"What are His Majesty's instructions?" Varys pursed his lips, as if to make the lipstick on his lips more even.

"This is nonsense!" Eddard cursed, and then he noticed that the royal ministers were all looking at him, with a look of inquiry in their eyes, and Eddard remembered that he was currently in King's Landing, in the palace of the Seven Kingdoms, the place of supreme authority, not in Winterfell in the north.

This is not the North, it is not Winterfell, the people here are on the same footing as him, they are equal in the council, he is nothing more than the head given to them by the king, but these people are not his vassals, nor are they his subordinates.

"The king will hold a national jousting in my name. Eddard restrained his frustration and suppressed the anger in his voice, "God knows how much I hate things like this. ”

"Lord Ned means to say," Duke Lanli smiled lightly, "His Majesty has instructed us to hold a grand jousting tournament to celebrate the inauguration of the new Prime Minister. ”

"How much will it cost?" said the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Littlefinger Petyrberry, who was sitting on his back and relaxed, and what he thought was some kind of urgent matter, but it turned out to be such a bird matter, and he had no interest in it.

Ed read out the answer from the letter, and it was difficult to control the helplessness and resistance in his voice: "The winner will be rewarded with 40,000 gold dragons, and the second person will be rewarded with 20,000 gold dragons." There are also 20,000 winners in team melee battles and 10,000 winners in archery. ”

Lan Li laughed in a strange tone: "My brother is really generous, the magic mountain risked his life to capture Riverrun, and the golden dragon that Duke Horst ransomed the city was only 10,000, and he, the winner, rewarded 40,000 gold dragons, that is, he rewarded the winner with four Riverrun Cities at a time? ”

"Riverrun is priceless, Duke Lanli, it's like Storm's End, there's no comparison to this. Duke Ed said displeasedly. Riverrun is Ed's father-in-law's home fort, and Lan Li mocks the Tully family for being incompetent in front of Ed, which is a bit too much.

"The bounty is a total of 90,000 gold coins. Littlefinger chuckled, "There are other expenses to be added." I also want to know that His Majesty Robert must have a big banquet. That means we need cooks, carpenters, waitresses, singers, playwrights, and jugglers...... There is also a wide variety of ingredients and beer...... Heavens, all the knights and knights of the whole country will come to King's Landing. Think about it, a knight with three knights and a knight with five squires, that's the smallest team size...... These people came, and during the tournament, they all asked us to eat meat and drink wine...... Tsk!"

"That's lively, my brother likes a lot of people to be lively, plus a martial arts competition or something, he will be happy for a long time. Duke Lan Li smiled. He seemed interested.

Ed is really disgusted with Lan Li in his heart!

Grand Master Paisher looked at Littlefinger and asked, "Can the treasury pay for this?"

"Treasury, where is there any treasury now?" the corners of Little Finger's mouth turned up, and the smile was obvious, "Scholar, don't pretend to be garlic, you and I both know very well that the treasury has been empty for many years." Now that I'm doing something, I'm going to reach out and borrow money, and I think the Lannisters in the Westland will be happy to support. Anyway, we already owe Lord Tywin more than 3 million golden dragons, and it is nothing to borrow a few hundred thousand?"

Ed's eyes widened and his mouth opened so wide that he was shocked. "Lord Petyr, you said that the royal family's debt is as high as 'more than three million' gold coins?"

"Lord Stark, the total debt of the royal family now exceeds six million gold dragons. The Lannisters are the largest creditors, with Duke Tywin alone accounting for half of the royal family's debts, and we have borrowed money from Lord Tyrell in Riverlands, the iron vaults of Braavos across the Narrow Sea, and several Telosi Merchants. Then I had to find another source of money, and I turned my mind to the church of Baylor's Great Sanctuary, where the archbishop was too good to bargain for the fishmongers of Dorne. We now owe the church more than a million golden dragons, and as for the interest, you won't want to know, even I feel disgusting to think about it. ”

Ned was incredulous.

He himself heard the shock in his own voice: "Iristanglian left behind a mountain of gold and silver treasures, how could you let it fall to such a deficit?"

Littlefinger shrugged his shoulders and sneered: "The Chancellor of the Exchequer only looks for money, and it is the King and the Prime Minister who spend the money." Even if I have magic, I can pick up a gold coin and grind it into two, but the king will spend three, four or even more at a time, and I don't eat or sleep every day but it's too late to grind the gold coins, what else can I do, but find a way to borrow it. ”

"Prime Minister Jon Arryn would never allow Robert to squander like this. Ned said indignantly.

Master Paisher shook his head, the necklace around his neck jingled, and the sound was so beautiful that it sounded like gold coins clashing against each other: "Lord Arryn is a good prime minister, he works hard for the country, and he is careful in his calculations, but His Majesty does not necessarily listen to the wise advice of the prime minister." ”

"My brother is extremely fond of martial arts competitions, delicacies of the mountains and seas, and of course, the wine that he never leaves. Lan Libara Baraine laughed, "Brother, he hates the so-called game of 'counting copper plates' the most, if anyone says more in front of him, be careful that he makes your face drink the wine." ”

"Face drinking?" Ed was puzzled.

"It's just a bottle of wine that splashes your face!" Littlefinger pouted, a mocking smile on his lips.

Ed was embarrassed, and Lan Li laughed.

Intelligence Director Varys pursed his lips and smiled, and his fat face covered with incense powder fell down!

Ed stood up, he couldn't have a good impression of the four royal ministers present in his heart, this 100,000 urgent so-called emergency meeting was actually not urgent at all, Robert was no longer the Robert he knew before, so happy, inexplicable: "I'm tired, just got off the horse, I will talk to His Majesty the King, I hope to cancel this tournament." ”

"We won't stop you from persuading my brother to take back the order, but with what I've known about my brother for many years, Prime Minister, you'd better sit down and work out how to hold a national tournament together." ”

"Yes, yes, I also have to think carefully about who I should borrow these hundreds of thousands of gold coins from, my God, it is indeed His Majesty the King, the reward for the victor alone is 90,000 gold dragon coins, tsk. Nine Rushing Cities! If the Demon Mountain knew about this martial arts competition, would he regret breaking the Rushing City? Killing and living would offend people, but it was only 10,000 golden dragons. He came to compete, most of them were champions, at least he was a winner, and he got two Rushing Cities!"

"Then wait until the king returns. Ed wanted to punch Littlefinger's mouth and knock out his full teeth, "I'm sorry adults, I'm going to go first." ”

The four Imperial Ministers looked at Ed in disbelief. The Prime Minister's first emergency meeting was held without any real progress?

This is truly unique!

The people in the north are not getting along well, and it really deserves its reputation!

Ed walked out of the throne hall with three of his subordinates and headed back to the Prime Minister's Tower.

At the gate of the Red Fort, there was an endless stream of all kinds of carriages and ox cart guards, people shouting horses and neighing cows, dust rushing to the sky, people coming and going, noisy like a vegetable market.

This is the return of some of Duke Lanli's courtiers, and the king doesn't know where to have fun.

"Lord Eddard, you seem to be on the wrong track. A voice chuckled.

Ed looked back and saw Littlefinger clasped across his chest.

"Follow me, Madame Zun is waiting for you. "Don't hesitate, didn't Caitlyn mention me to you?" ”

"What do you mean?" said Eddard.

"Tell your attendants not to come, it will attract the attention of others. We've got to keep out of sight and ears, Lord Eddard, you're in King's Landing, and you're full of liars, villains, conspirators, eyes and ears, and all the sinister, cunning, betrayal, traps, humiliation, and all the bad qualities you can think of, don't you want to meet Madame?"

"I can't believe you, my lady is in Winterfell. ”

"Oh, yes, you're right, your lady is in Winterfell, but I know dark magic, and I've turned her into my brothel, and if you don't come, I'll take possession of her, and you won't regret it!

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