Making a deal II

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Wilhelm POV

While the lords were discussing how to proceed, Charles entered the tent, almost drenched in blood, his tabard had changed color from white to a crimson color, showing that he fought hard throughout the battle'.

''My king all well with the negotiation with the rebel lords?'' said Charles speaking to me in German.

''They are discussing what to offer me for my services, by the way, are you alright? Any wounds that need to be treated'', I asked the knight.

''By the grace of god this blood is not mine, only the blood of your enemies lying dead on the battlefield'' said Charles with a kindly tone

''That's good to know'' I said without looking at Charles as I concentrated on seeing the lords.

After a while, the lords stopped arguing and turned their attention back to me

''Lord Hohenzollern, I am afraid we cannot afford to pay the wages of so many of your men, nor could offer you many supplies for such a massive army, but if you are willing to accept other terms we can negotiate'' lord Arryn said

'As it appears, it is this man who holds the reins of the rebellion because the king's pretender is more interested in his wine and getting Charles' attention''.

''Of course lord Arryn, I have the steel, trained men and veterans of a long, long war, what can you offer for us to spill the blood of your enemies?'' I said with a serious tone.

''I can offer you the title of warden of the south and the rule of Highgarden with all the rents and revenues that the region produces, as well as dominion over the small folks'' Lord Arryn said, showing me the map.

''Excuse me lord Arryn, but this is a domain controlled by your enemies, you are offering me something that is not yours, what guarantee I have that after the war my deal will be respected'' I said with a serious tone.

''We will make sure to punish all those who decided to support the mad king in his tyranny, the Tyrell will be no exception, they will pay for refusing to join in a just rebellion'' Lord Arryn said.

''a rebellion against a rightful monarch chosen by god is never just'' said Charles, muttering in German.

''Well, these Tyrell are dangerous? How many men do they have?'', I asked doubtfully to the group of lords

'Hearing those words, Robert turned his attention back to me.

''The damned tyrell have the largest army I have ever seen, well, I think second only to theirs Hohenzollern, but one thing is for sure as long as the tyrell army stands, they are a constant threat to us before I was defeated at ashford the tyrell numbers were over a hundred thousand, now I don't know how many men they have managed to recruit, but right now, they are ravaging my lands and besieging my ancestral home, but they waste their time there storms end has never fallen in thousands of years my home has never been taken by siege and I doubt that will happen now, not while my brother Stannis is defending the castle he is as stubborn as a mule he will never surrender'' said Robert a little annoyed.

''If your army can hold off or defeat the Tyrells it would mean practically winning the war, since with the defeat, we gave the royalists today it will take time for them to gather forces among their banner men to face us again and if you control certain roads in the reach you can prevent any reinforcements from Dorne and the reach to the Targaryens which would allow us to besiege the city in peace and end the bloody corrupt rule of the incestuous Targaryens once and for all'' Robert said clenching his fists.

''Robert is right, if you can deal with the tyrell it would mean having control over the roads to the capital and cutting off valuable reinforcements to the Targaryen, your involvement will be vital while we try to recruit more men from our domain so we can keep fighting, you will buy us time Lord Hohenzollern'' Lord Arryn said in a kindly tone.

''My supplies will not last long between my soldiers and horses, my reserves will be dropping at an alarming rate, will you at least share some with us or shall I have to make do on the road?'', I asked the Lords

''You can have some of my grain and dried meat that I have in reserve, unfortunately it is not much, but if you face the Tyrells in their territory you should have no problem getting the grain to feed your army, the reach is the most fertile region of the seven kingdoms'' lord Stark said.

'Interesting, the lordship over the most fertile lands of this kingdom, in the future, this will be critical, with all that winter or the long night, the price of food is going to skyrocket and whoever controls it could control all the politics and economy of the kingdom, but I guess just controlling the main castle in the area will not be enough, having to coexist with the vassals of the tyrell later will be a headache, there is nothing more binding to the people than trying to resist a new conqueror, especially when he is so different from them, as my religion and culture are different enough to make them call me a monster, but I must guarantee a future for my people here, to return in impossible for now, I have to see how much I can take advantage of them in these negotiations'.

''I like your offer, Lord Arryn, but you ask too much and offer too little, you want my army to suffer most of the casualties while you will be left quietly waiting for reinforcements'' I said, looking at the lords.

As I said this, several lords frowned and were showing furious faces at my words.

''It is a good offer lord Hohenzollern, fertile lands, a great castle and several lords will serve your house as banner men. What more can you ask for?'' lord Arryn said with a conciliatory tone, although the vein in his head was showing.

''That is precisely the problem, Lord Arryn, these banner men will be more of a problem than a help, as I said before, I have a royal title and I have my own vassals or banner men as you say, to whom I will have to distribute lands and what you offer me is very little if I consider everything I am offering because the moment we agree the contract is over, we will fulfill what we have agreed until death'' I said with a serious tone.

''So you don't want, the banner men, and you want more land in quite greedy, don't you think so Hohenzollern?'', said lord Hoster

''I just want to avoid having to deal with unruly and disloyal banner men, nothing guarantees me that they will accept a new ruler, people either by pride or tradition are used to obeying specific families, how many years have the Tyrells ruled over their dominions?'', I asked the lords.

''The tyrell almost three hundred years over their subjects since they were chosen by the conqueror'' said lord stark.

''You see, three hundred years of history, there will be many people who will be disloyal to me, especially because I am a foreigner, it is not greed that guides me, it is knowing how to foresee future problems and this will be one, as you said Lord Arryn, we must punish all the lords who follow the Targaryen, no one should keep their titles after we depose the mad king from his throne, as that would be planting the seeds of treason in the future especially if any of those Targaryen manage to escape'' I said looking at Lord Arryn.

Arryn was thoughtful for a moment and began to whisper to Lord Hoster, and they talked for a few minutes until they spoke to me again.

''It is quite, complicated to take power away from so many families, Many still have hundreds of knights who supported them. If we try to take away their titles even if we win that will bleed the kingdom and what we must try after we win is to heal those wounds not spread them, but I can understand your concern lord Hohenzollern, if you manage to take possession of a castle while fighting the Tyrells consider it your property because if you manage to eliminate their military support they will have no way to make the kingdom suffer, but if at the end of the war they still keep their castles and domains you must keep them to preserve the stability of the kingdom, do these terms sound better'' Lord Arryn said with a calm tone.

I began to look at the map, the tyrell are in the Stormlands, the best thing would be to force them to a known battlefield, if this map was more accurate I could think of something more forward, but it is rather crude, it is too simple, although if the tyrell army is so big we could play the old infallible scorched earth tactic, burning villages and poisoned wells forcing patrols to search for food to ambush them and when they have been weakened enough to give the death blow in a battle in open field, of course always looking to reduce my losses as much as possible.

''I like these terms, I accept them, I would like to formalize it with a contract, besides you have a more detailed map, this one is lousy, it looks like it was made by a cartographer's apprentice'' I said, looking at the lords

''Of course Lord Hohenzollern we will formalize the deal, but the map ...'' said Lord Arryn showing a worried face.

''This is one of the best maps you'll get in the seven kingdoms, Hohenzollern'' said Lord Tully mumbling

''You must be joking, this is garbage, it's the most basic kind of map you can make'' I said in surprise.

''Charles, you can go and get some of my maps and some paper and ink for the deal'' I said, looking at the crimson Teutonic knight.

Charles obeyed and hurried out of the tent

''Lord Hohenzollern, seriously, this is the best you'll get, at least for now'' said lord Arryn

''The map was made by a Maester who was traveling through the realms, so it was mapped in the best way'' said lord Hoster, annoyed.

''I see, I will need someone who knows the terrain, at least until my scouts can do better'' I said looking at the lords.

''That's precisely what we wanted to talk about'' said lord Hoster, smiling.

''I don't like where the conversation is going at all'.

''Yes, to help you along the way, we are going to send some of our trusted men, to help guide you along the way to face the Tyrells and to have constant information about your progress'' lord Arryn said, rubbing his hands together.

''I see who and how many,'' I said, looking at the lords.

''Lyn Corbray, the son of one of my banner men,'' Lord Arryn said. ''and my brother Brynden, I hope you are aware of the honor of having my brother in your army Hohenzollern, he is an experienced knight'' said lord Hoster

I looked at lord Stark in case he wanted to put me a babysitter as well, but when he made eye contact he said no with his head

''Well, I will be glad to receive the help, from those two knights'' I said, looking at the lord

''And also the knights we will send with them, around five hundred'' said lord Arryn. ''well, how much autonomy will I have in this campaign or will they just take care of everything'' I said, looking Lord Arryn in the eyes.

''You will have to face the Tyrell, you have autonomy to say how to act, as first you will have to take some castles to get grain'' said lord Arryn

''Well, as long as they obey the rules of my camp, there should be no problem'' I said, looking at the lords.

''Yes, there won't be any problems with that'' said lord Arryn.

''Well what are you going to do while I go south'' I said, looking at the rebels

''We will return to my home, we have to formalize the alliance with the marriages'' said the Hoster smiling.

This must be a joke, they are going to lose the initiative of the war to go and celebrate some marriages that they could easily do it after winning the war, and I thought my father was an idiot, these men are taking it to another level'.

'At that point, Charles came back with what I asked him for.

'We made the necessary arrangements and made the contract, as soon as this was finalized, I said goodbye to the lord and retired to my camp, to relax a little'.

'For more than an hour I was looking at the map I had taken of those rebels, worse was nothing, as I had to think of a strategy, I was totally dependent on Aleksanteri's men to map the area'

'Speaking of Aleksanteri, where is he?'

''Charles, have you seen Aleksanteri, he should have been back to report by now'' I said, looking at the knight.

''I haven't seen him, since he split off to chase the survivors'' said Charles.

While we were discussing the disappearance of Aleksanteri, a soldier of house Tully in damaged and bloody armor entered my tent.

''How did you get in here?'' said Charles, stepping between me and the soldier. Charles had started to charge at the soldier, but he stopped abruptly '

''Aleksanteri, why didn't you warn me that you were coming like this, you scared me'' said Charles grabbing the Finn by the shoulders

''I saw an opportunity and I took it'' said Aleksanteri.

''I thought I told you not to do anything against the rebels' men, if they find out that you killed one of theirs, we'll be in trouble'' I said, looking at Aleksanteri

''And I complied with your orders my dear king, I killed none of the rebels, it was a Targaryen realist and I only stole the armor from the fallen'' said Aleksanteri smiling.

''Well, and what did you get, I guess you sought out information while we were negotiating'' I said with a serious tone

''That's exactly what I did my king, conversations here, conversations there, drinking with the soldiers and being in the right place, at the right time, I discovered several things'' said Aleksanteri

''What did you discover Aleksanteri'' said Charles happily.

''Well, first it's not that they are suspicious, they are afraid that you will change sides and that's why they send those spies'' said Aleksanteri.

''I thought, so what are their orders'' I said, looking at the scout.

''That would be almost impossible to know, how fortunate that the idiots talked it out, inform what we do mainly, they want you to concentrate on defeating the tyrell and not conquering their castles, so they will probably be pestering you to control your actions and get you to quickly head off to fight, the moment you secure a good amount of supplies they will insist on going to fight the tyrell'' said Aleksanteri

''What do you propose?'' I said as I looked at the map.

''Use them as guides, since that is what they were sent for, send them with me, I will see to it that they cannot report anything or the information they get is worthless, if at any time they want to complain about the plans they will be with me well away from your camp my king and their complaint will not reach your ears, if you do not listen to the order you are not disobeying, it will only be a communication problem'' Aleksanteri said smiling

''Well we will do that, you can both retire, I need to sleep, inform everyone at the first ray of the sun, we start marching south'' I said to both of my confidants.

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