The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 257 New Pattern
As expected, Daenerys Targaryen's return caused a stir in Westeros.

Although news of the return of dragons and dragon kings had been circulating throughout the kingdom for a long time, when the dragon king actually returned and dragons soared over Westeros again, this event still had a huge impact.

Speaking of our dragon queen, Daenerys rode a dragon to inspect cities and castles in the southern border shortly after arriving in Dorne. Her actions greatly consolidated her camp, especially in the River Bay. Tyrell's originally shaky rule in the area was immediately stabilized the moment the dragon appeared: although the dragon has been away from Westeros for hundreds of years, its power is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Exactly three hundred years ago, when Aegon the Conqueror set foot on the land of Blackwater Bay and began to conquer this continent, his weak army looked like a joke. With the help of the dragon, six of the seven kingdoms fell under the rule of the Targaryens in just a few years.

That is why, when the three-headed dragon soared in the sky, the scattered Targaryen elders immediately emerged. They came to Daenerys's throne to pledge their allegiance. These former dynasty old men cried bitterly in front of the queen and swore to her that they and their descendants would fight for the queen.

Even when the usurper was in power, these old men remained loyal to the dragon family, and they paid a terrible price for it. Many of them were deprived of their territory, and many were exiled to the Night's Watch. However, due to the recent amnesty of the Night's Watch, they were able to return to the south. Just when these people looked around at a loss, not knowing what to do, as Daenerys returned to the kingdom, they immediately went to the queen.

The queen naturally had to reward such loyal old men, and she promised them land and subjects - of course, at present, all Daenerys could give was the land in Slave's Bay. These lands, which could not be fulfilled in a short time, could only be used to inspire people.

After accomplishing all this, Daenerys also showed her power - dragons.

Daenerys rode her dragon to Oldtown. After Euron's massacre, Oldtown was filled with ironmen, pirates, bandits and adventurers. It was an important base for them to attack all over the River Bay. The Hightowers tried to recapture Oldtown several times, but they were defeated every time under the walls of Oldtown.

Today, the disordered Oldtown has become the source of trouble for the Reach. Ironmen, pirates, and bandits born from war all use this place as their center to plunder and kill in all directions. Once the Reach army approaches, they retreat to Oldtown and use the city walls and no-man's land to fight the enemy. In addition to the Ironmen and pirates who come from the sea, all the heroes and desperadoes of the Reach are gathering here. For these bandits who usually survive under the pressure of the nobles, the Hightower Territory is now a very suitable place to live. If they are lucky, they may even be able to wash their hands of the whitewash and become nobles in the future.

Westeros, the city of culture and order, has turned into a city of sin and crime. Warlords and chiefs occupy their lands as kings and maintain a reluctant peace with each other. Thanks to the solid walls of Oldtown, they can defend the city even though there are many forces inside.

In the revelry, criminals and thieves fantasized that their happy days would continue forever, but even as they cheered around the fireplace, the shadow of the dragon arrived over Oldtown, and a bloody punishment began.

When the raid began, Daenerys first used dragonfire to destroy the densely packed ships in the harbor, turning them all into burning torches. The Ironmen could only flee in all directions like their ancestors three hundred years ago. While the dragonfire was raging, the River Reach army also launched an attack on Oldtown. The castles and strongholds held by the Ironmen and pirates were wiped out one after another. The remaining defenders - if they could be called defenders - could only retreat to Oldtown, but the strong walls of Oldtown could no longer protect them because Daenerys's dragonfire destroyed the city gate.

In this way, the problem of Oldtown, which was the scar of the Riverbend, was completely solved. Hightower recovered his city. Although the Florents still opposed them, they could not pose any major threat under the premise that the Ironborn suffered heavy losses. For this reason, Daenerys ignored Florent and urged the Tyrells to deal with it on their own. However, although the Hightowers recovered their family city, it was already deserted under the "rule" of the Ironborn and pirates. Even the rural areas were severely damaged. Moreover, eliminating the Ironborn and pirates in Oldtown did not mean that all the troublemakers were eliminated. There were still many thugs causing trouble everywhere. However, their number was getting smaller and smaller. These guys were trying to withdraw to the Qingting Island in the south.

Of course, even though the aftermath of this chaos is far from eliminated, the recovery of Hightower has greatly enhanced the prestige of Tyrell, and the whole country's awe of Daenerys has reached a peak. Even after so many years, the dragon still has invincible majesty and power.

However, while Daenerys was gaining popularity, another view was also prevalent in the kingdom, which was hostility towards Daenerys.

Over the years, due to the Kingdom's conquest of the eastern coast of the Narrow Sea, a large number of stories about the evil deeds of the Valyrian Dragon King have spread to the West. Coupled with the Sunset Kingdom's political correctness in combating slavery, the Valyrian Freehold, as the founder of the Essos slave trade system, has become a key target of criticism.

Therefore, over the past decade, stories about the evil deeds of the Dragon King have spread all over Westeros, and poets have sung various poems to resist the slave owners of the Free Fortress. Many people have also become hostile to the Targaryen who has the blood of Valyria.

Moreover, what Daenerys brought to Westeros was a completely foreign army. They spoke a language that the people of Westeros could not understand, and knew nothing about the rules and customs of Westeros. There were also eunuch warriors and grassland barbarians who were hated by the people of Westeros - one of them was the lackeys who often appeared in poems resisting slave owners, and the other was a complete clown.

In this regard, Hugo has a clear advantage. The majority of his army is composed of Eastern Andals and Westerosi immigrants. These people are all ethnic groups belonging to the Andal cultural circle, and their customs and languages ​​are similar. The Westerosi people will not see them as different. In addition, most people in the kingdom are firm believers in the Seven Gods, and the common faith allows people on both sides of the narrow sea to have a common language.

However, this is only a small aspect after all. What really determines the direction of the war is the outcome on the battlefield.

The chessboard has been unfolded and the chess pieces are in place. At the moment, no one is paying attention to the little king and the stupid queen mother. After the reshuffle, Westeros is once again divided into two camps; however, at this moment, both sides tacitly did not choose to fight immediately, but to eliminate the unstable factors in their respective camps and prepare for the final decisive battle. Of course, this time did not last too long. When the northern resources were integrated, Hugo ordered the army to move south quickly. Seeing this, Daenerys also led her army to the north.

In this way, the army of the Targaryen Restorers and the army of the Kingdom's Favored by God continued to move closer, and war was on the verge of breaking out.

(End of this chapter)