The Mountain of Ice and Fire

King's Landing.

The four gates were tightly shut, and the city walls were densely packed with soldiers.

The Reach's Tyrell family's noble legions and militia numbered 70,000, leaving the Reach itself with a depleted military force.

After capturing Storm's End, the Golden Company, under the command of Highgarden's acting castellan, Willas Tyrell, returned to Highgarden with his family's soldiers, as the city had been destroyed and needed rebuilding.

The Reach boasts the largest population and grain production in the Seven Kingdoms, with the best climate and land in the south. The nobles of the Reach have deep foundations, and the destruction of Highgarden, the region's capital, did not severely affect the vitality of the other dozen large cities and hundreds of small towns.

However, rebuilding Highgarden required the vassals to contribute manpower, resources, and money.

In addition to the 70,000 soldiers from the Reach, the city garrison also included nobles and militia from the Crownlands, but the Crownlands could only muster 6,000 soldiers.

Jeyne Westerling brought 3,000 soldiers from the Westerlands. At Storm's End, Brienne of Tarth, replacing the Mountain, received the sworn allegiance of 6,000 Golden Company soldiers. With war imminent, the garrison of Dragonstone had long been evacuated to King's Landing, leaving only the Clegane navy to patrol and guard the waters around Dragonstone.

In King's Landing, the Clegane forces numbered 10,000.

The King's Landing garrison numbered less than 90,000, but it was claimed to be 100,000 strong. Coupled with the naval allied forces of over 900 warships, the garrison was touted as a 200,000-strong army stationed in King's Landing.

In the second month of autumn in the year 301 of Aegon's Conquest, while the North was already experiencing icy weather, King's Landing still enjoyed warm sunshine, blue skies, and white clouds, making for a comfortable climate. The chill only began in the evening, growing colder and colder as the night deepened.

On this day, the atmosphere in King's Landing was oppressive and tense. The news of the Imp leading over 2,000 warships appearing off the coast of Dragonstone spread like wildfire through the city, causing the soldiers to whisper and a fear of battle to spread rapidly through the ranks like an epidemic.

Historically, only the warrior queen Nymeria of the Rhoynar had led thousands of warships to land on the continent of Westeros.

That was a thousand years ago, when the Valyrian Freehold massively invaded the ancient Rhoynar city-states. Under the dragon's attack, the Rhoynar were forced to flee. Their queen, Nymeria, led her people across the Narrow Sea and landed in Dorne, where she married Mors Martell, uniting the fractured land. From then on, Dorne became the territory of House Martell, and the Rhoynar became the majority population.

Over a thousand years later, the Imp recreated the feat of crossing the Narrow Sea with over 2,000 warships. It should be known that the royal warship of Robert Baratheon's dynasty, which seized the throne, never exceeded one hundred ships.

The Clegane navy patrolling and defending the waters off Dragonstone did not hesitate. Upon seeing the overwhelming enemy fleet, the naval admirals jointly ordered a swift return to Blackwater Bay to set up defenses.

The Clegane navy had over three hundred warships, most of which were spoils of war captured from Euron Greyjoy. Engaging the Imp's two thousand warships in the vast open sea would only lead to encirclement and annihilation.

The Clegane naval commanders deeply understood the essence of the Mountain's military tactics: retreat quickly when the situation is unfavorable, and never tie life and honor together.

At the mouth of the Blackwater Rush, there was a terrain feature extremely advantageous to the defending forces: the Water Gate.

Where the turbulent waters of the Blackwater Rush flowed into the sea, there was a submerged reef island. After thousands of years of river erosion, the reef was usually hidden beneath the water, with only a few black spikes visible when the tide receded.

The reef had been scoured by the rapid currents for thousands of years, leaving it covered in sharp spikes, making it impossible for even the best sailors to approach. The only way to pass through this extremely dangerous estuary was to navigate the narrow channels on either side of the riverbank.

The central reef divided the water flow into two, with each channel only allowing one ship to pass at a time.

In this location, the Imp's numerous warships were rendered useless.

All that was needed was to deploy warships above the estuary, forcing enemy ships to pass through the rapid whirlpools one at a time from either side. The water flow here was turbulent but suddenly blocked, creating a huge vortex and generating a deafening roar. Anything thrown into it would immediately disappear without a trace, only to reappear far out at sea, spinning and swirling. If it was a wooden plank, it would be shattered into pieces; if it was a person, they would be riddled with holes and unrecognizable... The underwater currents and spiked reefs would tear anything that got caught up into shreds.

During the previous Battle of the Blackwater, the Mountain and the Imp joined forces to build two winch fortresses at the narrowest point of the estuary, installing a huge iron chain to block the entire river. They first let the enemy ships enter the Blackwater Rush, then raised the iron chain to block the river, followed by a fire attack that destroyed Stannis's entire navy, with only the support ships in the outer sea escaping.

However, this time, the Imp was on the attacking side, and although the Mountain was on the defending side, he was not in King's Landing. This time, the navy was not commanded by the Mountain, but by Wagnar Gahr, the chieftain of the Gahr tribe of Crackclaw Point.

Wagnar Gahr had no tactics, or rather, his tactics were very simple. If there were few enemy ships, he would let them pass through the Water Gate and then engage them in close combat on the Blackwater Rush; if there were many enemy ships, he would hold the Water Gate, as only two enemy ships could enter the Blackwater Rush at a time from either side, and any more would be destroyed by the underwater reefs, and once caught in the rapid whirlpool, they would be torn to pieces by the reefs at the bottom.

In the waters off Dragonstone, one Clegane warship after another quickly overtook the navy's flagship, fleeing rapidly towards Blackwater Bay. Far behind them, foreign generals and soldiers laughed heartily, finding joy in the enemy ships' desperate flight.

Among the two thousand warships, a massive three-story warship served as the navy's flagship. Commander Theon Greyjoy, Hand of the Queen Tyrion Lannister, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Barristan Selmy, Master of Whisperers Varys, Queen's handmaiden Missandei, Queen's lover Daario Naharis, Unsullied leader Grey Worm, and Hero were all gathered on the bridge.

The vanguard fleet of over three hundred ships was composed entirely of Ironborn from the Iron Islands, brave and skilled warriors at sea, with the majority of the soldiers being veterans of Victarion Greyjoy's Iron Fleet.

Victarion Greyjoy dreamed of becoming the Queen's dragonrider, but he died on the plains when he left the sea to follow the Queen to conquer the Dothraki, so the Iron Fleet, with three hundred ships, became Asha and Theon's forces.

Eunuch Varys's scalp was always shiny and bright, his face plump, dressed in a white, fragrant robe, his hands always tucked into his sleeves, his face rosy, and a smile on his face: "Lord Hand, I see you're unhappy, are you seasick or worried that we won't be able to catch up with the Clegane navy at sea?"

Tyrion held a wine glass in his hand: "Lord Varys, we cannot break through the Water Gate. In that narrow place, the more warships we have, the more disadvantageous it is."

Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Barristan Selmy also looked grave: "The Water Gate is the gate to hell. Usually, merchant ships need to be very careful when passing through the Water Gate. If the enemy ships are deployed at the Water Gate, or if they block the river again with an iron chain, how should we break through?"

Varys smiled: "Ser Barristan, since we have already reached the waters off Dragonstone, with the wisdom of our Lord Hand, would he only start thinking about this problem now? I think he must already have a good solution. With Lord Hand here, I'm not worried at all."

"I have indeed made some preparations, but I am not confident," Tyrion shrugged, looking at the smiling Varys, "Lord Varys, your little birds have always flown away and never returned recently, which has greatly affected my plans."

"I indeed underestimated Bronn Clegane. It seems that some of the little birds I released have been locked in cages by him."

"Lord Hand, how are we going to break through that Water Gate?" Theon said.

"Below the Water Gate are reefs, reefs covered with sharp spikes. No one can fight in that turbulent current. We cannot sail against the current while avoiding the reefs and fighting the enemy ships at the same time."

Grey Worm said: "Why must we pass through the Water Gate? Just find another place to land. As long as we can get close to the coast, we can go ashore."

"I believe Lord Hand must have a brilliant solution!" Although Missandei was Daenerys's handmaiden, Daenerys treated her like a sister. Her status was not inferior to that of the important ministers, and she had always participated in the Queen's various meetings and was deeply trusted by the Queen.

"I contacted two people, one is the commander-in-chief of the naval allied forces, Wagnar Gahr, and the other is the Hand of the Queen in the Red Keep, Mace Tyrell. I hope to persuade these two people to defect. When the time comes, Lord Mace will open the city gates for us, and Commander Wagnar Gahr will allow us to pass through the Water Gate smoothly."

"What did their replies say?" Barristan asked.

"That's the problem. I haven't been able to receive replies from Mace and Wagnar yet. If these two people were persuaded by me, they should have sent me replies before we reached the Water Gate."

"At sea?" Daario was skeptical.

"Yes, at sea."

Daario laughed, never hiding his ridicule of Tyrion, whether it was justified or not.

"Lord Mace is very likely to defect to us, but Wagnar Gahr is the Mountain's man, and the Mountain's men are very loyal," Varys said softly with a smile.

"The Mountain's generals and soldiers are indeed very loyal, but Wagnar Gahr is different. He is from Crackclaw Point. The people of Crackclaw Point are the only tribe on the continent that considers themselves dragon warriors. Even though the Targaryen dynasty has been gone for more than ten years, they are still proud to claim that they are dragon warriors, vassals of the Targaryen family. During Robert's Rebellion, the Crackclaw Point tribal warriors fought alongside Rhaegar until the very end. After Rhaegar died in battle, they returned to Crackclaw Point, but still regarded themselves as dragon warriors. I wrote a letter to Wagnar Gahr in the name of Her Majesty the Queen, hoping to persuade him to swear allegiance to the Targaryen family again."

"Lord Hand, your plan is brilliant. Undermining them from within is indeed a good way to achieve twice the result with half the effort," Barristan Selmy said.

"Ser, I don't want to start a war," Tyrion said in a solemn tone.

"Lord, perhaps you have already persuaded Wagnar Gahr. If there is anyone on the continent of Westeros who has always been deeply loyal to the Targaryen family, it is undoubtedly the tribes of Crackclaw Point," Varys said with a smile.

Barristan Selmy, like the warriors of Crackclaw Point, had always been loyal to King Aerys. Barristan killed more than a dozen of Robert's generals in Robert's Rebellion, fighting to the last moment, until he was exhausted and captured.

He had also single-handedly saved King Aerys's life. When King Aerys was imprisoned in the underground dungeons of Duskendale and there was no way out, he single-handedly sneaked into Duskendale and rescued the King.

At that time, Lord Tywin led troops to besiege Duskendale, but did not dare to attack, because as soon as he attacked, the Lord of Duskendale would kill King Aerys first.

The king's head could not grow back after being cut off, so Lord Tywin could only lead troops to besiege and dare not attack.

Speaking of loyalty to the dragon people, Barristan and the people of Crackclaw Point were of the same kind. In every dynasty, there were always some loyal vassals.

At the forefront of this vast, seemingly boundless fleet, there were more than a dozen scout ships, led by Ser Jorah Mormont.

Jorah Mormont was the heir to Bear Island in the North. He had lived on an island surrounded by the sea since birth, and was proficient in swimming and naval warfare. He was the scout commander of this fleet, with one goal: to connect with the letters and replies from 'allies' in King's Landing.

Upon entering the waters under the jurisdiction of the King's Landing dynasty, fishing boats and merchant ships would be encountered, and these fishing boats and merchant ships often carried Varys's little birds.

Along the way, Varys's little birds had sent back quite a few messages, but there were no replies from the two people that Lord Hand was expecting.

If they did not receive replies from Wagnar Gahr and Mace Tyrell after passing the waters off Dragonstone, then they could only execute the second plan: three dragons would clear the way at the Water Gate.

Jorah Mormont was proficient in naval and land warfare, and he was also the most trusted general by Her Majesty the Queen. Daenerys Targaryen regarded Jorah Mormont as family.

More than a dozen fast boats and small boats formed a fan shape at the front of the fleet, while on the opposite side, the enemy's flagship remained at the rear, retreating slowly. The royal flag and the Clegane military flag were flying on the flagship.

Commander-in-Chief Wagnar Gahr, whom Tyrion was constantly thinking about, was on the flagship.

A small boat was lowered from the flagship, with several naval warriors on board. They rowed towards Jorah Mormont's scout fleet skillfully.

Here they come!

Wagnar Gahr did not hand the reply to the little birds. He might disdain using fishing boats and merchant ships as cover. He directly sent his own small boat and soldiers, rowing towards the overwhelming fleet.

Jorah Mormont sent out a message, and the scout fleet adjusted its formation, opening up the waterway.

The small boat quickly closed the distance with Jorah Mormont, and a knight on the bow, holding a heavy axe, said: "Hey, which ship is your Lord Hand on? Our commander has a letter for him."

Although Wagnar Gahr was the commander-in-chief of the naval allied forces, his education level was not high, and his literacy was limited. However, Wagnar Gahr understood the contents of the letter that Tyrion wrote to him.