Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 173: Wind Rising from Dragonstone Island

When Prime Minister Oberyn returned from the Maester's Tower, Viserys looked at the poison expert and couldn't help asking, "What did the maester say? Did you find out what the powder was? Did someone poison it?"

Oberon was an expert in poison and gave a firm answer: "Your Majesty, it's not poison. The test dog is alive and well. The details will have to wait for the bachelor to test it. But based on my understanding of medicine, I'm afraid that the powder is indeed an extract of some Lys alchemist, just as the guards around your Chancellor said. It is an expensive and gimmicky cold potion that once circulated in Essos. But because the potion is too expensive, the Alchemist Guild of Lys has stopped production."

Could it be cephalexin? Viserys was puzzled. Could the alchemists in this world produce cephalexin?

When Viserys heard the news of Illyrio's death, he couldn't help but sigh, but he also considered it. To be honest, he originally wanted to put pressure on the fat minister to come and confess. Maybe depending on the severity of the case and the bizarreness of the truth he confessed, Viserys could give the fat minister a decent way out.

Unexpectedly, Illyrio chose to commit suicide.

No matter what the maesters and Oberyn said, Viserys was convinced that it was suicide, for the simple reason that Illyrio felt his death could cover up the secret.

In fact, if Viserys had not known from outside the world that young Aegon, Varys and Illyrio were related, perhaps all the secrets would have been taken to the grave with his death.

However, the result was Illyrio's death, which made Viserys even less likely to trust young Aegon and Varys, who might surrender in the future.

Speaking of which, Illyrio's death was quite tragic. He died of suffocation while lying on the bed with vomit blocking his throat.

When he was found, the fat minister's face was blue and purple, and his features were distorted. He seemed to have struggled for a while before his death, but because he was too fat, he was unable to turn over and suffered extremely painful torture in the final stage.

At first, because this symptom was so famous - the false king Joffrey died in this way, Viserys, the maester, and the Prime Minister Oberyn, who was well versed in poisons, all suspected it was the "Strangler" poison.

However, the bachelor soon discovered vomit in the fat minister's throat and quickly ruled out the possibility of "strangler" poison. He then inferred that the fat minister was ill and drank strong liquor before going to bed. Then, when the fever symptoms caused by the cold induced nausea and vomiting, he was unable to turn over and spit out the vomit because he was drunk and too fat, and was choked to death.

The maester, Oberyn, Gunther, the old knight Barristan and several knights who came after hearing the news, and even Illyrio's eunuch guards and other knowledgeable people, all finally agreed that this was a normal accidental death caused by drunkenness, cold and obesity.

The powdery drug that looked like poison on Illyrio's table turned out not to be poison at all.
Viserys suspected that it was some kind of drug like cephalexin that needed to be taken with alcohol to be effective, but after thinking about it carefully, he finally did not say this idea out loud.

Illyrio had no political enemies on Dragonstone, nor did he have many political allies. When it was inferred that it was a normal death, people just sighed, because in a sense, only a rich man like Illyrio who had no worries about food and drink, who always brought his followers with lunch boxes when he went out, who could satisfy his appetite at any time, and who was very rich and powerful could have such a bizarre death.

It's bizarre, but reasonable.

So the incident was attributed to an accidental death caused by cold and drunkenness and was handled in a low-key manner.

After all, the King's wedding had just happened a few days ago, and everyone unanimously believed that the Chancellor's death was caused by his own accident.
I wonder if the fat minister would still choose such a painful way of suicide if he knew that Viserys actually had no solid evidence and was just trying to put pressure on him to confess.
After all, Illyrio is dead.

Considering the political impact, Viserys did not tear off his disguise with Illyrio after all. In the eyes of others, they were king and subject. Viserys could only ask the Templar to find a few silent nuns to tidy up the body of the fat minister, and then let his followers send him back to Pentos to be dealt with by his steward.

And because Illyrio had no nominal heir, Viserys couldn't posthumously confer a Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on his heir. It was unknown whether Illyrio had made a will, or if he had no heir, his property would probably be divided up by the stewards and various stewards. Viserys had no idea about eating up the family, but he was still cautious and sent a small team of Unsullied guards to escort the body, asking them to record how Pentos dealt with Illyrio and see if they could find anything.

Illyrio had not been granted the title of a noble of the Seven Kingdoms, but only served as the Minister of Finance as the Governor of the Merchants of Pentos. Therefore, when Viserys sent people to send Illyrio's body to the ship back to Pentos, few people went to see off this "favorite" who was once the most popular among the ministers of the Dragonstone. Only the Grole family, several captains of Pentos, the old knight Barristan, and several officers who had worked with Illyrio for a while, including the banker Tycho from Braavos, went to see him off.

The guards in charge of monitoring the Golden Company told Viserys that from the time the news of Illyrio's death was announced to the time his body was sent on the ship back to Pentos, Aegon and Jon Connington in the Golden Company camp did not react at all. Only a pharmacist of the Golden Company named Haldon went to see Illyrio off for the last time.

Viserys speculated that Aegon himself might not know the role Illyrio played in his cooperation with the Golden Company, but Jon Connington must know, but it was not known how much Jon knew.

But after all, these things were just hearsay and had no real evidence, and they posed no threat to Viserys, so he just ignored their silence as usual.

Illyrio's death was just a trivial matter that did not cause any waves on Dragonstone. It was soon overshadowed by bigger storms and no one paid attention to it.

As the news from the Royal Conference spread more or less to Dorne, the Stormlands, and the Narrow Sea lords, people realized that a huge shadow was looming over their heads.

The White Walkers appeared, the dead were resurrected, the sea froze, there was an ice dragon, and the city of Braavos was almost destroyed. Compared with these explosive news, the complete destruction of the House of Black and White in Braavos and the agreement signed between Braavos and the king that was almost equivalent to a treaty of defeat seemed so unsurprising.

The news came from the king, and the king even said that people from Braavos would soon come to Dragonstone to continue negotiating the specific content of the agreement and cooperation. Those who don't believe it can go to Braavos to verify it themselves and see what the citizens there say.

Such bizarre yet true news made everyone unable to recover for a while.

At the same time, the king reiterated the previous royal order, requiring all places and castles to prioritize the construction of granaries; the king also asked the lords of the Stormlands to return to their jurisdictions as soon as possible and resume production and construction work in the Stormlands as quickly as possible, in order to prepare for winter before it arrives.
This meeting of the Imperial Court decided a large number of administrative orders, including production and construction, territory governance, pre-winter planning, and in-depth cooperation with Braavos.
There are two other major events. One is the public plan for the Great Wall. Viserys requires that before winter, a maritime logistics supply line for the Great Wall be established from the Targaryen territories - Dragonstone - Braavos - Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, calling on the territories to donate logistics materials for the defense of the Great Wall; for the knights and civilians who are willing to take the initiative to go to the Great Wall to guard the border and become the Night's Watch, the Targaryen king will be given the honorary title of Night's Watch and provide certain subsidies to their families; at the same time, letters will be sent to the northern lords, asking them to send troops to support the northern Great Wall's request for help; Dragonstone will join Braavos to issue an early warning of the appearance of the White Walkers to all parts of the world - of course, the essence is to send a group of people to travel on public funds and eat and drink everywhere, because Viserys basically has no hope of convincing a few people to believe these things that sound empty and unfounded.

The second part is the part that has not been made public yet and is only known to the king's ministers and relevant personnel. The king ordered Dorne to deploy troops to the Prince's Pass and prepare for war. After the preparations are complete, the king will send ravens to all parts of the southern border, asking the southern lords to come to High Court to swear allegiance. Those who surrender will retain their fiefdoms and titles, and those who refuse to obey will be stripped of their fiefdoms and killed without mercy.

Yes, this time the king planned to send troops out of Prince's Pass and then detour to Highgarden. If Highgarden Tyrell did not surrender, he would first capture Highgarden and then turn around to attack Oldtown.

In theory, if we take over these two places, most of the southern border can be considered recovered.

The king was so determined not to attack King's Landing first that he would rather arrange for the Golden Company to guard the Stormlands for him and summon the half-wild men of the Crabclaw Peninsula to guard the Narrow Sea for him than to capture King's Landing and the Crownlands first.

Moreover, the king could have easily sealed off the throat and cut off the sea lifeline of King's Landing, but the king did not intend to do so. Soon after, the former chancellor of finance and the king were heard among the knights and civilians. The former chancellor of finance advised His Majesty to seal off the throat, but the king opposed this plan and explained why he would not do so. It is said that the king sighed and said compassionately: "If this is done, it will only make the people of King's Landing suffer. The fake king of King's Landing does not lack food."

But no matter what, it is clear that the king does not want to attack King's Landing at all.

This consideration has an explanation. First, the king has to rely on Dorne's soldiers. Second, the king bluntly stated that he needs the rich south to prepare for a more terrible war. Attacking King's Landing is meaningless in the long run.

The king made it clear to everyone who knew the battle plan that he needed to have enough stable grain-producing areas before winter, because he believed that the world would undergo great changes in the future, and only with sufficient food supplies and a stable rear area could he win the war that was related to the survival of mankind.

(End of this chapter)