"Cooperation is very difficult, but chaos is much easier. There is only one cold iron throne, but we have many Kings," Tyrion said. "Besides, Robb is not Eddard, and Gendry is not Robert. They have no friendship, and the two are not as close as Robert and Lord Eddard were, and now Eddard is gone. Furthermore, Stannis and Renly also harbor mutual resentments. As for House Arryn, Lady Lysa, that Madwoman, is even less likely to send troops; it's very possible that it's just a solo move by some Lords of the Vale. So the alliance of the Wolf Pack, House Tully, House Arryn, and the crowned stag is far less stable than it was decades ago."
"Continue."
Tyrion continued, "We hold three valuable hostages in King's Landing: the Old Wolf and his two daughters. Would young Robb willingly kneel to others?"
"Actually, two," Tywin corrected his son. "Eddard's youngest daughter ran away at the time and cannot be found now. We don't know if she's alive or dead."
"Then we can pretend to have control of the two little girls," The Imp blinked.
"Hmm, perhaps we can also offer the young man something shiny. A position, a marriage alliance, or what? A crown," Tywin mused. "But Eddard will certainly not be released so easily, and Robb must declare his allegiance to us."
"A crown as King in the North?" Tyrion exclaimed. "That's too high a price, Father."
"Only temporarily, this is my worst-case scenario, you should understand. As long as they are obedient, Renly is far more generous than we are. Besides, the North is a poor place, can we squeeze any profit out of it? The Northmen have always acted independently and have little contact with the green lands." Tywin cleared his throat. Due to the unique climate and beliefs of the North and Dorne, they differ greatly from the other kingdoms.
Tyrion was speechless. In fact, in the history of Westeros, unity was rare, and division was the norm. But if the iron throne's legitimacy came from ceding land, then the King would be utterly disgraced; even Joffrey would not agree to such a thing.
"Our allies are indeed too few," Tyrion said bluntly. In fact, The Imp also felt that this was due to Tywin's ruthless methods and his refusal to ever back down. Decades ago, he offended Dorne. And now the lion has come out of the Westerlands, ravaging the Riverlands, even striking hard at in-laws like the Frey Family. Not to mention the marriage alliance Robert had arranged with House Stark, which turned into a complete mess, and everyone had long since disliked each other.
"The beginning is irreversible, the key is what comes next," Tywin said gloomily. Although the Westerlands were strong, Tywin also felt truly isolated.
"Among the Lords, it's all about marriage alliances and titles. As for marriage alliances, my sister has three Children," The Imp pointed out. "Unfortunately, we face four formidable families: Stark, Arryn, Martell, and Tyrell."
"We'll discuss that later, the immediate priority is to stabilize the situation," Tywin replied.
The Imp then stopped arguing; he had many ideas about marriage alliances and alliances. Although the Westerlands were strong, they could not fight against several opponents at once. (He had considered dealing with Tyrell and Renly, intending to marry Myrcella to Martell, but this proved to be a bad move.)
"There's a big difference between nominal disintegration and actual disintegration. Although the iron throne has already fractured into several pieces, we must not make such a bad move until the very last moment. Let's consider other gifts first," Tywin said.
"The alliance between Renly and Stannis has not yet been finalized, it seems Renly is about to make his move. Renly lacks a large fleet, while Stannis lacks a land army," Kevan interjected. Most people believed that if civil war broke out, Renly would almost certainly win. Stannis's weakness lay in his lack of troops, with no one to deploy. In the current situation, who would think of Wights like magic?
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