In fact, the naval strength of the Iron Islands is not very strong. What they do most is burning, killing and looting. At most, they conduct raids. If it is a head-on confrontation, it is no different from seeking death.
This is also caused by historical and location factors. If Gao Bin is given some time, there are actually ways to improve the Iron Islands' economic situation. Once the economic situation improves, arming a more powerful navy will not be a problem.
For islands, trade is undoubtedly the best choice.
The Iron Islands are rich in iron ore and seafood, which can provide the Iron People with gold, silver, timber and agricultural products that are difficult to produce locally.
During the reign of the Hall family, the Iron Islands' trade was highly developed and a large amount of wealth was accumulated.
But plundering has long been a tradition in the Iron Islands, so the practice of King Hor's exchanging iron ore for property dissatisfied the ironborn and the priests of the Drowned God.
When the "handsome man" Hamoud strictly prohibited all looting activities and liberated the slave workers, the ignorant ironborn, led by the Drowned God priest Shrike, rose up, deposed King Hamoud, and supported his younger brother Hagen as the new king.
The new king.
Hagen quickly led the Ironborn to restore the old system and allowed the Shrike and his followers to abuse his brother and mother Lyria Lannister.
The Shrike cut off the facial features of Queen Lelia, "the most beautiful flower in the West", on the grounds that she had betrayed the Drowned God, and sent her back to Casterly Rock.
This incident made the Lannister family furious, and they subsequently sent troops to destroy the Iron Islands, creating the Iron Islands' most tragic disaster, the "Winter of Famine".
The iron race's vitality was severely damaged in this war, and their plundering targets were forced to shift to the Stepstone Islands further away.
After spending generations in hardship, Colvin Hall became the new King of the Iron Islands.
Colvin Hall advocated trade and peace. He accumulated a lot of wealth and armaments through trade to prevent himself from being harmed because he was too weak.
He never started a war in his life, but the legacy he left behind paved the way for his son Harwin to conquer Sanhe.
In the Targaryen era, there were also wise lords of the Iron Islands who abandoned the "old roads" to develop trade, the most famous of whom was Balon Greyjoy's father Coron.
Cologne liberated the slave laborers and banned all looting without his permission.
During his reign, the connection between the Iron Islands and the Green Lands was stronger than ever, but it all fell apart with his death.
After Balon succeeded to the throne, Colum's efforts came to nothing when his son established himself as king twice.
Therefore, what the Iron Islands lack is the subjective will for development rather than the objective environment.
Throughout the ages, there have been countless kings and lords who have devoted themselves to developing the Iron Islands, but all of them have been defeated by the Ironborn's deep-rooted raiding tradition.
Therefore, if you want to develop the Iron Islands, you must first drive out the "old ways" from the Ironborn's minds, and if you want to drive out the "old ways", you must first bloodbath those who tout the "old ways".
This is also the reason why Gao Bin wants to support Theon. This guy is relatively simple-minded and easy to control. As long as you listen to him and give him some time, it will not be a problem to restore the Iron Islands to their former glory.
But this requires long-term planning and cannot be expected in the short term. At most, the Iron Islands' warships can become transport ships for the northern army.
Before Xion left, he approached Gao Bin with some anxiety:
"What should I do when I go back?"
The so-called timidity of being close to home is probably true. Theon, who was about to go home, seemed at a loss.
"According to our plan, we will control King Balon and step on the throne. Don't worry, the army in the north will follow you closely to protect your safety."
After a pause, he suddenly said:
"By the way, there is someone in the Greyjoy family who is worthy of your use."
"Who?"
"Yala."
Xion was stunned for a moment, obviously both familiar and unfamiliar with this name.
In the original play, Yara first appeared at the docks of the Iron Island to welcome Theon home.
On the way back to the castle, Theon thought of her as a fisherman girl who wanted to curry favor with the nobles, but she did not reveal her identity, and finally humiliated Theon severely in the castle.
When old Balon introduced Yara to Theon as his possible heir, Yara showed a little unnaturalness on her face.
Maybe she didn't want to irritate her beloved brother too much, even though they had been separated for several years.
Later plots proved that Yara did love her little brother deeply. Even though Balon warned her that Theon, who was not even a man, was worthless, she still went deep into the enemy's cave to try to rescue Theon.
But she didn't expect that Xion would lose his manhood and become not only less of a man, but even less of a human being.
But Yara, who has never been a man, has always been a man.
She dedicated her life to the Iron Islands and the ocean. She fought like a man and lived like a man;
She was the first to climb the enemy's wall, leading the men behind her to kill the men in front of her. She was a true iron type.
Yara, who was successfully trained by Balon to become the leader of the Ironborn, is not only as bloody and wild as other Iron Island men, but also has the courage and strategy to surpass most men and women.
He showed caution and restraint towards Theon's temporary victory in occupying Winterfell, which was in sharp contrast to Theon's arrogance;
When encouraging the dead soldiers to rescue Xion, they not only emphasized their blood relationship with Xion, but also emphasized the need to declare to the enemies who bully their compatriots that the dignity of the ironborn is inviolable;
During the negotiation with Long Ma, he was relaxed and expressive, showing the qualities of a qualified leader, and even flirted with Long Ma.
Compared with the other cowards in the Greyjoy family who only bully the weak and fear the strong, Gao Bin has a better impression of Yara and is more in line with the characteristics of the Ironborn.
"I know, I'll give it a try."
"Well, go ahead."
The day after Xion set out on the road, the northern army mobilized and moved towards the southwest area on the pretext of training.
There are countless spy posts in the north. It is impossible for them to miss such a big movement of troops. Gao Bin did not hide it intentionally, and he could not hide it at all.
But the northern army dispatched this time only had 24,000 troops and no cavalry.
The Iron Islands have a harsh environment and steep terrain.
The archipelago consists of seven main islands, including Pike Island, Great Wyk Island, Old Wyk Island, Harlaw Island, Salt Cliff Island, Kuroshio Island and Oak Island.
As a Chinese, Gao Bin is well versed in the essence of Sun Tzu's art of war. There is no need to waste soldiers when attacking an island. Encircling without attacking is the best strategy.
During the reign of King Balon, trade in the Iron Islands was almost cut off. They had no channels to obtain survival supplies from the outside. As long as they surrounded them and waited for their own civil strife, the Iron Islands could easily be captured.
Of course, now that the Iron Islands are still nominally under the rule of the Northern Territory, Gao Bin naturally can't take action easily. He has to have a famous teacher.
What he wants to do is to suppress the territory with a large army, giving King Balon the illusion that if you don't obey, I will directly destroy you. After helping Xion ascend to power, he will send more than 20,000 troops to the island in the name of garrison.
At that time, the Iron Islands will be completely in your own hands.
This is the plan. Whether it can succeed or not depends on the implementation effect.
Before that, Gao Bin has one more thing to do.
He just received a tip that Long Ma is pregnant!
This is the news brought back by the trade caravan heading to the Essos continent, and it is also the news that Gao Bin is most concerned about.
You know, Robert has always been worried about the descendants of the Targaryen family. Once he hears the news that Dragon Mother is pregnant, he will probably launch an army to attack them as soon as possible.
Of course, Gao Bin doesn't think that in a real fight, the Seven Kingdoms can take advantage of the Dothraki cavalry.
One hundred thousand Dothraki cavalry, as long as there is a backbone, they can unite to defend against the enemy.
And what about the Seven Kingdoms?
Everyone has their own plans, and if they are expected to join forces to fight, it would be better for the princess to support her daughter to be a good person.
However, this war should not be fought in the short term. Robert will be killed by a wild boar soon. Once he dies, Cersei will be too busy fighting for the throne to care about the affairs of Essos.
Cersei is a woman with a heart as high as the sky. She thinks she is Tywin II and the most suitable heir to Casterly Rock.
In her eyes, everyone else is mentally retarded and her pawns, and they should all bow to her.
In her opinion, she can't achieve great things just because she is a woman.
But what did she do when she gained power?
Because Gyles Rossby's car looked luxurious, she decided that he could manage money and promoted this sickly and useless old man to become Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Because the illegitimate son of Chaotou Island, Oren Wei, had silver hair and purple eyes, and looked like her male god Rhaegar, she gave him the position of Minister of the Sea.
Because Bronn named Loris' illegitimate son Tyrion, she felt insulted and decided to send someone to deal with this useful mercenary.
Because the royal family's debts were piling up, she agreed to the deal in which the High Sparrow exchanged debts for the Order's weapons. Afterwards, she felt that she was extremely smart.
What then?
Gyles Rossby had limited talents and was unable to fill the huge deficit in the national treasury, and he himself died of illness shortly after taking office.
Even before Orion Waters' position as Lord of the Sea was up, the church took control of King's Landing. Fearing that he would be implicated, he immediately stole the fleet that the Iron Throne had saved up to build and left Westeros to work as a pawn in the Narrow Sea.
Pirate King.
Sir Balmain Bygey, who was sent by her to kill Bronn, was not good at martial arts and was so stupid that he actually challenged Bronn to a duel and was killed by Bronn in the duel. Afterwards, Bronn became Stokeworth.
Earl of Fort.
In the end, the reconstruction of the Order's armed forces dragged Cersei herself into the water, imprisoned, and paraded through the streets. All the dignity of the Queen Regent was wiped out the moment her clothes were taken off.
She only saw Tywin's iron fist, but not the strategy behind it.
Tywin would rather let the Duke of Mace promote Garth Tyrell as Chancellor of the Exchequer than choose Garth Rossby because of the prosperity of the car.
In order to counter the Reach, he would choose a naval lord from the West like Sebastian Farman as Sea Lord, instead of choosing a capricious bastard from Tidehead Island just because of his appearance.
For someone as efficient as Bronn, he would simply give him Fort Stoke Worth in exchange for his loyalty, instead of trying to kill him just for the sake of naming him.
As for the church's armed forces, he will send troops to wipe out all the fanatic believers who have poured into the city, and then put the High Sparrow's head on the wall of King's Landing in public, in exchange for the new Archbishop to forgive all debts of the royal family.
But Cersei learned none of these things.
She still blames her failure on her gender and the male-dominated society.
However, she didn't know that the same women, her aunt Gina, the former Queen Alexa, Forest Frey's wife Lady Sabith, her ancestor Lady Johanna - they all used their own
Ability won the respect of men and won a place in that male-dominated society.
Of course, it’s not entirely true to say that she is completely useless.
When Tywin died, Cersei was no longer bound, and she began to slowly show her strength in palace fighting.
Cersei first visited the High Sparrow and used the High Sparrow to arm the church to fight against the Tyrell family for herself.
Letting the church act as your white glove is not a good method, because although it clears yourself of the crime, at the same time, it also introduces another trouble:
The church is independent of the imperial power and has become a great unsettling factor in King's Landing.
Not only that, Cersei herself was captured by the High Sparrow and thrown into the dungeon. The High Sparrow's nuns tortured her continuously in the dungeon to make her repent.
Cersei has lived a life of luxury since she was a child. During her childhood, she bullied people in various ways because her father was the Duke of Casterly Rock.
After she came of age, she married King Robert Baratheon. Although Robert did not treat her very well, she was still the queen, held a high position, and had great influence in King's Landing.
In the end, Cersei secretly ordered Lancel Lannister to tamper with Robert's wine because her affair with Jaime was about to be exposed, causing Robert to be killed by a wild boar while hunting.
After Robert's death, Cersei met two men of her own family, Tyrion Lannister and Tywin Lannister.
Under the governance of these two people, the Lion family's power in the Seven Kingdoms reached its peak. Although the Seven Kingdoms nominally belong to the Baratheon family, they are actually in the hands of the Lannister family.
Looking back on Cersei's personal history, she did not suffer too many grievances, but in the dungeons of St. Baelor's Cathedral, she suffered all kinds of grievances and humiliations.
When the nun saw this once lofty queen, she tried her best to humiliate her. She kept shouting "shame" in Cersei's ear. She held a ladle of water in front of Cersei and told her that if she confessed, she would drink it. If she didn't, she would drink it.
There is nothing to drink.
Cersei refused to confess, so the nun poured water on the ground.
Cersei's bones are so hard that she would rather drink the water poured on the ground than plead guilty.
A lion never bows his head!
But Cersei, such a proud person, finally bowed her head. She seriously confessed to the High Sparrow what she had done.
If she wants to walk back to the Red Keep, Cersei must go on a "journey of atonement" naked in public.
People threw all kinds of dirty things at her. She was barefoot, and the nun was ringing a bell and shouting "shame".
In the end, Cersei walked to the Red Keep, and she never walked out again before St. Baelor's Cathedral was blown up.
It is easy to die, but it is difficult to put down your proud head, sacrifice your face, endure all kinds of pain and eyes, all just for revenge.
At this point, Cersei has completed her most difficult part: enduring the humiliation.
After experiencing such humiliation, she survived. She killed all the civilians in King's Landing who talked about her, and she began to rectify her biggest enemy in King's Landing: the High Sparrow.
Destroying St. Baelor's Cathedral with wildfire seems simple, but behind the scenes Cersei has made a lot of preparations for this.
For example, after James returned to King's Landing and learned what happened to Cersei, he wanted to lead his troops to kill the High Sparrow, but was stopped by Cersei.
Cersei put the overall situation first and sent Jaime to recover Riverrun.
Cersei has grown up, and she is waiting for a better time to kill all the enemies at once.
Cersei has many enemies in King's Landing: uncle Kevan Lannister, Grand Maester Pycelle, Mace Tyrell, Loras Tyrell, and Margaery Tyrell.
While Cersei was imprisoned, it was Pycelle who summoned Kevan Lannister, who became the Hand and took over the government.
As for the Tyrell family, although they helped the Lannister family defeat Stannis, their strong financial resources and influence have always been a stumbling block on Cersei's path to power.
Cersei ordered Qyburn to send a little bird to assassinate Pycelle. In order to prevent any fish from slipping through the net, Qyburn's little bird also led Lancel Lannister, who went to the Red Keep to arrest Cersei, to the cellar; p>
As for the other people, they all died in the wildfire.
Facing the death of her last son, Cersei no longer had any troubles in her heart. She sat on the Iron Throne calmly and became the guardian of the Seven Kingdoms, the queen of Andal and the First Men, looking down upon the world.
This series of operations by Cersei is very similar to the revenge of Vic Don Corleone in "The Godfather".
After being assassinated, Tang suddenly restrained himself a lot, and he faced a series of compromises with other gang forces, all in order to welcome the return of his son Michael.
After Michael returned, he endured all kinds of humiliation and humiliation until the time was right, and brought all the hostile forces to bear, including his brother-in-law.
Regardless of vertical or horizontal comparison, Cersei's wildfire bombing of the church wiped out all kinds of hostile forces in one go. From a political point of view, it was a coup with a very high technical content.
First, she has to bear the humiliation, secondly, she has to find the perfect opportunity, and finally, she has to be cruel and ruthless, regardless of the consequences, to eliminate all enemies at once.
Yes, in terms of politics and diplomacy, Cersei is obviously unqualified. Although she has defeated two powerful enemies: the Tyrell family and the High Sparrow, she has also added an enemy: the Tyrell family.
The Queen of Thorns will not give up on Cersei.
But so what, future troubles will have their own solutions when the time comes, and now Cersei has completed her control of absolute power in King's Landing.
Her endurance, decisiveness and careful preparation are what makes her so powerful.
It's just that all this is still too naive in Gao Bin's opinion. If she were given decades of growth and matured, she might have different changes.
It's a pity that Gao Bin won't give her this chance!
Gao Bin kept sending letters to Ned, secretly controlling the progress of the situation. He knew that Ned would not keep the cuckold secret from Robert.
Since you have to poke it out no matter what, timing is critical!