The morning mist wraps around the flea nest like a shroud.
Marga stuffed the last bit of wood chips into the stove and watched the pitiful flames licking the bottom of the pot.
The pot was boiling with yesterday's leftover beans and half of a smelly fish head, which she had squatted by the Blackwater River for two hours before catching. At that time, she was almost caught as a fish thief by the patrolling Jinpao.
"Mom, I'm hungry."
The youngest daughter Lina was pulling at the corner of her skirt, her eyes were bulging, and she looked very scary.
She is already five years old, but she is as thin as a three or four-year-old child. Her ribs are protruding one by one, and her skin is so thin that you can see the blue blood vessels underneath.
"Wait a little longer, the bread will be here." Marga said something that he didn't even believe.
She looked out the window. At the other end of the alley, the door of Tom Bakery was still closed. Usually at this time, the aroma of the first batch of black bread was already wafting out.
Since the person called "Lord Corleone" came, Lina has never been hungry again.
But a week ago, those people in golden cloaks took over the Flea Bottom. Since then, Lina has never smelled the fragrance of bread again, and the entire Flea Bottom seems to have changed back to what it was before.
A few days ago, Marga's husband Carl broke his leg at the dock.
The foreman gave him five Copper Penny and sent him away. Now Carl is lying on the bed, having a fever every day and talking nonsense, with pus leaking from the wound0
Marga asked for a golden robe to find a bachelor, but the young soldier just laughed and said, "A dock worker also wants to find a bachelor?"
She cried for a long time, because when Ser Corleone was still there, Flea Bottom had its own Clinic, and it almost only charged the cost price. If you really didn't have money, you could keep accounts, or use labor to pay for it, such as cleaning the streets or moving things.
Now Clinic is occupied by Jinpaozi and has been changed to "Public Security Point".
The red Lion flag of Lannister hung at the door, and soldiers in golden robes sat inside. There was no smell of herbs anymore, only the smell of sweat and Ale.
"Mom, look." Lina pointed out the window.
Marga turned around and saw a crowd starting to gather at the alley, first three or five, then more than a dozen, women carrying empty baskets, children walking uneasily in the mud with bare feet, and a few old people leaning against the wall with empty eyes.
"Tom! Open the door!" A strong woman began to beat the wooden door of the bakery. "It's already dawn!"
The wooden window panel opened a crack from the inside, revealing half of a pale face.
"Today... there is still no bread." Tom whispered.
As soon as these words came out, the crowd immediately became commotion.
Marga quickly picked up Lina and squeezed to the front. "What's going on? Didn't you say yesterday that there would be flour coming today?"
Looking at people's expectant eyes, Tom sighed and fully opened the window panel.
Behind him, everything was clean, flour bags were piled in the corner, all empty, and the stove was cold without even a spark.
"The flour cannot be transported in." Tom said, "Jinpaozi said that there are bandits on the Hejian Avenue."
"Fart!" shouted a one-armed man in the crowd. His name was Dyck. He was once a soldier and lost an arm in Battle of the Blackwater Rush.
"I saw three grain trucks coming in through Lion's Gate yesterday afternoon! The trucks were piled high as high as a mountain!"
Hearing this, Tom had to explain with a grimace, "That's white flour for the Red Castle and Silk Street. No new food has been shipped to Flea Bottom for a long time."
Saying this sentence, like a torch thrown into a haystack, immediately ignited people's dissatisfaction.
Dyck pushed away the people in front of him, rushed to the window and shouted angrily, "I fought for the king and shed blood in the Blackwater River!"
"But now we can't even eat bread. Didn't Jinpaozi promise that everything will be better after taking over? When Lord Corleone is here, all of us can have full stomachs!"
"I told you, there is no flour!" Tom shrank his neck, but soon raised his voice, but his voice was trembling. "If you want to have a full meal, you go to the Golden Robe, go to the Prime Minister, what's the use of asking me?"
This answer obviously did not satisfy people, and the crowd roared even more angrily.
"Bread, we want bread!!"
"The damn Golden Robes want to starve us to death!"
"Go find them! Let's go to House of Order to cause trouble!"
The people around were filled with indignation, but Marga just hugged her daughter tightly and sat on the ground helplessly, with tears streaming down her face.
"Mom?"
Lina didn't know what happened, so he raised his head and asked softly, "Can we still eat bread?"
Marga hugged her daughter tightly and did not answer.
Looking at the angry crowd gradually gathering at the alley, she suddenly remembered an afternoon two months ago.
That day she carried Lina who had a fever to Clinic. Ser Corleone personally treated the child. Three days later, Lina's fever subsided.
"How much, sir?" Marga asked at that time, her hands were shaking, because she only had seven Copper Pennys all over her body.
Corleone looked at her for a long time, and then said, "When your husband recovers from his injury, just ask him to come to House of Order to help move the goods for three days."
That's not charity.
That is a deal, a fair deal, but one that allows everyone to stand upright and survive.
What now?
The husband was still lying in bed waiting to die, and the daughter was so hungry that she was just skin and bones, but Jinpaozi said that all of this was a "necessary rectification."
Marga stood up slowly, patted the dust off her skirt, and looked towards the alley, where more than thirty people had gathered, and more and more.
"Let's go." She said to Lina in her arms.
"Where to go, Mom?"
"Go find the person responsible for this."
Steel Street.
It was named after the blacksmith shops and weapon shops lined on both sides of the street. As a pawn shop, "Hammer and Coin" seems a bit out of place here.
The pawn shop owner Lasso is a lean Braavosi man in his fifties, wearing a dark purple velvet coat and three rings set with gems of different colors on his fingers.
In Braavos, this means that he is also the "key keeper", "contract witness" and "risk sharer".
But at this moment, as the richest man in Steel Street, he was wiping the sweat on his bare forehead with a silk handkerchief.
Because there were three people sitting across from me.
A gold-robed Squad Leader, a robed clerk, and... a fully armed Red-cloaked Knight-Tybert Hesban.
"Sir, the accounts... the accounts really don't match up." Lasso spread out three thick sheepskin account books in front of him, and the pages were densely filled with numbers and symbols.
The clerk frowned and stared at the symbols and said bluntly, "I can't understand this."
"I can translate." Lasso swallowed. "To put it simply, Ser Corleone... Oh no, it's the traitor Vito·Corleone. Four days before he left King's Landing, he borrowed eight thousand Gold Dragon from me in the name of "business working capital."
"He pledged twelve properties and warehouses in Flea Bottom as collateral."
"These are mortgage deeds. Each one has his signature, his fingerprints, and the signatures of witnesses."
Hearing this, the secretary took it over to check, frowning deeply.
Jinpaozi asked curiously, "What's the problem?"
"Look here, captain." The clerk pointed to a few lines of small print in the third paragraph of the contract. "This article states that if the borrower loses control of the collateral due to involuntary reasons, including but not limited to war, confiscation, expropriation, administrative coercion, etc., the rights and obligations of this debt will automatically be transferred to the party actually controlling the collateral."
Squad Leader didn't understand. "What do you mean?"
Hearing this, Lasso on the side explained with a grimace, "It means that if Jinpaozi confiscates these properties, then you will owe me eight thousand Gold Dragon."
"Absurd!" Jinpaozi was immediately furious and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "We owe you eight thousand Gold Dragon without doing anything. What a joke!"
"You must be a greedy guy who is lying to me. Believe it or not, I will take you back to the Golden Robe Prison for interrogation!"
"You may do so, my lord, but...
Lasso was startled, but opened another account book. "My family is not the only one with the total debt."
"Vito·Corleone used the same method to borrow money from thirteen pawn shops in King's Landing. Each borrowed a different amount and had different collateral, but the terms of the contract were basically the same."
"The total debt... exceeds sixty-two thousand Gold Dragon!"
"With all due respect, even your commander Adam Malbrand Ser can't catch us all, right?"
As soon as these words came out, there was a deathly silence in the room.
What is the concept of sixty-two thousand Gold Dragon?
Enough to equip an army of 3,000 men, including armor, weapons, horses and three months of food and fodder.
Equivalent to one-fifth of the cost of the royal fleet!
Taxes for the entire King's Landing half year!
Squad Leader's face turned red and he shouted, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
"How can he, a gangster from Flea Bottom, get so many properties as mortgages?"
It's no wonder that he was so angry, because the other party was right. Even if he could take Lasso back and use some "techniques" to forcibly pay off the 8000 Gold Dragon debt, it was impossible for the golden robe to arrest all the pawn shop owners.
You know, although these people are not nobles, they almost all have the support of nobles behind them.
In other words, they are just white gloves for the nobles.
Not to mention Adam Malbrand, even Tywin has to weigh the impact of arresting so many people!
Upon hearing Squad Leader's question, Lasso pulled out an oak box from under the table and opened it. Inside was a thick stack of land deeds and property rights documents. "These are the mortgage details of Vito·Corleone."
Hearing this, the clerk quickly took over and flipped through the documents, but the more he flipped through, his hands kept shaking.
Seventeen copies in total!
Each copy is authentic, with clear seals, complete signatures and checkable registration numbers.
"These...
.. These properties are used as collateral for more than 60,000 Gold Dragon, which is completely reasonable from the perspective of lending rules."
"That's reasonable!" Squad Leader shouted, "This is obviously a fucking trap!"
You know, he came here today under the order of Ser Adam. If he can't handle this little thing, how will he deliver the work when he goes back!
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Squad Leader simply grabbed Lasso's collar and asked in a cold voice, "Who is the witness?"
Hearing this, Lasso turned directly to the last page of the contract and pointed to a few signatures:
Herb·Lake.
Balman·Byrch.
Jaime Lannister.
They are all fucking aristocrats.
Even... even the seal of the archbishop of the church is on it!
The golden robe Squad Leader closed his eyes and took a deep breath. At this moment, he finally understood why Ser Adam's eyes were full of sympathy when he sent him.
"The contract also stipulates."
Seeing this, Lasso added with a hint of ridicule in his voice, "If the debt is overdue, interest will be accumulated at one percent per day. Today is the seventh day of overdue payment."
One percent per day, sixty-two thousand principal, which is six hundred and twenty Gold Dragon per day.
This is fucking equivalent to a year's salary of a hundred golden robes!
And this debt should now theoretically be repaid by the Iron Throne, which took over the collateral.
"Vito·Corleone, what an interesting guy."
Just when Squad Leader only felt that his future was dark, Tybert·Hesban Ser, who had been silent since the beginning, spoke.
His tone was a bit playful, and several people turned their attention to the old knight of the Lannister family.
"You... are you going to leave?"
Seeing Tybert turn around and walk straight towards the door, Squad Leader couldn't help but ask, "But our mission is not completed yet, Ser!"
"It's none of my business."
Tybert looked back at him and raised the corners of his mouth slightly, as if he was not in a hurry. "I am a knight. If I cannot complete the task, I will return to the West. I have my own territory."
"Now, I'm going to have a couple of drinks. Good luck to you both."
Red Castle, the dungeon never sees sunlight all year round.
In the interrogation room on the third floor, various torture instruments were hung on the walls. Most of them were rusty, but a few were obviously new. The soldering iron was burning red in the brazier.
Luna was sitting on a wooden chair with his hands and feet not tied. This was a special arrangement made by the interrogator to show "preferential treatment".
She is thirty-five years old, with brown hair tied neatly into a bun on the back of her head. She is wearing a dark blue coarse cloth dress with a gray apron outside. She does not look like a prostitute, but more like a female vendor or washerwoman at the market.
In fact, she is now.
In Flea Bottom, she was responsible for organizing more than twenty women to sew, do laundry, and make simple textiles. These were all tasks arranged by Corleone.
"Ms. Luna." The interrogator's voice was very gentle. "We are just talking briefly today. You don't have to be nervous."
Luna didn't speak, just looked at him with calm eyes.
"We know your past."
The interrogator looked through a file. "You were a prostitute on Silk Street Nightingale's Song, and you served many customers. Later you became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter named Little Lisa, right?"
Hearing this, Luna's fingers tightened slightly, but there was no other reaction.
"It's not easy for a prostitute to have a baby."
The interrogator continued, with just the right amount of sympathy in his voice. "The children were often sick, and you couldn't afford the bachelor's fees, so you went to the High Sparrow who was still preaching at the time." Some unpleasant things happened at that time...
,"Stop beating around the bush, my lord."
Listening to the other party talking about his daughter, Luna pulled his hair with his hand and said calmly, "What do you want, please just say it."
"We received some... testimonies."
The interrogator looked at her with squinted eyes and his smile became gentler. "Some people say that Ser Corleone did something inappropriate to you the night he rescued you."
Hearing this, the interrogation room became quiet.
Luna looked at the interrogator for a long time, and then she smiled with a little pity.
"My lord, do you know what happened that night?"
"Please say."
"That night, after Lysa went to bed, Ser Corleone asked me to rest too. He gave me a separate room with clean sheets and blankets. He said, have a good sleep and we will talk about the future tomorrow."
"I was lying on the bed, unable to sleep. I kept waiting, waiting for the door to be pushed open, waiting for him to come in, waiting for him to ask me to do something like other men do."
Luna's voice was very calm. "I waited until dawn, but the door never opened."
"The next morning, Ser Corleone had bread and hot soup prepared for me. I haven't eaten such good food in a long time."
"After eating, he said, Luna, I see that your fingers are dexterous and you should be good at needlework. There are many women in Flea Bottom who need work, but they don't know what to do or how to organize it. Are you willing to help them?"
She looked at the interrogator. "That's what he wants, not my body, but my abilities."
The interrogator was silent for a moment, then said, "But someone testified...
"Who?" Luna interrupted him, "Is it the madam from Silk Street, because I took away several girls who no longer want to be prostitutes, or are they my colleagues who are jealous that I can now eat with my hands?"
Her voice was still calm, but every word was very powerful. "Sir, I have been a prostitute on Silk Street for twelve years. I know what men want."
"I know what kind of eyes are desire and what kind of eyes are charity, but when Ser Corleone looks at me, there is neither."
"He respects me, gives me work, and lets me work!"
Hearing this, what else did the interrogator want to say? Luna had already stood up. "If you want me to accuse him of rape, you can tie me up, use torture, a soldering iron, or a whip."
"You can threaten to harm my daughter, who is now eight years old and studying with the nuns at the church in Duskendale."
Her voice began to tremble, but not because of fear. "You can do all these things, but I tell you, my lord, even if I cut my tongue out, it will never say what you want to hear!"
"Because there are some words that are betraying yourself if you say them!"
"And I..." She took a deep breath. "I never want to betray myself again."
After saying that, she sat back in her chair, put her hands on her knees, and stopped talking.
The interrogator looked at the parchment in front of him and the "criminal evidence" prepared on it.
Corleone·Rape·Luna·Date·Place·Witness..
The witness column is blank.
Because there are no witnesses.
There are only lies.
Not far from next door.
There were no windows or torches here, only a dim oil lamp on the wall with its wick cut very short, barely illuminating a three-step area around the execution rack.
Yego was hung on the torture rack.
The rope passed through the iron ring on the roof, hanging him in the air, and his toes could barely touch the ground.
This posture will gradually dislocate the shoulders and make breathing more and more difficult. The guards are very good at controlling the height, just enough to cause the prisoner pain, but not to die too quickly.
He has been hanging here for two days.
The naked upper body of the Dothraki is covered with scars, with black scars on the chest, abdomen, and back, and the skin and flesh are turned out in some places.
My right shoulder was dislocated and my left knee was swollen like a ball.
After a while, the door opened.
Logan comes in.
He is short and fat, only reaching the shoulders of a normal person in height, but very wide laterally, like a walking wall.
He was wearing typical jailor attire, his hair was greasy and stuck to his scalp, with a few strands hanging loosely in front of his forehead.
"Are you still alive?" Logan's voice was rough and he spoke Common Language, with a strong accent from the lower classes of King's Landing, which was a little unclear.
Yego did not answer.
His head was hanging down, and a few strands of his braids were spread out, sticking to his blood-stained face. His eyes were half-closed, but his pupils shrank slightly in the dim light.
Logan walked to the wall, scooped out a ladle of water from the bucket, and walked to Yego.
"Drink some water?"
Yego still didn't move.
Logan tilted the ladle and poured water on the iron wound on Yego's chest.
"Hiss~~~"
Yego's body suddenly tensed up, muscles bulged, and the chains rattled.
It's salt water!
But he didn't scream, he just sucked in a breath through his teeth.
"Not bad." Logan nodded, as if to praise, "The Dothraki are very strong."
He threw the ladle back into the bucket and walked to the wooden table by the wall.
There are several tools on the table: pliers, a small hammer, a thin iron pick, and a saw.
Logan picked up the pliers, weighed them in his hands, put them down again, and finally picked up the thin iron pick.
Without saying anything, the torture started directly.
Little by little, very slowly, the iron pick is pushed along the gap between the nail and the flesh.
Yego had cold sweat on his forehead. His breathing became rapid, but he still did not scream. Instead, he began to mutter in a low voice, Dothraki like praying or chanting a curse.
Logan can't understand.
But he was not in a hurry, he just continued to push the iron sign while observing Yego's reaction.
The iron stick pierced half of it.
Yego's left finger began to twitch uncontrollably, and it was obvious that the pain had exceeded his tolerance.
"Tell me something I can understand." Logan said, his voice still calm. "For example, Corleone and Stannis Baratheon plotted a rebellion?"
"I don't know." Yego finally raised his head and replied in common language.
"Then what do you know?"
"I know..." Yego opened his eyes and looked at the low, moldy ceiling of the interrogation room. "Even if there is no sky here, my soul will ride a horse to the night sky...
Logan frowned. "What?"
"The stars are a herd of flaming horses galloping in the night sky. Horse God waves his whip to drive them running.
Running across the entire night sky, at dawn, when the horses are tired, they stop to rest... that's daytime.
Logan stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly pulled out the iron pick.
"Ah!"
This time Yego finally screamed. When the iron skewer was pulled out, a small piece of tender meat under the fingernail was brought out. Blood immediately poured out and dripped down his finger.
Logan wiped the bloody iron stick on Yego's clothes, then walked to the table and picked up the small hammer.
"I don't want to hear your prairie myths."
Logan walked back and gently tapped the injured knee of Yego's left leg with a hammer. "I want to hear the facts. Is Corleone a traitor? Is he colluding with Stannis to overthrow the Iron Throne?"
With each knock, Yego's body trembled.
The knee injury was already serious, and the pain caused by this gentle knock was constant, as if the bones were shattering inside.
"Corleone Kaa..." Yego gasped and said vaguely, "He is...
"What is it?"
Yego stopped talking again.
He raised his head and looked at the ceiling again, his eyes beginning to wander.
Logan changed the hammer to his left hand, grabbed Yego's hair with his right hand, and forced him to look at him. "Look at me!"
"Tell me, what did you see, what did Corleone do to you, did he use any... witchcraft?
Magic? Making you so determined?"
The light of the oil lamp danced on Logan's face, and the round face looked particularly ferocious in the shadows.
But Yego looked at him with strange eyes. Suddenly, he laughed and his voice suddenly became louder, "My soul will ride a horse to the night sky. The stars are a group of flaming horses galloping in the night sky. Horse God waves the whip... to drive them to run!"
Flea Bottom.
Without Black Hand Mafia, the Golden Robe hardly cares about the life and death of any civilians. Food is scarce, and many people can only choose to sit on the ground against the wall to minimize consumption.
"Did you hear that?"
Suddenly, an old man with missing front teeth lowered his voice and stared blankly at the sky. "The golden robe is going to seal Flea Bottom."
As soon as these words came out, several people around him suddenly turned their heads.
"What do you mean?"
"Seal it up and build up the entrance to the alley with bricks. No one is allowed to enter or exit." The old man looked around and said, "My nephew works as a handyman in the Golden Robe. He overheard this. The Prime Minister said that Flea Bottom is a cancer in King's Landing and must be cleaned up."
"Clean up?"
"Just cut it off." The old man made a cutting gesture. "Cut off the rotten meat. From now on, the flea nest... will no longer exist."
Rumors always spread quickly, and when the sun rose overhead, the news spread almost throughout Flea Bottom, causing severe panic.
At noon, the first attack on the blockade occurred.
To the north of Flea Bottom, there is a relatively wide alley, which is blocked by Golden Robe with a wooden fence.
A dozen people who tried to rush the card clashed with Jinpao.
"Let us out! We need to buy medicine!"
A man roared, holding a five or six-year-old little girl in his arms. The child's face was flushed and she was obviously having a fever.
"Back off! We are ordered to blockade!" There were twenty people in golden robes guarding the gate, forming a human wall with spears, and they were menacing.
"My daughter is sick and she needs to see the maester!"
"Back off!"
In the chaos, someone threw stones.
The stone hit the helmet of a gold-robed man, making a "clang" sound. The soldier became angry and beat the man in front of him with a spear pole.
Screams sounded.
The crowd was infuriated, and more people came from the depths of Flea Bottom. They were not trying to rush the card, but they just gathered behind the blockade and watched in silence in the darkness.
The silence was more terrifying than the roar.
A shoemaker who lived in Stinky Lane slowly walked to the front. He did not shout, but said calmly, "Sir, I am fifty-three years old. I have met the Mad King, King Robert, and King Joffrey."
He pointed to the golden robe behind the blockade. "But I have never seen the king's soldiers not letting the king's people go out to buy medicine, and not letting the king's people go out to buy food."
"You said this is for safety."
"Then let me ask you...
The old man's voice suddenly rose and echoed throughout the alley, "Whose safety is this for?"
"If safety means the elderly die from illness, children starve to death, and women are forced to sell their bodies to pay for their stutter...
"Then we don't want this security!"
As soon as these words came out, the crowd suddenly burst into thunderous roars. "Yes! We don't want it!"
"Open the fence!"
"We want to survive!"
More stones flew over, and the golden robe began to retreat.
The captain drew his sword and shouted, "Whoever dares to come forward will be killed without mercy!"
But no one listened to him, and the crowd surged up like a tide, knocking down the wooden fence. The golden robes were scattered, some were knocked to the ground, and some lost their spears and ran away.
The blockade is broken.
But waiting outside were more golden robes, a whole hundred-man team, fully armed.
Those who rushed out were quickly driven back.
Flea Bottom became a true island.
At dusk, Flea Bottom's fury finally broke out.
The cause was a small incident. A team of golden robes tried to "expropriate" the inventory of a grocery store, saying it was "strategic material control."
The shopkeeper refused because it was his family's one-month ration, so he was knocked to the ground by the golden robe.
The shopkeeper's daughter pounced and bit a soldier's hand.
The soldier drew his sword and cut off one of the girl's fingers.
The girl's screams attracted half the street.
Then everything got out of control.
Stones, Wooden Club, broken pots and pots... anything that can be picked up has become a weapon.
There were only eight members of the Jinpaozi team, and they were instantly surrounded by dozens of angry people.
When the reinforcements arrived, the eight golden robes had disappeared, and their bodies were later found in the stinking ditch.
But this is just the beginning.
In the evening, torches began to appear on the streets of Flea Bottom.
Not one or two, but dozens or hundreds.
People held torches and poured out from all the alleys, forming a river of fire.
They are heading in the same direction - House of Order.
Where Corleone once established order.
It is now the headquarters of the Golden Robes in Flea Bottom.
The crowd began to chant, at first disorganized, then gradually unified. "We don't want Lannister!"
"We want Black Hand Mafia!"
"We want Corleone!"
The sound is getting louder and more uniform, beating like a war drum in the night of Flea Bottom.
Marga stood in the crowd holding Lina.
Beside her are the one-armed Dyck, Hal the shoemaker... and thousands of others.
They are all from Flea Bottom.
They are all people who have been forced into desperate situations.
They held torches, and the flames swayed in the night wind, illuminating the angry and desperate faces.
Marga looked ahead, the outline of House of Order appeared in the night, and the windows on the second floor were lit.
She hugged Lina tightly, took a deep breath, and then shouted with everyone, "We don't want Lannister!"
"We want Corleone!"
House of Order Second floor.
In the captain's room, Humphrey Waters is drinking.
A week ago, he was appointed as the captain of the Flea Bottom team. The original captain Balman·Byrch Ser was dismissed by Tywin himself.
Humphrey knew the real reason, because Balman was recommended by Corleone, and Tywin did not trust him.
But Humphrey didn't care, he needed this position. As an illegitimate son, he only cared about profit.
Although the captain of Flea Bottom has a low position, he is rich in salary and salary.
Since Humphrey took office, he has collected more than 300 Gold Dragon in "benefit fees", "sanitary inspection fees", casino "operating license fees", etc.
Humphrey happily took a sip of wine and figured out which company he should collect money from tomorrow.
Then he heard movement.
Faintly at first, but gradually clearer. "We don't want Lannisters!"
"We want Black Hand Mafia!"
"We want Corleone!"
Humphrey's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly walked to the window and opened it.
Hundreds of torches converged into a river of light on the narrow streets of Flea Bottom, rushing towards House of Order.
The firelight illuminated angry faces, and everyone was shouting the same name.
Corleone!
Seeing this, Humphrey suddenly sobered up half of his wine.
He rushed to the door and shouted downstairs, "Guards! Gather! Prepare to defend!"
No response.
Rushing down the stairs and arriving at the lobby on the first floor, Humphrey was stunned.
In the hall, twenty Gold Cloaks Soldier were lying in various directions, some lying on the table, some falling on the ground, snoring like thunder.
The wine bottle rolled on the ground, and Ale flowed all over the floor.
"Get up! Get up!" Humphrey kicked the nearest soldier.
But the soldier just grumbled, turned over, and continued to sleep.
Humphrey felt a chill.
He checked one by one and found that everyone was asleep, sleeping deeply, as if they were dead!
Being drugged!
This thought suddenly came to his mind, and there was a sound of footsteps behind him. He suddenly pulled out his sword and turned to look at the stairs.
I saw a person walking down from the second floor.
The pace is very slow, like taking a walk after dinner.
He was wearing a dark traveling cloak without a hood, his black hair was a little messy, his face looked tired from a long journey, but his eyes were as bright as stars in the dark night.
Humphrey knew this face, and it could even be said that he was very familiar with it.
Vito·Corleone!
"You..." Humphrey's sword tip was trembling. "Aren't you dead?"
Corleone did not answer, but walked to the table and picked up an empty wine glass. "Captain Humphrey Waters."
"This wine is really bad, isn't it? You know, when Ser Balman was here, all I had in store were Arbor's golden wine."
"Balman has been dismissed!"
"I know." Corleone put down the wine glass. "That's why I'm here."
He walked up to Humphrey, only one step away from the tip of the sword. "You have two choices, Humphrey."
"First, continue to be the captain, but tomorrow Tywin will know that during the Flea Bottom riot, all your soldiers were drugged and drugged, and you, Captain Humphry, not only failed to organize an effective defense, but were almost caught by the mob."
"How do you think Tywin would deal with a commander who failed in his duty?"
Hearing this, Humphrey's face suddenly turned pale.
"Second." Corleone's voice softened and he said calmly, "You resign on your own initiative and write a resignation letter saying that you are not capable enough to manage Flea Bottom." Recommend Balman·Byrch Ser to take over. After all, he is familiar with this place, and his dismissal itself was a mistake."
"Why should I do this?" Humphry hissed, "Even if I resign, Lord Tywin will not let Balman come back!"
"He will." Corleone said, "When there are thousands of people outside marching in the streets of King's Landing every day, shouting "We want Balman", he will agree."
Humphrey looked out the window.
The shouts are getting closer and closer, and the light of the torch has illuminated the street House of Order outside.
"Those mobs... were incited by you." Humphrey swallowed.
"No." Corleone shook his head. "I just gave them a reason."
"What reason?"
"A reason to live."
Corleone walked to the window and opened another window. The night wind poured in, carrying shouts and firelight, "Humphrey, do you know about Flea Bottom? Do you really know it?"
"Flea Bottom is the womb of King's Landing."
"Everyone who comes here to seek a living, including bankrupt farmers, runaway serfs, war orphans, and small businessmen, their first stop is Flea Bottom."
"Here they struggle, survive, fail, try again."
"If they're lucky, they can save some money and move to a better place. If they're not lucky, they die in a flea bottom and their bodies are thrown into a pot and cooked."
"But for better or worse, the flea's nest is there, absorbing the filth of King's Landing and nurturing the life of King's Landing."
With that said, Corleone walked up to Humphrey and looked into his eyes. "I was in Flea Bottom for three months, and I just did one thing."
"I give people the power to choose."
"I gave them a choice and they chose order."
"Now Tywin took the choice away, so... they chose this."
As Corleone finished speaking, another cry came from outside, "We don't want Lannister!"
"We want Corleone!"
House of Order At least two thousand people have gathered on the street outside, with torches connected together, making the night sky red.
People held homemade signs and wrote on rags with charcoal, "Bread!"
"We need to see a doctor!"
"Lannister get out!"
Humphrey took a deep breath and turned around, only to see that Corleone had taken out a small cloth bag from his arms and placed it on the table. "This is three hundred Gold Dragon, which is enough for you to leave King's Landing and start a new life elsewhere."
Humphrey stared at the bag of money and then at Corleone.
"You're going to lose."
After a long time, he sighed and took the money bag, "Lord Tywin has an army, money, and power, but you only have these people."
Listening to Humphrey's determined tone, Corleone looked out the window.
"You are wrong."
"I'm not "only" these people."
"I... are these people."
After saying that, he turned around and walked towards the door. He paused and turned back and said, "I suggest you go through the back door. The front door may not be safe."
Then he opened the door and walked out.
Humphrey rushed to the window.
He saw Corleone walking out of House of Order and walking into the sea of torches.
The crowd burst into loud cheers, and the torches separated and closed like waves, engulfing Corleone.
Then, he saw Corleone being lifted up. People lifted him up with their arms and raised him above their heads.
The crowd began to move. They held Corleone like a flag and began to march through the streets of Flea Bottom.
The torches formed a river, and the shouts rang through the night sky, "Corleone! Corleone! Corleone!"
Humphrey looked at all this and suddenly felt a deep fear, not fear of Corleone, but fear of something he couldn't understand.
That was something he could never understand and never control.
Grabbing the money bag, Humphrey rushed to the stairs, slipped out the back door, and ran into the dark alley. Behind him, the shouts continued, and the light of the torch almost turned half of King's Landing red.
He kept running until he was out of breath.
Leaning against the wall, I looked back and saw that in the direction of Flea Bottom, the sky was illuminated orange-red by the fire, like dawn arriving early.
Somehow, Humphrey suddenly remembered a poem he had learned when he was a child.
It was a poem written by an unknown bard about the fall of the Targaryen dynasty, "The dragon is dead, but the fire remains."
"The flame will eventually be rekindled."