Game of Thrones: The Wrath of the Sleeping Dragon

During her brief visit to the Red Flower Valley tribe, Asha learned a bit about the culture of this land. After all, the Summer Islands would be her neighbors for some time to come, so it was essential to build good relationships with them beforehand.

In the Summer Islands, people consider sexual skills to be important, even sacred, because they are related to the survival of the race. They regard procreation as the most sacred activity.

Moreover, prostitutes are respected in this land, and even some people of noble birth on the island engage in this profession.

The natives of the Summer Islands respect their elders, and to honor the dead, their customs include drinking and sexual intercourse. Archery is another important cultural skill here, and their specially made bows have a much longer range than others.

The Summer Islands are home to a special tree called Golden Heart. Bows and arrows made from this tree can shoot very far, and most of the island's warriors are sharpshooters.

Meanwhile, the people of the Summer Islands also brew an amber-colored sweet wine. They don't grow much grain and mainly eat fruits and fish.

Asha tasted this sweet and delicious wine at the tribe's banquet, and she even thought it was sweeter than the wine produced on Qingting Island, but because it was too sweet, it lacked a bit of stimulation.

The chief of the Red Flower Valley tribe even introduced his son to Asha. Looking at the dark-skinned, burly man covered in colorful feathers, constantly showing off his muscles in front of Asha, he looked just like a male peacock courting a mate. Asha suppressed her urge to complain.

The chieftain's purpose was crystal clear: he hoped to "marry" his son to this powerful female general of the empire, thus providing him with a protective umbrella so that the same mistakes would not be repeated after his death, and the Red Flower Valley tribe would no longer have to endure the humiliation from the Sweet Lotus Valley tribe on the other side of Zhal Island.

For the past few decades, the Red Flower Valley tribe has been no match for its arch-rival on the other side of the island, especially after the outbreak of civil war. The Red Flower Valley tribe has been enduring this humiliation in silence. Upon seeing this powerful army passing by, the chieftain decided to try and win them over.

Unfortunately, the chief's "handsome man scheme" failed somewhat. Asha wasn't very interested in the flamboyant "male peacock," and the chief's son, Zabudo Dele, could only retreat to the side and drink alone in frustration.

"Fresh water is scarce on the island, so these tribes can only rely on the Red Flower Valley tribe."

The chieftain of the Red Flower Valley tribe spoke eloquently, mainly boasting about how powerful the Red Flower Valley tribe was, second only to the three major tribes on Valano Island, and hoping to gain the friendship of the Imperial Navy.

As Asha chatted with the chief, she gradually gained a deeper understanding of this mysterious land that was almost untouched by Westeros.

She was particularly interested in the golden heart tree, which was abundant on the island, and the bows and arrows made from it.

Because she had just witnessed the tribe's soldiers perform, drawing back a golden longbow to generate over a hundred pounds of tension, easily shooting it more than two hundred and eighty yards away, and embedding it firmly in a tree trunk. The force was enough to pierce an enemy's leather armor even at two hundred and eighty yards.

On Westeros, most longbows would struggle to reach that distance and force, typically shooting less than 250 yards.

Asha wanted to purchase a batch of golden heartwood bows from the chief of the Red Flower Valley tribe. In a city like Valantis, buying such bows and arrows might be quite expensive, but in the Summer Islands, the place of origin, golden heartwood was plentiful and not very expensive.

The chieftain, who also wanted to win over the empire's fleet, naturally didn't ask for a high price and readily agreed.

"There aren't many golden heartwood trees in Red Flower Valley."

"Golden heartwood is produced here on the Golden Head Peninsula."

The chief promised to send tribesmen to the Golden Head Peninsula to cut down Golden Heartwood and then provide Golden Heartwood bows for the imperial army.

"Chief Dele, why is this place called the Golden Head Peninsula?"

As Asha looked at the map the chief was pointing to, she felt a little strange about the name and then casually asked him a question.

"Oh, because someone once found a piece of gold the size of a human head here, and it looked just like a human head, so it's called Golden Head Peninsula."

The chief heard the translator repeat Asha's question, waved his hand dismissively, and said something that Asha was slightly taken aback by.

Chapter 736 Golden Head Peninsula

The Imperial fleet temporarily rested at the mouth of Red Flower Valley and conscripted more than two hundred warriors from the Red Flower Valley tribe, including those from surrounding tribes that were affiliated with it, to make up for the losses caused by the storm.

Asha also placed an order with the Red Flower Valley tribe, exchanging many goods and supplies purchased from trading cities with them.

The tribespeople of the Summer Isles weren't particularly interested in gold coins; instead, they were quite curious about things from the outside world, especially handmade carpets from Mil, handcrafted glassware, exquisite silverware, lace, wool, dragon peppers, and so on.

This is actually why Asha stays in each place for a period of time. In addition to purchasing some necessary supplies, the fleet also buys some local specialties to take to the next city-state to sell.

The basic operating principle of caravans is that simple: just sell goods from one place to another, provided that the destination doesn't also produce those goods, otherwise the goods will be stuck in your hands.

Asha knew that she couldn't rely solely on robbing and looting to obtain supplies, so she made plans in advance to operate like a caravan.

This was an unknown adventure for her, since she had never done any business before. But fortunately, Asha made the right bet. The chiefs of the Summer Islands liked these goods from the outside world, but were not very interested in gold coins.

Because the Summer Islands are rich in mineral resources, but have relatively little interaction with the outside world, even when fleets come here, they bring very little goods.

Moreover, most of these fleets were motivated by the desire to exploit the natives, selling many cheap goods at exorbitant prices in exchange for gold coins that the natives couldn't spend and local specialties from the Summer Islands.

However, the goods brought by Asha were extremely abundant, and the chief of the Red Flower Valley tribe was dazzled by them. Chiefs of other small tribes that were affiliated with the Red Flower Valley tribe also rushed over.

In the end, the chieftain waved his hand and exchanged ten exquisite Mir handmade carpets, some glassware, and two jars of dragon pepper for a thousand golden heartwood longbows.

They got right to work, as the laborers in the indigenous tribe had no other tasks besides hunting, fishing, and gathering wild fruits.

Therefore, the chieftain led a group to the Golden Head Peninsula to cut down a large amount of golden heartwood to make golden heartwood longbows.

For the indigenous chiefs of the Summer Islands, these golden heartwood trees were plentiful, practically free, so they didn't feel like they were losing out at all; on the contrary, they made a huge profit.

He didn't have to pay for the craftsmanship and time involved in making the longbow; he only needed to order his people to do the work.

He claimed that anyone who dared to disobey him would be punished by the gods. The chief had once been a priest in the tribe, so he could intimidate people without any flaws, making the tribesmen obediently do their work.

The Red Flower Valley tribe was bustling with activity. Because there were enough craftsmen, they completed the forging of a thousand Golden Heart Wood longbows in about half a month.

...

Meanwhile, Asha led a group of people around the Golden Head Peninsula under the guise of sightseeing.

However, the Red Flower Valley tribe members who were logging discovered that these outsiders did not seem to be visiting at all. Instead, they seemed to be searching for something, carrying shovels and other tools, and constantly searching for something on the hillside, gravel, and riverbank.

The tribe's natives told their chief about this, and the chief, without suspicion, simply thought they were curious since it was their first time visiting the Summer Islands, and let them be.

Asha and the others weren't actually sightseeing; they were searching for something.

At a tribal banquet, she overheard the tribal chief casually mention that the Golden Head Peninsula was named after a man who found a piece of gold the size of a human head there.

This was said without a doubt, and the listener took it to heart.

Asha suspected that the Golden Head Peninsula had large gold reserves. She had lived in the Iron Islands since childhood. Although the Iron Islands did not have gold mines, they had a lot of iron ore, so Asha was very familiar with minerals.

The presence of large chunks of unrefined gold here suggests either that someone deliberately placed them there, or that there is a large gold mine underground.

But think about it: although the people on the Summer Islands don't care too much about gold coins, it is, after all, the only currency in circulation on the Summer Islands. Besides the most common barter, people use gold coins to exchange for things.

The natives of the Summer Islands knew that although these gold coins couldn't be eaten or drunk, outsiders loved them. They saw the gold coins as if they were their own parents. They could also collect these gold coins and exchange them for goods with outsiders. Therefore, the gold coins had a certain value in the Summer Islands.

So who would throw a piece of gold the size of a human head on the ground? Asha didn't believe it.

Therefore, there can only be one explanation: there may be a gold mine on the Kim Sue Peninsula!

This bold guess made Asha's heart pound. What was the concept of a gold mine? It meant sustainable wealth for a long time, a sustainable windfall.

The Westerlands are so wealthy; it's said that Tywin Lannister's shit was made of gold. Why? It's because of the abundance of gold mines in the Westerlands.

If there really is a gold mine here, then there's the reason why Asha's uncle, Victarion, once encouraged her.

She could really turn on us suddenly, conquer an island, and declare herself queen there.

Grand Duchess of the Summer Islands? Or even more so, Queen of the Summer Islands?

Asha was genuinely tempted, but she wasn't a thoughtless or irrational person. She suppressed her excitement and didn't tell many people about it except her uncle.

Perhaps because Victalion's injuries had not yet fully healed, his complexion was somewhat pale, but Asha, who was in the midst of her joy, did not notice this.

Asha then led several trusted followers to search for traces of gold mines all over the Golden Head Peninsula.

Although she was extremely familiar with iron ore, Asha had never been in contact with gold mines. She and her iron-farming minions did not know how to find gold mines, so they could only cast a wide net aimlessly, hoping to stumble upon something by sheer luck.

Unfortunately, Asha may have guessed wrong. There was no gold mine here. The legend of the Golden Head Peninsula was just a legend. The Red Flower Valley tribe spent half a month forging a longbow and running around here for half a month, but they didn't make any progress. They didn't even see a trace of a gold mine.

However, at that moment, some bad news suddenly arrived.

One of the Ironborn who remained on the ship ran to Asha to report that her uncle, Victalion, had suddenly fainted.

Chapter 737 The Curse of Valyria

"what?"

When Asha heard what the soldier who came to report said, her expression changed drastically.

Although she had argued with her uncle several times due to differences in their beliefs, Victalion was, after all, her last remaining family member. How could Asha remain unmoved upon hearing such news?

"quick!"

"Go back right now!"

Asha then abandoned her search for gold mines and, with her retinue, mounted her warhorse and galloped towards the beach where the fleet was docked.

At this moment, Victalion was not in good condition. His face was pale, and he had fallen into unconsciousness, with white foam constantly spitting out of his mouth.

Actually, Viktorion had noticed something was wrong with him a long time ago, but he didn't take it too seriously at the time.

As the former captain of the Invincible Ironborn and the third most capable fighter in the Greyjoy family, Victarion suffered countless injuries, both major and minor, throughout his life, many of which were far more serious than this. Yet, he never took this minor injury seriously and always endured it.

This morning, he suddenly had a bad feeling. Viktorion felt his body was burning hot, as if the blood in his body was boiling, especially at the wound, where a sudden burning sensation came from, as if a branding iron was placed on his arm.

Viktorion thought there was something wrong with the bandage or the herbs on it, so he tore off the bandage and then fainted, collapsing onto the deck.

Fortunately, the soldiers around him noticed that Victalion had fainted and promptly carried him to a bed in the cabin, where they found a medic to treat him.

Before Asha arrived, the medics accompanying the army had already performed bloodletting on Victalion. In this era of limited medical technology, people generally used these simple methods to treat illnesses: bloodletting, burning, cutting off rotten flesh, and some anesthetic herbs or anti-infective and antibacterial herbs, etc.

Dengdengdeng-

Just then, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the cabin door, followed by a loud bang as Asha rushed in.

Then she saw her uncle lying on his sickbed, pale and weak, but he had regained consciousness. On the other side, the army doctor was using tweezers to put the blood-sucking leeches back into the bottle.

"grown ups."

The doctor hurriedly stood up to bow, but Asha ignored him and stared intently at her uncle. Seeing that he was unharmed, she breathed a sigh of relief and turned to ask.

"what happened?"

In fact, a girl like Asha, who is unmarried and of noble birth, should be addressed as "Miss," while older or married women should be addressed as "Madam," not as titles like "Sir" or "General." However, Asha dislikes these titles for women and therefore demands that everyone change them.

"Jazz's wound is healing very well and there is no infection. Perhaps it's because he's just arrived in a foreign country and is experiencing some acclimatization issues."

The army medic from King's Landing hesitated for a moment before speaking.

He initially thought it was an infection in Victalion's wound, but after a careful examination, he discovered that his wound not only showed no abnormalities, but was actually healing very well thanks to his strong physique.

Therefore, the healer, who really didn't know what to do, chose to bleed him. After all, he had treated the poor when he was in King's Landing, and his master had once told him that when in doubt, one should bleed first.

Unexpectedly, after he used the leeches he was raising to bleed Viktorion a little, he actually woke up again. It's just unclear whether this was just a lucky coincidence.

“I’m no knight, old man.”

Suddenly, Victalion, who was lying on the bed, spoke up. His voice was somewhat muffled, and then he sat up in bed.

He raised his injured arm and looked at it. The wound had almost healed. Then he clenched his fist slightly. The strong muscles on his arm bulged. There was a slight tearing pain at the wound. Everything was as usual, as if nothing had happened.