69 Chapter 69: Pit of Vipers
It didn't take even a month for the Three Sisters' to be surrounded. The armada of ships that I had spent so hard building now showed its might. Even though it has taken a lot of resources, these ships will be very useful.
Though I had gotten the idea from the British Kingdom in my past life, I knew it would be effective even before I started building the first ship. Having a lot of ships was essentially the reason the British Kingdom dominated during most of its history.
I took a lot of inspiration from my last's life medieval history. Whether it was Sun Tzu's Arts of War, Britain's battleships, Napoleon's divide and conquer tactics. It didn't matter at the end of the day, I will use them all.
Even Hitler had his moments of military genius, which was impressive for a failed art student. Though he had good military tactics he also had bad ones, ones which I will discard.
For example, Russia in my last world had always been a problem to conquer, whether it was Napoleon or Hitler, none could take it. I won't make the same mistake as them, so the North in Westeros will have to be left for last.
A soldier came from the raft of the ship and got on his knee, presenting me with a letter. "M'lord, the pirates have requested a meeting with you. They have also said that Davo's release-"
"Refuse them all," I interrupted the man, "The pirates either unconditionally surrender or we crush them, kill their families and rape their wives. There are no other options here for them, we are the stronger ones and we aren't on equal footing to negotiate."
"Yes, m'lord." The man got up and went to send the order to the other ships.
"Wait." I stopped him before he could walk off. He turned around and looked at me. "Kill the messengers. Send their head with their eyes gouged out back to the enemies. Leave one man alive though to send the message, also cut that man's cock off."
This was a medieval world, I couldn't be soft on my enemies because they won't be soft on me. It could lead to Davos dying, which would be a shame. But it doesn't matter.
He was replaceable now, sure I liked to tell him that he wasn't replaceable, and I will tell the same to the other man that comes after him. A man's life for an island was a small sacrifice to make unless of course, that man was me.
At the end of the day, each great thing had darkness beneath it. Just like Einstein, the genius also married his cousin. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow is. Davos' capture had been planned, and I didn't want anyone finding that out.
As long as the light was too bright, no one would notice the darker things. After I win this war, no one would care too much about how it started.
Anyway, it will take my enemies at least a couple of days until they croak, but I didn't favor a siege scenario as I will have to feed my men too, and doing that at sea was very expensive.
In this world not only was transportation slow by ship but also someone like the Reach might secretly sabotage my food transportation. The Redhawk family had quite a bit of enemies and I didn't want to test myself and see if I could stay a step ahead of them at all times.
The soldiers in this ship had been handpicked by me. I didn't necessarily trust them too much, but I did trust that they loved their family that lived in London very deeply. That love could be used against them and to keep them in line.
"Dear, you have that thoughtful look on your face. Is something wrong?" A melodic voice came from behind me.
I didn't need to turn around to know that it was Arianne Martell… or I guess it's Arianne Redhawk now.
"Yes, I am worrying about Davos, he is someone irreplaceable that I trust."
She smiled when I told her that. Some people always put their trust in you when you just speak differently from what they are used to.
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[ Jon Arryn POV ]
It was unusual for Robert to be in a Small Council meeting. What was even more unusual was the excited look he had on his face.
"Okay, you scheming half-wits." Robert addressed the council. "Why don't you tell me the situation. Jon here just told me the gist of things. But it seems like Arthur's son has declared war on some pirates."
I would criticize Robert's choice of words if we were alone. But I won't do so in front of other people, now Robert was a King, and he couldn't be undermined in front of others. While I knew he wouldn't do anything like whip me or cut my head off as any normal King would have.
I didn't want to be the cause for the other vipers in this city to start entering through the cracks.
Though in the council meeting, there was another problem. Robert was currently drunk, everyone here could tell that.
"My King," Varys, the Master of Whispers, was the first one to speak. His voice was like the whisper of a snake. "Lord Redhawk's actions were unbecoming."
"Heh, as far as we know his most trusted advisor was kidnapped." Yohn Royce, the Master of Laws snorted in annoyance. "Serves those pirates right, better show them not to mess with us."
He was a loyal man and I understood that House Royce suffered quite a lot from the pirates in the Three Sisters. Technically the Three Sisters islands belonged to the Vale, but it was taken over by pirates.
As Lord Protector of the Vale, I understood things better than anyone else here. I knew if Oliver single-handedly took care of the pirates, it would paint a bad picture if they didn't give him the islands or at least a part of them.
"Heh, as expected of Arthur's kid," Robert on the other hand was clearly not worrying about any of these things. He had a reminiscent look in his eyes, smiling gently as he looked at an empty cup. He then yelled out. "Wine!"
A squire entered with a goblet of wine and filled the King's cup. No one said anything, it was clear that Robert was in one of his drunken stupors.
"Damn it!" The King yelled out in anger, throwing the cup on the ground, shattering the wine-filled glass in a thousand pieces. "Arthur that harlot! He had to go and die so early! You promised me war! We were going to fight together!"
Robert was mad, there were many things that were left unsaid. But still, no one said anything.
I gazed at my surrogate son with a sad look. Robert was no longer the man he once used to be. Arthur's death, one of his best friends especially hit him hard.
While Robert and Ned were like brothers. If he had to choose a best friend, Robert Baratheon would say that Arthur was his best friend.
The men's love for battle was equal. I still remember the night Arthur took down many people, even while drunk he had never lost…
'Truly, an undefeated knight.' I too respected the martial power Arthur used to possess. But now wasn't the time for such tangents. Right now we were standing in a pit of vipers. Showing weakness wouldn't be a good thing to do.
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A/N: Yes, Einstein did fu*k his cousin and marry her. But again, his genius shined so brightly that people forget the darker things in his past. The same with many figures in history too. They have done some dark sh*t.
P.S: I don't mean to offend anyone or diminish Einstein's genius by saying this. But just wanted everyone to understand that historical figures that we look up to aren't that upstanding and had their own dark secrets.
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Don't forget to throw some power stones :)
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