With affairs at Winterfell concluded, Roman began his military campaign.
The people of Harrenhal had long been dissatisfied with Cersei's insane behavior; previously, when Robert and Roman were on good terms, people would at most curse Cersei for her sharp tongue.
Now that Robert was dead, in the mouths of the residents of Harrenhal, Cersei had become a "harlot" and an "incestuous woman," and everyone had completely lost their inhibitions.
On the way to Sows Corner, the soldiers were discussing this operation enthusiastically.
"If you ask me, Lord Roman is still too principled. The Lannister soldiers have already invaded our Riverlands, yet Lord Roman is still waiting for Cersei to strike first!"
One soldier said, "To be honest, I don't understand how Cersei dares to provoke us at a time like this. Right now, the food in King's Landing relies entirely on supplies from the Riverlands and The Reach. Without our help, that iron throne will have to beg The Reach for assistance, and they will arrange a marriage for those two princes."
"What about the princess?"
"The princess? The princess is Lord Roman's fiancée! Is your brain muddled? Or did you not attend any of the recent current affairs classes at all?"
A group of soldiers was chattering away, which irritated the squad leader.
"You lot! This is a war! Don't be so lax. Even though our equipment far surpasses the enemy's, it is still extremely dangerous. You are too arrogant!"
Hearing the captain speak, the few men lowered the volume of their discussion.
At the front of the column, Roman was discussing the next leg of the march with Fili.
Sows Corner was very close to the Wod Family, and since Roman had built giant granaries all over Harrenhal, the logistical pressure was greatly reduced.
Before long, they arrived at the territory of the Hogg family, and the villagers along the way were so frightened by the sight of the Herrenburg Army that they hid everywhere.
However, the Herrenburg Army soldiers strictly followed military orders: no looting, no destroying fields, and no plundering.
The local villagers watched in shock as the Herrenburg Army marched along the road in an orderly, long line, and some soldiers even paid money to buy intelligence.
An old farmer rubbed his eyes and said in disbelief, "I have lived for so many years, and this is the first time I have ever seen an army like this. Whose men are they?"
Roman's target was the territory of House Harford, and the Hogg family of Sows Corner happened to be one of them.
When the Herrenburg Army arrived at Sows Corner unimpeded, Roger Hogg was standing on the city wall, trembling with fear.
Their main fortress was just a tower keep with walls eight feet thick, and the garrison inside numbered no more than 100 men.
Roman first sent a raven to challenge them.
"Ser Roger Hogg, I am Roman Rivers. You have two choices now: either surrender, and I will guarantee the safety of your Hogg family, or I will storm the place. Choose one!"
Roger Hogg swallowed hard, but having previously learned that his liege lord, House Harford, would be sending reinforcements, he chose to stand his ground against Roman.
Hearing this response from the other side, Roman's face twitched.
"It seems that if I don't teach these people a lesson, they won't recognize reality. Fili, when will the giants arrive?"
"Estimated in another half hour, Lord Roman!"
"Good, the whole army will assemble siege equipment on the spot!"
Roman did not intend to launch the attack first this time; he wanted to move with the siege troops.
Soon, the giant troops arrived to assist in assembling the trebuchets.
When the stone projectiles rained down on the city wall, only then did Roger realize his own naivety.
The walls of the tower keep were not thick enough and were built of solid stone, so they could not withstand the attacks from the giants and the trebuchets.
In just 5 hours, one side of the tower keep's wall collapsed, and the debris piled up on both sides of the wall, providing an excellent ramp for the soldiers.
"The wall has collapsed, all troops attack!"
Following Roman's order, the soldiers of the Herrenburg Army formed battle formations in squads and rushed toward the breach under the protection of a shield wall.
The garrison of Sows Corner stood trembling, holding bows and crossbows at the breach, firing futilely at the enemy.
But what damage could a garrison of less than 100 men cause? They were beaten down and unable to lift their heads by a single volley of point-blank fire from the Herrenburg crossbowmen.
Seeing that the front line was fine, Roman spread his wings and flew into the sky, heading straight for Roger. The Herrenburg Army soldiers on the ground saw Roman take to the sky and erupted in fervent cheers.
The lord of Sows Corner was still urging his soldiers to send out a message when a ball of scorching White Flame smashed onto the gate tower.
The shockwave, carrying flames, blew everyone present away. Many soldiers had their clothes set ablaze by the White Flame and were screaming on the ground, begging for help.
Roman placed his warhammer in front of Roger and said, "Ser Roger, the fire hasn't spread yet, and your soldiers can still be saved. I will give you one last chance: surrender!"
Seeing that the situation was lost, Roger helplessly dropped his sword and surrendered to Roman with the remaining soldiers.
Afterward, it was the routine cleanup of the battlefield; though it was called cleaning up, it was actually just collecting scrap and clearing obstacles.
Roger's tower keep didn't even have many defenders, and things like boulders, giant logs, and boiling oil were even less likely to be found. After the wall was breached, the morale of those few dozen men collapsed, and in the end, they just fired a few arrows randomly to get it over with.
Thus, Harrenhal obtained its first piece of land through war, and the accompanying officials and management personnel in the army quickly took over the administrative affairs of Sows Corner.
The Hogg family was taken to Harrenhal, and Roman led men to conduct a detailed survey of the surrounding population, resources, and terrain, subsequently sending officials to govern the area.
Fili felt puzzled by Roman's behavior: "Lord Roman, aren't we going to King's Landing? Why are we managing things here?"
Roman ruffled the young girl's hair: "King's Landing is very chaotic right now. All sorts of factions want to snatch that broken chair, the iron throne. If we go, we're just asking for trouble. It's better to slowly encroach upon their territories like this. When we are strong enough, does it really matter whose the iron throne is?"
Fili nodded, seeming to understand but not quite. She knew little about these matters; everything was based on Roman's lead, and whatever Roman said, she would do.
"Lord Roman, then I will go coordinate the logistics and supplies now and build fortifications everywhere!"
The movements of the Herrenburg Army were swift. Using Sows Corner as a base, various administrative tasks were set up on site.
The first step was tax reform. Roman implemented the same tax requirements for the local residents as in Harrenhal, immediately exempting half of the land tax and the vast majority of exorbitant taxes and levies.
Next was to begin setting up guard posts on all major roads to start monitoring the military movements of other nobles in The Crownlands.
After collecting information on the residents of Sows Corner, Roman also forgave the usurious loans owed by the local residents, while simultaneously bringing in tools from the rear to distribute to the residents to restore production.
Roman wanted the Herrenburg Army soldiers to become familiar with this process; in the future, Harrenhal would use this method to encroach upon territories everywhere.
Moreover, this method was extremely effective. The residents might not remember the relationships between the various nobles, but they could definitely count how much food was in their bowls.
With Roman's set of policies implemented, the residents of Sows Corner almost defected overnight, all submitting to Harrenhal.
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