Euron's Movements
His Majesty Stannis presented a dragon's Silverwing skull.
"The House Shaluete congratulates you with seven peacocks."
The Maron family congratulates the warhorse with seven horses.
"The House Westerling the Crag, and their coral pair."
"Five jade bracelets from the House Frey."
"Two carriages belonging to the House Tyrell of Highgarden."
"The House Martell of Sunspear welcomes Blood Orange on a ship."
Ten Stark Bear pelts.
Karstark ----
"The House Darry of Darry Castle ----"
Less than a week after Jon and Margaery arrived at Casterly Rock, the maester confirmed that Margaery was pregnant. Jon spread the news, and within a month, gifts from the Seven Kingdoms began to arrive.
As a pregnant woman and the matriarch, and with her pregnancy still some time away, Margaery personally received the noblewomen of the Westerlands.
Women from the Marbrand, Sharoth, House Estren, and House Crakehall families came to greet her.
They all sat together around Margaery, their laughter and congratulations never ceasing.
After this period of in-depth understanding, Margaery was surprised to find that Jon had restored Casterly Rock to its former Lannister dominance in just a few months, even surpassing it before.
Many of the first-rate nobles in the Westerlands either perished on the battlefield or died in the flames, resulting in a significant decline in their overall quality. They were powerless to ask Jon for anything; their families were embroiled in internal strife, and they even needed Jon to uphold justice.
This undoubtedly strengthens Casterly Rock's influence.
Margaery, who had already styled her hair in a traditional Chinese updo, was happy to act as a mediator; she thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being in charge.
At this moment, another woman from the family came before Margaery. Margaery's spies had already relayed the woman's information to her before they even met.
So as soon as the other person entered, Margaery put on a surprised expression and said, "Mrs. Westerling, is that right?"
"Mrs. Margaery, it's a great honor that you know me." The reply came from a slightly older but dignified lady.
Her name was Sybell, and she was Gavin Westerling's mother, as well as Robb Stark's mother-in-law.
Sybell brought her young daughter Elynia, and young son Rollam, to meet Margaery.
"Lady Margaery." Elynia, who was about the same age as Sansa, approached Margaery somewhat shyly and bowed. Margaery, in turn, generously took off the pearl bracelet from her wrist and put it on Margaery's wrist.
Margaery, Mrs. Margaret.
Margaery was unaware that Jon planned to create a bureaucratic system to manage the vast lands of the Westerlands, and thus continued her habit of cultivating relationships with the nobility.
But Westerling was, after all, fighting alongside Jon back to the Westerlands, and her stance as the mistress of the house was extremely important; she had to be given more respect and attention than other nobles.
At Margaery's enthusiastic invitation, Sybell sat in the seat closest to Margaery. Her daughter was warmly entertained by Margaery's maids and companions, while Rollam blushed crimson amidst a group of beautiful daughters, unable to even speak properly.
As a first-time mother, Margaery humbly sought advice from Sybell.
Sybell mysteriously produced a bottle of medicine, explaining that it was a secret formula from her "maternal family," the House Spicer, and that it was very beneficial for women giving birth.
Although Margaery outwardly expressed her gratitude, she had no intention of using it.
Although she knew the House Westerling wouldn't harm her, she wouldn't eat anything that was going to be ingested.
"Your Excellency, you've just taken over the Westerlands, you must be very busy right now?" Sybell steered the conversation toward Jon.
"His Excellency the Duke seems to have a lot of ideas." Margaery recalled the past month or so she had spent with Jon and found that she couldn't understand many of Jon's actions.
For example, he took in orphans; he took in over a thousand orphans just around Casterly Rock.
Jon called the place where the orphans lived "school" and personally taught them to read and write, though not very often. Margaery understood Jon's kindness towards the orphans, knowing they would grow up to be his most loyal subordinates.
What puzzled her was that Jon had the orphans call him "Headmaster" instead of "Your Excellency the Duke."
Margaery simply took it as one of Jon's little quirks.
In addition, Jon showed considerable compassion for widows, orphans, and children, and helped them find ways to make a living.
In Margaery's view, none of this was a big deal; on the contrary, it showed that her husband was a kind person.
The expenses might be a bit higher, but Jon himself doesn't have any expensive hobbies, so overall the pressure isn't too great.
However, one thing that puzzled Margaery was Jon's plan to divide the Westerlands into administrative districts. He said he wanted to divide the Westerlands into five to seven counties in the future.
Currently, the Casterly County in the central region, Crag County in the north, and Oxford County in the south have been designated. The southeast and east are still undefined, but Jon seems to be planning to create a new Golden Tooth County, Golden Tooth.
Just then, Robert Frey suddenly entered from outside and reported to Margaery, "Madam, the Master has some business to attend to at the port and is afraid he will not be able to show up today. He asked you to preside over the banquet."
"Okay, I understand." Margaery nodded, then offered a brief apology to the others.
Basically, all those who came were envoys and gifts; no one was worth Jon personally receiving.
Theon — The Iron Islands—
Jon woke up in his temporary room in Lannisport, a hint of melancholy on his face.
Since returning to Casterly Rock, Jon had not relaxed his surveillance of the Iron Islands. He knew Euron wouldn't die so easily, and sure enough, less than ten days after Jon's return to Casterly Rock, Euron Snow returned to the Iron Islands.
Naturally, Jon also witnessed Theon's funeral.
He had originally thought he might be able to offer Theon advice on Theon to gain more power.
Unexpectedly Euron changed his target, killing his nephew instead of his brother.
However, upon closer examination, his approach does indeed make sense.
Firstly, the situation is now vastly different. Previously, Balon faced a fragmented Westeros; now—
Looking across the Seven Kingdoms, he was the only one who had usurped the throne, and his external environment was clearly much more hostile.
Euron knew that he could not unite the Ironborn on the Iron Islands by using terror alone; he needed someone with sufficient prestige to lead them.
After Euron killed Theon, he became the first in line to the throne. In addition, the guy had magic, and Balon was already old. He could have waited for a suitable opportunity to take over.
Temporary submission can achieve two goals at once. Regardless of Euron's military prowess, considering his previous scheming against Mace and his application of the situation, he is indeed a master of manipulating people's hearts and plotting.
Jon had intended to continue monitoring the Iron Islands, but Euron quickly restored his Raven population, and under his search, Jon was unable to maintain close, round-the-clock surveillance of the Iron Islands.
However, he can still be informed in a timely manner if there are any military operations on the Iron Islands.
Jon left the room and stood on the terrace, looking out over the entire Lannisport. He took a deep breath, feeling the salty scent of the sea breeze.
Merchants have the keenest sense of smell; not long after the war ended, Jon even spotted ships coming from the Free Cities.
Hundreds of merchant ships and cargo ships, as well as even more fishing boats, are moored in the harbor. On the blue sea, the sails of different colors are like colorful, broken clouds under a clear sky.
At this time, Lannisport resembled a massive construction site, with fortifications being built at full speed. In addition to merchant ships, there were many plank ships used for construction, and the main force responsible for the construction was the army brought by Alester.
Just a few years after Robert overthrew Aerys's rule, Balon launched a rebellion, ordering his men to attack Lannisport and destroy most of the Lannister fleet, with only a dozen or so ships in the docks below Casterly Rock surviving.
While the shipyards beneath Casterly Rock are safe, their capacity for warships is limited; only Lannisport has sufficient capacity.
In the future, more than two hundred ships from Redwyne Fleet, nearly forty ships from Stannis, and about thirty ships from Casterly Rock will be stationed there.
To avoid repeating the same mistake, Jon turned the more than four thousand men sent by Alester into a construction crew, ordering them to strengthen the defenses of Lannisport.
This also helps prevent you from being taken advantage of.
Ever since Alester arrived at Casterly Rock, he had been trying to get a definite answer from Jon – when would they launch a major offensive against the Iron Islands?
But Jon knew perfectly well that this was just another instance of the Iron Throne using him.
However, he had already discussed it with Willas beforehand; the slogans would be shouted loudly, but the preparations would have to be slow.
Jon wants to annex the Iron Islands, but he doesn't want the war to become a protracted conflict.
The soldiers of the Iron Islands are extremely skilled in naval warfare, and their ships are also very fast, giving the enemy the initiative in both offense and defense.
A hasty attack would be extremely disadvantageous. Stannis had already demonstrated this with an ambush.
His plan was to force the Iron Islands to launch an offensive by imposing a blockade, and to find a way to get them into his pre-determined battlefield.
However, it was clear that this did not align with Alester's interests. What he wanted was to consolidate his family's position through illustrious military achievements, ideally by planting the Florent flag atop Pyke.
At this moment, Sandor stepped forward and said, "My lord, the eight hundred apprentice scholars selected for you by the Citadel have arrived."
"Let's go take a look."
Jon pulled himself out of his thoughts. Now he was the Lord of the Westerlands, and the Westerlands was the fulcrum of all his plans. There was still more than a year until winter, and he had to get the Westerlands back to production as soon as possible.
These trainee scholars will be the prototypes of his future bureaucratic group, and he must meet with them personally.