Game of Thrones: King of Harrenhal, starting with a blue hand stat panel

Chapter 79 Mad King Baron

289 AD, Hejian region.

Arthur rode the Flying Swallow I, looking at the mouth of the Trident River.

The sea is vast and boundless, with rolling waves.

Behind Arthur were his loyal servants.

The cavalrymen in black armor and yellow robes not far away were also awe-inspiring.

As the years pass, time comes and goes.

Arthur's two-pronged strategy of making money on one hand and building a reputation on the other has now become a great success.

The Hean family's finances are recovering, with two wealth-rich strongholds, Harrenhal and Whitewall, as well as new cash cows.

In terms of troop strength, there is the team that Arthur has assembled.

These people, though of humble origins, were all extremely useful, and they completely helped Arthur solidify the power of the River An family's army.

In other families, outsiders may be influenced by collateral branches of the family or feudal forces.

Harrenhal's unique power environment and the massive blood loss at the Trident made it the best centralized lord in the Riverlands.

Arthur's reputation as the "Bat Rider" grew ever stronger.

The champion of the Dragonstone Squire Tournament, compared to the ages of Damon Blackfyre and Cruel Maegor.

He performed a heroic act at the Bitter Bridge and brutally beat up the Dark Star in Starfall City.

These are all stories that bards and knights love to tell.

Even without the help of the River An family, Arthur's fame spread far and wide.

Its value is personally certified by the King and the Prime Minister.

An iron curtain, with the center of the river region as the line, has actually been erected.

On one side is Flowing City, and on the other is Harrenhal.

On the surface, the two sides maintained a friendly relationship, but every achievement Arthur made made Riverrun seem even more mediocre.

Even those who once supported Horst, such as the Merissant or Brecken families, are now openly expressing goodwill towards Arthur.

The He'an family's business activities are thriving, and Arthur's reputation as the number one rising star in the Three Rivers and even the Seven Kingdoms is growing louder and louder.

From any perspective, it would be beneficial to befriend such a young man.

Arthur waited for his chance, for the letter from Sea Frontier City pleading for help.

Seafront City is now considered one of Arthur's major clients, and their relationship is even mutually beneficial.

The two sides exchanged fish and salt from Haijiang City, longships, cheese and wine from the He'an family, and other goods.

These tangible benefits greatly pleased Earl Jason. Although Sea Frontier City was noble, nobility did not equate to wealth.

In terms of wealth, he couldn't compare to Frey and Hean, and Earl Jason had his own ulterior motives.

Heroes in troubled times, and heroes in troubled times—perhaps the two are complementary.

"How many riders do we have now?" Arthur asked Rosso.

"There are about five hundred people now," Rosso, a burly man dressed in black armor, replied.

Rosso, now the cavalry instructor and commander, has shed his former shabby appearance and looks much more energetic.

"Can I have these people fight alongside me?"

"Yes, they are loyal to you, sir," Rosso said.

"War is a bloody exercise, and an exercise is a bloodless war. The rigorous training is also to prepare them for the real battlefield," Arthur said.

Arthur has already planned ahead; to deal with a potential crisis in the Sea Frontier City, he will employ his diversified combat tactics.

He had used the training method of crossing the river to send out cavalry many times.

This was inseparable from the support of the Lute family, as well as the exploration of the location of the Trident River crossing.

Iron now lacks the ability to travel by land, so it probably intends to repeat its old trick of ambushing Haijiang City.

"The Black Riders of He'an?" Arthur turned his horse to look at the black riders who were loyal to him.

"Victory is certain! Victory is certain!" The cavalrymen first looked solemn, then raised their longswords.

They pledged their loyalty to Arthur, a loyalty that they would now have to repay with their lives.

Iron Islands.

The sacred coast of Old Wake Island is topped by wild, grassy hills, and the ribs of the Naga emerge from the ground like giant white tree trunks, twice the thickness and height of a large sailing ship's mast.

This is a sacred place in the hearts of the Tiemin people.

The Ironborn once elected their High King at the King-Election in Naga Hill.

The longships that had arrived lined up along the sacred beach of Old Wake Island, stretching to the limit of sight, their masts standing like a forest of spears.

Loot was moored in the deep water: flat-bottomed cargo ships, wide sailing ships, and large sailing ships—all of which Ironborn had won through plunder or battle. They were deep-drafted and large, making it impossible for them to get close to the shore.

"Greyjoy! Greyjoy!"

The Iron Fleet's sails are decorated with the emblem of a golden sea monster, as well as the scythe emblem of Harlo Island, and so on.

The Iron Fleet, commanded by Viktorion, is the strongest fleet in the Iron Islands, consisting of one hundred ships and directly subordinate to King Balon of the Iron Islands.

. . . .

Each ship is captained and crewed by people from the various islands.

After killing his father, King Coron, in the Shield Islands War, Baron, after much agonizing reflection, spent five years gathering people to build the "Iron Fleet".

Although the Iron Fleet's ships were smaller than the Greenlands' warships, they were three times the size of the archipelago's standard longships.

These ships were reinforced with rams, and their decks were fitted with fire-breathing crossbows and scorpion crossbows, making them more like oar-powered warships and larger than the longships of the past.

The Ironborn captains gathered around the white giant bone, watching King Baron's coronation, a coronation steeped in ancient tradition.

Earl Gorde Gubock, Rodrik Harlow, Dunstan Dragoon, these more cautious kings were actually worried about Baron's defeat.

Unfortunately, more captains and leaders agreed, as they also wanted to make a big profit.

"Bow down, Baron of House Greyjoy." The three-man priest raised the water bag, opened the stopper, and poured the seawater inside over Baron's head.

Seawater soaked his hair, flowing from his forehead into his eyes, down his cheeks, seeping into his sealskin clothes, and running down his back like a cold little river.

The sea salt stung his eyes, and Baron held back a cry.

The seawater is salty and astringent; that's the taste of the ocean.

"May your servant Balon be reborn from the sea as you are!" the three drowned men chanted. "Give him the blessing of sea salt, the blessing of solid stone, the blessing of steel. Balon, have you forgotten your prayer?"

"Baron will never forget, the dead never die!" Baron shouted.

"The dead are not dead," the three drowned men replied, "they will surely rise again, with even greater force. Rise!"

Baron Greyjoy, resurrected from the drowning ritual, stood beneath the bones once more, then roared: "I am the chief of the Pyke Isles raiders, the Salt King and the Rock King, son of the Sea Breeze. I need no one to bestow my crown upon me; I paid with iron coins and seized it myself. People of the drowning god, I swear to win your freedom!"

Baron had had enough of waiting; the rebellion he and his brothers had plotted had killed their father, King Coron.

But the Ironborn didn't care; even if a king was sacrificed, it was a worthy death.

They pressed on, preparing to continue their pursuit of the "ancient path".

"The Drowned God has seen it. You should become the true king. The Ironborn will obey your commands and lead us to freedom." The three Drowned Men, Thale, placed a driftwood crown on Baron's head.

The three flood-drowned men raised their hands high: "The wrath of the vast ocean will eventually erupt, and the great flood god will gain authority in the green lands!"

"Baron!" the Ironborn shouted in ecstasy, "Baron! King Baron!"

House Greyjoy was elected king of the Iron Islands by the Ironborn after the fall of House Hall, and the Ironborn's stubbornness led to war after war.

"My father brought you stability and order, and I will bring you more—wealth, honor, all for the supreme glory of our God," Baron proclaimed eloquently.

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"Ancient Road! Ancient Road!" The Iron Seeds listened with rapt attention, wishing they could draw their swords right now and plunder the area.

The Sanyan people shouted, "Let swords and fire descend upon the world, sweep away the verdant lands, destroy the seven gods in the temples, and uproot the white trees of the northerners—"

During the reign of King Coron, his reform policies had already prohibited the ancient road.

Slave labor is prohibited, as is private looting and taking multiple concubines.

But Baron overturned these reforms and killed the maester who had influenced his father, demanding a replacement maester.

"My brothers, Euron, Victarion, Ellen," Baron commanded. "You will command the Iron Fleet, strike first to open the way for me, and burn the lions' den."

The Ironborn have four attack fronts: the West, the Riverlands, the Reach, and the North. They chose the West first.

"Yes, ma'am!" Baron's three brothers promised.

This plan was proposed by Crow Eyes, a treacherous and ruthless man.

"My sons! Rodrik, Maren," Baron commanded again. "You too shall sail longships, and with blood and fire, bring blessings to the drowning god."

The heirs of the Iron Islands were also excited, dreaming of reviving the ancient road during their conquest.

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