Once again, a large army gathered around Riverrun, not only the armies of the Riverlands but also the Northern armies that had just returned from the Westerlands. Banners fluttered, people shouted, and horses neighed, but an invisible sense of oppression hung over the castle on the banks of the Trident River.
In the study left by Edmure's father, Lord Tully, Robb sat in the very center, with Catelyn, Brynden, Rickard, Edmure, and other core members of the royal family seated on either side of him.
At this moment, everyone was at a loss. No one could have imagined that bastard would be so bold as to dare to launch a mutiny, seize military power, and attack King's Landing!
"Those ten thousand troops are probably going to be completely wasted by him. Lannister plus Tyrell, that's a hundred thousand troops!" Edmure said, touching the hilt of his sword. "If Jon had been directly under Lord Bolton's command, perhaps this wouldn't have happened."
Edmure spoke subtly, secretly glancing at Robb from the corner of his eye, and saw that he was indeed looking at him gloomily.
Robb had previously accused him of not letting Tywin's army cross the river and fall into the ambush he had set.
But Edmure's orders were clearly to block Tywin at the Red Fork River, and even though he won, Robb was still unhappy.
Edmure was only in his twenties now, and having defeated Tywin, his spirits soared. He was somewhat unwilling to blindly obey his nephew, who had only recently come of age.
At least he had to let himself vent some grievances.
In his opinion, he and Roose Bolton were simply in the same boat.
Seeing his brother and son at odds during such a perilous time, Catelyn was anxious.
Sansa was still in King's Landing, still in the hands of the Lannister, and the internal discord pained her deeply.
"We indeed trusted bastard too much. After all, he is not a true Stark," Rickard said, because from the news received, his son had also been 'abducted' by Jon. "Once he returns, we will send him to the Wall."
At this moment, Great-Uncle Brynden noticed Catelyn's mood and the current tense atmosphere, so he spoke up to stop them: "Now is not the time for complaints! We should be thinking about what to do.
Jon leading an army to attack King's Landing isn't entirely a bad thing. Stannis possesses the largest fleet in the Seven Kingdoms. Perhaps he can conquer King's Landing with Jon, and in that way, we would indirectly gain a powerful ally."
Jon timed it perfectly. From launching the mutiny to marching south, then conquering King's Landing and holding it, it all took just about a month.
Meanwhile, Robb's party, who had been campaigning in the Westerlands, had only just returned from the Westerlands, so a delay in news was very normal.
Brynden's words eased the atmosphere slightly, but there was still one problem to solve — should they send troops to King's Landing?
"It's probably too late to send troops now. The battle for King's Landing should already be over. It's better to consolidate our defenses and wait and see, as we don't have many men,"
"Edmure."
Facing Edmure, who always brought up unpleasant topics, Brynden quietly told him to shut up.
Robb broke the alliance and married a noble girl from Crag, Westerlands. Black Walder of the Frey Family angrily led his army away.
After plundering the Westerlands with them, the Iron Islands army returned to the Iron Islands, and even Theon had left.
Now, the North plus the Riverlands, with just over twenty thousand men, constituted Robb's entire military strength. This force was barely enough to defend the Riverlands, let alone the North, which was ten times more vast than the Riverlands.
However, Edmure was right; it was indeed too late to rush there now. They could only leave it to fate.
Just then, the maester of Riverrun rushed into the study. Everyone knew at a glance that it must be news from King's Landing!
Their eyes all focused on the thin piece of paper in the maester's hand. That was no mere piece of paper; it was a verdict for the fate of the Riverlands and the Westerlands!
The maester presented the letter to Robb, addressing him as His Majesty.
Robb looked at the letter before him, and for a moment, he felt his arm heavy, as if he dared not look at its contents.
He could even hear the increasingly hurried breathing of those around him, especially Catelyn, who looked at the paper with tears almost falling.
It was clear that this letter had been sent from the Red Keep in King's Landing. The thin letter surely carried the voice of the victor, and the fate of her daughter.
"Read it!"
Robb finally uttered the first word. The maester's eyes darted around, then he opened the letter. He quickly scanned its contents, his expression very rich.
He should have immediately opened his mouth to read it to the lords, but he read it three times without making a sound, a demeanor that made everyone anxious with anticipation.
Especially Edmure and Rickard, who stretched their necks long, wishing they could stand up and dive into the small piece of paper.
"Read it quickly!" Rickard urged, puffing his beard and glaring.
"Oh, yes, yes, Your Grace."
The maester was a bit flustered. He cleared his throat and began:
"The late Hand of the King, Lord of Winterfell, and son of the Warden of the North, Jon Snow, has retaken King's Landing. One day ago, he executed the false king Joffrey and repelled the Lannister rebels—"
Before the maester of Riverrun could finish speaking, everyone present burst into an uproar, all looking astonished.
Robb, even more so, suddenly stood up and snatched the letter from the maester's hand.
Everyone watched Robb's expression shift from astonishment to even greater astonishment. He, too, like the maester, stared with wide eyes, reading it over and over.
Jon deliberately omitted the Tyrell, who were also 'rebels', which had the suspicion of making a decision for Stannis.
But that didn't matter. He could simply say he did it to minimize casualties, and if the Tyrell remained stubborn, it wouldn't be too late to act then.
"Robb? Robb!" Brynden finally couldn't hold back and spoke, "What does the letter say? Did Jon really conquer King's Landing?"
Everyone felt confused. Jon had just over ten thousand men. Stannis's massive fleet, the Tyrell's massive army, either one could crush him like a pea. So why was it Jon who issued the proclamation?
In Brynden's view, the best Jon could do was serve as an auxiliary force for Stannis to take King's Landing.
"Sansa, Robb, does the letter say anything about Sansa?" Catelyn also urged, her voice trembling and choked with tears.
Only then did Robb react. He handed the letter back to the maester and said, "Continue reading."
The maester took the thin paper and continued to read: "Be it known that His Majesty Stannis Baratheon I is the rightful monarch of the Seven Kingdoms, the legitimate heir to the iron throne.
All lords of the Seven Kingdoms have a duty to be loyal to the king and serve the realm. They must unite to intercept the traitor Tywin Lannister and his cohorts, to pacify the realm and restore order."
The archmaester informed everyone of the letter's contents, but they were still not satisfied. Brynden snatched the letter back and began to read it repeatedly. Edmure also leaned in.
"Jon—it was Jon who conquered King's Landing?" Edmure said, somewhat incredulously. He had thought that his victory over Tywin was enough to make him superior, but Jon made him concede defeat.
Brynden exchanged glances with the others. The current situation was not hard to guess.
Most likely, Jon had conquered King's Landing after Stannis had already been defeated, and had quickly executed Joffrey. If that were the case, Jon's achievements would be unimaginably great.
First, he had avenged Winterfell. All the previous talk of mutiny and chaos no longer mattered; at least no one in the North or Riverlands would dare to trouble him.
Second, there was Stannis. If Jon had taken King's Landing after Stannis's defeat,
Then he could completely avoid returning to the North. Stannis would view Jon as a savior.
Such an achievement would probably not be found a second time in history books.
It took about fifteen minutes for everyone to finish reading the contents of the letter. After that, there was a long silence, silence, silence—
The letter was still in Catelyn's hand. She looked at the letter, her heart growing more and more anxious.
Sansa was trapped in the Red Keep, and Jon and Sansa's relationship was not good. Would he—Catelyn dared not think, she could only pray in her heart that Jon was not that kind of person.
Of course, Catelyn didn't believe Jon would kill Sansa; that possibility didn't exist. She still remembered that when Jon left Winterfell for the Wall, he made a point of visiting Bran, even when she tried to drive him away.
She was just worried that Jon might not have considered Sansa's life when attacking the Red Keep.
"Since Tywin has only three or four thousand men, let me finish him off," Rickard was the first to speak.
His two sons had died at Jaime's hand. If he could kill Jaime's father, he believed it was a reasonable price.
"Wait!" Brynden suddenly spoke, "Could a Westerlands led by Tywin stand before us and attract Stannis's attention?"
At this moment, a strange atmosphere was brewing. If their goal was to maintain independence, then should Tywin be killed or not?
It was just that no one spoke such words at this time, after all, for the Riverlands, this brutal Lord of Casterly Rock was the source of all suffering.
Just as everyone was playing charades, a raven flew directly into the study, landing on the window ledge.
Caw! Caw!
The raven's cries attracted the attention of the others. Everyone looked back and saw a scroll tied to its leg.
"It's Jon's raven!" Robb immediately recognized it, which made everyone perk up again. The raven that had just come from King's Landing was like a public announcement, but this raven was like a private message, surely containing more information.
The maester of Riverrun was again ordered to remove the scroll from the raven's leg and present it to Robb.
This time, he didn't hesitate whether to read it or if he dared to read it, as he did last time. No matter what, it was his bastard brother who had conquered King's Landing, and on that basis, no situation was unacceptable.
Robb opened the scroll, and everyone's gaze focused again.
A moment later, Robb spoke: "Sansa is alive. Jon says she is well."
Upon hearing this news, Catelyn completely relaxed, then covered her face and wept uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking violently, even her breathing becoming uneven.
Edmure, seeing this, quickly stepped forward to comfort his sister, and the tense atmosphere in the study quickly dissipated.
As a son, Robb also stepped forward to comfort Catelyn. During this, he and Edmure exchanged glances, temporarily setting aside their previous unpleasantness.
"Robb, what else did Jon say?" Edmure asked.
Robb handed the letter to Edmure, then looked at the others and said, "Jon says he is now garrisoning King's Landing, and Stannis has retreated to Dragonstone. He intends to crown Stannis as king. Furthermore, he indicates that Tywin's escape route should be towards Stoney Sept, primarily with cavalry, and he wants us to prepare early. This way, we might have leverage to negotiate with Stannis in the future."
Listening to Robb's narration, Rickard felt somewhat ashamed. Jon was still fulfilling his promise to fight for Winterfell and the North.
Of course, it was a good thing Greatjon wasn't here.
If he were here, he would probably be clamoring about why Jon didn't just crown Robb as king or something similar.
After a series of hard battles, everyone had realized their limitations. The North combined with the Riverlands simply did not have the ability or prestige to rule the Seven Kingdoms.
Jon crowning Stannis was also the best choice to prevent the Seven Kingdoms from falling into war.
"Your Majesty, let us raise our army now! Intercept Tywin and use his blood to honor my sons and the common folk of the Riverlands!" Rickard pleaded for battle again.
However, the atmosphere was somewhat subtle. Brynden suddenly spoke up, "Of course we should kill Tywin, but—if what we want is independence, is a dead Tywin more useful, or a living Tywin more beneficial to us?"
"Brynden?" Catelyn recovered from her post-ordeal joy, looking at her uncle with some astonishment.
What did he mean? No revenge?
She quickly reacted. After confirming Sansa's safety, Catelyn's intelligence returned.
A living Tywin could lead the Westerlands and oppose Stannis. At the very least, Stannis would have to deal with Tywin before moving against the North.
Seeing the situation in the study sliding in a direction he disliked, Jon, who was controlling the raven in King's Landing, frowned deeply.
He knew that the current situation would definitely make some people harbor other intentions, which was why he sent his raven with a message.
As a result, what he feared still happened.
Especially Brynden's statement, which surprised him.
'Right, he and Hoster Tully are brothers. Hoster considered the family's interests when rebelling against the Targaryen, so he would naturally consider the family's interests as well,' Jon mused.
Family, Duty, Honor. These were the Tully family's words, with family coming first!
The people in Riverrun quickly caught on, and the atmosphere began to become somewhat ambiguous.
Robb turned to look for the raven that delivered the message, but suddenly realized the raven had disappeared.
At this moment, Jon had already controlled the raven to a hidden tree branch, where another bronze scroll was hidden.
This was the contingency he had left behind.
He picked up the hidden bronze scroll with his beak, tucked it into the sheath on his leg, and flew towards the Twins.
Since Robb had broken the alliance, he would go to Old Walder. The Twins blocked the return path of the Northern army.
The Frey Family had already lost a crown, so they surely wouldn't want to be enemies with the iron throne!
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