Game of Thrones: The Wrath of the Sleeping Dragon

Jon Clinton, who twice received the Order of the King's Hand, did not disappoint Viserys' trust.

The logistical support for the transoceanic war was sufficient and there were no problems. Pentos developed steadily, and the rebellion of the ragged prince was quelled at minimal cost.

As for you...

Viserys then turned to look at his sister, Daenerys, whose little face was immediately filled with anticipation.

She heard her brother praising Jon Clinton and thought she would be praised as well, but to her surprise, Viserys flicked her nose with his hand.

"Why send a dragon into a plan that has been prepared for a long time and is almost certain to succeed?"

"Didn't I say that dragons shouldn't be allowed near Pentos unless absolutely necessary?"

As the original three dragons grew larger, Viserys, while cherishing his dragons, also had to consider the feelings of the people under his rule.

While the dragon's appearance in the city elicited cheers, it also terrified most people.

Moreover, as the dragons appeared more frequently, people's fear of them diminished.

He had no desire to repeat the scene of the King's Landing riots, where a group of farmers wielding sticks dared to attack a dragon trapped in its lair.

As a 'strategic' weapon, dragons should maintain a certain degree of mystery to instill fear in the Targaryen family's enemies.

"Wasn't I afraid that something might go wrong?"

Upon hearing Viserys's words, the little girl immediately looked aggrieved and said, of course she would not admit that she had brought Viserys to keep things under control because she was scared.

"Hasn't the silver ingot returned already?"

“It looks much more energetic than before; this trip has unleashed its potential.”

"Yes, it was a perfect trip."

"I almost burned Braavos down for this trip."

Viserys was amused by Daenerys's evasive manner and ruffled her hair.

"what?"

Daenerys was taken aback by his words; she seemed not to understand and blinked.

"Wasn't the person who stole the silver from Valantis?"

After that incident, Daenerys was completely distraught, and Jon Clinton took charge, ordering a thorough investigation of all leads.

All the mercenaries who died in the Royal Guard had Braavos-related clues on their bodies.

One of them even had a special silver coin symbolizing the Faceless Ones, and at that time almost everyone believed that these people came from Braavos.

However, at this moment, someone discovered a relatively intact corpse wearing a human skin mask on its face. The rest of the corpses died in a rather gruesome manner, all of them turned into charred corpses under Viserion's furious dragon flames, and some of them could not even be pieced together.

They then tore off the human skin mask from the corpse, only to discover that the corpse actually had clear 'tiger stripes' on its cheeks.

He also had a flame tattoo on his body. These were real tattoos, not human skin masks, and everyone present was instantly in an uproar.

Tiger stripes are a special symbol of the Valantis army, the "Tiger Robe Army," and half of the Tiger Robe Army are believers in the Red God religion, with flame tattoos on their cheeks, arms, or chests.

With this evidence, it is believed that the dragon thieves actually originated from Valantis.

Meanwhile, news came from the other side that they were investigating other clues. Many of these intelligence reports were intended to frame Braavos, but in fact, they all came from the direction of Tyros, Rhys, or Valentis, etc.

On the same day, a ship flying the Tyrosi flag anchored near the coast. The ship then sailed toward Braavos and sank hundreds of nautical miles away for unknown reasons.

Chapter 467 Provincial Governor

Almost all the evidence obtained from the investigation points to Valantis.

At the high-level military meeting in Pentos, everyone recommended a furious reprisal against Valantius, but Jon Clinton suppressed these suggestions.

He instinctively felt that there was more to the story.

However, upon hearing what Viserys said, Jon Clinton's expression shifted slightly.

He hadn't expected that the enemy would actually come from Braavos. It was a mix of truth and falsehood, and the real culprit was trying to shift the blame south.

Fortunately, he calmed down at that time and did not launch a retaliatory action against Valantis for the time being; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Now, judging from what His Majesty said, this matter should have been settled. He gave Braavos a painful lesson, but I wonder what Braavos looks like now.

The man with greyish-red hair, dressed in aristocratic attire and wearing the King's Hand Medal on his chest, thought silently.

However, at that moment, Viserys turned to look at Jon Clinton and spoke.

“Jon, let’s talk later.”

He didn't explain to Daenerys why Volantis stole the dragon but burned Braavos, and Jon paused for a moment before quickly nodding.

"Ok."

...

The Iron Throne was within reach, but for some reason, Viserys felt somewhat agitated and even had a subtle urge to escape.

This may be why he rode the dragon to Braavos without hesitation.

Because he stepped outside the circle and calmly observed from an outsider's perspective, the throne, forged from the melting of thousands of swords, actually had no real value.

Instead, it brought even more disasters, and the entanglement surrounding this iron chair lasted for hundreds of years, filled with bloodshed, slaughter, and evil.

This might be a feeling of confusion that arises when you've been working towards a goal for a long time, but when that goal is finally within reach.

Simply put, a jerk is just being pretentious.

However, this did not prevent His Majesty the King from taking a leisurely stroll and, incidentally, setting fire to the city to relieve his inner anxiety.

In the imperial garden of the palace atop the nine pagodas, rare and exotic animals are kept, and flowers bloom in abundance while the grass is lush and green.

"His Majesty."

Jon Clinton appeared behind Viserys, looking at the silver-haired youth's back with a complicated expression, and spoke.

There were some things I couldn't say because the little princess was with me, so I'm saying them outside at a different time.

Jon Snow first met Viserys in the city of Pentos. At that time, he was not even an adult yet, but he had the courage to lead a mere two hundred soldiers into the city where enemies were everywhere.

Jon Clinton was a member of the city guard at the time, and he spotted Viserys's silhouette from afar.

But at that time he could never have imagined that a few years later this young man would take off with the help of this city, break through the predicament he was facing and rise like a dragon, and from then on no one could limit his height.

Viserys then handed a small booklet to Jon.

This is something he wrote during his leisure time in Riverrun after the war.

He had already thought a lot about this, mainly about future plans and considerations. However, Viserys unusually chose a cautious approach at this time, seeking the opinions of his senior ministers.

Jon took the booklet Viserys handed him and glanced through it briefly, but his expression changed slightly.

It's all in Viserys' own handwriting, recording some of his thoughts. It looks a bit messy, but it expresses them very clearly.

"The centralization and unification of national power is an inevitable trend."

Just as many nobles of the Seven Kingdoms had feared, Viserys decided to apply the system he had experimented with on Essos to Westeros.

He decided to take advantage of the period of conquest to act decisively and swiftly eliminate outdated practices.

His first strike, from top to bottom, was intended to cut the heads of the lords of the seven kingdoms.

Viserys's tentative plan was to revoke the title of 'Guardian', strip all dukes of their titles, demote all except Dorne to earls, retain their fiefs, and reorganize the 'Guardian' into the position of 'Governor'.

From now on, only members of the Targaryen royal family will be granted the title of duke.

Furthermore, apart from the Duke of Dragonstone, who is the heir, the other dukes have only honorary titles and no real power, and cannot pass them on to their descendants.

As for the newly established governorship, which abolished the position of guardian, the governor was actually the person in charge of a region, but his power was not as stable or overwhelming as before.

The king has the power at any time to remove the governor and appoint another local nobleman to the position, or even to parachute in a nobleman from another region to serve as governor.

However, Viserys' plans don't stop there.

His radical actions were even more aggressive than in Andalus, otherwise Jon Clinton's expression wouldn't have changed so drastically.

In his notes, Viserys planned to reform the political system of the Seven Kingdoms and their nine territories, which were to be subjugated to the Iron Throne, into 'provinces' and abolish the title of the Seven Kingdoms.

Furthermore, the power of the provinces was highly centralized in the hands of the central government, and from then on, Westeros had only one kingdom and was only allowed to have one kingdom.

Due to his outstanding achievements, Dorne is temporarily excluded from this order, but he can still maintain a certain degree of independence and possess the title of 'Prince', making him a special zone.

The dizzying array of terms—'stripping of titles,' 'establishing provinces,' and 'appointing governors'—made Jon Clinton's heart race and his breathing quicken.

He never imagined that Viserys would be even more radical than he had thought.

His throat even tightened and he felt a dryness when he saw the sentence, "Jon Clinton is tentatively appointed as the Earl of Raven's Nest and Governor of Stormland Province."

"Your Majesty, isn't this... a bit too fast?"

Even though Jon Clinton had weathered many storms, his heart couldn't help but race at this moment.

Although the reformed governor's power was greatly reduced compared to the former Duke of Storm's End, the protector of Stormlands, it was still a meteoric rise, making him the lord of the Stormlands province.

Raven's Nest may be small, but it is still Jon Clinton's home. And although victory is assured, the war is not over yet, and the future ownership of Storm's End remains uncertain. It may be left to the Baratheon family, or it may be driven out completely.

And there are other people on this list as well.

'Betsy Joyce is tentatively appointed as the governor of Pentos.'

'Jeffrey Brecken is tentatively appointed as the Earl of Stonehold and Governor of the Riverlands Province.'

'Renise Targaryen, Duke of Summerhall.'

'Daughter of Dragonstone...'

Upon seeing this, Jon Clinton was slightly startled.

He quickly looked away, not daring to look any longer.

Chapter 468 Just kidding

"Is it fast?"

"I don't think it's fast."

Viserys paused slightly after hearing Jon Clinton's words, which were a mixture of excitement and worry, before slowly speaking.

"Families, fiefdoms, autonomy—this system has continued in Westeros for thousands, even tens of thousands of years."