Chapter 339
2021-01-06
Chapter 339 Slaver's Bay (Part 2)Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Prairie, The Liberator, Mother of Dragons, The Unburnt, Daenerys · Targaryen of Stormborn... Just like this, suddenly dropped a huge stall, and slipped away alone at the juncture of starting a business?
On the day the Queen was riding the Dragon East, she heard the news and rushed to Petyr Baelish at the top of the pyramid, looking at the cracked slate where the Black Dragon landed and the empty Queen's residence, almost lost self-control to the point of swearing.
That's right, Black Dragon is the only one of the three dragons that is big enough to carry people over long distances. It miraculously returns because he misses his mother, and it's hard to guarantee that it will be the next time he appears When, that's why Daenerys didn't care about negotiating with the council, he seized this opportunity - jumped on the dragon's back and flew straight into the air.
She wants to master dragon control as soon as possible, throw Demon Dragon into war, and bring blood and fire to the enemy. The starting point is completely good. But—Yunkai’s army has not yet receded, and Volantis’ fleet maintaining the slave trade is still on its way to Slaver’s Bay. At such a critical moment surrounded by powerful enemies and full of crises, this stupid woman... is really not afraid of learning. When Cheng returned, did he not have a single follower left?
……
No matter how violent his heart was and hate iron for not becoming steel, Petyr finally returned to reason and took the most correct and most beneficial measures for Queen: lied that he was unwell and could not go to school Towards, blocking the news that she left Meereen riding a dragon.
Unfortunately, after all, paper can't contain the fire, the news of Daenerys' disappearance spread quickly, and even because of the official blockade of the news, multiple versions of outrageous rumors have evolved. In order to refute the rumors, Hand of The Queen ended up having to make a public appearance to explain Daenerys' whereabouts.
Then, things quickly and logically went bad.
＊＊＊
[Do not kill but expel the top nobles, and instead support the inferior nobles to achieve good control over Meereen. ] The most important condition for this strategy to be realized is: there must be enough power to stop the Old Bloods from counterattacking and check and balance the new superior nobles, preventing the former from coming back to restore or the latter gaining a foothold and abandoning one's benefactor after achieving one's goal and being the master of oneself.
And what achieves this check and balance is Unsullied's martial power, the support and love of the liberated slaves, and the Legendary prestige brought by the three dragons.
Littlefinger, who is a half-partner, has no command and influence over Unsullied; he is not liked by free men as he plays a black face in daily rule; as for the three dragons... and Targaryen have no blood relationship People who are in a relationship don't even think about it.
Originally, the increasingly tacit cooperation with Daenerys has gradually begun to make him feel that "this Targaryen girl is still worthy of assistance", "everything is getting better" and so on. But as the former leaves without saying goodbye, Petyr is once again at the worst of isolation and must fight alone.
The freedmen could not see their liberators, the petitioners could not express their demands and opinions to the Queen, and the Green Dragon White Dragon locked in the deep pit at the bottom of the pyramid could not see the mother...
These are all minor issues.
One month, two months... As the days of Queen's absence increase, the remarks about what has happened to her are rampant.
The new nobles in the city are the first to move their minds. Daenerys expelling the original Old Blood and helping them to rise is good, but it is not good to be ruled by an arbitrary Queen. good.
Then the defectors from harbor ulterior motives, Dorne Prince who came to Meereen not long ago, actually relied on the thin "True Dragon bloodline" flowing in his oneself body, while Daenerys was not in a group of mercenaries. He tried to steal the dragon with his help, but unfortunately the two imprisoned dragons didn't seem to recognize him as a distant relative. Instead, they burned him to a half-cooked breath and escaped from the pit unceremoniously.
As for the army of Yunkai, who had not retreated outside the city, after hearing the news, they quickly considered another plan - the absence of the Queen made Meereen's defense more vulnerable than before, and they certainly hoped to seize the opportunity. More benefits: The peace that has been reached is good, but the slave business is currently in short supply. Compared with "Yunkai's dominance", wouldn't it be more profitable to control the entire Slaver's Bay to do a bigger business?
……
Inside and outside the city, the minds of people from all walks of life became active, and the situation gradually slipped towards the Bottomless Abyss. At this critical moment of life and death for the "Free Meereen", Petyr Baelish made one of the most daring decisions of his life: to strike first, secure the inside, and fight the outside at the same time, before Volantis' fleet reached the bay, martial power overwhelmed begin to stir the new nobles, and fight off the Yunkai armies outside the city to buy time for the Queen who may still be alive.
He went to the Unsullied Barracks in person, and with great justice and bitterness, he finally persuaded the Unsullied commander, Grey Worm, to agree to go beyond the procedure and lead the troops to attack without the Queen's order, and unite the mercenary group loyal to Daenerys in a certain One day at the Dawn time, the City Lord is out to fight. At the same time, the self-built free people Legion in the city also staged a coup d'état at night to control the increasingly powerful new nobles in the city under house arrest, and they will be released after the battle outside the city is settled.
For the first time in his life, the former King's Landing Master of Coin, who had no practical experience in the military, actually commanded a war. After questioning professionals and after discussion and deduction, the core council agreed unanimously: take action, the winning rate is less than half; sit still, dead end.
It was a gamble with no choice, but interestingly, the victory came easier than expected.
＊＊＊
The Yunkai'i army easily took down Astapor, which was thrown into chaos after Daenerys took Unsullied and killed the slave-master before encircling Meereen. The battle ended so quickly, but the winner was dealt an unexpected blow: the plague that broke out in the chaos of Astapor, spread among the Yunkai'i troops as they arrived, and was carried all the way to Meereen as they marched. outside the city.
Since the city was besieged for several months, the Yunkai army, which belonged to different slave-masters without a unified command, camped one by one to form a long snake formation, and hundreds of scattered camps were pieced together to form a city of silk and canvas. , roughly in a crescent shape surrounding the city of Meereen. In such a tightly packed situation, the plague gradually spread and spread with the movement of slaves, mercenaries and even prostitutes. On the surface, the army seems to be mighty, but in fact, the hearts of the people are already floating, the military discipline is useless, and the battle strength has dropped to freezing point.
What's even more amazing is that Petyr actually waited for the completely unexpected - flanking cooperation from the sea: a small group of Iron Fleet who came from thousands of miles to meet the Queen, Victarion in House Greyjoy led, and arrived at Slaver's Bay the same day before Meereen set out to take the initiative. Captain Iron took the dozen or so merchant ships captured along the way from Westeros as the first echelon to the Yunkai'i fleet, with the best Ironmen Warriors ambushed in their cabins - Daenerys had no navy, the latter had no chance of a surprise attack from the sea. Unprepared, soon to be approached by these unfathomable mystery merchant ships... boarding started. Afterwards, more than 40 Iron Fleet ships rushed over. Many Yunkai'i ships were directly rammed and sunk, and most of the rest were captured. Kill the red-eyed Ironmen Warrior and land on the ground, storm the Yunkai Camp from the dock!
At this time, the Yunkai army formed a long line from the base of Meereen to the port of Slaver's Bay. The shortcomings were exposed: the Ironmen landed in the port and rushed directly into the camp without any buffer. Yunkai The army did not have time to defend the entire team, and the chaos was transmitted through the medium of man, and at a speed faster than the plague, it spread throughout the entire camp in an instant.
Seeing this situation, Petyr, as the commander of the Meereen garrison, naturally seized the opportunity and ordered Unsullied, who had quietly left the city and had already completed the battle under the wall, to launch a general attack in advance.
On the west side, the Ironmen began to land and slash; on the north side, the most well-trained Unsullied in the world formed a charge; in the camp, several typical mercenary groups turned their backs; , the Green Dragon and White Dragon, released from the pit by the foolish Dorne Prince, were drawn by the Ironmen's horns and fire, circling and breathing flames.
Under such multiple blows, it is difficult for even the most elite army to hold up, even more how a gang of miscellaneous troops from the Southern Sea north? Petyr Baelish witnessed a scene that he never had the chance to witness in Westeros: the Yunkai army, which was several times his own army, was defeated like a mountain, and tens of thousands of soldiers dropped their weapons before they could fight, except for a small camp in the far southeast corner. Some were able to escape from the chaos, and almost the entire army was destroyed, and the Unsullied casualties were only more than a thousand.
The fighting outside the city ended even before the coup inside the city.
＊＊＊
Petyr sighed, throwing the memory of the battle out of his mind. Although he didn't play in person, as the Hand of the Queen and the supreme commander, that victory was indeed a glorious record to brag about... But now, in the rippling blue port, new enemies have already row upon row and spread all over the sea.
Compared to Yunkai, the Volantis fleet is not only large, but its ships are larger and stronger, and Iron Fleet's ships are not even big enough to board with. The troops carried on it, although small in number, were more well-trained. Once they took control of the waters of Slaver's Bay, they camped at a safe distance, with hundreds of battleships keeping the Queen's loyal Meereen ships and the tiny Iron Fleet in the water. After gaining control of the sea, they began to continuously gather defeated soldiers, deep trenches and high bases, waiting for the arrival of the follow-up troops.
Although the Volantis army was less than half of the Yunkai'i army, they were specially trained and obeyed the unification order, and the threat to Meereen was no less than the original enemy.
The most elite Unsullied died one less. When the opponent seemed to have no intention of attacking the city, Petyr did not plan a decisive battle for the City Lord, but stuck to the city and dispatched small troops from the rear. The team of shares traded with the Lazar people in exchange for food, waiting for the Queen's return.
Today is Queen's 107th day riding the Black Dragon east. Oneself's only hope of returning to Westeros, where is this moment, what is it doing...or, is it still alive?
Overhead, the huge projection of the Demon Dragon's outstretched wings swept across the Queen's terrace again. The Queen rode away on the Black Dragon, and the Green Dragon White Dragon, who was released for a foolish dragon stealing operation, took the Great Pyramid as a nest, and would eventually return to rest here, whether hunting or playing. After the initial nervousness and tremors, the Queen's servants and the residents of Meereen gradually found that they had no inclination and intention to attack people, and gradually became accustomed to their presence.
It's just that it's rare to fly so low that shadows skim across the patio.
Petyr is puzzled, lifts the head, blocks the sun with his hands, and looks for the silhouette of White Dragon or Green Dragon.
Then, his heart jumped suddenly.
The dragon in sight that just flew over his head was neither the pale yellow Viserion nor the jade green Rhaegal, but another big black guy.
--
(end of this chapter)