Chapter 260 Changes in the Situation

War is coming. This may not be clear in other parts of the Seven Kingdoms, but in King's Landing, even a random beggar on the roadside is very sure of it.

From the port, they could see the impounded foreign merchant ships parked tightly. From the streets, they could see the members of the Capital Guard ready to go, with serious faces. From various bureaucratic channels, they could also find out the slightest clues. Related Information.

People discussed this a lot, including indifference, fear, disgust, expectation...all kinds of emotions represented the attitudes of various classes. However, before the war actually came, several events happened one after another that attracted the attention of the people of Junlin.

The first is the Crab Claw Peninsula on the edge of the royal territory. It has been five months since the betrayal of the Iron Throne was exposed there. The astonishing reward previously caused a lot of discussion in King's Landing. But at this moment, The bounty, or the plan to conquer the Crab Claw Peninsula has come to fruition——

There used to be six or seven lord families in the peninsula, but now only three families are dead. After consultation, these three families formally submitted a letter expressing their surrender.

So far, the Iron Throne has paid a total of 7,615 gold dragons.

It seems like a lot, but it's a steal for waging a war that puts no burden on the Iron Throne other than a few necessary soldiers and "staff" around the peninsula.

Obviously, this is a complete victory, and although the result of the victory may bring hatred to the Iron Throne among the locals of the peninsula, no one cares about it, because the Crab Claw Peninsula did not stand with Baratheon at all before. Those on one side were originally in the ranks of the enemy.

At the same time, I don’t know who revealed that this plan was proposed by the Minister of Justice. For a while, Renly’s name was mentioned again and again, with admiration, fear, fear, and disgust, no matter how he looked at him. Yes, but overall his reputation among ordinary civilians is still very good.

This is due to the increasingly good public security in King's Landing.

In addition to the incident on the Crab Claw Peninsula, there was another monster attack on the caravan in the Hejian Land. A caravan of hundreds of people heading to the north for business disappeared in a forest not far from the Twins City in the Hejian Land. Anyone ever see them again.

This matter made the rumors related to the Riverlands that had cooled down become heated again. Through the mouths of many merchants, the people of King's Landing learned about various special circumstances.

There are humans who can transform into wolf forms, there are short witches in green cloaks, there are iron pots boiling with human hearts in the forest, etc.

Because it is far away and no one from King's Landing has seen it with their own eyes, these things are still treated as rumors or anecdotes. Most people talk about it with a curious attitude, but no one is afraid except children.

Things in the Riverlands seem to be separated by a layer of veil, and they are still unsure of anything, but the people can clearly understand the recent affairs about the Archbishop——

The Archbishop, affectionately known as Fatty, was suddenly hijacked by a group of masked gangsters while traveling in a sedan chair. He was then stripped naked and thrown into the Fishermen's Square of King's Landing in public.

Fishermen's Square is where Junlin fishmongers sell fish, and many Junlin people buy fish there. In other words, Fishermen's Square has a lot of daily traffic.

So when the naked Archbishop fell from the sky, it immediately caused a sensation. It didn't take long for the news to spread throughout King's Landing that day.

The words about the Archbishop being so frightened that he peed like urine, or the Archbishop screaming like a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered... These words are considered to be truthful, but unreliable rumors are even more noticeable.

For example, the Archbishop secretly visited a brothel and was retaliated for not paying, or had an affair with a noble lady in the city and was discovered by the male master, or had an affair with the male master and was discovered by the noble lady...

The church lost face as a result, and the fat archbishop also lost face. He resigned as archbishop in shame (in fact, he still wanted to stay on, but was forced to abdicate by the archbishops). Then the seven archbishops of the church began There was an open and covert fight for the position of Archbishop.

As a result, for some unknown reason, ugly secrets and scandals of various archbishops were reported in the city, which made the true devout people furious. As a result, shouting and cursing could be heard in St. Belle's Cathedral for a week.

Finally, under the dazzling attention of people, a monk named Gore who was born in Flea Bottom was promoted to the position of Archbishop. This surprised many people because this man was not well-known. But it was only ordinary people who were surprised. In fact, the upper-class nobles all knew that the monk named Goyle was able to ascend to the throne because the respected King Robert personally appointed him——

Since losing its own armed forces, although the influence of the church has not diminished, it has become increasingly restricted by the Iron Throne. In history, there was a king appointing an archbishop, so it is natural that King Robert can do the same today.

After the new archbishop took office, the news about the church stopped for a while. People who devoutly believed in the gods were looking forward to the new archbishop doing some good things, and many people were waiting to see the excitement.

Under such circumstances, no one would naturally pay attention to the news about the disappearance of the captain of a foreign merchant ship in the port. However, this matter is enough to change the situation of the upcoming war in the future.

…

"This is a mammoth bone from the north of Westeros, the land of eternal winter beyond the Great Wall."

After a period of smuggling and sailing, a missing captain finally arrived at Qohor, one of the nine free trade cities, a month later. He was in a pale palace that seemed to be supported by bones, reporting the situation to several officials in luxurious black clothes on the stairs.

An old man in black on the stairs was looking down at the bone fragment in his hand, and he didn't feel anything unusual, but the middle-aged man with thin cheeks next to him suddenly shrank his pupils after seeing the bone fragment, and then looked at the captain below.

"Where did you get this thing?"

"From a northern merchant."

The captain replied respectfully: "And he traded it from the wildlings."

The North, the wildlings, these were some unfamiliar words to the former Qohor high-level officials, but since they started looking for the door, they have been familiar with all aspects of Westeros.

For example, the North is one of the seven ancient kingdoms of Westeros, and the wildlings are the collective name for humans who are blocked outside a frozen wall at the end of the northern border.

Not only that, they even know more.

"Wild people believe in the old gods."

After the thin middle-aged man who asked the question carefully understood the process, he couldn't help but say to his colleagues: "Old Gods, the Old Gate, this seems to be very related."

"We have investigated this before."

The old man who didn't find anything abnormal in the bones retorted: "The old gods are the names given by the Westeros people to distinguish the seven gods of the Andals. The seven gods are new gods, so they are also called new gods. The gods in the past are the old gods. The old gods originally had no names, and they were not really called old gods."

"But this fragment was found in the place where the old gods believed."

Before the thin middle-aged man spoke, a fat old man on the other side said: "The name of the old gods came from the legend. Maybe you are right, but who can be sure?"

"I think we can send people to "Let's investigate there carefully." Another person said, "The Land of Eternal Winter outside the Wall is not under the jurisdiction of the Iron Throne, and no one there can kill our people anymore."

"How could there be no one? The wildlings are more unreasonable than the Iron Throne."

"The wildlings are poorly equipped, so we can send soldiers to follow them." The thin middle-aged man said, "They will naturally cooperate well, and they will have to cooperate even if they don't want to."

"That's right."

"I agree to investigate."

"After more than ten years, we finally have such a clue. How can we not investigate it carefully?"

...

The black-clad colleagues on the left and right expressed their opinions. Although the old man in the center didn't feel that the bone fragments were special, he didn't dare to say that he didn't find anything. After thinking about it, he also nodded in agreement, but expressed a different opinion.

"Finding the door is not our business alone. We should notify others."

This statement attracted the approval of others, so the old man looked at a bald middle-aged man dressed as a guard at the bottom of the stairs: "Savic, go and call Neken, and tell him that we found clues to the door."

Neken is the name of a red-robed monk. Although most people in Qohor believe in the Black Goat God, there are also a small number of people who believe in the Lord of Light, and Neken is the leader of the priests of the Lord of Light here.

However, after the words fell, the guard did not move, but said: "Sir, I was just about to report to you that Neken is dead."

"Dead?"

This statement caused a group of black-robed people to look at each other, and one of them frowned and asked: "How did he die?"

"Died of illness, sir."

"Who is in charge now?" The thin middle-aged asked.

"A red-robed woman named Melisandre, sir." The guard replied.

According to the last calculation, I still owe 11 chapters after posting this, but the monthly ticket has increased by one chapter during this period, so I still owe 12 chapters~