Princess Daenerys's words instantly plunged everyone into a brief silence.
They had thought that after Princess Daenerys accepted the gifts, she would no longer bring up the matter of the Faceless Men.
Unexpectedly, she accepted the gifts, but the matter was far from over! ⊙▽⊙
Sea King Youtanlis, seeing this, couldn't help but feel a secret delight.
"Hmph! Did you really think this Dragon Princess would be so easy to appease? Five million gold dragons plus a few small islands? What a grand gesture! If she were that easy to appease, she wouldn't have uprooted the Hightower Family."
"However, I am somewhat looking forward to seeing this Princess's next moves!"
At this moment, Princess Daenerys appeared calm and collected, but every word she spoke was subtly sharp.
"After all, if the wind doesn't stop, the waves are hard to calm."
"Everyone says Braavos's rise to prominence was due to its three pillars: the Iron Bank, the Purple Fleet, and the Faceless Men."
"But even the most solid room fears destruction from within."
"Now, the House of Black and White, which has repeatedly committed unrighteous acts, has met with disaster.
If other places stir up trouble again, even the most stable carriage might be in danger of overturning! After all, the long night is endless, and dangers lurk everywhere!"
If Braavos still intended to appease Princess Daenerys as they did King Jaehaerys last time, they would truly be mistaken.
After all, the House of Black and White was destroyed, its centuries-old legacy broken, and even if there were surviving Faceless Men, they no longer possessed much deterrent power.
At that time, King Jaehaerys truly feared the assassinations of the Faceless Men.
After all, while dragons were invincible, members of the Targaryen Royal Family were not.
Now, the House of Black and White has been destroyed, and most of its elite Faceless Men were annihilated along with it.
Years of legacy were ruined in an instant.
And those great families who wanted to dominate Braavos did not necessarily wish for the rise of the Faceless Men again.
The Faceless Men had always been a potential balancing force in Braavosi politics.
They did not pledge allegiance to any single political power, yet they could significantly influence the situation.
When certain factions grew excessively powerful and threatened the stability of the city-state, the Faceless Men might intervene at the behest of certain requests, assassinating key figures to prevent any single party from dominating, thereby maintaining the relative balance of the city-state's political landscape.
For example, if a political ambitious individual attempted to seize absolute power through violent means, the Faceless Men might intervene to bring the situation back on track.
Although in external relations, the Faceless Men were Braavos's invisible deterrent weapon.
Other city-states and powers were well aware that Braavos possessed the mysterious and deadly organization of the Faceless Men, and would be wary when conflicts of interest or diplomatic disputes arose with Braavos.
This deterrent indeed reduced unprovoked provocations by external forces against Braavos, and to a certain extent, ensured Braavos's voice and independence in diplomatic settings, giving it a unique advantage in complex international relations.
However, Braavos had long dominated the world in economic and naval power, and had continually interfered in the internal affairs of other countries through financial means, which had led Braavos's authorities to believe that they might no longer need to rely on the Faceless Men.
Especially as the Sea King, the ruler of Braavos, he inevitably came into conflict with the Faceless Men if he wanted to wield absolute power.
The Faceless Men's modus operandi was mysterious and independent, carrying out assassination missions in the name of the "thousand-faced god," which inherently conflicted with the open and stable political order represented by the Sea King and the council.
Moreover, the Faceless Men were not bound by conventional political rules, and their actions of arbitrarily deciding life and death could disrupt Braavos's normal political ecosystem.
The Sea King and the council, in order to maintain the stable rule of the city-state, would inevitably guard against the Faceless Men.
Perhaps at certain critical moments, unauthorized assassination attempts by the Faceless Men could trigger political turmoil, causing a huge crisis for the Sea King.
For example, the Faceless Men's assassination attempt on Princess Daenerys, didn't that bring a huge threat to Braavos?!
Braavos's current esteemed position relied entirely on its prosperous commerce.
The increasing unpredictability of the Faceless Men's assassination actions had a huge impact on commercial activities.
If an important commercial figure suddenly died due to a Faceless Men assassination, it could lead to the collapse of their business empire and trigger a series of economic chain reactions, affecting the stability of Braavos's trade market.
Therefore, even though everyone knew that Princess Daenerys had destroyed the House of Black and White, the great families did not harbor much resentment towards Princess Daenerys because of it.
The Sea King's faction was even willing to ally with Princess Daenerys to contend with their political rivals.
Princess Daenerys saw through this point, which is why she prepared a series of measures to deal with them.
However, Princess Daenerys was not in a hurry now; there would be even more exciting things awaiting them later.
"What Princess Daenerys said is absolutely true; those who like to stir up trouble are a menace to everyone!"
Yutanris, having recently regained some of his Sea King's prestige due to Princess Daenerys's arrival, was naturally willing to fully cooperate with Princess Daenerys's performance.
"These past few years, due to health reasons, I have somewhat neglected the management of the Purple Fleet, and there are also some small fry within trying to disrupt the atmosphere.
It seems that such people truly cannot be tolerated."
"Indeed, in recent years, the Purple Fleet's trade scope has expanded, but the returns brought back each time have been somewhat unsatisfactory."
Upon mentioning this, Antarion Governor, who was always shrewd with money, immediately felt a belly full of grievances.
Following this, several families allied with Yutanris also expressed their dissatisfaction.
"That's right! It seems it's also time to properly rectify our internal affairs.
After all, this concerns everyone's common interests."
"If anyone truly resorted to underhanded tactics, they absolutely cannot be tolerated then."
...
Everyone's verbal attacks instantly made the faces of the several great families, led by Osiris Governor, turn ugly.
Because it was precisely these families who, taking advantage of Yutanris's poor health, seized the opportunity to infiltrate and control parts of the Purple Fleet.
And the so-called reduced profits naturally went into their own pockets.
However, because of their immense power, although everyone was fully aware, they were helpless.
Now that the Sea King's faction had re-established itself, they would naturally not tolerate it any longer.
"Didn't everyone come here today to apologize to Princess Daenerys? Why are we getting bogged down in these bothersome matters?
If there's truly anything, we can just go to the Hall of Truth to resolve it."
Osiris Governor forcefully interrupted the already somewhat agitated crowd.
"You all really are something; tonight we came to make Princess Daenerys happy, why bother her with these messy affairs!"
At his words, everyone gradually quieted down.
And this banquet, originally held to appease Princess Daenerys, at her instigation, surprisingly became the catalyst for igniting the dispute between Braavos's two major powers.
Although Princess Daenerys was not entirely satisfied with tonight's gains, she did make some progress.
At the very least, she had established a foothold in Braavos, and five million gold dragons were enough for her to develop new territories.
The Sea King's faction was also in good spirits.
After all, with Princess Daenerys's assistance, they finally had the power to regain control of the situation in Braavos.
Osiris Governor and his faction were not in a good mood at all, because now without the help of the Faceless Men, it would be difficult for them to deal with Princess Daenerys and the Sea King.
Moreover, they had a nagging feeling that something bad was about to happen.
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