Of course, it is to form an alliance with Dorne and the Reach to oppose the other five kingdoms. Is there any other way?
Daenerys opened her mouth, then immediately realized that Aegor's deliberate reminder of how strong the Reach was could not be without reason.
His implication was nothing more than telling her that the Reach, the strongest force, not only could not be brought into alliance through compromise, but must be defeated and taken into her own hands.
This was completely illogical.
"But besides Dorne and the Riverlands, the other five kingdoms all stood against the Targaryens in the Usurper's War and have a blood feud for killing my father and my brother with my family, well, now it is just me. Even if I were willing to win them over, they could not possibly stand on my side. I have no choice at all, so what 'how to choose' are you talking about?"
"First, forget those damned family feuds, simplify the model, and take it step by step." Aegor shook his head, stood, and fetched paper and charcoal pencils from a nearby cabinet. Fortunately, this room had once been a laboratory for pyromancers, and they often needed to calculate during experiments. Nothing was missing. With paper and pencils in hand, he returned to sit before the Queen and quickly sketched a rough topographic map of Westeros south of the Wall. "Number the Seven Kingdoms from one to seven, without considering closeness or distance, without considering ruling families' attitudes toward you, without considering culture or faith. Consider only geography. Suppose you are already the victor. How should you rule this Kingdom to ensure your control is strong enough that no one can obstruct any reform you wish to undertake?"
A Night's Watch man who could casually draw a map of the Seven Kingdoms? Daenerys gave Aegor a surprised look, then leaned forward, hips lifting slightly from her seat, like a child watching a teacher mark a paper, and looked down at the simple map across the table. Her Night's Watch "teacher" marked a series of numbers on the map. The Reach was 1, the Westerlands 2, the Riverlands 3, the Stormlands 4, the Vale 5, the North 6, Dorne 7. After a pause, perhaps feeling it was not complete, he marked the Crownlands as 8, the Iron Islands as 9. Finally, after a moment's hesitation, he marked the Wall's position as 10.
"Sorry, what I said just now was too vague. The Seven Kingdoms are not merely seven kingdoms, but ten forces, even ignoring Dragonstone and the Narrow Sea isles. Please look again, Your Grace. How do you want to rule this continent?"
Daenerys tilted her head and studied this ultra-simplified Westeros map for a long time, still unable to figure out the order's basis. It was clearly not direction, nor exactly strength, and certainly not resource abundance. As for how to rule this continent, she had not a clue.
What did it mean to consider only geography? She understood every word Aegor said. Put together, she could not follow his thinking at all.
She had not even won the war yet and was already being made to consider how to rule. Was that not putting the cart before the horse?
…
After turning from a proud Queen into a humble one, Daenerys became a helpless maiden again. She raised her eyes to Aegor with a look mixed with confusion and a hint of pleading, one step short of saying, "Please, sir, teach me."
Aegor looked up and met her gaze, could not help glancing at her face, close because she was leaning in to see the map, and breathed in the faint, surprisingly pleasant scent she carried. He suddenly thought that, stripped of her strong, proud shell, the little Queen before him was merely a girl of seventeen or eighteen, not even as old as Nina. Take away the title of Queen, and she was still someone who needed care, help, and guidance.
Stop. Aegor pulled himself out of his reverie in time, cold sweat nearly breaking on his back. This magical allure was simply insoluble. He thought he could resist with reason, but in truth, it was very likely that he was only being influenced more subtly, gradually falling in.
This was not the time for such thoughts. The persuasion was already halfway through. Do not stumble now from distraction.
"Here is a hint. Which parts of the Seven Kingdoms border the Crownlands, and which are relatively far?" He put away his wandering thoughts and handed the pen to Daenerys. "Mark the far ones with an 'X'."
The Queen hesitated as she took the pen, stared at the map a long while, then gritted her teeth and marked the North, the Iron Islands, and Dorne with an X.
"Basically correct." Aegor took the pen back, resisting the urge to deliberately touch Daenerys's fingers. He traced the three small x's made by the Queen's pretty hand into bold ×'s, then marked the Westerlands and the Vale with an X as well. "These two places may seem close to the Crownlands, but mountains separate them from the great plains and make transport inconvenient. Your Grace, do you see what these five places share that made me mark them with an X?"
"These five places cannot be reached without crossing mountains?"
"Yes, but from a political view, the feature of 'cannot be reached without crossing mountains' means that even if you conquer these five places, it will be very hard to rule them from King's Landing." Aegor nodded. "Where I come from, there is an old saying. Befriend the distant, attack the near. That speaks to this situation, if you cannot control it, do not bother to occupy it. These five regions are far from the central core plains of the Westerosi continent, and transport is very inconvenient. Unless your dragons can flatten mountains and dry swamps and seas, even if you conquer them, direct rule will be hard. Appoint new Lords, and with time they will breed rebellion. Try to rule through a bureaucracy, and with 'the sky high and the Queen far away,' the burden of corruption will be passed to the people, which runs against your ideal of better lives. Therefore, my advice is, do not make enemies of these five regions."
"As for what remains after excluding those five…" Aegor did not give Daenerys a chance to ask. As if he did not need to look, he roughly marked the positions of Gulltown, King's Landing, and Oldtown on the map. With a few quick strokes, he drew a rather irregular large frame. Centered around the three major cities, with the plains as the body, it covered the entire Crownlands, almost all of the Reach, half the Riverlands, and small parts of the Westerlands and the Stormlands. Its area was large enough to compare with the entire North, almost one third of the land south of the Wall, and half of the southern regions beyond the North.
Putting down the pen, Aegor pointed to the large frame on the map and feigned surprise. "Incredible. I cannot help suspecting that when your ancestor Aegon the Conqueror chose the site of King's Landing and the Crownlands, he already considered what you want to do today. The Riverlands and the Stormlands border the Crownlands, and together they occupy the flattest, most fertile, and most densely populated core plains of the Seven Kingdoms. This plain accounts for seventy percent of Westeros's population and eighty percent of its grain production. Expand the Crownlands as shown, ruled directly by the royal house, and you will hold the Kingdom's lifeline. You can do what you wish, how you wish. So long as you do not push too far, you will be unassailable."
Daenerys widened her eyes at the large frame on the paper, her small mouth slightly open, unable to close for a long while. By the gods, she had really come only to read The Prince, Part Two. And now, with a sheet of paper and a few charcoal lines, she was a little frightened.
"But… but…"
"There are no 'buts.' Let us give it a name first. Expanding outward from the original Crownlands, why not call it Great King's Landing? Why has such a fine tract never been unified in Westeros's long history? It is simple, insufficient productivity, inconvenient transport, and no one had the ambition and ability." Aegor continued to entice. "But your ancestors cleared these obstacles over nearly three hundred years. King Jaehaerys I built roads and strengthened regional links. After so many years, the area of Great King's Landing that I have drawn now has a complete grid of routes like the River Road, King's Road, Golden Road, Rose Road, and Coastal Road. As long as these major roads are repaired to a certain extent, with a few supplementary north-south routes added, the whole of Great King's Landing will be joined together. Here, decrees can be carried out, and the localities can receive royal command directly, forming a complete Kingdom. If you are still hesitant and indecisive, then forgive my bluntness. Your Grace, please stop saying everywhere that you will break the wheel of history. It only invites ridicule."
(To be continued.)
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