Chapter 306: Way Out and Dispatching Troops

After more than ten years, when Renly met Balon Greyjoy, the king of the Iron Islands who had once started a rebellion, again, he found that he had obviously aged too much.

He was wearing a simple black sealskin coat, with long gray hair and wrinkles on his rough face, looking like he had worked too hard all day.

"I apologize for my ignorance, son of the great Drowned God, please forgive me."

He also knelt on the ground, with his head bowed deeply in front of Renly.

Balon did not say the specific reason, as if he thought Renly would know it without explanation. Renly did guess some, but he did not know the specific situation.

But at the moment, he did not expose his thoughts.

"Everyone is ignorant and insignificant in front of the Drowned God." Renly replied pretentiously, "So I don't care about your ignorance and offense. Get up and let's talk business."

Being in the other party's territory and sitting in the other party's house, he was like a master meeting a slave, which made Renly feel a little awkward-

Unlike ten years ago, this Balon was much more respectful at this time.

But there were so many awkward things during this period, and he had actually adapted to it. And the man in front of him also did not show any abnormality, but stood up.

"When do you want us to send troops?" Balon asked directly.

"Of course, the sooner the better."

Hearing this, Balon pursed his lips and did not say any objection. Instead, he mentioned another thing, "Mortals cannot guess the wisdom of the gods, but forgive me, Lord Son of God, where is the way out for the Iron Islands?"

"The way out has already been told to you." Renly replied.

The other party smiled bitterly, "Is that really a way out? Our ancient road--"

"The ancient road is just a way to death." Renly interrupted him, "The chaos will eventually end. Westeros has been unified, and the survival soil of the ancient road will become less and less, and eventually disappear completely."

Balon did not speak, but remained silent.

"The Iron Islands are very strong at sea, and there are many points you can use."

Renly said patiently: "For example, there is a lot of wood in the North, but there is a lack of food in winter. The Iron Islands are not far from the North, and you can use fish to exchange for wood, or use the method of reselling to obtain the desired resources in the North. For example, if you buy food in Oldtown and sell it to the North, the price can be doubled. If you can make up your mind to do long-distance trade, the money you can get will be ten times or a hundred times. But if you don't seize this opportunity now, when Westeros's maritime power surpasses the Iron Islands, this opportunity will be gone."

Balon sighed when he heard this.

Ten years ago, the man in front of him had said something similar. He felt it made sense at the time, but when he actually implemented it, it didn't work very well.

It's because the "popularity" of the Iron Islands is very bad.

Whether it's the North, the Riverlands, or the Westerlands and the Bay, all the territories across the sea from the Iron Islands belong to the Iron Islands' feud. That hatred has accumulated over thousands of years and cannot be resolved in a short time.

The reputation of the Ironmen has been tarnished. No matter what they say or do, the first reaction of the people of Westeros when they see the Ironmen is that they are robbers, not the same kind.

They don't believe the words of the Ironmen doing business.

Balon's father's goal was to integrate into the "big family" of Westeros. For this reason, he hired scholars and actively responded to the Iron Throne, but the results were not much.

This is also the reason why Balon thinks about restoring the ancient road all day long, because the Iron Islands have long been excluded by Westeros, and the two sides are already incompatible.

So when he found that there was no effect, he simply stopped doing this useless work and began to accumulate strength, preparing to take advantage of the next turmoil in Westeros.

However, the appearance of this person in front of him completely disrupted his thoughts. Balon was helpless about this, but he had no intention of resisting at all.

Renly could feel the other party's complicated feelings, but he didn't care about it.

The person in front of him was actually very smart, but Renly found that he had been influenced too much by the seed of the ancient road. There was no other idea in his mind except the ancient road. He also lacked patience and wanted to make quick money by robbing, instead of doing "infrastructure" in a down-to-earth manner.

This made Renly doubt whether he was talking nonsense now.

But it didn't matter. At least, he had completed the mission of coming to the Iron Islands. The other party was very reluctant, but he no longer had the intention of resisting.

"The core of the current war is the Riverlands, and the Riverlands have a three-branch river. If the Iron Islands participate in the war, using the three-branch river to travel through the riverlands is the best choice." Renly changed the subject.

"The lords of the riverlands won't let us get close." Balon shook his head.

"I will negotiate with them." Renly replied, "I think they will make a wise choice whether to make the Iron Islands an ally or wait for the territory to be swallowed by outsiders."

Three hundred years ago, the Ironmen ruled the riverlands, and their rule relied on the Three Forks River in the riverlands. The Three Forks River spread over the entire river. At that time, the Ironmen's longships came and went freely, and the knights on the shore were completely helpless against them.

Now there are two main battlefields, one is the river, and the other is the sea east of the Westeros continent. The Ironmen are in the West Sea of ​​Westeros. After joining the war, they can't go around the entire continent to fight a naval battle, so entering the hinterland and wandering in the river is their best choice.

This kind of fighting style will make many people feel uneasy. After all, the Ironmen used to control the entire riverland by relying on the Sancha River. If they refuse to leave after this battle, it will be a headache for many people.

However, Renly has no concerns about this. He doesn't care about what will happen in the future. The most important thing at present is to win this battle. Moreover, even if the Iron Islands are "too big to lose" after the battle, it is only a problem of the riverland-

The Tully family has weak control over the riverland, so why not switch to the Iron Islands, which are more supportive of him?

Of course, there are many problems, such as the marriage relationship between the Tully family and the Vale and the North, such as the poor popularity of the Ironmen, etc. If you think deeply, it is impossible for the entire Westeros to let the Ironmen reoccupy the riverland.

But it is obvious that Balon is very interested in Renly's proposal. He thought that he wanted the fleet of the Iron Islands to travel a long distance to fight a naval battle, but he didn't expect Renly to "let the wolf into the house". He was really surprised by this.

However, the matter has only remained in the verbal stage so far. No one can say what the specific situation will be, but Renly believes that the people of the Riverlands will choose to accept the assistance of the Iron Islands, just because they have been devastated.

After chatting for a long time, Balon bowed and left.

After a period of time, Renly talked with the lords of the Iron Islands several times again, and finally finalized the expedition plan.

So less than a month after arriving in the Iron Islands, the Ironmen drove a large number of ships to swarm towards Westeros.

The update time is not fixed in the past two days, and it will return to stability later.