Chapter 227
It turns out that Dany guessed wrong, the Oldtown nobles did not "excessive attention to details prevents one from making progress", and in the case of the overwhelming majority - especially during Robert's reign, Tourney had two purposes: 1. The upper classes of idle pain in the balls provide opportunities for glory; 2. Provide entertainment programs for the poor people, allowing them to temporarily forget the hard life in reality.
To put it bluntly, Tourney is the western medieval version of the large-scale true person show trials.
The music theory is still valid here.
Dany understands this truth without taking a Tourney because she has also learned the skills of the Tourney herself.
Just as the etiquette teacher taught her the common etiquettes of all city-states and ethnic groups, Barristan also taught her the flower boxing and embroidering legs of the long spear game - on the real battlefield, fart is useless.
She has participated in many battles in person and is fully qualified to say this.
Why do you say that?
The highlight of the Tourney, jousting: Two fully armed armored Knights stab each other with long and brittle hardwoods, they cannot stab horses, necks, faces, thighs (points will be deducted), and cannot swing You can only stab me in a straight line, and I can stab you, which can only attack the thickest part of the chest plate.
There is also a low wooden fence between the two riders, and there will never be a tragic event such as a horse's hoof being tripped or a horse's head colliding, which often happens in real battlefields.
And it's a turn-based, smooth charge, running from the beginning to the end, with only one chance to stab in the middle.
Like an elegant Lady walking in the garden.
This skill is useless on the battlefield... um, no, jousting is very demanding on horsemanship, strength, and eyesight.
Simply put, those who can become Tourney champions may not have the ability to combat, but they definitely have the innate talent to become powerful Knights. Therefore, in addition to entertaining the public, lords can also select warriors through the Tourney.
If you want to train to kill the enemy, the Tourney is useless at all. It can be used as a sport for exercising the body and riding, and it is very qualified.
Dany has always despised the long spear sprinting skills, but his body has been honestly practicing with the old Knight for a while.
The two came to Oldtown and saw a large tent outside the city wall near Honeywine.
blue, white, gray, azure, red...
tabby, gorgeous, as wide as a palace, and as small as a large sleeping bag.
The setting sun is like blood, and in the area delimited by the fence, tents are like pebbles by the river, densely piled under the city.
Knight's shields hang from the tent gates, a long line of silk pennants with their family crests, if any, flutter in the wind, steel essence swords and gilded spurs in the sunset Reflects dim red light.
It was getting late at this time, the banquet was in full swing at the camp, and the chorus was singing.
Across the distance, the singer's singing, the musician's orchestral harp, twisted and twisted into the distant Roseroad.
After approaching, Dany also saw a huge manatee pierced by a thick trunk with arms, the charcoal below was red and bright, and the fat above was dripping with oil juice like a creek "chi chi chi", mixing The strange aroma of pepper, laurel, and burnt apple makes passers-by secretly swallow their saliva.
Throat squirming, belly gu gu, Dany stared at the burnt manatee, and said to the old Knight without looking back: "I also want to participate in Tourney."
Old Knight gently advised: "Not all riders are eligible to participate in Ser Tyrell's banquet. You don't want to eat those delicious food when you enter the camp now, and the manatee looks fat, but the meat is actually a bit thick, not as good as beef."
By asking the roadside riders, Dany also figured out the whole sequence of events for this Tourney.
Unsurprisingly, the organizers are the Earl Hightower family, known as Baelor Brightsmile's heir to Earl and Lynesse's big brother, Baelor Hightower.
But outside the Phnom Penh pure white tent in the center of the camp, which is as gorgeous as a palace, there is a "Golden Rose" flag on a green background of Highgarden House Tyrell -- a Golden Rose blooming on the green field.
The second child of the Highgarden Tyrell family, Garlan the Galant, is also here, and they join the House Hightower to recruit Freerider in Oldtown to deal with the increasingly rampant Ironmen pirates.
Tourney is like a huge magnet, attracting all the idle riders from Highgarden, Dorne and even the Westerlands and Crownlands.
Selecting a group of fierce leaders from Freerider, they have never thought about it, but it is easy to find three or five thousand elite cavalry.
Westeros doesn't have the word mercenary, but there are many similar occupations.
As the Seven Kingdoms of the Knight civilization, there are almost no infantry mercenaries, or in other words, if you don't even have a horse, the employer doesn't look down on you at all, and you can't receive business as a mercenary.
According to status, Westeros Knight is roughly divided into four levels: Freerider (one man one sword, a broken leather armor, a wild Knight with a horse), hired Knight (Freerider hired by the lord) ), Landed Knight (Knight given to Fiefdom by the lord), Noble Knight (the real power noble with title and Fiefdom)
Dany and Barristan are the wild Knights at this time, and this kind of person is in Seven Kingdoms As much as a cow's hair.
Of course, there are very few female Knights, and it is difficult for the overwhelming majority to get ahead.
For example, Brienne the Beauty, Pretty Meris, both of them were determined to be great female Knights since childhood, and the result...
Oh, it's okay to be laughed at, powerful , Ugly like Brienne, if it weren't for the aura of the 'protagonist', I don't know how many times I've been strong.
Meris does not have the status of Earl's heir, was born in an ordinary hired Knight family, and did not meet the "Jaime" of oneself (Jaime Lannister saved Brienne), the key is that looks are far less safe than Brienne, and they are completely mixed in Westeros. Can't go down - according to the red-haired Lyra, her lord led a few Knights, knocked her long sword flying, knocked her off-horseback, and then taunted her while turning her around.
As a last resort, Meris had to travel across the ocean to become a mercenary in the Free Cities next door. As a result, her teammates were not very good. After getting drunk, she became a beastly sex, and the entire mercenary group, more than half The members took her turn...
Like wild beast, cut off her breasts, bit her ears, bit her nose, and finally left a mark on each of her cheeks Deep cross scars.
She survived thanks to her extraordinary will and unyielding spirit.
Fortunately, Tattered Prince took her in. Windblown's reputation and atmosphere are far better than other mercenary groups. Meris had to meet the "Mingzhu", slowly showing her talent, getting ahead, and became a Windblown cadre——Interrogation official.
Well, Meris is said to be able to torture the person being tortured for a full month before he dies.
The world of Ice and Fire is too cruel to women. Aristocratic girls are taken into marriages, or played with by high-ranking nobles (mostly her family is happy).
The girl in the ordinary person's family is even worse, the beautiful lord is strong and ugly... Alas, no matter how ugly you are, can you be uglier than Brienne the Beauty?
Even her virginity has been compromised many times.
As for the ability to speak...
If it's high martial arts and magic, it's good to say, but it can be as powerful as Brienne and Meris, maybe it can turn male warriors one-on-one, good Luck can win a pair of twos and a pair of threes, but when there are more than five enemies, even Arthur Dayne is not sure to save his life.
When they crossed the competition camp and waited in line to cross the city gateway, the old Knight approached Dany and whispered, "Sir, women can't participate in Tourney."
The sky was dark, Fire platforms have been lit on both sides of the city gate, because the Tourney is going to be held in the near future, there are many wild knights coming from all over the city, and there are a lot of riders and carriages waiting in line at the city gate.
"This Tourney is mainly for recruiting riders, and there is no limit to the identity of the contestants. Who knows if I am a man or a woman if I wear face armor?" Dany asked back with a smile.
Tourney's rules are generally fixed, but some small details may vary depending on the venue and the personality of the host.
For example, a lord who devoutly believed in The Seven and held a Tourney at his door in the name of The Seven might have stipulated that only regular Knights smeared with holy oil are allowed to participate.
But Tourney is a social activity known to everyone known to everyone in Westeros, almost similar to the Asian Spring Festival. In most cases, as long as you have a horse, anyone can come to the competition.
Even though the rules don't allow women to compete, no one goes to check out Knight's willy one by one.
Seeing someone nearby looking over, Dany's expression remained unchanged, he pursed his lips, and continued, "I know how Barristan 'fearless' got the title.
Fifty In the Blackhaven Tourney a year ago, Barristan, who was only ten years old, "picked up" a suit of armor somewhere, participated in the game as a mysterious Knight, and even dared to challenge Prince Duncan.
In the end, he was defeated by Prince, He was also picked out of face armor, which caused everyone present to laugh at him loudly.
Prince of Dragonflies was very fond of him, not only expressed sympathy and appreciation, but also gave him a 'Barristan at the end' the Bold '."
The old Knight is a living history book that even the first generation of divorced men knew.
"The armor was not picked up," the old Knight shook his head wistfully. "At that time he was a Knight squire of Ser Manfred Swann. When he learned that he had the idea of participating in the Tourney, the sons of the Ser family pooled money to pay for it. He built a small set of iron armor."
Fifty years have passed, let alone the big Knight who once served, and even his childhood friend has long since passed away, which is really sad to think about.
Oldtown is a bit similar to Volantis, both wrapping the mouth of the river into the city, but Honeywine is not as wide as Rhoyne, the water volume is much lower, and there are many greystone arch bridges over the river.
There are also several small islands dotted in the center of the river. There are many tall houses on the islands, which are connected to both banks by stone bridges. There are also nearby islands, and arched stone bridges are also established between them. .
Ignoring the Western architectural style, Dany has the illusion of coming to the Qinhuai River in Yangzhou. The three four-layer high masonry buildings on both sides of the river stretch out colored paper lanterns.
Passers-by walk leisurely along the river, and there are flower boats with bright lights on the river surface.
"My God, the pedestal is bigger than the Old Ghis Great Pyramid, Hightower, as expected, name is not in vain!"
In fact, outside the city, you can see the indigo night. The tower, a 240-meter-tall building with raging flames on its top floor, provides the clearest directional sign for ships to and from the Whispering Sound.
After getting close, I was shocked to find that Hightower occupies an entire island, as large as a large castle, roughly estimated to exceed 10,000 square meters.
"Of course, Hightower is one of the nine Wonders in the world!"