Kings Landing.
As soon as the war broke out, food supplies from The Reach and the Riverlands were quickly cut off. Furthermore, Roman occupied lands in the northern part of The Crownlands. The nobles loyal to the iron throne were struggling to protect themselves and could not care less about the survival of Kings Landing.
The situation in Kings Landing was worse than imagined; a large-scale famine had broken out in the slums, and many people had starved to death in their homes.
This was followed by a massive infestation of rats, which brought pathogens into Kings Landing.
Finally, a plague broke out in Kings Landing—and more than one kind.
However, Cersei had previously declared war on Harrenhal and, as luck would have it, targeted Harrenhal's merchants, including those who sold medicinal potions.
Without the cheap potions provided by Harrenhal, the mortality rate in the slums of Kings Landing skyrocketed instantly.
Kevan and Tyrion were currently overwhelmed with the chaos in Kings Landing. They had to control grain prices and manage food distribution to prevent the famine from spreading.
On the other hand, they had to contain the plague. Kings Landing had a population of 500,000; once the plague spread, the mobs of Kings Landing would spontaneously storm the iron throne without Renly or Stannis even needing to lift a finger.
Tyrion looked at the daily increasing number of infections and asked impatiently:
"Wasn't our previous stock of potions quite large? How is it all gone?"
An Attendant nearby answered cautiously, "My lord, previously King Robert was on good terms with Ser Roman, so we could obtain potions from Harrenhal. But the Queen Regent previously declared Ser Roman guilty of treason, and the merchants of Harrenhal were affected as well. Now they don't dare come to Kings Landing for business, so our supply of potions has been cut off."
Tyrion: "Can't we produce the Harrenhal potions ourselves?"
"It's impossible, Lord Tyrion. Harrenhal's medical technology is far beyond ours. The maesters of Kings Landing can't even analyze the ingredients of the Harrenhal potions."
Kevan walked over and instructed, "Go and purchase herbs first. Use the old methods to treat the commoners of Kings Landing. We'll deal with other matters later!"
The Attendant took the order, let out a long sigh of relief, and hurriedly left the oppressive office.
Kevan brought a glass for Tyrion. Tyrion looked at the wine Kevan had brought, sighed helplessly, and the uncle and nephew began to drink together.
"Uncle Kevan, we have no food and no medicine. No matter how many policies we have, they are of no use. We must find a way to get these things!"
Kevan knew this all too well, but now Kings Landing was an isolated city.
There was Stannis's fleet at sea, Renly's army to the south, and Roman pressing down from the north.
Now Kings Landing relied entirely on House Lannister using The Goldroad to supply the city, but distant water cannot quench a nearby thirst. If this continued, both Kings Landing and the Westerlands would be dragged down.
"The traitors are laughing at us. They are intentionally besieging us without attacking, wanting to use the food problem to force our submission!" Kevan said indignantly.
Tyrion paced back and forth anxiously, treading the expensive carpet into a messy fuzz.
"The Reach, The Stormlands, the Riverlands, and the North are all our enemies. Besides them, only The Vale of Arryn and Dorne remain. The people of the Vale remain silent, and as for Dorne—oh! We can no longer negotiate with Dorne!"
Ever since Roman widely publicized throughout the Seven Kingdoms that Tywin had ordered the killing of the Princess of Dorne, the Dornish people wished they could skin and de-bone the Lannisters whenever they were mentioned.
Later, in order to understand the situation in Kings Landing, Prince Doran dispatched Dornish nobles to the iron throne to serve as advisors.
Upon hearing this, the Dornish residents cursed their own lord even more, berating him for not even caring about his own sister's death for the sake of power.
Some even suspected that Prince Doran had used Elia's death as a trade to obtain the advisor position at the iron throne.
Prince Doran remained silent regarding these rumors, but Tyrion felt that Doran's silence was more terrifying than an outburst; he couldn't understand what the Dornish really wanted to do.
Tyrion suddenly lost heart because Roman had stirred up the hatred between Dorne and Lannister, and his idea of marrying Myrcella into Dorne to gain support had also fallen through.
"Uncle Kevan, it seems we can only count on Father to conquer the Riverlands. Only by using the food from there can we alleviate the famine in Kings Landing."
"That's the only way. For now, we can only try our best to maintain stability."
Just as the uncle and nephew were drinking to drown their sorrows, the office door was slammed open, and the Attendant ran in, drenched in sweat.
"Lord Kevan, Lord Tyrion, the slums... the slums are rioting! The mob is looting everywhere, and they even want to storm the granaries!"
The Imp jumped up from his chair with a start: "What happened? Didn't we open relief stations?"
"It's not a matter of food, it's the spread of the plague. Ser Roman of Harrenhal expressed his desire to come and help Kings Landing control the plague, but Queen Regent Cersei cursed Ser Roman in front of everyone. She won't allow anything from Harrenhal to enter Kings Landing. The commoners couldn't take it after hearing that!"
Upon hearing this, the veins on The Imp's forehead bulged, throbbing against his head with every heartbeat.
"Let's go!!"
The Lannister group arrived at the scene of the incident and saw at a glance the riot spanning the entire street. The mob smashed everything in sight, set fire to every house, and acts of looting and rape filled every corner.
"That bitch Queen! She's fine herself but wants to stop us from being saved. Without Harrenhal's medicine, how are we supposed to live?!"
"Give me food! I haven't eaten anything for days!"
"The Gold Cloaks are here! The lackeys of the lions have come here again!"
"Beat them! Beat them all to death! I'm not staying in this Kings Landing anymore, I'm going out to find Lord Roman!"
The mob of Kings Landing, seeing the Gold Cloaks and Lannister soldiers, showed no fear; instead, they charged toward Tyrion and the others with even greater fury.
"Not good! Uncle Kevan, retreat quickly!"
Looking at the dense crowd of rioters before them, Tyrion quickly pulled Kevan back. Forget about suppression; if they stayed any longer, they might lose their lives.
————
While Kings Landing was in a riot, Sows Corner, which echoed it from afar, was bustling with the harvest of crops.
Local residents were vigorously swinging their scythes, and not far away were Harrenhal soldiers harvesting alongside them.
The Harrenhal soldiers needed to garrison the front lines to guard against counterattacks from The Crownlands' nobles, but they couldn't quickly build new military outposts. So Roman negotiated with the local residents to let the soldiers stay in their civilian houses.
Usually, besides daily training and patrols, the soldiers would help the residents with their work whenever they had time.
An old man from Sows Corner put down his scythe and sat on a dirt slope to drink water. He watched the Harrenhal soldiers and sighed:
"I've lived for so many years, and this is the first time I've seen such soldiers. Not only do they not steal our food, they even help us work, and they buy things with money. Previous lords were lucky if they didn't drag me off for forced labor!"
The old man's grandson also ran over quickly and said excitedly, "Grandpa, Father is back from Kings Landing!"
"Hmm? What did he come back for?"
The child: "Grandpa! Did you forget that Kings Landing is a mess right now because of that madwoman Cersei? Father couldn't stand it anymore and escaped from Kings Landing!"
Upon hearing this, the old man stood up with difficulty and looked around. On the distant Kings Road, a dense black line had formed; those were all people coming from the direction of Kings Landing.
Roman had sent news to Kings Landing that Harrenhal physicians were going to provide free clinics. Originally, he just intended to play with public opinion to make the residents of Kings Landing hate the Lannisters even more.
As it turned out, the boldness of the Kings Landing residents exceeded his imagination; they actually ran out directly to seek refuge with him.
To deal with the suddenly increased population, Roman had to prepare corresponding reception areas and physicians responsible for quarantine.
"Pay attention to those coming from Kings Landing. Regardless of whether they seem normal or not, pull them aside for isolation. After confirming there are no problems, then arrange other matters!"
While Roman was directing the front-line defenses and the settlement of refugees, he was also exchanging intelligence with a raven.
"Roman, Lady Fili has discovered traces of Tywin's march. You should consider returning with reinforcements."
"Is that so? It seems that old lion Tywin finally can't sit still. I hope he can give those Riverlands nobles a good lesson. Don't let me down!"