The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 917

Astapor (Upload error, now corrected.)

In December of the 301st year of Aegon's reign, envoys from the Free Cities of Lys, Myr, Tyrosh, Volantis, Norvos, and Qohor arrived in King's Landing on the continent of Westeros. The envoy groups from the six Free Cities consisted of dozens of people, arriving on a total of three large ships.

The envoys brought news that the six Free Cities were willing to submit, and they brought specialties from their respective cities as gifts for the Mountain.

Daenerys did not disappoint the Mountain. She rode her dragon as the Mountain's messenger, giving the governors, archons, and princes of the Free Cities an unbelievable shock. After communicating with Daenerys, the leaders of the six Free Cities chose to submit.

The highest leader of the city-state of Lys, known for producing poisons and exporting professional women from its pleasure houses, was the Governor; the highest leader of the city of Myr, famous throughout the world for its telescopes and glass handicrafts, was also the Governor; the highest leader of the city-state of Tyrosh, known for pirates and trade, was also the Governor.

The highest leader of Volantis, which earned huge wealth by selling slaves, was the Archon. The Archon's term lasted for one year and was controlled by the Elephant and Tiger parties. The Elephant and Tiger parties held elections every year, with citizens openly voting. The leader of the party with the most votes served as the Archon of Volantis for a one-year term.

In Volantis, there was also a very important figure: the High Priest of the Red Temple.

Volantis had the largest Red Temple in the world. Almost all slaves and commoners in Volantis were followers of the Red God; among the nobles, 70% were also followers of the Red God.

The number of Red God followers exceeded the total number of nobles in the Elephant and Tiger parties combined.

Daenerys received the support of High Priest Benerro of the Red Temple in Volantis. Benerro had sent a priest from the Red Temple, Malazzo, to assist Daenerys in conquering the Dothraki and ultimately help Daenerys go to the North to fight the Others. Malazzo was killed on the plains by a Khal who was hunting Daenerys in order to protect her.

Among the nine Free Cities, Braavos in the northwest had the strongest navy, followed by Volantis.

The nobles of Volantis were very wealthy. This place was the only link for the East-West slave trade, and the nobles made a fortune by selling slaves.

When Volantis expressed its willingness to submit, the remaining two city-states, Norvos and Qohor, immediately agreed to submit.

The highest leaders of Norvos and Qohor were Princes.

Princess Arianne Martell of Dorne's mother, Mellario, was a high-ranking noble from the city-state of Norvos. After divorcing Prince Doran Martell of Dorne, she returned to Norvos and was currently living in her home in Norvos.

The Mountain accepted the letters of submission from the six Free Cities in the throne room of the Red Keep.

In January of the 302nd year of Aegon's reign, Westeros mobilized its entire country's forces, crossed the Narrow Sea, and advanced towards the continent of Essos.

The first stop for the army's advance was the Free City of Lys.

The Mountain would accept the kneeling submission of the Governor of Lys in Lys.

Eddard Stark of the North personally led five thousand warriors from the North to join the King's conscripted army. For the northerners in the dead of winter, three thousand warriors meant three thousand mouths to feed.

Three thousand people leaving the North immediately reduced the burden on the North's food supply. The departure of these people would allow many citizens to have more food to store for a long war.

After several years of civil war in the North, gathering an army of three thousand people again could be said to have almost exhausted the North's able-bodied men. They crossed the sea by boat without bringing enough military rations.

His Majesty the King had ordered long ago that bringing one month's worth of food was enough. In the remaining long war of conquest, the Westeros army would sustain itself through war on the continent of Essos!

Duke Edmure Tully of the Riverlands led three thousand Riverlands soldiers to join the expeditionary force.

The Riverlands suffered the most in the civil war. Both commoners and nobles experienced a cruel and ruthless catastrophe.

The three thousand soldiers were all elites.

If there were any more soldiers, Edmure could only summon militia.

And the Mountain had made it clear long ago: the Westeros expeditionary force refused militia.

The Westerlands army and the Ironborn of the Iron Islands almost came out in full force, with a total of five thousand soldiers. The Westerlands army did not include the Mountain's army.

Duke Raynard Westerling of the Reach gathered ten thousand Reach soldiers to join His Majesty the King's expeditionary force.

Duke Gendry Baratheon the Blacksmith of Storm's End gathered three thousand soldiers from the Stormlands to join the expeditionary force.

Two thousand five hundred soldiers from the Crownlands army.

Ten thousand soldiers from the Dornish army joined the expeditionary force. In the civil war, the Dornish suffered the least losses. They were in the southernmost part, and because of the barrier of the Red Mountains, they had a very good shield. Ordinary wars were difficult to reach Dorne.

The Mountain's direct line of troops, plus the Claw Isle and the Royal Navy fleet, totaled 20,000 men in his direct line of command.

In the first month of the 302nd year of Aegon's reign, King's Landing also had its first snowfall. When the power of winter ravaged the continent of Westeros, the King of Westeros gathered 56,500 regular troops, crossed the Narrow Sea, and officially began the expedition!

At the same time, Governor Tyrion Lannister of Braavos, the Tattered Prince of the city-state of Pentos, and the Governor and three princes of the city-state of Lorath gathered a thousand warships and also advanced towards the city-state of Lys.

*

While the army was crossing the sea, the Mountain rode the dragon, and together with Daenerys and Arianne Martell, took their entourage Jorah Mormont, Missandei, and Mirri Maz Duur, and the three dragons took off into the sky and flew towards the other side of the sea.

Their first stop was not the city-state of Lys, but Astapor in Slaver's Bay.

Daenerys Targaryen was the Queen of Slaver's Bay, ruling over the three major cities of Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen. Slaver's Bay spanned more than a thousand miles of sea, all belonging to Her Majesty the Queen, and the land connecting the three cities also exceeded a thousand miles.

When Daenerys left Slaver's Bay, she left a butcher to replace her as king. Astapor, one of the three major cities, was established by Daenerys as the capital.

*

Astapor was located at the mouth of the Worm River. It was famous for producing a special kind of slave—the Unsullied.

Several days later, one night, the Mountain, Daenerys Targaryen, and Princess Arianne Martell quietly arrived in the sky above Astapor.

From afar, the Mountain saw the huge pyramids in the city, and the famous Harpy statue on the top of the largest pyramid where Her Majesty the Queen lived: a woman's body, bat wings, eagle's legs and claws, and a scorpion's tail. Its claws held open a pair of handcuffs.

After the Butcher King ruled here, everything here had been changed. Daenerys' original intention had been completely betrayed. The place where Daenerys had abolished slavery was now conducting even more serious slave trade.

The Mountain foresaw the earth-shattering changes in Slaver's Bay. Daenerys was skeptical. The six of them and the three dragons came here unannounced and did not appear during the day in order to first understand the specific situation in Slaver's Bay.

The Unsullied legions loyal to Daenerys had now turned to serve the Butcher King.

The Butcher King was authorized by Daenerys, and he had the Queen's decree that the Unsullied soldiers must completely obey. The Unsullied legions, who only executed the Butcher King's orders, became the Butcher King's most powerful force and support for ruling Astapor.

Astapor was a colony that had been colonized by the Valyrian Empire!

Back then, Valyria destroyed the Old Ghis Empire, and Astapor was a surviving Ghiscari colony. After being conquered by the Valyrians, it was forcibly built into a slave trading center by the Valyrians. Now, the Ghiscari language has been basically forgotten. People here all speak the Common Tongue, as well as a small amount of Valyrian.

The three dragons flew in the night sky. The six people on the dragons flew around Astapor and then disappeared into the darkness in the distance.

Early the next morning, the Unsullied soldiers on the city wall of Astapor's west gate saw a giant and a beautiful young woman coming to the gate.

The giant was burly, with arms as thick as tree trunks and shoulders as wide as walls. The young woman was sexy and hot, with a slightly bulging belly, looking like she was pregnant.

These two people were the Mountain and Princess Arianne Martell.

At the same time, Daenerys and Jorah Mormont, in disguise, entered through the west gate. Missandei and Mirri Maz Duur entered through the north gate.

The Mountain and Arianne saw a sentence engraved on the city wall gate: "Brick and blood built Astapor, brick and blood built her people."

Four years ago, Daenerys Targaryen landed near Astapor and bought all the Unsullied in the city. After obtaining command of the Unsullied, she quickly occupied Astapor and released most of the Good Masters' high-ranking slaves and Harpy killers.

Before leading the army to Yunkai, Daenerys left three people for Astapor—a council consisting of a doctor, a scholar, and a priest.

This council was to check and balance the acting Butcher King appointed by Daenerys.

After Daenerys left Slaver's Bay, the Butcher King took power, and he soon implemented slavery, which was opposed by the council.

Her Majesty the Queen abolished slavery, which is why she earned the title of Liberator of Slaves. If the Butcher King wanted to restore slavery, he had to obtain the consent of the council left by Her Majesty the Queen.

The council rejected the Butcher King's new policy of enslaving the original nobles. The Butcher King quickly took action, sending assassins to kill all three members of the council—a doctor, a scholar, and a priest.

From then on, in Slaver's Bay, there was only one king left, and he held all the powers of the council at the same time.

The name of this Butcher King was Cleon.

After Cleon obtained the power of the council, he issued a new government order, ordering the Unsullied to capture all the children of the nobles in Astapor, Meereen, and Yunkai to train new Unsullied. He turned every pyramid in Astapor into a barracks. Any nobles who dared to resist were brutally executed. Nobles who did not resist were given the opportunity to live. The men were forced into slavery, and the women were sold into pleasure houses at high prices.

As for casually killing, kicking, and beating nobles to death, it was commonplace.

From then on, Astapor became a living hell. Death and lies were everywhere in the streets and alleys, and the shops were rarely filled with food but with various slaves.

Where there is oppression, there is resistance.

The Butcher King's large-scale enslavement, slaughter, and humiliation of the original nobles aroused the nobles' resistance.

The nobles of Yunkai were the first to launch a war against the Butcher King. Their slave soldiers and mercenaries united with the noble legions of Meereen and Astapor to besiege Astapor, wanting to remove the Butcher King Cleon's regime.

Before the battle even started, the Butcher King received the news. He mobilized all the Unsullied forces to ambush Astapor. The Yunkish allied forces successfully occupied Astapor's port, and then entered the city from the port dock, encountering the Butcher King's ambush, and ultimately suffered a crushing defeat. Only a few nobles and their soldiers escaped.

The Butcher King Cleon won a great victory. He even more unscrupulously promoted the slave system. Rich people, nobles, and merchants were all beaten into slaves. Women became prostitutes, men became slaves, and children were sent to Unsullied training camps for cruel training.

But soon after, the Astapor blood plague broke out, and a large number of Astapor people died from the disease. In despair, the Astapor people began to rebel, storming the pyramids in the city and all the rich people in the pyramids. Astapor, under the leadership of the Butcher King, evolved into a civil war.

Finally, after sacrificing the lives of more than a thousand Unsullied, the Unsullied forces won in a desperate charge. The Butcher King suppressed the rebellion and even more unscrupulously engaged in slavery and gladiatorial arenas.

*

The Mountain and Arianne entered the city. Arianne noticed that the women here all wore veils. It turned out that this was to prevent dust from entering their eyes. Dust entering the eyes was worse than sand.

So, Arianne also bought a veil and put it on. The Mountain, on the other hand, bought a toga robe that only Astapor nobles could wear—this was a symbol of the nobles.

The Mountain was dressed as an Astapor noble, his hair braided, oiled, and strangely shaped. His toga robe was a yellow silk cloak sewn with copper discs. The copper discs on the robe represented the status of the noble. The more copper discs, the higher the status of the noble.

The Mountain wore a robe with embroidered silk threads, sandals, and a pleated linen skirt.

Astapor's main buildings were stepped pyramids, the tallest of which were four hundred feet high. The pyramids were planted with various trees, vines, and flowers, and at dusk, the former Good Masters would light silk lanterns of various colors. Yachts cruised in the Worm River. All the streets were paved with red bricks, as were the stepped pyramids, the arenas dug deep into the ground with circles of gradually descending seats, the sulfurous fountain pools, the shadowy taverns, and the ancient city walls. The air was full of tiny red dust, and when the breeze blew, the dust danced along the gutters.

As soon as the Mountain and Arianne entered the city, they were targeted by Astapor soldiers and patrolling teams.

In Astapor, there was no such giant Good Master, nor had they ever seen such a beautiful and moving young woman. The young woman's belly was slightly bulging, and it looked like she was pregnant.

This giant-like strong man wearing a toga robe was not a Good Master of Astapor. He was carrying a giant sword and had an unkind look. Didn't he know that in Astapor, nobles dressed as Good Masters would be caught and forced into slavery as long as the King knew about it.

And as long as this giant was reported to the King, the King would order him to be arrested and sent to the arena, and the brothers could make a fortune.