The five members of the Imperial Council were staring at each other.
Not long after they got up, news came that Sansa was missing.
"Lord Sterling, can you tell me how a weak woman escaped from the Red Keep?"
Queen Cersei's tone was as annoyed as her expression.
The northern army is pressing down on the city, but the most important hostage in the city has escaped. This really makes people unhappy.
Sterling, who was the latest to join the Royal Council, was naturally the most uneasy, "According to my people, not even a mouse escaped from the door of the Red Keep last night, so Miss Sansa must have come through some secret passage that we don't know about.
Escaped."
He had carefully checked the records of entering and exiting the Red Keep last night, and confirmed that Miss Stark could not have gone out through the main entrance of the Red Keep under any circumstances.
Archmaester Pycelle, who pretended to be old, added: "According to the maid who monitored Sansa, she rushed to Sansa's room as soon as she realized something was wrong, but there were more than ten strong men from the north in the room at that time.
, one of them knocked her unconscious with one punch, and she didn’t know what happened after that.”
Pycelle spoke slowly and tended to excuse the old maid, which naturally made Cersei furious on the spot.
"Does she think I'm a fool? With more than ten strong men, do the people from the North treat the Red Keep like a fish market outside the Mud Gate, coming and going freely?"
After the Red Keep discovered that Sansa was missing, they naturally immediately found the old maid tied under the bed, and then learned some "truths" from her.
In order to reduce her responsibility, the old maid chose to exaggerate the number of people.
In this way, the ones who should be held accountable most should be the golden robes guarding the castle. After all, they were the ones who let people sneak in.
However, the old maid's confession could not convince the Queen Mother, so this imperial meeting was held.
Cersei insists that Miss Stark should have escaped after a sneak attack and kidnapping the maid, just like her sister.
Finance Minister Baelish suppressed a smile. He would rather believe that ten strong men appeared on the Queen Mother's bed than believe that such a group of northerners could sneak into the Red Keep to rescue Stark.
Pycelle was yelled at by the Queen Mother, and just as he was feeling embarrassed, he suddenly caught a glimpse of the unusually wonderful look on Littlefinger Baelish's face, and he got angry and said:
"It seems our chancellor has a different view."
Cersei, who had nowhere to vent her anger, naturally turned to look at Baelish, and the other three also made the same move.
Littlefinger was about to watch the Queen Mother angrily attack the new Duke Sterling - he himself was only an earl, but a pig butcher became a duke and got Harrenhal, which made him jealous -
- Unexpectedly, he was noticed, so he coughed lightly and explained:
"Of course outsiders can't enter the Red Keep, so Miss Sansa can only escape on her own."
Cersei is like a goose flapping her wings at this moment, biting whoever she catches.
"What you mean is that Sansa, who has been in the Red Keep for several months, did not escape. When the Northerners came, she had the courage to run out, and she did it when the main door was closed. Could it be that she is like a sparrow?
Same, flew out?"
Eddard was beheaded by his own son, and the two Miss Starks disappeared one after another, leaving King's Landing without an important hostage. His father and his army were in the distant West River, which made the situation in King's Landing suddenly dangerous.
.
No wonder the Queen Mother was so out of sorts.
Littlefinger glanced around the crowd and suddenly thought of Varys, the eight-clawed spider.
In terms of motivation and ability, only the intelligence chief could have sent Sansa out without anyone noticing.
Baelish was also very angry about Sansa's disappearance, so he sowed discord and said: "It is impossible to fly out, but you can really leave the Red Keep from certain places, such as the basement where an adult often goes. According to reports,
I know that there is a sewer stone channel leading to the sewage, and the stone channel leads to the Blackwater River."
Like all castles, the toilets in the Red Fort are built at high places to allow excrement to fall naturally, so many small holes were dug.
Among these sewage discharge holes, maybe one or two have been widened to the point where people can walk out.
According to Littlefinger's sources, Intelligence Chief Varys should have such a channel.
Although Littlefinger himself had such a way in and out of the Red Keep, he climbed down from the cliff and did not have to walk through the smelly sewers.
Although Baelish didn't say who it was, the look he cast on Varys clearly reminded everyone.
So Cersei turned around and asked: "Really, Lord Varys?"
The fat face of the intelligence chief, who had his hands folded, was a little confused, "Your Majesty, this is a slander. Lord Baelish is obviously closer to Sansa and her mother. Whoever wants to can send Sansa outside the city?"
Among the rebels, he was the only one."
He was anxious to clear up his relationship and did not immediately deny the existence of this passage.
Cersei did not hear the implication and looked at the Chancellor of the Exchequer again.
"It sounds like you have more motive for committing the crime. Give me a convincing reason, otherwise I will throw you into the dungeon."
Now that we have reached a critical moment of life and death, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has little role to play.
The gray little fingers on his temples suddenly became anxious. After several breaths, he came up with the most convincing reason for this confused Queen Mother.
"When His Majesty Joffrey I succeeded to the throne, my position was very clear. There is no shortage of smart people in the north, and they can naturally guess the role I play. What reason do I have to please them?"
Cersei thought about it, too.
"Why is Sansa missing?" Joffrey's voice came from outside the door.
Then, the lecherous king walked in angrily.
"Don't a lot of you know where she went?"
Abusing Miss Stark has become a daily task for Emperor Joe, so he is very angry about Sansa's disappearance.
"Xiao Qiao, I have sent people to search every house in the city. I believe we can find her."
The Queen Mother comforted her son in this way, and she was also comforting herself.
"The rebels outside the city have not been dealt with, but the city can still be embarrassed. You guys are really..."
Joffrey waved his right fist angrily, as if this could vent the resentment in his heart.
Seeing that her son was angry, Cersei hurriedly comforted her: "Don't worry, I already have a strategy to defeat the enemy. Within a few days, the rebels will go to meet the old gods."
Joffrey pointed to his mother, "It's best like this. If the rebels are not wiped out within five days, I will personally lead the troops out of the city and defeat the rebels just like my father decided the outcome in the Ruby Beach battle.
.Then decorate my throne room with the heads of northern nobles who are as stupid as Eddard."
The current king is keen on renovating the Red Keep, and the stag patterns on the windows of the throne room and Maegor's Tower have been replaced by the weeping seven-pointed star.
Cersei suddenly felt a chill when she thought of the heads of Eddard and others that once hung outside the Red Keep.
"Don't worry, the northern nobles will not leave the whole corpse behind." She stood up, coaxed her son to leave the meeting hall, and focused on repairing the Red Castle.
The king and the queen mother were about to leave, and Pycelle suddenly said: "Your Majesty, Lords Baelish and Varys still know the secret way to sneak out of the Red Keep."
The bachelor's brain may not be as good as these two, but it's not far behind, so he will naturally remember this matter.
Joffrey turned back and glanced coldly, "Let these two adults lead people to block their secret passage, or I will let them enjoy the taste of the dungeon."
Although he was speaking to Pycelle and Sterling, the threat was accurately conveyed to the ears of the parties concerned.
Then the Emperor and the Queen Mother turned around and left.
Littlefinger and Varys looked at each other, and the latter shrugged, expressing his helplessness.
Baelish didn't want to anger the king at this juncture, so he could only ask Sterling to lead the golden robes to block the wooden door leading to the cliff.
As for Wallis's black well leading to the sewer, it was naturally sealed.
No one knows if there are other secret passages into and out of the Red Fort, but in name there are none.
…
Three days later, at noon, by the Blackwater River.
Arthur was practicing throwing axes when a blue light curtain suddenly appeared. It turned out that it could be upgraded.
, Guide 0, Reconnaissance 0, Healing 0, Surgery 0, First Aid 0, Engineering 0, Persuasion 1, Prisoner Management 1, Control 3, Trading 0]
[Weapon proficiency: 74 for one-handed weapons, 125 for two-handed weapons, 117 for pole weapons, 31 for bows and arrows, 31 for crossbows, and 51 for throwing]
After adding the points, Arthur put away the panel.
The attribute points brought by the upgrade continue to increase strength. Two skill points are added to strong throwing, and ten weapon points are added to throwing.
The previous several battles and the throwing practice in the past few days have raised the proficiency of pole weapons to 117, and the proficiency of throwing to 41.
With this upgrade, he changed the direction of strengthening to throwing weapons.
Twenty points of strength is already the pinnacle of humankind. Throwing heavy axes and other weapons with such strength can increase Arthur's killing radius to dozens of meters.
Of course, the accuracy of throwing is not as good as that of bows and arrows, but the impact range is much greater.
Arthur has already tried it. If a normal hand ax is thrown over, a creature the size of a chicken or duck can be broken into two pieces on the spot.
Although he hadn't really tried it, he thought that an enemy's neck without a throat protector would not be able to withstand this axe.
In order to increase the damage, Arthur specially asked the master Gendry to make ten weighted hand axes for him.
Although Daniel also learned the dyeing and steel-making method from his master Tuobu, due to lack of raw materials, he was unable to make the golden sword for the time being.
The great sword Shuoyue was given to Lord Tywin by him, and the old Guandao that Tob fought could no longer last a few battles, so he had to consider what kind of weapon to use.
Fortunately, the giant hammer was still there, so Arthur, who loved throwing, decided to temporarily transform himself into a heavy infantryman.
Use the giant hammer to deal with enemies within one meter, and use the weighted hand ax to deal with enemies one meter away and within dozens of meters.
It was already meal time, and he returned to the camp with a few Kohor mercenaries who served as personal soldiers, preparing to have lunch.
"Hey, isn't this brother Arthur? How are you doing lately?" Before Bracken could tell "Arry" to prepare his lunch, Inis Frey suddenly came up to him.
Beside him were Patrick, Hosteen, and Raymond from the Riverlands.
Since people in the north generally looked down on the Frey family, Hosteen often went to Raymond and Patrick's tent to drink and chat.
Aenys is the commander-in-chief of Frey's soldiers. He often stays in his camp and is really a rare guest.
"It's good. I go to the Lion's Gate to guard the gate from time to time."
There are seven gates in King's Landing. The Lion Gate is the gate due east and closest to the dock.
According to the assignment by Marquis Bolton, the Hejian people guarded the four city gates in the north and east. The coalition camp was to the west of the Iron Gate and the Gate of the Gods in the west, so the Frey family picked the three closest gates and guarded them.
The farthest Lion's Gate was left to Arthur's men and the soldiers of Maidenpool led by Raymond.
"Just let the soldiers guard the gate. This is the time for a strong general like you to recuperate. When the city is attacked, it will be your chance to show off."
Inis was talking nonsense, but his hand directly grabbed Arthur's arm.
"We haven't seen each other for a few days. I brought a few barrels of good wine. It's time to connect with each other. Let's go into the tent."
This man's behavior left Arthur confused. He was over forty years old, older than the original owner's father, but he still called Arthur his brother.
In his impression, this person was usually very calm and looked like a commander.
Why do you look like a broker now?
Arthur looked at Patrick and Raymond behind him, wondering what happened.
The two of them suppressed their laughter and refused to reveal it to Bracken.
The five people walked into Arthur's tent and waited for the food to be served.
During this period, Aenys and Hosteen were chatting around Arthur, pouring wine and making small talk, but they didn't talk about business.
Patrick and Raymond watched the three people's performance and tried their best not to laugh.
Finally, Arthur couldn't stand it anymore and asked Hostin, who was even less thoughtful, "What's going on? Are you okay?"
Hosting was very honest, and he immediately revealed the purpose of his brothers: "Arthur, do you want a wife or not?"
Innis struck while the iron was hot, "Yes, I will find you a wife that suits your status. Our Frey family is a marquis family, and we are related to the Stark and Tully families. Marrying with us is respectable enough."
If Arthur remembered correctly, Robb's condition for crossing the river this time was that Edmure and Robb would each marry a Frey, and Arya would marry a Frey.
This is even more stringent than the conditions in the original work.
The Frey family and the two feudal families have not yet formally married, but the two brothers have already talked about their relationship.
This is really... quite thick-skinned.
Arthur thought for a while and decided that he should explicitly refuse.
"Now is a period of turmoil, and I have no intention of marrying, so you two should not think about it."
When Hosteen saw Arthur's refusal, he immediately frowned and became unhappy.
Aenys was unyielding and spent the entire lunch period discussing marriage with Arthur.
"It's easy to talk about the dowry. What do you think about the money that will be given to you?" After dinner, Inis wanted to talk about the marriage and made it clear that he would not leave.
This made Arthur a little depressed, so he left by himself.
He took a hundred Qohor mercenaries to patrol the Lion's Gate in the east to avoid the two Frey family members.
Before dinner, the servant Medan came to report that Aenys was still waiting to leave, so Arthur's dinner was settled near the Lion's Gate.
The small episode did not affect his mood, but the firelight on the camp after dark made Arthur feel uneasy.
It was a shocking flame that lit up half of the night.
PS: Please give me recommendations and monthly votes.
