Night Song City is the ancestral castle of the Korman family, located north of the Crimson Mountains. It and Skyreach are located one north and one south, guarding both ends of Prince's Pass.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
When the Korman family soldiers on duty on the city wall saw a long train-like convoy appear, they immediately cautiously sounded the alarm.
Creak!
The city gate of Night Song City quickly closed tightly, and all the Korman family soldiers prepared for battle with nervous expressions.
Just a few days ago, they had seen the large army that was conquering Dorne pass through, and now such a large convoy appeared.
It was hard to tell the purpose of the other party, after all, in wartime, deserters and routed soldiers were often the most terrifying.
However, even though Night Song City made a big fuss about hurriedly closing the city gate, the long convoy did not show any unusual movements.
Rumble, rumble!
The large convoy was getting closer and closer, and the Korman family soldiers could already see the fluttering Black Three-Headed Dragon banner.
In fact, the Korman family's overall impression of the current new king was not good.
Because the biological daughter of the current Earl of Night Song City, Royce Korman, was married to Borros Baratheon.
Yes, that was Lady Elana, who was designed and burned to death by Jacaerys in the banquet hall of Storm's End.
But under the threat of the dragon burning Harvest Hall, Night Song City, which belonged to the Stormlands, could only bow its head in submission.
And in a situation like the current one, they could completely refuse to open the gate on the grounds that 'this group of unidentified people may threaten the safety of Night Song City'.
In fact, the Korman family officer who was on duty at the city gate today did just that.
He sent someone to loudly warn the large convoy that had driven up to the city gate, saying that if they did not withdraw from the area of Night Song City, the archers would shoot.
The people driving the carriages and ox carts immediately panicked when they heard this, and the originally orderly convoy began to stir.
Clatter, clatter!
Suddenly, a group of cavalry wearing brand new colorful armor, came galloping fiercely from the middle of this long convoy.
"Which blind fellow is on duty today, quickly open the city gate for me!"
A young knight wearing golden yellow armor with a black nightingale engraved on his chest stepped out from the crowd, raised his whip, and cursed at the city wall of Night Song City.
The defending Korman family officer glanced at the young man and immediately replied with a fawning smile, "Sorry, Young Master Piers, I am also doing this for the safety of Night Song City."
This young man was Royce Korman's youngest son, Piers Korman.
He was originally representing the Earl of Night Song City to King's Landing to witness the coronation ceremony, but he unexpectedly mixed himself into the army conquering Dorne without authorization.
"Oh, Piers, you actually can't go back to your own home."
"Tsk tsk, when King Jaehaerys met us before and personally assigned us tasks,
Didn't you beat your chest the loudest and say the most?
How about it, got slapped in the face, right!"
"Haha, then let's just go to Starfall!
Let our Paek family take this advantage first!"
"No one move! His Majesty said that the transport convoys should stop in order of distance!"
Piers, who was being ridiculed by his companions, immediately became anxious. He first loudly stopped the few people who were preparing to turn their horses and leave,
Then he looked up and said fiercely to the Korman family officer,
"Immediately open the city gate for me, if you delay my affairs, I will definitely find every way to make you and your family unable to stay in Night Song City.
I swear by the seven gods, even my father cannot stop me!"
The Korman family officer immediately broke into a sweat when he heard this.
Because Earl Royce, who had many daughters, was particularly fond of Piers, making him a famous profligate in the Dornish Marches region.
If he was held accountable, their family would indeed have to leave Night Song City.
Moreover, although the convoy below was large, it seemed to be composed of merchant caravans carrying goods.
The armor of the group of young knights surrounding Young Master Piers also bore the noble family crests of the Dornish Marches and The Reach.
After a brief consideration, he did not wait for the soldier who was sent to inform Earl Royce to return, and directly ordered the city gate to be opened.
Creak!
Looking at the slowly opening city gate, Piers's expression finally eased a little.
He immediately turned around and directed the convoy behind him with the young knights who were with him, allowing them to enter the city in an orderly manner.
When Earl Royce arrived after hearing the news, the large drill ground of Night Song City had already become a noisy marketplace for temporary selling of goods.
From small pots and pans to large statues and Stone tablets, it could be said that everything was available.
Moreover, these plundered items were more than half cheaper than the market price, and even if they were not needed temporarily, they could be bought and stored or resold.
After all, once you miss this village, you won't find this shop.
Under the enthusiastic shouting of Piers and others, the common people of Night Song City, who had previously closed their doors due to the alarm bell, were now frantically snatching up goods.
Earl Royce had his guards call his youngest son, and then questioned him carefully.
After hearing Piers excitedly recount the dragon battle in Skyreach, the blood sacrifice, and various things about being entrusted with important tasks by King Jaehaerys.
He was now Rejoice that he had made the right choice at that time.
If Jacaerys was truly a vicious dragon who only knew how to kill, then he would definitely maintain his previous view that this large army conquering Dorne would ultimately return defeated.
But the other party was both cold-blooded and cunning as a fox.
With this series of operations, even if it was impossible to completely conquer Dorne, it could fundamentally weaken it greatly.
After two or three times, what would be left of Dorne?
After careful consideration, Earl Royce quietly instructed his son to diligently serve King Jaehaerys.
Then he waved his hand and bought a large batch of low-priced goods, as their Korman family also needed these things.
But the purchasing power of Night Song City was limited, and it was impossible to take in all the goods from the entire Skyreach.
But it didn't matter, the other castles near Night Song City were still waiting!
This was the reason why Jacaerys put these Reach and Dornish Marches noble second generations into the cavalry legion.
Without the participation of these noble second generations in this matter, the castles near Prince's Pass would probably not have bought these goods so easily.
After the initial sale, the common people of Night Song City obtained affordable goods, and Earl Royce and the group of noble second generations felt that they had helped Jacaerys a great deal.
Even the one hundred twenty to thirty thousand common people who transported the goods in carriages and ox carts were excited and thrilled.
Because in such cases of being summoned by the king or lord, they had to obey unconditionally.
Even temporarily becoming cannon fodder units in wartime was a common occurrence.
So on the day the army set out, many common people in King's Landing cried their eyes out as they watched their relatives leave.
But the facts have already proven that King Jacaerys does not intend to let them participate in the war, and he will also pay them for transporting the goods.
Many common people are already impatient to deal with this batch of goods as soon as possible and return to Dorne.
After all, the more times they transported, the more generous the reward they would receive.
As for the money obtained from selling these goods, it is now collected one by one by the cavalry regiment under the noble second generations, and finally consolidated in the hands of these noble second generations.
All the resources of an ancient castle, even if sold at half price, is still a huge sum.
But Jacaerys did not appoint a Commander among this group of noble second generations, so this money is jointly managed by them.
Each of them knows the amount of money, and if anyone tampers with it, the others will definitely know.
Of course, they could actually collude and swallow a sum of money from it, and then split it equally.
However, with so many people, it's possible that this matter might be leaked by someone.
These noble second generations had all witnessed the blood sacrifice in Skyreach with their own eyes, and they did not want their families to become the next castle to be blood sacrificed because of this money.
With the successful experience of Night Song City, the sales in the next few castles were even smoother.
After selling the last of the goods in the Wine Hall, the noble second generations immediately took the transport convoy and returned.
The state of the transport convoy this time was completely different from before, everyone was rushing on their horses, wishing they could just fly back to Dorne.
Plundering, transporting, selling, a virtuous cycle of conquering Dorne has been established.
No matter which city in Dorne, or rather, which city in Essos, can be dealt with in this way in the future.
While ordering the noble second generations to return to the Dornish Marches and The Reach to sell the goods, Jacaerys was not idle either.
After quickly burning Sunspear before, he, Baela, and Joffrey split into two groups.
So he returned to Torrhen's Square with Ela on that day.
Without Ela continuing the auxiliary magic, Baela and Joffrey could only stay in Torrhen's Square.
But with Silverwing and Seasmoke, which were temporarily given to them, no one could threaten their safety.
As soon as he returned to Torrhen's Square, Jacaerys's first action was to order Stone and Korman to prepare for the blood sacrifice.
The battle in Torrhen's Square was not as fierce as in Skyreach, so there were more captured Jordayne family soldiers.
In addition, it had a small port, and its prosperity was far beyond that of Skyreach.
So, with the common people and prisoners, there were nearly twenty thousand people.
The entire blood sacrifice process was still cruel, bloody, and oppressive, and many soldiers who saw it for the first time vomited.
Perhaps some people had other intentions during this process, but they absolutely dared not show it now.
Jacaerys had considered these situations when he decided to blood sacrifice Dorne, but he finally came to a conclusion.
That is, he is now strong enough, strong enough that there will be no dissent in the Seven Kingdoms for the time being.
This is enough, because as time goes by, he can become even stronger!
This blood sacrifice in Torrhen's Square expanded the crimson part of the surface of the Life Gem by nearly double.
Afterwards, Jacaerys ordered Korman to take a portion of the soldiers with the Conqueror Fleet's ships,
Transport the resources of Torrhen's Square to Stormlands castles such as Stonehelm and Greenstone for sale.
Another portion of the soldiers, under the command of Rudy, launched an attack on Godsgrace.
Baela and Joffrey assisted with four dragons, two large and two small.
Meanwhile, Stone's army had already left Skyreach and was marching towards the city of Yronwood.
As long as these two cities are taken, the entire route from Prince's Pass to the Dorne Sea can be opened up.
At that time, whether it is the plundering convoy led by the noble second generations or the logistics and supply troops transporting supplies, they can come and go freely.
The marching speed of the human army is slow, and Jacaerys, who needs to perform blood sacrifices, cannot directly burn the city with a dragon.
So he simply took advantage of this time to wander around Sunspear and try to find those Martell rats hiding in some cave.
During this time, the tragic state of Sunspear, Skyreach, and Torrhen's Square somehow spread.
With these three castles, which had sufficient troops and a long history, destroyed, the nobles throughout Dorne, big and small, suddenly felt insecure.
Even Alexandra and others hiding in a certain cave felt panic.
Especially since they could not learn the fate of Prince Corren from those messages, and now no one controlled the power of Dorne, it was completely a feeling of being leaderless.
Prince Corren had three children, the eldest daughter Alexandra, the second daughter Coleanne, and the youngest son Quentyn.
According to the inheritance law of Dorne, the eldest daughter Alexandra should be crowned Princess of Dorne.
However, a considerable number of Sunspear nobles believed that the initial fuse of this war was because Alexandra had offended Jacaerys in the Stepstones at that time.
So they supported Coleanne, who was of similar age but more intelligent.
The biggest enemy is often one's own people!
In this situation, Alexandra still had to compete with her sister for the right of inheritance.
When the vast majority of people hiding in the cave were attracted by this struggle for the Princess of Dorne,
Some common people who could not bear the panic and were unwilling to sit and wait for death quietly escaped from the cave.
...
The battles in the city of Yronwood and Godsgrace did not have unexpected situations like in Skyreach.
In order to test the combat effectiveness of Sunfyre after its transformation, Jacaerys let it fight alone in this attack on the city of Yronwood.
Its constantly changing colored dragon scales became increasingly strong after being baptized by Womax's Dracarys.
Now it can directly withstand the shooting of large ballistae.
The Yronwood family is one of the strongest great families in Dorne, second only to the Martell Family, so they also have a small number of scorpion ballistae.
Taking advantage of Sunfyre diving low towards the city of Yronwood, the Yronwood family soldiers shot through its body with a scorpion ballista.
This serious injury caused Sunfyre to fall diagonally into the city of Yronwood.
The overjoyed Earl of Yronwood immediately ordered his soldiers to surround and kill the seriously injured Sunfyre.
But unexpectedly, this was the beginning of his nightmare.
That dreamy colored aura dissolved all the Yronwood soldiers who approached Sunfyre into skeletons.
Subsequently, Sunfyre fought more and more bravely, and with the strength of one dragon, it completely crushed the Yronwood family.
As for the weaker Godsgrace, with four dragons attacking head-on, it was hard to lose.
After this battle, while Jacaerys was marveling at Sunfyre's power, Ela finally researched some results from the blood runes and Dr. Wilson's corpse.
Those blood runes contained a type of auxiliary magic that overdraws the body's potential, which Blood Wizards generally only use when they are at the end of their rope.
Of course, the blood runes used by Dr. Wilson on Sunfyre contained more than one type of magic.
But according to Ela's speculation, the principle is the same.
The overall effect is to forcibly overdraw and squeeze the dragon's strong, infinitely vital body.
Allowing it to undergo a specific direction of transformation in combination with the characteristics of Valyrian Steel.
Although it can gain powerful defense and magical abilities similar to blood mages, its lifespan will be greatly reduced.
Excluding various accidental deaths, the normal lifespan of dragons in this world is around 200 years.
According to Ela's estimation, Sunfyre, whose dragon body potential was forcibly stimulated to transform, can now live for at most about twenty more years.
This lifespan is even shorter than that of most humans.
No wonder Spinx, despite being very strong in combat, gradually became a commemorative Spinx in the Valyrian Freehold.
Jacaerys had already had some suspicions in his heart, so he was not too surprised.
Anyway, the broken-winged Sunfyre gradually lost its usefulness, and now it is actually more useful, and before it dies, it can finally contribute its dragon body for Womax to devour.
When Jacaerys wanted to continue attacking other castles in Dorne, news came that Alexandra's hiding place had been found!