The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 152 On the eve of the war
For the East Continent, this year was a restless year.

Since the end of the Eastern Expedition for the Iron Throne, the East Continent has enjoyed several years of peace and the prosperity of resource flow on both sides of the Narrow Sea.

This to a certain extent alleviated the plight of the East Continent after the Iron Throne plundered a large amount of wealth, so many people felt that such days would have to continue for many years and war was still a long way off.

So, when a large number of Dothraki crossed the Rhoyne River and the remaining trading city-states sent out their armies, a super war broke out again, which many people did not expect.

But life still had to go on, and the Orientals were no strangers to war. But the main force of this invasion was countless centaurs. It had been a long time since the centaurs launched such a large-scale invasion, so many places were still in a state of confusion and were not ready for war before they welcomed the centaurs' cavalry.

These settlements were quickly conquered by the horsemen, who were full of contempt for the settlers. The barbarians on the Great Grass Sea set fire to the settlements one by one, and the captives were taken to the Great Grass Sea amid the horsemen's contempt. As a result, smoke and fire broke out everywhere in the new seven countries.

Many Easterners were frightened by this unprecedented invasion of centaurs in hundreds of years, but the people of Westeros were not afraid.

Unlike those Orientals who have lived with the notoriety of centaurs since childhood and still overestimate the fighting power of centaurs even though the myth of centaurs has been shaken a lot, the people of Westeros have won one victory after another over the centaurs since they came into contact with them. In their view, the Dothraki are not scary, but just a group of unarmored barbarians.

The Westeros territories in various parts of the new seven kingdoms played a pivotal role in this centaur invasion. These nobles and knights, who had only been granted titles a few years ago and had obtained their own surnames for the first time, either bravely led their troops to attack or firmly defended their castles.

Some of the attackers drove away the Centaurs, while some were overwhelmed by them. But even those who were overwhelmed made them pay a higher price.

The defenders held their fortress firmly, while the centaurs' siege technology remained the same as before. If they wanted to take a small fortress, they had to fill it with human lives.

Under the current prospect, the centaurs immediately fell into a dilemma after taking those easy pieces of meat. It would not be worth the effort to take down those small fortresses, but if they could not take them down, the knights and nobles inside would continue to annoy them from the rear.

The feeling of those knights and nobles who faced the centaurs for the first time was - they didn't expect there would be such idiots. Among the centaurs, they could just rely on their thick armor to hack around, and the centaurs' bare chests were simply tempting them to brandish swords.

However, with the arrival of the main force of the centaurs, the fortresses blocking their way fell one after another. Faced with such a large number of centaurs, these fortresses could not hold out for much longer at most.

As the centaur army advanced, the northern city-states also launched a full-scale invasion of Andals, but they were all firmly blocked outside the mountain passes and could not advance any further. The clever methods they once used were now completely impossible to use. Moreover, with the return of Andals' leader, the God-favored Hugo, the Andal defense line became even more unbreakable.

As for the south, Volantis also challenged the Estuary Army that blockaded it. However, in front of Sir Barristan who commanded the Estuary Army, the Volantis army, even with the cooperation of the centaurs, failed to capture the Estuary Army camp Valissa across the river from Volantis. The important town of Cehoru in the rear of Lower Lorn was even more strictly guarded, as if the eldest daughter's offensive had to stop at the ruins of the twin cities every time.

While these things were happening, the Narrow Sea was very busy, with all kinds of ships shuttling back and forth across the Narrow Sea, sending troops from all over the Iron Throne to Myr in batches. Myr's Iron Throne army was also expanding every day. Even at its smallest, there were always the private soldiers of a few lords or a large number of volunteers.

The great success of the last Crusade was there, so no one doubted that this was a great opportunity to win glory, wealth and land. The common people wanted to leap up in class, and the nobles wanted to obtain new land and industry, so many people who had once been indifferent to the Crusade joined in, and some of them even went to Myr at their own expense.

There were even merchants who organized villagers and servants, put on armor and dressed like mercenary leaders and came to the East.

Myr was thus transformed into a city of soldiers, with accents from all over Westeros ringing out here. Coupled with the Eastern Allies summoned by the Iron Throne, it can be said that it was extremely lively.

The flags of the northernmost and southernmost parts of Westeros were flying over the military camps. The knights and nobles were displaying their coats of arms and costumes as if they were competing with each other for beauty. And because most of the nobles brought their wives with them, dramas of knights and ladies were performed in the military camps every day. The bards were singing ballads for the adults day and night, and some people were starting to write lyrics for the poems after the victory - if you want to offer praises to the big men as soon as possible after the war, you have to write them before the war starts.

However, in the eyes of everyone, this war is bound to be won. In the past few years, the most popular poems in Westeros are jokes about the centaurs not wearing armor and their weak fighting power. The image of centaurs has become naked morons in the eyes of the people of Westeros. How could they fail against such a group of people? The invincible King Robert will definitely lead them to victory.

The arrival of such a large crowd also gave a shot of adrenaline to the depressed Myr. The Easterners also began to trust the Iron Throne because of the gathering of such an army that was no less powerful than the centaurs. The brief panic was curbed, and now countless eyes were looking at King Robert, watching the decisive battle between the Iron Throne and the centaurs.

However, what no one expected was that the first thing to be restored in Myr was the trade of roses. Nobles and wealthy people from all over Westeros came, and those who saw this opportunity also brought their roses.

Soon, stories spread in the military camp that roses grown by ordinary people were identified as rare varieties and were therefore sold at great prices by important figures. This caused further frenzy and the price of roses continued to rise.

Those who cultivate ordinary roses need not be afraid, there are so many knights and ladies here, and roses are also in great demand. In recent years, merchants who speculate on roses have completely turned this flower into a symbol of love.

King Robert was very happy about this prosperous scene. He liked this scene, and he was even more excited because according to the current situation, the scale of this war would definitely exceed 300,000 people.

The king's confident look also inspired many people, making them believe that victory was unshakable. However, what everyone did not know was that the king who was always calm and smiling in front of people was a different person in private.

"It's shameful, it's really shameful." Unlike what he showed outside, Robert was slamming the table, his tone was not good, and his face was full of annoyance. "Too many people came to join in the fun. Some of them can't even be considered soldiers. They are just here for a picnic. These people are not as good as the pilgrim army."

No one present said a word about Robert's complaints. Those present were the ones who were truly close to and trusted by the owner of the Iron Throne: Jon Arryn, Eddard Stark and Petyr Baelish.

Robert then turned his attack towards them. "And your army, I don't think it's that good. Many of them are undisciplined, poorly equipped, and rather than training, they prefer to get involved in the rose trade... Oh, forget it, it's not a big problem. I've seen worse. When I first went to war with the Targaryens, the army at that time was even worse than it is now."

Robert had been strolling around the camp these days not entirely for fun. He was more observing the soldiers from all over Westeros, and finally came to the conclusion that he was not optimistic about this army - these people were just like the army whose bones had been rotten by peace when he started the uprising.

"It can't be helped, Your Majesty. In recent years, everyone has lived too well. Even remote places like our North have been affected." Eddard Stark said, and the duke also spoke slowly, "But, Robert, it doesn't matter. Our more difficult times are over. Can these centaurs be stronger than the Targaryen army?"

"Alas, Ned, you have seen those centaurs, and you know how desperate they are in battle. To be honest, I am uneasy from the bottom of my heart this time. There are so many centaurs, and they are all cavalry."

Robert scratched his head and said, "But I'm still very excited. I want to ride my horse directly into the centaurs. Fighting with so many cavalrymen is really..."

The king's mood changed accordingly. As he imagined more about the fierce battle, his mood became more and more high. The headache and distress he had previously felt disappeared, and he became as optimistic as ever.

Seeing his adopted son like this, Old Ailin curled his lips. He had thought that he would be more serious and discuss how to fight the next battle, but it didn't take long for him to get discouraged before he started again.

Ed didn't react much. This was a common occurrence for Robert and he had long been accustomed to it. He just gave his adoptive father a comforting look.

As for the other person present, Petyr Baelish, who was the lowest-ranking person here, he sat there with his back straight. He was the only one sitting there with such a serious attitude. Although he had become a provincial governor, he was different from the dukes and commanders after all. His power came from the bureaucracy of the Iron Throne, and now he had not even built his own Myr team. If the Iron Throne wanted to replace him, it could only be a matter of order.

What's worse, the guy who took Kate away was also here. Lord Stark's eyes kept scanning him from time to time, making Littlefinger feel quite uncomfortable.

However, he also knew that this was inevitable. After all, he wrote a letter to Kate after he took office in Myr. The content of the letter was very simple, just an introduction to his current situation and asking Kate what she needed. Petyr didn't understand why he did this at the time, and he had such strong emotions after he took office.

He had a difficult ideological struggle for this letter, but finally he wrote it. When he saw the raven flying away, he felt unprecedented comfort. However, comfort also has a price - that is the occasional glance of Duke Stark.

In fact, Littlefinger did not hate the man who took Cat away too much. Or to be more precise, Petyr's dislike for him ranked behind Hoster Tully and Brandon Stark. He could never forget Old Fish's ruthlessness and snobbery, nor how Long Wolf paralyzed him - he could never forget that humiliating day, the day when the old Baelish died and the new Baelish appeared.

"… Lord Governor Petyr, Lord Governor Petyr." When Littlefinger was distracted, he called to wake him up. "Please tell me about the situation in Myr. I want to know what is going on in Myr now, as well as the food problem. I need you to report to me in detail."

"Yes, Prime Minister." Little Finger said immediately, and then began to talk about the things that had been in his mind for a long time.

Simply put, the current situation in Myr is not very bad. As the richest region in the New Seven Kingdoms, Myr is naturally also the focus of the centaur raiding area. However, the Iron Throne here is also powerful, and among the lords and volunteers who cross the sea in an endless stream, there is never a shortage of those who can't wait to fight the centaurs. Coupled with the local militia and lords in Myr, the centaur raiding has been greatly curbed.

After all, although these people were just scattered soldiers, the centaurs on the opposite side were even more so. Moreover, they were not wearing armor. In such small-scale battles, the Iron Throne had the advantage.

As the Westeros people continued to win, the Myr people changed from their initial lack of confidence in them to trust, and with the trust came manpower and materials - when it came to dealing with the centaurs, the cancer, the Myr people had the same attitude, no matter how much they disliked the Westerners.

Therefore, although Petyr was burdened with the task of raising food for this super army, he was not panicked or stressed at all. Myr was originally a region with extremely developed agriculture, and now the local lords and officials who had previously had some ambiguity with him were also working for him with all their strength. A large amount of resources were continuously sent, not to mention the abundant fish and shrimp in the Myr Sea, so this was not a problem at all.

And this is exactly what old Arryn wanted to know. Although Petyr had already given him a brief report before, he still wanted to hear more details so that he could have more peace of mind.

The Prime Minister nodded, feeling that the decision to appoint this young man was correct. When he sent Petyr, he did not expect that Petyr could do so much. Now it seemed that his ability was much stronger than that gold-worshiping earl.

(End of this chapter)