The Grand Council Hall of the Red Fort.
The five members of the Imperial Council were staring at each other.
Not long after they woke up, news came that Sansa was missing.
"Lord Sterling, can you tell me how a weak woman escaped from the Red Keep?"
Queen Cersei's tone was as annoyed as her expression.
The northern army is pressing down on the city, but the most important hostage in the city has escaped. This really makes people unhappy.
Sterling, who was the latest to join the Royal Council, was naturally the most uneasy, "According to my people, not even a mouse escaped from the door of the Red Keep last night, so Miss Sansa must have come through some secret passage that we don't know about. Escaped."
He had carefully checked the records of entering and exiting the Red Keep last night, and confirmed that Miss Stark could not have gone out through the main entrance of the Red Keep under any circumstances.
Archmaester Pycelle, who pretended to be old, added: "According to the maid who monitored Sansa, she rushed to Sansa's room as soon as she realized something was wrong, but there were more than ten strong men from the north in the room at that time. , one of them knocked her unconscious with one punch, and she didn't know what happened next."
Pycelle spoke slowly and tended to excuse the old maid, which naturally made Cersei furious on the spot.
"Does she think I'm a fool? With more than ten strong men, do the Northerners use the Red Keep as a fish market outside the Mud Gate, coming and going freely?"
After the Red Keep discovered that Sansa was missing, they naturally immediately found the old maid tied under the bed, and then learned some "truths" from her.
In order to reduce her responsibility, the old maid chose to exaggerate the number of people.
In this way, the ones who should be held accountable the most should be the golden robes guarding the castle. After all, they were the ones who let people sneak in.
However, the old maid's confession could not convince the Queen Mother, so this imperial meeting was held.
Cersei insists that Miss Stark should have escaped after a sneak attack and kidnapping the maid, just like her sister.
Finance Minister Baelish suppressed a smile. He would rather believe that ten strong men appeared on the Queen Mother's bed than believe that such a group of northerners could sneak into the Red Keep to save Stark.
Pycelle was yelled at by the Queen Mother, and just as he was feeling embarrassed, he suddenly caught a glimpse of the unusually wonderful look on Littlefinger Baelish's face, and he got angry and said:
"It seems our chancellor has a different view."
Cersei, who had nowhere to vent her anger, naturally turned to look at Baelish, and the other three also made the same move.
Littlefinger was about to watch the Queen Mother angrily attack the new Duke Sterling - he himself was only an earl, but a pig butcher became a duke and got Harrenhal, which made him jealous - - Unexpectedly, he was noticed, so he coughed lightly and explained:
"Of course outsiders can't enter the Red Keep, so Miss Sansa can only escape on her own."
Cersei is like a goose flapping her wings at the moment, biting anyone she catches.
"What you mean is that Sansa, who has been in the Red Keep for several months, did not escape. As soon as the Northerners came, she had the courage to run out, and she did it when the main door was closed. Could it be that she is like a sparrow? Same, flew out?"
Ed was beheaded by his own son, and the two Miss Starks disappeared one after another, leaving King's Landing without a significant hostage. His father and his army were in the distant West River again, which made the situation in King's Landing suddenly dangerous.
No wonder the Queen Mother was so out of sorts.
Littlefinger glanced around the crowd and suddenly thought of Varys, the eight-clawed spider.
In terms of motivation and ability, only the intelligence chief could have sent Sansa out without anyone noticing.
Baelish was also very angry about Sansa's disappearance, so he sowed discord and said: "It's impossible to fly out, but you can really leave the Red Keep from certain places, such as the basement where an adult often goes." According to reports I know that there is a stone channel leading to the sewage, and the stone channel leads to the Blackwater River. "
Like all castles, the toilets in the Red Fort are built at high places to allow excrement to fall naturally, so many small holes were dug.
Among these sewage discharge holes, maybe one or two have been widened to the point where people can walk out.
According to Littlefinger's sources, Intelligence Chief Varys should have such a channel.
Although Littlefinger himself had such a way in and out of the Red Keep, he climbed down from the cliff and did not have to walk through the smelly sewers.
Although Baelish didn't say who it was, the look he cast on Varys clearly reminded everyone.
So Cersei turned around and asked, "Really, Lord Varys?"
The intelligence chief's fat face was a little confused with his hands folded, "Your Majesty, this is a slander. Lord Baelish is obviously closer to Sansa and her mother. Who wants or can send Sansa outside the city?" Among the rebels, he was the only one."
He was anxious to distance himself from the relationship and did not immediately deny the existence of this passage.
Cersei did not hear the implication and looked at the Chancellor of the Exchequer again.
"It sounds like you have more motive for committing the crime. Give me a convincing reason, otherwise I will throw you into the dungeon."
Now that we have reached a critical moment of life and death, the role of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is little.
The gray little fingers on his temples suddenly became anxious. After a few breaths, he came up with the most convincing reason for this confused Queen Mother.
"When His Majesty Joffrey I ascended the throne, my position was very clear. There is no shortage of smart people in the North, and they can naturally guess the role I played. What reason do I have to please them?"
Cersei thought about it, and it was true.
"Why is Sansa missing?" Joffrey's voice came from outside the door.
Then, the king who was not interested in women walked in angrily.
"Don't you know where she ran to?"
It has become a daily task for King Joffrey to abuse Miss Stark, so he was very angry about Sansa's disappearance.
"Little Joffrey, I have sent people to search every house in the city, and I believe she can be found."
The Queen Mother comforted her son in this way, and she was also comforting herself.
"The rebels outside the city have not been resolved, and you can still embarrass yourself in the city. You are really..."
Joffrey waved his right fist angrily, as if this was the only way to vent his anger.
Seeing her son angry, Cersei hurriedly comforted him, "Don't worry, I have a plan to defeat the enemy. Within a few days, the rebels will go to see the old gods."
Joffrey pointed at his mother, "It's better this way. If the rebels are not eliminated within five days, I will personally lead the troops out of the city and defeat the rebels like my father did in the Ruby Beach. Then I will decorate my throne room with the heads of those stupid northern nobles like Eddard."
The current king is keen on transforming the Red Castle. The patterns of the stag on the throne room and Maegor's Tower windows have been replaced with the seven-pointed star of weeping blood.
Cersei thought of the heads of Eddard and others who had been hung outside the Red Castle, and she suddenly felt a chill.
"Don't worry, the northern nobles will not leave intact bodies." She stood up and coaxed her son out of the meeting room to focus on repairing the Red Castle.
The king and the queen mother were about to leave, and Pycelle suddenly said, "Your Majesty, do the two masters Baelish and Varys know the secret passage out of the Red Castle?"
The Grand Maester's brain may not be as good as these two, but it is not much worse, so he naturally remembers this matter.
Joffrey turned back and glanced coldly, "Let these two masters bring people to block their secret passage, otherwise I will let them enjoy the taste of the dungeon."
Although he was talking to Pycelle and Sterling, the threat was accurately conveyed to the ears of the parties involved.
Then the king and the queen mother turned around and left.
Littlefinger and Varys looked at each other, and the latter shrugged, indicating that he was helpless.
Baelish did not want to anger the king at this juncture, so he could only let Sterling and the gold cloaks block the wooden door leading to the cliff.
As for Varys's black well leading to the sewer, it was naturally sealed.
No one knows whether there are other secret passages to enter and exit the Red Castle, but in name there are none.
…
Three days later at noon, on the banks of the Blackwater River.
Arthur was practicing throwing a hand axe, but a blue light screen suddenly appeared, and it turned out that he could upgrade.
[Baron: Arthur Bracken]
[Level: 8]
[Experience: 10031/20000]
[Strength: 20]
[Agility: 12]
[Intelligence: 7]
[Charm: 9]
[Skills: Iron Bones 5, Power Attack 8, Power Throw 3, Power Bow 1, Weapon Mastery 2, Shield Defense 1, Running 2, Riding 5, Horse Archery 0, Plunder 0, Coach 0, Tracking 0, Tactics 1, Guide 0, Scouting 0, Healing 0, Surgery 0, First Aid 0, Engineering 0, Persuasion 1, Prisoner Management 1, Domination 3, Trading 0]
[Weapon Proficiency: One-handed Weapons 74, Two-handed Weapons 125, Pole Weapons 117, Bows and Arrows 31, Crossbows 31, Throwing 51]
After adding points, Arthur put away the panel.
The attribute points brought by the upgrade continued to increase strength, two skill points were added to the strong throw, and ten weapon points were added to the throw.
The previous several battles and the throwing practice in the past few days have raised the proficiency of long-pole weapons to 117, and the proficiency of throwing to 41.
This time, he will strengthen the direction of throwing weapons.
Twenty points of strength is already the peak of human beings. With such strength, throwing heavy axes and other weapons can increase Arthur's killing radius to dozens of meters.
Of course, the accuracy of throwing is not as good as bows and crossbows, but the attack range is much larger.
Arthur has tried it. A normal hand axe thrown over can break a chicken or duck-sized creature in two on the spot.
Although he has not really tried it, I think the enemy's neck without a throat guard cannot withstand this axe.
In order to increase the lethality, Arthur specially asked the great bull Gendry to make ten weighted hand axes for him.
Although Daniu also learned the dyeing steelmaking method from his master Tob, he could not make the golden Guandao for the time being because of the lack of raw materials.
He gave the great sword New Moon to Master Tywin, and Tob's old Guandao could not last for a few battles, so he had to consider what kind of weapon to use.
Fortunately, the giant hammer was still there, so Arthur, who loved throwing, decided to temporarily turn himself into a heavy infantryman.
Use the giant hammer to deal with enemies within one meter, and use the weighted hand axe to deal with enemies within one meter and tens of meters.
It was time for lunch, and he returned to the camp with several Qohor mercenaries who served as personal soldiers, ready to have lunch.
"Hey, isn't this brother Arthur, how are you recently?" Before Bracken told "Ali" to prepare his lunch, Inis Frey suddenly came to meet him.
Beside him were Patrick, Hosteen, and Raymond from the Riverlands.
Since the people of the North generally look down on the Freys, Hosteen often goes to Raymond and Patrick's tent to drink and chat.
Aenys is the commander of the Frey soldiers. He often stays in his own camp and does not come out. He is really a rare guest.
"It's good. I go to the Lion Gate from time to time to guard the gate."
There are seven gates in King's Landing. The Lion Gate is the gate in the east and is closest to the dock.
According to the allocation of Lord Bolton, the Rivermen guard the four gates in the north and east. The coalition camp is west of the Iron Gate and the Gate of the Gods in the west, so the Freys chose the three nearest gates and left the farthest Lion Gate to Arthur's men and the soldiers of the Maiden Spring brought by Raymond.
"Let the soldiers guard the gate. It's time for a fierce general like you to recuperate. Wait until the day of the siege, then it's your time to show up."
Aenys said nonsense, but his hand directly grabbed Arthur's arm.
"We haven't seen each other for a few days. I brought a few barrels of good wine. It's time to keep in touch. Let's go into the tent."
Arthur was confused by this man's behavior. He was over 40 years old, older than the original owner's father, but he was still on good terms with Arthur.
In his impression, this man was usually very calm and looked like a commander.
Why did he look like a broker now?
Arthur looked at Patrick and Raymond behind him, wanting to know what happened.
The two of them held back their laughter and didn't tell Bracken.
The five of them walked into Arthur's tent and waited for the food to be served.
During this period, Inis and Hostin surrounded Arthur and talked about this and that, pouring wine and chatting about family matters, but not talking about business.
And Patrick and Raymond watched the performance of the three people and tried their best not to laugh.
Finally, Arthur couldn't stand it anymore and asked Hosteen, who was even less cunning, "What's going on? Are you guys okay?"
Hosteen was very honest and immediately told the brothers' purpose: "Arthur, do you want a wife?"
Inys struck while the iron was hot, "Yes, I'll find you a wife that suits your status. Our Frey family is a marquis family, and we are relatives of the Starks and Tullys. It's decent enough to marry us."
If Arthur remembered correctly, Robb's condition for crossing the river this time was to marry two and one: Edmure and Robb each married a Frey, and Arya married another Frey.
This is even more stringent than the conditions in the original book.
The Frey family and the two feudal families have not officially married yet, but the brothers have already mentioned their kinship.
This is really... shameless.
Arthur thought about it and decided to refuse explicitly.
"Now is a time of turmoil. I have no intention of getting married, so you two should not think about it."
Horsdin saw Arthur's refusal, and immediately frowned and became unhappy.
Innis was unyielding and discussed the marriage with Arthur during the entire lunch period.
"Dowry is easy to talk about, but what do you think of a body-weight of silver?" After dinner, Innis still wanted to talk about the marriage, and made it clear that he would not leave.
This made Arthur a little depressed, so he left by himself.
He took a hundred Qohor mercenaries to patrol the Lion Gate in the east to avoid the two Freys.
Before dinner, the servant Medan came to report that Innis was still guarding, so Arthur had dinner near the Lion Gate.
The little episode did not affect his mood, but the fire in the camp after nightfall made Arthur feel uneasy.
That was a shocking fire that illuminated half of the night sky.