Propaganda campaign

If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.

No chapter tomorrow I have to see paperwork at the university, and you know there is no chapter on Friday because it is a day of relaxation.

So on Saturday, we will come back, and I will give you the extra chapter if you reach the goal.

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300 power stones per extra chapter.

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287 AC third moon

Friedrich Wilhelm POV

Friedrich von Roon nodded and quickly moved away to carry out my orders.

Charles, realizing that he was dirtying the entire fortress with the blood that was still dripping from his tabard, decided to go and clean himself so that he could continue accompanying me and not be the walking torture of the servants who must clean every place where Charles was.

I continued walking through the fortress, followed by my guards moving nimbly through the long corridors, until I left the fortress.

I had to go to the library, which was quite close to my fortress, because there is a very important matter that I must take advantage of.

The Iron born had put the final nail in their coffin, it was only a matter of time before Johann destroyed their fleet.

Iron born ships are fast but small and quite fragile when it comes to combat at sea.

The Prussian galleys are about 3-4 times bigger than an iron born ship, making the comparison with a galleon is even more insane, with the defeat we inflicted on them here, they will barely have a 2:1 superiority at sea.

We have the technological and numerical advantage in number of sailors, so this war could already be considered won, it is only a question of time and blood.

When I arrived at the library and entered, walking through its corridors, I came to a large room where many Prussians worked tirelessly.

This room was full of printing presses to make propaganda pamphlets.

The idea would be to convert the iron born through one of the most Pharaonic propaganda campaigns in the history of the seven kingdoms into the incarnation of all the evils that plague the land

while at the same time selling the image that we Prussians, virtuous, honorable and righteous men, are the champions of righteousness, who are engaged in mortal combat against the Iron born.

We become the protectors of the weak and champions of the just, to begin to counter the rhetoric that has been spreading the faith of the seven by exaggerating the actions that lothar did while we occupied the reach, such as burning the septon and raping the sisters of silence.

This was not going to be cheap as many people can't read we depend a lot on the images being of good quality, or they will only see pretty colors as well as I will have to hire an army of bards and heralds to spread the message in every town I pass through about the misdeeds of the iron born and our righteous deeds.

Every armed conflict provides opportunities, you just have to know how to use them and have the resources to truly develop the objective.

I began to smile as I watched my men at work placing letters and the templates for the drawings that would help spread the message.

These pamphlets were simple, but in the context of the value of the paper we were making each one of these pamphlets would be worth several golden dragons if we bought everything directly at the market price, luckily everything needed for this propaganda campaign was produced internally and directly by industries controlled by me guaranteeing extremely low prices.

I approached a recently finished pamphlet and began to look at it.

On this one, it was just an image playing with the idea of heraldry

a Prussian eagle fighting against a greyjoy kraken, but the eagle's claws were shown piercing the squid's eyes.

There was another one I had saved in case lord Tywin tried to get too fastidious in this war.

Where showed a port burning, saying that Lannisport will be avenged.

A blow to the prestige and personal pride of the Lannister, as we were subliminally saying that they can't defend their own domain.

There were other types of images that were simply soldiers in gothic armor against the pirates.

''My king, how may I help you'' said the head of the printing press.

Can you meet the quotas, I need thousands of these'' I said, pointing to the first drawing.

''for the moment we are going according to the requests, my king there should be no problem as long as the supply line is maintained'' said the head printer, pointing to a huge pile of paper and dye pools.

''You should not worry about the supply, we are producing enough to even expand this production 3 more times'' I said as I prepared to leave.

''My king, excuse me for asking, but my workers are asking what will happen when this order is finished, they are wondering if they will be able to continue working in the printing house or if they should look for other jobs when this order is finished'' I said with great hesitation the head of the printing office.

''You should not worry, when this order is finished, I could ask for more as I am not yet clear about the magnitude of this propaganda campaign, but we also just have to recondition the printing presses to produce books and as you know my good man the book business is extremely lucrative, especially here in the seven kingdoms who still write books by hand will not be able to do anything when many books are created overnight, and we could generate yet another monopoly, guaranteeing jobs until the next generations'' I said smiling and reassuring the workers.

''Thank you, my king, I appreciate your concern for us, please I do not wish to take up any more of your time'' said the head of the printing press, returning to work.

I finally left the library as it was still early in the morning and today would be a very busy day, taking advantage of all the business I had to attend to today.

I met up with Charles, who this time was wearing clean clothes and waiting patiently for me to come out of the library.

''my king allow me to accompany you'' said Charles smiling.

''Much better, isn't it, Charles?'' I said, looking at the knight.

''Ha ha ha ha my king, you are asking the coal miner not to get dirty with it, if I come back from a fight with clean clothes it means that I don't do my job'' said Charles smiling.

''I only ask you not to give extra work to the servants, nothing else, Charles,'' I said smiling.

''I understand my king, where are we going now?'' asked the knight.

''I am going to deliver the bodies of the deceased to their families and give them the stipends we talked about'' I said as I started walking again.

''Right, my king, I assure you that your men will wholeheartedly appreciate this gesture of goodwill'' said Charles.

I reviewed some reports of the deceased and decided that I should report the death to one of the families living outside the city walls.

I hope I don't ruin it with my tactlessness, but considering what families are used to, they rarely know what happened to their loved one since they go to war and never come back, leaving them with a slowly dying hope until they accept the reality that they will never return.

Unless you are a noble or someone recognized that in that case your family will always know of your fate, a difference of the social classes so hierarchical.

Walking through the city, we saw how there was quite a lot of chaos as many people were awakened by the sounds of the bells, the sounds of the battle and the sound of the explosion of the ships loaded with Greek fire that surely woke everyone up with that noise.

There were people walking very fast and with obvious anxiety, and others were going back to their normal life after what happened today.

We left the walls and walked through a residential area full of apartments, where we found the first visitor of the day.

The dead man's name was Cleyton and his wife's name is Cerys, they have 3 children of compulsory school age, so it is likely that they are not at home.

Arriving at the apartment, I took off my leather gloves and knocked on the door.

After waiting for a few moments, a woman with a worried face opened the door

How can I... help you'' said the woman.

Apparently, as she said that, she recognized my face and opened her eyes wide.

My king, excuse my manner'' said the woman trying to kneel down.

I stopped the woman from kneeling and looked her in the eyes.

''Miss Cerys, may we come in?'' I said with a kind tone.

''yes .... yes, please come in'' said the woman letting us in.

Charles and I walked into the apartment, leaving my bodyguards behind.

We sat down in the chairs and I made sure I was close enough to the woman.

''I am sorry for the state of my home my king, but I have been very nervous about what has happened today and I still have no word from my husband'' said the woman with teary eyes.

''That is the reason why I am here Cerys'' I said with a kind tone.

I took out a silver medal that I was carrying in my pockets.

''I regret to inform you that your husband Cleyton was killed in action'' I said with a calm tone.

When she heard these words the woman closed her eyes and clasped her hands in frustration and I saw how tears slowly ran down her eyes.

I brought my hands towards her and she held them tightly.

''I understand your pain, losing a loved one is not easy, but your husband is a hero, his sacrifice saved the lives of hundreds'' I said calmly.

''I understand...my .... .... I understand .... my husband ..... I always remember .... that death...is the destiny of all soldiers,I just thought this day would never come'' said the woman while sobbing.

''Ah my child please do not think that death is so terrible, death does not take everything, it only takes a part, the bad memories, the bad behaviors on the contrary, death keeps our loved ones and immortalizes them in the memory'' I said kindly.

The woman continued crying, and I put her head on my shoulder for a moment.

''I thank you...for...taking the trouble...to...warn me about death...my king, if you will excuse me I will have to find a way to support my children since their father was the only support of the household'' said the woman as she kept squeezing my hands.

''That is why I am here, not only to inform you of the death of your loved one, but to make sure that the families of those who served me so loyally do not end up on the street, you will continue to receive your husband's salary until your children reach the age of majority or 15 years whichever comes first, also if any of them meet the requirements to work in the public administration of the city they will have priority in their selection as bureaucrats'' I said with a gentle smile.

''Thank you, my king, for your concern'' said the woman, crying again.

''No, it is the least I should do, your husband protected the arsenal with his life, if it wasn't for him, the iron born would have had total control of the seas and could have committed more crimes like this, I should be the one to thank you and your family for your service to the welfare of the kingdom'' I said while I left in her hands a bag with some golden dragons.

I was getting ready to leave, but Charles decided to give a few words to the woman.

''I know it is not easy what you are going through, but you have to be strong for your children, you must find the strength to overcome this adversity, but always have faith that your husband who now rests in the arms of the almighty will watch over your safety and well-being until you too leave the material plane and ascend with him to eternal life'' said Charles touching the woman's shoulder.

Charles searched for something in his tabard and handed it to the woman.

''in these dark and desolate times I found my strength in this, may you also find strength in it, have a good day and may god protect you'' said Charles , handing a bible to the woman.

After that, we left the woman alone and went back to the street.

''It's not an easy job to say sorry to the families of the fallen'' I said looking at Charles.

''Someone has to do it my king, not knowing what happened to a loved one is much worse than having to understand their death'' said Charles with a serious tone.

''That's right, well let's get on with it, we have to notify as many as possible'' I said with a serious tone.

Now that I think about it, the woman can read? or what language is the bible in, this Charles does things without thinking.

For the next 2 hours, we were talking to the families of the fallen and that they would not be alone in their mourning.

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