"Hound, have Baelish and Varys come to me," Joffrey said, stroking the baboon as he called out to the door.
"As you command, Your Grace," Sandor Clegane, the Hound, immediately went to find the two men.
Joffrey locked onto Varys and Baelish as his first targets. One was the master of whisperers, and the other the master of coin, yet one planned to support Rhaegar's son, Aegon Targaryen, to sit on the throne, while the other wanted to sit on the Iron Throne himself. Truly loyal!
Soon, Varys and Baelish met outside the door.
Varys looked at the arrogant Lu Bu: "What is your name, my lord?""His Majesty the King has summoned us, may we enter?" Varys, being a sneaky one, was shocked that he hadn't been able to gather any information about Lü Bu Da Xiaozhi; it was as if this guard had appeared out of thin air.
However, Littlefinger, having just schemed to death his rival Ned Stark, was feeling rather smug. His brothels, spread throughout King's Landing, had also failed to uncover any information about this man, but he didn't care. He was the most intelligent man in the Seven Kingdoms, and intelligence was power!
"Lord Varys, he's just a guard. We can simply proceed to see His Majesty." Littlefinger said slowly and deliberately.Varys said nothing, only looked at Lu Bu. Lu Bu also said nothing, but without His Majesty's permission, anyone who dared to take a step forward would die.
"Let them in. Sandor and Lu Bu, come in too. Close the door."
Hearing Joffrey's words, Lu Bu and the other three entered the room. Sandor closed the door.
Varys and Baelish didn't know what the king was up to, closing the door? He wouldn't kill them, would he? To be honest, they really looked down on this 14-year-old king, arrogant, cruel, ignorant of politics, and so on.Now Renly has died suddenly in the army, Stannis has taken over the Stormlands' forces and is marching towards King's Landing, while his grandfather, the old lion Tywin Lannister, is blocking the southward advance of the wolf pups at Harrenhal.
Meanwhile, their king is in his room stroking a red monkey. Damn it, who presented the monkey? Does the Hand of the King, Tyrion, know that his good nephew is addicted to stroking monkeys after waking up?
"Lord Petyr Baelish, Master of Coin, how many gold dragons are left in our treasury?"
Baelish was stunned. Is he going to squander the treasury again?"Although he didn't understand what Joffrey was up to, it wasn't his concern. 'Your Majesty, there are 4,000 gold dragons in the treasury. However, the harvest has just been collected, and supplies are plentiful, so there's no need to worry about provisions for war.'
Four thousand gold dragons, roughly equivalent to 4 million RMB on Earth, was pitifully little.
The nation's tax revenue mainly came from taxes from the Crownlands, the King's direct domain, and a portion of taxes submitted from other regions. But in the feudal world of Game of Thrones, half of the tax revenue would go to the local dukes, and only the remaining half would belong to the King."Joffrey's predecessor left him with a debt of 6 million, half of which was owed to the Lannisters of the Westerlands, another 2 million to the Iron Bank of Braavos across the Narrow Sea, and the remaining 1 million to various nobles.
Annual tax revenue is around 1 million gold dragons, but after deducting military expenses, royal spending, and repayments to the Iron Bank, the treasury is barely able to stay afloat.
Joffrey rubbed the belly of the little ibex, a mere 20 centimeters long, which lay in his arms, eyes closed, enjoying its master's caresses."With the North and the Stormlands in rebellion, the Reach's rebellion failing, and the kingdom's tax revenue shrunk by a third, I wonder if Lord Baelish can offer any support for the next payment to the Iron Bank?"
"Your Grace, while I am the Master of Coin, I personally have no money. I truly cannot help you. However, I can negotiate with the Iron Bank and perhaps even borrow another sum to help you win the rebellion." Baelish maintained a smile on his face, but inwardly he began to curse Joffrey.
Joffrey sneered inwardly,
Borrowing money in the name of the Iron Throne, doesn't it still have to be repaid?But Joffrey, thinking about his own power, really had the urge to fly to Braavos and rob the Iron Bank.
But that would ruin the game, and he didn't want to expose his abilities. He had to wait for the situation to stabilize, directly guide public opinion, elevate the royal power to an unparalleled position, and then completely abolish the feudal system.
"But I heard that Lord Baelish's brothels are flourishing everywhere, he must not be short of money, right?"
Varys chuckled inwardly. In King's Landing, the person he feared the most was Littlefinger Baelish. This person was very clever, and his intelligence was not much slower than his own. Now that Joffrey had set his sights on his source of information, Varys was naturally happy."Your Majesty, brothels are not respectable and don't generate much revenue. How about this, I'll contribute ten thousand gold dragons to the national treasury? It's all my savings." Littlefinger wore a pained expression, as if it were true.
Joffrey, with one hand propping up his chin, said, "Lord Baelish, how about we make a deal?"
Baelish didn't know what Joffrey was planning, but he wasn't worried, and respectfully said, "Please speak, Your Majesty." It was just another way to borrow money, wasn't it?
"I want all the brothels under your control, to continue to be managed by you, but the profits go to me. The price is your life!"Baelish's eye twitched, and even Varys was stunned.
"Your Majesty, even if you are the King, you can't just seize things by force, doing this will ruin your credibility!" Baelish wished he could give Joffrey two knives, how could anyone be so greedy?
"Littlefinger, do you know what the consequences are for assassinating the Hand of the King? Or killing two of them?" Joffrey said with a smile.
But that smile made Baelish feel cold all over. What did he mean? Did Joffrey know what I had done? That's impossible, even Varys doesn't know, how could this little king who only knows how to play and kill know?Varys glanced at Baelish, thinking to himself, "Just as I suspected." He had always felt that someone was stirring up trouble in the Seven Kingdoms, but this was exactly what he wanted.
Despite the chill in his heart, Baelish still wore a smile. "Your Grace, what do you mean? Weren't we discussing the national finances?"
"Littlefinger, it's very easy to find evidence for anything when you already know the answer. For example, Lysa Tully, the wife of the previous Hand, the Duke of the Vale, is a good place to start. My lord, you only get one chance, and I'm only giving you one chance. Make the most of it.""At this moment, Baelish's face was pale. If he had intended to deny everything before, when Joffrey mentioned Lysa Tully, he knew that Joffrey knew everything.
"Of course, Your Majesty, it is my honor to offer you the profits from the brothels." Baelish knew that running brothels would be looked down upon by nobles, and the royal family, as the greatest noble family, would certainly not run brothels.
That's why Joffrey allowed him to continue managing them, so that he could continue to obtain various intelligence. As long as he kept his life, there would still be opportunities.
"Pledging allegiance to me is a very wise choice, but the intelligence from the brothels must be reported daily. If I find that you are concealing anything...""No, I will sift through all the intelligence to serve you, it is my honor." Baelish immediately pledged his loyalty to Joffrey, who had seized his weakness, his life and death now in Joffrey's hands, fortunate that he hadn't been killed.
Varys stood beside him, bowed and silent, feeling somewhat nervous.
He and Baelish had been summoned together, and Joffrey wouldn't have called him here just to watch him manipulate Littlefinger. He could only hope it wasn't some major vulnerability.
"Lord Varys, why so silent? What of the Targaryen remnants in Essos?""Your Grace, Viserys is dead, and Daenerys is said to have hatched three dragons, though the truth of that is unknown. She is currently in Qarth," Varys said immediately. The little king, who used to only bark like a mad dog, was now putting immense pressure on him.
"Argh, I'm not talking about those siblings, you know who I mean." Joffrey picked up the crossbow that was shining on the wall and loaded a bolt.
Watching Joffrey load the crossbow, Varys finally understood how Littlefinger had felt before.
"Your Grace, the only Targaryen remnants are those siblings."
Bang!The crossbow bolt stuck in the wooden cabinet, its fletching vibrating rapidly, much like Varys's heart.
"The Spider, lying is not a good habit. I wonder how old young Aegon is now?"