Chapter 115 The Eight-clawed Spider
"Did you know that Lord Tywin has returned to King's Landing?"
"That was a war to determine the ownership of the Iron Throne. Several trading cities along the coast were alarmed. How could I not know?"
Late at night.
King's Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, the palace on Aegon's High Hill, the Red Keep.
In a dim stone passage somewhere under the Red Keep, the voice gradually came, and the light of the torch cast two distorted shadows on the wall.
As the two walked in, they could see the tallow torch held in the hand of a sturdy man wearing an iron helmet.
His companion was even more bloated than him, and each of his ten carrot-thick fingers wore one or two gemstone rings, red gold, silver, rubies, sapphires, large diamonds, and yellow-striped tiger eyes.
He looked like a nouveau riche who loved to show off.
Although they were fat, they both walked lightly. The helmeted man's footsteps seemed to slide on the ice without making any sound. The "local rich man" with a yellow forked beard was even more peculiar. He put the center of gravity of his whole body on his heels, and he kept the water dancer's stealth state while walking. You can't judge a person by appearance. These two fat men are actually good water dancers!
"Since you know, why did you choose to come to me at this critical moment? Tyrion may have the wisdom of Duke Tywin, but Duke Tywin is far more vigilant, more experienced and vicious than him.
When facing him, I, the intelligence chief, must be careful and vigilant every minute and every second, and every word and every subtle movement must not be wrong." The helmeted man said with some complaints.
The steel helmet man wore an old hard leather coat with brown filth, covered with rusty iron armor, and a dagger and a short sword tied around his waist.
He had a round face with scars, a smooth upper lip, and a short black beard on his lower lip. If it weren't for the pair of eyes that reflected brilliant light from time to time, anyone would think he was a down-and-out warrior that could be seen everywhere in Flea Market.
The local rich man sighed and said, "I don't want to come to King's Landing at this time. Although Stannis's fleet suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, he hired the fleet of Salladhor Saan.
That notorious pirate proclaimed himself the Earl of Blackwater Bay and almost blocked the sea route from the Narrow Sea to King's Landing.
Moreover, there was not a single ship left in the waters near King's Landing. It was bare and my ship didn't dare to dock at all. I could only wait until midnight, when the smugglers took advantage of the cover of darkness and sent me to the dangerous beach at the bottom of the Red Castle in a small boat."
"Then why did you come?" The man in the steel helmet asked in confusion.
"The disobedient little queen of Slaver's Bay sent me a message." The local rich man sighed.
He sighed a lot tonight.
The man in the steel helmet was solemn when he heard this, and asked: "Did she give you the information, or did your people report the information about her?"
"She specially asked the merchant ship to bring me a letter."
"What did it say?"
The local rich man didn't want to sigh anymore, but when he heard this question, he sighed heavily and said: "She first thanked me for sending a fleet to pick her up, and then she apologized for exchanging my goods for the Unsullied.
After some politeness, she promised me that the loss of wealth caused by detaining my goods and fleet would be double compensated in the future.
Because Astapor is alone and there are often ships from Meereen and New Ghis patrolling the sea, she needs Blackbeard Grolai to control the navy.
Yes, that's right, she built a small navy, with a dozen cargo ships and two longships. Grolai became the little queen's naval minister, and those crew members were transformed into sea knights of the Mother of Dragons.
Alas, the terrified girl who lived under my roof that year has died on the Dothraki Sea, and was reborn in blood and fire. The new Dragon Queen is A real Targaryen."
After a long silence, the man in the steel helmet said, "I know everything you said. In the past six months, New Ghis, Cayenne, and Meereen have all been ready to make a move. They have also formed the 'Anti-Dragon Mother Coalition', but they only dare to send fleets to harass the coast of Astapor because they are concerned about the Queen's more than 10,000 Unsullied.
But she has dragons, even young dragons, which can quietly burn sails and ropes in the dark.
After losing four ships one after another, the coalition changed its strategy and no longer harassed the docks and coastal settlements, but completely blocked Astapor's trade activities.
But apart from the slave trade, what other attractive goods does Astapor have? Blocking the sea route has no effect on her. "
If Dany were here, through the conversation between the two, she could easily guess their identities. One is Illyrio, the Governor of Trade of Pentos and an "old friend" of the Targaryen family.
The other is Varys, the chief intelligence officer of Westeros, known as the Eight-clawed Spider.
After Jorah confessed and was lenient, Dany guessed that Illyrio had a connection with Varys.
After hearing her guess, Barristan told her directly that more than 20 years ago, Varys and Illyrio were the best friends and partners.
Varys, as an intelligence dealer, was responsible for collecting information in the dark.
Illyrio helped him find customers who needed intelligence, and at the same time, he established his own business network by helping those customers.
The two of them were a perfect match and became very famous in Pentos, and even King Aerys on the other side of the narrow sea knew about it.
At this time, the two old friends talked while moving forward, and soon they came to the end of the passage.
Walking along the narrow stairs that spiraled upwards for about two floors, the view in front suddenly became wide, and as the firelight came, the hazy monster head in the dark revealed its true appearance: in the huge cave, a row of huge dragon bones with hideous faces were placed between the stone pillars on the left and right.
"I wonder when the Dragon Queen's three dragons will grow that big."
Illyrio looked at the skull as tall as the building in front of him - the legendary Balerion, and sighed, "In the letter she wrote to me, she explained in detail the reason why she couldn't come to Pentos.
First, she was too soft-hearted. She originally only planned to buy the Unsullied to protect herself, but later saw the miserable appearance of the slaves, she decided to do what a queen should do - to make the world a better place."
Varys' mouth twitched, and he said speechlessly: "I remember that she didn't receive any royal education, and she was surrounded by cruel centaurs. Where did she get this idea?"
"Maybe it's the captain of the Kingsguard who was too upright? The fearless Barristan can be regarded as a figure from a legend. His influence on her must be greater than Mormont's."
"I kind of regret arranging that old guy to find the little queen." Varys sighed.
"We originally thought that Barristan would help her increase her momentum. He is famous in Westeros and can influence the choices of certain knights." Illyrio shrugged and continued: "Second, she wants to wait for the dragons to grow up."
"Very smart." Varys nodded in appreciation, then shook his head and said, "But we don't need an Aegon. She can be Rhaenys or Visenya, but not Aegon!
If the dragons are controlled by her, our plan..."
Varys's voice lowered, his eyes flashed with an inexplicable light, and his face gradually became gloomy.
"Haha, don't worry, my brother." Illyrio patted the fat eunuch's shoulder and said with a smile: "A dragon has three heads. A knight can only control one dragon. The dragon queen is still asking me about Targaryen's illegitimate child!"
"She wants to." Varys's expression became relaxed, and he said thoughtfully: "I didn't receive this news. It seems that the little bird in Astapor is a little slack!"
"Maybe she didn't mention it to others at all. Your little bird can't hear all the secrets. She told me that she saw a prophecy in the Undying Temple that a dragon has three heads and her dragon needs three dragon riders. If there is no illegitimate child, you can also contact the Velaryon family of Tidehead Island."
At this point, Illyrio jokingly asked the fat eunuch, "Should we give the six-year-old boy a bargain?"
Velaryon is to Targaryen as Mormont is to Stark, both are loyal for thousands of years.
When Valyria still ruled the world, Velaryon was a retainer of the Targaryen family.
Later, Targaryen left Valyria for Dragonstone, and Velaryon followed him and settled on Tidehead Island next to Dragonstone.
In the early days of the dynasty, the two families intermarried so frequently that they could almost be considered a family.
During the Dance of the Dragons, in addition to the Targaryen bloodline, Velaryon also obtained the qualification to ride a dragon.
If the Velaryon family knew that Dany had hatched a dragon at this time, they would probably abandon their homes and businesses, leave Westeros directly, and return to Dany's command, and Dany would definitely accept and reuse them.
It's a pity that they don't know, and it's useless to know, they are powerless!
In recent years, the Velaryon family has declined severely. The previous generation of Earl Velaryon just died in the "Battle of Red Cliffs" caused by Tyrion, leaving only a six-year-old son and an adult illegitimate brother.
Varys' heart moved, and he suddenly guessed the purpose of Illyrio's visit this time. He pondered and said, "You want little Griffin to go to Astapor in advance?"
Illyrio's fat pig eyes flashed with a gleam of light, and he nodded with a smile, "I came to you just because I had this idea. It's safer to talk about this kind of thing in person. What do you think?"
Varys frowned tightly, inserted the torch between the sharp teeth of a dragon skull, and walked back and forth in the empty stone hall in a somewhat irritable manner.
The thick soles of his shoes made an irritable friction sound on the ground. Obviously, he had lost the calm mentality he had maintained before and broke away from the water dancer state.
"The horse king died unexpectedly, and she miraculously hatched a dragon with the three broken stones you gave her. Our plan has changed again and again. The third revised plan was to let the little griffin slowly get in touch with her and the dragon, and then reveal his identity after gaining the dragon's favor. Although I don't want to do it now, it seems that it is time to revise the plan for the fourth time."
Illyrio sighed and said helplessly: "Astapor is not Pentos, and I can't arrange some things."
"You continue." The octopus spider said.
"Continue what?"
"The third reason."
"Oh," Illyrio nodded and said, "She believes that winter is coming, and launching a war of conquest again will cause a large number of civilian deaths. This reason is the same as our previous plan, but it is not to worry about civilians, but the cost of launching a war in winter is too high, and there are too many uncertainties. A sudden blizzard may destroy a hundred thousand troops."
"Alas, the situation changes too fast, and the rhythm is no longer under our control." Varys looked extremely helpless. The war between lions and wolves was a plot he had already planned, but it happened too early.
It was several years early, so early that he had to ask Viserys and the King of the Horse to fill the hole, but those two idiots not only failed to fill the hole, but also made a deeper hole. "I have a feeling that besides me, there is another chess player, or even more chess players hiding in the dark." The eunuch sighed.
"Dragons are a symbol of status and a force that determines the current situation. No matter how big the change is, it is so small in front of the dragon." Illyrio said firmly.
Varys nodded and agreed with him.
In the game of thrones, dragons are enough to offset all unfavorable factors and even overturn the chessboard.
"You can let little Griffin go, but not now." Varys gritted his teeth and said with some complaints: "Since she has more than 10,000 Unsullied, why didn't she sweep across Slaver's Bay as soon as possible?
The coalition against the Mother of Dragons is now looking for mercenary groups. In the past six months, the Second Sons, the Roses, and the Storm Crows have entered Kaiyuan one after another.
If the Blood Mummers had not been hired by Duke Tywin earlier, those Blood Mummers would have appeared on the opposite side of the Dragon Queen."
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(End of this chapter)