The Young Lion

Act 1 Ch 14 Beginning Reforms

After a rather long discussion with the old wolf Joffrey managed to convince him of the imminent danger all of Westeros faced. He had him send a letter to his son Robb asking him to stand down and invited him to Kings Landing for peace talks. Joffrey didn’t know if he would come or not but he sent a raven to his grandfather telling him of his  suing for peace with the northmen and to not engage with them. He was sure that Robb would bring his whole army to the city but it would take him at least six months to arrive. Giving him plenty of time to prepare.

He allowed the old wolf to remain in his old chambers under guard, and receive proper treatment for his leg and head. He was planning on him going to the night’s watch, and he had to be in top shape when the time came. He allowed his fiancee and her sister to visit their father but under strict supervision. The old wolf might have given him his word to go to the wall but he didn't want him to get any dumb ideas.

His mother pestered him to no end about the favor he was showing to a traitor that had conspired to steal his throne. She truly was slow witted not understanding that Lord Stark held the key to the north’s peaceful surrender. Though he had much more important matters to worry about than the favor of an incestuous middle aged woman. Now that he was in a position of authority it was time to begin his reforms and start his industrial revolution.

He ordered his master of coin to turn over all documents related to the crown’s finances. Littlefinger was confused by the young king's sudden interest in expenses but did as he was commanded. After locking himself in his chambers with mountains of paperwork he delved into his work. After some long hours of reading he learned it was just as he had expected, the crown was in deep debt thanks to the drunk king.

They apparently owed his grandfather Tywin around six million gold dragons, but what truly unnerved him was they owed the Iron Bank of Braavos tens of millions, which would only rise thanks to the war. He knew it was no accident, and that Littlefinger and Varys had conspired to cripple the crown financially, but both for different reasons. For Littlefinger it was for his pathetic little childhood dream of sitting on the iron throne with Catelyn Stark as his queen. For Varys it was to weaken the crown as much as possible, so the Targaryens could reclaim the throne when they’re ready.

He was surrounded by serpents that would bite him at the first provocation. So he needed to be ready when the time came to take their heads. So to take the first step in that plan he ordered the master of coin to acquire three hundred thousand gold dragons for him to use. Although Lord Baelish was taken by surprise by the order he was more than willing to fulfill it. He sent word to the Iron Bank asking for the sum of the coins. Plunging the crown into further debt. Little did he know this was part of Joffrey’s plan to begin rebuilding the crown’s funds.

He soon called Tobho and began explaining his plans to the old smith. Once he received his gold he began purchasing the individuals smith’s shops on the street of steel, paying their worth in gold. His ultimate objective is to turn the street into his Industrial sector. Though it would take some time to construct anything close to a factory. He settled with the individual shops working on the same projects that he needed. He kept the apprentices on and turned them into employees; they would be guaranteed forty hours a week with hourly wages. The owners and master smiths became supervisors and overlooked their employees' work. He made Tobho his chief executive and all the supervisors would answer to him. Soon all the individual shops would be outfitted with beehive ovens, blast furnaces, and Bessemer processes. 

Soon both the quality and quantity of steel would increase exponentially. He planned to sell ingots to the merchants who in turn would sell overseas. With the war breaking out the demand for steel would be in high demand. He also decided to do something about these disorganized trading routes for his kingdom. So a few days after his industrial sector was up and running he called all the major merchants and traders to court.

He explained to them that they would be centralizing the merchants trading within the kingdoms from now on. They would all unite and work together under the Merchants Guild utilizing each other’s clients and travel routes. Many complained at the unfairness and the overreach by the crown in controlling how they conducted their business. Though after explaining how more productivity and efficiency would mean more gold in their pockets, many got on board rather quickly. Those who refused would be banned from trade within Kings Landing and heavy tariffs anywhere else they conducted business within Westores. Suffice to say they were left with very little choice.  

He named the position of the overseer of the Merchants guild master of trade. It would be a new position on the small council that would work closely with the master of coin. It was a position that had been recommended many times by Hersham Groatworth. Though Joffrey agreed he was too untrustworthy for such a position. After reading through the many candidates for the position he ultimately picked Lark from house Distar.

He was a young man in his early twenties with short brown hair and blue eyes. He came from a line of merchants, but from the reports he read he had single handedly built up his father’s humble business into a chain throughout Westeros within six years becoming one of the prominent merchant nobles in King’s landing. They were typically overlooked due to their humble origins, but Joffrey could give a hot shit about names and titles, he cared only about results.

Thus he invited the young man to court and appointed him as his new master of trade. Though surprised, the young man accepted immediately and got to work stabilizing the king's new merchant's guild. In the coming weeks Joffrey's new steel ingots were moving out faster than he could make them and it worked like clockwork. Gold flowed in and was reinvested into the new Industrial sector. He then established a budget and began making payments to the Iron bank to pay off their debts. Though not everyone was happy with the changes the king was imposing.

By utilizing the new Merchants guild the city was able to overcome the Tyrell blockade from the land routes who was supporting his “uncle” Renly claim to the throne. However this forced them to use imported goods to compensate which cost them more. Though the worst case scenario was avoided which would be the commoners starving and eating each other. It left the spoiled nobles disconcerted with the high prices they were having to pay. Joffrey implemented a soup kitchen program with soup lines feeding the commoners with porridge and bread. The crown would pay for the expenses which were minimal, however his small council was opposed to what they saw as pointless spending. During one such meeting he was having to calm his advisors down. 

“Your grace I see no need to be funding such a pointless endeavor. What does it matter if we have fewer peasants?” Littlefinger asked Barristan, Varys, and Lark looked at him with contempt.

“I agree, your grace couldn’t such money be better spent on more important matters?” Maester Pycelle asked.

“Yes dear, your wonderful little smith shops are bringing in such money it would be better used to reinforce our armies.” Cersei said.

Joffrey wanted to bang his head into the table out of frustration.

“How the hell did these people get into administrative roles?” He thought to himself letting out a heavy sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Our army’s strength won’t matter if we do not settle the domestic issues first.” He actually said.

“What do you mean?” His mother asked with question marks above her head.

“Until the food and refugee problems are solved, we will continue to lose the support of the people.” He said in a teaching tone. “When that happens we will be left in a vulnerable state and a little instigation from our enemies and the people will revolt.”

“Who cares if some commoners are unhappy?” She said with a sarcastic scoff.

Joffrey gave his mother a disdainful look which sent a shiver down her spine.

“Naive” He said with a disappointed tone shaking his head.

His mother and his other advisors were taken aback by his statement.

“Joffrey-” She started to say before he interrupted her. 

With his memory of earth’s history he recalled the countless empires and kingdoms that fell because of the higher class’s greed and indifference to the less fortunate. Such as Rome or France. Once the gap between rich and poor gets wide enough, the poor decide to take that which they were denied.

“Mother the system only works because the people agree it works. If the people begin to starve they will first tear each other apart before turning their attention on us. Half a million people live in this city. We don't have nearly enough guards to stop them if they revolt.”

“We understand your grace but to imagine the people rioting would be-” the grand maester started to say before he stopped him.

“Don’t be an idealist, people won’t have patriotism or morals on an empty stomach.”

The old ferret shut his mouth. All of the small council looked at the young king each with different thoughts going through their mind.

“It is the duty of the king to protect his people from both international and domestic threats. I hold the title protector of the realm for that purpose alone. Their lives are as important as anyone else's, therefore I will hear no more protest on the soup lines. Am I clear?” He asked in an authoritative tone that left no room for argument. 

He abjured the meeting for the day so he could make future designs for his industrial sector. As he left the small council watched his back with different expressions. Barristan looked proud and happy that he was finally serving a good king in all his time as a knight. Lark gave a small smile, as he dedicated himself to helping his king who had raised him to such an important position. His mother looked frustrated beyond belief not understanding what had happened to her little boy or what brought on this sudden change. Pycelle just accepted the change and decided to flow with the change of power.

 Littlefinger was vexed; the little lion threatened to undo all his great work. Now the boy king was rebuilding the crown's finances. Quelling the people's anger and discord, and stamping out corruption that have plagued the kingdom for years. He could feel all his plans slipping through his fingers like sand, he could feel a great anger burning in the pit of his stomach.

“Looks like I’ll have to do something about this presumptuous little shit.” He thought.

Though the one with the most conflicted thoughts was Varys. He had long ago begun plotting to reinstall the Targaryen’s rule once he saw what a disaster Robert would be. He had thought their rule would be best for the common people, where his true loyalties lied. The small folk, the people who suffer under despots and prosper under just rule. Varys had never liked Joffrey; he thought of him as a spoiled little shit. Who relished in his unearned status and would make as bad a king as his “father”. But now seeing this boy king reshaping the system and putting the people first he was having second thoughts.

“Maybe I was wrong.” He thought his hands were in his robe’s sleeves. “Maybe the best choice was right in front of me the whole time.”