GOT/ASOIAF: Ruler Beyond The Ice

Chapter 636 - 638: Heavy Burden (Part 1)

Nearly a month after Tywin "voluntarily" donned the black and headed north to the Wall, the Queen's newly appointed head of House Lannister and Lord of the Westerlands, the Little Imp Tyrion Lannister, arrived outside the Lion Gate by carriage along the Golden Road, returning to the Seven Kingdoms after many years.

His close friend and recommender, the Hand of Daenerys, who had received the news, personally hurried to the city gate to welcome him.

"A... oh no, Hand!" Hearing the situation from the coachman, Tyrion immediately jumped off the carriage, stretching his somewhat stiff body as he spoke first. "I am ashamed. I am just a small man with little influence and limited ability. Despite my strong opposition, I ultimately could not convince my old man to give up sending troops. I must ask for your forgiveness." The new Lord of Casterly Rock, the soon to be Master of Coin, still felt a sense of daze as if in a dream, fearing the dream might suddenly end. "But I know your Gift Army is incredibly brave and difficult to withstand, so I was not worried about you at all. I was only afraid you might accidentally become my father's killer, and then I could not work for you with a clear conscience."

"You rascal, still so glib," Aegor rolled his eyes at him and said irritably. "Is war a game? As compensation for the Westerlands troops marching toward King's Landing and alarming Daenerys, the Lannister family must purchase an additional one million golden dragons worth of Targaryen national debt."

"One million more?" Tyrion's eyes widened and his voice rose. "By the Seven Gods, do you people from my hometown cut open hens' bellies to get eggs? I should not be Master of Coin. I will go home and dig for gold in a mine. Farewell."

It was not quite killing the goose that laid the golden eggs, but cutting leeks. We often pull them up by the roots, Aegor muttered to himself, shaking his head with a smile. "Alright, alright, no more jokes. Do you have any prostitutes in your carriage?"

"No... wait, even if I did, what then?" Tyrion looked bewildered and shrugged. "While we are good friends, we are not so good that I want to be 'fellow travelers' with you."

"What nonsense. I just think that since we are both people of some standing now, we should not discuss national affairs while standing at the city gate." After receiving a negative answer, Aegor walked toward Tyrion's carriage while speaking, confidently lifted the curtain, and climbed inside. "Since there is no one inside, let us get in the carriage. We can talk as we travel."

There was a faint smell of wine in the carriage. Tyrion had clearly been drinking on the road to pass the time, but the fact that he was not drunk showed some improvement in his self control. Once both were seated securely, the carriage restarted under the escort of the Hand's guards. Amid the slight swaying and the steady sound of wheels rolling over the flagstones, Aegor dropped his smile and became serious.

"Alright, we will have plenty of time and opportunity to chat idly later. For now, let us not waste time. Daenerys will formally appoint you later. In two days I must lead troops to the Riverlands. Before that, I must seize every bit of limited time to speak with you about your future work."

"So formal? What else can a Master of Coin do but 'count coppers'?" Tyrion chuckled, pretending to be relaxed for a couple of seconds before suddenly realizing it was not appropriate to joke about the current royal court using the former king, the usurper Robert Baratheon's jest about the position. He quickly pretended nothing had happened and became serious. "Alright, no more clever remarks. Hand, please assign the work."

"For the Masters of Coin you have known or heard of, their main job was probably indeed counting coppers. But you are different. Your lordship is the first Master of Coin of the second Targaryen dynasty, and you even have a chance to become the second Hand after me." Casually dangling another carrot, Aegor continued slowly. "You are facing a new kingdom that has successively endured the ravages of war and winter and is in urgent need of rebuilding. The vast land is scarred and desperately needs recovery. Yet we serve a queen who is active and full of ideas, pondering day and night how to accomplish great deeds and leave a legacy for eternity. You know, great deeds require money, and a king's money cannot be earned personally. It can only come from collecting taxes from the people. Seeking welfare for the people and establishing immortal achievements are two contradictory points that are difficult to reconcile. The heavy burden on the shoulders of this royal court is to solve this problem."

"Have you not already found a solution, Targaryen bonds?" Tyrion followed Aegor's train of thought. "Speaking of which, the first purchaser of Night's Watch bonds was Lannister, and the first purchaser of Targaryen bonds is still Lannister. See how much my family supports you."

The Lannisters were by no means the first family to receive Targaryen national debt, but unlike the other meritorious lords of the Seven Kingdoms, who only received the bonds as IOUs for rewards, only House Lannister, according to the secret agreement between the two outside the Golden Tooth, first put up real gold and silver by purchasing the dragon family's bonds.

This move not only showed loyalty, binding the interests of the new dynasty with the wealthiest family in Westeros, but also instantly alleviated Daenerys' faction's serious cash shortage. After all, small rewards for middle and lower level nobles and ordinary soldiers, and the scattered expenses for purchasing supplies, could not all be conducted using bonds. That would not promote bonds, it would create panic.

"I remember this favor." Aegor nodded with a light chuckle, rummaging in the carriage compartment and quickly finding a wine bottle and cups. "But if you think Targaryen bonds are just a money making expediency like Night's Watch bonds, an emergency measure to gather the first pot of gold, then you are greatly mistaken. Remember the financial hegemony I talked about outside the Golden Tooth? What is financial hegemony?"

He poured some wine, tilted his head back, and drank it down. Only after wetting his throat did he continue calmly.

"To occupy an absolutely dominant position in the transnational financial system. To arbitrarily impose one's will and ideas on other countries. To forcibly implement rules beneficial to oneself throughout the known world. To implicitly make the whole world pay seigniorage. That is financial hegemony. Compared with this ultimate goal, the Iron Bank being the world's creditor and making the whole world work to pay its interest is merely child's play. And Targaryen national debt is the sharp sword to achieve this ultimate goal."

Here it comes again, that familiar feeling.

Tyrion's hairs and ears stood on end at the same time.

He knew this man from another land was about to start showing off again, and the terrifying part was that he always managed to turn his boasts into reality.

Back when Aegor explained financial principles and the details of the fundraising scheme to him, he thought he was just listening to a story. But in the blink of an eye, the other man had risen all the way to Hand of Daenerys, holding the power to decide the policy direction of the entire Seven Kingdoms. Now, no matter how obscure or difficult Aegor's words were, he had to try his best to remember every single one.

"As long as Targaryen national debt can survive and gain recognition like Night's Watch bonds, we will have the ability to print a piece of paper, stamp it, and exchange it for currency, or even use it directly as money. If we go further, Targaryen national debt can even replace cumbersome gold and become the settlement tool for large transactions between regimes and powers. You managed the Lannister Bank in the Westerlands for several years. Throughout the Seven Kingdoms, there should be no one who can understand what this means more easily than you."

Golden dragons on paper. An international credit currency. A transaction settlement tool.

Just thinking about these terms for a moment sent a chilling sensation like an electric shock down his back. Tyrion's entire upper body felt paralyzed and unable to move. Having been a bank manager for several years, these ideas were not unfamiliar to him. They were even things he had considered himself without Aegor mentioning them.

The difference was that in his dwarf head, these concepts were merely hypothetical bubbles that occasionally surfaced from the sea of consciousness during mental exercises. In the eyes of the black robed Hand before him, they were real goals and ideals.

"I can see you understand." Looking at his dwarf friend's stiff posture, Aegor suppressed a smile. "But I must pour a bucket of cold water on this. What I just said is only the general idea and direction. Whether it can be realized in our lifetime still depends on our ability. The details and execution will require us to figure them out and work together. After all, when we teamed up to handle Night's Watch bonds back then, we did not simply copy the bonds and place them on the office counter and then wait for people to come with money, did we?"

(To be continued.)