A long and winding procession was marching on the King's Road approaching King's Landing. As the distance shortened, it could be seen clearly that walking in front were free people wrapped in furs.
They marched in a very loose formation, and most of them took off their fur clothes from time to time to cool down and breathe.
Although the temperatures in the southern territories are already getting cooler in autumn, these free people who have never been south still feel unbearably hot.
In the middle of the team, Robb sat on Bloodwind's head and followed a large carriage beside him. Summer, who had grown to the size of a normal direwolf, and Shaggydog were also surrounding the carriage.
Sitting in this carriage were all members of the Stark family except Arya.
However, except for Rickon who was excited about the long journey, everyone else in the carriage had different expressions and did not feel happy at all.
Catelyn had a reluctant and gloomy expression on her face, while Sansa seemed depressed as she recalled some unpleasant memories.
Brandon was thinking about something very seriously. Although he was still immersed in his own world, his expression was much better than before, where he was indifferent to everything.
After recruiting 30,000 freemen in Oakenshield Castle with conditions that Mance could not refuse, Robb did not choose to go to Eastwatch and take a ship to quickly return to King's Landing.
After using a raven to send a mobilization order to King's Landing to summon the vassals of the Seven Kingdoms, he followed the free people back to Winterfell.
When the wedding was held in King's Landing, Robb wanted the Stark family members to stay in King's Landing. However, Catelyn, who missed Winterfell, flatly refused.
However, whether it is facing the upcoming war with Daenerys Targaryen or the White Walker army that is likely to move south, Winterfell in the far north is a dangerous location.
Robb, who did not want to lose his loved ones again because he respected their choices, ignored Catelyn's objections and forcibly brought all the Stark family members, Maester Luwin, Hodor and other close people back to King's Landing.
Winterfell is under the control of the newly appointed acting city lord Jory. Only after all crises subside will Robb consider sending Catelyn and the others back to Winterfell.
In front of the Dragon Gate in King's Landing, the nobles of the Seven Realms who received the notice of Robb's return today were looking forward to the King's Road with their heads eagerly looking forward to the King's Road while whispering in small groups.
At the edge of the crowd of nobles, Gendry was wearing a brand new armor with the crowned stag family emblem, holding a black war hammer with an M-shaped hammer head in front and a spike on the back in both hands.
Gendry, who was standing alone and silent, looked very majestic in his attire, but it was incompatible with the nobles wearing gorgeous clothes around him.
Therefore, no nobles dared to talk to the Duke of Storm's End.
"Gendry, uh, your lordship!"
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind Gendry. He turned around and found that it was Little Jon and Eddard.
Seeing the two of them, Gendry had a smile on his face and replied: "Hey, why are you so different from me? Just call me by my name!"
"How about it, Eddard? Gendry will definitely ask us to call him by his name!"…
When Little Jon heard this, he first raised his eyebrows at Eddard beside him, then turned his head and looked Gendry up and down for a while, and continued,
"But, Gendry, why are you dressed like this to greet His Majesty?"
"Just to greet His Majesty today? Well, it's my first time to respond to the call, so I have no experience."
Hearing Little Jon's words, Gendry touched his head with a surprised expression.
"Experience comes gradually, but I heard that you have managed the storm land very well in the past six months!"
"It's all thanks to His Majesty helping me clear obstacles and purchasing a large amount of a unique type of wood in the Cape Wrath rainforest. This has allowed many Stormland civilians to find a job that can support themselves."
"Why does Your Majesty buy timber?"
"Your Majesty is back!"
While Little Jon was having a heated chat with Gendry, Eddard next to him suddenly spoke.
After hearing this, the two men raised their heads and looked towards the King's Road in the north. Sure enough, a large figure appeared in the distance.
Crunch, crunch!
Seeing the figure appearing in the distance, the queen's sedan chair that had previously been parked at the gate of the Dragon Gate also began to move forward.
"Well, we have to go back to our place. Gendry, let's drink together if we have time tonight."
When Little Jon saw this, he said hello to Gendry and pulled Edd away.
Of course, many nobles in front of the Dragon Gate also saw the figures in the distance, so they all hurried back to their positions.
When Robb saw a large number of greeting people in front of the dragon gate from a distance, he directly rode the blood wind to leave the group and take the lead.
"His Majesty!"
Seeing Robb's arrival, all the nobles in front of the Dragon Gate immediately knelt down in a dark mass and shouted loudly at the same time.
"Well, everyone, thank you for your hard work, please get up!"
Robb jumped from Bloodwind's head, and after standing firm, he spoke loudly.
Margaery, who was wearing a bright red strapless palace dress today, was like a delicate red rose. When she saw Robb walking forward, she was about to curtsy properly.
However, Robb quickened his pace and walked to Margaery, then directly stretched out his arms to hug her slender waist. Then he kissed Margaery deeply in her shocked eyes.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
Although Margaery and Robb played very unrestrainedly in private, this was the first time for her to be intimate in front of so many people.
After Robb ended the deep kiss, Margaery, with her cheeks flushed, gave him a light blow and then buried her head in his arms.
"Haha, Clay, please wait here to arrange the team behind you. Let's go back to the Red Fort first!"
Robb looked at the shy Margaery, gave instructions to Clay who was very sensible and bowed his head and stood aside, and then with the help of Bloodwind, he held Margaery back on top of her head.
"As you command, Your Majesty!"
Robb and the two rode Bloodwind along the Dragon Gate toward the Red Keep. The streets on both sides were filled with civilians from King's Landing.
Seeing the familiar terrifying giant wolf and the king and queen above their heads, these civilians all knelt down and shouted their names.
For more than half a year, Clay meticulously implemented many of Robb's decrees to promote trade and improve people's livelihood. As the capital and port city, King's Landing was the city that recovered the fastest after the war...
Now King's Landing has not only returned to its former prosperity, but after adding more positions including sanitation workers, street sanitation supervisors, etc., King's Landing, which used to smell the stench of manure all the way up to the Queen of Thorns, has become neat and clean.
A large amount of excrement collected was transported to the two grain-producing areas of Rosby City and Stoke Worth in the royal territory for use as fertilizer.
Coupled with a more prosperous and active economy than before, the civilians living in King's Landing can clearly feel the difference from the past.
Different from the lifelessness of the past, now their hearts are full of hope and longing for the future.
Although most people shouted Robb's name, a considerable number of people also shouted Margaery's name.
As Robb once said about Margaery, her personality is very suitable for a queen.
In the months after Robb left King's Landing, Margaery often walked out of the Red Keep to help the poor people in King's Landing and taught them how to make a living.
If Robb's decrees have won over most of the people in King's Landing, then Margaery's actions have helped him win over that small number of people.
In just over half a year of rule, Robb and his wife have achieved what the people want.
When Robb and Margaery returned to the Red Keep to discuss their lives after a long absence, Clay and the nobles, who had arranged the large team, returned to the Red Keep.
After receiving the notice from the servants, Robb went to the throne room together. When he sat down on the Iron Throne, he began to tell the reason why he summoned the vassals.
After hearing the news about the White Walkers from Robb's mouth, except for the nobles of the North, the nobles of the other realms didn't take it to heart at all.
In fact, many sailors and soldiers on the Redwyne fleet saw White Walkers and wights at that time, but after they came back to tell their stories, most people only regarded them as conversation topics, because in their hearts, they were safe with the existence of the Wall.
Of course Robb knew their mentality, so he focused on the second reason.
When it was heard that Daenerys was crossing the sea with four dragons and an army of hundreds of thousands towards Westeros, the throne room instantly became lively.
Compared with the first point, this second point is related to their vital interests!
Since the three Vilas brothers vigorously promoted the mature terraced field reclamation technology, except for the North and Dorne, the other five realms have already tasted the benefits of terraced field reclamation. Especially the valleys that are basically mountainous terrain.
As the crops gradually matured on the terraces everywhere in the valley and mountains, the slight resentment in Anda Royce's heart about abandoning the crown and surrendering to Robb had long since dissipated.
Therefore, he took the Yunkong Master Aila and the valley army to actively respond to this call.
Now that he heard that Daenerys was attacking Westeros at this time, he immediately expressed his willingness to act as a vanguard to prevent the enemy from landing.
"Duke Anda, I agree to your request to serve as the vanguard. But where do you think the enemy will land?"
Robb on the Iron Throne nodded and agreed to Anda's request, and then asked.
"Dragonstone! Just like Aegon the Conqueror three hundred years ago, they will definitely land on Dragonstone and directly threaten King's Landing."
Anda, who has been fighting Littlefinger and Tyrion alone in the Vale for more than a year, is not an embroidered pillow. After hearing Robb's question, he spoke out what was on his mind...
Adachi can survive in the War of Kings because he has two skills!
Seeing that he accurately predicted the direction of Daenerys' future actions, Robb couldn't help but nodded slightly and secretly praised in his heart.
Robb pondered for a moment, then directly gave his order to Anda and Earl Paxter beside him: "Well, I think so too!
Duke Naanda later went to Dragonstone Island to do defense work, making sure to prevent the enemy from landing on Dragonstone Island.
And Earl Paxter, you lead the Redwin fleet to assist Duke Anda."
"As you command!"
"Yes!... Your Majesty, Daenerys Targaryen has four dragons. She attacks us from the sky, and we have no power to resist!"
After hearing Robb's order, Earl Paxter first agreed to accept the order like Anda. Then he hesitated for a moment and finally expressed his concerns.
"Don't worry, someone under my command has developed a weapon specifically designed to target giant dragons, called the Scorpion Crossbow.
It is made of torsion springs made of the unique white poplar material in the stormland rainforest, plus tough beef tendon, cowhide, and hemp rope.
As long as it can hit the vital point, even the giant dragon will be killed with one arrow!
After working hard over the past few months, it will be enough to equip your entire fleet!"
Hearing Lord Paxter's words, Robb answered with a smile on his face.
With memories of his past life, he has already prepared many countermeasures against Daenerys. Robb feels that as long as he responds according to his plan, he is sure to win this war.
Unlike the natives of Westeros who were frightened when they heard about the legendary dragon, the dragon was just a larger creature in Robb's eyes.
"It turns out that Your Majesty has already prepared. If that scorpion crossbow really has such power, as long as there are enough of them, there is no need to fear the dragon anymore."
Lord Paxter nodded when he heard this and answered Robb.
The other nobles in the throne room also began to enthusiastically put forward various suggestions to strengthen the defense of Dragonstone. After all, this matter related to their actual interests.
"Your Majesty, I think Daenerys Targaryen may still land in Sunspear!"
While everyone was talking about Dragonstone, Lord Randyll suddenly stood up and admonished Robb.
"Sunspear? Lord Randyll, can you explain the reason why you say this?"
Hearing Lord Randyll's words, Robb frowned and asked him.
To be honest, Robb subconsciously assumed that Daenerys would land on Dragonstone based on his past life memories.
"Your Majesty, you left in a hurry just now and did not have time to report. The Omartyr family of Dorne did not respond to your call. The reason Prince Oberyn wrote in the raven letter was that Prince Doran was seriously ill.
Maybe Earl Landau is making assumptions based on this incident!"
Clay, who was sitting in the prime minister's seat, heard this and immediately stood up to report the information that he didn't know to Robb.
"Your Majesty, I spent some time with Prince Oberyn before. There is no way he could tell such an important matter just by using a raven letter.
So, I think something might happen in Dorne that we didn’t expect!”
Earl Randyll spoke immediately after Clay finished speaking.
"Dragonstone's defense work is arranged normally, Clay will find out the specific situation of Sunspear City at all costs."…
Although he was sure that Daenerys would land on Dragonstone, Robb, who had always been cautious, still made two preparations.
Afterwards, the nobles from each realm reported to Robb on their respective troop strength.
According to Clay's statistics, there are 30,000 free people soldiers in the north and 20,000 Robb's direct troops, totaling 50,000 troops.
Ten thousand men in the West, fifteen thousand men in the Vale, ten thousand men in the Riverlands, five thousand men in the Crown, fifteen thousand men in the Stormlands, and forty-five thousand men in the Reach.
This call-up ordered to mobilize a total of 150,000 troops from the seven countries.
After the meeting in the throne room ended, the nobles of the seven countries left the Red Castle talking and laughing according to their respective camps.
The nobles of the Reach gathered around the Duke of Mace. Due to Lady Olenna's special instructions, he refrained from expressing his outstanding opinions during this discussion.
After coming out now, looking at Earl Landau walking alone next to him, he couldn't help but joke to the nobles beside him: "Some people think that their strategic vision is better than others.
But I’m sure this time, Daenerys’s army will definitely land from Dragonstone!”
…
"The enemy will definitely guess that we want to land from Dragonstone, and then build fortifications there that they think can resist us.
Although Her Majesty’s dragons can definitely tear through their defenses, there is no need for us to step into the trap according to their wishes!”
The huge fleet was riding the wind and waves on the Narrow Sea. After more than a month of sailing, Westeros was already in sight. At this time, Tyrion was talking in front of Daenerys and other generals.
"Based on the current situation, I suggest dividing the army into two parts. One part will join the Martell family in Sunspear City according to the previous plan, and then seize the Reach, which has sufficient food and grass.