Returning home

in the next chapters the multiple pov's will be back and I will let you know when a chapter has them so you don't get confused.

---------------------------------

Friedrich Wilhelm POV

My dealings with the North men had been excellent, I had secured good prices for the purchase of all kinds of raw materials produced in the north such as logs, iron, furs, but most importantly I had ensured that they would only buy food from me, since I assured them something that even the Tully did not do.

I became the northern food supplier, and they do need to buy food from the south to withstand the summer snows and not to mention the long winters, for them, it is a blessing brought by the old gods or by the seven depending on who you ask.

But the truth is this is one of the biggest traps one could make, without realizing it they gave away their food independence, as time goes by when they cut ties with the other suppliers they will be dancing on my hand if necessary because the other option would be to starve to death.

But there is always a group that are smarter than the rest and I could tell when we were celebrating the new deal, there were certain northern nobles that were not smiling like the rest with the signing of the contract.

Those houses are the Boltons, Whitehill and the Manderlys, I noticed when we celebrated they were very serious during the rest of the banquet that Lord Stark had made.

I could understand the Manderlys, they had lost their monopoly on importing grain from the south, which would make their port suffer quite a bit without the profits they made selling the grain they bought in the south to the rest of the north.

While Roose Bolton, I know he is a bastard who likes intrigues and as soon as he gets the chance he would do his best to take the position of paramount lord of the north from Lord Stark, so his dislike for me must only be doubt, he is a person I must keep in consideration if I wish at some point to have some northern house as a puppet to rule in the future, in case House Stark wants to cut ties in the future.

but I had already accomplished my mission in the North we have access to the great market of raw materials that the Northmen have and above all we got another place to sell manufactured goods.

Practically, everything that requires skilled labor was worth a lot in the north, steel was as rare as gold in these lands, only the great lords can afford steel swords, the most normal thing is to see spears to save a little on such precious material.

After the banquet I was meeting with many lords to sell certain elements, it was not much the amount I got from this deal, but it is better than nothing.

I need my ships when they go to the north to fill the holds with logs and other necessary objects, to take something to sell so that we do not have a trade deficit.

After 2 days I had everything ready, I had made deals with all the northern lords who had interests and I had bought a lot of land to make commercial enclaves where we will load and unload all the products in the future, now I just had to return home and start with the final mission the lucrative trade of spices that I was preparing for several moons.

I was dining with lord Stark and his family before I left Winterfell and made the journey to my ships to sail to the Reach.

Lord Hohenzollern, is it true that you are going home today?'' Lady Catelyn asked.

I am afraid I cannot be in the north any longer, I have been away from home for a long time and my presence may be needed to solve the problems that have arisen while I have been negotiating here'' I said with a kindly tone.

''I am sorry to have wasted your time, Lord Hohenzollern, but it was something that had always been done, tradition dictated that all the lords of the North should meet to make this decision, as it has always been done, since only united the Northmen will survive the harsh winter'' Lord Stark said with an apologetic tone.

''nothing to be sorry about, lord Stark, I understand perfectly well how important traditions are, especially for my own culture, we have many traditions to respect, our militaristic culture was not formed from one day to another''I said while I laughed

''my uncle Brynden spoke many good things about his soldiers, he said he had never seen men so disciplined and obedient to orders, but he was quite surprised about something, that sometimes without orders they attacked the enemy'' said lady Catelyn

''it is because of one of our military doctrines that was established by my grandfather, an officer can refuse to obey orders or act on his own, if he feels there are better options, leaving autonomy to our officers on how to respond, as plans do not survive contact with the enemy'' I said answering the question.

Lord Stark stared at me with a doubtful face.

''But how do you teach discipline to men who can disobey anything you command?'', asked Lord Stark.

''this doctrine cannot be used to refuse orders, it must be used when the officer considering his experience and skill in the battlefields coming face to face with the problem decides to act differently, besides discipline is instilled in Prussians since they are born, since martial skills are considered the splendor of all virtues'' I said laughing.

''I see'' said Lord Stark with a smile.

Finishing my meal I packed my things and prepared to leave for home, when I was at the gates of Winterfell I met again with lord Stark

''Lord Hohenzollern, I hope you have a safe journey home'' Lord Stark said before I got on my horse.

''I thank you for hosting me lord Stark, I hope we can meet again soon, it's a pity to have to leave such a nice weather'' I said smiling

''thank you for everything lord Hohenzollern,I...yo I was wrong about you, I thought you were simply a man without honor, but the time I spent with you made me change my mind a lot, so I ask for your forgiveness I was wrong to judge you'' lord Stark said in an apologetic tone

''nothing to forgive Lord Stark, I hope the friendship between our peoples will last'' I said, extending my hand.

''Likewise'' said Lord Stark, shaking my hand.

My men and I began to ride back to our ships.

Our trip was calm without any kind of inconveniences, something that had happened was that the main roads had been clean for the moment of bandits, everything will depend on lord Stark if this chaos will happen again, since it was his negligent government what allowed the amount of bandits to increase without control.

But my men took it upon themselves to eliminate all kinds of bandits, and they were handed over to lord stark, Rodrik cassel had said that the prisons of Winterfell were full by the time the night's watch recruiters arrive they will practically double or triple their numbers, if they can keep them from defecting after they take the oath.

but that is entirely up to the night watch, so I doubt any good will come of it, since it was only under a terrible administration that made it possible for such a prestigious organization as the night watch to have fallen to the place where to send the thieves, rapists and sons who disgrace the family name.

After several days of riding rapidly through the north we arrived at our port, it had been little more than a moon since we left this place, and it had already changed a lot.

Where before it was just an area where we landed, now there was a thriving population that was working hard to continue with the construction of a port in conditions to be able to work with galleons, my men had built a warehouse and also a sawmill to store the processed wood that will be sent to the reach by ship.

The Glovers should be happy, as they now have someone who will constantly buy huge quantities of logs from them every moon, and not to mention that now this port and the surrounding area is under my protection and therefore very few iron born will come to plunder the area.

House ryswell will soon have a similar settlement because we had also agreed to purchase land with the same terms as the Glovers, all the taxes generated by the ports were for them, but the Prussian merchants would not be charged for using the facilities, giving me a great advantage over other merchants.

Arriving at the port, I was greeted by the man I left in charge.

''my king it is a pleasure to see you again, we have worked tirelessly, and we have hired help from the locals to get the port working as soon as possible'' said the officer.

''I am glad, anything to report during my absence?'', I said inquiring

''the Glovers have collaborated a lot with the construction of the port, many times the lord's brother came to help us with the construction, there were sightings of the iron born, but they did not try to do anything, as they were small patrols no more than 3 of their ships at the same time'' said the officer seriously

''good news and about what I ordered to give with what should the holds of the ships be filled?'', I said looking at the surroundings

''it is ready my king, but I don't understand why you want to load the hold of the galleons with ice?'', said the officer confusedly

''ice here has no value, but in the south its price will be very high, for who wouldn't want to have a piece of refreshing ice in their drink when it is very hot, the merchants and nobles of the city will be glad to be able to buy some of our cargo'' I said explaining the reason to him

''I understand, my king everything is ready to go, we just have to get the horses on, and we will leave for Neu Danzig'' he said showing me the ships.

''sure, however you stay here, I leave you in charge of this enclave, it will be your responsibility to make sure the quotas of this port are met'' I said as I walked towards the boats

''of course, my king, I will be honored to be in charge of your port in your absence'' said the officer as he returned to his workstation.

Climbing aboard the ship I prepared for our trip south, luckily with the hold full of ice the heat will not be as overwhelming as it was the first time we arrived.

The trip south was relatively uneventful, but there was plenty of entertainment the iron born pirates delivered when we managed to capture another 9 of their ships, but at least 40 others we encountered along the way escaped before we could force them to fight the unfortunate ones we had captured were the slowest or the unluckiest.

As we left the northern waters and slowly the temperature was rising, the men of the reach were smiling again, as many of them were wearing twice as much clothing in the north to be able to withstand the cold of the north.

The waters of the iron islands were again so calm it was scary, seeing the unchecked activity in the north, this makes me think that their rebellion seems to be accelerating rather than slowing down with my intervention.

But I forgot about that if the iron born want to rebel they would be doing me a favor, as I will take care of pacifying their islands once and for all and securing the northern trade with the south under the flag of the kingdom of Prussia.

After several days, I could finally see on the horizon the most beautiful city that existed neu danzig my home.

--------------------------------------

A commentary of the work so far is appreciated, as this is what motivates me to continue.

Leave your stone so that more people can find my work.

If you encounter any errors, please let me know, and I will change it when possible