscrupulous merchants and smugglers who drive up the price of salt are certainly hateful, but death is not a crime. They should be given a chance to live."

The unscrupulous merchants and smugglers pleaded bitterly, and Ed said: "Okay! I will give you a chance to live, and I will send you to Zengdi Army Garrison and the Wolf's Pioneering Castle on the Great Wall."

According to the cooperation between Ed and the Night Watch Corps, the Night Watch Corps handed over Greenguard, Long Night Fort, and Westbridge Lookout on the Great Wall to Winterfell for use. Ed has already stationed troops in these castles. The icehouse will be used to store seafood, grain, meat and other food. At the same time, Winterfell will rely on these three castles to expand land and build manors.

Both military settlements and pioneer castles need people.These smugglers and unscrupulous businessmen were lucky to be spared death. They could only accept the fate of being exiled.

The prisoner was taken away amidst the curses of the crowd, and the onlookers cheered and cheered.

Ed ordered the soldiers of Winterfell to bring the seized salt.Aide said to the people: "In the future, private production and sale of private salt will be strictly prohibited in Winterfell. Anyone who dares to violate the ban will be sentenced to exile or even beheaded! Unscrupulous merchants can no longer manipulate the price of salt. Winterfell guarantees that the people can eat cheap salt." Salt!"

People in the winter town can buy a bag of salt for only two copper coins, which is cheaper than the normal price before, and the people shouted "Long live Stark!"

(End of this chapter)