Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 35 Lord Tully's Advice (Two in One)

Knowing that his son Alan was learning governance knowledge from a scholar of the Varese family and had a special martial arts instructor, Earl Tully was relieved and did not go to visit his son. Instead, he followed his daughter directly to the dragon's lair.

There is no external passage to enter the dragon's lair in Dragon's Nest City. One can only enter the black stone gate burned by Wormisol through an extremely narrow mountain road, and then enter the underground dragon's lair from the castle tower.

Lord Donald Tarly gently stroked the black stone handrail forged from dragon flame, but he couldn't even feel what material it was made of. He looked towards the City of Nine Towers above his head with eyes full of respect.

The father and daughter walked past the workers who were building the gate and carving the city walls, and came into view a large group of workers who were constructing the city's buildings with black stone and wood. Most of these workers had silver or light blond hair, and quite a few male workers had dyed their hair in various colors.

Lord Tully frowned, but soon his brows relaxed as he saw familiar blond, red, and black hair where the sept and godswood were built.

"Seven blessings, seven glories, seven gods protect my Lord, seven gods praise my Lord, seven gods descend upon my Lord, the Father gives the prince a sword and orders him to judge, the old woman gives wisdom and gives life to this place, the Virgin Mary smiles and bows her head, so the fields are fertile, the warrior blows the horn, so the prince is invincible, the blacksmith ignites the sky fire, so the holy city rises from the ground, the girl blesses this place, believers will multiply, strangers are everywhere, but He also blesses this place, believers are unaware of it"

Earl Tully frowned again. He saw that the border people working in the castle devoutly lit the seven-pointed star on their chests. The naturalized foreigners also closed their eyes and saluted, and then continued to work. Only the barefoot monk was still preaching tirelessly.

"Something's wrong, Diana. That monk is not right." Lord Tully immediately grasped the crux of the matter. "He is directing the Faith of the Seven Gods towards Prince Longzel. Will the Starry Cathedral approve of this behavior?"

"The Starry Cathedral won't know, or it won't matter if they know." Diana shook her head cunningly. "Brother Corren has been appointed by both the king and the archbishop. He is now the bishop of the Midsummer Prince's territory, and with the financial support of His Royal Highness, he has taken over a seat as the bishop of the cathedral. After all, the crystal crown of the archbishop needs more gold and gems to be decorated to highlight the majesty of the Seven Gods."

Lord Tully walked slowly into the city gate and sighed to his daughter, "I am getting old indeed. Young people today may really be able to change a lot of things." He walked quickly into the tower, which had no interior decoration yet, took the bread and salt from the tower worker and swallowed them whole.

Led by the Silver Guards of the Dragon Cave, Earl Tully and Diana came to the depths of the Dragon Cave and met the two Longzel brothers who had just cleaned the scales of the dragon and were resting under the dragon.

Seeing Lord Tully approaching cautiously, Wormisol glanced at him sideways, then closed his eyes with disdain. Silver Wing looked at Lord Tully curiously for a few more times, but in the end he snorted and went back to sleep.

"Lord Donald, you came without informing us. Look at this. We are so sorry for the poor hospitality. Diana, would you like to have some bread and salt, Lord Donald?" Looking at Earl Tully who was still carrying the thing covered with black cloth on his back, how could Longzel not know what it was.

The family sword of House Tully, the Valyrian steel sword "The Broken Heart".

"Thank you for your hospitality. Of course, if the meal we had in the tavern in town is counted, then I would be very grateful."

"That's your deal, sir." Longzel said with a smile. "But if you consider this as a treat, I'm embarrassed to refuse. But you are in a hurry to see me, so you must have something to say."

"The prince is really mature and wise beyond his age. And polite too." Earl Tully said in his heart.

He was also a straightforward person, or the entire Huntsman family advocated a concise and efficient way of speaking, so Earl Tarly got straight to the point as soon as he opened his mouth. "Your Highness, I suggest that you can directly use the excuse that the Weir family sent troops to harass Black Harbor to send troops to Dorne. This is the long-awaited revenge for the lords of the Border. All you have to do is ride on the dragon and raise the flag, and all the horses and swords in the entire Border will be at your disposal."

Longzier looked into Lord Tully's eyes and slowly stood up. "Lord Donald, I understand your feelings and the anger of the borderlands being scourged by the Dornish, but conquest, extermination and governance are three different concepts." Longzier walked up to Lord Tully, used the clips for Wormithor to hold stones as a pen, and drew a route on the rugged ground made of black stone. "I can ride a dragon to burn ports, oases, and forests, and lead an army to spread salt on the land, cut off water sources, fill the Greenblood River with toxins, and let the Dornish taste the true wrath of dragons. But then what? The remaining Dornish will pass on hatred from generation to generation. Even if the Dornish die out, what we will get will be a barren desert wasteland. Lord Donald, after absorbing the experience of the previous failed Dornish war, I believe you also know what the key to solving the Dornish problem is."

"You are right. Land, oases, and water are the sources of survival for the Dornish. If you destroy them, no matter how good the Dornish are at hiding or guerrilla warfare, they will perish in hunger and thirst." Lord Tully was certainly aware of these things. In fact, during the First Dornish War, the furious Conqueror Aegon and Queen Visenya did take these into consideration, but their ultimate goal was to conquer Dorne, not to exterminate it. So they did not go so far as to burn the oases and cut off the water source.

Although Lord Donald Tarly was filled with anger towards the Dornish, his reason told him that if all he got in the end was a wasteland, all the torture and fighting over the past thousands of years would become a joke.

"So your idea is," Lord Tarly suddenly thought of a possibility. Dorne's political situation is not as stable as it seems on the surface. The Yronwood family of Yronwood, the Fowler family of Skyreach, the Manwoody family of Kingsbarrow, the Dayne family of Starfall and Highhide, these families who once wore the crown are not as honest as they seem, especially the Yronwood family who once wore the crown of "High King of Dorne". In history, they have disobeyed the orders of Sunspear more than once, and the Martell family has no good way to deal with the most powerful family under them. If it weren't for the extremely bad relationship between the Yronwood family and the surrounding families, the situation might be worse.

"There is more than just Prince Keoren in Dorne." Longzel pointed the clip in the direction of the imaginary Sunspear City, and then pointed in the direction of the Red Mountains. "Prince Keoren is cautious, but there are also imprudent fools in Dorne."

"For example, the Vulture Kings of all generations!" Lord Tully thought of a lot of things at once. The Vulture King is the title of a Dornish leader who caused trouble in the Red Mountains. This title has been passed down for several generations and has triggered several "Dornish Wars". Although the Martell family will automatically distance themselves from the Vulture King every time he starts a rebellion, except for the stupid Prince Marion who triggered the Fourth Dornish War, every time the Dornish people cause trouble, they use the banner of the Vulture King. So almost everyone thinks that this annoying thing is the Prince of Dorne's man, who is specifically disgusting the lords of the border and the Targaryen family.

Earl Tarly could imagine what choices Earl Ullen Weir would make after losing his troops and port. That bitch who slept with both men and women would shamelessly go to Prince Coallen to make a scene, and then come back with nothing. Looking at the entire East March and even Dorne, the only ones who could provide him with help were the remnants of the Vulture King hiding in the Red Mountains, the Tolland family of Soul Hill who were extremely daring and had little conflict with the Weir family, and the Ullen family who no one could guess.

"Wars must be fought, but meals must be eaten bite by bite. What we want is the land and hearts of the Dornish people, not a bunch of lunatics who may rebel at any time and a scorched earth." Longzel forcefully inserted the clamp into the imaginary location of the city of Well.

Of course, it didn't go in and the clip was bent.

Longzel pretended to be calm as he threw the clamp aside and continued, "To kill a poisonous snake, it is best to wait until it is defenseless and exposes its vital parts. It is also best to let it be attacked from both sides, with no way to take care of the head and tail."

"I understand what you mean." Lord Tully extended his hand and shook Longzel's hand. "I will return to Horn Hill and prepare for a falcon hunt. Horn Hill can provide 600 armored cavalry, 3000 infantry, including 1200 longbowmen. They are all good at hunting stags."

“Thank you for your help.”

"The princes of the Western Frontier that I can influence can gather at least 300 cavalry and 2000 infantry. It's a pity that the Peck family has been concentrating on scheming with those sissy guys on the plains in recent years, otherwise the Western Frontier would be able to send out more troops."

"The situation in the Eastern Border will be worse." Longzel shook his head. "Only the Dondarrion and Selmy families will go all out. The Sven and Cullen families are probably still wavering. As for the other families, they are more like inland Stormland nobles than Borderlanders. They will not send troops without the approval of Duke Bermond Baratheon."

"You have a dragon." Lord Tarly looked at the dozing Wormithor with some awe. "Once the Bronze Wrath came out, the Dornishmen could only flee in fear. Your Highness, I will wait for your news in the mountains."

"When the time comes, I will let Valar ride over on Silver Wing." Longzier set a sign that the time was ripe. Once Lord Tarly, who was hunting in the mountains, saw the silver dragon flying over, he would immediately march east.

"Your Highness, it's a pleasure to work with you." Lord Tarly smiled happily. "I hope this time the Dornish bitch will always remember our fire and arrows. May the Seven Gods bless you." Longzel smiled and narrowed his eyes.

At the same time, Gaoyin City.

This beautiful castle is another family castle of the Dayne family. It belongs to a branch of the Dayne family and obeys the main branch family of Starfall City.

There is a huge cellar here, which contains fine wines from all over the world. However, as the secret door of the cellar was opened, a group of people in black quickly rushed into the cellar.

As if they knew someone was coming, several boys and girls had been hiding in the cellar, helping these guys in black clothes and heavy armor to control the various towers of the castle. The leading man in black walked leisurely on the stairs of the main tower and kicked open the door of the lord's room.

The elderly Ser Oberyn Dayne seemed to know who had attacked his castle. He leaned quietly on the bed, watching the man in black come in, take off his hood, revealing a strong and handsome face underneath.

"Oberya, you are indeed more suitable for the dawn, but I am not dead yet." Oberyn couldn't help but say when he saw Obara's face. "Can't you wait a few years?"

"Granduncle, you can no longer wield the Dawn." Obara raised her long legs and stepped on her uncle's table, looking down at the old "Dawn Sword" with cloudy eyes. "I can hear the Dawn crying in dissatisfaction." She pointed to her ears. "Dawn is eager to fight, and now I have found a reason to wield the sword."

"What do you want to do? Where's my son?"

"Granduncle, don't think too much. Parricide is a serious crime hated by the gods. But my uncle is too cautious. He can't afford our dream, so I let little Kunlan rule for my uncle."

The door creaked open, and a neatly dressed young man looked at his cousin excitedly. "Obara, when are we going to act?"

"Quinlan? Are you crazy? Quinlan is only 13 years old?" Oberyn tried hard to get up, but found that his frail body could no longer support him to complete this task. "What do you want to do?"

Obara smiled mysteriously. "Uncle, just wait and see. When Starfall raises our flag, we will let the King of the River Run return to the Seven Kingdoms." She looked at her cousin's fanatical eyes and continued to raise her voice: "Why can Martell keep the crown forever? The Dayne family has produced kings before. Why should we hand over the crown obediently because of a few failures? The great warrior queen Nymeria has left seeds in Dayne's bloodline. Why should we be subservient to the damn sun for hundreds of years?"

The boy's eyes became more and more fiery, and he even looked at his grandfather with a bit of ferocity.

Oberyn sighed. He couldn't even get out of bed and could do nothing. He could only watch Obara do whatever she wanted.

"What if Martell summons his vassals to quell the rebellion?"

"Don't worry, old man." Obara leaned forward and put her face against the wrinkled face of her great uncle. "Prince Keoren can't take care of us."

"That Starfall City."

"Haha." Obara raised her eyebrows. "I think my brother has already controlled my fat pig-like father. Don't worry, my brother is stupid, but if he can wear the crown of the King of the Rapid River on his head, he is more enthusiastic than anyone else."

"When and why did you become a bachelor."

"Ravens aren't the only means of communication, great-uncle." Obara moved her whole body away, no longer looking at Oberyn's skinny body. "It turns out that it was the right choice to let the family members learn more words."

These were Obara's last words to her great-uncle.

"Obara, where did you find these warriors?" Amira Sand, the illegitimate daughter of High Hidden City, looked excitedly at the tall, strong, hairless Unsullied soldiers. She took some out and then looked at Obara with a sullen face. "Great, Obara, you actually found so many eunuchs! Are you trying to trick us?"

Obara ignored her illegitimate cousins ​​and walked over to the soldiers. "According to the instructions of His Royal Highness, I will leave 30 men to guard High Hidden City, and the rest will follow me to Starfall City."

"Yes." The Unsullied soldiers stood still at the same time, startling the boys and girls who were watching. They looked at Obara with more awe.

Star falls into the city.

The same thing is happening. No matter how solid a fortress is, it cannot withstand the collapse from within, especially when the one doing it is Lord Dayne's eldest son.

The obese Earl of Dayne was locked in a cubicle directly next to the kitchen, looking desperately at his eldest son who was slowly eating the grilled meat covered in chili beside him.

"Rebellious son, why are you doing this?"

"For the crown, father." Young Dane's eyes were also filled with enthusiasm. "The crown of the King of the Turbulent River has returned to our family after hundreds of years. Father, this is the greatest honor."

"Rebellious son, rebellious son!" Lord Dayne banged hard against the stone door, but it did not budge. "My good son, please let dad go. Dad will agree to anything you ask for. No, no."

Seeing his eldest son wipe his mouth and walk out of the kitchen, the fat earl shouted in despair, "Seven hells, seven hells, please leave some food for daddy."

Sorry everyone, I really can't update twice today, I can only do two updates in one. The boil has softened a little, but it hurts more. I have been in bed with hot compresses and medicine all day today.



(End of this chapter)