The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 19 Turbulent City
  Following the Blackwater River, there is the famous King's Landing. It is the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, a huge city with a population of half a million, the location of the Red Keep and the Iron Throne.

Before the founding of King's Landing, the area around the mouth of the Blackwater River was just a forest. A small number of fishermen lived here. Occasionally, knights and lords built towers and castles here, but they would disappear soon, because this place had long been the Riverlands. In a disputed territory with the Kingdom of the Stormlands, few strongholds can survive for long.

And 300 years ago, when Aegon the Conqueror landed at the mouth of the Blackwater River, he used earth and wood to build a fortress on the top of the highest hill, and ruled the entire Seven Kingdoms from here.

Due to the rule established by the True Dragon Family here, wealth and population quickly concentrated in King's Landing. In a short period of time, it became a big city, with towering city walls rising from the ground, and King's Landing also became a symbol of Westeros. The attitude that a capital city should have.

The small fortress on the high hill has also become the majestic Red Fort. The Red Fort is built of light red stone and has seven huge iron-roofed drum towers. The thick city wall surrounds the castle, overlooking the Blackwater River Estuary and the entire city.

In addition to the Red Keep, King's Landing also has two wonders, the Dragon's Den and the Great Sept of Baelor, which stand on top of the other two high hills in King's Landing.

The Dragon Cave was once a place where the Targaryen family kept dragons captive. The gate allowed thirty knights to enter side by side on horseback. However, as the Targaryens lost their dragons, the building lost its maintenance. Until now, Its massive dome has collapsed from within and its bronze doors have been closed for more than a century.

As for the Great Cathedral, it is a magnificent marble dome building with seven crystal towers standing in it. It is also the location of the main altar of the Church of the Seven Gods. The holy voice of the Archbishop has since commanded devout believers across the country.

However, although King's Landing has such majestic buildings, it still cannot change the failure of its own design. Except for some blocks and a few avenues, King's Landing is more like a concentration camp surrounded by city walls. The governance is also very poor, and it is dirtier than other cities. The chaos is even more ugly, and the stench from the city can be smelled outside the city walls.

Many people have evaluated King's Landing as a cesspool. To be fair, this is a very appropriate evaluation of King's Landing.

It is very difficult for the capital garrison of only 2,000 people to manage this city of 500,000 people. Under such circumstances, King's Landing has naturally become a mixed place. If you want to disappear in the slums of King's Landing, that is one thing. It's very easy. It's also very easy to sneak in.

However, even a place where fish and dragons are mixed has its own rules, but in this special era, these rules are gradually becoming ineffective.

The current King's Landing is in turmoil. The Targaryen family, which has ruled the city for three hundred years, has been driven out of the Red Keep. The blood of the royal family is spilled on the ground. The Iron Throne has a new owner. The Lannister army is still attacking this city. The city was pillaged ruthlessly.

Therefore, the old sparrow blended into the city very easily.

When the old sparrow and his sparrow brothers passed through the city gate, the golden robes responsible for the city's defense, that is, the capital garrison, did not even look at the old sparrow. They were overwhelmed by the changes in commanders at all levels and the addition of a large number of new recruits. , so much so that they even have no intention of maintaining the tradition of eating cards and taking food. The city gate is basically in a free-flowing state.

Although the old sparrow came to King's Landing for the first time, he was not trapped by this huge city. His many years of traveling around the Seven Kingdoms made him have connections all over the Seven Kingdoms.

Not long after he entered King's Landing, he was invited over by a group of people who had been waiting for a long time. When these people gathered around the old sparrow, the people nearby walked away consciously. The people of King's Landing knew very well that those people were gangsters.

The old sparrow had no fear and naturally followed them away.

Walking through the streets of King's Landing, the old sparrow was enjoying the stench that everyone in King's Landing could not avoid, while also observing the ecology of the city.

Compared to the towns in Old Sparrow's memory, King's Landing was crowded and chaotic. The streets were crowded with too many people, and there were restless crowds everywhere. Pickpockets were everywhere, and Old Sparrow saw several pickpocket activities.

What's even more outrageous is that a robbery was staged in front of the old sparrow. The person who was robbed helplessly asked for help, but no one paid any attention to him.

"I'm sorry, old monk. King's Landing has been a bit chaotic recently, and there's no one to manage the streets. And Boss Reg will tell you what's going on."

The old sparrow's frown was noticed by the gangster, and he said apologetically that the old sparrow didn't pursue anything. Now is the time when he needs to keep a low profile, rather than stand up and uphold justice.

"We're all screwed! We're screwed! The king is going to replace us with those peasants!"

Someone yelled like this on the street corner. It was a man in ragged clothes, and people immediately stayed away from him, as if they were staying away from the plague. After a while, several golden robes dragged the person away. While the golden robes were dealing with it, With a numb look on his face, he had obviously dealt with similar incidents many times.

When the man was being escorted away, the man continued to make a fuss until Jinpao punched him, causing blood to splash everywhere. When An An calmed down, the old sparrow glanced at the pool of blood thoughtfully.

The atmosphere in King's Landing was obviously not right now. The city was in a kind of restlessness that he didn't know. Moreover, the old sparrow also thought of the tents he saw outside the city. He knew that there were many adults coming to those coats of arms.

Therefore, he had to figure out what was going on in King's Landing as soon as possible.

"I want to see Reg as soon as possible." Old Sparrow said, and the thugs also quickened their pace. Thanks to their gang status, many people took the initiative to get out of the way.

The old sparrow came to a relatively quiet neighborhood, which was guarded by gang members. The architectural style here was very old, and it seemed to be the style of a hundred years ago. At the gate of the block, the person the old sparrow wanted to see, Reg, was waiting for him.

Reg is a short and stocky man. His clothes are very ordinary. At first glance, he looks no different from the ordinary poor people in King's Landing. However, the shield logo on his chest indicates the identity of the gangster. In King's Landing, almost everyone wears such things on their chest. He is a member of various gangs.

"Monk." In front of the old sparrow, the man knelt down directly and kissed his palm, with gratitude and piety written on his face.

Seeing the boss like this, everyone else knelt down, and the old sparrow skillfully blessed the person in front of him, "May the Seven Gods bless you, Reg, settle all my brothers of faith, and then let us go in and talk. Talk, I already said it in my letter, I want to know what is going on in King's Landing now."

"As you command, monk."

The well-known gang leader in King's Landing said tamely, and his gesture was enough to shock those who knew him.

The relationship between Old Sparrow and a gang leader like Reg happened when Old Sparrow preached near the mouth of the Blackwater River. Reg was infected by Old Sparrow's sermons. Of course, more importantly, what happened next was that Old Sparrow He was rescued by a killer sent by Reg's enemy.

"The streets are very chaotic. In my impression, although the King's Landing you described to me is terrible, it will not be this chaotic." Sitting in the guest room, the old sparrow first looked at the simple decorations. When Reg came over, the old sparrow looked at the simple decorations. He asked directly, "There are troops from the king's princes and some storm princes outside the city. What happened in King's Landing?"

The old sparrow's words made Reg, who had just filled the wine glass with beer, smile bitterly, "Now is no different than usual, old monk. The news about the expeditionary force has made everyone panic."

"What's going on?" Old Sparrow said with a frown.

"Ah, let me think about it, how should I put it?" The stocky man scratched the back of his head in distress and tried to organize his words, "Let's put it this way, how many people in King's Landing do you think are related to the Targaryen family? "

"I don't know, but there must be a lot." The old sparrow didn't know what Reg meant by saying this, but he still gave the answer.

"Yes, there are many, and the world is no longer ruled by the Dragon King." Reg said with a sigh. "The ancestors of our neighborhood were soldiers who served in the expedition to Dorne. Fortunately, the Young Dragon Lord favored us, and we were able to win our own kingdom in King's Landing. neighborhood, but as generations of kings passed by, no one cared about us, and the neighborhood became more and more dilapidated. In order to make ends meet, we had no choice but to join a gang and start managing this area. And the True Dragon King likes to use Forces like ours manage the city with the neighborhoods to influence those neighborhoods that the golden robe cannot control, and our gang business is doing pretty well.”

"Then what does this have to do with the expeditionary force?" The old sparrow understood the meaning, but it was just a guess, so he continued to ask.

"At first, the people of King's Landing had no feelings towards the expeditionary force, but as the king announced that he would bring the expeditionary force to King's Landing, rumors quickly emerged on the streets. Those of us in the gangs and guilds who have been fearful since the fall of the True Dragon Dynasty Many people believed that Robert was planning to replace us with these people, and rumors were spreading. Then it became that Robert was going to replace everyone related to the Targaryen family in King's Landing with river people. Think about it, how many people are related to Targaryens in King's Landing? You can understand why there is so much agitation on the streets. Then there are a bunch of other rumors, such as the expeditionary force is the church's force to cleanse King's Landing. They also said that they were here to recreate the catastrophe of King's Landing... There were countless such remarks, and they made the remaining people agitated. In fact, if the cheese sellers in Pentos hadn't seized this opportunity to dump the low-quality cheese on King's Landing, Cheese, so everyone can have a good meal, and now something bad may happen in King's Landing instead of just some thefts and robberies."

Reg's answer made the old sparrow silent for a while. Indeed, as the gang leader said, if this is the case, it is not surprising that the streets are agitated.

"And we gangsters have no intention of maintaining order on the streets. These rumors have made some people start to challenge the original order. Although there are not many attacks, they have made everyone's nerves extremely nervous. Anyway, Targaryen didn't give a penny before. We still don’t have a penny, so we just don’t care. And those guilds have also stopped production and don’t know what they are doing. Now everyone in King’s Landing is looking for a way out, but no one knows where the way out is.”

Reg had a solemn look on his face. He and his gang were also the ones looking for a way out. It was also because of this that he was so eager for the old sparrow.

"I remember when Lord Tywin entered the city, didn't he purge many loyal Targaryen forces? Why are people still so panic-stricken?"

The old sparrow continued to ask, and Reg shook his hand and said that was not the case at all, "Those are the real dragon's illegitimate community and the big businessmen and civil servants, not small characters like us at all. The lions don't look down on us. We are many and poor. There is no such thing." Looting is necessary, and now everyone thinks the knife is going to hit us little characters.”

"What's going on with the noble army outside the city?"

"Nobles? The king summoned them in the name of asking them to pay compensation for their wrong sides in the usurper's war. The arrival of these people only exacerbated the chaos in the city. They were also afraid that they would be summoned by the king to be purged, but they had to Come on, these people are making our city even more chaotic. Old monk, now you understand why this city is so restless."

Reg became more and more weak as he talked about these things. The burden was on the gang leader, almost crushing him. The old sparrow looked at him thoughtfully, and then he said, "Reg, I have a clear way here." , are you willing to go?"

"If someone else told me, I would definitely not take it seriously, but this is what you said, monk, of course I am willing." Reg said immediately, as if he was afraid that the old sparrow would regret it. He had long heard what the old sparrow had said. Sparrow's reputation and his status.

"Then I just have a preliminary idea, but I have to improve it."

The old sparrow already has some preliminary ideas, but these ideas still need time to be perfected. The old sparrow feels that he must handle matters in King's Landing carefully, otherwise the entire expeditionary force will be threatened.

(End of this chapter)