Chapter 496
On the eighth day of the First Fleet's departure from Tolos, the White Dragon who had been hiding in the clouds and secretly observed the disappearance of New Ghis City.
At this point, the Allied First Fleet had left Slaver's Bay, left the domain of Maiden of Freedom Isle, and entered the wider Gulf of Grief.
This night, Tolos City Lord Barro Terilys, as usual, called the city defense Commanders in turn to question them before going to sleep.
Terilys is also one of the Fourteen Flames and co-manages Tolos with another fire peak family, the Varolys.
Originally, Pihelo from the Varolys family should be the City Lord. Pihelo is in his prime and is Barro's son-in-law, just in time to deal with the increasingly powerful Dragon Queen on the other side.
But a month ago came an invitation from Mantarys, handwritten letter from Jaen: Bloodline noble Valyria Warrior needed.
Tolos and Elyria next door, like Mantarys and Oros, belong to the territory of Valyria.
--very weird, compared to Mantarys, Elyria and Tolos are closer to the Fourteen Flames at the center of the cataclysm, but these two cities are completely unaffected by the curse.
Even so, Tolos didn't lose contact with the Mantarys of Cursed Land.
In the past 400 years, many living materials have been transported from Tolos to Mantarys along the Valyrian road.
So, the information between Tolos and the Lands of Long Summer is not blocked.
Tolos know Jaen Belaerys of Oros and Baani Meraxes of Mantarys.
Receiving Jaen's letter, without hesitation, Pihelo led a group of noble bloodline youths to Mantarys, and the position of City Lord fell on the old but wise Barro.
"Lord City Lord, everything is normal at the west city gate. No foreigners entered Tolos today." The West City garrison Commander reported.
Barro behind the carved dragon rosewood table scooped up a spoonful of human milk lotus seed soup with a White Jade spoon, put it into his mouth, chewed it slowly and swallowed it into his throat before asking, "Western Camp's Are the mercenaries still safe?"
"As usual, three mercenaries stole the manor's sheep today, and four mercenaries strengthen a Valyria bloodline town Maiden." silver hair and purple Eyes' guard Commander said with suppressed anger.
"Bang-crash!"
The blue veins on the back of the old man's hand bulged into the roots of the tree, and swept the table suddenly, and the soup bowl and spoon fell to the ground.
"Sooner or later, that group of choppers will be sent to Meereen as cannon fodder!" City Lord Barro cursed.
The West City Defense sighed then said, and understood the meaning of the City Lord: We still need mercenaries to deal with the Mother of Dragons, and the major event will be reduced to a small matter.
Then he silently gave a salute and left.
"Everything is fine in the north city, there are no riots, no spies, and the grain depot and arsenal of the north camp outside the city gate are also safe.
Three o'clock in the afternoon, Gylo Rhegan the Shoemaker Long Lances, a total of 1600 Lancers, 4000 infantry along the Valyrian road, from Mantarys, they also brought 500 Scorpion (Scorpion)." The North City garrison Commander came to report.
"I know Jig the shoemaker, he's visiting my City Lord's house."
Barro has another bowl of lotus seed soup in front of him, and it's him who eats a bowl of breast milk before going to bed every night habit.
"With Long Lances, Tolos has almost 30,000 armies and 2,000 Scorpions, now I can finally sleep peacefully." The old City Lord sighed contentedly.
After the Beicheng Guards left, the Nancheng Guards came.
The south of the city faces the sea, and the garrison of Nancheng is also responsible for the safety of the wharf.
"Lord City, seven ships from New Ghis entered the dock today, four for grain and three for Astapor spirits, sugar and white paper."
"Very good," City Lord Barro said no, relaxedly said with a smile, "since the First Fleet left, I've been worried that Dragon Queen is the best, she likes to do this.
p>The last eight days, every day The number of ships coming to Tolos has remained almost constant, indicating that the passage from Tolos to New Ghis has not been blocked.""City Lord is wise!" The Nancheng guard complimented.
"It's just that I heard that Slaver's Bay is closed to trade, can I still buy their sugar and spirits?" City Lord said curiously.
The Allied base camp is too far from Slaver's Bay, Mantarys does not produce food, and the nearest distance from New Ghis to Tolos is more than 1,000 kilometers. Even by sea, the cost of long-distance transportation of materials is too high.
There is no doubt that buying supplies from Dragon Queen is not only cheap (Dragon Queen is doing a promotion), but also very close.
If the Dragon Queen is willing to sell food, the Allies will be happy to die: buy food from the Dragon Queen, transport it to the opposite Tolos, and then feed the Allies from Mantarys to Meereen, it's not too much... ...too whimsical.
Dragon Queen never sells food!
She sells olive oil, sweet potatoes, wine made from grapes, sugar made from Beetroot, refined salt, textiles, and even copperware (not iron, only iron), but she doesn't sell Wheat and rice, even potatoes and dried sweet potatoes are not sold.
Well, she sells high-strength liquor made from sweet potatoes, but not dried sweet potatoes, which sounds a bit weird.
As a result, Astapor was very prosperous. Merchants bought goods from Dragon Queen, shipped them to New Ghis, and sold them to the Allies.
——New Ghis is only an island with a radius of 100 miles, unable to supply hundreds of thousands of army allies.
The wine the Allies drank were all white wine mixed with water and juice produced by Astapor; the salt and sugar that the Allies ate were also from Astapor; From Slaver's Bay.
Even the monthly wages of the army soldiers, Copper Coin and Silver Coin, also come from Slaver's Bay - produced by the Dragon Queen Mint.
Why is Dany doing this?
Because none of the sea merchants came to Slaver's Bay empty-handed, they also brought Dany what she needed, iron essence, finished swords, boiled leather, sheepskin, whale oil, and even rice and wheat.
That's right, there are some marine merchants who sell the rations of the Allies, because the Dragon Queen bids a lot, and they give them subsidies!
100 catties of rice, 10 catties of high-concentration liquor, 10 liquors for 200 catties of sweet wine.
Since rice is a subsidy item, it is not only tax-free, but also gets a 30% discount coupon equal to the amount of grain sold.
For example, Zhang San sold food worth 100 yuan at Slaver's Bay, and he bought 100 yuan of liquor at Slaver's Bay. Before leaving, Dragon Queen will compensate him for another 30 yuan. gold.
This business...who can resist the temptation?
Even, the Allies knew that the sea merchants were selling grain to the Dragon Queen, and they turned a blind eye, and even encouraged them.
The reason is also very simple. Which one is more expensive to transport 100 catties of grain from Volantis to New Ghis compared to transporting 200 catties of sweet wine?
During this tossing, the food supply of Dragon Queen's family has increased unabated.
Military clothing has also been replaced by high value-added, low-cost silk fabrics with low-value-added, high-value-added fur.
Only fur can survive the winter!
——Although the southern coastal city-states such as Qarth, Volantis and New Ghis never experienced winter, they wore silk clothes and brocade robes.
In addition to the export of lucrative materials such as white paper, salt, and coins, even with the crazy subsidies from Dragon Queen, the gold in her vault is also increasing day by day.
This is a win-win? !
"Targaryen, speak like a mountain." The South guard said resolutely.
"Oh, I've heard that too, what does that have to do with our ability to continue buying Slaver's Bay supplies?" City Lord Barro said curiously.
"Dragon Queen signed contracts with Volantis, New Ghis, Qarth and several small vendors in those days. At any time, Slaver's Bay will not refuse 'VIP customers'."
Said This, the defense of the south of the city couldn't help but sighed: "The small trader in the past, relying on the sea trade with Slaver's Bay, has grown into an important sea trader in a few years.
The Faat Duzimu of Volantis was originally only a A slave who became the son-in-law of a small businessman, but is now eligible to run for Triarch."
"Faat Duzimu? I know him, that fatty hateful, between our allies and the Dragon Queen. It's good to eat at both ends," said City Lord Barro in disgust.
Chengnan guard shrugged and did not comment, but continued: "Dragon Queen still sticks to its promise, even if the city is closed due to the epidemic, it will open an exclusive wharf for VIP customers and continue to do business."
“so that's how it is!”
Barro scoops a spoonful of lotus seed soup with Astapor sugar and swallows it contentedly.
When the guards in the south of the city left, Barro also finished his last sip of soup, stood up and stretched, sighing: "It's another dull but peaceful day, I hope—"
"Boom, boom, boom—"
Three explosions in a row resounded over the silent city.
"Boom!"
The castle of the City Lord's house was shaking gently.
"That's-" Barro's expression changed drastically, he turned to the left window, and saw about four blocks away, an 80-meter-tall tower, a landmark of the city, was burning.
Like a lit torch, residents of the entire city can see it.
"That's... Crow's Nest!"
The Crow's Nest was attacked.
Barro was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed in horror: "Mother of Demon Dragons is coming, she is going to launch a full-scale attack on Tolos, first deliberately cut off Tolos' external contact."
" bang bang bang!" A series of violent roars resounded in the city, accompanied by surfing weather waves, and a series of firelights igniting the dark night sky.
He saw the silhouette of the Demon Dragon passing quickly in the firelight.
The speed is really fast, the three dragons, without any hesitation, they seem to be flying according to the planned route, soaring all the way, deflecting the direction beautifully all the way, looking for the target, burning the tower with fire.
For a moment when the old City Lord was stunned, seven or eight towers were set on fire.
It's all towers!
"Damn, it's all the towers in the city where the crow's nest is built."
Lying at the window for a while, the old City Lord who has lived in this city for more than 50 years will understand , the attacked are all crow's nests.
What does this mean?
The old man shuddered.
"Boom, boom, bang!"
The fires in the city began to become irregular, and there seemed to be no crow's nests in some places?
At least in the old City Lord's mind.
——What the old City Lord didn't know, the three cats and three petrels must know after a carpet search.
In just 20 seconds, more than 40 bright or dark "stars" rose from the Tolos covered by the ink-colored curtain.
The burning tower looks like a twinkling star from a distance.
And then, "bang!"
old man's expression changed again, and a mushroom cloud of green flames rose from Scorpion's position, hidden around the Western District houses.
It is 15 meters high, covering the 6-meter-high city wall, and almost all the nearby urban areas are shrouded in green flames.
Even though it was a mile away, the light of the fire shone green on the face of Lord City Lord.
"Wildfire—" Barro whistled.