The Iron Islands pirates, who had recently raided the western border, were still holed up in their lair digesting and enjoying their spoils, allowing Paxton's fleet to reach Lannisport without incident.
This largest port in the western region has more than enough capacity to accommodate over a hundred warships.
Soon, Paxton met Jon.
Paxton didn't have much prejudice against Bastard, after all, he often led his fleet all over the world, and his sails were so far away that he had seen and eaten a lot of things.
The sailors, who had been cooped up on the ship for too long, got their money and excitedly scattered the seeds into the brothel.
The port is full of children who know their mothers but not their fathers.
In his eyes, Jon was just an ordinary young man, but he also thought that someone so young, so good at fighting, and who had earned the title of Lord of Casterly Rock and even won Margaery's heart must be incredibly arrogant. But he never expected that Jon would be such a polite young man.
He didn't put on any airs of a duke in front of me.
Paxton's appearance was somewhat unexpected for Jon, especially his messy, reddish-brown hair, which gave him a rather unruly look.
The group soon arrived at the military camp to hear Jon's ingenious plan to intercept the rain.
"Your Grace, you mean that we can use a ship to intercept the rain from the sky? Please forgive my ignorance, but I really can't think of a way to do it." Since he wasn't familiar with Jon, Paxton still addressed him by his title.
"Actually, it's like this. Back in King's Landing, Tyrion and I used wildfire as a means of attack. During the battle, we set wildfire traps against His Majesty Stannis and the army in the Westerlands. I observed that wherever wildfire burned, it would soon rain heavily. So I decided to try using wildfire to stop the rain from falling from the sky."
Jon knows that rainwater formation requires condensation nuclei, and wildfire has a much higher heat output than ordinary fuels, thus creating enough lift to send rising ash and soot into the clouds as it burns, thus providing condensation nuclei for the clouds.
In addition, with the localized heat flow generated by the flames, he could easily create an "Artificial Rainmaking " in Westeros, where the technology level was low, to intercept the rain that should have fallen on Casterly Rock directly at sea.
However, the underlying principles were simply incomprehensible to these lords and nobles who lacked scientific education. So, listening to Jon's explanation, Brynden and his group still didn't grasp it, with Loras constantly muttering, "Can this work? Can this work?"
In fact, even if intercepting the rain failed, Jon could have chosen a slower approach, such as using ravens to spread the plague within Casterly Rock.
This is entirely possible, but firstly, it would be incredibly unethical to do it this way, and secondly, since Casterly Rock is where I'll be living in the future, it would be foolish to end up shooting myself in the foot.
While everyone else was still trying to understand Jon's brilliant plan, Paxton suddenly stood up, his eyes wide, and exclaimed, "Your Grace, you're not going to set my ship on fire, are you?!"
Seeing Paxton's strong reaction, Jon knew how important the Dao fleet was to him.
"How could that be? I just want to use your ship to set off a wildfire at sea. We'll use a pot or something similar, and then put some mud underneath to catch the rainwater. I don't want to set your ship on fire."
"But—" Paxton looked troubled. He knew about Wildfire. Ever since he learned about the brutal Battle of the Blackwater, he had ordered his fleet never to enter narrow waters.
They even increased manpower and forbade anyone from bringing flammable or explosive materials to the port. Anyone who dared to violate this rule would face only one fate: beheading. Now that Jon was going to set off wildfires on his own ship, how could he not be worried?
Therefore, Jon could only comfort Dao: "Don't worry, Sir Redwyne, there is definitely a lot of gold in Casterly Rock. If any of the ships are accidentally burned, I will compensate you double with the spoils of Casterly Rock. Please help me."
When Jon mentioned the Treasury in Casterly Rock, everyone became interested.
Putting the Tyrell brothers aside, their main reason for sending troops to help Jon was to invest in the future; what they really wanted was the Gold Mine in the West.
Therefore, they took on all the expenses for this campaign in the West and never even considered that Jon would be able to break into Casterly Rock.
As for the others, Rickard came to repay a debt of gratitude, Hoster's purpose was to invest in favors, and the three thousand men supported by Melisandre and Iron Throne were actually a reward for Jon's conquest of King's Landing and the enthronement of Stannis.
After all, Stannis is very poor right now, and can't very well give Storms End to Jon.
Brynden wanted to atone for his mistake of letting Tywin go, and also because the battle was taking place right outside Riverrun's house.
In other words, in the short term, everyone is losing money.
Jon has only been invading the West for a short time, and he has strictly forbidden the Soldiers from plundering, so they have even less chance to gain any benefits. If they can really take Casterly Rock, then the Treasury in Casterly Rock will definitely be enough to feed them.
That's Lannister. With over a thousand years of accumulation, even if the family doesn't have many readily available gold coins, it must have countless priceless and rare treasures.
You should know that Dao is a "home away from home" in Lannister! Tywin has also lent the royal family more than three million gold Dragons over the course of more than ten years.
In other words, the wealth in Casterly Rock is enough to make everyone in the room burst.
But all of this is predicated on conquering Casterly Rock.
At the port of Lannisport, Paxton ordered that most of the sails of the warships be removed to reduce the probability of fire.
The warship, stripped of its sails, suddenly appeared bare, which made Paxton feel very uneasy.
He had heard that Stannis's fleet had lowered all its sails when it entered Blackwater Rush, but still ended up being burned to ashes by wildfire.
However, he left about fifty warships with their sails intact, and there were about a dozen more warships below Casterly Rock. These fifty warships were there to defend against Tywin's fleet.
"Even at the worst, I can save fifty warships." Paxton thought to himself, but shook his head, banishing the ominous thought from his mind. "No, my fleet will be fine."
——
Paxton calmed himself down; assisting Jon was an order from Lord Mace, and he had to obey.
He looked at the huge clay braziers on the deck. It had taken them several days to make them, but Paxton thought it was worth it to protect the ship.
Not only were there braziers, but a thick layer of damp mud was also laid on the deck to prevent sparks from flying out.
Jon was also on his flagship at that moment, and Paxton walked toward Jon.
"Your Grace, we are ready and can depart at any time," Paxton said with a slight bow.
Jon glanced at the sky above; it was a hazy gray, a sign that rain was imminent. In some places, the clouds were thicker than in others.
"Then we'll have to trouble Sir Redwyne. We're determined to break the myth that Casterly Rock will never fall!"