Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon

"The horse kings often come, bring gifts, and they will leave on their own."

This sentence is a portrayal of the attitude of the free trade city-states towards the Dothraki.

The Dothraki are a typical nomadic people in the cold weapon era. There is no unified regime. The people and horses are scattered in tribes called "Khalas", and the tribes are led by the bravest warriors-"Khal".

Their khalasar has a fixed city, Vaes Dothraki-this is their capital, but they will not live in the capital for a long time. Most of the time they migrate with tents and chase water and grass. The economy is largely supported by looting surrounding countries. In order to survive, tribes will also attack each other.

There are several Dothraki tribes passing by Pentos every year, some new and some old.

In a khalasar, when the khal dies, a new khal will take power; or the "Khals" below (analogous to the various tribes of the Huns' royal tent) will be dispersed and reorganized into several khalasars, and the previous "Kou" (the leaders of the tribes under the king) will become new khals; or the tribes will annex each other.

Whenever the Dothraki migrated through, the nobles of Pentos would offer gold, silver and gifts, provide them with supplies, and let them go to other places to plunder.

The Pentos even built a magnificent palace for the horse kings by the bay for the tribe to rest when they migrated through.

The nobles of the Free Trade Cities were very satisfied with this solution, which could stop the war with only money, and even take the opportunity to plunder money.

Viserys would like to call it an annual tribute.

However, the people of the Free Trade Cities have no concept of nation or nationality, after all, the powerful rulers of these city-states are an alliance of merchant governors.

They only need to ensure that the trade routes are not cut off and that they do not hinder making money, and they will not consider anything else.

Illyrio wanted to take Viserys to see a Dothraki tribe that happened to pass by these days, which is said to have a scale of 10,000 people.

Illyrio is a businessman and a conspirator. He understands people's hearts. Of course, he would not let Viserys see the "Drogo" tribe that he really wanted to introduce as soon as he arrived.

He wanted Viserys to have an impression of the Dothraki troops first, and then told him that this was not the strongest, and now there were more powerful tribes and emerging overlords on the grasslands who could help him make connections.

When Viserys learned that the leader of the tribe was not called Drogo, he also figured it out.

At the same time, he realized that this was because he had shown resistance before, and Illyrio responded.

It seems that they are very concerned about this plan to connect the last descendants of Targaryen with the Dothraki horse king.

Viserys has already made plans in his mind.

A dreamless night.

Early the next morning, Viserys got up, had a simple breakfast, changed into the servant clothes provided by Illyrio, and went out with Illyrio and his servants.

Illyrio sat in a luxurious carriage, two servants drove the car, and more than ten servants rode horses.

Speaking of which, Viserys can ride a horse.

Before the fall of the Targaryen dynasty, Viserys had been a prince in King's Landing for eight years. The Targaryen family was martial, and the prince Rhaegar, who was the focus of everyone's attention at that time, was famous for his bravery.

Viserys, who could not inherit the throne, was originally trained as a prince to assist Rhaegar in the future. He practiced martial arts since he was a child, and of course he learned to ride a horse.

After being exiled to the Free Trade City, his horse riding skills were not abandoned. After all, there were many martial artists among the dignitaries who were under his patronage. He always had to accompany him when he went out on horseback, otherwise how could he flatter?

Just like now, Illyrio invited him to go with him to see the Dothraki people and horses. Could he really refuse?

This was not a good thing. If he didn't know how to ride a horse, just learning to ride a horse could be delayed for a long time when necessary.

Today should be the first time Viserys walked on the city streets since he came to Pentos. I have to say that the impression was very bad.

I didn't feel anything when I just left the courtyard, but when I left the courtyard area, the stench of the sky hit me.

There were not many people on the streets in the morning, but the mud, livestock feces, and various garbage were everywhere. The smell of feces and fish mixed together, making it difficult to breathe.

Even though he had the memories of his original body and was well prepared for this, Viserys still underestimated the harshness of the environment of an ancient coastal commercial city similar to the Middle Ages.

Fortunately, they rode on horses and quickly crossed the streets, walked out of the huge city walls, and came to the outside of the city.

Although the places where people gathered outside the city were not much better, they had a wide view and good air circulation.

But the short-term smooth breathing did not last too long. They soon arrived at a medium-sized camp a few hundred meters outside the city. This was a small plain on the east side of the city, far away from the shantytowns built along the moat and leaning against the city, and on the side of the avenue built by the Valyrians.

There were only simple wooden stakes around the camp for protection, which was obviously built temporarily.

Although it was simple, there were still a large group of soldiers and horses stationed there to take care of it. The camp gate was heavily guarded. When Illyrio and his party arrived, they had to confirm their identities before they could be allowed in.

There were many mule carts in the camp, loaded with goods.

The flag in front of the camp was the emblem of the Pentos City Guard.

After entering the camp, Viserys began to observe.

He had served as a centurion for the princess in the last world, and knew a thing or two about the ancient army. He could easily tell from the temporary tents and personnel distribution that there were at most 500 people in the camp.

Relatively speaking, there were not many elite soldiers wearing armor, most of whom were responsible for vigilance and guarding. From what we could see, there were only about 50 people in the team.

The rest of the miscellaneous personnel were mostly the assistants of the merchant governors who were responsible for escorting. They did not carry weapons and only wore cloth.

Occasionally, there were people wearing leather armor and carrying swords, and they were the governors' attendants.

Viserys was now dressed like a squire, with a leather helmet covering his hair and most of his face.

There was a guide who talked to Illyrio along the way, talking about escort matters.

When he arrived at the core tent of the camp, Illyrio asked the guards to wait outside while he went in to handle things.

Illyrio had already ordered Viserys to go to the leader of their guards if he had any questions - he had seen it, it was the one who was with Illyrio when he went to Lys to invite him.

He is also suspected to be a eunuch.

From this, Viserys guessed that Illyrio's personal bodyguards were all "Unsullied".

Under these circumstances, Viserys said little and did not move.

His silence and quietness pleased Illyrio.

Viserys didn't care what Illyrio thought, he just wanted to see more and talk less.

About a quarter of an hour after arriving at the camp, one merchant governor after another arrived at the central camp, and messengers walked out one after another. Soon, the temporary camp showed signs of starting to break out.

More and more of the governor's attendants gathered outside the tent, but no trouble occurred.

Viserys noticed that most of them were Unsullied guards similar to Illyrio, all of them silent and quiet. It seems that using the Unsullied as bodyguards is considered normal behavior in Pentos.

In fact, because Pentos fought a war with Braavos and Pentos lost on the battlefield, the peace agreement signed stipulated that the Pentos people were not allowed to hire mercenaries, enter into contracts with free mercenary groups, or keep anything beyond the city guard. armies, the powerful were forced to purchase Unsullied to protect their property. Some external military affairs and internal management can only rely on the city guards jointly established by the governors. Speaking of which, the largest military force in the city is actually the monk armed force of the Red God Temple.

Viserys didn't know the reason, but he just stood among a group of Unsullied guards, wondering if Illyrio's attitude of arranging him to serve as a squire was too contemptuous, or if he had some evil intentions.

After almost all the mule carts in the camp had set off, Illyrio and a group of governors walked out of the camp.

The governors acted differently. They greeted each other and said goodbye. Some set off directly back to the city, while others called their attendants to ride horses to catch up with the departing mule train.

Illyrio waited until everyone else was almost gone, then he called Viserys and the others, mounted their horses, and followed his luxurious carriage towards the direction of the mule carriage.

There was no words to say all the way, and they headed east along the road built by the Valyrian people in the vast wilderness. After riding for about five or six miles, a river appeared in front of them.

This place is still some distance away from the Rhoyne River, the natural boundary of Pentos. It is just a branch of the river, but Illyrio's carriage no longer follows the mule carriage team, but turns elsewhere and stops under a low hill.

Then the fat governor stepped out of the carriage, mounted the prepared horses, and led Viserys and his entourage on horseback onto the low hill.

The fat governor beckoned Viserys to come closer, and the attendants took the initiative to distance themselves.

He apologized: "Your Majesty, I have wronged you."

Viserys pretended to be generous and said: "It doesn't matter, Lord Governor, don't worry about it."

The fat governor just said that, and quickly changed the subject, saying: "The terrain here is high, and we can just see the procession of Dothraki people coming to receive the gifts. Your Majesty, please wait a moment."

Viserys was very considerate and said, "I thought this trip would lead to the Dothraki camp."

He looked up into the distance. On the other side of the river was a wilderness eroded by wind and sand. Beyond that were rolling low mountains. He could vaguely see some green grass and a wide dirt road stretching into the distance.

Illyrio replied: "Your Majesty, you don't know. The Dothraki camp is far away. Whenever they send gifts, both sides send troops here to receive them. If they are stationed too close, the people in the city may not be able to sleep peacefully. In fact, We are not afraid of these barbarians either. The red-robed monks promise that with the protection of the King of Light, even if millions of Dothraki attack, we don’t need to be afraid..."

This was in line with Viserys's observation, and he just pretended not to hear the second half of Illyrio's sentence to make up for it.

The eastern part of Pentos is a large plain, which is very suitable for cavalry. If the passing Dothraki are stationed too close, once the horse kings make any changes, the consequences will be disastrous.

"Then how do you judge the authenticity of the Dothraki?" Viserys asked casually, "Aren't you afraid that they are cheating and using suspicious soldiers to defraud more 'gifts'?"

Illyrio said confidently: "We will know, Your Majesty."

Viserys heard Illyrio's confidence, and couldn't help but sneer in his heart, and said vaguely: "It seems that you are experienced in such things."

"." Illyrio vaguely heard the sarcasm, and turned to look at Viserys, but he could only see the superficial look of expectation on the other man's face, which was mostly covered by the helmet, as if he was waiting for Dothraki. The person appeared, and what he said just now was just an unconscious casual comment.

Looking in the distance towards the direction of the mule cart team traveling along the road, after a while, several lines of smoke rose from the low mountains in the distance.

As the smoke rose, dense crowds of people gradually appeared on the low mountains about three or four miles away. The men and horses three or four miles away seemed to be the size of ants, but they were so densely packed that it was hard to tell how many there were.

The dark wolf smoke in the wilderness gradually rose into the sky, like a huge rope rising from the horizon and between the sky and the earth, hanging on the clouds, and densely packed ant-like dots poured out from the mountains, and then slowly poured into the advancing mules like a black tide. car team.

Viserys had commanded a team of a hundred men on the plains of Hyrule. When the men and horses appeared from the mountains, he quickly calculated that the cavalry that appeared was about one thousand and five hundred. Looking at the distance of the marching array, it was three five hundred troops.

It has to be said that with just a few bursts of smoke, these 1,500 men and horses suddenly appeared under the sky, and then marched down from the low mountains. The men and horses gradually spread out across the vast wilderness, which indeed created a very shocking effect.

On Earth, bombarded by information, many people cannot truly imagine the shocking sight of thousands of cavalry charges on ancient battlefields. They can only apply it from the "big scenes" seen in TV series. But in fact, when a thousand-man cavalry array is truly marching, the array can stretch for four to five hundred meters when spread out.

Especially for grassland armies without armor such as the Dothraki cavalry, it is rare to gather together in a group. What they are good at is cutting up the battlefield in a hunting style and engaging in melee.

The Dothraki obviously wanted to show off their force. The teams that Illyrio said were coming to support them suddenly roared and charged towards the mule cart team when the distance between the two sides was about one mile.

Of course, the two sides did not fight. The Dothraki cavalry array was just showing off their force.

After a brief commotion, the charge stopped, the soldiers and horses turned around, and the cavalry array merged into two front and rear groups, surrounding the "gift" sent by Pantos into the middle of the array like an escort.

Even three or four miles away, standing on the low hill here, you can easily feel the smoke and dust of the cavalry charge, shaking the earth, and the people and horses sweeping in are really like a tide.

The scene was indeed large, but not enough to shock Viserys.

The Dothraki cavalry is still human after all. He has seen marching arrays full of grotesque monsters, and he has also commanded a centurion to try to slay a dragon.

He even had the chance to transform into a dragon himself.

But this reminded Viserys that if he had to fight an army of thousands or ten thousand people with the dragon's breath in the future, it would be better to let them get together, and an army would be needed to clean up the end.

The array of one thousand and five cavalry can stretch for four to five hundred meters. Once the array of tens of thousands of people disperses, even the infantry will be very troublesome to handle.

Just based on my own experience, once you realize that you have to disperse your troops when facing a dragon, then even a giant dragon with endless magic power will not be able to easily annihilate the enemy single-handedly.

Therefore, the Targaryens were unable to conquer Dorne even in the era of dragons, and they needed the support of the army and subjects.

Illyrio looked at Viserys and saw that he was attracted by the Dothraki cavalry. He was silently thinking and the expression on his face changed. Then he asked quite contentedly: "Your Majesty, what do you think of these Dothraki cavalry?"

Viserys could easily hear Illyrio's proud mood, but he didn't know whether he was sincere or just a performance required by the plan.

"Well, I already understand." Viserys did not give Illyrio the reaction he wanted, but looked at him seriously, "You are serious, you are different from those rich and powerful people who act on a whim, Illy Governor Leo, I have seen your ambition and confirmed your attitude and execution ability. In order to help me restore the country, you even formulated a plan that seemed feasible and implemented it resolutely in an attempt to convince me."

Viserys rode up to Illyrio and said with unprecedented solemnity: "For this reason, Illyrio, you don't need to do anything more. You just need to maintain this ambition and work for me. If I climb the iron again in the future, The throne and the position of Chancellor of the Treasury are yours.”

"." This was not the reaction Illyrio wanted, but he still took the words and expressed doubts about Viserys's reaction, "Your Majesty?"

Viserys did not answer immediately. He rode forward, walked a certain distance, and then reined in his horse before Illyrio could react in a way that would damage his high-spirited image at the moment. He looked back and motioned for Illyrio to come forward for a secret conversation.

Illyrio was hesitant in his heart. After hesitating for a moment, he still rode closer with a puzzled face.