Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 117 Reply and Trial

"A warning to Lord Stannis:
You claim that Robert inherited the Iron Throne from my father, but as far as I know, Robert inherited the throne because your grandmother was Rhaeley Targaryen, the daughter of my great-grandfather Aegon V. King Aerys was killed, Rhaegar died, and my sister Daenerys and I were fortunately rescued by Ser Willem Darry and fled overseas, otherwise we would have been killed like Elia, Rhaenys, and Aegon.

When I was young, I was ignorant and heard people say that my father Aerys had committed many atrocities, which chilled the whole country. I felt that as his son, I was ashamed of the world, so I never returned to Westeros with the face. But as I grew older, I believed that I could gradually distinguish right from wrong, and know honor and disgrace, justice, and the bottom line of the law. During my overseas travels, I often heard that the new king of the Seven Kingdoms had many behaviors that harmed the country and the people, but was loved by the princes and people who did not know the truth in the name of hypocrisy. I really couldn't understand this situation, so I returned to my ancestral land Dragonstone to find out.

I have heard that a wise monarch makes the country prosperous, the princes harmonious, and the people rich; a mediocre king keeps the country from chaos, the princes stable, and the people not treated harshly; a foolish king causes the country to suffer, the princes to rebel, and the people to live in misery.

King Robert minted half-gold dragon coins to plunder the world, hurting the princes and people to enrich himself, which was shocking and shocked allies. Imagine that the princes, people and even foreigners in the country all accepted half-gold dragon coins and sold full goods. Starting from the king, he deceived the world and broke his promise. Is this the character of a king?
And it was not enough for King Robert to plunder so much money in this way. I cleaned up the taxes on Dragonstone and found that his taxes were more severe than those during the reign of Aerys. The princes and people have experienced nearly ten long summers, and all the materials and money they have are not as much as the short summers of the past. Whose fault is this?

What did King Robert do with the money he got from coining, plundering and severe taxation? He collected so much money from the princes and the people. Did the country prosper because of him, did the princes benefit from him, and did the people become rich because of him?
King Robert was indulgent and self-indulgent, indulging in pleasure, destroying laws and order, and disrupting the government. He regarded those who slaughtered innocent women and children for him as loyal, and he promoted the titles of those who broke their oaths and killed the king. During his reign, he ignored the affairs of state and did not do anything commendable for the princes and the people. If it were not for the chance of the long summer in the past ten years, I dare not imagine how miserable the princes and people of the world would be today.

Now that King Robert is dead, the world is in chaos. You said there are many rioters. Who caused the current situation? Who allowed those evil people who slaughtered innocent women and children to be in high positions? Who allowed those who plundered the princes and the people with him to be in the government?
I heard that lions and wolves on the roadside are scary because they might get eaten, and that woodworms in the fields are generally not noticeable to people but can lead to poor harvests and make more people unable to survive.

The cruelty of lions and wolves is well known, but few people have ever been killed by them. The greed of moths is hidden and unknown, and the whole Seven Kingdoms are harmed by them. In your eyes, which is more evil, the man-eating lions and wolves on the roadside, or the moths in the fields?
If King Robert had been a mediocre king, Westeros wouldn't be in the mess it is now.

Your Excellency claims to be the successor to the throne of your elder brother Robert. I can put aside the issue of your illegal dethronement, but I hope you can correct the mistakes and evil legacy of Robert's rule, just as I did when I ruled Dragonstone, enforcing strict laws, rectifying rules, calming taxes, urging autumn ploughing, and preparing for the cold winter. Do not ignore the evil policies implemented by King Robert, and still sit on the throne for your own selfish reasons, causing the princes and people in the country to suffer from war.

Have you ever checked how much land is left in your territory? Have you ever found out how many castles in your territory have lost their owners, leaving only innocent old people, weak women and children? Have you ever checked how many knights and soldiers have died and have no descendants? Have you ever checked how many people have lost their families in the war, are displaced, and can only wait for death in despair as winter comes?

If you insist on waging war and ignore the wishes of the princes and people in your territory, then how can you have the face to call yourself a king before I explicitly depose you from the throne?
The seal of Viserys Targaryen, the Dragon Lord of Dragonstone."

This letter was circulated in the drawing room.

Daenerys has seen it.

So the letter went directly to Count Gunther, who was terrified after reading it. Even though he was a devout believer in the Seven Gods and advocated chivalry, and now stood on Viserys' side, he still found the content of the letter unexpected. Many of the views on King Robert were unheard of by him, but when he thought about it carefully, he felt that there seemed to be some truth in it, but it also seemed to be a random accusation.

But he always felt that such words were too radical and might cause a backlash, because King Robert had a good reputation in the kingdom, and Viserys's views on the king were too high-minded, and many of the lords in the kingdom did not have such ideas and concepts: "Your Majesty, is this letter too radical? We only need to send a letter to the whole kingdom to show that you are the legitimate king. Stannis's letter is not a concern, and no lord in the kingdom will respond to it."

"Count Gunther, do you think that what I said in the letter will be difficult for many people to accept for the time being? Will it be counterproductive?"

Viserys has added a lot of descriptions about the princes, and he believes that he is not radical enough to directly deny the feudal system. He only blames the current situation of the Seven Kingdoms on the former king, which is already moderate enough. He deliberately left many points that can be refuted so that Stannis can have something to say, hoping that the two sides can debate with the help of ravens.

Moreover, compared to the taxes collected by Dragonstone's current legislation, none of the previous kings could say that their taxes were not strict, which of course brought risks - after all, local taxes were closely related to local lords.

But Viserys can use the law to endorse the taxation. Next, he will publicly display the tax laws compiled by the Ministry of Finance on the government affairs column of Dragonstone, and mobilize tax officials to publicize them to passing merchant ships.

It is very difficult to create a paradise where everyone is happy in reality, but it can be created through public opinion.

The letter was passed from Gunther to the Minister of the Admiralty, a six-year-old earl. He did not know enough words, so Maester Pylos read it to him in a low voice. The more the maester read, the more surprised he became, but the Minister of the Admiralty just listened for fun.

"Your Majesty, you have lofty ambitions, and I am willing to die to realize them. But forgive my humble opinion, many of the sharp issues in the country should be discussed after you have recovered the entire territory." Gunther tended to be conservative on such unprecedented issues. He had never seen a war of public opinion before, and he didn't know that Viserys wanted to take the opportunity to stir up public opinion disputes. He believed that there was a safer way.

But Viserys was thinking that verbal battles have always been the fastest way to attract attention, no matter in ancient or modern times, at home or abroad. He wanted to push his personal ideas of governing the country as quickly as possible, so that people of insight in the whole country would care about what King Targaryen was doing on Dragonstone, and let them know Viserys' political ideas and promises. Viserys had to have this kind of explosive talk that was not afraid of boomerangs.

Let’s not worry about whether he can do what he said when he really rules the whole country in the future. Anyway, he is now considered an “opposition party”, and when he is in the opposition, it doesn’t matter what he says. He can consider specific issues after he comes to power.

And more importantly, Viserys's goal is not to rule the Seven Kingdoms and become king. He wants to gather a group of feudal fighters to face the prophesied catastrophe, find a way to introduce the savior of his choice in the process, and mediate the fate trap that he is suspected of falling into.

There is no doubt that Stannis has this potential, and whether he chooses to surrender or resist, Viserys will force him to make a choice.

If he gives in, Viserys will use him as an example and push him to the front to take responsibility. If he still wants to resist, Viserys will defeat him fairly and then find a way to make him wear black. In any case, in Viserys's plan, Stannis must go to the northern battlefield where he is destined.

Moreover, Viserys wanted to dilute the part of R'hllor in him. The Red God priests could certainly use them, but they could never be allowed to do whatever they wanted. Viserys could not accept their wanton burning and killing of innocent people for so-called noble purposes. Although what he did could be said to be for his own selfishness to some extent, Viserys at least packaged himself uprightly.

"I have told Daenerys before that the way we rule Dragonstone now is how we will rule the Seven Kingdoms in the future," Viserys said. "The same is true for this letter. It contains my opinion of King Robert, my veiled criticism of the late King Aerys, my understanding of being a king, and my philosophy of ruling. Perhaps the way I rule will change in the future, but this is my original intention. Send it out, Maester Pylos. By the way, please polish this letter and make it a version that can be used for external publicity. I can only hope that I will not forget my original intention and will not feel ashamed when I look back at this letter in the future."

Daenerys looked at her brother solemnly and said solemnly: "I support the decision of His Majesty the King!"

Count Gunther did not object any more, but cried out in a deep voice: "Your Majesty!"

"I", the six-year-old Count of Tidehead, was at a loss.

Viserys smiled at him and said, "Monteri, you don't need to express your opinion. Just remember, when you do things in the future, never forget your original intention."

The Pylos Bachelor follows the philosophy of the classical Bachelor, only providing advice and executing the lord's commissions, and not expressing political attitudes.

So the reply was confirmed.

Daenerys acted as the agenda controller in this basically one-man meeting: "Next is another topic, about how to deal with the response to the faceless assassins and the suspected hired Lannisters."

Count Gunther said: "Your Majesty, I still hold the same view. We should make this public so that the princes of the world can see clearly their shameful behavior."

Daenerys said, "Lord Gunther, His Majesty just said 'strictly enforce the law and rectify the legal system.' How about we do this and sentence the assassin according to the law? Last night, it was found out that General Manager Max was murdered by him and his body was dumped in the abandoned warehouse of the office - this is murder, and he disguised himself and sneaked into the castle to commit crimes - this is treason. There are these two crimes in the laws of the Seven Kingdoms, both of which are capital crimes. We will hold a public trial for him when the people of Dragonstone go to church to pray on the weekend, publicly execute him on the execution ground, declare the crime, record this case in the book, and publicize it to rectify the national law?"

Count Gunther looked at the regent princess who seemed to be easy to talk to, and then looked at the king. He felt that it was not enough for him, the acting city lord who was still a little unfamiliar with the country's high-level political decision-making, to be in front of the king. In front of the king, he was shocked and agreed: "."

"Good idea." Seeing that Earl Gunther had no objection, Viserys decided, "Let's do it. When advertising, we must explain that the assassin's methods are mysterious and he can use tricks to transform into someone else's face. He may be very stubborn and won't reveal who hired him or where he came from, but the person who hired the assassin should not be too happy too soon. To use such a despicable method is not an act of honor and is despised by others. Killing innocent people is even more outrageous. We must restore justice to the innocent dead, act in accordance with the laws of the country, and condemn such shady behavior. Only those who are despised by the gods will do such things. All people with honor in the Seven Kingdoms should stand on the moral high ground and despise those who do such things. Let me ask the employer, when you fall asleep at night, can you feel that your heart is already full of dark worms?"

The faceless assassin Viserys went to see it yesterday. His face was like a magic spell. No matter whether it was hot water or salt water, it couldn't change. There was no trace of skin on his face. It seemed as if it was one piece. What's more outrageous is that the dead Max's face was not peeled off by him. They changed their faces in a more mysterious and weird way, and Viserys couldn't figure it out yet.

The assassin remained silent. Viserys knew he couldn't get anything out of him, so rather than leaving him in jail and leaving him with nothing to worry about, it would be better to just kill him and be done with it. He could also use the information for publicity and disgust the people who secretly hired the assassin.

Viserys was not sure whether killing this Faceless Man would lead to a new Faceless Man attacking, but as he said, it was basically impossible to guard against thieves for a thousand days, and he could only strengthen the castle's defenses.

Now there is a new rule. When entering the castle from outside, you have to wash your hands and face with "diluted medicine" first, and let the guards guarding the castle gate observe closely - this is a bit unreasonable, but for the sake of the castle's security, you can only put up with it for now.

The meeting will soon be over, and the spirit of the meeting will be announced by Count Gunther to the people waiting downstairs.

Viserys hopes that Stannis will cooperate with him in such a debate to show the people of Westeros how to fight a war on another battlefield.

A more interesting point in the real world is that in the late War of the Roses, the nobles and knights fought each other and left nine out of ten houses empty-handed, forcing the remaining nobles to raise death squads and non-productive troops to fight for them, just like in the Warring States Period in my country.

The War of the Five Kings was similar. In the original book, the nobles and knights of the Stormlands and the Reach died like rain. Many families, like the Darry family, were almost wiped out. Later, only two daughters who married out had some bloodline left. In order for Lancel to take over the Darry castle, Kevan let one of the Frey daughters, the gatekeeper Arry, who had Darry blood, marry Lancel Lannister.

However, Lancel had already converted to the Seven Gods and decided to abandon the castle and become a monk.

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(End of this chapter)