On the eighth day after the First Fleet left Toros, the white dragon that had been hiding in the clouds and secretly observing New Giss City disappeared.
At this time, the First Fleet of the Alliance Army had already left Slave Bay and the Free Maiden Island, entering the wider Bay of Sorrows.
That night, the city lord of Toros, Balor Terilis, called all the city defense commanders over for questioning as usual before going to bed.
Terilis was also one of the fourteen fire peaks and managed Toros together with another fire peak family, Valoris.
Originally, the city lord should have been Piero of the Valoris family. Piero was young and strong, and he was also Balor's son-in-law. He was just right to deal with the Dragon Queen, who was getting stronger and stronger.
However, a month ago, an invitation came from Mataris. It was a letter from Jenny herself. "We need Valleglia warriors with noble bloodlines."
Toros and Alleria, like Mataris and Orloss, were all directly under Valleglia.
It was very strange. Compared to Mataris, Toros and Toros were closer to the fourteen fire peaks, but these two cities were not affected by the curse at all.
Even so, Toros did not lose contact with Mataris in the Cursed Land.
In the past 400 years, many living resources were transported from Toros to Mataris along the main road of Valleglia.
Thus, information between Toros and the Land of Long Summer was not blocked.
The people of Toros knew about Jenny Belleris of Orloss and Benny Miracis of Mataris.
After receiving Jenny's letter, Piero did not hesitate. He led a group of young men with noble bloodlines to Mataris. The position of city lord fell to the old but wise Balor.
"City Lord, everything is normal at the west gate. No outsiders entered Toros today," the commander of the west gate reported.
Balor, who was sitting behind the red sandalwood table, scooped up a spoonful of human milk and lotus seed soup with a white jade spoon. He put it into his mouth and slowly swallowed it down his throat before asking, "Are the mercenaries in the west camp safe?"
"Stirring up trouble as usual. Today, three more mercenaries stole the manor's sheep. Four of them were strong, and one of them was a young girl of Valyrian bloodline." The silver-haired, purple-eyed garrison commander suppressed his anger as he spoke.
"Bang … Crash!"
The veins on the back of the old man's hand bulged. He suddenly swept the table, and the soup bowl and spoon fell to the ground.
"That group of trash will be sent to Meereen as cannon fodder sooner or later!" Lord Balor cursed.
The West City Garrison sighed inwardly. He understood the mayor's meaning: We still need mercenaries to deal with the Mother Of Dragons. Let's turn big problems into small ones and small ones into nothing.
Then, he silently bowed and left.
"Everything is fine in the northern part of the city. There are no disturbances, no spies, and the granary and armory of the Northern Barracks outside the city gate are also safe.
At three o 'clock in the afternoon,' Shoemaker 'Gilo Reja's pike regiment, a total of 1,600 pike cavalrymen and 4,000 infantrymen, came from Mataris along Valleglia Avenue. They also brought 500 Scorpion Crossbows (Dragon-slaying Crossbows), "reported the commander of the North City Garrison.
"I know Jig the Shoemaker. He's a guest at my mansion."
A bowl of lotus seed soup was placed in front of Balor. It was his habit to drink a bowl of breast milk every night before he went to sleep.
"Including the pike regiment, Toros has almost 30,000 soldiers and 2,000 Scorpion Crossbows. Now, I can finally sleep in peace," sighed the old mayor in satisfaction.
After the North City Garrison left, the South City Garrison came.
The south of the city faced the sea, and the South City Garrison was also responsible for the safety of the harbor.
"Lord Mayor, seven ships from New Guise entered the harbor today. Four of them were grain transport ships, and three of them were carrying Astapor liquor, white sugar, and white paper."
"Very good." Lord Balor nodded and smiled easily. "Ever since the First Fleet left, I've been worried that the Dragon Queen would create a diversion. She likes to do this the most.
For the past eight days, the number of ships coming to Toros has been almost constant. This means that the sea route from Toros to New Guise has not been blocked. "
"Lord Mayor, you are wise!" praised the South City Garrison.
"However, I heard that Slaver's Bay has sealed off all trade. Can we still buy their white sugar and liquor?" asked the mayor curiously.
The headquarters of the Alliance Army was too far away from Slaver's Bay. Mataris did not produce grain, and the nearest Toros was more than 1,000 kilometers away from New Guise. Even if they went by sea, the cost of long-distance transportation of supplies was too high.
Without a doubt, buying supplies from the Dragon Queen was not only cheaper (the Dragon Queen was doing a promotion), but the distance was also very close.
If the Dragon Queen was willing to sell food, the Alliance Army would probably be overjoyed. Buying food from the Dragon Queen, transporting it to Toros on the other side, and then feeding the Alliance Army from Mataris to Meereen was simply too … too whimsical.
The Dragon Queen never sold food!
She sold olive oil, sweet potatoes, wine brewed from grapes, sugar from sugar beets, refined salt, textiles, and even bronzeware (she did not sell iron, she only bought iron). However, she did not sell wheat or rice. She did not even sell potatoes or dried sweet potatoes.
Yes, she sold high-concentration white wine brewed from sweet potatoes, but not dried sweet potatoes. That sounded a little weird.
Because of that, Astapor was exceptionally prosperous. Merchants bought goods from the Dragon Queen, transported them to New Guise, and sold them to the Alliance Army.
— — New Guise was only an island with a radius of a hundred miles. It was unable to supply the Alliance Army with hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
The wine that the Alliance Army drank was all from Astapor. The salt and white sugar that the Alliance Army ate also came from Astapor. The Alliance Army officers wore beautiful silk and brocade robes that came from Slaver's Bay.
Even the Alliance Army soldiers' monthly wages, copper and silver coins, also came from Slaver's Bay, which was produced by the Dragon Queen's mint.
Why did Danny do that?
Because the sea merchants did not come to Slaver's Bay empty-handed. They also brought things that Danny needed. Refined iron, finished swords, cooked cowhide, sheepskin, whale oil, and even rice and wheat.
That's right, there were sea merchants who sold the Alliance Army's rations. Because the Dragon Queen offered a high price, she even subsidized them!
100 catties of rice for 10 catties of high concentration white wine, 10 catties of white wine for 200 catties of sweet wine.
Because rice was a subsidized item, not only was it exempt from tax, they could also get a 30% discount coupon.
For example, if Zhang San sold 100 dollars worth of rations at Slaver's Bay, he would buy 100 dollars worth of white wine. Before leaving, the Dragon Queen would compensate him with 30 dollars of gold.
Who could resist the temptation of this business?
Even the Alliance Army knew that the sea merchants were selling rations to the Dragon Queen. They turned a blind eye to it, and even encouraged them.
The reason was simple. Between transporting 100 catties of rations from Volantis to New Guise and 200 catties of sweet wine, which one was more expensive?
After all this trouble, the Dragon Queen's rations actually increased.
The military clothing also changed from high value and low cost silk cloth to low value and high value fur.
Fur was the only way to survive the winter!
Although Queers, Volantis, New Guise and other southern coastal city-states never survived the winter, they wore silk clothes and brocade robes.
Coupled with the export of materials such as white paper, table salt, and coins, even if the Dragon Queen crazily subsidized them, the gold in her treasury was increasing day by day.
This was actually a win-win situation?!
"Targaryen, your words are like a mountain." The city's south guard said seriously.
"Oh, I've heard of this before. What does this have to do with us being able to continue buying supplies from Slaver's Bay?" City Lord Balor asked curiously.
"Back then, the Dragon Queen had signed a contract with Volantis, New Guise, and Queers. At any time, Slaver's Bay would not reject 'VIP customers'."
Speaking of this, the city's south guard could not help but sigh. "The small merchants back then relied on the sea trade with Slaver's Bay to grow into influential sea merchants in a few years.
Take Volantis' Faat Doxim for example. At first, he was just a slave. Later, he became the son-in-law of a small merchant family. Now, he has the qualifications to run for Consul. "
"Faat Doxim? I know him. That fatty is despicable. He benefits from both our alliance army and the Dragon Queen, "City Lord Balor said in disgust.
The city's south guard shrugged and did not comment. He only continued, "The Dragon Queen still sticks to her promise. Even if the city is sealed due to the epidemic, she still opens the exclusive port for VIP customers and continues to do business."
"I see!"
Balor scooped a spoonful of lotus seed soup with Astapor white sugar and swallowed it in satisfaction.
After the city's south guard left, Balor also finished the last mouthful of soup. He stood up and stretched his back. He sighed and said, "It's another dull but stable day. I hope —"
"Boom, boom, boom —"
Three consecutive explosions rang out in the silent city.
"Rumble!"
The castle of the city lord's residence shook slightly.
"That's —" Balor's expression changed drastically. He turned to the window on the left and saw that about four streets away, an 80-meter-tall tower that could be considered a city landmark was burning.
It was like a torch that had been lit. All the residents in the city could see it.
"That's … the crow's nest!"
The crow's nest was being attacked.
Balor was stunned for a moment and exclaimed in shock, "The Demon Mother Of Dragons is attacking. She wants to launch an all-out attack on Tolos and deliberately cut off Tolos's connection with the outside world."
"Boom, boom, boom!" A series of explosions rang out in the city. Accompanied by surging waves, a series of flames lit up the pitch-black night sky.
He saw the Demon Dragon's figure flash past quickly in the flames.
The speed was really fast. The three Megalosaurus did not hesitate at all. They seemed to be flying according to the planned route. They soared and changed their direction gracefully, looking for their target and spitting fire to burn the tower.
In the instant that the old city lord was stunned, seven or eight towers were ignited.
They were all towers!
"Damn it. They're all the towers that were built for the crow's nest in the city."
After looking through the window for a while, the old city lord, who had lived in this city for more than 50 years, understood that the towers that were being attacked were all crow's nests.
What did this mean?
The old man shuddered.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The fires in the city started to become irregular. Some places did not seem to have crow's nests?
At least, that was the impression that the old city lord had.
— — What the old city lord did not know, the three cats and three petrels would definitely know after a thorough search.
In just 20 seconds, more than 40 "stars" that were either bright or dark rose from Tolos, who was covered by the black curtain.
From afar, the burning tower looked like a flickering star.
Then, "Boom!"
The old man's expression changed again. A mushroom-cloud-like green flame rose from the Dragon-slaying Crossbow hidden around the residential houses in the west of the city.
It was 15 meters tall and covered the city walls that were 6 meters tall. Almost all the nearby city areas were covered by the green flame.
Even though they were a mile away, the flames reflected the pale face of the city lord.
"Wildfire …" Balor said softly.
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