King's Landing.
The body was cold, but Adisha's heart was even colder.
For three days, the child survived for three days and still left.
She didn't cry, but when she opened her eyes, tears couldn't stop flowing.
The child was born ten days earlier than expected, the day after Oran had just left King's Landing and headed to the south.
In the morning when the sun breaks, the child falls out of the mother's body.
This time it’s a girl. She was born prematurely and is smaller than other children of the same age.
Not cute at all, all wrinkled and very weak,
But if she could exchange it with her own life, Adisha would not hesitate.
All the monks in King's Landing immediately prayed for Oran's second child, but to no avail.
After the body was placed, Adisha did not leave the door for two days.
At this moment, outside the house, everyone begged Malm for mercy.
"Mrs. Adisha's body has often suffered from dizziness and other problems since her last accident. We have taken good care of her until she is able to give birth this time, Your Highness!"
The servants and monks responsible for taking care of Adisha were afraid of being implicated in this matter.
"Take care of her."
Malm didn't know what to say, so he had all the chores handed over to his study for his own review.
As a lord, Malm has zero abilities.
The first request she reviewed was a letter from one of Tuman's manor housekeepers requesting the construction of a wooden castle.
If you want to build such fortifications, you must obtain the consent of the lord, even if it is a fiefdom.
But Malm immediately approved it.
She thought that Tuman was very loyal and followed Oran to the south to fight, so it should be a reasonable petition.
The second request was that "Ladd Walker" wanted to be allocated a larger share of the "paper" trade.
Since he went to Galloway with Oran and married the king's eldest daughter, he began to intervene in the northern trade.
"Will your Excellency agree?" Malm asked the clerk and Henry's great-uncle "Coburn".
The old knight has reached his old age and no longer needs to leave King's Landing to fight the Vikings.
To eliminate Iron Arm Baldwin and revitalize the family, we can only rely on Henry.
Qyburn heard the inquiry, and Hanhu responded, "Lord Ladd is the nobleman who has followed you the longest."
The clerk next to him who was responsible for organizing the documents saw that the old knight was silent and did not dare to say whether he agreed or not. He was only responsible for sorting the letters.
"Ladd said he hopes to expand his share because Your Excellency asked him to handle many secrets in the north and it would cost too much money." Malm asked again.
"Twenty percent of the kingdom's paper trade has been given to him (any more will affect other people's shares, Your Highness)." Coburn expressed his thoughts implicitly.
"Korad's letter said that Kunsang also agreed, and they wanted to send papers to the monks in Scotland to promote Protestantism."
After Malm finished speaking, the two of them stopped talking. Otherwise, wouldn't it offend the two northern nobles if the news spread?
"Kunsang is your most trusted knight, so give him more."
Among Oran's many lovers, Kunsang only recognized Malm's status as his staunchest supporter.
Malm didn't know that she was actually very lenient towards her supporters.
The third letter was about the naturalized Vikings in the territory. "Ponytail Gomon" and "Young Glock" had a conflict.
Malm looked anxious when he saw the dead and wounded on the letter and asked, "Why are they fighting?"
"It seems that there is insufficient food. Recently, in order to support your troops, we have imposed heavy taxes. This kind of thing has happened in many places. They hope to get more space for activities. When you originally allocated the territory to them, you centralized management of them.
Although they have intermarried with the local Angsa people, the time is still short, so their activities are mostly in Durham and Yewe County. "
"Don't have enough to eat? I have some direct estates in Northumbria County. I will allocate them to them first. I can move some people there and allow them to enter certain mountains and forests for hunting."
Malm gave the land that Oran had given her to the Vikings with a wave of her hand.
Oran had wanted Malm to study government affairs. After all, his wife was his most reliable ally.
But Ella only provides one kind of education to her daughters: lady education.
When I was young, I listened to my father and learned various female jobs.
When I grow up, I listen to my husband and handle all kinds of housework.
The soul listens to the monks and believes in God devoutly.
After marrying Oran, she never dealt with government affairs. She lived a very frugal life.
All the rewards Oran gave her were saved, and she was not harsh on her servants so that they always had enough to eat.
When encountering a request, we will find a way to help as soon as possible.
Such people are usually good, but cannot handle government affairs well in chaos.
So in the end it was Adisha who was in charge of everything.
But now because she lost her son due to premature birth, Malm resumed her duties as a hostess.
On the fourth day of handling government affairs, the Vikings landed from Yewe County!
Malm, who was breastfeeding at the time, immediately asked the maid to take the child down, put on the lord's robe, and headed to the hall.
The expressions of the knights attending the meeting were solemn. Malm forced herself to calm down. She thought about what her husband would do at this time.
After sitting down, she took a deep breath.
"Your Highness, Snake Eyes Sigurd led a large group of men and horses ashore. They launched the first wave of attacks at dawn and have sacked several of our villages. They also sent people to say that if the tribute is not handed over, the entire Yewei County will be bloodbathed. "
"How much?" Malm asked.
"Five thousand pounds of silver."
"that's it?"
Hearing these words, the knights present were stunned. Do they really want to pay?
"They also said that the master of King's Landing should pay tribute to show their sincerity. After receiving the money, they will automatically withdraw."
"It seems we can afford it?"
"Yes, Your Highness, but five thousand pounds..."
"Wait a minute, what's the situation like in the looted villages?"
"It's impossible to count yet, but there will probably be hundreds of additional refugees, and..."
"If they continue to rob like this, there will be a lot of casualties. I heard that the Vikings in the south fought intermittently, and some county chiefs also paid?"
Malm hopes to gain more support and bring the Southern example to bear.
"But that happened in Wessex, Cornwall, Wales and other places, which were all Catholic counties that changed hands repeatedly. When the local manor owners and knights had no choice but to collect tribute, they asked them to leave or conquer again. Don’t wreak havoc.”
"How much will it cost if we fight these Vikings?"
"Equipment, manpower, materials, if all are calculated, it will cost several thousand pounds... at least."
"Send someone to ask. If they agree to half the tribute, we will give it."
this!
The knights didn't want to fight, and they were afraid that Olan would come back to ask for guilt, but it was unlikely that Olan would return home in a few months.
Caught in a dilemma.
Not everyone was opposed to this idea. At least the gentry and manor owners in the area where the Vikings invaded supported Malm with both hands.
And it’s not like Oran can’t talk to the Vikings.
Yin Var's men had launched many invasions in the north before, but wasn't it Oran who acquiesced to the local towns to pay tribute and finally ended it?
More than two thousand pounds were exchanged for several towns and tens of thousands of people for a period of peace, a good deal.
The news of "Snake Eyes" made everyone in Junlin become nervous again.
Even Oran's backyard, those lovers' maids.
Thanks to Olan's day and night efforts, both Reina and Mi'er were diagnosed with pregnancy.
Karin is away, Malm doesn't care about these trivial matters, and Mier is actually the head of the female officials.
She also discussed with Reina to prepare her belongings and if something went wrong, she would run to the manor where Malm gave birth last time.
Oran also kept ships at his Carlisle County estate near the sea.
Before the Battle of King's Landing, Oran arranged for Nanamp to find someone to go to a place in South Frankland to purchase some land from the local nobles.
At that time, it was estimated that the worst-case scenario was that if the king was defeated, all the female papers would be sent away.
Lovers naturally know this escape route.
Rumor has it that "Snake Eyes" came ashore with 5,000 people!
If all the adult men in King's Landing were gathered together, there would be many more soldiers than these, but it would not have much effect.
This is why Malm doesn't want to fight and the lovers want to escape.
After another five or six days of back-and-forth negotiations, it was finally decided that Malm would take people to pay the tribute.
For her safety, everyone only agreed to let her follow the group and let the Vikings collect them at the designated location.
But just one day after her team left King's Landing,
Another reserve team from Haizhen immediately chased them.
It turned out that after Adisha left the door, she knew all this and sent someone to chase her.
But she was still very weak, so she could only lie down in the carriage, make the inside soft, and slowly catch up.
Finally, the two parties met at the junction of County Durham and County Yewe.
Malm took the initiative to leave the carriage and came to Adisha's carriage when he heard coughs.
Adisha is very beautiful, with a look that makes women's hearts flutter when they see her.
However, excessive grief, fatigue and difficult childbirth caused her hair to wither and her hands, feet and face to become much thinner.
The carriage was filled with scattered documents.
These were all the government affairs that Malm had handled over the past few days, and Adisha re-examined them in detail.
"Cough...cough..."
"lady!"
"Your Highness, listen to me... go back and gather all the surrounding reserve teams. If they don't give you anything, they will be beaten if they don't obey..."
Adisha was determined and finally passed out lying on Malm's body.
This time, I don't know where the blood from Adisha's body was contaminated by Malm.
Captured by this scene, the final team returned to King's Landing.
When Adisha woke up, Malm was at her bedside, taking care of her every step of the way.
The two women are competitors, companions, and mothers.
Seeing the maid holding "Edward" by the bedside, Adisha made a request to see this healthy child.
The maid was a little afraid of Adisha at this time, but Malm took the child and handed it to Adisha.
"It's so good-looking, with a chubby face. He's so good-looking. In the future... he will be just like his father, showing mercy everywhere... cough!"
Adisha's tears flowed to Edward, perhaps because she felt sorry for her dead brother and sister.
Edward suddenly stretched out his short, fat little hands, pretending to hug Adisha.
The latter was full of motherly love and held the child carefully for a while. After the scent of the child's milk was on his body, he asked the maid to take the child out.
Adisha then told Malm, "Your Highness, you are wrong."
"What?"
"Tuman wants to build a wooden castle, but the land exceeds his fiefdom. Once he builds it, the surrounding forest farms will become his hunting ground, and he will conflict with other nobles in the future.
Also, Ladd and Kunsang are in the same group. They are loyal to Your Majesty and you, but that does not mean they are loyal to Northumbria. "
"Isn't this different?"
"They can nod and bend to the lord and be very cautious, but they turn around to murder others, massacre the people they lead, and use the power of the first night to collect taxes. This is the difference. Their requests all contain selfish interests in their loyalty.
They were guarding the northern border, but they actually didn't want 'Tyrrell' to come back at all.
Not to mention establishing good relations with the Scots,
You use them because you are obedient, but you cannot keep a dog just because you are obedient and agree to every request. "
Malm had never thought about this kind of thing and didn't know how to judge it.
"Also, Vikings fighting among themselves?"
"Well, that's the case."
"Gomeng is better, but Glock is ambitious. What good can they do if they get together?
Will they conflict once Oran leaves?
Farting, why can't it be acting?
After beating my husband for almost three years, tens of thousands of people died in our country!
Even if the population is now concentrated in order to shrink the front line, there is still a large amount of land that is uncultivated.
Oran refused to block more because he had already blocked it to the point where he could no longer block it.
Do you know how much land is currently in our country, Orans Territory?"
"More than 30%?"
"No, less than 20%. He kept recruiting and fighting. In addition to verbal rewards, he gave these warriors only land and 30% of their strength. Only then could the lord maintain a balance among all parties.
Once there is no such thing, careerists will emerge in endlessly. "
"What about me?"
"Both sides rebuke and tell them to settle down."
"I see."
"Besides, this time it's definitely not Snake Eyes. Your Highness, please remember."
"You've seen those Vikings?"
"No, but the truth of a thing is not important. What is important is what do we want others to see?
Snake Eyes is Halfdan's brother, and it makes sense for him to want to come ashore, but Halfdan has already been taken to East Anglia,
If the Vikings wanted to take it back, they should break through from Mercia, or from the sea off East Anglia.
Why don't you go around and hit us?
Furthermore, if an army of five thousand invades, how many dragon ships will it take?
How many Vikings were there in total? Ten thousand could survive.
They are also scattered in the outer islands and central and southern England.
Rumors can be faster than wind and stronger than fire.
A rumor spread by five people will turn into a rumor spread by a hundred people the next day.
Five thousand people come and only need more than two thousand pounds of tribute?
There are only two possibilities for this matter,
Snake Eyes may be coming, but there are definitely not so many people.
Snake Eyes didn't come. This is a Viking fleet that encountered a shipwreck, or a pioneer exploratory fleet. Let's see our reaction after landing. If you really go to pay the money, they may try their best to catch you. "
"The knights of reward say..."
"If they don't exaggerate, how can they offset their incompetence? The surrounding areas of King's Landing have been remodeled by Oran, and the population of the territory that originally belonged to King Ella has been relocated, and the main roads in the surrounding areas have been dredged.
King's Landing is now backed by several towns, with a population of nearly 30,000.
This is our most elite area, so Olan only took a thousand people away, fearing that they would invade and attack us.
We have enough strength to defend for a long time. If we want to fight, we will come. If we can't defeat it, let's wait. "
"But if you don't pay, some people from the coastal territories will be taken away as slaves."
“Kindness to all is cruelty to all.”
Hearing this, Malm was silent at first, and then nodded.
Adisha added, "I am a wife, a lord, and a great noble of this country. I will not allow the Vikings to usurp my interests. You listen to me... cough."
Adisha's cough got worse and worse, so the meeting had to end.
However, under her forcible leadership, the tribute was not handed over. The knights regrouped their strength to resist the invaders, and finally forced them out of Yewei County.
A week later, Adisha's words were proven correct. This was an unsuccessful attack on East Anglia.
The number of warriors who turned from the open sea and came to Northumbria to loot under the name of Snake Eyes was less than five hundred.
During this time, Malm often brought Edward to Adisha to help deal with territorial affairs.
Every time this child sees Adisha, he smiles.
As time went by, he spent more and more time being held by Adisha.
After repelling, Adisha also began to settle accounts.
She has many informants, even Olan has her people around her.
Of course there is also one in the King's Landing Women volume.
After another Sunday, Adisha and Malm sat on both sides of the hall, the middle seat was empty, and called Reina and Mier.
"How about I leave?"
"Your Highness, you should be present."
"But Mi'er and Reina are both very respectful to me."
"That was before they had children. They relied on the lives in their bellies. When rumors appeared in King's Landing, they did not stop them and allowed them to develop. They also thought of leaving with the treasure. This is treason."
"This crime is too serious!"
Adisha did not respond and sat coldly, preparing for the trial.
When Reina and Mi'er appeared, the servants all retreated to prevent outsiders from knowing what happened.
There is an illegitimate child in the belly of two bitches. Adisha will not torture her openly.
But that doesn't stop her from exerting some mental pressure.
She lost two children for the sake of the kingdom. Even Malm knew that it was wrong to pay tribute for the safety of the territory, but she did not abandon the territory.
But the two bitches in front of them, who were afraid of death, only had some ability to seduce men.
Bitch!
"Your Highness, Madam."
After the two greeted each other, they sat down.
The scene was eerily quiet. Malm coughed twice to ease the embarrassment, but Adisha broke the topic directly.
"This is a letter from His Highness."
Malm stood up, walked to the two of them, and put down the letter.
Reina was more culturally literate, and she read the content slowly.
Except for Adisha, this was the first time for everyone to hear that Karin was named a "Stark" noble.
"Your Excellency is not here, and you are pregnant now. I think I can reward you on his behalf."
After Adisha finished speaking, the two women looked strange and wanted to refuse.
But Adisha told them everything about how they collected their belongings and luggage.
"Your Highness!"
The two women looked at Malm, but the words Adisha said recently suddenly flashed in the mind of this usually kind-hearted Highness.
"I have encountered misfortune, and so have you,
The life of relying on others is too uncomfortable.
Destiny all depends on other people's mood,
If the children of these concubines and lovers grow up smoothly in the future,
They might take everything from Edward,
Only kindness cannot make them afraid,
If necessary, fear should be imprinted in their bones and blood and passed on.
Only in the future will these children serve Edward loyally!"
…
Adisha thought clearly. She asked the doctor that it was almost impossible for her to become pregnant again.
As a woman, she is no longer complete;
But she is still a noble in the kingdom and has her own power to take care of.
If the future owner of a country regards herself as a mother, it is a thing worth investing in.
So she decided to take the initiative to have more intimate contact with Malm and brainwash her.
As a result, Malm hesitated to plead for mercy, which caused great fear in the two women.
All the troops in King's Landing are in the hands of His Highness and Madam. If they want to cause an accident...
"Please look at the children in our bellies..."
Mier and Reina shed tears.
But as both women, this behavior made Adisha even more disgusted.
She is cruel enough, but not rational enough in the relationship between men and women.
She can actually befriend all the women in Oran and control them.
But she looked down on these lovers in her heart. This was because of the aristocratic blood in her body.
This is because she desperately protects the kingdom and is dissatisfied with her lover who has no merit and status.
"What are you afraid of? You have your bloodline. Could it be that I would harm the child?"
"You wouldn't, you're so kind."
"You just heard that Karin received the title. Now, as the King's Hand (agent), I will reward you two so that you can enjoy the honor immediately when the child is born."
The two women were forced to agree.
Looking at their stomachs, Adisha's hatred grew again.
Because Olan was there when Karin was pregnant, she held a more grand concubine ceremony.
But Mi'er didn't, so she was actually still a maid.
As a maid has no status, Adisha first asks the king's illegitimate daughter Reina.
"You are also from the north. It is winter now, so it must be very cold in your hometown."
"Yes, ma'am."
"What is the most popular thing in the North now?"
"Snow."
"Very good. Regardless of whether your child is male or female, I will reward you with 'Xue Nuo' on your behalf."
This was humiliating, and Reina felt greatly aggrieved.
As for Mi'er, Adisha said, "Neither of your parents is a noble, so you should wait for Your Excellency to come back and improve your status first."
Mi'er was mercilessly ridiculed and didn't even deserve a name. We'll wait until your "concubine ceremony" is done.
It was too late for Malm to speak again.
When the two women bowed their heads and left, she felt that she and they could never go back to the beginning.
cough……
This time it was not Adisha, but Malm, who also gave birth to Edward in a "dystocia".
After she finished coughing, she quickly put the bloody handkerchief back into her cuff.
Her condition is also very serious. She eats less and vomits more.
Adisha has no children around her.
If I can't take care of Edward when he grows up,
Oran will remarry and have more children, and Adisha will be Edward's best "backyard support."
】
As a mother, Malm finally agreed in her heart to form an alliance with Adisha...
…
The news that Adisha and Malm had humiliated their two lovers reached Oran's ears many days later.
At the same time, there is also the matter of fighting off the Vikings and the death of Adisha's daughter.
It is the child who dies first, and then the invasion.
But Oran didn't care, blaming the death on the invasion.
After joining forces with Alfred, he began to attack the Vikings.
When Master Wang passed by, he was welcomed by God and his people.
It's February 868 of the Lord's Calendar.
The White Eagle King's army and the Flying Snake King's army formed a formation on a high hill.
This hill has a name, but Oran changed it temporarily.
Call it the Slope of Victory.
The weather is not very good. The rain is falling, adding weight to the body.
Confronting each other in the muddy valley, both sides made final preparations.
Opposite are the rising stars of the Vikings "Theodore" and "Guthrum".
Alfred's monk began to cheer the soldiers, chanting cliched lines,
For example, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good..."
Alfred's eyes also flashed with thunder and fire, and he rode back and forth,
"My brothers, my warriors, my family, God is with me, defeat the infidels!"
The cheers of support from the Vikings on the opposite side also came over.
It’s all “Val fuck” lines.
The Catholic camp is tired of hearing this.
Olan took over to cheer for the Crown Prince. He had blond hair and was very heroic.
He rode his horse and whipped his whip back and forth a few times. After waiting for the position to be fixed, he extended his index finger and pointed forward and said,
"Make England great again!"
How to become great again?
The soldiers didn't understand.
But no matter what, the atmosphere is here, the fighting spirit is full, just do it!
