Prussian gold rush
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POV of Tywin Lannister, fourth moon,284 AC
The last few moons had been quite turbulent politically.
The Targaryen plague had been driven from the seven kingdoms it had ruled for so many years, apparently madness had struck not only Aerys but Rhaegar as well, for the king could freely abuse the small folks and lesser nobles, for the fact that they could not challenge the royal power.
But when the abuses came to a great house and subsequently calling for the head of the Baratheons was the pinnacle of Targaryen stupidity.
Unfortunately, our house was too slow to take advantage of that opportunity...I did not expect the arrival of that mercenary in the city, which prevented me from taking part in the rebellion on the winning side.
I did not expect the mercenary to arrive in the city, which prevented me from participating in the rebellion on the winning side, which stained our name... considering that the mercenary managed to clear Jaime's name in his trial, my ''slowness'' had brought a discredit that I did not correspond to the prestigious Lannister house.
Because of this Jon Arryn did not trust me... that honorable man of the vale would never be close to someone he considered without honor... he gladly accepted my gold for my daughter's dowry and almost with the same smile he also accepted the gold to break the Lannister's engagement with the house of mercenaries, but when the time came for him to give me a position of power because I am the queen's father.
Arryn simply turned and said ''we can't trust you Lord Tywin''.
And so did the high septon I had given a large donation to the faith hoping for Jaime's release from his royal guard vows, but the septon was more concerned about the backlash from the faith's actions against the Prussians and didn't want to commit any more abuses... but they kept my donation anyway
We had wasted a huge fortune paying for everything... but now House Lannister owns a Valyrian steel sword, the prerequisite to openly say that your house is one of the most prestigious in the seven kingdoms.
Over time, we have managed to rebuild a large part of our treasuries with gold extracted from mining.
But for some reason Kevan has been asking for gold almost every day to fulfill his mission of spying on the Prussians, the last request was for almost ten thousand golden dragons to hire a group of spies from essos.
Well anyway Kevan should already be here... we have to review how much gold we will allow our banner men to mine this year so that the price of gold does not vary too much due to the supply that has produced the excessive expenses of the Prussians in construction during the last time.
Kevan entered my office, bringing several books and letters with him.
''Brother... please excuse the wait, but I was expecting some letters from our spies... so as not to provide you with wrong information'' said Kevan while sweating a little bit
''Well... first about the orders to our banner men... how much gold should be mined so as not to affect the prices too much?'', I said looking at Kevan
''The prices are going to vary and a lot brother... the Prussians are throwing their gold everywhere... but this benefits us a lot, mainly since in most of the things they buy they usually buy them from our banner men... wood, stone, copper, iron, lately the Prussians started to buy plenty of animals, cows, goats and chickens it seems they plan to get completely into food production not only grains and wine'' Kevan said showing me the books with the sale reports of my banner men
''Then we should avoid introducing more gold to the market... probably a full year without spending what is produced in the mines to keep the gold from depreciating... although it will hit us hard on our finances'' I said as I was thinking
''We can make up for it with taxes on our banner men..., since if we simply ignore it it could affect prices going forward too much, and as you know we rely heavily on gold prices being high for our coffers to be full brother'' Kevan said showing me the expected taxes although he had a worried look on his face
''I see... what about the spies you have been paying them so much to get information from the reach'' I said as I pointed out the huge information expenses we had been having
''Brother... what happens is that the spies we have sent either deliver information of little value... or simply don't report back probably the Prussians have a good system to detect and eliminate spies and I had to resort to better trained spies from essos to get more classified information from the Prussians'' Kevan said quite upset.
''So, has the gold been of any use?...do you have anything to report to me?'', I asked Kevan.
''Well for the Prussian army we shouldn't worry too much... most of their soldiers have retired, they have left the spear and the sword aside, to dedicate themselves to commerce or to be artisans... something that can be observed in the new Prussian cities that are being built in the mander in the southern part... with a lot of luck they exceed forty thousand active men who are doing administrative work'' said Kevan.
''It was to be expected, no one can keep such a large army running for so long, sooner or later, the funds would start to run out, as well as the huge amounts of food that is needed to keep them operational'' I said as I relaxed in my chair.
''It's only a matter of time before they begin to collapse under their own weight...the reach is too big for them, have you been able to contact any claimants for the position of paramount lord of the reach?'', I asked Kevan.
''Most of the houses follow the tyrell...the Hightower...the Rowan...the Redwine...for the most part, almost all of them...the Florents are interested, but they don't have many supporters, their alliance with the Tarlys seems to have not helped, since when we tried to hold the meeting to coordinate a rebellion, lord Tarly did not attend'' said Kevan.
''What about the tyrells... they must be the most interested in expelling them and they have a good claim to the title like the Florents.... in addition to political support we can marry one of our own to Olenna's daughter or Mace's daughter to unite our houses and seek to expel the Prussians from the Reach'' I asked Kevan who was quite nervous.
''Ah...this had been kept quite secret among Prussian circles, but it seems that the fiancée of the...mercenaries...is Janna tyrell...to avoid that someone may try to question his legitimacy and that the peasants are happy with the new administration showing the face of the old one'' Kevan said somewhat concerned
''Well then... that only leaves us the Florents.... who has all of his daughters married.... Baratheon... Tarly... Hightower... and none of them support them in their claim..... pretty poor choice of allies the Florents made, really pathetic''I said as I recalled the Florent house marriages to other houses.
''What about the Prussian control'', I asked Kevan.
''Strong in the areas near the river and the roads... weak in the outlying places... due to the lack of soldiers to reach everywhere... although they have seen a lot of movement of young men towards ciderhall which is a Prussian fortress that was built some time ago... they are probably recruiting'' Kevan said leaving me some letters from the spies indicating the information given out
Kevan has been very nervous... it looks like he has some bad news.
While Kevan was going through some of his letters, Tygett walked in with his face quite annoyed to see me
"Brother... Tywin...''Tygett greeted Kevan and then me.
''I suppose because Tywin is not yet barking in anger, you haven't told him about the news coming from the south'' Tygett said looking at Kevan who was almost paralyzed to hearing the words from him
''What news...?'', I said, looking at Kevan.
Kevan started stuttering and rubbing his hands together.
''Tyg is referring... to one of the Prussian discoveries in the torentine river area.... regarding gold prices...'' Kevan said rather nervously...
''The Hohenzollerns discovered a gold mine in the area... they are already minting gold coins in large quantities'' said Tygett looking at me fixedly
''It's a problem... but it's a new mine... the Prussians have no experience with gold mining... plus there is a lot of infrastructure investment to extract it it will take them a long time for production to affect us...'' I said looking back at Tygett who only looked at Kevan
''Anything to add Kevan?'', I asked my brother
''The Prussian mine is extremely productive... we have miners that we managed to infiltrate the mine and the work is very easy, they are just washing the dirt that contains large amounts of gold... a single day of production from their mine is equivalent to what our mines generates in one or two weeks'' said Kevan
''For my part my trip to the reach failed...no Prussian nobleman wishes to train our men...some offered to train our soldiers, but under restrictions set by their lord...but no officer training which makes it all useless...there is no treasonous interest in them'' Tygett said with his stern gaze
''We will have to negotiate with the Hohenzollerns so that they don't introduce so much gold to the market...'' I tried to say
''After you humiliate him... breaking the compromise you were so interested in at the beginning and then calling him a mercenary,'' said Tygett raising his eyebrows.
''We can come to an agreement... they need the materials for their constructions a lot'' I said with a stern voice.
''Tell me Tywin... who needs this deal more us or them... as far as I know our income is much from gold and little from farming... they much from farming little from gold... so who has the interest in the deal?... ah'' Tygett said with a sarcastic tone
''Tyg you are not helping at all'' said Kevan
''Shut up Kevan...it's the truth...if Tywin hadn't indulged in humiliating him, he only had to apologize and nothing more and this could be simple...offer him a better deal on the purchase of materials...but as always Tywin in his eagerness to humiliate all those who are inferior to him broke any chance of a friendly deal...it's probably your turn to humiliate yourself...brother'' said Tygett challenging me with his eyes
''GET OUT... NOW''' I shouted at Tygett.
''The king will be hosting a Prussian funded feast, the Prussian will likely be there... try to arrange things'' Tygett said throwing a letter at me before leaving the room
''Sorry brother, but Tyg is not happy with what is happening to Cersei in the capital, he is comparing it to what father did with.... Genna''Kevan said looking at the floor.
''It's not the same Kevan... the freys are scum... the Baratheons are the royal houses and Cersei will do her duty as expected of her, as she is a Lannister... as long as someone with Lannister blood sits on that throne that's all that matters... if my daughter is humiliated by Robert because she prefers the company of other women it's fine... it only matters that the next king has Lannister ancestry'' I said looking at Kevan
''I will take care of negotiating with the Hohenzollern... a treaty to control the price of gold'' I said as I thought about what to offer
''If you will excuse me brother I... will continue gathering information'' said Kevan leaving the room.
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