Everyone knew that the so-called "Targaryen Bonds" were just a piece of paper, completely incomparable to the real gold and silver the Iron Bank had lent out, making the question of "acceptance" entirely uncontroversial.
However, they were offering too much.
With interest compounded upon interest, the former usurper's debt to the Iron Bank had accumulated to over two million three hundred thousand golden dragons, principal and interest included. Considering that House Baratheon was regarded as rebels rather than a former dynasty in the eyes of House Targaryen, and that Daenerys was "reclaiming" rather than "taking over" the regime, she had ample legal and moral grounds to refuse to inherit the debt. Both the Iron Bank and the House of Keyholders behind it had fully prepared themselves mentally to accept a certain loss.
They discounted the expected recovery amount, adjusting it to one million eight hundred thousand golden dragons, and allocated a public relations budget of three hundred thousand golden dragons to "handle" Daenerys's advisors like Petyr, Varys, and Aegor. This meant that the rulers of Braavos had already prepared for the loan to recover only one million five hundred thousand in the end. Although it was a significant loss, it was still much better than losing everything.
But even this bottom-line proposal was mercilessly slapped back by the Dragon Queen. It was her nephew, the Aegon Targaryen whose authenticity was questionable, who readily agreed to the price, without even requiring them to spend anything on public relations.
The only drawback was that the Iron Bank first had to find a way to support him in taking the Iron Throne.
The House of Keyholders was still planning strategies, mobilizing resources, and trying to broker a deal between the two Targaryens to push Aegon onto the throne. However, Daenerys had achieved two great victories at the Blackwater Rush and King's Landing with lightning speed, showing a momentum capable of swallowing rivers and mountains. But just as the entire known world, including Braavos, was at a loss as to how to obstruct and slow her momentum, quite unexpectedly, Daenerys, who had already shown signs of breaking with the Free Cities system, drastically changed her diplomatic style after bringing a new Master of Coin into her council, and her policies suddenly became rational and moderate.
Tyrion Lannister proactively sent envoys, expressing a willingness to inherit the debt of House Baratheon.
Not partially, but entirely, principal and interest, not owing a single copper. The Westerosi delegation even moved throughout the entire city-state, scattering tens of thousands of golden dragons and countless promises, winning over a considerable number of influential figures to speak favorably for the newly established regime of Daenerys in Braavos's internal decision-making meetings, persuading the creditors to agree, to accept the debtor continuing to pay!?
There was only one condition: the debt would be entirely converted into "Targaryen Bonds," and subsequent repayment and interest calculation would follow the established rules of that bond.
...
Something abnormal must be going on. The list of members in the House of Keyholders was not fixed by heredity. It could change, and indeed had changed, slowly with the rise and fall of families. The fact that the number of Keyholder families still in the organization had dropped from the original twenty-three to seventeen was clear evidence. This system also meant that fools were rare among Braavos's ruling class. Every member was inevitably an elite carefully educated and cultivated by a great family and selected on merit.
How could such a group fail to see the obvious fact that "two million three hundred thousand in bonds issued by others is absolutely no match for one million five hundred thousand in cash"?
Of course they could see it!
However, first, they had already resigned themselves to not recovering this sum, so what was being offered now was purely a windfall, unexpected wealth. Second, Braavos's observers and spy network stationed in King's Landing had all sent intelligence back to Braavos regarding the astonishing power of firearms.
"Targaryen Bonds" could be used to purchase gunpowder weapons! This temptation was incredibly great, so great that even though everyone could smell a conspiracy, a significant portion of the members still firmly supported this deal and, incidentally, firmly opposed going to war with the Dragon Queen...
This debate over policy toward Westeros raged fiercely for more than ten days, expanding from the secretive "House of Keyholders" to the management of the Iron Bank and even to the entire government and public of Braavos. At its peak, the combined proportion of the pro-Daenerys and peace factions once approached half of all decision-makers. Although this proportion significantly decreased after the "Night's Watch Armory Leak Incident" and the "River Gate Massacre," in which the Pentoshi diplomatic envoy was killed in King's Landing and the blueprints for gunpowder formulas and thermal weapon production technology supposedly also flowed out to Braavos, the rejecting faction was never able to exert the degree of suppression over the accepting faction required by the rules. That is to say, the House of Keyholders was never able to achieve a supermajority consensus on the "strategy toward Westeros."
The inability to reach a consensus was undoubtedly the situation most feared by collective decision-making systems like the House of Keyholders. Decisions concerning national destiny have one characteristic: a bad decision is better than no decision at all. Therefore, Braavos had always had an unwritten rule: when the House of Keyholders could reach full or supermajority consensus, the Sealord executed its decision, and when it could not, the Sealord made the decision based on his own judgment.
In short, when the House of Keyholders had a consensus, execute it. When the House of Keyholders had disagreements, make your own decision.
And this was precisely an important reason why the Sealord, while seemingly a puppet, was still regarded as a ruler with real power.
Unfortunately, the current Sealord, Ferrego Antaryon, was already an indecisive old man, and he had been very ill recently, truly lacking the physical and mental strength to make a decisive and bold decision in the short term. Both the overt and shadowy ruling bodies of Braavos had ceased functioning!
Just as all of Braavos was immersed in hesitation and doubt regarding its own faction and policies, the members of the House of Keyholders suddenly received notice to convene another internal meeting.
In the stuffy conference room, suppressed whispers intertwined into a buzzing backdrop. Communication was infrequent, both factions had already discussed and debated enough, and had nothing more to say to their opponents. The only reason they were still willing to attend this boring meeting, which would likely end without results, was entirely because the one who had convened it was a legendary former member of the House of Keyholders, an elder whom no one dared disrespect.
...
After a long stretch of agonizing waiting, the reinforced wooden door slowly opened inward with a creak. A luxurious and exquisite wheelchair smoothly and steadily entered the room, pushed from either side by two beautiful maidens. The main figure had finally arrived.
Golden Gallonier, former member of the House of Keyholders, one of the longest-serving chairmen in the organization's history. How senior was he? Among the many influential figures present who jointly held the fate of Braavos, the oldest belonged to his children's generation, and some even had to call him grandfather. Even the current Sealord, Ferrego Antaryon, had to respectfully greet him as "uncle" upon seeing him. Interestingly, despite being more than a decade older than Ferrego Antaryon, his physical health was far more robust than the latter's. Just by looking at his straight back and sharp eyes, even while seated in a wheelchair, one could tell that he was still sharp as a tack!
What were this man's achievements?
In a word, during his tenure, he led the House of Keyholders, commanded the Iron Bank and the various departments of the city-state, and used every means, overt or covert, civil or military, to repel challenges from several very powerful up-and-coming banks from other Free Cities, knocking them down from a level close behind Braavos, re-establishing Braavos's unshakable position as a financial center, and making Braavos, which had been showing signs of decline at the time, great again!
In terms of the ancient dynasty, he was undoubtedly a "restoration lord"!
Gorden Gallonier's status and prestige in Braavos were no less than Tywin Lannister's in the Westerlands or within House Lannister. The difference between them was that Gorden Gallonier had not perversely centralized power and then, in his later years when nearing retirement, been severely humiliated by some suddenly appearing young man and sent to the Wall. He had voluntarily stepped down from the position of chairman of the House of Keyholders after achieving success and fame, yielding his seat to a younger member of his family, and had left the center of power to enjoy his old age. It was widely rumored that "decisive delegation of power" was also a major reason for his health and longevity.
And this series of reasons led to the fact that, despite being an old man who was no longer even a member, he could still convene the House of Keyholders in his own name, and among the many influential figures from various departments and industries in the room, not a single person dared utter a word.
The current chairman of the House of Keyholders stood up and moved his main seat aside to make room for Gorden's wheelchair. The white-haired, wrinkled old man nodded to him in thanks. He swayed slightly until the wheelchair was pushed to the table, then clasped his hands, shook his head with a helpless look, straightened himself in his seat, and spoke a shocking sentence.
"The realm stabilized by the older generation, I thought that even if you were stupid, guarding it for one generation would at least not be a problem."
"Who would have thought that some people's foolishness would far exceed my imagination!"
(To be continued.)