32 the cold customs
Chapter warning
Mention of beheadings
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Friedrich Wilhelm POV
The only good thing about the North is the climate, from being suffering from the heat, we were finally in a climate that resembles our home, everything else is trouble or having to deal with the stupid Northmen customs.
The day after my meeting with lord Stark I tried to negotiate as soon as I could an agreement on the sale of grain, but what happens lord Stark decided to call the northern assembly
a custom of the Northmen to agree on how much grain they should buy from the south and which lords should be given aid to endure the bad times, it would have been great except that I would have to be here for at least 20 days for all the northern lords to arrive in Winterfell.
So for now, I am an honored guest in the ancestral home of house Stark, only there is almost nothing to do, wasted time I could use to make plans for future cities or start my plan to literate the small folks in the reach and indoctrinate them in the process
but I'm not here in the north bored while the bannermen of house Stark arrive the only entertainment I have is watching my knights wipe the floor with the guards of house Stark in the training grounds
One of my bodyguards was fighting three House Stark soldiers, it was a thing to see Rodrick Cassel's pale face as he watched the men he trained barely keep up with one of the knights guarding me.
''Lord Hohenzollern, are all your knights so trained?'' asked Rodrick Cassel with nervousness in his voice.
''they are my bodyguards, these are the best men you will find in the Teutonic order, trained since they were 6 years old to protect the kings in Prussia'' I answered without interest.
''I have heard that you are a good knight, do you think you can beat your men?'', asked Rodrick.
''not even close, I'm pretty good with weapons, but I only train at most 2 hours a day, they train 12 hours a day, every day they will beat me by experience of so much training'' I said while watching the fight.
The knight took one of his opponents by the shoulder, and threw him to his companions as if he was a sack of flour.
''no, all wrong, you must surround me, you must not get together, or it will be easier for me to defeat you, you must coordinate yourselves more'' shouted the knight to his opponents.
''My king, the knights that bring the luggage and the prisoners have arrived,'' said one of my knights.
It's about time I thought they would never arrive'' I said as I stood up.
The second group of knights had arrived bringing the prisoners both the iron born and the highwaymen, at least I could see how justice is served in the north.
I went to the castle gate to see my men.
''What is all this commotion Lord Hohenzollern'' said Lord Stark.
''the prisoners I captured on their way to Winterfell have arrived lord Stark'' I said replying
Lord Stark was a little perplexed at the sheer size of the prisoners my men had brought with them.
''I must apologize lord Hohenzollern, I thought you were exaggerating when you said you captured almost 400 men'' he said with a cold tone
''well now they are your prisoners, the iron born are quite wounded, as there was no time to heal them on the way to Winterfell'' I said as I smiled
''if you like lord Hohenzollern you can go back to your room because it is likely that I will have to cut some heads off'' lord Stark said with a serious tone
''really, you think I'm going to be scared to see a head being cut off, I've seen nastier things, if it's not inconvenient, I'd like to see how justice is exercised in the north'' I said while raising my eyebrows.
Lord Stark nodded and began to make preparations, after about 15 minutes the Northmen had the executioner's block ready where Lord Stark began to dispense justice, he offered to be beheaded or wear the black to all the prisoners.
No trial and no proof if I had brought him a peasant from the countryside, it is likely he would have been offered the same, just because it is my word against his.
To my surprise many men preferred to lose their heads than to wear the black, it seems that life serving in one of the iciest places in the area is not very well accepted by the iron born, the Northmen preferred almost all to serve on the wall
the heads began to roll by the same hand of the lord with a clean cut, all of them preferred not to choose the black, 72 heads surprised me how calm lord stark is with having the mission of beheading so many people for his duty as lord.
The rest that decided to use black will have to spend quite a lot of time in the dungeons of Winterfell, I don't think lord Stark's prison is big enough to hold so many prisoners not to mention that I have received notices from my scouts that more prisoners will arrive soon, since when they cleared the local forest of highwaymen they started clearing other areas of the roads and they are being extremely efficient soon at least the most important roads will be clear of that criminal scum by the time I leave the north
the prisoners were the main topic of conversation when we were having a meal with lord stark and his family.
''Lord Hohenzollern, how can your men capture so many bandits, in such a short time I have had patrols guarding the roads since the trouble began, but they are nowhere near as effective as your men'' Lord Stark asked looking me in the eye.
''the Finns are the scouts of my armies, they know how to follow the tracks left by men as if they were hounds, not to mention that they are native to these cold climates and have tools that allow them to move faster than a horse in the snow, by the way, I got information that soon more prisoners will arrive to Winterfell'' I said while we were waiting for our food.
''Lord Hohenzollern I thank you for your help with our problems, but you don't have to demand so much from your men, they must be tired'' Lord Stark said with a kind tone.
That's the first time he's used that tone with me
''that's what I pay them for Lord Stark, that way they keep their skills sharpened it's been a while since they could use their skis to go in the snow, as you understand snow is rare in the south'' I said laughing.
''Yes, I understand'' said Lord Stark.
''lord Hohenzollern, you have adapted very well to the northern climate, even I have too much trouble when it's cold'' said lady Catelyn
''Prussia is a land of mild summers and harsh winters, so in fact the northern weather is more tolerable for me than the heat of the south, by the way, my luggage has arrived, and now I can give you the gifts that I could not give you when I arrived'' I said as my knights brought the gifts.
''you shouldn't trouble yourself, Lord Hohenzollern has done enough for us already'' said Lord Stark.
''my craftsmen took their time making them, it would be a pity if you rejected them'' I said as I smiled.
for lord Stark I had prepared a finely decorated bastard sword, but no less sharp, as it was made by my best smiths, he may never use it because he has a Valyrian steel one, but it's the thought that counts, for lady Catelyn I gave her a gold necklace showing the emblem of house Stark on the front and on the back the house Tully, for young Robb I gave him a silver figurine of a Teutonic knight in a combat pose
I also had another figurine for the bastard son/nephew of Lord Stark, but I preferred not to risk it, Lord Stark's wife is southern and for them, the bastards are treacherous and at any moment they can, they will destroy their family to keep the power, unlike the Northmen who tend to be a little more attached to the bastards because of their customs of being so united.
Without considering that I do not know how is the personal relationship of that marriage, so Lord Stark built a sept in the heart of the Northmen to please his wife, one could say that it was the result of the love of that marriage, what I see is a political suicide because with that action, he put many of the followers of the old gods against him, but well, things of Northmen.
For the next 15 days, I was living with the Stark family waiting for their bannermen to gather for the assembly, I don't know why so much fuss about gathering all the northern lords to negotiate with me, since the offer is going to be the same, I may negotiate personally with everyone to get cheap raw materials and buy land to build ports, but with everyone being here i won't change my terms.
What I was looking for is simple from what I understand from talking to merchants in the area the North imports 40-70% of its grain from the South, but it doesn't buy it all from the reach I have competition with other Southern lords the Tully, Lannister and the Arryn, I must sell the grain at an adequate price to the Northmen so that they no longer even think about buying from my competitors offer them a better price so that they are totally dependent on me
According to the tyrell ledgers, they used to sell 4-6 times the market value of grain to the Northmen, an outrage and I thought they were just incompetent, but I finally found a rational policy in the tyrell; however, if I want to make them dependent on my grain I will have to offer 2 to 3 times the market price to make the trade possible.
Stop thinking so much because if something goes wrong I could get blocked and desperate again, and it hurt me enough with Lord Tarly
Lord Stark asked me to sit on his left while all the northern lords began to fill the hall, for 15 minutes we waited until they all arrived after the northern lords finished greeting each other, Lord Stark began to speak.
''my lords I hope this year the harvests have been good and that the summer snow will be short lived, as custom dictates, we meet again to once more help each other in times of need as our ancestors have always done, some may wonder why the assembly time has come earlier, the reason is lord Hohenzollern, he has traveled from the south to offer us a new commercial deal in the sale of grain and I considered that the decision should not be taken only by me'' lord Stark said while pointing at me.
Stares focused on me as well as words about my appearance, finally I stood up and began to speak.
''honorable lords of the north, as lord Stark indicated, I have come to offer a new deal on the sale of grain that the reach has with the north, the moment I learned of the horrible injustice that the tyrells committed with you, I could not stay calm, it is deplorable that in times of need the tyrells sell their grain up to 6 times more expensive to the Northmen is why I have come to offer you a new deal'' I said while I stopped to observe the reactions.
I offer to sell you at 25 gold dragons a ton of grain, including the possibility of bartering for furs or other raw materials'' I said in a friendly tone.
There were happy faces, some surprised by my offer.
''What's the trick, southerner'' shouted a lord with a white star of heraldry.
''yes you do win with this deal, for as long as I can remember you southerners have sold us grain as high as you can, do you want to sell us rotten grain?'' shouted a giant man.
''I only wish to help the north, during the rebellion, Lord Stark gave me a hand when I was going through hard times and the time has come to repay that debt, I would also like to make the offer to buy some land, so I can build ports to allow the transport of goods more easily and if anyone has concerns about the iron born I am willing if this deal is accepted to have my ships that guard the trade convoys guard the coasts from their assaults as much as possible'' I said in a friendly tone.
''You think you can catch the iron born?, there are no more elusive men than those bastards in their longships'' shouted a lord with a horse heraldry.
I was preparing to answer, but Lord Glover defended me.
''Lord Hohenzollern on his way north managed to capture 12 longships as well as several hundred ironborn I saw him when they came to my lands, besides rescuing many people who were captured by those men'' said Lord Galbart Glover.
After that, I was asked to withdraw from the hall while the northern lords deliberated my offer, it didn't take them long just 3 minutes, and they had already finished deciding and the answer was favorable to my interests, they didn't even try to change the conditions, the great majority of the northern lords were euphoric with the treaty, although there was a small group that still viewed me with suspicion, especially that lord who has a heraldry of a flayed man.
But finally, my alcohol began to be distributed, and they began to drink on my behalf the good lord Friedrich Wilhelm, the friend of the Northmen.
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give me the power stones
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