Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 248: No More “Controversy”?

Dragon's Nest City.

Longzel sat on the obsidian throne in the main hall, which was rare. The important officials and family members of the Vareses family gathered together. Even Serena, who was in Harrenhal taking care of her close friend who had just given birth, returned to the castle.

Igor, Daenerys and Sebastian also put on adult clothes and stood beside their respective parents, waiting for the return of their two family members.

The door slowly opened, and two dragon knights who had just finished taking a bath in the Dragon Cave Tower walked in with serious faces. Jakaris knelt on one knee first, followed by Dan, who knelt on one knee with his hand on his chest.

"Father, I have accomplished my mission. The war in the disputed lands has basically ended."

"Is it over?" Longzel looked at his two sons calmly. He was looking forward to what kind of answer his sons would give him. Lingol was already mature, Leigen was still young, and Jakaris and Dan were the backbone of his family in the next hundred years, so they must be trained well.

Of course, if you have exceptional talent, you can save yourself a lot of trouble.

At least Dan's sharpness has always satisfied Longzel.

"Father, at least in the king's opinion, the war is over." Jacaerys did not expect his father to be so direct. He thought his father would ask them privately. After all, today's occasion included not only the family's important officials, such as Regen Caon and Hoffa Lawkeeper, but also several important vassals of the family, Earl Dondarrion, Earl Tully, Earl Cavoron, Earl Cullen and so on. They were also there.

Dan was the one who reacted faster. When he saw the look in his brother's eyes, he understood what his father meant.

In this war, the princes of the borderlands did not contribute much, and Longzel's vassals were relatively outsiders to the expedition. They needed to understand what the benefits of this expedition would be.

"Father, my brother is right. In the eyes of His Majesty the King, Horus and Kago Khal are the last guys in the Disputed Lands who can compete with our army. If we eliminate them, the Disputed Lands will no longer have any military forces that can resist us on a large scale. That's why he judged that we have achieved a complete victory." Dan added.

Jacaerys knew very well that Daeron's victory looked brilliant and beautiful, but in fact it was full of problems. He broke up the original political and military system of the disputed land, making those seemingly powerful tyrants and warlords bow down, but could he truly rule this land?
That was all Jakaris could say, he couldn't say for sure.

"But, father." As soon as this but came out, Longzel immediately turned his gaze to Dan.

"Governor Salis's surrender doesn't seem like a truly willing surrender. Father, I doubt whether the title of Duke Hor Salu, the Governor of the Two Mountains, can feed this richest tyrant among the three giants of the anti-Iron Throne Alliance. He only paid a little money in this war." Dan carefully reviewed these things in the late stage of the war: "I should have written a letter to my brother. When Governor Salis's son, Legion Commander Fulgrim, came to negotiate peace, Horus was still gathering troops to stop us. Logically speaking, after betting on both sides so early, Salis should have been deserted by his friends and relatives after Horus was defeated."

"You overestimate the character of those guys, brother." Ringol said with a smile: "The disputed land has always been a mess. They will fight when it is advantageous to fight, and they will happily surrender when it is advantageous to surrender."

Dan curled his lips and approved of his brother's answer. "His Majesty the King appointed Prince Rhaegar as 'Governor of the Conquered Lands, Prince', with Rikka Lakrond as his seat of government. However, Rikka Lakrond is still under repair. They are still running a court in Ho Saru to handle government affairs. Princes Aerion and Prince Aemon refused His Majesty's appointment. Prince Aemon wanted the title of 'Knight of the Kingdom'. Prince Aerion said he didn't like having a fiefdom to restrict him."

Longzel smiled as he listened to his son's introduction. He couldn't help but think of the thoughtful and sensitive young man. No, Viserys is now middle-aged, or even an old man. Years of hard work have made the prince look much older than his actual age, and his physical condition has become worse. He has dreamed of restoring the glory of the Targaryen royal family all his life. He longs for the royal family to have more and bigger dragons and more members - but he cannot marry the daughter of a silver dragon, which may lead to the outflow of dragons and power. He longs to restore the authority of the royal family.

But each of his sons is more bizarre than the other. Although Prince Aegon did not actually perform so badly and was quite capable, his sowing seeds everywhere and his infidelity in marriage would indeed become a handle for his political opponents to attack him.

Especially the issue of marital infidelity. Although infidelity has never been a problem in the eyes of the nobles of Westeros, the object of his infidelity was Princess Rhaena.

Daughter of the beloved King Aegon.

This also led to Daeron's sister, especially Princess Elona, ​​particularly hating Prince Aegon, and even Serena, Daenerys, and Queen Jeyne, who had a good relationship with Princess Elona, ​​also disliked him.

Prince Aemon is an avid fan of knights. If he were an ordinary noble, or even the second son of a great noble, this would not matter, and it would not matter even in the previous Targaryen royal family. But now that Viserys dreams of restoring the glory of the Targaryen royal family, Aemon, who dreams of becoming a real knight, and Aerion, who prefers to be a ranger, are indeed the oddities in his family.

Only Maegon could calm Viserys down a little.

But Maegon had not yet mounted the dragon.

"Tell me what the king plans to do with the disputed land, Your Highness." Earl Tully said gently. He was once one of the children of the Purple Palace. When Ringol was exiled, the fake identities of the three of them were arranged by the current Earl Tully.

Time flies and things and people are no longer the same.

Lady Diana is still alive, but Lord Alan Tully is dead.

"The king adopted the policy of enfeoffment." Dan frowned when he said this. "Just like in the kingdom, His Majesty the King divided the land into small pieces and gave them to the knights who participated in the war, making each of them a property-owning knight. Those who made greater contributions were even given castles and became earls."

"But there are no castles in the disputed lands." Jacaerys pointed out the problem King Daeron was facing. "In other words, where are the castles in the kingdom model? Those knights and even the people have to be recruited from the population gathered by the tyrants and warlords."

Dan took over his brother's words and said, "Only the gods know how many people those knights will get, and how many of those people are real farmers."

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(End of this chapter)