Chapter 228: Bitterness

The impact of the Reach's sudden declaration of war on the Stormlands was huge, and it also pushed the situation of the Seven Kingdoms into a more complicated, treacherous, and unpredictable state.

However, what Reach did was not too unexpected.

The smart nobles of the Seven Kingdoms had already discerned the ambitions of the Tyrell family and Viscount Caesar from this move.

For the Lannister family, although the choice of the Reach is bad, it is not the worst - at least the purpose of the Reach army is not King's Landing.

If the Reach army chooses to attack King's Landing, then they will be truly attacked from both sides, with almost no hope of victory.

Of course, the current choice of the Reach has also caused great trouble for the Lannister family.

"Uncle Kevan, are you sure you can muster this kind of army to fight?"

At the top of King's Landing City, Master of coins "Little Devil" Tyrion Lannister looked at the army below, his brows furrowed.

This was probably the worst-looking army he had ever seen if it could still be called an army.

The warriors could not stand in line, and some even sat directly on the ground. The weapons were basically wooden spears, simple bucklers, and even hoes. Only a small number of people had real steel swords.

As for the armour, there was even less. Most of the soldiers even had tattered clothes, no different from a group of refugees fleeing from famine.

"There is no way." Kevan Lannister was also a little helpless. "These are all urgently recruited from King's Landing. Of course, there will definitely be quality problems."

"I suggest you recruit fewer men. Fifty thousand is too many. Select the elite among them and reduce them to 8,000 or 10,000, so that the supply of weapons and equipment can barely keep up, and the combat effectiveness may be improved," Tyrion suggested. "And an army like this now... I suspect that most of them will run away once the war starts."

"It doesn't matter. I will try to avoid fighting in the wild with the Reach. It should be okay to use these soldiers to defend the castle."

"I'm worried that you won't be able to get there with them in Stormlands."

Kevan sighed, and finally told the truth:

"You still don't understand the real purpose of what I did. King's Landing... there are too many useless people."

Tyrion was stunned for a moment, and finally understood, his tone also became low-pitched:

"And there is too little food..."

"Yes," Kevan nodded and lowered his voice, "The huge population of the city of King's Landing relies on food transported from the Riverlands and the Reach. Now the Riverlands have rebelled with Eddard Stark, and the Reach... has also blocked Rose Avenue and prohibited food from being transported to King's Landing. If this continues, it will be a matter of time before King's Landing is short of food, and once there is a shortage of food, riots will easily break out in the city."

"That's why you recruited so many ragtag to fight on the battlefield."

"Yes. Since riots are inevitable, we must suppress them within a controllable range. These 50,000 young men, I must take them to the battlefield. I don't expect them to cause much trouble to the Reach. At least, they don't stay in King's Landing and cause us trouble."

Tyrion felt a chill in his heart.

He realised that these people would serve as cannon fodder to Stormlands.

And without these young men, even if there is a riot in King's Landing in the future, the remaining old, weak, women, and children will be relatively easier to suppress.

He wanted to speak out against this cruel decision, but he couldn't come up with any better suggestions.

If these 50,000 young people stay in King's Landing, it will definitely be a huge hidden danger.

"After I leave, the sale of food in King's Landing will be prohibited. All food will be collected and managed uniformly. Remember to give priority to supplying the army, and then the civilians. Once someone incites riots, you must be ruthless and nip them in the bud!"

"Okay..." Tyrion's tone was hard, as if there was a big stone in his heart.

At this moment, a sharp voice came from behind:

"Where did you take my daughter? Why did you take my daughter!"

Tyrion turned around and saw his sister Cersei running over angrily.

"Good morning, dear sister," Tyrion greeted.

Unfortunately, his dear sister ignored him and rushed directly to Kevan and asked:

"Why send Myrcella away!"

Kevan responded calmly:

"This is our agreement with Dorne. Myrcella must marry Trystane Martell."

"But she is only ten years old! Only ten years old! How can anyone marry at the age of ten?"

"Of course not immediately." Kevan explained, "But we must give her away to Sunspear to prevent the Martell family from regretting the marriage. Did you know that Prince Doran just went to Starfall to meet Samwell Caesar? At this critical moment, we cannot bear Dorne's back-and-forth."

"So you guys sold my daughter!" screamed Cersei, "just like you sold me like a mare to Robert!"

"There is no mare as beautiful as you, my dear sister," Tyrion tried to soften Cersei's attitude with compliments.

Unfortunately, Cersei didn't appreciate it at all.

"Damn, dwarf!" Cersei gritted her teeth and looked at her brother. "If you dare to say one more word with that stinking mouth of yours, I will cut it to pieces !"

When Cersei said this, she stared fiercely at Tyrion's throat.

That was what she really wanted to do

...One day in the future, when you are drowned in tears, your brother will strangle your pale neck and take away your life...

The vicious prophecy of the Toad Witch once again echoed in her ears.

Cersei regretted that she had not strangled her dwarf brother to death in the cradle.

"There is no need to be so excited, Cersei." Uncle Kevan persuaded kindly. "Myrcella will be respected and treated well in Sunspear. Prince Doran has promised us this. Trystane is also a good boy, Myrcella will be happy marrying him."

"No! She won't!" screamed Cersei.

She will die!

...You're going to have three kids. They will use gold as their crown and gold as their shroud...

Cersei seems to be able to see the ugly face of the Toad Witch before her eyes.

Kevan couldn't understand his niece's hysteria at all. He could only think that the mother was too sad because she couldn't let go of her daughter, but at this time, he had no time to care about it.

So, he called two guards and forcibly took the entangled Cersei back.

"I will take revenge! I will take revenge!" Cersei shouted angrily, "Now Joffrey is gone, and you are going to take away Myrcella! I will never forget it! One day, I will also destroy the things you cherish! I swear!"

Kevan shook his head and sighed: "How did Cersei become like this?"

Tyrion shrugged: "Maybe it's because brother Jaime is away, so she's in a bad mood. I also want to comfort my sister, but unfortunately, I don't have a beautiful face like my brother."

"Don't say this in public in the future.," Kevan glared at his nephew, "Your big mouth will get you into trouble sooner or later."

"I understand," Tyrion pursed his lips tightly and stretched his hand to his lips.

Kevan also knew his nephew's temperament, so he didn't say much and said instead: "Speaking of Jaime, do you know where he is now?"

"I only know that the Tyrell family should have chosen the sea route. This is a smart choice. We have no power at sea and there is no way to intercept them," Tyrion replied. "It seems that if the father wants to find his beloved son, he can only find a way to go to the Wall."

Kevan frowned and shook his head after a while and said: "Forget it, let's talk about this later. We have enough troubles now."

"Yes. And how do you plan to send Myrcella to Dorne? It's definitely not possible on land. I'm afraid they'll run into the Reach army. As for the sea..."

"We can only go by sea," Kevan obviously already has a plan. "We will send her to Braavos first, and the Dornish people will pick her up there. We won't care about it from then on."

"This is a good idea. Stannis shouldn't have thought that we would send people to Braavos. If he only blocks the merchant ships heading south, he would definitely miss Myrcella."

"This is the only way." Seeing that the army gathering place below was almost organised, Kevan took the helmet from the squire and prepared to go out.

Before leaving, he finally told his nephew:

"Ed Stark has been blocked in the north by your father, and the Reach in the south will not attack for the time being. Therefore, the only thing that can threaten King's Landing is Stannis's fleet at sea. Therefore, you must always pay attention to the situation in Blackwater Bay. If Stannis's fleet comes to attack, you must do your best to defend this city."

"I never thought I would be a general one day..." Tyrion whistled, but then he may have felt that he was too frivolous, so he quickly said seriously, "Before I fall, Stannis can't even think about stepping into King's Landing!"

Kevan placed a heavy weight on the shoulders of his short nephew. He patted him and said solemnly: "Tyrion, although they all don't like you, in my eyes, you are the most outstanding person among the younger generation of the Lannister family. Defend the city well and don't let me down."

Tyrion's eyes seemed to sparkle. He took a deep breath, suppressed the surging emotions, and said, "Uncle, you really should say this to my father more."

Kevan laughed loudly: "Your father will realize your excellence one day."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Tyrion looked at his uncle's retreating back and whispered to himself: "No. He won't. My father would rather have a son who kills the king, has his hands cut off, commits incest, and has even sworn not to be an heir than take a look at me..."

[END]