For a dragon flying in a straight line at high altitude, the time it took to travel from King's Landing to Dorne was roughly the same as to the Stepstones.
However, Jacaerys's tactical plan this time was a simultaneous attack from sea, land, and air, so he still needed to wait for the other two large armies.
After all, apart from Lucerys, Baela and Joffrey were both fighting on dragons for the first time.
He wouldn't rashly take these novice dragonriders without combat experience into Dorne, where Meleys had been killed, to take risks.
When victory is assured, there's no need to be reckless!
So, could Jacaerys take Womax and the other two dragons alone to burn down the cities and towns of Dorne first?
The answer is no, because he couldn't be too far from Baela and Joffrey.
Speaking of this reason, one has to mention Moondancer and Tyraxes, these two young dragons.
Because even though Jacaerys had had the Dragon Guard mix the best dragon feed during this time...
...they still needed about three months of development time to grow large enough to carry the weight of a dragonrider.
But that was before he met Ela.
This Cloudsky mage truly continued to bring various small surprises to Jacaerys.
The day before the King's Landing army set out, she happened to hear Baela complaining about being unable to ride a dragon and fight alongside Jacaerys.
She then offered to use air magic to reduce Baela's weight to a level Moondancer could carry.
Baela was overjoyed at the news and immediately pulled Ela, whom she hadn't particularly liked before, and headed to the Dragonpit.
On the way to the Dragonpit, according to Ela's description, this was considered the most basic auxiliary magic for a Cloudsky mage.
This magic could reduce body weight to increase speed, or slow down falling damage.
If one continued to study it deeply, upon reaching a considerable level, one could levitate out of thin air and fly through the air.
Upon arriving at the Dragonpit, Baela, with Ela's magic enhancement, successfully rode Moondancer into the sky.
After Jacaerys's personal experience, he discovered that this auxiliary magic actually created a circulating airflow in the lower half of his body.
It used rapidly moving air as upward thrust to counteract a considerable portion of his own gravity.
This auxiliary magic wasn't difficult, but with Ela's current level of magic, one casting could only last about three hours.
So every three hours, Jacaerys had to bring Ela, who was sitting behind him, into close contact with Baela and Joffrey, who were flying on their dragons, to replenish the magic.
As for letting Ela ride Silverwing or Seasmoke alone to follow them and replenish the magic whenever needed?
Leaving aside whether Jacaerys would agree, even with a command from Womax, those two dragons would not tolerate someone without true dragon blood riding on their backs.
If not for Jacaerys being there, Ela wouldn't even think of staying on Womax's back.
Getting back to the main topic!
After the six dragons, three large and three small, flew out of King's Landing, they flew over Blackwater Bay and arrived at Sharp Point, located to the upper right of Massey's Hook.
Since the Blacks won the Blood Dragon Dance, House Bar Emmon of Sharp Point had been extremely low-key.
Although they sent messengers to deliver war reparations, not a single member of House Bar Emmon came to King's Landing for social interaction.
They gave the impression that they wanted to fade out of the sight of the lords of the Seven Kingdoms.
However, Jacaerys accepted the war reparations from other Green Party lords and House Lannister of the Westerlands, but he did not accept the war reparations from House Bar Emmon.
Because he had long ago pronounced a death sentence in his heart for this group of enemies who had betrayed Lucerys.
With six dragons in the sky, Earl Bar Emmon had no thought of resistance whatsoever.
He immediately raised a white flag on the city wall and shouted that he would exchange all his wealth for Jacaerys's forgiveness.
How could Jacaerys, whose mind was already made up, be moved like this? He simply waved his hand forward with a calm expression.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Baela and Joffrey immediately rode Moondancer and Tyraxes, diving from the sky towards Sharp Point.
Hoo, hoo!
Two thin but equally deadly streams of Dracarys exploded on the city wall of Sharp Point, and Earl Bar Emmon and his personal guards were immediately ignited, turning into struggling human torches.
Lucerys was still too soft-hearted, continuously circling above Sharp Point without participating in this slaughter of House Bar Emmon.
They had all been protected too well by Rhaenyra before!
If Joffrey hadn't had his left eye gouged out by Aemond, his personality now would likely be the same as his second brother's.
But Jacaerys knew that soft-hearted good people wouldn't live long in this world.
With a thought, Womax immediately led the three dragons to surround Arrax in a triangular formation, and continuously lowered their altitude, forcing it to fly towards Sharp Point.
And the remaining soldiers of House Bar Emmon seemed to know they were doomed, and they began their final struggle.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A chaotic rain of arrows shot towards the dragon closest to Sharp Point, and the closest to them was Arrax, who was being forced down by Womax and the other two dragons.
From the details in the original drama, one can see that Arrax was a dragon with a relatively volatile personality, often needing Lucerys to speak to soothe it.
Coupled with its tail being broken by Vhagar before, it was now like a powder keg that would explode at the slightest touch.
Hoo!
Attacked, Arrax revealed its ferocity and immediately retaliated by breathing Dracarys down at the soldiers of House Bar Emmon below.
Normally, Lucerys would immediately control and soothe his dragon.
But this time, he looked up at the figure on Womax, who was circling overhead.
Gritting his teeth, he controlled Arrax for his first true dragon combat.
Sharp Point was a small castle with a total population of less than two thousand, and Jacaerys didn't care about this little bit of term points and blood.
So he and Ela sat on Womax the whole time, watching with cold eyes.
It's still the same old saying, even the youngest dragon is a top combat force in this world!
These three young dragons were seen nimbly flying up and down, continuously breathing hot Dracarys onto the enemy soldiers on the city wall of Sharp Point.
Ordinary ranged weapons posed no threat to them, and they only needed to occasionally adjust their posture to help the dragonriders on their backs dodge arrows.
A few soldiers of House Bar Emmon attempted to attack the three young dragons with large ballistae.
But Jacaerys, who was watching the battlefield from above, had Seasmoke dive at high speed and burn the ballistae and the people operating them with Dracarys before they could adjust their direction.
In just half an hour, the entire Sharp Point was turned into a sea of fire.
After this battle, which was specially arranged by Jacaerys, Baela became familiar with the method of dragon combat.
And Lucerys and Joffrey seemed to have undergone some kind of transformation deep within their hearts, with a fierceness in their eyes that made people fearful.
Jacaerys nodded in satisfaction at the sight.
That's more like it! They are inherently fierce dragons, how can they be raised into useless worms?
For the next half month, Lucerys resumed his old job as Jacaerys's exclusive messenger.
He continuously relayed orders to Stone, who was in charge of all ground troops, and Korman, who commanded the Conqueror Fleet.
On the eighteenth day after the ground troops departed from King's Landing...
...the Conqueror Fleet, which had picked up Rudy and the The Unsullied Legion at Mi Jie Island, entered the Dorne Sea and headed straight for Torrhen's Square, located on the southern shore of the Dorne Sea.
On the twenty-second day, the King's Landing army, commanded by Stone and consisting of nearly thirteen thousand soldiers, arrived at the border between the Dornish Marches and Prince's Pass.
The House Tyrell army, which had arrived earlier, and the House House Lannister army, which had arrived a few days ago, were waiting here.
As Duke Lyonel Tyrell of Highgarden was still an infant of a few months old...
...this time, his uncle, Ser Lorent Tyrell, commanded five thousand House Tyrell soldiers and over ten thousand commoners from The Reach.
And from Casterly Rock, Duke Jason personally led the expedition, commanding nearly ten thousand House Lannister soldiers and nearly sixty thousand commoners from the Westerlands.
From the comparison of the troop strength of these two houses, it was clear how much importance they placed on this campaign against Dorne.
Stone saw everything, and after exchanging pleasantries with the two of them very politely, he gained control of this coalition army as Hand of the King.
On the twenty-fifth day, the dense coalition of ground troops arrived at Skyreach, located at the southern exit of Prince's Pass.
Skyreach was built on the stony slopes of the Red Mountains, and the castle was known for its extremely high position and rugged towers.
And House Fowler, who had guarded this important pass for generations, was definitely one of the Martell Family's most loyal vassals.
But no matter how loyal, seeing the sea-like enemy outside the city would make their scalps tingle.
Hoo!
From a window in a tower of Skyreach, Earl Fowler, his brows furrowed, heavily exhaled a breath of stale air.
Then he turned to the two figures beside him and said, "Prince Corren, why did you decide to gather your troops here at our Skyreach?
If you wanted to wear down the enemy army, the city of Yronwood on the Boneway would be more suitable!"
As Earl Fowler said, Prince's Pass was the main road leading out of Dorne, and its terrain was not as steep and dangerous as the Boneway.
If Prince Corren intended to wear down the Targaryens, who possessed dragons, like the previous Princes of Dorne, then the location of the city of Yronwood would indeed be better.
Prince Corren, with shoulder-length black hair and a rather handsome appearance, had not yet spoken.
Hobart Hightower, standing on the other side, sneered, "What? Earl Fowler, are you worried that this battle will cause serious damage to your castle and soldiers?"
"Hobart, what do you mean by that?
Hmph, you Hightowers have lost Oldtown forever, so you certainly don't need to worry about such damage."
"You..."
"Enough!"
Prince Corren spoke to stop the two who were about to quarrel, and then explained to Earl Fowler in a gentle tone,
"Earl Fowler, you are absolutely right!
The narrow and steep city of Yronwood is indeed more favorable for defense, but it is also not conducive for us to launch an offensive!"
"Offensive???"
Hearing this, Earl Fowler was immediately somewhat dumbfounded.
According to the Dornish scouts outside, Jacaerys Targaryen had assembled a massive army of over a hundred thousand men, and seven dragons, large and small.
Prince Corren wasn't thinking about how to save his life, but was still thinking about launching an offensive to attack the enemy.
"I know what you're afraid of!
Don't worry, that evil dragon will definitely take all the dragons to attack Sunspear.
And the enemy outside will absolutely not expect that we have hidden over fifteen thousand troops inside the city.
Jason House Lannister is notoriously a fence-sitter, and we only need to break through the enemy's formation at that time.
He might even turn on them in battle!
By the way, after this war is over, I will compensate your Skyreach for double the damages.
So, Earl Fowler, please lead your soldiers to fight bravely!"
"Yes, Prince Corren!
I will go and check the defensive equipment on the city wall and other preparations now."
Earl Fowler was full of excitement upon hearing this, and then walked out of the tower with a very excited look.
Ser Hobart glanced at his back and whispered to Prince Corren, "Did he believe it?"
"He can only choose to believe, otherwise, without the enemy outside breaking in, Skyreach will change hands.
Let's get ready too!"
...
On the twenty-ninth day, Arrax appeared in the sky above Skyreach.
Due to the great distance, the large ballistae on the city wall of Skyreach could not attack the dragon in the sky, and could only let it circle overhead.
Woo woo woo~~
Seeing Arrax bring the predetermined signal, Stone immediately ordered the heralds to issue the command to attack the city.
Rustle, thud!
Rattle, rattle!
A mixed infantry legion of ten thousand served as the vanguard.
Carrying large wooden shields made by the logistics troops and holding siege ladders, they headed towards the well-fortified Skyreach with its high walls.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Swish, swish, swish!
As soon as the vanguard entered the attack range, the archers and defensive equipment on Skyreach began to attack in turns.
Ah!
This kind of mixed vanguard had no coordination whatsoever; their formation was loose, and the gaps between the wooden shields were ridiculously large.
Therefore, arrows constantly penetrated the gaps, causing casualties among the vanguard soldiers beneath the wooden shields.
Damn it, the shields are useless!
Might as well just charge straight in!
Earl Samwell, who was in charge of commanding the rear of the vanguard, saw this situation and immediately issued a command for a rapid charge.
Woo~~
Taking advantage of the end of the first wave of arrows, most of the vanguard obeyed the order and threw away their heavy wooden shields, directly lifting the relatively lighter siege ladders and shouting as they charged towards Skyreach.
Generally speaking, in a normal siege battle, the defenders can shoot at least three or four waves of arrows.
But today, after only the second wave of arrows, the vanguard had already placed a large number of siege ladders against the city wall.
However, these two waves of dense arrows from the defenders on the city wall of Skyreach caused at least a thousand casualties among the vanguard.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
While the defenders of Skyreach were focused on attacking the vanguard soldiers who had begun to climb the city wall below...
...the Crossbow Legion quietly entered attack range and then began to suppress the enemies on the battlements of Skyreach with a continuous rain of terrifying arrows.
Behind the battlements, a Fowler family archer had just nocked an arrow and was preparing to peek out and shoot.
A dense volley of crossbow bolts directly blew off his head, and another young archer nearby saw his comrade, who had been full of life a second ago, fall to the ground twitching, and was instantly stunned in place.
"What are you standing there for, dumbfounded? While the enemy archers are nocking, shoot quickly!"
Hearing the reminder, the young archer immediately stood up blankly, preparing to draw his bow and shoot.
Suddenly, the corner of his eye caught sight of a huge steel monster below, and he subconsciously asked, "What are those?"
Dong dong dong!
Sunfyre, completely covered in iron armor, completely ignored the various attacks from the top of the city wall and charged towards the city gate of Skyreach like a heavy tank.
Hoo la!
Hot Dracarys was continuously breathed onto the city gate of Skyreach, quickly heating up the iron plate covering it.
Dong!!!
When Sunfyre slammed into it with the fastest speed, the city gate of Skyreach immediately shattered into pieces, leaving a huge dragon-shaped hole.
Skyreach, which was known as a steep natural barrier that no one could breach, was breached by Sunfyre in less than ten minutes from the start of the battle!