Spanning the Seven Kingdoms

The gentle drizzle in Riverlands turned into fine snowflakes, which rustled as they fell on the soldiers' armor.

Especially when all the armor was stripped off and piled up like a small mountain, the hollows in the armor amplified the sound of snowflakes.

These armors were not piled up randomly, but were categorized. Arm armor was placed in one pile, helmets in another, breastplates in yet another. The captured Stormlands and Crownlands soldiers passed by these armor piles one by one, removing their own armor and throwing it into the piles.

The soldiers lined up in a long queue and threw their armor onto the piles of armor.

Armor of various colors, including red, black, and blue, quickly piled up higher than the roof.

The armor offered no warmth; in fact, discarding it left them feeling much lighter. Nearby, a large pot of hot porridge was already being cooked, and the soldiers received hot porridge after discarding their weapons and armor.

"Brother Jace, will Jon let us go back? I heard he likes to kill prisoners, cut off their heads, and send people to the Wall."

A young boy from Stormlands, with a runny nose, held a rough earthenware bowl filled with hot porridge and asked softly.

"Probably not," said the slightly older Stormlands soldier, known as Jace. "He didn't take our money."

Based on Jace's past experience, once captured, the first thing he would do was get a severe beating, and then they would take away his last Copper Star.

However, Jon only asked them to hand over their armor and weapons: if they were wearing leather or cloth armor, which had some warmth, he didn't confiscate them at all.

Aside from the lords and knights who had their own weapons and armor and suffered some heavy losses, it was nothing for the ordinary soldiers.

Then a flag that looked somewhat familiar appeared. It was a two-colored flag, and the rider was riding a large chestnut horse with an arrogant air. However, neither of them dared to look at it for long.

Suddenly, the man spoke up, "Listen up, all of you! His Majesty Jon Targaryen, the true rightful heir to the Iron Throne, is at Harrenhal. Jon Majesty has instructed me to tell you that as long as you stay put, he will personally take you home once the war is over."

"Go home?"

"Can we go home?"

The thought of going home immediately warmed the hearts of many soldiers, and even the icy snow falling on their faces no longer felt so biting.

For some soldiers closer to the Stormlands, their homeland was near the warm, humid Kingswood, where at least they wouldn't have to freeze.

"They look like soldiers from the House Florent?"

"Florent, who would have thought that Florent would actually surrender? His Majesty Stannis had no choice but to lose."

The soldiers sipped their hot porridge and whispered among themselves. In these days, changing kings was like changing clothes— Robert, Joffrey, Stannis —the kings' names weren't all that sacred anymore.

The soldiers, having discarded their armor, formed a long line and marched towards Harrenhal.

Along the way, they also discovered a remarkable phenomenon: they saw many people who looked like scholars holding books and registering people's names, hometowns, and even family information one by one.

Furthermore, those scholars "stated that after the war ended, they would all become subjects of the Dragon King," and from then on, they would pledge allegiance to the Dragon King and pay taxes to him.

In fact, most of these so-called bachelors were assistant bachelors or students from schools set up by Jon, and they only had the most basic literacy and arithmetic skills.

But in Westeros, where prenatal education is common, this is already considered a highly qualified individual.

Jon Snow ordered Axell to stay behind to manage the reorganization of the Crownlands and the soldiers of Stormlands, while he himself went to Harrenhal to take over.

Harrenhal has stockpiled a large amount of supplies, almost all of Stannis's wealth accumulated over the past year or two in managing the Crownlands and Stormlands.

Putting aside everything else, these supplies at least covered all the expenses of Jon's alliance's military expedition.

This also includes the cost of setting out with the 50,000 to 60,000 troops coming from Highgarden.

Petyr's objective was to take the Vale army with him, so these supplies were not taken away in time, or even destroyed.

However, Jon was not satisfied with this. He sent Martin with an army to the Crownlands to take over the warships left behind by Stannis. Most importantly, Jon wanted to control Dragonstone to mine the Dragonglass Dragonstone.

At that time, Dragonglass, a stone that Stannis once dismissed as worthless, will play a very important role.

Jon hadn't planned to go to war with Stannis before the Long Night, so he only sent some Dragonglass to the Wall, intending to mine it extensively after taking Dragonstone.

Of course, it's just Dragonstone. Jon has no interest in conquering the Crownlands's King's Landing, especially King's Landing, which is now a huge burden.

Four or five hundred thousand mouths are starving, just thinking about it makes one's scalp crawl. Moreover, according to his intelligence, Young Griff seems to be gathering in Pentos. Perhaps he should just hand over King's Landing's Landing to him when the time comes.

If we're talking about legitimacy, nothing represents legitimacy better than having a hundred thousand troops under one's command.

Therefore, Jon had no interest in going to King's Landing, reclaiming the Red Keep, or putting his backside on the Iron Throne; his goal was Stormlands.

While the Targaryen had dragons, they could occupy a corner of the Crownlands and rule over the Seven Kingdoms. However, once they lost their dragons, it was clear that they were not up to the task of ruling the Seven Kingdoms with such a small territory.

Now that Baratheon's line has died out, Jon plans to take over the Stormlands, and in the future, he will combine the Westerlands, the Stormlands, Harrenhal, and the Crownlands domains into a new Crownlands four or five times its original size.

This new Crownlands will stretch across the Westeros, dividing the Seven Kingdoms into northern and southern parts. In this way, even without dragons, the future Targaryen will be able to raise an army of 100,000 men at once, giving them absolute dominance over the lords of the Seven Kingdoms.

In the Stormlands, Baratheon directly controls more than 60% of the land, Jon decides to distribute the land among ordinary soldiers and civilians, making them his loyal subjects.

As for where the more land will come from...

Over a thousand ordinary soldiers died or were injured due to trampling and falling into the water, but the lords miraculously suffered very few injuries.

At this point, however, their fate was no longer in their own hands. According to Westeros custom, the defeated had to pay a fine, and in more serious cases, their land would be confiscated and their titles stripped.

Those who staunchly supported Stannis in the Stormlands were mostly killed in Petyr's raid-style "purge," and these people were among the most capable and prestigious in the Stormlands. In other words, the situation in the Stormlands is now similar to that when Jon first took over the Westerlands.

The ground is full of easy persimmons, so there will be no obstacles to absorption and control.

Not long after resolving the issues with these lords, Jon found Stannis's body, which bore the marks of vengeance.

Leo Lefford stepped forward to examine the wounds and determined that the real culprit was the Strangler poison, but the knife wounds were equally fatal.

"Notify the Citadel, announce the true cause of Stannis's death, and also declare Petyr's crimes."

Jon looked at Stannis's corpse, but felt no joy. He then added, "Also, announce Petyr's crimes."

"Your Majesty, what should the crime be?"

"King murder."

Leo Lefford was somewhat surprised that Jon would acknowledge Stannis's throne.

Jon's thinking was simple: Westeros had indeed undergone a change of dynasty, and Stannis was a responsible king.

Although he was always scheming for himself after inheriting the Iron Throne, he didn't take even a single day to enjoy himself.

As for Stannis killing Renly, Jon decided to cover it up and make it a thing that would be forgotten forever.

Renly is a brainless and incompetent guy, all looks and no brains. To put it bluntly, he and Loras are birds of a feather.

However, Loras didn't have Renly's annoying ambition; the latter was simply driven by love.

If Renly had simply supported his brother Stannis, so much bloodshed wouldn't have happened.

Just two days later, the results of the Battle of Harrenhal were in. Jon's side suffered only about a thousand casualties, while capturing more than 34,000 Crownlands and Stormlands soldiers, and more than 2,000 knights. Petyr returned to the Vale with only 8,000 cavalry and less than 10,000 longbowmen.

Now that Stannis is dead and the Iron Throne Coalition have collapsed, there is no need for the Reach army to continue their journey.

Garlan and Randyll Tarly, who were relatively calm and collected, remained with the army, while Loras went north to meet Jon.

Loras was very frustrated. He never felt satisfied fighting alongside Jon. The feeling of winning without any effort was meaningless, and he couldn't prove himself, which made him very unhappy.

Not only the army from the South, Robb also led the Northern Army across the Twins. He sent Roose Bolton south with his army, while he and Rodrik went ahead to see Jon.

Also present were Edmure of Riverrun, and Rhaegar Frey and Steffon Frey, representing House Frey.

In short, even excluding the surrendered troops from the Crownlands and Stormlands, Jon Snow's army already exceeded 100,000 men.

Although he still Patchwork Army, things are completely different now compared to when he first started out.

Now we have the armies of the North, the South, the Westerlands, and the Riverlands, and the alliance has changed from the Stag-Eagle-Wolf-Fish Alliance " to the "Dragon-Flower-Wolf-Fish Alliance".

The alliance is stronger, and the enemy is surprisingly weak. Both the Crownlands and the Stormlands are empty, practically easy prey.

Despite having traveled a long way to Harrenhal, everyone believed that victory was within their grasp.

Their only dilemma now is whether to conquer Crownlands or Stormlands first.

In a study at Harrenhal, surrounded by heavy guards, a small group of people were gathered inside. Roslin, accompanied by her maids, was serving tea to those present.

Most people knew Roslin's identity, so they accepted the tea with great respect.

After all, the Hundred Hearth Hall is considered unlucky right now, and there weren't many people there, so we didn't go to such a formal place.

"Of course, we should take the Crownlands first! Jon is now king, Targaryen, and the Crownlands are Targaryen lands. It's only right that we take back our lands."

Loras spoke somewhat impatiently.

"Then you can go fight in the Stormlands, right?" Jon asked him, his tone slightly teasing.

Seeing that his little scheme had been seen through, Loras stubbornly said, "No, no, the Southern Army is currently in the vicinity of Broomfield. Wouldn't it be perfect for them to attack Stormlands?"

Seeing Willas's appearance, everyone burst into laughter.

"Jon, uh—Your Majesty." Robb suddenly spoke up, though he seemed a little confused about how to address Jon.

Jon, realizing this, spoke up directly, "Gentlemen, everyone here is one of us. Robb, you're my cousin, we grew up together. Loras, you're Margaery's brother, so you're my brother too. Ser Edmure is Lady Catelyn's brother. In short, we're all family, no need to be so formal. Even Rodrik watched me grow up. In private, just call me Jon. I don't like my children calling me 'Father,' it's too distant."

Everyone knew that Jon was intentionally trying to get closer to them, and they all felt much more relaxed.

Robb also breathed a sigh of relief, and at Jon's prompting, continued, "Jon, from the Targaryen's perspective, taking the Crownlands would certainly be the best option, but geographically speaking, taking the Stormlands would be more secure for us. For example, as for the Reach, if the Stormlands were in our hands, it would be a very good barrier—"

Compared to Loras, who only sought immediate gratification, Robb's analysis was undoubtedly more insightful.

"Actually, there's also the issue of food, isn't there?" Jon added, looking at Robb, Robb nodded.

No lord understands the value of food better than those in the North.

The North, or rather the area north of Winterfell, has completely ceased to produce food. Only the area around Moat Cailin and the Neck can still grow some cold-resistant crops like potatoes.

The North now relies on imports for nearly 40 percent of its food, which is obtained through exchanges of timber from forests and coal from coal mines.

In Winterfell, every grain of food had to be carefully calculated, so Robb instinctively thought of King's Landing's population problem.

If Jon chooses to conquer King 'King's Landing, he will then have to provide food for the more than two million people in the Crownlands and solve the problem of sustenance.

Of course, there is another point: the Crownlands is close to the easily defensible Vale, Petyr has fled to the Vale, is very likely to harass the Crownlands.

"Was Petyr's regicide merely an act of revenge?" Edmure suddenly asked, because Westeros now seemed to have only two adversaries: the Vale and Dorne. "Even if we can't break through the Blood Gate, we can still attack the Vale from the sea with our fleet. What was Littlefinger thinking?"

Others also expressed their incomprehension regarding this.

At this point, Petyr should have been a wise man to act according to the times, rather than supporting a teenage girl as regent.

To anyone with a modicum of rationality, this was tantamount to risking their lives for power. If the Vale were loyal to Jon, they wouldn't need to make a choice; they'd simply take it all!

Seeing everyone's reaction, Jon knew it was time to tell them about Young Griff.

"Listen, everyone," Jon Snow interrupted their thoughts, "I have some very important information to tell you. What if I told you that my father, Rhaegar Targaryen, had a son still alive?"

"You have another son?"