King of The Wall

2021-10-15

Chapter 659 Keyholders Meeting
After several rounds of careful discussion and negotiation, the Reach nobles first reached an agreement "They can't win with firearms." The consensus. At the same time, most people agree that a cavalry unit capable of launching a rapid impact can effectively restrain, or at least considerably counteract, the formidable power of gunpowder weapons that seems to destroy heaven and extinguishing earth, but is actually loud thunder, but only tiny drops of rain. On this basis, a whole set of challenge strategies for the Queen West Expedition Force came into being, which can be summed up as follows.

One, it goes without saying that the entire Reach is activated for the production of nitrate, sulphur and gunpowder blending.

Second, under the premise of overall war preparation, the cavalry must be assembled and mobilized to the limit: Reach, which is vast but not sparsely populated, has a large number of excellent horse farms, and the number of horses and cavalry has always been stable. Overwhelming the other six countries, coupled with the location in the south, even after enduring the winter baptism, you can still get a considerable number of warhorses. It is estimated that if everything goes well, about 20,000 cavalry troops can be gathered - this is more than Igor's rate. Half of the main force of the West Expedition Force, if so many cavalrymen and horses can listen to the thunder and not be disturbed by the artillery, it is definitely a huge force enough to decide the outcome of the war.

Third, the above preparations require a lot of time. After the princes of Reach voted, a minority obeyed the majority and forcibly reached a "consensus": a certain amount of space was exchanged for time. In addition to leaving some mobile troops to harass and prevent the enemy from advancing quickly, the entire Queen's westward marching Reach forces, that is, the Reach people within the range of Roseroad, are evacuated - the rich can run with valuable gold and silver. Retreat to the west and back, and resolutely do not give the opportunity to take hostages; the castle can’t withstand the bombing anyway, so just leave an empty city and close the gate for Steward to guard; the villagers who can’t escape also try to keep the walls clear, try to stay away from the Great Way, and save their lives at the same time. Strive to be invincible.

If the early property loss caused by the non-resistance policy will be paid by the entire Reach - the specific method is: after the war, the lords of the Oldtown Hightower who refused to respond to the call to fight will be liquidated first, and their property supplies will be confiscated. If the lords of the Eastern Front still have any shortages, the rest will be shared by all Reach lords.

The above is the final plan, the following is the supplementary content that was put forward by individuals and judged as valuable opinions after everyone's discussion:

Fourth, Highgarden, as the theoretical capital of Reach, absolutely must It cannot be used as a price to give up in exchange for time. Otherwise, if the "strategic retreat" is carried out endlessly, it is very likely that the morale will collapse as soon as it is withdrawn. Therefore, if conditions permit, the decisive battle location should be selected in the area from Highgarden to Cider Hall. , backed by the Reach Political Center, and if it doesn't work, it will be a success.

Five, "Field of Fire" is the painful memory and humiliating history of all Reach people, and contemporary scholars believe that if the battle did not take place on a clear autumn day, when a field of crops matured Even if the formidable power of Longyan is large, it will not be able to burn back more than 50,000 coalition forces. Even if the Reach King is still defeated, he will never be wiped out by the clan. Even if the Aegon conquest will still be completed... it will definitely be delayed for half a year. above.

Now that they have anti-aircraft weapons like the Dragon Hunter, and the season is spring, there are no dry fields and ripe crops to ignite... but they should still learn from their past failures : Since the enemy has an absolute advantage in gunpowder weapons, the decisive battle should be controlled not only geographically, but also in terms of time. The moisture of the gun can offset a small amount of damage that the dragon flame may bring, and the penetration of the moisture can also greatly reduce the formidable power and reliability of the gunpowder weapon, which truly suppresses the enemy's advantage to a minimum!
 …

The Reach people confidently strategized their counterattack and began their final mobilization in a frenzy, and a few thousands li northeast of the Braavos Iron across the narrow sea In a room on the second floor of the vault's headquarters, another discussion, also related to the Queen Daenerys regime, is taking place.

As the strongest and most special of the Free Cities, Braavos has a political system that is very different from any of the others: the "Sealord" elected by a mysterious and complex ceremony is in charge of administrative and The army, the nominal supreme ruler of Braavos, the "Great Council", which only some citizens can participate in, controls the legislation, while the "Great Court" is responsible for the judiciary... a top-heavy separation of powers as a whole.

But what most people will never know is that on top of this seemingly reasonable and stable triangle mechanism, there is a mysterious organization that looms over it and hides like a shadow. - Keyholders meeting.

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[The Iron Vault has 23 founders, each of whom has a key to open the bank's huge underground vault, and jointly manages and shares the iron vault. Great wealth is for Keyholders. Their descendants, the Keyholders family. ]

This is the information about "Keyholders" that anyone in the known world can learn from official channels.

However, the underground treasury of the Iron Vault has been fortified and transformed many times and is no longer controlled by the twenty-three keys, and "Keyholders" has gradually evolved from a position and title to a legend with the changes of the world. Today, when you walk down the street and meet someone in a drab taupe coat claiming to be Keyholders, there's half a chance that you've run into a liar trying to sell you the so-called "his ancestor's key," and the other half would mean This person owns bloodline, founder of Iron Vault.

But it's important to note that even the latter case doesn't speak for itself: the Keyholders have thousands of direct descendants, and countless more. The same ancestors have passed away, and the descendants of the Keyholders who have done well may still serve in institutions such as the Iron Vault, Sealord's Palace, and the Palace of Truth - most of them will not hang out on the street, and the other part of the poor may just be Well-off families and ordinary people are even worse.

The "Keyholders Association" is a completely different existence.

In the beginning, as the name suggests, the Keyholders Conference was the meeting held by the twenty-three Keyholders, but as the Iron Vault gradually developed into the core industry and economic pillar of Braavos, the rulers of the city-state hoped that the country would be The lifeblood was brought under control...and had some open strife and veiled struggle with Keyholders to do so. The struggle ended with the Iron Vault having the upper hand, but the two sides reached a compromise, and the first generation Keyholders finally decided to turn the internal meeting into an organization, a club, and recruit Braavos leaders from various other industries to join it - with commitments "The activities of the Iron Vault will give priority to the overall interests of Braavos", and Latte Vault's part of the shares and decision-making power are exchanged for becoming a member of the rulers themselves.

This organization is the prototype of the "Keyholders Club": a club formed by a group of real ruling classes to delineate the decision-making level, a club to ensure the proper distribution of interests and avoid internal frictions for external enemies. Tools to take advantage of.

After completing the splendid transformation, the members of the Keyholders Society, the brightest of Braavos, quickly realized that the real authority of a city-state was really stupid under the name of a bank, and decisively began to hide it. The figure gradually retreated into the background, leaving only the invisible power to remotely control the Grand Conference and the Grand Court... and conduct gentle internal wrestling in each "Sealord" election to determine the final candidate, and through this can be called "representative" It can also be said that it is a "puppet" person who rules the entire city-state until it is finally perfected into the mature version of today - it seems that it does not exist, but it is a shadow government everywhere.

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And today, the "Keyholders Club", the super club that secretly manipulates the entire Free Cities, or even the entire known world financial system, is conducting a Intense debate, there are two issues.

1. Do you accept the repayment plan proposed by the Master of Coin Tyrion Lannister Duke of Queen Daenerys, and accept the "Targaryen Bond" as an inheritance repayment for the debt owed to the thief?

2. If the answer to one is no, do you accept the invitation to join the "city-state union" and become a member of the anti-Mother of Dragons alliance?
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(end of this chapter)