After a peaceful night, Tyrion ultimately did not see Lady Catelyn, so he hurriedly said goodbye and continued South along the Kingsroad.
Compared to the main procession that returned to King's Landing early, the dwarf, who had been wandering around, hadn't been free for a long time. Therefore, Tyrion, who was used to being lazy, decisively chose to do whatever was comfortable after escaping the supervision of Jaime and Cersei.
Regarding this, the two Red Cloak guards accompanying him didn't have much opinion, but it made Yoren of the Night's Watch feel somewhat anxious.
Although it was only early spring now, for the Night's Watch, as soon as summer ended, the biting cold wind would blow across the Wall, forcing all work to stop.
Therefore, he had to reach King's Landing before then, seek aid from the kingdom, find ways to get some supplies and manpower, and finally return to Castle Black before the snow fell.
Such a journey usually took nearly two months just for the round trip; he didn't have much time to accompany Tyrion wandering around.
...
On the other hand, after settling Gendry properly, Jon also began to review his trip with Varys.
From the current point of view, if he didn't want to be framed by Littlefinger, he had to act first.
Through investigation, he quickly grasped that there were at least ten open currency exchange offices in King's Landing, and the amount of Gold Dragons exchanged daily was unimaginable.
In Westeros, although the exchange rate between Silver Stags and Gold Dragons remained unchanged for a long time, that was only limited to domestic transactions.
The main customers of the exchange offices were merchants from across the Narrow Sea, as well as merchants and travelers preparing to go to Essos.
Therefore, the exchange rate involved would fluctuate with the market conditions on the other side.
So based on this, Petyr didn't even need to look as ugly as the Gold Cloaks, filling his pockets with extortion.
On the contrary, he only needed to round off the decimal points during the daily summary and settlement to get considerable income.
As for how the Master of Coin could get the real situation across the Narrow Sea and determine the exchange rate, he naturally had his unique channels.
It wasn't until now that Jon understood why Petyr chose to open such an indecent business as a brothel. Besides grabbing huge profits, there was a deeper purpose.
Presumably, those ship owners and sailors who crossed long distances would definitely choose to relax and reward themselves after docking. And much of the information from their mouths, after being aggregated, became a transfer station for Littlefinger to intercept important intelligence.
Although this damaged his dignity as the Master of Coin, even so, Petyr didn't care about anyone's opinion at all and often appeared there in person, naturally to steal secrets from unsuspecting guests.
Through these two measures, Petyr could not only mobilize the Gold Dragons of the entire King's Landing for his own use without paying any price, but just by manipulating the exchange offices and embezzling public funds, it was enough to earn massive amounts of Gold Dragons.
So, god knows how many Gold Dragons he put into his own pocket while pitifully claiming in the Small Council that the treasury was empty.
Of course, Jon didn't care about the Master of Coin's behavior. At best, this was just Littlefinger making money in his professional field. According to the conventions of Westerosi nobles, this should have been his right.
However, to bring down Littlefinger, besides evidence, another opportunity was needed.
For now, the King didn't need the Master of Coin's head to roll.
After all, although this guy was corrupt, he could still maintain the economy of King's Landing. Once this dirty guy disappeared, god knows who would have to take the blame.
Therefore, after figuring this out, Jon already had an idea. It just depended on how big a piece of meat he could tear off from Littlefinger.
Apart from these annoying messy things, there was also some good news.
Whether out of trust in Duke Ned or moved by the promise made by Jon, after receiving that letter, Count Manderly didn't even confirm further. He dispatched three ships from White Harbor, fully loaded with newly minted Silver Stags, along with three hundred fully armed soldiers to rush to King's Landing.
When this news was received, the Maester of King's Landing happened to deliver it to Jon to pass on to Duke Ned.
Although this was excellent news, it wasn't necessarily a good thing for Jon.
At the very least, before these people entered Blackwater Bay to dock, the Secretary to the Hand had to think of an excuse to explain it to his nominal father.
However, how to rationalize it was a considerable problem.
Fortunately, departing from White Harbor, it would take at least half a month for the ships to reach King's Landing. Before that, the Hand of the King still had a headache to deal with.
For now, Robert insisted on holding a grand tourney to congratulate Ned on ascending to the position of Hand.
On one hand, this could demonstrate the Usurper's regard and trust for his brother; on the other hand, the Hand of the King from the North also needed such a grand welcome ceremony to declare his administrative power over the Seven Kingdoms.
For this reason, the Small Council was specially convened, which also made Jon understand Robert's "so-called" painstaking efforts.
In the original words of Littlefinger Baelish: the entire King's Landing did not engage in production, relying entirely on the endless stream of princes, nobles, and merchants to support this place.
And the excitement that the people in the capital longed for and enjoyed the most was watching the tourney.
In other words, no entertainment activity could compare with the tourney.
Although King Robert would pay a large amount of Gold Dragons for this, similarly, the crowds traveling to and from King's Landing and spending and paying taxes here were enough to offset a large part of the expenses and make the money in the treasury circulate.
Hearing this explanation, even Jon couldn't help but marvel.
Although many of Robert's actions seemed absurd, in some aspects, he was indeed worthy of being a King.
Although he might not understand the deep economic issues involved, standing from the perspective of a King, he could also clearly see or perceive the key points.
In other words, this might be the instinct of being a King. No matter how Robert handled it...
But there were a few points Jon could be sure of. First, the seemingly useless tourney, although costly, could indeed win over Duke Ned, which might be what Robert wanted to do most.
Second was what Littlefinger touted, that it could stimulate residents' consumption.
But apart from these two reasons, the transmigrator could give a third reason, which was to strengthen the King's appeal.
You know, to this day, there were still many people, even the muddy-legged farmers in the fields, who would occasionally call Robert the Usurper.
And where did the King's power come from? Presumably, Robert knew better than anyone.
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