Chapter 196

A large number of Dothraki appeared outside Meereen, cutting off the northern passage that had just been opened; the escort searching for Daenerys on the plains had to withdraw back to the city, after all, searching for the queen on a plain scattered with Dothraki was simply too dangerous.

It wasn't that the searchers were too dangerous, but that revealing the news that the queen might have fallen into the Dothraki plains was dangerous; therefore, the Queen's Hand ordered the search to stop.

She is the Mother of Dragons, everyone saw her leave on a dragon, and she will surely return on a dragon; Ser thought, looking for a dragonrider on two legs or four hooves was unwise, except with the winged prince.

The queen's absence for many days was only one of his worries.

The Dothraki occupied the vast open ground north of the Skahazadhan River, keeping a relatively safe distance from Meereen. Aggo and Jogo unanimously believed this khalasar belonged to Jhago, but Rakhlo thought it belonged to Pono.

These savages don't even have a banner!

No matter who this khalasar belongs to, they are enemies; fortunately, their infantry is sufficient to repel the savage Dothraki, enough to drive them off, but imagining annihilating them as thoroughly as the Tiger Cloak Army was defeated is hard to fathom, even with a dragon assisting would unlikely succeed.

They lack cavalry.

The Queen's Hand also had to occasionally accept complaints from textile merchants and women workers; the Dothraki's appearance meant soldiers and merchants seeking northern wool trade had no word, and moreover, their supplies were insufficient, they had already halted textile production, continuing would make it impossible to fulfill on time the orders arranged by the Queen's Hand, and even the modest profit the Queen's Hand provided would be completely lost.

He was a good listener, but that was for the Queen's Guard; now it's different—he is the Queen's Hand, he must not only listen well but also take responsibility for resolving issues; even if he doesn't want to hear, he must force himself to listen attentively, otherwise he would completely fail to understand the foreign language spoken by these Ghiscari, wasting time and affecting his mood.

"This is a good thing. At least they're only worried about business, not their lives." Old Ser was not as optimistic as Dario, unable to see what was good about this.

He had no mood to joke with this mercenary captain.

To be honest, he never understood what this mercenary actually wanted, nor what the queen could reward him with.

If he wanted the queen, unless she had gone mad and also wanted him, Ser Barristan swore he would kill him right now; if he wanted fame and fortune, the queen would not be stingy in handing over a free city to him—if Lys could promise to give to Jorah the knight, then he could also be rewarded with Tyrosh, he couldn't help imagining seeing that bear and this strange mercenary each representing two cities in battle, perhaps that is the way of checks and balances, and the queen thinks so too.

Let this damned mercenary cause trouble in Tyrosh!

"The khalasar will stay in each city until it receives a suitable gift," Dario said indifferently, "or until the city is destroyed."

"I won't give them gifts!" Barristan Selmy would never give gifts to savages, "that's something only a slave city would do! Moreover, I haven't even seen the Dothraki coming to negotiate—hmph, proactively giving gifts to savages is even more disgraceful!"

"Talking about dignity isn't a good habit, Grandfather Ser," the Tyrosh mercenary seemed to have found an interesting toy, "Anyone who wants to be great should make a habit of eating disgrace like food. You'll soon see that the loss they could cause by blocking the passage will be at least ten times the value of the gifts you'd give. Smart people should give gifts upon seeing the first Dothraki, or, better yet, prepare gifts in advance before they even appear, just in case."

"As long as you're not the lord of Meereen, this is my domain." The Queen's Hand didn't want to speak to this mercenary captain any further.

He disliked the mercenary who dyed his beard strange colors, and disliked his clueless smile, as if everything happening around were ridiculous, and also as if nothing before him were any difficulty.

He didn't want to deal with this person anymore.

The army's reorganization was still underway, actually accelerating; the Dothraki's threat along the riverbank put pressure on these formerly somewhat lax former slave soldiers, making training more eager. Barristan welcomed this change.

The army had never been a thorny problem for the queen; thorny problems always lay outside the army.

Thanks to earlier measures encouraging grain trade, the city's grain prices are still relatively stable; combined with Advisor Grazdist's housing allocation and rationing system, the city's food can at least last half a year, but if no further supplies arrive within six months, the city will inevitably collapse.

He would not tolerate things coming to that.

As the Tyrosh mercenary said, the Dothraki are indeed causing losses to the city; at least, trade along the riverbank has stopped because of their arrival, whether wool, linen firewood, grain, or meat.

Ah, meat. They had been eating meat nonstop for a week: all kinds of meat, mainly obtained from the battlefield—whether injured horses or dead horses, and the sheep and herds left by the allied forces—because there wasn't enough pasture or feed to raise them, they were all slaughtered; the fresh meat they sold inside the city, while the rest was salted.

The old man felt that in the coming week, anything edible would taste better than meat, and he also hoped that in the short term, others' opinions would match his.

Perhaps one could trade with the Dothraki, but alas, these savages don't understand trade; they only accept gifts and may give something back depending on their mood.

The Queen's Hand would not give gifts nor expect potential enemies to be in a good mood; moreover, he didn't believe his gifts would be more generous than the Yunkai's. Besides the shameless Yunkai, who would go around the world seeking reinforcements?

Giving gifts is not the duty of the Queen's Hand.

What the Queen's Hand should do is scout enemy conditions and strengthen defenses.

He did indeed carry out an inspection: the Dothraki's Kasar was even worse than the Tiger Cloak Army and the Yuan Kai alliance's camp; he felt that as long as he launched a surprise cavalry attack, he could certainly win a complete victory, but the Dothraki were not without defenses.

On the outskirts of Kasar, scattered riders patrolled and kept watch; even the scouts were on guard. This also made sense—if such a large tribe could easily be ambushed, perhaps they would have been conquered long ago instead of strutting across the plains. Moreover, it was nearly impossible for him to lead a large force of raiding cavalry across the Skahazadan River for a surprise attack without being noticed.

The Dothraki's warhorses made him salivate.

If he could succeed in the raid, and if he could dispatch the Unsullied to cut off their retreat, perhaps they could leave behind the Dothraki's warhorses as well as the women, children, and elders of Kasar.

Sigh, he sighed again; this too was impossible. The Dothraki were scattered loosely across the plains beyond the hills, too vast, and though near Meereen, neither the Unsullied nor the vanguard and rearguard, nor even the newly formed Black Dragon Army, could encircle them over such a wide area.

The knight pressed his gloved hand to his temples, rallying his spirits.

The main enemy now is still the New Ghis Legion farther east, but after their defeat, aside from sealing off the east bank of the Skahazadan River and the broad hinterland leading to Ghis, they refuse to advance another step.

Could these Dothraki be the reinforcements they summoned?

After the previous battle, they should understand that no one can defeat the Queen's forces on the eastern continent, let alone these undisciplined Dothraki! If the news of the Tiger Cloak Army's defeat and the Queen's dragon entering battle were to reach them, they would all the more grasp this truth; what they should do now is send envoys to seek peace and surrender!

They must be trying to seal off Meereen. This bunch of cowards! If they knew Meereen had two dragon riders…

"Lord Selmy!" his herald and attendant Torco strode into the hall and shouted at him loudly, his steps hurried, his voice panicked, which made the Queen's Hand furious.

How many times had he warned these attendants not to be arrogant or impatient, to remain calm and composed? Or had his own disorder first affected them? This is truly a sin!

"Has the Queen returned?"

"The Queen? No, I haven't seen the Queen," Torco said, seeing his unpleasant expression, hastily explaining: "The Dothraki have moved; the vanguard scouts have sent word that the Dothraki crossed the river near Lareck Town yesterday afternoon and are heading south into the mountains."

Sure enough, they intend to join forces with the Yuan Kai people!

"And then?"

"Then… the scouts didn't say."

What useless fools! the Queen's Hand thought, for such a large force to cross the river and only report it this late.

"Redep!" the Queen's Hand summoned the nearby military attendant, "Draft the orders at once, directing the Green Dragon Army and the Black Fist Army to take up station…" He suddenly realized he could not recall the names of those two very familiar hills, and feeling annoyed, he walked over to the side table, unfolded the map, pointed with his finger, and said, "Have them respectively garrison Hazaka Hills and Lorak Hills to block the mountain passes."

He felt this possibility was too slim, but he could not neglect to guard against it.

"Furthermore, Torco, take my command and deliver the intelligence to the hero, so that he may prevent the Unsullied's flank from being suddenly attacked by Dothraki cavalry."

"Yes, my lord!" Torco accepted the order and departed.

Redep was unfolding a parchment, writing quickly, and would later hand it to him. He stopped pacing, opened the page, struggled to read the Valyrian script upon it, then rolled it up, wrapped it in a piece of brocade, sealed it with wax, and impressed the Queen's Hand's seal upon it before handing it to another nearby military attendant.

After watching the person leave, he sat at the table, staring fixedly at the abstract terrain map of Meereen's surroundings, utterly at a loss, and so uneasily walked out of the hall, gazing far off at the black mountains beyond the city walls.

There lay some Ghis folk's farms and vacation estates, but after the war, nothing could possibly remain there—what would the Dothraki be doing there?

He could no longer endure the anxiety: Meereen's main force consisted largely of infantry, scattered among outposts near the New Ghis Legion, whose primary defensive orientation faced southeast where the New Ghis Legion lay; the northeast, where the Dothraki were most likely to appear, might have a gap, and if the defense were not properly set, they would be instantly breached, causing the entire eastern outer forces to collapse.

He once again descended from the pyramid—he had lost count of how many times that day— and inwardly cursed the arrogant fools of Ghis for building their homeland in such an inconvenient spot! They deserved to be driven out by the Queen and hanged!

After leaving the city, he immediately led the guards and military attendants on horseback through the southern passage, riding toward Marrek Mountain, which was the original encampment of the Spearmen Regiment and is now garrisoned by the Black Dragon Army and the rear army.

He passed the military camp, carrying the message to the Legion Commander Lisika'er and Hamozuohadake, then he brought the two of them together and rushed toward the hill further ahead.

The weather was fine.

He raised his hand to block the sunlight, and he indeed saw the Duosilake people. They were thick as ants, on the open plain formed by hills and fields with no cover, moving forward.

Directly ahead of them was the base of the Xinjisi Legion.