The rest of the meeting went smoothly.
The coalition forces won the decisive battle, and the leader of the uprising personally killed Crown Prince Rhaegar, who was highly anticipated by the royalists and could gather people's hearts.
Everyone is in a relaxed mood. They don't think that Harrenhal will choose to stick to it when Whent Earl is in hand.
As long as we capture this giant fort, it will be equivalent to removing the last obstacle and completely opening the way to the kingdom's capital King's Landing.
In this battle, the royal army suffered heavy losses, and the power of the royal family was greatly weakened. In a short period of time, Iron Throne could not even organize a decent army.
However, when the topic came to the candidate for the subsequent commander of the rebel army, the atmosphere in the military tent finally became a little strange.
Among the five alliances.
Duke Hoster's right to speak is slowly declining, which is due to the lack of support from Riverlands's vassals. He can only vent his anger on Walder·Frey, who arrived late on the south bank of Trident after the war, jokingly calling it "the late Frey";
Duke Jon did his part to support Eddard·Stark.
He believes that the the North army has more people and its overall performance on the battlefield is not inferior to that of the Starpike army. Duke Winterfell should take over the entire coalition army in place of the seriously injured Robert.
Eddard is his adopted son. As a commander, the old Duke can rest assured that it is perfect for him to lead the troops into Crownlands.
Regarding his adoptive father's recommendation, Eddard was silent. He actually didn't care about the empty post of commander, but his adoptive father and father-in-law were supporting him, and the the North nobles headed by Roose Bolton were also urging him to take over this position.
Robert, who has the right to make decisions, seems a little embarrassed. Who told him to get the Deb that "every time there is a war, he will be injured"
uff.
According to common sense, the two dukes are older and are more suitable to stay in the rear to make plans and take care of logistics. In difficult times when he cannot personally go to battle, it is reasonable to need someone who can lead troops to take over the command.
Eddard is a good candidate.
But here, isn't there a black guy named Earl?
To this day, no one in the military tent can ignore Starpike Earl's opinion.
Master Titus, who likes to play checkers, has already made plans in his mind. Eddard will take charge of the chess, which is no problem, but he cannot agree so happily.
Ever since, the head of the Peake family, whose weight in this alliance has gradually become more and more important, put forward his "conditions": "I support Ned as the commander-in-chief, but next time--"
He paused slightly and looked deliberately at Jon·Arryn.
"----The next candidate for commander must be me! Duke Jon, you don't support me, right?"
Jon and Hoster looked at each other and both understood the unfinished meaning of Starpike Earl.
Except for Westerlands who has not yet expressed his attitude, after defeating King's Landing, the only opponents left in their alliance will be the Reach army that besieged Storm's End. They currently have 40,000 army troops and several thousand navy troops in Stormlands.
And look at what Titus·Peake means, he wants to lead the rebel army - at least part of the rebel army - to fight back in the south?
It's not like they haven't considered the war intentions in the south.
But that was after the capture of King's Landing.
Before Titus brought it up, they actually didn't expect that Starpike Earl was thinking so far, as if he was determined to go south.
Focusing on the present, that is, the old Jon who won King's Landing did not hesitate and immediately promised that he would send the Canyon Knight to accompany him on the expedition to cooperate with the black Earl's southern strategy.
This is a disguised promise. If the army goes south, Xingsuocheng Earl will be the worthy commander of the coalition forces.
Titus got what he wanted and patted his shoulders to congratulate Ned on his "promotion".
You talk first;
I'll talk about it later.
In front of the warrior, no matter how big or small, everyone is copper--Shipbreaker Bay is the leader--
Two days later.
As expected by the senior Allied forces, Harrenhal, who was loyal to the royal family - or to be precise, more loyal to Prince Rhaegar, did not hold on any longer. On behalf of Mrs. Whent, after receiving a promise to ensure the safety of Whent Earl, he decisively surrendered.
Robert I proved the ethnic identity of House Baratheon, and the alliance led by him defeated the royalist army.
The momentum of the Allied Forces has been completely different. The so-called "King's Appearance" has been mentioned repeatedly as the prophecy spread. The people of the Whent family must first ensure the survival of the family patriarch.
After the rebel army settled in Harrenhal, Mrs. Whent also revealed the whereabouts of the "disappeared" The Reach army.
At first, the Reach army was in the rear position. Once they found out that the war was not going well, they retreated the fastest. They retreated all the way along Kingsroad, and even Harrenhal did not return, and fled directly to the south.
The reinforcements also came from the south, but the more honest Dorne army suffered much worse. Before they withdrew, not only the leader of the army, Prince Lewyn, was captured alive, but also several lords died, including Starfall Earl.
Titus An uncle whom he had never met before, his martial arts skills were much inferior to his younger brother. He died in the battle at the hands of Seaguard Earl Jason Mallister.
This eagle shone brightly on the battlefield of "Battle of the Trident", leading his flanking cavalry team to kill three lords who stood on the royalist side in succession. Starfall Earl was the biggest one among them.
After learning about this, Hei Earl felt neither sadness nor joy. He had more important things to do----
Red Keep's throne room.
The dragon's head is ferocious and the candlelight flickers, reflecting the old king's gloomy face and distorted expression on Iron Throne.
Aerys II's good condition did not last long. His silver-white hair was scattered on his thin cheeks, his eyes were bloodshot, and his dry palms tightly grasped the cold armrest of the throne.
News of the death of his son, Iron Throne's heir, Dragonstone Prince Rhaegar·Targaryen, had just reached him.
"Recall him----must recall him----"
The old king murmured to himself, his voice as hoarse as an old bellows.
Long before Prince Rhaegar set off for the expedition, he had repeatedly persuaded him to put aside his prejudices and summoned his old friend Tywin, who had fallen out with him, to come back to help out.
But King Aerys only thought Rhaegar was an alarmist and sent out a messenger crow as a response.
Later, when there was no reply and the rebels pressed harder, he sent out ravens one after another. Again, he didn't receive even half a reply.
Tywin is also unreliable?
Fear wrapped around his heart like a vine, which made him see everyone as a traitor. Even the closest ministers around him felt that there was something evil hidden in their eyes.
"Useless things! They are all useless things!"
The mad king let out hysterical shouts, and he didn't know whether he was scolding his son who was defeated and died in the battle, or Warden of the West who was pretending to be deaf and dumb.
He panted heavily and glanced across the empty throne room and the dragon skulls hanging on the walls.
By the way, Dragon! He also has Dragonfire, and he also has Wildfire!
The expression of the insane king changed rapidly, and suddenly became gloomy.
"Since no one comes to rescue, then this royal city----can't be left to Baila Theon?"
Creepy, crazy laughter echoed in the throne room----
That night.
Several Pyromancer dressed in red robes were secretly summoned into the palace.
In recent times, they are the most favored ministers of the king. They master the Wildfire formula of the Alchemists' Guild. Whenever the king needs to burn people, that is when they make their debut----
Targaryen King without Dragon;
The alchemist who loves to play with fire;
This is simply a match made in heaven, a perfect match.
The so-called Wildfire is a terrifying liquid that has an extremely low ignition point, explodes when exposed to fire, and can continue to burn on water for a long time.
The old king, who regarded it as a substitute for Dragonfire, sat above the dark throne with a cold voice. "Let Alchemists' Guild gather all the Wildfire, quietly transport it in cans to everywhere in King's Landing, and bury it underground----
Under the foundation of Great Sept of Baelor, under the shabby house of Flea Bottom, and under the abandoned Dragonpit—hahahaha, and the cellar of Red Keep, fill them all up for us!"
Pyromancer looked at each other, but did not dare to raise the slightest question. They knew alchemy, but they could not use magic. Wildfire would still be burned to death if he got involved.
The old king ignored their expressions and whispered to himself, "I want this city to come with me! Either I keep it or I burn it down! There is no way it will be left intact to those rebels!"
As the president of the guild, Rossart, who once helped the mad king burn Duke Winterfell, bit the bullet and agreed, "Yes, Your Majesty! We will obey your order."
Rossart, who was forced to accept the order, thought about it again and realized that this might be a good opportunity to gain fame.
In the next few days, King's Landing fell into a strange calm.
The Alchemy Guild's carriage shuttles through the streets and alleys late at night. The carriage is filled with sealed Wildfire jars, with strange runes engraved on the jars.
The Pyromancers personally led the people to bury them, from the base of the cathedral, to the crumbling shantytowns of the slums, to the ruined Dragonpit tunnels - in full compliance with the king's request, and of course, including the Red Keep cellar where the king lived, densely packed Wildfire jars were buried.
The execution ability of this group of alchemy researchers is terrifyingly strong.
The main buildings of King's Landing seemed to be on the crater of a volcano for a while. Just waiting for the volcano to erupt, they would become "ancient city ruins" similar to Roman Pompeii.
The entire process was kept strictly confidential by the highly capable guild members. The Pyromancers personally took the lead in digging holes, filling them in, and covering up traces. Even their assistants only knew how to transport "special goods" and knew nothing about their specific uses.
The newly appointed Hand of the King Cole ton Chested is a powerless Hand of the King who is good at catering to the king and was promoted.
In the past few days, he has been trying to conceal the spread of news about the defeat of Crown Prince and the royalist army.
Until his "political enemy" eunuch secretly hinted to him:
Something was wrong with Aerys II and his alchemists recently, and he pieced together the truth about the "Wildfire Plan" from clues, which made Cole suddenly feel chilled all over Earl.
Damn bald eunuch!
But he is Hand of the King now, and things cannot get around him after all.
"Your Majesty! You must not do this!"
Cole ton Chested Earl, who had been timid in the past, gritted his teeth and rushed into the throne room. With a thud, he knelt down at the foot of the Iron Throne steps, his voice filled with tears.
"There are hundreds of thousands of people in the city, but they are all the people of Targaryen! How can you want to burn down an entire city just to prevent the capital from falling into the hands of the rebels? This is simply crazy----"
The old king, who neither foreigners nor domestic thieves wanted to "give" to, sat on the Iron Throne and stared at him with cold eyes. "Crazy? Wait until the rebels attack the city, cut off my head and hang it on the corner of the tower, then you will know what crazy is!"
"But King's Landing so many people are innocent!"
Cole ton Chested begged and tried his best to persuade his king to give up his crazy plan to burn King's Landing, "As long as you are willing to negotiate, the rebels may not be killed! I am willing to go out of the city to negotiate——"
"Shut up!" the king was angry, "You dare to question my decision? Are you teaching me how to do things? Are you also colluding with the rebels?"
Cole ton Chested looked at the mad king's paranoid face and knew that all his persuasion was in vain.
He suddenly pulled off the palm-shaped pendant necklace that represented Hand of the King's identity on his neck and threw it hard on the floor. The gems on the necklace shattered into pieces, as if he was determined at the moment. "Hand of the King, I quit!"
The former sycophants now took a hard turn and resigned angrily.
This time, the king's behavior was really outrageous. Cole was a native of Crownlands, and many of King's Landing were even his relatives.
And----
Well, his servant has already bought a mansion in Braavos in advance----
Aerys II was stunned. He had never seen his ex Master of Coin dare to talk to him like this.
Just when Cole ton Chested thought that at most he would be exiled to Essos by the mad king like his predecessors, Mad King suddenly let out a furious roar, "Come here! Drag this traitor out and roast him alive with Wildfire!"
The sound of guards rushing in came from afar. Cole ton Chested, who was still in a state of excitement, thought to himself: How could this happen?
He doesn't understand!
Cole Earl was unwilling to sit back and wait for death, and wanted to step forward to "control" the king, but was stopped by Iron Throne's blond knight in white robes.
"Hammer and Dagger" Hand of the King, although your courage today impresses me, you can't even think of hurting the king in front of me."
Chested is the family of Crownlands, and their family emblem is a crossed mace and silver dagger.
Red Keep, the only remaining white knight finished speaking proudly, and drew his sword to stop Cole ton's attack.
"That's not your king, that's just a madman who has lost his mind and a selfish man! Ser Jaime, if you really care about honor so much, join me in rebelling against him!"
Cole Earl's eyes turned wildly. He desperately wanted others to help him, he wanted to go ashore!
And this young white knight standing in front of him is a good candidate for help.
Although he didn't have much contact with him, he could see the other person's background to some extent. The young man in white robe did not inherit his father's shrewdness at all, but looked more like a silly young man who loved to play knight games.
So he said, "Now here----except Mad King, there are only two of us!"
"Jon Duke, don't you support me?":