Chapter 340: Steady first and making noise to attack

Hother Umber and Benjen Stark left.

They got a commitment from Cray and Bran Stark to send troops.

But this is not a dead end.

Troops will be sent out, but there is no definite date for when they will be dispatched or how many people will be dispatched.

A king should not be bound by vassals.

The two tried their best to exaggerate the threat from the north to Clay and Brynden Rivers, but seeing that the two people sitting in high positions still refused to show their true attitude, they had no choice but to leave angrily.

Again, everyone’s interests are different.

For Hose Amber, the most important thing is to use Clay Manderly's power to recover the land that their Amber family has fallen into.

Benjen Stark is worried about the loss of contact between the Wall and the North.

In short, because of their own interests, they are all staunch militants.

As for Brynden Rivers, because of the loss of these consecutive nodes and the defeat of Count Gilbert Glover, he is now very conflicted.

On the one hand, he was frightened by Wild Hunt's methods and did not dare to spend more money on it.

On the other hand, the loss of nodes and the decline in strength were a painful experience for him, and he wished he could take them back immediately.

So, he simply didn't say a word to see what Clay Mandler thought.

Regardless of the centrist Three-Eyed Crow, Clay, who actually holds the final say, is not in a hurry.

After seeing the body of the Wild Hunting Dog, Clay already understood what his enemy was.

Now that it's clear, we have to find a way to solve it.

After both Horser Amber left and only Clay and Brynden Rivers were left in the study, the latter asked impatiently:

"Do you know the origin of these things?"

In his opinion, the power inherited by Clay is an absolute secret, just like the guy who suddenly appeared in front of him.

And Clay's clear expression just now, although fleeting, was still captured by Him.

Clay wasn't going to deny it outright, because that would be a lie at first glance.

So he nodded:

"Yeah, I've seen these things, it's not too much trouble."

This is indeed true. Most of the deaths in the previous life were due to falling injuries due to bad legs and feet. Looking back on it, it seemed that I really didn't trust my life in the hands of these things.

Hearing Clay's admission, the Three-Eyed Crow looked at him deeply, remained silent for a while, and then said:

"It seems like you have more secrets than I thought."

Clay didn't want to talk about this unproductive topic, so he waved his hand and interrupted:

"It's not important. These guys themselves are not very powerful in combat. Their masters are the difficult characters to deal with."

"I believe your crows have already reported to you the appearance of those guys, right?"

Brynden Rivers recalled the dark and ferocious figures he saw through the crow's vision, and confirmed Clay's question.

"Yes, I have seen it. I always thought it was a servant of the Cold God, but now it seems that there may be another hidden meaning."

He still wanted to trick Clay.

But Clay ignored him at all.

He touched his chin, thought for a while, and gave his thoughts.

"I think they are not the servants of the Cold God, but there must be a cooperative relationship. The first time I heard the rumors about them was outside the Great Wall, wasn't it? That is the territory of the Cold God."

Brynden Rivers seemed to have thought of something, and asked:

"Can you take your dragon and go to Kaho City or Last Hearth City to check the situation? I can't see there anymore."

Clay thought for a moment and nodded:

"You can try, but there is no guarantee that Galesos can still exert much combat effectiveness in that environment."

This is a fact. The dragon is made of flesh and blood with fire magic. It feels very uncomfortable in the snowy land of the North.

Plus, it was in Wild Hunt territory.

With the permanent white frost debuff, the dragon's power will be further suppressed.

Moreover, he seems to be safe on the dragon's back, but in fact he is not.

Those guys should be able to open the portal directly onto the dragon's back.

Controlling the dragon yourself is still the original version of directly sticking to the dragon's back.

There was no dragon saddle at all.

The Valyrians had groped for so long before they could do it.

And right now, which craftsman can be expected to have the courage to take on this job?

This is not the Targaryen era anymore.

Much knowledge about the dragons has been lost.

Even if there are still some, there is a high probability that they will just remain in the pile of books in the school city and eat dust.

Therefore, Clay couldn't build it even if he wanted to.

Having said that, the lack of a dragon saddle means that Clay's stability on the dragon's back is actually insufficient.

If someone opens the portal while operating in the air, he will be suddenly hit in the face.

Even if the opponent is as unstable as him, he will have to scramble to pull himself down before falling.

Clay couldn't change his career to become a paratrooper and carry a parachute every time he fought, right?

That's too abstract.

Therefore, Clay is not inclined to do this work on the back of a dragon.

The dragon was used to deal with the lords in the south, and of course, the White Walkers.

For the Wild Hunt, it still has to fall into a decisive battle between armies.

"What are you going to do about the things they two mentioned?"

The three-eyed crow brought the topic back.

Clay replied:

"Don't worry yet. The Night's Watch has been holding on to the Great Wall for thousands of years, so it shouldn't fall all at once."

"If you send a raven letter to Lord Commander Mormont in my name, you might as well tell him clearly that you want him to guard your weirwood nodes."

Clay stared into Brynden Rivers' eyes and said quite firmly:

"I don't think they can make you blind and capture the castle before your node is destroyed."

The Three-Eyed Crow frowned. He always felt that Clay was so sure because he knew a key issue that he didn't know.

For example, why is he so sure that if the node is fine, the castle will be fine?

My node is gone, just the monitoring is down, but the castle is still there.

Brynden Rivers did not notice the sudden appearance of the Wild Hunt army in the city as described by Hother Umber.

I just thought it was an excuse after defeat.

This is understandable, because he didn't know that the Wild Hunt army would also do such cunning things as teleporting and stealing homes.

Because every time we do this, we blind Him first.

Therefore, Brynden Rivers was completely indifferent.

"Okay, I'll finish writing it and send it out as soon as possible, but are you sure you don't want to send troops out?"

He was worried.

"Right now, the Dreadfort is the frontline. Although I know the Boltons still have a lot of people left there, Cahor City and Last Hearth City both fell so easily. It's hard to say how long the Skinned People can resist."

"If the Dreadfort is gone, Winterfell will be the front line."

"Moreover, once the Dreadfort is lost, we will have no danger to defend on the eastern front. Are you planning to let those guys rush directly to White Harbor?"

Clay shook his head. He didn't agree with the Three-Eyed Crow's inference at all.

How many people are there in the Wild Hunt army?

Those guys will not act like a servant army in the occupied area.

They look down on humans at all.

Therefore, even if the Dreadfort was captured, as long as they dared to attack Howood City again, Clay would dare to directly recapture the Dreadfort.

Because of the existence of the portal, the Wild Hunt's army can communicate very quickly and requires almost no logistics.

But they have a disadvantage, that is, they do not have enough objective troops.

Therefore, what Clay has to do is to force them to fight with him and find a way to destroy their effective strength.

Otherwise, neither side would be able to support such a huge front.

Not to mention the elite of the North, a large part of them were buried in Harrenhal by Robb Stark.

Even if the elites are still there, they cannot be scattered in various northern castles.

Will the South still be unified?

Do you really plan to surround Dorne's 40,000 men?

We underestimate the few families left alive.

"First of all, let's inform the Dreadfort and ask them to protect the weirwood there. If they lose the castle again because they don't guard the weirwood, Dragon Flame will give them a lift."

Clay said.

Then he left because there was nothing to talk about.

Besides, he had other things going on.

"Is that really all there is to it? What else do you know?"

Brynden Rivers was alone in the study.

He stared at where Clay was sitting just now and muttered to himself.

It was obvious that Clay Mandler knew more than he thought.

At least, the fact that he wasn't surprised at all when he saw this strange corpse speaks volumes.

This is not good. The Three-Eyed Crow has always claimed to know everything on this continent.

But now, facing the invasion of Cold God, he felt powerless.

Clay Mandler is clearly a guy who can communicate.

If this were to be replaced by a king who had no magical power, didn't believe in himself at all, and devoted all his power to fighting for hegemony in the south, then the last green seer would be in danger.

Brynden Rivers has always understood this, so he was careful about Clay Mandler, but not too much.

If you piss him off, you can kill him at any time.

The Three-Eyed Crow cares about his own life.

…

Dorne

Sunspear.

Oberyn Martell returns to Sunspear.

Of course, he came back only after breaking through the encirclement.

The siege of Astapor was actually just a show.

No one dared to really take down this city.

Because no one wants to offend the Dragon King Clay Mandler at this critical moment when the outcome is still undecided.

Governor Illyrio is indeed here to help young Aegon in his fight for the Iron Throne.

Although I don’t know if the Iron Throne is still there or not.

But their strategy is not to start a fight with Clay Manderly and Daenerys Targaryen.

They don't have the strength.

First contact other nobles who are trapped in place by Clay Manderly's military power and dare not move without permission.

Then find a way to kill the male dragon king who claims the throne of the Seven Kingdoms.

Because of bloodline issues, Daenerys Targaryen was forced to give up and marry young Aegon.

This is their overall plan.

Although it seems unreliable, Varys and Illyrio have been planning this plan for half their lives, and they are unwilling to give it a try.

The siege of Astapor is just an attitude, an attitude given to families like Tyrell and Lannister.

As for the subsequent relief from the siege, it was purely a military issue, not a political issue.

Just like now, Oberon Martell clearly broke out with part of his army, but the besieging army did not pursue it and did not take advantage of the situation to attack the city. This is the result of this logic.

After returning to Dorne, this was the first time the two brothers met.

After all, with Oberon's cool character, if he doesn't show off his coolness with women or men for a period of time, he won't be able to think of getting down to business.

"It seems that our Majesty still has no intention of letting us move."

Prince Oberyn Martell, who had his clothes open and his chest exposed, was holding a bottle of red wine, leaning in his chair without any image, and said to his brother with a smile.

"Yes, the situation in the north is a bit complicated. According to the letter I received yesterday, His Majesty has already ridden a dragon to the north. There seems to be some trouble there again."

Prince Doran, who was troubled by gout and could only maintain a comfortable posture, stared at the sand table in front of him and answered his brother's question.

"I haven't been to the North yet. How about I take a group of people and start from Sunspear City and go directly north to White Harbor?"

Prince Doran knew his brother's nature well and just smiled at these words.

But in these words, one can feel that some of the current Dornish nobles, similar to Oberon Martell, can no longer restrain their enthusiasm for war and are preparing to leave the Prince's Pass.

In fact, in their opinion, they have this strength.

The entire territory's own army, plus several batches of Unsullied who came ashore.

Now that Daenerys is gone, Prince Doran Martell has an armed force of over 40,000 men.

These are 40,000 actual soldiers, without water, all of them are soldiers.

Dorne itself was not wealthy, and maintaining food and drink for 40,000 people brought huge financial pressure.

It would be better to release these people and go to the other side of the mountain to rob the wealthy Riverlands and Stormlands.

Anyway, these two lands were fought with Stannis and Tywin Lannister in the previous battle for King's Landing, which cost a lot of blood.

Moreover, at this point in time, they had not won the battle, had almost no gains, and their morale was low.

In the eyes of many Dornish nobles, if we don't take action now, then when will we wait?

During Daenerys' absence, the wind grew stronger.

The nobles of Dorne kept coming to the Water Garden to express their feelings to Prince Doran.

In fact, the Dornish ruler was also inclined to fight.

After all, the blood feud with Lannister is still unknown.

Even putting these aside, he agreed that now was the best opportunity.

Now, his brother Oberon Martell is back, and Dorne's army has a commander-in-chief of the Martell family.

Prince Daolang was even more relieved.

"I plan to write to His Majesty, requesting that troops be sent to attack the Stormlands first. Renly's troops are the weakest."

"I think His Majesty will agree to this war unless he sends His Highness Daenerys back."

Oberon knew what his brother meant.

"Well, once the war starts, how about I lead the army?"

There was a very obvious excitement in his tone.

Prince Doran gave a stiff smile.

"Think about it for yourself. If you come back like this and His Majesty doesn't hold you accountable, what else can you do except fight this battle well?"

"Don't forget, no matter what, he is still the Dragon King. The dragon is still here, so we must be more honest."

"You should know a lot about little Aegon. I'm warning you, stay away from this matter. If you don't get into trouble, many people will die from this matter."