Chapter 40
Xaro is worthy of being one of Qarth's The Thirteen, and the mansion prepared for her amazes the experienced and knowledgeable Dany.
Large gardens with exotic flowers, expansive marble baths, soaring crystal fortune-telling towers - also known as star observatories - and even a garden labyrinth.
The whole palace is bigger than the market I have seen before, not to mention the Khalasar with more than 200 people, it can live in twice as much.
In fact, Xaro prepared 200 servants for her.
Waiting for many horse people in Khalasar to be properly placed in the palace, Dany sat by the pool and felt the comfort of the fish kissing his toes.
Suddenly, the sky above her head darkened, she turned her head, and was surprised to find Quaithe quietly appearing beside oneself.
"You..."
"I'm leaving," she said.
"Oh, bye." Dany was startled, wondering why.
"Be careful!" Quaithe said thoughtlessly.
"Uh..." She was stunned for a while before she said: "Be careful of what?"
"Be careful of everyone. From now on, they shall come day and night to see the wonder that has been born again into the world, and when they see they shall lust. For dragons are fire made flesh, and fire is power. Dragons are the source of all mysterious power.”
Even though the red lacquer mask blocked her expression, Dany could still hear the seriousness in her tone.
After warning Dany, Quaithe left as unnoticed as she had come.
Dany lost his interest in enjoying the luxurious life of the palace, and immediately called Jorah and Bloodrider to the fish spa. While letting them enjoy the tender kisses of the brood, repeat Quaithe's warning.
"I don't like her because I can't see through her." Jorah spoke first, "Every Shadowbinder deserves our vigilance, but she didn't intimidate us this time, starting from entering this city, I felt... a very unfriendly, uneasy atmosphere."
"I don't like the way milk men look at us." Rakharo's face was heavy, and he gritted his teeth: "It's like looking at exotic animals caught from a savage land."
Qartheen's skin is unusually fair, milky white, clearly distinguishable from other white peoples, so Dothraki calls them "milk men" .
Dany gave him a surprised look, the Bloodrider who didn't expect oneself has such a keen perception.
Yes, they did have a warm welcome in Qartheen today, but there are many kinds of welcome. Welcoming a VIP to the city is definitely not the same as welcoming a Big Bear cat to the city.
Therefore, when Dany passes through the middle wall street, he will unconsciously substitute oneself into the role of Arthas.
——Lordaeron welcomed Arthas with victorious bells, cheers, and petals flying all over the sky. Arthas launched a natural disaster in Lordaeron that day and slaughtered the city.
"They want to see the dragons," Dany turned to Quaro. "Arrange two groups of guards, one overtly and one secretly to guard the three dragons. As long as you are here for a day, you can't let your guard down."
>"Aggo, Jhogo, you arranged people, men and women, to inquire about the topography, house structure, and palace guards around our station."
Finally, she solemnly looked towards Jorah, "Ser, I understand the current situation, so I want you to go to the market, to the pier, to the tavern, even the brothel, to find out the attitude of the ordinary people of Qarth towards us, and information about the upper class of Qarth."
After thinking for a while, she added another sentence, saying: "Since this is a trade center connecting the East and the West, there must be Westeros and businessmen from other city-states. When you go to inquire about the news, you can also My dragon and I will spread the word."
"This..." Ser Jorah hesitated, "You were worried that Usurper would send someone to assassinate you, but now you take the initiative to spread oneself to the Seven Kingdoms merchants Will bring the dragon back to Westeros, then...even if Usurper dies, there's still his son."
"Ai, the Dragon Hatching thing has been revealed now and then, if King's Landing has been paying attention to me, and they will know about it as soon as possible. It's better to make this a focus, which not only protects our oneself, but also..."
And Disturbing everyone's sight and concealing her true goal.
Dany enjoyed the extravagant food paired with the luxurious palace that night, stir-fried peacock tongue.
motherfucker, cooking with peacock tongue, even the most gluttonous ancient Chinese can't think of it?
Second day Early in the morning, as Quaithe had warned her, the powerful men of Qarth came to Xaro's palace in a sedan chair, surrounded by a large crowd of servants.
Xaro accompanies them to Dany's residence, where they claim to be overwhelmed by her beauty and noble background, and sincerely send gifts of silk, jewelry, exotic animals, dwarfs of special skills, etc., and finally While weeping and praising the dragon's greatness, they looked around with wide eyes.
Well, Qartheen loves to cry, and sees it as a symbol that makes them appear more civilized.
Dany understood what they meant, and didn't refuse. He directly lifted the little dragon on the chain and slipped out, making those Qarth dignitaries cry more and more fiercely.
The upper level of Qarth consists of three power organizations: Royal Family, Merchant, Warlock.
In the era of dragon disappearance and Magic extinction, the once mighty Warlock has no power and no power; the Royal Family controls Qarth's camel cavalry and city fleet, and nominally rules the city.
Businessmen form the most powerful Three Great Guilds, The Thirteen, Tourmaline Brotherhood, Ancient Guild of Spicers. In a city of commerce and trade, its actual rights are of course in the hands of businessmen.
It's just that the internal struggle between the three major merchant guilds is very fierce. If it wasn't for the control of the Royal Family, they would have torn their faces for the actual control of the city.
The other 12 "The Thirteen" visited Dany on the first day and the Tourmaline Brotherhood on the second day.
After seeing the dragon, those gem merchants specially spent a week to build a Three Headed Dragon Crown for Dany: Demon Dragon's curled body is gold, its wings are silver, and its three heads are made of Carved from Emerald, ivory and agate.
On the third day Guild of Spicers sent Dany 77 boxes of precious spices from all over the world.
Well, when House Targaryen unified the Seven Kingdoms, in order to integrate into the Westeros as a foreign Conqueror, he gave up the Old Valyria Spiritual God and converted to the Church of The Seven.
Theoretically, Dany should also believe in The Seven.
For The Seven believers, "seven", "77" and "seven hundred 77" are all auspicious numbers.
On the fourth day, Dany began to receive figures in the middle and lower reaches of Qarth power, small businessmen, government officials, captains of ships, captains of camel cavalry...
When When she asked if the Xaro Royal Family would come, he said disdainfully: "What is left of the current Royal Family except for the dignity and ancient glory of Supreme? Just be accommodating and take the initiative to see them."
However, it is not so easy to see the Royal Family. To be summoned by the Royal Family, you must be qualified, and this qualification is in the hands of several powerful people.
Simply put, just like Tripitaka of the Tang takes true scripture from Buddha Ancestor, and needs to send personnel to Ananda Kasyapa, Dany must get through all the barriers to see the Royal Family, and send Get enough personnel.
Even if you want to go through the back door, you have to have a way.
Xaro devotion to righteousness that inspires reverence expresses that he is very knowledgeable in this regard and can teach her who to find, who to give gifts to, and how much each person should give.
Dany would like to say, go to Nimad, my mother doesn't eat this.
But Jorah the past few days has already inquired about the general situation of Qarth. The Royal Family has indeed lost the actual control of the city, but the camel cavalry and the moat fleet are all under the control of the Royal Family.
Dany can't figure out why the Royal Family, who held the military power, lost its dominance. Maybe this is the characteristic of Free Cities?
Or, merchants have more money, and with money they can hire more armed forces, such as mercenaries?
Xaro persuaded Dany to have a relationship to meet with the Royal Family is no secret at the top.
Eighty percent of the Royal Family has already opened her pockets, waiting for her to throw gold coins into it. If she doesn't go, she doesn't give the Royal Family face, and if she doesn't give the Royal Family face, it means they are not friends.
Well, not a friend, not a guest, then I can deal with you.
Jorah advised her, "This is the custom of Qarth. Even in our Westeros, it's not that you go to my house, you must enjoy the guest right.
When the guest comes to the host's eaves The guest right takes effect after accepting the bread and salt provided by the host.
If the host puts the drawn sword on his knees, it means that he has no intention of establishing a guest relationship with the guest, and the guest right is natural It doesn't exist."
"However, asking for bribes forcibly is too low, right? Is it true that in Seven Kingdoms it is also popular for hosts to ask for gifts from guests?" Dany said angrily.
"cough cough cough..." Jorah coughed as if she was choked, and the beard on her face couldn't stop the blush on her face.
"No way." Dany opened his mouth with disbelief.
"Not as naked as Qarth." Ser Jorah quickly distinguished: "Guests give 'guest gifts' to the host, mainly to express their gratitude to each other for providing food and shelter. And the guest leaves, the host It may also be given to the other party as a 'guest gift'.
This tradition usually occurs when the guest is on the weaker side, because he is afraid that the host will veto the guest right."
Also Dany I didn't pay attention to the details when watching the show, and this point about Jorah's words is especially obvious between Night's Watch and Wildlings Craster.
beyond the wall Wildlings Craster, the first ghost father of Ice and Fire World. He married oneself's daughter as his wife, and the daughters born by the daughter continued to marry as wives, so he continued to marry dozens of wives who were daughters and granddaughters.
He also had sons, but all of them were sacrificed to Others as soon as they were born.
It can be said that, except for Night King, almost all Others are the sons of that guy.
Well, Others are not the same as Wights, Others are transformed from the living, Wights is the resurrection of the dead body by Others.
Without Craster to provide houses and food, the Night's Watch man who left the Wall north would almost double the death rate, so Night's Watch asked Craster for it.
Not only did he turn a blind eye to his incestuous behavior, he was often blackmailed by Craster for iron weapons, aka 'guest gifts'.
Also because of the guest right, the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch Old Bear couldn't hurt Craster even if he knew that Craster was related to Others.
guest right is two-sided, not only can the host not harm the guest, but the guest will not harm the host - even if the host is making a deal with the devil.
Jorah saw that Dany was silent, and could not help once again advised: "First Men have the tradition of guest right, and Andals also has a similar principle. Maybe guest right is common in the whole world, but the specific expression is not Same."
"Well, I'm giving the Royal Family a gift, hoping they'll give me a little 'guest gift' too." Dany sighed.