"Why are you talking about this all of a sudden?" Arthur took Sansa's hand and took over the host.
He knew Sansa was very scheming, but he didn't expect that she would ask him to make a promise at this time.
But if you think about it carefully, it makes sense. The only man left in the Stark family is Jon Snow, who is still in the Night's Watch. Winterfell has been burned, and the Northern Army heading north is still blocked in Moat Cailin.
She can rely on the Tully family in Riverrun. Her uncle is about to die, and her uncle Blackfish is old and will not live for many years. Her aunt's Frey family is not a good family. When all the men in the Tully family die, it is hard to say who will take over Riverrun.
Sansa pulled her hand back from Arthur, then turned her back to him, her voice trembling slightly as she said:
"If you marry me, Harrenhal will be your legitimate home castle, and then Riverrun, which is run by my uncle, will also support you, and Lord Tytus of Raventree will follow the Tully family, so that your River Kingdom can be unified. Let me become your queen, it will be in your best interest."
From Sansa's slightly nervous look, she must have thought about it repeatedly before she said this.
Arthur turned her shoulders and made her face him.
"Between you and me, it's vulgar to talk about interests. You will be my queen, the first queen to be married under the witness of the gods. If I become the emperor of Valyria in the future, you will be my queen. I swear to the gods of Valyria."
In order to reassure Sansa, Arthur made a less rigorous oath.
The gods of Valyria have no requirements for marriage. Brothers and sisters, uncles and nieces, uncles and nieces can all get married, and marrying more than one is not a big deal.
If Arthur restored the long list of titles of the Guardian of the Seven Realms and the Andals, and believed in the Seven Gods, he would not be able to marry multiple wives at the same time.
This is because during the Targaryen Dynasty, the church rebelled in various places because of Maegor I's multiple marriages. Later, the "oldest king" Jaehaerys I reached a reconciliation with the church, promising that the Dragon family would not marry multiple wives in the future, and the church also allowed them to marry close relatives.
Of course, the superficial factor of the rebellion was Maegor's multiple marriages, but in fact it was because the royal family damaged the interests of the Hightower family in Oldtown.
The situation at that time was that the Hightower family held the Citadel and could influence the election of the Archbishop. The Oldtown under its jurisdiction was the cultural center, religious center, largest city, and largest port of the continent.
The Dragon family was busy building King's Landing, which made Oldtown's status as the largest city unsecured. The strong woman Visenya and her son Maegor even plotted to take away the control of the church and the Citadel from the Hightower family. Maegor's first wife was from the Hightower family, and marrying multiple wives made the lord of Oldtown lose face.
After the conflict intensified, the Church of the Seven Gods began to organize an armed rebellion under the instructions of the Hightowers. The wealth accumulated in Oldtown for thousands of years was used to fund the armed forces of the local churches and the small nobles who followed the rebellion.
After Visenya and Maegor died one after another, the rebellion continued, but the "old man king" who came to power later was much more flexible. He won over the nobles from all over the country and dealt a heavy blow to the forces supporting the church. Although the Hightower family was extremely rich, it could not withstand the cost of decades of war, so the two sides reconciled.
The old man king took the opportunity to choose a "Afin" monk who supported him as the archbishop, completely holding the church power in his hands, and began to interfere in the affairs of the Citadel, such as the Iron Throne could change the granting of the bachelor's necklace.
The Hightowers had no choice but to endure it first. When Jaehaerys I died, they began to divide the dragon family and set off a blood dragon dance, causing most of the dragons to die in that period.
To sum up the Hightower in one sentence, this is the most sinister family in the Western Continent. Their towering tower hides the secret of the legendary race "Dragon Breeders" before the Dawn Age.
To be honest, if Arthur wants to include the entire continent in his kingdom, he has to marry a lot of people, so he has to bypass the constraints of the Seven Gods' doctrine and marry more wives.
In this regard, his idea is to change the king's title to the Emperor of Valyria after marrying the second wife, and claim that he believes in Valyria gods such as "Balerion" and "Vhagar".
In this way, the nobles who believe in the Seven Gods and the Old Gods should not have many objections.
Moreover, the current "fat" Archbishop was burned by Stannis and the Red Witch Melisandre. The followers of the King of Light should not allow the Great Sept of Baelor in King's Landing to elect another Archbishop, so the Church of the Seven Gods is still a pile of scattered sand.
(Because people believe that the Archbishop is the spokesperson of the gods in heaven, he is no longer a person, and he has no secular name. In order to distinguish them, they are often prefixed with fat man, stonemason, etc.)
"My real dragon, I am beginning to believe in love." Sansa's eyes were slightly red, and she couldn't help but lean on Arthur's left shoulder.
With this oath, her hanging heart was relieved.
The King of Riverland hugged Miss Stark tightly and whispered: "If we didn't have to resist the attack of the Westerlands and restore the rural order on the south bank, I would immediately prepare a wedding for you, in Riverrun or Harrenhal, you can choose."
This is the truth. Arthur has long wanted to be close to Sansa.
"Since you are busy managing the country, you don't have to worry about getting married." Sansa rubbed her forehead against her sweetheart's neck, "I will arrange our wedding."
The two people were in love, and began to say earthy love words that were so disgusting that they hugged each other and kissed each other from time to time.
Until a servant knocked on the door and announced that Sir Brynden invited the two to dinner.
The King of Riverland and Sansa, who had dressed up, walked out of the room and went to the hall for dinner.
It was already night, and a whole afternoon had passed since Arthur arrived at Riverrun.
He didn't know that he could actually say cheesy love words for three or four hours, such as "You are my blue moon", "From now on I can only call you you, because you are in my heart", "I am considerate of you when facing you", etc.
Of course, Sansa didn't understand the "you are you in my heart", but she was still very moved.
Other nobles who had dinner together included Blackfish, Roslin Tully and her half-brother Benfrey Frey, Brynden Blackwood, the eldest son of the Earl of Raventree, Hendry Bracken, Jayne Bracken sisters, and Lyman Darry and Clement Piper brought by Arthur.
Edmure's body couldn't get up, so dinner was solved in the bedroom.
Everyone could see that Sansa's face was always red, and her eyes were always staring at Arthur, which made Blackfish look at Arthur like a father-in-law looking at his son-in-law, and the more he looked, the angrier he got.
In the whole hall, except Sansa, many people had some problems with Arthur, so he buried his head in eating, preparing to find a chance to discuss with Blackfish tomorrow about the Tully family's defense of the Pink City territory.
But he didn't expect that after dinner, Blackfish would find him first.
"Sansa asked me to help you. Tell me, what do you want to do in Riverrun?"
After the servants cleaned up the hall, Blackfish and Desmond Grell and other Riverrun sworn knights negotiated with the River King and his nobles.
"I want to ask the Tully family to help send Earl Bo to guard his territory. Pink City has been burned to ruins, and Clermont has no troops at all."
Hearing that Sansa had interceded, Arthur went straight to the point.
With the Golden Tooth in the hands of the Rivermen, as long as the narrow valley between the Red Fork River and the Westerly Mountains is blocked, the Westerly Army can only run along the Golden Road to the upper reaches of the Blackwater River, and then go north to enter the Riverlands.
So Arthur brought Earl Piper to Riverrun, hoping that the Tullys could borrow some soldiers, and with the addition of some new soldiers from the Pink City territory, it should be no problem to defend the valley.
Blackfish's blue eyes showed a trace of doubt, "Do you know what the Lion family is doing?"
Arthur shook his head.
These days, he and Clement, Tristan and others were busy sending people to spread rumors about the "Dragon Holders" in the villages and towns of the Riverlands, and summoned some powerful small nobles to participate in the Great Council, but they didn't know much about the situation in other regions.
So Blackfish and several oath knights explained to him the basic situation of the Westerly and the continent.
In the West, in order to seize the opportunity, Tywin has sent merchant ships to send 4,000 Bolton troops along the coastal road to the Fever River in the North. After landing there, they can reach the Bay of Cailin by marching eastward for a short distance.
"Tommen has officially appointed Roose Bolton as the Warden of the North. It is said that Lady Dustin has sent 3,500 people to join Bolton's rebellion." Desmond said.
"After seizing the city of Horwood, the White Harbor cavalry has also gone south. Lord Manderly has sent a lot of infantry to take over the Bay of Cailin from the Ironborn. In this case, the Northmen will have a decisive battle nearby. The strength of both sides is about 7,000, and it is difficult to judge the outcome."
Blackfish pointed to the map and expressed his opinion.
But the civil war of the Northmen cannot affect the situation on the mainland.
After the decisive battle outside Casterly Rock, the main force of the Lion Family rested for a while until Duskendale was in danger, so Tywin sent Kevan, who returned north, to lead the main force of the Lion Family, 10,000 people, to King's Landing along the Golden Road.
Desmond said: "Since Jaime was taken back, Tywin has confined him to Casterly Rock. I heard that the old lion is dying, and Tommen has ordered the removal of Ser Jaime's status as a Kingsguard. It seems that the old lion wants his eldest son to inherit the Guard of the West."
During the decisive battle, Tywin sent people to take back his son first, and then sent cavalry to attack the Northern Army from behind.
As for the status of the Kingsguard, although the oath of the white robes is also until death, after Joffrey the Great fired "the Fearless" Barristan and successfully reformed the ancestral system, Tywin also followed suit and asked Tommen to exempt "uncle" Jaime from the status of a white robe.
In King's Landing, after Stannis burned a high bishop, in order to appease the vast number of believers of the Seven Gods, the archbishops were only imprisoned, the Great Sept of Baelor was also closed, and the dispute between the two religions of the Lord of Light and the Seven Gods was strongly suppressed by him.
In fact, Erlu is not a fanatical religious believer, but his wife is.
Stannis' attitude towards the Lord of Light has always been to use him if he can be used, and stay away from him if he can't be used.
Hearing this, Arthur asked, "Did Erlu curse anyone after burning the fat archbishop?"
The archbishop's identity is similar to that of a wizard, and he may also have magic power. He can still curse people after burning, but the effect is not as obvious as the blood of the king and the blood of the dragon.
"Of course it is Tommen, the false king that Stannis thinks of." Desmond said.
Arthur nodded, indicating that he knew.
The next step is to verify whether the archbishop has magic power. If Tommen dies suddenly in the future, then the seven gods are the real gods. If not, then the seven gods may be false gods made up by the bishops, or they have fallen.
After stabilizing the dispute between the two religions, Stannis began to attack Duskendale in the north.
"I heard that the River Reach Army has also gone north, and their advance cavalry has entered the Royal Forest. It will take only five or six days to reach King's Landing." A strange knight said.
"In this way, the Riverlands can be quiet for a while, and I can also deal with the Riverlands." Arthur sighed from the bottom of his heart.
Several earldoms in the east of the river have been ravaged by the Western Border Army. Many of the wealthy knights who followed their superiors died in battle, and dozens of castles of small nobles were looted by Amory Lorch, which caused the rural order in the east of the river to begin to collapse.
You know, the basic order at the village level is maintained by the village chief, wealthy knights, and baronial nobles. The higher viscounts have circuit courts (actually they collect taxes) and do not personally deal with the trivial matters of civilians.
Without people who directly maintain order, coupled with the long winter coming soon and the shortage of food, some rural areas have already become a jungle state of the survival of the fittest.
"The Riverlands will not be quiet either. Perhaps in order to contain you, the Western Border has sent another army, which has passed through Deep Cave Castle. It seems that they will repeat what they did in the West Riverlands in the South Riverlands." Blackfish ruthlessly shattered Arthur's fantasy.
Lord Clermont was shocked, "How many people are there? Where are they going to enter the riverlands?"
This is what Arthur wanted to ask, and a knight answered this question for them.
After the decisive battle with the North, Tywin sent people to recruit soldiers in the more populous places such as Crake Hall, Corn City, and Red Lake, and got another 3,500 soldiers. Together with the 3,000 new troops in Lannister Port and the 500 people of Janos Bracken, a total of 7,000 troops were ready to attack the riverlands from Stone Hall Town upstream of the Blackwater River.
Desmond said: "You are familiar with their commander, it is Janos who was recently appointed as the guardian of the river. Tywin also knew that Stafford was a waste, so he only let his cousin supervise the army and coordinate Janos and the officers of the West."
Troubles are really one after another.
"I can bring the peasant army of Harrenhal here, plus the Frey army in Willowwood, and the soldiers of various small nobles, we can gather 6,000 to 7,000 people. It looks like we will have a fierce battle."
The number of new troops trained by Dicken, Archer Anguy, Dornish Spearman Dutch and others has reached more than 3,200. Although the soldiers who joined later have not received much training and their combat effectiveness is a bit low, the enemy army has the same problem, so they can fight.
There are 3,000 Frey soldiers active in the east of the river and the area around the lake. If the war breaks out later, the Twins can send more soldiers.
This part of the enemy is still easy to deal with.
"We can also send... 500 people from Riverrun, led by me personally, to participate in this battle." Blackfish said.
After the decisive battle of Casterly Rock, there were only 2,000 people left in the Fish and Wolf Alliance, about 1,000 people from the North, and the rest were river soldiers.
At that time in the Golden Tooth, Arthur ordered 500 people who did not belong to the Tullys or the Blackwoods to stay to defend the city, and more than 500 people from these two families returned to Riverrun.
Since the Blackfish took over here, a new round of conscription has begun in the entire territory to cope with the next struggle. With the addition of 200 Stark infantry, the strength of Riverrun is much more than 500 people.
But the Tullys did not recognize Arthur, the self-proclaimed king, and being able to send people to participate in the war was already a great honor for Sansa Stark.
Arthur could not force anything.
"I sincerely thank Ser Brynden. The people of the river will never forget your contribution."
"I heard that the area around Stonetown has been very busy recently. Some teams of the Brotherhood Without Banners could not contact their Lord Beric, so they went there. A dog and a little boy appeared in Stonetown, and the female knight also went to join in the fun. The ghost of the noble heart also came out to move around." Desmond said a lot, and finally made his request, "How about I take the people there, and Ser Brynden stays to defend the city."
Blackfish looked at his coach with his blue eyes, "Okay, I have to take care of my nephew and keep an eye on Sansa to prevent someone from kidnapping Miss Stark."