Throne of Comics

So he also made it very clear to Catherine.

"Actually, I also like Aya very much." Li Lingyi said with a smile, "She has inherited the wolf nature of the Stark family. She is brave, upright, and tenacious... These qualities are not even available to most adults."

"Then let's talk about this matter..." Catherine looked at Li Lingyi expectantly, who nodded, "Well, I am willing too, but... madam, Aiya and I can only be engaged."

Catherine frowned slightly when she heard the words, pursed her lips and thought for a moment, then asked doubtfully, "Is there any difference?"

"Of course." Li Lingyi sighed and looked towards the door. "After all, Aiya is still young, only 14 years old. Maybe she hasn't distinguished the difference between liking and love, so when she becomes an adult, I will let her choose again." once."

"If she has someone she loves by then, then this engagement will end. But the relationship between our two families will not change, how?"

As soon as Li Ling finished speaking, a look of gratitude appeared on Catherine's face. She knew it was for her daughter's sake. After all, she had thought about this issue before, and worried that Arya just liked Ivy, not love.

But for the sake of the family, there is nothing to do.But she didn't expect that Li Lingyi would take the initiative to raise this point, which really surprised her.

"Thank you very much for your understanding." Catherine was overjoyed, she stood up and said, "I also agree with this proposal. I hope that our two families can cultivate together forever and deal with our enemies together. Let... Joffrey be buried with Ed as soon as possible."

Catherine's eyes flashed fiercely when she spoke, and Li Ling couldn't help sighing when she saw this. Sure enough, Catherine is the most vengeful person in the Stark family. No wonder she will become Mrs. Stoneheart in the original book.

At this time, she also noticed her tense and smiled apologetically.

Now that the marriage has been decided, the formal discussions will begin next. Li Lingyi does not believe that Catherine just traveled so far to the Twin River City just to finalize the marriage.

Sure enough, Catherine immediately began to bring up military issues.

"I don't know how Patriarch Aiwei plans, for the Iron Throne and Lannister."

"It's very simple." Li Lingyi said calmly, "I will take King's Landing. As for the Lannisters, if they persist in their obsession, then there is no need for this family to exist."

"..."

The corners of Catherine's mouth couldn't help twitching a few times when she heard the words. The young man in front of her was probably the only one in the entire continent who could say such words with confidence.

There is no need for the largest and richest family in the mainland to exist?This is not something that can be said casually.Besides, in Catherine's opinion, the current Bannerless family is not that strong.

Chapter 488 Clean the house before welcoming guests

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Of course, Catherine is not the only one who thinks so, other families also think so.After all, during those two battles, the Wuqi family defended the city firmly. No matter how you say it, defending the city is definitely easier than attacking the city. Therefore, everyone admits that the Wuqi family is very good at defending the city, but they are not so optimistic about the head-on confrontation.

But they don't know that Li Lingyi has been focusing on this part all the time, and has been training intensively during this period. Although not all troops can be pulled to fight on the plains, at least the core combat power of the Bannerless Army is really strong. It's pretty good too.

Now the Army Without Banners has expanded to 5000 people, and it is still led by Li Ling alone, almost regarded as his own private army.This is also necessary. It didn't matter when there were hundreds or thousands of people before. Now that the population is increasing, it is inevitable that there will be some generals who have other ideas.

Without the deterrence of the private army, Li Lingyi would not be able to bear the sudden split.But that's just to say, Li Lingyi is familiar with all the generals with real power so far, so I don't worry about it.

Now that Catherine is silent, Li Lingyi also continued: "Of course, this also requires the help of the Stark family. It can't be done in a short time with the Wuqi family alone."

For a short time...

Catherine noticed Li Lingyi's words, thought about it, and asked, "Do you mean we are going to march together? Go south?"

"Then don't worry." Li Ling shook his head and said with a smile, "Ma'am, don't you know there is a saying 'clean the house before welcoming guests'?"

Catherine showed a puzzled expression, obviously not understanding Li Lingyi's Chinese metaphor.

"If you want to go south without any scruples, you must first condense the central and northern parts into one iron plate to ensure that no one will make trouble behind."

"You mean..."

Li Lingyi turned over a piece of cloth that had been covering the table. It was printed with the landscape and topography of the continent. It turned out to be a map of the continent of Westeros.

In the north, with Winterfell as the center, the Stark family dominates, and there is only one unstable element in the entire land, and that is the Dreadfort located in the west of the northern border facing the sea.

This is the territory of the Bolton family, the famous skinning and skinning family. Because of their cruel abuse, other families are not very willing to join them. Of course, they are also vassals of the Stark family and belong to the subject.

In the original plot, the Bolton family and the Frey family betrayed Stark together and became the new guardians of the North.Of course, he was finally killed by Jon in revenge.

But now because the Frey family brought the dogs ahead of time, the Bolton family didn't show their fangs, and continued to play the good boy, but the hatred with the Stark family for thousands of years also made them think about being able to eliminate the Stark family all the time. .

Maybe Stark felt nothing now, but Li Lingyi couldn't tolerate such a threat, so he directly raised it with Catherine.

"First of all, the Bolton family, you must be on guard against them."

"The Bolton family..." Catherine was a little puzzled, "Although their family has always been against the Stark family in the past, they joined the coalition before and went south together. I think there should be no problem?"

"Do you think they are willing to join? It's just that they have no choice." Li Lingyi sneered: "If you don't join, I'm afraid the first thing your coalition forces should do is not to go south, but to clean up the Dreadfort first?"

Catherine moved her lips and remained silent.

Indeed, at that time Robb issued an order calling all the vassals in the north.Because these vassals had sworn allegiance to Stark, it was necessary to send troops to join the coalition at this time.

If you refuse, it is a betrayal of the oath and the coalition forces, and it is impossible to let it go according to Robb's character.

"In addition to the Bolton family, the Ayrin family also needs to communicate. Madam, you can talk to Lysa first. If it fails, then leave it to me."

At this time, Catherine was still thinking about the Bolton family. She regained her composure and nodded slightly, "I know. I will talk to Lysa and try to get her to join our alliance. I believe she will agree. , her husband was killed by Lannister after all."

"..."

Li Ling was silent when he heard the words, but he didn't tell the truth either. On the one hand, he had no evidence, and on the other hand, he would get nothing if he said it now, so there was no need.

"And the Tully family in Riverrun, I think... this needs to be discussed by Madam."

"Of course." Catherine said with a smile. Riverrun is her natal family, and her brother has doted on her since she was a child. It is easy to persuade her to join the alliance.

"As for myself, during this period of time, I will try my best to unite the small families in the central region. When the matters of the three big families are resolved, it will be time for us to go south." Li Ling stood up after speaking, and stretched out his palm to Catherine, "then Just avenge Duke Ed."

"Thank you, Patriarch Aiwei!" Catherine couldn't help getting up and holding Li Lingyi's hand when she heard the words, so at the moment of shaking hands, the covenant between the two families was concluded.

After deciding to form an alliance, Catherine immediately took Arya back. The poor little girl didn't have a chance to discuss swordsmanship with Li Lingyi, which made her a little disappointed.

The same is true for Li Lingyi, but he is also very helpless. As the patriarch of a big family, he has too many things to deal with.Especially now that the family is rising and rising, he needs to deal with all kinds of emergencies. After a while, when those talents are familiar with their work, he will not be so busy doing everything by himself.

After Catherine's mother and daughter left, Li Lingyi naturally returned to Harrenhal, and immediately started to unite with the surrounding small families, without resorting to any means, and directly sent envoys to find out.

Those who are willing will be protected by the Bannerless family, and those who are unwilling... first see if the civilians in your own territory agree.

Among other things, at least the civilians in the Hejian Land have a high degree of recognition for Li Lingyi, because the latter has never carried out looting, and often helps some poor people find jobs, distributes food, etc., doing good deeds.

That's why many commoners in small family territories even hope that their lords will be loyal to the Bannerless family, so that they can get a reliable backer, and they don't have to worry about the bandits around them, and they don't have to be so afraid of Lannister.

Of course, for those who are unwilling to live or die, Li Lingyi doesn't need to use force, just use a few small tricks, such as the simplest food cut off.Because 90% of the grain harvested in the river land is harvested by Harrenhal, not by force, but because this land was originally grown by the Bannerless family.

You said those civilians just joined the Bannerless Clan?Sorry, as long as you join in, you belong to the Wuqi family, and the food can only be sold to the Wuqi family after harvesting. It seems a bit forced to buy and sell, but in fact, the Wuqi family also gives market prices, so it is also No one objected.

As a result, most of the food in the Hejian land was monopolized by the Wuqi family, and other families could only buy it at a high price if they wanted it.