iron throne of ice and fire

Chapter 416 Green's List 4
When Lord Green was personally entertaining the merchants from Pentos, for some reason... he suddenly missed Petyr.

After dinner, Green negotiated the grain trade with them in a small hall. The process went more smoothly than expected. In less than two hours, the deal was reached at a price slightly lower than the market price of Essos grain in Westeros.

After the negotiations, one of the fox-eyed Pentos merchants privately told Lord Green that he was one of the Iron Bank's most distinguished guests in the Sunset Lands (Chapter 226), and as a common friend of the Iron Bank, they should show respect and sincerity and promise... If there are any financial difficulties, the payment time can be reasonably delayed.

What a familiar scene... Green raised his eyebrows, and then expressed his gratitude to the Iron Bank and the Pentos Chamber of Commerce.

After seeing off the Pentos merchants, Green came to the lord's study.

Spreading the map on the long table, Green pointed at the location of Pentos, then his fingertips swept across the Fjord - Crab Bay - Silent Island, and finally stopped at the location of Saltpan Town.

After a pause, Green's sight slowly moved to the southern part of the map. With Crab's kindness, the number of refugees from the Riverlands gathered in King's Landing would gradually decrease. In this case... the charitable light of the Little Rose, that is, the Rose Bread, should also directly "shine" on the Riverlands.

If Little Rose delayed, or found excuses to refuse, he would... send people to spread bad words about her in Hejian.

Then, select appropriate representatives to go to the Red Keep to petition and have them complain to Queen Cersei.

Miss Margery, you don't want to...

Shaking his head slightly, Green drove away the wandering thoughts in his mind. His sight moved northward, sweeping across the Crab Claw Peninsula and the valley. He paused, then turned west... and stopped at the location of the Twins.

He stretched out his finger and tapped it. His gaze moved south again, staring at the location of Harrenhal and thinking for a while. He looked up at Brienne standing by the door and said, "Ser, go to the Crow's Nest and see if there is any news about Archbishop Zari."

Brienne came back more than half an hour later, bringing a reply that there was still no news.

Green frowned slightly, then called over Martyr Baker (the eldest son of the retainer knight Sir Mason, Chapter 46), who is now a centurion in the Survey Corps.

After the experience on the battlefield, Green's former squire had matured a lot. He stroked his chest and said, "Lord Green, I am at your service."

"I'll give you a task, and you'll set off tomorrow..." As he said that, Green waved his hand and asked Martilil to come to the side of the map.

He pointed to the location of Earl Harroway's town on the map and continued, "I received a letter from Archbishop Zari when I left King's Landing. He told me that he was comforting the refugees near here. You take the cavalry to find him as soon as possible. Once you find him, you will be responsible for protecting his safety before I arrive."

Martyr nodded slightly and said, "As you command, Lord Green. I will prepare the boat to cross the river tonight and set off early tomorrow morning."

Green reached out and patted his arm, revealing a gratified smile, and said, "Very good. Thank you, my loyal warrior."

Not long after Martier left, a voice came from the clan soldier outside the door: "Sir, the scholar from Salt Fields Town wants to see you."

After receiving the response, the Saltpans Bachelor entered the study. He handed a wax-sealed letter to Green respectfully and said, "My Lord Duke, a raven has just entered the crow's nest. It flew from King's Landing. I dare not delay it."

Green motioned for Brienne to take it for him, paused, and said, "How is Ser Quincy's health?"

Ser Quincy Cox is Lord of Saltpans, and was a Tully knightly family before they were made vassals of Crabbe by Lord Tywin (Chapter 380).

The old scholar nodded in thanks, then sighed and said, "His son and adopted son are either far away or dead, leaving only his two daughters and young grandchildren. He is worried about this all day long, and his old age has seriously affected his health. I have to feed him a small amount of sleeping wine every night to ensure that he gets enough sleep."

Green nodded and said, "Tell him for me that I will leave enough soldiers to protect Salt Pan Town and his family until his son returns or his grandson comes of age."

The old scholar bowed deeply and said, "Your kindness saved a worried old man. I believe the Cox family will always remember your kindness and they will definitely repay your unparalleled loyalty."

Green waved his hand and said, "I wish the old jazz a speedy recovery. I will look forward to his performance, loyal scholar."

The scholar from Saltpan Town expressed his gratitude again before leaving the study.

Green leaned back in his chair and read the letter that Leighton had sent in King's Landing. The content was... Oren Wingwater, the illegitimate brother of Montford Velaryon, the Earl of Driftmark, was appointed commander of the royal fleet by Queen Cersei. Now the Lord High Admiral, Earl Matus, has two commanders under him, one in charge of the Redwyne Fleet and the other in charge of the rebuilding royal fleet.

Green's inner evaluation: Cersei's idea is right. The safety of Blackwater Bay cannot be controlled by the House of the Rose for a long time, but her methods are a bit too crude.

He briefly recalled the original plot... Cersei was going to default on the royal debt and invest the "dwarf's copper coins" in building a three-deck ship with 200 oars. When she was locked up, the bastard commander chose to escape directly with the royal new ship.

Davos's second son, Allard Seaworth, has been looking forward to the opportunity to prove his courage... Green picked up the quill, dipped it in ink, and lowered his head to write two letters. One was a letter recommending Allard Seaworth to join the royal fleet, and the recipient was Cersei Lannister; the other was written to Earl Davos Seaworth, commander of the Clebor Dragonstone fleet and acting governor of Dragonstone.

After writing the letter and checking it again, Green stamped the marsh marigold emblem on the blue sealing wax.

After letting the soldiers take the letter away, Green stretched his body and said, "Sir, you can go and rest now."

Brienne followed Green to the bedroom and said, "I will be on guard tonight."

"See you tomorrow at lunch then?"

The next day, after breakfast, the cautious Lord Green wrote a letter to Steward Roselle of the Kleber Trading Company just in case, instructing him to discuss the purchase of food and farm tools with the grain merchants in the River Bend.

Starting from the third day, Kleiber's army marched southwest.

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Lord Mace Tyrell led all the cavalry from the Riverlands and arrived at Storm's End as the vanguard of the army.

After inspecting the towering walls of Storm's End, the Duke of Mace ordered the army to set up camp and sent the Tyrells as his envoys to Storm's End to persuade the acting lord, Ser Gilbert Farring, to surrender, promising to pardon Gilbert and his family.

Despite the harsh rejection, the Duke of Metz did not give up and sent envoys again the next day.

This time, Sir Gilbert had the messenger stripped of his armor and expelled, causing the Duke of Mace to swell up with anger. He then gathered all the lords of the Reach in the army and convened a battle meeting to storm Storm's End.

However, the Duke of Mace's proposal did not receive the support of most of the lords of the River Reach, as they all felt that the cost of storming the tall walls of Storm's End was too high.

The meeting was held for three consecutive days, but no consensus was reached on attacking Storm's End, so the Duke of Metz had to change his battle plan.

The war artist's new battle plan was to use catapults to force Sir Gilbert to open the city gates and surrender, and this battle plan immediately received unanimous support from all the lords of the River Reach.

The Duke of Metz began to gather carpenters in high spirits. He wanted to build twenty giant catapults and announced that if Storm's End did not surrender, he would destroy it.

At this point, the second siege of Storm's End in the Duke of Metz's military career officially began.

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Around the same time, it was rumored that many Stormland fishermen spotted Dorne's fleet frequently roaming the waters near Cape Wrath.

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"So, you're in hiding, Archbishop Zari?"

Archbishop Zari's favorite silver silk robe was gone, and he was now wearing a gray coarse cloth robe, which made Lord Green a little uncomfortable.

Zari used his fingers to comb the sparse hair on both sides of his bald head. He said, "It was the High Sparrow. He ordered me to return to King's Landing immediately to attend the daily prayers of the High Bishops."

Green came to the window, feeling the warm morning light of the Earl's Town of Harrow, and said, "Did the new archbishop invite you back? It seems that he should attach great importance to your status in the Church of the Seven Gods."

After a pause, he continued, "If you are worried about bandits along the way, I can send guards to escort you back."

There was a clang sound of something falling behind him, but Green seemed not to hear it. He still turned his back to Archbishop Zari and admired the scenery outside the window.

Archbishop Zari bent down to pick up the wine glass on the ground and said tremblingly: "It doesn't matter. Even if I stay here, it will not affect my devout prayers to the Seven Gods."

Green turned his head slightly, glanced at Zari behind him, and said, "Oh? Are you planning to reject the invitation of the Archbishop, my Archbishop?"

The corners of his mouth curved slightly. "You will not be expelled from the Church of the Seven by the Archbishop?"

With a clang, the wine glass in Archbishop Zari's hand fell again, and at the same time... his fat body staggered and fell on the stone slab.

He murmured in fear: "The High Sparrow... the Archbishop... he will definitely... they will definitely not let me go..."

The sound of feet stepping on the stone slabs was heard, and a pair of brown deerskin boots appeared in Zari's sight.

Green looked down at the extremely embarrassed Archbishop for a while, and slowly said, "I heard that a lot of interesting things have happened in King's Landing recently. Encouraged by Sparrow, many women have come forward to accuse Archbishops such as Olidor, including female branch women. The Archbishop also punished them severely. It is said that he would strip them naked and make them parade around the city."

Archbishop Zari nodded blankly. “Yes, several archbishops who were on good terms with me were said to have been severely injured by the people’s stones and wood. They are almost dying.”

Green nodded and continued, "I also heard that being stripped and paraded through the streets is not the end of the punishment. This is just the beginning. What they will face next is confinement and hard labor day and night, and it may be until their lives are burned out."

Archbishop Zari raised his head and looked at Green with empty eyes for a while. Suddenly, he moved his body, hugged one of Green's legs, and said in pain: "Lord Green, you have to save me, don't let me fall into the hands of the High Sparrow! Please!"

His voice was choked with sobs. “Please, the High Sparrow is asking me to go back out of spite!”

Green stood still for a while, and when Archbishop Zari recovered a little, he said, "If you go back, you might die, right?"

The Archbishop shook his head. "No, it's not possible, it's certain that they will die. I once proposed to expel all the sparrows from King's Landing, because... because..."

He wiped his tears pitifully and said, "I found out that they are collecting weapons. I can't... no... the Church of the Seven Gods cannot be implicated by those sparrows. If the royal family knew about this, they would definitely suppress it cruelly. Maegor I did this before!"

Green frowned slightly: "Warrior's Son and the Poor People's Assembly (Chapter 323)?"

The Archbishop nodded heavily: "The High Sparrow is definitely trying to test the royal family's attitude towards the armed forces of the Order. He is a conspirator, and he is pushing the Church of the Seven into danger!"

After a pause, he hugged Green's legs tightly and cried, "Because of your wise advice, I can stay here safely. I will never forget your kindness, Lord Green, please save me again!"

In the empty room, the only sound was Archbishop Zari's low sobbing. After an unknown amount of time, Green's sigh was heard.

Then, he helped the limp Zari up from the stone slab and said, "We are old friends. I will not stand by and watch someone die."

He asked Zari to sit on the chair: "If you allow others to hurt you, it will affect the honor of Kleber. After all, everyone knows that you are mine."

After a slight pause, Archbishop Zari quickly nodded happily: "Yes, that's right, for sure, I am yours, I am one of ours!"

"Very good. In that case, you don't need to worry anymore. I will find a way to protect you." Green poured a glass of wine and handed it to Archbishop Zari, then said, "Drink some Summer Red first to slow down, and then we will discuss your future path."

Zari stretched out his hands, took the glass respectfully, and drank it all in one gulp.

After sitting quietly for a while, he couldn't help but ask respectfully, "Lord Green, you just mentioned my future path? What do you want me to do? I'm waiting for your instructions."

Green held another wine glass and sat on the chair next to Zari. He said, "If I don't see you for a long time, I think the High Sparrow will use this as an excuse to deprive you of your status as a monk. So, I hope you will consider it. I hope you will also wear the crystal crown of the Archbishop."

(End of this chapter)