The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 162: Early Expedition

If a person who has experienced the Targaryen era were to come to King's Landing today, he would definitely not recognize the city, let alone believe that this is King's Landing, the capital of Westeros.

After all, King's Landing at that time could be said to be a veritable cesspool, but now King's Landing is well planned, the roads are wider, and the street security is better. It truly looks like the capital of a great country.

The living conditions of the residents here are no longer as bad as before. They can enjoy sufficient bread and clean water every day, and there are jobs everywhere in the city. As long as they are willing to work, they can live a very good life.

Compared with the past, they are now more respectable and finally look like residents of the capital, which makes up for this gap.

The entertainment options for the citizens of King's Landing have also been enriched. In the past, they could only watch underground boxing or go gambling. Now, exciting competitions are held every day at the racetrack and the arena, and residents can support their favorite players in the arena. And if they really don't like these, they can also choose to watch dramas...Now King's Landing has a variety of ways to enjoy life, which can satisfy everyone.

Recently, the prosperity of King's Landing has reached a peak. Eddard Stark has been inaugurated as the Hand of the King of Westeros. In order to celebrate the ascension of the new Prime Minister, the King held a grand tournament. In the mouths of the people, this tournament is called "The Prime Minister's Tournament" - but the Prime Minister himself does not like this name, nor does he like this expensive competition.

Like every tournament, the "Prime Minister's Tournament" attracted a large number of people to King's Landing. The capital of Westeros was once again crowded, but also full of order. The chaos and disorder of the Targaryen era had become a memory of the past - this was all thanks to the capital's defense system carefully built by old Arryn.

Unlike the Targaryens who relied solely on the self-governance of their cronies and the suppression of dissident groups to maintain the stability of the city, the current Baratheon dynasty has greatly expanded the defense of the capital with its abundant financial resources. Not only has the capital garrison been expanded to 3,000 people, but an additional 1,000 Staghorn Guards to defend Aegon's High Hill and 2,000 Wall Battalion soldiers to guard the city walls - the latter was expanded to 4,000 after the expansion of the capital, which greatly enhanced the defense capabilities of King's Landing.

In addition, the citizens of King's Landing who were excluded from city management by the Dragon family in the previous dynasty also received help from the Iron Throne. These citizens who stayed after screening were allowed to form guilds and elect opinion leaders on their own, and exercise limited autonomy under the supervision of the Iron Throne - this is the right issued by the Iron Throne to the citizens. Of course, with rights come obligations. In exchange for the Iron Throne's favor, an unprecedentedly large urban militia was organized. These groups, called "Capital Militia", are based on communities and go to the competition venues and suburbs for training in batches in their spare time. If King's Landing is threatened by the enemy (although everyone finds this incredible at the moment), they will climb the city walls and fight together with the soldiers.

The bureaucrats' statistical results on the size of the capital's militia vary each time, but the number is basically stable between 1 and 2, and can even double in an emergency - the wealth brought by the expedition has made King's Landing and its citizens unprecedentedly wealthy, allowing a large number of King's Landing citizens to bring their own weapons and light armor to join the training. Even if some people are short of money, the municipal government can rent weapons to them or even give them some financial subsidies. This is probably a feature of the rule of a martial king.

Similarly, King Robert did not only regard the capital militia as ordinary city defense forces. In his conception, they would also become a talent pool for Robert to select outstanding soldiers and sergeants. To achieve this goal, large-scale sports events would be held in the arena and the racetrack at a specific time every year. The winners would receive awards from Robert, and the top ones might even be knighted by the king himself. With the generous rewards, countless participants were enthusiastically sent to the army, and the Iron Throne's border troops in the east were able to continuously replenish their losses... So far, this system is still running well - its only shortcoming is probably that it is too expensive.

Back to the event, the competition was held at the racetrack in King's Landing. The place where chariots once roared has now become a place where knights galloped. The Colosseum has become a venue for group competitions. People sitting in the stands kept cheering for the contestants, and vendors were selling all kinds of goods in it.

For those Northerners who came to King's Landing for the first time, the prosperity of King's Landing could be said to have dazzled them. The most prosperous city these people had seen before was White Harbor, and White Harbor could not compare with King's Landing.

Many northerners also participated in the tournament, sweating on the field and fighting for the honor of the North. After the game, they enjoyed the convenience and fun of King's Landing and spent every day with beer and beauties - however, those northerners who were on duty were excluded.

However, for their Duke Eddard, life was not so leisurely. After sitting in Jon Arryn's position, he realized how stressful this job was.

He once thought that the busiest thing about being the Hand of the King was to hold daily meetings to discuss various matters, but now he realized that was only the basics. Documents were sent to the Red Castle every day. These documents recorded all kinds of big and small things in Westeros and even across the Narrow Sea. If it weren't for the help of the Prime Minister's Secretary, a position established by old Arryn, he wouldn't even know what to do with these documents.

In addition to these paperwork, he also had to meet with envoys from abroad, meet with petitioners, sign various trade or exchange agreements, and conduct some tricky border negotiations - and it was the Prime Minister's secretary who taught him how to do it.

The secretary's name was Du Long, and you could tell from his name that he was from the East. He was indeed an Oriental, from Mill, and graduated from the Academy of Education. He was a middle-aged man who always kept his civil servant uniform meticulously in place, and was always so elegant and calm in front of others - at least Ed had never seen him panic.

However, relying on the Prime Minister's secretary also has side effects. Ed clearly feels that he is being disciplined to become a cog in the bureaucratic system. It doesn't matter what he thinks, he just needs to follow old Eileen's old rules - and the rules left by old Eileen are indeed not bad.

Ed had no intention of changing anything the previous prime minister had built, but he did not become a puppet prime minister manipulated by civil servants. He read every report carefully, often summoned grassroots civil servants to inquire about the situation, and ensured that every order was issued according to his own will, not the will of these officials.

Then, he also discovered that the civil service group could distort his will. By transmitting and interpreting information, these civil servants could easily deviate from the original intentions of their superiors. After discovering this, Ed carefully studied these people's word games, and then used a loophole in a document to deal with several people. Now those civil servants finally behaved themselves.

At the same time, he also understood why the North had been targeted before. The civil service group had its own consciousness: since their power came from the royal power, they would naturally subconsciously maintain the royal power and weaken all existence that threatened the royal power, so the North was hit.

And after several important officials were removed by Eddard and their ambitious deputies took over, Duke Stark was considered to have successfully tamed this machine called the system - after all, this machine was not too big at the moment.

And his secretary also put away his arrogance from then on, the kind of arrogance that was hard to explain but could be felt.

No wonder Robert said that he was unwilling to touch the system built by old Arryn. Under this system, people would be disciplined to be part of the machine. Eddard's personality could tolerate such things, and he could even feel a little relaxed and comfortable because of the precision and efficiency of the system, but Robert couldn't do it - he was still very familiar with this old friend.

Eddard works hard every day, but Robert indulges in sensual pleasures every day. Not only does he not help his prime minister, but he also adds to his burden: recently Robert has summoned his illegitimate children and plans to send them to the east to be granted important places or occupy important positions, to serve as supervisors and grippers of the Baratheon dynasty in the east - in Eddard's view, Robert's idea is insightful and forward-looking, much better than the mediocre king a hundred years ago.

However, by doing this, Robert brought all his romantic affairs over the years to the table, which undoubtedly greatly stimulated the Lannister queen. So on the next day, Eddard was able to watch the queen make a big fuss in the throne room.

Besides, Ed would always sigh. Although he was good at his job, he really didn't like the South, King's Landing, or being a cog in the system.

There were countless pairs of eyes staring at him every moment, which was extremely annoying. And this Red Castle, Ed always felt a little uneasy living here. He didn't know where this feeling came from, but uneasiness was uneasy.

In fact, if it weren't for Catherine's strong request, he would not have brought the two girls south to King's Landing, a den of venomous snakes. Catherine was tempted by the prospects given by Robert. Their daughter would become the queen of Westeros, their son would marry a princess of the Seven Kingdoms, and the Stark family would become a true royal family.

Moreover, more importantly, if he went to King's Landing to serve, he could determine the policy of the Iron Throne, and the Iron Throne's current indulgence of the Northern families, especially the Boltons, could be curbed. It was the latter that made Eddard decide to go south. He could care less about other things, but when it came to the status of the Stark family and the well-being of his descendants, he had to go.

Winterfell now has too few ways to contain the Dreadfort. Against the backdrop of the Iron Throne's development in the East, Bolton can be said to be developing wildly and without any hindrance. Some of the small Northern lords who were once subordinate to the Red King have begun to waver.

Unfortunately, after arriving at the Red Keep, Eddard was immersed in all kinds of documents and busy competing with civil servants. He had no time to think about these things at all. However, he also asked Dunon about this issue, and this slippery prime minister's secretary said that it was impossible to restrict Bolton in a sense - the Iron Throne could not strike hard against nobles who had not made any mistakes.

Sansa likes King's Landing very much. He still remembers the sparkle in the child's eyes when she visited King's Landing. Sansa has always been a child with a head full of poetry, stories and beautiful scenery. The current King's Landing is naturally infinitely close to her expectations. However, there are too many temptations in King's Landing. With the girl's head full of longing, he is very worried that Sansa will be deceived or fall into some kind of temptation. Arya is not as enthusiastic about King's Landing as Sansa, but she likes all kinds of exciting activities in King's Landing like a girl, especially racing. Eddard is terrified every time he sits in the stands, but this child cheers for every collision and even rollover. Eddard is really worried that the next time he sees this child, she will appear on the racetrack.

As for Robert's children... Myrcella and Tommen are both very good and sweet children, but Joffrey... he is a spoiled child. He doesn't know whether it is due to Robert's indulgence or the protection of the Lannister women. This young man looks glamorous on the surface, but is really dirty inside. He is always surrounded by a group of dog-like gladiators - Eddard doesn't like this kind of people either.

He was somewhat regretting marrying Sansa to Joffrey, but his daughter simply didn't see that the perfect prince in her eyes had so many shortcomings... Eddard could only hope that he was still young and time would surely change everything.

And now, after processing documents for another day and discovering some of the civil servants' tricks - such as clever word games - Ed started the next agenda, the royal meeting.

This royal meeting was very different from previous ones. The reason for the difference was that the monarch of the Iron Throne, Robert Baratheon, attended in person and was among them for the first time.

Generally speaking, this situation means that the king's will will dominate the entire meeting, but this time it is not the case because Eddard Stark is there.

"That Targaryen bastard must die! In that case, Eddard, since you don't agree to send assassins, then use war. Pass on my order, the expedition will be brought forward! Gather the armies on both sides of the Narrow Sea!"

Robert is still the same as he remembered, tall, mighty, and heroic. The various high-intensity exercises that he does have enabled him to maintain his figure well.

After a heated debate, the king slammed the table and said this, and this sentence really shut Ed up and left the prime minister speechless.

The reason why Robert was so excited was simple. Varys' intelligence network brought news that Daenerys Targaryen was marrying Drogo, the son of Balbor, and this Drogo, like his father, had unified the entire Great Grass Sea.

This is intolerable for the Iron Throne. The emergence of such a large hostile force on the border poses too great a threat and pressure on border defense.

After the last bitter battle with the Dothraki, Robert also had a different opinion of these wild people on the Great Grass Sea. They were indeed barbaric and brainless, but as long as they were led by a suitable leader, they could also cause great trouble to the surrounding settled peoples.

Drogo, the son of Balborg, seemed to be such a suitable person. He went even further than his father in reforming the centaurs. He brought other ethnic groups into the centaur tribe for the first time. Not only did he openly wear armor, he also killed all the priests who opposed him, and the tribes that resisted him were also massacred.

Now that he has dealt with the internal enemies on the Great Grass Sea, the next one must be the New Seven Kingdoms, Robert Baratheon, the enemy who killed his father.

Moreover, this guy married the exiled Targaryen princess. In any way, he is a future enemy of the Iron Throne.

The reason why Eddard opposed the assassination was simple. In this regard, killing a little girl made no sense. Would killing Daenerys prevent the new Great Khair of the Great Grass Sea from invading the east? Doing so would only anger the barbarian and make him start a war faster.

This is more important. In comparison, the fact that assassinating a girl is not in line with his moral concepts is secondary.

"Then do it, Robert. I think this battle is inevitable. I will draft the order immediately." This is what Eddard was waiting for, and he said hurriedly.

Robert waved his hand nonchalantly, "Take your time to handle the rest. I'm going to watch the game."

After saying this, the king decisively left the table, and the Kingsguards quickly followed him, leaving everyone else in the royal conference.

For a moment, everyone looked at each other, and finally looked at the king's hand.

Eddard was also watching these colleagues. Grand Maester Pycelle was as drowsy as ever, he was really too old. Lord Admiral Stannis still had that stern face, as if he was ready to go to the battlefield at any time. Lord Justice Renly was daydreaming, his mind was drifting to who knows where. Lord Chancellor of the Exchequer Orton Merryweather was looking at the report in his hand, no one knew what he was thinking. As for Varys, this disgusting eunuch was rubbing his hands with a sweet smile on his face.

Half of these people are trash and half are traitors. The future of Westeros depends on these people. Eddard thought darkly that except Stannis, no one here can be trusted.

The Hand of the King spoke up, "Just do as I say. Draft the order."

"Yes, Prime Minister." All the ministers present responded in unison.

(End of this chapter)