The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Magistrate Josua of the Elephant Party, dressed in brocade and wearing a Volantene hat embroidered with the Long Bridge of Volantis, stood tall. On his chest was embroidered the sigil of the Elephant Party nobles: a war elephant.

The Volantene slave trading ships docked at the third of Quarth's hundreds of wharves.

Quarth had hundreds of wharves, five major ports; besides the Quarth port, there were the exclusive ports of the Royal family, the Thirteen, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, and the Ancient Guild of Spicers.

The Quarth city's port wharves, from the first to the tenth on the far right, were dedicated to docking slave ships.

Volantis and Quarth had a perennial slave trade, and both sides made a fortune.

The slave trading ships from Volantis were very popular with the Quarth merchants.

Magistrate Josua of the Elephant Party, surrounded by Volantene slave traders, led hundreds of slaves and a guard into the city of Quarth. They were welcomed by the local nobles involved in the slave trade.

This trade caravan with over a thousand slaves marched mightily into the huge and empty slave market.

The thousand slaves in this group were all elite soldiers of the Elephant and Tiger Parties in disguise.

A noble general wearing a spiked helmet and scale armor arrived, arrogantly exchanging a few words in the local language with a slave noble merchant. Under the merchant's introduction, the general came to Josua and extended his hand: "Welcome, my esteemed guest from afar. I heard that these slaves are all yours!" The general spoke fluent Common Tongue.

Josua smiled, nodded, and reached out to grasp the other's forearm. The other also reached out and grasped his forearm, and both shook each other vigorously to express their affection.

Then, as Josua was about to let go, he found the other gripping his arm even tighter. He felt slightly uncomfortable and was about to remind the other when the general took out a round, exquisite brocade box: "Captain Josua, this is a gift for you. I hope you like it. I hope to establish a long-term slave trading business with Captain Josua. I want all of you and your thousand slaves."

"Good! Thank you for your kindness, General," Josua said with a smile.

The general released his arm. Josua took the brocade box. At the prompting of the general and the slave merchant beside him, he unscrewed the lid. Inside the brocade box, a manticore, the size of a fist and with colorful fur, stared at Josua with a pair of eerie green eyes. Josua was shocked, dropped the brocade box, and retreated rapidly. The manticore had already jumped up, landed on Josua's face, opened its mouth to bite Josua's face, and its scorpion tail swung, piercing Josua's neck.

"Release the ravens!" This was the only thing Josua said with all his strength before falling.

The slave merchants and captains who followed him were shocked and drew their swords. Josua's personal guard captain didn't have time to draw his sword and punched the raven cage, and with a crash, several ravens flew into the sky.

Swish, swish, swish!

Several arrows were shot out in time, each hitting a raven, and not a single raven escaped.

The opposing general and his guards drew their sabers at the same time, the light of the blades flashing, and fought with Josua's merchants, captains, and guards.

Amidst screams, blood splattered.

Josua fell without feeling any pain. Fear seized his heart, and the venom quickly flowed through his body. His lips turned purple, his face turned black, and he fell to the ground with a bang, convulsing all over.

The manticore jumped down and moved swiftly on the ground, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Around the slave square, the sound of dense hooves suddenly rang out. Ambush troops emerged from all four sides, with two hundred cavalrymen charging in the front on each side, followed by a thousand infantrymen. The ambush troops quickly surrounded the slave guards and the thousand soldiers disguised as slaves in the core of the square. The cavalry launched an assault, with swords and spears thrusting out, from a high position, hacking and stabbing at the soldiers and 'slaves'.

The three hundred guards formed a circular defensive formation, raising their swords to resist, but were immediately broken through by the enemy cavalry at four points. The gaps moved away, and the dense infantry layered up from behind. The thousand elite soldiers of the Elephant and Tiger Parties disguised as slaves in the circular defensive formation had no armor protection and no weapons in hand. They were all bare-handed and became targets for swords, spears, and knives.

The well-equipped warriors fell one after another!

The battle ended quickly. It was a one-sided arbitrary charge and massacre.

The four-sided cavalry charged and twisted, completely shattering the circular defense line.

Four thousand infantry and eight hundred cavalry surrounded the team of only three hundred armed men on all sides, step by step hacking, spear stabbing, and ax chopping. None of Josua's legion escaped, and they were all killed in the slave square.

The stench of blood permeated the air above the square. The ground was covered with broken limbs and corpses. Many Quarth cavalrymen cut off the heads of Volantene soldiers and stuck them on the tips of their spears, galloping around to show off their power.

Cheers of victory erupted in the square!

*

At the wharf, several patrol warships slowly approached Josua's trade fleet. A team of soldiers jumped onto the flagship. The first mate and the general disguised as mercenaries, who were left behind on the flagship, hurried forward to greet them. During a very friendly conversation between the two sides, a short knife suddenly stabbed into the general's abdomen. The first mate was shocked and turned to escape, but two swords stabbed in from behind, piercing his body.

With a shout, more soldiers jumped from the warships onto the merchant ships and slashed with their swords. Whether they were sailors, servants, shipwrights, slaves, or mercenary guards, they were all killed.

Plop, plop, plop!

The sailors, crew members, and soldiers disguised as mercenaries could not resist and jumped into the sea.

Who knew that on the surface of the sea, there were long, narrow boats waiting for them. The Quarth soldiers on the narrow boats were tall and mighty, each holding a long pole with barbs tied to the top. As soon as a soldier or crew member who fell into the water emerged from the water, they would be hooked and unable to escape. The narrow boat approached, and the long knife slashed down, and the head fell into the water.

A moment later, the waters of Wharf No. 3 were stained red with blood, and corpses floated on the surface of the water, rising and falling with the waves.

*

In the distance, on the spice wharf, on a merchant ship, a raven flew low against the water surface, without attracting anyone's attention. This spice ship was secretly dispatched by the Mountain and was not notified to the eastern expeditionary navy, army, and Volantene legions. The captain was Asha Greyjoy, the royal navy deputy commander secretly sent by the Mountain.

When Josua's trade fleet docked at the third wharf was suddenly attacked and massacred, Asha saw it from the building ship at the first time. For safety's sake, she ordered the scholar apprentice on the ship to release the raven, but to fly the raven close to the water surface to fly out of this sea area.

The scholar apprentice accompanying the ship was specially brought to take care of the ravens. The scholars of the Old Town Citadel have their own unique and unpassed secrets for training ravens. The apprentice fulfilled Asha's request. The raven seemed to understand his request, perhaps it was an order. The raven flew far close to the water surface, and mixed with the seabirds on the sea surface, and could no longer be seen.

*

Hundreds of miles away at sea, in the southern sea area, more than a hundred warships disguised as merchant ships were scattered and arranged on the vast sea, slowly moving forward. In order to prevent being spotted by Quarth patrol ships, the fleets maintained a relatively long distance from each other. The fleets would approach the Quarth port waters in five routes in the evening. As soon as it got dark and a fire started in the city, they would quickly attack the port, burn all the ships in Quarth's five major ports, and land to attack.

Quarth's five major ports are where all of Quarth's warships and merchant ships are docked. As long as the ships are burned, Quarth's combat power will be reduced by half. It would be impossible for them to escape by water or to find reinforcements. Once the port ships were burning, echoing the big fire in the city, Quarth would inevitably be in chaos.

Quarth City faces the sea on one side and the Red Waste on the other. Relying on the sea trade, Quarth has become rich and powerful, and its naval power far exceeds its land combat power. But once the ships are burned, no matter how strong the navy is, it will be useless.

*

The commander-in-chief of the navy was the Earl of Redwyne from Arbor, and the deputy commander was a prince from the Summer Islands. The Earl of Redwyne was young and eager to win, leading twenty naval ships from Arbor, with ten royal navy warships at the forefront, forming the tip of the knife of this scattered fleet.

The rear army of thirty warships was commanded by the prince from the Summer Islands.

In the middle, there were forty mixed warships. The warships maintained sufficient distance from each other.

Two miles ahead of the Earl of Redwyne's flagship, there were three small boats, which were the fleet's patrol boats. All of them were composed of Arbor naval warriors.

When a raven landed on the Earl of Redwyne's flagship, the Earl of Redwyne found a fleet of merchant ships appearing on the left side of the fleet. The merchant ships were moving slowly, and the Earl of Redwyne did not take it to heart. The closer to Quarth City, the more ships there would be on the sea. The giant city of Quarth has hundreds of ships entering and leaving the port every day.

On the flagship of the rear army, the prince of the Summer Islands also found a fleet of merchant ships appearing behind the fleet. Those ships were smaller in size. The scouts reported that those ships had no ramming prows and were not warships, so the prince of the Summer Islands did not take it to heart.

"Leave two warships to cover the rear, slightly block the opposing merchant ships, and force them to slow down a little." The prince was experienced and cautious, so he gave the order.

On the foremost flagship, the Earl of Redwyne's maester took down the letter from the raven's leg, opened it, and his face changed.

"What's wrong?" The young earl asked with a slight frown.

"Asha Greyjoy, the deputy commander of the Royal Navy, wrote a letter saying that the enemy has massacred the personnel of Josua's fleet docked in the port, and Lord Josua and his legion who entered the city may have been completely annihilated."

Redwyne stood up abruptly, grabbed the letter, glanced at it, and his face changed.

Boom!

A loud noise.

On the right, a local fishing boat crashed into a warship. The long, narrow boat's bow was as sharp as a dagger, piercing into the middle of the warship. On the fishing boat, several fishermen jumped into the water.

Not far away, several patrol warships appeared at some unknown time.

"Alert!" Redwyne shouted.

"Alert!" The signal officer immediately passed the order down.

So, the horns sounded, passing the message to the central fleet.

Only to see on the right side of the sea, more ships appeared. It was not clear for the time being whether they were merchant ships or warships.

A general stood on the bow of a warship, drew his bow and shot an arrow, shooting a rocket. The rocket drew an arc and landed on the fishing boat inserted into the middle of the warship. With a bang, the fishing boat burst into flames, instantly burning into a ball of fire.

Obviously, the fishing boat was filled with wildfire.

In the blink of an eye, the warship was also set on fire.

When fireworks burned on the sea, the Earl of Redwyne and his soldiers found that fleets had appeared in front, on the left, and on the right, and more and more. There were also many warships in the distance, sailing forward like shadows.

In terms of naval combat power, if Quarth claimed second, no one would dare to claim first.

The King's Fleet has a thousand warships, the Ancient Guild of Spicers has more than 1,300 warships, the Thirteen has more than 1,200 warships, and the Tourmaline Brotherhood has 800 warships.

The prince of the Summer Islands received the horn order from the Earl of Redwyne and ordered the warships to turn around, forming a semicircle, and approached the Earl of Redwyne's warships.

But no matter how the Earl of Redwyne and the prince deployed the fleet, the Quarth fleet was neither fast nor slow, and slowly appeared from all four sides. These warships were scattered on the sea, densely packed, and it was unknown how many there were.

The prince stood on the bow and saw the vastness of the enemy ships, a warship formation that could not be seen at a glance. The prince smiled: "Soldiers, we are surrounded by the enemy."

Doro ro ro ro ro!

The prince's soldiers let out a shout!

"Archers, prepare!" the prince shouted.

The archers lined up on the ship, and bags of arrows were placed beside their hands.

"Signal officer, tell the Earl of Redwyne that the enemy knows all about our war plan to attack Quarth and has set up an ambush in advance. There are spies around His Majesty the King. Let the Earl of Redwyne release all the ravens. His Majesty the King needs to know how we died."

The signal officer immediately conveyed the prince's suggestion to the Earl of Redwyne's flagship.

The Earl of Redwyne stood on the bridge of the flagship. He saw the dense number of enemy ships on all four sides, which were undoubtedly several times, ten times, dozens of times their number. The enemy surrounded them, but they were not in a hurry to attack. No ship rushed forward, they lined up in formation and slowly pressed up, squeezing the space of the Redwyne fleet smaller and smaller.

"Maester, release the ravens to His Majesty the King and tell him we are surrounded."

"Yes, Your Grace."

The birdcage was opened, and several ravens flew into the sky.

The letters were all written in advance and tied to the relevant ravens. Each raven had its own flight destination.

"Release the ravens to Queen Daenerys Targaryen, we need her dragons."

"Yes!"

Several more ravens took flight, soaring into the sky before heading towards the Qarth coast.