It was expected that King's Landing would fall into war, but it happened much later than anticipated.
Originally, external estimates suggested that Stannis's fleet should have reached the waters near King's Landing days ago, but after Stannis brought the Stormlands army to Dragonstone, he did not immediately attack King's Landing.
Instead, he prudently waited for the five thousand mercenaries hired from Braavos and Pentos to arrive before setting sail from Dragonstone.
During this time, he wasn't just idly waiting on Dragonstone; he sent many people to infiltrate King's Landing, spreading rumors and causing unrest, forcing Tyrion to dispatch the Gold Cloaks to conduct extensive searches for spies.
He knew the nature of the Gold Cloaks better than anyone; how could they obediently search for spies? They would surely use the opportunity to frame people and line their own pockets.
Ultimately, even if spies were caught, the common people of King's Landing would likely be greatly harmed by the Gold Cloaks.
This further exacerbated the relationship between the people of King's Landing and the Red Keep before his siege, even reaching a state of hostility, as evidenced by the fact that nobles within the city no longer dared to go out alone.
If this continued, when he launched his siege, the Red Keep would likely find it very difficult to mobilize the city's inhabitants to jointly defend the city, thus achieving his goal of sending spies.
Tyrion, of course, knew Stannis's scheme, but he had no way to stop it; he could only act according to Stannis's plan because he had no room for maneuver.
The only thing he could do was, after clearing out the spies, publicly execute a few of the most unpopular and oppressive Gold Cloaks in the square, giving the populace a place to vent their grievances.
However, even so, the relationship between the people of King's Landing and the Red Keep did not significantly improve, and Tyrion at that time could no longer concern himself with internal relations because Stannis's fleet had already set sail and was heading towards King's Landing.
The first engagement between King's Landing and Stannis could be said to have been a draw, with both sides having wins and losses.
To minimize the lethality of the defending archers, Stannis chose to attack at night when visibility was poorest, and Tyrion, anticipating Stannis's plan, had also set up a trap.
Before the fleet officially attacked, Ser Davos Seaworth saw through part of Tyrion's arrangements and had some condemned prisoners pilot old ships, disguised as the regular fleet, into the Blackwater River.
As a result, as the ships entered the Blackwater River, the chain at the Blackwater River's entrance was pulled up, and the Wildfire placed in the Blackwater River was ignited, burning all the intruding ships.
After the Blackwater River trap was broken, Stannis's vanguard fleet officially sailed into the Blackwater River, intending to land at the Blackwater River docks and attack the city directly from the Dung Gate.
The Dung Gate was chosen because it was wide enough, and its city gate was the weakest in all of King's Landing.
Before the official siege, Ser Davos Seaworth tried to persuade Ser Imry Florent, the main commander of the siege, to send scouts to investigate the situation at the Dung Gate docks to prevent traps.
However, Ser Imry believed that the previous trap on the Blackwater River was all the traps King's Landing had set, and there was no need to waste time on further reconnaissance.
Moreover, he had to complete the deployment of siege equipment and other items before Stannis's main army arrived; this was a task he had to complete, otherwise, given Stannis's personality, he would still be punished even if he completed it afterward.
Therefore, as soon as the fleet safely reached the dock, Ser Imry Florent immediately announced the siege, transferring the siege equipment from the ships to land and deploying it in suitable locations.
However, when the transfer of siege equipment was halfway done, Tyrion ignited his second trap laid at the Blackwater River docks: Wildfire hidden in warehouses and surrounding houses.
Countless Wildfire explosions instantly engulfed the entire dock, along with the Dung Gate.
In the Wildfire, Stannis's vanguard and siege equipment were completely annihilated; even the ships on the river were ignited and burned.
Ser Davos Seaworth himself fell into the Blackwater River and escaped, but all his sons died in the great fire, including the headstrong Ser Imry Florent.
On the surface, Stannis suffered heavy losses; not to mention thousands of vanguard troops, all the siege equipment he had prepared beforehand was destroyed, which would undoubtedly cause great trouble for the subsequent siege.
The silver lining was that most of the vanguard troops were mercenaries, and the lord's army only consisted of Ser Imry Florent's contingent, so in terms of military personnel losses, Stannis's losses were not significant, and he also saved a large sum in mercenary fees.
Although Tyrion successfully triggered the trap and annihilated Stannis's vanguard, his situation was not good either, because he completely underestimated the power of Wildfire when concentrated and detonated.
The Dung Gate and the defenders on the Dung Gate wall were all affected.
Hundreds of defenders either died from Wildfire burns or were crushed by the collapsing city gate.
Tyrion had no choice but to forcibly mobilize the populace to block the collapsed Dung Gate and city wall before Stannis attacked again.
And the ignited Wildfire was almost impossible to extinguish; the shantytowns along the King's Landing city wall were all ignited and would continue to burn for several days before extinguishing.
Although this seemed to indirectly prevent Stannis's siege, Stannis's siege equipment had already been completely destroyed and needed time to be rebuilt, so he couldn't attack in the short term anyway.
And this great fire cleared out the houses around the city wall, which instead reduced some obstacles for the attacking side, and there were many more places to choose for the siege.
In addition, although the owners of these shantytowns had been moved into the city by Tyrion before Stannis arrived, and there were no casualties, these people did not thank Tyrion for it.
Instead, they hated him immensely, believing that he had burned down their homes and what little property they had left, so Tyrion's reputation in King's Landing had become utterly foul.
After the initial confrontation, both sides now entered the preparation phase for the formal siege, and King's Landing, both inside and out, became very calm.
Knowing that Lord Lynd was very concerned about the war in King's Landing, Baelon not only collected intelligence on Tyrion's side but also on Stannis's side.
The content was over a dozen pages long and extremely detailed, providing a clear understanding of the entire war situation after reading it.
Not only was there written information, but Baelon also specifically had someone create a panoramic sand table of King's Landing and its surrounding areas, presenting Tyrion's and Stannis's troop deployments in a more intuitive way.
Jon and others also came to the castle's Hall of Affairs at Lord Lynd's summons to discuss the situation in King's Landing.
"It seems King's Landing is in a bad situation; without external aid, King's Landing cannot withstand Stannis," although Margaery did not understand military matters very well, she could still judge the current situation in King's Landing from the layout on the sand table.
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