-30- Growing Strong

Gallen returned to his house in the Hook with Mordin not long after. The queen's attendant, escorted by several Lannister guards, delivered 20 bags of gold dragons, each containing 100 gold dragons, totaling 2000 gold dragons. Hm, this is very Lannister.

The queen's attendant also had a message, roughly stating that Queen Cersei did not inquire about how Gallen would use this gold, but he must provide her with a satisfactory outcome.

Generous, this is very Lannister.

Gallen decided to be conservative and intercepted half of the gold first.

Gallen first thought of his subjects, as if he had received money from his boss while working away and immediately thought of home.

After securing the gold, Gallen sat at the table and stroked his chin.

Gallen first arranged for someone to ride to the Crabb estate outside the city and urgently mobilized 20 soldiers to come into the city for deployment.

Gallen was a bit regretful that there were fewer soldiers brought this time, but he also understood the principle that plans could not keep up with changes.

The situation unfolded more smoothly than Gallen had imagined. Without official duties in King's Landing just yet, bringing in more soldiers would make him an easy target for criticism, something to avoid.

Now with official duties in the Red Keep and a task at hand, he could call in reinforcements from Whispers.

Gallen's fingers tapped on the tabletop for a while.

There were about 300 Lannister guards in King's Landing... He couldn't be too hasty; it was better to take it step by step. He decided to first call in 50 soldiers from his territory.

Gallen wrote the order to mobilize the soldiers and sealed it with wax.

Gallen didn't have a raven with him now, and he didn't know any noble in King's Landing who could send out ravens at any time.

Since it was official business, Gallen arranged for someone to take the letter to the Red Keep and find Jaime to help send out the raven.

King's Landing, Queen's District.

Speed is of the essence. That afternoon, Gallen, accompanied by guards, personally inspected the Queen's District, both visibly and covertly collecting urgently needed intelligence.

Gallen discovered many yards that had been uninhabited for a long time and were quickly becoming ruins.

Looking at these vacant yards, Gallen lamented that the Queen's District had once been bustling.

After the inspection, Gallen directly requisitioned several relatively large yards in the Queen's District, selecting one of them as his temporary command post and arranging for people to clean it up overnight.

The next day, at dawn, just as the sky was starting to lighten...

Jaime and Lancel arrived at Gallen's temporary command post in the Queen's District with 100 Lannister guards.

In one of the yards, there was a large pot, emitting a fragrant smell. Mordin squatted nearby, swallowing saliva from time to time.

Jaime and Gallen quickly and succinctly exchanged the Lannister guards, then entered the yard and sat down on chairs placed beside the large pot.

Jaime smiled at Mordin's appearance. "The lamb smells good. It's almost ready just by smelling it."

Mordin nodded eagerly. "Yes, my lord. It will be ready after a while. The lamb was personally cut by me and is very fat."

Gallen approached from elsewhere and also took a seat, smiling. "Ser Jaime, are you still used to the smell of the Queen's District?"

Jaime's attitude towards Gallen improved slightly, not in vain for Gallen's efforts.

Jaime spread his hands. "I've been in King's Landing for so long, the only thing I can't get used to is the indescribable smell of the city. But here in your place, it's tolerable, not too bad."

Gallen chuckled inwardly. "My men cleaned up all night..."

"I heard that last night you rounded up several constables from the Queen's District?"

After inspecting the Queen's District yesterday, Gallen took control of the constables there overnight. Jaime had his own sources of information and quickly learned of Gallen's actions.

This was precisely why Jaime came with Lannister guards early in the morning.

Gallen's tone was grave. "Strictly speaking, it's more like control than arrest. I need these people to provide information and assistance. My intention was just to control them or even give them a chance to make contributions. However, after delving deeper, I found the crimes committed by these constables were beyond words."

"They are the actual controllers of the Queen's District, with their puppet master being Janos Slynt, the Commander of the City Watch."

Jaime's swordsmanship and leadership abilities made him an excellent commander, but Jaime hadn't inherited or learned his father Tywin's political skills, or perhaps lacked talent in that area.

Jaime frowned. "Could Janos be the mastermind behind spreading rumors about Cersei?"

It couldn't be that simple!

To Jaime's speculation, Gallen shook his head outwardly but secretly scorned Jaime's political acumen.

Someone was constantly provoking Cersei, exacerbating the conflict between King Robert and Queen Cersei, deepening Queen Cersei's hatred towards King Robert.

For some reason, Gallen's mind drifted to the distant House Tyrell of Highgarden.

The golden roses, growing strong.