NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Oath of Allegiance
285 AC
Fort Balerion
Rhaegar Targaryen
"Your grace, as you wanted we are refitting the soldiers with a new set of armor," Lord Randyll Tarly tells me as I make my rounds across the encampment and reach the armory and the forges. I am accompanied by Ser Gerold and Ser Arthur and ten men of the Royal Guard along with Lord Tarly.
The Royal Guard was commissioned around a month ago and it gave out that intimidating factor that I wanted, for now at least all political games have stopped with everyone knowing that I am the boss. Of course, there are a few Lords who see this as a move to make me a tyrant which it is but they can't say anything.
The Fortress is not completed yet, so the army is living in an encampment a few miles south of the construction site. Since my economic policies have begun to give their returns and with the bank now in full swing, I now have enough money to equip the entire army in plate armor just like the Lannisters. Now the new armor can be best described as Almain Rivet armor. It has a breastplate, backplate, tassets, and spaulders while the officers will be given pauldrons.
"Your grace, this is the new helmet meant for the officers" Randyll shows me, it is a steel burgonet helmet. The officers will be using this while the ranks will be using the regular pot helms with faceplates. The weapons remain the same for everyone just their armor and helmets. The same goes for the cavalry, they will also be having this type of armor but the ranks will have a visored barbute helmet while the officers of the cavalry will have visored bascinets.
The armor and helmet are black while the officers have a red three-headed dragon engraved on their pauldrons.
The Longbowmen are given visorless sallet helmets while the Crossbowmen are given kettle steel helmets, along with their main weapons they are given a mace and their armor is a gambeson and a leather cuirass.
"Yes, Good," I say and then we move into the command tent to talk about other details.
The Royal Armed Forces as I am calling it has been divided into two main branches, the Royal Army and the Royal Navy.
The Royal Army is divided into a few more sections, such as the Regular Infantry, the Regular Cavalry, the Longbowmen, the Crossbowmen, the Scouts, the Healers, the Builders, Grenadiers, and Officer Corp. Both Lord Tarly and I agreed that there should be no distinction between the status of men, whether they were noble or common, bastard or legitimate, really the plan was to make the Royal Army something like the Night's Watch or the City Watch, a meritocracy of sorts now, of course, it is obvious that like in the Night's Watch and the City Watch, the Nobles will be promoted much faster and there is not much that I can do about that but I can still give it a try.
Officer Corp will be different, at first everyone regardless of their previous training will go through 10 weeks of basic training, and then depending on the size of the batch five to ten of the top recruits will be chosen for an additional 3 weeks of training to become an officer while the rest who graduate will be sent off to their specialized training. The officers after their training will also be divided and sent off into their respective squads after doing their specialized training.
To ensure maximum effectiveness the officers were given a degree of independence and the ability to make decisions on their own instead of being dependent on the nobles. This is a real trouble that is found in the armies of dictators since the dictators want total command of the army and want to micromanage everything but I cannot afford to do that as such the principle followed by the army is Planning centralized and execution is decentralized.
The newest addition on the block is of course the Grenadiers, the Alchemists and Qyburn managed to get me some grenades made out of clay, a bit rudimentary but still very effective just like that of the Byzantines. And I intend on using that to its maximum effect. Right now handheld Flamethrowers are in development hopefully they too will soon enter service.
I am aggressively pushing the grounds of innovation provided that the alchemists work for me, I made it very clear to the pyromancers, your entire guild now serves the Crown and you are not allowed to sell this or make the substance and the instruments used to anyone else. In exchange, I will let them live, and if they refused I will release the word of the Wildfire plot to the public and it will only be a matter of time before the pyromancers will be lynched. So they took my offer.
Later that Night
"Your Grace, the man you wanted" Richard comes into the tent as I am going over the blueprints for the Fortress. He has come in with Bronn, just the man that I want.
"Ah yes. just who I needed" I say looking at Bronn, "Come in," I tell him and he does so.
"I am sure that you are wondering why I have called you here, I need you to do a few things for me," I tell him and he asks "What kind of things your grace?"
"Assassinations, ambushes, infiltrations, sabotage, and the kind" Basically I want these guys to be my Selous Scouts/SAS.
He nods in understanding and I continue "You will have to do the most dangerous and death-risky tasks of all but you will be paid a lot more, and by that I mean double the salary of the normal soldier will your minimum, and following that with every job you take you will be given bonuses depending on how hard the job is"
He understands what I mean so I go on "And remember, as far as the rest of the army is concerned you are just another unit, your regular salaries will be paid from the army's pay chest and then the additional pay and bonuses will come from me, in essence, you are my set of enforcers, and also remember, if you are ever caught or killed, I will disavow your existence"
He may not like it but he understands why, "Yes your grace, anything else I should know about," so I tell him "The only people who about the existence of this new unit will be Ser Richard, myself, and my sons in due time do you understand" He nods.
I call him over to the table with all the maps "Come, let me show you something that will give you a rough idea of what you have to do"
I point over the map of the West "Suppose the Lannisters rebel and so now we have to cripple their ability to wage war, we need you to attack the castles, hold the families of the lord hostage or kill them depending on the situation and create fear in the enemy"
He looks over the map "How are we supposed to do that? your grace" I turn to Richard and say "We are making exact copies of the armor of the soldier of every Great house and their most powerful vassals and soon your entire unit will be taught how to speak in the dialect and accent of each of the seven kingdoms and soon you will be sent to each kingdom during peace times disguised as merchants to immerse yourselves in the land to know about its culture and its people and to know the lay of the land"
I continue "As for this particular situation, you will be given Lannister and Lefford armor of course, and along with that there is this new route that has been discovered of a goat track and you will use this track and get behind the Golden Tooth and of course, after that, you will ride hard towards the Tooth from the interior of the West towards the Tooth wearing Lannister and Lefford armor and Lannister sigils, the castle will most likely be under the control of Lord Lefford's daughter during times of war who will most likely let you in and then once you are all inside you slaughter them all without mercy and unless I tell you to spare anyone kill them all"
I take a deep breath before continuing "After that in the same Lannister armor will start to raid and pillage the countryside making it look like the Lannisters are turning on their people, be sure to tell the surviving people that Tywin ordered this and hopefully, the people will rise against the real Lannisters when they show up"
Hopefully being the keyword here. "While you are in the hostile territory be sure to live off the land" I add to it.
His eyes gleam "Be sure to take care of the ravens and ensure that none get out with any message" Richard adds in, and Bronn finally asks "How many men will I have? Your grace" Now this is a part in which I have stumped this unit cannot be a large force because if too many men are in this then it will no longer be a secret and the increase in size will cause a drop in quality but at the same time it needs to be a large enough force to not only get a jump on a garrison but also to annihilate it, so after thinking I say "For now make it fifty men but soon we will increase it to a maximum of two hundred and fifty, we have already chosen the first five and twenty men for you the rest you will have to choose"
Now I don't know how effective these tactics will be, but unless we try them out we will never know.
And then I give him a personal offer "You will have to choose men amongst the Army or Navy or even from outside for this, they must personally come to me and swear an oath of allegiance and as for you in return for your loyal service you will be given a lordship and highborn beauty for a wife" He is shocked at that
But I continue "Now to the outside world this unit will be just the soldiers posted in the Red Keep and you will be a knight in my service how else will I be able to justify your presence in the Red Keep" before he can say anything I draw out Lady Forlorn and say "Kneel" and he after being shocked for a while does so and I knight him as Ser Bronn of the Royal Army, he is not the first commoner to be knighted in the army so it won't look odd. The experienced soldiers who served in both the War of the Ninepenny Kings as well as the Rebellion (which is now known as the War of the Pretender) were made into officers and knighted so that the Nobles who will serve under them won't be that resistant to their commands.
The commoner officers are also given lessons in etiquette and table manners to ensure that they will be able to blend in with High Society.
"And now I have a live test target for you," I tell him while turning over to the map of the Vale, he asks "Where should I attack your grace?" I point out to the smallest of the fingers in the Vale.
A month later
Maegor's Holdfast, Red Keep
King's Landing
I stand in Maegor's Holdfast, and on the floor of the courtyard, I have a few painters painting a map of Westeros, similar to how Cersei did in the show in season 7.
It's the King's Landing version of the painted table, I am standing and just watching the painters do their work.
Then Richard comes in "The job in the Vale has been done, House Baelish is extinct" I nod "Good, any trouble for the men"
"None, it went smoothly, no one in the entire Baelish lands lives to tell the tale and it has been passed off as a particularly savage and brutal mountain clan raid," Richard tells me, I nod "Good work, anything else"
"The Trading fleet has been spotted in Tarth, according to the numbers none of the Royal ships are lost" Good, looks like I will soon be filthy rich, "Good, keep me updated on anything else"
He nods "Yes, your grace" And then he leaves. And that is the end of Petyr Baelish, there will be no chaos climbing the ladder for that little slimy cunt.
I have decided to name this new SAS of mine the 'Dragon's Eye'
Just then I hear voices coming toward me
"Kepa"
"Kepa"
Before I know it, I am attacked by two black-haired missiles, "Oh my goodness kids, be sure to give your Kepa a warning before you attack him" The two miscreants smile mischievously while another two silver heads come following them, both of them slow. One is too sick to run while the other is barely a toddler learning her steps.
Viserys has now gone to the Vale to begin his fostering under Lord Royce along with Ser Jonothor Darry, Both my mother and I made it very clear to him how he was to approach the subject of the Mad King in the Vale and how he should behave. The Vale is the second most Targaryen-hating place after the North. I hope that Viserys won't say anything stupid. I was sure to do my best to purge him of the blood purity nonsense that my father put into him.
"What is this Kepa?" Aegon or how his sister and brother are now calling him Egg asks me pointing towards the painters and the floor on which they are painting and I simply say "This is Westeros, the kingdoms that we Targaryens have ruled for nearly three hundred years, and one day my son it will be yours"
The boy is obviously enraptured by it but then my sister demands my attention by lifting her hands towards me and she starts babbling, she still hasn't gotten a grip on language but that's alright she will catch up soon. I pick her up and she squeals in joy, Dany is proving herself to be quite a lively girl who is already causing as much trouble for the maids and my mother as Rhaenys and Maekar.
Then Rhaenys asks "Can we play Hide and Seek, please Kepa please" Everyone joins in so I give in to them "Alright let's play"
I have time to play for now at least.
The Next day
East Barracks of the City Watch, King's Landing
" ATTENTION" Ser Alliser screams at the about-to-become City Watchmen who are about to graduate from a nine-week training course. "AT EASE" There are at least sixty-five of them.
It's time for the newest batch of City Watchmen to graduate, I have mandated that every man of the City Watch must also give an oath of allegiance to me just like how the Kingsguard, the Royal Guard, the Dragon's Eye, the Royal Army, and the Royal Navy.
The City Watch is being trained by knights and veterans from both the Crownlands and the ones from Oldtown who have been brought in by Ser Baelor, a few Westerman knights and soldiers tried to join courtesy of his wife but I made sure that they all quit, the war veterans from the Crownlands have been pushed up the ranks and made Officers and a certain Janos Slynt was found dead in an alley in the Street of Silk, How unfortunate indeed? After all, it wasn't like I sent Bronn to take care of him just before he left for the Vale now did I?
I have improved their training tenfold and have ensured that the City Watch will make a good defense force as well as a peace-keeping and law-enforcing force. The uniform however will remain the same as how it was during the time of the Rogue Prince.
My time these days is now filled with attending parades such as this from literally every branch, but it's worth it.
After a while, the parade is filled with marches followed by speeches from me, Ser Baelor, and then Ser Alliser and then it's time for the oath.
All the sixty-five men who are about to join the City Watch say this with one voice
I SWEAR BY BOTH THE NEW AND THE OLD GODS THIS SACRED OATH:
THAT I SHALL RENDER UNCONDITIONAL OBEDIENCE AND MY UTTER ALLEGIANCE TO HIS GRACE
RHAEGAR FIRST OF HIS NAME, KING OF THE ANDALS, THE FIRST MEN, AND THE RHOYNAR, LORD OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS AND PROTECTOR OF THE REALM
AND THAT I SHALL BE READY AT ALL TIMES TO GIVE MY LIFE FOR THIS OATH
THIS I DO SWEAR ON MY LIFE.