Click, click!
Jacaerys prodded the pile of white bones on the ground with his foot and observed them for a moment.
From the large frame of the bones, it could be inferred that this person was a tall man when they were alive.
Jacaerys had been burning the front area of Hellgate Keep when he heard Sunfyre's high-pitched roar and immediately rushed over.
However, he was still late. By the time he arrived, the scene only contained Sunfyre gnawing on human-shaped snacks, piles of white bones, and some Dorne lords and soldiers kneeling at the cave entrance.
Based on their identification and the descriptions Jacaerys had heard.
He could confirm that this pile of white bones belonged to Hobart Hightower, and the two slightly smaller piles next to him were Coleanne and her brother.
Tap, tap, tap!
This hidden exit seemed to have been discovered by others inside the cave, as groups of civilians began pouring out continuously.
Facing two enormous dragons, these civilians showed no intention of resisting and all knelt down.
For them, it was the same no matter which king or lord they submitted to; at most, life would just be a bit harder.
Staying in the cave, however, meant a painful death from the poisonous smoke.
But this time they guessed wrong. Even kneeling in submission would only make them sacrifices for the blood ritual.
Who told them they had a lord who was extremely ambitious but lacked the strength to match it!
Since he had only come by dragon this time, Jacaerys did not rashly perform the blood ritual.
He selected a few Dorne lords who wanted to atone for their sins to lead them, directing them to take these civilians towards Hellgate Keep.
According to these few Dorne lords, the entire massive cave contained nearly eighty thousand Sunspear civilians and over ten thousand Martell and Hightower soldiers.
But when no more living people emerged from the cave for a long time, Jacaerys roughly calculated that only about fifty thousand people had come out.
This meant that nearly half had died from the poisonous smoke, or were still hiding within the cave and refused to come out.
Jacaerys also inquired about the wealth the Martell Family had brought from Sunspear.
But the answer he received was that Alexandra had taken advantage of her sister's coronation, and stolen it with over a thousand people from the cave in the middle of the night.
Hearing this, how could he not understand that Alexandra wanted to use his sword to kill Ser Hobart and others this time?
But Jacaerys was quite happy to help with this kind of thing, because the enemy's internal strife would only make themselves weaker.
The nearly hundred thousand enemies originally hidden in the dark were now reduced to just over a thousand people under Alexandra.
As for where she was hiding now, Jacaerys wasn't too concerned.
Prince's Pass and the Boneway were occupied by his ground forces, and the surrounding sea was blockaded by the Conqueror Fleet, which had finished transporting resources from Torrhen's Square.
Alexandra was like a trapped little mouse; when Dorne was completely devoured, she would have nowhere to escape.
Rumble!
Then Jacaerys controlled Womax to spew a pillar of Dracarys, directly shattering the rocks at the two cave entrances.
Tens of thousands of tons of rubble sealed the caves tightly, and those who had played clever and held onto hope were thus left in the caves forever.
Jacaerys and his group stayed in Hellgate Keep for a few days. Earl Uller and his entire family served them, showing extreme hospitality.
He even brought out the stored provisions from Hellgate Keep, providing a simple meal that was just enough to fill the stomachs of nearly fifty thousand captives.
After all, Dorne had the smallest population among the Seven Kingdoms, and water sources and labor were precious resources here.
But when the Stone army arrived at Hellgate Keep, the blood ritual performed directly on the open ground outside the city left Earl Uller and thousands of watching Hellgate Keep civilians dumbfounded.
It is estimated that the dying screams of these nearly fifty thousand Dorne compatriots of different genders and ages would become a nightmare that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
After absorbing the blood of nearly fifty thousand people, more than two-thirds of the surface of the life gem had turned crimson.
Seeing that success was imminent, Jacaerys accelerated the pace of devouring Dorne.
In fact, from the city of Yronwood onwards, they would officially enter the unbearably hot, water-scarce desert region.
But during this time, the transport convoys that had emptied the city of Yronwood showed unimaginable enthusiasm.
When they returned from the Dornish Marches and The Reach again, the long lines of transport convoys were surprisingly filled with sealed barrels of water.
They had literally paved a water supply line for the ground forces.
And the ground forces did not disappoint this enthusiasm. With the support of their own dragons, each of them was like a war god possessed, charging into battle fearlessly.
No matter how tenacious the will of the Dorne people, it was impossible to prevent their bodies from being destroyed.
Under the unstoppable force of Jacaerys's side, Vances City, Salt Shore, and Soul Hill successively fell and were blood-sacrificed.
Aside from the four cities on the other side of the Red Mountains that were spared because they were not on the way back then,
There were only two towns left: Planky Town at the mouth of the Greenblood and Lemonwood.
However, before Jacaerys's army even reached the city walls, a fleet from Planky Town flying white flags sailed up the Greenblood.
Planky Town was a trading town established by the 'Orphans of the Greenblood'. They were descendants of the Rhoynar who refused to integrate into Dorne culture.
Therefore, Planky Town did not have traditional lords or nobles.
Due to its advantageous geographical location, Planky Town could easily obtain intelligence from the many refugees who fled there.
For example, the tyrannical dragon burned every city that resisted, and for example, Hellgate Keep, which actively provided intelligence and surrendered, remained unharmed.
So when Alexandra arrived at Planky Town with over a thousand subordinates looking for a fleet to leave Dorne, the leader of the Orphans of Planky Town led his people to ambush them during the night.
Then they brought Alexandra and the treasures she carried to Jacaerys.
Jacaerys did not expect the war for Dorne to end in this way. Although there were still a few cities left, they could no longer cause any trouble.
He imprisoned Alexandra with his father. Important figures like these would naturally be judged and executed in King's Landing.
A wise man submits to circumstances!
Jacaerys praised the Orphan leader and promised to guarantee the safety of Planky Town.
But the life gem was still a tiny bit short of being activated, so he chose to ignore the belated messenger from the Datt family in Lemonwood and directly launched an attack.
After blood-sacrificing five or six thousand people in Lemonwood, Jacaerys finally heard the good news of the complete activation from Ela's mouth.
However, he did not directly wear this blood-red life gem himself, but instead had an Unsullied soldier test it out for a few days first.
During these few days, he had this Unsullied soldier eat many meals containing strong poisons.
But the other party remained energetic, showing no signs of poisoning.
Only a nearly negligible faint spot appeared on the surface of the life gem.
Seeing Jacaerys being so cautious, Ela confidently guaranteed,
The divine grace ritual of this life gem had already been completely removed by her, and it was now just a pure magical artifact.
Even so, Jacaerys had others test it repeatedly to confirm that there were no problems before having it made into a pendant and wearing it on his chest.
This life gem, which had absorbed the blood of nearly one hundred and sixty thousand people, was indeed extraordinary.
As soon as it came into contact with Jacaerys's skin, it passively emitted a warm current into his body.
Jacaerys immediately felt full of energy, and his physical condition could always remain at its peak, as if he would never age.
Of course, he knew this was just an illusion.
If he lost the life gem, or if the blood magic within it was exhausted, all of this would disappear.
After activating the life gem, Jacaerys lost interest in the battles for the remaining four cities in Dorne.
However, the war he launched to conquer Dorne was very successful.
The commoners accompanying the army and soldiers of all ranks made out very well in this war.
Many cities in the Dornish Marches and The Reach that bought cheap goods were also happy and constantly praised the new king's virtuous name.
As for the House Lannister and Tyrell families, they both showed their loyalty to Jacaerys through this war.
And they also gained a lot of weapons, armor, food, and supply resources from the looting of each city.
As for Jacaerys's supporters, it goes without saying that they were all well-fed and their loyalty reached an unprecedented height.
As for Jacaerys himself, besides the life gem, seventy percent of all income from selling Dorne's resources belonged to him.
The treasures of the guardian families of the major cities were also all added to his royal treasury.
More importantly, a large portion of Dorne had been cleared out.
Although these lands had many disadvantages such as high temperatures and scarce water sources, these were legitimate territories where cities had been built!
In the Seven Kingdoms now, besides making great contributions to a liege lord,
And having him voluntarily divide his family's territory as rewards, where else were there new territories?
And Jacaerys, who owned large tracts of Dorne land, could now drive the landless knights or impoverished lords of the Seven Kingdoms mad with just a single word.
When Jacaerys was preparing to return to King's Landing with Prince Corren and his daughter,
A raven letter sent from King's Landing to Hellgate Keep, and then quickly delivered to him by horse, made him change his decision.
Because a miracle had appeared in the North; the Heart Trees that he had caused to wither and die with high-concentration saltwater had inexplicably come back to life.
The faith in the Old Gods, which had gradually become silent due to the withering of the Heart Trees, was now growing stronger and stronger in the North.
Many Northern lords and earls even publicly declared that they had seen the majestic figures of the Old Gods in their dreams.
Since the Green Seer, hidden in the shadows, had already made the first move, Jacaerys naturally could not sit back and wait for the other party to grow stronger.
So after leaving the remaining matters of Dorne to Baela, Lucerys, and Joffrey.
He took Ela, Womax, and three dragon servants directly to Winterfell in the North.
...
Two days later, in the training yard of Winterfell.
"Greetings, King Jacaerys!"
The senior officials of Winterfell, led by Duke Cregan, immediately knelt and shouted when they saw Jacaerys dismount from the dragon's back.
Helping up the young duke, of whom he had a good impression, Jacaerys spoke directly: "Cregan, you should know why I have come.
Tell me in detail about the miracles that have been happening in the North recently!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Duke Cregan nodded in response, organized his words slightly, and truthfully recounted the information he knew,
"When I first returned to King's Landing, I learned the news that all the Heart Trees and Weirwoods in the entire North had withered and died.
Although this symbolized an ominous omen, it did not cause any real harm.
So I didn't pay too much attention to it and went directly to The Wall to preside over the important matter of sealing the collapsed gaps.
But I didn't expect that just half a month ago, news of 'the Old Gods appearing and performing miracles' suddenly spread from Last Hearth.
Because the Heart Tree in their Godswood in the city had come back to life, regaining vitality.
And Earl Umber publicly claimed that he had seen the Old Gods, and even said that their Umber family was the family most favored by the Old Gods."
Hearing this, Jacaerys spoke at the right time and asked: "What about the Godswood in your Winterfell?"
"Just the day before yesterday, I had just rushed back to Winterfell from The Wall when I heard that a miracle had also appeared in the Godswood.
In the past two days, a large number of Old Gods followers have been holding sacrificial activities in the Godswood.
But I felt that this matter was too strange, so I sent a group of soldiers to expel them and guard the Heart Tree, not allowing anyone to approach."
"Let's go, no need to bring too many people, just us few to take a look!"
"As you command, Your Majesty."
Afterwards, Jacaerys, Ela, and Duke Cregan, who brought two personal guards, arrived at the Godswood.
Just as they walked to the small lake guarded by Stark Family soldiers, the Heart Tree, which was at least three adults wide and had blood-red branches and leaves, came into Jacaerys and the others' view.
The state of the tree was clear at a glance; this Heart Tree had indeed come back to life.
Crunch, crunch!
Stepping on the fallen leaves on the ground, Jacaerys carefully observed the thick Heart Tree.
And Ela seemed to have discovered something as well, circling the Heart Tree with a frown.
Hmm?
Suddenly, Jacaerys's eyes caught a glimpse of something unusual.
He drew vigilance from his waist and pushed aside a fallen leaf on the ground, and beneath the leaf, a strange footprint appeared.
The back half of this footprint looked like a child's small foot, but the front half had three sharp claws like a wolf's paw.
It was clear that this footprint definitely did not belong to a human!
And at this moment, Ela, who had circled around, also came closer and whispered in a low voice: "Your Majesty, although I have never encountered this kind of power before.
But I can be sure that this is not divine grace, but magic!"
Ela's words further strengthened Jacaerys's thoughts. He turned to Cregan and asked: "Besides Last Hearth and Winterfell, where else have miracles appeared?"
"There's also Caho Town, Dreadfort, oh right, and Seven City, where a miracle was just reported today."
Jacaerys quickly thought for a moment, combining it with the map of the North he had in his mind, and muttered to himself: "Hmm, they're just going from north to south like this, not even trying to hide it?
A trap? Or does this future not even show him?"
"Your Majesty, do you know what's happening? Who are 'they' referring to? And what trap?"
Hearing this, Jacaerys did not answer Cregan's question, but smiled mysteriously and said: "Let's go, Cregan, I'll take you to meet your deities!"