The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 165 The King's Illegitimate Children

If those who have seen the chaos in King's Landing Port were allowed to come to the seaside again, they would definitely not realize that this is King's Landing unless they were told about the offshore port of King's Landing, because basically every place in King's Landing is difficult to evaluate.

The ships of the royal fleet, King's Landing, were lined up on the pier. Duke Stannis's flagship, the Wrath, was a three-deck warship with five hundred oars.

It is quite conspicuous even among the large warships in the port. After all, it was built by the Iron Throne to demonstrate its power. No matter where it is, people will be attracted by the huge size of the Fury at the first time.

"Lord Stannis, I am sorry to trouble you with the fleet."

Eddard Stark stood in the shadow of the Wrath, surrounded by guards brought from the North and soldiers from the Wall Camp - in Jon Arryn's political design, this force was controlled by the Prime Minister.

There is a city wall painted on the chest of the soldiers in the Wall Battalion, which represents the wall of King's Landing. Although this force nominally exists only to maintain the city wall, it has actually become part of the city's garrison.

Du Long stood respectfully beside the soldiers of the Wall Guard Camp. It was this civilian official who brought these soldiers here, and he was also in charge of the Wall Guard Camp on a normal basis. However, since he was only wearing an ordinary civilian uniform, he looked very inconspicuous.

Eddard was very satisfied with old Arryn's control over the defense of King's Landing. If there was only one City Watch in the entire city like before, then whoever controlled the City Watch could easily replace the king on the Iron Throne.

Now the City Garrison, the Wall Battalion and the Antler Guards form a stable structure. No matter who wants to stage a coup, it will not work if they only control one troop. All three troop groups must be under control, but that will not be discovered by the Iron Throne.

Stannis was wearing the sky blue uniform of the Admiralty, and the anchor badge on his right chest silently indicated his position as the Admiralty. This was also part of Jon Arryn's reform, that is, all important officials must wear corresponding uniforms. Eddard saw that his colleagues, except Stannis, were quite uncomfortable with it.

"I understand, Lord Stark, thank you for seeing me off."

Stannis was still as cold and hard as ever, but Eddard Stark could sense his kindness beneath that cold exterior - because he himself was largely like that.

Stannis left to prepare for the expedition's crossing of the sea. Previous expeditions had proved that crossing the sea was a very labor-intensive and complicated task. If not handled carefully, it could result in heavy losses.

Therefore, Stannis needed to prepare in advance and go to Tyrosh, the headquarters of the royal fleet, to reorganize the main force of the royal fleet there.

Eddard was quite sorry about Stannis's departure. In Robert's private meeting, he always believed that Stannis was the most reliable, and the fact was almost the same.

Pycelle is too old. Maybe he was smart and capable in the past, but now he has lost all his energy. Moreover, he is busy representing the Citadel and the Academy most of the time. The relationship between the two is like fire and water, which can be ignited at any time.

The nobles of Westeros were happy to see old Arryn introduce the power of the Citadel, because it broke the Citadel's monopoly on writing. But for Eddard, as Prime Minister, it was too annoying to watch the infighting between the Citadel and the Citadel every day, and their infighting sometimes affected the work of the government - but he was powerless to do anything.

Renly is a handsome young man, but that's all. Rather than doing his job well, Renly prefers to have fun with his friends in King's Landing. He has recently been getting along well with Tyrell's Knight of Flowers.

However, Ed always felt that this young man was not as mediocre as he seemed. He had friends everywhere who looked a bit like Robert back then, but he didn't know how strong he was in martial arts.

Eddard never trusted the eunuch Varys, not only because he hated eunuchs as a group, but also because of the strong sense of uncertainty about Varys. Many times, Eddard wondered what this eunuch wanted to do.

The eunuch seemed to be good friends with everyone and provided everyone with the information they needed without distinction, but because of this, Ed became increasingly wary of him.

Marweiss is a typical mediocre bureaucrat, completely "manipulated" by the secretary around him. He does whatever the secretary says, without any opinion of his own. He has become a pure stamping machine and there is no need for communication at all.

Therefore, Stannis is the most reliable one among these people. He is not influenced by civil officials, and he acts decisively and quickly. He never delays because of personal reasons. No matter who he faces, he will rush forward bravely, and nothing can scare him.

And now that the most reliable person is leaving, Ed must feel very sorry.

Watching Stannis board the Wrath and watching the giant ship slowly sail out of the harbor, with the other ships of the fleet following behind, Eddard subconsciously let out a long sigh and had to get back to work.

"What's the next schedule?"

Ed asked Du Long subconsciously. He has now completely adapted to Du Long's role. With such a person around him, he doesn't need to remember many trivial matters and can use all the energy saved on work.

"To see the bastards of Robert the Great, my Lord." The Myrish spoke in a very standard King's Landing accent - not the King's Landing accent of Flea Bottom.

"Go, go, bastard of Robert, old and new gods, let us go and meet him. Lead the way."

Thinking of that, a nameless anger surged in Eddard's heart. Robert couldn't control the mess caused by his lower body, but he had to deal with it, and the whole Westeros had to deal with it.

Facing Ed's emotions, Du Long maintained a faint smile, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. This formulaic performance made Ed even more furious, but he still didn't say anything. He was not that kind of person.

The soldiers of the Wall Camp had already cleared a path on the street before Eddard asked about the next schedule, and drove the pedestrians on the street twice. Although the pedestrians kept cursing, they still made way for the road under the swing of the spears. Walking on this road, Duke Stark also sighed a little. He remembered that his father once complained that even with the clearing of the road by the City Guard, it was extremely difficult to cross the streets of King's Landing, because the City Guard was seriously short of manpower, and there were only a few people assigned to it. Let alone clearing the road in advance, sometimes it was impossible to clear the road.

Now the garrison of King's Landing has expanded much more than before, and the embarrassing situation of the past is gone forever. Now the garrison of King's Landing is really capable of overturning the entire city, instead of being simply wiped out like before when something happened in the flea pit.

It didn't take long for the Prime Minister to arrive at the place where the bastards were placed. That was the barracks of the Antler Guards. The Antler Guards were all from the Stormlands. They were the most loyal subjects of Baratheon by birth - and this was the most basic requirement.

The illegitimate children were placed here because Robert considered the safety of his descendants. It was not surprising that Eddard did this to the king. Although Robert looked rough on the outside, he was always very careful.

Eddard heard many jokes from the people of King's Landing about the king's gathering of illegitimate children. Although the jokes were directed at Robert, Eddard couldn't help but think of the North and his own "illegitimate children". He wondered how Jon was doing at the Wall...

Seeing the arrival of the Prime Minister, the serving officers who had been notified immediately gathered all the king's illegitimate children. Soon, a dozen of Robert's illegitimate children and their mothers stood on the playground of the Antler Guards - some of them were still breastfeeding in their mothers' arms.

When he saw these people, Ed noticed one extremely obvious feature at first glance. This feature was so obvious that it was impossible for Ed not to notice it - that is, no matter what the mother's hair color was, the child's hair was all black.

This made Ed feel a little numb, because the younger ones and the females were okay, but the teenagers and young men all had more or less Robert's characteristics, and seeing so many "Roberts" in front of him made him really uncomfortable.

When Eddard was looking at Robert's children, Robert's children were also looking at him. Before being suddenly found by officials from the Iron Throne, most of them lived ordinary lives and were just ordinary people in Westeros. The identity of the king's illegitimate children did not bring them any advantages. On the contrary, after the news spread, they received a lot of strange looks - after all, Robert was famous for not caring about the life or death of his illegitimate children.

There was also awe in their eyes as they looked at Eddard. Before being summoned to King's Landing, these people had never thought of having any connection with the great men of Westeros. Now that they saw those figures who only appeared in poems and rumors appear before their eyes, wouldn't they be in awe or even afraid?

However, among these people, there was one person who was not afraid of Eddard and even met his gaze. This was a tall young woman. When Eddard saw her, he felt as if he saw a female version of Robert.

Eddard knew this person, Mia Stone, the only illegitimate child Robert had ever raised, born to a woman from the Vale, but Robert eventually left.

This made Eddard's gaze shift involuntarily. He had to admit that when he saw the illegitimate daughter of the Eyrie and recalled what happened in the past, he felt a little ashamed. He was ashamed that he had forgotten about this girl and did not give her any help after she was abandoned by Robert.

Another bastard that Eddard knew was Edric Storm, Robert's only noble bastard. As for Edric's birth, it was more of an accident.

Eddard had seen the information on these illegitimate children. In order to find them, the bureaucracy and intelligence agencies of the Iron Throne worked at full capacity and produced a complete set of information. Robert was very wise when it came to having affairs. He only looked for civilians. After all, he could get a civilian pregnant and then walk away, but that didn't happen with a noble.

However, in these reports, Ed also saw that some of the king's illegitimate children and their mothers disappeared under unclear circumstances, and everything finally pointed to the mistress of the Red Castle without naming her.

This was a little hard for Eddard to accept. He didn't believe that Robert didn't know what Cersei had done. So either he was playing dumb, or he simply didn't care - no matter which possibility it was, Eddard didn't want to see it, but it was the fact.

"Children, the illegitimate children of His Majesty the King." Eddard called out a few times, drawing everyone's attention to himself. "I know that many of you are still surprised to be summoned to King's Landing, and some of you are angry at your father who ignored you. However, I can assure you that the king will compensate you for his betrayal. In the East, you will all become nobles, and your descendants will live in the castle for generations."

As he said these words, Ed felt a strong sense of awkwardness in his heart. Robert was messing around everywhere, and he was here to clean up the mess. This was really "the king shits, the prime minister eats shit".

Most of Robert's illegitimate children were very happy with Eddard's words. No matter what, they would become nobles, which was a good thing.

However, there were also people who didn't quite buy into Ed's words, such as Mia Stone. Next to him was a tall boy who looked like Robert. There was only indifference in their eyes.

Damn it, Ed couldn't help cursing in his heart. Was he going to have to do some psychological work on these kids to restore their relationship with Robert? Damn it, Robert, you actually want me to do this kind of thing, don't you dare to do it?

Although he was furious inside, on the surface, Eddard managed to keep a straight face and maintain the dignity of the Hand of the King and Duke Stark.

Next, Ed handed them some documents. This was the territory assigned to them by Robert. Many of them couldn’t understand them, but it didn’t matter, as someone would explain them to them.

Ed has read these documents, and they are basically some key areas in the East, such as along the main roads. Even if there is no such key location, the area of ​​the territory is enough to be compared with that of an ordinary earl.

However, Eddard is worried that some of the places where Robert sent these children are really sensitive. Is he really not afraid of what the dissatisfied commanders will do? Or is he just using these children as pawns to test the waters?
There was really little he could do about this. He could only hope that Robert would arrange appropriate personnel for these children, and that these children and their mothers would understand that although the road was bright, it was also tortuous.

As for what Robert was thinking, Eddard didn't know, and he didn't want to know.

Just as Ed was looking at these children and feeling conflicted, Du Long hurried to Ed's side. This was the first time Ed saw a look of panic on the face of this Mil man.

The first reaction in Ed's mind was that something must have happened, because even the prime minister's secretary, who was usually calm, showed such an expression, which meant that it must be a big deal.

Next, what Du Long whispered in Ed's ear was indeed a big deal, and Ed's expression almost couldn't hold back:
His wife Catelyn captured Tyrion Lannister, so Jaime Lannister wanted to settle accounts with him. He was rushing here with a group of Lannister soldiers. Judging from their posture, if the Prime Minister ran into them, several lives would be lost.

(End of this chapter)