Chapter 61 Dispute and Compromise

As quasi-prime minister, Lord Jon Arryn of the Vale has been very busy recently.

There are many things to consider before and after the coronation of a new king, involving noble classes of all sizes. The reconstruction of the Red Fort is also an issue that must be taken seriously.

Rebuilding is easy to say, but in reality there are many factors to consider.

Basic equipment such as masonry and building materials must be stocked as early as possible, to what extent it needs to be rebuilt, whether all buildings need to be demolished, and whether they need to be redesigned, etc...

Manpower needs to be rearranged at various levels to maintain the country's operations. There are currently only two Kingsguards left out of a full strength of seven, and the seats in the Royal Council where the Kingdom's government affairs are discussed and decided are not even filled yet.

Not long after the war ended, everything was in ruins.

Then Jon Arryn also needs to consider the mood of the would-be king.

The death of his fiancée dealt a huge blow to Robert. Although through constant persuasion, Robert no longer had the thought of never marrying for the rest of his life, and gradually no longer rejected marriage with the West, but he could not be called honest——

For example, he recently started to indulge in drinking and visiting brothels.

Originally, this was enough to upset old Jon, but for some reason, news of incest between the Lannister family and his brother came out in the city.

This kind of thing would only make him sigh with emotion at most, but it was different for Lannister. It took a lot of effort to persuade the would-be king to accept the marriage, but now that something like this happened, he really had the urge to blame the sky and scold his mother.

So facing the black-haired young man who came over excitedly after hearing the news, he replied with suppressed anger: "I will arrange for the nuns to check whether Duke Tywin's daughter still retains her virginity before getting engaged, but noble children have been learning to ride horses since they were young. Some areas may be affected, so this is not proof of her virginity."

Sunlight streamed in from the round window behind him, shrouding the lonely old man in the imperial conference hall. At this time, he was sitting on the Prime Minister's chair, holding a quill and preparing to sign a document. He didn't speak when he spoke. Stand up.

It stands to reason that he shouldn't be so negligent to a king, but who knows that the person in front of him is his adopted son? At the same time, the other party has not been truly crowned, so he does not have so much etiquette to consider.

Robert didn't care at all, but he was obviously dissatisfied with the meaning of the other person's words, so he pulled out the chair next to him and sat on it, while saying with disgust: "Then there is no need to check, do I have to marry that Cersei?" ? Heck, women from all over the Seven Kingdoms who want to marry the king can line up from the Great Wall to Flea Bottom in King's Landing."

The old man who listened to such willful words unconsciously clenched the quill in his hand, and all the irritations he had suppressed for a long time seemed to come to his head at once, so he replied in a mean tone: "I want to remind you, Robert, that we and The Lannister marriage was never about finding you a satisfactory wife, so even if this is true, you have to marry her!"

"So the majestic king can only marry a bitch wife who had incest with his brother and had an abortion? And then let everyone in the Seven Kingdoms laugh at me?" The black-haired young man laughed loudly after hearing this.

"What do you think I am? A coward who swallows his anger? Gods, please save me. If I end up winning the battle and become a coward, then I might as well just run away and give myself to the Mad King—"

"I treat you like a king!"

The old man interrupted the other party sternly: "A king who can bring good luck to this country and end the tyranny of the mad king!"

"I never wanted to be a king, don't you know? I just—"

"If you don't want to, you can turn around and leave now!"

The bald old man with a hooked nose raised his voice and said, "After that, I will go to Dragonstone to welcome back Queen Leila and Prince Viserys, and then according to tradition, I will support Prince Viserys as the new king!"

These words made Robert's face turn red instantly. He leaned over the table with both hands and glared at the other person. He gritted his teeth and said, "Don't even think about doing that! Jon, I said, I will kill all the Targaryens with my own hands." , listen to me, it’s all of them! I want them to die like dragons!”

The man in front of him was very angry, but the old man just looked at him quietly, showing no sign of surrender.

It wasn't until he saw that the anger on the other person's face had stiffened due to the long stalemate that he suddenly spoke and changed the subject.

"You and Ned are good brothers. In the cold winter in the north, you are in urgent need of the help of a stable kingdom, so you don't have to worry about the north. I am here in the valley, and my heirs will not resist your rule in the future. Ned and I have united the river In this world, you don’t need to worry about the Tully family for the time being.”

The old man's voice was full of reason.

"The Stormlands are your family property, and the lords love you. We killed the Dorne princess and her children. Dorne will not be honest, but at most we cannot control the southern border of the kingdom. Prince Doran of Dorne is cautious in nature. He would never dare to lead the Dornish rebellion without any chance of victory."

"The Riverlands are very powerful and did not suffer much loss in the war, but they have a blood feud with neighboring Dorne for thousands of years, and the two parties will not cooperate. At the same time, the heir to the Redwyne family on Arbor Island is in our hands. Earl Redwin’s fleet does not dare to act rashly, and the River Bend will also be restricted by the overall situation, unless there is help from the Western Region, which is close to the River Bend, the most important Western Region.”

"Lord Tywin has already made a show of goodwill. If we marry the Westerlands, only the Reach and Dorne are still unstable in the Seven Kingdoms. Maybe we can add the Iron Islands, but these three parties have blood feuds and will never form an alliance. But if you don't marry, the Reach, the Westerlands, plus Dorne and the Iron Islands who are watching us closely, that's half the kingdom."

"Half the kingdom's territory, hundreds of lord families, without the rule of their feudal lords, why do you think they obey your rule? With your Targaryen blood?"

"How long can our status as the winner last?"

...

The old man's uninterrupted words made the anger on the face of the black-haired young man less and less, and finally completely dissipated, but he seemed to have been drained of all his energy and spirit, his face turned pale, and his body collapsed back in the chair.

Seeing this, Old Jon sighed, and the seriousness on his face also collapsed.

"I will arrange for the nuns to check before the wedding." He repeated what he had said before in a tired tone.

"No matter what the result is, the High Septon will announce that Lord Tywin's daughter Cersei is still a virgin. Yes, he will say so. In this way, no one will criticize this matter anymore. Then I will launch a search for the remnants of the Targaryen family in King's Landing, so that everyone will know the truth of the matter."

"What is this, Jon?" Robert, leaning on the chair, said bitterly: "Dragon Knight Aemon and his sister Naerys? Having an affair under the nose of Aegon IV? So I am the incompetent king? The future heir to the throne may not be his own. Old man, is this what you mean?"

This made the old man feel helpless.

"Robert, you have to calm down. A good king must distinguish between rumors and truth. Aegon IV became suspicious, and what was the result? The kingdom was divided, the Blackfyre Rebellion broke out, and five generations of Targaryens had to clean up his ass. This is a bloody lesson. Don't be misled by such words again."

Nothing was said. The other party seemed to have completely lost interest in speaking at this time. Seeing this, Lord Jon couldn't help but say again: "I will find the truth of the matter, Robert, I promise."

"Forget it, Jon, you are right, it doesn't matter whether it is true or not." The black-haired young man waved his hand, looking bored, "I trust you to do this, whatever you say is what it is."

The old man was hesitant to speak, but after thinking about it, he sighed and didn't speak again.

In fact, he already had some clues. Varys, the intelligence chief who encountered a crisis of trust, worked very hard during this period. Any news would be reported to him, the quasi-prime minister, as soon as possible.

The clue was an outsider named Benn, who was highly suspected of being the source of the rumor, and they have begun to arrest him.

Thanks to the book friends "Xiqizizai", "Jifenguai", "Xuehai Wuya 122", "Xuanhu 258" and "Maitai_Mango" for the 100 rewards~