The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 269 Extra: Hugo's Reforms and Power Transfer (20k)

I. The Parade After the Expedition

When the monument commemorating the victory stood in the city of Mataris, the kingdom's fourth expedition, or rather the Toller Expedition, came to an end. Gazing at the desolate Demon Road, King Hugo's ambitions were ultimately scattered in the River of Regret. However, time does not stop flowing just because a great feat has faded away, and for Hugo, there were still many things to do.

In this era ruled by the descendants of the Holy King, people have clearly divided the past into distinct periods. For example, Robert's reign is divided into three phases: the Rebellion, the Eastern Expedition, and the Peaceful Reign. Similarly, as the successor to the Conqueror King, Hugo I's reign is also clearly divided into two phases. In the first phase, King Hugo swiftly quelled the chaos in the kingdom, eliminating the remaining resistance fighters and allowing the nation to recuperate. In the second phase, he began to address the kingdom's system and resolve the problems exposed by the throne. Between these two periods lies the unfinished Ptolemaic Expedition.

In the eyes of the wise, the most terrifying problems are often the hidden ones. Although this massive expedition came to an end at the Demon's Path, the problems exposed during the expedition must be seriously addressed. As the first ruler of the dynasty, Hugo I was determined to perfect the order he had built. Therefore, although the expedition had ended, the king did not choose to immediately return to King's Landing or Hugo's City. Instead, he decided to launch a grand tour throughout the country.

Like Aegon the Conqueror, King Hugo frequently toured during his reign, traveling between King's Landing and Andas via various routes, but none of his previous tours could compare in scale or duration. The king embarked on this grand tour with his entire court, beginning in Volantis, then heading north to Andas, before continuing south along the coast through Pentos, Myr, the Contested Lands, Tyrosh, and Lys. From the harbor of Lys, the king sailed west, landing in Dorne before continuing north to the Wall. During the tour, the king visited city after city, moving his court from castle to castle, visiting the various houses of the kingdom, before finally returning to King's Landing. When he once again stepped through the gates of the capital, the tour had lasted a full year and a half.

Years later, merchants across the land still praised King Hugo for this tour, but its significance went far beyond simply enriching some merchants. During the tour, the king routinely dispatched his entourage to investigate local conditions, frequently summoned local lords, clergy, maesters, and commoners, and sometimes even held court to arbitrate unresolved disputes. These activities are recorded in the archives hundreds of times. Upon returning to the capital, the king did not rest on his throne for a moment. He almost immediately issued a decree ordering officials throughout the land to conduct a nationwide investigation. He then sailed alone across the Narrow Sea to the ancient Andal capital. After a month of meticulous preparation, he prayed for seven days in the sanctuary of this ancient city. After the king finished his prayers, reports from all over the land began to be sent back to King's Landing. Upon seeing this, Hugo quickly returned to Westeros, beginning a sweeping reform of the kingdom that would last for several years.

II. The Old System of the National Throne

Before recounting Hugo I's adjustments to the kingdom, we should first understand the state of the throne before Ptolemaic expedition. The following is a brief overview of the throne during this period.

When Hugo Tollett defeated Daenerys Targaryen, crushed the main Targaryen army, and forced the Tyrells to surrender at the end of the third century after the conquest, the devastated Iron Throne did not immediately return to peace, nor were the old problems resolved with Hugo's coronation as king.

The resistance of Dorne and the Lords of the Reach to the throne has already been described in the preceding text, and in some other regions, the situation was not much better than in the south of the kingdom. In the North, although the White Walkers' offensive had been repelled, the aftermath of the long winter still devastated local agriculture, and the damage to the Wall from the war was also serious; in the Riverlands, the fierce War of the Succession destroyed the prosperity of Robert's era, and countless deserters and bandits roamed the countryside, plundering villages and merchants; and in the Vale, the local rule fell into chaos after Petyr Baelish took the heads and patriarchs of the various families hostage. Although King Hugo promptly appointed Harold Hatton as Warden of the Vale to act as Lord Arryn in handling state affairs, the struggle for headship among the Vale families did not ease but instead intensified.

Moreover, the seven kingdoms of the East were not peaceful at this time either. Although the throne of the kingdom had firmly controlled the core areas of the east, various forces that resisted the kingdom remained active in other places. The remnants of Braavos were still resisting in the far north, the warlords of the disputed lands and the pirates of the Stone Steps Islands were stirring up trouble again after the kingdom's strength was weakened, many territories on the Rhys coast were still controlled by the River Reef nobles, and the border troubles in the Lorne River basin had not ended.

As king, Hugo could not ignore these problems. Therefore, while the campaign to eliminate Dorne was progressing steadily, he was also trying to stabilize the order in other regions. The king's actions toward Dorne were more or less influenced by the situation in other regions—after all, the Dorne Great Territory was far less valuable to the kingdom than most other territories.

Unlike the Targaryen dynasty and King Robert, Hugo I governed the kingdom with greater care and attention to detail, most notably in his efforts to stabilize Westeros during the early years of his reign.

After the Battle of Dragonfall, Hugo disbanded most of the Allied forces, ordering them to return home to resume production and restore order. As for the remaining troops, Hugo divided them into three groups: one went north to assist the Freys in stabilizing the Riverlands; another went to various parts of the Reach to assist the officials in controlling local territories and estates; and finally, the largest group followed Hugo south, first taking over Highgarden after its surrender, and then, after Hugo's return to King's Landing, marching all the way to the frontiers of Dorne, driving the openly rebellious Reach remnants into the desert kingdoms before disbanding them, leaving only a small force for permanent defense of key roads and passes.

According to historical records from this period, these three armies were known as the "Riverlands Army," the "Reach Army," and the "Frontier Army." The Frontier Army was reorganized into the Western Route Army, commanded by Frey, Florent, and Hatton, during the Dorne Expedition six months later, and was ultimately disbanded after the expedition. In contrast, the Riverlands Army and the Reach Army did not disband after the pacification of Dorne; they remained organized because King Hugo assigned them different duties—to suppress and quell remaining hostile forces and bandits in the Riverlands and Reach regions. They were commanded by "warlords" appointed by King Hugo.

The establishment of the position of Warlord, though unprecedented, was not abrupt. In the early years of his reign, as the nation had not yet recovered from the chaos of the War of the Counts and the Long Night, even after designating many territories as direct domains, Hugo I largely continued the Targaryen and Baratheon ruling structure in the provinces. However, while maintaining the old system, in order to stabilize the provinces more quickly and eliminate the remnants of the previous dynasty, the king adopted the advice of his close advisor, Gladell, and, drawing inspiration from the River Stables of the Baratheon era, recognized and appointed local allies as governors of the state while also dispatching his trusted confidants with troops to the provinces as Warlords. This general would both assist the allies in stabilizing the local situation and supervise their actions.

In the Riverlands, Hugo's actions yielded excellent results. Due to the close relationship between the Tollet and Frey families, as well as the nobles of the Three Rivers, the Riverlands army received their active support in its mopping-up operations. The local churches, benefiting from the Tollets' influence, also showed a friendly attitude. Therefore, the royal army's operations there proceeded very smoothly. With the cooperation of various lords, bandits and defeated soldiers roaming the countryside and river channels were continuously wiped out. On some days, the royal army could eliminate dozens or even hundreds of bandits in a single day, and almost the same number of outlaws laid down their arms.

Under the kingdom's resolute crackdown, the organized and large-scale bandit groups in the Three Rivers region disappeared 302 years after the conquest. The remaining remnants were no match for the enemy, and even a single knight could hunt them down. Therefore, from that year onwards, the size of the River Army was reduced year by year, eventually retaining only a force of one thousand men, stationed at Harrenhal. As for the other soldiers, some were sent to the eastern border, while most went south to join the River Bend Army.

In the Reach, the Kingdom faced a much more complex situation. While Hugo Tollett and the State Throne enjoyed widespread support locally, including from the Church and the populace, the purge of the Bluehand descendants and the large-scale direct rule policies pushed many previously neutral lower-ranking lords, maesters, and subjects to the opposite side of the Kingdom. Some upper-class church members from noble families were also dissatisfied with the current situation. As a result, the Kingdom's power consistently faced resistance in the Reach.

In the initial stages of their occupation, the Reach Army resolutely suppressed local resistance and instigators, while also confiscating as many weapons as possible. Considering that many Reach nobles who had fled the battlefield intended to regroup and resist, this move was undoubtedly timely and effective. However, after eliminating the most active resistance fighters, the Reach Army proved helpless in governing the region: the Reach was too vast, and the situation within its territory too complex. Even with the support of House Florent and hundreds of officials, the situation was far from optimistic. King Daeron I, the Young Dragon King, had deployed 40,000 men to control Dorne, but ultimately failed to preserve the gains of the war. Now, the Reach Army had only 10,000 spears, yet it was trying to control the entire Reach, a territory several times larger than Dorne. How much could it possibly achieve? Therefore, after a year of struggling, Snow, the Reach Warlord "Chief Farmer," sent a letter to King's Landing pleading for help. He requested that King Hugo send more troops to the Reach, otherwise, the Reach might once again descend into chaos.

When Hugo received Snow's letter, he had just finished his rounds of arbitration in the valley.

At the very beginning of the kingdom's founding, the Vale was still in turmoil due to the vacancy of the heads of the houses. Since most of the Vale's heads of houses had been taken into custody and abducted by Petyr Baelish during the War of the Succession, the entire Vale was mired in a vortex of succession disputes. Related lawsuits flooded into the Eyrie, and even Harold Hatton, who was familiar with local affairs, could not resolve them all. He had no choice but to request King Hugo's intervention to arbitrate using his royal authority and status as a Chosen of the Seven.

Therefore, King Hugo immediately traveled to the Vale after his campaign in Dorne concluded. During the arbitrations held in various regions, he not only listened attentively to the appeals of the contenders for the throne but also frequently sought the opinions of elders, retainers, and even the common people before finally issuing his decision. For those who failed to become heads of households, the king did not treat them as enemies of the kingdom. He received them with leniency, granted them lands in the east, and instructed them to quickly organize their forces and go there to assume their fiefdoms. Thanks to the king's appropriate handling, the unrest in the Vale was successfully quelled, and those who went east to claim the throne strengthened the kingdom's borders.

Many books and hymns today portray Hugo I as a saintly figure strictly adhering to moral laws and a fanatical believer; however, even by observing his actions through the Valley Arbitration incident alone, we can understand that he was neither bound by rigid frameworks nor fanatical, and adept at advocating for his own interests based on practical circumstances. Before proceeding, I urge readers to set aside preconceived notions about this saintly king; only then can you better understand his choices.

Due to the urgency of the situation, King Hugo met Snow's messenger before even crossing the Blood Gate. After carefully understanding the situation, he led his personal guard directly to the Bridge of Bitterness to meet with Snow. In front of the reconstructed Chapel of the Bridge of Bitterness, the king had a lengthy conversation with the veteran general, and many detailed questions and circumstances were only then revealed to the king. Therefore, following the conversation, Hugo I immediately concluded that the Florentine family was incapable of governing the entire Reach, and thus made a new round of adjustments.

The most notable change in this round of adjustments was the dismantling of the Great Reach. Since Aegon the Conqueror carved out the royal domain from the Riverlands and Stormlands, the kingdom had not seen such a large-scale reorganization in three hundred years. The Reach was thus divided into three: the Great Reach of Bitterbridge with Bitterbridge as its capital, the Great Reach of Highgarden with Highgarden as its capital, and the Great Reach of Oldtown with Oldtown as its capital. The Great Reach of Bitterbridge encompassed a vast area north of the River Boatwright, the Great Reach of Oldtown governed many lands in the Meadow River basin, and the Great Reach of Highgarden lay in between.

In appointing governors of the Greatlands, the King entrusted the Greatland of Bitterbridge to the local lords of House Holt, with whom he had a close relationship. The war-ravaged Oldtown was handed over to Theodor Wells, who had just arrived from the East. This long-time follower of Hugo, perhaps the only Dornish the King truly trusted, remained. The Greatland of Highgarden was still held by Allister Floren, the former governor of the Reach. Furthermore, to stabilize the Reach more quickly and to prevent the region from being affected by the chaos in Dorne, the King recruited an additional 7,000 troops for the Reach army and proportionally transferred several hundred officials from King's Landing and the East as support—a considerable investment. Regarding this latter point, some rumors circulated that to meet the Reach's demand for officials, the King even withdrew some of the typesetters from the printing press; considering the King's subsequent actions, this is likely true.

"The best way to quell a rebellion is to nip it in the bud," he famously said when questioned about Aegon the Conqueror's constant travels. For this founder of the Targaryen dynasty, simply showing any restless resistance his colossal and terrifying "Black Death" was enough to quickly dismantle any dissent. Like his predecessor, King Hugo also had his own methods for eradicating rebellion. While he lacked the Targaryen dragons and the Baratheon's martial prowess, he possessed an advantage neither of them had—the ability and resources to build a system.

The division of the Reach was Hugo's first step in stabilizing the southern region. The king made corresponding arrangements for the three newly established great territories. Of the three, the Great Territory of Bitterbridge was the most supportive of the royal family and also the most stable. Therefore, Hugo I's governance there was the most lenient, basically maintaining the old ruling structure. However, in the other two great territories, Hugo took more decisive actions.

In the Great Territory of Oldtown, the original ruling structure was severely damaged by Euron's massacre, so Hugo had to rebuild order through the remaining church system. For example, the Bishop of Oldtown had long served as the deputy to the governor of the Great Territory. Here, the governor of the Great Territory was authorized to establish his own administrative and military organs modeled after King's Landing, had the right to appoint local lords and officials, and could also retain a portion of the tax revenue for reconstruction.

Locally, due to the destruction or migration of many lord families, many areas of the Old Town Territory were re-defined according to the parishes of the church. The local bishops and abbots often held multiple positions, not only guiding the people in the spiritual world, but also acting as administrators appointed by the king in the secular world, representing the royal family in exercising governance. Therefore, many of them were not simply clergymen, but were selected from the most loyal and talented officials in the kingdom. This was especially important when Green Pavilion Island was not yet pacified.

The situation was different in Highgarden. Following the War of the Second Trade, many of the defeated soldiers of the Battle of Dragonfall and refugees from Oldtown fled to the fertile lands of the Mande River. Furthermore, this was the core territory ruled by the descendants of the Bluehand King. Although House Tyrell had surrendered to the King, and some churches had responded to the call of the Archbishop of King's Landing, a considerable number of people remained loyal to the old order. Therefore, in Highgarden, King Hugo's goal was never appeasement and reconstruction, but rather the complete destruction of the "Bluehand King's Order" and its replacement with a new system for the throne. Consequently, not only did the majority of the Reach army gather here, but officials from the south and reinforcements from the Riverlands also continuously arrived. It was against this backdrop that Hugo constructed the framework of his "new system."

This system had no formal name; it is commonly referred to as the "county system." In regions where the "county system" was to be implemented, the king's army would first convert, exile, or expel lower-ranking lords who sympathized with the old order. Then, an administrative unit called a "county" would be established in these lands. At this time, a county typically governed a dozen or so villages and towns. Afterward, the king or the governor of the great territory would promote clerks or knights who had served in the royal court to the position of county governor. Sometimes, local noble families who supported the king would also be appointed. The county governor was responsible for military, judicial, and other affairs within the county, carrying out the king's various orders, and for this, he would receive rewards and gifts, typically a hereditary territory and one-fifth to one-third of the tax revenue.

In addition, in order to assist the county magistrates in stabilizing the local areas, and also as a means of checks and balances, the royal court dispatched royal judges to various regions after the order in each region gradually stabilized. Later, a system of circuit judges similar to that of Andas was formed. These circuit judges went to each county to preside over cases that should be heard by the royal court and the governors of the great territories. At this time, the county magistrates were responsible for urging the relevant personnel to attend court, maintaining court order, and had no right to interfere with the court's decisions.

At the same time, although it was called the "county system", in some areas, the kingdom did not establish counties after expelling local lords, but instead allowed local villages to govern themselves, which is somewhat similar to the vassal alliances in the east.

Like other regions, the rural areas of the Reach were grassroots social units rich in political, economic, and cultural content. Most villages practiced a system of communal farming and grazing, known as the open field system. In many places, they formed autonomous territorial units, which scholars call village communities. These villages were organized enough to control local resources and maintain contact with higher-level governments. Therefore, the king allowed people to manage their internal affairs autonomously, while fulfilling their obligations to the kingdom and the king. Villagers were also allowed to elect their own administrators. In the Reach, these administrators responsible for managing the villages were called "elders." Some villages also had elected "hay stewards" (managing agriculture), "land dividers" (managing grassland demarcation), and "forest rangers."

In addition, during Hugo's time, the Old Bend region, especially the Great Territory of Highgarden, was widely characterized by a system known as the "Ten-Household District," which was paired with the "Ten-Household Guarantee" system. As the name suggests, the Ten-Household Guarantee system involved ten households in villages and towns mutually guaranteeing each other's identities, usually managed by a "Ten-Household Guarantee Officer." This system guaranteed that if the person guaranteed a crime, they would be summoned to court on time. If the person guaranteed failed to appear, the heads of the remaining nine households had to undergo rigorous interrogation and swear to the seven gods that they had absolutely not participated in harboring or assisting the criminal's escape. Otherwise, the local judge or administrator would transfer the consequences of the crime to the remaining nine, forcing them to accept punishment and various fines.

Naturally, while constructing the new system of the River Bend, King Hugo did not forget to adjust the organization and tasks of the River Bend Army. No matter how sophisticated or crude a system may be, without military protection, it is very likely to be overthrown by supporters of the old system. After carefully listening to the old general's report, the king believed that the hidden dangers in the River Bend did not lie with the nobles who were either in hiding or had fled, but rather with the grassroots lords and people who held support for or sympathy for the lords and the old system. Therefore, suppressing grassroots unrest became the key task of the River Bend Army.

In practice, the king not only divided the Reach Army into various battalions and garrisons, but also made the most of his influence in the church to gradually replace unreliable priests. At the same time, he had trusted people conduct favorable propaganda among the people. As a result, when a popular uprising broke out in the old territory of Rowan in 303 years after the conquest, the 1,600 rioters marching towards Golden Tree City ran headlong into 300 Reach Army cavalrymen, 1,000 members of the religious order, and tens of thousands of people armed with clubs. Almost all the agitators were sent to the Wall.

Meanwhile, within Hugo's system, the commanders of the River Bend Army were not rigid. Through long-term experience in maintaining order, they drew a conclusion that remains valid today: using cavalry to suppress rioters was far superior to using infantry. The reason was that while cavalry instilled greater fear, it caused far less harm. In the River Bend Army's daily operations, a force of only twenty or thirty cavalrymen could easily disperse a group of rioters; if infantry were used, hundreds would be needed to achieve the same result, and it could also lead to numerous other problems.

Benefiting from this experience, as the situation in the south gradually improved, King Hugo was able to significantly reduce the size of the Reach army, allowing him to devote more of the kingdom's resources to the east and the Wall, thus alleviating the corresponding financial burden. From 305 years after the conquest, the Reach army retained only 1,500 men, stationed at Bitterbridge, Highgarden, and Oldtown. The affairs of Highgarden were personally overseen by the Reach warlord, while the other two were managed by his lieutenant. At this time, the army consisted of approximately 1,200 light cavalry.

As the Reach gradually stabilized, the situation in Westeros also became more stable. The King finally had the opportunity to address the destabilizing factors outside the continent of Westeros. First and foremost were the remnants of Braavos in the far north and the Ironborn who held sway on Greenwood. The Kingdom didn't expend much time and energy on them. The Braavos remnants resisted from scattered colonies and outposts on the north shore of Essos, but were quickly wiped out by the combined forces of House Umber, the Free Men, and Loras. The Ironborn held out for a few more months, but after the Royal Army successfully landed with the Eastern Fleet, aside from those who wisely left after being persuaded by Greyjoy, the rest of the Ancient Path followers were sent on a one-way journey to the underworld by sword.

The real problem troubling the kingdom was in the Reiss Territory. Although the Reiss Islands had been reclaimed by the kingdom long ago, on the coast of the mainland, the kingdom encountered fierce resistance from the River Bend settlers, led by Landau Tarly and Matus Rowan.

As a seasoned veteran under the Iron Throne, Randyll Tarly did not perish in the rout following the Battle of Dragonfall. After carefully assessing the situation, he swiftly returned to Hornhill and, with his second son, Dickon, transferred the family's forces to the coast of Rhys, across the Narrow Sea. Having led armies there for many years, Randyll Tarly was intimately familiar with the local situation and maintained trust with the local lords. Therefore, upon his retreat, Randyll Tarly quickly took control of the situation on the Rhys coast and, together with Matus Rowan who arrived later, re-established local rule—exercising authority in the name of the Iron Throne.

Here, the two Reach lords organized an army of several thousand men and forged alliances with the warlords of the Disputed Lands and the Targaryen forces of Valantis, agreeing to advance and retreat together and support each other. Faced with the powerful Throne of the Nation, only by uniting all forces could they barely maintain the status quo, and even the fickle warlords of the Disputed Lands actively upheld the alliance. As a result, these three forces became active on the southern shore of Essos, frequently clashing with the None's punitive expeditions and launching several campaigns against Myr, the Armory Coast, Lower Lorne, and the Isles of Rees, attempting to break the deadlock.

The resistance on the coast of Lys displeased the king, so he decided to personally command the war there. After carefully studying the local situation, Hugo discovered that previous campaigns had often been effective in first attacking the disputed territory and then steadily advancing under the leadership of the local lord who supported the kingdom. However, the cunning local warlords frequently harassed the royal army's logistics and summoned reinforcements from the Tarly and Rowan when the royal army was bogged down in sieges, inevitably leading to a stalemate. In the king's view, the biggest problem with the disputed territory was its location on the edge of his domain; the governors of Tyrosh and Myr could not devote their full-time efforts to it. Therefore, he immediately established a new administrative body in the disputed territory and appointed Edric Baratheon as its governor. The arrival of a member of the royal family greatly boosted the morale of the local army, and the troops and administrative personnel that Stannis had assigned to his nephew also alleviated the local personnel shortage.

Subsequently, in the latter half of the 303rd year after the conquest, King Hugo personally led an expedition, launching the largest campaign in the kingdom's history, in conjunction with the armies of Myr, Tyrosh, the Contested Lands, and Upper and Lower Lorne. The fighting in the Contested Lands was handled by the Tyrosh and Myr forces under Stannis Baratheon, while the local army under Edric was responsible for garrisoning the captured strongholds. In the middle reaches of the Lorne River, the assembled Lannisters marched south along the Great River, capturing the Orange Coast while preventing the Targaryen armies of Volantis from reinforcing it to the west. Meanwhile, on the border between Myr and the Rhys Coast, the king brought his Kingsguard from the north—an army composed of Andas troops and several loyal and reputable knightly orders—and, with the assistance of the newly appointed Kingsguard Captain Bonifur Hasty, directly attacked the Rhys Coast.

Under the siege of multiple armies, Tarly and Rhowan were forced to split their forces and fight separately. Matus Rhowan, who was holding the eastern coast, led his kin to the Orange Coast, intending to join forces with the Volantis. However, he inadvertently ran into the Lannisters marching south and suffered heavy losses, forcing him to retreat to the Sea Kingdom via Volantis. After that, Randyll Tarly, who continued to fight on the Rhys Coast and the Disputed Lands, lost all possible reinforcements. He commanded his thousands of troops who were still loyal to him, relying on the local hills and forests to entangle with the royal army. Sometimes he led the Reach settlers to raid the king's guards, and sometimes he led the remaining warlords of the Disputed Lands to fight against Baratheon and his nephew from the fortress. During this time, he also killed several commanders of the royal army, but was eventually besieged by the army at Bloodhill in the southern part of the Disputed Lands.

However, due to the significant losses inflicted on the royal army by the fierce resistance of the Tarly family on the Reach coast, the monarchs and ministers of the throne were willing to negotiate with them to stabilize this turbulent eastern territory as soon as possible. Therefore, in the presence of the local bishop, King Hugo personally negotiated with Randolph Tarly. The final agreement was that the Tarly family would submit to the kingdom, their ancestral fortress, Cornerstone, located in the Reach, would be retained, but their territory would be transferred to the Reach coast. In exchange, Randolph Tarly and the core members of his army would collectively don black robes and go to the Wall, the position of head of the family would be passed to his second son, Dickon Tarly, and the throne would also agree to the throne stationing officials on the Reach coast to establish a system similar to that of the Old Reach region.

When Randy dove in his black robes and handed the clan sword "Heartbreaker" to his successor Dickon in the presence of the army, it was nearly 305 years after the conquest. Only then did the aftermath of the War of the Succession finally subside.

After this battle, Hugo I disbanded almost all of the royal army, and for the next ten years, apart from border conflicts with the Sea Kingdom, the throne did not engage in any large-scale military operations. However, for a ruler, military affairs are never the entirety of his responsibilities; many hidden dangers and problems still existed within the kingdom, and King Hugo continued to try to resolve them.

Some problems are easily solved, such as the prevalent blood sacrifice and slavery traditions in Eastern religions. Following the example of the religious council that had previously established the calendar, Hugo invited representatives of the Eastern religions, led by the Red God Order, the Norfolk Order, and the Black Goat Order, to King's Landing. Together, they swore an oath to use only animals for sacrifice and never to engage in any form of human sacrifice. Since the known world's slave trade system had been completely destroyed by the National Throne and the Sea Kingdom, and the Eastern orders were replacing their former servants with grassroots believers, this was a convenient opportunity to declare their abolitionist stance and determination.

Hugo was very pleased with the orders' attitude. After the ceremony, he issued a decree, based on their joint efforts in fighting the White Walkers and their abolition of blood sacrifices, slavery, and many shameless rituals. Although the kingdom's state religion remained the Seven Gods, as long as these orders accepted the supervision of the throne and maintained a peaceful dissemination of their faith, he, as the king, would no longer impose any restrictions on their activities within the kingdom—except, of course, on the Many-Faced God. The various orders were overjoyed by this decree. After expressing their gratitude and submission, they withdrew from the Red Keep. Within a day, several properties belonging to the Eastern Orders appeared in King's Landing.

Of course, there were also some problems within the kingdom that the king could not solve by relying on his reputation and influence. The most urgent of these was how to repair the Wall, which had been damaged during the White Walker invasion.

According to the legend, scholars speculate that the First Men, the Children of the Forest, and the Giants, with the help of natural laws and some magical power, used ice from a nearby lake to build the seven-hundred-foot-high wonder of the world. This would undoubtedly have taken a considerable amount of time, but the king could not agree to leave the kingdom exposed to the threat of the White Walkers for hundreds of years. Therefore, King Hugo showed a sense of urgency in repairing the Wall that he never showed in any other matter.

The king's urgency may be related to the legend of the Night King: in Hugo I's understanding, the Night King's legend is interpreted as a probing and counterattack by the northern evil god against the known world. If the Wall hadn't been truly protected, the White Walker army might have once again invaded the warm south—but now the Wall is damaged. Therefore, the repair of the Wall began after the White Walkers were repelled, but progress was slow due to the unstable situation and a lack of knowledge about the relevant forces. With the situation in the south stabilizing, the king was finally able to focus on this massive undertaking. In his plan, King Hugo divided the repair of the Wall into several phases. In the first phase, the king will gather as much food, fuel, and winter clothing as possible to supply the large workforce around the Wall. To this end, he will hire sorcerers and wizards from the East to find ways to increase food production, and scholars will be sent throughout the country to search for a combustible mineral that the king believes exists. In the second phase, the kingdom will conscript a large number of laborers under the pretext of "wall-building labor," directing them to construct a fortification north of the Wall, including deep moats, earthen dikes, stone walls, passes, sentries, and camps, as a barrier before the Wall is repaired. At the same time, the Night's Watch will send rangers to occupy various abandoned settlements of free people further north to provide security for the construction work. In the third phase, most of the laborers will be dismissed, leaving only the Night's Watch, craftsmen, hired sorcerers, and giants under the king's command to begin the slow repairs that may take hundreds of years.

To facilitate coordination between the Night's Watch and the throne, King Hugo would also bestow upon the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch the title of "Watchman of the Wall," ensuring a closer connection between the Wall and King's Landing. Jeor Mormont was the first Lord Commander of the Night's Watch to receive this title, in 302 after the Conquest. However, due to his advanced age, he died soon after at Long Night's Keep, forcing Hugo I to travel north again the following year to bestow the title of Watchman of the Wall upon Jon Snow, the newly elected Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, who is now also known as Jon Stark or Viserys Targaryen.

The reconstruction of the Great Wall in the kingdom proceeded smoothly overall. Since the south was pacified, the throne was able to confidently mobilize resources and personnel from across the land to travel north. Thanks to nationwide support, both the first and second phases of the project progressed rapidly. The kingdom's resource reserves were stockpiled in just one year, while the construction of the new barrier took four years—far exceeding national expectations. Furthermore, the discovery of numerous coal mines significantly aided the construction progress. To ensure a sufficient supply of firewood, charcoal, and coal for the Great Wall, Hugo I not only revised the proportions and content of in-kind taxes in various regions but also promoted the work through the Church of the Seven, encouraging believers to travel to the Valley, the Western Frontier, Andas, Norfos, and Kohor to undertake related tasks. Many previously desolate areas thus saw the emergence of prosperous towns.

This is why, at the very beginning of the third phase of the Wall's restoration, the King and the entire Council maintained a relatively optimistic attitude. In order to restore the Wall's former strength, the Throne of the Nation hired hundreds of sorcerers and wizards from various sects. Some of them had already proven their abilities in the Lannisters' efforts to rebuild Harrenhal and Heartbreak, while others came from the distant lands of Yi and Asshal. However, when these extraordinary individuals actually arrived at the Wall, they were inevitably surprised by its scale. After engaging in the actual work, many reported that they could only delay the wall's collapse, not truly repair it. Some even warned that the Wall's thickness was now on the verge of danger, and that to completely rebuild it, it would not only be necessary to repair the cracks and fill the gaps, but also to increase its thickness.

The reports from sorcerers and wizards troubled the king and the royal council. Given that the giants, once thought extinct, were now confirmed to exist, their only hope for a complete restoration of the Wall lay in finding the long-lost Children of the Forest. The kingdom's envoys first set foot on the Isle of a Thousand Faces in the Lake of the Eye, hoping to find traces of the Children of the Forest through the Green Men, but to no avail. Meanwhile, the lords of the North also sent men deep into the forests, but again, without success. Finally, the kingdom even hired several Loras's ships to sail to Ifuron and Mosui, as the local Woodmen and Shapeshifters might be connected to the Children of the Forest; unfortunately, these ships were captured by the Iban en route.

However, perhaps it was a stroke of luck after overcoming numerous difficulties. The kingdom's search failed to find the Children of the Forest, but soon after, the Children of the Forest came to the kingdom's officials on their own initiative. On a night that seemed ordinary, a night watchman standing guard on the barrier inadvertently spotted a figure on the other side of the ditch. Thinking it was a messenger returning from the outpost, he opened the gate to welcome him, and thus became the first human in thousands of years to see the Children of the Forest.

The Children of the Forest who arrived at the Wall called themselves "Leaf." She claimed to be the only one in her race who spoke Common, and that they had survived the Long Night thanks to a complex system of underground caves. Her people currently served the "Last Green Prophet," and their contact with the Kingdom was at the Green Prophet's request, to help men and giants rebuild the Wall once more. Upon receiving the news, the King immediately traveled from Andas to the Wall and, together with Jon Snow, Commander of the Night's Watch, met with the Children of the Forest. During this meeting, the Children of the Forest conveyed the Green Prophet's and their people's stance to the Kingdom and the Night's Watch, and presented the Green Prophet's gift as a sign of sincerity—the Valyrian steel sword "Dark Sisters"—only then did the world learn of the fate of Duke Bloodraven.

As King of the Kingdom, Hugo I displayed the utmost courtesy before the Sons of the Forest, but instead of taking the ancient and legendary clan sword, he presented it on the spot to Jon Snow, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, stating, "A sword should be given to whoever truly needs it." Jon Snow accepted the sword, thanked the King, and declared that the longsword would be passed down through generations of Lord Commanders of the Night's Watch. After the meeting, he also entrusted someone to return Longclaw to House Mormont on Bear Isle. At the time, the world only saw the King's choice as an encouragement to the Night's Watch; it wasn't until many years later that they understood the deeper meaning behind Hugo I's actions.

The Children of the Forest acted swiftly; just days after the meeting, dozens of the last Children of the Forest emerged from the forests beyond the Great Wall. Upon arriving at the Wall, they immediately began work, assisting the sorcerers hired by the kingdom in repairing it. Thanks to the help of these little ones (though they were far older than any human), the collapse of the Wall was halted, and some serious damage was repaired; however, it would still take the kingdom a very long time to truly restore the Wall.

Meanwhile, during this time, with the help of Leaf and several scholars, a dozen or so Children of the Forest learned to communicate and write in Common Tongue. Afterwards, King Hugo sent a delegation to the Greenseeker, hoping to invite some of the Children of the Forest to relocate to Manyfaces and King's Landing to witness the oath once again taking effect. The delegation consisted of seven people: an official, a nobleman, a sergeant, a scribe, a scholar, a doctor, and a representative of the Night's Watch. Led by the Children of the Forest, they entered a forest and then walked blindfolded for at least several miles, venturing deep into a complex cave system before finally meeting the Greenseeker. The entire delegation was shocked by the Greenseeker's condition, for "his state was terrible, yet he was truly alive." During the meeting, the delegation conveyed the King's request to the Greenseeker, who readily agreed. Afterwards, every few years, the Kingdom and the Night's Watch would each send a representative, led by a Child of the Forest, to visit the old man and express the world's respect.

III. Adjustments in the New Era

Hugo I's reign was one of stability, but Hugo I himself never experienced true peace. As the saying goes, "The only constant in the world is change," and the king perhaps understood this deeply.

In the first decade or so of his reign, relying on his reputation and prestige, loyal and reliable subordinates, and the bureaucracy of the throne, the king not only quelled the unrest but also accomplished many unprecedented feats. However, as time passed, the king's health declined, and many of his high-ranking officials were summoned by the gods. Before and after the Ptolemaic Expedition alone, six of the kingdom's most important officials died: Eddard Stark, Earl of Winterfell; Sel Gortlow, Highlord of the Triangle; Berligh Valery, Highlord of Swan Hill; Allister Floren, Grand Master of Highgarden; Wyman Manderle, Earl of White Harbor; and Dantos Horadric, Earl of Duskwood. Snow, the veteran general who had followed Hugo I since Robert's Rebellion, also died the year after the expedition. The king even changed his tour route to personally bid farewell to his old comrade-in-arms.

Perhaps it was witnessing the passing of many veterans who had experienced the Age of Expeditions that led Hugo I to launch his own expedition after the Tenth Expedition of the Sea Kingdom—if he didn't act sooner, the situation would only worsen. His fears were confirmed: not only were the veterans dwindling, but the kingdom's bureaucracy, established by Jon Arryn and expanded by Hugo I, began to reveal problems during the expeditions, and the royal army's heavy reliance on local forces also needed addressing. As the architect of the new system for the throne, Hugo wouldn't leave these problems to his successor; in the events of his reign to come, he focused on adjusting and resolving them.

The first problem the king tackled was adjusting the bureaucratic system. The problems exposed during the expedition made Hugo realize that the system that had served him for many years was already overburdened. Although the kingdom had a large number of officials, after being distributed through layers of government, each lower-level official was already burdened with a heavy responsibility and area of ​​responsibility. Previously, due to the overall peace of the kingdom, the bureaucratic system could still function normally despite large-scale projects such as the construction of walls. However, the all-out war with the Sea Kingdom became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Since the sages of the Seven Kingdoms began to write their histories, no royal family had ever been able to directly govern the territories of the Riverlands, the Valley, and the Reach for nearly twenty years, not even counting Andas, Myr, and half of Lys (i.e., the Lys coast) on the eastern shore of the Narrow Sea. Even the mighty Toleth had to adapt to the current objective situation.

Therefore, after careful consideration, King Hugo began to readjust the royal family's focus in the provinces. The first area to be changed was the Great Vale, the king's homeland. News of the early death of Duke Robert Arryn of the Vale arrived from the east, and the throne relinquished its trusteeship of the Great Vale, instead appointing Harold Hatton, the Guardian of the Vale, as the new Duke. The Grafson family, the Tollett family of Ashenvale, and the Backk family were appointed to assist him in consolidating his rule. Since Harold had already governed the Vale as a royal official for over a decade, the Hatton family's takeover of the Vale proceeded smoothly. Some officials who had previously served under Harold were reassigned to the Hatton family, continuing their duties as deputies to the Duke.

In the Old Reach, King Hugo made two main changes to the land. First, although the three large territories remained legally under royal control, the king redistributed much of the redundant land. Approximately one-third of the royal domain disappeared in this grand investiture, with the remaining domains mostly consisting of important castles, cities, ports, and estates. Among the new lords were many warriors who had distinguished themselves in the Ptolemaic Expeditions, some locals whom the king considered reliable, and a small number former officials dispatched by the throne. Second, regarding the administrative structure of the Old Reach, the king established a new level of jurisdiction below the counties to address the overburdened duties of county officials and to facilitate royal control. This level of jurisdiction was called a "town," typically governing three to four villages, and potentially even smaller if a town was included.

Finally, in the Old Riverlands, the National Throne redistributed many lands with border disputes with other Great Territories to the former. During this period, the National Throne also reached a large-scale land deal with House Lannister, recorded in the Kingdom's archives: the Royal Family purchased Harrenhal, formerly belonging to House Riveranne, and Lake Harbor, formerly belonging to House Grobbec, from the Lannisters. In exchange, the King not only paid a considerable sum but also transferred many Old Riverlands in the Red Fork River region to the Great Territories of the Westerlands.

Furthermore, in the early years of the Ptolemaic dynasty, due to the unrest in places such as the coast of Rhys and the threat of invasion into the Great Territory of Myr, King Hugo moved all the royal institutions of Myr to the safer Andas. For the next ten years, Myr lost its status as the eastern capital of the kingdom and existed only as the capital of an ordinary Great Territory. However, in this round of adjustments after the expedition, the king reaffirmed Myr's status as one of the kingdom's capitals and moved most of the institutions back to Myr, thus making it the third capital of the Ptolemaic dynasty after King's Landing and Hugo's City.

In summary, as the royal domains shrank, many bureaucrats scattered across the lands gradually concentrated in the remaining domains, significantly increasing the number of officials in each territory. This effectively strengthened the National Throne's control over the remaining domains. Simultaneously, some of the abolished domains were used by the National Throne to grant fiefdoms to lords in the Westerlands and Stormlands. The vacant territories in the former were awarded to meritorious officials by the Kingdom, and the domain of Westerling, vacant due to the War of the Succession, was awarded to a distant relative of a former lord through royal arbitration. Although these measures did not show immediate effectiveness, the National Throne had finally established a foothold in those once impenetrable territories.

While readjusting the bureaucratic system, King Hugo was also reorganizing the kingdom's military system. The experience of previous expeditions had proven that a hastily mobilized army was ineffective on the battlefield, and the military system of the Sea Kingdom inspired the king. Thus, he began to draw personnel from the most experienced eastern border troops within the kingdom, using these soldiers as the backbone to form a new army for the kingdom, an army with tens of thousands of standing troops as its core.

In the new military system of the Kingdom's Throne, the "Royal Army" is mainly composed of two parts: the "Central Army" and the "Regional Army." As the names suggest, the Central Army is directly subordinate to the Kingdom's Throne, specifically the Tollett family, while the Regional Army is organized by local lords. Both the Central and Regional Armies, with a few exceptions, are organized according to "Great Territories," and under the command of their respective dukes, governors, or overseers, are responsible for combat missions in their respective regions or regions designated by the Kingdom's Throne. They also conduct joint operations under designated generals as required by the Kingdom. Among the Regional Armies, the Lannisters are the strongest, followed by the Baratheons, Freys, and Hattons, then the Starks, Boltons, Manderleys, and other Northern lords. The Lannisters, Baratheons, and Freys, in particular, can organize regional armies from multiple Great Territories to operate together, making them the undisputed backbone of the Regional Armies. However, compared to the Kingdom's Central Army system, they still appear considerably inferior.

Next, I will provide the necessary explanation of the central military system of the National Throne.

The central army, or more specifically, the "Royal Army," is mainly divided into three parts: the Royal Guard, the Field Army, and the Reserve Army. Among these, the Royal Guard is the oldest of the three, with its various divisions tracing back to Hugo I's "Old Camp" and King Robert's "Horn Guard" and "Wall Guard." These troops were originally the guards of the two kings, and now their duty of protecting the monarch has expanded to include the defense of the capital. As the kingdom's most elite army, the Royal Guard's size is not fixed, usually around ten thousand men. Aside from those with distinguished service, the Royal Guard recruits soldiers almost exclusively from a few fixed regions, such as the heavy cavalry of the Valley, the infantry and light cavalry of Andas, and the crossbowmen of Myr. Distinguished knightly orders like the Seven Stars and the Holy War Knights are also included. Furthermore, the Royal Guard's duties are limited to accompanying the king on campaigns and guarding the kingdom's three capitals. Their operational command is entirely the responsibility of a general appointed by the king—who usually also holds the position of Grand Master of the two major knightly orders.

As the backbone of the royal army, the kingdom's field army is divided into two forces, stationed in Mil and Andas on the eastern shore of the Narrow Sea. Normally, they are responsible for the defense of their respective territories. If the strength of the frontier and local armies is insufficient to resist foreign enemies, and the kingdom's rule in the east is threatened, they will be deployed to battle under the command of generals and even the generals of the Royal Guard. As the cornerstone of the kingdom's rule in the east, the Mil army numbers 15,000 men, while the Andas army numbers 10,000. However, once war breaks out, they can also receive support and reinforcements from the Royal Guard, various knightly orders, the Golden Company, conscripted soldiers from their territories, and even reserves.

As the embodiment of the Royal Army's power in Westeros, the Kingdom's Reserve Army is also divided into two branches, reorganized from the former Riverlands and Reach armies, respectively responsible for the defense of the Old Riverlands and the Old Reach. Unlike the other two armies, the Reserve Army has a very small standing force, with only three thousand men in each branch. In peacetime, their main task is to train the militia and local militia in their respective territories and throughout Westeros during the off-season—a task closely related to the rebel system established by King Hugo. As required by the throne, the militia and local militia train twice a month, with three days of training followed by three days of rest in winter. Those who perform exceptionally well are assigned to participate in "county militia training" in the capital of the Great Territory. In the King's plan, the role of the reserve army is to enable the kingdom to mobilize a fighting force comparable in size to previous expeditionary forces and with a higher level of training when necessary. Its ultimate effect is quite good. For example, in the Old Tali Territory of the Great Territory of Highgarden, 450 mounted local militia, 1,500 county militia, and 190 archers can be mobilized when needed, all under the command of eleven reserve army training officers.

After completing the adjustments to the administrative and military systems, Hugo I turned his attention to the kingdom's laws and superstructure. The kingdom's rule now spanned several geographical units, traversed by the Narrow Sea, the Neck, and numerous long and treacherous mountain ranges. Given the vastness of the kingdom's territory and the unresolved conflicts between East and West, the king believed it was essential to foster a sense of national identity and consensus on unification throughout the land. Therefore, he decided to draw upon the traditions of Eastern republics, establishing a permanent Great Council—the one that had determined the succession during the Targaryen dynasty—and personally presided over its first meeting.

According to the King's decrees, the Great Council's task is to assist the King in governing the Kingdom and to reach consensus on important issues, such as electing a successor, establishing laws, and conducting final arbitration of affairs and disputes. The Great Council will convene every ten years. The King and every lord are required to attend the meetings, or, if special circumstances prevent this, must appoint a plenipotentiary representative. Representatives must also be sent by each autonomous city or town under the Kingdom's jurisdiction, and by each affiliated ally. The Church of the Seven and the Kingdom's army and navy must also send a proportional number of representatives. As a special component of the throne, representatives of the Night's Watch are allowed to observe the meetings and, according to law, raise the Legion's needs, but have no say or voting rights on any other matters.

The first Great Council was held very successfully. Not only did every part of the kingdom send representatives, but even the three allied city-states of Norfolk, Corhol, and Loras sent envoys to observe. Due to the large number of attendees, more than two thousand people arrived in King's Landing. The king eventually abandoned the Red Keep and instead requisitioned the Dragon Tomb Colosseum on Rhaenys Hill. Subsequent Great Councils were also held there. At the same time, because of the large number of attendees, the Great Council of the Kingdom became popularly known as the "Gathering of a Thousand."

At the first Great Council, only four matters were discussed, and all of them were passed under the King's influence. Without exception, all four matters had a profound impact on the kingdom.

As the first and most important matter, the establishment of the rebel system heralded the final formation of the kingdom's new system.

The so-called "righteous army system" originates from the "politics of responsibility" conceived by some scholars. These scholars believe that although the White Walkers have been defeated and the Long Night has passed, people of the world must not let their guard down and must still be prepared for the possible world-ending threat from the North. In particular, kings and local lords should integrate this concept into the power and obligations of the kingdom: only a monarch who does not forget the threat from the North even in times of peace is a truly competent monarch; only a great lord who does not forget the common enemy while expanding his territory is a truly competent lord.

As a former leader of the Rebel Alliance, King Hugo admired the ideas of these scholars and expanded upon them to build a comprehensive system. To defend against the potential return of the White Walkers, the kingdom needed the ability to quickly organize a large army and contain the Fellowship of the Cold in the north—something the kingdom's existing system could not accomplish. Therefore, King Hugo decided to establish a dedicated military system outside the kingdom's feudal system—the Rebel Alliance system. In this system, the heads of House Tollett would serve as the Rebel Alliance's supreme commanders for generations, and every lord and officer in the kingdom would hold a corresponding military rank. For example, the heads of Houses Lannister, Baratheon, and Frey would serve as the Rebel Alliance's second-in-command for generations within this system.

As a hereditary duty to serve as commander-in-chief, the Tollet royal family devoted considerable effort to maintaining this system. The royal family was obligated to allocate funds from the treasury to replenish the rebels' territories with necessary food and fuel annually. They were also obligated to assign royal troops to provide basic military training to the local populace and, at times, to grant tax reductions. In return for this assistance, the rebels were required to allow royal inspectors and tax collectors into their territories, refraining from hindering these officials from inspecting and recording the local population, resources, and storage conditions. They were also required to cooperate with royal officials in transferring surplus supplies to other areas in need when necessary. The king, along with the kingdom's lords, officials, and representatives, solemnly swore an oath to their respective gods regarding these rights and obligations, demonstrating the importance he placed on this system.

The second item on the agenda of this Grand Council was the expansion of the Royal Council. Due to the continuous expansion of the royal bureaucracy, the original Royal Council had become too rudimentary. Therefore, King Hugo proposed many new official positions for the Royal Council, such as Chief Treasurer, Steward of Royal Property, Royal Treasurer, Grand Steward of the Palace, Inspector General, and Chief Tax Officer. The attendees generally agreed with this decision. Following the passage of this decision, the King also announced another resolution: the kingdom's "important families" would be required to send representatives to King's Landing to observe the Royal Council proceedings and, if necessary, convey their family's views and attitudes to the King. This decision also received the support of many families.

The third item on the agenda of this Great Council was the promulgation of the "Partition Act." In response to concerns about an uncertain future, the King specifically enacted this act, which allows the Royal Family and the Great Council to divide the entire kingdom into three parts under special circumstances. The act also records and specifies the share that each king should rule and care for.

Hugo I hoped that this clear approach would allow the kingdom to continue operating stably amidst potential crises, with each king content with his assigned territory, defending the kingdom's long borders with the help of the Seven Gods, and maintaining peace and friendship among the various kingdoms. As for his vision, only time will tell.

The fourth and final item on the agenda of this grand council was the substantive submission of the three free city-states of Norfos, Kohor, and Loras to the sovereign of the kingdom. In the assembly, the envoys of the three city-states jointly declared Hugo I to be the sovereign of their respective city-states. Over the years, as the influence of the throne on the northern city-states had deepened, the three cities had gradually become integrated into the kingdom's system. Active trade had brought them considerable benefits, and they were increasingly willing to develop further ties with the kingdom. Therefore, after receiving the oaths from the three city envoys, Hugo I also signed a formal alliance with the three cities, agreeing to cooperate in any potential war.

With the fall of the Great Council and the establishment of the rebel army, the King finally had some free time. During this period, he continued his twenty-year-long investment in scholarship and technology, and also began to fund the writing of historical works by scholars. The famous works of Maester Adal, *The History of the Targaryens* and *The History of the Baratheons*, were written during this time. Other classic works of the period include *The History of the Kingdom's Expeditions* and *The History of the Expeditions*, both renowned for their detailed accounts and minimal errors. Influenced by the King's funding of historical writing, many local gazetteers also emerged during this time, such as *The History of the Westerlands*, funded by the Lannister family.

Furthermore, the so-called "virtue politics" also began to flourish at this time. The scholars who proposed this theory believed that the key to becoming an excellent and qualified ruler did not lie in whether a person had noble blood, but in whether that person possessed "virtue" and became a virtuous person. Virtue is actually very simple; as long as one is willing to embrace virtue, becoming a virtuous person is easy. On the other hand, those nobles who rely on their own nobility and only know how to live off the glory of their ancestors are unlikely to possess virtue.

King Hugo astutely recognized the uniqueness and importance of this doctrine. He began to fund scholars who used it to argue why the Targaryen and Baratheon dynasties rose and fell, especially why Daenerys Targaryen grew powerful in Slaver's Bay but was defeated and killed on her way back to Westeros; and why Hugo Tollett was chosen by the entire kingdom after the War of the Succession, ultimately crowning himself king and ruling the kingdom.

IV. The Passing of an Era
After several years, as the new system gradually stabilized, Hugo I also took the initiative to transfer power in the kingdom, and he began to voluntarily transfer power to his only son, Corron Toller.

As Hugo's only son, Corron Tollett was established as the heir at a young age and received the education befitting a prince. His father, who wielded immense power, his mother, with her profound religious background and familiarity with church scriptures and ordinances, and his fiancée, who came from a prestigious family and was betrothed early on, all had a significant influence on young Corron.

Influenced by his father's words and deeds, Corron was taught manners and etiquette from a young age. He studied with the kingdom's best teachers and learned doctrines from the elders of the Eastern Monastery. Over time, he developed a steady character that valued reason over impulse and was often praised for his composure.

Meanwhile, Corronoth and his wife Myrcella Baratheon had an excellent relationship. Both born in the 290th year after the conquest, with no age difference, and having lived together since childhood, their bond far surpassed that of typical marriage alliances. To stabilize the Baratheon dynasty's supporters, King Hugo held a grand wedding for them in the 302nd year after the conquest, known as the "Wedding of Gold and Silver," a name derived from the colors of their family crests. From then on, the heirs of the Baratheons frequently appeared together at kingdom events. The king even organized a grand tour for them across the east and west, arranging for them to arbitrate disputes and lawsuits throughout the kingdom. The young couple indeed rendered many satisfactory arbitrations, and over time, they gained nationwide recognition and affection, becoming widely regarded as the kingdom's model couple. When Princess Magna Tollett, the first child of Corron and Mysera, was born six years after their marriage, there were many places in the kingdom that spontaneously celebrated for them, in order to dispel the rumors and gloom that "the royal family is cursed by the haters and therefore has no heirs to this day."

Hugo I was pleased with the outcome. Learning from the experiences of his predecessors, Robert and Joffrey, the king believed that after a ruler who creatively established a new system, his successor should not be an equally ruthless ruler, but rather a steady and conservative one. Only in this way could the existing order be stabilized. Therefore, Hugo I had long ago requested that Prince Coron and Princess Myrcella accompany him to court, allowing them to learn the basics of governance by his side, observe the complex interpersonal relationships within the court, among princes, officials, the church, and at the grassroots level, and witness how he handled and made decisions on important matters of the kingdom. This fostered in Prince Coron and Princess Myrcella the qualities and intuition of a king even before they began ruling independently.

Ultimately, with the birth and healthy growth of Jon Tollett and Durran Tollett, sons of Corron, Hugo I believed the unification of the royal family was inevitable. In the 330th year after the conquest, he abdicated, passing the throne to his son Corron Tollett and daughter-in-law Myrcella Baratheon. He then proclaimed himself King Emeritus (meaning the abdicated former king) and went into seclusion in Hugo's city. During his seclusion, Hugo I retained some core power within the kingdom; he not only directly intervened in the affairs of the eastern kingdoms but also frequently offered advice and assistance to Corron, who resided in King's Landing.

The abdication of the former king is considered a carefully chosen model for the transition of power. By abdicating first and then gradually delegating power to his successor in stages, he allowed King Khorlon ample time to familiarize himself with state affairs, cultivate his abilities, build his team, and enhance his prestige, ultimately gradually consolidating his power as monarch. In fact, this approach effectively ensured the smooth operation of the kingdom before and after the power transition.

The transfer of power in the kingdom proceeded smoothly. Although there was a brief period of chaos in the court's administration after Hugo's abdication, with the assistance of the senior ministers appointed by the former king, Prince Corron, then 40 years old, smoothly assumed the throne, becoming known as "Corron I of the Throne." His wife, Princess Myrcella, being the sole heir of the Baratheon royal family, held legal authority over the seven western kingdoms and was therefore not addressed as queen, but rather as "Myrcella I of the Throne." Although dual rule was rare in the known world, considering that the last instance of dual rule (the rule of Morse and Nymeria) was celebrated, this situation was expected to disappear in the next generation, and the entire nation ultimately accepted this arrangement.

As his son's rule over the kingdom gradually solidified, King Hugo gradually relinquished his remaining power to Corlon, and records of the king and queen becoming increasingly scarce. Finally, one summer night in the second year of Corlon's reign, King Hugo and his wife traveled to the nearby Andas Mountains, accompanied only by a few attendants. Upon reaching the foothills, the king instructed his attendants not to follow them and then ascended the mountain alone. The following day, a group of shepherds belonging to a nearby monastery encountered them. According to the shepherds, the king and queen carried no food or water, but appeared to be in excellent condition, and their clothes were unusually clean. The shepherds also spoke with King Hugo, who stated that they were going to the main peak of the mountain range and declined the shepherds' offer of accompaniment—and from that moment on, no one saw the king and queen again.

Upon learning of the situation, King Korlon immediately went to Andas and ordered all nearby commanders, officers, and others to enter the mountains to search for his father. The royal army searched along the mountain roads, checked the monasteries belonging to the herders, and examined all possible places where the king and queen might have stayed, but they could not find any trace of them. Later, they found the king's almost inseparable dagger on the summit of Andas Mountain; it was undamaged and there was no blood around it. At this point, the trail in the mountains went completely cold.

The turning point came on the seventh day after the King's disappearance. On that day, a court clerk, while organizing documents in the Tower of the Father, discovered the King and Queen's will. Due to its simple paper, it had initially been mistaken for an ordinary administrative document and almost ended up in the kingdom's second-largest archive. Because the will bore the couple's signatures and a mark known only to the father and son, it was generally accepted as being written by the King and Queen themselves. Although it was a will, it was quite brief, as the throne had already been transferred to Corlon. In it, the King and Queen did not even discuss matters related to funeral arrangements, but merely encouraged their son not to let his "departure" affect state affairs and reiterated his admonition not to abandon the development of the kingdom's army.

Ultimately, the commotion surrounding the disappearance of the King and Queen came to an abrupt end. King Corron held ceremonies in the kingdom's three capitals to commemorate his parents and erected a cenotaph for them in Hugo's City, befitting a king. However, while some believed the King and Queen ultimately died in the Andas Mountains, a considerable number disagreed. Many thought they had grown weary of the kingdom's affairs and ultimately chose to live out their days in seclusion in the mountains, while others—often fervent followers of the Seven Gods or scholars obsessed with magical studies—believed the King and Queen's disappearance was actually the will of the gods: due to Hugo and his wife's immense contributions, the Seven Gods ultimately bestowed upon them the highest honor of believers: to be spared the agony of death and to be personally guided to Heaven by the gods. Unable to refute their opponents, King Corron intentionally suppressed the related rumors. It seemed this matter would continue to be debated quietly.

From this point on, the national throne entered a new era.

(End of this chapter)