Fili stared blankly at the teacup in front of her. She hadn't expected that this day would truly come, that Roman had actually agreed to her request.
At the mere thought of that night, Fili couldn't help but blush.
Scholar Tom had said that Roman was a dragon. At first, Fili hadn't believed it, but now she realized the scholar hadn't lied; Fili could only get out of bed this morning with Roman's help.
Although still immersed in the lingering sweetness of happiness, Fili remained clear-headed enough to ask Scholar Tom for a cup of moon tea; she could not jeopardize Roman's future marriage alliances.
Roman, meanwhile, was considering the future political situation. The War of the Five Kings was inevitable, and it was not yet time to rest.
Issues of inheritance, the balance between the great houses, and the underhanded schemes of ambitious men.
Roman was certain that those people in The Red Keep absolutely held enough cards to ignite the situation.
"Chaos is a ladder, right?"
Roman muttered to himself. This was Littlefinger's famous quote, but in the original story, every single one of those ambitious schemers ended up in this sorry state.
If one didn't want to be played to death by those people, there was only one path: build high walls, store plenty of grain, and bide one's time before claiming the throne.
As long as one had sufficient strength and found ways to avoid getting involved in that mess too early, preserving one's vitality, one could remain invincible.
Roman was thinking about the next step when Fili entered with refreshments.
"Fili? Didn't I tell you to rest? Why are you still working?"
"Lord Roman, this isn't anything major, just let me continue working."
After a careful check, Roman confirmed that Fili was indeed fine, so he let her stay.
Today, Roman sought out Old Jessy. He needed to expand the heavy cavalry to 800 men, and the Light Cavalry needed to break the 1,000-man mark.
In the courtyard, Old Jessy was training the soldiers with great satisfaction. For a Drillmaster like Old Jessy, being able to personally forge such a formidable force was a supreme honor.
"Lord Roman, I have followed your instructions to select warhorses and recruit warriors. The Harrenhal territory is now full of talent; it won't be long before we find suitable candidates."
"You've done well, Drillmaster Jessy. For training troops in Harrenhal, I really have to rely on you!"
Roman was quite grateful to Old Jessy. Although he didn't understand warfare, his ability to train troops was exceptional. He knew the combat patterns of various soldiers and could even understand how a unit operated just by glancing at their weapons and equipment.
Now, Roman followed Old Jessy to the military camp outside Harrenhal, where the heavy cavalry had assembled to be inspected by Roman.
At this moment, Roman noticed that not only were the soldiers neat and uniform, following orders strictly,
but even the horses were standing in orderly lines, maintaining a stable formation.
"Drillmaster Jessy, how did you train the horses? They can even form queues."
"My Lord, those old bones and I have spent our whole lives dealing with horses. We still have that much ability!"
Seeing the pride on Old Jessy's face, Roman didn't waste any more words and let him continue the demonstration.
The entire unit then began sprint training, battlefield communication, and long-distance marching.
With the help of signal flags and ravens, even when the formation was stretched out, there was no disconnection.
On the main road, the heavy cavalry formed a long silver dragon.
Roman had led troops before; he knew how difficult this was, especially in the early stages when the unit hadn't been broken in yet and soldiers often couldn't maintain consistency.
It often happened that the soldiers in the front walked too fast, causing the rear to fall behind and requiring them to re-form.
Roman had once spent a great deal of effort to make the soldiers memorize the marching rhythm, and it took months of training before the infantry could march in unison.
Old Jessy, however, had the heavy cavalry obeying orders instantly. One could only say that professionals are just too strong.
Next was the military drill. The main purpose of the heavy cavalry was to use their higher mobility compared to infantry to intersperse, encircle, and occupy advantageous positions.
At this time, the Light Cavalry also arrived at the scene. The two types of cavalry had to cooperate to exert their maximum effect.
The Light Cavalry was equipped with White Flame bombs developed by the scholar. These were incendiary bombs made using Roman's White Flame and an oily liquid fuel.
Once ignited, they would explode, spraying the fuel and White Flame outward. Ordinary armor simply couldn't withstand this kind of attack.
After surrounding the infantry phalanx, the Light Cavalry would throw White Flame bombs to crack the turtle shell, forcing the opponent's formation to reveal gaps and creating opportunities for the heavy cavalry to break the line.
Looking at this formidable army, the excitement in Roman's heart was hard to suppress.
"Now, we at Harrenhal finally have the capital to stand and speak!"
Roman did not skimp on rewards for Old Jessy and the several instructors, handing out large amounts of gold dragons casually.
"You are the best instructors in Harrenhal. Keep it up in the future and train good soldiers for us!"
Of course, the heavy cavalry couldn't just fight on their own; Roman also assigned ravens to every captain.
It had been several years since Fili first encountered the ravens. They had bred several batches, and their offspring had joined Harrenhal's communications industry, becoming official government employees.
Fili had also pioneered arrangements for the ravens: how to work shifts, how to transmit information, and how to maintain all-weather, 360-degree surveillance.
Fili had solved these problems all by herself, and by the time she excitedly reported it to Roman, it was already fully mature.
Now, the red comet had not yet arrived. When magic returned on a large scale in the future, Roman believed Fili would become even stronger.
At this time, facing the growth of Harrenhal's military strength, some vassals began to speculate about the thoughts of Roman and Lady Helaena of House Hoare.
Currently, Roman was on good terms with Robert, and they wouldn't target the iron throne, but House Tully was different.
The great lords of the Riverlands actually looked down on House Tully to some extent. Now that Roman was rising, Harrenhal's status was rising along with him, and Hean Family had become an object that surrounding nobles needed to curry favor with.
But Roman implemented centralized management, did not hold banquets, and he himself traveled to various places for long periods, simply giving those nobles no opportunities.
It wasn't just the nobles who had these thoughts; the soldiers also wanted to achieve great things.
They had seen the troops of other nobles, and the final conclusion was: insufficient coordination, weak equipment, and weak willpower.
For this reason, Roman had spoken to the troops many times, telling the soldiers not to be arrogant just because their equipment was advanced.
However, a piece of news from the Wall recently made the soldiers excited:
The wildlings Beyond the Wall had rioted.
"Is this intelligence accurate? Why would the wildlings attack the Wall at this time?"
"Lord Roman, this is a call for help sent by Commander Mormont. Other lords have received it too, so it cannot be fake."
Fili explained while pouring tea on the side. After Roman checked it carefully, he found no issues.
"Fili, what is the attitude of the other lords?"
The girl thought for a moment: "The other lords don't seem to care much. At most, they sent some supplies. The iron throne is the same."
"They believe the wildlings cannot organize any significant force and that the Nights Watch can handle it themselves."
Fili was a bit worried: "Lord Roman, you have said that the wildlings are numerous and united. Can the Nights Watch really hold them off alone?"
Roman shook his head. Mance Rayder had gathered over a hundred thousand wildlings. If they attacked with full force like the Battle of Black Castle, the Nights Watch could never handle it alone.
Now, many lords did not believe the warnings from the Lord Commander of the Nights Watch. If he didn't go, the Wall wouldn't be able to hold.
"Tsk! Why are the wildlings attacking now? Did the White Walkers act early?"
Roman thought about it from all angles, but the existing intelligence did not support his analysis at all.
A moment later, Roman shook his head and said to Fili:
"Fili, call back all the high officials of Harrenhal. We need to discuss how to deal with the wildlings."
more chapter available in p@tréøñ(Atoki_29)