Whispering City, Lord's Council Chamber.
Lord Green, Knight Pell, Knight Mason, Bachelor Al, Butler Herschel, and Emparo sat together and discussed the "Eastward Advance" plan to recover the old territory.
In the middle of the table was a large map of the eastern part of the Crab Claw Peninsula.
The entire plan had been discussed to the point of completion. Green pondered for a moment before speaking, "Recovering the old territory is an expedition. Ensuring military supplies is paramount. We'll establish a wooden walled camp at regular intervals...at a standard marching speed of half a day's distance. We'll then gradually advance."
"Everyone, the Kleber family hasn't engaged in a long-distance expedition outside of our territory in over a decade. Previously, our battles were all fought close to our territory, making it easy to restock food supplies and provide timely medical treatment for injured soldiers."
"It's different once you're outside. You're constantly facing the enemy. If our military supplies aren't guaranteed, we might collapse before the battle even begins. We'll be lost before it even begins. As a corps commander, you must always prioritize military supplies. The commanders of the Kleber family must keep this in mind."
Everyone solemnly replied, "Yes, sir!"
"Per, your Survey Corps needs to set out early to gather intelligence along the way. They'll also need to select a site for their camp. When choosing a site, they need to consider terrain and water resources. I'll lead the troops out in three days."
Green stood up and everyone else followed suit.
Green slowly scanned everyone's eyes and said, "To recapture our old territory, we must unite as one!"
"Yes! Recover our lost territory, united as one!"
"Recover our lost territory, united as one!"
"Recover the old territory, united as one!!!"
............
As soon as the combat meeting ended, everyone else left the conference room, only Butler Herschel stayed to report other affairs of the territory to Green.
There were so many affairs in the territory that Butler Herschel could only report them one by one.
Green was listening attentively when the door of the conference room was suddenly pushed open and Surana's tall figure appeared at the door.
Surana bowed and said, "Excuse me for interrupting, my lord. I thought the meeting was over."
Green's calm gaze shifted to Surana: "Surana, is there something urgent?"
"Your cousin, Lady Lyanna Crabbe..."
Before Surana could finish, another tall figure appeared at the door.
The person who came was slender and looked about 60% similar to Green. This person was Green's cousin mentioned by Sulana - Lyanna Cleber.
As Green stood up from his chair, the dusty Lyanna Crabbe threw herself into his arms and sobbed, her cry full of grievance.
Green was wondering what had happened in his mind, but he didn't say anything. He just reached out one hand to Lyanna's back and patted her gently, silently soothing Lyanna Crabbe's emotions.
After a long while, Surana came over and whispered a few words of comfort. He helped Lyanna Crabbe sit on the chair next to her, and then picked up the wine glass and poured a glass of red wine for Lyanna.
Green waited quietly for Lyanna to finish a large glass of red wine in a few gulps before saying, "Lyanna, tell me why you are so sad. I'm here."
Lyanna's eyes were filled with tears: "Wushuer wants to divorce me, sob sob sob."
Wushouer's full name is Wushouer Maekar, a merchant from Gulltown in the Vale. Lyanna Crabbe was married to Wushouer Maekar in Gulltown in the Vale about four years ago at the arrangement of Grimm's mother.
How could Lyanna, a noble, marry a merchant?
After the Usurper's War, the Hand of the King and Duke of the Vale, Jon Arryn, did not relax his suppression of the Crab Claw Peninsula, a loyal subject of the Dragon family, and the forces of the Vale naturally followed suit.
Green's mother struggled to maintain the oppressed Claypool family. After ten years of perseverance, the exhausted Green's mother chose a respectable compromise and arranged for Lyanna Claypool, who had just experienced her first period, to marry into the nobles of the Vale.
The nobles of the valley looked down on the half-wild nobles of the Crab Claw Peninsula. As a second choice, Green's mother had to choose Wushouer Meka, a businessman who was said to have maintained good relations with the nobles in Seagull Town.
Strictly speaking, this marriage was a humiliation of the Kleber family by the valley nobles.
The Vale nobles had been blockading and suppressing the Crabclaw Peninsula nobles for nearly a decade, and their initial enthusiasm had long since faded. Ten years of continuous blockade and suppression, coupled with this humiliation, were enough to demonstrate their loyalty to the King's Hand, Lord Jon Arryn, and they could finally relax.
The Kleber family's reputation as nobles was indeed damaged, but the marriage did ease relations with the Valley. The blockade on the Kleber family was lifted, and itinerant merchants began to enter the Kleber family's territory, bringing all kinds of much-needed supplies. The Kleber family's leather could also be sold to itinerant merchants from all over the country at normal prices.
Sacrificing Lyanna Crabbe's marriage bought the Crabbe family a chance to breathe, but the entire incident itself had already sown deep hatred.
It's just that the Kleber family was too weak at the time and no one cared too much.
............
"My cousin, why did he divorce you?"
"Wow, I only found out later. It was a noble widow from Fushi City who fell in love with Wu Shouer! That widow didn't have any children yet. After divorcing me, their legitimate child could inherit the title."
Hearing the answer, Green's slender fingers gripping his knees tightened.
Lyanna continued, "Our marriage was already ridiculed by the people of the Vale. How would I live if I were divorced? I naturally wouldn't agree. He even hit me. Later, I was really scared, so I took the opportunity when he was out and sneaked back with my maid. Woohoo!"
Green narrowed his eyes slightly: "It seems that the people in the valley really don't take us seriously."
Surana was heartbroken for Lyanna and spoke angrily, "Damn the people of the Vale! They all deserved to have their necks bitten off by the White Walkers! That villain, Wushoul, thought that by divorcing Lady Lyanna and marrying a shameless noble widow, he would become a member of the Vale nobility. The Crabbe family dared not retaliate and could only swallow their anger."
Lyanna nodded sadly. Yes, that's what the damn guy thought.
Green rubbed his brow and looked directly at Lyanna. "Cousin Lyanna, no one in Whispering City has ever forgotten your contribution. You are my family. After you got married, your room has been kept in the same condition and is cleaned by a dedicated person. It's as if you had never left this home."
Green, the lord, expressed his attitude. Lyanna's eyes immediately filled with emotion: "Green..."
Lyanna was very uneasy along the way. When she got married, Green was only eleven years old, shy and thin.
Green's mother has passed away, and Green, whose memory is a lot vague, inherited the territory and became the lord. Lyanna did not dare to imagine optimistically how Green would treat her after hearing about her experience.
Lyanna felt that she had brought shame to her family and had no face to face the Green, but in the end she found that she had nowhere else to go except the Whispering City.
Only the thought of Whispering City, which outsiders mocked as a wildling countryside, could bring Lyanna a sense of security.
So Lyanna came regardless!
My cousin, whom I haven't seen for four years, has grown up and his calm demeanor makes me feel at ease.
Green reached out and gently took Lyanna's slender, cool hand in his, "Lyanna, this will always be your home."
"I want to ask you, will giving you Wushou'er's head make you feel better?"