Game of Thrones: The Wrath of the Sleeping Dragon

Therefore, before the Long Night fell, the Council of Kingsland allocated funds to build a second wall, expanding the perimeter of King's Landing considerably.

However, after the Long Night fell, many people crowded outside King's Landing, so now there are many villages and people piled up outside the second wall of King's Landing, and it is clear that the construction of the third wall will have to be put on the agenda again.

King's Landing has rapidly developed into a megacity, thanks to several factors, including the booming economy of the Empire, the arrival of the Long Night which led to population growth and urbanization. Otherwise, King's Landing could not have grown so quickly.

But this did not stop Arya, Bran, and the other Stark family members from staring wide-eyed and exclaiming in amazement.

"Wow!"

"King's Landing has changed so much."

“This is so much different from the years we lived in King’s Landing.”

The Stark family arrived outside King's Landing, having already sent word to the city through postal stations long before.

As the future son-in-law of House Stark, Hand of the King Velas Tyrell naturally did not behave improperly.

He led his sister and several Tyrell family guards and the Tower of the Hand of the King out of the city and waited quietly on one side of the Kingsroad to greet them.

Then they saw the Stark banners flying in the distance and finally came closer. Velas and his sister hurried forward to greet them.

"Mrs. Caitlin!"

Chapter 939 The Banquet

"I should have gone to Winterfell to pay my respects to you long ago, but unfortunately there has been war abroad and I have been busy with state affairs."

The Stark caravan, carrying the direwolf banner, stopped in front of the Tyrell welcoming party. A guard dismounted and came forward to remove the ladder for Catelyn, then helped the former Duchess down from the carriage.

King's Landing is a land where warm monsoons blow. Catelyn, with a few gray hairs among her reddish-brown hair, stepped down from the carriage and saw her future son-in-law, Velas Tyrell.

Velas bowed, while Caitlin looked him up and down before giving him a smile.

Velas is the third Chancellor of the Empire, a powerful and resourceful man of noble birth from the Rose family of the Reach.

Although the Rose family has declined since Highgarden was confiscated, Velas is now highly regarded, and it is only a matter of time before he regains his former glory.

Caitlin was very satisfied with her future son-in-law. The only regret was that Velas was lame, having broken his leg in a fight when he was young. This made Caitlin feel that he was not good enough for her beautiful daughter.

However, Sansa herself doesn't seem to care that her husband has a leg ailment. After all, the two were brought together by Her Majesty the Queen and were in a free-love relationship. As long as Sansa is willing, Lady Catelyn can rest assured.

"Private matters, no matter how big, are small matters; national matters, no matter how small, are big matters."

Mrs. Caitlin smiled as she looked at her future son-in-law.

"Her Majesty the Empress is currently fighting on the Eastern Continent, attacking those fools who do not uphold honor and only recognize gold. As the Prime Minister, you naturally need to do your best to handle state affairs."

The culture of Westeros differs slightly from that of the trading city-states of Essos, mainly in that the nobles of Westeros are all ancient nobles who have existed for hundreds or thousands of years, and their names are symbols of their land.

Therefore, the nobles of Westeros generally valued honor and reputation more, and regarded long-term development and rule as far as short-term money.

However, the culture in the free trade city-states is different. There are not many long-standing families in the trade city-states. They are generally short-sighted and focused more on gold, and even resort to unscrupulous means in competition.

Lady Catherine was undoubtedly a good mother, and therefore she was equally disgusted by the fact that the Volantis had instructed the Red Monks to assassinate Prince Aemon.

The entire empire was equally outraged and supported Her Majesty the Empress in launching this war to deliver a heavy blow to this unruly enemy.

With the nation waging a war abroad, Velas Tyrell, as the Prime Minister, naturally became very busy, dealing not only with domestic affairs but also with reports from nobles across the land.

Velas also had to take care of the war in the distance, arrange supply lines and materials, and ensure that the front line would not suffer defeats due to supply problems in the rear.

After all, war cannot be won simply by sending out troops and dragons; there is a saying that goes, "An army marches on its stomach."

Lady Caitlin and her future son-in-law, Velas, were exchanging pleasantries.

"lady."

Velas's sister, Margaery Tyrell the Little Rose, also stepped forward and bowed slightly to Lady Catelyn.

Miss Margaret had beautiful big eyes, a full chest and a slender waist. She wore a long dress that looked like blooming flower petals, and her smile was sweet and alluring.

Compared to a few years ago, Margaret is even more beautiful, arguably the most beautiful flower in King's Landing. Of course, this doesn't include the queens, since no one dares to joke about Her Majesty the Queen, otherwise they could easily be caught by the Home Office's secret talks and thrown into a dark dungeon to be tortured.

However, the once vibrant little rose has matured, but no one dares to pick this flower.

Because almost everyone in the Empire’s high command knew that this Tyrell lady had once been His Majesty the Emperor’s lover, and some even maliciously speculated that Velas’s ability to become Hand of the King was not unrelated to his sister’s affair with the Emperor.

Perhaps Velas rose to power through nepotism, by having his sister become the emperor's mistress.

Of course, these speculations are just malicious. Viserys's favoritism towards Velas has nothing to do with Margaery. His liking for Margaery is simply because he likes her intelligence and beautiful appearance.

This gossip from King's Landing later reached Winterfell along with Sansa's letter home.

Because Robb had been completely infatuated with Margaery, and the more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to deceive, Sansa, being a beautiful woman herself, was very wary of Margaery.

She felt that Robb's skill level was no match for Margaery; they were not even in the same league. Therefore, Sansa had repeatedly advised Robb to stay away from Margaery, but Robb did not heed his sister's advice at the time.

When Lady Catherine learned of this past event, she looked at Margaret's beautiful face as she gracefully curtsied, and the thought of the woman being the Emperor's mistress and toying with her son's feelings filled her with disgust.

But Lady Caitlin was also quite shrewd, so she naturally wouldn't expose his shortcomings to his face. Instead, she gave a subtle smile and nodded.

Miss Margaret.

The Stark family caravan, which had traveled a long way, met the Tyrell family's welcoming party. After exchanging pleasantries, they set off towards King's Landing.

Because of the rules of the palace, Sansa, as Her Majesty the Queen's lady-in-waiting, could not easily leave the palace, so she did not come to the city to greet her.

However, Queen Arianne still hosted a dinner at the Red Keep to entertain the Stark family who had traveled from the North.

Viserys allowed his daughter, Princess Diana, to join the battle for the throne, so that the three children could compete fairly, thus rekindling Arianne's hopes, who had previously given up.

She certainly wanted to garner more support for her daughter.

Arianne sought help from her maternal family, Dorne, but was refused by her father, Prince Doran.

Because Dorne focused all his energy on the eldest prince, Herlos, mainly to support his ascension to the throne, and did not want to cause any unnecessary trouble.

Therefore, Arianne had to find another way out.

One of Arianne's tactics in arranging a marriage between the Stark and Tyrell families, marrying her handmaid Sansa to the Hand of the King, Velas Tyrell, was to facilitate this union.

She hoped to gain the support of the Stark and Tyrell families for her daughter, Princess Diana Targaryen.

Chapter 940 Martial Arts Tournament System

A banquet was held at the Red Keep to entertain the Stark family, who had traveled from afar.

Half a month later, the knights who came from all over Westeros and even from the East Sea, determined to win the honor of the Kingsguard, finally arrived in King's Landing.

In fact, the journey from Winterfell to King's Landing was long, and the Stark group was considered late. Some of them had arrived in King's Landing two or three months earlier, where they rented houses to live temporarily and practiced archery, horsemanship, and swordsmanship at the training grounds every few days.

Real estate prices in King's Landing are not cheap, especially in the inner city of the "first ring". In fact, real estate prices in the capital of a large empire have never been cheap throughout history. In Viserys's previous life, some court officials could not even afford a house in the capital with their entire salary.

Therefore, the large number of knights who have come from all over the empire across the Narrow Sea have indeed given King's Landing a significant boost to its economy.

These knights spurred the development of local shipping, markets, housing, and tertiary industries such as brothels and taverns.

The knights' extravagant spending amazed Velas, who had noticed the market fluctuations.

"This model... seems to have the potential for long-term development."

"But we must never squander money like King Robert."

He was even somewhat tempted to hold martial arts tournaments every few years in the future.

The royal family does not cover the knights' food, clothing, lodging, and transportation expenses; all expenses must be borne by the knights themselves. However, they can set a high bonus and offer the honor of a martial arts tournament as an incentive.

With honors and prize money, there's no fear of not attracting knights to participate. And as long as enough knights participate, this event can become a regular, ongoing event.

It could be once every four years, or once every two years, or even once a year. But considering the travel distance, if it were once a year, the warriors from the North would probably be traveling for half the year.

However, if the economic benefits are substantial enough, once a year is not out of the question.

The reason why King Robert incurred such heavy losses in hosting the tournament, resulting in the royal family being in debt for millions of gold dragons, was because King Robert's spending was too extravagant.

King Robert exempted all knights from all expenses, including travel, food, lodging, and other necessities, in King's Landing, which were covered by the royal family. Moreover, the prize money Robert set for the tournament was ridiculously high.

The winner of the mounted spear duel will be awarded 40,000 gold dragons, the runner-up will be awarded 20,000 gold dragons, the winner of the team close combat will be awarded 20,000 gold dragons, and the winner of the archery will be awarded 10,000 gold dragons.

This enormous sum of money was enough to arm an army; it was outrageously high. Velas couldn't understand how King Robert governed the country, and how his Lord Hand of the King, Jon Arryn, could allow the king to spend money so lavishly.

This time, the selection competition for the Imperial Guards has undergone many changes compared to the previous martial arts tournament. The long spear competition has been canceled, and the final round has been changed to three events: horseback duel, foot duel, and archery duel.

Because the Kingsguard selects all-round talents who can protect the royal bloodline, rather than knights who specialize in lance fighting, the Kingsguard only needs to protect the safety of royal members and does not need to personally charge into battle.

However, these were merely selections for the Royal Guard, matters of the royal family, and Velas had no interest in the martial arts competition.

If his younger brother Loras Tyrell were still alive, he might have come to the tournament, for he vaguely remembered that his brother's greatest dream was to wear white robes, but unfortunately Loras was already dead.

The thought of this still gave Velas a slight pang of pain in his heart, but he immediately shook his head, temporarily forgetting everything. The dead are gone, and now he only cares about the empire's economic development; he only wants to make money.

As Velas looked at the direct benefits brought by this martial arts tournament, he started to make his own calculations.

"If it's just a martial arts tournament, it might not be enough. We can add another element."

As expected of a former acting finance minister and tax official of the empire, Velas is extremely sensitive to money.

As the emperor's prime minister, everyone except the emperor and empress asked him for money.

The Minister of War demanded money to continue bolstering the military.

The Minister of Agriculture wants money to develop food production and expand farmland.

The Minister of Crafts also needs money...

Sea Secretary...

Therefore, as soon as Velas opened his eyes, a bunch of people reached out to him asking for money, and he had no choice but to find a way to earn more money.

"Perhaps we can try this method in this martial arts tournament."

Velas was planning to increase the stakes of the tournament by officially opening betting, allowing the people of King's Landing to freely place bets on which knight would win.

With the royal family as a guarantor, and it not being a shady gambling den, the public naturally dared to invest heavily. As long as the amount of money was large enough, the royal family could take a cut of the winnings, ensuring a profit regardless of the outcome.

While Velas was planning to add betting to the upcoming Kingsguard selection tournament, Arya, who was eager to participate, sought out her brother's friend, Countess Brienne of Twilighthall, whom he greatly admired.

Where did you learn your swordsmanship?

After Brienne and Arya fought, Brienne was impressed by the petite but exceptionally agile girl in front of her.

The opponent was as agile as a cat, while I, wielding my greatsword, looked as clumsy as a bear in front of them.

Brienne emerged from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the battlefield of the wights, her swordsmanship having been stripped of much of its complexity, becoming simple yet sharp. Her swordsmanship was born to kill, to kill more enemies, and to forge ahead fearlessly.