Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 12 The Dothraki

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

This sentence reflects the attitude of the Free Cities towards the Dothraki.

The Dothraki are a typical nomadic people in the era of cold weapons. They have no unified regime, and their people are scattered in tribes called "khalasars". The tribes are led by the most brave warriors - "kharos".

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

Several Dothraki tribes pass through Pentos every year, both new and old.

In a khalasar, when a khal dies, a new khal will take power; or the "kas" below (analogous to the various tribes under the Huns' royal tent) will disperse and reorganize into several khalasars, and the previous "ko" (tribal leaders 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 them gold, silver and gifts, provide them with supplies, and allow them to plunder other places.

The people of Pentos even built magnificent palaces for the horse kings by the bay so that the tribes could rest when they migrated through.

The nobles in the Free Trade Cities were all very satisfied with this solution, as they could stop the war with just money and even take the opportunity to plunder money.

Viserys would have called it the annual tribute.

However, the people of the free trade city-states have no concept of nation or territory and citizenship. After all, the powerful rulers of these city-states are an alliance of merchant governors.

They only care about ensuring that trade routes are not interrupted and that they make money, and they don't consider anything else.

What Illyrio wanted to take Viserys to see was a Dothraki tribe that happened to pass by these few days, which was said to have a population of 10,000.

Illyrio is a businessman and a conspirator who understands human nature. Of course, he would not let Viserys see the "Khal Drogo" tribe that he really wanted to introduce as soon as he arrived.

He wanted Viserys to first have an impression of the Dothraki troops, and then tell him that they were not the strongest, and that there were more powerful tribes and emerging overlords on the grassland who could act as a bridge for him.

When Viserys learned that the leader of the tribe was not called Drogo, he realized this.

At the same time, he realized that this was because of Illyrio's response to his previous resistance.

They seem quite serious about this plan to connect the last Targaryens with the Dothraki horse king.

Viserys had a plan in mind.

A dreamless night.

The next morning, Viserys got up early, had a simple breakfast, changed into the squire's clothes that Illyrio provided for him, and went out with Illyrio and his servants.

Illyrio rode in a luxurious carriage, driven by two servants and accompanied by more than a dozen attendants on horseback.

Speaking of which, Viserys can ride a horse.

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

Viserys, who was unable to inherit the throne, was originally trained to be the prince who would assist Rhaegar in the future. He practiced martial arts since he was a child, and of course learned how to ride a horse.

After being stranded in the free trade city-state, his horse riding skills were not neglected. After all, there were many martial artists among the nobles who sought shelter, and he always had to have a companion when he went out riding, otherwise how could he flatter them?

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

This is not a good thing. If the original person does not know how to ride a horse, just learning how to ride a horse can take a long time when necessary.

Today would be the first time Viserys had walked the city streets since arriving in Pentos, and he had to admit that he had a very bad impression.

I didn't feel anything when I first left the courtyard, but once I got out of the courtyard area, the foul stench hit me in the face.

There were not many people on the streets in the morning, but the roads were covered with mud, animal feces, and all kinds of garbage. The smell of feces, urine, 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 harsh environment of an ancient coastal commercial city similar to the Middle Ages.

Fortunately, they were on horseback and quickly crossed the streets, walked out of the city's huge walls, and came out of the city.

Although the places where people gather outside the city are not much better, they do have a wide view and good air circulation.

But the brief period of smooth breathing did not last long, and they soon arrived at a medium-sized camp a few hundred meters outside the city. It was a small plain on the east side of the city, far away from the shanty towns built along the moat and leaning against the city, next to the avenue built by the Valyrians.

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

Despite its simplicity, there was still a large group of soldiers stationed there to guard it, and the camp gate was heavily guarded. When Illyrio and his party arrived, they had to confirm their identities before they were allowed in.

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

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

Entering the camp, Viserys began to observe.

He had served as a centurion for the princess in the previous world and knew a thing or two about ancient armies. He could easily tell from the temporary tents built in the camp and the distribution of personnel that there were a total of 500 people in the camp.

Comparatively speaking, there were not many elite soldiers wearing armor, and most of them were responsible for vigilance and guarding. From what we could see, there was only a team of about fifty people.

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

Occasionally there were people wearing leather armor and carrying swords, 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 were guides along the way who talked to Illyrio, all about the escort matters.

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

Illyrio had already instructed Viserys to seek out the leader of the guards if he had any questions - he had seen him before; it was the man who had followed Illyrio when he went to Lys to invite him.

He is suspected to be a eunuch.

Viserys thus surmised that Illyrio's personal guards were all Unsullied.

Under these circumstances, Viserys spoke little and moved little.

Illyrio was pleased with his silence and quietness. Viserys did not care what Illyrio thought, he just watched more and said less.

About a quarter of an hour after arriving at the camp, as merchant governors came to the central tent one after another and messengers walked out one after another, soon this temporary camp showed signs of beginning to be disbanded.

More and more of the governor's attendants gathered outside the tent, but nothing happened.

Viserys noticed that most of them were Unsullied guards like Illyrio, silent and quiet. It seemed that using Unsullied as guards was a normal practice in Pentos.

In fact, because Pentos and Braavos had fought a war, Pentos lost the battle, and the peace agreement stipulated that Pentos people could not hire mercenaries, sign contracts with free mercenary groups, or keep any army beyond the city guards, so the nobles had to buy the Unsullied to protect their property. Some external military and internal management can only rely on the city guards jointly established by the governors. In fact, the largest military force in the city is actually the monks of the Red God Temple.

Viserys did not know the reason, but just stood among a group of Unsullied guards, wondering if Illyrio was too contemptuous or had some kind of bad taste in arranging him to serve as a servant.

Only after most of the mule carts in the camp had set off did Illyrio and a group of governors walk out of the tent.

The governors acted differently. They greeted each other and said goodbye. Some went straight back to the city, while others asked their servants to ride horses to catch up with the mule cart team.

Illyrio waited until everyone else had almost left before calling Viserys and the others to mount their horses and follow his luxurious carriage in the direction of the mule cart team.

They rode eastward in silence along the road built by the Valyrians on the vast plains. After riding for about five or six miles, a river appeared in front of them.

They were still some distance from the River Rhoyne, the natural boundary of Pentos, and only a branch of the river, but Illyrio's cart turned away from the train and stopped at the foot of a low hill.

Then the fat governor stepped down from the carriage, mounted the horses that had been prepared, and rode up the hill with Viserys and his party.

The Fat Governor beckoned Viserys to come closer, and the servants tactfully kept their distance.

He said apologetically: "Your Majesty, I am sorry for wronging you."

Viserys pretended to be magnanimous and said, "That's all right, Lord Governor."

The fat governor just said that and quickly changed the subject, saying, "This place is high, so we can see the Dothraki team coming to receive the gifts. Your Majesty, please wait a moment."

Viserys was respectful. "I had thought this would lead us to a Dothraki camp."

He looked up and saw a field on the other side of the river that was severely eroded by wind and sand. Further away were low, rolling hills. He could vaguely see some green grass and a wide dirt road stretching into the distance.

Illyrio answered, "Your Majesty, you do not know that the Dothraki camp is far away. Whenever gifts are sent, both sides have sent troops to meet them. If they were too close, the people in the city would not be able to sleep peacefully. We are not afraid of these barbarians. The red monks assure us that we have the Lord of Light to protect us. Even if a million Dothraki come, we need not be afraid..."

This was consistent with Viserys's observation, and he pretended not to hear the second half of Illyrio's excuse.

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

"How do you judge the strength of the Dothraki?" Viserys asked casually. "Aren't you afraid that they might deceive you and use the false attack as an opportunity to get more 'gifts'?"

Illyrio said confidently, "We shall find out, Lord."

Viserys sneered at Illyrio's confidence. "You have plenty of experience with this sort of thing," he mumbled.

"." Illyrio vaguely heard the sneer and turned to look at Viserys, but he could only see the superficial expectation on the other's face, which was mostly covered by the helmet. It was as if he was waiting for the Dothraki to appear, and the words just now were just an unconscious remark.

Looking at the direction where the mule cart team was moving along the road, after a while, several smoke beams rose from the low hills in the distance.

As the smoke rose, a dense crowd of people and horses gradually appeared on the low hills about three or four miles away. The people and horses three or four miles away looked only as big as ants, but they were so dense that it was hard to tell how many there were.

The pitch-black smoke on the plain gradually rose into the sky, like a huge rope rising from the horizon, between heaven and earth and hanging on the clouds, while dense, ant-like dots emerged from the mountains and then slowly surged towards the marching mule cart team like a black tide.

Viserys had commanded a team of a hundred men on the plains of Hyrule, and when the men and horses emerged from the mountains, he quickly calculated that there were about fifteen thousand cavalrymen, and judging by the distance of the marching formation, there were three teams of five hundred men.

I have to say, with just a few smoke signals, the fifteen thousand men and horses suddenly appeared under the sky, and then marched down from the low mountains, gradually becoming clearer and spreading out on the vast plains, which indeed created a very shocking effect.

On Earth, bombarded with information, many people cannot really imagine the shocking scene of thousands of cavalry charging on the ancient battlefield, and can only imagine it from the "big scenes" seen in TV dramas. But in fact, a real cavalry formation of thousands of people marching can stretch for four or five hundred meters after being spread out.

Especially for the unarmored grassland army like the Dothraki cavalry, it is rare for them to gather together. What they are good at is hunting-style cutting of the battlefield and engaging in melee.

The Dothraki were obviously trying to show off their military power. When the two sides were about one mile apart, the teams that Illyrio said were coming to support them suddenly charged towards the mule cart team with a roar.

Of course, the two sides did not fight, the Dothraki cavalry array was just a show of force.

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

Even though I was three or four miles away, standing on this low hill, I could easily feel the smoke and dust rolling up from the cavalry charge, shaking the earth, and the troops and horses sweeping in were really like a tide.

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

Dothraki cavalrymen were still human after all. He had seen marching arrays filled with strange monsters and commanded a hundred men to try to slay a dragon.

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

But this reminded Viserys that if he had to use the breath of dragons to fight against an army of thousands or tens of thousands in the future, it would be better to gather them together and need an army to clean up the mess.

The array of fifteen thousand cavalrymen can stretch for four to five hundred meters when deployed. Once the array of tens of thousands of people is dispersed, it will be very troublesome to deal with even for the infantry.

Just referring to my own experience, once you realize that you have to disperse your troops when facing a dragon, then even if there is a giant dragon with endless magic power, it will be difficult to destroy the enemy easily alone.

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, who was distracted by the sight of the Dothraki riders. His expression changed as he pondered. Illyrio asked with a satisfied look on his face, "What do you think of these Dothraki riders, my lord?"

Viserys could easily hear Illyrio's smug expression, but he didn't know whether he was sincere or just performing for the sake of the plan.

"Well, I understand." Viserys did not give Illyrio the reaction he wanted, but looked at him seriously. "You are serious. You are different from those nobles who act on impulse. Governor Illyrio, I have seen your ambition, and I have also confirmed your attitude and execution. In order to help me restore my country, you even formulated a seemingly feasible plan and resolutely implemented it in an attempt to convince me."

Viserys reined in his horse and approached Illyrio. "For this alone, Illyrio, you will do nothing more than keep your ambition and work for me. If I ever ascend the Iron Throne again, the position of Lord Chancellor of the King will be yours."

"." This was not the reaction Illyrio had intended, but he took over anyway, puzzled by Viserys's reaction, "Your Majesty?"

Viserys did not answer immediately. He rode forward for a distance, then reined in his horse before Illyrio could do anything that would damage his current high-spirited image. He looked back and motioned for Illyrio to come forward for a private conversation.

Illyrio was hesitant. After hesitating for a moment, he rode closer with a puzzled look on his face.

(End of this chapter)