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After the news of the Storm's End Blitzkrieg spread, the Stormlands lords who had previously been in a wait-and-see state led their armies to Storm's End to join the rebel army.

Not only the noble lords, but also some wandering knights, mercenaries, and even some freemen with military experience were willing to join the rebels. Even Liu Yuan, far away in Oldtown, could feel the fervor of the people. In recent years, the Dragon family's rule in Westeros had become unpopular, and people needed an outlet for their dissatisfaction with life.

When the news of the Storm's End defeat reached King's Landing, an enraged Aerys II immediately dismissed Prime Minister Owen Merryweather, blaming his inaction for giving the traitors time to grow stronger. The Mad King became increasingly furious and ordered Owen into exile, then appointed the younger Jon Connington as the new Hand of the King, further exacerbating the already chaotic situation.

Robert was consolidating his army at Storm's End when news arrived that Mace Tyrell, Lord Paramount of the Reach, was personally leading a large army to attack. This was different from the enemies Robert had faced before. The Reach army was Robert's first major test in this war. Therefore, to face the Reach army, he took most of the Stormlands forces, leaving less than a thousand men under the command of his younger brother Stannis to guard their home.

After the army set out, Robert ran headfirst into the vanguard of the Reach army at Ashford. The commander of the vanguard was none other than Randyll Tarly (the father of Samwell Tarly of the Night's Watch). As a lord of the Marches, the Tarly family had been fighting the Dornish in the border between the Reach and Dorne for many years. The long years of war had produced excellent generals in this family, and Randyll Tarly was the most outstanding in nearly a century.

When Randyll Tarly led the vanguard to Ashford, he saw Robert besieging Ashford Castle. Ashford, also known as Ashford Meadow, belonged to the Reach and was located next to the Cockleswhent River. It was the territory of the Ashford family and mainly included three parts: Ashford Castle, Ashford Town, and Ashford Meadow.

Having just arrived on the battlefield, he decided not to wait for Mace Tyrell, who was slowly following behind. He resolutely led the vanguard to attack Robert's rear, catching the opponent off guard before they could gain a firm foothold. Randyll Tarly's desperate raid had unexpectedly good results. Robert, after all, lacked war experience, and he could only lead his army to meet the attack in haste. However, the Ashford family seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack, and the rebel army was immediately caught in an unfavorable situation of being attacked from both sides. With Randyll Tarly's unreasonable rampage, Robert's troops gradually became unable to resist and began to rout. Moreover, Lord Tyrell's main force was likely not far away. To avoid greater losses, Robert had no choice but to retreat early to prevent the risk of being surrounded and annihilated.

This battle also became Robert's first defeat in the War of the Usurper. After retreating, Robert led the remnants of his army north, heading to the Riverlands to join forces with the armies of the Vale and the North. This approach was quite disreputable, directly abandoning the entire Stormlands and his younger brother, exposing them to the Reach army's line of attack. When Mace Tyrell led his army to arrive, he discovered that the Battle of Ashford was already over. As the commander and the financial backer of the army, he shamelessly claimed all the credit for the battle.

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In the summer of 282 AC, the war continued, and the Stormlands and Riverlands were fiercely contested, with news arriving every day. Gradually, people's attention diminished, and there was little impact on Oldtown. Overseas merchant ships continued to arrive in an endless stream, and the Hightower family continued to make a fortune.

Life at the Citadel was simple. Liu Yuan diligently studied new knowledge, and he had already forged his ninth link. As the youngest acolyte in the Citadel, having entered the Citadel for only a year, he had already forged nine links, fully qualified to become a full maester. However, due to Liu Yuan's special circumstances, mainly that he was not yet eight years old, it would be embarrassing for those forty or fifty-year-old maesters.

For this reason, the Conclave specially convened a meeting of archmaesters, and finally decided not to approve Liu Yuan's promotion for the time being, and to continue to study at the Citadel as an acolyte. He enjoyed the rights and treatment of a full maester, and at the same time was granted special permission to access all the materials in the library at any time and to learn any knowledge.

Of course, Liu Yuan had recently produced many research results. He improved the transmission system of the water mill, greatly increasing the speed of flour processing.

And the transformation of the water-powered hammer directly accelerated the production efficiency of armor. He also replicated five new alloy formulas, including acid-resistant steel, which is commonly known as stainless steel in later generations. Of course, some of the chemical preparations used can only be prepared by him so far.

Soon after he submitted the results, people from the Hightower family came to him. Liu Yuan also understood why the Hightower family could prosper to this day. Backed by the Citadel and the Church, they provided funding and protection, so they could enjoy the results and obtain first-hand benefits. The Hightower family was indeed generous, offering a purchase price of 110,000 gold dragons.

But Liu Yuan brought in the Settigar family under the pretext of family investment research. Finally, after several rounds of negotiations, it was decided that Liu Yuan would receive a one-time compensation of 150,000 gold dragons. The two families would jointly establish a workshop specializing in the production of stainless steel and other new products, with the Hightower family accounting for 80% of the profits and the Settigar family accounting for 20%.

Liu Yuan can be regarded as one of the richest people in the Citadel. The Conclave also attached great importance to him, allocating a dedicated laboratory for him in the Griffin Tower. Liu Yuan also recruited many poor apprentices and acolytes to work for him. The salary he offered was quite high, much higher than that of the Scribes.

Studying knowledge in the Citadel is not free. If an apprentice wants to continue to advance, he has to spend money to study the courses of other mentors, such as pharmaceutics in medicine. You have to have money to buy medicinal materials! You also need to buy alchemy equipment. Many people are fighting tooth and nail for recruitment quotas. These people have a foundation in arithmetic and culture, as well as good hands-on skills, which is more cost-effective than hiring civilians and craftsmen.

Liu Yuan is now focusing on Valyrian steel. In fact, Westeros has a very large number of Valyrian steel items in existence.

They had been in circulation as early as thousands of years ago, but most of them were cutlery such as knives, forks, spoons, plates, and teapots, which were not very large in size and of very general quality. There were not many that were truly circulated as weapons. A maester had specially investigated and researched this, and he compiled records and legends from various families and places in Westeros, giving a relatively credible figure: 227 Valyrian steel weapons, not counting those palm-sized daggers.