Chapter 152
Can't stand it!
Can't even sleep well.
In the early hours of the morning, a group of Wise Masters and Great Masters, like frightened animals, got up from their beds and hurried to the Grand Wise Master's Pyramid.
"How is this possible?! Last night we were talking to her about the redemption of captives, when there were fifty thousand people in the entire camp, even if Dragons could fly, even if… alas, from Yunkai to Meereen, 250 kilometers, there are so many manors and merchants along the way, are they all blind? Moreover, how can a fifty thousand army run 250 kilometers in three days? They had already marched 600 kilometers before that!"
The Grand Wise Master slumped on the wooden chair cushioned with blankets, looking desperately towards the surrounding slave masters, hoping that a wise one would come out and help answer all his questions.
There are many veterans and famous generals in the room. The Tattered Prince has 30 years of military experience; Grazdan graduated from a famous "military school" and has been the Yunkai Great General for ten years; the ship Captain traverses the world and fights countless sea battles…. Even the youngest Zidan has served in the Braavos Legion for five years, three of them as Great Captains of the Cavalry Regiment.
But they can't figure out the simplest question: how did we lose?
"Let's take a moment…" It was Yezzan, the strategist, who finally spoke.
Well, Yezzan used to be Yunkai's wisest man, and he was called "Yunkai's Two Heros" with Grazdan, the Great General.
It's just that Grazdan has better luck, developing steadily along his established trajectory, and has boundless prospects.
Yezzan's thinking was more detached when he was young, and because he was too smart, he had been trying his best to explore the unknown world and find the truth behind the world… Well, Yezzan went to Sothoryos opposite Essos to explore, As a result, he was infected with a strange disease, and he changed from a promising hero to a paralyzed man whose lower body could not be controlled.
But even if his body is now disabled, he still earns countless in wealth with the wisdom he has and became the richest man in Yunkai.
"There were 50,000 people in the Mother of Dragons camp during the negotiations last night?" Yezzan looked towards Zidan.
"Yes." Zidan nodded.
"Counting smoke plumes?" Yezzan asked with a frown.
"Not only the number of bonfires, but also the number of tents and soldiers in the camp area, the size of the entire camp, and several different estimation methods, and the conclusion is all the same – 50,000 people," Zidan explained.
Yezzan looked towards Denzo again and asked: "Are you sure you saw the Mother of Dragons and not a fake?"
"Could there even be a fake? Silver hair, purple eyes, very beautiful, and more importantly, a temperament like a Queen." Denzo frowned in thought.
He is fairly old, experienced, and knowledgeable, still a poet, and has a very high level of education, so he won't make such a basic mistake in judgment.
Yezzan looked thoughtful and said, "Maybe Dragons can…"
"Wait-"
Grazdan stood up and stared at Denzo, surprised: "Did you see that woman's face?"
"I'm not blind, of course, I can see her face!" Denzo responded souring at his stupidity.
"She was not wearing a helmet?" Grazdan asked again.
"There's something wrong with this? it's her camp, at night, why would she wear a helmet?" Denzo couldn't understand the meaning of the other party.
"Who was around her?"
"The red-haired Lyra of the Company of the Rose, and a few Unsullied."
"Ai, last time when negotiating with us, she wore face armor, with the Kingsguard and Bloodriders at her side, you may have met a brilliant acting actor." A Meereen Great Master next to him lamented.
He was one of the ten-man leadership team last time and was just as lucky as Grazdan in escaping back to Yunkai.
"This…" Yezzan, the paralyzed man, was stunned, "Such cunning of the Mother of Dragons..."
The Tattered Prince rubbed his forehead wearily and asked: " What's the matter with the extra fifty thousand people?"
The Mother of Dragons was so skillful that even Meereen was defeated at once, and it seemed that the day when she took control of the entire Slaver's Bay was not far away.
He's afraid he'll never be able to wait for the expected outcome.
To get the Pentos, you must deal with the cunning Illyrio… but how to convince the fat spice merchant?
Trouble!
The Shit Man did not immediately answer the question from the head of Windblown but instead read the letters from Meereen one by one.
Everyone was waiting for the analysis of the genius with heavy expressions. The war room was completely silent, only the sound of Yezzan flipping the paper and the intermittent sounds from his ass.
"45 Great Masters, 78 great nobles, great merchants, all solemnly vowed to declare that the army of Mother of Dragons brought to Meereen was fifty thousand, and all of them were elites, not slaves."
Yezzan put down the stationery, his carrot-thick fingers rubbing against Sweets' thigh, Sweets was shy but silently endured.
"In the evening, when the Mother of Dragons army entered the city, many people even counted the torches one by one, and a total of forty-five thousand people entered the Great Pyramid.
The Mother of The Dragons took the three Dragons personally, and has already knocked down the Meereen Great Pyramids and obtained countless grains, gold, and silver."
From the habit of the Old Ghis Empire, Meereen, Yunkai, and Astapor each have three extra large pyramids, called the "Great Pyramids", which were the administrative and military center of the city.
Like Mureno, who became the first of all, the Grand Wise Master, because House Dhazak controlled the Yunkai Great Pyramid.
In terms of wealth alone, Mureno Dhazak can't even make the top three and is not as rich as Grazdan, the Great General.
"Since Meereen has determined that there are at least 45,000 people, that were outside the city…" Grazdan's thin face flushed suddenly, as if he had been greatly humiliated, and yelled: "She has played us! She didn't have so many soldiers outside the city at all, the camp is empty!"
"What kind of densely packed crowd did the spies see?" Zidan wondered.
"The camp is fake, the Mother of Dragons was also fake, and the soldiers inside may also be fake. This....this is a subtle scam."
Yezzan's eyes roved the hall in understanding, it seemed that all the mysteries had been clearly understood by him, and he said with great certainty: "I'm sure that only the rear battalion 13 kilometers away is real among the front, middle, and rear battalions of the Mother of Dragons. Possibly the hidden siege weapons and thousands of guards built by them."
"Why do you say that?" Grazdan wondered.
"You think the Mother of Dragons is just content to take Meereen?" Yezzan said indifferently.
"Hiss…" Everyone sucked in harsh breaths, horrified.
Grazdan clenched his teeth and said bitterly: "So, she knows that after taking Meereen, we will definitely receive news from the Great Masters, knowing that we will know about her today. The truth of her camp.
Knowing that there is no way to hide the trick, she simply shrunk the force and transferred all the power and siege equipment to the rear camp.
In this way, even if she finds that we have a plan, if we have to send troops to attack the rear battalion, we will not be able to take it down in a short time. When that woman brings the food from Meereen, Yunkai will be finished."
"What should we do now? That woman is too terrifying, almost everything was calculated," a chubby young Wise Masters adult, who was about to cry out of grievance, "There are obviously three Dragons, and she obviously has more soldiers than us, why not follow us according to tradition and meet force with force, a siege?
Her force is stronger than us, so smart, and too cunning, how can we retaliate?"
"Ah, when the war in Slaver's Bay this month spreads, Daenerys will become a renowned tactician. And we, the idiots were but her enemies.
When the story of the Dragon Queen is passed down through the ages, among us some of the people in this world may be ridiculed countless times by the children at the bedside listening to the old nurse talking about ancient times…a thousand years, ten thousand years, oh!" Yezzan said in frustration.
"bang!"
Grazdan, destined to be one of the "some people", slammed the table and roared with a distorted face: "NO, I don't want to be in such a tale! What do we have to do!"
"What else can we do now? Wait for the Dragon Queen to besiege the city with 100,000 troops. With her appeal, it's not too much to recruit 50,000 slave soldiers in Meereen. It's simple." Yezzan said frustratedly.
"I'm going to vent, I'm going to take out the thousands of soldiers in her back battalion, and I'm going to pull out the nails she left in Yunkai," Grazdan said, standing up and walking out.
"Wait a minute, it's too late now, don't fall for that woman's ambush." The Grand Wise Master yelled.
Grazdan glanced back at the Wise Masters, Great Masters, and sellswords in the palace where they panicked like sheep against the wolf, and indifferently said: "If you fall in an ambush, then die in an ambush!"
"You—"
Grazdan raised his hand to interrupt the Grand Wise Master's words and said directly: "I will only take people from House Eraz out of the city."
After he finished speaking, he took wide steps and left solemnly.
The Tattered Prince looked at his straight back, and muttered: "This is a warrior."
"No, he is the Yunkai Great General!" The Grand Wise Master said sadly.
"…Although this Great General was ill-fated, he met the Dragon Queen who was born of this world with Dragons." Yezzan, the shit man, murmured.
He couldn't help but think of himself, back then, how majestic "Yunkai's Two Heroes" was… Now one has become a paralyzed man who can't help himself, and the other has been defeated after repeated battles. The ever-defeating Great General.
Misery…
Could it be that the Gods are jealous of the talented?
Yezzan thought in self-pity.
Everyone didn't even want to go home and sleep, so they stayed in the Grand Wise Master's palace, preparing to send off the Great General Grazdan for his last ride.
"Report—"
About three hours later, around two in the morning, a blood-soaked yellow silk cloak stumbled into the hall, panting heavily, and emotionally said: "Report…report…Grand Wise Master, Grazdan…General he…"
"I understand." Mureno at the oval conference table waved his hand and interrupted the other party: "Help the General organize his appearance, I will go to see the last of him tomorrow morning."
"Uh…" The yellow silk cloak lifted his head, and said stunned: "Lord Grand Wise Master, what are you talking about?"
"What?" The Grand Wise Master was also stunned.
"Grazdan led a total annihilation of 500 cavalry, set fire to the company for more than ten miles, killed countless enemies, burned countless enemy grains and supplies, and rescued 500 prisoners. Lord Grand Wise Master, we hold a great victory!"
"…"
"…"
Everyone was confounded.
After a while, the Tattered Prince came back to his senses and asked, "The enemy didn't set up an ambush?"
"Hey, the opponent is understaffed and unable to set up an ambush. Listen to Miss Meris, Dragon Queen deliberately used 'empty city strategy' to scare us." The yellow silk cloak laughed.
"Meris came back too?" Denzo asked in surprise.
The soldier said: "The prisoners were blocked at the mouth and tied to the front battalion as a targeted soldier for the 'empty city strategy'. Not only were the sellswords rescued, but also the hundreds of soldiers we had lost before were among them!"
"Empty city strategy? What an empty city strategy, tens of thousands of army forcibly were frightened for three days, three days!" Yezzan smiled bitterly.
Although he still couldn't figure out how the other party ran 250 kilometers in three days with a tired army of 50,000, he almost wanted to understand how he and the others lost the war.
"How does Meris know about the Mother of Dragons' 'empty city strategy'?" the Tattered Prince wondered.
"That Lady Lyra…a Knight under the Mother of Dragons told her that the other party thought there was no need to hide this kind of thing from the captives. Because she knew that the Mother of Dragons would win, there were more than a dozen servants. The soldiers switched to the Mother of Dragons on the spot!"
"so that's how it is." The Grand Wise Master nodded, and he understands what sellswords are all about – always on the side of the winner.
The Mother of Dragons was clever enough to take prisoners of war this way.
"What else did Meris say?" Denzo asked.
"Lady Meris said that the empty city strategy is very brilliant. If we were too smart, we would definitely get caught and dare not act rashly, but the 'empty city strategy' is completely ineffective for the brash and stupid." Yellow silk cloak tone said proudly.
Grand Wise Master…
Tattered Prince…
Yezzan…