The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 158: Bubble Burst
This fierce battle between the Westeros and the Dothraki was called the Battle of Vito-Raia by the centaurs, which means a fierce battle beside the road. The Westeros named it with the same meaning - the Battle of the Road.

However, there are always people who give this battle other names, such as "The Battle of Victory of the Great King Robert" and "The Battle of Reversal".

King Robert Baratheon, the man who led the battle to victory, was unhappy, even though he was surrounded by the praise of poets and the flattery of jesters.

He was unhappy not only because his duel with Khal Balboa was interrupted, but more importantly, what they gained from this war was too little.

Why did the last expedition bring overall prosperity to Westeros? Because they obtained wealth that had been accumulated by several city-states for hundreds of years, and whose history could be traced back to the Valyria era. Along with this wealth, the abundant output of the Eastern Continent also came into Westeros. These two together made the Western Continent more prosperous.

But what they could get from the centaurs this time was too little. The poverty of the centaurs was beyond the king's expectations and everyone else's expectations.

After this battle, the most spoils the Westeros people obtained were horses, a large number of horses.

Apart from that, the rest is better than nothing.

Although for ordinary soldiers and speculators participating in the war, a horse was also a huge fortune, suitable for riding or taking home to plow the fields.

But the problem is... only the king and the great nobles have relatively professional and complete livestock transport ships, not to mention that the livestock trade on both sides of the Narrow Sea has never faced such large-scale transportation.

In this case, if one wants to turn the horses into wealth that can be brought back home, then one needs to resell the horses to livestock dealers accompanying the army or in nearby towns.

But there was another problem. There were too many people selling horses, so the horse dealers had complete control over the bargaining power, causing the price of horses to fall all the way to an incredible level.

Even so, if he wanted to get rid of the horse, he had to sell it and accept the extremely low price - it was still money after all.

This is the number of people who have seized horses. There are many people who have not even had their horses seized. This is because there are actually very few large-scale herds of livestock among the horse people. After all, the horses that these barbarians usually eat and ride are all captured wild horses. They don't raise herbivorous animals like cattle and sheep at all, and they would even slaughter these animals because "weak animals are not worthy of eating the grass in the Great Grass Sea."

Ordinary soldiers could at least get some of their money back by selling a horse, but the nobles were relatively worse off. Although the camps of the khals could provide some gold and silver, the total amount was really a drop in the bucket. There was not enough to be shared, and the little they did get was also pitifully small.

Therefore, those who wanted to win wealth and glory found that in this battle, they could not even think of making money. It would be a blessing from the Seven Gods if they did not lose money.

Some nobles also lost face in this battle, such as Lord Inflatable Fish. The collapse of the River Bay Army made the Inflatable Fish, who originally wanted to show off, expose his butt, and he could no longer avoid the label of being a weak soldier of River Bay.

It is easy to imagine how heavy the losses suffered by King Robert, who led this war, were. This war became a pure matter of spending money rather than making money.

Almost everyone who participated in this war suffered a great loss and regretted why they joined this expedition.

The reason why it is almost is that there are still a few people who earn something, such as Littlefinger and Petyr Baelish.

Although Petyr was very displeased by the King because of the rain of arrows that killed the Great Khaor, he was ultimately the key figure in saving the entire battle situation, so Petyr still received a reward from His Majesty the King.

However, the most important thing for Petyr is that in this battle he proved that he could be a good military leader and was able to stay in his current position.

In other words, his position as Governor of Mil was basically secure from then on.

After counting the few spoils and treating the wounded, the Westeros army set out on its return journey.

As for why they turned back, it was because soon after the news of the victory spread, news came from Volantis that the Volantis army had retreated behind their high walls, and the difficulties faced by the Estuary Army had been resolved.

As for the north, no one was worried at all. After all, it was only a secondary attack direction. As the centaurs retreated, the retreat of the city-states there was inevitable.

At the celebration banquet the night before the return journey, the atmosphere was very depressing. So many comrades had died and no spoils had been obtained, which left all the participants speechless and unable to celebrate.

Even those who were bold could not help but shut up in such an atmosphere. Therefore, no matter how the poets and musicians tried to liven up the atmosphere, the atmosphere was so dull that the praises sounded like sarcasm. Finally, King Robert could not bear it anymore. He ordered the poets and musicians to shut up in anger, and the entire expeditionary army spent the rest of the celebration banquet in silence.

The dejected look of the knights and soldiers was in stark contrast to their high morale when they came. Even the flags drooped weakly on the flagpoles. The dejected feeling could be seen even from a distance.

Because this victorious army looked like it had suffered a defeat, when this army appeared in Myr, even though messengers had already reported the news of victory, the Myrs believed they had suffered a defeat.

Then, as the "soldiers spending gold and silver after the victory" that the Myrs had expected did not occur, many locals and businessmen who were preparing to make a fortune were left disappointed. The Myrs felt that "this was worse than losing the battle."

However, a more troublesome thing also followed, that is, the price of roses began to plummet.

As a reflection of the economic prosperity on both sides of the Narrow Sea, the price of roses has been rising higher and higher. Cultivating roses and buying and selling roses has even become a way for an ordinary person to become a super rich person.

Before the start of this expedition that was considered a sure win, Myr's rose market had already reached an almost limit due to the gathering of big men from the East and the West. Transactions representing countless gold dragons were agreed to take place after the war, and reached a peak with the Tyrell family's generous investment.

However, after this victory that was worse than a defeat, all the bigwigs lost interest in buying roses and had no intention of purchasing any. Even Mace Tyrell, the Duke of Riverland who had brought the atmosphere to a climax, refused to continue the rose trade.

This dealt a heavy blow to the rose market. Many rose speculators overdrew their fortunes and bet their entire families on this in order to get the precious roses that could be exchanged for more gold dragons. Now, no one wants to buy these roses, and they have nothing in their hands except the roses.

The speculators who were in trouble were eager to exchange the roses in their hands for real gold and silver, but in the current situation where everyone lost money, how many people were willing to buy? So the traders had no choice but to lower the price, but no matter how much they lowered the price, no one bought it.

Just like that, the price of roses began to plummet within a few days after the Westeros army returned to Myr. Every rose speculator was eager to sell the roses in his hands, but no one bought them.

Now, the roses that were once regarded as rare treasures have become roadside flowers that no one cares about, and those who bet their fortunes and everything on them have become paupers.

For these people, there is only one path for their future: either they become paupers, and if they are unlucky, they have to live under the pursuit of creditors from then on, or they simply commit suicide and stay away from the bleak future.

Suddenly, more and more people committed suicide in Myr, and most of them chose to jump from Myr's high tower and smash themselves to pieces.

The harm caused by the bursting of the rose bubble is still expanding, spreading from Mill to all places affected by the rose bubble.

Through this wave of suicides, many people began to act on this. People had more and more complaints about this expedition, and their resentment and dissatisfaction continued to accumulate. Although everyone did not dare to attack King Robert, they could still curse the "treacherous ministers" around the king. So old Arryn and Petyr became the targets of attack - especially Petyr, who was the least risky to curse. However, this could not change the fact that Petyr had a firm seat in Myr.

Although Robert didn't care about these voices at all, the bureaucrats of the Iron Throne, especially Jon Arryn, the builder of the current bureaucratic system in Westeros, could not ignore this. Therefore, the Iron Throne quickly issued a series of orders, or more accurately, issued orders to divert people's attention.

First of all, the Iron Throne decrees that all anti-Eastern behavior will become illegal, and no person or organization can use this as an excuse to prevent Eastern goods from entering Westeros, nor can they prevent Eastern people of Eastern background from activities.

The Iron Throne then established a principality, centered on the Basilisk Islands, to control the spice trade with the Summer Islands and the Far East.

However, this territory has two rulers, Euron Greyjoy and Gillian Lannister. The former is responsible for fighting against hostile trade forces along the route and maintaining the trade lines between Westeros merchant ships and the East, while the latter is responsible for governing the Basilisk Islands and exploring Sothoryos to discover wealth from that wild continent.

Then, the Iron Throne stated that it would take out a large territory from the Myr front and open it to the second sons, third sons and even illegitimate sons of Westeros, to settle these descendants of nobles who could not find land, and also to build Myr's defense line against the Great Grass Sea in the east.

Finally, the Iron Throne stated that this expedition had gained little because the centaurs were too poor. Therefore, the Iron Throne will launch an expedition against the remaining Eastern city-states in the future.

This series of news was like a combination of punches, successfully diverting people's attention. These policies represent so many things, and the Iron Throne has taken out a lot of things, all of which are real money.

Now, compared to continuing to dwell on the past, people care more about the benefits that the Iron Throne can bring and the profits that can be gained from it, so many people no longer complain - after all, this was largely the purpose of these people in the first place.

Therefore, the series of complaints caused by this victory that was not a defeat but more like a defeat finally began to decrease and even disappear - at least that's what it seems now.

(End of this chapter)