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

Hean, Darryl, Dane—this could be considered a losers' alliance.

Once Arthur develops a bit more, we can invite William Mouton from the nearby Nuquan City to come over for a drink as well.

However, William Mouton wasn't a good teammate either. He was overweight and rather weak, and was essentially forced into the role.

Fortunately, their fiefdoms are still intact, and they haven't fallen to the level of the Golden Company, who fled to the other side of the Narrow Sea to become mercenaries and haven't returned to their hometown for over a hundred years.

"We lost terribly," Raymond Derry said in anguish. "Half of our fiefdom, ninety percent of our wealth. That wealth was meant for reserves and the renovation of Derry City. And then there are the knights who died at the Battle of the Trident, and my three brothers. We've lost everything."

Although Dai Rui City is old, it is relatively small in scale and should be renovated.

Those well-trained domestic knights were not so easy to train, nor were their warhorses and armor.

The Darryl family is now even more short of funds to recruit free knights and mercenary knights.

To have a well-organized knightly force, two factors are needed: gold and land, and the appeal of excellent knights.

After all, hired knights want to fight alongside victorious generals; a high win rate is essential to ensure they get paid.

Looking at the history of the Seven Kingdoms, such a punishment by the Darryl family can be considered severe.

Even the Peck family of Starshuttle City, who killed the king, did not suffer such a severe blow.

The Darryl family had no power to resist.

Raymond Darryl was just a young man; what could he possibly use to fight against the army of the Iron Throne? After Robert won the Battle of the Trident, he became like an invincible god.

So everyone obediently paid up and accepted the war penalties imposed by the Red Fortress.

It's okay if you can't pay it back now; you can borrow money first, since the interest will compound anyway.

The royalist lords did almost everything they could to raise money to repay their debts, and after squeezing out all their savings, they became weak and powerless, which is exactly what the Iron Throne needs to see.

This kind of financial approach was not Robert's forte; Robert never liked this kind of "counting coins" game, and it was Jon Arryn who was in charge of making things work.

"This is all at the behest of Prime Minister Jon Arryn, a royal decree," Raymond continued.

Speaking of which, the leaders of the Robert Union were wolves, deer, ospreys, and lions.

In fact, the losers didn't particularly hate Robert and Ed, the two young men; they hated the three middle-aged and elderly men.

Tywin Lannister slaughtered King's Landing, Horst Stark betrayed his principles for personal gain, and Jon Arryn wielded the sword of retribution.

"The kingmaker, now most influential in King's Landing, is this Hand of the King, Jon Snow. The king has entrusted important matters to his foster father. Although it is the Bucks' dynasty, the Vale people are in power," Ser Lucas commented scathingly.

Even the Dornish had heard of Robert's hands-off management style.

Now, within the framework of the new dynasty, Eddard Stark has developed Southern PTSD and has retreated to the North.

Lord Horst of House Fish had performed poorly and hadn't managed to secure any official position in King's Landing. Furthermore, although he was younger than Jon Snow, his health was worse than his son-in-law's.

Even Tywin, who boarded last, didn't get a seat.

King Robert is a hands-off ruler, and all things considered, the most prominent figure in King's Landing is old Jon Arryn, who is still going strong despite his age.

This combination of a lone prime minister and a joyful king was considered bizarre even at that time.

"That's fine too. These days, it's truly a case of the king dreaming and the prime minister building dreams. Lord Erin has so many things to do; we're just minor troubles he might have forgotten about," Arthur said.

Jon Arryn now looks radiant, but the old man's energy is waning day by day, and Arryn is more like a large-sized paperhanger.

After collecting the hefty fine and stopping there, Jon Arryn has loosened his grip on the Royalists.

After all, in his view, apart from the Dornish, there were no outstanding figures among the royalists near King's Landing, and they were all destined to obey orders.

After being severely punished, the loser expressed his submission.

This allows these cowards to develop freely, which can be considered a mercy of the Iron Throne.

However, hatred often lasts longer than love, and Jon Arryn will eventually accept it.

Arthur got up and poured Raymond, Lucas, and the others a fresh glass of lemonade to help them relax.

"Right now, we're just staying home and farming, so let's not get involved in what King's Landing is up to," Arthur said with a slight smile.

"Even big shots like Tywin and Mace Tyrell have no chance, let alone others," Ser Lucas sneered.

Among the great figures of the Seven Kingdoms, Eddard Stark retired gracefully, while Doran Martell lived a solitary life in seclusion; these two were the most unique.

Horst's performance was lackluster, but Tywin and Mays were deliberately excluded.

With just a little thought, one can understand that the personnel in King's Landing are full of traps.

However, Arthur didn't seem to care; the bigger challenges were yet to come.

"This is the new style, it's irrelevant to us for now," Arthur said with a smile.

Power is personnel; to put it bluntly, politics is a matter of personnel.

So when you're praising Jon Arryn and Robert Baratheon, you should also look at the people they promoted—they were practically a herd of celestial beings.

King's Landing has three power circles: the first is the Council of Kings, the second is the Red Keep court, and the third is the Gold Robes.

Among the ministers of King's Landing, Jon Arryn held the position of Hand of the King, while Varys, Paisell, and Barristan were re-elected for three terms, and Stannis, whom Robert had sent in, was also in charge. The pool of people to choose from was very small.

Furthermore, Jon Snow didn't have the energy to replace him, so the team became stagnant to a frightening degree.

Varys's ability to serve as Secretary of Intelligence for twenty years is a testament to his unwavering commitment.

According to the usual practice of the Seven Kingdoms, the positions should not be like this; there should be a constant flow of people coming and going, and a change of personnel.

Even if it were just a simple imperial meeting, the Imperial Guards were also full of bribed individuals.

Aside from the king killer, there's also Boros, who was bribed by Cersei, Marin, and Grinfield from the Westerlands, giving the Westerlands four votes.

Not to mention the red robes and gold that Cersei brought, and Cersei was also recommending her relatives to be Robert's servants.

In comparison, it's somewhat acceptable for the Golden Robe to use that frog commander-in-chief.

Robert and Jon Snow didn't see anything wrong with this abstract and chaotic power structure; one could only say that these two died a fitting death.

Arthur had studied Jon's style, which was similar to focusing on the small details and exaggerating the big ones. He hadn't discovered any of the major issues, as he was completely bogged down in tedious government affairs.

It's possible that power and wealth haven't reached the point of redistribution, meaning that the limited resources are being redistributed cautiously.

"We are friends, Raymond. I will definitely lend a helping hand when the River family recovers," Arthur said to Raymond Darryl.

"Thank you, Arthur." Raymond nodded, expressing his gratitude.

However, Raymond still didn't know where the He'an family's confidence came from. They had confiscated a large portion of their wealth, and each of them would have to work very slowly to earn more.

But when Raymond looked at Arthur, he still felt a sense of trust, which was perhaps the charisma of a leader.

Arthur's money-making plan is also accelerating, and Arthur is still ensuring its stable implementation.

A timely rain in the river valley was not enough to satisfy Arthur's ambition.

"The Darryl family will support you no matter what," Raymond Darryl promised.

The Darryl family had fallen on hard times, and now Arthur treated him with courtesy. In addition, they were both royalists in the opposition, which strengthened their belief in sticking together.

"I also make that promise," Arthur said with a smile.

The fickle souls of the Three Rivers region are known for their opportunism and fickle nature. The lords of the Hejian region have always been famous for their ability to change their allegiance according to the prevailing winds.

The lords of the Three Rivers region were not simply honest and kind; backstabbing was a skill they were adept at.

When each king was about to fall from power, the feudal lords below would also begin to defect.

The first Edmure Tully fought alongside King Tristan IV, the Hammer of Justice, and won ninety-nine battles.

After Terry Stephen's death, Sir Edmure submitted to Armiste Vance, the most powerful Andal conqueror at the time.

When Humphrey Teague I, the Andal king, began to suppress the Old Gods with the support of the Order's armed forces, the Blackwood family, the Vance family of Aran, and the Tully family launched a rebellion.

Rodrik Blackwood summoned reinforcements from Storm King Alan Durandon III.

When House Hall landed to confront Storm King, Rosso Brecken, Theo Charlton, and a number of other Riverlands lords joined Halwin Hall in defeating the reinforcements sent by King Alek.

As for the ruthless Herren, needless to say, he was utterly despised by everyone in the Riverlands, and the lords of the Three Rivers rose up in rebellion.

However, with the Targaryens' long reign, this situation has changed somewhat, and their reputation has improved slightly.

These poor brothers were all struggling, so they had no choice but to stick together.