Although the war that took place in the middle reaches of the Mander River did not cause damage to both sides, the loss gap between the two parties involved in the war was huge.
Iron Islands obtained a lot of supplies and also robbed a lot of people living around Highgarden.
But they also lost a lot of long ships and troops, and they failed to achieve their strategic goal of "capture Highgarden and make a fortune".
And Highgarden is even worse.
It suffered heavy damage, with the port in the north outside the city completely destroyed and most of the residential areas reduced to rubble.
Even inside the city, the labyrinth garden between the first wall and the second wall and many ancillary buildings were burned down, leaving serious gaps in the defense system. Even subsequent restoration and reconstruction would require a lot of manpower and material resources.
But even so, Highgarden's strong economic strength still exceeded Hei Earl's expectations.
As one of the richest territories in Seven Kingdoms, House Tyrell relied on years of accumulation to still collect the full ransom and compensation of one million gold dragons within the time limit specified by Titus·Peake.
Other families of captured nobles, such as Cider Hall, New Tongcheng, Old Oak, etc., also successively paid double the ransom.
Some smaller knight families, although not as financially strong as the Earls, did not dare to disobey the black Earls. They sold part of their property, or borrowed money from allies and lords, and sent the ransom to Storm's Ends in turn.
Among them, there are also cases where the local lords have to pay a large sum of money themselves and do not care about the situation of the knights. The knight families who cannot afford the money do not dare to show their teeth to the victors, but secretly hate their own Earl--
After receiving the money, Titus fulfilled his promise and released all the captured southern nobles who had paid enough ransom, including Lord of Highgarden Mace·Tyrell, whose spirit had plummeted and was already semi-waste.
Mace made history.
He should be the man with the highest ransom in Westeros history.
Commander Ti is willing to call him the Ransom King!
Titus Have you ever thought about whether "Queen of Thorns" would abandon this useless son who was humiliated in front of the southern coalition forces and replace him with the younger but smarter and obviously more promising Willas·Tyrell?
After thinking about it, I thought it was impossible.
The family atmosphere inside House Tyrell should be good, and supporting the young master to ascend the throne may not be any better than the "inflatable fish".
It is conceivable that for a long time to come, the nominal "supreme commander" of the Reach will be Lord of Highgarden, who once knelt down in front of everyone and "prayed for life" in front of the head of the Peake family.
When the nobles of the Southern Border Army return to their respective territories, they will definitely exaggerate this incident and spread it everywhere to weaken and cover up the fact that they were once members of the "Southern Border Army".
No one wants to be a loser.
Especially those "survivors" of the Reach coalition forces who, under the leadership of Allister Florent, the Commander-in-Chief of Chaoti and the Southern Expeditionary Army asked for surrender and moved closer.
On the one hand, they set out to clean up the mess and eliminate Tyrell of Highgarden. On the other hand, they also indirectly contributed to the deterrent power of black Earl throughout the south.
The situation of the Reach is therefore further stabilized.
The families who chose to side with Tyrell and the knights under them also had a deeper understanding of the credit of Black Earl.
The other party is a person who does what he says, no matter what he says is good or bad----
This episode caused by Duke Iron Islands eventually became a booster for Iron Throne to "recover" The Reach and consolidate its rule in the south.
Since then, the Reach has been pacified.
Although Highgarden was severely injured and became a little weak, he was still able to pay the ransom on time, which also confirmed the wealth of the Golden Rose.
At the same time, it also allowed the war gains of the members of the Southern Expedition Army represented by Titus to be realized, and everyone was safe and sound.
Wait until they finish dividing the money.
The southern expeditionary army coming from the north was completely disbanded outside Storm's End.
The Stormlands people have already gone home to understand their respective losses and are waiting for the next order from the black Earl - that is, the fighter plane to retaliate against Dorne.
The Vale people headed by the Ninestars knights happily returned to King's Landing with a generous reward from the Black Commander to return their lives to their lord. This time, the Eyrie's Arryn did not get any benefits, but his canyon knights made a lot of money.
The North people gain more.
Even the Dreadfort Earl Roose Bolton is far from his original appearance.
He is not like the "Leech Master" in the North people's stereotype.
Anyway, his style of painting here at Titus is always smiling, with uncontrollable joy and satisfaction on his face.
When talking to the former, I felt a little grateful from time to time.
It can only be said that the nobles of the North are really poor - except for Manderly who cannot deal with Peake.
After settling the matter between the Reach nobles and the Southern Expeditionary Army, Titus has no reason to stay in Storm's End any longer.
Say goodbye to the northern lords who have made a lot of money and are ready to wait for the return of Warden of the North, leaving Stannis of Storm's End to continue entertaining them.
Titus took Starpike's own troops and finally embarked on the journey home.
After being away for more than a year, he will return to his most loyal Starpike again.
Oh, right.
If the confrontation between the Southern Expeditionary Army and the Southern Border Army was marked by the absolute defeat of Tyrell and his allies, and was also neutralized by the two-way swing of Allister Florent and other nobles who asked to surrender - then, is there any the Reach family that escaped unscathed and calmly?
The answer is yes.
That is Starpike's old neighbor in the northeast, located at the source of Zhouyi River--Alyn·Cuy Earl that governs Cider Hall Fort, Cider Hall Town and Cider Hall Pasture.
Mace·Tyrell besieged Storm's End for nearly a year. Cider Hall Earl was obviously not as "competent" as Lord of Highgarden. The time it took him to "attack" Starpike was only a little more than half of the former.
When the news came from the northern part of the mainland that "Prince Rhaegar was beaten to death by King Robert with a hammer", Cuy Earl, who had been wandering leisurely in Dornish Marches for almost half a year, knew that it was almost time to end this long trip.
After staying outside Starpike for more than half a year, he finally confirmed that he was simply overthinking and thinking too much. Mr. "Black Earl" was really a good friend who thought about his friends and had no intention of using a "trick within a trick" to trick him.
He thought of withdrawing his troops and going home.
Then, Cuy Earl received a series of messages from the north -
King's Landing easy flag, black Earl dry;
The orphaned daughter and widowed mother of the former royal family was rescued, and it was the work of black Earl;
Westerlands the Mountain was justly executed at the court meeting - it was the gangster Earl who did it;
This made him sigh once again that the support he gave Cider Hall to Titus·Peake was not wrong after all.
After he said hello to the Robinson coach at the top of the Starpike city, he turned back north.
New news continues to come -
Mace·Tyrell, who was more capable than himself and had been besieging Stormlands for almost a year, knelt down in front of the formation to blackmail Earl. Well, this was done by Mace himself.
The Southern Border Army was defeated and surrendered, and the black Earl collected one million gold dragons from Highgarden----Oh, this is the money Queen of Thorns paid----
Olenna did it.
In the triangular castle of the Cider Hall, Alyn·Cuy keeps eating.
As one of the few second-tier nobles the Reach who has not suffered any losses from the war, the reputation of the Cuy family has skyrocketed.
The one they attacked half a year ago was Starpike!
As soon as I thought about it, I didn't want to eat my own Alyn·Cuy one day. I secretly felt that it was not good. I thought that I must deepen my friendship with Starpike Earl again and don't let those who have bad intentions ruin the relationship between the two families.
Under the "iron triangle" of Tyrell-Redwyne-Hightower, the strongest family of the Reach is none other than the Rowan of Goldengrove, the Florent of Brightwater Keep, and the Cuy of the Cider Hall - originally there were also the Merryweather of Longtable and the Tarly of Horn Hill.
Of the latter two, the former family has been deprived of its territory, titles, and expelled from the country; the other family exists in name only and is being taken over by the knights of Starpike.
This temporarily formed a pattern of "upper three houses" and "secondary three houses" in the Reach district.
Any one of the above three families, in terms of wealth and strength, has the ability to protect one realm. And if the next three families are placed in other realms, they all have the potential to challenge the local duke.
As for House Peake, it is too short to start, and the current head of the family is the strongest. Once Titus·Peake is removed, even if they gain a lot of new territories, they have not yet been digested, and their status will be ranked between the top three families and the second three families at most.
If we add the "humanoid weight" of Titus·Peake, none of Highgarden, Oldtown, and Arbor dare to say that they are "stronger" than the other.
Moreover, Titus's friendship with the Reach's second-tier family has gradually yielded results.
"Distant relative" Florent temporarily boarded Peake's ship and offended Rose of Highgarden to death. Until they find a higher branch, not to mention being loyal, they will at least keep on the same page as Starpike.
The "good neighbors" Cuy family has always been the target of Titus's efforts, and they are also the Reach's early allies.
The former relied entirely on him this time to avoid the quagmire of the war. Not only Alyn·Cuy had the tendency to deepen their relationship, Titus also had this intention.
Goldengrove----Then there is nothing we can do.
Matus·Rowan gave birth to a son and two daughters.
One of them, named "Rolanda", has been booked by Hightower's "Laughter" Baelor, and will become the wife of Hightower's heir; while the other one is said to like to "sing" and "play" with troubadours, which is not a simple thing.
Although marrying the other party's daughter may improve the relationship between the two families and turn enemies into friends in one step, Master Hei Earl will naturally not be willing to take advantage of this. This can be seen from the fact that when he first met Matus, when the other party mentioned his daughter, Starpike Earl knew something was wrong and immediately chose to avoid him.
This was the case back then, let alone now.
Moreover, he has already won over Florent and Cenford. It is a pity to lose the support of Rowan, as the other party cannot affect the overall situation.
What's more, Titus has always had deep sympathy and pity for the "innocent" ex-predecessor Hand of the King, Longtable old Earl Owen·Merryweather----
Just when Cider Hall Earl was talking about the neighbors in the southwest, Titus, who was walking home, was also thinking:
How to sell a favor and get Jon Hand of the King to agree--
Let House Merryweather, who was exiled to Essos by Mad King, regain the Reach and get back their "loyal" Longtable----
This family, whose motto is "See my gift", is famous for its wealth, and its emblem is a golden horn of abundance, from which overflow apples, carrots, plums, onions, leeks, turnips and other fruits of all kinds.
Their family is very rich.
The sea monster ravages the rose: