Game of Thrones: The Black Dragon King

The caravan rested for two days in the wasteland, treating the wounded, taking stock of losses and profits, identifying captured personnel from Dothraki, signing escort employment contracts, and accepting new members.

When they set off again, Reed had nearly a thousand more men under his command. A small number of strong and healthy men were equipped with tattered armor and weapons from Reed's fallen soldiers. The other cannon fodder, who had endured long periods of enslavement and appeared emaciated, used weapons captured from the Dothraki. There were also some women who stayed in the camp to do sewing, washing, and cooking, while also working part-time in the sex trade.

Reid had originally intended to enforce military discipline, but since both parties involved stated that it was a consensual transaction and in line with the characteristics of the times, he simply decided to leave it alone.

Walking across the wilderness, anyone who saw this group would immediately think they were not to be trifled with. After all, over four hundred soldiers who looked highly elite, plus twice that number of cannon fodder. For a caravan's escort force, it was far too much, and would always make any robbers think that it was not worth the risk.

And so, after several dozen days of trekking, the large caravan arrived safely in Meereen.

Meereen is located on the northernmost coast of Slaver's Bay, near the mouth of the Skazadan River, or more precisely, on a sandy promontory on the south bank of the Skazadan River.

The northern city walls were built along the riverbank, which flows through the city, while the western walls were constructed along the bay. The city's sewers led to the Skazadan River. Meereen's walls, like those of its sister cities Yunkai and Astapor, were constructed of brick, though Meereen's bricks were multicolored rather than simply yellow or red. The walls were exceptionally tall and thick, with defensive towers at every corner, and bronze harpy heads that could spray boiling oil at enemies. Coupled with a standing army of five thousand, they were virtually impregnable.

The nobles of Meereen lived on smaller pyramids, and there were about twenty smaller pyramids in the city. There was also a great pyramid, eight hundred feet high and thirty-three stories high, topped with a bronze harpy statue. It was used as the city hall.

Meereen boasts many enormous circular arenas built of colorful bricks, the largest and most luxurious of which is the Daznak Arena, which belongs to the Daznak family.

Competition has always been popular with a wide range of people, whether they are locals or foreign businessmen. In the arena, the battles between gladiators, the slaughter between slaves and wild beasts, the roars of wild animals, the cries of the losers, the splattered blood and scattered limbs, can always allow the audience in the stands to release their most primal desires.

Reid is currently at the Daznak Arena with Oellis. They were received by Pardara Daznak of the Daznak family, who is also the arena's administrator. As for why they are here, that fat Oellis wanted to sell those 190-plus Dothraki prisoners (more than ten of the Dothraki prisoners were too badly injured to survive the torture and long journey).

On the one hand, the fierce and warlike Dothraki Roaring Warriors, after being carefully trained by slave owners, would be excellent gladiators, and the great lords would offer them good prices; on the other hand, it was most likely out of Oelris's desire for revenge, after all, only a handful of gladiators left the Great Arena alive each year.

"Three gold coins for each slave!" Surprisingly, Pardara readily offered a good price, higher than the market average.

Three Gold Coins are equivalent to one Gold Dragon, and 190 Gold Dragons is a pretty good income, but O'Ilis was not in a hurry to complete the transaction.

"One request is attached."

"Please speak?" Pardara stopped smiling, took a sip of wine, and leaned back slightly.

"Don't let them leave the arena alive!" O'Ilis gritted his teeth.

"That's not a problem at all!" Paradara sat up upon hearing this, moving closer to O'Ellis, and smiled. "In fact, if you harbor deep hatred for these slaves, then tomorrow's competition will definitely satisfy you. I, Paradara Daznak of the Daznak family, sincerely invite you to watch our competition tomorrow morning."

Ouilis's remaining single eye showed interest: "Would you like to hear more?"

"Tomorrow's arena will recreate the glory of the Battle of Kohol! One hundred Unsullied against five hundred Dothraki Roaring Warriors!"

That's a huge investment! Reid was stunned.

The Unsullied are slave warriors selected from agile, stamina-rich, and strong boys. They are castrated from a young age and subjected to rigorous training with an extremely high attrition rate. They are instilled with combat skills, their individuality, emotions, and ego are erased, and they are regularly given "the elixir of courage" to eliminate the sense of pain. These elite light infantry combat units, equipped with short swords, shields, spears, and spiked helmets, know no fear, are absolutely obedient to orders, and are veritable perfect and efficient killing machines.

They are usually sold in units of hundreds or thousands, and correspondingly, the price of the Immaculate One is also ridiculously high.

Daenerys Targaryen's three galleons, laden with precious goods and treasures, were offered by the benefactors for two thousand Unsullied, including the cargo.

It's worth noting that Corliss Valerian, the "Sea Serpent," who completed nine great voyages, brought back fourteen ships laden with saffron, pepper, nutmeg, elephants, and fine silk on his final adventure, instantly making the Seahorse family the richest in the Seven Kingdoms. While the exact value of those fourteen ships' worth of goods is unknown, the increase in wealth that caused the change in the richest family rankings is at least estimated at 1 million gold dragons. Based on this, the price of a single Unsullied being would be no less than 100 gold dragons…

100 gold dragons is enough to equip six fully armed plate-armored knights. Only a rich man would spend the money for six heavy cavalry to buy a light infantryman because of the publicity effect of the Battle of Kohor.

The Daznak family were the wealthiest of the wealthy, throwing their Unsullied squad, worth 10,000 gold dragons, into the arena to fight and watch the spectacle.

Noticing Reed's shocked expression, Pardara became even more smug.

"Please give me a seat near the front!" O'Neill exclaimed excitedly.

"Your servants will greet you then, and I will prepare the best viewing platform for you."

"Excuse me, do you still need Dothraki warhorses and equipment?" Reed abruptly interrupted the conversation.

"This must be the famous 'Iron Wall,' 'Liberator' Reid, right? Your outstanding victory of defeating 3000 Dothraki cavalry with only 600 men on the Dothraki plains has already made the Black Dragon Legion famous throughout the major city-states." Pardara, of course, understood that Reid had come to ask for business.

"Did the news spread that fast?"

"As the center of the entire Essos trade, Meereen has its own sources of information," Pardara laughed, then stopped beating around the bush and said frankly, "In fact, there were merchants from Meereen among the caravans you rescued. Although I find it hard to condone your final act of freeing those 1000 slaves, we still want to express our gratitude."

"Then you must have no shortage of Dothraki warhorses and weapons. We are willing to buy them at 20% above market price. Of course, no bows and arrows, in case these barbarians hurt the spectators in our stands." Pardara finished speaking and chuckled!

Reed grinned and echoed, "Sheng Hui! Sheng Hui!"

Ultimately, over 200 Dothraki warhorses, along with a pile of tattered weapons captured from the Dothraki, were sold to this generous slave owner for 3500 gold dragons. Since his departure, Reid's accumulated wealth has exceeded 25000 gold dragons, including 23000 gold dragons in cash and 2000 gold dragons in receivables (Oellis's commission has not yet arrived).

Having just finished a dangerous and arduous journey, now with more money and in a safe and bustling city, Reed and O'Neill, their minds instantly relaxed, simultaneously extended invitations to each other.

"Going shopping?" "Going to a brothel?"

"Get out!" "Get out!"

Having gone through life-and-death situations together, and then extorting and splitting the spoils together, their relationship had clearly deepened, and they spoke much more casually. Reid assigned ten men to protect O'Ellis, and the two went their separate ways to find their own fun.

Meereen has wide streets, bustling with activity.

There were slave bay nobles who wore toka robes, had strangely shaped hair, and were bound with copper plates and yellow-green ribbons, riding in palans carried by slaves.

There were also servants who were neatly dressed, handsome, and obedient.

Of course, there were also slaves who were chained together, with only a tattered cloth wrapped around their waists, or even naked, forced to display their status under the whip.

In addition, you can see many merchants and travelers dressed in foreign attire, as well as mercenaries and knights from Westeros.

There were also merchants from various trading city-states, people from the Summer Islands whose bodies were as black as charcoal, and Dothraki, many of whom wore silk robes, linen skirts and sandals, their manners completely different from when they were in the Grass Sea.

The streets were lined with bustling shops and stalls, overflowing with goods: locally produced copperware, copper ingots, olive oil, handicrafts, and various grains; silk from the Land of the Barbarians; ironware from Kohor; lenses and glassware from Mil; golden wine from Greenwood Island; summer red from Dorne; shadowy lynxes from the North…

Almost any commodity in the known world can be found here, but the most numerous are local specialties: slaves.

Reed prioritized buying fabrics. He avoided silk, finding it shiny but not breathable, stuffy, and prone to static electricity. Unable to find cotton, he bought a considerable amount of fine linen, partly for making clothes (its breathability and absorbency were comparable to cotton, but cooler in summer); and also for cutting it into strips, boiling and drying it to make decent bandages.

At a high-end Kohol weapons shop, Reed, on a whim, asked if they had any Wagner steel weapons, only to be met with a look of utter disbelief from the shopkeeper. He eventually picked out several exquisite longswords and daggers; the patterns created by the folding and twisting forging technique were beautiful, and their toughness and sharpness were top-notch. He bought them without even blinking at the price of ten gold dragons each.

He also bought boots, gloves, a beautiful brass flask, various herbs, and all sorts of strange and wonderful things.

One hundred sheets of parchment, and this thing actually requires ten golden dragons!

Yes, the paper is made from sheepskin. The sheepskin is soaked in buckets of water to rot naturally until the wool can be easily plucked. Then, it is stretched with hemp twine into a special wooden frame, and the surface hair, grease, and soft inner leather are scraped off with a leather knife, leaving only a thin outer layer of dermis. After drying, it is cut, and only two to three sheets of parchment can be obtained from one sheep. Including labor and other costs, each sheet of paper costs the price of one sheep. These are the owner's exact words.

After scouring the streets and searching over a dozen blacksmith shops, Reed bought more than 500 weapons of various lengths and lengths, as well as over 5000 arrows. He also purchased ten cartloads of vegetables and black bread, three cartloads of liquor, mainly cheap barley wine, plus a barrel of Summer Red and Green Hall Island Golden Wine.

After only an hour of shopping, 1500 gold coins were spent, instantly waking up Red from his newly rich mentality.

"Not enough! Absolutely not enough!"

Back at the camp, as expected, his own gang of scoundrels had slaughtered most of the captured cattle and sheep. Steam rose from the cooking pot, filling the entire camp with the aroma of meat.

"This wasteful stuff won't do! We need a balanced diet of meat and vegetables." A whole cartload of carrots, turnips, cabbages, and potatoes were washed, peeled, chopped, and mixed into the large pot of meat to cook, all under the soldiers' resentful gazes!

Soon the group cheered happily again, because after the meal, Reed handed several large bags of silver coins to the clerk and instructed him to distribute the rewards. Reed was strict in managing his subordinates, but at the same time, he treated them generously and was never stingy.

Managers who overemphasize management and selectively ignore compensation issues generally don't last long. As for those who offer generous compensation but neglect management, they will never become managers.

It's clear that Reed wasn't the only one with the habit of wanting to spend money. That very night after the money was distributed, apart from those on duty, all the veterans went out to fool around.