The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 266: Hugo's rule and the new world order (15k)

Starting from this chapter, the author will briefly describe the kingdom’s situation after the Civil War on the Iron Throne to help readers of this book have a brief but complete understanding of the subsequent history.

1. The New Master of the Throne

As the battle on the banks of the Mander ended under the midday sun, the fate of the kingdom was finally determined. Today, the decisive battle at the end of the third century after the Conquest is known as the "Dragonfall War". On the one hand, it tells the fate of the last three dragons in the world: two dead and one missing. On the other hand, it also means that the Targaryen family has completely lost the possibility of restoring its power in the west; until the author puts down his pen, this land is still ruled by the bloodline of the Tollett family.

However, although the Dragon Queen's army has essentially collapsed after the decisive battle, the contradictions and conflicts that have begun to erupt since the death of the King of Conquerors have only been temporarily suppressed. They have not yet been completely resolved. The task facing Hugo is to heal the wounds within the kingdom so that it can better face the new era - how to absorb the great past without suppressing transformation, and how to implement transformation without losing its foundation.

Generally speaking, the coronation of Hugo Tollett in King's Landing is considered to be the beginning of the Tollett Dynasty. Prior to this, due to the disappearance of the young King Joffrey Baratheon and the Crown Prince Tommen Baratheon in the South, there was actually a period of vacancy in the kingdom. Although Hugo Tollett and Daenerys Targaryen both claimed to be kings through their achievements during the Long Night and their family's inheritance rights to the Iron Throne (Hugo's inheritance rights came from Myrcella Baratheon, who was married to his son Corron), they did not hold a formal coronation. Therefore, this period is generally still included in the history of the Baratheon Dynasty, not in the history of the Tollett Dynasty.

In short, in the third month of the 301st year after the Conquest, as the situation in the south was settled, Hugo Tollett set out to return to King's Landing to prepare for the coronation after planning the Dorne attack. Finally, in the seventh month of the 301st year after the Conquest, Hugo Tollett was officially crowned in King's Landing, the capital of the kingdom. The scale of this ceremony was more grand than the coronation of Aegon the Conqueror. About 300,000 people witnessed this moment. The main venue gathered thousands of local lords and dignitaries from both sides of the Narrow Sea to watch the ceremony. Under the gaze of all the spectators, the famous archbishop personally anointed Hugo's forehead with holy oil, crowned him, and announced that he was Hugo Tollett I of the kingdom, King of the Land and King of the Peoples, Ruler of Westeros, Essos and Sothoryos and Protector of the Land, and Peacemaker on Both Sides. At the moment when the Archbishop made the announcement, a beam of sunlight shone down from the sky and gathered on the pure white throne where Hugo sat. People attributed this phenomenon to God's will - Hugo not only gained the recognition of the secular world, but also the recognition of the gods. So after the coronation ceremony in the mortal world, the Seven Gods also appeared in front of the world and crowned their most outstanding believers with their own hands.

From this moment on, no one could question Hugo Tollett's rule, and his legitimacy was stronger and more stable than any other king in the known world. From then on, Hugo Tollett had a more common title among the world, "Holy King". And the Tollett Dynasty, or the Baratheon-Tollett Dynasty, began.

The coronation of Hugo Tollet is a history or story that is familiar to people today. There are already a lot of discussions about it, so the author will only give a brief description here. However, there are still many details in this coronation that are worth mentioning to you, such as Hugo I's title, crown and throne, from which we can get a glimpse of the saint king's philosophy of governing the country.

There is no doubt that some of Hugo Tollet's official titles are very special titles in the known world. Previous kings did not have and dared not claim these titles, and subsequent kings did not need these titles.

Unlike traditional kings or lords, Hugo Tollet's rule was not limited to one tribe or one place. His kingdom spanned many insurmountable natural barriers, where many ethnic groups with different current situations lived. If traditional title standards were to be adopted, it would become very bloated. Therefore, Hugo Tollet boldly adopted the title of "King of All the Land and King of All Peoples" and gave a concise and accurate description of the kingdom's profile. Before the kingdom formed a new overall concept of the land under its feet, this title would be used by the Tollet kings.

At the same time, Hugo I also proclaimed himself the "Peacemaker on Both Sides of the Strait" for his contribution in ending the civil war in the kingdom. This was a well-deserved achievement for the king and was recognized by the whole kingdom. Generally speaking, it was a title that belonged to Hugo personally and no other king used it afterwards.

The only title that Hugo I had that was related to the previous kings was "Ruler of Westeros, Essos, and Sothoryos and Protector of the Realm". This title clearly followed the title norms of the Targaryen and Baratheon kings, and had a clear evolutionary path: in the Targaryen era, the title of the kings of the Iron Throne was "Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm"; after Robert Baratheon completed his great conquest of the East, his title was "Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm". In general, the area covered by this title is constantly increasing, and we have reason to believe that if the future Tollett kings continue to expand their territory, this title will become longer.

At the coronation ceremony, Hugo I imitated the previous kings not only in terms of titles. He did not use the copper-iron crown he wore when he was crowned Duke of Andals or the crown used by the previous king Robert Baratheon. Instead, he cast a new crown specifically for this purpose: this crown is extremely simple in shape. It is actually a simple headband made of bronze, steel and Valyrian steel, representing the First Men, Andals, Rhoynar and Easterners who make up the kingdom's subjects. The headband is inlaid with seven gems, each of which corresponds to the color of one corner of the seven-pointed star, which naturally represents the Seven Gods and the Seven Gods Faith. There is no doubt that this crown is very similar to the lost Valyrian steel crown of Aegon the Conqueror. Perhaps this is because the king wanted the people to think of the Conqueror's diligence and good governance after he was crowned queen. In fact, he did implement this.

Unlike his intention to be close to the previous kings in terms of title and crown, Hugo I's attitude towards the throne was completely different from before. According to some conversations that were fortunate enough to be recorded by scribes, Hugo I hated the throne very much. He believed that a solemn and serious throne was more suitable for his status, and this grotesque product made of dragon flames would only make people feel uncomfortable. Moreover, he did not need to inherit the dragon king's legal system to stabilize the country. According to the king's original idea, he planned to drag the rusty iron out of the throne room and sink it into the Blackwater Bay. The king would use the pure white marble of the Andes Mountains as the material to make the throne of the new dynasty.

However, what is dramatic is that when King Hugo was about to execute his plan, the eunuch Varys (Varys Blackfyre), who served as the intelligence minister of the previous dynasty, successfully persuaded the king to stop the order. He promptly reminded the king that the two Baratheon kings had also been crowned kings on the Iron Throne, and Hugo I actually inherited Robert Baratheon's kingdom. If the Iron Throne was dealt with roughly, it would be disadvantageous to the king himself. Therefore, Hugo I accepted Varys's advice and quickly changed his plan. He no longer considered abandoning the Iron Throne, but melted it into the foundation of the new throne. According to rumors, it took hundreds of craftsmen 7749 days to cast it. When the marble throne was transported from the east and placed on the steel foundation, the solemn new throne was truly completed. Initially, it had many names, such as the Stone and Iron Throne and the White Throne, but as time went on, a more popular name was recognized by Hugo I, and it began to refer to the Tolleth Court and even the entire kingdom entity - the "National Throne", just as the "Iron Throne" once was.

After being crowned as king, Hugo I began to build a new system for the new dynasty. First, he announced that the kingdom would now have two capitals, King's Landing, the traditional political center of the kingdom, and Hugo's City, the holy place of the Seven Gods; then, the king made a lot of adjustments to the current situation regarding the jurisdiction of the kingdom's large territories. The king's allies, such as the Riverlands, the Westerlands, the Iron Islands, and the Stormlands, were able to maintain their status quo. The highest chief of the northern territory, the "Guardian", was changed from hereditary to a system of lords elected by the three major families of Stark, Bolton, and Manderly. Most importantly, the two large territories of the Vale and the Reach would be directly managed by the national throne.

There were objective reasons why Hugo I placed these two large territories under direct jurisdiction. The Vale experienced two serious civil strife during the civil war, during which Petyr Baelish led a large number of lords and clan leaders to leave the south. Although the chaos gradually subsided after the army moved in, the local situation of being leaderless did not change. In order to stabilize the valley, the king sent officials to various places to manage it, and promoted many nobles and knights. In addition, the remaining mountain clans were also appeased by the king. The situation in the valley quickly stabilized, and the direct jurisdiction policy did not cause much chaos.

Unlike the Vale, the main reason for the king's direct rule over the River Bay was not to stabilize the situation, but to liquidate the local lords who sided with the Targaryens. The most important reason was that they might be directly related to the disappearance of the previous king, Joffrey Baratheon, and regicide was an act of treason that the kingdom could not tolerate. The king's actions caused many descendants of the Green Hand to rebel, but their actions also angered many people in the River Bay. Many people rebelled against their lords under the leadership of knights, soldiers and even monks, which resulted in most of the descendants of the Green Hand failing to organize effective resistance before the army arrived. Only the lords close to Dorne successfully organized their forces with the help of their former enemies and started a long tug-of-war with the kingdom's army.

In the heart of the River Bay, as the rebellion of most of the River Bay nobles was suppressed, Hugo I also transformed a large number of River Bay properties into direct territories of the national throne, and a group of officials and troops soon entered the River Bay. In addition, those lords who had previously stood on the side of Hugo and Stannis were able to expand their territories because of the correct choice, and some knights and soldiers who had made meritorious deeds on the battlefield were also named new lords. Under the protection of these allies and beneficiaries, the king's will was gradually implemented in the entire large territory.

In this way, as the six western kingdoms were unified under one king like Aegon the Conqueror, Westeros once again ushered in a new era.

2. Dorne Expedition and the Unification of the Kingdom
The pacification of the River Bend did not mean the end of the war, and the problem of division still plagued the kingdom. Although Daenerys had died in the Battle of Dragonfall and her army had disintegrated, after the chaos of the queen's death and Tyrell's surrender, the Martell family of Dorne successfully united the remaining Targaryen supporters in Westeros. They relied on the rugged terrain of the border to successfully block the pursuing kingdom's army, and resumed the looting war on the River Bend and the borderlands, refusing to surrender to the new master of the throne.

Before the dragonlords completed the unification of Dorne, the raiders from Dorne had been fighting fiercely with the lords of the borderlands. Every pass in the mountains was stained with blood from both sides. The King of the Reach and the Prince of Dorne also invaded each other many times through these mountain roads. After the dragonlords incorporated Dorne into Westeros through marriage, these border wars came to an end.

Now, due to the kingdom's direct policy of liquidation towards the River Reach, those River Reach nobles who had to pay a heavy price for standing on the wrong side, in order to protect their castles and territories, did not hesitate to provide guides and support for the Dornish raiders, allowing these people to enter the River Reach and kill people indiscriminately, creating serious turmoil in the River Reach, in order to undermine the authority of the national throne. Some River Reach families who fled to Dorne even used the Dornish army to restore their territory. All of this made the border areas of the River Reach even more chaotic.

Therefore, no matter what the need is, the kingdom's war against Dorne must be carried out.

So, after half a year of preparation, Hugo I once again mobilized the forces on both sides of the Narrow Sea at the beginning of the 302nd year after the Conquest. In the end, about 150,000 naval and land forces pressed towards Dorne. Such a large army had already surpassed the previous Dorne Wars. King Hugo needed a real army to subdue this unruly land.

Before the war began, Hugo I summarized the reasons why the Targaryen kings failed to invade Dorne. He finally judged that controlling the Greenblood River was the key to the entire war. As long as the Greenblood River was controlled, it was equivalent to strangling Dorne's throat. Therefore, the king invested all his troops in two directions. The Western Army, commanded by Aenys Frey, Alister Florent and Harold Haddon, assembled at Highgarden and Horn Hill. They first cleared out the rebellious River Bay nobles one by one, and then, with the help of the border nobles, marched into the Stone Road and Prince's Pass, controlling these two main traffic routes out of Dorne; at the same time, the Eastern Army, commanded by Hugo I himself, landed at the mouth of the Greenblood River. The plan went very smoothly. The Eastern Army encountered almost no resistance on the Greenblood River. Dorne was not famous for its navy. When the Greenblood River orphans moved east in large numbers, the defense here became even weaker.

As the kingdom successfully controlled the Greenblood River, the castles and settlements along the river soon fell into the kingdom's control. Even Sunspear was abandoned by the Martell family. It seemed that the Dornish chose to follow the example of the First and Fifth Dornish Wars, using guerrilla warfare and endless resistance to wear down the kingdom's army and rule. However, Hugo I was familiar with the failures of the Conqueror and the Young Dragon. After careful consideration, the king made a decision.

After occupying the abandoned castles and cities of the Dornish lords, controlling the main sea and land routes to Dorne, and distributing rewards to the heroes of the war, Hugo I issued an edict to the whole country, declaring that all members of the noble families, knight families and distinguished families in the country who were not the first heirs had the right to obtain any land and estate in the Dornish territory except Sunspear and Plank Town, even those from families who were deprived of their territories for supporting Targaryen; however, if they wanted to be officially crowned by the king, these people had to rely on their own strength to defend the land they claimed and persist until the day when the Dornish rebellion was quelled.

"Since the Dornish are so keen to unite and rebel," Hugo I said, "I will assign a lord to every Dornishman."

The king's decree received the feedback he had envisioned. Even though Dorne was very poor, a large number of armed groups called "adventurers" entered Dorne under the temptation of titles and land. At first, they were led by nobles and knights, and later even a large number of civilian groups joined in. King Hugo's goal was to destroy Dorne, so he chose to turn a blind eye to these impostors. Soon, the great territory of Dorne turned into a killing field. At first, the Dornishmen fought against the invaders, but soon the earlier and later invaders began to fight among themselves. Gradually, every settlement, every property and even every water source in the great territory became a battlefield. A large number of Dornishmen died in the war or chose to flee, and those lords who insisted on resistance also died one after another. When everything settled down, Dorne had been divided up by many small lords, and the Dornish nobles who had resisted the kingdom had all died. Only the Dayne family of Starfall was left. With the relatively independent geographical environment of the Turbulent River Valley, they successfully resisted the endless stream of adventurers and obtained the king's forgiveness after surrendering. They have since been called the "last Dornishmen."

After confirming that there were no rebels against the kingdom in the great territories, Hugo I carried out his decree. He appointed each new lord in the great territories as nobles, sent officials to measure the territories they controlled, and required them to elect a non-hereditary great territories leader, the "Desert Guardian", in accordance with the historical precedent of the High King of Dorne. In this way, Dorne returned to the era of numerous lords - for the kingdom, Dorne only needed to submit to the Iron Throne and recognize itself as part of the kingdom, and the kingdom had no interest in their internal affairs; except for fixed taxes and the income from Sunspear City and Plank Town as trade nodes, the national throne would not expect to gain anything from this land, and it would be nice to let these lords fight on their own.

This war, which dealt a devastating blow to the original order of Dorne, was called the Dorne Crusade or the Sixth Dorne War by the throne of the country, and in the folk, it has a more appropriate name: "The Sweeping of Dorne". Since the end of the war until the time of writing this book, the great territory of Dorne has no longer been seen as a threat to the kingdom.

III. Construction in the Peaceful Era and Period

In short, when the old and new seven kingdoms were finally unified, most areas on both sides of the Narrow Sea ushered in a period of peace, the pain caused by the war recovered at a relatively fast rate, and the prosperity of the Narrow Sea surpassed the era of the King of Conquerors and reached another peak.

In such an environment, after the Dorne Expedition, Hugo I did not conduct any large-scale military operations or drastic reforms. He focused his main energy on the development of the economy and people's livelihood. During the rest of his reign, he implemented the policy of "pacifying the people" and even reduced the kingdom's taxes to the permissible limit. The only time the king intervened in the country on a large scale was when the Frey family was in crisis over the succession of the head of the family. The king could not allow a small-scale civil war to break out in the heart of the kingdom, so he intervened forcefully, personally arbitrated the selection of the head of the Frey family, and took back the river territory to be directly governed by the national throne until today.

In short, during this peaceful time, both sides of the Narrow Sea were rejuvenated with unprecedented vitality. The manpower and materials that could be invested in the market or reproduction in various places reached a number far beyond imagination, and the whole society was full of vitality and vigor. Therefore, although taxes were greatly reduced, except for the first few years when the finances were relatively tight, the throne of the country did not encounter the dilemma of insufficient income. The prosperity of the market provided a lot of funds for the government, and the king also used a lot of taxes for public expenditures. The society on both sides of the Narrow Sea entered an unusually active stage.

At the same time, the kingdom's wealthy society has also led to a flourishing culture. Various works have sprung up, and various extraordinary people have been able to demonstrate their abilities. Many people have discovered that their future is not limited to continuing the path of their parents, they now have other choices - but where it will eventually lead, no one knows.

The Citadel, which was destroyed in the war, was rebuilt during this period, and the surviving scholars rebuilt their own college with the help of the national throne, but now it is located in King's Landing. The scholars understand that they must be close to the power center in this era to get more help, and they are also very resistant to the academy's move to expand its influence during the destruction of the Citadel. In this way, although the arena has changed places, the academic struggle between the two schools is still going on.

According to folklore, when Hugo I returned to King's Landing for his coronation, he promised a couple that he would bring the kingdom into a peaceful era. Although this is a story that cannot be verified, the king did fulfill his "promise". When later generations looked back on this peaceful period, they could not find many major events. Among the few events, the most important one was the introduction of the new calendar.

When the kingdom's rule was limited to Westeros, the country used a relatively unified calendar. The nearly three hundred years of Targaryen's rule made Aegonli and the Conquest calendar deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Even those events that occurred in ancient times all used the matching pre-conquest chronicles. In the vast area of ​​Essos, the situation is completely different: each city-state has its own founding calendar, some villages use the Valyrian founding calendar or the Rhoynar calendar, and some areas even use the year of the Doom of Valyria as the first year of the calendar. Even in recent years, new calendars have appeared - some scholars have designed calendars with the end of the Long Night and the Dragonfall War as reference points.

There is no doubt that these calendars are too complicated and many of them may not be accurate. If multiple calendars are used in parallel, it will only cause more trouble for the transmission of information in the kingdom. Therefore, the plan to formulate a new calendar was quickly put on the agenda by Hugo I. Since the first year of the new calendar was set as the year when the seven gods walked on the earth, this calendar was also called the "Chronicle of the Seven Gods" or the "Chronicle of Andal".

However, although the reference point of the calendar has been found, the various factions within the Seven Gods have always been arguing about the specific time of the year. Especially in recent years, each sect has experienced great development due to the prosperity of society. The conflicts between them have continued to intensify due to the expansion of their influence. Even new orders have emerged due to disputes over the content of doctrine.

Therefore, when Hugo ordered the formulation of the new calendar, the debate between the various sects reached its peak, and some factions even resorted to extreme means, causing very bad effects. In desperation, Hugo I had to convene a religious conference, summoning the bishops, presidents and elders of all the seven religious sects in the known world to discuss the controversy over the first year of the new calendar.

The conference lasted for three full days. At the beginning, representatives from all parties were relatively calm, but as the discussion progressed, the exchanges turned into verbal fights, and the verbal fights almost escalated into physical fights. Fortunately, Hugo was in charge of the meeting in person, so the situation did not deteriorate to a level that could not be handled. Finally, when the meeting ended, Hugo announced to the believers who had been waiting outside the venue for three full days that the first year of the new calendar would be 2758 years ago, and the kingdom would fully implement the new calendar in the 2759th year.

Afterwards, in order to celebrate this historic moment, a seven-day celebration was held on both sides of the Narrow Sea at the king's instruction. For everyone who experienced the celebration, these seven days were very memorable.

4. The Queen’s Legacy
When describing the development of the kingdom, we must not ignore its important future rival, the "Iron Throne" in the east. Although Daenerys Targaryen died in Westeros, the huge kingdom she and her husband Khal Drogo built together did not completely disintegrate with the death of the queen and the failure of the expedition - at least not before the information arrived; this gave those who were interested an opportunity.

When the dragon fell with Daenerys Targaryen on its back, her newly appointed finance minister Petyr Baelish had successfully led his troops away from the battle line. As the first army to withdraw from the battlefield, they successfully maintained a complete organization. Later, when the Targaryen supporters were overwhelmed by the death of the queen, Petyr was in action: he led his army to the designated port, where he organized the army to board the ship, and then ordered the fleet to sail to Dorne; when the Myr fleet appeared near Sunspear, the Dornish thought Petyr came because of Prince Doran's call, and they sent out fast ships to welcome him, but the fleet responded with arrows. In the subsequent raid, Petyr Baelish personally led the team into the Water Gardens and controlled Daenerys' son Rhaegal Targaryen.

According to Daenerys' original plan, if she won, she would crown Rhaegal at the coronation ceremony in King's Landing and announce to the country that the prince was her heir. Therefore, she brought Rhaegal to Westeros. Considering that the battlefield was fraught with danger, the queen left the prince in the water gardens in Dorne and appointed Barristan Selmy, the queen's guard, to guard him.

And now, this ignorant prince has become an important tool for ambitious people to take over the Queen's legacy.

However, after controlling the little prince, Petyr Baelish did not wantonly show his side as a powerful official. He treated the little prince well and allowed Barristan and others to continue to guard the lord. Afterwards, Petyr escorted the Dornishmen to board the ship quickly before they could react, and headed east without looking back. He bypassed the Lys Islands and arrived directly in Volantis. Here, Petyr controlled the local army that was overwhelmed by the death of the queen in the name of Rhaegal and stabilized the city. Later, Petyr also persuaded the nobles of Volantis. Together, they called on the old ministers and veterans scattered around, inviting them to come to Volantis to attend the meeting that would decide the future of the kingdom.

Petyr Baelish's call did work, and many nobles, generals, and officials of the Targaryen Kingdom who were stranded in the west began to move closer to Volantis. This was good news for Petyr, as it meant that the authority of the Targaryen Kingdom was still recognized by many people. However, if he could not gain the approval of these people in future meetings, he would be in an extremely dangerous situation.

Like the religious conference held by the National Throne mentioned above, this meeting held in Volantis was also filled with tension. All participants were on edge, and the tense situation almost escalated into a fight several times. As a supporter of the meeting, Petyr Baelish tried his best to mediate and resolve the crisis.

Finally, the meeting landed safely. The participants announced that they would jointly elect Daenerys' son Rhaegal as the new king of the kingdom and the Khal of the Great Grass Sea, Rhaegal I of the Iron Throne. At the same time, the participants also recognized Petyr's ability. This Westerosi man would become the first Hand of the King of the young king. Afterwards, the young king's court, under the joint escort of various troops, began to return eastward to Meereen.

In the eyes of the world, this meeting marked the completion of the power division of the kingdom's ministers in the new era, and the biggest beneficiary was Petyr Baelish. This result was achieved largely because Petyr's army was still largely intact after the disastrous expedition, and these soldiers gave Petyr a huge voice in the meeting; more importantly, Petyr had a network of connections in the old and new seven kingdoms. Compared with those exotic easterners, the exiles from Westeros finally chose to unanimously elect him as their leader, which was also a major reason why Petyr was able to overwhelm the queen's old eastern ministers.

However, although the Queen's original conquering group has reached a consensus in Volantis, the order she has built in the Slaver's Bay in the east has begun to collapse: due to the large number of freed slaves and peasants joining the Queen's expeditionary force, the Queen's rule in the east has actually been weakened. When Daenerys died at Bitter Bridge, these people suffered heavy losses and the survivors were forced to stay in the west. Taking advantage of this situation, the city-states that surrendered to the Queen, the citizens who were suppressed by the Queen, and the survivors of the slave-owning class all began to plan a counterattack against the free people. The flames rose, just a spark away.

The turmoil soon came: when the parliament left by the queen in Meereen rejected the ultimatum, New Ghis, Tolos and Elia broke away from the Targaryen Kingdom, and they united with Qarth again to rebuild the siege of the kingdom; in Yunkai and Astapor, citizens dissatisfied with the queen united with some surviving slave owners to launch a riot. Although the two riots were suppressed in time, Cleon the Butcher took the opportunity to consolidate his power in Astapor. He then called himself "Governor of Astapor" and began to ignore the orders of Meereen; in Lhaza, the local Lhazarin were divided into two factions, one of which chose to leave the kingdom. , and the other faction continued to obey the rule of Meereen; as for the vast grass sea in the north, many centaur tribes that had been sent by the queen to attack the border of the New Seven Kingdoms returned here, and the khals began to fight each other for pastures and wealth again. Only a few tribes chose to go south to join Petyr's army because of the interference of the queen's engineering corps. The Jogsnai tribes that were still loyal to the kingdom were also hesitant when seeing this, but some Jogsnai tribes still went to the Slaver's Bay to pledge allegiance to Daenerys's descendants; as for the small city-states on the north shore, they completely severed their already fragile ties with Meereen. Fortunately, although chaos had spread to the east, the little king's way back to Meereen was still open - there happened to be a garrison of free men in Mataris, which was located on the only way. They were originally the support army for the Queen's Westward Expedition. They arrived in Mataris when they received the news of the Queen's death, and immediately occupied the city. When the results of the Volantis Conference reached Mataris, the leader of this garrison, Moreno Dubbo, swore allegiance to King Rhaegal and opened the way for the army to advance eastward. Therefore, his army was named "The Shield Army", which means "The Shield of the Kingdom".

After Matarys met up with the Strong Shields, Petyr ordered the entire army to march east immediately. On the way to Meereen, the army encountered the Elia-Toros coalition which was also on its way to Meereen, and defeated them effortlessly. Petyr immediately realized that this was a great opportunity. He immediately turned his troops around to besiege the city of Toros on the mainland and quickly captured it. The citizens and nobles who resisted the kingdom were slaughtered by the army. When the Myr fleet bypassed Valyria and arrived at Toros, the city of Elia on the island suffered the same fate.

Now, the army no longer had to continue along the Demon Road. They could transport the army to Meereen more quickly by sea, and the fleet was not short of ships like the two city-states. After careful preparation, the eastward army was loaded onto the fleet in the two city-states, and even the little king boarded the flagship of the fleet under the protection of the Iron Guards; as the fleet set sail, nothing could stop them from returning to Meereen. At the mouth of the Brown Water River, the fleet was welcomed by the ships of Meereen; soon, about three months after Hugo Tollett was crowned in King's Landing, King Rhaegal Targaryen was officially crowned in the audience room of the Great Pyramid of Meereen. He sat on the ebony chair where his mother had sat, and the kingdom's archbishop, the former bishop of Gulltown supported by Petyr, anointed him, and the child, who was only a few years old, began his long reign.

At the same time, because the exiles in Westeros generally disliked the name "Slaver's Bay", the bay of the same name was renamed "Tranquility Bay", and the geographical Slaver's Bay area was renamed "The Land of the Bay"; therefore, although this eastern kingdom still calls itself the "Iron Throne", in order to distinguish it from the previous two generations of Iron Throne dynasties in Westeros, the author will refer to this eastern Targaryen kingdom by other common names of the kingdom in the following text, such as "Kingdom of the Bayland", "Gulf Kingdom", "Sea Kingdom", and "Sea Kingdom Dynasty".

5. Expansion of the Haiguo Dynasty
After the coronation of the young king, the ruling team of the Gulf Kingdom was also determined. Before the king came of age, the kingdom's affairs would be handled by the "Ruling Council", and both Western and Eastern dignitaries had seats in the council. The leader of this council was naturally Petyr Baelish, who was appointed as the kingdom's "Prime Minister" - this title was an ancient Ghis Empire title used after much consideration by the council.

When Petyr Baelish took over the appointment letter of Prime Minister from the young king, the "Prime Minister Era" of the Gulf Kingdom began.

At the beginning of his tenure, Petyr Baelish issued a decree that has had an impact to this day.

The threat of the Tollet Dynasty put great military pressure on the Gulf Kingdom, which had just emerged from chaos. In order to quickly restore the military gap caused by the disastrous defeat of the Western Expedition, Petyr started a long and steady military reform. In order to maintain a large and high-quality military district army within a limited ruling area, he nationalized a large amount of land from Volantis to Yunkai - that is, converted it into royal estates, and then granted them to exiled nobles, freemen, roundheads and grassland warriors who were loyal to the kingdom. Due to the nature of privileges and service, these people were later collectively referred to as "service nobles."

In order to ensure the loyalty and fighting power of the nobles in service, Petyr's land granting standards were very generous. For the nobles in service, what bothered them was never the land, but where the farmers who worked on it came from. At the same time, the legislation of the Gulf Dynasty also favored these soldiers. For example, there was a decree at the time that the nobles in service could refuse to use the land to repay the debt before the debt exceeded the total value of the land they occupied. Later, this standard was even directly adjusted to the price of the highest distribution standard, which basically avoided land annexation caused by debt problems for a long time. When the Dorne expedition ended and the Tollet Dynasty turned its attention to the east, the prime minister even ordered the permanent exemption of agricultural taxes for all nobles in service. Looking at the entire known world, this is an unprecedented policy.

However, the treatment of the nobles in service was so superior that the king had very strict requirements for them. Petyr tied the ownership and use of land to the obligation of military service. Each level of service territory had corresponding martial arts, equipment and number requirements. If they could not meet the requirements, they would face strict punishments - the culmination of these punishments was the confiscation of the service territory. And if no one in the family could bear the obligation of military service, their land would be reclaimed and re-granted to those who were able to serve.

At the same time, during the military reform, as the war in Dorne intensified, a large number of nobles from Westeros chose to flee to the east, and many knights, servants and subjects followed them. Although these people were just a loose group of stray dogs in the Tollet Dynasty, in the eyes of the prime minister, if they were integrated, they would also be a very powerful force for the Sea Kingdom. Therefore, the prime minister released the news that he was willing to shelter the exiles from Westeros, and he did treat every exile who arrived in the kingdom well, including many nobles, such as Willas Tyrell and Garlan Tyrell, whose surrender in turn consolidated the prime minister's authority.

In order to organize these new exiles, the prime minister also included them in the sequence of military reform. Later, the fiefs of these new and old exiles were collectively called Qiaoyi, and the districts that specifically managed them were called Qiaoling. Since the exiles were granted land and settled in units of their native places, these Qiaoling were often named after their native places. The management system also referred to the local feudal relations before the exile, and even the titles used the names before the exile. For example, the leader of the Rivermen near Meereen was called the Riverland, and its leader guardian was Willas Tyrell, the former heir to Highgarden, who still used the title of Duke of Highgarden; even the Valley leader, which was firmly controlled by Petyr Baelish, was nominally guarded by Robert Arryn, the Duke of the Eyrie, who was coerced to the east.

However, in order to win over these big Western families who fled with a large number of followers, the prime minister had to make some compromises. He divided up real estates called hereditary fiefdoms and granted them to these nobles. Before this, only the earliest and most important supporters of the queen and the prime minister had received such treatment.

In short, after creating a large number of local lords, Petyr finally maintained a strong army under the condition of a sharp decline in the direct jurisdiction of the kingdom. Before the second siege of Volantis, this army had about 7 nobles, 1 guards, and 2 navy, a total of 10 people. Although the force that the Sea Kingdom can mobilize is far less than that of its rival, the Tolte Dynasty, this army is truly elite from top to bottom, and will fight to the death against invaders to protect their land; in a series of foreign expeditions and border conflicts with the Tolte Dynasty, they often achieved great victories with little loss, and plundered and seized a large amount of spoils.

Finally, after bearing a lot of costs and expenses, the Gulf Kingdom successfully built a powerful army. Afterwards, the Prime Minister began to recover the kingdom's lost territory and expand the kingdom's power. This series of military operations was called "Expedition" and continued the title of the Baratheon Dynasty. During this period, the Gulf Kingdom conducted a total of ten expeditions.

The following is a brief description of the expeditions:
The First Expedition: The Sea Kingdom army regained control of the shaken Lazarin. The prime minister granted land to the soldiers, and the wealthy Lazarin greatly consolidated the survival of the service aristocracy system.

The second expedition: The sea kingdom army besieged Astapor, which refused to obey orders, and eventually executed the tyrant Cleon in a pit. The resisters were wiped out, and the prime minister gave land and property to the soldiers and obedient people.

The third expedition: The Sea Kingdom army marched from Guisca to New Guis, broke through the city and massacred people, and the prime minister gave land and property to the soldiers.

The fourth time: The Sea Kingdom army marched eastward, conquered and massacred the cities of Qarth. The prime minister gave land and property to the soldiers, and those who obeyed were pardoned.

The fifth and sixth times: With the cooperation of the Jogsnae tribes, the Sea Kingdom army tortured the unruly Dothraki tribes and made them submit to the king again; the prime minister set up tribal leaders in various parts of the Grass Sea to manage affairs, with the Jogsnae tribes that were more obedient to the kingdom as the core of rule, and rebuilt the Grassland City as its seat of government.

The seventh time: After reorganizing the tribes of the Grass Sea, the Sea Kingdom army expeditioned to the northern coast. The city-states of Salor and Ober submitted to the king. The prime minister rebuilt several cities of the masters and granted land to the soldiers and tribal leaders.

The eighth time: The Sea Kingdom’s army, assisted by the fleet, marched southwards and conquered the Big and Small Morak Islands, Vahar Island and Elephant Island. The rebels were slaughtered and all the eastern trade routes were under control.

The ninth time: The army of the Sea Kingdom defeated the Iban God King who challenged its hegemony in the north, slaughtered the army of the long-haired people, and the King of the North surrendered to the King of the Sea Kingdom.

The tenth time: The Sea Nation’s army and Tolte’s army fought for the lost city-state of Isalia, but there was no clear winner.

In short, through these ten expeditions, the Prime Minister not only conquered a large area of ​​land east of the Tolte Dynasty, but also consolidated his control over the grassland and made all surrounding forces surrender.

However, behind the continuous military victories, the Sea Kingdom also paid a huge price for it: 70% to 80% of the country's land is occupied by serving nobles, and their control over the land is getting deeper and deeper. At the same time, the tax exemption of a large amount of land also means that the kingdom needs to obtain sufficient income by controlling trade routes and constantly waging foreign wars. Although the serving nobles are still under the control of the prime minister, no one can say whether they will develop into hereditary nobles like Westeros that are enough to threaten the monarchy in the future, but for the current prime minister, this is a very distant thing.

On the other hand, the Tolte Dynasty would never turn a blind eye to the strength of the Sea Kingdom. Although Hugo I adopted a policy of pacifying the people and limited the scale of the war to border conflicts during his reign, he is now investing more and more in the eastern border. The local border troops are gradually becoming more proficient in repeated battles with the Sea Kingdom army. Gradually, the advantages of the Sea Kingdom army in border conflicts are being eliminated.

Of course, in this era when people are returning home, most people, especially the exiles from Westeros, only regard the actions of these kingdoms and the occupied eastern lands as strategies and fuel for counterattacking the West, and those predictable negative effects have not yet erupted.

In the continuous expeditions, the Gulf Kingdom under the Prime Minister's rule was becoming increasingly powerful, and his prestige was becoming increasingly unshakable. But even so, Petyr did not immediately launch the "Restoration War" that the whole country had been looking forward to for a long time. He was waiting patiently for Hugo's death. He knew that Hugo had extraordinary appeal to the entire kingdom, so he chose to launch a counterattack when the new king ascended the throne.

However, things don't always develop as one wishes.

6. The Last Expedition
Over the past decade since he took the throne, Hugo has always kept the threat of the Eastern Sea Kingdom in mind. In order to heal the kingdom's wounds, he gave up the plan of a quick victory and only strengthened the border defense and limited the conflict to the border areas. However, the Sea Kingdom army stationed in Volantis has been constantly creating border conflicts and even went deep into the eastern hinterland to plunder. Gradually, when the Sea Kingdom expanded its power to Esalia in the north and the cost of maintaining the border defense of the kingdom became higher and higher, the king realized that he had to go to war to solve the problem once and for all.

Therefore, in order to solve the huge hidden danger of the Haiguo Kingdom, Hugo I planned a large-scale expedition intended to completely destroy the enemy.

Despite being mentally prepared, the kingdom's army encountered huge problems during the assembly phase. The long period of peace had caused the military preparedness in most parts of the kingdom to be lax. Although the peaceful era had nurtured a large number of new generations who intended to emulate their predecessors, how to organize them became a huge problem. The previous direct jurisdiction over various places on both sides of the Narrow Sea had exhausted the administrative agencies of the national throne, and this large-scale mobilization had put them into overload.

However, at this time, the whole kingdom was relatively optimistic about this expedition. The kingdom had accumulated an astonishing amount of wealth and materials in the previous ten years of peace, and could afford a long siege like Robert's. Therefore, even though some bad omens had appeared, the mobilization for war continued under the leadership of the national throne.

When the mobilization was finally completed, the throne of the country finally assembled a full 300,000 troops: the two sides of the narrow sea had been at peace for too long, and people were eager to gain military merit, so there was an endless stream of recruits. Hugo I originally wanted to control the size of the army to 200,000, but due to the excessive enthusiasm for the expedition and the failure of several attempts to disband local troops, he had no choice but to accept this fact - and thus, the fourth expedition of the kingdom began.

The primary target of this expedition is Volantis, the city where Robert was defeated. Over the years, this city has been like a sharp blade inserted into the body of the kingdom. The army of the Sea Kingdom has been advancing from here to the heart of the kingdom, causing it to bleed. This time, Hugo I intends to plug this gap and solve the border problem once and for all.

However, just as the army was marching towards Volantis, the negative impact of the extremely bloated army naturally arrived. Because the expeditionary force was too large, the throne of the country did not have enough soldiers to lead each team to the battlefield, so a lot of chaos began to appear: many troops inexplicably collapsed during the march, some noble children caused friction and even fought over trivial matters, and there were even guys who did not understand the tactics of war suddenly had wild ideas and led the army into a ditch... Although these emergencies did not develop into a major chaos that affected the entire army, they also alerted the optimistic king. He began to adjust his plan and consciously let those experienced border troops play a more important role. Facts will prove that his choice is correct.

When the army arrived at the mouth of the Rhoyne River, the Second Siege of Volantis began. The attack on this important Targaryen city was not smooth. The Sea Kingdom army defending the city fought hard, and the sufficient supplies in the city could support them for a long time. The expeditionary army spent two months to break through its outer city, but then they had to face the indestructible black wall of the inner city. The war really turned into a tug-of-war, but the king was prepared for this. He quickly issued corresponding orders and prepared for a long siege.

Gradually, the siege of Volantis lasted for more than a year. At first, the expeditionary army was in high spirits and vowed to conquer the city. However, as time went by, the Black Wall still stood tall, and the expeditionary army's vigilance was quietly worn out.

At first, the soldiers took turns standing guard, keeping their eyes on any suspicious places and not letting go of any movement. But as time went by, the counterattack of the defending army gradually weakened, and the expected rescue army did not arrive. Some generals began to relax their vigilance, and the soldiers gradually slacked off, and more and more loopholes began to appear. Finally, on another numb and boring night, the reinforcements from the Sea Kingdom arrived - they took advantage of the night to quietly approach in the dark, and quietly touched the edge of the expeditionary army's endless camp.

For the Gulf Kingdom, Hugo's expedition was like a heavy blow that must not be resisted directly. After careful discussion, Petyr decided to rely on the high walls of Volantis to block Hugo's troops. When they were exhausted and numb under the black wall, the kingdom's army could march westward calmly and wait for an opportunity to raid the expeditionary camp, causing them to fall into chaos and completely collapse.

In the end, the camp raid lasted the entire night. When the sun rose again, the outside of Volantis was already littered with corpses. The raid by the Sea Kingdom army worked. A large number of expeditionary soldiers were killed in their sleep. Many people who woke up in time could not escape. Many camps became a battlefield. However, when the Sea Kingdom army wanted to go deeper into the camp, a battle line blocked their steps - these people were Hugo's personal soldiers and the border troops along the Rhoen River. Thanks to the fact that the expeditionary camp was too large, when the Sea Kingdom army was killing outside, these experienced veterans were the first to react. Under the king's order, they began to counterattack from multiple directions and tried to flank the enemy; soon, the two groups of people collided.

The ensuing battle was a complete melee, with the Sea Kingdom army and the expeditionary force constantly sending out troops to fight each other. When the dust settled, the Sea Kingdom's relief army could not bear the tragic losses like the expeditionary force and took the initiative to withdraw from the battlefield. After carefully cleaning up the battlefield, the officials of the kingdom presented their own statistics to Hugo: about 10,000 people died in the night melee, and more than 20,000 people were injured for various reasons. The number of escapees and prisoners was incalculable. As for the Sea Kingdom army, they left more than 7,000 bodies on the battlefield. It is estimated that the number of wounded was between 15,000 and 20,000. The enemy was undoubtedly seriously injured.

However, although the enemy's surprise attack was blocked and even severely damaged, Hugo I was not happy. He knew that this victory was not due to the strength of the kingdom's army. If it were not for the huge size of the military camp that allowed him and his elite troops to react in time, this night attack would have ended in a disastrous defeat: this was not a victory of the army, but a victory of size. Size is certainly a great advantage, but if you only rely on size to win, what if one day the kingdom can no longer gather a large army?
The only thing that could make the king feel a little happy at this moment was probably the opening of the city of Volantis. As the defenders of the big city, the sea kingdom troops on the city wall naturally watched the entire raid. They also tried to rush out to help the reinforcements, but Hugo had already deployed troops in key places, so they failed. When the sun rose, the defenders despaired to find that the reinforcements had been completely repelled, and the bodies left on the battlefield also meant that the reinforcements were seriously injured in the battle.

"We will not get any more reinforcements." Pessimism spread quickly among the soldiers defending the city. Finally, after several days of discussion, the defenders opened the gate of the Black Wall and presented the ceremonial key to Hugo. After about thirty years, the seven-pointed star battle flag finally flew over the city. In the square of the city, the king announced that from now on, the two large territories of Upper and Lower Lorn would be merged into the Lorn Territory, and Volantis would become a city directly under the throne of the country; at the same time, the king also promised that he would treat the surrendered defenders fairly, but they had to move out of the city and live in various places in the new seven countries.

Finally, after a series of celebrations to celebrate the capture of the city, the expeditionary force left this sad place and headed for its second target - Mataris.

In the following march, Hugo I learned the lessons of the siege of Volantis. He disbanded the extra expeditionary forces and began to adopt a steady and cautious strategy. On the one hand, he arranged for soldiers to continuously build military stations and strongholds along the road from Volantis to Mataris and establish a stable supply line. On the other hand, he also sent heavy troops to clear out the defeated soldiers and bandits along the road. Some Dothraki tribes moving south from the north were also defeated, which completely consolidated this road.

Having learned from the lessons of Volantis, the expeditionary force was able to avoid many problems along the way. After a long march, they finally arrived at the city of Mataris.

In the previous siege, almost all the nobles in the Mataris region participated in the battle because they were the closest, and they suffered huge losses after the war. Now, with the Western army approaching, this city where almost every family was in mourning chose to surrender after weighing the pros and cons, and the expedition seemed to be back on track.

However, by this time, Hugo I had realized that Mataris was the limit of this expedition. The expeditionary army had been badly damaged in the previous war, the natural conditions of the Demon Road were extremely harsh, and the cost of the army was far beyond expectations, not to mention the impregnable Gulf built by Petyr. Considering all aspects, continuing the expedition was not worth the cost.

Faced with this situation, Hugo I finally made a rational decision. At the banquet celebrating the capture of Mataris, he announced to the remaining expeditionary forces that the Fourth Expedition was over. At the same time, the kingdom would establish an eastern border around Mataris and send troops to station there.

"The breach at the border has been closed, the enemy has suffered heavy losses in the battle, and we have come further than the King of Conquerors. It is time to return home."

On the second day after the banquet, most of the expeditionary forces started to return home, but King Hugo did not leave immediately. He led some officials and soldiers to survey the river that flows into the Sea of ​​Sighs beside the city, and announced that this river would become the kingdom's eastern boundary river. It was later named the River of Regrets, and the kingdom's boundary stone was also erected on the river bank. Afterwards, Hugo I also hired craftsmen to make a stone tablet in the city of Mataris. The top of the stone tablet was engraved with an exquisite seven-pointed star pattern, and below it was recorded the overview and achievements of the four large-scale expeditions of the Baratheon and Tollett dynasties. At the end of the stone tablet, it narrated the regret that Hugo I failed to conquer the Sea Kingdom.

After that, the king left Mataris and never returned. With the end of the Fourth Crusade, the Age of Crusades in the Sunset Kingdom also came to an end.

(End of this chapter)