Chapter 176 Military Strength and Situation

"Those Gis people are obviously helping Volantis intentionally. Not only do they allow the other side to form a navy on their territory, they are even secretly hindering our development. Not long ago, the ships we sent to receive slaves returned empty-handed. The slave traders lied that there was a plague and could only delay delivery. But after investigation, I found that the slaves were actually sent to the shipyard. They should have been bought by Volantis and intended to be used for navy training."

Gavin looked at the intelligence attentively and listened to Coben's narration. His brows frowned more tightly. The relationship between the three cities of Slaver Bay and Volantis is complicated and unusual. Since both sides are city-states that practice slavery and have common interests to maintain, the connection between them is close and subtle.

As the overlord of the southwest, Volantis is powerful. In the past years, they have sent troops many times to help the three cities of Slaver Bay resist the invasion of the Dothraki. This military cooperation has made the relationship between the two sides closer.

In turn, the largest slave trade partner of the three cities of Slaver Bay is also Volantis. The two sides have been economically interdependent and mutually beneficial for many years, forming a delicate balance.

Moreover, the predecessor of Slaver's Bay, the Ghis Empire, was once destroyed by the Valyrian Dragon King. Although they speak Valyrian, they are very resistant to Gavin who owns dragons.

Moreover, Gavin had been constantly using troops against Essos before, which undoubtedly increased their vigilance.

Although the two sides have not yet clearly torn their faces, the Stepstones have begun to be isolated in trade and diplomacy.

When Gavin was crowned, Astapor did not send envoys to participate, which was an obvious signal.

When Gavin first obtained the Blazing Shadow, Gavin had the idea of ​​copying the path that Daenerys had taken. But at that time, he was extremely dependent on Slaver's Bay to customize his navy, so he had to give up this idea.

After that, the cooperation between the two sides was relatively smooth. In addition, the two sides were far apart, and it was easy to expand the power to Slaver's Bay. It was difficult to take care of both ends, so Gavin always focused on the sea.

All the territories he captured were islands, and he even chose to give up some of the disputed lands he had captured.

But this does not mean that Gavin has no ambition for Essos. He just intends to use the advantage of the sea to build a stable base first, and then gradually annex the other side.

Today, the situation in Slaver Bay has obviously posed a threat to the Stepstone Islands.

Although there will not be too big a problem in the short term, if we continue to leave it alone and allow the other side to build ships with all their strength, even if it is initially formed, it will take at least a year, and it will sooner or later pose a threat to the Stepstone Islands.

Qyben looked at Gavin who fell into silence and continued to report on the affairs.

"Your Majesty, the Dornish sent envoys not long ago, and Lord Boris received them. The other party is still staying on Bloodstone Island and has not left. They hope to increase the share of tolls. Since they did not know that Your Majesty had returned to Dragon Flame Bay at that time, Lord Boris sent a letter to Dragonstone Island, hoping to ask for your opinion." Qyben's voice broke the silence in the study.

Gavin nodded slightly after hearing this, secretly guessing the intentions of the Dornish. He thought that it was probably because Quentyn Martell's last mission did not achieve his goal, so Prince Doran chose this way to restrict and suppress him. However, since Dorne sent an envoy, it was obvious that the other party did not want to completely break up with him for the time being. After all, the Dornish controlled one-third of the Stepstone Islands' trade routes. If they wanted to increase the toll, they could tear up the agreement at any time.

Now, Gavin completely controls the narrow sea trade route. Whether in name or in fact, he is the undisputed "King of the Narrow Sea".

Every month, ships are loaded with taxes and sent back to the Stepstone Islands, which undoubtedly brings him huge wealth and power.

However, as the control area gradually expands, some problems have also arisen.

Most of Gavin's maritime forces are locked in the narrow sea, which has led to his suppression of trading city-states such as Volantis gradually weakening.

Today, Gavin has more than 200 warships of various types. The main force is the Stepstone Islands Fleet, which is composed of 120 sailing warships. These warships are huge in size and can even fight one against five ordinary pirate longships. They are the symbol of his maritime hegemony.

The remaining ships are mostly armed merchant ships and longships, which are not included in the fleet.

Since sailing warships use ramming and crossbows as their main attack methods, it is difficult for the enemy to board with their tall hulls, so they are not equipped with a large number of soldiers like other warships that are good at boarding.

The main fleet has a total of 20,000 naval soldiers, and the other mercenary sailors are about 10,000, all distributed on other warships.

The Stepstone Islands and Lys controlled by Gavin span two continents. The 5,000 people of the First Legion, who had just completed training, were placed on Dragonstone. Considering the strategic role of Dragonstone and the situation in Westeros that may need intervention at any time, Gavin does not intend to mobilize this army easily.

And on the east side of Lys Island, there are 3,000 mercenaries led by Jorah stationed.

However, since Lis Island was a newly conquered territory, the mercenaries had poor discipline and loyalty, and the manpower was slightly insufficient, and they could not be mobilized at will.

As a result, Gavin found that he had no organized force to use for a while.

Thinking of this, Gavin decided to digest the area he currently controlled first.

At the same time, he planned to use more than ten sailing warships and those long ships to form another fleet, which was specifically responsible for controlling the narrow sea, cleaning up pirates and cracking down on smuggling ships, and taking the tax collection work by the way.

After all, facing those passing smuggling ships and merchant ships, it was a bit of a waste to use huge sailing warships.

In the future, the Stone Steps Islands Fleet composed of all sailing warships will only be used for war.

After the Stone Steps Islands Fleet is withdrawn from the narrow sea, it will be stationed in the Stone Steps Islands as a mobile and deterrent force.

In this way, no matter where problems occur on the east and west sides, support can be provided at any time. As for the army on land, Gavin couldn't help but think of the idea when he first obtained the Blazing Shadow.

Gavin said calmly: "Tell Boris that if we only lose part of the toll, it will not affect us at all. As long as the Dornishmen's demands are not excessive, we can agree to them and treat it as a temporary loan to them, and we will take it back later. If the other party wants more, don't be polite. He will have full authority over this matter. I will greet Hassan and ask him to cooperate."

Coben bowed and said respectfully: "As you wish, Your Majesty, I will send a raven to Lord Boris later."