The sea breeze blew gently; Pentos at night was sweet, its latitude moderate, and the temperature just right.
It wasn't as chilly as Braavos, nor was it as hot as Tyrosh or Myr.
He heard that Lys had the best environment, but Viserys had yet to visit.
Viserys looked at the stars above; the stars were brilliant and would also bear witness to the impending slaughter on the ground.
The lights of the palace villas dimmed, as if they had fallen into slumber, the residences resembling distant, dark behemoths.
To prevent Viserys and the Khal from being too close and causing conflict, the two men were situated at opposite ends of the palace complex, maintaining a considerable distance.
Unfortunately, this was merely wishful thinking on the part of the Pentoshi.
Viserys was still looking forward to personally slaying Khal Jilokao. These dothraki, along with the Ironborn from the Iron Islands, and shameless robber mercenaries and robber knights, were all extremely cold-blooded, brutal social Darwinists.
If he killed these scoundrels, the attributes that dropped would certainly be extraordinary.
The attributes of a Khal—this was something Viserys had never anticipated before.
"Streams flow into the ocean, and so do nations," Viserys thought.
Viserys hadn't expected that since they were both rivals who came to Pentos for money, Khal Jilokao would try to ambush him in a 'dog-eat-dog' manner, even though Viserys hadn't made a move.
Such an action was a path leading straight to death.
If anyone was going to play the 'dog-eat-dog' game and flip the table, only Viserys had the qualifications.
Viserys's initial fight to the death with Khal Drogo was a complete strategic gamble; now, gradually accumulating strength and developing was the true path of a king.
Since Khal Jilokao wanted to seek death, let him come. It would be the perfect opportunity to dispel the nonsense that the dothraki were invincible.
The art of war lies in maximizing strengths, minimizing weaknesses, and adapting to circumstances.
What the dothraki excelled at was luring the enemy deep, followed by a massive circling maneuver involving a volley of arrows, which ordinary armies simply couldn't withstand.
Back then, Salor the Tall fell victim to this kind of ambush; the Supreme King Salor's army of over 100,000 was trapped in the Khals' 80,000-cavalry 'Dumpling Formation' and completely annihilated.
The defensive fortifications Viserys envisioned, coupled with a frontal assault by the dothraki, was the most favorable combat scenario for him.
After all, if the dothraki decided to run wild and flee, the heavy cavalry in their steel cans would never catch up, even if they chased themselves to death.
Viserys observed the Dothraki Screamers; their training certainly had some merit.
First, the dothraki horsemen grew up alongside horses, so their horsemanship was naturally superb.
The Dothraki Screamers were all unarmored light cavalry, relying on the strong explosive power and tactical flexibility of dothraki horses.
Warhorses were extremely expensive; ordinary nations wouldn't have such vast grasslands or so many fine horses, which is why the scale of dothraki cavalry was terrifyingly large.
Even a powerful organization like the Golden Company in Essos only had about a thousand cavalry.
Furthermore, every dothraki man was a soldier, and these chaotic races had no fear of death in their hearts.
In contrast, the armies of Westeros were shaped like a sandwich: only the core knightly units were elite, and the proportion of cavalry was very low.
The elite knights of Westeros had excellent training and education, but the fighting spirit and quality of the temporary peasant soldiers were completely inadequate, leading to swift defeat.
"Your Majesty, the longbowmen are ready!" said the master archer Hugo Rex.
Viserys had deployed one hundred longbowmen to occupy the high ground of the palace complex for fire suppression.
The andal longbowmen were in position, determined to teach the dothraki a lesson.
These soldiers were filled with pent-up frustration, as the atrocities committed by the dothraki horsemen were widespread, ranging from the Andals to the rhoynar, and they had been severely oppressed.
"I will lead the riders in a frontal assault; I leave the palace complex to you," Viserys told Hugo.
"At once, Your Majesty!" Hugo promised.
"No movement yet," a scout reported.
"Good. Continue observing the enemy situation," Viserys commanded.
Viserys awaited the bell of destiny; if the dothraki came, it would be a bloody battle.
If they didn't come, it would be no great harm.
For a commander, caution is better than recklessness.
Viserys trusted his intuition: the Khal was desperate for money and looked down upon them.
"The Wolf Hour has arrived, Your Majesty," Argus Blackwood said moments later.
The Wolf Hour was the darkest moment of the day; if the Horse People savages were going to make a move, it would be now.
"No rush. Let's see how many men they have," Viserys said.
Argos had already changed into his full heavy armor—plate armor over chainmail—making him look like a mountain of flesh, complete with his astonishingly large greatsword.
As for his warhorse, its armor was equally heavy.
This was the very traditional andal heavy cavalry; both the man and the warhorse were extremely expensive.
Such heavy cavalry cost Viserys a great deal of effort and gold.
Heavy cavalry was excellent for frontal confrontation, but chasing enemies and mobility were less favorable compared to unarmored knights.
After all, a horse's carrying capacity and endurance were limited, and their flexibility couldn't compare.
Viserys tapped his fingers on his sword belt. According to his intelligence, Khal Jilokao had another Ko protecting the main camp.
Coupled with Khal Jilokao's arrogance, it was highly likely he would lead only a thousand elite soldiers to attack.
A roaring sound suddenly broke the silence of the night, followed by the high-pitched shouts of the Unsullied Squires, and the sudden lighting of torches.
Khal Jilokao—he truly couldn't stand the quiet.
"Your Majesty, we have observed the enemy formation. It is approximately a thousand cavalry. The Khal's Ko has not mobilized."
"Good."
Out of arrogance and optimism, Khal Jilokao intended to savor the sweetness of victory alone, and waking his Ko would create too much commotion.
Khal Jilokao swaggered in, leading his thousand-plus warriors to launch his sneak attack.
Viserys looked at the bare-chested Dothraki Screamers; this was ridiculous. If a wound got infected, it would be all over for them.
"Fire when the enemy reaches 250 yards!"
"Draw!" Hugo commanded. This was the effective firing range of a standard longbow.
"Move." Viserys quickly descended the tower; his Squires followed like a silent forest.
The scale of this palace complex was limited; aside from the longbowmen and the Unsullied guards holding the gates, the other knights still had to engage in a head-on battle.
Outside the side gate, the cavalry in the darkness were ready, and the barracks were already empty.
Viserys's silver armor shimmered brilliantly, making him look like an immortal God of War.
"Today, I lead you onto the battlefield. Those who love me, prepare to follow!" Viserys mounted his horse, and the black steed neighed loudly.
"Vengeance!"
"Vengeance!"
Five hundred andal heavy cavalry and two hundred rhoynar light cavalry closely followed their commander.
The andals and the rhoynar had long harbored anger and were ready to unleash it.
Viserys was waiting for the Dothraki Screamers' first wave to fail. His time was tight; he needed to kill the Khal, and the second step was to block the Khal's Ko and tribe.
This was a crucial time difference: the Khal had brought a portion of his elite to the magnificent palace on the beach, effectively separating himself from the main tribe on the Pentos grasslands.
Viserys had already ordered men to scatter spiked iron caltrops on both sides of the road. The first wave of dothraki warriors galloping forward realized something was wrong, but it was too late to react.
Because the distance was short and due to their arrogance, the Dothraki Screamers were confident of an easy victory and hadn't sent out any effective scouts.
The dothraki warhorses screamed and leaped, throwing the riders wearing painted vests to the ground.
Many Screamers reacted too slowly and were trampled to death by the horses following behind.
The faces of the Horse People warriors were trampled into mud, their heads burst open like watermelons, scattering red and white, and their bodies were shattered.
Wails and sounds of fighting spread across the battlefield. The dothraki didn't view their own comrades as human; if they died, they died.
The dothraki riders paid no attention to their dead comrades, instead shouting loudly and brandishing their arakhs, seemingly unfazed by the casualties and obstacles.
The scene instantly turned bloody, the blood of the dead staining the white sand on the beach.
"Draw!"
"Loose!"
Taking advantage of the starlight and torchlight, the andal longbowmen on Viserys's palace tower began to let their arrows fly.
Merciless arrows pierced the bodies of the dothraki, causing blood to spray.
Longbow shots at short range possessed extraordinary power, and the archers calmly delivered their greetings of death.
Furthermore, since the dothraki riders charged out almost naked, those struck in the throat, chest, or abdomen were certain to die. Many fell on the battlefield from these attacks.
The arrow rain swept across, targeting the enemy's vital points or the faces of their warhorses whenever possible.
The arrows from Viserys's longbowmen rained down on the dothraki like hail—hundreds, thousands, countless in an instant.
Many dothraki were struck by arrows and fell, their battle cries turning into wails.
At this moment, the second wave of attacks was already falling from the sky, and the archers were already nocking their third arrows.
"Javelins!" Gaelin shouted as well.
"Throw!" The rhoynar javelinmen in the darkness raised their short spears, twisting their bodies like pretzels to generate force. These short spears were hurled from a range closer than the effective range of the longbows.
The short spears cut across the sky mercilessly. The dothraki looked up in astonishment, having never seen such a flamboyant fighting style before.
"Cowards!"
"Cowards!" the dothraki cursed furiously.
The cold short spears pierced the bronze skin of the dothraki Warriors. Blood soaked the horses, and the corpses slid weakly off the mounts, leaving the warhorses to neigh in solitude.
"Dying to my Combined Arms Integration, Khal, you will have died a worthwhile death." Viserys restrained his excited black steed, and the spear of gaelis seemed to crave slaughter.
"Damn it, these cowards." Khal Jilokao's face darkened. This was not supposed to be a secret, so how did the enemy already have precautions?
But when the dothraki fight, courage comes first. He had already committed many riders and suffered heavy losses.
If he lost this battle as well, his position as Khal might be overthrown.
"Sons of the Stallion, invincible in battle!" Thinking this, Khal Jilokao took a deep breath and swung his long knife.
The dothraki also raised their bows, returning fire toward the longbowmen on the palace tower.
After the Iron Clover and the longbowmen, it would be the time for long knives to be stained with blood.
"Warriors!"
"Great River!"
"Wash away our humiliation!" Viserys raised the spear in his hand, having seen everything clearly.
The Horse People had already paid a huge price for their arrogance, and the numerical advantage had even shifted slightly in favor of Viserys's cavalry.
Now, there was only one choice: battle.
All talk of schemes, tricks, or gentle persuasion was false; only by utterly crushing the enemy could the military soul of this army be forged.
The andal Heavy Cavalry, like steel behemoths, appeared before the enemy, led by "Seven Stars" Argos, who wielded a terrifyingly ugly greatsword.
Argos roared, raising his greatsword, "Come and fight, you bastard dothraki who sleep with cows and sheep."
This time, there was no Heavy Spear Crescent Formation of infantry designed to break cavalry; it was a head-on cavalry charge.
A dothraki Warrior's arakh scraped against Argos's armor, to no effect.
Speaking of experience in frontal armor penetration, the dothraki had some, but not much.
Argos let out an angry roar and immediately knocked the dothraki off his horse.
The dothraki's upper body flew off diagonally; this time, he truly became a Half-man. Argos, with his immense strength, performed a miracle and severed the dothraki.
Viserys, meanwhile, was paying attention to Khal Jilokao's movements. He was leading the reserve unit of Elite Spearmen.
Viserys watched as the heavy cavalry bloomed like steel roses within the enemy ranks, and the tension in his heart eased.
The andals and the dothraki clashed, with the rhoynar Riders providing support with their bows from the side.
In close combat, unarmored light cavalry using such Drip-Feed Tactics to throw themselves away was truly foolish.
The dothraki Warriors swung their long knives, but if they couldn't penetrate the armor, the heavy knights found a window for counterattack.
Iron armor, iron spears, iron hammers, and iron blades roared, and the dothraki Riders watched the ensuing results in shock.
Once their long knives failed to find a weak point in the armor joint or got stuck, death awaited them.
A dothraki rode past across the battlefield, slumped limply over his horse's neck, a long spear having pierced his abdomen and exited through his back.
Khal Jilokao's Golden Belt was certainly conspicuous, and Viserys found his target.
"Khal Jilokao, your opponent is me." Viserys roared, then raised his spear, and the reserve unit surged forward like a hurricane.
Khal Jilokao also saw the silver-armored knight wrapped in a black and red cloak and immediately recognized him as Viserys.
"Die, milk man!" Khal Jilokao attacked as well.
After all, Dothraki Khals enjoyed duels; Drogo sustained a large wound after dueling another Khal.
Viserys's speed was astonishing. The silver spear flashed like a viper, frightening Khal Jilokao.
Thanks to The Red Viper, a Grand Master of the Spear, Viserys's spearmanship was also superb.
"Damn it!" Khal Jilokao immediately swayed his body to dodge. This handsome young man's skill was outstanding; he was no mere pretty face.
The spear grazed the Khal's side and back, rather than directly ripping open his intestines.
Even so, the searing pain made Khal Jilokao fight with incredible ferocity.
Khal Jilokao's long knife whirled in a frenzy of iron light. Viserys calmly observed Jiloka'o's movements.
Jiloka'o also had some experience dealing with armor. After all, experienced Dothraki Screamers prioritized finding weak points in armor, such as the joints, when facing armored soldiers.
Unfortunately, Khal Jilokao was facing Viserys's Silver Scale Armor.
Up and down! Left and right! Thrusts, slashes, spinning stabs, feints.
Although Khal Jilokao was the chosen leader of two thousand dothraki riders, Viserys's attribute values were higher.
Viserys's movements grew faster and faster, while Khal Jilokao rarely managed to touch his opponent's body.
Khal Jilokao struggled to parry Viserys's elusive, sharp spear, but the wounds on his body were mounting, including a deep penetrating wound in his waist and abdomen.
"Go die!" Khal Jilokao's eyes were bloodshot, like a roaring lion.
Khal Jilokao decided to use his long knife to pierce the Silver Scale Armor, risking everything in a desperate struggle.
But as his long knife descended, Viserys sidestepped and blocked, and the small portion of the blade that missed had no effect on the silver armor.
Viserys countered with a backhand thrust, and the spear struck the Khal directly in the chest, piercing muscle and lung, killing him instantly.
Viserys twisted the spear inside Khal Jilokao, and the Khal was utterly finished; his long knife slipped to the ground.
"Khal! Khal!" The Bloodriders roared furiously. The Khal was dead, and the Bloodriders could not live alone.
Viserys swung his spear and thrust, taking care of another Bloodrider, the spear point striking the dothraki's throat.
Argos shouted and charged over, slaying another frenzied Bloodrider with a single sword stroke.
"Khal Jilokao is dead!" Viserys roared, his voice echoing across the battlefield like steel, spreading far and wide.
Following Viserys's roar, this dothraki army began to shatter completely, like glass.
They were stunned and disoriented, feeling the battle was a chaotic game where they had been toyed with, having lost the most crucial duel.
They were severely beaten by these 'iron can' knights. After all, not every dothraki possessed the strength of a Bloodrider, and being unarmored in close combat was fatal.
Viserys pulled Khal Jilokao's corpse closer, then with a swift movement, his Dragonbone-hilted Dagger severed the Khal's head. Khal Jilokao's head was then tied to his horse.
"Things were fine, why did you have to provoke him?" Illyrio shouted bitterly from the city wall.
Illyrio instantly felt incredibly depressed. This Viserys was truly too crazy, yet sharp and ruthless.
He had noticed the dothraki's disrespectful remarks long ago, but pretended not to understand.
But once he made his move, he showed absolutely no mercy.
The Pentosians had long noticed the sounds of fighting below, but not a single Magister had the courage to mediate the slaughter between the two sides.
Whether it was Viserys or the Dothraki Khals, they were both bloodthirsty monsters.
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