(The assassination target in the previous chapter was Hendry Bracken, not the great Gendry. I made a typo. Please forgive me)
"Why are you talking about this all of a sudden?" Arthur took Sansa's little hand and turned around.
He knew that Sansa was very cautious, but he didn't expect that she would ask him to make a promise at this time.
But it makes sense if you think about it carefully. The only man left in the Stark family is Jon Snow, who is still in the Night's Watch. Winterfell was even burned, and the Northern Army heading north was still blocked in Carlin.
Bay.
The Tully family of Riverrun she could rely on, her uncle looked like he was about to die, her uncle Blackfish was old and didn't have a few years left, and her aunt's Frey family were not good people. When the Tully men
If they are all dead, it is hard to say who will take the city of Flowing River.
Sansa took her hand away from Arthur, then turned her back to him, her voice trembling slightly:
"If you marry me, Harrenhal will be your legitimate home fortress. When the time comes, Riverrun, which is in charge of my uncle, will also support you. Lord Tatos of Crowtree City will follow the Tully family, so that your river kingdom
We can unify. It will be in your best interest to make me your queen."
Judging from the slightly nervous look on Sansa's face, she must have thought twice before saying this.
Arthur took her shoulders and made her face him.
"Between you and me, it's customary to talk about interests. You will be my queen, the first queen to be married under the witness of the gods. If I become the emperor of Valyria in the future, you will be my queen, and I will be my queen."
By the gods of Valyria."
In order to reassure Sansa, Arthur made a not-so-strict oath.
The Valyrian gods do not have any requirements for marriage. Brothers and sisters, uncles and nieces, uncles and nieces can get married. Multiple marriages are not a problem.
If Arthur resumes the guardianship of the Seven Realms, the long list of king titles of the Andals, and his belief in the Seven Gods, he will indeed not be able to marry multiple wives at the same time.
This is because during the Targaryen Dynasty, the church started rebellions in various places because of Maegor I's multiple marriages. Later, King Jaehaerys I, the "Human King", reached a reconciliation with the church and promised that the Dragon family would not marry more in the future, and the church allowed it.
They are married to close relatives.
Of course, the apparent reason for that rebellion was Maegor's extra marriage, but in reality it was because the royal family harmed the interests of the Hightower family in Oldtown.
The situation at that time was that the Hightower family controlled the school city and could influence the election of the archbishop. The Old Town under its jurisdiction was the cultural center, religious center, the largest city, and the largest port in the mainland.
The Dragon family is busy building King's Landing, which puts the status of the largest city in Old Town at risk. The strong woman Visenya and her son Maegor are even trying to take away the control of the church and the school city from the Hightower family.
Maegor's first wife was from the Hightower family, and marrying more than once brought shame to the lords of Oldtown.
After the conflict intensified, the Church of the Seven Gods began to organize an armed rebellion under the instructions of the Hightowers. The wealth accumulated in the Old Town for thousands of years was used to fund the armed orders and the small nobles who followed the rebellion.
After Visenya and Maegor died one after another, the rebellion continued, but the "King Renrui" who came to power later was much more flexible. He attracted the great nobles from all over the country and dealt a heavy blow to the forces that supported the church. Although the Hightower family was extremely wealthy,
, but could not bear the cost of decades of war, so the two parties reconciled.
King Renrui took the opportunity to choose a monk "Afuin" who supported him as the archbishop, completely holding the religious power in his hands, and began to interfere in the affairs of the city. For example, the Iron Throne can change the awarding of bachelor's necklaces.
The Hightowers had no choice but to endure it, and when Jaehaerys I passed away, they began to divide the dragon family and set off the Dance of the Blood Dragon, causing most of the dragons to die during that period.
To sum up the Hightowers in one sentence, this is the most sinister family on the Western Continent. Their towering castle tower hides the secrets of the legendary race before the Dawn Era, the "Hualong Clan".
To be honest, if Arthur wanted to bring the entire continent into his kingdom, he would have quite a few marriage partners, so he would have to bypass the constraints of the Seven Gods' teachings and marry more wives.
In this regard, his idea was to change his title to Emperor of Valyria when marrying a second wife, and claim that he believed in Valyrian gods such as "Balerian" and "Vhagar".
In this case, the nobles who believe in the Seven Gods and the Old Gods should not have much objection.
Moreover, the current "fat man" Archbishop was burned by Stannis and the Scarlet Witch Melisandre. The followers of the Lord of Light should not allow the Baelor Cathedral in King's Landing to elect another Archbishop. Therefore, the Church of the Seven Gods
It's still a pile of sand now.
(Because people believe that the archbishop is the spokesperson of the gods in heaven, he is no longer a person, and has no secular name. In order to facilitate distinction, he is often prefixed with fat man, stonemason, etc.)
"My true dragon, I have begun to believe in love." Sansa's eyes were slightly red, and she couldn't help but lean on Arthur's left shoulder.
With this oath, her hanging heart was relieved.
The King of the River hugged Miss Stark tightly and whispered: "If we didn't have to resist the attack of the Westerners and restore order to the countryside on the south coast, I would prepare a wedding for you immediately, either in Riverrun or Harren.
Castle, whatever you choose."
This is the truth, Arthur has long wanted to have sex with Sansa.
"Since you are busy running the country, you don't have to worry about getting married." Sansa rubbed her forehead against her sweetheart's neck, "I will arrange our wedding."
The two people were very affectionate, and they began to talk embarrassingly earthy love words, and from time to time they hugged each other and chewed each other's mouths.
Until a servant knocked on the door and announced that Ser Brynden invited the two of them to dinner.
The River King then walked out of the room with Sansa, who had tidied up her appearance, and went to the hall to have dinner.
It was already dark, and a whole afternoon had passed since Arthur arrived at Riverrun.
He didn't know that he could actually talk about earthy love stories for three or four hours, such as "you are my blue moon", "from now on I can only call you you, because you are in my heart", "face"
To you, I am considerate" and so on.
Of course, Sansa didn't understand the "you are you in my heart" thing, but she was still very moved.
Also having dinner with the nobles were Blackfish, Roselyn Tully and her half-brother Benfrey Frey, Brynden Blackwood, the eldest son of Lord Raventree, Hendry Bracken, Jay
Sisters En Bracken, as well as Lyman Darry, Claremont Piper and others brought by Arthur.
Edmure was unable to get out of bed, so supper was served in the bedroom.
Everyone could see that Sansa was always blushing and staring at Arthur. This made Blackfish look at Arthur like a father-in-law looking at his son-in-law, and the more he looked at her, the angrier he became.
Except for Sansa, many people in the entire hall had some problems with Arthur, so he buried himself in his meal and prepared to find an opportunity to discuss with Blackfish tomorrow about the Tully family helping to defend the Pink City territory.
But he didn't expect that Heiyu came to him first after eating.
"Sansa asked me to help you. Tell me, what do you want to do in Riverrun?"
After the servants cleared the hall, Blackfish, along with Desmond Grell and other Sworn Knights of Riverrun, negotiated with the River King and his nobles.
"I want to ask Lord Cypress, the Tully family gang, to protect his territory. The Pink City has been burned to rubble, and Claremont has no troops at all."
Hearing that Sansa was interceding, Arthur went straight to the point.
With Golden Tooth City in the hands of the Hejian people, as long as the narrow valley between the Red Fork River and the mountains of the Western Border is blocked, the Western Border Army can only run along the Golden Road to the upper reaches of the Blackwater River, and then go north into the river.
between places.
So Arthur brought Count Piper to Riverrun, hoping that the Tully family could borrow some soldiers, and that some new soldiers could be gathered from the Pink City territory, so there should be no problem in defending the river valley.
Heiyu's blue eyes revealed a hint of doubt, "Do you know what's going on in the Lion family?"
Arthur shook his head.
These days, he, Clemont, Tristan and others were busy sending people to spread the rumors of the "Dragon Holder" in the villages and towns in the Riverlands, and convened some powerful little nobles to participate in the Grand Council, but they were not interested in other people.
Not much is known about the situation in each environment.
So Heiyu and several oath knights explained to him the basic situation of the Western Territory and the mainland.
In the west, in order to seize the opportunity, Tywin has sent merchant ships to carry the 4,000 Bolton army along the coast to the Redang River in the north. After landing there, they can reach the Gulf of Cailin by marching not far east.
"Tommen has officially appointed Roose Bolton as the Guardian of the North. It is said that Lady Dustin has sent 3,500 people to join Bolton's counter-rebellion army." Desmond said.
"After the White Harbor Cavalry captured Horwood City, they have also moved south. Lord Manderly sent a lot of infantry to take over Moat Cailin from the Ironborn. In this case, the Northerners will launch a campaign near there.
In the decisive battle, both sides have about 7,000 troops, so it is difficult to judge the outcome."
Heiyu pointed at the map and expressed his opinion.
But the civil war among the northerners will not affect the situation on the mainland.
After the decisive battle outside Casterly Rock, the main force of the Lion family rested for a while until Duskendale was in danger, so Tywin sent Kevan, who returned north, to lead 10,000 of the main force of the Lion family straight to King's Landing along the Golden Road.
Desmond said: "Tywin has banned Sir Jaime in Casterly Rock since he was snatched back. I heard that the old lion is dying, and Tommen has also ordered that Sir Jaime be removed from the Kingsguard status. It seems that he is old.
The lion wants his eldest son to inherit the guardianship of the Western Region."
During the decisive battle, Tywin sent people to snatch his son back first, and then sent cavalry to sneak attack the Northern Army from behind.
As for the identity of the Kingsguard, although the oath of the white robes was also to last until death, but after Emperor Joffrey fired the "fearless" Barristan and successfully reformed the ancestral system, Tywin followed suit and exempted Tommen from his duties.
"Uncle" James' identity in white robes.
In King's Landing, after Stannis burned an archbishop, in order to appease the majority of believers in the Seven Gods, he simply imprisoned the archbishops, the Great Sept of Baelor was also closed, and the war between the Lord of Light and the Seven Gods was closed.
He stopped forcefully.
In fact, Erlu is not a fanatical religious believer, his wife is.
Stannis's attitude towards the Lord of Light has always been to use him if he can use him, and to stay away temporarily if he can't use him.
Hearing this, Arthur asked: "Did Erlu curse anyone after he burned the fat archbishop?"
The identity of the Archbishop is similar to that of a wizard, and he may also have magical powers. He can still curse people after being burned, but the effect is not as obvious as the blood of kings and dragons.
"Of course it's Tommen who Stannis thinks is the false king." Desmond said.
Arthur nodded, indicating that he understood.
Next is the moment to verify whether the Archbishop has magic power. If Tommen dies suddenly in the future, then the Seven Gods are the real gods. If not, then the Seven Gods may be false gods made up by the bishops, or they may have fallen.
.
After stabilizing the conflict between the two religions, Stannis began to attack Duskendale from the north.
"I heard that the Riverside Army has also moved north, and their advance cavalry has entered the Royal Forest. It will only take five or six days to reach King's Landing." A strange knight said.
"In this case, the Riverlands can calm down for a while, and I will have time to deal with the affairs in the Riverlands." Arthur sighed from the bottom of his heart.
Several counts in the Hedong region have been ravaged by the Western Army. Quite a few of the wealthy knights who followed the superior lords were killed in the battle. Dozens of small nobles' castles were looted by Amory Lodge. This made the Hedong region
Order in the countryside began to collapse.
You must know that the basic order at the village level is maintained by the village chief, landed knights, and baron-level nobles. The higher viscounts have circuit courts (actually tax collectors) and do not personally resolve the trivial matters of the common people.
With no one to directly maintain order, and the long winter approaching, food is extremely scarce, so some rural areas have become a jungle where the weak can eat the strong.
"The Riverland will not stop. Perhaps in order to contain you, the Western Region has sent another army. It has already passed the Cave Castle. It seems that what they did in the Western River will be repeated in the Southern River." Black Fish said ruthlessly.
Shattered Arthur's fantasy.
Earl Clermont was shocked, "How many people are there, and where are they going to enter the Riverlands?"
This is what Arthur wanted to ask, and a knight answered this question for them.
After the decisive battle with the North, Tywin sent people to recruit more troops in the more populous Crake Hall, Corn City, Red Lake and other places, and got another 3,500 soldiers, plus 3,000 new soldiers from Lannister Port.
army, as well as Janos Bracken's 500 men, a total of 7,000 troops, preparing to invade the Riverlands from the vicinity of Stone Hall Town on the upper reaches of the Blackwater River.
Desmond said: "You are familiar with their commander. He is Genos, who was recently appointed as the guardian of the river. Tywin also knew that Stafford was a waste, so he only let his cousin supervise the army and coordinate with Genos.
Si and the officers of the West."
Trouble comes one after another.
"I can bring over the peasant army from Harrenhal, plus Frey's army in Willow City, as well as soldiers from various small nobles, I can make up six to seven thousand people. It looks like we will have to fight hard.
."
The number of new troops participated in the training by Dickon, marksman Ange, Dornish spearman Dutch and others has reached more than 3,200. Although the soldiers who joined later have not undergone much training and their combat effectiveness is a bit low, the enemy army also has the same
problem, so we can fight it.
The Frey family has three thousand soldiers active in the areas east of the river and around the lake. If the war breaks out later, Twin River City can send more soldiers.
This group of enemies is quite easy to deal with.
"We in Riverrun City can also send... five hundred people, led by me personally, to participate in this battle." Heiyu said.
After the decisive battle at Casterly Rock, there were only two thousand people left in the Fish and Wolf Alliance, and about a thousand people from the North, and the rest were all river soldiers.
At that time in the Golden Tooth City, Arthur ordered five hundred people who did not belong to the Tully family and the Blackwood family to stay and defend the city. More than five hundred people from the two families followed back to Riverrun.
Since Blackfish took over here, a new round of conscription began in the entire territory to cope with the upcoming struggle. With the addition of two hundred Stark infantry, the strength of Riverrun City is much greater than the five hundred.
But the Tully family does not recognize Arthur, the self-proclaimed king, and being able to send people to participate in the war is already a great honor to Sansa Stark.
It's not easy for Arthur to force anything.
"I sincerely thank Ser Brynden. The people of the river will never forget your contribution."
"I heard that the area around Stone Hall Town has been very lively recently. Some detachments of the Brotherhood Without Banners could not contact their Lord Berry, so they ran there. A dog appeared in Stone Hall Town with a little boy, and the female knight also went to join in the fun.
The ghost of Noble Heart is also out and about." Desmond said a lot, and finally made his request, "How about I take people there, and Ser Brynden stays to defend the city."
Blackfish looked at his trainer with his blue eyes, "That's okay, I have to take care of my nephew, and keep an eye on Sansa to prevent anyone from kidnapping Miss Stark."
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