Matters of state

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180 power stones for the extra chapter

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additional to the power stones, 15 comments and I will upload an extra chapter, I will offer this in all the chapters of the week (not cumulative).

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POV of Wilhelm

Inside one of the many rooms of the castle of Highgarden was the young Prussian monarch working diligently, since due to the speed at which his men captured castles and towns, he could only be maintained under impeccable logistics.

He was surrounded by piles of paper reports from his officers detailing the plunder, prisoners or battles they had fought in the last forty-eight hours, but the hours passed, and the young monarch never stopped doing the most tedious work of the conquest.

'This tercio needs to be recomposed, it suffered many casualties at goldengrove, disband it and unite it with von Roon's tercio which had also suffered considerable casualties, in the last few days, so we can maintain its effectiveness in the following days and it can conquer oldtown.'

I looked at a report from the Finns who were acting undercover in oldtown.

'Aleksanteri is in the city with another two thousand Finns, with the tercio from Lübeck, Leipzig, Berlin and Frankfurt it should be enough to take control of the city, between the four tercios they make fourteen thousand soldiers, a good number'.

The monarch continued to work on signing decrees and sending orders to his officers, who were finishing securing the rest of the minor castles in the Highgarden area

As he continued to work on securing the logistics of the campaign Charles entered the room so excited that he almost pulled the door out of its place.

''Uh, excuse me my king'' said Charles trying to fix the door.

''Ha, ha what is wrong Charles how can I help you now?'', I said with a smile.

''Report from Duke Helmuth, he has taken control of Brightwater Keep, the raven has arrived a few moments ago and he awaits instructions'' said Charles showing me a letter.

I received the letter and read Helmuth's report, as expected from him, it was straight to the point, he took the castle without difficulty, no casualties, he managed to get to the family of the lord of the castle without raising suspicion and took them prisoner, he forced them to surrender without even a fight

{For a house that uses the heraldry of a fox, it seems they do not honor the animal's cunning}

'Ha, the duke's typical scathing commentary on the incompetence of his opponents.'

''Excellent news from what I see, we have a clear path to conquer oldtown, we have a good pace, we may have some days of advantage until the last of the tyrell's logistic wagons arrive to their siege, by the way, August has reported how is the progress of the work to fortify the area is going?'', I told the Teutonic knight

''Yes your majesty, since August took control over Lothar's forces as your deputy, he has continued the work that Lothar had left and has concentrated more efforts on the fortifications and construction of the camp in the area, when the Tyrells realize what has happened and return we will have a place to camp and rest safely waiting patiently for the day of combat'' said Charles.

''That's excellent, but with the capture of Olenna tyrell it seems that we won't have to worry too much about the fight against Mace tyrell, almost all the letters that my men have found, give indications that she is the one who has ruled the reach during all the time and her son was just the puppet that she used as a hideout and that her actions are not seen against the westerosis customs'' I said looking at some of the letters that Olenna kept with her son.

''Yes that is strange, a mother usurping the power that rightfully belongs to her son speaks terribly of her'' Charles said with a slight smile.

''Well, I've heard that lord mace is not the brightest candle in the area or so many of the castle servants say, so I think his mother has taken control so she can keep things in order in the face of her son's ineffectiveness'' I said with a serious tone

''But now that we have her in our custody what will happen to her?'', asked Charles.

''Well with her in our control, it will be very simple to get her son to surrender if we can get him to cooperate with us, the problem will be, Mace himself being a person who has been manipulated for a long time the moment he has run out of orders from his puppet master, someone else could take the strings and make him fight with us'' I said as I stretched my arm to rest it from so much writing

''Well, she wishes to speak with you as soon as possible, she has requested an audience with you several times, since she has been captured'' said Charles smiling.

''I know, Roon warned me about that as he also gave me a very detailed report of how she tried to bribe him to change sides, I could tell from his writing that he was furious, as his handwriting was messy compared to his previous reports'' I said playing with the writing quill.

''Do you intend to talk to her?'', Charles asked.

''Oh, sure, we must talk to her so she can make us a letter to convince her son, but time is running in our favor, the longer she waits, the more nervous she will become'' I said turning my attention back to the tyrell ledgers

''I understand, my king and regarding you-know-who and his supporters what are we going to do with them?'', asked Charles moving his upper body like a metronome to make me lose my concentration on the books.

'Damn, he sure knows me well enough to break my concentration.'

''Lothar and his companions will be tried for treason, sedition, insubordination and anti-Prussian behavior, we will try them when this war is over, we want to prevent the men who were under their control from doing anything, we must keep them loyal to us at least until we manage to secure our control over these lands'' I said smiling

''What do you hope to achieve with these trials, my king?'', asked Charles.

'Charles asking about internal politics?'

''Is the question yours or was it asked by members of the clergy of the Teutonic order?'', I returned the question to Charles.

''Some of my brothers are wondering what is going on, lothar disobeyed, but it seems that the punishment is too severe'' said Charles

I sighed and looked back at Charles

''Yes insubordination at best lothar has committed, he found a gray area in my orders, but it is their consequences that concern me Charles, the negotiations with the rebels were achieved with them thinking we were following their gods, now they are going to find out that not only did we not follow their gods but we also attacked their places of worship, it will be difficult to keep in future negotiations if one of the rebel lords turns out to be a fanatic'' I said looking at the knight

Charles opened his eyes and nodded his head.

''Lothar with this little act, caused everything to be put at risk, imagine it, we are the Huns coming in thousands and looting and burning churches without control, that's what we are for them now, that news tends to spread like fire in a dry wheat field, soon we will have countless problems, problems we shouldn't have if lothar hadn't ruined everything'' I looked at the knight with an annoyed face

''But lothar performed those acts a dozen times, we stopped him immediately, they should understand it was a mistake, even August returned the gold that lothar extorted'' said Charles.

''If people thought like you Charles there would be no religious conflicts, but that's not how it works, if anyone had any doubts about us now they have the perfect excuse to kick us in the balls several times'' I closed the ledger.

''They should just lie or keep to themselves what happened next, the only thing that could avoid a bad result now is to keep our casualties to a minimum and present ourselves strong in the final negotiation, so far, everything is going well, we have only lost three thousand four hundred soldiers in the campaign so far'' I got up from the chair and took the most recent map that had been handed to me.

''I understand now my king'' said Charles lowering his head.

Charles withdrew from the room

''Lothar got us into trouble, but it is also an opportunity to finish my grandfather's work and to end once and for all the noble privileges and centralize all administrative matters on me and stop depending on the loyalty of a group of fanatics like the ancient nobility'

''This will be a delicate dance, first I must rein in the westerosis while I punish my nobles, for this, the risk of losing my head is enormous, but the benefits outweigh the risk,'

I turned and began to look out over the beautiful scenery of Highgarden.

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A day later

I was back in the same room as the day before, although the logistical and administrative work had been taken care of for the next five days

There was still something out of place and that was the Tyrell woman, I had to meet her and make her understand that resistance is futile

'I need Aleksanteri for this, to analyze people, he is the best, it's a pity that his services are now in the south'.

The only difference with the previous day was that the room was guarded by five of my best bodyguards of the Teutonic order making the room look very crowded.

'Damn diplomatic protocols my grandfather put in place, five bodyguards to guard me, of an old woman. What the hell is she going to do, give me a jinx?'

In the room stood the Prussian monarch guarded by five of the largest and most robust knights of the Teutonic order, all of whom were on the lookout for the slightest movement to draw their swords on any idiot who might try to do something against their king.

During the wait the door opened, and Olenna Tyrell entered the room and immediately took a seat in the chair opposite the Prussian monarch's desk.

Both were looking at each other without saying anything for more than two minutes, but the old woman, seeing that the young monarch did not have the slightest intention of being the first to initiate the conversation, decided to be the one who made the first step.

''I thank you for granting me this meeting'' said Olenna Tyrell with a kind tone.

''Well tell me lady Olenna what can I do for you, you requested several times a meeting with me, it must be something important'' I said with a serious face

''I was curious to meet you, when I was told that you were a king I thought I would be in Robert's presence'' Olenna said with a sweet grandmotherly tone

''I am under his service lady Olenna, under a mercenary contract'' I said keeping my seriousness.

''A mercenary who calls himself king, don't you think it's a bit presumptuous?'' Olenna kept her tone as a kind grandmother

''You shouldn't insult your captor, lady Olenna'' I replied looking her in the eyes.

''It's only a matter of time before my son returns here and you have to escape with your tail between your legs mercenary because I doubt your men can help you against the largest army in the seven kingdoms, so why don't we negotiate my release and my family's'' the old woman said smiling slightly.

''*PFF*,HA,HA,HA,HA, the tyrell's have a pretty good sense of humor, your PUPPET is thousands of kilometers away from here what do you think is going to happen when the puppet stays without his puppeteer?'', I said while trying not to laugh.

Olenna was about to answer, but I interrupted her by raising my hand.

''Let's get to the point, I'm going to explain your situation because I see you think you are still superior to me, almost all the reach is under my control, all the castles, cities and villages are under my flag and garrisons and very soon oldtown the last place of resistance of your government will fall'' I told her with a serious tone

''My army exceeds one hundred and forty thousand professional soldiers, not that group of peasants led by knights that you call an army, if you have any knowledge of your puppet's army you will understand that I outnumber you'' I continued speaking.

Olenna's serenity had disappeared.

''Now, you will write a letter asking your son to surrender and lay down his weapons'' I said finishing.

''What makes you think I'm going to do that!'', she said now with an angry tone

''Because maybe the treatment my prisoners are getting could get severely worse'' I said with a cold tone.

''If a finger is laid on my family no one is going to forget it young man'' the old woman said

I leaned towards her in my chair

''In war confusions happen, the assault of a castle entails that many times soldiers in a bloodlust kill without distinguishing if it is a noble or a servant, common mistakes of war, and I just have to tell the others that you and all your family died in the assault, obviously omitting that you suffered a terrible painful death'' I said with a cold tone

I resumed my upright posture and stared at Olenna as she pursed her lips

After watching her frown for a few seconds Olenna looked at me again.

''fine, I'll do the letter, but what if my son decides to resist and fight anyway?'', said the old woman.

''I will see to it that no one has the will to fight and obviously, I will keep my word to deliver a prison suitable to your status'' I said handing her a pen, ink and paper.

Olenna began to write the letter and when she finished it, I read it.

She indicated the situation she was in and asked her son to surrender, when I finished reading I closed the letter and placed the wax seal of the tyrell house.

''Nothing personal lady Olenna only matters of state'' I said with a disinterested tone.

''What will happen to us after the war'', Lady Olenna asked with a serious tone.

'The less you know about it, the better'

''It depends on the person who pays us, Jon Arryn, I have no more information about what will happen to you'' I answered the old lady.

''Well my work here is finished, I must go to Ashford to receive your son'' I said as I left the room accompanied by my bodyguards.