Not long after this Small Council ended.
Titus in the far south received three letters from Red Keep.
They are respectively from Grand Maester Pycelle, Master of Whisperers Varys, and Master of Coin Allister's handwriting.
These three important ministers were all friends of Starpike Earl, either openly or covertly.
This time, they all coincidentally told him the details of Small Council. However, the three people's perspectives and arguments were completely different.
Allister's letter is quite mild in tone and focuses on defending Stannis, the son-in-law of the Florent family:
--Stannis-sama may act stubbornly, but his heart is commendable, and he is all doing it to safeguard the security of the kingdom and the fairness of the law----"
"----His Majesty the King's preference for friends is equally understandable, but it will inevitably undermine the king's authority----"
"----The quarrel between the brothers this time was all caused by the conflict of spirits. I hope Lord Titus will mediate between them to take into account the overall situation of the royal family of Baila Theon and the Seven Kingdoms----"
Between the lines, it not only points out the core of the conflict, but also implicitly expresses the hidden concern about the discord between the brothers. At the same time, it does not forget to let Titus take action to resolve the dispute.
This feeling can only be said to be very familiar.
If you don't do things yourself, you like to push others to do things.
Titus can only say that even when it comes to Red Keep, the old the Fox is still the same as before. He is not guilty of both sides. If you really look at it, he is a hypocritical person who is loyal to the country.
Very cunning.
Varys's letter is full of meticulous observation and precise analysis. "----King Robert abolishes public service for personal reasons, and Stannis is resentful because of resentment, which is actually a hidden danger to the kingdom--
"----His Majesty is addicted to pleasure and gradually becomes slack in government affairs; Stannis is resentful and separatist to one side----
"----In the royal capital, all forces are secretly watching----"
Yo ho.
All the separatist parties came out!
This powerful man in the intelligence community is incredible.
Do you want to add another sentence, "Earl has a large number of troops on the border. It is best to assess the situation, stay neutral, and sit back and watch what happens." Ah----
If you are so "loyal" to yourself, let me grow your silver hair first, then I dare to believe you, Varys.
Titus casually browsed through some of the accompanying letters about the private discussions among Crownlands's courtiers - as well as Stannis's recent movements. He admitted in his heart that, as far as the job of the Minister of Intelligence is concerned, Varys has no fault to blame.
But this person's stance is the biggest problem.
Among the letters from King's Landing, the one he didn't believe the most was this person's letter.
Logically speaking, the letters from Earl's old friend, Grand Maester Pycelle, should be the most trustworthy.
However, as soon as I opened the letter, I saw a page full of ambiguity, and the whole article was full of official articles - what Small Council discussed recently were all the daily government affairs of the kingdom. His Majesty the King and Lord Stannis had some differences, which have been properly resolved——"
----The kingdom is currently peaceful and the people's hearts are stable. I hope Lord Earl can manage the territory with peace of mind and protect Seven Kingdoms's peace----"
The old bachelor obviously did not want to get involved in any disputes.
The content of the letter seems to be worthless, but it is full of "protect yourself wisely" attitude. In fact, it also reflects the current tense atmosphere of King's Landing from the side.
The old guy must have felt in danger, so he didn't even dare to post a single word in the "private message" with black Earl.
Comparing these three letters with very different contents, Titus fell into thinking and came up with some new insights:
Power is power, regardless of right or wrong, or the occasion. Even if it is exercised in a "child's play" way, it still has heavy power.
He couldn't help but think of the "power debate" between "Littlefinger" and "Lioness" in the original historical trajectory.
Petyr·Baelish once said to Queen Cersei: "Information is power."
At that time, Cersei slapped Littlefinger in the face with practical actions, and severely refuted this view. She only used a gesture, and the Lannister guards around her surrounded the small Master of Coin.
You can easily control the life and death of Petyr by saying "kill him".
After that rare highlight moment, Cersei said to Petyr·Baelish, "Power is power."
Not so many bells and whistles.
The subtext of Cersei·Lannister is actually "power is power."
Titus deeply agrees.
Information, knowledge, wealth, the army, even a "prophet"--all must ultimately rely on "power" to exert their greatest effect.
This is just a world that is evaluated as "low demon", but there is no such thing as "the great power belongs to oneself"----
Looking at what Robert I did that day is the best proof.
He can ignore the law and favor criminals, just because he is the king and has supreme power - even if this "supreme" actually needs to be in quotation marks.
This realization gave Titus a deeper understanding of power.
In Starpike's study, the fragrance of ink and the smell of books blend together.
Titus slowly put away the three letters from King's Landing Red Keep.
Bachelor Greg, who had just completed the task of delivering the letter, stepped forward at the right time and bowed to report, "Sir Earl, all the bachelors from the four cities have arrived and are now in the library of Starpike, waiting for instructions."
Titus raised his eyes and nodded, already thinking about it.
Currently, there are six territories under his command.
Starpike and Dunstonbury are the largest, exceeding the general Earl collar area.
Horn Hill and Whitegrove follow, which are normal Earl collar sizes.
Ringlet and Glen City are fighting again, but that's because they belong to the first-level jurisdiction of knights. They can approach the area of ordinary lords, which is already very impressive.
It stands to reason that there should be six bachelors sent by Citadel to serve here.
But counting Greg Vance in his Main Keep family, plus the four who came here under the imperial edict, there were only five people.
Six territories, five bachelors.
This is not because Citadel is being lazy, but because he is "lagging behind" in his own territory.
Dunstonbury's castle and dock were deliberately abandoned by Highgarden's Tyrell in the early years and have not yet been rebuilt.
Conclave of Citadel has always been "pragmatic", so he did not send any new bachelors to settle in the "Dustin Family Grave".
This continent named "Westeros" is very huge.
Not every castle is qualified for Citadel to send a bachelor. At least it must be at the level of Glen City, Ringlet, High Hermitage - only families and their castles that can rank high among the knights can have this honor.
Dunstonbury, which has a vast land, rich resources, and a prominent location, but does not have a decent castle, is not among them for the time being.
This time, the four bachelors gathered at Starpike each have their own specialties and are all "pillar talents" in their respective territories.
Bachelor Bo Bo of Rivendell City, Bachelor Vicky of Horn Hill City, and Bachelor Greg of Starpike are all "all-rounders" who are multi-disciplinary. Whether they are medicine, military, astrology, navigation, ravenology, document processing, or family education, they can all be said to be handy.
Whitegrove Bachelor Old Nelson is old, but he specializes in mathematics, architecture, mechanical structure and Engineering. He is an indispensable technical master in the construction of the territory.
Ringlet's Bachelor Tang En is about the same age as Bachelor Nelson, but he has delved more deeply into the fields of economics and finance, and is extremely good at controlling territory taxation, financial planning, and trade transactions.
Under the orders of Titus Earl, the daily affairs of each castle are handled by the assistants of the bachelors - that is, the assistant bachelors, who perform the regular duties of the bachelors.
These experts in various subjects, known as "Psychic Knights", have been gathered together as an exclusive consulting team to directly serve Titus himself.
But, they still have more important tasks to do first----
Bachelor Greg, who has been working for the family for many years, automatically became the chief representative of this team by virtue of his qualifications and abilities.
He is considered the "leader" of the "Psychic Knights".
Due to the strength of the black Earl and the existence of the Starpike library, these bachelors did not choose to refuse, but were willing to leave their familiar positions and gathered here obediently to form a team----
Among them, the appeal of Peake Jiabao Library may be even greater than the prestige of Hei Earl.
This is all thanks to House Peake's ancestor "scribe" Marin.
This Peake Earl, praised by later generations and as famous as "Lady of the Golden Bowl", was originally just the second son of the family.
When he was young, he was sent to study at Citadel in Oldtown for some reason. He was famous for being "a studious and progressive person who is tireless in seeking knowledge."
Later, an epidemic took the life of his eldest brother.
Marin Peake, who had not yet completed his studies and had not given up his family name, was urgently sent back to the castle by his father.
After Marin inherited his father's title, House Peake, who had always been a martial artist, had another "cultural man" lord after "the Avenger" Emerick.
Although the collection in the Starpike library is far from as vast as Oldtown Citadel, it can be ranked among the top ten in the Reach area - and even within the entire Seven Kingdoms area.
The library not only has a rich collection of books, but also many rare and unique copies that have not even been included in the Citadel and Red Keep libraries - or were burned by Baelor I.
Titus The key to impressing these bachelors is to open the family library as a condition.
Of course, until the degree of loyalty of these bachelors is fully recognized by himself, this "openness" does not include the magic books in the secret room of his study and the works of "the Avenger" Emerick.
"Next, according to the plan - accelerate the training and selection of grassroots officials. If your assistants and apprentices are not enough, then add new bachelors.
It would be too wasteful for you to be your own teachers. Therefore, we should focus on teachers and let the teachers you train teach more students."
Titus told Bachelor Greg: "The teaching team in the castle has been strengthened, focusing on teaching practical knowledge such as paperwork, arithmetic, and laws.
Be sure to recruit qualified grassroots managers for the Starpike territory within one year."
Cersei·Lannister: