The night is like a graceful and beautiful woman, belatedly arriving in Cersei's longing eyes.
Only in the dark did she feel safe.
Listening to the noise coming from outside Mei Ge Tower, the Queen Mother poured herself a glass of wine, walked to the balcony with the glass in hand, and began to taste it slowly.
Even though the whole world was shrouded in darkness, Cersei could see the servants of the Red Keep carrying buckets of water to wash the floor near the throne room under the light of torches.
She could even hear people shouting and neighing outside the Red Keep. It was the soldiers of various families in the River Reach shouting loyalty to the Iron Throne.
Squeak!
The door of the meeting room was suddenly opened, and Sir Adam Malbrandt, covered in blood, walked in.
One of his left arms rested limply at his side, looking like it was disabled.
Behind him was Meryn Tran, who had been the queen's most trusted member of the Kingsguard since the chaos.
Cersei walked towards the visitor with a smile, "Ser, how is our battle situation? Have the soldiers in the Reach surrendered?"
With a painful look on his face, Adam nodded and saluted, and then reported the day's results to the Queen Mother: "A total of sixty-seven family heads, big and small, were captured. In addition to the three members of the Tyrell family, there was also Paxter Reid.
Wen, Brian Fossoway, Egon Leavell and a dozen other very valuable nobles were all sent to the Prime Minister's Tower. As for the knights, one hundred and fifty-eight were captured, and they are all now in prison.
A virgin home."
The operations during the day were led by Cersei and carried out by Adam.
Of course, Sir Adam, who was quite sane, rejected the Queen Mother's idea of beheading all the River Bend nobles from the beginning. Instead, he suggested that they instead be captured and imprisoned in the Red Keep. He also listed the possibilities of the two approaches.
as a result of.
Cersei, who thought she was only two sons away from her father, pretended to be generous and accepted Ser Adam's advice after listening to the proposal of a truly loyal minister.
"Garlan Tyrell did not enter the throne room at the beginning, so he led the Reach army to invade King's Landing from the Riverside Gate and the King's Gate. Fortunately, your act of allowing the commoners to meet the king helped.
We were busy, which greatly slowed down the attack speed of the Reach soldiers, allowing us to clean up the mess in the throne room and the Red Keep."
After the king was "assassinated", the Lion family soldiers hiding in the cellars and secret passages suddenly rushed out and closed the door of the Red Castle in the name of catching the assassin.
As a result, a group of commoners and noble knights from the Reach were slaughtered, and the valuable Reacher was killed as a prisoner. Several hundred commoners who were of no use to Queen Cersei were completely silenced, and then
Each person got a Blackwater Bay seat.
"How are Ser Balon Swann's negotiations going?" Cersei asked.
After the Reach soldiers invaded King's Landing, Ser Adam asked her to send nobles with status out to negotiate. The Queen Mother agreed, and then sent another Kingsguard.
"Garlan reluctantly agreed to lead his troops to withdraw from King's Landing and divide his forces to attack the Stormlands and the Riverlands. As long as the three Tyrells are in our hands, he will not dare to break up with us."
In order to maintain dignity, the story to the outside world was that the king was assassinated, and the royal family kept their loyal ministers in the Red Keep in order to protect them.
With his loved ones in his hands, Garland neither dared to attack the Red Keep nor lead his troops back to the Reach, so he could only be at the mercy of the Lannister family.
"Yes, my son's kingdom is finally developing in a good direction."
Cersei raised the glass of wine in her hand high, signaled to Adam, and drank it all in one gulp.
"In this matter, you, Sir, have the greatest merit, so I have decided to reward you with a title, a territory, gold, you name it."
Adam raised his left arm, "My arm was injured. I heard that the witch doctor in Braavos can cure it, so I thought..."
Cersei walked to the table, put down the wine glass, and slowly sat down.
After she pondered for a moment, she said, "After the Riverside soldiers leave King's Landing, Sir Adam will go to Braavos as an envoy of the Iron Throne to treat your arm, borrow money from the Iron Bank, and then hire a mercenary team.
Regiment to enrich the royal family’s direct military strength.”
There is indeed gold in the West, but it cannot be transported to King's Landing in a short time. Moreover, given the current situation, Cersei dare not ask Uncle Kevan, who is short of troops, to send someone to send gold. The mint outside the city was also burned to rubble.
It is temporarily unavailable to mint gold dragon coins.
After several battles, the main force of the Lion family has been reduced to more than 9,000 people, which has greatly weakened the Lannister military strength.
So the clever and wise Queen Mother came up with this trick.
Adam Malbrand nodded painfully, bowed slightly and left.
Now he just wants to ask Grand Maester Pycelle to get him a glass of poppy milk to relieve the pain.
…
Oakshield Island, harbor.
Wearing a full set of Valyrian steel armor, Euron and his tongueless crew came to secretly summon his third brother Victarion.
"I need a noble woman who matches my status to give birth to an heir for me. The storm is born, and Daenerys Targaryen, the mother of dragons, is the most suitable. The sea monster will be combined with the dragon, and the whole world will
Trembling beneath our feet."
Euron is loudly describing to Victarion the bright future after marrying the Dragon Mother.
Victarion was not interested in the cunning brother's words. His eyes were fixed on the Valyrian steel armor on Euron's body.
This kind of scales, as black as smoke, is as light as a thin silk shirt. The edges of the scales are red-gold, shining when moving. The metal of the steel armor is decorated with threads, runes, and mysterious hieroglyphs.
.
"...We will go to Slaver's Bay in as little as four or five months, or as slowly as more than half a year. In order to make up for your loss in not being able to plunder the Reach, I will give you a precious Valyrian horn."
As he spoke, Euron ordered his mute crew to open a large box on the side, and then revealed the dragon-taming horn inside to Victarion's eyes.
"This is the Horn of the Dragonbinder. You have seen it before. Now I officially give it to you."
In the previous King Selection, Euron used the Dragonbinder's Horn to prevent the conflict between Victarion's supporters and Asha's supporters.
This twisted horn is six feet long from head to toe, with flashing black light and stripes of red gold and Valyrian black steel. The horn is as warm and smooth as a woman's thigh. Its surface is shiny and bright enough.
It allows people to see their own distorted reflection. The stripes wrapping the horn are engraved with strange ancient magic symbols.
During the King Selection, when the horn was blown, the sound was like the roar of thousands of souls. The bones of those who heard it seemed to be burning, and the scorching flames burned people's flesh and blood from the inside out. The runes began to change.
It turned fiery red, and then emitted a dazzling white light that was difficult to look at directly.
Once he saw the Dragonbinder, Victarion could no longer look away.
Although he knew that the gift from his second brother was poisonous wine, he still wanted to taste it.
"Okay, I'll go to Slaver's Bay and bring back Daenerys, the Mother of Dragons, and her three dragons. But this route is too far, so I need to bring more ships."
Euron's only blue eye showed a smile. He spread his hands and said, "No problem at all. You can choose any longship from the Iron Fleet. To show your sincerity, I will also give you a bachelor and a salt concubine. Kevin, you
come over."
He pointed out a bachelor to his third brother.
Victarion didn't pay attention to these details. He pointed at the iron ships docked at the port and started to get them from his second brother one by one.
"...It's not much. I'll just take away these ninety iron ships."
After talking for a long time, he picked out all the boats he wanted.
Victarion thought that his second brother would cut off part of it, but Euron agreed wholeheartedly.
This made him wary.
But as long as the iron ship is in hand, Victarion has nothing to fear.
Daenerys, the mother of dragons, is his, and so are the three dragons.
The two were brothers, and after discussing everything, Euron asked his third brother to leave as soon as possible.
"What about you? The Reach shouldn't be in your eyes, right?" Victarion asked.
Euron pointed to the old town in the southeast, "There are towering towers and a school city there. These two are my goals."
He traveled all over the world and learned many secrets.
According to "Strange Stones" compiled by a scholar of Sillon, the base of the towering tower and the sea stone seat are made of the same material, and both were built by the deep diver Dagon.
Dagon is the attendant of the Drowned God, and their relationship is similar to that of the Three-Eyed Raven and the Old God.
Euron's goal is to capture the Citadel and the Tower, fully understand how to attract the Drowned God, and then make the whole world surrender under his feet.
…
South side of Mingyue Mountains.
In a relatively flat dense forest, hundreds of soldiers from both sides were facing each other within a stone's throw.
With the help of Simon Temperton, Jerwood Hunter and other insiders, the strategy of a duel between the leaders of both sides was successfully implemented.
In front of the valley army formation, Lynn Corbray, wearing a silver plate armor, was riding on a horse, shouting and cursing:
"I don't care if you are a dragon champion or a tournament champion, you must be honest in front of me."
Behind him, Simon and other Vale knights were praising Lynn.
"Ever since you killed Levon Martell fifteen years ago, I have been convinced that you are the most powerful knight in the valley."
"Isn't he just Arthur Bracken? Doesn't he know how to wield a sledgehammer? No one can hold up to two swords of your Valyrian steel sword Lady Silence."
"What nonsense are you talking about? I think Sir Linn can kill that little Arthur with one sword strike."
"That is, how old was little Arthur when Lord Corbray became famous? Has he been weaned?"
The adulation from these big figures in the valley greatly benefited Lynn Corbray.
Because his elder brother was jealous that his father passed the clan sword to him, he did not give him living expenses, which made his life very unsatisfactory in recent years.
In the past, these respectable nobles didn't take him seriously at all, but now that they were facing a powerful enemy, these people finally remembered his achievements.
"Silence!" Lin En, who loved to be in the limelight, shouted at the nobles of the valley and pulled out Lady Kongji, "Just watch me chop off little Arthur's dog's head with one sword."
The knights of the valley cooperated and kept their mouths shut.
He turned the horse's head, pressed down the visor, gently clamped the horse's belly, and let the mount slowly run towards the enemy.
Opposite him, Arthur stared at Linn who was coming towards him with a dead look, and then asked Podrick to hand over his golden sword.
This broadsword has been reforged by Gendry, so it is naturally extremely sharp.
After nodding towards Angei, the sharpshooter hidden among the soldiers, Arthur also pressed his visor and rode towards Lin En.
"I heard that you are good at fighting?" Even though his opponent's giant horse and sword made him very afraid, Lin En's words were still as tough as ever.
He tightened the reins and slowed down the horse's forward speed.
"Surrender now and I will spare your life."
The King of Hejian ignored him and stated his conditions.
As a benevolent king, he would persuade his enemies to surrender before every fight.
The arrogant Linn laughed and said, "It's the other way around. You should be the one surrendering to me."
Seeing that persuading him to surrender was ineffective, Arthur waved his hand gently, and a powerful arrow shot out from behind him, hitting Linn's mount in the eye.
The whole body of this war horse is covered with iron sheets, and there is even a butt curtain behind the buttocks, but it is exposed near the eyes.
Suddenly hit by an arrow, the war horse immediately raised its hooves and pushed Lin En down.
But Linn's feet were still hung in the stirrups, causing poor Linn to be dragged a long way by the violent horse.
"Ah~"
His screams spread throughout the forest.
Arthur was not idle either. He drove the giant red horse to the vicinity of Linn and slashed with his sword, making a deep dent in the enemy's breastplate.
Linn's screams became even more pitiful. The injured horse finally got rid of him, and they both fell to the ground one after another.
The King of the River dismounted, walked to Linn Corbray, pulled out the corrugated steel dagger given by the Rowan family from his boot, and then lifted Linn's visor. In his frightened eyes,
It penetrated straight through the neck.
A large amount of black blood flowed from the corners of Lynn Corbray's mouth and wounds, and his eyes began to dim.
Arthur pulled out the "Lady of Silence" from his hand, found the scabbard, and accepted the Valyrian steel sword with peace of mind.
After the death of the commander-in-chief, the valley nobles retreated with their soldiers in a grandiose manner.
"Come on, Lord Lin En, who is the most powerful in the valley, is dead. How can we defeat him?"
"Retreat, don't let the Hejian people catch up."
Most of the valley soldiers who went to battle came from families close to Stark, such as Tampaton, Hunter, and Bellmore. The relationship between the Corbray family governor and Linn was average, so no soldiers were sent to help his brother fight.
This left Lynn's body to be carried away only by his attendant Michelle Redford.
But Princess Arianne of Dorne, two Sand Snakes and their guards stopped the poor squire.
"He killed my uncle, so his body should be disposed of by us Dornishmen."
Lancers wearing yellow cloth armor took away Lynn's body and captured Michelle Redford.
Afterwards, Arthur led the soldiers back to the camp.
In the next half day, the Valley Army and the River King's army negotiated many times. After exchanging hostages, both sides retreated.
Ronald Vance of Aram City was sent to the Valley Army, and Harlan Hunter of Longbow Hall came to the River Army.
Since the Frey family and the Hunter family have a fairly good relationship, the hostage change went smoothly.
The war in the north has come to an end. Next, Arthur has to consider how to form an alliance with Daenerys, his most potential ally.
