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Chapter 169: Stop the Millennium King Selection Meeting
Westeros, the Iron Islands.
The Iron Islands are a region of the Seven Kingdoms, located in the Ironborn Firth in the western sea of Westeros. Before the Conquest, it was an independent sovereign country, ruled successively by the King of the Iron Islands and the King of the Rivers and the Hills.
The Iron Islands are home to a brutal seafaring people who call themselves the Ironborn, and some say they are named for the rich iron ore deposits on the islands.
But the Ironborn say the islands were named for the tough and unyielding nature of their people, who often say that the captain of every ship is a king, so the Iron Islands are also known as the "Land of Kings."
During the War of the Ninepenny Kings, the Iron Islands sided with the Iron Throne, and Lord Chronicles Greyjoy was a peace-loving man who outlawed slavery and worked to integrate the Iron Islands with the other Seven Kingdoms.
But his son, Balon Greyjoy, overturned his father's policies and dreamed of returning to the old ways and paying for iron again. After building a huge iron fleet, Balon openly challenged the Iron Throne in 289 Aegon Era and sought independence.
But it was subsequently suppressed by Robert Baratheon I. Balon's only surviving son, Theon Greyjoy, was sent to Winterfell as a hostage of Eddard Stark.
Due to the scarcity of green land on the Iron Islands, the Ironmen could only get some cheap iron ore after working hard all day, and the lack of blacksmiths on the island caused the price of iron ore to fall further.
They live in the harsh natural environment of the archipelago and look down on the weak way of life in the green land, but in fact the Ironmen will try to occupy inland territories if they have the opportunity. During the heyday of the Ironmen, they once included the Riverlands under their rule.
Before the coming of the Andals, the Iron Islands chose their king through a kingmoot.
The Kingsmoot is a traditional ceremony held by the people of the Iron Islands. At the kingsmoot, the captains of the Iron Islands longships vote to choose the new Iron King. The kingsmoot is traditionally held at Nagga's Rib on the island of Old Wyk.
The founder of the Kingsmoot was a great priest of the Drowned God, Galen the Whitestaff. He established a series of laws for the Iron Islands, including that ironmen should not go to war with other ironmen, and he brought the Iron Islands from scattered sands into a whole.
He summoned all the captains and the Rock Kings and Salt Kings from all over the world, calling on everyone to elect a supreme king to rule the entire Iron Islands.
But human greed is uncontrollable. After hundreds of elected kings, the primogeniture system lasted for nearly a thousand years.
Until the coming of the Andals, the Halls became the ruling family of the Iron Islands, at which time the Greyjoys were a prominent noble family in the Iron Islands.
However, in the subsequent Aegon's Conquest, the House of Hall was destroyed. Aegon allowed the Ironmen to elect their own rulers of the Iron Islands, and the Greyjoy family officially came onto the stage of history.
Lord Viken was cautious and pragmatic, not wanting to offend the dragon-owning Targaryens.
After King Vicken's death, his politically adept successor, King Goren Greyjoy, quelled several conspiracies or rebellions that attempted to overthrow the Greyjoy family, and completely expelled the Faith of the Seven Gods from the isles, consolidating the family's ruling position.
Since then, the kingsmoot in the Iron Islands has completely disappeared from the historical occasions.
Things should have continued to develop this way, but accidents always come suddenly. Euron Greyjoy, who was expelled by Balon Greyjoy many years ago, came back and demanded a kingsmoot.
Balon ordered Euron to be expelled, and as long as he was alive, Euron would not be allowed to return to the Iron Islands.
As a result, one day after Balon fell and died, Euron immediately returned to the Iron Islands.
This inevitably made everyone on the Iron Islands suspect that it was Euron who hired someone to assassinate Balon Greyjoy.
But no one accused Euron because there was no evidence, and Euron's fleet was no pushover.
A total of 5,000 skilled pirate sailors are more powerful than the current Iron Fleet, so no noble family dares to take the initiative to touch Euron's tiger.
So no noble mentioned this matter, and Theon Greyjoy's life and death are now unknown. Although Asha Greyjoy is quite prestigious, she is also a woman.
Of course, the most important thing is that Aeron Greyjoy convened the Kingsmoot to avoid war among the Ironborn.
Not only Euron Greyjoy has the opportunity to compete for the King of the Iron Islands, but the other nobles also have this opportunity.
So most people ignored Asha Greyjoy in silence.
So the king selection meeting, which had not been held for a thousand years, was held again at "Naga's Rib" on the island of Old Wyk.
Naga Hill, also known as the Naga's Rib, is located on the island of Old Wyk in the Iron Islands.
Here lies the Grey King's Hall, where the Ironborn have held their kingsmoot since ancient times.
The entire area is covered with wild grass. Standing on the mountain, you can overlook Naga's Cradle Bay.
Naga's forty-four ribs emerged from the ground, like a huge white tree trunk, as thick as the mast of a large sailing ship and twice as high as the mast.
When the Kingsmoot begins, any captain can put forward his name and become a candidate - as the saying goes, "Every captain is the king of his own ship"
Then appoint three assistants, and you can also give an impassioned speech and present gifts to show your generosity to gain the support of the ironborn.
Once a majority of people shout out a candidate's name at the same time and are willing to support him as king, the king election will come to an end.
Asha Greyjoy awaits Euron Greyjoy on the hill with three designated assistants.
Euron Greyjoy's delay has caused dissatisfaction among many people, and this obvious act of intimidation can only make people feel disgusted.
Asha was a little nervous at this time. She had heard many ridiculous rumors about her uncle Euron.
Euron is crazy, cunning, unpredictable, and often takes pleasure in destroying other people's souls.
It is said that Asha's uncle, Aeron Greyjoy, was raped by Euron Greyjoy when he was young.
Eventually, after Euron seduced his third brother Victarion's concubine, he was exiled by Balon.
Just as everyone was waiting, Euron arrived slowly, followed by his assistant carrying a box.
After everyone arrived, Aeron Greyjoy, as the priest, officially announced the convening of the Kingsmoot.
Under the chairmanship of Aeron, all the captains were looking forward to the gifts brought by the six candidates.
After all, this is an election to attract people. Passionate speeches will certainly make people excited, but everyone will prepare their speeches in advance, and everyone's speeches will be inspiring.
At this time, gifts become particularly important. The more and more expensive your gifts are, the more people can win their hearts. If you can't even give good gifts, who will believe that you can lead everyone to wealth and glory?
The Kingsmoot system has continued since then, and has produced famous Iron Kings such as Ullas Greyiron, Silas the Flatnose, Haraj Hall, and "Old Kraken". It is said that as many as 111 kings have worn the Driftwood Crown as a result of the Kingsmoot.
When an applicant walks up the hill, the kingship is decided by a kingsmoot, which has only been declared illegal once. It was during the time of Thorgon, the Iron King's son who arrived late. After the Iron King died, his brother held a kingsmoot while Thorgon was away raiding, hoping to choose him in the absence of the King's son. But the kingsmoot chose Errathon Gubler. The first thing the new king did was to kill all the relatives of the old king who were present.
Two years later, Torgon returned to the Iron Islands and claimed that the election was illegal because the son of the old king failed to become a candidate according to his rights. In addition, Urgen's bloodthirsty and brutal character made too many enemies, which led to the condemnation of the priests and the iron race. Torgon was eventually supported as the new Iron King.
However, this was not the only time in his life that Torgon threatened the kingsmoot. In his later years, he kept his son Urgen by his side, making him his de facto heir and successor. When he died, Urgen naturally took over the throne as Urgen IV Greyiron. No one dared to stand up to protect the kingsmoot like Garon the Whitestaff did.
(End of this chapter)