Power struggle

Late November.

When word reached King's Landing that Gulltown had produced 2,000 jin of grain per mu, no one believed it, the king included.

If such a crop existed, someone would have brought it out long ago.

But some people sent men to investigate, wanting to test the claim.

The final result confirmed it: 2,000 jin per mu!

When the news was verified, the king and his ministers fell silent!

At the Small Council, Aerys II looked at Tywin Lannister.

Tywin calmly looked back at the king and the assembled ministers.

Petyr Baelish touched the ball on the table and said, "Your Grace, I believe we should reassign ownership of Gulltown!"

The crown prince, the maester serving as a minister, the Hand of the King, the Master of Coin, the minister of war, and the others all looked at the king.

Aerys II glanced at Prince Rhaegar. "Gulltown falls under Runestone, and Runestone falls under the Vale. Petyr, do you understand the consequences of doing this?"

Petyr considered for a moment. "Your Grace, if we leave Gulltown alone, it could give rise to a lord who makes the Seven Kingdoms tremble. That would be bad news for everyone!"

"Your prestige would suffer as well!"

"Right now, the people of the Gull Territory know only that their lord is named Su Qin Herculys. What do they know of Aerys being the king's name? And I hear that the inhabitants there all slipped across from your lands. You have the right to rule on sovereignty over that territory!"

Littlefinger Petyr added fuel to the fire, swift, ruthless, precise, and venomous!

Su Qin's presence was about to ruin his and Jon's plans!

The Vale could not permit such a man to exist! Nor did he want such a man to exist!

But the assassins kept getting caught. They could not even enter the manor!

Even... hmph!

In any case, the covert plots would have to stop for a while. There was something behind Su Qin Herculys!

And recently, they could not even get near Gull Manor. A group of people caught almost all of them on the road!

Aerys II glanced at this minister of intelligence he had recently appointed and said nothing.

After a while, a voice spoke up.

"If we do that, I believe our enemies would be delighted to welcome a lord with a chivalrous spirit into their ranks!" Tywin Lannister took out a letter and placed it on the table.

Prince Rhaegar took it, and his expression shifted after a glance at its contents. He then passed the letter to the king.

"House Stark has declared that whoever invades the lands of the husband of House Royce's trueborn daughter, a fellow descendant of the First Men, will face the wrath of House Stark and the entire North!"

"Furthermore, word has come that corn can only be grown on blessed lands where Su Qin is lord! It can only be planted in the territory of the Qilin Faith!"

Tywin drank a cup of wine, his golden eyes on King Aerys. Aerys had rejected his first proposal to marry Cersei to Rhaegar, but he would keep raising the idea.

An engagement did not mean the marriage contract could not be torn up!

The bloodline of House Targaryen might contain magic. Oldtown had already found some leads!

With magic, he could explore the mysteries of immortality. He could not turn that down!

Turning back, Tywin looked at Randyll Tarly. This minister of war possessed considerable military talent. Then he looked at the contemplative king and said:

"If we take a hostile stance toward this lord, who currently appears loyal to His Grace, I believe our enemies will gain an endless supply of provisions!"

"Even Jon Arryn has abandoned his covert military support for the House of Wickenden Clan because of House Stark's position!"

House Royce's ties to House Stark were stronger than House Arryn's ties to House Stark! And not merely a little stronger!

Some said that if House Stark's line died out, they could take a boy from House Royce and have him directly inherit the title of paramount duke of the North!

These two houses intermarried once every three generations!

After Tywin finished, there was silence!

The king was silent!

The prince was silent!

The ministers were silent too!

No one knew what they were calculating!

Rhaegar thought for a moment, took out another letter, and handed it to Aerys.

Aerys looked at the house seal at the bottom of the letter. It was a Qilin head (a Yellow Dragon head, House Hercules)!

He glared at Rhaegar! He had received news and had not told him!

But that incident had not happened, and on the surface, the relationship between father and son was still passable.

Aerys II slowly opened the letter. The handwriting looked like a woman's. It read:

[To my esteemed supreme Protector of the Realm, His Grace Aerys II, King of the Empire:

Beginning next year, House Hercules will provide the king with 200,000 units of grain annually, free of charge. As a lord, Su Qin Herculys is also willing to swear, under the joint witness of the Seven, the Old Gods, and the Qilin God, eternal loyalty to House Targaryen and never to rebel against House Targaryen!

Signed: Su Qin Herculys

Seal: Qilin seal (Yellow Dragon head)]

After reading it, Aerys glanced at Prince Rhaegar, then turned his gaze to the ministers. If that was the case, he did not mind having another duke-level lord!

Oaths were very potent! Throughout history, houses that broke their oaths had all suffered divine punishment!

And 200,000 units of grain! That was no small amount. It could feed an army of 15,000. Su Qin alone matched the taxes of many Featherwood nobles!

House Hercules had already shown ample sincerity. He did not mind letting House Hercules and House Arryn fight like dogs. He knew Arryn was plotting certain things!

Besides, House Targaryen had not attempted to assassinate that black-haired, purple-eyed distant relative with Targaryen blood. He had no time for that!

But House Royce, House Stark, and House Arryn would certainly suspect House Targaryen!

He had to make his position clear!

So Aerys II looked around at the ministers, especially Petyr. "King's Landing will not take a hostile stance toward Gulltown. Rhaegar, find time to visit Gulltown and see just what sort of religion this so-called Qilin Faith is."

"Yes, Father!"

Aerys II did not say it outright. Miracles had not appeared in a very long time, but according to ancient books from Asshai, magic did exist. He wanted to know just what the Qilin God was.

After speaking, the king left the Small Council chamber.

He left everyone looking at Rhaegar. They very much wanted to know what was in that letter.

After the king went out, Rhaegar also left the hall. Right now, he only wanted to know who the prince in the prophecy was!

He had no time to go to Gulltown. He needed to search Summerhall for clues and see whether there were any witches or the like.

Perhaps they could offer a hint! This prophecy had troubled House Targaryen for centuries! If kings passed it down by word of mouth, it was most likely true!

Meanwhile, in the Hand's seat, Tywin felt the ball on the table, his thoughts unknown.

None of this had much to do with Su Qin. Delia had handled it all herself. In any case, Su Qin knew nothing about intelligence or political alliances, but he had stamped the seal himself!

Delia's politics stat was 20, the same as his martial prowess had been at the start. He could just leave this stuff to his wife!

He also needed to search for information about this world's gods. The gods here always felt different from those in the Huaxia system!

The spying of the Three-eyed raven, Bran Stark, had put him on his guard! He really could cross the river of time and spy on the past!

Then were the present and future fixed or not? This was very important to Su Qin! He could only look for clues among the gods!

In truth, Su Qin's greatest wealth was his understanding that every person's life mattered. Deep down, he respected every person's life. Taking that as his starting point could bring many unexpected rewards.

Arrogance was the only obstacle to survival!

But what Su Qin was thinking about now was what would appear in December's refresh. The first month had produced ten items. The other months had yielded at most three items each.

There had also been several months when the system had stopped working because he had sold medicine!

In the early hours of November's last day.

On the large bed on the third floor, Su Qin held Delia as he waited for the final moment to arrive. Delia was reading books that recorded miracles and magic.

She now knew that magic truly existed. It was not mere occultism!

Meanwhile, Su Qin used his right hand to flip through the system panel only he could see.

His gaze moved over the territory map icon. He discovered that he now had a map of the entire Gull Territory. He no longer had to plan on a wool map!

He considered the routes and locations for future roads while waiting for the refresh time to arrive.

Suddenly, Delia put down the book in her lap and looked at Su Qin's profile. "Su Qin, if you had a chance to marry another wife as a secondary wife, would you choose Lyanna Stark or Elia Martell?"

Su Qin came back to his senses. *???*

Elia was engaged! What were you thinking, Delia!?

He rolled his eyes and looked at Delia, who was pressing her body against his chest.

"You're all I need."

After giving Delia a slight eye roll, he immediately returned his attention to the system screen.

Seeing that Su Qin took no interest, Delia was delighted, but also a little melancholy. How could House Royce possibly protect him?

So Delia rolled over onto Su Qin, their bodies pressed together face-to-face. She brought her face directly before his. "If you had to marry another, who would you choose? Elia or Lyanna?"

Her violet eyes faced Su Qin's directly.

"Or perhaps... Catelyn Tully! Could you be interested in Cersei, the Light of the Westerlands?"

Su Qin saw Delia's head pass through the transparent screen as she kept questioning him.

He was a little speechless. What kind of wife found rivals for herself?

Besides, how would he know whom to marry? He knew nothing about Elia and Lyanna, or the current Cersei!

Wasn't Elia Martell engaged? Delia had to be teasing him!

And he was only a baron. Grain was important, but not that important. How could those paramount nobles bear to marry their trueborn daughters to him, let alone as secondary wives?

The Qilin Faith allowed secondary wives! It practiced succession by the eldest child! Unless the eldest child voluntarily relinquished the right to inherit!

And upon a little reflection, they were all key figures. Just a few pills last time had put the system out of commission for three months.

Su Qin did not want to get involved with any of these people right now. Who knew whether marrying one would make the system crash outright!

So he answered, "I can't marry any of them."

Delia immediately seized on the key point and narrowed her eyes. "Su Qin, you're playing me!"

"You just said you didn't want any of them! How has that become can't?"

Delia immediately brought her face right up before Su Qin's eyes! She wore a faint smile! She was tempting him!

Su Qin was speechless.

"Then I don't want any of them. I don't want them, all right?"

In any case, Su Qin truly felt that Delia was enough for him right now!

Delia said again, "You just said you couldn't! Now you're saying you don't want to. Su Qin, you're a big liar... a scumbag!"

Su Qin was speechless. Women just needed to be taught a lesson!

He immediately rolled over with Delia in his arms.

He gave her a thorough lesson until the middle of the night!