*
The summer wind blew through the newly built palace in Oldtown. The silver-haired man glanced at his sons, who were sparring with wooden swords outside the window, and continued writing his letter to his elder brother.
After Dragonzel returned to Dragon Nest City, Prince Viserys had initially completed his plan, inserting a wedge into the Riverlands. Although the effect was poor, Viserys believed that this had already proven the royal family's influence had returned to the Riverlands. With the royal family's support, the Stormlands might be drawn into the royal family's camp. As for the Vale, Westerlands, and North, the royal family was indeed powerless at the moment.
The key now was the Reach in the South.
So Prince Viserys submitted a request to King Aegon to take over Oldtown. Although Aegon was reluctant to part with his beloved younger brother, under Viserys's persistence, he tacitly approved Viserys's 'willfulness' this time.
Only after Viserys flew to Oldtown with his children and wife did Aegon slowly send his blessings and approval.
He enfeoffed Viserys as the 'Prince of Oldtown,' acknowledging Prince Viserys's rule over the Crownlands of Oldtown, and sent resources, supplies, and a temporary conscription order.
King Aegon, having reclaimed the title of 'Protector of the Realm,' now possessed the authority to mobilize the entire nation's army. He ordered the Governor of the Reach, Lord Leonor Tyrell of Highgarden, and Lord Redwyne of the Arbor, to dispatch troops to support Viserys.
After several months of fierce fighting, with the combined efforts of Redwyne's navy and Igaras, the pirates and smugglers who had once infested the Honeywine River estuary finally disappeared completely. The restoration work in Oldtown also began to proceed in an orderly fashion.
"To my dear elder brother, His Majesty King Aegon II of the Targaryen family:
I have settled down in Oldtown. By the Seven, if I hadn't personally arrived in Oldtown and dealt with the city's problems, I would hardly believe that the once second-largest city in Westeros could have fallen to such a state. Four governors rotated, yet they did not bring a single gold dragon of income to the Iron Throne. To be honest, I even wonder if Father and brother were deceived. Of all the past governors of Oldtown, only the fourth governor was somewhat decent. The first governor was responsible for the great migration of the Citadel and the Faith. He made a fortune in the process but caused the urban economy of Oldtown to collapse. He had not yet had time to deal with this problem before he went to meet the Stranger. By the Seven Hells, when I first arrived in Oldtown, the registered population of the urban area was only a little over ten thousand. Of course, the actual population must be far greater than this number, but they would not pay taxes, and the urban area was almost in ruins, yet the port area was exceptionally prosperous.
Your Majesty, if our captives are not lying, these merchant ships smuggling goods in the port area are even suspected of engaging in slave trade. They do not need to pay any taxes for each ship, and as long as they give the governor enough bribes, they can even use the warehouses in the port area without paying rent. We saw mountains of grain, minted coins, silk, and countless goods that could bring at least tens of thousands of gold dragons in revenue to the kingdom. By the Seven Hells, I can hardly imagine how short-sighted and greedy the second and third governors were to allow such foolishness, but the gods also punished them. The first governor appointed by my brother died from an overdose of lamprey pie and drinking. I suspect someone murdered him, but I have no evidence. The second governor was appointed by Father, but I guess Father never expected this fellow would dare to fool him like this.
The second and third governors were clowns and fools despised by the old and new gods. I cannot imagine how much money they extorted in that position, but by the Seven Gods' grace, the second governor died within a few years of his tenure, and the third governor was a fool who took money but failed to do things well, being double-crossed by the smuggling merchants. Only the fourth governor hoped to revitalize Oldtown, but unfortunately, he offended the smuggling merchants who had formed a huge force in Oldtown and was poisoned into an imbecile.
However, Your Majesty, please rest assured, Lord Leonor provided me with four thousand five hundred fully equipped infantrymen, and one thousand five hundred cavalrymen. Lord Redwyne brought one hundred warships, and I have Igaras."
Viserys's pen suddenly paused, but he ultimately continued writing.
"And Prince Rhaegor's Star Song. I don't know why he appeared above the Reach on a dragon, but when he found us in a bitter struggle—that was the last naval battle we fought near Conquest Island. The pirates and smugglers entrenched in the ruins of Hightower and the small islands outside the river mouth gathered a huge fleet, probably over two hundred ships, attempting to break through Lord Redwyne's blockade. Some of their warships were equipped with scorpion crossbows. Igaras was still too young. Although it was stout and had thick, hard scales, it was still difficult to resist the spears fired by scorpion crossbows. And Igaras's dragonflame would lose power from a safe high altitude, so that battle was very difficult for us. Igaras even took an arrow—by the Seven Gods' grace, that spear was from a long distance and failed to penetrate Igaras's scales.
As the pirates were about to break through, Prince Rhaegor joined the battlefield on Star Song."
Viserys paused his pen again. This time, he thought for a longer period, but finally dipped his ink and continued writing.
"It turns out that Star Song is indeed a special dragon species. In terms of size, scale thickness, hardness, and the power of its dragonflame, it far surpasses the family's dragons. The enemy ships that gave Igaras some trouble were even more fragile than butter under Star Song's dragonflame. Wherever its silver-gold dragonflame swept, not a single enemy ship was not on fire and sinking. To be honest, Your Majesty, I hope you understand my meaning. Star Song will certainly become the most important dragon of the Varezes family after Vermithor."
Viserys realized he had said too much. After thinking for a moment, he crossed out the sentence after "to be honest." He tore off that part of the letter and continued writing about some post-war observations on a new sheet of paper.
"With Star Song's help, we quickly turned all these pirate ships into ashes. Pirates and smugglers are no longer seen at the Honeywine River mouth—at least for now.
Prince Rhaegor refused our post-war hospitality. He seemed very anxious to return to the Borderlands. I couldn't persuade him and could only express my gratitude verbally. After dealing with these pests, I began to restore order in Oldtown and the city's economy.
Your Majesty, Oldtown is the hub connecting the Reach to the sea. The Mander River flows slowly and is full of hidden reefs. Although the Mander River surpasses the Honeywine River in both scale and basin area, the Honeywine River flows faster, has abundant water, and is free of troublesome shoals and hidden reefs. When House Hightower ruled here, their dredging and management of the river channels and hydraulic engineering were excellent. We can completely inherit the legacy of House Hightower and restore the Honeywine River's important hydraulic role in the Reach.
It has been proven that, given the economic situation of the Reach, the role of the Honeywine River is irreplaceable. The port cities attempted by Lord Leonor Tyrell at the Mander River estuary and by Prince Ray in the Southern Reach both failed. I plan to re-establish the port area system and the royal mint, and gradually restore the city's vitality. If my plan can proceed smoothly, in the near future, Oldtown will provide the royal family with no less than seven hundred thousand gold dragons in annual tax revenue, which will greatly enrich the national treasury's reserves. At the same time, the royal family's involvement in Oldtown will also strongly complement Lord Tyrell's governance."
Viserys wrote a great deal. The new Prince of Oldtown was now full of ambition, while his wife, Lady Lara, looked at their new home with some excitement.
Before Viserys officially became the Prince of Oldtown, the Rogare family had already begun to act. They decisively arrived in Oldtown early, assisting in maintaining order in the urban area and opening a bank in the port area—the Rogare Bank was also a crucial financier for Viserys's reconstruction of Oldtown, providing most of the funds. To accommodate Lady Lara, Viserys ordered the construction of a Lysene-style palace for his wife in the city of Oldtown for her residence, and even tacitly allowed her to enshrine the goddess of lust, whom the Faith of the Seven denounced as a false god, in the palace.
As Oldtown began its enthusiastic grand development.
The Vale.
After thousands of years of rampant activity, the mountain clans met their end.
Some of the mountain wildlings chose to lay down their weapons, leave the deep mountains, and pledge allegiance to the lords of the Vale—as a vanguard for the Andal landing, the Vale had the strongest Andal cultural atmosphere, but also retained a considerable number of First Men traditions. For example, the mountain clans were descendants of the First Men, and House Royce, the most powerful military noble family in the Vale, was once a First Men king.
They still retain many First Men customs to this day.
Another part of the mountain wildlings chose to resist stubbornly. Led by the Burned Men, they fought fiercely against the knights of the Vale and the Borderlands infantry, who came from the South and were skilled in mountain warfare.
But the ultimate result was that the wildlings' blood ran dry.
Yet the enemies kept increasing.
Until the last group of wildlings who refused to lay down their weapons were forced into their last stronghold, a towering mountain.
The Burned Men inherited the castle left by the mountain's original owner—a small, easily defensible castle built on the mountaintop. The wildlings moved through the mountain's caves and waged guerrilla warfare in the widespread forests on the mountain, resisting the attacks of the Vale archers and Borderlands mountaineers.
They were driven out of the mountain caves by Borderlands soldiers, who were also skilled in mountain warfare and cave exploration, but were better equipped, with almost every man having chainmail, leather armor, and steel weapons.
Lord Joffrey Arryn set bounties for every wildling's scalp and ears. Piles of gold dragons were kept in the Gates of the Moon, ready to be distributed to the soldiers of the Vale and the Borderlands.
This drove every warrior mad.
Every cave was filled with blood, every mountain forest was filled with screams.
But the wildlings continued to resist. Relying on the treacherous mountain terrain, they ultimately held their last fortress.
Then. The dragons arrived.
One, two, three...
The first to arrive was the purple Tyraxes. Lord Joffrey Velaryon flew to the last fortress on it, but he did not launch the attack first, instead waiting for the reinforcements Lord Joffrey had promised.
In these years, Lord Joffrey Velaryon was busy both forming the royal fleet and ensuring the bloodline of House Velaryon. He had a healthy daughter with Princess Alysanne. And the House Velaryon bastards, Adam and Elin, were recruited by Lord Joffrey during this period as experienced captains and sailors.
And quickly gained prominence in the royal fleet. It is said that the courteous and handsome elder brother, Adam, was highly favored by Lord Joffrey. The Lord even intended to take him as a son-in-law.
Of course, these were just rumors, as Lord Joffrey's daughter was still too young.
Reinforcements arrived before sunset.
The first to land was Vermithor. This tyrannical beast, whose size could even rival the mountain, immediately set fire to the mountain forests where the wildlings were hiding as soon as it landed. After the flames died down, there were charred bodies of wildlings everywhere, and bare mountains.
The last of the wildlings were forced to leave their camps between the mountains and huddled within the fortress.
Then came Silverwing. Valarr was still a strong warrior, but the long peace had gradually created differences between this twin brother of Dragonzel and his elder brother.
In short, Valarr had grown fat.
Shadow Nightmare and Morning arrived shortly after.
Almost all of the Varezes family's combat-ready dragons had been deployed.
"The Burned Men will never yield."
"Fire will only be our glory."
This was the wildlings' reply after Lord Joffrey's challenge was shot into the fortress.
Clearly, these uncultured fellows had no idea about the situation at Harrenhal.
They paid the price for their ignorance.
The reply was written in fire.
It is said that Valarr laughed heartily upon seeing the wildlings' reply, while Dragonzel and Ray said nothing. Daniela was still fretting about how to wear her leather armor.
Finally, it was Valarr's voice that replied to the wildlings.
"No, you fools, fire is not your glory."
"Fire is your death knell."
But this message ultimately failed to reach the wildlings huddled in the fortress.
Because after the moon had fully risen, the high mountain lit up the night sky of the Vale like a burning candle.
Vermithor was the first to sound the fire's alarm.
Its golden dragonflame melted the fortress's stone walls almost in the blink of an eye, instantly turning anyone who came into contact with its dragonflame into a puddle of ash.
Then, the dragons ascended into the sky, collectively spewing deadly dragonflame at the fortress.
By the time the sun rose.
Where the fortress once stood on the mountaintop, only a pool of mud formed by melted rock and indelible ashes remained.
The screams faded into silence.
Glory belonged to the fire.
Unfortunately, not to the wildlings. But to the Silver Dragon.
The dragon once again demonstrated its greatness, just as it did at Harrenhal years ago.
When the dragonflame on the mountaintop extinguished.
The Vale had completely bid farewell to its sworn enemies.
The mountain wildlings became history.
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