The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 213 Ready to go
Riverrun surrendered.

To be honest, this was not a very surprising thing. After all, the situation faced by the northern rebels was so desperate that the only option was surrender.

Facing the surrendering people from Riverrun, Frey verbally insulted them to the extreme. Old Frey breathed a sigh of relief, and the humiliation of the Frey family being trampled under the feet of the Tully family for many years was finally released at this moment.

However, Old Frey did not dare to make a decision on his own on how to deal with Tully and Stark. Therefore, the decision on how to deal with the rebel leaders was sent to King's Landing.

Gillian personally witnessed that fierce royal council, at which the king and the queen mother both advocated beheading Robb Stark, Catelyn Tully, Edmure Tully and others. However, the other people in the royal council had already held a small meeting to decide the fate of Stark and Tully.

It is not possible to continue the crazy killing of Tywin's era. No one wants to be like Tywin, having to wear a mask of fear all the time.

Therefore, it is better to abandon this kind of thing that is extremely likely to cause a terrible backlash as soon as possible. Now Tywin's death is both a warning and a good opportunity for the living to change their ways.

And more importantly, they have to take into account the balance of power in the North. Frey holds two large territories and can be said to be the undisputed super lord. These must be checked and balanced, so the decision of the Royal Conference on Tully's treatment is to deprive him of his title of Duke of Riverland and reduce some land to the surrounding families that support the Iron Throne, but still retain his title of Earl of Riverrun.

In this way, the status between Frey and Tully will be reversed. Tully will become a powerful challenger to Frey, and Frey will become the feudal lord.

The treatment of the Tullys was relatively light, because old Hoster only left behind one male, Edmure Tully. If he was killed, the direct bloodline of the Tully family would be cut off, which would undoubtedly be a good result for the Freys.

Therefore, Edmure Tully can continue to be the lord of his castle, but the Iron Throne will supervise him, and the person in charge of supervision is Daven Lannister, who has made great contributions in the battle. If it is replaced by old Frey to supervise the last direct male of Tully, everyone in the King's Council is afraid that Edmure will "naturally" die without children at some point.

Lord Walder expressed strong dissatisfaction with this, and after a round of communication via ravens, both sides made concessions. Lannister agreed to let Lord Walder marry his daughter to the Earl of Riverrun, so that in the future, the one sitting in Riverrun would be his grandson.

Kevan and Gillian were both quite disdainful of this. Few families in Westeros were as united as the Lannisters. The current prosperity of the Freys was built on the unity of old Frey and his sons, but after they passed away, could the new generation of Freys maintain the unity of the family? When old Frey was alive, those unsuccessful collateral branches had already begun to rebel against the family. When someone like Leman succeeded to the throne, the chaos and infighting under the banner of the Twin Towers would only intensify.

The Lannisters' attitude towards the Freys is to maintain a friendly alliance and then slowly wait: wait for the older generation of Freys to leave without successors, wait for the alliance of the lords of the riverlands and Pentos to fall apart, and wait for the hegemony spanning both sides of the Narrow Sea to disintegrate after its heyday.

Time and aging are the Freys' greatest enemies, even more so than the Lannisters or the Iron Throne.

As for Catelyn Tully, Cersei strongly suggested chopping off her head, but Kevan refused, saying it would have a bad influence on the royal family. The final decision was to let this Tully woman go to King's Landing to be a silent sister.

As for other river lords, those diehard followers of Tully will be reduced in power, and some of their lands will be transferred to the victor. However, the Iron Throne will not completely kill these lords. If Frey really lets the riverlands unite into one, that would not be a good thing.

Next, it was the North. As for the Starks, the little king wanted to chop off the heads of the traitors, but they didn't intend to be ruthless.

Robb Stark's behavior caused the Northern lords to become alienated from Winterfell to a great extent, but this also led to the rise of the Boltons, and the Dreadfort established a marriage alliance with the Twins. If the Boltons of the Dreadfort controlled the North, the power of the Freys would inevitably be further strengthened.

Therefore, the common opinion of the Royal Council was to re-establish the situation of opposition between the King in the North and the Red King. That is, although the Iron Throne would deprive Stark of his title of Duke of the North, it would only symbolically reduce Stark's land to ensure that Stark still had enough power to face Bolton.

Of course, Bolton could also choose to ignore the orders of the Iron Throne and directly besiege Winterfell, but this is exactly what the Lannisters want. When the North is reduced to ruins, they can let a Lannister marry Sansa Stark and go to the North to seize Winterfell.

Therefore, the Iron Throne was extremely merciful in its treatment of the North. Robb Stark and his cronies must be executed, but he was also allowed to join the Night's Watch - and Robb made this choice without hesitation.

However, as the leader of the northern rebels, he was not immediately sent on a ship to serve at the Wall. Instead, he was escorted to King's Landing and displayed as a loser and trophy at the kingdom's victory ceremony.

Now, Gillian is watching Robb Stark and others parade through the streets of King's Landing.

The northerners locked in the prison cars either had dull eyes or had given up on themselves, but the people of King's Landing gave them a warm welcome. All kinds of dirt and rotten vegetables were thrown on the heads of the defeated, along with all kinds of vicious curses.

Gillian used to be puzzled as to why people could be so vicious to those who had nothing to do with them. But as he participated in the expedition and worked in the southern land far away from Westeros for so many years, he finally understood that most people lack a reasonable channel to vent their emotions. Only by treating these losers can they release the pressure without burden.

Robb Stark faced it all with an expressionless face. He remained unmoved even when rotten vegetable leaves and other dirt hit his face. He looked completely lifeless.

Gillian had seen Robb before and heard of his military achievements. It was unpredictable that such a nobleman with a bright future would become like this.

Stark's wolf was tied up tightly by several Lannister knights and driven aside. Few people dared to throw garbage at the beast, because even if the beast was chained, it was still full of wildness and deterrence, and still made people afraid.

Now, Gillian was watching the King's Landing attacking the Starks, and for some reason he thought of Joffrey. The roar of "I am the king!" at the royal council seemed to be right beside his ears. If it weren't for Queen Margaery's mediation, even this situation would not have ended. Margaery, when mentioning the queen, her figure appeared in Gillian's mind. It must be said that this Tyrell is really a perfect noble lady and a perfect queen of Westeros.

However, she ended up with a husband who is hard to describe, and she doesn't know where her future will go.

As soon as this thought came to his mind, Gillian couldn't help but smile at himself. Why should he worry about the eldest daughter of Tyrell? She was so capable at such a young age, and there was no need for him, a Lannister, to worry about her.

The defeated team passed by, and naturally the victors came next. The knights from the Westerland, the River Bay and the Riverlands rode proudly on their horses, waving and saluting to the citizens around them, and they received cheers one after another.

At this point, Gillian did not continue reading. He had no interest in these things, so he chose to return to the Red Castle. He did not want to see Joffrey's smug look. It would be better if this guy could just stop talking.

As the commander of the Southern Expedition Fleet, Gillian has a heavy burden on his shoulders. He has an extremely large fleet under his command, and this fleet has to carry a large army across the Narrow Sea, so there are many things that need to be dealt with.

At present, the fleet he has is mainly composed of three parts.

First of all, it belonged to the Iron Throne: the newly formed Royal Fleet, which was composed of new ships urgently built by King's Landing and conscripted merchant ships. This fleet was formed very hastily and was full of rookies and newcomers. Gillian did not expect them to be able to fight, but simply defined these fleets as logistics transport brigades attached to other fleets, and simply removed them from the battle sequence.

Next is his Southern Fleet. This fleet has been through hundreds of battles in the south. Each of the crew members are elite soldiers who have fought hard for their lives. They have extremely rich combat experience and are the direct lineage that Jillian can rely on.

Then there are the Arbor Fleet and the Lys Fleet in the River Bay. These two fleets have now arrived in King's Landing. Just like the flamboyant roses, these fleets are also extremely flamboyant. Gillian only hopes that their fighting power can match their appearance.

Finally, there is the Eastern Fleet, or more precisely, the Pentos Fleet. This is the fleet that Frey brought out and it is the weakest of the three fleets. Its composition is also very chaotic, with the Crown, the North, and the river lords included. It can be said to be a reflection of the complexity of the Eastern Expedition, but the number is also very considerable.

These three fleets have their own characteristics, qualities and status, and they are more willing to obey their captains than themselves. To be honest, Gillian is also quite troubled by this mixed and multi-faceted fleet.

But no matter how troublesome it is, we have to face this problem. Jillian has been meeting with various captains these days, doing everything from understanding the situation to threatening and intimidating, and he is exhausted every day.

In the previous meeting, Gillian and Kevan also discussed whether to give orders to Euron and Littlefinger. One of them commands the Tranquil Fleet and the Iron Fleet, and the other controls the Myr Fleet and the Vale Fleet. If these four fleets also join the crusade, the Iron Throne's advantage will be greatly enhanced, whether it is the crusade against Stannis or further recovery of lost territory.

However, after some discussion, they rejected this idea. After all, Euron and Littlefinger's ambitions were obvious. If Robert or Tywin were still alive, these two might have obeyed orders obediently. But now, not only have the strong men passed away, but the authority and strength of the Iron Throne have also been seriously damaged. It is better not to give them any excuses and let them stay where they are.

And this is just the beginning, because it does not include the land forces that will be transported across the narrow sea.

The main force of this cross-sea expedition, apart from the estuary army led by Barristan and part of the Lannister army, is mainly from the River Bay and the Royal Territory. The former is the decision made by Lord Inflatable Fish - Mace Tyrell's nickname has spread in the palace - to further demonstrate the martial arts of the River Bay; the latter is the team that took action after gaining a huge advantage on the Iron Throne. Naturally, since the choice has been made, it is necessary to take action and fight for the Iron Throne.

The Iron Throne now controls the vast majority of Westeros, and even though many places have been ravaged by war, it could raise a large army to attack Stannis, but the Small Council does not do so.

This choice was made after considering many aspects. First of all, there was vigilance against ambitious people like Euron and Littlefinger. Secondly, there was distrust of many wavering princes - the most typical of which were the Stormlands nobles. Then there was the need for the allies to restore order in the territories. As for the fact that the Battle of the Great Road taught the western nobles the importance of selecting the best soldiers, that goes without saying.

Therefore, on behalf of the Iron Throne, Kevan ordered the armies of the river allies and westerly vassal states to be disbanded, and let them go home to deal with the bandits and restore order. As for the nobles of the Stormlands, Kevan asked them to continue fighting Stannis in the Stormlands and make sure to delay his army.

The Lannister army was divided into several groups. Apart from those participating in the expedition, the remaining personnel were stationed in King's Landing, Harrenhal, Seaforth and Lannisport to guard against possible movements of Littlefinger and Euron.

In addition, the Lannisport Fleet did not participate in this crusade, but continued to be stationed in Lannisport, monitoring the Tranquility Fleet and the Iron Fleet under Euron.

Gillian felt that the road ahead was uncertain as to whether his fleet could defeat Stannis. As Stannis's royal fleet was once the strongest fleet on the Iron Throne, its quality was naturally beyond words. Gillian had no confidence in facing them.

As for whether the expeditionary army can defeat Stannis, it is difficult to judge. If Hugo can be persuaded to join and lead the eastern army to attack from the north, the Iron Throne can easily crush Stannis with its size alone. However, Hugo said that his troops are all besieging Braavos and his energy is focused on solving this long-time rival for the Iron Throne once and for all. He can't pull out any extra soldiers, so it is powerless to go south to help. The Iron Throne can only accept the response given by this eastern warlord.

However, although the future is uncertain, the battle must be fought. The Iron Throne cannot allow a separatist force to exist. As long as Stannis's regime exists, it will be a mockery of the authority of the Iron Throne.

It is precisely because he knows this that Gillian, no matter how reluctant he is, is trying hard to prepare for war.

(End of this chapter)