Chapter 17: The Dragon's Peace (II)

295 AC

Blackwater Rush, Crownlands

"Have you finished your part of the field, son," Edric sitting at his table asked his son Ben and his ten name day old grandson Jon as they arrived back home from the fields,

"Yes Father, this year's wheat harvest has been completed," Ben said nodding,

"Good, now the part of the harvest meant for the King has been set aside hasn't it," Edric asked,

"Aye, it has been, the officers will come on the morrow," Ben replied,

"Good, make sure that you are up when they come," Edric said to his son who nodded,

"Grandfather, may I ask something," Jon then asked as they sat down at the table,

"Yes, Jon," Edric said to his only grandson smiling,

"Why do we give a tenth of the harvest to the King?" Jon asked,

"We don't give a tenth of the harvest, we sell a tenth of the harvest to the King, my son," Ben said with a smile,

"That's right, my boy, the King's officers will come with money and offer to buy a tenth of the harvest, at a rather good price and we sell, now of course we can always refuse to sell but what fool will refuse to sell his grain to King, especially when a really good price is given," Edric said,

"So this grain goes to the King's table," Jon asked,

"Some of it, yes and the rest will go to the granaries and will be stored for us when winter comes," Ben said to Jon,

"Jon, you were born after the Pretender's War, just around the time when King Rhaegar gave us land to live on," Edric says,

"For before that, we were serfs to some knight of House Stokworth," Edric continued, "I don't remember his name and I don't remember seeing him, all I know is that he took me and your father up as levies for the war, he was killed during the Battle of the Trident, thankfully we survived,"

"What is a serf?" Jon curiously asked,

"Not slaves," Ben bluntly replied, "We were tied to the land, we were to work in the land but we didn't own it, we were not allowed to move away from it and during the war, we were raised as levies to die for the Knight,"

"A small part of the produced would be given to us but the rest would belong to the Knight, we would have to pay rent in either money or kind," Edric continued,

"Then what happened and how do people live like that," Jon asked in shock,

"People have been living like that since the beginning of time, my boy," Edric told Jon who was shocked, a sweet summer child,

"After the war, King Rhaegar gave an offer to all the survivors to join the Royal Army, but since your father was married to your mother and your sister Violet was already born, we couldn't join so the King gave us and others who couldn't join Army, land to farm, not to simply work for some Lord or Knight but rather to own in our own right," Edric continued,

"They said that the King intended to give every family forty acres and a mule," Ben said with a chuckle,

"Not forty acres, Ben, that is just some rumor but rather a hide of land for each family along with a mule," Edric then said,

"Old Bessy," Jon asked about their mule

Ben nodded, "Aye, Old Bessy and ten acres of good farmland, not to mention the logs of wood and the mortar meant to build the house were also given to us,"

"But don't you still fight for the King, you left home for the Greyjoy rebellion," Jon then asked,

"Aye, I fight for the King, not some Lord or Knight, every seven days, the soldiers will come and train every able-bodied man of six and ten to forty, and fighting for the King is always worth it, especially King Rhaegar," Ben replied

"Previously we had no training we were simply meant to be killed in battle with some grey beard soldier coming and telling us what to do with our wooden sticks and wicker wood shields the day before the battle," Ben continued,

"Not to mention, the canals that were built for all the farms along the Blackwater Rush and the new plows meant for farming that was given for free to all the farmers, and the new ways to work the land," Edric then said after a while, "It has made farming a lot easier than before,"

"What about the plow and the way we work the land?" Jon asked curiously,

"Earlier on, we didn't have these plows for we used to work on a single strip of land using a hoe to turn the earth, now we can plow entire acres with this plow, what is this plow called, Ben?" Edric said and then asked Ben,

"It's called the moldboard plow," Ben answered,

"Aye, that one, and with the mule the plowing suddenly became easy, it was still hard work but not as hard as before," Edric said,

"The way we grow crops is called Four field crop rotation isn't it Ben," Edric said, "The officers came and told us how to grow the crops, they even gave us some gold and a writ from the King stating that if the harvest failed then we would be compensated with twice the amount, and now the harvest on a bad year happens to be four times of what we used to get on a good year before,"

"Aye, it is, we grow wheat, turnips, barley, and clover all year round, we sell to the King, to merchants and tradesmen, to brewers and to those who own livestock, and of course, we keep a part to ourselves before we couldn't even dream of something of the sort," Ben continued,

"The Gods have blessed King Rhaegar and all of us with a period of peace and prosperity and now with the dragon, I hope that the peace will remain with no stupid Lord thinking of challenging the King," Edric said to Jon,

"You will never find another King who cares about the people like King Rhaegar, son, when you go to sleep be sure to send a prayer thanking the Gods and King Rhaegar," Ben said to his son Jon who nodded fiercely,

King's Chamber, Maegor's Holdfast

Red Keep, King's Landing

"Do I look like a fool who cares about the Smallfolk to you idiots" I barked at the two of the newest hotshots in the judiciary and their boss,

"Well, your grace, because you are called the second coming of Aegon V and Jaehaerys I, and the fact that thousands have been lifted out of poverty and the smallfolk have a standard of living that no other region in Westeros has been able to match, so it is rather reasonable to guess that you do care about the smallfolk" A certain dwarf quipped,

"Careful now, didn't your father ever tell you that brown nosing is dangerous," I replied to him, After all, Tywin Lannister was not a man who liked lickspittles and brown noses,

"We followed the procedure as laid out in the rules," A certain crippled-but-not-so-crippled-because-Qyburn-fixed-him, Heir of Highgarden, then said,

I always wondered exactly why these two entered the judiciary, but they did enter and pass Law School on their merit and because their father and grandmother pushed them in, and of course, the two of them had an uncle and a brother-in-law who happened to be the Minister of Laws (position renamed) which meant accelerated careers and that they ended up as judges after five years as lawyers in court,

"The procedure clearly states that only pertinent cases come up to the Supreme Court, the rest are to be decided at the Court of Appeals and some of these cases should be settled at the District Courts, they shouldn't even reach Appeals much less come under consideration for the Supreme Court," I then told them,

And when I say Supreme Court, I mean myself, a person who can make unilateral decisions, I am the Supreme Court and the Top Executive plus C-in-C not to mention the Main Legislator, it's great having so much power though it is starting to become too much work,

After five years of painstaking effort, Jon, Elia, Baelor, and I managed to set up a proper judiciary for all of the Crownlands and Summerhall and Dragon's Home, with District Courts in every town under the jurisdiction of the Crown with three more in King's Landing and Court of Appeals in Dragon's Home, Summerhall, Dragonstone and the Red Keep where the aforementioned fools happen to be judges,

My system soon began to show its fruits which in turn caused the Westerlands, the Reach, Dorne, and the Stormlands to start copying, then again Tywin, Olenna, Jon, and Doran were copying whatever I was doing,

Though most of it was severely hampered due to the Nobles and unlike mine which was a merit-based system, they set up a patronage type system that brought down the competency of said system, though in Tywin's case not so much as the man would not tolerate incompetency while I had a dragon to say 'SCREW YOU' to any noble,

"What sort of cases have you received your grace?" Baelor Hightower, the man who is ostensibly responsible for the two fools before me,

I took up the papers in front of me and said "Stolen horse, beaten woman, and a whole lot more that shouldn't be here,"

"We apologize, your grace, we shall see to it that no such cases arrive at your table in the future," Baelor then said with a look towards the two of them,

"Do you have anything that needs my attention," I then ask,

"Yes, your grace we do," Baelor then said, taking out another paper from the pile, a writ of certiorari,

"This is a case about counterfeiting bank notes," Baelor said handing the writ to me,

Counterfeits, now that is a problem that I have to deal with,

"What about it?" I asked as I read over the case,

"A trader was caught at the docks by the Customs officers, in his possession, fake bank notes were found," Willas then said,

"Somebody should have told him that the bank notes in Westeros have seven digits in the serial number, he had ten like that of the Iron Bank," Tyrion then added,

"Shouldn't the Bank, the Minister of the Treasury, and the Minister of Commerce be involved in this," I then asked,

"Yes, they are involved," Baelor said nodding, "But we fear that this might be something bigger,"

"Very well then, I shall talk with Ser Richard and have him launch an investigation into this matter," I said nodding,

Richard, Qyburn, and my efforts in creating MI5 and MI6 for Westeros have started to bear fruit, the intelligence and security apparatus is just what I want it to be, something that will outlast me and my children and carry on serving House Targaryen, instead of the old system where with the death of King and Spymaster, the entire thing breaks down,

Some of it is done openly, the Criminal investigations into malpractice in the Bureaucracy and others of the like, and then there are the clandestine operations that not even other members of the apparatus know about, it's all on a need-to-know basis,

"I don't see why this is coming to me, the law is clear about such cases, possessing or passing counterfeit bank notes is punishable by death, what more is needed to be known?" I asked,

"That is exactly what we thought as well your grace," Willas then said,

"The Customs officers who caught him at the docks, the Bank Officials have all testified and proved that he had false bank notes and he was sentenced to death at the District Court, but he appealed, and even after being handed the same sentence he has appealed again claiming that he was tricked and that he had no idea that he was having fake notes and the man won't stop," Baelor then said, "And he is allowed to appeal until the execution is due which is starting to create a block in the cases that are reviewed,"

For a while, I didn't do anything, and then I said, "When is his execution due?"

"In Two weeks," Tyrion answered,

I turn to Baelor and say, "Have him sent to the Lord Confessor immediately, if he has nothing of import to sing then have him executed at midnight tonight, I will have the execution fast-tracked if he does have something important to say, Ser Richard shall look into it,"

"Yes, your grace," Baelor nodded,

"If that is all," I said dismissing them,

As they rose from the chair and turned to leave I said to Tyrion in a hard tone,

"And one more thing, Judge Lannister, you will not hold court smelling of wine or inebriated or making crass jokes that degrade the office of the Judge of the Court of Appeals, I have received complaints of your behavior from clerks, bailiffs, and public prosecutors which is unacceptable if this continues then you will find yourself impeached is that understood,"

The man gulped, nodded, and rushed out, while Baelor apologized to me yet again for him.

I knew why he was the way he was, the Tysha incident happened this time around as well, and since I was too busy with getting absolute power I had no time to do anything in that case, but that is not an excuse for being drunk on the job.

I barely find time to spend with my kids, thankfully my mother ensured that everyone will have breakfast and dinner together to keep the family together.

Small Council (295 AC)

King - Rhaegar I Targaryen

Queen - Elia Martell

Chancellor to the King - Lord Jon Connington

Minister of the Treasury - Prince Doran Martell

Minister of Naval Affairs - Lord Lucerys Velaryon

Minister of Laws - Ser Baelor Hightower

Minister of Intelligence - Ser Richard Lonmouth

Minister of War - Lord Randyll Tarly

Minister of Commerce - Lord Gerold Grafton

Minister of Healthcare and Education - Qyburn

Lord Commander of the Kingsguard - Ser Gerold Hightower