Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 105 Otto: Your Majesty, My Mission is Completed (33)

"The lion is out of the cave, Lord Piper, Lord Frey." Red Robb panted as he opened the cloth door and walked into the camp of the commander of the Red Fork River defense line. This archer won the unanimous respect of nobles and commoners through the strong recommendation of Longzier and the title of champion in the Summer Hall Tournament. Benjiko Blackwood, who had always admired this illegitimate elder, even wanted to make him a regular several times, but was rejected by Red Robb.

Red Robb had always hoped that his last name could come from Longzel - he could have the benefactor he has today.

Lord Petyr Piper, Lord Trystane Vance, Lord Forrest Frey, Lord Humphry Bracken, young Lord Benjicol Blackwood, and Alysanne sat in front of the map, discussing the next tactics. The girl also conquered these nobles with her archery skills and was able to attend the meeting as a warrior. Of course, the most special one was Benjicol. Although this 12-year-old child was tall and thin, he could still be seen as a child standing among the adults.

"Should we take the initiative to attack?" Benji Ko looked at the map and suddenly raised his head and asked.

"Robb, how many troops does the Lannisters have?" Lord Forrest Frey asked, stroking his mustache.

"About 13,000 men." Red Robb walked to the edge of the map. "More than we thought. Nearly 9,000 of them were in armor. My scouts also saw lions in cages and no less than 7,000 horses. Damn it." The bastard archer spat. "Seven layers of hell, where does the Westerlands get so much money?"

"At least three thousand cavalry." Lord Forrest Frey made an immediate judgment. "Anything else? What are the banners of the nobles?"

"The golden lion of the Lannister family, the red lion of the Reynes family, the wild boar of the Crakehall family, the rooster of the Swyft family, the seven-pointed star of the Tarbeck family, and the shell of the Westerling family." Although Red Robb was born a bastard, the people of the Blackwood family respected him very much. Earl Samwell, who died in the battle, also liked him very much. He was not only literate, but also received a bachelor's education. Naturally, he knew a lot of noble banners: "Almost all the famous nobles in the Westerlands are here."

"The Lion has too many cavalrymen." Petyr Piper saw the problem. "They have better equipment and more cavalry than we do. Forrest, how are the follow-up troops?"

"Still on the way." Lord Frey scratched his head. "But my wife sent me a raven telling me that Lord Stark's 2,000 vanguard cavalry are rushing towards the Red Fork River at full speed. They will meet up with Lord Mallister's cavalry at Seaforest and will probably arrive at the battlefield in the next few days."

"Then we will delay until the northern cavalry arrives." Lord Petyr made the final decision: "Benji Cole, you take our main force to stay here, Trystane and I will be in charge of the first line of defense, Lord Frey and Lord Bracken will be in charge of the second line of defense. We must stop the lion from crossing the river."

"Why should I stay behind?" Benji Ko suddenly jumped onto the table. "The Blackwood family has more troops than Bracken and they are stronger than him. Why can't they let us go?"

"Because we are the Brackens!" cried Lord Humphrey.

"It is precisely because the Blackwood family has more troops that I asked you to hold back, Ben," Lord Frey said patiently. "If we cannot stop the attack of the westerly army, you must support our army and the northern army. Come to rescue us at any time."

Benji Kou climbed down from the table and said, "We have agreed that my sister and I will set out immediately when the northern cavalry arrives. You must hold out. If you can't, I will just kill them."

"Okay, okay, okay." Lord Frey ruffled the little earl's hair, looked at the other earls, and went out of the tent.

The army of the Westerlands was still advancing. The surrounding Three Rivers nobles had already closed their defenses and moved the villagers into castles and fortresses. Duke Jason was too lazy to take on these tough tasks. The biggest problem now was that he had received news that Yangyan and Tesserion had been killed, King Aegon's life or death was unknown, Aemond was missing, and Daeron had died in battle. Plus a secret letter from Tyran, the Duke of the Westerlands was somewhat uneasy. But the army had already set out, and the battle still had to be fought.

As the Western Army slowly advanced towards the Red Fork River, in the distant East Continent, Otto, dusty but still wearing luxurious green silk clothes, finally arrived at the last stop of his journey to the East Continent.

The Kingdom of Three Daughters.

This free trade city-state alliance, officially known as the "Three Cities Alliance", is composed of Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh. The governors' representatives of the three cities are now coming to meet Otto.

The negotiation took place in a luxurious palace. Dwarf elephants were walking in the artificial forest outside the palace. A huge fountain stood in the center of the courtyard. People were sitting under the huge dome. The walls were painted with gorgeous murals and countless silk wall hangings. Even Otto's eyelids twitched several times when he saw this scene.

"Prime Minister, didn't you receive any letter from Westeros?" After seeing the note handed over by Otto, Governor Rees smiled bitterly and shook his head: "The king you served died in the battle, and the body of his dragon is still there, uh."

The governor of Tyrosh was a man with a gruff voice. "Raven's Rest, outside the castle."

Otto naturally received the raven from home. He scoffed at the news. If Great Aegon was really dead, Westeros would be even more chaotic now. "The legitimate king only suffered a temporary defeat, so the support of the Three Cities Alliance is even more precious." The Prime Minister said, "I have recruited 30,000 mercenaries. We only need ships to take them across the narrow sea, and we can turn the tide of the war. The legitimate king still has two real dragons, and the hypocritical queen, huh, she will only spread the dragons. We still have a chance."

The three governor representatives looked at each other. It was obvious that 30,000 mercenaries were more convincing than the giant dragon far away in the sky. Of course, what was more convincing was gold.

"Prime Minister, I can only tell you." The Governor of Mill said, "We are merchants, not warriors. We can rent you a ship, but it's a rental. A warship costs fifty gold dragons per person, and an ordinary ship costs fifty gold dragons." Governor Mill said a sky-high price.

After all, to transport 30,000 mercenaries and break through the defenses of the Valerian family, Otto would need at least 150 warships, which would cost him several million gold dragons.

"One hundred gold dragons for each warship." Otto said, "I will give you the Stepstone Islands, and the tax rate for all merchant ships entering the ports of Westeros will be halved for the Three Cities Alliance."

The three governors looked at each other. This offer was indeed excellent. Moreover, since they were renting warships, they had reason to avoid retaliation from the Black Party. "Deal, but what about Varese's silver fleet?"

"I will rent an additional fifty warships." Otto said, "I will pay three thousand gold dragons for each of these fifty warships. I only ask them to keep harassing the coast of the Dorne Sea. I don't ask how many people they kill or how much they rob, just hit and run."

Otto sighed inwardly.

Three updates completed, and another three updates tomorrow
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(End of this chapter)