Alys Karstark followed a Stormcloak soldier with some trepidation, with her great-uncle Alf Karstark and her last surviving cousin, 12-year-old Edd Karstark, behind her.
After Alys Karstark's father and brothers died in the south, Alf Karstark seized power in the family. They joined forces with the Bolton family and stirred up trouble in the North.
Originally, Yali Kastark had no hope for her future, but the sudden emergence of the Valerian Empire gave her a glimmer of hope.
Especially after the men of the Alf branch were basically killed in battle, and only he and his youngest grandson were left, Alys Karstark felt even more that it was a divine punishment from the gods.
Originally, Alys Karstark was waiting to see a good show, but she did not expect that the old fox Alf Karstark would push her out and want her to take the responsibility of fighting against the Valyrian Empire.
"Old bastard.."
Thinking of this, Yali Kashtak was also very dissatisfied, and cursed silently in her heart. She didn't know what would greet her at the end of the corridor, but she could only pray silently, hoping that the legendary silver-haired devil who raised dragons and ate people would not feed her to the dragons.
After the door was pushed open, the soldiers of the Wind Dragon Guard made a gesture of invitation to Allie Karstark. Although she was afraid in her heart, Allie still braced herself and walked in.
Marco was sitting on the throne in the hall, with his wives sitting in the back row, while the other generals, nobles, and the Bolton brothers were sitting on the two rows of benches below the throne.
Marco looked at the girl who walked in and guessed her identity. In fact, the "wolf spirits" under Marco had already figured out the situation in Kahor City.
Knowing that Alys Karstark was being made a scapegoat, Marco turned to Aegon Targaryen and winked at him.
Today, Yigeng was wearing a delicate and handsome black military uniform, with his sword Moonlight Blade hanging from his waist, while the direwolf White Spirit was lying bored at his feet.
"Ahem, is that Lady Alys Karstark, the Lady of Karhold?"
Yin Geng cleared his throat and asked the three Karstarks in the center of the hall. His tone was very calm, and it was impossible to hear the tone and meaning in it.
"I.. I am!"
Alys Karstark stammered, glancing back over her shoulder as she spoke, only to shrink back in fear when she saw a pair of cold eyes.
"Very well, you are charged with treason, murder, false imprisonment, and perjury. How do you plead, Lord Alf Castark?"
Yin Geng said word by word, and at the end, he suddenly changed the subject and threw the question to Alf Castak, whose face changed instantly.
"I... I didn't do these things! Your Majesty, our family has been coerced by Roose Bolton, and, and, the family affairs have always been handled by Allie."
When he heard the long list of crimes, Alf Karstark's heart twitched for no reason, as if he had noticed something. However, after a period of panic, he sorted out his thoughts and quickly pushed all the blame onto Roose Bolton and Alys Karstark.
"F**k, you old..."
Ramsay Snow cursed directly when he heard this, but was pressed back into his seat by Dominic Bolton who was beside him.
Yin Geng heard the words but did not have much reaction, but took a scroll from the side of the Spring Bachelor, and then he opened the scroll and read the text information above:
"In March of this year, your son Cregan Karstark murdered the serving girl Fat Hodor when she caught him in the act of attempting to rape Alys Karstark, and in April you sent troops..."
These things, one after another, were as if someone was watching them, causing Alf to break out in a cold sweat and his mood to plummet.
"So, Alf of House Karstark, what do you have to say for yourself? If you can prove these charges false, I will pardon you."
Marco's words came down from the throne, and he asked in a questioning tone. Looking at Marco's appearance, it seemed that as long as Alf explained clearly, Marco would forgive him.
However, Alf knew that this was the moment that would decide his life or death. If he gave a bad answer, he would likely die on the spot.
So Alf carefully organized his words, trembling, and knelt down on his knees in the direction of Marco. In the Seven Kingdoms' Seven Gods and the Old Gods' teachings, kneeling on both knees was equivalent to admitting guilt and repenting.
Marco looked at the last old man of the Karstark family with great interest. He also had a trace of admiration for him. The old man's wisdom and cunning were not like a second son at all, and he fully met all the qualities that a nobleman should have.
"My lord! I confess that I instructed my sons to do these things. I have only one request, that is, please forgive my grandson's guilt. He is still young and has not participated in the confrontation with the empire."
Alf Karstark said with a face full of sorrow. His initial purpose was to push the blame onto the Bolton family. In his opinion, there would be no problem with his plan, but he did not expect that Marco would know everything he was going to do in advance.
This made all of Alf Castark's arrangements and words come to nothing, and he could only bear all the blame alone. Seeing Alf's decisive confession, everyone in the hall began to discuss it.
In fact, there are still some small Northern nobles in the hall who are loyal to the Bolton family. Like the Bolton family, they swore allegiance to Marco a few days ago.
The Lightfoots of Lightfoot Keep are a minor noble house near the mouth of the Weeping Water, who provide fish and warships to the Boltons.
The Overton family of Goldbrook Castle was the family that lived in the castle closest to Widow's Watch. There was a small gold mine in their territory, but it was very difficult to mine. However, the family still built a castle with the gold mine.
The Morans of the White Knife Bridge are a family that rose to prominence by selling pine nuts. Their ancestral castle was originally near Sheep's Head Mountain, but they lost it in a struggle with the Howwoods.
That was why they had been forced to come to the Dreadfort to swear fealty to Roose Bolton, and before their new castle was even begun, the Mollen family found themselves with a new lord and had to come and swear fealty all over again.
The last of the Hornwoods, the family of Ramsay's wife Lady Donella, Ramsay became the nominal Lord of Hornwood after he forcibly married her.
The still-beautiful old woman did not meet the tragic fate of the original, and listening to Dominic's meaning seemed to be to let her spend her old age in the Dreadfort, let Ramsay inherit Hornwood, and let Ramsay's descendants become nobles.
And since Ramsay had given up the idea of killing Lady Donna Ruff, the guy had often gone to his "wife's" boudoir to exercise his husband's rights in the past few months, making his little lover Miranda jealous several times.
"Silence.."
Looking at the bustling crowd in the hall, Yin Geng shouted with some displeasure, which made everyone stop discussing and look at Marco's position.
Marco stared at Alf Karstark, who was kneeling in the center of the hall, and turned his gaze to Alys Karstark, who was kneeling beside him. He asked indifferently:
"Alys Karstark, since your uncle says you are the Lord of Karhold, will you tell me, are you willing to represent the Karstark family to be loyal to me?"
Alys Karstark looked at the dignified and handsome Marco, her eyes slightly dull, but she quickly reacted, her face flushed, she drew out the sword at her waist, and knelt on one knee to Marco and said:
"King... no! Your Majesty the Emperor! I am willing to pledge my allegiance to you, and my... my family is also willing to pledge their allegiance to you."
Marco nodded and smiled, "Very good, I have received your oath. Given the behavior of your family, I can only give you a seat as a member of the council. If you can manage the city of Kahor well in the future, I will consider giving your future husband a seat."
"Well, since you have sworn allegiance, I, as your king, now do you justice and give you the power to punish, and you are responsible for judging your uncle."
Alys looked at Alf, who didn't dare to raise his head, and then turned her gaze to her cousin Ed Karstark, who was trembling beside her. After sighing, she replied to Marco:
"Your Majesty! They are my last relatives, I really don't know what to do, I beg you to help me, and I don't want to bear the crime of killing my relatives."
Marco looked at the thin brown-haired girl, and felt some sympathy for her experience. So Marco turned his head to look at Alf who was kneeling on the side, and said in a cold voice:
"Alf Karstark, you deserve to die for your crimes, but I will spare your life because you have lost most of your sons and your great-niece has pled for you.
But you must swear to Alys Karstark that you and your children will forever be loyal to the main branch of your family, until death do you part, the gods will witness your oath today, and if you violate it, you and your descendants will be thrown into the underworld, and your souls will be tortured by the ice purgatory of the alien gods forever."
Alf heard the words and raised his head with some excitement. He first bowed to Marco, then turned around and took Yali's hand, and read the oath of never betraying her.
After the matter here was over, Marco called everyone to the sand table on the long table again. He pointed to the direction of Horwood City with his baton and asked Ramsay, the "Little Stripper" beside him:
"Rams, do you have any garrison troops in the city of Horwood?"
Ramsay glanced at his brother and said a little timidly:
"Y..Your Majesty! We only have less than 1,000 troops stationed in Hornwood, because at that time... the situation was critical, so I transferred all the troops back. B..But, White Harbor should not have received the information yet, I think it should be in time!"
Marco nodded and said, "The fire that Black Eel set at Widow's Watch should have exhausted the Flint family's resources. That means we only have the area south of the Sheep's Head Hills left!"
At this time, Dominic suddenly opened his mouth and said: "Lord, you should be careful of Stannis Baratheon. This guy is really difficult to deal with. We were defeated by him outside the city of White Harbor.
He has a powerful cavalry unit called the Stag Guard, whose lances and swords are wreathed in flame when they charge, and our soldiers have lost heart in fear. And there are rumors that he has a red priestess who can see the future, and several of our planned ambushes have failed, which I suspect is due to her."
Marco was a little curious when he heard this, and then he asked in detail about the news of Stannis's troops, and he had a general understanding of them.
Currently, half of the North has been conquered by Marco, and the Holy Sun Flag has been planted on the land. Only Bear Island, the Neck, and the Riverlands have not been controlled by Marco.
In fact, the only place that Marco really cared about was the Riverlands, which could be said to be the strongest and richest region in the entire North. Now, with the addition of Stannis, Marco felt that this battle would not be as simple as before.
After a moment's thought, Marco ordered:
"Now, your main task is to ensure the grain and crops in your territory. After the saints of the Pantheon enter, I will let them teach the people of the church to use the new seeds.
After you have kept enough family guards, you will merge your troops into my army, and then let your scholars write the basic information about the castle in the scroll. Later, my commercial minister, God, will send craftsmen to build factories. You don't need to worry about the safety of the territory in the future. My army will take over all this."
The nobles present looked at each other, and they were also very shocked. The rumors of Marco's system have been circulating among the nobles in the north. Many people are very resistant to it, but they are afraid of Marco's military power and the dragon, so they can only bear it silently.
Marco saw the fear and worry in their hearts, and said lightly:
"You are too weak to protect my territory and my people. As long as you accept my system, you can still live in the most luxurious castle, eat the most delicious food, and wear the most beautiful clothes.
You should have heard of the druids under my command. I can tell you responsibly that in the future, I can make your castle harvest twice as much grain as before every year. Remember that it is twice as much as all your previous territories, and the grain near Winterfell can be harvested three times a year.
All of this is brought by magic. The times are different. Keeping your aging thoughts will only make you be eliminated. In the future, I will conquer the entire Westeros continent. It depends on how you choose now."
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