The black banner with a white wolf leaped and roared atop the walls of Golden Tooth; this was the first time in a thousand years that Golden Tooth had changed hands.
Golden Tooth was merely a military fortress in the Westerlands. Although it was surrounded by the rich gold mines of Golden Tooth, these were all assets belonging to the Lannisters.
The Lefford Family was not wealthy, and Tywin had never given them any subsidies.
Inside the hall, Jon was receiving Lady Alyssane Lefford.
At this moment, Lady Lefford's cheeks were swollen high, and she didn't dare to breathe heavily. Daven's kick had been extremely heavy; with every breath, she felt a sharp pain in her lower ribs.
Lady Lefford informed Jon that she had stabbed Daven, a fact that could be verified from Daven's corpse.
However, such a contribution was clearly insufficient for her to retain Golden Tooth for the Lefford Family. In the future, Jon intended to build a trading town facing the Riverlands at Golden Tooth.
In short, this would no longer be a military fortress; he needed to control it directly.
"Count Leo did no more than what a vassal should do. It is impossible for me to return Golden Tooth to you, but for you and your child, I will grant the Lefford Family a manor where you can raise the child."
"Thank you, my lord."
With the men of her house nearly all dead or wounded and the castle fallen, Lady Lefford had never expected to keep Golden Tooth. As long as she could receive Jon's guarantee that she and her son could continue to live, it was enough.
After all, she had used her beauty to serve others in the first place for the sake of her child.
After Lady Lefford left, Jon was about to depart when Robb Frey suddenly mentioned that Brynden wanted to see him.
Brynden entered the hall, and after exchanging greetings with Jon, explained his purpose.
He believed that now was not a good time to attack Casterly Rock. Instead, they should use Golden Tooth as a base to expand outward, or look for an opportunity to have a decisive battle with the heavy forces Tywin had stationed in the southern Westerlands before seizing more territory.
"Ser Brynden's suggestion is very pertinent; I understand your meaning." Jon knew it was likely him who had let Tywin go that day, but he did not expose it.
After all, judging by the suggestion, he seemed to want to make up for his mistake. Jon happened to be short of hands; if Brynden was willing to stay by his side to redeem himself, that wouldn't be out of the question.
"But I want to end the war as soon as possible. Right now, Tywin must not yet know that Golden Tooth has fallen. If we can reach Casterly Rock sooner, we can build fortifications earlier and wait for the enemy at our leisure." Jon approached Tywin's side and said, "Actually, I don't intend to attack Casterly Rock directly. To take the castle, we must also defeat the army Tywin has levied. Moreover, Tywin is still in Casterly Rock, and he's the only one left in the Westerlands with the ability to lead troops. By bottling him up in Casterly Rock, we can better defeat this army."
In fact, there was one point Jon didn't mention: he didn't care for the army Tywin had hastily levied at all.
Now he not only had the 'Gods Perspective' but also over twenty ravens acting as his eyes. An army composed of large-scale levies of new recruits would inevitably be full of flaws; he could easily defeat them.
But once they used Sarsfield as a base and fortification, it would take some effort to fight.
"Ser Brynden, speed is the soul of war. If I had been a bit slower back then, the one sitting on the iron throne now would be that pretender king, Joffrey."
"Speed is the soul of war—I understand." Brynden nodded, thinking that Jon always managed to say such thought-provoking things.
Just as Jon thought he had answered Brynden's questions and was preparing to leave, Brynden suddenly confessed, "My lord, actually that day... I let Tywin go on purpose."
Brynden's voice lost its confidence, and by the end, it was almost squeezed out of his throat. He lowered his head, as if waiting for Jon's judgment.
As soon as he finished speaking, the hall immediately became very quiet; only the sounds of Soldiers laughing and talking could be heard from outside.
Brynden had thought about it for a long time and finally decided to confess to Jon.
"If you wish to punish me, please wait until the war is over, so I can try to make up for my mistakes as much as possible."
Seeing that Jon didn't speak for a long time, Brynden simply spoke up.
With his head down, Brynden saw Jon's boots enter his field of vision, and he raised his head with some shame.
"Ser Brynden, everyone has their own position. I was only giving you a suggestion at the time. You were loyal to your Family and considered your Family's interests; that is nothing."
"Duke... My lord."
Jon gave Brynden a calm look and then left the hall.
In fact, in Jon's view, Tywin escaping back to the Westerlands was actually beneficial to him.
If he had died beneath the walls of King's Landing or on the road retreating west, the Westerlands would have become leaderless.
While he could certainly have made the remaining lords of the Westerlands surrender at the first sign of trouble, their territories and strength would have been preserved to the greatest extent.
Jon's plan was to implement 'Gaitu Guiliu' in the future Westerlands; he wanted to centralize power to prepare for the coming Long Night and the approaching winter.
If the lords of Westeros were like individual ships of various sizes sailing alone, Jon wanted to link these ships tightly together—chaining the boats—to create an ultimate fortress capable of withstanding the storm.
If those lords had surrendered immediately, it would have been difficult for Jon to carry out what he intended to do later.
But now that they were opposing him under Tywin's leadership, his subsequent actions could be even bolder. Inside Highgarden, a peaceful atmosphere still prevailed; Margaery and her young friends were commenting on a helmet and a letter.
Mottled sunlight filtered through the vines onto their dresses. The girls' laughter and chatter, accompanied by the musicians' melodies, made the place seem like a fairyland.
The helmet was from Daven. In the letter, Jon said Margaery could use the helmet as a flowerpot.
"Our Duke's gift is truly... unique." Erro put down the harp in her hands—
—and racked her brains to come up with a term as polite as possible.
However, Margaery was clearly not that satisfied with the description, merely offering a simple smile.
Lia, standing aside, keenly captured Margaery's displeasure. Speaking of which, when the Family chose her to marry Jon, she felt as if a great disaster were looming.
After all, in her poems and songs, there was never a place for a bastard. To prevent Margaery from developing more displeasure toward Jon due to her dissatisfaction with the gift, Lia hastily added: "I think this gift is quite good. Even that prince of the north might not have even broken into the Westerlands if not for his wolf, yet Jon was able to break through Golden Tooth from the front. Isn't he just trying to tell our Margaery that he has enough strength to protect her?"
"Ooh! Lia is right. I think that must be what the Duke means."
"In that case, this helmet is indeed a gift full of deep meaning~"
Under Lia's guidance, the group of girls all began to speak well of Jon, fearing Margaery might change her mind.
In truth, it was inevitable for these noble Young Misses to feel some sense of competition in their daily interactions. Although they were all Margaery's handmaidens, it didn't stop them from privately fantasizing about how wonderful it would be if they were Mace's daughters.
When these noble girls learned that it was Margaery who was to marry Jon, while they weren't exactly gloating, they all felt a lot more balanced in their hearts.
Of course, if Jon really took Casterly Rock, that would be a different story.
However, they had all asked those around them whether Casterly Rock was easy to take, and the results were surprisingly consistent: unless a Dragon was resurrected, Jon would absolutely not be able to take Casterly Rock.
And although these girls didn't understand military affairs, everyone knew the difficulty of attacking Casterly Rock; there wasn't even any possibility of trickery.
Margaery naturally knew the thoughts of these 'little besties,' but she didn't expose them. the queen of thorns, Olenna, had told her since she was a child that it was better not to see through many things openly.
So, amidst a chorus of somewhat hypocritical compliments, Margaery also showed a perfectly timed smile.
"Alright, I'll take it as you all speaking well of Jon. Why don't you help me think about what kind of flowers we should put in this 'flowerpot'?" Saying this, Margaery held up the heavy helmet with her fair, slender hands, stating she would wait for the day of Jon's triumphant return to give him the flowers from the pot.
On the other side, Mace was also discussing Jon's capture of Golden Tooth with his eldest son, Willas, and his mother, Olenna.
He really couldn't understand why Jon's trickery had worked. According to the news sent back by Garlan, when they broke into Golden Tooth, there weren't even a thousand defenders inside.
"Ah, I'm becoming more and more curious about this Jon; I really hope to meet him soon." Willas rubbed his somewhat atrophied knee and looked north with a smile. The breeze stirred his short brown hair, giving him a very scholarly air.
Olenna looked at her beloved grandson and turned to Mace, saying, "Oh, don't look like a debt collector. You should be secretly happy to have an invincible son-in-law. If there are any more cities that need conquering in the future, you can have Jon act as your deputy."
In Olenna's view, since the marriage between Margaery and Jon was a settled matter, it was better to accept it and think about how to profit from this relationship.
She also didn't want anything bad to happen to Jon in battle; if that were the case, Margaery would really have a hard time getting married later.
"That brat probably just had good luck. When he attacked King's Landing, it was because Tyrion's attention was all drawn by Stannis. When he took Golden Tooth, it was because he ran into an idiot. If he really met a shrinking turtle like Stannis, I guarantee he wouldn't have any solution at all," Mace grumbled with some dissatisfaction.
Willas had long since grown accustomed to his father; it was absolutely impossible to get him to admit defeat verbally. So he looked at Olenna, and the grandmother and grandson smiled at each other.
"Father, if Jon really conquers Casterly Rock, you can't just say it's good luck anymore, can you?"
"If he can really conquer Casterly Rock, I'd be happy to double Margaery's dowry for him!"
As soon as Mace finished speaking, Olenna sat up straight and looked around alertly. Mace was puzzled, and Olenna replied, "I'm seeing if anyone is eavesdropping, so no one will know if you want to go back on your word later."
Mace froze for a moment, realized his old mother was teasing him, and then got up to leave in a huff.
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