To the highborn lords of the Riverlands, the lives of the smallfolk were of little consequence. They believed that peasants, like crops, would always replenish themselves after a few years. There was never a shortage of commoners to rule over.
But while the nobles were indifferent, Jason cared. He saw an opportunity. He spent a great sum of gold dragons to buy enough grain from the Riverlords to feed a hundred thousand people for two months. This act served two purposes: it provided for the refugees and filled the coffers of the greedy lords, ensuring their cooperation. As long as the gold flowed, they didn't care that Jason was recruiting tens of thousands of their former subjects. To them, golden dragons and fine goods were far more valuable than the peasants they ruled.
With the deal struck, Jason's operation began in earnest. Under the watchful eye of his soldiers, a great migration started. Refugees from across the Riverlands, with their families and meager belongings in tow, were guided north from Riverrun, past the Twins, and through the treacherous swamps of the Neck at Moat Cailin.
Back in Jason's northern domain, after receiving a raven from Riverrun, Maester Qyburn immediately mobilized his forces. He dispatched Bud, McCann, and a contingent of infantry with hundreds of freight carriages to meet the refugees and assist with the final leg of their journey. Thanks to this logistical support, thousands of people could be safely transported from the Riverlands into the North each day.
Within a month and a half, Jason had successfully relocated nearly one hundred thousand people to his city.
During this time, Robb's army remained encamped outside Riverrun. Negotiations with Tywin Lannister dragged on. Robb's primary demand was the return of his sisters, Sansa and Arya, and his brother Bran, in exchange for the captured Jaime Lannister.
Upon learning of his son's defeat and capture, Tywin immediately halted his army's advance, digging in near Harrenhal to prevent the combined Northern and Riverland forces from pushing further south. He agreed to negotiate, but the process was complicated. It wasn't just about Jaime and the Stark children; dozens of highborn knights from the Westerlands had been captured, and they had to be exchanged for the Riverlords taken prisoner by the Lannisters. The matter was exceedingly cumbersome, and for weeks, the two sides wrangled over the terms without reaching an agreement.
Meanwhile, a new conflict erupted in the south. The two Baratheon brothers, Stannis and Renly, both laid claim to the Iron Throne and went to war with each other. This news came as a relief to Tywin Lannister, as it meant he no longer had to worry about an immediate attack on King's Landing.
The lords of the North and the Riverlands were left speechless. Instead of uniting to march on King's Landing and depose the boy-king Joffrey, the two brothers had turned on one another. To most, the logical course of action would have been to deal with the Lannisters first.
But Stannis and Renly saw things differently. Neither paid much mind to King's Landing. Renly, backed by the formidable power of the Stormlands and the Reach, held his stern and stubborn older brother in contempt. He decided to eliminate Stannis first, confident that after his victory, he could easily march on the capital and claim the Iron Throne for himself. He believed that with the Stormlands and the Reach behind him, the Starks, Tullys, and Arryns would have no choice but to bend the knee, leaving the Lannisters isolated and doomed.
However, the war between the brothers took a shocking and unnatural turn. Despite having a massive advantage in numbers, Renly Baratheon was suddenly assassinated in his own tent. Witnesses claimed to have seen a shadowy figure with the face of Stannis strike the fatal blow—it was whispered to be the work of black magic.
With Renly's death, the alliance between the Stormlands and the Reach shattered. The Stormlords, ever loyal to House Baratheon, simply switched their allegiance from one brother to the other. To them, it made little difference; a Baratheon was a Baratheon. In a single stroke, Stannis gained command of the entire Stormlands army, his power increasing dramatically.
The army of the Reach, however, retreated. The Tyrells had allied with Renly by marrying Margaery Tyrell to him. With him dead, the alliance was broken. The famously inflexible Stannis considered the lords of the Reach to be traitors for supporting his brother's claim, making them hostile and unwilling to follow him.
Seeing an opportunity in the chaos, Tyrion Lannister, acting as Hand of the King in King's Landing, sent a letter to his father, Tywin, and his sister, Cersei. He urged them to win over the lords of the Reach. He proposed offering Lord Mace Tyrell the position of Master of Laws and, more importantly, agreeing to a marriage between King Joffrey and Margaery Tyrell.
The lords of the Reach, who had long sought a greater role in the politics of the court, were ecstatic. The prospect of their lord becoming Master of Laws and Margaery becoming queen was too good to pass up. With Renly gone, supporting Joffrey seemed the most practical way to secure the power they craved. The Lannisters and Tyrells began a cautious correspondence, and a powerful new alliance started to form.
Back in the Riverlands, thanks to Lady Catelyn's vigilant watch over the Kingslayer, Jaime Lannister remained securely imprisoned. After more than a month of tense negotiations, a final agreement for the exchange of hostages was reached.
In King's Landing, Joffrey flew into a rage when he heard the news. He cursed Jaime—publicly his uncle, but secretly his father—for his incompetence in getting captured by the "wolf pups" of House Stark. He flatly refused to exchange Sansa.
Unfortunately for him, the king's power was merely an illusion. King's Landing was controlled by the Lannisters, and Joffrey was powerless to defy his mother, Cersei, or his grandfather, Tywin. The hostage exchange proceeded as planned. Sansa, along with the captured Riverlords, would be sent to Tywin at Harrenhal, where they would be exchanged for Jaime and the other Westerland prisoners.
Jason was deeply satisfied with this outcome. The plan had gone off without any hitches. The political turmoil had served as the perfect cover for his own ambitions. In just over a month, he had moved more than one hundred thousand people from the Riverlands, massively swelling the population of his new city.
A raven from Maester Qyburn brought even better news. They had already recruited ten thousand able-bodied young men between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five from among the refugees. This single act had doubled Jason's military strength. He now commanded an army of twenty thousand soldiers. While the ten thousand new recruits began their training, the rest of his forces were tasked with defending his lands and, most importantly, continuing the great migration.
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