GOT: Chapter 402/403

Chapter 402: The Law of Easy to Get and Difficult to Cure

Daenerys raised her eyebrows. Aegor's words struck a chord, and she fought to keep her expression from faltering, but the shock shot from her spine to the back of her head. She wanted to say, "You are very good at flattery," to ease the awkwardness, but she immediately recalled saying the same thing when they met on Dragonstone. She swallowed the words, looked up, and reexamined the man across the table, an incredulous light growing in her eyes.

Had she known the term, Daenerys would have had only one thought at that moment. Could it be that she had met a comrade?

She realized her previous judgment of the situation was off, slowly relaxed the hand gripping the fork beneath the table, and then remembered another question. "That book, did you really write it?"

It was a little different from what he expected, but with that perfectly aimed flattery, Aegor finally found the chance to steer the conversation where he wanted.

"Your Grace, when you read the first half, did you not wonder why there would be a book that perfectly suited your taste and aligned with the current situation in Westeros, as if it were written just for you, yet you had never heard of it?" Aegor, wearing a thoughtful expression, shrugged and answered his own question. "The answer is, there is no why. This book was tailored for you, to test whether you were the Queen I imagined you to be."

…

Outside, guards cried out, accompanied by a sudden rush of air and the panting roars of giant beasts. The three dragons, led by Drogon, had flown from their resting place a few miles away to hover above the miniature lake in Crown Town, circling close to the tower tops, waiting only for their mother's command. They could advance and burn the town with dragonflame, or retreat to land and pick her up. The Black Dragon could feel that his mother, whose soul was linked to his own, had shifted from extreme tension and defensiveness to anger mixed with intense surprise and curiosity.

While Daenerys soothed Drogon inwardly, telling him not to attack or force a landing, she casually set the fork back on the table as if finishing her meal, crossed her arms, leaned back comfortably, and stretched slightly.

With her dragons' arrival, her clarity and presence, bolstered by confidence, returned to their peak. "So, you have successfully tricked me into coming here. Am I the Queen you imagined?"

"Yes, and no." Good, even the lines were flowing, leading naturally to the next part. Aegor knew his elaborate ruse was on track, but the main act was still ahead. "You are indeed the Queen I envisioned, one who cares for the common folk and is filled with revolutionary passion. But you seem a little lost. Let me ask another question. You have such a fine ideal, but do you know how to make it real, not specific plans, but at least a general direction?"

Of course not.

If she did, why would she still be so eager to read the second half of that revised treatise on rulership, even riding a dragon here herself? The first half Aegor gave her already contained countless theories and accounts that Daenerys approved of, agreed with, and even found illuminating, whetting her appetite completely. After the torrent of declarations and examples, she anticipated that the next content would be the practical advice and ready-made solutions she needed most, only to turn the page and find the back cover.

That feeling of being cut off right at the crucial moment, left hanging in mid-air, was unbearable.

"Commander, what I hate most in my life is being deceived." Daenerys could not admit she had no plan and intended to think long term after reclaiming the Seven Kingdoms. She forced down her guilt and said coldly, "If you want me to forgive this deception, you had better truly be the author of that book and provide a second half that satisfies me."

…

If Daenerys's identity and title were recognized as legitimate, then the person before him was the supreme monarch of the Seven Kingdoms, the Queen of all Westeros.

If there was no vast centralized empire across unknown parts of the world beyond, then this would be Aegor's last chance in this world to deceive someone above him in station. If he could win her over, influence, and even shape her thoughts, he would have cleared this path.

For this day, he had prepared for countless days and nights in his subconscious.

"I will do my best." Aegor tilted his head, listening to the beat of dragon wings outside. "But before we begin, I must ask Your Grace to agree to one thing. After hearing all I have to say, whether you believe it or not, whether you follow it or not, do not disclose it to anyone, including your closest advisors."

This request was excessive. If she did not tell her trusted counselors, how could she, with limited experience and knowledge, judge whether Aegor was deceiving her or laying a trap? Daenerys frowned. "Alright, I will hear what you can say."

Let him speak first. As for telling others, her mouth was her own. Daenerys was not as rigid as Stannis. Her view of promises and rules had always been relatively flexible.

Aegor nodded, drew a deep breath, and began. "If Your Grace remembers, the first half I presented mentioned that countries are generally divided into two types. One is centralized despotism, where there is only one king, and the rest are officials serving him. Westeros is the other type, feudal lords. The Seven Kingdoms are like a vast wasteland, and the nobles are like wild dogs in that wasteland, gathering in twos and threes, a pile here and a cluster there. They constantly plot and compete, and you can always find lords who harbor resentments against the king or other nobles over a bone or a few scraps, waiting for a chance at revenge. Whenever and wherever, there will be people willing to jump out and act as weapons or guides for rebels and insurgents, serving people like you or Aegon, hoping that by changing the king or the feudal lord, their own lives will be better."

"I am the legitimate king of the Seven Kingdoms, neither a rebel nor an insurgent."

"We are not debating legitimacy, only stating a fact. In a land of feudal divisions among lords large and small, to seize control, you only need to find the right people to split it into two or more forces. Then defeat the king and eliminate his bloodline. Afterward, if the rest have neither a leader nor the will to resist, they surrender to the wind." Aegor shook his head. "The most recent example is Your Grace herself. Capture King's Landing and remove Stannis, and you gain the Crownlands and the Stormlands at once. Next, find a way to win Dorne and the Riverlands, which are easy to gain, and you will hold half the Seven Kingdoms. After that, the Riverlands, with no natural defenses, is yours for the taking, and the Westerlands were severely weakened and unable to resist after the last joint attack by the Six Kingdoms. Finally, only the North and the Vale, with the natural barriers of the Neck and the Bloody Gate, might resist for a while. Under the deterrence of dragons, it is foreseeable that this resistance will not last long, so long as you are willing to accept their surrender."

"Basically correct." In fact, entirely correct, Daenerys thought, though she was currently blocked at the first step, eliminating Stannis, held back by that strong foe and unable to advance. "Then what?"

"There is no then what. I raised this only to introduce a concept before we move on. We must reach consensus first." Aegor said, "That concept is the law of Easy to Gain, Difficult to Rule in a kingdom. The difficulty of conquering a kingdom is inversely proportional to the difficulty of ruling it afterward. The easier the path you choose to seize power, the more external forces you must have relied on, and the more old officials and former nobles you will have kept from the previous order. Once these people become meritorious officials and supporters in your new realm, they form vested interests. Unless you refrain from infringing on those interests, they will become obstacles to your rule."

Aegor began with content from the revised The Prince (Part One). Besides linking past and future to make his narrative easier to follow, he also had another aim, to gain a subtle psychological advantage.

Once they discussed arguments from Part One, Daenerys would quickly realize that Aegor was entirely familiar with it, able to recite it backward, and was undoubtedly its author. In this process of unconsciously accepting that he wrote it, her anticipation and admiration for the mysterious author would transfer to the man before her, Aegor.

When an author and a reader discuss the book, the former gains an easy advantage.

"The law of Easy to Gain, Difficult to Rule?" Daenerys murmured the phrase, unaware that her attitude toward Aegor had unconsciously grown more respectful. At that moment she felt as if she had returned to childhood, a student again, and the man opposite her was her teacher.

"Exactly. An example. Your Grace wishes to reclaim the Iron Throne. The simplest way is to recognize the legitimacy of Aegon Targaryen, marry him, and ally with Dorne and the Riverlands, as many lords as possible. The more great nobles join you, the easier your path becomes. But at the end, after you sit the Iron Throne, your husband and your first supporters will in turn weaken your control. Conversely, if you choose to slaughter the nobles across the Seven Kingdoms and replace them all with new men, your road to power will be extremely hard, fraught with obstacles, nearly impossible to complete. As compensation, if you succeed, your control over the Seven Kingdoms will be unshakably firm." This was a term that did not even appear in the original The Prince. Aegor had summarized it himself from Westeros, and no one had more authority to explain it than he did. "Remember this concept, because we will return to it later."

Drogon, circling above the miniature lake, sensed his mother was not in danger. After a few passes, he flew off with his siblings. Daenerys paid no heed. She was already falling into anticipation for the content to come.

"Very good. Now that we have introduced the concept, we can move to the main topic." Aegor nodded with satisfaction, pleased with his new student's attitude. "Your Grace wants to correct the world's injustices and make it better. Specifically, what should you do in policy?"

(To be continued.)

Chapter 403: Breaking the Wheel

"Deprive the nobles of their privileges, break the wheel of history, and establish a Kingdom without oppression?"

Daenerys answered with slight hesitation. This was the goal she had dreamed of day and night, but even she understood it was a general aim, not a specific policy.

"Very good." Seeing the Queen's expression, Aegor knew she had realized the problem, but it did not matter. "Your thinking is clear. Let me analyze it. You believe the suffering of the common people comes from exploitation and persecution by upper-class nobles and slave masters. As long as equality is achieved and these social parasites are eliminated, the people will live well. But reflect on your experience ruling in Slaver's Bay and answer me this. Did the living standards of the residents in the three major city-states you ruled rise compared to before you arrived? If so, by how much?"

…

A quick blush of shame rose to the Queen's face. Fortunately, the room was dim, so it was not obvious.

Her terrible experience ruling Slaver's Bay had always been a pain in her heart. Due to her own poor strategy and lack of experience, Astapor and Yunkai fell into chaos or saw their slave masters restored soon after she left. Because war intensified conflict and consumed resources, life actually became worse. Only Meereen, when she took the city, saw Littlefinger come under her command. By adopting his suggestions and policies, and by staying to rule personally instead of rushing on, the situation only slightly improved.

Even then, Meereen avoided collapse only by a cold-blooded method, preventing refugees from the first two cities from flooding in with hunger and plague.

Not until she mastered dragonriding in Asshai, fully repelled foreign intervention, and subdued Yunkai and Astapor again, bringing them under her rule and unifying Slaver's Bay's eastern coast, did she finally stabilize the situation and complete preparations to strike back at Westeros. Only then did she barely achieve the goal of restoring the residents' living standards to their former level. This came after Yunkai and Astapor's populations had fallen by seven tenths, and the entire eastern coast saw a decline of nearly half.

This was clearly not an achievement to boast of.

"It did not increase," Daenerys answered honestly, then added a small cover. "But regardless, at least they are free now."

"There is no denying that liberating Slaver's Bay was a great achievement," Aegor said, resisting the urge to show an untimely expression. He needed to persuade Daenerys to act in ways that served his interests, not slap her face and drain the goodwill he had just built. "But you must be cautious in Westeros. The Seven Kingdoms abolished slavery long ago, and everyone is free. Here, if you cannot give the people better lives, they will not confess that you liberated them from noble oppression. They will only shout, 'Back then, under such-and-such a Lord, we lived this or that much better.'"

Daenerys felt even more ashamed. Though his words were not disrespectful, they sounded more and more like mockery to her guilty ears. The proud Queen's look vanished completely, replaced by the humility of one seeking guidance. She heard confidence in Aegor's tone. If this Night's Watch man truly had a sound plan to reach her ideals, she did not mind lowering her stance.

Under the Queen's expectant gaze, Aegor did not tease her further. After a pause, his tone changed. "Let me hazard an inference. Even if you eliminated all nobles in Westeros now and divided all resources equally, you would still find that most people would be barely fed, with only a little surplus. When disaster struck, when Winter lasted longer than expected, or when wars came, the situation would still be terrible. Not to mention, to maintain fairness and ensure your policies are executed, you would need to greatly expand the ranks of officials, using a bureaucracy to replace Lords and knights. Such a system is unproductive and yields no advantage. Furthermore, everyone has selfish desires and their own drives. Once they gain power, they quickly become new oppressors, which would force you to establish regulatory departments."

Daenerys frowned. "Are you saying nobles and Lords are irreplaceable, and my ideal is a joke?"

"No. I mean that Your Grace wants the people to live better lives. Besides changing institutions, it is more important to make goods more abundant. Productivity and relations of production must develop together for the world to truly improve."

To explain productivity and relations of production in detail would require another large book. Even if Aegor had all the knowledge, giving textbook lectures was neither necessary nor meaningful in this era. He had already mentioned the concepts briefly in the first half of his revised treatise on monarchy. Now, invoking them again, a little extra explanation would suffice.

"What Your Grace calls 'breaking the wheel of history' is essentially changing the distribution in the relations of production. There is nothing wrong with that. But you overlooked one point. No matter how you distribute, if productivity does not change, there is only so much to distribute. No matter how good the structure, it will be quickly overwhelmed by population growth and unexpected shocks. Therefore, the correct approach is comprehensive reform, so productivity and relations of production develop together and promote one another."

"Of course I want that. But the land only grows so much grain, and forests and seas provide only so many resources. How can the advancement of 'productivity' be achieved?"

"To explain that in full would take another large book. And the most critical thing is, it is a book I cannot write." Aegor spread his hands, now certain she had taken the bait and he could not drive her away even if he wished, so he relaxed. He pulled out the chair opposite, poured warm wine for both of them, sat, and continued after a sip. "But although I cannot write it, I am sure it can be done. If Your Grace knows anything of the Night's Watch Industry, you will know it is not merely a large production organization. The staff of its research institute also conduct experiments in their spare time, either at my instruction or on their own. Among them is farming."

"Do not tell me the grain eaten by the Night's Watch Industry's workers is grown by themselves."

"That is impossible, but the meals are mostly cooked by the affiliated canteens. The staff only prepare two meals a day, and in their free time they plant vegetables in the many empty spaces between the great factory buildings, both to pass time and to supplement the canteen's food. When I learned of it, I ordered the research institute to intervene in this amateur work, exploring ways to grow more on the same land through tools, changing methods, trying new fertilizers, and every means they could imagine."

"Was it successful?"

"The yields of various plots differed, but all were higher than the Seven Kingdoms' average," Aegor said. "So, with no disrespect intended, I must correct a statement Your Grace made. The land is not limited to growing only so much grain. By making it grow more through agricultural reform, that is the advancement of productivity."

"How was it done?"

"Carefully cultivated seeds, sturdy and convenient tools, sound and reasonable methods, sowing, irrigation, fertilization. Are you sure you want to hear the details now? As I understand it, Dragonstone cannot grow grain."

"I understand." Daenerys had given up thinking. All she wanted was the next chapter, no, the next passage. "What then?"

"We agree that technological progress drives productivity. If you have questions, ask now. If not, we go on." Aegor was generous with the knowledge Daenerys desired, because what he spoke today was not his true trump for the future. Even if he became her enemy one day, she would not be harder to face because of what she heard now. "After productivity develops, which region of the Seven Kingdoms benefits most?"

"Benefit most… will not everyone benefit?"

"That is right, but I want Your Grace to answer through your own thinking. Which region benefits most?"

This was not Aegor playing coy. He wanted to complete the brainwashing quickly and guide the Queen to think along his lines, but the question was sensitive. If he led every step, it might provoke awkward suspicion.

Daenerys painfully switched from learning to thinking. Fortunately, this was not hard.

"The Reach, because it has the warmest climate, the largest cultivated area, and the largest population."

"Correct." Aegor nodded. "But given your understanding of the Seven Kingdoms is rather shallow, I should give more detail. The Reach's cultivated land is twice the Riverlands, which ranks second. Its warm, humid climate allows three harvests in long summers, and its grain output is half the Seven Kingdoms' total. Its population is not as exaggerated, but it still exceeds the combined population of the North, Westerlands, Riverlands, and Vale. That is only the official count. We do not know how much is hidden. Have you heard clearly?"

"I must admit, I did not grasp it that clearly."

"Now we can return to the concept we introduced earlier. It is easier to conquer a Kingdom than to rule it." Aegor breathed out. The first part was finally finished. "The ideal would be to be enemy to the whole world, defeat the Seven Kingdoms, and rule all of Westeros. But Your Grace surely does not want to spend your life on war. Therefore, the reasonable solution is compromise. Win over some nobles, be enemy to the rest. To retake the Iron Throne requires the power of great nobles, and trying to break the wheel requires being their enemy. To achieve your ideal while facing resistance, you must have sufficient control of the Seven Kingdoms. Suppose your dragons' fighting power equals one Kingdom. If you must now win over three Kingdoms to fight against the remaining four, how would you choose?"

(To be continued.)