The debt, amounting to several million Gold Dragons, was mainly owed to the Lannisters and the Iron Bank, with a portion also from Tyrosh.
Comparatively speaking, the reason the royal family could still operate normally was partly due to Duke Tywin's intermittent support for his daughter, and on the other hand, it relied entirely on annual taxes and trade across the Narrow Sea, including customs duties when ships entered the port and the gate tax when merchants entered King's Landing.
However, all these added up to only a few hundred thousand Gold Dragons, which couldn't meet Robert's lavish spending at all.
Apart from the financial chaos, King's Landing also had many thorny problems.
Unlike the bitterly cold and austere North, booming trade not only brought Gold Dragons but also unimaginable corruption and power struggles.
Take the City Watch of King's Landing for example. Half of their current salary came from the Lannisters' advances, and the other half relied entirely on soldiers frantically squeezing the populace.
The evil consequences brought by this, combined with the Red Cloaks filling King's Landing, meant that almost all the discourse power in the capital was occupied by the Lannisters.
And these potential problems couldn't be brought to the table and solved properly.
In short, placed before Duke Ned was a King's Landing riddled with holes.
But as the Hand of the King, the doubts he came South to resolve actually didn't include these at all.
So before investigating the cause of Duke Jon's death, especially after grasping these situations, the new Hand had to make several important decisions first.
First, Ned completely vetoed the tourney held to welcome him, saving about one hundred thousand Gold Dragons in expenses with this single item.
Afterward, he signed an order requiring all duchies to pay their overdue taxes, or bear the consequences themselves.
In addition, regarding the source of the Gold Cloaks' salary, it also became the most thorny issue for the Small Council.
Given that there wasn't enough money in the treasury, and Ned couldn't directly order the Gold Cloaks to squeeze the populace in the short term, the Hand was once in a predicament.
Fortunately, as a bystander, Jon quickly put forward an interesting idea:
That was to let Ned, in his private capacity, borrow a sum of Silver Stags from Count Manderly of White Harbor to gradually replace the support of the Lannister family, and thereby slowly take back the management rights of the City Watch.
Once they could fully control the Gold Cloaks, they could find ways to eliminate the influence of those blonde lions in King's Landing, thereby completing the consolidation of royal power.
Of course, when proposing this suggestion, Jon was prepared to be severely rejected.
However, unexpectedly, after a brief hesitation, the Hand chose to compromise on this matter.
Perhaps in Duke Ned's view, no matter what happened or when, it was best not to owe soldiers' pay. After all, he had truly participated in leading troops in war and knew better than anyone the evil consequences of unpaid wages.
Therefore, after getting the Hand's approval, Jon drafted a letter immediately and sent it to Ned for signing.
When the order flew with the raven, Jon also began to look forward to Count Manderly's expression when seeing this letter.
Although he didn't know much about this family skilled in managing ports, as a vassal of Duke Ned, presumably this Count wouldn't question Ned's request for help or order.
Moreover, although he didn't explicitly agree on a return in the letter, the hint inside was enough to tempt the Manderly family.
Thinking of this, Jon couldn't help shaking his head and smiling bitterly, "Sorry, Arya. For the sake of our heads, you'll have to suffer a little."
However, even if he had just planned a brilliant arrangement, this wasn't enough to make Jon content with the status quo.
After all, in this capital where fish and snakes mixed, even Duke Ned, high as the Hand, could go offline instantly due to negligence.
Not to mention him, a Snow, who wasn't even a small fry. Even if he was killed, he wouldn't make any waves.
Therefore, as a "newly favored person" beside the King and the Hand, surviving by staying low was his primary task now.
For this reason, Jon constantly examined and reflected on himself: Did I stay low today? Can I continue to survive?
At least before possessing enough ability to protect himself, the transmigrator absolutely couldn't act recklessly.
Even if he realized some key points in destiny, that was limited to players with strength, not a rookie like him.
With this mood, Jon became more cautious, afraid that a moment of inattention would expose his affair with Cersei.
By then, if he didn't die by Robert's warhammer, he would die by Jaime's longsword.
Fortunately, the expected bad things didn't happen, allowing the transmigrator to continue surviving.
Moreover, Jon's current situation seemed glamorous but was actually extremely delicate.
Although he shone brilliantly in King's Landing, this glory actually came from the kingdom's number one and number two figures—the brothers Robert and Ned.
But if tracing its root, all of this originated from the same person. As Duke Stark's nominal bastard but actual nephew, the only unreserved support Jon could receive was from Ned alone.
Apart from this direct bloodline, all remaining favors were just illusions, including King Robert's favor, which stemmed merely from his friendship with Duke Ned.
And once it was discovered that Jon was the last descendant of the Targaryens, the glory brought by this friendship would instantly turn into an unimaginable disaster.
By then, even Ned probably wouldn't be able to protect him or himself.
It could be said that Jon had now fallen into a dead end where he could only advance but not retreat, and just as the dog System expected, his known destiny had been completely changed.
In the past, Jon just needed to lie down peacefully and wait for the opportunity. But now his situation could no longer be described as "lying flat"; instead, he had to survive cautiously.
Apart from the two-faced Robert, the other half of the Usurper also made Jon feel like he was dancing on the tip of a blade.
Although the transmigrator had no intention of getting involved with the Lannisters, now he not only slept with Robert's woman but also sank deeper and deeper into the quagmire of Cersei again and again.
To this day, even if the transmigrator could pull up his pants and leave, turning his face and denying everything, it would probably be hard to return to the initial timing.
And the fragile balance between the two relied entirely on threats that seemed fatal but were actually useless.
As for the "Queen's New Clothes Limited Time Trial" rewarded by the dog System, he didn't even dare to think about it, let alone count on relying on affinity to save his life.
Fortunately, this woman, who only had looks but no brains, hadn't had the time to speculate whether Jon had left the secret to a third person; otherwise, on the first day of entering King's Landing, Snow's head would probably have been hung on the city wall.
Apart from these worrying situations, the wolves circling around the transmigrator were far more than just these!
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