Game of Thrones: The Red Dragon Lord.

Chapter 176 Military Strength and Situation

"Those Gis people are obviously intentionally helping Volantis. Not only did they allow them to build a navy on their territory, they are even secretly hindering our development. Not long ago, the ships we sent to receive slaves returned empty-handed. The slave traders lied that there was a plague and had to delay the delivery. But after investigation, I found that the slaves were actually sent to the shipyard. They should have been bought by Volantis and planned to be used to train the navy."

Gavin was concentrating on the intelligence and listening to Coben's narration, his brows furrowed even more. The relationship between the three cities of Slaver's Bay and Volantis was complicated and unusual. Since both sides were city-states that practiced slavery and had common interests to maintain, the connection between them was close and subtle.

As the overlord of the southwest, Volantis is very powerful. In the past years, they have sent troops many times to help the three cities of Slave Bay resist the invasion of the Dothraki. This military cooperation has made the relationship between the two sides closer.

In turn, the largest slave trade partner of the three cities in Slaver Bay is also Volantis. The two sides have been economically interdependent and mutually beneficial for many years, forming a delicate balance.

Moreover, the predecessor of Slaver's Bay, the Ghis Empire, was once destroyed by the Valyrian Dragon King. Although they speak Valyrian, deep down they are very resistant to Gawen who owns a dragon.

What's more, Gavin had been constantly using troops against Essos, which undoubtedly increased their vigilance.

Although the two sides have not yet explicitly torn their relations apart, the Stepstone Islands have begun to be isolated in trade and diplomacy.

Astapor did not send an envoy to Gavin's coronation, which was a clear sign.

When Gavin first acquired the Blazing Shadow, he had thought about copying the path Daenerys had taken, but at that time, he was extremely dependent on Slaver's Bay to customize his navy, so he had to give up the idea.

After that, the cooperation between the two sides was relatively smooth. In addition, the two sides were far away from each other, and it would be easy to be caught in a dilemma when expanding the influence to Slave Bay, so Gavin always focused on the sea.

All the territories he captured were islands, and he even chose to give up some of the disputed areas he had captured.

But this does not mean that Gavin has no ambition for Essos. He just plans to use his advantage at sea to build a solid base first, and then gradually annex the other side.

Today, the situation in Slaver Bay clearly poses a threat to the Stepstones.

Although there won't be too many problems in the short term, if we continue to leave it alone and allow the other party to build ships with all their strength, it will take at least a year to even initially form combat power, and it will sooner or later pose a threat to the Stone Steps Islands.

Coben looked at Gavin who had fallen into silence and continued to report on the matter.

"Your Majesty, the Dornish sent envoys not long ago, and Lord Boris received them. They are still staying on Bloodstone Island and have not left. They hope to increase their share of tolls. Since they did not know that Your Majesty had returned to Dragonfire Bay at that time, Lord Boris sent a letter to Dragonstone, hoping to ask for your opinion." Coben's voice broke the silence in the study.

Gavin nodded slightly after hearing this, secretly guessing the Dornish intentions. He thought that it was probably because Quentyn Martell's last mission did not achieve his goal, so Prince Doran chose this way to restrict and suppress him. However, since Dorne sent an envoy, it was obvious that the other party did not want to completely break up with him for the time being. After all, the Dornish controlled one-third of the trade routes of the Stepstone Islands. If they wanted to increase the toll, they could tear up the agreement at any time.

Today, Gavin has complete control over the Narrow Sea trade route. Both in name and in reality, he is the undisputed "King of the Narrow Sea".

Every month ships loaded with taxes were sent back to the Stepstones, which undoubtedly brought him great wealth and power.

However, as the area of ​​control gradually expanded, some problems also arose. Most of Gavin's naval forces were locked in the Narrow Sea, which led to the gradual weakening of his ability to suppress trading city-states such as Volantis.

Today, Gavin has more than 200 warships of various types. The main force is the Stone Steps Islands Fleet, which consists of 120 sailing warships. These warships are huge and can even fight five ordinary pirate longships at once. They are a symbol of his maritime hegemony.

The remaining ships were mostly armed merchant ships and longboats and were not incorporated into the fleet.

Since sailing ships use ramming and crossbows as their main attack methods, their tall hulls make it difficult for enemies to board them, so they are not equipped with a large number of soldiers like other warships that are good at boarding warfare.

The main fleet had a total of 20,000 naval soldiers and about 10,000 other mercenary sailors, all of whom were distributed on other warships.

The Stepstones and Lys controlled by Gavin straddled two continents. The 5,000 men of the First Legion, who had just completed their training, were placed on Dragonstone. Considering the strategic role of Dragonstone and the fact that the situation in Westeros might require intervention at any time, Gavin did not intend to mobilize this army easily.

On the eastern island of Lys, there were three thousand mercenaries led by Jorah stationed.

However, since the Island of Lys was a newly conquered territory, the mercenaries had poor discipline and loyalty, were slightly insufficient in strength, and could not be mobilized at will.

As a result, Gavin found that he had no organized force to use for a while.

Thinking of this, Gavin decided to first digest the area he currently controlled.

At the same time, he planned to use more than ten sailing warships and those longships to form another fleet specifically responsible for controlling the Narrow Sea, clearing out pirates and cracking down on smuggling ships, and taking charge of tax collection.

After all, facing those passing smuggling ships and merchant ships, it was a bit of a waste to use huge sailing warships.

From now on, the Steppe Islands Fleet, composed entirely of sailing warships, will be used only in warfare.

After the Stone Step Islands Fleet withdrew from the Narrow Sea, it was stationed in the Stone Step Islands as a mobile and deterrent force.

In this way, no matter where problems occur on the east and west sides, support can be provided at any time. As for the army on land, Gavin couldn't help but think of the idea when he first obtained the Blazing Shadow.

Gavin said calmly, "Tell Boris that if we only lose part of the toll, it won't affect us at all. As long as the Dornishmen's demands are not excessive, we can agree to them and treat it as a temporary loan to them, and we will take it back later. If the other party wants more, don't be polite. He will have full authority over this matter, and I will inform Hassan and ask him to cooperate."

Coben bowed and said respectfully, "As you command, Your Majesty. I will send a raven to Lord Boris later."

(End of this chapter)